Cat 951-C in my sights

[boone]

Are you putting diesel behind your ears before your doc visit? I'm sure that has him steaming. Glad you're taking it nice and slow and getting your health about you. Like the other's I've missed your updates and was a bit worried about you.

 

[Nitelite]

Good to hear from you guys. Rusted Heroes, if you were able to take the time to read the entire thread, you must have a lot of time on your hands. Just so you know boone, I quit buying hair oil a long time ago. A drop or two of diesel fuel works better. If someone wants to know what the smell is, just point to the CAT emblem on your cap. There is also an explanation as to the health issues that tend to slow me down a bit now and then.

Back when I was in the military service my duties included defoliation using Agent Orange. The proper mixture was 1 part of AO to 50 parts of diesel fuel. My instructions was to mix 1 part of the AO to 5 parts Diesel fuel. The smell that was created was what reminded me of burned plastic, something about like insulation burning in an electrical fire. My defoliation duty was done soon after daylight wearing a T shirt, after the spraying I would remove the wet T shirt and put on my uniform shirt, so that is what I smelled like the rest of the work day. It didn't seem like a problem back then because I worked alone, out in the boonies as a military game warden.

Straight diesel fuel is a pleasant odor compared to that stuff. My duty assignment was top secret but was declassified in 2003. The Agent Orange chemical formula is 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. The mixture contains Dioxin. Dioxin is the most toxic chemical known to man and it does not occur in nature. If one ounce of Dioxin was evenly distributed in a line of railroad diesel tanker cars 1/2 mile long, and then one drop leaked from any of those tankers, it would be enough to kill a mouse. In other words, it don't make good hair oil! If you are curious, and would like to see who I am, just do a google search and type into your browser. agent orange fort gordon

 

[Dickjr.]

My dad was in Vietnam from 1967 to early 1969. He died in 2000 due to pancreatic cancer. I often wonder if agent orange had something to do with his cancer. He was in engineering and demolition ,basically he was young and good at climbing ( housing tobacco). His job was to set charges and then his friend would blow it. They also done a lot of dozing and road repair.

 

[Nitelite]

Yes Dickjr, I know that anyone who was boots on the ground in Vietnam was exposed to agent orange in one form or another. The drums were emptied and a gallon or so remained that the hand pump suction hose failed to reach, The drums were then repurposed and used to store gasoline, diesel fuel, water for a shower or bath and cut in half for taking a crap in.

The tainted gasoline from the drums was then burned in vehicles and generators creating a product called aerosol orange as it spewed it from the exhaust pipes of military vehicles, killing all of the trees along the roadsides of down town Da Nang. Spray drift also killed an entire rubber plantation that the US ended up paying for. There was a 1oo foot defoliated circle around running generators. Some generators were self powered but many of those generators were powered by the front PTO shaft of our trusty Jeeps.

My neighbor was a dozer operator in Nam with an outfit called the Jungle Eaters. They used, I think, D-7 or D-8 Cats running eight abreast, pulling Rhome Plows clearing jungle to expose the enemy and thereby denying a hiding place. The VC, in the night, would bury unexploded ordinance ( bombs) in their path. If the explosion occurred in front of the blade they had a chance. If it went off behind the blade or under the tractor the operator had pulled his last lever. The violent explosion flipped and destroyed the tractor and many were lost. Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end!

 

[Dickjr.]

My dad never really talked much about it. Some guy in the local reserves was telling my dad how bad the first gulf war was. Come to find out the were artillery , when they got over there , they lost they're weapons and basically spent 3 months at the gulf doing nothing. That was one time I seen my dad flare up. He nailed his azz. I have pictures of the equipment they used , D7 look to be and loaders. When he was in the hospital he told me about a lot of what went on. He was 18 when he went , my brother was 6 months old , and I was 2 cells getting ready to meet about Christmas of 1972. I lost a lot of respect for Muhammed Ali because he refused to go quoting " I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong". I don't think you did either and I don't think my dad knew what a freakin Vietcong was. But you all went. My cousin was over there when my Dad was , he asked my Dad to go back in the mid 90s because he thought it was a beautiful country , my Dad said he hoped to never see that hell hole again.

 

[Tcsmc]

Great job on the rebuild. I wish my loader was in that good of shape. I have a 951c loader I'm having issues with. The loader went down a few years ago and sat until a month ago. My neighbor pulled the engine to help me out. I put new bearings back in and put the engine back in. I don't know how exactly it wires back up.my neighbor can't remember how it was either. I had the starter and alt hooked up ,but it wound up shorting the starter and reversing polarity on two of the 6volt batteries. Put in new batteries , starts runs fine however I didn't hook up alternator. I have what appears to be three red wires coming to the starter from the harness I assume two go to the top starter terminal ?one white wire goes to solenoid from the switch to activate starter , other whit wire with a black stripe to ground side solenoid not sure if the other red wire goes to the alt or how alternator wires up. I don't know if yours would be the same colored wires or not. I have a 951b loader that the starter has been robbed off of and has different colored wires and the alternator is on the opposite side. So I'm at a loss Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[boone]

Lot of interesting information there Nitelite. Dad and I were talking about your post this weekend while working at the farm. He was in the guard for 6 years during that time and their company was told they were going over. They got all new equipment and then plug was pulled on it and it never happened...thankfully. We had a family friend (Travis) that had been over there and had been exposed to a lot of AO. He'd really been messed up over there. Travis was telling my dad once he'd escaped death so many times he couldn't count. He said he should be dead. During a march through the jungle, they always had a point man that walked a few hundred feet or so in front of the company. One day, the sargent told Travis he was going to be point man today...it was basically a death sentence. Travis told the sarg he wasn't feeling well and was sick. The sarg looked over and pointed to the guy next to him and said you're point man. He said just a few minutes into their patrol, the guy was shot.

Hope my boys never have to go through anything like it.

 

[Nitelite]

Tcsmc, I am in Ashland City Tennessee, thirty miles North West of Nashville, I will go out shortly and see if I can give you the coloring of my wires. My machine is a 951-C with the earlier model 330 engine.

 

[Nitelite]

Freedom don't come cheap! Somebody paid!

Boone, it is really easy to forget that we are at war as we speak. Our boys are being shot up, blown up, and killed every day. If we don't circle the wagons and commit to defending ourselves in an all out push, Orlando will be repeated over and over. We need to start fighting to win!

 

[Tcsmc]

Thanks for the reply nitelite, the older 951b loader I have is probably a 330 engine as well . It's set up a little different than the 3304 on my 951c model. I think the 951b has a blue wire to the starter. It looks like In the pictures of your loader, the alternator is on the same side as my 951c. Looks like a lot of different setups on these old loaders.

 

[Nitelite]

Starter wiring 951-C with 330 engine

Here are pictures of the starter wiring before I did the overhaul. I did go out earlier today to look at the wiring but since the new paint job, all of the wires are Cat yellow. I don't have pictures of the alternator wiring before the wires were painted but there is only one wire coming from the battery to the hot post of the alternator and then a ground wire from the alternator to the engine block. You also need to make sure that your frame to engine wire is connected and in good working order. Not able to see a lot but maybe just enough to help you out.

 

[DMiller]

Will probably need to do a continuity check for each wire individually if has been 'repaired' by adding different wire of different colors. Should be one wire from alternator discharge to hot post of starter(solenoid) or to main disconnect switch starter side, grounds all attach to the engine block with a cross connect from the large ground post on the starter motor end to the engine block. Will have to be a feed wire again from the main hot post of solenoid up to controls on off switch and if electronics involved a split on that feed to those electronics or fed from the switch. Starter button wire goes to the S terminal on the solenoid and the opposite terminal goes to the ground post or has a ground bar to the starter frame.

Best ground will always be to the starter motor frame post, from it to the engine I would install at least a 1/0 lugged ground wire for best conductivity. At least it isn't a old generator tractor as mine is where that has three wires in of itself.

 

[Tcsmc]

I'm probably going to have to pull instrument panel and start tracing wires. I made sure I had a good ground to the frame. The alternator showing putting out 13v on one terminal and 7volts on the small Wire I thought would be a ground. Maybe my alternator is bad. I might as well take it off and go get it checked. I've been running the loader a little in the evenings without alternator hooked up and it starts and runs fine. Today after running it about 30 mins it overheated and started blowing water out of the cap. Probably radiator plugged? Always something to work on around my place. Thanks again guys for the info,any information is always appreciated. It's good to see others that work with this older equipment.

 

[kshansen]

Any chance of posting a picture of the Alternator? Might help someone figure out what it is and how it should be wired. Even better is there a tag on it with some numbers?

 

[Nitelite]

Before you go to a lot of trouble, check your radiator cap and cap gasket. Could be that you just need a new gasket. Also, if you overfill the radiator the old gal will belch as it really gets warm, until the proper "hot" level is reached.

 

[Nitelite]

I took the Pioneer down to the lake yesterday to bring the 14' john boat up to the shop to repair some holes in its side that look like they were made from buckshot at about twenty yards distance. The damage was done before I got the boat. I can stop the leaks with bolts and rubber washers. I will use the boat to go out and pull the brass gate valve to drain the lake. I need to find the drain and hook it with a piece of steel tubing that is about twenty five feet long. The drain is in twenty six feet of water but it sits off of the bottom about five feet. The process is to put four 5 gallon buckets full of water in the front of the boat to hold the front end down, paddle out to a spot and with the transom just above the drain and tie the boat off at two points on the bank to keep it from drifting away from the spot. While standing up in the back of the boat and feeling with the tubing hook the drain, bend at the knees and snatch up with all the strength that I have. It has been twenty years since I have opened the drain and cleaned out the lake. I have a ten foot john boat down there but it is not stable enough for me to stand up and pull the drain.

I had the two grand daughters with me, ages 5 and 8. While I was loading the boat they were watching the water ripple. I had taken them on their first kids fishing rodeo last Saturday and they each caught their very first fish. They both got a 1 1/2 lb. catfish in three hours of hard fishing and they loved it.

Seeing the ripples they wanted to know what was causing it and I answered, "fish". That did it, they wanted to go fishing! Oh papa, please please. No one has fished in that lake in the last ten years. I couldn't refuse.

I had to go get the lawnmower and cut the weeds on the dam. Eight to ten inch trees had grown up on the dam at the waters edge, so thick that there was no way to cast a line into the water. I had to put a chain on the tree trunks and fell several into the lake and then drag them out of the water with the tractor. I cut them up into firewood and will burn them for a future weiner roast with the kids and grand kids this fall. I pushed the brush over the back side of the dam.

There was aquatic weeds growing out from the base of the dam to about 5 feet out. No way to cut them from the bank and no way to drag a fish across them if they caught one. I used the ag tractor to bring about fifteen front loader loads of clay to reach out and cover the weeds. I couldn't use the Cat 951 because I had to cross a concrete bridge at the spillway. Next I had to treat the entire dam for ticks. I spent twelve hours working on that dam project.

This evening we got worms, crickets, tackle, and new zebco 33 fishing rods. Avery caught the first fish, a large shellcracker. Alex refused to let me cast her bait to a good spot and insisted that she could do it all by herself. Continued in next post.

 

[Nitelite]

Avery continued to catch bream and shellcrackers and Alex continued to wrestle with her tackle getting hung up. I baited hooks and removed the fish. Avery was catching fish so quickly that I could not keep up. Mandy, my daughter was trying to bait the hooks but she was more afraid of the crickets than the bait was afraid of her.

Avery was cranking in a five inch sunfish and had about twenty feet to go. I saw a large mouth bass, about six or eight lbs. race out from the opposite bank and attack that sunfish. The bass must have immediately swallowed the sunfish because Avery cranked and pulled. The bass broke water several times but refused to give up the sunfish. I had the drag set pretty light on the Zebco and it was doing some singing as the fish ran with the ten pound test line and the sunfish on a #6 wire hook. I called to Mandy, "get the dip net", "quick". The net was stuck behind the cooler inside the Pioneer. Let me tell you, there was a mammoth battle going on between a five year old and a hungry largemouth bass over a five inch sunfish. The kids were screaming while Mandy and I were hollering back and forth about the stuck dip net. Avery got the largemouth bass to the bank but the edge of the newly formed clay bank was too unstable and I was sinking over my shoes but I just couldn't reach the fish that fighting so hard to get away. Mandy was handing me the net as the big bass regurgitated the sun fish. The largemouth escaped the dinner plate but Avery got her sunfish.

After the excitement Alex agreed to let her mom help her cast her line and she ended up catching three or four fish. Avery caught about fifteen and papa had a wonderful fathers day fishing with the kids. We only got to fish an hour and a half before dark overtook us. The fish are cleaned and in the freezer. Something tells me that I will have to go fishing tomorrow, how can I resist, oh papa, please,please?

Now I will never get that drain open in order to drain and clean out the lake. I can hear their cries now, but papa, where did all of the water go and what happened to our fish?

When I get that john boat fixed I will teach them how to gig summertime bull frogs from a boat using a flashlight after dark. We might even see a snake or two.

I will try to post pictures on the HEF forum tomorrow. Happy fathers day to all!

 

[DMiller]

I fully intend to build a pond by the house, one for animal water, two for runoff control and three for fire water supply to the local volunteer corp. Really need it for insurance pricing reduction for the last hit.

 

[Nitelite]

My lake does not reduce my insurance rates. We are more than five miles from the nearest fire plug and we pay a hefty premium because of that. The lake is about 500 feet from the house.

 

[Nitelite]

Extended Fathers' Day fun

Fishing with the girls in my lake


Those cat tails need to go



Alex has a fish



they are fishing hard



They wanted a place to sit down



You can see where I covered the weeds with the clay