1958 HD-5G into the fold:

Widow is downsizing on retained possessions. I've known the tractor which is complete for a lot of years. However, it's not been ran in about six years. Engine is not frozen and I don't know about the steering clutches, but u/c appears to be in fair condition. It also has the bolt on grouser segments on top of the street pads. Story is the tractor was used to dig the basement to the house addition, and then put into the barn. There it remained not coming out till a couple of weeks ago to convert the parking space to a horse stall.

Last of the HD5 machines was 1955 , 
If you find the Serial # on dash plate or on the rear casting it can confirm the year built 
Lot of small changes over years of production , improvements to loader frame are some along with the 2 speed reverse transmission . 
 With the loader pads without single grouser I dug many basements, put in drives, loaded many trucks and leveled many yards . Bought mine in 1972 and still have it , a 1955 HD5G - had 3 others 5G machines I sold and 1 HD5B from 1948 to 1955 machines  

I'll be over there later today and look for a data plate. She thought it was a 1958 build and seemed pretty certain, but obviously there could be disparity.

I've seen those pads in the past but been a lot of years ago.

Edited by Coke-in-MN - 22 Dec 2025 at 10:24pm

Thanks Coke. No idea to any of this myself. Looks like it's been a long time, (if ever) this machine had counterweights installed. Those on your machine appear to be cast iron/steel composition. If the machine proves serviceable when it's back at the shop, I'll give it a good pressure washing and remove the tracks to evaluate u/c further, and fully. It looks fair setting there with plenty of adjustment left, and there was no mention of any track walking off, but I'd like to evaluate the front idlers, bearings, etc. before pressing it into any kind of service as it will be kept several miles distant from the shop. 

Most likely I'll winch it up onto the trailer and use the shop gantry to install a 4D battery. Getting too old to hike those up onto my shoulder any longer..... 

I have both 4D, and 31 threaded posts at the shop. I swapped the 11B over to group 31 top post types as that engine readily fires in the coldest of weather. I agree the 10SI is the way to go and the types that pull in at 1000rpm seem to be pretty reliable. Have a couple of 2600 L-N that are fresh from the rebuild shop and not used, but that is a larger frame than the 10SI. I've not been back over there since Christmas Eve so don't know fitment requirements. Regardless, it will be converted to a one wire, (or self exciting) setup. Gear selector felt quite tight in the rails, and gates so hopefully won't require any work but you never know till it's operated.   

Thanks guys. I should be over there this afternoon and I'll look a bit closer at the existing setup. Lost the alternator on my air compressor yesterday it seems as it won't pull in any longer. Napa supplied 10SI "one wire" setup that is about four years old. It has always been very slow to pull in but once engaged, seemed to work fine. 

I did like Les and took the pully off the generator. It fit the Delco alienator with no modification.