Everybody has a “someday” project. You agree to something, then life gets busy, and the years slip by. For one heavy equipment fan, that someday was a 1950s International TD18 dozer sitting in a field.
Matt, who posts as @DieselCreek, says a viewer reached out about the machine. The owners told him it had not run or worked in about 15 years. He looked at it two or three years ago and agreed to buy it. However, other jobs kept getting in the way.
Digging Out The International TD18
Thorn bushes had swallowed the machine. They grew through the tracks, the blade frame and the canopy. His helper, Kim, cleared them with a cordless handsaw, because he had forgotten the chainsaw at home.
Underneath sat a clever design. According to Matt, these International diesels start on gasoline, using spark plugs, a carburetor and a magneto. Once the engine is warm, the operator switches it over to diesel. “No pony engine, no glow plugs, just cool old school technology,” he says.
He also points out that a third party, Bucyrus-Erie, built the blade. In addition, someone had rebuilt the exhaust manifold from pipe fittings, which gave the dozer dual stacks.
At first, the fluids looked hopeful. The oil was black but free of water, and the gas tank was dirty but not rusty. However, the hydraulic tank was bone dry, and the cylinder chrome had mostly rusted away.
The Engine Had Seized
Then came the bad news. The starter engaged but would not spin the engine. So Kim squeezed between the track and the frame and put a bar on the flywheel. Still, it would not budge.
When he first checked the dozer years ago, Matt says, the engine turned over. “Through my procrastination,” he admits, the engine “has since seized.”
Next, they pulled the spark plugs and soaked the cylinders in penetrating oil. After patient work on the bar, Kim got the engine to turn. Later, with stronger batteries, it cranked faster.
Three Days, A Blown Tire And A Fuel Puzzle
On a later visit, Matt removed the worn-out blade, because it was too wide for the road. He found spark, but the dozer still would not fire before he had to leave. So he pushed it onto a trailer and hauled it home. Five minutes from home, the borrowed trailer threw a tire.
Back at the shop, he found the real ignition problem. The plug wires for cylinders two and four were swapped. Once he corrected them, the International TD18 ran on gasoline.
Diesel was another story, because fuel would not reach the injectors. First, he bypassed the lift pump. Then he opened the filter housing and found the cartridge packed with black sediment. He says it probably weighed three times what it should.
Even then, two plungers in the injection pump were stuck. He freed them with gentle taps and more penetrating oil. Finally, he added an electric fuel pump, and fuel reached the injectors.
Running On Diesel At Last
With the engine warm, he tried starting it straight on diesel. “Yeah, baby. It’s running,” he says. After bleeding out more air, he let it idle for about 15 minutes and then drove it. Better still, the steering clutches and brakes worked.
Lessons From A Machine That Waited Too Long
His long wait and three-day fight offer a few lessons for anyone buying old iron:
- A free engine can seize while it sits. Turning over once does not mean it will stay free.
- Check ignition basics after any work. Swapped plug wires can stop an engine cold.
- Old fuel systems clog. A packed filter can starve an engine even with fuel in the tank.
- Use penetrating oil and patience before force.
- Bring the right tools. A forgotten chainsaw turned a quick job into a long one.
Where Things Stand
“I love a happy ending,” Matt says. He admits he burned out the gasoline-side coil by leaving a wire connected. Even so, he says the dozer runs and works, and he already has a buyer lined up. His goal, he adds, is keeping machines like this out of the scrapyard.
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