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D6D Color, Cat or Old Cat yelow
- Thread starter shopguy
- Start date
OzDozer
Senior Member
Cats were painted Hiway Yellow from Dec 7, 1931 to June 1979. From June 1979, the change to the "new" Caterpillar Yellow was introduced gradually - unlike the original change from Gray to Hiway Yellow - which was introduced across the entire line on one specific day. You'd need to find the build date of your tractor to get some idea - and even then, you may have a "transition" tractor.
If you can find a spot somewhere, such as some untouched recess in a housing or on the tractor frame, you should be able to gradually and carefully scrape back down to the original paint color. The D6D was built from 1977 to 1996.
If you can find a spot somewhere, such as some untouched recess in a housing or on the tractor frame, you should be able to gradually and carefully scrape back down to the original paint color. The D6D was built from 1977 to 1996.
Construct'O
Senior Member
DPete
Senior Member
Looks good constructo, seems like the color change had to do with removing the lead from the paint and they couldn't get the same yellow without it. When the new color came out it almost looked beige, seems to be yellower now then at first or is it me.
plantman.uk
Well-Known Member
Nice pictures...d6 highline nice machine
OzDozer
Senior Member
DPete - Yes, I believe what you've stated is correct. The "new" Cat Yellow was the result of lead removal from the paint - and yes, IMO the new color was a crap beige shade (it got nicknamed "baby-s*** yellow", around here - 
)
I can recall all us local contractors were appalled when it appeared, it seemed that Cat had lost something in the translation.
Anytime the brother and I repainted our Cats (which we did about every 3 yrs), we used a local brand of "construction yellow", which was a nice golden yellow.
The local paint was about 6% lead, and we added leaded petrol (gasoline) for thinners - and that leaded petrol would give a stunning gloss to the finish!
OH&S would have heart failure today, at the amount of lead we sprayed around back then! - but we were careful not to chew on the paintwork!
) I can recall all us local contractors were appalled when it appeared, it seemed that Cat had lost something in the translation.
Anytime the brother and I repainted our Cats (which we did about every 3 yrs), we used a local brand of "construction yellow", which was a nice golden yellow.
The local paint was about 6% lead, and we added leaded petrol (gasoline) for thinners - and that leaded petrol would give a stunning gloss to the finish!
OH&S would have heart failure today, at the amount of lead we sprayed around back then! - but we were careful not to chew on the paintwork!