D8l

[john1066]

I searched here and no one had pics of a D8L so i thought I would post some

 

[Northart]

Cat D8L

Hi John 1066,

The Cat L series dozers was out before digital cameras. Hence maybe the lack of pictures on the net. Unless scanned,even then they are of poor quality.

I have D8L pictures on film, as I'm sure other operators do.

The L series were a powerful Cat. The Cat D8L and Cat D9L, were real grunts. Lotta power ! And quick ! I really liked them. Thought I was in heaven !

The Cat "N" series were real dogs in my opinion. Gutless to say !



The thing I never liked is the track slap ( jerking) in turning or reverse. Real annoying. Especially backing up a hill or steep grade.

Lot of contractors put their own top carrier roller on to cure the problem. Later Cat come out with their own as an option. .

 

[fiat41b]

d8l is one of the first dozer i worked around very good machine almost bought one once
but went with a new certified d8k plus 8k is easier to move as the l is reall a 9
Freesen INC. runs d8ls and they have big hooks on the back of them to pull the twin engine scrapers out of the borrow holes the also have 3' wide tracks very nice thers one at the power plant down the road from me.

 

[Northart]

Cat L Series

Hello Fiat41B,

The Cat L Series were the most powerful Cats I ever been on. Exceptional is what I have to say.

Sure beat the doggy N Series all to hell !

Pushed Cat 651's with the Cat D9L, them guys never got to relax, they're gone, outa my pit ! LOL Perfectly matched .

The Cat D8L was a dream, full U dozer, perfect for mass dozing on the smaller ?? jobs. LOL I sure fell in love with the L Series . :usa

 

[Dug Overburden]

Cat D8L radial rippers

Cat had a radial designed-narrorow beam multi shank ripper. Never looked like it belonged on the machine. Never heard anything positive about it, & some California contrators put D9H rippers in place of the radial. Was this a commity design or did they field test it? As a side note, Cat continued building the D8L in Brazil about 5 years after the discontinued in North America.

Dug.

 

[Northart]

Okay ?

Hello Dug Overburden,

Okay, what is a "radial designed " ?

What is a " commity design" ?

I never heard these terms ! I plead ignorance .

 

[Dug Overburden]

Radial Design ripper

I'll try and explain a Radial ripper I may not be correct. The radial design follows the fixed hinge point where it is hooked the the tractor. A commity is a group that gets together and agrees on a design. I don't think much thought went into designing the ripper when the D8L was introduced. As soon as the D9N was introduced the radial ripper was discontinued.

Dug

 

[Dug Overburden]

Pairalell ripper

A compairson photo of a pairalellagram ripper. The ripper angle is always pairalell to the machine. It's late pardon the spelling.

(Sorry it's not a D8L)

Dug

 

[firedozer]

Hey Dug, One thought was the radial ripper swung up higher so you had more rear clearance when the machine went through a low area. It had a very aggressive attack angle on the point for penatration. The downfall was the shanks were a little closer spaced. The machine had a hard time ripping next to a slope.

 

[Cmark]

Rippers

A Radial Ripper(953), then a Variable Pitch Parallelogram Ripper(11) and then a Fixed Parallelogram Ripper. (#1 & 3 off the net. #2 from my collection.)

 

[D5G]

Great pics John, are you on DHS too?

 

[Construct'O]

I searched here and no one had pics of a D8L so i thought I would post some

John is this your machine if it is,check the cutting edge and corner bits on your blade.They need replaced,the complete set not this one then another one like it show in the top picture.

If not your machine then tell the owner.Yeah i know your working in sand,but it still is wearing the bottom of the blade down and next thing you don't have any wear plates and the bolt holes are pulling out on down the road if you wait to long.

I hate it when i see wore out edges and corner bits on equipment.It is hard on the blade,slows production,and are really not that expensive or hard to change,so i ask why????

Nice straight older looking machine,thanks for sharing.Good luck:usa

 

[JimBruce42]

Here's my contribution to D8L's....



This one is [was] owned by Liberty Excavating out of Camp Hill, PA. It was pushin 627's when they were doing the bulk work on Silver Springs Shopping Center in Mechanicsburg, PA a few years ago

 

[john1066]

The top machine is my uncles its lucky if it sees 500 hrs a year the one with the ripper is ours we have a new set at the shop at all times but that machine hasn't moved in 2 years other than for snow removal. I know what your saying tho we always change the full edge they don't use it enough and don't worry about it its pretty much a toy for them

 

[counter]

nice pics!!!!

 

[Northart]

Description ?

Hi Dug Overburden and Cmark,

Ah, looks like , "commity = committee " a case of misspelling.


Radial ripper, is a term I never heard of . I always heard it called a fixed ripper. Like the " ATECO " brand ripper.

The shank was fixed, meaning you could not adjust angle. Except to raise or lower the shank, depth by pulling the pin.

The ATECO also had a ripper that was fixed, but could flop from side to side also. It would go around boulders rather than dig them up. Hated that one.

I searched all over the net looking for one, on a Cat D9G like I used to run. I see some even call it a hinge ripper.

The fixed parrallelogram and variable parrallelogram rippers I am well aware of.

Thanks for the clarification , Northart

 

[Dug Overburden]

Northart you got me on the spelling, happens when you stay awake to long!!

Your right about the agressive angle, it probably works great in a specialized application. The Ateco ripper you are referring that flops from side to side I aways called it a hinged "Clevis" ripper, I use to see lots of them on TD25's,D8H's & D9G's. There is a lot of Granite rock in Southern California,these at one one time were the ripper of choice (60's) I found a photo of a D9G spread in the early 1960's at Mangla dam. Guy F Atkinson had a lot of them!
Dug

Hi Dug Overburden and Cmark,

Ah, looks like , "commity = committee " a case of misspelling.


Radial ripper, is a term I never heard of . I always heard it called a fixed ripper. Like the " ATECO " brand ripper.

The shank was fixed, meaning you could not adjust angle. Except to raise or lower the shank, depth by pulling the pin.

The ATECO also had a ripper that was fixed, but could flop from side to side also. It would go around boulders rather than dig them up. Hated that one.

I searched all over the net looking for one, on a Cat D9G like I used to run. I see some even call it a hinge ripper.

The fixed parrallelogram and variable parrallelogram rippers I am well aware of.

Thanks for the clarification , Northart

 

[Dug Overburden]

Another D8L photo with ripper

Here's a nice side profile of a 4 Barrel Multi shank ripper.
Looks like this machine needs it's Rops installed

 

[CatSkinner77V]

You can praise D8L's all you like, they were decent machines (for battleship boat anchors) I worked for an outfit years ago that had a few 8L's and 9L's, just seemed like Caterpillar cheaped out on alot of things, like fuel tank mounts would break, the tin seemed to rattle off them regularly. The severe vertical climb the chain has to do at the rear end around the rear idler and up to the sprocket is just murder on undercarriage components as well. I bleed Cat yellow, but of all the series of the tractors Cat build the L and the N are by far the worst in my books.

 

[firedozer]

Cat Skinner 77V, I think one reason D8l's rattled apart was they were much faster then say 8K's. I remember some friends had a pair of L', and we had my 8K on the job too. Well being the operators we were we started to push side by side. Forget the 8L had more power, It flat out ran the 8K by quite a bit.
I think some of the losing tin and high under carriage wear is caused by the fact that in second gear the 8l moves almost as fast as the 8k in third at 3/4 throttle.
Had the 8L been easier to move the machine would have been a great hit. In Ca you could put one on a 7 axle and make weight only by climbing way up on the big neck. Then you had height problems. So most people moved them on 8 or 9 axle trailers.
The engine inthe 8L 3408 was derated in that application, so they got long life. The d342 in the 8k was a 1950's design that Cat kept updating till they got 300hp. out of it. The engine had a lot of problems at that hp.