1971 Struck corp MD1200 mini dozer

*Insert maniacal laughter*

Ahem so after many multitudes of years searching I finally found my unicorn and no that wasnt a you know what joke just because ***** marriage is legal :p I found a struck dozer! I got it from a local garage, old guy buys it do level driveway sells it to garage who sells it to another old guy who levels his driveway then sells it then I got it! and promptly leveled the entire earth! > I mean I uhh... I killed some grass and then the drive chain came off and I had only gone like 2 feet.

So yeah theres a few minor problems:

Hydraulics are shot, pump leaks pretty bad fluid is... really really old and messed up I worked with hydraulics I know hydraulic fluid this stuff is closer to peanut butter than hydraulic fluid o.o! So that is all getting taken off and scrapped with extreme prejudice.

the previously mentioned chain issue either stems from someone using the wrong chain on the one side or the lack of a chain tensioner so I am going to just replace both sides with new chain and see if I can avoid putting in a tensioner for a while.

I may or may not replace the tracks depending on fabrication and stuff... who am I kidding Im gonna build some mordor shiz on this bish!

Did I mention mini diesel turbo power? Yeah I will have a tiny turbo diesel in this thing before they year is up. right now it has a little kohler in it... its cute and it runs but... diesel!

So yeah this thing is going to be my money pit for a while the deere is almost done and I only need one suburban running so things should work out ok :p maybe.



Oh did I mention?

oh yeah

That's pretty cool... buts not cool to tease us with only 1 picture of the unit. Ruuuuuuuuuude.
What for drivetrain does it have?

With something this rare, I'd really think twice about throwing stuff away or modifying too much. It would kill the value. But, you could use it as a blueprint to build your own, then you could adapt it as needed for other engines/tracks.

Stretch44875 wrote:

With something this rare, I'd really think twice about throwing stuff away or modifying too much.  It would kill the value.  But, you could use it as a  blueprint to build your own, then you could adapt it as needed for other engines/tracks.

That was my first thought too. Almost cooler to see it back 100% factory then modded

Well we got 4" of rain the past couple days literally right after I took that pic so everything got covered. All the hydraulics are home built sadly the stock parts are no longer available it's been modified pretty good by previous owners I'll try to get a video up today!

woah now thats cool we need more pictures of it lol

Uploading the video tonight will get pics soon!

Now with more video!

There's a lot of belts in this thing. I'm thinking if I change the drive on the countershaft to a chain system and leave the clutches belt it should improve reliability >.>

Nice little dozer!! You got zero turn on it, I'll have pivot steering on mine, only to keep it simple, plus I have reverse in my gearbox. Your steering is called a Mantra steering setup.

Can't wait to see what you do. I was starting to think I was the only one building something with tracks on it, LOL.

Yeah I have the zero turns but I like skid steering better seems to tear up the grass less. I am familiar with the mantra drive I have seen variations on the scaled tanks forum it's pretty neat!

Are you on the Scaled Tanks forum too?

I've been on there for a long long time mostly just stalking they normally don't build heavy enough for my taste I like iron not plywood

Oh and slight update I took her out for a bit of a romp and was promptly fogged by the Kohler bad rings or something so yeah fun fun. Then I blew a belt off for reverse somehow so I'm thinking better belt guides are in order.

Moose wrote:

I've been on there for a long long time mostly just stalking they normally don't build heavy enough for my taste I like iron not plywood

Yah, plywood, easy to work with but not my style either. Mine is all STEEL, LOL.

Yup think it was sirmistersir or whatever his name was had a superb idea for molded poly tracks he built a scale abrams

I was talkin with him the other week. Cool Abrams he built there. He did another build that he was showing me. It was a really small Sherman tank.It has the same driveline in his as in mine and he got his up too 15 mph with potensial to go faster. But he was using the diff steering setup. It seem to work fine but I think diff steering is just a little jerky for my taste because when you turn how the diff works is when you slow down one track, the other speeds up. Not good for going fast. I locked the diff in mine and I'm controlling the tracks by belts off the transaxle. Should be smoother to turn.

Nice find. I've got one of those sitting around too, but not as good of shape as this one. The one we have someone hacked the frames from a couple lawn tractors and bolted them inside the dozer. Like part of a frame with an engine (vertical shaft) and another frame section with a trans. Has some disk brakes, but the whole thing is really a hack job. It still has the plate with slotted bolt holes under the current mess for an horizontal shaft engine like the one you have. I notice the track links on yours have all been welded to the chain, mine are bolted together. If I remember, which I probably won't, I'll take a pic of mine. It's piled under a bunch of junk. Had it running a couple years ago, but the brakes are all froze up so you can't steer it. I've seen some nice restorations on youtube.

Yeah prancsta not a big fan of the open diff steering leaves the chance of getting stuck kinda high unless you put a air locker in think someone built one using the double diff method though if I remember right.

That sounds complicated mr mod o.O shouldn't be to hard to get back to stick with a fair bit of work and a manual just gut it and set up the belt drive again!

Do you understand how the double diff or triple diff is to work? I can't seem to wrap my head around that kind of setup or benefits of it compaired to a single diff setup.

It basically turns the system into a planetary drive one axle is used to drive like you'd see with your single diff setup then the other is engaged when you want to turn the tank

Traded an air compressor, and mig welder for this dozer. Got it running, but track isn't right, chain is too weak. I'll start my own thread once I get video done.