Bucket List – Big Boy Toys

Most of us have some things we would like to do; ever since the movie of the same name these items have become known as a Bucket List. I had a chance to accomplish one of my goals this past Sunday.

My father had operated Caterpillar tractors in logging operations in northern California during the late ’30s and early ’40s. I grew up listening to his stories of “cat skinning” (as it was then known) of his time working in the woods.

Bear with me…this does go somewhere.

Last Sunday I had taken my motorcycle out for a ride. Going down a side road I spotted some crawler tractors that date to the ’30s. I went up to the house, introduced myself, and ended up speaking to a guy who had been collecting crawler tractors for several decades.

He gave me a tour of his collection, which includes gear going back to 1918. The collection included Caterpillar, Cletrac, and Oliver brands and numbered more than 3 dozen models. Toward the end of the tour I mentioned I had never actually run a dozer. He offered to let me run one of his D2 Caterpillars.

The D2 was Caterpillar’s first diesel tractor. Originally, Caterpillar produced crawler tractors for agricultural use. These were powered by gasoline engines. Later on, when the interstate system began to be built, Caterpillar changed over to diesel-powered construction equipment, the image most of us have of Caterpillar products today. The D2 series (1938 – 1957) bridged the two worlds by means of various accessories that could make the crawler suitable for bulldozing, running agricultural equipment, moving material, and running other equipment by means of hydraulic power.

I accepted his offer. We walked over to the Cat, went through the involved starting process, and I jumped into the driver’s seat. I raised the blade, put the Cat in gear, and off I went. (We were in a large open area in an old orchard, safe for novice drivers.)

A note on starting an old Cat. Electric starters were not up to the task of starting a diesel engine in those days so Caterpillar tractors had small gasoline-powered starting engines known as pony engines. You start this engine (rope wrapped around the flywheel then pull the rope to spin the pony) then, once the pony is running,  pull a couple of levers to have it spin over the main engine. The main engine turns until it has built up oil and fuel pressure. Turn on fuel to the main engine and hope it starts. Once the main engine does start you disengage the pony engine and shut it down. Starting the Cat thus takes 5 – 10 minutes and is a job in itself. (Later Cats had an electric start pony engine, and by the ’50s the pony was replaced with a heavy-duty electric starter.)

Steering is done by means of two hand operated levers. Pull back the right lever and the Cat turns right. Pull back the left and the Cat turns left. The trick is to learn how much the Cat responds to different amounts of lever travel.

Driving the dozer was a hoot. It didn’t take long for me to be able to turn, back up, raise and lower the blade, and get used to running the machine. I had not taken my camera with me so have no photos of this, but I was invited back to take pictures at a later date. I promised to give the guy copies of the photos I plan to take.

Here is a photo, from the web, of a D2 cat:

D2 Caterpillar tractor

So I had a chance to complete a Bucket List item, running a Caterpillar dozer. It was a good day.

Around the house, we took off the winter mulch from the flower beds, dug out some blooming dandelions, and sat by a fire in the fire pit. It feels like spring is here but, as it is only mid-March, I am anticipating some cold/bad weather before spring fully arrives. There is still snow on the slopes we pass on our daily commute.

Pam let KitCat out of her garage pen, so KitCat is now an outside cat here. The barn home Pam had originally planned is located outside of Glenwood in the higher elevations, where the weather is still too cold for relocation.  Rather than keep the poor kitten penned for another month, Pam decided to go with Plan B – forget the barn home and just let her out.  KitCat is staying around the house and garage and seems to like coming up to the deck and sitting under the fire pit. So far she is doing OK but seems frustrated the other cats (mainly the indoor/outdoor boys) will not play with her.

The Honda goes in for work on the airbag system, covered under warranty, this next Tuesday. The dealer will replace the airbag and some sensor hardware. Next weekend I plan to replace the passenger-front axle as it is making some noise indicating the flexible u-joint is worn out. At 357,000 miles this is not entirely unexpected but is still a pain.  The driver’s side axle appears to be OK, at least for now. Always something!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I’ll be renewing my passport this week.  Prices have gone up.

Both of my brothers retire in the next six weeks; both are then relocating.  Congratulations to them! Wish we were doing the same, but it will be some years yet.  Plans for the future are in the works [that will take time to come to fruition] for us.  In the meantime, it’s the weekday 8:00 – 5:00 grind and commute.

Happy Trails.