D10 Dozer blade conversion

Digging around in my archives reminiscing over some of the things I have built, seeing the pictures of how I converted a Caterpillar D10 dozer blade from a "U" shaped configuration to a straight blade style
In order to do this I first had to figure out the right places to cut it apart in order to salvage the parts I would need to make it look like a factory blade.
I may have been the first person to do this. I know that others have done it since because I taught the method to several welders over the years.
Here was how the blade started out before I began to transform it.
I did about 10 of these blades though out the years so not all photos are from the same blade however I did not deviate from my process through out all builds. All of the same cutting edges were reused by exchanging ones from the left to the right
Cutting the blade open is tricky, you first have to cut off the cheeks from both sides then you need a torch that is at least 4 ft long to reach far enough inside to cut the ribs where they weld to the face. You see a cat blade is made originally laying face down then a series of formed angles and U shaped pieces make up the ribs and the back of the blade After the cutting edge of teh mold board is welded back in place the face of the blade must be returned. This requires a broom handle to be clamped to the mig gun and the switch wired shut so you can reach the full depth to weld the face to the ribs If this is not done the first time the blade is used the face will peal off like removing the skin of an orange after all welding and grinding is done a good sand blast will prepare the blade for painting the final product should look exctly as if it were assembled in the factory For welding wire I used either Hobart Excell 550 or Tri-Mark 771 with CO2
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Thanks Frank S! We've added your D10 Bulldozer Blade Conversion to our Heavy Equipment category, as well as to your builder page: Frank S' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/d10-bulldozer-blade-conversion"><img src="http://www.homemadetools.net/uploads/145623/d10-bulldozer-blade-conversion.jpeg" /></a></div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/d10-bulldozer-blade-conversion">D10 Bulldozer Blade Conversion</a> <span> by <a href="/builder/Frank+S">Frank S</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/blade">blade</a>, <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/modification">modification</a></div> </div> </div> </div>

Frank-Greetings from Canada

Beautiful work. my old Dad who was a Cat man would have loved to see this. Who knows, maybe he is dozing clouds now.

Bob

Bob; I worked in a cat equipment broker's yard as an independent contractor. He would buy equipment that sometimes looked as if it would be better to haul it to the scrapers. He built a shop so we would have a place to work I did contract welding mechanic and machine work from the back of my truck almost steady for 10 years.
The Idea of the conversion was mine if I remember correctly because he had several that had been in inventory for years and couldn't sell them. It took me 80 hours or more to do the first one but by the time they were all processed into straight blades I had my time down to a single week but he still paid me as if it was the first one plus a nice bonus. A couple of the guys I taught how to do this eventually got their time down to a week and a half
We made sure that even under the closest inspection you shouldn't be able to tell our repairs from factory parts

Hi Frank,

Very nice work, indeed! That blade looks just like a factory component. Your D10 Bulldozer Blade Conversion is the 'Tool of the Week'!

As you've already received one of our official HomemadeTools.net T-shirts, we'd be glad to award you a $25 online gift card.

Just let me have your email address via PM and we'll get things processed directly.

Congrats!

Ken

My contribution; about D10's for sure but not building blades. Warning, Thread Hijack!!
Heavy metal to me is cast iron, Monarchs, Axelsons, Niles, Americans, Kings and Bullards.....on and on. I'd love to run an earthmover sometime. So for you CAT guys, a little present.

Do a quick web search for "Heavy Metal (Don't mean rock and roll to me)" by Johnny Cash, a cover of song written by Guy Clark.
Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEYu9ZwsqDE

Here's the lyrics;


Some days I think this old machine is out to get me
Some days she does what I tell her
It's like dancing with the widow-maker forty hours a week
I'm talkin' 'bout a big old D10 Caterpillar

I don't know why I like to drive 'em like I do
It ain't nothin' but a hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds of steel
Could be the money babe, could be the power
Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

But you know she's mighty unforgivin' and you got to pay attention
'Cause the d-10 can be the death of you
But I get her all fired up and I can feel it in my soul
And it's hard to tell just who's drivin' who

I can move Alaska all the way to Beirut
I can bulldoze a beeline from here to Peru
I can push the rocky mountains into the sea
You know heavy metal don't mean rock and roll to me

I'm like a modern day mule skinner, drivin' ten thousand mules
So say a little prayer every day
Lord, just let me get her turned around without fallin' off this mountain
You know the boss man don't like us treatin' his D10 that way

I don't know why I like to drive 'em like I do
It ain't nothin' but a hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds of steel
Could be the money babe, could be the power
Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

My contribution; about D10's for sure but not building blades. Warning, Thread Hijack!!
Heavy metal to me is cast iron, Monarchs, Axelsons, Niles, Americans, Kings and Bullards.....on and on. I'd love to run an earthmover sometime. So for you CAT guys, a little present.

Do a quick web search for "Heavy Metal (Don't mean rock and roll to me)" by Johnny Cash, a cover of song written by Guy Clark.
Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEYu9ZwsqDE

Here's the lyrics;


Some days I think this old machine is out to get me
Some days she does what I tell her
It's like dancing with the widow-maker forty hours a week
I'm talkin' 'bout a big old D10 Caterpillar

I don't know why I like to drive 'em like I do
It ain't nothin' but a hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds of steel
Could be the money babe, could be the power
Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

But you know she's mighty unforgivin' and you got to pay attention
'Cause the d-10 can be the death of you
But I get her all fired up and I can feel it in my soul
And it's hard to tell just who's drivin' who

I can move Alaska all the way to Beirut
I can bulldoze a beeline from here to Peru
I can push the rocky mountains into the sea
You know heavy metal don't mean rock and roll to me

I'm like a modern day mule skinner, drivin' ten thousand mules
So say a little prayer every day
Lord, just let me get her turned around without fallin' off this mountain
You know the boss man don't like us treatin' his D10 that way

I don't know why I like to drive 'em like I do
It ain't nothin' but a hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds of steel
Could be the money babe, could be the power
Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

Could be I love the way it feels
Could be I love the way it feels

---

Well I'm a little late in posting to TM51's comment this one apparently flew under everyone's radar just like mine
like I have heard said by a staunch compatriot here at HMT.net they don't make songs about milling machines & Volvos
but the big old D 10 gets its lime LOL

Very impressive, I grew up around an uncle that is what I call a junk yard fabricator. Take a combine front axle and cut it narrower, clock the gear reduction outputs and build a tractor out of it, or a factory cart turned into a frame for a magnatrack size home built bull dozer with a 4 way blade but this is in another league. Impressive. Frank S, do you have any pics of the truck you worked out of? Would like to see some. Thanks Eric

Suther 51 I have a big hole in my picture history but here are a couple of survivors not good shots of the rig this was my rig I built and ran from 1980 through 1988 when I retired it I had over 500,000 miles on it
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Here are a couple more pics of the blade
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I work out of my truck most work days and some at home. I like to see others work trucks, thanks
Eric

Quote:

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after all welding and grinding is done a good sand blast will prepare the blade for painting the final product should look exctly as if it were assembled in the factory

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What color is that paint on the blade ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J_P

What color is that paint on the blade ?

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That was called new cat yellow produced in batches of 500 gallons for the company by Dantex paints. It was direct to metal paint if sprayed over freshly sandblasted metal The painter used a 1500 PSI Gray-co airless spray rig sprayed without any reducers or thinners. Quick drying and as hard as epoxy once cured
Here is a shot of a repair area on a scraper neck that I worked over night to repair a 20 inch long crack in you can't see the crack or where it was but it extended from the top right around the cushion knuckle pivot "right top" all the way down then around and under the neck I gouged ground welded sanded then peened the area with a needle scaler gun and a pointed air chipper to mimic the texture of the casting the slight vertical depression is factory spot sand blasted and painted before a customer arrived that morning The customer knew the neck was cracked because he sold it to the company only a week before, but his mechanic looked for half an hour and couldn't find it even though he had a picture of the crack. That's how we rolled fix it right and get paid or not at all.

My father was a welder 50yrs local 7 Boston as well as his home shop. Not many people know how much work doing jobs like this is. Nice to see great work still being done. As most buckets and blades are now throw away. No one even will pay for hard facing anymore? Just get a new one from China. Keep up the good work!

You know what they say about welders? How many of them does it take to repair a bucket? 10. One to do the job and 9 to say “I can do that”!

I've abridged Frank S's reply to emphasize what makes an economy run. I'd wager most HMT'ers recognize the sad deterioration of same in the last few decades move towards service-based economies. IMNSHO, so-called globalization only worsens it, basically works around effort to break up monopolies.
Anyway;

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frank S

That's how we rolled fix it right and get paid or not at all.

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Think about that; next time after a session on the phone with a service provider asked to respond on a survey. I do not comprehend what earth shattering revelation they expect to find about service, nor any sort of expectation they'll get it for free. And when they dare mention 'Quality Control', I'm in launch mode.
Been known to have answered; "What's the matter, all your 1 year MBA's don't bring anything to the table but lunch?"

Somewhere along the line. Service changed its meaning On the side of my old welding rig it said Frank's Welding and Repair Service. I kept adding tool boxes to it and soon instead of a welding rig people started calling it a service truck, which morphed into a full on mobile shop the truck grew from being a 9,500 LB Dodge 360 gas 4 speed and 3 sp aux. transmission with a 9 ft bed, to a 14,000 lb Ford V8 cat diesel 10 speed and 2 speed aux 10 ft bed, welding machine Air compressor torch half a dozen tool boxes Atlas 12" lathe Enco Drill Mill Auto crane Line boring machine and a stowaway tent more tools than a Snap-on tool van carried, plus I always brought my lunch because I was prepared to stay all day.
Now when you hear the word service it means something entirely different I'm not even sure what it means today.

Holey-Moley That's a rig!
Equipped for a variety of work, as in service. Significant investment, equipped for ever increasing amount of work types. And as I read the specs I always brought my lunch because I was prepared to stay all day." means came-saw-conquered. Ever think of adding a BBQ or grill of some sort?

In between this and post written a few minutes ago, I got a survey call; at least from a company I deal with. I'm pleased how they do business, they even survey human to human! It went fine, getting a laugh from their representative.
Told her, surveys in my opinion, only real knowledge gained is about what services they can trim before pissin-off customers.

When I see a BBQ grill on a guys rig it had better have welding rods in it. I had one use for one because the cab was a super cab with ample room to store 200 lbs of rods in rod ovens mounted in the inside back of the cab the ovens were hard wired into teh generator output of the welder so when it was running the ovens were heated and would stay hot over night. But in winter or the times when I was in colder climates I would simply plug in an extension cord. Never had a single rod on board that wouldn't code if need be.
If a guy is cooking on his BBQ grill mounted on his rig he is not doing what he he was hired for. That being said there was a time when there were 10 of us on a drill site before the rig equipment cook shack or crew quarters showed up. Naturally we happened to be on a location 50 miles from the nearest anything place and according to company policy of no guns on location there probably wasn't more than 4 or 5 in any single rig LOL Me and 1 other decided it was getting on near supper time so the others who had BBQ's on their rigs fired them up Bill and I set out me with my 7-08 and he with his 300 Savage good thing it was near freezing because 400 lbs of meat was not about to be eaten in 1 night. The next day rig parts and the cook shack showed up sans any real grub, guess what was the main coarse of the next night to feed the rest of the crews who showed up as well? Spent 5 weeks on that location the coon-ass cook knew more ways to fix elk venison duck rabbit and quail than anyone I ever knew. Nope no guns here boss this meat must have come from the super market. By the way how do you like your Elk steaks medium rare or well done?