Cat 977K (SN: 11K839) - Looking for advice on value and whether or not to buy

[ksliger]

Greetings,

I ran across a 977K (SN: 11K839) for sale in my area (US\Tennessee). It has been sitting for several years and has issues, of course! It has a blown hydraulic line for the bucket tilt. The starter doesn't work but we got it started by bonding the solenoid to the hot on the starter. Its kind of crazy but it fires right up instantly without ether. Its got the D333C motor in it I believe. One of the tracks was sagging really bad and we got it tightened up. Then I started trying to just go forward and reverse with it. It wouldn't go in either direction very long and felt like it was lacking a lot of speed. At some points it wouldn't even move forward or reverse while in gear. So, I shut it down and pulled the magnetic filter group and the other big transmission filter. The magnetic filter group was completely clogged up with gunk. I got it cleaned out but the screen was blown apart, so, I just put the cover back on. I actually had the other big filter in my truck because its the same as my D7E, so I went ahead and swapped that out. After starting back up it felt a lot more responsive and slowly woke up in the forward and reverse gear ranges. I was able to go through 1-2-3 in forward and reverse and it was very responsive.

The next issue is that the left brake pedal goes nearly to the floor. It does brake to the left when the pedal is all the way depressed but it feels pretty weak. The right brake pedal has plenty of resistance and feels normal. It brakes great to the right after the pedal is about half way depressed. Now for the worst part.. Someone torched off both the left and right domed brake adjustment covers. I have no idea why someone would do this. Interestingly, I can see the brake adjuster on the left side and there isn't one visible on the right side. I tried adjusting the left side with a 9/16 socket to see if I could tighten the brakes but it doesn't move far without seizing up. I sprayed some penetraing oil on it but it never improved. Again, the brake adjuster on the right side isn't visible, even with the dome cover cut off. I can see in the bevel\brake compartment but not sure what could have happened to the adjsuter. Again, this right side actually brakes fine, just not sure how!

So... The guy is asking $6K and I told him that I can't pay that much due to the issues with the brakes. I think I can get the brake adjuster covers replaced but I think its going to need a brake job at some point soon. I don't have a shop to get into this kind of job myself, so that would be a big ticket item.

So, I'm wondering what opinions are on price. I told the guy that I would be willing to take it on as a project but that I couldn't pay more than $3K. He declined and said he is going to try to get more for it. Please let me know your thoughts! questions!?

Also.. I am not good at judging undercarriage percentage but it look surprisingly good overall. The top roller surfaces are almost perfectly straight and the sprocket teeth look nearly perfect to me. This, with the way the engine starts and runs, is making me wonder if is a fairly low hour machine. I did look, at the hour meter but couldn't see through the screen.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Cross posted in Antique Cat Owners Club

 

[sawmilleng]

What is it worth as scrap? That is usually the lowest starting point, taking into account what the scrappie will have to charge to come and pick it up. You're a little closer to the steel mills or seaports so it might be somewhat more than my $200 Canadian/ton in my corner of the world.

Kinda funny that the engine fired right up. The suspicious guy in me kinda figures that someone may have beat you to it to bring on the less knowlegeable. The transmission filter being absolutely full tells a different story--will need a rebuilt transmission?

 

[ksliger]

What is it worth as scrap? That is usually the lowest starting point, taking into account what the scrappie will have to charge to come and pick it up. You're a little closer to the steel mills or seaports so it might be somewhat more than my $200 Canadian/ton in my corner of the world.

Kinda funny that the engine fired right up. The suspicious guy in me kinda figures that someone may have beat you to it to bring on the less knowlegeable. The transmission filter being absolutely full tells a different story--will need a rebuilt transmission?

Thanks, that's exactly what I based my offer of $3K on. I bought my last 977H from a scrapper who told me they are worth about $3K at scrap in this area. I was kinda suspicious of the engine firing right up as well but after it sat for over an hour it fired right back up instantly again and it just purs. It kind of blew my mind. Usure about the transmission. The gunk in the filter was mostly organic stuff like leaves and some weird stuff like synthetic hairballs. Other than that it was metallic sludge caked onto the magnets, and no metal chunks at all, which I thought was good. Based on the amount of caked-on crud on the filter covers, I doubt they had been changed any sooner than 20 years ago, if ever. The screen that the magnets go into had literally imploded from the pressure of all that crud buildup. Pretty wild stuff to see. The other big filter looked ok but felt really heavy like it was just full of crud. Maybe they both did enough to keep the transmission relatively free of crud. Who knows!

 

[skyking1]

Look around and see what a running D333 will fetch on the used market. That would amount to some profit over the 3K scrap price.