Cat 236 to 262 specifications

Original 236–262 loaders need their own serial-range information

Caterpillar's parts publication SEBP3271 covers the original 236, 246, 252 and 262 with the 3034 engine. Its cover identifies separate machine prefixes and an engine serial range. The publication date is not the machine's manufacture date: a later revision of a parts book can still describe an earlier loader.

When identifying a replacement component, record the machine number and the engine number rather than ordering from a model name copied from a later B-series advertisement.

The parts publication also records attachment identification separately. A bucket or powered tool supplied with a used loader therefore needs its own identification; the loader's parts book is not evidence that every attachment bearing a Cat name belongs on that configuration.

The lift-arm support arrangement differs within this comparison

Caterpillar's operation manual separates the lift-arm brace instructions for the 236, 246 and 248 from those for the 252 and 262. The first group uses the described pivoting brace arrangement; the latter group has a separate installation sequence involving a second person and retaining pins. Do not transfer a support procedure between these groups because their operating capacities look similar.

Use the complete brace procedure for the actual machine before anyone enters the raised-arm area.

The same manual distinguishes service-hour intervals from calendar intervals and calls for whichever occurs first. A low hour-meter reading does not establish that scheduled care is current. Ask for the dates as well as the readings in the maintenance record, then use that loader's maintenance schedule to check which services were due.

Its cold-oil note also says stopping and steering response changes before the hydraulic oil warms; a cold demonstration needs that condition recorded.

For snow work, Cat's snow-push supplement lists compatibility by loader and work-tool combination. It distinguishes ordinary compatibility from compatibility subject to lift restrictions. Its operating instructions also prohibit lift-arm float and two-speed operation while using the described snow push.

A loader that has float or a higher travel range does not gain permission to use either mode with that attachment. Verify the exact tool against the compatibility list instead of selecting it from bucket capacity alone.

Rejected angle labels in the older reference

The original reference called the following entries tipping angles. These are rejected angle records, not operating limits. They also differ from the separately listed tipping loads, so relabelling these numbers as loads would not resolve the source conflict.

Keep the actual tipping-load and operating-capacity labels distinct; no replacement angle has been inferred.