[tozlakes]

Originally placed this is “What is it section” but thought maybe this forum would grab some additional attention.

A lady I know called me up and asked if I wanted a tractor as she was just using it as garden art and was ready for it to go away. Her brother had a couple of them and would come by once a year and fire it up prior to his passing last year. It’s in great shape as she kept it covered most of the time to protect the seat cover that is not in the pics. It also has a bunch of documentation on the work he had done to it over the years s
uch as carb rebuild, plug and point replacement along with magneto magnet replacements.

I did some research and found the motor to be a 1958-ish Clinton 6.5hp model 1600 I believe. (See attached pic) Cleaned out the tank, replaced the fuel line along with adding a filter and got her to fire up relatively easy.

My issue is I don’t see any tags on the tractor itself and have no idea of the year and make of the mini dozer.

Anyone seen one before or have some details on where to get info on it?

MAYBE A D.9 Cat! (D point 9 that is!):

 

[BigDaveinKY]

It's a cute little thing.
There was a plethora of companies and individuals building things like this in the late 40s through the 60s. A lot of them just sold locally so it may be hard to track down if it was commercially made.
This one has design and fabrication that wouldn't surprise me if it was a one-of-a-kind garage built unit. I have searched my resources and not found anything close...yet.

 

[Jack Jennings]

New to me! Very cute. Have you tried to doze anything with it?

 

[tozlakes]

Big Dave, looking at the tractors brackets and build quality I suppose someone could have built it but because of the quality of brackets and such I would lean more towards it being a manufactured unit. Likely of a short run of builds but I think it looks more like it was made on some sort of production line than in someone’s barn or garage.

Jack, as we are in the middle of building a new home I have yet to do anything with it outside of changing the spark plug, cleaning the carb, points, replacing the fuel hose along with adding an inline fuel filter.
Hoping to find some time over the weekend between football games (as my 49er’s have a by week) To take her out for a spin and push some dirt.

With everyone referring to it as “CUTE” I see I am going to have to toughen it up visually with some cool Cat D-9 stickers and carbon fiber / chrome engine components. Maybe throw a turbo on it and black out the wheels or something!
Prefer “TOUGH” over cute!

 

[BigDaveinKY]

It may surprise you what some folks can make with the right metal fabrication tools in their shop.
With a lathe, mill, breaker, and roller lots of things can be made that one would swear were factory production parts.
All I see on the machine is straight cut channel, angle, flat stock, and round rod. Could be some factory manufactured parts from other things repurposed out of a scrap pile so it didn't have to be made. Nothing on it looks hard to make and the blade mount screams shopmade. I remember seeing plans for such things for sale in magazines. One could even build their own airplane from plans bought from comic book ads. Just my opinion from what I see in the photos.

If it fits in the back of a real pickup truck (8' long bed) then it's "cute".
Doesn't matter what one does to try to beef it up. It'll still be cute. Big is "tough."

 

[tozlakes]

Well found some time yesterday to fire her up and take her for a spin before loading up onto my trailer to transfer to the new property. Runs OK but still needs some fine tuning on the carb I think. Starts on the first pull each time so happy on that progress at least. Replaced the base board below the motor as to ensure belt tension was where it needs to be as the previous board had rotted away causing issues with the motor to be lower than intended causing loose belts to the tranny.

The next issue is the turning brakes as the one to turn right works well but then had a mind of its own and stuck whereas the tractor went around and round to the right until it finally broke lose. The left brake does nothing as if it doesn’t have any drum to pad contact whatsoever. Looks to be a drum style brakes and likely not the easiest to access for maintenance. Hoping to be able to spray some lube on the brake mechanisms along with adjusting them as to get them to work.

I’ll drop some pics of the tranny and mechanicals when I get the chance as I still cannot find a gear to get it into reverse either. Maybe doesn’t have a reverse who knows? Does have high and low gears that seem to be working fine.

Speaking to the Lady I got it from she was telling me that her nephew drove it in the Pioneer day parade here in Paso Robles CA. In 2002. For those of you who don’t know Paso Robles, we have a huge tractor following here through the Pioneer day community. We also have a tractor show in Santa Margarita called the “Best of the West” that raises funds to support the parade that shows off 100’s and 100’s of some of the coolest tractors ever from the industrial era. BEST OF THE WEST

 

[tozlakes]

Added a few tranny and brake pics.

Didn’t even notice until just now while looking at the last picture the tranny has a PTO off the back of it.