I've spent a lot of time on that series D6, the D series is a highly regarded tractor that seems to hold some value, I'm curious as to what it went for, but you don't have to answer that LOL, I'm not that rude LOL, but a really nice find, cab and all. Sometimes you find a deal on one of these, hopefully you did !
We had a pair of these at one place, complete new undercarriages, nicely overhauled tractors. At the time, I was assigned a brand new LGP D6, forget the series, it was a '94 model, and the fuel truck only came once per day for the 18 machines on that job, we were working over time to catch up from all the problems that slowed us during winter. When fuel got low, I stayed, went and grabbed one of the 2 old D6D's and got my O.T, in, and to the foreman's liking, that month of O.T. got us back on schedule, no more saturdays LOL ! Nice when its good weather, inclement weather, might as well work the extra hours and day. I can remember how different the feel was between the new one and these old ones, leaps and bounds ahead, ergonomics, productivity, performance etc,, but they were very reliable, based on a design going back to the 9U and 8U series which was a large production run for Caterpillar, C series had the same reputation, D just improved on it, though it was the end of that platform for these when the high track models came out. I think, maybe it was up to the C series, but the direct drive version with an oil bath clutch, like what was common for ag work, heavy drawbar loads or work, had that "bullet proof" reputation, not that the powershift did not, it was top notch in its era and still sought after, they still have popularity with contractors and municipalities, parts support should be good with these.
I did have the pleasure of helping our mechanic take one of these apart down the bevel gear, that one lost steering on one side, had a ton of hours on it, I still finished the restoration work I was assigned behind the pipe crew putting in water main, one tough machine, it finished its job first, before it was brought in. Not as easy to work on as the new ones, but once done, they go for lots of hours, you can probably find a lot of similar comments about them. One simple thing you can do is dip a magnet into the final drives see if there is any metal fines, between finals and U/C those are the higher cost items to repair or rebuild, take oil samples, just to see where you stand, catch any problems before they get bigger.
Looks like a root rake mount on that S type blade, tracks look a little loose, you'll find out where you are when you adjust them, hopefully some more room left, or you can turn pins bushings if need be, farm work, usually part time, could last years at that pace, really nice tractor for that kind of work.
Brings back memories, these and the 8K's I ran. Ours were all O.R.O.P.S., nice to have E.R.O.P.s though.
Hard to believe anyone would leave that in a fence row for too long, they were that good of a tractor. Someone around here had one up in the nearby mountains in nice shape, went for a few thousand, incredible given what they typically command in decent shape.
