D6B how bad are the early engines?

[Grizz]

I am looking into an early ? D6B, 44A2978, it needs pony work and not sure on the diesel, it was running and either quit or wouldn't refire.(the pony has a broken or weak intake valve spring and won't fire the main). the machine it's self is in good shape, has a nice Beales ROPS , undercarrage is tired. it is nice and close to home. Opinions would be appreciated

[Casey Root]

The diesel in the D6B IMHO is a fine one. The starting engine, though I've never had one of the buzz bombs, is supposed to be problematic. If you acquire the D6, I would suggest that you convert to electric start. If the undercarriage is well worn then I'd sure be looking for a doaner. I would hope that the sprockets have been updated and are segmented as that would make it much easier to rebuild the running gear.

Back to the diesel! A neighbor put 18,000 hours doing ag work on a D6C 74A with the same engine and a turbo charger. It was running fine but they tore it down for some PM. They gave it a valve job, rings and rod bearings and one piston and liner, did not change the mains and put it back to work. As near as I know it is still going.

Good Luck

Casey

[rjh-md]

I have a D333 engine Ser# 54B4590 on a sawmill that was installed new, that has 39011 hours running time on it ,It was inframe overhauled aproximatly 15 yrs ago with new liners ,pistons rings ,and rod bearings ,and head reworked .
the question is ,who,s going to die frist me ,or this engine ?

[chumduffy]

i have put app. 1200 hrs on our D6-B we picked it up from kane-knox RxR., shows 7000+ hours on meter, we did a head job this spring. the shop tec thinks it was the frist time it has been apart. it has become one of my favorite dozers, this is what i have done for 35 years too earn a living. ours is 24 volt start and i just love the way that D-333 hangs in there in a hard push just hates too give up. i will bet will you not be disapointed in the D6-B JIM DUFFY

[Old Magnet]

Interesting testimonies.....and I hate to rain on the parade......But!!!
Those early D330's and D333's were not Cats finest engines.
They were very prone to over heating and cracking heads. Spun bearings were very common as the combination of insufficiently rigid blocks and tab lock bearings (no dowels) along with some wear did a lot of them in.

If you were unfortunate enough to have that "buzz bomb" pony engine the combination was a disaster.

If you follow along in the parts books, I believe they had the most block and head changes of any engine Cat built and they didn't get it right until the D333c/D330c versions, just before the 3306/3304 change.

No doubt light use and or nice steady industrial applications prolonged the life but the failure rate was high for hard worked machines.

Don't think I'll ever have one in my stable.

Go ahead....fire away LOL

[Casey Root]

Hey Old Magnet. You and OzDozer are of like minds as he had the same experience with over heating. In a direct drive (74A) configuration we never had any heating problems as they did with the power-shift 76A and as such did-not have the head problems. As to working it hard? Pulling a 21' off-set disk in the hills of the central coast of CA and using every gear to make the pulls, we would use on average a tank of fuel in 8 hours. If we were to run 12 hours we had to fuel at noon. This was not unlike our neighbors who put D9 fuel tanks on there D8 36As so that they could run 12 hours pulling a 42' off-set disc. We were working them!!

We bought our 74A used and did spin a rod bearing. The cause? Non Cat parts! Our mechanic insisted that the engine be rebuilt with geeennnuuuuuiiinee CAT parts or he wouldn't do the work!
We did, He did, and we ran that sucker another 12,000 hours without a hiccup. As near as I know the it's still going.

This is a fun argument to have because it is all history and good to hear other experiences.

Casey