old iron.

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If I have my old iron down, thats a Cletrac, built by/for Oliver back in the day. With a few modifications, for sure.

Impressive pics, BTW.
 
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I saw one of these on another forum. I can't recall exact details, but I beleive it was an early nursery tree harvester. Drive down the row, and it would dig the trees and spit them out the back to be bagged.

Danged if I can find the thread now.

you be right, i asked what the skinny on it was thats what i came up with..
 
Bet that old girl would really bellar under a load. Again thanks for the pics, old machinery is just plain and simple yet made this country great.
 
Bet that old girl would really bellar under a load. Again thanks for the pics, old machinery is just plain and simple yet made this country great.

Usually they had a Cummins under the hood with a Spicer(?) transmission. Cummins for the most part were very operator friendly, that is quiet, with a modest attempt at quieting them. Wagner built some for Deere in the mid sixties, and then Deere bought them out. Not at all like Deere's first successful 4wd (the 70 &7520), which did not have outboard planetary drives, around 1970-72. There was an earlier Deere made 4wd with a Detroit 671, the 8010, early sixties, which were recalled and rebuilt as 8020's. Just about all were remade in that fashion, but a few were not sent in for the free makeover. Detroits, for the most part, were not quiet power, and proof that noise did not equal power.
 
OK. Not the largest or oldest or even having to do with lumber per se, but most here remember a lot of this stuff, used in some way or fashion. Large pictures, these of a pulling tractor stored at LeSueur County Pioneer Power show grounds near me. Home made, based around a tank engine.
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Sawmill at LeSueur Pioneer Power. Can be powered by steam engine or a stationary diesel. Not the biggest, does an OK job.
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The power for the sawmill at the time. Again, not a large engine at all. Much bigger stationary "powering" three generators, one pictured below. The show also has two diesel powered generators, one a three cylinder MacIntosh started by air and one a much smaller four taken from city powerplants in the area.
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A large scraper. The rear engine, a 3406, is blown right now. It has been started and moved, never during the show for safety reasons. Used on I-90, 60 miles south of here 20-30 years ago and who knows where before that.
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After a few weeks on that, you may want a vacation. In Minnesota, that means you go fishing. I believe a '47 Woody.
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If you went fishing instead of working during the season, of course, it was because you were or because you wanted to be fired.
So instead of that comfy Cat you may end up running one of these.
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Maybe you were like me and sick of scrapers, so you got to do something else. After all, there are easier ways to load dirt.

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A lonely D8. No history known.

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Thanks for the pics, reminds me of going to a steam show that was I believe in London Ohio when young. Remember watching a guy stand on the rear wheel of an Oil Pull, grabbed a lever on the fly wheel and jumped off to get it started. Big Bill said if it ever back fired that guy would get killed.
 
Fantastic pics Jeff! I love ALL Old Iron. Cat, JD, AC, MM, Case, Ford, IHC, etc...

Never thought you'd post pics of IHC iron. Thanks bro! Looks like a TD18, but may be larger. A TD14 would look similar, but only has one stack (and is an I-4 instead of a six). See the ear protection? Those big IHC crawlers are even louder when there's only a pair of 8" long stacks poking out of the hood. My budy fired up his TD18A for me before he installed the mufflers. Holy CRAP! I'll overlook the "instead of that comfy Cat" thinly veiled IHC insult.....:D

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Never thought you'd post pics of IHC iron. Thanks bro! Looks like a TD18, but may be larger. A TD14 would look similar, but only has one stack (and is an I-4 instead of a six). See the ear protection? Those big IHC crawlers are even louder when there's only a pair of 8" long stacks poking out of the hood. My budy fired up his TD18A for me before he installed the mufflers. Holy CRAP! I'll overlook the "instead of that comfy Cat" thinly veiled IHC insult.....:D

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As a former scraper jockey, I have a knowledge of such things. Cats were the most comfortable, period. Still are today. Terex scrapers were designed by Nazi scientists obsessed with the discomfort of operators. Any wheeled ride would be more comfortable than the bench seated cat, save maybe a bobcat. Trust me on that, the former employer had a push cat, D9, with a bumper in the front that would pivot a little, no blade at all, and whatever cushion on the seat you brought from home. The other one had a better seat and a roll bar, with a springy half blade. The "push pig" as we called it was push started more than once.
Loud? Yeah, and you are very gracious in calling those mufflers. But no where near as loud as the starting motor on the D8.
 
I know the TD24's had twin stacks. Don't recall on the 18's. I cat logged with an old johnson bar TD20, and we loaded with a Drott TD20 that we took the clamshell off and put log forks on it. I don't know if it was the design of Drott, but it was a noisey SOB. I never wore ear protection, but I did when I ran it.
 
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