977H What to check before purchasing?

A guy has a couple 977H pedal steers that he is willing to part with. Says they both run. Won't be able to work them though due to location. Segments on one doesn't look too bad. Not to a point on the teeth still some flat. The other is worn more. Pins show wear but 55 years will have wear. One with a cab the other ROPS. $5500 for one $6500 for the other. May buy both.

What are some other things to look for besides the U/C?

Cat didn't make a lot of these. One for parts maybe a good Idea. Might be an over weight load. Can you post any pictures? What's the ser. #'s? Is it pedal steer? What are you going to do with them? Do they turn ok? What about oil leaks? I don't know much about The 977H. I believe they had trouble with cracking in the cylinder heads. Try to find out the history of the machines.

Bob,

If it was me, I would hire John C. to do an appraisal inspection.

if you buy one you'd better buy both,you'll regret it later..no crime in parting one out to keep the other running..go 10K for both,hell a good zero-turn costs that

When I was 10. My neighbor had a stick steer 977. My dad helped him work on the U/C and every once in a while he would let me ride with him. What a treat. Just wanting to relive some memories with my own. Use it on my farm maybe take it to a show or two.

Definitely have a good show time crawler if you can get a free ride there and back. If it's working, a great farm crawler. I'm a big fan of big crawlers. More power more weight. If you have a big rock, or a big tree you can convince them to move. But keep in mind the parts are big and heavy to work on. They can also be big $ to fix. bunkclimer saying get both is a really good idea in an expensive kind of way. Trouble is, I'll bet most of these models that have gone to the bone yard. Have been melted down. So a transmission, torque converter, final drive off the other machine would be cheap at $5000. I would think a lot of the soft parts like seals you can get from Cat. Call and see about cylinder seals. Call on a replacement hose. They probably can make them up. The levers probably have booster cylinders see if you can rebuild or replace them. If you can't get those at Cat try Off Road Equipment.
Best of Luck

Bob Cowdery said:

What are some other things to look for besides the U/C?

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The biggest thing to look for is having a large amount of cash as these old turds will be large money pits.
Bob

Bluox brings up a big up an important consideration. If you have a breakdown, you will not have anybody you can call to fix it. Call Cat, they may come out but basically none of the guys will be familiar with a 977H. Or for that matter a K or L either. You would burn "Money" by calling most anybody. Buy both if you do it and I hope they're the same year or configuration. Now if you like to work on things yourself. You can get the parts manual and maintenance manual. But they don't teach you to be a mechanic. The only thing left is learn by doing. Don't trust that the guy ahead of you did it right. check against the parts book fore arrangement. These old birds to trust them (off the farm) would need ground up restoration before you take them off the farm. You! Need to do it! To hire someone to do more than help, is a fool's errand (good help is hard to find!). Also if you get one of these stuck or flipped over. There will be Hell to pay. If you buy them please come back and post some pictures. There’s some guys on here that will probably help you on fixing. This is a pretty good thread on the 977H put it in a google search bar.
Best of Luck
https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/search/71611704/?q=Cat+977H&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=52

Take notice all the posts are over a decade old.

I turned wrenches for a living before taking my "Retirement Job". Know a young guy with a service truck that wants to learn. I have a comfortable budget. Would rather spend it on equipment than give it to Creepy Uncle Joe. Worst case is they sit and my kids have them scrapped after I'm gone.

If it’s in your budget and you have the room I’d say buy both. When I got mine there were 2 side by side and I bought both. Both ran but one had obvious engine issues so my intent was to use it as a parts machine. It had a great undercarriage which I swapped to the good running machine. Pilfered a few more parts off it but ended up making the decision to repair it after finding the engine issue to be relatively minor. Found a decent set of tracks for it too and now I have 2 good units. Offroad Equipment had all the parts I needed as did my local Cat dealer which pleasantly surprised me. With no electronics these things are quite easy to work on, only thing is the pieces can be very heavy!

I would really like to find the 977H that was in Beaver Falls Pa in the mid 70's that was owned by Stan Holoweiko owner of Stan's Truck Repair. It was lever steer. doubt it's still around though.

You might want to grow some extra arms for a lever steer. Done it on a 1959 TD15 with dry clutches. Had to adjust the main clutch quite often. At least it had a joystick for lift and curl. If the H has a two handle bucket control like the K and L. Maybe 5 arms, lol! I read that in 1961 Caterpillar added oil cooled brakes and steering clutches, beginning with 53A01907. More modern technology etc.. Since you have at least one set of good undercarriage. You might be ok on this deal. Seems your eyes are open. It will be like driving a new car off the lot or worse. In the way that if you sell it right away you lose $. Young maintenance guy, and a service truck. That sounds promising. More young people need to take an interest in the trades. So that part of the story is very good. Then let's see most all farms have a machine shed or a dry barn anyway. For doing the clean work in. Think about it full well. But remember if it's a really good deal it will not last for long. As always buyer beware. I started my retirement job 5 years ago and I’m loving it. Hopefully my wife can help me in a couple years.
Best of Luck

I have a JD450B loader with a 4 in1 buckets. HLR trans. Guy said the steering clutches need adjusted. Nope the were gone. Lesson learned. What's better than a pig in a poke, 2 pigs in a poke. I rented a D3K last fall to do some finish grading. Nice machine. Would like to get a young guy on an old machine. The 2 I'm looking at are pedal steer. I enjoy the old school stuff. Unfortunately no big shed at my place so work on everything in the big shop. Hoping to hear them run in Feb.
I appreciate the input from everyone.

Bob Cowdery said:

I have a JD450B loader with a 4 in1 buckets. HLR trans. Guy said the steering clutches need adjusted. Nope the were gone. Lesson learned. What's better than a pig in a poke, 2 pigs in a poke. I rented a D3K last fall to do some finish grading. Nice machine. Would like to get a young guy on an old machine. The 2 I'm looking at are pedal steer. I enjoy the old school stuff. Unfortunately no big shed at my place so work on everything in the big shop. Hoping to hear them run in Feb.
I appreciate the input from everyone.

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Young guy on an old machine? I resemble that remark! All my iron is 70s/80s and it's all older than I am.

The newer stuff is more tolerant of bad/careless operators, as well as "appliance operators" whose level of mechanical aptitude stops at reading a dipstick at best. Old iron requires a different approach.