Fiat 70CI. Repairs, modifications and stories.

[Billyboy]

Thanks for your reply Nutwood. Just a bit more information that might explain the problem .When the dozer is driving and both clutches are pulled back the machine stops when either one is pulled back it slowly turns to that side. When the brake is applied with little pressure on the right side with the clutch back it turns to the right. When the clutch is pulled back [disengaged ] on the left it takes considerable pressure on the brake for it to turn. However i tried to set the travel on the clutch levers to the spec in the manual and found they were at their maximum and any more adjustment brought the lever over the cam and it the levers would stay back so i adjusted them to the maximum without them sticking. Fellas i am not very good at this computer stuff [ about as handy as an ashtray on a motorbike ]so if i dont answer you promptly it is because i am having a problem. [But then again who doesnt have problems ] Thanks Nutwood Queenslander and Jeeeeembaaauuuubbbb for your help.

 

[nutwood]

It's a funny thing but it seems to be always the left side that gives trouble. I wonder if the crown wheel "heaps" the oil up more on that side or is it because we drive RHD vehicles and make the left side work harder by always turning right?
I wonder which side packs up first in Europe or the US?

 

[Billyboy]

Hello fellas back again after much work on the 70ci .Everything i touch on the old girl is worn out so after rebuilding the engine and refitting it i pushed about 250 yards of dirt and run it beautifully. Am happy with its performance.As to the turning brakes i hadf to pull the steering clutches out . the drive hubs to the final drives had both come loose and the oil was leaking along the tapered shafts past the nuts onto the drums. Read a post from jeembob about jacking up the machine to turn the tracks and yes had to do that and used a cumalong to turn the tracks to undo the drum bolts. Got the clutches and bevel gear out and made a stand to sit it in to pull it apart . What a job. Made sockets out of plate to get the nuts on the drum and hub off . Made pullers for just about everything. Then had to heat the inner clutch hubs with oxy in 6 places after applying the puller and then flogged the puller with a 10 lb hammer to get the first one off. Run out of oxy before getting the second one off. Bearing and seal shot so will replace them. Has been a labour of love but i can see that once this machine is in good order it should see me out. Will look around for a tilt ram and control later for the blade. Hopefully will have it together in a month......maybe. Have got the manuals on setting the preload on the bevel gear tapered bearings but would like a bit of advise from anyone who has done this before. Will keep you updated . Hope to hear from yaaal.

 

[Billyboy]

From what i can remember there is no filtering system on the hydraulic line shown in my workshop manual for our girls. im not at home at the moment to check but there are many ad much more well iformed people that follow this thread that could put their finger on the right page for you ,just wait someone will come good, guaranteed/ (fortune favours those that wait,(Old 70CI saying).

Hi Billyboy, Hope I'm not being a sad sack but I suspect this is what you have to look forward to. I'm trying to soften up the shock.View attachment 165115 View attachment 165116 View attachment 165117

Thanks Garrie been a while as i cant get the hang of using the forum yet . Been on a dozen times but cant seem to get it right. Have made a lot of progress with the 70ci. Had her running and pushed about 250 yards of material with her .Went so well .The power was more than i expected . The steering deteriorated as the job went along so i have stripped the brakes and clutches out. The most time taken was in the manufacture of all the pullers and a frame to mount the bevel gear and clutches in to disassemble.Have made pullers for everything so far. For the waterpump removal i stripped the pump on the machine and found the pump housing had been broken for a long time and used the impellor shaft and impellor as a puller . It came out but was extremely tight All apart now and parts are here so will be together soon. The oil in the brakes was coming along the shaft from the final drives as the nuts holding the hubs to the shaft had both come loose.Turns out on closer inspection that the keyways in the hubs are worn but in the shafts they are not. Will measure them and make stepped keys. Just a note of interest while rebuilding the engine i plastigauged the bearings and found the main bearings to be standard and still in spec . Either crank and bearings have been replaced [boy oh boy this machine must have done a lot of work ] or it is a testament to the design of this machine. Has been frustrating at times during the rebuild but i feel that this machine was so well designed that if i build it well it will see me out. Will keep you posted.

 

[Billyboy]

Hellol fellas just an update on the 70ci . Built the clutches after fitting new bearings and seals .Had to replace the bearings for the throwout forks . Once again had to make a puller plate to get them out.
Will set up the preload this weekend on the bearings. Gw tractors [ Matt ] was good enough to trace and send to me the c spanner for tensioning the bearings up. The actual length of the spanner is critical to getting the correct preload so will make a spanner as the tension wrench fits into the end of it. Hope to get it together and running soon. Been 14 months now If anyone needs info i am only too happy to help. Also does anyone know of a 70ci for sale around Muckay suitable for parts or rebuild . Hope to hear some comments

 

[Billyboy]

Thanks nutwood good pictures . I pulled them out and found the right one was dry but the left was wet with oil . It wasnt as bad as your picture shows but the clutches were not slipping it was that the brake was not working. I found that the bucket in the right slave cylinder for the clutch was virtually non existant but the clutch was still releasing manually. Have it all back together now and should be running soon Thanks for your help . Will keep you posted.

 

[nutwood]

Very quiet here at the moment. I'm wondering if anyone can help me with details of the belly plate arrangements on a 70CI? I've had to pull the radiator as the water is pouring out nearly as fast as I can pour it in. In the process, I've had to remove the front surround. This is bolted to the belly plate at the bottom and the roll cage at the top. Taking out bolts has resulted in the roll cage springing up and the belly plate dropping down a bit. Investigating this, I've found two mounting points at the bottom of the front of the sump with corresponding holes in the belly plate (but no bolts!). The lack of bolts in this location is obviously a problem as the roll cage is holding up the belly plate. I suspect the radiator is being the meat in the sandwich as everything moves.
My concern is that I may not be seeing the whole problem. If I bolt up the front of the belly plate to the sump, I might be simply moving the stress to this point. Presumably the belly plate connects at multiple locations? It's pretty muddy under there at the present and I'm struggling to find other bolting points. Advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Billyboy]

Hello nutwood just put the belly guard on my 70 ci a week ago .There are 5 bolts across the front approx 3/8 by 1 1/2 there are 2 bolts back from them about a foot that are threads in the sump about 19 mm in diameter and there are three bolts on each side at the back about 16 mm in diameter that go through the belly guard and are actually bell housing bolts..While i had the belly guard out i put a piece of pipe underneath it and found the balance point . I then welded a chain link on each side at the balance point so i could lift it up on each side with 2 small cumalongs or chainblocks. Was very easy to line the holes up. If you remove the covers from the track tensioner springs the bell housing bolts holding the rear of the bellyguard can be reached through the track. It is ok for it to drop a bit and when you have done the radiator repairs just put a jack under the belly guard lift it up and fit new bolts then tighten them all.
Just an update on the 70ci at home .Put her to work on the farm and probably has about 40 hours on her . What a great machine . The rebuilt engine runs so sweet new clutches and brakes all ok. Just a really good machine, Cant rate her too highly.
Does anyone know where i can find one in the Mackay Qld area suitable for a rebuild or parts
jimbaub is in my area but i cant seem to contact him.
Help would be appreciated
Hope this helps.

 

[nutwood]

Thank you very much. That is exactly the information I was after. I'm thinking my back bolts are loose as the belly plate is flapping about too much. My manual shows a couple of straps coming up that bolt onto the block on the side where the radiator support arms attach. These straps aren't present and I'm debating whether to fabricate some. Sounds like you don't have these either so I might save myself the job.
Glad you're enjoying your machine. I'm in the process of replacing my radiator and a track tension spring. I'll put some images up as the job progresses. My RH tension spring is in about six bits and I've been welding it up for thirteen years. Without it intact, if I reverse on a steep sideways slope, I run the risk of the track coming off the front idler. I then have to prop up on the ripper and blade, hold out the LH track via the steering clutch and try and "run" the track back on. Bit stressful in some of the conditions I encounter. Time to bite the bullet and replace the spring!
Not sure where Jimbaub is. He's gone a bit quiet.

 

[Queenslander]

Does anyone know where i can find one in the Mackay Qld area

This one is going up at a Gracemere clearing sale on Sept.23 Billyboy.

http://raywhitegracemere.com.au/properties/clearing-sale/qld/nine-mile-4702/uncategorised/1731019

 

[nutwood]

Nice looking dozer. Worryingly clean but it looks as though it's been sitting there a while, judging by the grass.

 

[brucew]

Billyboy could well be plenty of 70c1's and or AT7's around the areas just north of Rockhampton as Farmers Centre was the agent for Fiat in the late 60's early 70's if my memory serves me correctly. Again if my memory is right they had their yard somewhere on the main drag opposite where the road turns left at that park back then they nearly always had maybe a new one in the yard and anything up to about half a dozen used dozers most of them Fiats. I was working around Rolleston back then and I drove a 70ci almost identical to the machine in the pic above but didn't have rippers but had a stickrake and drawbar on the back. It had only couple of thousand hours from new and I would have put about another thousand or more hours up on it raking and then plowing it all up and planting either oats or forage sorghum. I have also driven the Fiat AT7's too which were basically the same machine. They were quite good machines from memory but I found them not all that comfortable to do really long hours compared to the Cat d4d which I later owned.

 

[bgms85]

Gday Fellas, I have finally got around to signing up to this site. I have 3x 70ci dozers and all three are pony start. I have problems with two of them. Does anyone have an idea of where to get parts for these pony start engines?

 

[Queenslander]

Have you tried the usual suspects... GW Tractors in Brisbane or SB Tractor Parts near Kingaroy?
Both import parts weekly directly from Italia.

 

[bgms85]

I did call SB tractors, reckoned they couldn't get anything for them. Have done a bit of 'google' research. Pretty hard digging but I need someone who reads and writes italian! I might give GW tractors a call - I was thinking they would have the same answer. Will give them a go.

 

[Jeembawb]

Project mix n match

1st order of the day (last weekend this was) is to unwrap the old girl and move her(with a bit of help from a friend) to a place to remove the c-frame and blade. The to drag her over to the staging area.

Wooww! almost 2 & half years! time flies but it didn't feel like fun. I did manage to get a spare week over the xmas break to get back to my project from aug 2015 (wow) and have stripped down one of the dozers (in extreme heat conditions - had to keep pumping the fluids in) ready to swap in a rebuilt (mostly) engine. Hope i can keep it going this time and not have my life railroaded by other peoples problems.
JimBob

 

[Jeembawb]

Gday Fellas, I have finally got around to signing up to this site. I have 3x 70ci dozers and all three are pony start. I have problems with two of them. Does anyone have an idea of where to get parts for these pony start engines?

welcome bgms85 - what bits do you need for the pony motor? as you can see, one of my dozers has one (apparently the old boy that bought it new ordered it special that way??) and most likely will be surplus to requirements, will know once i swap in the other motor to make sure the difference in bellhousings is not an issue. Not in real great shape to look at but it was a low mileage dozer so some parts may be ok.

 

[Jeembawb]

Hello nutwood just put the belly guard on my 70 ci a week ago .There are 5 bolts across the front approx 3/8 by 1 1/2 there are 2 bolts back from them about a foot that are threads in the sump about 19 mm in diameter and there are three bolts on each side at the back about 16 mm in diameter that go through the belly guard and are actually bell housing bolts..While i had the belly guard out i put a piece of pipe underneath it and found the balance point . I then welded a chain link on each side at the balance point so i could lift it up on each side with 2 small cumalongs or chainblocks. Was very easy to line the holes up. If you remove the covers from the track tensioner springs the bell housing bolts holding the rear of the bellyguard can be reached through the track. It is ok for it to drop a bit and when you have done the radiator repairs just put a jack under the belly guard lift it up and fit new bolts then tighten them all.
Just an update on the 70ci at home .Put her to work on the farm and probably has about 40 hours on her . What a great machine . The rebuilt engine runs so sweet new clutches and brakes all ok. Just a really good machine, Cant rate her too highly.
Does anyone know where i can find one in the Mackay Qld area suitable for a rebuild or parts
jimbaub is in my area but i cant seem to contact him.
Help would be appreciated
Hope this helps.

Thank you very much. That is exactly the information I was after. I'm thinking my back bolts are loose as the belly plate is flapping about too much. My manual shows a couple of straps coming up that bolt onto the block on the side where the radiator support arms attach. These straps aren't present and I'm debating whether to fabricate some. Sounds like you don't have these either so I might save myself the job.
Glad you're enjoying your machine. I'm in the process of replacing my radiator and a track tension spring. I'll put some images up as the job progresses. My RH tension spring is in about six bits and I've been welding it up for thirteen years. Without it intact, if I reverse on a steep sideways slope, I run the risk of the track coming off the front idler. I then have to prop up on the ripper and blade, hold out the LH track via the steering clutch and try and "run" the track back on. Bit stressful in some of the conditions I encounter. Time to bite the bullet and replace the spring!
Not sure where Jimbaub is. He's gone a bit quiet.

He's baaaaack!

JimBob

 

[nutwood]

Hi JimBob,
Great to see you back. You've been missed!
Our trusty dozer is still going strong down here in Tassie. Bit too strong apparently! I'm in the process of building a back road into the property. I've been fighting the rocks but realised I'm running out of time so got local excavator firm in to quote on bringing in a 22 ton excavator to extract the more recalcitrant patients. All was looking good and then they phoned back to say they weren't prepared to send their machine into battle. Apparently the boss decided it worked too fast for our conditions.
Cheesed off, but it's a sort of a compliment. They looked at what I'd got out with the Fiat and decided their 22 t couldn't handle what I'd left behind! I've always reckoned my dozer to be about the equivalent of a 7 t excavator. The stopping spots seem to be the same. Seems like I might have to reassess!

 

[Billyboy]

View attachment 176720 View attachment 176721

Wooww! almost 2 & half years! time flies but it didn't feel like fun. I did manage to get a spare week over the xmas break to get back to my project from aug 2015 (wow) and have stripped down one of the dozers (in extreme heat conditions - had to keep pumping the fluids in) ready to swap in a rebuilt (mostly) engine. Hope i can keep it going this time and not have my life railroaded by other peoples problems.
JimBob

Hello JimBob hope you are well. Glad you are back on the site. I am from Koumala and was hoping you would know of any 70cis for sale in the area suitable for rebuild or parts. The one we have is going very well after 14 months of spare time work. Could not be happier with it. Have a lot of pictures from the rebuild but am not computer savvy but will find someone who is to put them on the site Thanks Billyboy