About a 1959 36-A D8 Stacking Sand

[WarDog]

[terry]

Don't have to be new to get the job done!!👍   terry

[hicrop10]

You sure it’s a 1959 36a,it’s looks more like a D8h built back in the late 60’s.

[tjc transport]

the 8H we had  had round rops .that looks more like the 8K we had. 

[mrgumby]

Maybe a k. The last k I was one was about 15 years ago Hard to remember 

[WarDog]

On 7/25/2020 at 3:27 PM, hicrop10 said:

You sure it’s a 1959 36a,it’s looks more like a D8h built back in the late 60’s.

Its marked 36A on engine and the back left side of tractor and it is a direct drive with no decelerator

[Truck Shop]

Well one old Cat deserves another-1956 14A D8 and the 1956 B71 that moved it.

 

 

[TS7]

The 1959 is a D8H. 36A is a id # for D8H's built with a direct drive trans. The D8H model started around 1958 I think.

[doubleclutchinweasel]

IIRC, the 36A was direct drive (like TS7 said).  The 35A was a 3-speed with a torque converter.  The 46A was the power-shift version.  All are "D8H" models.

I spent many a day on the 46A D8H and the 77V D8K.

That one does appear to have a later-model ROPS on it.

All the D8Ks I ran had the brake pedals hung from under the dash.  But, I was told once that some of the earliest ones had brake pedals coming up through the floor like the D8H, but I can neither confirm nor deny that from personal experience.

I loved the K models, but they were plagued by head gasket problems from trying to squeeze more power out of the same engine that powered the Hs.  I remember that, late in the K model's life, they started adding spacer plates under the head to lower the compression ratio to help with that problem.  Called them (oddly enough) "spacer plate motors".  Imagine that.

That's one of the best-looking H models I have seen since back in 19......well, let's not go into that!

[tjc transport]

the big problem i had with the "K" was the 14 foot full "U" blade

machine full of fuel with that big blade weighed 123,000 lbs. so it would sink is soft spots. 

but that big blade could carry and push 2 tandem loads of sand. i used to feed two excavators with that one machine, and we would load out 100 loads of sand, or clay a day. 

and the excavators never waited for material either. 

[doubleclutchinweasel]

17 hours ago, tjc transport said:

the big problem i had with the "K" was the 14 foot full "U" blade

machine full of fuel with that big blade weighed 123,000 lbs. so it would sink is soft spots. 

but that big blade could carry and push 2 tandem loads of sand. i used to feed two excavators with that one machine, and we would load out 100 loads of sand, or clay a day. 

and the excavators never waited for material either. 

I was into land clearing.  So, all ours were set up with C-frames.  The K/G blades made the tractors pretty nose-heavy.  Our shop built most of their own rakes, and they were pretty light compared to most commercial versions (Rome, Fleco, etc.).  But, you could still tell the difference in weight between an H and a K.  Although, it did seem like the K had a bit more ground clearance.

The K would push like the devil himself on dry ground.  In the swamps, the extra weight was pretty noticeable.  A wide-pad H would literally "drift" on top of the mud if cut sharply.  A K...not so much.

I remember a couple of times running a K completely out of fuel on a long day.  I guess making more power and pushing more weight takes more fuel, huh?

[doubleclutchinweasel]

On 7/29/2020 at 6:02 PM, tjc transport said:

the big problem i had with the "K" was the 14 foot full "U" blade

machine full of fuel with that big blade weighed 123,000 lbs. so it would sink is soft spots. 

but that big blade could carry and push 2 tandem loads of sand. i used to feed two excavators with that one machine, and we would load out 100 loads of sand, or clay a day. 

and the excavators never waited for material either. 

By the way, I'm still trying to come up with 123,000# on that tractor.  The Cat brochure listed the D8K with ROPS and 8U blade at 71,700#.  Adding a multi-shank ripper added 10,330#.  Even adding a belly pan, side shields, and rock guards only adds about another 3,000#.  Still under 90,000#.

The last one I hauled had the Cat ROPS plus sweeps, no winch, a Rome C-frame, 28" tracks, rock guards, side screens, and additional mesh on the sides of the cab.  On an R600ST, pulling a 3-axle Hyster fixed-neck lowboy trailer, with a Rome KG blade chained to the rear of the trailer, it weighed 111,000K gross.

Did you have some other cool stuff mounted on that one?

[davehummell]

I don't remember a d-8 scaling that much with a 4 barrel ripper and a ublade now the d-9 was a bit more weight but I loaded a 9 with u blade and 4 barrel ripper on a tandem autocar with a two axle trailer .I don't remember anymore but the outfit was pretty big around wilkes barre and up tword the Scranton area. Kamminsky would haul anything that would fit on the trailer, Pegnotti had a hellof a mack to drag around real heavy dragline buckets and large shovel parts.If I remember from working at cleveland bros. the 8's didn't get to 50 ton even filled up coming in from a stripping pit but that was in the 70's so i may be off a little. . I worked around the anthracite king and the 90 yard marion walking shovel in Hazelton up on the road before the Eckley miners village were they filmed the movie with Sean Connery.

[tjc transport]

like i said, it had a 14 foot wide full "U" blade. it was at one time used in a garbage dump to push off garbage. when we got it we added 12 inch blocks(i think it was) to the pistons to push instead of carry material. the blade was 4 foot deep. 

my 79 DM800 tractor and Rodgers trailer was 79,000 and change empty. with the 8 K on trailer i was 202,000 lbs on the Hudson County Sheriffs scales. and they had to let me go because i had 14-24 rubber on the truck and trailer, and "S" tags on the trailer which made my allowed gross weight around 210,000 lbs.

an that was with a 237 engine that had larger turbo and injectors and a turned up pump, and the "mud stick" trans. 

i never went over 25 mph with the D8's, 235 excavators, or terex TS 24 scrapers, because of weight. 

[doubleclutchinweasel]

That must have been one hell of a blade...

In fact, I'd like to have seen that truck and trailer!  That must have been some kind of beast!

Edited August 19, 2020 by doubleclutchinweasel

[tjc transport]

it was a beast for sure. 

one time i got stopped by DOT for a snap roll puff test. 

the dot man said ok, you are empty. i said nope, call me loaded. he asked where the load was and i told him empty weight is 79k. 

he did not believe me and they put the scales under me to see actual weight before doing the snap roll test. and i still only blew something like 15%.

they were all amazed. but the thing was, it was a 10 foot wide X 30 foot long deck then you have the ex dump truck DM-800 tractor, and 18 14 X 24 tires makes for one heavy rig.