Hour Meter

[Anonymous-0]

I was looking at a Cat D4 dozer. The hour meter shows 12,000 plus hours. The owner says it doesn't have nearly that many. He says the only way he can get the meter to stop is remove the battery cables. Does that type dozer have an electric meter or is it mechanical? Is this reasonable? Thanks

 

[NCWayne]

A little more info than just saying it's a D4 is needed to know which type of meter it ought to have but the older machines origionally had a mechanical meter that was gear driven (usually from an accessory drive) and only worked when the engine was running. They were prone to 'go bad' over time and could very well be innacurate. In that case they typically show fewer hours than are actually on the machine. That said there is no reason an older machine couldn't have been retrofitted with an electric meter. On a newer machine that has an ignition switch with an ON position to keep a fuel solenoid, etc open the meter would either be powered when constantly powered when the switch was on or through a pressure switch, etc that would only make when the engine was running. On an older machine that had a fully mechanical fuel pump and a switch with just a START position and no ON position, a meter would typically be powered through a pressure switch, etc that would pull power direct from the battery and only make and power the meter when the engine was running. That's not to say that someone didn't suffer from a lack of good sense and powered it directly off the battery. In that case unhooking the battery or switching off the master switch, thereby breaking the ground and effectively disconnecting the battery, would be the only way to shut it off.

With all that said, I've never seen an hour meter, be it electric or mechanical, that I would rely upon to give any sort of indication as to the condition of the machine. Instead look at the wear on the undercarriage, the wear in the pins and balls on the push beams, and the general looks of the machine. Then look at how the engine acts on start up. If it has precombustion chambers then you may need to use the glow plugs regardless of the outside temp, and that's OK. Even CAT recommends using them for all starts on indirect injected/precombustion style engines. Once started watch the exhaust and listen to how it sounds. Llisten for any knocks, etc., look for any indication of excessive smoke in the exhaust, etc, etc, etc. Look at the guages (if they work) and make sure the oil pressure is good, and that the water temp/pressure (depending on the age of the machine as to which guage it has) is OK. Get it in the field and see how it pushes. Put it against something that won't move and see if it'll spin the tracks in low gear. If not then there is something worn and slipping in the drivetrain. In other words when you get down to brass tacks the hours showing on a machine mean nothing, especially on an older machine, as too many things would have been done or happened to it, both positive and negative, that aren't reperesented by the meter alone.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks so much for the reply. That took your time and I am thankful. I talked to the owner (I haven't looked at it yet) and he said you can actually hear the meter click every 10 minutes or so. I'm not sure of the year model. Thanks again.

 

[bob plumadore]

Wayne about covered it all. Most tractors average 2000 hours a hear a tractor 5 or 6 yaers old would have that many hours.