Abandoned HD21

Taking blade off looses a lot of weight. If that structure hanging off the side of the  bridge is not the local DOT office, I`d be tempted to drive the tractor over it

Been following along with this story myself. Pretty interesting for sure! I was thinking the same as MacTractor was. I don't know much about Dozers other than they're super heavy and I've been working on a few our ours here at work on occasions, (D7G, 955, and JD650) but I would think that if you put that Dozer on a diet and remove the rear winch and front blade, and whatever else that could be removed to lighten her up, you just may be able to go right across that bridge wit dat big dude! Yeah, the bridge looks a bit scary at first, but looks to me that under all that moss n' stuff, it looks like a pretty stout & riveted bridge. After all, the Dozer got in there, put her on a diet, and lighten the old girl up n' git er' outta there!   

Just wondering if there is anyway you could get another crawler with winch in there and a short section of railroad track to cross the river. Skidding it across steel tracks might be easier than dragging it thru the mud or across trees dropped to cover the water. If running, driving it across rails would be possible IF the crossties were long enough to allow another section of rails to be added outside the standard gauge width. Several sections of rail side by side with crossties or even steel welded under them to hold him in place so they don't twist might give you a temporary bridge. If you can get another crawler into there, to help move the "bridge", it can also help pull the other up the embankment on the other side. Not sure how long you are talking about, but rail comes in some pretty long sections, and a good friend at the scrapyard might be able to hook you up for a loan of some. (Not suggesting this, but I do see it all the time pulled and dropped on the right of way) A connection at the railyard might get a loan of some worn out stuff long enough to do this.
I would be scared of attempting to cross the existing bridge, because if it fails, you loose the Allis and you might get charged for the repairs of the existing bridge. Plus you would sure make a lot of people mad (the ones that currently use the bridge).
It is easy to sit in Florida and dream of ways to move this monster, but the bottom line is, GOOD LUCK AND BE CAREFUL!!
David from jax

EricB lol. Just send me money, machines and a crew; we'll get 'er rescued!

Appreciate the suggestions on getting across the river guys but I'm fairly certain it will have to walk out under it's own power. From my perspective I have a couple choices. 1) Do a little blade work and cross the river at a shallow spot, which I think can be done in the summer when the flow is at its lowest volume. 2) Walk it out a road I found on Google Earth and come out on Thompkins Hill Road, which is a stones throw from Highway 101.
But first things first. I still have to see if the engine's free. The land owner is out of town for a month so I'm gonna have to wait until she's back before I'm able to monkey around with it.

Cal(KS)- Thanks a bunch for the offer on engine parts. I may be taking you up on that.

Edited by ACcrazy - 17 Apr 2013 at 9:43am

Ill try to do what i can from 1822 miles away.

Nothing yet, John. I'll give her another call later today.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Sorry for the delays here guys but I've been very busy with other duties as of late. I'm getting caught up but still much to do around the place here.

I called the owner again today and left a message. Hope I get a call back this time.
I know she has been busy with some legal back and forth with government entities over land usages so she may be a bit preoccupied with that deal at the moment.

Well, she's not returning my calls. I don't know what the deal is but I guess it's time to move on.

I agree, a visit in person puts a face to the name and will make the seller more comfortable.  They can hear your desire to fix the machine instead of soliciting a call from someone who may be just looking for iron to scrap.

Drop her a card in the mail. Let her know you are the one that walked with her, and would like to save the crawler from scrap. HTH Tracy

ACcrazy: I'm sure we'll hear from you again....you deserve to be complemented for having started the longest thread I've followed from start 'til now....6372 views at this point - Congratulations to you....you've caught the interest of many people!!!

Just thought I'd add these pictures of a 21 my father in law spotted while hunting a few years ago.

Probably started out as a repair job that never got finished.  Looks like about 1975- it has the muffler.  By looking at the blade, it did its share of work.  I think it disappeared a couple of years back, probably cut up, but who knows?

GlenninPA wrote: 6 months is a nice break..... Anything new to report?

Unfortunately, no. But this endeavor is still alive. I have turned the reins over to AC_Mel. I will help in whatever capacity I can but he has the resources to actually make this happen. I'm hoping to see this machine added to his collection in the future. :)

Happy new year everyone!

Great story..  What do these 21's weigh?  What kind of scrap price will one bring?  I sure hope you guys get that owner lady to cooperate...   Does she know how many Allis-Chalmers followers are watching this from this website??  Good luck to all..