old wheel dozer, presumed to be a cat

[dpull]

Hi Lance,
Good to hear that there are some others out there that know about the Tournadozers. I have a 1948 with the Buda 844 in it and a 1953 with the 671. Both of mine need work but I keep pecking away at them when I can. Have you ever thought about getting your 8mm movies copyed on a DVD? That would be pretty cool to see your movies sometime. I also have a 'D' Tournapull that I took up to the HCEA Show. Roy and Ben Letourneau were there and I got to spend some time with them. Nice as people as you would ever want to be around. Any chance you kept any of your Dads LET stuff?
dpull

 

[Greg]

I remember the local county highway dept. had a Tournadozer that they put a Vee plow on in the winter. They used to use it mostly for pushing back instead of a grader with a wing on it. What a monster for snow. They always followed it with a truck with a one way on it to clean up. Oh ya, you could hear that GM 2 cycle coming from a mile away.

 

[Lance Tyner]

dpull,I'm not very good at putting things on the computer so I would have to copy all the photo's and send them to you. I have the 8mm on vidieo and need to put them on DVD. I had an english teacher in junior high that did'nt know I knew who RG LeTouneau was one day he was telling our class about the most interesting man he ever meet. From then on he told me many stories about him and how awe inspiring he was. I have the original news article from the AP in the paper when LeTourneau died. If you have any pics you could send email of your dozers that would be great. I'll work on making copies of what I have. Thanks Lance Tyner

 

[dpull]

Lance,
Like you I'am not to up on the computer stuff, I still have dial up and use a 35mm camera. Really would like to get updated sometime soon. Maybe we could get togather on a P/M and exchange addresses. I have a couple of pictures here of the Dozers. I have a friend who has his 'C' completely restored like new and he also has a front engine 'D' that he has redone. My GrandDad used the 1948 Dozer quite abit back in the 1950 thru the early 1960's. Mostly to push load the 'D' Pulls that he had. Many times I heard him talk about how good it was as a push tractor. I have built some Letourneau toys and enjoy doing it in the winter when I have no dirt work or snow to plow. There not perfect but not too bad for a dirt guy who never built any toys. The Letourneau Brothers really liked them when I showed them at the HCEA Show last year.
dpull

 

[Taylortractornu]

I had a friend describe a wheel dozer nearby to me and I told him it was a Letourneau. We went right then and sadly saw the burnt remains of it. A towing company bought it to take the sheaves off it for a wrecker. They hacked it ripped the motor out of it and set it onfire. THe owner was gone at the time and told me he almost cried. I dont know if its still there or no my be some parts the tires were still there. He said they cleared for the forest companies with a rake and a regualr blade. He said it would run circles around his brothers D7. He like the roadability of it to. He had another one that they had converted it over to hydraulics from an old Michigan wheel dozer that was being parted out.

 

[Timmy991]

I have 4 x Australian LW16's on our farm in south Qld, Australia.
They do not have the side blade bars, instead they have a frame pivoting under the machine to give massive powered tilt on the blade.
They have 471GM's with 3 speed auto.
2 will go again but currently under repair. One is forward control while the other is normal rear control.
My father and I have put around 10,000 hours + on the rear control machine over the last 40 years.
It has cleared scrub, sunk dams, leveled house pads, and most recently pushed fire breaks in a major bush fire which burnt out around somewhere near 100,000 acres near our property.
Awesome machines when operated properly!

Found this machine setting in a bone yard for mainly cranes altough there were some other equipment there. This particular one has me puzzled to the exact model. I believe I caw catipillar on the valve cover, but i could be wrong.

 

[robin yates uk]

I have 4 x Australian LW16's on our farm in south Qld, Australia.
They do not have the side blade bars, instead they have a frame pivoting under the machine to give massive powered tilt on the blade.
They have 471GM's with 3 speed auto.
2 will go again but currently under repair. One is forward control while the other is normal rear control.
My father and I have put around 10,000 hours + on the rear control machine over the last 40 years.
It has cleared scrub, sunk dams, leveled house pads, and most recently pushed fire breaks in a major bush fire which burnt out around somewhere near 100,000 acres near our property.
Awesome machines when operated properly!

love to see any pics you have.The Tourodozers were awesome from what I have heard, though I never saw one in real, thanks

 

[oldtom]

USA nade LW16 6/71Dd the LW$-14 was made in Austraila,Sygney witha4/71 DD

 

[Kelly]

Let Tournatractor model C.

 

[OzDozer]

The Australian Army had LW16 Tournadozers in the 1950's and 1960's, and I even have a licence to say I can drive one! 4-71 GM diesel, 5 speed crash gearbox and foot clutch, and the finest in A/C cabs!

Biggest mongrel of a thing to try and do a level push with, that you could ever sit on. They bounce like a trampoline, and no matter how experienced an operator you are, it's nearly impossible to do a level cut unless you have a full blade.

They were good scraper pushers and they could push fast. That, and the fact that the original air-operated, multi-plate disc brakes, would stop you faster than any brake ever made before or since - are about their only redeeming features!!

I'm pretty sure the later model WABCO-built LeTourneau's threw out the LeTourneau disc brakes, and replaced them with crap WABCO drum brakes!

http://i46.tinypic.com/mmwt3a.jpg

Here's another one that worked in a gypsum mine on Kangaroo Island, off the coast from Adelaide, South Australia, in the early 1970's.
The young fella in the seat is now around 50 years of age, I believe. The gypsum mine closed in 1982.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2hcm2pi.jpg

 

[wnydirtguy]

there is a company around Buffalo that was one or two of these they plow snow with!

 

[LakeRat1]

I was in the Army from 60 to 63, did my time in France, we had a fleet of these Tractors, we knew the as T Ds, Most didnt have Blades we had 3 or 4 the had Blades but the rest Had Bush Blocks om the front, we were pulling Pans wjth them, I think they were 18 Yd pan, we worked most of my time over there Building a Rail Road from the main French Line ti a American Ammo dumo about 15 miles way, as on said about the seats, They had the Best Bucket seat that i have ever seen, no moving parts, these machines bounce a lot, but with the seat you didnt feel it, They broke down a Lot, Most of the problems were Air, trouble, every this workede off of air, Brakes, & Shift, another thing the ones with blades were geard just a little slower in all gears, The winches that ran the pans were elect. on hill land with a loaded Pan they could be tricky to Operate, being the pan was so far behind the center of the tires if you were going down hill & in a curve if you pulled the wrong Clutch you could jackknife quick, they were fun to operate, but Very Nosy, the one we had looked just like the one above, they all had 671 Jimmys,

 

[Gusman318]

I have 4 x Australian LW16's on our farm in south Qld, Australia.
They do not have the side blade bars, instead they have a frame pivoting under the machine to give massive powered tilt on the blade.
They have 471GM's with 3 speed auto.
2 will go again but currently under repair. One is forward control while the other is normal rear control.
My father and I have put around 10,000 hours + on the rear control machine over the last 40 years.
It has cleared scrub, sunk dams, leveled house pads, and most recently pushed fire breaks in a major bush fire which burnt out around somewhere near 100,000 acres near our property.
Awesome machines when operated properly!

If you want another LW 16. There is one for sale at Lawgie. Dawes. Between Biloela and Monto. Contact Jennifer Pool.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/796032411597555/

 

[Welder Dave]

Seems with the right operator they could run a blade pretty well unlike modern skid steer loaders. There was a huge 8 wheel dozer made by Melroe.

Melroe Multi-Wheel Rubber Tire Dozer - Bing video

 

[Welder Dave]

Cat also had some D6 conversions with 4 large wheels.

 

[Tones]

The unit I was with in the NZ Army's had 2 LW16s. They had WABCO air operated brakes and steering clutches. 4-71 power 3speed Allison powershift transmission. Each had it's own package of ancillary equipment, CCU, rippers and conventional winch. The steering on them was pathetic to say the least, you had to be thinking a mile ahead in order to make a turn. The other thing they would do when roading them was to flick the FNR lever into reverse when they hit a bump. That would knock any complacency out of you and get the adrenalin flowing at 100mph.
Other than those things they were perfectly matched for push loading D Pulls.

PS, a mate found out they can float in rivers.