Auction Buy: 1942 Caterpillar Grader, Will it Ever Run Again??

It's nearly 81years old. The fact it's still actually here means it's not too shabby.

Can we all take a moment to appreciate that he rolled it into the shop, on that fantastic concrete and is now inside working on it 👌🏻

Love it! 48 years operating heavy equipment. I cut my teeth on an old Allis single rear end military motor grader back in the mid 70's. Worked up to owning my own excavating business and I at one time owned a 1946 Caterpillar 7T motor grader. Yours has a cab and Doors! Mine did not. It was an excellent old machine that we used to service the contract to keep a small city's dirt roads graded once a month. Wish I had it back! Riggs Cat even had most of the parts that I needed. The PTO driven models were called knuckle busters for a reason. When applying down pressure to the blade it would kick back gently through the control handle when it was getting close to Max pressure. You better have your hands off the controls by the third kick or you would have a stone bruise in the palm of your hand! What Memories! I was in my thirties back then. Nowadays I operate a new John Deere complete with environmental cab, but those were good days back then! I am interested to see this machine run and How I would Love to take her around the block!

Back in the late 70's a #12 Road Patrol Cat grader just like that one was my baby. I was 20-years old and worked in a white clay mine in north Idaho. My job was to keep the haul roads in passible shape for the self-loading scrapers and to clean up the edges of the pit.I needed to be at the grader at least 30-minutes before the rest of the crew so that I had the time to get her up and running in time to make a run before they were ready to roll. You need to be really fast with the controls to smash them into gear fully before they try to kick back at you. Quick in and quick out was the name of the game. like you said, if you are late coming off, it would try to break your arm.

If you ever want to lure Matt into a van you don’t offer candy you offer rusty old graders lol

Quote of the day. We squeezed it on there, "It's pretty much legal , we're good" LOL 😂

You're working on a machine that your great grandfather drove, your great, great grandfather probably paid for and your great, great, GREAT grandfather designed. That's an amazing build.

2 cylinder, salvage, run-YES! I have faith! Go for it!

Matt I ran one for years. Just a bit of advice be sure and keep the pedestal and console full of 90 wt. Gear oil it'll help save your palms and knuckles when your grading. And if you have slack in the blade gearboxes you can rotate the shaft and find less worn teeth. It's a job but it'll make it blade on point again. And to tighten up the ball joints and round table there is s himself that can be removed to tighten up slack until its down so far it has to be replaced.

Nothing better than starting your morning with an episode of diesel creek !

Hey Matt. I'm looking forward to this winter when it's a -20 degree wind chill outside and you're in a tee shirt in your shop turning a piece on your lathe to make a part or tool for one of your projects. You've earned it buddy. Thanks for posting.

Scrappy saves the day! Always a great day when Sam shows up. Sorry she was froze up Matt. Love watching you rescue old iron.

I have watched several of your videos and it’s a blessing to see someone resurrecting old equipment. We live in a throwaway society nowadays. ❤

Christine is going to either love the fact she has a new friend or really angry and start having fits. It’s a solid grader looking forward to it coming back to life!

There’s something very satisfying about watching you work on that machine in your well lit, comfortable shop instead of out in the elements under a carport. Congrats on the progress. ~ A Viewer From Mars

I love seeing how well-built older machines like this were put together. It would be cool to restore a bunch of them create a museum to display them to the pubic.

Matt when it comes to Diesel Creek videos they are never too long , even if it's one hour or more long because it's great content thanks Matt

I Learned how to beat that rope pull starter torture process years ago. Just get a washing machine motor and make a temporary mount with a remote starter switch and find a belt the right size or a leather sectional belt that you can change the length and let the motor do the work. The washer motor is set up to reverse on itself if needed if the pony motor bucks back on you.

I am 100% confident that you will have that old gem running in no time. I absolutely love your channel 😊

I, for one, don't mind longer presentations. You're an amazing mechanic.