old caterpillar tractor at work

Very impressive, don't think I want to be a wingman. At that time all those ran on gasoline, I was talking to some guys at a show with one of those big old gasoline powered Cats, they told me what the fuel consumption was just at a show and it was a lot. My oldest is a 1941 R4 runs (barely now) on gasoline.
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"they told me what the fuel consumption was just at a show and it was a lot."

You got that right,
I my experience a good rule of thumb for old slow speed, low compression gasoline tractors is 1 gallon per hour for every 10-12 HP of loading. That's under load, not driving it in a parade or in somebody's dreams. Our Allis A is right at 60HP and will burn 5 gallons per hour pulling 4-16" plows. We just had our 22-36 IHC at a show and an older gent walked up and said "you know what 22-36 stands for dont ya??" 22 gallons of fuel before noon and 36 in the afternoon, LOL. I dont think he was very far off, depends on when the operator gets out of bed.
 
Reminds me of a storm we had in about 1965.
It dumped 30" on the level and drifted to about 12' on the road to grandpa and grandma's house.
They were snowed in for about 4 days. Dad put together a care package for them and I brought it to them cross country on a pair of army surplus skis that we had.
Dad included a fifth of whisky for Grandpa as he had been dry for a couple of days.
Boy was he happy to see me!
They had to use a D8 to open the road up as the drifts had compressed and hardened and nothing else could get through.
Thanks for the memory Larry.
 
Never was around those cats that old. Dad's is a D-4 and an old Traxcavator which is a tracked loader about the size of a D-6 Used to plow with the D-4 on about 10-15 gallon per day and could plow about that many acres per day. The other one would plow about 20-25 acres per day on about a gallon per acre. These are diesel models.
The D-4 is a 4G8 and the Traxcavator is a 10A1 for S/N's.
 
We had that storm up here in 2008/9. 36 inches of snow on the road. I still don't have my Caterpillar Twenty-two (4 Cyl gas, hand crank only) running yet. Oops. Might get another one this year. Boy! Will she be peeved!!
 
Another snow/dozer story for you.
I bought a Cat 955H traxcavator about 25 years ago. Used it to put a road in on my property then sold it a couple of years later.
Made out good on that.
One warm spring day I wanted to get out to my place so I used a plastic tobaggen and put a battery on it and waded through hip deep snow to get out to where the dozer was. Border Collie dog was following me in my tracks. About half way there he gave up and just layed there. So I went back and put him on the tobaggen and made him STAY on it.
Then I continued out to the Cat pulling him and the battery. Was plumb tuckered out when I got there.
The Cat started up good with just a whiff of ether. I warmed it up for a while then just lowered the bucket and walked it right out to the road.
I was amazed at what it would walk through.
That Traxcavator was the most fun toy I've ever owned. Wish I had kept it.
 
The big old gas tractors were thirsty, too. Guy was telling me that he needed to plow up the whole place when he got back from WWII. Had "the biggest Case they made", said he'd take a 55 gallon drum to the field and go until it was gone. Said he was never late for supper.
 

I love those old films but, not trying to split hairs, but the text under Larry's movie says they were diesel tractors.

"Caterpillar Tractor Company film demonstrating how diesel tractors can be used to plow roads and sidewalks across the United States and Canada in rural landscapes and residential areas. Silent with title cards."
 
Nice footage, rare to see old films preserved that well. Kinda neat to think some cameraman was out there in the freezing cold to capture those images. Thanks for sharing.
 
Four times in my life i have been involved in snow removal with dozers , 1963 and 1964 and again in 77 and 78 . While i was in high School i worked for a vary large construction Co. and the first big snow fall started the day before everything got shut down . I worked half a day during the school year, i had all my classes before lunch and would go to work . it started snowing like around third period and was putting it down . when i got out of school i drove home and changed into my work clothes and decided NOT to drive my car to work and just WALK the mile out to the shop . when i got to work my boss told me to get the ford tractor out of the back shop and clean the large parking lot . that turned into a loosen battle . at around 4:30 John came out and told me to just give up and put the Ford to bed in the big repair bay and to give him a hand getting one of the big Gallion graders started and one of the D 6's and we were going to put them in the front bay . Once in the shop John and i made sure the lights worked and that they were both charging . He and i were the last to leave that evening and John said you my want to take your company truck home tonight i told him nah it's fine setting nice and warm in the carpenter shop so he gave me a ride home . he told me you probably won't have school tomorrow and i told him that we probably would as we only ever had one day off due to a boiler break down when it was well below 0 . Got home in time to help my dad dig out the drive so he could get his car in . , had supper and after supper a buddy and i went bowling as it was just a half mile walk . Got back home around 10 and took m y shower and went to bed . At 1:30 Am the phone rings dad get up and answers it then stick his head into my bed room and says IT's YOUR BOSS. So i get up and answer it and John says COME AND GET ME I AM STUCK we have been called out by the state , what do you mean your stuck you have a four wheel drive Jeep pick up but ok i'll get the grader , no your going to need the 6 . well any ideas i had about driving out to the shop went by the wayside as i could not find my 56 ford as it was buried setting next to the house plus the fact the street was waist deep so ski's and poles out to the shop had to dig down to get my keys on the door . Got the D6 running and warming up and the thought of setting on it in this snow storm was NOT making my morning so went upp on the second floor of the parts room and got the heat houser and put it on already had the winter fan on it . Got the big door open and out the door we went plowed a little around the shop and closed the big door and off we went east bound U S 224 weaving around stuck semi.'s everywhere , got to john's home and yep sure enough he was high centered in his drive . By the time we got back to the shop it was getting light out and guy's were coming in anybody that could operate were coming in some had worked there before and some worked for other companys Other graders were dug out and tire chains went on ft blades were dug out some never been used we even dug out my dozer and put it to work and at times with some of the drift i came acroSs it was a task to push them out and it was a D9 G and it had a cab and heat . Then again the next year same thing only this time i did not have to go fetch the boss.
 
Reminds me of the winter of 48 & 48 in south central Idaho.41 Buick was buried,once the big Cat
came up the road we could go to town with the team and bobsled.
 
MY place in Ma gets snowed in quite often--gets too deep for the dump truck plow to move so use my Cat quite often


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That"s the same one my folks went thru...about Mar 15. I joined the army the year before- folks sold the farm and had to cancel the scheduled auction. Farm was in western Stearns County. Dairy farmers put milk in anything they could find, hoping the road would be plowed out soon. Dumped it when trucks were delayed. Most farmers sold can milk back then. Some roads didn"t get plowed for weeks. State hiway going thru the farm was not opened for several days. Mom sent me pix- still have them...snowdrifts up to the pole shed eaves.
 
My buddies folks are from South Dakota- she had a hard-cover book about the Blizzard on the Rosebush (I think that's right). Storm in early 1950's. They were either in Winner or Mobridge. Army came out plowing with dozers after a week or so, just cut straight lines from town to town, right through fences, creeks, whatever it took. Left a huge mess.
 

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