Buy a patch of overgrown land and you never know what is hiding in the trees. A group of landowners who post as @Vanwives found an old International Harvester dozer half-buried in the woods on their 65-acre property. They got the engine running in about an hour, then needed a full day and their neighbors to drag it out.
“We found an old dozer on our abandoned 65 acre property,” the host says in the opening seconds.
A sticker with the serial number and manufacture date was still on the side. “This machine is approximately 70 or 80 years old,” the host says at 0:46.
An International Harvester Dozer Sunk Into The Ground
The crew first came across it the year before, while cutting trails. By then it had sunk so deep that much of it sat below ground, and tree roots had grown through it.
Before filming, they fitted a new coolant hose, which took about a month to arrive. Then, because the machine needs 24 volts, they wire two 12-volt batteries in series.
Running In An Hour
At first there is no power. Once they get some, they rock the fan blade back and forth, add ether and push the starter button.
“This thing is running,” someone says at 4:07. One crew member admits expecting the job to take weeks, not an hour.
Soon after, the tracks move a couple of inches before hydraulic fluid leaks at the front and oil at the rear.
A Full Day To Pull It Out
Months later, they come back to pull it out. First they add hydraulic oil and dig around the tracks, and then they push from behind with their excavator. When that isn’t enough, they call a neighbor with a big blue tractor.
According to the host, the machine weighs 25,000 to 30,000 pounds, so it takes until about 3:30 p.m. to free it. After that, more neighbors help chainsaw a path, and by about 6 p.m. it rests on the driveway.
The next morning, they trace the worst leak to the radiator. A local wrecking yard sells them a replacement for $100 Canadian, and they connect it with hydraulic hose and clamps. Then the machine crawls to the shop under its own power.
On the way to the shop, the levers are sticky, and at first it only wants to turn one way. Even so, a crew member says comparable machines start at about 14,000, even when they don’t run.
What To Check Before Reviving Old Equipment You Find
Their day shows how to approach a machine that has sat for decades:
- Turn the engine by hand before you try the starter, to make sure it isn’t seized.
- Check what voltage the machine needs, since older equipment often runs on 24 volts.
- Expect leaks once fluids go back in, and fix them before working it hard.
- Line up help and a second machine before you try to pull it out of the ground.
Where It Stands
The International Harvester dozer now runs and moves on its own, but it isn’t finished. One more hydraulic leak sits in a hard-to-reach spot, every grease fitting needs attention and the machine still has no seat. So the crew plans to keep working on it at the shop.
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