Fiat 70CI. Repairs, modifications and stories.

[nutwood]

The intent of this thread is to provide a single point of reference for owners of old Fiat dozers.
There's quite a few of these dozers still out there, hard at work. There's also quite a lot of hard won knowledge out there.
The idea is to try to get some of this knowledge recorded in the one place, rather than locked away in the heads of the various owners and mechanics.
If you have had to repair or modify a 70CI, please record your story for posterity. Images are nice, but not compulsory.
If you have a 70CI story, broken, bogged, or just having fun, please, let's have it. Images are nice, and compulsory!
If you have a question about fixing a 70CI, fire away. The only thing I ask is that you take the trouble to tell us how it worked out. Nothing worse than spending a heap of time helping someone with a problem and never hearing the end of the story.:beatsme

To set the general tone, here's some images of my trusty 70CI (says AD7, still a 70CI) solving a small problem of a rock sticking out of the ground right in front of a gateway. All our rocks around here are floaters and I had a theory that if a rock stuck out of the ground, it could be dug out. Unfortunately the images start near the end of the story, about five hours after the start, and don't show the forty or so other large rocks that were dug out along the way. The image before I started would have shown basically flat ground with a rock, about 12" x 16" and sticking 10" up, just in the way every time you went through the gate. I proved my point, it stuck out and it was dug out, but that was the last time I expressed that theory!
Mind you, it was also the last time I had to dodge that rock when I went into the paddock.

 

[Garrie Denny]

utwood good idea as I thik i have said but please leave a christian name so i know im talking with a human, thanks garrie

 

[DirtHauler]

Is that one of those "tree pushers" I have heard about people having on dozers in aussie and NZ?

 

[Lever94]

Hi Nutwood, good idea. You get treated like a lepper when you mention you have a Fiat bulldozer. I have Fiat Bd12, Which is 125hp naturally aspirated. It has served me well. I have built 2 shed sites, one water tank site ( 160 k liters ) and a dam, Plus minor tracks and stump clearing. I will post some photos when they let me.

Regards
Martin

 

[nutwood]

Hi Garrie, hope you don't mind but I prefer to not use names on the net. Ditto rego numbers in images, private e.mails addresses etc, etc. Of course, it's entirely possible I'm not human also. The idea of this thread is that it's not about me, it's about Fiat dozers. If it becomes a useful resource it'll be thanks to Fiat owners who contribute.

Yep, that's a tree pusher. When it's not pushing trees it's also useful for seeing the blade angle and height as it pokes up just nicely where you can see it. I don't think I have any images of it in action but next bit of track building, I'll see what I can do.

Regarding putting images up, I found this https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?21903-How-to-add-pics-to-forum-posts which gives some good info on how to do it. Further down there's some suggestions for software to reduce images to a size that'll be accepted (640 x 640). My images above are 640 x 480. I'll be interested to see a BD12 as I've never met one before

 

[Jeembawb]

Nice pics nutwood (looks like you got the pic posting thing mastered) - she looks in good condition & i do like the tree pusher linkage setup (some pics of that please when you get a chance) - my tree pushers go back onto the c frame & rest on the blade which is a pain when you want to tilt or angle the blade.

Jimbob

P.S. ok seen the pic posting info you posted just b4 my post

 

[Jeembawb]

Some Pics

Ok here goes for adding pics - 1 is my 1st rig after doing the head studs etc and getting a bit carried away - 2 is my third rig with my Dad having a play on it just after I got it (points awarded for guessing what the tank at the back is) - 3 is where it sits now waiting for some steering clutches that work (thanks Nutwood)

Jimbob

 

[nutwood]

Hey, nothing wrong with those images. Your #1 rig seems similar to mine but #3 is a different setup altogether.
Not too sure about that tank. It's not some sort of supplementary cooling system is it? Surely it's not diesel? I'd be nervous with any sort of liquid (well most liquids ) just behind my head like that, especially when the rest of the machine looks like it was set up with falling timber in mind. How about a closer shot before I give up?
I see you have a nice spot for your repair. How far from home is that?

 

[Garrie Denny]

As the question was what is it id say a water-tank from a caravan, its purpouse id need another guess, is that a fire extinguiser i see hanging on the left behind your dads left shoulder position ? if it is fantastic, you never know when youll need one,good safety back-up.

 

[Jeembawb]

Both right on the caravan water tank as a supplementary cooling system - when i got this one i knew it had a broken head stud (you can lift it up & down) and that it seems to only leak outwards (lucky) and since i haven't gotten over the last head stud job and really just needed this thing to finish off a few jobs in the short term - i cheated & hooked up a garden hose with an inline drip system tap handy to the operator & ran the hose straight into the radiator cap Just had to wrap some thread tape around the stud to limit the leak from there & every few passes when backing up just top up the radiator - You know it's enough when you get misted from the fan spray if you don't see it start to come out the radiator .

Yeah i do carry a fire extinguisher Garrie, but thats not it & its not usually strapped in - with the amount of grease & oil & diesel under any old dozer they are a real firebomb & go up real quick - the bloke i bought this one off was welding mesh on his scrub canopy on his newish D4 while i was rewiring the Fiat to be able to get it onto a truck - he had an extinguisher nearby but it gets away pretty quick. No, that red thing hanging from the canopy just in front of left shoulder is a stubbie cooler for tallies that has a couple of eyelets to enable a short rope to the roof - it has a couple of functions; 1. you can tell what angle you are on & at what stage it will tip over (if you live to tell the tale) 2. when you create speed bumps the rocking motion is enough for it to whack you in the face to teach you not to do that ointhead 3. you can put a cooling beverage in it but because of #2, i only have soft plastic bottles of water in it instead of hard glass 750mm bottles

I am lucky the m/c stopped on a flat bit of track - but to get there is pretty steep (4wd only) but not too far from home.

It does seem to be a little unusual in it's ram setup compared to almost all other 70ci AD7's & later. I do prefer the other (std) setup as it seems to be more responsive and its always a worry when you're doing scrub & tree work with a lot o big trees & branches getting pretty close to the hoses & fittings etc - one of them smashed the tilt rams fitting off (need to build a guard around that).

 

[nutwood]

1. you can tell what angle you are on & at what stage it will tip over ...

Could you expand a little on how you calibrated this device?!

I wondered about those hoses. I often have trees coming up the side trying to tear away what they can. I've always been glad the throttle is on the other side to the master clutch. If you can't get one, you can get the other!
I'm with you on the need for a tilt ram guard. When I bought my dozer it had some impressive gouges in the shaft. Wouldn't have thought you could have achieved them with rocks. Of course they were on the underside of the ram where they couldn't be seen until it started leaking. $900 later...

 

[Jeembawb]

Could you expand a little on how you calibrated this device?!

counted the bruises in my head

I wondered about those hoses. I often have trees coming up the side trying to tear away what they can. I've always been glad the throttle is on the other side to the master clutch. If you can't get one, you can get the other!
I'm with you on the need for a tilt ram guard. When I bought my dozer it had some impressive gouges in the shaft. Wouldn't have thought you could have achieved them with rocks. Of course they were on the underside of the ram where they couldn't be seen until it started leaking. $900 later...

Yeah - i had to do one of the big 6" rams on #3. Even just buying the vee pack seals was a few hundred bucks! Saved a few bucks by using JB weld to fill up the grooves in the rod, then polish it down with wet & dry - worked a treat!

 

[nutwood]

I can see I'm going to have to investigate this JB weld. It's a new one for me. The gouges in my shaft were about 1/4" deep. Would it have handled that sort of damage? I replaced the shaft, hence the $900. The seals weren't too bad but 0.5m of 2" moly and some serious welding did the damage.
Agree with you about the stability. One day when I've got a big excavator handy I'd like to make the experiment and find just where the roll-over point is. I suspect it's way past my comfort zone!

 

[Jeembawb]

I can see I'm going to have to investigate this JB weld. It's a new one for me. The gouges in my shaft were about 1/4" deep. Would it have handled that sort of damage? I replaced the shaft, hence the $900. The seals weren't too bad but 0.5m of 2" moly and some serious welding did the damage.
Agree with you about the stability. One day when I've got a big excavator handy I'd like to make the experiment and find just where the roll-over point is. I suspect it's way past my comfort zone!

wow - 1/4" grooves might be too much for JB but brazing could work for that but doing the job right is a new rod in that case i'm sure - or - just before i got #3 dozer i was looking at putting a tilt ram on #1 - i found a rural tractor dealership with BareCo parts that could get a new bareco ram 12" x 4" x 2" for $250ish (definately less than 300) which was cheaper than 2nd hand harvester rams or chopping down another ram to suit.

As to roll over point - the bloke that had my #1 & #2 dozers said that they will slide (with the aid of rocks he said) sideways before they would tip - i guess if they slide & then hit a root or a rock you are in trouble - i am pretty sure i will chicken out way before then - & i'd also like to know where the oil pickup is before going too crazy

 

[nutwood]

I can confirm the sliding. Good sphincter tightening exercise skittering a couple of metres sideways down hill! I reckon if you were going to roll one of these it'd be smoothing banks. That's certainly where I've got very nervous. Something like the track where your dozer's "parked" and you're trying to tidy that bank on the high side. The road stops the slide and the angle get's very scary!
I considered going the BareCo path when I fixed my tilt ram but they're not a very heavy duty ram. Good if they were up out of harms way but my tilt ram cops a beating.
Have you ever seen one of these machines with the ability to angle hydraulically? Apparently there are some around with two tilt rams but I haven't heard of one that can angle, although I can't see it'd be that hard to engineer.

 

[Jeembawb]

I can confirm the sliding. Good sphincter tightening exercise skittering a couple of metres sideways down hill! I reckon if you were going to roll one of these it'd be smoothing banks. That's certainly where I've got very nervous. Something like the track where your dozer's "parked" and you're trying to tidy that bank on the high side. The road stops the slide and the angle get's very scary!
I considered going the BareCo path when I fixed my tilt ram but they're not a very heavy duty ram. Good if they were up out of harms way but my tilt ram cops a beating.
Have you ever seen one of these machines with the ability to angle hydraulically? Apparently there are some around with two tilt rams but I haven't heard of one that can angle, although I can't see it'd be that hard to engineer.

I have seen this website before and liked some of their tilt ram protection & figured their power angle blade setup would work with the c frame system - (although rams may need protection) - people say you only need one tilt ram but i reckon it would work better with 2 (then more hoses & more guards)

http://www.rocklandmfg.com/Dozers/blade_index.htm

 

[22a]

Have never owned or worked a 70CI but considered buying one at one time. Overall I have only heard good reports regarding them. One owner told me that he
had worked along side a D4D for years with one, moved more dirt and had fewer breakdowns,keep in mind the D4D was also a great machine. Others have told
similar stories.
I believe a broken head stud can be a problem with them and the bevel gear takes setting correctly.
As far as operating I would like the clutch to work the same as a Cat, don't know if they can be converted.
As far as I can ascertain these were a great machine and it is unfortunate that something similar is not manufactured to-day.
Hope to see more replies to thisthread.

 

[Garrie Denny]

What are you refering to when you mention bevel gear ? thanks garrie.

 

[22a]

What are you refering to when you mention bevel gear ? thanks garrie.

Crown Wheel & Pinion.

 

[Garrie Denny]

Sorry ,but i dont see the connection with a broken head stud and the crown/wheel & pinion, could you elaberate please and make me a better and smarter man? thanks Garrie.