International TD18 first outing in olive drab

[Jim Clark]

Took my TD18 to the Dig For Victory show over the weekend now painted in olive drab. On Sunday we loaded it onto Jasons Rogers trailer, bit scary as we had to load it backwards. Looked good though .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim

Edited July 7, 2014 by Jim Clark

[spanter]

Nice combination there, makes a nice difference to see an earth mover like that about.

 

Steve

[Pete Ashby]

Very nice indeed what DoD is the TD18?, The Diamond T, Rogers, TD18 combination really looks the business

 

Pete

[John Comber]

Well done Jim, looks very nice, waiting to see/hear the TD18 barking working hard though!

[Enigma]

Good looking dozer.

Is it easy to operate?

[RattlesnakeBob]

Looking mighty good there Jim ...and still capable of doing a bit of work too I'll bet ...ok...not TOO hard a days work sure but !

Incidentally there were two of these parked in different meadows near to me ..The one had literally never been collected after an open cast coal site finished in the middle '70s and it sat sadly and forlornly under a hedge.... and the other was in the 'derelicts meadow' at the back of a local sawmill....Both sat in their respective slumber for over 30 years but sometime in the last 10 years or so, both disappeared

Hopefully not to the gas lamp but...more than likely so I'm afraid what with the way heavy steel scrap prices went

[paul_bish]

Looks lovely!!

[Jim Clark]

Very nice indeed what DoD is the TD18?, The Diamond T, Rogers, TD18 combination really looks the business

 

Pete

 

Hi Pete, although the dozer had olive drab under all the red paint it did not have military type data plates. The only plate it had looks more civilian to me but the numbers on there date it as 1941.

 

Jim.

[Jim Clark]

Good looking dozer.

Is it easy to operate?

 

Hi Olaf, the dozer is pretty easy to drive but completly different to the Sherman which does catch me out still.

 

Basicaly the Sherman has two levers to steer it, one to turn left and the other to turn right. By pulling a lever back it applies a brake to slow that track, in turn (because of the central differential) it trys to speed up the other track therefor the tank turns left or right depending on which lever is pulled. If you pull back on both levers at the same time the tank is brought to a stop. The clutch, accelerator and gearbox are just like a normal vehicle.

 

The dozer has three clutches, the main clutch is used to select the gear you require and is an over center type, which means its either in or out.

 

The other two clutches are steering clutches and they are used in conjunction with two foot brakes. So after selecting the gear you need and pulling the main clutch back the dozer starts to move. To turn left you pull the left cluctch lever back (this breaks the drive to that track) then you apply pressure to the left brake peddle and depending how hard you push will affect how sharp you turn. To turn right you use the right clutch and brake.

 

There are other issues which affect the steering control , such as whether you are pushing dirt, pulling a load or the load pushing you down hill but if I explain that it will confuse you.

 

Hope all that makes sence

 

Jim.

[Jim Clark]

Thanks to all the others for your kind comments.

 

Jim.

[spanter]

Hi Olaf, the dozer is pretty easy to drive but completly different to the Sherman which does catch me out still.

 

Basicaly the Sherman has two levers to steer it, one to turn left and the other to turn right. By pulling a lever back it applies a brake to slow that track, in turn (because of the central differential) it trys to speed up the other track therefor the tank turns left or right depending on which lever is pulled. If you pull back on both levers at the same time the tank is brought to a stop. The clutch, accelerator and gearbox are just like a normal vehicle.

 

The dozer has three clutches, the main clutch is used to select the gear you require and is an over center type, which means its either in or out.

 

The other two clutches are steering clutches and they are used in conjunction with two foot brakes. So after selecting the gear you need and pulling the main clutch back the dozer starts to move. To turn left you pull the left cluctch lever back (this breaks the drive to that track) then you apply pressure to the left brake peddle and depending how hard you push will affect how sharp you turn. To turn right you use the right clutch and brake.

 

There are other issues which affect the steering control , such as whether you are pushing dirt, pulling a load or the load pushing you down hill but if I explain that it will confuse you.

 

Hope all that makes sence

 

Jim.

 

 

Cheers Jim, sounds like a friend's Allis M and Cat R2 I got to drive and believed I could make a gentle turn on his wife's immaculate lawn before his crop but with out the pedal it barely turns at all and so had to make a sharp turn and incur her wrath not his for the wheat I'd have flattened, is it started by donkey engine or just by hand/motor?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Jim Clark]

is it started by donkey engine or just by hand/motor?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

Hi nSteve, it is a 6 cylinder motor which starts on petrol and then is swiched to diesel.

 

I will try to explain, in the cylinder head there are 3 valves per cylinder, inlet and exhaust as normal for a four stroke motor. The third valve when open leads to a small chamber with a spark plug in it.

 

So when you want to start the motor you turn on the tap in a 1.5 gallon petrol tank,

pull down a lever on the dash board, this opens the third valve in all the cylinders, it also opens a flap in the inlet manifold so the air is drawn through a carburettor, it also turns the mag on.

when the third valve is opened it also reduces the compression ratio to run on petrol

pull out choke, press the starter button, engine starts.

 

Run engine on petrol for a few minutes until warm, depending how cold the weather is.

 

Pull the lever back up and the diesel hand throttle up at the same time.

the valve is then shut increasing the compression ratio

the carb is turned off,

the injection pump is now on and the motor switches to diesel.

 

To shut down the motor you do the same in reverse.

 

Simples.

 

Jim.

[Pete Ashby]

is it started by donkey engine or just by hand/motor?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

Hi nSteve, it is a 6 cylinder motor which starts on petrol and then is swiched to diesel.

 

I will try to explain, in the cylinder head there are 3 valves per cylinder, inlet and exhaust as normal for a four stroke motor. The third valve when open leads to a small chamber with a spark plug in it.

 

So when you want to start the motor you turn on the tap in a 1.5 gallon petrol tank,

pull down a lever on the dash board, this opens the third valve in all the cylinders, it also opens a flap in the inlet manifold so the air is drawn through a carburettor, it also turns the mag on.

when the third valve is opened it also reduces the compression ratio to run on petrol

pull out choke, press the starter button, engine starts.

 

Run engine on petrol for a few minutes until warm, depending how cold the weather is.

 

Pull the lever back up and the diesel hand throttle up at the same time.

the valve is then shut increasing the compression ratio

the carb is turned off,

the injection pump is now on and the motor switches to diesel.

 

To shut down the motor you do the same in reverse.

 

Simples.

 

Jim.

 

I'm suitably impressed Jim, where do you keep your third hand?

 

Pete

[spanter]

Thanks for that Jim, all sounds straight forward and quite a good way around warming up a large displacement diesel engine, don't suppose you are taking it to war and peace or Cosby are you?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Jim Clark]

I'm suitably impressed Jim, where do you keep your third hand?

 

Pete

 

Shush, dont mention the third hand, it always gives the women a pleasant suprise.

 

jim

[Grasshopper]

Does it go with the 3rd leg?

[Jim Clark]

Thanks for that Jim, all sounds straight forward and quite a good way around warming up a large displacement diesel engine, don't suppose you are taking it to war and peace or Cosby are you?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

Sorry I never take anything to W & P as I cant run my stall and play. Also this year we wont be at cosby as I am prepairingmy Sherman to go On the 30corps trip in september.

 

Jim.

[Jim Clark]

Does it go with the 3rd leg?

 

I was trying to keep that secret aswell.

 

Jim.

[gritineye]

Great looking dozer Jim, and the whole combination, heavy metal never fails to impress....:thumbsup:

[spanter]

Sorry I never take anything to W & P as I cant run my stall and play. Also this year we wont be at cosby as I am prepairingmy Sherman to go On the 30corps trip in september.

 

Jim.

 

Ok cheers Jim I'll keep an eye out for it at some point around then.

 

Steve

[Pete Ashby]

Hi Pete, although the dozer had olive drab under all the red paint it did not have military type data plates. The only plate it had looks more civilian to me but the numbers on there date it as 1941.

 

Jim.

 

Interesting, I see the TD18 is listed as a 155mm towing tractor is that on the Christmas list Jim ?:cool2:

 

Pete

[martinsaunders06]

Yep looks great Jim, I have a Farmall super MD which has the 4 cyl petrol start diesel tho a lot smaller capacity than yours . It came from Canada 20 years ago now and starts first time every time and is a proper old style long stroke lugging engine , only revving flat out to about 1350 rpm and when working hard you can at low revs almost hear each piston cycle so I'm guessing your 6 cyl really hangs on when going gets tough . When that engine design came about in the late thirties or so there were some very clever engineering thinking people about who thought of it - amazing and so important with the extreme low temperatures in North America/ Canada . The cylinder heads certainly on the 4 cyl engines are prone to cracking /warping tho especially if the engines are turned off too quickly when really hot so it is a good idea to let them idle a bit to cool down .

And 2 x exhaust silencers that dead cool.

Edited July 9, 2014 by martinsaunders06

[Crawlerkid]

Hi There

Attached are a few pics of our TD18 that we have rebuilt the engine on from the ground up and done a few other bits such as freeing the RH steering clutch and the brakes off as it had stood for 20+ years. Its all up and running now but would be great if we could get any info on it as it has some olive drab left on it and the remains of some numbers on the side.

 

 

Nice looking outfit by the way mate!! Maybe one day ours will look as good.

[wally dugan]

STEVE your TD18 WAS IN SERVICE after 1949 if l read the british army number right 92 ZK 82 was issued after this date

before that it would have a different type of number if you contact the ROYAL ENGINEERS MUSEUM CHATHAM they may have its military history

[Crawlerkid]

Hi wally thanks for that!! Your eyesight must be really good we had trouble working out the numbers even from close up!! (we made it 82ZX82) I will contact the ROYAL ENGINEERS MUSEUM CHATHAM and keep you posted! Thank you so much!!!!