CAT 951C Year and Bucket Teeth

Hello all. I'm getting the machine in order, at least partly (in the most painful way possible, but that is an embarrassing admission).

Couple of questions. S/N is 86J3065. No one has been able to tell me the year of this unit yet. Dealer can't seem to find it. Guessing a 1976?

Dealer says holders and teeth are discontinued so total new set is a bit under $1000... Thinking that may not be the best of choices in a long line of poor choices I've made on this machine already. I have a bit of a mix of teeth and holders currently. I don't have a pic of the teeth at the moment. Has a larger holder in the center than the others...? Some of the teeth are pretty worn and several are missing. But there are holders there..

Advice and suggestions?

Also I've seen units that have teeth at the corners Guessing those would be for pretty aggressing digging? Don't remember seeing those in the parts book, so assuming they are add-ons?

As always appreciate your help, opinions, and sage advice.

86J says it is a 951B. 86J3065 is a 1973.
FWD

My little book says 1973 951C but 86J started in 1968 with the 951B and in 1972 it became the 951C starting at serial #86J1992 and continued up to 1981.

I agree, new teeth and sockets probably aren't the best idea, at this point anyway. Would need some pics to guess what style you have, I'd guess the teeth are available for most style sockets, in one form or another.

The build date is stamped on the Hard Bar under the tin Guards on the R/H side on the early Shovels, it's stamped onto the loader frame on the L/H side near the top pin on the later units, that is the bit that moves up and down. tctractors.

Finally have the machine back and pictures of the teeth. The holders are not the same, assume I have more than one type. Appreciate if you all can identify what type of teeth I have, at least what I need to replace? I still am trying to learn the difference and benefit between the type of teeth, but that is another question altogether...

H&L, Black Cat and others likely have teeth to fit. You need to determine if the shanks are worn. If they are you need to build them up with weld and grind them to size. They look to be the same but some teeth are missing.

If the pins are metal with rubber in between, then they're probably 230 style teeth and they're very common. If the pin does not have rubber centered between the metal pins, then you'll have to measure and guess which style they are.

They will be loose. It's not hard to weld and grind to fit, but it takes time. Since they're bolt on already, you could replace the shanks and teeth, then it's just a matter of getting the right bolt spacing, and some other work.

Thanks gents. For simplicity I'd thought about just getting a new set. I'm assuming that it will take a bit of welding to use the existing holders (now that you mention it, not smart enough to have thought that on my own...) as it is pretty clear that it was used a bit without teeth. Nige often recommends the Off Rode Equipment folks. Looked like they had a pretty good stock of teeth and holders.

Delmer - What kind of other work are you talking about if I make the plunge and get a full new set, assuming my hole spacing matches?

A thought after looking at your photos above. I can see some "marks" cast into the adaptors/shanks but when I magnify them they look like Cat Date Codes (6 letters). That got me thinking that if you look underneath the adapters you might find a Part Number cast into them. With that it would be easy to identify appropriate tooth and tooth hardware Part Numbers.

jonathanks said:

Delmer - What kind of other work are you talking about if I make the plunge and get a full new set, assuming my hole spacing matches?

Click to expand...

Mostly getting the old ones off, easy if you have a cutting torch. A little more work with cheater pipes and breaker bars, or chiseling nuts off.