I spend a fair amount of time in FB Marketplace and have been looking for a vintage Cat dozer for a while, when this popped up - a 977H, listed as inoperable. It was on a 130 acre farm/ranch near Killeen, TX that some investors had bought. Farm/ranch went belly up and they sent in someone to liquidate everything, including the 977H. The liquidator didn't know anything about the 977H other than the fact that there was something wrong with it.

When I called him on Saturday to discuss, I asked how soon would he need it gone. He said it had to be gone by Wednesday morning. I think he heard my jaw drop over the phone. Then he said, "Look, you're the only one who's been serious about it, so if you can get it out of here by Wednesday morning, it's yours." Challenge accepted!

Headed there Sunday with a buddy of mine. Had it running and operating in about 2 hours; it just needed a jump start and track tensioner maintenance/repair. Left steering clutch is very weak; I suspect that's why it was laid up.

Anyway, got a lowboy out there on Tuesday and had it brought to my buddy's ranch near Fredericksburg, Texas.

Now I guess I need to give it a good once over and see if I can get some work done with it. This is my first piece of heavy equipment, but I've been working on vintage cars for decades.

Here's the video that I shot -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSwjKY3lVcA

That is awesome!

The old stuff is reliable like that. I had an Allis HD-11B. Super simple, no BS. Any of the 'new' stuff 20 years from now will require custom hacked circuit boards to try and bypass all of the BS. The old stuff is super simple and reliable.

That's cool!

The wife make pillows (to sell) using all different printed fabric and some of what she has made are Caterpillar fabric.
When we were down at the Bristow Oklahoma Mopar Show over the weekend a guy bought one on the Caterpillar pillows for a buddy that had just retired from being a Caterpillar Mechanic.

After he left I told her that I'd love to have a Bulldozer like the one on the pillow.
She laughed and asked why would I want one of those.

I said it would make it far easier to clear some of our property when I do it.
The tractor with a loader can only do just so much.

Wow! That's an awesome old Cat Front End Loader. If I remember correctly, a front end loader has slick type tracks and a bulldozer has bigger cleats on the tracks so it will get better traction. You rarely see front end loaders in use anymore since most of that work is done with excavators nowadays. Great score, and hope you enjoy it.

Very freakin" cool!

Cool and way cool video. Watched the entire show and enjoyed every minute. Thanks for sharing

Mike

Watched your video, and sent it to a friend that does heavy duty equiptment. No doubt he will pass it on too. Cool. 👍

Congrats that is a good model.

Looking forward to some bulldozing videos!

I agree!!!

Yeah, that's what scares me away from the newer stuff. Electrical gremlins make my head hurt.

My wife has given up trying to understand my affliction, but as she's fond of saying, "buying old cars and heavy equipment is better than hookers and drugs."

It's a front end loader, but to be more specific, it's a track loader, as opposed to a wheel loader.

Dozers usually have a single tall grouser (cleat) on the track pads or shoes because they need the power to push stuff above all else.

Loaders typically have 2 or 3 shorter grousers per shoe or pad to make them more maneuverable.

Thanks,

Scott

Thanks, I concur!

Excellent! Thanks for watching!

Scott

Thanks, much appreciated!

Scott

Thanks, the 977H is a great machine. Way more than I need, but I've always been a fan of overkill.

Scott

I hope to be moving some earth soon!

Scott

I know Jack You-Know-What about heavy equipment, but I know a properly manly piece of kit when I see it.

That's ridiculously cool, and must have been meant to be.
Congrats !