Cat D8H in Devon.

[Nick Drew]

I see the Devon tractor has some good oil stains on the tracks, Does he want the F/Drives re-sealing ????
"For Hire tctractors" I love the Devon Beer

Ha ha !! Yeh I am sure I would enjoy a beer or two with you Tony!!

Nick

[martyn williams]

Just a thought, Wimpey ran machines with that style of fleet number on their machines.Will dig out some photos.
Hello Nick would love to come back down to devon,had 10 good years on the plant down there.I know of some great pubs.

[nick lamb]

cant see tctractors doing that D8.Its too clean in that workshop.perhaps if it is in a swamp or worse........

[Nick Drew]

Just a thought, Wimpey ran machines with that style of fleet number on their machines.Will dig out some photos.
Hello Nick would love to come back down to devon,had 10 good years on the plant down there.I know of some great pubs.

Hi Martyn,

Would really love to see any old Wimpey photos that you have!! I used to work for Wimpey Plant & Transport out of there Southampton depot, I went to them straight from school and thought it would be a job for life !!Great times when I look back, at the time I believe they had the biggest plant fleet in the UK and I was often up at the central plant depot Lancaster Road in Southall London, I wish I had taken photos throughout that period

Sadly they laid us all of after six years as they decided to go all "Subbie"

These days they are just a shadow of the company they were and only seem interested in house building

Nick

[Nick Drew]

Hi Nicky,

Do you have any shots of your D8H taken from the left hand side of her ??

I would be interested to see the engine from the other side

Still cant get over the outstanding condition of your dozer!! its a real credit to you !!

Nick

[nick lamb]

ok, lets see

[nick lamb]

and some....
Hope these suit.
Will try some close ups of motor some time.

[Nick Drew]

Great Stuff Nicky !!

Thanks a lot

Is that you in the saddle ? And where in the UK are you based??

Nick

[tctractors]

Good pics Nick, I love to see a bit of steam from the radiator area on D8s it helps to pay the beer tab, sadly your banger seems to be Flying through the muck without breaking it to "A Sweat"
To-day I have been on a right dog of a job, repairing a D6H dozer on a Land-fill site, over the phone I was asked "why is oil leaking from the starter motor " as usual the torque has " sprung a leak " so I always drive them up on sleepers 2 wide+2 high to get there innards out easily, this is always a mucky job to strip out as oil is always dripping from all angles as you lay on your back to get to the lower bolts around the torque casing , after stripping the torque to bits to find its a right knacker,the owner tells me to strip one out of another tractor that is lay around the site , then strip it down to check its all O.K. I have to make one good unit out of the 2 lumps, this is what I get all the time, the last time I had a new part (re-con) from CAT.must have been 15 years ago, at least its not raining!!!!!!!
I have taken some pics of todays antics so I am going to post a load soon
tctractors

[nick lamb]

Hi Nick.No thats not me in the saddle.I have other business that takes my time up these days.I just get to see them working on pay day or breakdown day.They are in good nick so breakdowns are rare however,the pics of the D8 in the gravel bunkers are the first job it did after the rebuild and I spent a fortnight on it myself.Since then I have only been to see the D8 at the soilstrip site to refuel it.The last job it was on was a demolition site where it wouldnt start one morning.The problem was choked fuel bowel and she was running within the hour.
Tony.always bad news when oils in the starter.Even if its just the scavange pump its still a pig of a job.Last one of them for me was on the D5H LGP series 2.Torque overheating at 8500 hours.I had had a Finnings engine and torque rebuild at 7300 hrs so I figured the torque was ok.At my request they hadnt replaced the scavange pump as it was still serviceable so I was quite happy to fit a new one 1200 hrs later.It also had the hyd pump attatched to it so It all got done.Not a big job as torque stayed in and as you say the timber chocks are handy for a bit of extra room if needed.
As you can see,the D5 is ready for some trackwork and some cosmetics.This pic was taken in September this year and is still away on hire.Finnings u/c report at the time states average u/c wear at 55-60% life left in all but the bushes which are 97% worn!!!!They have said a guarenteed turn in approx 150 machine hours and all will be ok.I personally doubt this and reckon on buying some new chains any day soon.I dont fancy wasting £1300 on a turn.