Caterpillar D8 Bulldozer Pulling huge Tree

1947 Caterpillar D8 2U clearing out a blown down tree from stream. Check out our website www.bostonpowercat.com for more videos, pictures, forum and blog.

[@hpbear101]

I sent this video to my 85 year old dad and asked if he had ever operated one.I drove up to their house yesterday and asked if he watched the video. He was all smiles and mom said he watched it several times. He told some Cat stories from when he worked for Heland logging back in the early 50's. They used this model (and a D7) as dozers and skidders, he also operated them as a EO in the Army on Okinawa in the mid 50s. Thanks for posting the video, watching it obviously made my dads day.

[@Bostonpowercat]

+Tom Hamilton ,Cheers Tom I'm glad that your dad enjoyed the video there is more of them on our website.We only play with them now,and they are pretty physical to drive,so your dad must have been a hardy bloke to work them full time ,but I guess that's what progress does sometimes makes the new machines easier to drive,but not the skill needed ,like back in your dads day.Many thanks.

[@Bostonpowercat]

So nice to hear this story and it makes all the effort in putting the videos up certainly worthwhile. Thanks for your kind words and I hope your dad enjoys the rest of our videos, it's great to hear from someone who actually drove these everyday on a job rather than just a hobby!

[@jacktaylor6219]

@@Bostonpowercat p . Bio

[@ellieprice3396]

Glad to see those old D8's still working, with sounds of the little pony and big diesel making pure music. We had these in Korea, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima in '54/'55 building roads, airstrips, and parking pads for the U.S. Air Force. The coral rock on Iwo dulled dozer blades so quickly our welder was kept busy resurfacing with high alloy rod and grinding sharp again. Keep 'em coming.

[@Bostonpowercat]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated 👍 Just put up new video, more stuff on it's way!! Also great to hear from someone who actually drove these machines on a daily basis, cheers.

[@richardtravis546]

Huge trees handled like twigs , great crawler video

[@StanleySchmengie]

At the 2:22 mark, the horses are like "That's the weirdest damned cow I've ever seen!" Awesome old machine!

[@econrey]

Love it! It's clipping right along through the field, nice machine. Glad to see someone's keeping it out of the scrapyard.

[@Bostonpowercat]

Thanks for your kind words, take a look at our website www.bostonpowercat.com if you love old machines, we have pictures, videos and a blog to 👍

[@regsparkes6507]

Lovely example of Cat Power ! Gotta love that sound too.

[@clydebalcom8252]

That is a gorgeous D8. Sounds fantastic too.

[@helvehammer7846]

About ten years ago my neighbor came over early one morning. I knew that they had been pouring some concrete over his way and asked what was the problem. He said one of the concrete trucks , when turning into his narrow (and only) driveway had got a little too close to the edge and it crumbled. I went over and looked and the big truck was leaning precariously into the ditch and was high-centered on the middle of the axles. I said I'd get my Cat and get it out for him. My old Cat is a '59 D9 without a turbo. I bought it very reasonable for the shape that it was in - nice and clean and not all worn out (It had belonged to a Township that got absorbed by the Big City and had sat around a lot - but it was always inside). The turbo was missing off of it when I got it. I have never had the money to buy one for it and really I don't need full power anyway. I had made a couple adapters out of steel pipe for the intake and exhaust and that took care of it. I also set the fuel injection delivery down a little so it didn't blow coal-black smoke. The exhaust is black but not crazy black, anyway. Anyway I fired up the pony and crushed an ampule of amyl nitrate in the nutcracker and drove the 1/4 mile to his place. By the time I got there there were two more concrete trucks waiting to get in and they were about to turn around and leave. Anyway I was the hero of the hour for pulling the stuck truck out of the ditch without damage and then blading-in a little more dirt on both sides to widen his driveway out. I had only bid enough on Old Betsy (the D9) to keep her from being scrapped and really had no use for her. The only reason I did so was because I happened to have enough room in my shed for her to keep her out of the rain. But she sure came in handy THAT day !

[@davesstuff1599]

You're a hero in my book.

[@wilmamcdermott3065]

A 19 A D9 ?

[@jeff7764]

To make a short story long

[@daviddaddy]

Great Job! This was fun and interesting to watch! You guys did a great Job!!! Love the older style Machines! They were work horses for their day! And still keep up with modern equipment! Great job again guys! And thanks for sharing! Your bulldozer is a Beauty! True muscle power in that machine!

[@Bostonpowercat]

Thank you!! and really glad you enjoyed the video, yes the machine maybe old, but your right it's still capable of doing a job or 2. If you enjoyed the video and the bulldozer make sure you check out our other videos for more of the same 👍

[@charlesharrison2248]

Good stuff,skillful driving to the site,no tearup of soil,great to see 2 men doing good work,with skill and expertise, and I'd say a little bit of experience.!!.

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Charles Harrison ,many thanks👍

[@diegodicioccio3457]

Great bulldozer,,,I had a D8H and I used to do the same work I love Caterpillar tractors the 're the best ever

[@semco72057]

That large Caterpillar was perfect for that job and and many more with all the horsepower it has.

[@Bostonpowercat]

Cheers, yes it may be old, but it's still got plenty of uses!! Cheers 👍

[@MrUltraworld]

What a great old dozer in beautiful condition. Subscribed!

[@Bostonpowercat]

Thanks very much, much appreciated and great to hear you have subscribed, new content always on the horizon 👍

[@davesstuff1599]

Old iron, very old machine but runs like a sewing machine, hardly boggs down at all. I could watch this stuff all day long.

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Daves Stuff,yes the old D8 is 1947 ,will have her on the scraper box this summer for a play.Thankyou.👍

[@daveanderson2316]

Good looking ole girl. You 2 boys have got it down.

[@19safe53]

Love those old tractors.

[@mog5858]

nice video thanks for posting. i was thinking that a D8 was over kill for a blow down but now i think it was just right. keep up the good work

[@alberttoth1807]

What a great machine cat power all the way

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Albert Toth 💪💪👍

[@guypatts494]

Beautiful machine the power

[@Agnemons]

Nice thing with narrow gates and a bulldozer, if they don't fit the first time they do the second.

[@ClassXIRoads]

Nice video clip of the old cat. I ran a 2u back in the 70's and used to have to pick though used clutch links to find a set that would all be around the same wear...lol.. that and leave it to cat to have a square pin in a round hole deep in the back of the transmission. lol , we worked that poor old cat hard every day doing land clearing first chaining down mesquite with an anchor chain, stacking then plowing with a holt root plow loaded that old girl right up, that and tank building pulling a 10 yard scrapper, could shifted it up thought the gears just a bout like a truck with the scrapper loaded once you climbed up out of the tank.

[@markgreenhow7953]

Great to see one of these being put to use 👍

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Karl Hirsh Thanks very much,she was restored a few years back,but she is in good order.

[@MrMrthemonkeyman]

nice to see the big cat still hard at work

[@wilmamcdermott3065]

Use to skid logs with my dads old D4 7u 5 big spruce at a time

[@sideskraft]

You get a feel for the weight of that tree by looking at the trench it's making in the soil. That's one stout old CAT!!

[@dposer10]

i think it's so neat how those dozers have that pony motor

[@TheRebelOne.]

When you turned over the Pony engine and suddenly a horse whinnies I thought CATERPILLAR have really pushed the boat out on this machine 😁💪👍

[@Bostonpowercat]

+0BMM1 😂😂👍

[@Bostonpowercat]

Lol yeah the horse happened to be very well timed 😄😄

[@cdnpont]

Curious, was this blowdown on your property, or were you assisting a good neighbor? Your rigger certainly looked like he was well versed. And it's so nice to see the old stuff actually applying a load. Cheers, Mark.

[@Bostonpowercat]

We were assisting a neighbour and it was a great opportunity to give the machine a run. The rigger was over the moon with your comment!! But your right he's been in the industry a long old time! Thanks for taking the time to comment, much appreciated 👍

[@karlhirsh1]

nice video.your D8 is good in good shape.i have 1949 2u.

[@gordonarneson2070]

Nice old cat but I think what you got there is a track tractor not a bulldozer because lack of a blade but as soon as I heard it running my ears started ringing been around that noise for almost 50 years

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I was wondering how you were going to do any clearing without a blade till I saw the choker. Go for it!

[@Bostonpowercat]

A fair old size tree, she handled it well 👍

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Yep, an old 8 will still snort!

[@Bostonpowercat]

lol you got that right :-)

[@TsunauticusIV]

That old 8 could have pulled 7 of those “huge” trees. 😂

[@craigkeller]

She's a beauty!

[@Bostonpowercat]

Cheers 👍

[@shawn17032]

That's a cool machine!!!

[@Bostonpowercat]

+shawn17032 Cheers, make sure you check out our other videos for some other bigger and cooler machines!!

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

Very good. You really need to trim the branches overhanging the area between the fence posts!

[@Bostonpowercat]

Cheers, and yes it does need a tidy up, but it's not actually our field, it's a neighbours, but we were doing him a favour pulling the log out for him.

[@Gus1966-c9o]

Holy crap !! Hard to stop that old girl .

[@flyingscrapyard]

Don't you just love to have an excuse to get the toys out? Lovely sounding engine in these old girls. Thanks for posting

[@dimmacommunication]

I would love to have a piece of land just to have a dozer 😍

[@Bostonpowercat]

Well as long as you have a bit of space to store it, there are normally plenty of working days to attend, but transport can be costly.

[@bobw7066]

Wonderful, the old girl did not even grunt.

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Bob W you can beat the low revs of those D13000 Cat engines ,and they run forever!👍

[@Bostonpowercat]

Check out our fully restored D8 hauling out an even bigger tree!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqu7aKqqjcacpZI

[@debraanderson171]

cool dozer flick ....i love that countrysidenote to self......my toyota coulda pulled that tree

[@chrisnzella]

I like old Cats.

[@Bostonpowercat]

If you like old Cats take a look at our website www.bostonpowercat.com , some great pics of old Cats on there. Cheers 👍

[@chrisnzella]

Bostonpowercat Thanks, I did check it out and it's great.

[@Bostonpowercat]

Chris Rasmussen Thanks very much for your comment, much appreciated, glad you enjoyed the Website, new content to the site coming soon!!

[@andrewjohnston8043]

I was logging in Montana year s a go and pulled loggs bigger than that down mountains day in and out with a D8 cat, ,22 on each turn

[@rcfundyer5739]

Wow what a powerful old beast

[@Varue]

A beautiful machine :)

[@Bostonpowercat]

+Citrus Bone,Cheers thankyoj👍

[@Bushguyrocks]

Best video I've watched in a long time. A person would almost think that machine was made for that kind of work. I take it you have a problem with deer?

[@Bostonpowercat]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed 👍 No problem with Deer, just huge Cat fans!!

[@LCHLLO2008]

amazing to watch ,great power not even breaking into a sweat :) how much does it weigh out of curiosity ? thanks for posting great vid .

[@biggswins]

Placing hook at base of stump seems like the HARD WAY -- If you leave TALL STUMP and hook chain at TOP OF STUMP you get more LEVERAGE and ROOT BALL pops out !!!

[@Iwillnotbepushed]

Can I borrow that for half a day? I need to do the exact same job in my back yard. 😀

[@jamesmacneil1609]

Kool old dozer!

[@63256325N]

Tough piece of machinery.

[@Bostonpowercat]

It certainly is, especially seeing as it's nearly 70 years old to!!!

[@pheenix42]

Wait...did I just see a hand-crank starter??

[@KPearce57]

He hand cranked the "pony engine" used to start the main engine.

[@pheenix42]

Ah, so that's what's happening. I take it electric starters weren't up to an engine that size back then?

[@Bostonpowercat]

yes that's correct, you hand crank the small pony/donkey engine which in turns starts the main engine. Electrics and starter motors just weren't up to the job at the time!!

[@sheldonhchambliss1385]

why those wheels?

[@jackwoods2891]

The power it has

[@Bostonpowercat]

Not bad for an old machine 👍

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I thought I heard a horsey instead of the Kitty and then I SAW a horsey, so I'm not loosing it as bad as I thought. Still wonder if diesel fumes are as bad as some say they are. Nope. Now you just need a dragline or two!

[@Bostonpowercat]

Yeah the odd horsey is known to be wandering around!! We should start bottling these diesel fumes and sell them for the mythical and magical properties!!

[@larrybarnes3920]

Not many Pilot motor examples left nowadays I imagine.

[@justinmartin8887]

That dozer didnt have any clue anything was hooked behind it. You could've pulled those twigs out with a 60 hp tractor, possibly even a pickup truck

[@hanchyelmordon193]

U got a blade Fer that sum bitch? Lol. I love it

[@getitup100]

Need an arch with that rig.

[@ruthc8407]

They musta had some I-beams under that concrete bridge.

[@maleka58]

Nice Cat I would love to have a ride in that.

[@DOCTORDROTT]

The Cat sounded like a horse at the beginning Karl lol

[@jimmychanbers2424]

Osha was taking a break.

[@jamesstan4678]

That cat an't afraid of watter

[@joeparker282]

Real diesel engine, not like the electric tronic junk of today.

[@grahamsutherland7541]

That's not a huge tree sorry, and its light weight soft wood. Never the less it was fun to watch.

[@san379]

you make that look easy... thats a week or work with a chainsaw

[@Bostonpowercat]

Cheers!! It still had to be sawed up with the chainsaw, but your right it was much easier with the D8 pulling it out of the stream :-)

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

It will keep a house warm for a long time. Enjoyed seeing what wonderful super machines can do.

[@raymondgrimaldi9207]

You know that they do make an electric start for the pony motor

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Raymond Grimaldi ,that’s for the lady operators 😂👍

[@raymondgrimaldi9207]

@@Bostonpowercat it's also for people who don't like broken arms...just saying

[@russse2793]

I do not know anything about bulldozers, but is yours considered a big model?

[@Bostonpowercat]

+Russ Se back in the day when it was new 1947 it would be the biggest dozer in Caterpillars product line ,but at a working weight of about 18tonnes it would be a baby compared to Caterpillars latest dozer the D11 at over a 100 tonnes.

[@russse2793]

It is a nice little machine for you to the sort of tasks you shot the video for.

[@fred881]

wheres the huHUGE tree ?

[@franksweets1859]

Schönes Video!

[@BIGSMOKE-bl2lq]

Where's the big tree

[@Bostonpowercat]

@BIG SMOKE,Mate the tree had a name called”BIG” so BIG TREE👍

[@OldSkoolF]

Didn't even break a sweat....

[@markawilliams4829]

Rips tree in half, no big deal.

[@sheldonhchambliss1385]

a bull dozer with out the shovel in front

[@HikeForLife23]

can I have the last 8:03 of my life back?

[@greggreg5225]

the guy pulled the tree the wrong direction!!!!

[@selfaware114]

Wow what a cluster fuck..... hey just get some dynamite .

[@simonperry330]

Huge Tree a D2 Could have Handled That

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Simon Perry ,thing is when yer smallest toy in the box is an old 8 !,you can only p-ss with the co-k you got !😂👍

[@simonperry330]

@@Bostonpowercat What a Great Problem to Have!!!!

[@bobw7066]

Here in Australia we have a saying " you run what you brung" .

[@simonperry330]

@@bobw7066 I always Thought that was an American Saying??

[@The35speedster]

Me like bulldozers

[@sheldonhchambliss1385]

a bull dozer killed my cousin it flipped over on him in crushed him

[@bobcat8439]

Slow down

[@dozer1642]

Imagine if any vehicle today required you to start another motor to start your motor. All millennials would die.

[@Bostonpowercat]

@Dozer 1642 you are rite there!,don’t think too many want to pick up the grease gun today!👍