My obsession from my father

Here are some photographs of my dad's trucks from his 42 model chev, 55 model chev, 42 blitz, kgl bedford, acco 180, acf 174, 1950 acco, 30 70 acco and a w model - which started my obsession with kenworths.

Enjoy!

Thanks for posting great pictures. I think we all get our obsessions from our upbring. I love the first pic of the cable blade D2

I like the pic of the blitz, a Chevrolet C60L.

q4016lanz - Sorry, that's not a D2. It's a WW2 D4, fitted with a LeTourneau blade, and a rare HN4 LeTourneau PCU (Power Control Unit) mounted on top of a Willamette Hyster winch.
The LeTourneau HN4 PCU was a single drum PCU positioned on top of the winch, purely for operating the blade .. while the Hyster winch was for towing & winching operations.

The D2 is easily recognised, as it has no outer support bearing on the sprocket, and the trackframe ends just in front of the sprocket.
The rear ends of the D2 trackframes are supported by a large shaft that runs across underneath the tractor, in front of the sprockets.

The D4 however, has a full length trackframe .. and it has an outer sprocket support bearing, mounted on the rear part of the trackframe. The D4 trackframe pivots on the sprocket shaft.

Cheers - Ron.

Hi Gentlemen,

Thanks Ron for your post, especially the photo information on the winch controller. I have managed to keep the RD4 in question and hopefully I'll get it back to its previous condition, hopefully at our Clarendon Classic (Sydney antique show). Here are some other photographs of a couple more local chappies trucks.

Funny how everyone seemed to start with a blitz in their collection!

Thanks.
Steve

[imghttp://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k146/trish__/002.jpg][/img]

Also Ron, do you know of any other details about my D4? If I give you a serial number of it, would you be able to give me a date of manufacture?

Build Date won't be a problem for ,ron . I maybe arsey enough to have a build year for you with the serial number .

Hi Blitz , it must be something about old blitz,s that drive you to Kenworths, .The first trucks I had anything to do with were these.My father having owned & operated earthmoving gear all his life has had a bad influence on me.Growing up around the Batlow area as a kid, got to see lots of old blitz,s & cat dozers like yours sniging logs out of the scrub.Dad & his brother bought an early 923 kenworth off Bob Verdon in Woolongong to cart there gear . Remember a lot of unforgettable trips in this good & bad. . .

Also Ron, do you know of any other details about my D4? If I give you a serial number of it, would you be able to give me a date of manufacture?

Blitz9383 - Yes, give us the S/N and I can give you all the specs, and the year of build.

You can date all the earlier Cat stuff by using the Numeral Code.

Somewhere on the block you will see a group of letters in the casting, there are several lots of codes cast in various places but these are obvious and usually on the right side low. About 1/2 inch, 12mm, high letters.

This code will give you the exact day, month and year the ENGINE BLOCK was cast (if it is an exchange engine you can't date the tractor as accurately)

Here is the 'secret" Cat code.

You use the words N U M E R A L C O D E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

The second E is not used.

So if you had a casting U NM ER it would have been made February 13 1945 (American date system)

It is a bit of fun going around telling people the exact day their engine was made. Obviously the whole tractor will be anything from a few days to many months later.

Lang