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Hi, Mark. As Bob said, you will be in for quite a ride. The only time I ever drove one was in 1966 and 'drive' is the operative word -- not operate, because that was all I got to do with it, drive it around the yard. We repaired it and got it ready for work and the next day the company sent me out on a Cat D8. These toys don't have steering clutches and brakes like a Cat. They are a planetary steering similar to a Case but having a brake on each track too, a la Cletrac, so that you can partially or completely lock one track up for sharper turns. As Bob said, both steering levers forward is low range, both levers back is high range and one forward (low) and the other back (high) will cuase the tractor to turn to the side which is in low range. It doesn't matter where the other lever is if you pull one right back to brake a track, it will still turn to the side that you brake. The only difference is whether it turns fast or slow, although this is also controlled to some degree by how hard you pull back on the lever to apply the brake. (The later TD 25's had a similar system.) Like Bob, my memory is a little hazy about what sort of arrangement they had for parking/stopping the machine -- I only drove it on flat ground - but it stopped anyway when you knocked the hand clutch out. I don't remember there being a brake pedal so I'd guess that braking was somehow automatic. (It WAS 37 years ago.) The same company had one TD 24 with a foot clutch. The other operators reckoned it was a real mongrel of a thing to do a day's 'dozer work with as it really wore out your left leg with the constant changing of gears. (I never got to operate it.) They did say however that it wasn't bad when you were chaining timber with another 'dozer. If you wanted to stop for a bit to let the other machine catch up, you just sat there for a few seconds with your foot on the clutch and then let it out again when you were ready. You don't mention whether you have a front- or rear-mounted cable control so I'm guessing you have the rear-mounted as you haven't commented on its placement. Either way, if you have not been able to get the winch clutch to behave by adjusting it, you need to take it apart and clean it up. While you are at it, you might as well clean up the winch brakes too as these can be just a tad (????? ?) dangerous if they are not working properly. Little dramas like the blade coming down 'thud' unexpectedly while you are travelling along -- or even standing still (NEVER get under an un-propped blade while it is raised.) -- or the brake not grabbing when the blade is raised and the lever returned to neutral don't do a lot for one's peace of mind. When the TD 24's came out they were the same horsepower as the Cat. D8's of the time (130hp) but about 3,000# heavier. Soon after that, International boosted the horsepower to 140 hp, making it the heaviest and most powerful crawler tractor available at the time. Cat. struck back around 1950 with a 150 hp D8 and I think this reamined the biggest single-engined crawler until the Cat. D9D hit the market in 1955, although Buster Peterson of Peterson Engineering in Calif. built 3 double D8's around '49-50 and Euclid brought out the twin-engined TC 12 in about 1955. Hope this helps. You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
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