[AT] Ramble, now Little Dozers

Gene Dotson gdotsly at loganrec.com
Tue Jan 10 19:02:16 PST 2006


    Bear;
    I have always thought Mattias would be an asset at our
Portland gathering.

    I have really enjoyed having the little 320 dozer. It has
been big enough to do most of my cleanup jobs and small enough
to push back the snow piles when they get in the way. It is
small enough to haul behind my pickup on a 16 foot trailer and I
have trailered it to do jobs at brother Larry's and also a few
jobs for my Amish neighbors. I bought an entire rolling chassis
from a Terratrac M-3 forklift and replaced the entire
undercarriage with the parts. Now I have a 4 roller track and
top rollers. I pulled the final drives from the axles and
replaced everything from there out. The new sprockets barely had
the paint worn off them. When I bought the dozer, I also got a
good set of tracks from an Oliver OC-4 when I bought the dozer,
that I reinstalled. The motor, clutch and transmission have been
trouble free.
    About 25 years ago I bought a D4-7U series that I used on my
old farms. I bought it for $6000.00 and used it for 7 years and
380 hours and sold it at my farm sale for $5900.00. Thought that
was pretty cheap use for that much machine. I did replace one
front idler and rebuild the pony motor in that time, plus a
radiator core.
    You are right about being as handy as a pocket knife. The
little 320 sits at the end of the barn and any time I need it
for something, it starts at the first turn of the key and ready
to go.

                        Gene


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Bear Hood" <mmman at netscape.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] 3Ph, etc. now ramble (born free taxed till
death)


:
: Gene
: Mattias would fit in around the fire at Portland
:
: Your 320 reminded me of one I bought in about 74 or so.  I
bought it at the Catching Bros monthly Auction at Howe Tx.  It
was complete with new rails, rollers, growsers,sprockets and
front idler pully.  The machine had Magnolia Pipeline Co
stenciled on it(Mobil Oil Co).  I paid for it and some other
stuff and when I went to load they told me there was a hold on
it.  It seems that the little pot metal ID tag was missing--I
did not notice it gone when I looked at it earlier.  Auction
owners said they would contact sellers and confirm was not
stolen.  I called back mid week and they said they had mailed me
a refund.  I often wondered if someone associated with the
auction just wanted it more than I did.  I did later that year
buy a JD 1010 with a bad injector pump and used it to clear
brush and fence lines for several years.  Enjoy having a
dozer--it and a skid loader are somewhat like a pocket
knife--necessary.  We are using a Case 450 loader now, but I
need to rebuild the #1 !
:  hole as it has  little compression--I bought it this way
knowing that they had let water get in it.  I got it unstuck,
but need to put a piston and sleve in #1.
:
: I am going to get the use of a older D4 Cat for as long as I
need it to clean up over on the place we are going to build a
new house for my son and his family.  I have to put a
new/rebuilt track adjuster on one side of the D4 for using it.
: Bear
:
:
: Live every day of your life like a three year old.  Get down
in the dirt with it, roll in it and smile a lot.  Bear




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