In 2007 I was approached by a 15 year old Boy Scout that I vaguely knew to be his mentor on his Eagle Scout project. Soon it was apparent to me that this young man was truly gifted with machines and tools. I had recently purchased a tired old 78A D4D to refresh a bit and use on my farm. The scout, Colby, loved the machine and he was smitten with the fever of old yellow iron. He spoke frequently of acquiring a D2 and I repeatedly told him that the machines were too small to be serviceable.
In 2017 I made a cross-continent trip on Memorial Day weekend to the big show at Santa Margarita, California I operated Peter Bloom’s RD7 and 14A D8 in the “pit” and made a new friend who has been a treasured asset to servicing an antique crawler.
I was effective in holding Colby off for several years, but eventually his persistence got the best of me. In 2019 I heard about a 41J D2 in northeastern Ohio for sale at a reasonable price. Colby and I forged a partnership and bought the tractor from an Amish steel fabricator who, due to age, could no longer enjoy it. The D2 had an older repaint and was complete with a 2A dozer blade. The left brake was dragging but I could be loaded and it migrated south to western Kentucky on my gooseneck trailer.
Colby had the track broken down and the left undercarriage pulled in short order. The nasty brake was cleaned and realigned. We opted to pull the pads and replace the rails with Berco units. Rollers, idlers and sprockets passed our inspection. The 62 pads had to be resized from 7/16 to ½ inch track bolts. Colby had an older iron machine that punched out the pads easily. He ordered some army surplus new rubber pads and punched appropriate holes to mount so we could run on pavement.
By spring of 2020, we purchased a Hyster winch from Zimmerman’s in Missouri. Colby mounted it unassisted in a half day. Midsummer we took the “deuce” to a local tractor show with the rubber pads and a new cutting edge on the dozer blade.
Later that fall, we removed the blade and cylinders and added Pioneer type couplers to the hydraulics. We were proud to pull a fourteen-inch three bottom plow in third gear at a nearby Plow Day. I had a shaker can and painted the toolbox and the grill for the 44 hydraulic unit. I was satisfied with the old girl’s look. It didn’t fly well with Colby and the result was a very, very careful sandblasting and paint job.
Colby’s wife was pregnant with twins in 2021. Complications ensued and the girls were taken very early. One did not survive. It was a true miracle that McKenzie was added to the family. Colby was under more pressure and stress than a fellow ought to endure. I tried to be as supportive as possible, and our friendship grew even stronger than that iron we shared. He called on a hot June day to confess that he had bought the undercarriage of a burned-out Caterpillar Skid Steer. His vision was to make it int a rubber tracked dump trailer!
Two bottom rollers were moved to the top and “VOILA!”, he had something that rolls. An old dump frame from a salvaged farm truck was fitted with fabricated steel and a heavy tongue was added. Our painter friend blasted it and made it yellow. I got to help with the pressure treated floor and sides. I had enough dog in this fight to give it a name, “Colby’s Contraption number 1 LGP”. I ignored copyright infringements and had some counterfeit decals and signage made to complete the look.
Pete sent us an old steering clutch lever off a scrap D8 and we bent it 90 degrees. Colby fabricated a base on the fender like the original CAT unit. Now we have a hydraulic control handle that sits above the winch brake and closer to the operator. In 2022 we sabotaged a running gear from a fertilizer tanker wagon. Colby wisely ignored my advice and prefabricated a logging arch with the huge airplane tires.
August of 2023 found us at the Half Century of Progress show in Rantoul, IL. There we were able to return the favor I owed Peter Bloom by letting operate the "Deuce and Contraption”. Our greatest sense of pride was not the phones that photographed us, but the instructions when we arrived with the combo. We were told to park the park front and center of the crawler tent!
Colby negotiated a purchase of a miniature crawler at the tent and it was soon loaded in the contraption for all to see. I told Colby many years ago that age would take its toll on his productivity, and I advised him to get a license to provide a service that most could not provide. He is a respected fireman in our city, an excellent welder, fabricator, carpenter, and like a third son to me Don Bryant.
Running that 40 D2 with a dozer blade spreading dirt is much like riding foundered donkey bareback.
