Restoring a Clark Airborne Bulldozer

[17thAirborne]

Merry Christmas from 17thairborne to all the Clark Airborne Bulldozer friends

[17thAirborne]

And if you were not smart enough to tell your wife or girlfriend what you wanted for Christmas, here is a little hint:

[17thAirborne]

From the Military document: Tactical and non-tactical operations during the final phase of the use in Europe including Operation Varsity

Clark towing CG-4A glider to be snatch-towed by C-47

[17thAirborne]

More photos provided by Mr. Swelnis. Some of these came by way of Syltech to Joe.

Clark Company hosts the first Service School: Group photo on 14 April 1943


Members ID on back

[17thAirborne]

Location Unknown


From some TM


In the ETO: The tail code W7 on the C-47 was for the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron, 316th Troop Carrier Group, 52nd Troop Carrier Wing. They delivered 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment paratroopers into Normandy on 6 Jun 44

[17thAirborne]

She ain't purdy, but she's all mine... I took out the instrument panel. I have to fill the hole for the aftermarket starter switch and then prime the panel. I intend on getting new gauges and one more switch. This way I can test connect the wiring harness and get closer to the day where I get the engine fired up. I'll take some measurements and post those later.

[17thAirborne]

[17thAirborne]

I forgot to add: there is a small notch at the bottom of each gauge opening that is 3/16" wide and 1/8" in height. That is for the gauges anti-slip boss. Or whatever it's called

[17thAirborne]

Just ordered a can of Cast Blast High Temp spray for the manifold and stack. I will need to clean any oil or grease off them first to ensure I get good adhesion. I'm thinking of baking them in the grill outside for a while since I may not get to "bake" them on the engine for a while. Still working on gathering all the necessities to get her running. I know...I'm slow as pond water!

[17thAirborne]

Just put in an order for one of TrackIron's exhaust kits.

[17thAirborne]

If anyone copied or took dimensions from the instrument panel post please look again. I made a change to the hole diameter and location for the switches. I had taken the dimensions from the switch hole on the left side. It is oversized, probably bored a while ago to accommodate some aftermarket switch. When I removed the original switch the hole is quite a bit different. It is exactly 1" in diameter, and situated exactly below the center line of the Temp gauge hole. Please not i changed the measurements and the drawing in the post above. Please forgive my error.

[17thAirborne]

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to match up an air cleaner that would fit. It seems a Farmall type would be suitable, but all I can find is ones with a box-like contraption where the "clean air" exits at the top side. Does anyone have any ideas? Do you think I could remove the box-like fitting and simply have a suitable sized steel pipe exiting?

[17thAirborne]

It was a Merry Christmas indeed. I am fortunate to have a wife who supports my hobby. For Christmas I have this nice, shiny new Zenith Carburetor which will work superbly for my restoration. Rather than parts, I have a new carb, and old parts. Okay...I picked out my own Christmas present, but I'll take parts any way I can get them.

[17thAirborne]

Before I get the carb installed there are a few notes in the TM about the governor that are important:

1. The governor speed is properly set during final testing at the factory. Do not disturb it unless the governor adjustments have been disturbed. Check engine speed with tach at 1900rpm.
2. If you dismantle the governor for any reason mark the parts and linkages (Part 12 and 4 in the diagram) so that they can be reassembled with the same adjustment as when removed (I guess this is assuming it was running properly to begin with)
3. Most importantly make sure the governor rods are assembled exactly as before. Make sure lock nuts are in place to prevent the rods from changing length during operation.
4. The bumper spring (part 3)prevents surging and it can be adjusted once you have the engine running at 1900 rpm. Adjustment is made with the screw (item

At present I do not plan on doing any adjustments. I will have to assume that the governor was relatively properly set (Probably a bad assumption) The previous owner said the engine did not develop power under load. I think that is a timing issue, but also may indicate the governor is not adjusting rpm under load. We shall see. When I do a complete restoration I will investigate further, for now I simply am moving towards the goal of seeing her run on her own

[17thAirborne]

Carburetor basic adjustments are spelled out in the Bendix supplement that came with the carb. Should be straight forward as indicated in the photo.