FREE Caterpillar 977!!! Now What???
 

I spend a fair amount of time in FB Marketplace and have been looking for a vintage Cat dozer for a while, when this popped up - a 977H, listed as inoperable. It was on a 130 acre farm/ranch near Killeen, TX that some investors had bought. Farm/ranch went belly up and they sent in someone to liquidate everything, including the 977H. The liquidator didn't know anything about the 977H other than the fact that there was something wrong with it.

When I called him on Saturday to discuss, I asked how soon would he need it gone. He said it had to be gone by Wednesday morning. I think he heard my jaw drop over the phone. Then he said, "Look, you're the only one who's been serious about it, so if you can get it out of here by Wednesday morning, it's yours." Challenge accepted!

Headed there Sunday with a buddy of mine. Had it running and operating in about 2 hours; it just needed a jump start and track tensioner maintenance/repair. Left steering clutch is very weak; I suspect that's why it was laid up.

Anyway, got a lowboy out there on Tuesday and had it brought to my buddy's ranch near Fredericksburg, Texas.

Now I guess I need to give it a good once over and see if I can get some work done with it. This is my first piece of heavy equipment, but I've been working on vintage cars for decades.

Here's the video that I shot -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSwjKY3lVcA

Awesome!!!! though I don't have the slightest idea what I would do with that. :)

man i could really cause some damage to my property with that!

Scott are you competing with ZK Diesel?
You got lucky... If it goes sour how much scrap iron do you have?

There were some interesting mods made to a 'dozer by Marvin Heemeyer.

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat, but I enjoy wrenching on stuff more than I enjoy operating it.

You can really wreak havoc in a 45,000# tracked machine with a monster bucket!

He's in a different league than me, but I'm trying my best!

It's not going to get scrapped but if it did, it's 45,000 lbs. That'll buy a cheeseburger or two!

Yep. My HOA pisses me off at times, but I don't think I'm going to build a kill dozer.

Didn't you already rescue a piece like this in the past year or two , on here ?

Potential Vintage Cat D7 Dozer Rescue - Have I Lost My Freaking Mind???
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=870928

But it’s always good to be prepared…..someday you might need a killdozer and won’t have one handy….. ;) :D

Yes he did. Didn't keep the D7, we'll see with this one.

Anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r3y-SRsNPI

Hey BVZ - that one was too far gone, so I passed on that deal. The owner still has it for sale; price is down to $5k, which doesn't seem bad for what it is.

I actually never bought the D7. Just got it running and driving again and walked away from the deal. It needed about $25k in parts just to get it to where it could do some real work again and I wasn't interested in signing up for that.

Houston, we have a problem.

The bearing/hub assembly on the right final drive is damaged and will need to be replaced. I saw it before we started working on it, but I was hoping it wasn't a major ordeal to repair/replace. Now that I've done a bit of research, it looks to be a fairly involved and expensive project.

More to follow, but I think I know why it was free!!!

You are ambitious!

I want to see satellite images of Pontiac crop circles when you get this new beast working.

Ive seen dozers with sprocket teeth rebuilt using lots of welding rods
no need to get real accurate

Pontiac crop circles would be epic!

The sprockets are actually in decent shape, but the rest of the undercarriage is pretty much worn out. No big deal if it doesn't get much use, and this one won't.

Thanks

New video is up in case anyone is interested -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBSKaC6GzPw