1949 Cat Repower (in Progress)

[muleskinner]

The basis of this model is a representation of the Cats used back in the early years of logging here in the Northwest. In most cases the owners would, rather than invest in a new Cat for skidding logs, take their older cats and repower them, such is the case of this model. These cats which the model is based on was by all means no easy piece of Machinery to operate on the narrow and steep logging sites which we have here in the Pacific Northwestern states. The operator (Cat Skinner) spent most of his time standing up to operate these brutes as Hydraulic systems of Clutching, Braking and so forth was still in the future. To stop these machines ment leaning on both Braking levers and at the same time standing on the two floor braking pedals which were usually locked in single action instead of individual, while at the same time putting the trottle level in idle down position. When pulling a wheel or tracked skidder with a Redwood or Fir one log turn behind, this could be a harrowing experiance for the Cat Skinner! To raise and lower the Blade on the unit, the skinner used the 'L' Shaped bar on the right hand side of the unit connected to the blade winch on the front of the Cat by means of a heavy round or square rotator bar which ativated the winch clutching unit.

The model is based widely on one of these Armstrong units, which is currently in the logging Museum at Point Defiance Washington, and the ones I remember as a kid, operating in The Northern California Redwood area. To begin this project I took the standard AMT Cat (which has a lot of flaws in its design) and removed all the Hydro Connectors from the front end and cut down the side engine sheilds. I then added a new radiator shrould to back date it , to the forties and early Fifties. Instead of the grill plates which the Proto had on, I decided to go with the steel wicker type unit which most California units had on them, to keep from having to drill a hundred little holes as the other had. The operations deck had to really be modified with brass wire and new floor decking, to acomidate all the levers and so forth.

The drive sprocket for this unit also had to be modified, which I accomplished by removing the outer drive sprocket ring from the original Model Part and using a rear rim off of a 1926 Mack model, applied a spacer and the sprocket , to complete the spoke type drivers which were on these cats.

When finished this Cat will also have a wheeled or tracked Skidder arch ( I haven't decided yet) behind it to replicate the real units as they were used. The back of the cat will also have a hyster winching unit attached and an older type blade which I am now in the process of scratch building.

[Tony Bryan]

William

Thank you for the history lesson on the machines that you build, I enjoy this as much as your skill as a builder,

The D8 maybe inaccurate for what it is ment to be , but is a good platform for modifying to some other machines, as you have shown here

One of the biggest problems is the tracks, which I have found a solution with diecast machines, the grousers always look out of place with the D8

The early years of logging in the States, must have been exciting, dangerous, spectacular and imaginative, with the extraction of logs from various locations that had never been logged before, which leads to inventions of machines to do that job, and this looks like it is one of them

Very nice job so far, and look forward to more of your history lessons and builds

Thanks for sharing this here

[falcongeorge]

Really cool. I should scratchbuild a wheeled skidder arch, wouldnt be very difficult, and I remember seeing LOTS of those when I was a kid.

[mackinac359]

Nice work.

Tim

[falcongeorge]

The basis of this model is a representation of the Cats used back in the early years of logging here in the Northwest. In most cases the owners would, rather than invest in a new Cat for skidding logs, take their older cats and repower them, such is the case of this model. These cats which the model is based on was by all means no easy piece of Machinery to operate on the narrow and steep logging sites which we have here in the Pacific Northwestern states. The operator (Cat Skinner) spent most of his time standing up to operate these brutes as Hydraulic systems of Clutching, Braking and so forth was still in the future. To stop these machines ment leaning on both Braking levers and at the same time standing on the two floor braking pedals which were usually locked in single action instead of individual, while at the same time putting the trottle level in idle down position. When pulling a wheel or tracked skidder with a Redwood or Fir one log turn behind, this could be a harrowing experiance for the Cat Skinner! To raise and lower the Blade on the unit, the skinner used the 'L' Shaped bar on the right hand side of the unit connected to the blade winch on the front of the Cat by means of a heavy round or square rotator bar which ativated the winch clutching unit.

The model is based widely on one of these Armstrong units, which is currently in the logging Museum at Point Defiance Washington, and the ones I remember as a kid, operating in The Northern California Redwood area. To begin this project I took the standard AMT Cat (which has a lot of flaws in its design) and removed all the Hydro Connectors from the front end and cut down the side engine sheilds. I then added a new radiator shrould to back date it , to the forties and early Fifties. Instead of the grill plates which the Proto had on, I decided to go with the steel wicker type unit which most California units had on them, to keep from having to drill a hundred little holes as the other had. The operations deck had to really be modified with brass wire and new floor decking, to acomidate all the levers and so forth.

The drive sprocket for this unit also had to be modified, which I accomplished by removing the outer drive sprocket ring from the original Model Part and using a rear rim off of a 1926 Mack model, applied a spacer and the sprocket , to complete the spoke type drivers which were on these cats.

When finished this Cat will also have a wheeled or tracked Skidder arch ( I haven't decided yet) behind it to replicate the real units as they were used. The back of the cat will also have a hyster winching unit attached and an older type blade which I am now in the process of scratch building.

What changes if any, would be necessary to the engine in the AMT kit to back-date it to the mid-fifties?

[muleskinner]

One thing (which I have yet to do) is to remove the turbine unit from it and move the breather down to the side of the engine, on the left. The other is to modify the Exhaust manifold to have the stack come off the manifold and through the new hood, None of these cats I have ever seen had the turbine units on them until, later on in their logging days, if they lasted that long in the woods.

I assembled the Engine complete and modernized to build the cat around it. this way, I could see where to make the changes, to back date the engine to the early and mid fifties. Some of the earlier cats had a small Gas engine on the right side which was started first to bring the diesel up to power. That is a later project on another cat.

[Paul B]

Another great piece of logging equipment.

[falcongeorge]

One thing (which I have yet to do) is to remove the turbine unit from it and move the breather down to the side of the engine, on the left. The other is to modify the Exhaust manifold to have the stack come off the manifold and through the new hood, None of these cats I have ever seen had the turbine units on them until, later on in their logging days, if they lasted that long in the woods.

I assembled the Engine complete and modernized to build the cat around it. this way, I could see where to make the changes, to back date the engine to the early and mid fifties. Some of the earlier cats had a small Gas engine on the right side which was started first to bring the diesel up to power. That is a later project on another cat.

Yes, when I did my machinist training as a youth, one of our class projects was machining some parts for a BIG old IH bulldozer, it had a pony motor on it. It was really neat when we fired that thing up for the first time after 20 some-odd years. Heres a pick of a pony motor, and another of something like what I would like to build. How does the cable system for the blade work? Is it attached to the winch at the back??

[muleskinner]

The winch is powered at the front of the unit and engaged by the Skinner through a means of levers at the platform. The haywire runs through a block at the front attached to this winch and then to the blade. On some of the older cats there was a long frame which ran the full lenghth of the Cat above the engine and skinners platform to the rear of the cat , on the back was the haywire winch, from which the hay wire was then threaded up the the rear of the frame and then along a series of rollers and blocks to the front of the frame and then down to a block located on the top of the blade. This was a dangerous setup, as the Haywire would eventually wear out (and in logging it does very quickly) and if it broke, the skinner was wide open to its wrath. In logging the over head rigging was prone to also hang up on low hanging tree limbs. Very few logging machines were rigged this way.

On the cat picture you attached, you can see the front blade winch protruding from the bottm of the radiator. The unit looks like it has a 5x4 block system from cat to blade because of it being a D9, 8 or 6 with a heavy blade. Also on this cat it looks to have a split intake manifold, because of the two breather units on the left side. The other picture shows the breather at the front of the Skinner deck which, in my time I have only see one of these in the woods. The biggest complaint about this setup was that it was in the Skinners way, when in operation. Another reason was it was dangerous was, if the Cat should raise up on a nol and then slam down the other side the skinner (and I'm Speaking of experiance I had as a skinner here in the Oregon woods) could be thrown forward. There is nothing that hurts more tha hitting a bunch of levers or in the case of the picture, the air breather mounted as such.

I will correct myself here, as I told you in my last reply, that the breather goes on the right. They were always mounted on the left, but I have seen some owner mountings where thet were on top of the hood and in the case of the photo which you sent, on the Skinner deck.

Edited February 28, 2010 by muleskinner

[falcongeorge]

Very good info, Muleskinner. I have been sitting on one of these kits for years, and had an idea with what I wanted to do with it, but didnt feel like I had enough info to do it properly, and I am a rivet counter, HATE it when I get partway through something and realize what I have done so far is all bogus ######. REALLY good stuff. I am also gonna try to scratchbuild a better track cleat, then cast copies of it. Hope you dont mind if I continue to pick your brain over the next few months on cats. Thanks for the great info.

[falcongeorge]

Man, they must have an old nun on the spellchecker thingy! The word was cr#p, in case anyone was wondering...LOL!

[Brizio]

That's AWESOME!!!

[Old Albion]

William,

An excellent project. Very interesting. There is a guy who lives not to far from me who has a D8 Caterpillar that took part in the Normandy D-Day landings. He has fully restored it, interestingly Caterpillar assisted with information from their archives and helped find parts for the restoration. When you see this machine up close you realise how simple it is but also how robust and well made these things are. The engine is big compared to modern standards and its very slow reving. I know someone who repowered a D8 with a Cummins engine (The original engine had seen better days). He had to run the Cummins at faster RPMs to get the power to operate the D8. Not very satsifactory result. Antways I have found a video of Youtube for the D8 which took part in the D-day landings. It is at a steam fair here in Britain. The guy is showing how to start it up using the donkey engine.

Thanks for sharing this project with us.

Best Regards

Dave

[disabled modeler]

Hi William.....Very nice! I love the older stuff!

[muleskinner]

This is an update for the Cat Repower I am building. The arch for the lead line is completed along with the blade and the Hyster lead winch. The working Chokers not shown are completed and awaiting attachment to the lead line bull. The arch is modeled off of a Redwood arch which once was used in the same area as the Off Hiway Mack which my son is presently building. It is completely built out of Evergreen plastic and has an ajustable main arm on it. The wheels and tires came off of the ERTL Pay hauler and are on it temporarry until I can cast up a set of rubber tires for it. I also used the front outside rim off of the ERTL International Logging Truck as it fit right inside the Payhauler rim. The next step is to give it an overall coat of cat yellow, and add a few minor details to it.

[falcongeorge]

Most of the arches I saw growing up in this area growing up were wheeled like this one. VERY cool stuff, I wanna build one of these...