TD7E Rebuild Project

hawk10 · Dec 9, 2019

Hey guys, I am relatively new to this forum and this is my first new thread so I hope that I do it correctly.

I have taken on a project to rebuild a 1982 (I think) TD7E Crawler, it has lost most of its power and will really only move in 1st gear (forward or reverse), it uses about 1 gallon of motor oil per 5-6hrs of run time. The battery doesn't charge so it has to be on a charger before use, and it wont start without using significant amounts of starting fluid. (This is just a start to the list of problems it has) I know that it is old, parts are hard to find, and that it is probably not worth the money that I am planning to put into it but this dozer has some sentimental value to me. My grandfather bought it and let me drive it while doing some projects around his farm when I was about 10 years old. I felt like superman on that dozer back then and it was some of the best memories of my childhood hanging out with my grandfather. One year at Christmas, not long before he passed away, he gave the dozer to me because he was getting too old to use it and he knew that it meant alot to me.

Now, I live in a neighborhood and I have only about 1 acre so I haven't really done much with it up to this point, it was sitting for a long time under a shed on the farm. I decided that I did not want to let it rust away so I am going to rebuild it little by little over time until I have a semi-restored piece of equipment. Over the weekend, I brought the dozer to my house and walked it up my driveway on boards, took the cage off, and then put it in my garage. (My wife was very excited about this :laughing

I have started working into the engine little by little, taking pictures at each step so that I can remember what order everything came off in. I am planning to do an in-frame overhaul but I have a few questions that I hope someone on here could answer for me. For some extra background, the dozer is a 1982 I think, and it has 4,245 hours on it, also I do not know if it has ever been rebuilt or had work done to it aside from the undercarriage.

From what I can tell, it would be very hard to get the torque converter out without removing the engine. My question is, how robust are these torque converters on equipment like this, I have no reference. To rebuild the whole engine, new parts are probably going to run me around $1200 with new fasteners, hoses, pumps, etc. These torque converters are around $3000 for a rebuilt one not including a $1500 core charge. Do I need to change this converter too or is it likely ok for a while? If I do need to do work on it, how hard is it to rebuild a torque converter? The transmission looks like it would come out without removing the engine so I will probably just leave it at first, I plan to go through it also but I do not have the $$$$ right now to do it all at once.

At this first stage I am planning to do the following, please chime in if there is something that you would add to this, I would like to only be into the engine once if possible:
> In frame engine overhaul (sleeves, pistons, rings, rod bearings)
> Rework head
> New water pump (coolant was full of rust chips)
> New oil pump
> New hoses/belts/fasteners
> New undercarriage front idler (wobbles back and forth like the bearing is gone)
> Change ALL fluids (engine stuff obviously, but also all hydraulic oil and filters)

Hopefully after the first stage the dozer will be operational so that I can use it if I need to, I am going to work on the following second stage after it is operational, little by little:
> Rebuild hydraulic blade control valves and linkages
> Rebuild hydraulic cylinders
> Replace all bushings for blade and cylinder attachment points
> Rebuild transmission
> New brakes
> New tracks

Finally for your enjoyment here are some pictures of what I have found so far as I have been taking apart this engine, I will post more as I go.

Sonny580 · Dec 9, 2019

Converter is o.k. if it moves strong and the shift is solid. The 7 is a nice dozer, handy size and easy to run. I would say engine removal for converter removal. I used to have several TD-9's, older ones, didn't care much for them, always broke down, Still have the TD-250-C loader, 573 turbo V-8, power shift, power steering and 4 in 1 bucket. My wife named it MOOSE. I did a lot of heavy work with it over the years.
Did bid on a 7 one time, but the oil leaks scared me from going very high!--still think they are a nice unit!

hawk10 · Dec 10, 2019

Sonny580 said:
Converter is o.k. if it moves strong and the shift is solid. The 7 is a nice dozer, handy size and easy to run. I would say engine removal for converter removal. I used to have several TD-9's, older ones, didn't care much for them, always broke down, Still have the TD-250-C loader, 573 turbo V-8, power shift, power steering and 4 in 1 bucket. My wife named it MOOSE. I did a lot of heavy work with it over the years.
Did bid on a 7 one time, but the oil leaks scared me from going very high!--still think they are a nice unit!

Thank you, I was unsure if these converters were mostly fluid coupled or if they actually had friction plates in them like a lockup converter. I also have no idea of how robust they are so this will save me alot of money. The shift was sharp and strong in 1st gear forward or reverse but not in any of the other gears before I took it apart. It would push in first also but not as hard as it used to, I am hoping that is mostly engine and less transmission but we will see.

A TD-250-C is a serious machine, I have never operated one before but I bet that it is nice to have something that pushes like a dozer but also has a FEL.

hawk10 · Dec 15, 2019

I have another question, does anyone know if the engine can be removed without removing the torque converter? I was wondering if it would be possible to detach it from the flywheel and remove the engine while leaving the torque converter in place. I have been debating on including the main bearings and seals in the overhaul but I am not sure if I should do it all or not. There isnt that much cost difference in the kits but it could be a tremendous amount of work if I have to remove the torque converter. If I see anything on the crank when the pan comes off I will go ahead pull the motor, but if the crank looks good should I just leave the crank and the mains in place?

Here are some more pictures of the progress so far:

Sonny580 · Dec 17, 2019

Depending on the number of hours on the motor, how long it has sat without running, etc. IF the crank seals are not leaking, you could leave them, but with all of the work you have planned to do on it I personally would pull the engine and go all the way on the rebuild. I cant find out if engine will come out without converter. Not sure if it would be same procedure as a 250 or not. I have the complete set of books for it.
In the past I had 3 or 4 older TD-9's but they were all direct drives.

A couple pix of "MOOSE" , all 60,000 pounds of him!--- LOL!!!

hawk10 · Apr 9, 2020

Ok guys, I apologize for taking so long to update this again, I got into the project started and never followed up with posts, I have actually completed the engine rebuild and got it put back into the dozer. I am going to post this in pieces because it crashed when I tried to put them all up the first time (I wish there was a way to bulk upload these):

Here is pulling the motor with the tractor:

hawk10 · Apr 9, 2020

Here are some pictures of breaking down the motor (If anyone wants to see more detail of something let me know, I have a whole lot more pictures than what I am posting):

Edit: I apologize that these are not in order, I just tried the attachment function.

hawk10 · Apr 9, 2020

Here are some pictures of the cylinder head disassembly along with the cleaning of the block and cylinder head, this is the point when I started moving in the other direction (assembly instead of disassembly):