Abandoned HD21

Sinful. I know of a collection up here in Northern Iowa that looks the same way. The difference is that even though the items sit out, they are safe from the scrapper,--------- for now.

Ran an old HD16 with the Allis -Buda in it.Frost on the ground and ice on the puddles and it would fire right off.

Thanks Bruce for posting these pictures, I find them interesting to 'study'......of course with mixed feelings. On the one hand the neglect and abandonment aspect is sad.......on the positive side it's a bit like studying the tombstone of a hero from the past. I like to imagine when this machine was sold at the dealers lot......the new proud owner had it moved to the first job site......pushing dirt like nothing he had ever owned before.......making nothing but good money (leaving out thoughts of early repairs or warranty work). This machine worked good and hard for many years proving its worth and admired by guys like us......then finally came the last day it was running.......for whatever reason we may never know.......but here it remains a monument to a productive most useful past while turning fuel into brute work.......following the operator's every command. This leaves me with a good feeling. However, I am fully supportive of someone parting out 'old heroes' like this making them useful again.

Thanks for all the comments guys.
The story behind this machine as was told to me by my uncle is it quit steering, so rather than repair it, they just drove it off the road a bit and parked it. That was some time in the late '70s I believe. My uncle and I tried to buy it but they wouldn't sell for what we were offering. That was 20 years ago. The pics were taken 1 or 2 years ago.
The land has changed hands since then I think. It would be kinda interesting to see if the new owners would turn loose of it.
The ironic thing is, this machine is probably only a few miles from my home as the crow flies. AND, it is only maybe a quarter mile from a paved county road. Unfortunately, you have to cross a rickety old rail car bridge that probably wouldn't hold the weight of the machine let alone the machine on a low bed. BUT if one were to actually repair it where it sits, it could probably be driven out to my house on logging roads through a couple different logging companys and at least one private owners land.
Ya know, just for sheets and giggles, maybe I'll look into finding the new owners and have a little talk.

darrel in ND wrote: ACcrazy; GO FOR IT!! I am sure that you don't call yourself CRAZY for nuthin! LOL! Darrel

Well, I'm not REALLY crazy, but thanks for the vote of confidence Darrel!

looks like an early one that has had a dry air cleaner added.  upside down filters are dead giveaway for buda/lanova engine. you can also see the lines on the intake side, they are different than later engines cuase of injector placement. 21's and 16's went to direct injection in 58' steering system is pretty simple on early dry clutch machines.  oil system is open circuit.  pull lever and it blocks a hole in steering clutch piston, oil pushes piston back and turns a shaft and lever to actuate clutch release yoke. bad part is buda/lanova engine parts are hard to find you need a dozer to drag it home and then work on it lol

Hope you get this machine AC Crazy.  It deserves to be salvaged or repaired.  Good luck am hoping the new property owners see the benefit on preserving AC.  

You guys have no idea (or maybe you do) how much I'd love to have this machine. With the exception of a little model M that was given me that I didn't do anything with, I've never owned my own dozer. My family had an HD16 cable blade with Carco winch that I rode on plenty, worked on and set chokers behind but that's as close as I've been. My uncle was the one who operated it (and dang, he was good!). Unfortunately, he passed away in 1999 and my cousin sold it without saying anything to me or my mother or grandmother who, consequently, actually owned it.

I'm pretty financially embarrassed right now and don't really have much money to put out on such an endeavor but I'm going to pursue this as far as I can. It's definitely fun to think about and who knows, maybe the new owners will play ball!

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Mel! Good to hear back from you! It was great to meet you. It was excellent talking dozers for the short time we had.

If I can get together with the new owners of this 21 and they agree to turn loose of it, I would gladly turn it over to you. I know it would have the best possible chance with you and your crew at a new life.

Oh, that guy we talked with about the 16, I e-mailed and left a voice mail with him last Sunday but haven't heard anything back.

If you want, go ahead and post up the pictures of the 16. I'd like to see if it is indeed our old one.

Edited by ACcrazy - 23 Mar 2013 at 12:54pm

Is some exellent videos on youtube from Quiring towing showing a volvo excavator rescue; parts 1 and 2; with winch tractors. Yellow ones, but great footage of diesel being convertered to music and smoke; more than enough to strike terror into the heart of any treehugger ! 

That's it!! My uncle welded those hooks on the back for choker cables. We bought that nice comfortable seat and installed it. I bought and installed the spark arrester. My uncles friend painted it using a bunch of different color yellows and such laying around that he mixed together and also painted the black accents.
That brings back some very fond memories. I hope it didn't get scrapped.

She called me back! She hasn't given me a definite yes but she's willing to discuss it. It sounds like she wouldn't be opposed to me working on it where it sits to see if it can be made to run.

AC Mel to the courtesy phone--we need to talk.

Edited by ACcrazy - 24 Mar 2013 at 9:23pm

Accrazy, Maybe when you go talk to her, take a box of chocolates... maybe she will take a shine to ya and make a great deal... And if not, make sure Mel has his checkolate book handy... LOL

A few pics from yesterday.
If you look closely you can see the hour meter is now missing and someone tried ripping off the Allis-Chalmers plaque from the hood.



My friend Don checking it out.



A couple of canisters removed from the right front floorboard tossed to the ground just to the right of the machine. The exhaust and seat frame are also there just out of the pic.



A couple plugs have been removed from the injection pump. I covered the open holes with a couple beer cans that were laying around.

a couple of batteries, and a sniff of either, and she'll be purrin again!!  Nice find, I hopeit works out for you.