Repairing the Auction Buy, 1942 Caterpillar Road Grader ( Is it worth all this??)

I'm sure a thousand other people have made similar comments, but it's still worth saying: when I look at these old machines, I see the tools (and operators) that built America. Your dedication to bringing them back to life is a great way to pay respect to those craftsmen and their efforts. THANK YOU!!

I'm 71 yrs old and I can remember seeing those gear driven graders reworking the streets in my neighborhood when I was young.

I’m 69 years old. This video reminded me of when I bought a retired 1969 Austin Western 300 Pacer motor grader at a Cal Trans auction. I paid $ 5100.00 for it. When I brought it home I found a document in a compartment which had the maintenance record for the machine. One month before the state of California sold it at auction they changed all fluids, replaced all the belts, two new tires, two new batteries and topped up the fuel tanks too boot! I ran that grader for the next 20 years with no problems at all. Now that was a good buy.

This is one of the FEW YT channels that still the same since the beginning. No drama, no click bait BS!!!

For those that don't know what the scarifier does, it scars the ridge between the valleys created by driving in dirt or gravel, there by helping the grader to level the surface out. That's one of the reasons it's not as wide as the scraper blade.

I'm 71 too and remember the gear-driven graders working on roads here in New Zealand. The operators were master craftsmen, knew every inch of their machine and would spend a half hour every morning greasing up every grease nipple before work so they had absolute precision control of all the machine's functions. Don't forget to do that too Matt.

You brought an 81-year-old machine back to life with style! Absolutely Amazing! Well done, Matt!

Another excellent factor about that beast is that you never have to worry about blowing a hydraulic hose. This was one of your best finds yet.

Old pops saved the day. I'm sure he's just as happy as you are to see it run. And real proud of his son.

I am also 71 years old, and I remember these graders, and the men who operated them working on our county roads. They were tough and skilled operators the closest thing to them is you your skill and determination shine through. We just don’t see this determination in young people today, sadly, be safe love watching your program

What I'm impressed by, unless I'm wrong, is that none of the glass is broken.

One of THE BEST YouTube channel's by far. You should be very proud of yourself for revitalizing this old relic. Your determination and tenacity are outstanding.

My late father saw them at work levelling up new airfields in the UK, N Africa and Far East in WW2. Great machines and all praise for the engineers who ran them often under life threatening conditions. A good find. Best from the UK.

I have a degree in physics and engineering so I'm way out of my league here and yet I love watching these videos. You're an amazing and talented person.

Dear Matt, Love to see how you got this 81 years old grader running and working as she probably has done for decades. Thanks for sharing this and send you love from the Netherlands

It lives !!! Well done Matt. Just paint it army green anyway and please, do us all a favour and never try doing anything that sketchy again. If you had tripped or got caught up near that back wheel AND you were on your own. At least there would be video evidence, and you’d probably be nominated for a Darwin Award. So good to have your Dad to help get it back together, that’s the sort of thing you can’t buy. Take care and stay safe. Cheers mate, Stuart 🇦🇺

The blade dropping might have used up more time, but at least you got to test the machine and you know the driveline works. It was good content too, I was worried you were going to get run over!

I know we all appreciate the ease and power of hydraulics, but seeing Matt operate this old gear-driven machine really does make me appreciate just how tough, reliable and still-usable these machines are. I know greasing everything every single day of work is a pain, but man, no blown hoses EVER? No ridiculous trips to the hydraulic shop? I'm so down for that.

I'm 62 and very happy you did this!!!

Man if I lived in your neck of the woods, I’d beg you to let me lend a hand just so I could learn all that knowledge you have. So impressive.