I've been fiddling with the 'The Nudist' & 'Five Day Dozer' D4 5T lately, I've got a couple hundred yards of manure I need to shove around.

I never had time to mess with the pony much, I tried to pull it over a few times, it had compression and then suddenly had none so I figured it was a little sticky inside. I pulled the plugs and filled the whole pony with diesel and left it at that. I just pull started the D4 the few times I had it running. It's been parked since last November at my playday when the hyd pump lost it's seal.

I knew the main was in good shape, rebuilt head, new injectors, fresh oil. The PO had done a lot before he died (clutches/brakes too). So started in on the pony, the inlet to the sediment bowl was packed with rust, the screen was covered in a hard white deposit, as was the carb bowl and cork float. Plus the usual years of crud. I gave the gas tank the citric acid treatment, disassembled and cleaned out the sediment bowl & gave it a new gasket. I rebuilt the carb, with a new float. The PO had the mag rebuilt, so I just checked the points, timed it to the engine and made new wires for it, as well as new plugs. I had pulled the dash for access so I changed out the gauges for a fresher set I had.

I tried to convert it to electric start but the donor pony was a D2 style so nothing matched up, oh well.

I also adjusted the tracks (whew!!) and tightened some bolts, etc. The hyd pump is still off waiting for it's seal, the shaft and bearings all look real good, I think it was rebuilt too by the blue silicone on it's gaskets.

So today came the moment of truth, I turned on the gas, gave it a little extra shot for luck and wound up the rope. Well third pull and off she went, ran like a charm. I let it all warm up a bit and started the main, it rolls the main engine around without even lugging, even with the compression on. The diesel lit right up, too. I took a victory lap on the way to the shop for some more work and welding.

Funny story I forgot to take the tin can off the intake, and it started anyway! I don't know how it found enough air to run, but it took me standing on the track pulling with both hands to get that can off. The thick black smoke stopped immediately!

A couple of remarkable things about this- it's the first time this pony has ran in probably ten years, and, oddly, the first time I have rope-started a pony!

More importantly, at no point did I not know what to do next, or how to fix a problem.
And that, I owe to all of you. Thanks for all the help and info.

No need for electric start on the Pony when it's dialed in. Like you I've learned a whole lot from many of the senior members of this club.

I did that once and can came back down and hit me in the head!

(bent the can)