Komatsu D20A-6 ?

[Rara Avis]

Tom,

Good question - It keeps my dogs from tearing up the wood pile

Squirrels & mice make quick residence between the logs. It drives our dogs nuts so they tear the wood pile apart to get at them. This season I have decided I'm only going to stack the wood once, as opposed to two or three times like I did last year.

Larry

Geez...and I thought it was because all that wild wood would stampede...

Tom thanks for asking the question...I was wondering too...just not that much...

 

[3RRL]

HI larry,
The welds look GREAT! Man, I wish mine looked that good.
5-1/2 cords of wood? That is a lot of work. I'll bet you are glad to have that behind you. Good thing for Winter so you can rest up to cut wood for next year again!
Loretta and I are going to get with it and start cutting wood too. I told you we already bought our wood stove and hauled it to camp. Jeez, I hope we don't go through that much wood a year.
Great post Larry, tell us how the grab hook works out.

 

[GuglioLS]

Update on the grab hook performance -
I told you Esther and I were done cutting wood for the season. Well we just could not help ourselves, so we went up the hill to scout around and see what we left behind near the trail. Plus I wanted to test out the grab hook on the dozer by pulling out a few dead trees close to the road.
Here are a few videos of how the Dozer grab hook connected to a 25' chain worked out:

This one is my personal favorite:







Normally I would have just pushed these over, these particular trees were located on a slope so I had a good excuse to test out the grab hook.
After pulling out three trees, I inspected the receiver hitch & grab hook, no damage or any signs of twisted metal so it all held up nicely.

Larry

 

[ultrarunner]

I enjoy your posts and pictures... what size chain are you using to pull down the trees?

 

[GuglioLS]

Ultrarunner,

The chain is 3/8", it's holding up quite nicely after 30 years of hard use. The grab hook is welded to a solid 2" X 2" bar inserted into a receiver tube retained with a 5/8" hitch pin:




Larry

 

[3RRL]

Well, I guess that removes all doubt about the strength of your grab hook fabrication.
Those videos are great Larry! How fun that must have been.

 

[BTDT]

Man, that's pretty neat. Is that how your going to get firewood for the winter? "Honey, I'm going for another log for the fire", then just go snatch a tree out of the ground and drag it back to the house.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great videos Larry!! I really enjoyed watching them.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[GuglioLS]

Thanks Guys!

I sure am glad your enjoying this, your interest and kind comments make it all worthwhile. Did you see the size of the root ball that tore out of the ground on that first video? I was surprised that little Komatsu dozer ripped it out along with severing the roots.

Michael -

Man, that's pretty neat. Is that how your going to get firewood for the winter? "Honey, I'm going for another log for the fire", then just go snatch a tree out of the ground and drag it back to the house.

HaHaHa that's a great idea, now if I could figure how to toss the logs into the stove with the grapple.....


Well now I know I can yank trees out easier than expected. Since adding on the receiver hitch, I've been planning on tapping into the dozer hydraulics so as to add a valve to operate the home made dump trailer. I had a valve laying around doing nothing so it got installed on the rear of the dozer. I pulled off the dozer floor plate & the drivers seat to access the existing dozer valve and to route in two new hoses. I had the hoses made with Komatsu JIS 22 mm x 1.5 mm metric female on one end and 3/4" NPT pipe thread on the other. No messing around with adapters. I had all the fittings & quick connects to add the remote valve, so it all went together rather quickly:

Added Valve:.................Ran Lines from pump.....Installed QD's.............Metric fitting on pump.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

After installing the valve it was time to test it out by connecting the dump trailer. Then cycle it up & down a few times to check for proper operation:






Seems to be working OK & no leaks.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

The hairpin turn about halfway up the Road Rob & I constructed needed some fill dirt to cover up some bedrock outcroppings that will not budge. So it was time to put all this new stuff to work. Using the dozer and tractor, a large pile of dirt was made, then loaded into the dump trailer connected to the dozer:




The dump trailer held 5 overflowing FEL buckets worth of material.
I then hauled the dirt up the road and dumped it onto the area that needed to be built up. I made 8 trips, I need to make about 16 more and there will be enough material to make a very nice smooth and well banked hairpin turn in the trail. It was late in the day and this was my last round trip before supper. Esther came up in the ATV to see what the heck I was doing and shot the video. The sun is low and casting a shadow on the dump trailer so it's a little dark, but I think you get the idea:



After dumping the load, I turned the whole rig around then bladed smooth what was just dumped on my way back down for another load.

Larry

 

[3RRL]

Larry,
Great job installing that hydraulic valve to your Komatsu. I had no idea you were doing that too, but it sure makes sense since you're using the dozer for much more than just "dozing".

I was and have been worried about one turn even after I left your place. I remember telling you that needs additional work to make an easier transition. As I recall, it was the best place to make that turn since the other areas were like impossible to do it. Looks like you are getting it done nicely.

How cold is it getting at your place now?

 

[GuglioLS]

Rob -
Yea the switch back, After driving up & down the road for three months cutting firewood, I decided to make an "adjustment" to it. The rear end of the ATV kept getting pushed sideways when descending that curve with a trailer load of wood. Esther said "something needs to be done about that" She scouted around for another route, but quickly discovered where you laid it out and I cut it with the Dozer was THE only choice. Some of those "rocks" in the way are solid bedrock that would dwarf a battleship. Then she said - "well can't you just blast it out?" - I don't think I have enough powder left in the magazine to blow it all to smithereens. So I will keep hauling fill dirt and work it with the Tractor & Dozer.

How cold is it getting at your place now?

22 - 29 F in the mornings 55 - 60 in the afternoons. We are building small fires in the morning & evening for about two weeks now.

Larry

 

[3RRL]

I was asking about the temps because I had a 36F morning at camp.
Might not seem cold to many out there, but it is for out here.

 

[tommu56]

Rob
I was up state at my cabin and i had ice on my truck window about 3 weeks ago it has been a little warmer lately only down to 40 or so but it will get worse.

tom

 

[GuglioLS]

Rob,

I understand 36 at camp is cold, especially since it was 100 degrees there just last week. Man your weather changed fast. I remember freezing my butt off at your camp for 3 days. I don't think it ever got above 38 the whole time I was there and you never even built a fire! I had to chew gum to keep my teeth from chattering. My hair color never recovered from the permafrost and my voice is now one octave higher.

Larry

 

[3RRL]

Rob,

I understand 36 at camp is cold, especially since it was 100 degrees there just last week. Man your weather changed fast. I remember freezing my butt off at your camp for 3 days. I don't think it ever got above 38 the whole time I was there and you never even built a fire! I had to chew gum to keep my teeth from chattering. My hair color never recovered from the permafrost and my voice is now one octave higher.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Today I hauled another eight loads of dirt up the hill with the dozer and dump trailer combo to build up the hairpin turn. It's all working out quite well. I had to increase the relief pressure setting on the valve for the dump trailer about 1/2 turn so I could max out the load capacity of the dump trailer and still dump it.

Working conditions were quite dusty it's very dry and windy. Last week I installed a filter minder on the dozer to monitor when the filter needs to be cleaned. It was a good investment.

The Dozer had a 1/8"-27 threaded plug in exactly the right location to measure inches of water column of vacuum. The thread mount Filter Minder came with a 1/8"-27 threaded nipple that screwed right into the Dozer intake manifold plug threads, so it was super simple to install:



Now I don't have to guess when to clean or replace the filter. The cool thing about these filter minders are they lock into position, indicating the highest vacuum achieved so the engine does not have to be running to note the reading. There is a push button to reset it. After working the dozer 8 hours over two weekends in the powder dusty dirt, the filter minder is indicating that the air filter is about one third the way to needing service. It's seams to be doing it's job.

Larry

 

[EddieWalker]

Larry,

You keep coming up with things that I need!!!!

Where did you get the filter minder and what did it cost? Does it have a size limit? Was it 24volt?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[GuglioLS]

Eddie,

Thanks man, I'm glad you find some of this is interesting. I have always enjoyed and learned allot form every single posting you have written. In some small way I was hoping this Komatsu Blog is helpful to others to return the favor.

The Filter minder is zero, nada, nothing volts, no wires to run so that even better. It runs off vacuum created between the intake manifold of the engine and the Air filter. I don't know if it has a size limit? I'll bet it will work on your dozer no problem.

Here are all the NAPA part#'s with direct links to the product.
The one I used on the dozer is the first link below, the FIL 4800
There are four different mount options / styles to choose from for your particular application or need. The FIL 4800 is 52.49 a little pricey, I thought it worth the investment now I'll never have to guess when the filter needs cleaning or replacing.

FIL 4800 Thread Mount
FIL 4801 Grommet Mount
FIL 4802 Remote NON Dash Mount
FIL 4804 Remote Dash Mount


Larry