MickeyD96 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Hello all! I'm new here, as I recently acquired a 1950 T6. I got it home for under $1,000 as a runner, but the engine clutch was stuck. I took it out and rebuilt it, made adjustments to the tracks, and I now have functioning machine ( I knocked down a load from a tri-axle dump truck in no time). Now that we know it's viable for our needs (spreading dirt piles, grading, driveway construction, eventually farm work pulling discs or grain drills), we're putting a bit more money into it to make it "right". Some simple stuff like rebuilding the starter, rebuilding the fuel pump and plumbing new fuel lines, installing an alternator, and some less simple stuff like replacing bearings in the final drives and assessing the health of the rollers. The guy who sold it to me had better offers from scrappers, but he saw the potential to breathe new life into the machine, and that's what we're doing. Now, I have a few questions about the blade on it. I recently learned that it's most of a Drott Bull Clam shovel. From what I can tell, this loader/dozer was on it from the factory, and the machine was originally painted yellow, not red. The hydraulic pump is mounted on the PTO rather than off the front of the engine, which seems a little weird to have been factory. The assembly seems to match the Drott models 9C1, 14C1, 18C1, etc. As this is mounted on a T6, I would assume that the model number is 6C1. However, I have found no reference to such a model, nor have I found any manuals or parts books. I can't find a tag on the blade, which doesn't surprise me as the tag off the crawler was removed by a previous owner as well (I only have the serial number on the engine, which was built in May of 1950). So my main question is if anyone knows the model number of this Drott attachment and a source for a manual. Additionally, any knowledge on the history of these machines, potentially painted yellow from the factory, would be appreciated. The more I'm digging into this little dozer, the more I'm becoming enamored with its history. I'm happy with it, and I think it's going to serve my family well! Thanks in advance! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray54 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Nice looking blade. But have never seen one like it before. I have a tank with control valves mounted to tank that was on a TD 14. I never saw the loader arrangement, as a neighbor bought it for the undercarriage. Gave the loader and bad engine to a scraper, who preceded to cut up the almost new rails. So the neighbor had the remains loaded on a farm truck and dumped it the another friends farmers junkyard. But was mainly the transmission case, final drives and hydraulic tank and valves. Not that I have seen it all, but until now never heard of a Drott dozer blade. A lot of Drott loader arms have Drott cast in. Any place the name is on any of what you have? Hear again what do I know, but hydraulic control looks off to me if the top and bottom capped outlets would work together as a pair. But assuming what is hooked up lifts and lowers the blade. If you are just seeing the pivot points on top of the blade as hinge point for a clam bucket I would want a lot more evidence. Those pivot points look more like a place hang a brush rake. The blade lifting arrangement has many similarities to the Bucyrus Erie Bull Grader just not as heavy and not built of cast steel. But am guessing more than you are as I just see the pictures. Hopefully other will know more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyD96 Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 Thanks for the input! I haven't found any name on the blade assembly. I found what may have been the spot for a serial tag on the back side of the blade itself, but there is no tag anymore. I learned of the bullclam shovel in the comments of a YouTube video, in which someone picked up a TD9 with an almost identical setup to what I have (where the clam part of the bucket was missing). I did a bit more poking around, and I found this other video. The similar assembly starts at about 4:35 in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02F4EciPEHU&t=664s&ab_channel=PeriscopeFilm As it is currently set up, the control lever can be moved right and left to operate the cylinders on each side independently. This lets it angle the blade side to side, technically like a grader. Or if I leave the lever in the middle, both cylinders move together. I'm assuming the valve actuator that's not connected to anything would work the two capped outlets to operate the clamshell. I can make out where there would have been a second lever and linkage by the controls. I'm not saying you're wrong, I really don't know. But I'm basing my assumptions on the machines shown in this video, where it seems I have a scaled down version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louie figone Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Mickey, this looks like what you have 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawleigh99 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Somewhere on the net I have seen pictures or video about them. Let me think on it. Rawleigh http://www.adclassix.com/ads2/55internationalbullclam.htm https://picclick.com/1956-International-Harvester-Drott-Print-Advertisement-TD-14-Bullclam-155025476291.html https://www.facebook.com/HCEACanada/photos/a.1613200198699188/2047332668619270/?type=3 Looks like they were popular in landfills! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louie figone Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 5 hours ago, Rawleigh99 said: Somewhere on the net I have seen pictures or video about them. Let me think on it. Rawleigh http://www.adclassix.com/ads2/55internationalbullclam.htm https://picclick.com/1956-International-Harvester-Drott-Print-Advertisement-TD-14-Bullclam-155025476291.html https://www.facebook.com/HCEACanada/photos/a.1613200198699188/2047332668619270/?type=3 Looks like they were popular in landfills! Scrolling through the Facebook Canada photos is neat, thanks for this. Louie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyD96 Posted May 5 Author Share Posted May 5 Thanks for sharing! That Cletrac looks really nice, and it's definitely a similar attachment. I suppose I can see if what I have wasn't specifically made for the T6/TD6, but rather was made for the Cletrac or similar. And yeah, I've gathered that these were used in landfills, I guess it's a pretty specific use case for a pretty specific attachment! One thing I've come to recognize is that this attachment was a bit of a predecessor to the early 4-in-1 buckets on regular loaders. The timeline might make sense, as my machine was built in 1950, while a lot of the more common Drotts seem to have been built after that. Not that I'm a historian or anything; I'm just trying to piece together the history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInOz Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Hillbilly Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Looks like that blade mount setup would be hard on the final drives. Neat machine though. Congrats on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyD96 Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 Thanks for the input! A minor update here. Today I popped the blade off to do some work. Came off pretty easy; just two pins up front and 4 bolts at the back. Part of the reason it came off is I needed to pull the fuel pump and starter. The other reason is to do work on the rear sprockets. Last week, I had one of the tracks open so I could adjust tension; it was extremely tight to the point that we thought it would do more damage to run like that. Anyway, with the track open, we could see that the sprocket was loose; it looks like the outboard bearing is toast, as well as the carrier that houses that bearing. I suspect the one in the final drive has had it as well. So, the next step is to open both tracks and pull the sprockets and replace the bearings. The more I've torn into the machine, the more I'm realizing just how abused it has been. The engine runs well, and I know it had head work done two owners ago. The transmission seems strong, and there's no issues with the steering clutches or brakes. But the undercarriage and blade assembly have about had it. The goal for now is to put things right, and to minimize any future damage. I'm not looking to do a full restoration for now, I just want a solid machine to move some dirt. On a positive note, I've made a deal for a parts machine that's pretty complete except it has no engine. From the pictures, the undercarriage looks stellar, at least compared to what I have. So ultimately, I'll probably be using the sprockets, front idlers, shock absorber assemblies, and tracks from that machine. I think what this machine lacks, the parts machine will make up for it. Anyway, here's a few pictures of the blade. One thing I found that I can't wrap my head around, is that somebody in the past welded the trunnions used to lift the blade. They should have rotation in two axes (like u joints) for angling the blade side-to-side. But, they were welded in a way that the blade only goes up and down, where the egged out holes and undersized pins currently allow the angled motion. That'll be on the short list of things to make; I'm just gonna machine a new set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardtail Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Good thing you got a good parts donor with what you need, U/C is obsolete and you might find the bearings you need are also, while your that deep in, pull the outer final cover off and check the inner gear bearings, the cages would finally wear out and the balls could drop down getting trapped between the gears breaking the final cover as it suddenly spread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyD96 Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 4 hours ago, hardtail said: Good thing you got a good parts donor with what you need, U/C is obsolete and you might find the bearings you need are also, while your that deep in, pull the outer final cover off and check the inner gear bearings, the cages would finally wear out and the balls could drop down getting trapped between the gears breaking the final cover as it suddenly spread Thanks for the input. I did some sleuthing online, and I think I found sources for the inner and outer bearings. Looking at about $160 for all 4. I'll definitely be pulling the cover off the final drives to check on those. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmi Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 1 hour ago, MickeyD96 said: Thanks for the input. I did some sleuthing online, and I think I found sources for the inner and outer bearings. Looking at about $160 for all 4. I'll definitely be pulling the cover off the final drives to check on those. You may not see heavy use but do some digging confirming they meet spec as 99% of ANY USA/ IH bearing over 2" starts at $100 EACH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardtail Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I think they were max fill or HD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyD96 Posted May 8 Author Share Posted May 8 10 hours ago, mmi said: You may not see heavy use but do some digging confirming they meet spec as 99% of ANY USA/ IH bearing over 2" starts at $100 EACH I saw prices like that when I started looking, but I found what should work for cheaper. The inboard one is IH part ST 223, which Bates carries for $208 and Burch Store Tractors carries for $110 each. But, it looks like tractorparts.com carries it for $33 each. I used them for main clutch parts. The outboard one is ST 227 which Bates carries for about $133 and Burch Store Tractors carries for $90, but I can get the same size from McMaster Carr for about $40 each. Granted the parts from Bates are basically guaranteed to be the proper spec while equivalent parts from other sources may not be, but for the limited use I'm looking to get out of the machine, cheap bearings will be better than no bearings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirt_Floor_Poor Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 17 hours ago, MickeyD96 said: Granted the parts from Bates are basically guaranteed to be the proper spec while equivalent parts from other sources may not be, but for the limited use I'm looking to get out of the machine, cheap bearings will be better than no bearings! I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I have seen cheap parts cause catastrophic destruction. A few hundred dollars is often the difference between it working nearly forever and it not working at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotors Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 The 227 bearing is still available from Komatsu for about $57.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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