Some old TD-18 pics from my Army days.

[RonG]

These will be mostly B/W pics although I do have some color ones as well.I will post them as I crop them and for the most part I have forgotten a lot of details but I probably remember enough to bore you.LOL.I welcome and questions and comments.Ron G

 

[DarrylMueller]

You can also just change the resoulution, lower it. Nice picks I like cable for a change. I use to run one that had a BE Hydraulic. Nice starting on gas then to diesel. Great pictures.

 

[rino]

A guy I once worked for told me "You are NOT an operator until you hold grade with a cable lift dozer!" He had 3 D7 with pony motors, 1 D8 PM start and a 1 D9 PM start, all cable lift! He also had a D6, D8 & D9 Hydraulic lift and tilt. The one that was a trip was the Emico rear engine automatic loader! It had this bucket that had a curved cutter bar where the center was the deepest part! He told me it was a quary bucket of some kind! That Emico also was 8V71 DD powered! That thing was a trip to run and no roof or cage!

 

[wingnut]

Hi Ron G . GREAT PICS. , I love to see old iron working , cant wait to see more ! Where was these pics taking and was that you operating the dozer ? Keep the pics coming . Wingnut

 

[RonG]

Thanks wingnut.The pics were taken in what used to be West Germany where I was stationed from '60 to '63 at Downs Barracks in Fulda.I was assigned to the 58th Engineers.
We used to do a lot of work for the German nationals building ball fields etc to keep everybody smiling.Since I took most of the pics I seldom show up in them but the 4th pic could have been me.I drove the lowbed in addition to running the dozer my last year there to break in a new operator for my replacement but that was my dozer and PFC Dice was running it in those pics.
I could tell my machine from a distance as the first platoon had a double drum unit on their dozer (X17) while the other two platoons had winches.
I will post more as the spirit moves me and time permits,thank you for your comments.Ron G

 

[hardtail]

Never tire of the real period pix:thumbsup thxs Ron!!

 

[RonG]

Thanks Lance,Steve is pretty generous with his bandwidth here and I plan to eventually post all of my early pics at least and maybe some of the more current ones if the interest is there.
I did not start carrying a camera again at work until the late '90s when I bought that Sony Mavica FD-7 new which took just terrible pictures but at that time it looked good and there was not much to compare it with.
I used it to justify the $800.00 it cost but I am ashamed of its capabilities.
It is too bad the other board cheaps out and deleted all my pics to save space but I think they will be here a while and those that want to see them can find them here.
I will post some more later today.Ron G

 

[hardtail]

I hear ya loud and clear, this particular section I would say is dedicated to the history, admiration and preservation of old iron, your posts fit the bill here and should have been preserved on the "other" sites, especially as one has to jump through the hoops to post em, present co excluded of course.....

Once you get your scanner all warmed up with the oldies er classic pics we can continue into the latest............:notworthy

 

[RonG]

'nother batch

Be careful what you ask for....lol.I am going to add the pics first and describe them later,maybe it will make them more interesting.Never too old to learn,huh?
Well,the first one is of the dozer after I had given up any hope of getting out of there alone.We were building another ball field,they called them "sportsplatz" or something close to that but the ground was originally a dump before I started work on it,that happened quite often as I remember.
My "tow" vehicle would be an m48a1 tank.While I was there our mission statement changed apparently and they added a tank to each platoon.The tanks eventually were fitted with a hydraulic blade on each of them.Don't ask me why I did not ever take a picture of them with a blade on them but I guess I didn't realize how rare they would be.
I didn't get a pic of the tank yanking me out of the mud either but I am sure shame played a large part of that.LOL.
The others are of the second platoons dozer,it looks like PFC Ruder running it and LT Burnette standing back to there.I cannot remember what we were building but it looks like fun.Once again,if anyone has any questions,fire away.
I cropped 84 pics this morning,still see no need to change the resolution unless they are too large for dialup.I have many more of bridge building,pontoon and bailey bridges.........have some of the crane that rolled back into the meine river after the driver cranked it up with no air.Pretty interesting stuff but of course,I was there and it is history to me because I lived it.Ron G

 

[hardtail]

Yeah that does look pretty sticky :cool2 any more wigglin and it would likely just disappear more :beatsme

Looks like those were all 182 series thusfar, how did they standup as far as reliabilty and breakdowns??????

 

[RonG]

They were good dozers.Ring and pinions may have been a problem,mine had to be replaced after a Sargeant showed me how to break ledge,yanking the master clutch in and out at full throttle for a while)
I really don't know how they would hold up over the years,they were pretty young when I was there.Ron G

 

[JimInOz]

Nice Pics

Thanks Ron G,
Excellent pics from about the time I was born.I really liked the beside/above shots that looked over the operator on the dozer.Sometimes,you can't beat the B&W shots.
The only time I ever operated a TD18 was 21 years ago....stupidly,I never had my camera.I remember enjoying the experience, over 3 days.
Thumbs up,Ron.

Jim

 

[RonG]

I thoroughly enjoy your posts and wisdom Jim.I have many more pics to share as time permits.Ron G

 

[RonG]

More B/W pics from the old days.

This first pic is part of the last batch.I am trying to place our mission for the next several pics,it was not uncommon for us to be out in the field for weeks at a time playing war games but I think that this particular set of pics had us on the east german border building a road for the border patrol on our side of the plowed strip.I remember us operators had live ammo in our weapons and carried them with us at all times.
Sooo,here are a few more of the lowbed etc.Ron G

 

[RonG]

Dozer on the lowbed

Here are some random shots of the dozer on the lowbed that will be interesting to those that are following this thread I am sure.
It has been my experience over the years that that the composed shots are not the shots that grab you,it is the random shots that you are taking to use up film so that you can get it developed,in my case develop it myself.
The price of the film was not so much of a factor because I could buy it in the PX on the base.
We can now experience the same sensation with our digital cameras,the film is free so who cares how many you take?
I still use my film cameras when I can but it is getting more difficult to set aside the time for them with the quality and convenience of this generation of cameras at our disposal so to speak.
There are times that my 35mm will be my weapon of choice over any digital camera that I have yet encountered for pure speed although I have heard that the higher end cameras can be had with no lag between shots.My budget favors the 35mm.Ron G

 

[D5G]

WOW! Amazing pics...Thanks also to you for your service:usa:usa

 

[td25c]

Here are some random shots of the dozer on the lowbed that will be interesting to those that are following this thread I am sure.
It has been my experience over the years that that the composed shots are not the shots that grab you,it is the random shots that you are taking to use up film so that you can get it developed,in my case develop it myself.
The price of the film was not so much of a factor because I could buy it in the PX on the base.
We can now experience the same sensation with our digital cameras,the film is free so who cares how many you take?
I still use my film cameras when I can but it is getting more difficult to set aside the time for them with the quality and convenience of this generation of cameras at our disposal so to speak.
There are times that my 35mm will be my weapon of choice over any digital camera that I have yet encountered for pure speed although I have heard that the higher end cameras can be had with no lag between shots.My budget favors the 35mm.Ron G

Those are neet pics,you cant go wrong with td 18,5 ton tractor,and a lacrosse loboy.

 

[RonG]

Jobsite pics

These pics are from a new school that we were grading around and building a ball field etc for what ever town we were in at the time.
I actually have a book of some of the old buildings and monuments in the area that was given to us at a dedication of the school that we were invited to attend and also have newspaper clippings of the event.
This job was large enough that we got to use the D7 from subpost so the TD-18 pics had another operator on it,my good friend Don Bird from Oregon who showed me a lot of tricks at my young age when I would listen to him.
Since I got to run the IH whenever I wanted I jumped at the chance to run the Cat so the pics of the D7 has yours truly doing the honors.That is rare to ever see me in any of the pics since I was always holding the camera.Enjoy,more to come.Ron G

 

[OneWelder]

I never saw a early 18 with that style blade, only B-E The late 18 used that style but the pistons mounted closer to the front

 

[RonG]

Some pics of field maneuvers,bivouac area.

Here are some pics of the equipment while we were out in the field playing war games,this would be Operation Wintershield I,II or III,not sure which but probably not I because I might not have had my Voigtlander 35mm yet.
I got to do guard duty such as guarding a bridge,living out of my pup tent for a few days at a time with a demo guy in case we had to "blow" up the bridge and interacting with the "locals".)
I made all three Wintershield exercizes,we used to load all our rolling stock onto a train and head out for a month,ending up down near the border of France where we did everything that the officers could dream up.Fun,fun,fun.
One of the pics is the dozer parked in our motorpool,the rest are various shots of our bivouac area.You will see the mine spoon mounted on the blade of the dozer,not sure what the civilian equivilent of that is.Ron G