Shimmy1
Senior Member
Figured some of you might appreciate what I picked up today. I'll post a few details later, but here are some pics. I'm pretty sure that we stole it, only had to give $12,000. For the pair.
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New addition to the fleet
- Thread starter Shimmy1
- Start date
Figured some of you might appreciate what I picked up today. I'll post a few details later, but here are some pics. I'm pretty sure that we stole it, only had to give $12,000. For the pair.
Shimmy1
Senior Member
I've watched that rig make it's way around the country since I was old enough to remember, and was in direct competition with the previous owner for the last 20 years. His dad bought the tractor brand new in 1979. It never saw a trailer except for the few times that it went to Butler for repairs. We got lucky in the auction because they couldn't get it started when the guy came to do the listing. On Tuesday, we got permission and went down to the farm where it was sitting, and were able to get it started and walk it around. If I'd have been paying attention on here the last few years, I'd have known right away that it needed the glow plugs to start, even at 75°F. The owner of the farm where it was at came out to visit with us, and after he mentioned we needed to heat the plugs up for it to start, I think it fired up before it had made a complete revolution. The undercarriage it pretty worn, but I think with some new grousers welded on it will last a long time. If I put 100 hours a year on it, I'll be pretty tickled.
Shimmy1
Senior Member
Ya buddy.
Shimmy1
Senior Member
Curious as to why I'd need to be so careful with new pads? Good thing is both finals have been rebuilt in the last 4000 hours, steering clutches a little before that, and it's had a new equalizer beam at some point.Those were nice tractors . Perfect size machine for most jobs around a farm .
Drop some new tires on it . Just be real careful after that …...
You will get to liking it so much ya wont want to operate anything else . LOL !
Be careful because you'll have the Challenger and scraper up for sale once that old iron is "pulling it's weight".
Nice find.
You need to be careful about how much time you spend on that machine . They are highly addictive .
Your gonna like that tractor Shimmy . Ever run a 7G ?
Shimmy1
Senior Member
This tractor has pushed out thousands of trees.
No. Have spent quite a little on a 7H though. Everyone around here thinks I'm crazy for buying it. I just tell them that this tractor has a lot of work left in it, and where else are you going to find this much tractor for this cheap.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
That has to be one of the last Cat machines with a CCU. When did Cat discontinue the CCU? The county I'm in recently sold their 2 direct drive D8H's with CCU's and scrapers (no blades) at an auction. They used 1 of them to work on the road to my property. I think they were 1968 with pup motors. Finning would only give $10,000 trade in when they bought a D6N in 2004 so the county kept them. One had about 90% undercarriage. I remember one of the operators saying to check the cable regularly because it is easy to change before it breaks but a pain if the cable breaks. They had cable reels on the scrapers. Also check the pulleys as they can destroy the cable.
What happened to your competition that was running it, just wanted to sell it, retired?
What happened to your competition that was running it, just wanted to sell it, retired?
Shimmy1
Senior Member
Passed away.
Junkyard
Senior Member
Awesome deal. I’m jealous! Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Welder Dave
Senior Member
That's not good. Doesn't sound like he was too old.
crane operator
Senior Member
Looks like a great deal shimmy1. Robust machine and simple to work on, and you know a little history on the machine, all plusses in my opinion. And it was close.
At that kind of money, it doesn't have to work very much to pay for itself.
Its sad or good to say (depending on your viewpoint), but its more likely to be running 20 years from now, than the equipment that's 40 years newer than it is. The newer stuff will all be down because the computer boards are "no longer available".
At that kind of money, it doesn't have to work very much to pay for itself.
Its sad or good to say (depending on your viewpoint), but its more likely to be running 20 years from now, than the equipment that's 40 years newer than it is. The newer stuff will all be down because the computer boards are "no longer available".
Welder Dave
Senior Member
I've heard 7G's are really easy to service too. If I recall the engine can be pulled in about an hour. Everything is in the open once the hood and side panels come off. Any idea how many hours it has? The scrapers by themself bring at least 8K at auction
I don't know about the engine but a number of years ago I helped pull a transmission on a 7G and it didn't take very long. IIRC we (2 of us) had the trans pulled in a couple hours. It was an OROPS machine so I'm guessing one with a factory cab would have taken longer.
DPete
Senior Member
If you want to have a little fun push load it with the 7H. I had a cat & can for years, you can do nice work because you travel slow enough to keep the job smoothed out and you can do things with it not possible with rubber. Yes you stole it at that price. Have fun