Cat 951-C in my sights

[GregsHD]

most new trucks and cars come with synthetic oil in the crankcase, so I would think the engineers know more than me.. both my toyota trucks came with synthetic oil and are doing fine...one has 10k and the other 30+k miles on them..

I wasn't referring to automotive engines, or anything new, especially Japanese. Could be an old wives tale, or the new synthetics are not as slick?

Anyway I don't want to polute this thread with any more oil talk. Love the pics Nitelite!

 

[Nitelite]

Greg, no such thing as polluting my thread. Comparing a combination of others ideas and experiences is how we learn from each other on this forum. I appreciate all of your comments and no doubt, you have valuable experience.

 

[Nitelite]

I poured seventeen more gallons of hydraulic oil in the 951 today. That brought it back up to the full mark. Most of the fluid was lost in a five foot circle area where the hose blew.. I will need to remove the contaminated dirt and replace it. I will distribute and light up a brush pile with the oil soaked dirt.

 

[DMiller]

When My hydraulic line on the loader mast popped last year I lost a snail trail of around 15 gallons, LUCKILY the grass has overgrown that area and it is no longer visible. Where I swapped hoses we did similar NL, collected all the branches and cutting, had a brush burn that ate much of it up.

 

[Dickjr.]

GregsHD , I have thought about going to 5W30 , the truck has 85000 miles now , its an 05 model with the 5.4. It rattles a little when you come off idle. I hear all kinds of crap on these engines , from they are junk to they will run 300K miles. It has fair power gets about the same mileage as any other half ton. I do know I won't attempt a spark plug change , it will either be traded or I will go ahead and pull the heads and do it that way. It runs fine. I thought about selling it and maybe looking at a lease but its paid for and a lease for me , a commoner , seems to be a waste of funds.

 

[DMiller]

Morning DJ, you are probably hearing piston slap, they fit the later engines a lot looser than used to for heatup swell compensation so many as my old chevy's had that same rattle. Oil will not change that nor will fuels, will not hurt anything until gets a bit older and the pistons try to turn sideways in the bores then they may score up.

 

[GregsHD]

GregsHD , I have thought about going to 5W30 , the truck has 85000 miles now , its an 05 model with the 5.4. It rattles a little when you come off idle. I hear all kinds of crap on these engines , from they are junk to they will run 300K miles. It has fair power gets about the same mileage as any other half ton. I do know I won't attempt a spark plug change , it will either be traded or I will go ahead and pull the heads and do it that way. It runs fine. I thought about selling it and maybe looking at a lease but its paid for and a lease for me , a commoner , seems to be a waste of funds.

Yep those plugs can be a bear, if you follow the Ford TSB for plug removal with the addition of ATF/kerosene mix and lots of time gently twisting they usually come out without breaking.

The 4.6/5.4 modular engines can produce rattling from various valve train components plus slight exh manifold leaks. Stethoscope or screwdriver to the ear will track it down.

Later model modular Fords have longer piston skirts to reduce slap, if it always rattles hot or cold it's most likely valve train related.

 

[Dickjr.]

It only rattles a little off idle. I had it at the dealer , asked out of curiosity about it. The shop guy told me I could put a new engine in it and it would be the same within 4K miles. No other noises. It just has rolled 85k miles , I hope to get another 100 out of it.

 

[Nitelite]

Good point Dick. No way I'll ever lease. I want to own it or leave it alone, just like my home, I am a owner, not a renter. I always taught my children to be owners, not leasers or renters. There is just no future in paying for something that will never be yours.

 

[Nitelite]

Got a few hours in on the D4-E today. There is a lot of dirt to move to make way for the new building. I have been working from the bottom of the hill with the 951 C loader but today I took the dozer to the top and started terracing. I will put in 6' wide terracing to catch and turn the water coming off the hill. Probably will need to drop about five levels at three feet drop each to get down to the final grade of the pad. I need to end up with a 100' x 100' pad on fresh dug hard ground, ready to place concrete on and build. The parking area will be on compacted clay from the spoil and fill excavated from the overburden from the new pad.

The day was cut short because I broke the forward reverse shuttle lever off. After inspection, the lever has been broken and welded before. I cleaned it up and welded it but then the storms hit. So, that ended my progress for the day.

 

[DMiller]

Weak spot on a tubular lever, I would consider changing to a solid stick but they probably set that as is for weight on the valve and future wear. Did or could you sleeve over the weld joint?

Does look like good progress.

 

[Nitelite]

That is a solid stock. The appearance that it is tubular is because whoever welded it before evidently veed it very shallow before welding it. The dark center is actually rust of the center core where there was no weld. Before I welded it I veed both pieces down to almost a sharp point and made multiple passes to fill back in to full thickness. No need to sleeve over unless it happens again but I am confident in my repair.

More rain today so I will work in the shop building a set of forks for the ag tractor. I have a set of old tomotor forks to work with. I just need to come up with a quick attach frame to attach them to the tractor.

 

[Metalman 55]

We are vacationing in South Fla & yesterday coming across Rt 70 near Okeechobee we passed a 6 wheel army trucks like yours parked in a yard. Thought of taking a picture & posting it ..........maybe it is a sister of yours!

 

[Metalman 55]

That is a solid stock. The appearance that it is tubular is because whoever welded it before evidently veed it very shallow before welding it. The dark center is actually rust of the center core where there was no weld. Before I welded it I veed both pieces down to almost a sharp point and made multiple passes to fill back in to full thickness. No need to sleeve over unless it happens again but I am confident in my repair.

More rain today so I will work in the shop building a set of forks for the ag tractor. I have a set of old tomotor forks to work with. I just need to come up with a quick attach frame to attach them to the tractor.

We purchased some quick attach "blanks" aftermarket from a local equipment dealer & made several attachments, in this case a boom assembly welded to the blank, for our skid steer loader. Not sure what your quick attach is like on the ag tractor, but maybe something like that would work? The blanks that we bought were reasonably priced too & were an excellent fit to the machine.

 

[nicky 68a]

It's very nice to catch up on your progress Nitelite.
Hydraulic hoses can be a pain,and I like to use Cat for most things.Our local hose dealers don't have a good reputation and I haven't used them for years until an emergency on a D8R in January.I was busy with another D8H 100 miles away and reluctantly called a hose doctor.
He fixed it at a good price,but it blew 3 futhur times in a week dumping all the Cat hyd oil that I'd supplied onto the ground. To be fair,they didn't charge me the repair labour,but I'd lost days in downtime and oil costs.I was also thinking I must have a valve stuck that was causing the problem and asked my fitter Tony Coates to drive up to investigate.
He advised me to go up myself and see what the hose man was doing about it.
He was right. I oversaw the chap fitting it for a fourth time and immediately realised he was just untrained in basic spanner work.
I showed him how to do it and try his best with hygein in rough field conditions.
It hasn't leaked since.

 

[Nitelite]

I agree on the Cat replacement hose nicky. There was very little price difference in the aftermarket hose and the hose from Cat. Either hose had to be made up as it is not an off the shelf item. The cost of lost hydro oil and the clean up is a major factor when a hose is blown. I chose to pay for the experience possessed by cat in the making up of the hose. New ends and a proper length along with the proper o rings to facilitate a quick and easy instillation justified the purchase price. The hose has about 10 hours on it at this time and seems ok. Good to hear from you!

 

[Nitelite]

Been working to get the boat ready for kids fishing trip. New water pump, fuel lines and filter, clean fuel tank, lower unit oil change, and new batteries. Working on brakes on the M151-A1 and still going over small projects on the M939 5 ton. I did manage to get in about ten hours on the track loader digging out to build a large building to house all of the toys.

 

[Nitelite]

Working from the top with the dozer and from the bottom with the track loader.

 

[DMiller]

Looks like good and fairly dry for working, hope this rain doesn't set in there and set you back awhile. Can hardly wait to get back in my own saddle!

 

[Nitelite]

The clay could have been just a little bit dryer. The consistence just made it load the uc up with mud when turning and it wanted to stick to the bucket. I would much more like to work in those conditions rather than dry dusty soil. The reason I shut her down was it started raining and began to get kind of muddy. I didn't really want to quit, the old gal really wanted to work and I just was along for the ride. Fueled her to the brim and I am ready to go again.