Komatsu D21 gray market?

Gerald · Mar 14, 2005

Anyone had any experience with one good or bad? It looks like it would be just the size I need to clear some land of small pines and limbs on about 5 acres. I would rather buy one than rent, so I could take my time doing the job.
If it is gray market, would parts be hard to find? It would make a rather large yard ornament if it broke!
Prices look good, about 1/3 the price of a cat or JD with the same hours.
Any advice? Thanks Gerald

nobull1 · Mar 14, 2005

I would find out if you can purchase parts locally. Parts for this type of equipment are a lot of money. If you can't get parts locally you could have a lot of downtime trying to find them. When and "if" you find them they could be 2 or 3 times as much money. My opinion is if parts are available without problem and reasonable I would consider. If there is "ANY" issue with parts I would run away. You know the saying "pay me now or pay me later". I wonder why it is a third of the price of Cat or Jd? I think I already know the answer. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

EddieWalker · Mar 15, 2005

When I first decided I needed a dozer, I thought the Komatsu 21's would be a great deal. Price is good and they seem to be everywhere. Then I ran a JD 450. It's bigger then the 21 and totally underpowered for clearing brush or moving dirt. If your shaping building pads or smoothing out some ruts, it's fine.

Even the 31's are too small. I liked the 58 for size and power, but never found one that wasn't totally abused.

In the end, I bought a Case 1550. Bigger then what I wanted, and as it turns out, still not big enough. You can never have too much power when fighting trees!!!!

dummy · Mar 15, 2005

<font color="blue"> It's bigger then the 21 and totally underpowered for clearing brush or moving dirt. </font> The 21 or 450 is way underpowered? I've used a JD455 and it may not have been the best it could be, but......oh so much better than the 350 we had.

Tigerotor77W · Mar 15, 2005

If I remember correctly, the D21 is a "compact" dozer... might not be up for pushing over small trees. It might take a bigger machine to do the job -- probably a D5, 650J, or D41 or so-sized machine.

ScottAR · Mar 15, 2005

The D21 is only about 40hp if I remember... On par with a 350 JD. The current JD's, Cases, Cats, and etc. start at
60-70hp. That explains some of the price difference as well. The 21 could probably handle brushy stuff pretty well although 6"-8" trees would be about all I'd wanna take on with it. HP is your friend when clearing, 100hp is about the minimum to make headway in trees of any size and it's gonna be fairly slow going.
In Vietnam, the Rome plow units used Cat D9G's at 395hp. Then again, they had a job to get done as fast as possible while not getting shot.

cmuncy · Mar 15, 2005

I have a new to me D21-P6 with 4k hours on it.

I figure that the price I pay to clear my land I could buy the tractor, do the work on my terms, and sell it when I'm done. I know it will take me longer than if I had a 70HP or larger dozer but time is on my side. I'm just clearing for pasture land.

gatractorman · Mar 15, 2005

They are fine LITTLE dozers as long as you dont tackle something they are not big enough to do, brush and small pines should be ok. A small or underpowered dozer will get you in a bind quicker than anything. Grey market parts are not impossible to get just right next to it, if you can find a sympathetic dealer that will help you they can get what you would need.

ShiningSky · Mar 15, 2005

I have a D21-6A LGP. It is a grey market one. Everything is in Japanese on it. It runs well and only had 1600 hrs on it. I agree with the others that it is under powered but with practice you can do quite a bit with it. I am using it to clear 20 acres of small dead and dying fir trees and what I call trash trees. Once you learn how to use the 6 way blade you can push with the blade full. The LGP pads do quite well not tearing up the ground but leave the tractor with insufficient traction for dozing. Another problem with them are that Komatsu uses covers to protect the vulnerable parts. They often pack with dirt leading to rusting and significant degradation of the covers and what is underneath. Basically they require lots of maintenance keeping the tractor under those covers clean.

I have had good service from my local Komatsu dealer and I find parts are not that big of problem to had but can be quite expensive.

Cheers

David