Repowered Cletrac Dozer Is A Real Workhorse
Retired mechanic Michael Peterson of Bellingham, Wash., recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a 1946 Oliver Cletrac BD-H bulldozer that he repowered with the 305 cu. in., V-6 engine and 4-speed transmission off a neighbor’s 1961 GM 3/4-ton pickup.
“It’s a great example of what can be done with an old machine that no one else has a use for,” he says. “GM pickups with this engine weren’t known for their fuel efficiency, but I added a governor which keeps the engine running at a constant speed. It results in great fuel economy.”
He found the machine sitting in a field with the original Hercules 6-cyl diesel engine setting on the ground and the dozer blade removed and off to one side. He traded a Honda generator for what was left of the machine, then hauled the components home on a trailer and went to work.
The engine was beyond repair so he installed the V-6 engine and 4-speed transmission off the GM pickup. “I made a short driveshaft to connect the transmission to the Cletrac’s original 5-speed transmission. I had to lengthen the dozer frame about 8 in. to fit the radiator in.”
He also made a jackshaft to belt-drive the machine’s hydraulic pump. “I installed a Honda car’s timing belt and sprockets, and ran a belt from the crankshaft to the jackshaft to the pump. I also installed a governor and added an electric winch on back. It turned out really nice.”
Peterson used the repowered Cletrac for several years to clear trees off land as part of a sideline business. “The Cletrac BD-H is about the size of a Cat D-4 dozer and a real work horse,” says Peterson. “It was a fantastic running machine and had unreal pushing power. So much power that one time while I was trying to push out a big tree stump I bent the dozer blade. Yet the machine was small enough that I could pull it on a trailer behind my 1977 Chevrolet dually 3/4-ton, 4-WD Suburban.”
One time he helped out a neighbor who was clearing trees and digging out stumps in their back yard by hand. “They wrote to their relatives back East, bragging about all the progress they had made over a 2-year period. Then one day the neighbor asked me what I’d charge to use my Cletrac to push out some of the stumps, and I told him nothing. I pushed everything into a low spot on their property and then leveled it out in only about 45 min. His wife wasn’t too happy with that because she realized they never needed to do all that hard work.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael C. Peterson, Bellingham, Wash.
Retired mechanic Michael Peterson of Bellingham, Wash., recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a 1946 Oliver Cletrac BD-H bulldozer that he repowered with the 305 cu. in., V-6 engine and 4-speed transmission off a neighbor’s 1961 GM 3/4-ton pickup.
“It’s a great example of what can be done with an old machine that no one else has a use for,” he says. “GM pickups with this engine weren’t known for their fuel efficiency, but I added a governor which keeps the engine running at a constant speed. It results in great fuel economy.”
He found the machine sitting in a field with the original Hercules 6-cyl diesel engine setting on the ground and the dozer blade removed and off to one side. He traded a Honda generator for what was left of the machine, then hauled the components home on a trailer and went to work.
The engine was beyond repair so he installed the V-6 engine and 4-speed transmission off the GM pickup. “I made a short driveshaft to connect the transmission to the Cletrac’s original 5-speed transmission. I had to lengthen the dozer frame about 8 in. to fit the radiator in.”
He also made a jackshaft to belt-drive the machine’s hydraulic pump. “I installed a Honda car’s timing belt and sprockets, and ran a belt from the crankshaft to the jackshaft to the pump. I also installed a governor and added an electric winch on back. It turned out really nice.”
Peterson used the repowered Cletrac for several years to clear trees off land as part of a sideline business. “The Cletrac BD-H is about the size of a Cat D-4 dozer and a real work horse,” says Peterson. “It was a fantastic running machine and had unreal pushing power. So much power that one time while I was trying to push out a big tree stump I bent the dozer blade. Yet the machine was small enough that I could pull it on a trailer behind my 1977 Chevrolet dually 3/4-ton, 4-WD Suburban.”
One time he helped out a neighbor who was clearing trees and digging out stumps in their back yard by hand. “They wrote to their relatives back East, bragging about all the progress they had made over a 2-year period. Then one day the neighbor asked me what I’d charge to use my Cletrac to push out some of the stumps, and I told him nothing. I pushed everything into a low spot on their property and then leveled it out in only about 45 min. His wife wasn’t too happy with that because she realized they never needed to do all that hard work.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael C. Peterson, 2112 Yew St. Rd., Bellingham, Wash. 98229 (ph 360 676-0971; jyllybean54@gmail.com).
