Army D7 video

[martyn williams]

Would love one of these
[video]http://youtu.be/SL4PXcSLtT0[/video]

[bigkit]

Play with it yes............but go to work on it noooooooooooooooooo! You'd have arm ache after 20 mins, all those gear and direction changes!!! Respect for all those blokes who had to wind over the donkey under gun fire just to get going! Thank god for direct start.

The Allis gun tractor in the background was a bit special tho'.

[FOWLER MAN]

Yes, firm I was with about 1961/2 still ran two of them. starting handle came up through the top of the bonet though.

I did a bit of work on them , they still had dry main and slew clutches in those days. They got pretty hot pulling a box, made you sweat a bit on a warm day.
Had to go out at 5/6 o'clock in the morning to do clutch, brake and winch ajustments before they got too hot to touch.

Did a few shifts in the sadle too, thought it was great then. twenty one years of age and anything seemed better than being in the workshop.
Fred

[martyn williams]

Love the machine gun fire in the background
Martyn

[Fowler VF]

Lovely old beasts arent they?
Both my 7's have the starting handle coming up through the bonnet, a stupid place as you then have to balance on the track to swing it and if it backfires your hand gets flung into the exhaust, (several of us have the scars to prove it!). I have fitted an electric start onto the donkey in order to save any more injuries. The swing position on the one in the video looks awkward, having to clamber down between the tracks but at least you are sheltered by some heavy metal from stray bullets!! Maybe this one is a 6T, Navy model; we dont see them over here as most of them went to the Pacific.

I always regret that I left behind the gantry and orignal cable balde when I picked mine up (not enough room on the wagon), my original D7 came to the farm to work in the late 80's and ran a soil tip for over a decade before retiring to become a toy.

Not convinced that the driver was all that experienced, or maybe he was camera shy. Note how he falls for the old Cat trick of putting everything back to front and engages forward when he meant to go back, and he takes a while to work out that he has the main engine on full compression which is why he struggles to get the donkey clutch to go in.

[martyn williams]

It made me laugh when the second guy started it with his first crank of the donkey. That donkey exhaust was not to kind to the other guy, you need a gas mask to stand there .Maybe a good idea in war time that the crank position was where it is.Also the forward/reverse bit made me chuckle.Nice video though
Martyn

[dpan]

Military D7 in motor pool in early 50's at RAF Station Molesworth. Chinese copies of D7 in rail yard at Tongliao, Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region fall of 1979. On other side of wall large earth moving project with tractors like in picture, and pans , first detected by distinctive exhaust cackle. Was a military unit doing work so was prudent not to take pictures.