How about an HD10?

I've been talking to a fellow who is thinking about selling his HD10. He says everything is fine except the housing for the right track adjuster which is broken. I've never been on a crawler that old much less run one. It is still cable controlled, has a non-angle blade on it and has the 4-71 Detroit.  I'll probably go look at it this weekend, so I'm open to any thoughts or suggestions y'all might have beforehand.

if your referring to the track adjuster housing which holds oil and the big tension spring for the front idler then that would require disassembling the entire truck frame on that side unless it can be welded but it may not hold.  always inspect pins and bushings.  sprockets, if pointed are worn, truck wheels etc.  the left hand track is almost always worse than the right because of where the operator sits, usually the left side of blade is used most.  the truck frame is prone to breaking near the rear sprocket where the cable blade attaches outside the sprocket bearing.   HD10 is monolithic construction, meaning- clutch, tranny work requires pulling engine. 

if taken care of these machines do quite well, the one i posted pics of had 8000+ hours in 1971.  ramming and jerking into obsticles is always bad

whew... hope that helps

This machine is an interesting example of what can be done to keep an old crawler going on the cheap. The radiator had been replaced with one about the size of a gas Ford pickup, the grousers had rebar welded on, the sprockets had square stock added and filled with nickel rod, and a chain had been holding the track adjuster in place where the housing was broken off. It did run, move and steer but the engine sounded like it had a knock and seemed pretty underpowered. It was fun to run it and I can see where you would be pretty busy trying to work it in tight quarters! I think I'll have to pass.

the knock could be just a stuck injector which would account for the lack of power. those 2 cycle gm diesels were loud but pretty powerful. the adjuster looks easy but time consuming to fix. not a bad looking old machine. what was the price? i like hydraulic blades myself and it looks like this one was used for pushing scrapers with the plate welded on the blade. might be alot for a first dozer.

     I don't think it to be that bad of a buy, lots of possible parts if you can locate another one.  If you have the room maybe flash him $1500 and park it for the time being and see what happens in the future.