For the CAT Skinners Out There

[Darrel Starr]

For the uninitiated, a CAT Skinner is a person who operates a Caterpillar Bulldozer. I recently found this 1981 Police Report from the Gillette, Wyoming, Police Department in an old file folder left over from my career at CAT. I hope you find it as funny as I have. It reads like a story written by Cloudy. If John Thompson happens to be on the web site, he might want to add his commentary from his perspective having been the operator.

 

[Fencer]

I wonder what happened to the driver for that?

 

[gregory]

Being a true cat skinner and having built many many many miles of logging roads throughout the Great Northwest, I have always joked about how fun it would be to drive through a (abandoned) building. Glad I didnt.
Good police report though, bet it was fun while it lasted.

 

[85Mike]

A loggers best friends were the "3 Ds". Dynamite, a drip torch and a D8 Cat!!! I was fortunate enough to get to use 'em all!

Mike

 

[eaglepilot]

Being a true cat skinner and having built many many many miles of logging roads throughout the Great Northwest, I have always joked about how fun it would be to drive through a (abandoned) building. Glad I didnt.
Good police report though, bet it was fun while it lasted.

Well, this guy drove the dozer through a "not abandoned" building..it doesn't look like he was having fun.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/lynn-benson-bulldozer-into-work-building_n_1845439.html

 

[skipster]

I run equipment for a living. On one job the engineer/inspector was being a REAL jerk (not the adjetive I would like to use) He complained about everything, the gravel(even though it met the specs) and other chicken sh** stuff. So on a Friday after everyone went home he jumped on a D6 and proceded to rip up the whole parking lot, freshly poured curbs and all. Got his sorry a** arrested.

 

[leon tallman]

did it for years the one i like is i'm not doing it right why don't you get up iut the seat and show me how. Thats the part where you take a 3 hr lunch

 

[Darrel Starr]

Glad you CAT guys enjoyed the story.

 

[Lance]

What about Deere guys?

 

[Darrel Starr]

You too Deere guys. Many of us in Caterpillar always thought that Deere and CAT should have merged long ago. Lots of CAT engineers grew up on farms with Deere equipment and still own Deere stuff, like snow blowers and riding lawn mowers. as I do. Some CAT engineers restored Deere farm tractors like they had on the farm growing up and kept them in their garage in the city.
I didn't have much experience operating a bulldozer, just enough to know that the rooky operator (me) can easily "porpoise" a bulldozer much like an airplane. About the fourth porpoise, the rooky finds himself up-and-down with the end result an abrupt stop with the blade aiming down at an extreme angle. I found it much easier to push load scrapers.

 

[Patrol Guy]

But did the cat have an orange x on the roof???

 

[Darrel Starr]

Amazingly, lots of CAT dozers are stolen. I used to get a list every month -- a long list.

 

[85Mike]

In the Pacific NW, Deere was never a factor. Cat, Terex, Euclid, and International were the main brand crawlers in the 60's through the 80's. The 82-40 Terex was one of the finest machines I ever operated. It put the D8H Cats to shame. The TD25C Inernationals were also a hell of a good earthmoving machine. In the middle 80's when I went into business for myself, the 46A D8's were my choice, mainly due to parts availability. The TD15 C was absolutely the quickest machine on tracks I ever operated. Great machines all. Similar to the various models of Cubs. I still have a 48A D7E that I keep just in case I need to destroy something!!
Mike

 

[aceherks]

Had an 82-50 twenty years ago with ripper and sound supressed cab. It was a really good machine. Still have a TD30 but repowered with a Cummins.

 

[Darrel Starr]

Two retired CAT engineers I know just had to have a CAT dozer and now both have D4s. I know of a 1940s D4 near Princeton, MN, in a collection, that was used as the machine to pull away the gate at a horse race track in Chicago. You can imagine that it is a Time Machine, looks new, one to covet. I am tempted by the occasional 1930s CAT 2 ton, or Ten gas crawler tractor I come across at times but Vivian helps to keep me sane. She has learned to watch me carefully since the time I bought and restored a 1954 MG-TF. Talk about insane!