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Thoughts On Cletracs?

B

Bryce Frazier

Well-known Member
Saw an add locally, included with purchase is:

Cletrac HG, straight blade, hasn't run in 4 years, turns over fine.
Cletrac HG, straight blade, hasn't run in 8 or 9 years, turns over fine.
A snow blade, that is "wider" than the straight blades, and angles.
A spare engine, completely torn down and half way through a rebuild.
A custom made tilt deck trailer, small, built to perfectly haul ONE of these cats.

Sounds to me like they were the guys dads, and he was just playing with them. Dad has maybe passed away or something, and the son is selling them. Wants $2000 for everything. He is 1 1/2 hours away though. What is a running Cletrac with a blade worth? $1000 I would think? I would LOVE to have a little one for around the property, just because! I know they are underpowered and small, but still, I think it would be fun..... Would like to see some pictures of what kind of shape they are in.

Anyways, I am wondering if I can buy everything, for like $1500. Fix up one, sell it for ? ? ? ? and then I wouldn't be in a little trailer / cat very much. Could sell the extra blade, potentially sell an engine. What do you guys think?
 
I would think it sounds like a pretty good deal if you want a Cletrac. I would buy them at that price if they were near enough to me that I could afford to have them brought here, but you maybe don't have that problem since you can do your own hauling as I recall.
Zach
 
Ya I can haul them for sure, could probably get both of them on our trailer depending on how big the blades are. I would take a neighbor and his truck as well, and he could pull the tilt deck home with one of them on it. You think the cats are worth $1000 a piece?
 
I am supposed to be getting some pictures this evening as well, so, if they are worth looking at, I'll throw them on here!
 
Come on Bryce. All of the toys you have messed with and the wheeling and dealing. Go get them before they disappear. That far away is not that far. I would go. ,
 
Three questions: are they needed on the property (they are small and not loaders) They probably have differential turning not clutch based. Not best for loaded cornering but OK.
If the condition of the tracks, pins/rollers/sprockets are OK and usable, Will they turn?
Is flipping them for profit a choice? Jim
 
It sounds like a good deal especially if you can get them for less than the $2000. Before loading the trailer and trying to drag it 1 1/2 hours home, how are the tires and maybe the bearings? Certainly if you want to get into this project this sounds like a way in with possibilities.
 
I'm not too worried about the distance, I just want to get all the info before I go down there. I will not go down there without seeing a few pictures of them first, and getting to know an idea of how good of condition they are in. If all the sheetmetal is trashed, and tracks are falling off, he can keep them.

I kind of suspect that the "custom" trailer is REALLY "custom" if you know what I mean. You never know though! ;)
 
Define "needed"? :)

Yes and no, I could live without one, but there are times with a little dozer could be handy for sure.

Not sure on the condition of the undercarridges, but I will ask about them forsure before going to look, and will look them over good for sure.

That's the big question, flipping. COULD I profit, or at least get my money back out of them if something goes wrong?

$2000 is a good chunk of cash.
 
I'm not placing any bets on his trailer, I will go down there prepared to haul both home on mine. What do they weight? 3000 lbs a piece? I can haul 7000 on my trailer.
 
Ask on the Oliver board about them, because that's where their roots are. I have absolutely no use for one, and I still wouldn't mind having something like an oc-3.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
Bryce, I paid $900 for one many years ago. I really like the planetary rear end with the brakes in the oil that steers them. They are not for big jobs but are very handy on smaller jobs.
The way they are built, the engines can be swapped out easily.
My engine was weak and I sold it. Wish I had it back so I could put another engine in it now.
It would beat the heck out of a tractor with a rear blade in maintaining my 1/4 mile driveway.
I am sure it would be a good snow pusher.
Richard in NW SC
 
If the tracks are good, $1500 is probably fair. They are a better pulling tractor than pushing tractor. Kinda like a JD 40c,better than a shovel but not much.
 
Are they narrow or wide models? they were made in a total of 4 widths over about the 15 years they made the HG Look at where the axles bolt to the transmission case. Also look at the front frames and the serial number. There were a lot of updates on them.
 
Caterpillars or cats would be worth the price. Cletracs are not nearly worth as much. Interesting had the price been 2500.00 would you have said maybe I can get them for 2000.00. Guess i'm different , however when I advertise and set a fair price after rehearsing the value when some one starts whining about a lower price I just wish them a good day and go in the house .
 
Sounds like a decent deal depending on condition. The HGs frame often cracked IIRC just ahead of the bell housing. I had an agricultural HG 42 but sold it a couple years ago, decent running, decent tracks, bad tin, belt pulley, no fenders, no blade for $1500.
 
I have an HG and love it. Same exact machine as an OC3. No steering clutches to worry about like with a Deere. Small and handy. One downside is parts are tough to find for the Hercules engine if you need them. Other problem is - these crawlers were made for row-crop ag work and not pushing dirt unless they have the optional aux trans. Mine has the aux. It was a kit made with a Ford Model A car trans. Without it, machine is way too fast in 1st gear for serious dirt pushing.
 
That's what I was wondering. An HG42 with a blade might be a nice little outfit,but a 68 would be so wide it might be pretty worthless for anything but dragging logs or doing row crop work.
 
Bryce, I have a HG 68 with loader. JDEM knew the guy that owned it. It does not have the aux trans and like JDEM said fast in first. I borrowed a trailer and it had side rails and the HG lacked about 2 inches from going on! I had the radiator record and mag rebuilt and it runs good now. If you can get them cheap go for it! That was my first experience with a mag and so far it starts good. If tracks and sprockets are wore out there are parts available I've been told. Good luck!
a242773.jpg
 
If I had one of these little guys, I think I would build a brush blade / forks for hanging on the fixed blade. I can see it being GREAT picking up sticks after I have done logging around here! It might pull a few trees here and there, maybe push some snow, etc. No super hard work though.
 
I asked him right off the bat, and he said that they were both "pretty narrow". He said that the tracks are like right there with the operator. That would be a 42 right?
 
Looks like Bob Basola's old crawler. I think that is one of the ones he had that came from his parents farm.
 
I've got 3 of them and I can't think of little they do well except plant in areas where you need very low ground pressure , near swamp or other such ground . the ones I have all have 10 inch tracks and are a 31, 42, and a 68 . Landis Simmerman has all the parts you'll need but they are pricey . I have used the 68 with a 4ft bush hog over some land near the river which I don't get to very often and trees grow so fast there I can't use a tired tractor , it does an exceptional job there . another has a blade and it's to light for anything other than manure removal in barns, does a good job . the 42 just sits .
 
It's Landis Zimmerman, by the way. He should have about any parts you might need. Should be worth the price. Not much to add to what has been said below.
 
There was a 31. Those were kind of rare. If that's what they are,better grab them for sure. They were mostly for municipal sidewalk plowing and vineyard work. They came in 68 inch,60,42 and 31.
 
Have an HG42. Handy little guy for pulling logs or stuck tractors out that don't weigh much. I've had it in water/muck up to the top of the tracks cruising by the river with it. Haven't used it much in the last few years, last time I really used it was pulling white ash firewood logs on the ice.
 
I had an Oliver HG I bought when I was 16. I bought it not running for $300 as I recall. It came with a disc and a homemade blade that had not been mounted. I "restored" it and tried to sell it for $1200 with no takers. I decided to farm so I used it to pull a horse mower and sulky rake. I built a buck rake to bring hay shocks to a pitch in haypress. I soon tired of that, found a pto and a JD #5 mower, side delivery rake and automatic baler. Later years I rigged the blade on it. It was the handiest little tractor. My ATV before ATV's. I strung a lot of barbed wire with it. It used to doze pretty good, I cut some good roads on sidehills with it. I never noticed that it was geared too fast.
I was ridiculed by others for the planetary steering although it worked well. I got a chance to buy a Cat D2 for $1000 so I sold the HG for $650, I wish I had never sold it.
 
Yes. Percy Holmes Road is where his family farm was. He broke it up into several parcels and rentals. He lived in fairly new modular and that is where the auction was. Bob and I were both working on aux setups for our HGs. I got mine done. Bob was a lot slower and I was kidding him one day that he was liable to die before he finished. I was correct. Kind of a funny story behind the one you got if that is the one I think it is. A neighbor borrowed it for years. Bob was also the person's landlord. Bob was getting kind of ticked of and wanted it back. He said that sooner or later, it would quit and the guy would not know how to get it running again. He'd then come to Bob to fix it. When that was to happen, he'd keep it and not let it go again. That is exactly what happened.
 
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