{"id":510196,"date":"2026-07-05T01:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/510196\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:01:08","slug":"vintage-machinery-fan-restores-classic-1953-caterpillar-d8-2u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/510196\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage machinery fan restores classic 1953 Caterpillar D8 2U"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe agreed to sell it as long as I guaranteed never to take it to the scrapyard, and I said I had no intention of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This particular D8 2U had been owned by McBreen Jenkins contractors in Northland and would have been imported from the United States in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese bulldozers carried out the earthmoving for building roads, dams and everything in between,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were used to build the early infrastructure of New Zealand. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou could park them in the bush and return 12 months later, and they\u2019d still start easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the air-conditioned machines of today, with electronics and computer technology, Bright said you knew you had done a day\u2019s work on one of these 23-tonne beasts. <\/p>\n

They have no battery to go flat, no lights to damage and no hydraulics to fail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 23hp petrol starter engine was started with a crank handle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d engage the clutch, and the main diesel engine would start up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The D8 2U engine is a D13000, has six cylinders and produces 185hp at 1200rpm (full load). <\/p>\n

\"VintageVintage machinery collector Scott Bright with his 1953 Caterpillar D8 2U. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

The engine displacement is 1246 cubic inches. <\/p>\n

The bore and stroke are 5.75in by 8in. <\/p>\n

It has five forward and three reverse gears, and has a top speed of 7.2 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Caterpillar D8 2U has no electronics to go wrong. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cThe steel blade weighs around 2.5 tonnes,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 3.5 metres wide and 1.1 metres high with a maximum draw bar pull of 44,840lb.\u201d<\/p>\n

The blade is operated by a wire-cable and pulley system (similar to a winch), which runs off the engine.<\/p>\n

\"DrivingDriving the 23-tonne D8 2U was is a heavy manual job. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

The D8 2U maintains full power to the tracks during tight turns.<\/p>\n

Bright uses the Caterpillar on his land, but he doesn\u2019t want to overwork it, as he feels it\u2019s deserving of retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe agreed to sell it as long as I guaranteed never to take it to the scrapyard, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[248735,253936,74,7127,5822,138,34216,4915,6144,253935,49239,13503,71,75407,17374,130,5969,111,139,69,52538,57642,8139,253937,2044,303,27627,4741],"class_list":["post-510196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-248735","tag-2u","tag-after","tag-age","tag-bright","tag-business","tag-caterpillar","tag-classic","tag-collecting","tag-d8","tag-enjoy","tag-fan","tag-from","tag-loving","tag-machinery","tag-more","tag-much","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-restores","tag-restoring","tag-scott","tag-semiretired","tag-time","tag-very","tag-vintage","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}