Good used parts sources?

[towbar]

My Cat-426 rear (big ford) axle has eaten its planetary gear and ring-gear among other bits and pieces. I've never built an axle in my life but 82 ain't too soon to start

 

[edgephoto]

I have a 426 and have had my Ford axle apart to replace the brakes. if you find parts and get stumped maybe I have a picture you need. It is pretty easy to work on just heavy.

 

[towbar]

Thanks for the offer. I'm going to start a new thread just for the build of this axle as soon as I take pictures of the housing casting #s..

Everybody, speaking of pictures and videos; download whatever you like when you see it because it could be gone the next day. Had a data-loss incident last year; lost just about every picture and video I had of my Detutz dx-605 project.

 

[edgephoto]

@towbar that really sucks. Kind of late for that loss but to prevent the next one if you haven't already, you should sign up for offsite backup. I like Backblaze, super easy to setup, works in the background, does not slow your machine down and you can either download your lost files or request them on physical media for a small fee.

Having a backup in your home is good idea too but offsite backups are a good thing. If you get burglarized, get hit with a direct lightning strike or suffer a fire your stuff is protected.

If you use a Mac, Apple's TimeMachine is amazing. So simple and non-intrusive you forget you have it, until you need it.

One last thing, spinning platter drives or SSDs will fail. It is a matter of time.

Now back to used parts.......

 

[towbar]

Fortunately the prtoject was almost done and the most valuable image (my own wiring diagram) survived on a USB drive. I also managed to recover some stuff from the net.

 

[AU.CASE]

Its not just digital loss, we had a document go outside the family [an historic will from an ancestor to his twin Sons].

Time moved on and an 'in law' was left with the remnants of my ancestor's desk which she returned to my Uncle. "Hey guess what, the will is back after an absence of 28 years, do you want to archive it, just as long as it is returned?"

You bet I did, high res' photo was all I could do then return the mid 19th Century will in its linen bag to my Uncle.

Shortly after he passed away and the Will was still in the registered postage, safe box I archived everything into, unopened, was put in land fill.

 

[gggraham]

My Cat-426 rear (big ford) axle has eaten its planetary gear and ring-gear among other bits and pieces. I've never built an axle in my life but 82 ain't too soon to start

Try https://www.ontariotractor.ca/
They are located in Dorchester Ontario about 5km east of London. They have some great sources for used heavy equipment parts

 

[towbar]

Its not just digital loss, we had a document go outside the family [an historic will from an ancestor to his twin Sons].....

I don't remember if I had mentioned it but the data-loss event hit me in the middle of rebuilding my computer when i got the unpleasant surprise of having to find the will of my younger son in his two computers, all with multiple operating-systems and much of it encrypted. That was in January 2025 and it's still a heavy burden, the short of the long being that I KNEW that the risk of data-loss was high ..but I was stresed and not thinking clearly :-(

 

[AU.CASE]

I don't remember if I had mentioned it but the data-loss event hit me in the middle of rebuilding my computer

@towbar I feel your pain, no doubt and the consequence of "so much going down" is a very Human risk and common burden.

Not being much younger [ ] I have a vast archive of history and know the story behind so many docs' images and items, but it is difficult to pass through that messaging, but I will try.

As an aside and not wishing to appear 'off topic' I use a business account and store all our docs in the cloud with an automatic daily session, so I can retrieve a manual or receipt from anywhere, which is good whilst it lasts !

You will be in my thoughts today, friend.

 

[towbar]

@towbar I feel your pain, no doubt and the consequence of "so much going down" is a very Human risk and common burden.

Not being much younger [ ] I have a vast archive of history and know the story behind so many docs' images and items, but it is difficult to pass through that messaging, but I will try.

As an aside and not wishing to appear 'off topic' I use a business account and store all our docs in the cloud with an automatic daily session, so I can retrieve a manual or receipt from anywhere, which is good whilst it lasts !

You will be in my thoughts today, friend.

I have my own (hosted) web server but don't store stuff on it or in clouds for lack of sufficient need (so I thought anyway!)

Don't understand what you mean by "but I will try". I only mentioned the data-loss in response to your story about a will. In my case the loss was about 200gb of EVERYTHING that I had compiled for my Deutz-605 tractor project and I didn't even notice it until much later by which time any recovery was out of the question

 

[towbar]

Try https://www.ontariotractor.ca/
They are located in Dorchester Ontario about 5km east of London. They have some great sources for used heavy equipment parts

THANKS, I'm in contact with them for some new parts, they appear reasonable, looks like I'll be buying from them to find out their real-life value. It's always that 1st transaction that's risky

 

[AU.CASE]

Don't understand what you mean by "but I will try".

Indeed, reflecting younger generations' understanding of the history, when my parents' passed away they took a library of the past with them and I wish I'd had a recorder to capture the story telling, a quarter of a century ago.

 

[gggraham]

THANKS, I'm in contact with them for some new parts, they appear reasonable, looks like I'll be buying from them to find out their real-life value. It's always that 1st transaction that's risky

You could try these guys too they were always excellent to deal with.

Heavy equipment parts

Garageasp is the largest heavy equipment salvage yard in the country with over 1400 excavators dismantled for parts and 75,000 components in stock. Specializes in rebuilt, reconditioned, and used parts for earthmoving equipment.

www.garageasp.com

 

[towbar]

Checked them out already, they found a used axle but far stateside so with exchange and transport it was way too rich. Anyway, I've decided to rebuild, do a proper job and be done with it. It'll cost me about $3k in parts plus some work by my blacksmith to make a couple of 1" spacers between axle & rims to provide more clearance for tire chains.

Came across some rumors while pricing genuine OEM parts, anyone know anything about Cat? Something's cooking, no one has a finger on it.