Looking for your thought s onthe following dozers

[stathamj]

I drove about 500 miles today for 12 hours looking at dozers that I found in my area. I would like to get your thought and ideas and see what others think about my choices. I will only talk about the best ones. But, one I won't get to look at till Wednesday.

The first one is a 1995 Komatsu D31P-16
Pro's Relatively new
price was good $14K
Undercarriage was 80%
Looked good not abused or mistreated.

Con's Smallest of the three
No sweeps or screens
Pyramid pads
It took 3-4 times more effort to turn left
It had oil dripping from the pan at a rate of about 1 drop every 3-4seconds. "He said "I might have over filled it"!

The second was a 1990 Case 850D
Pro's Middle sized of the three
Fairly new
Just rebuilt. All new undercarriage
Salt Rails, Pins and bushings, new pads.
Sweeps and screen, new filters fluids, etc.
Ran and operated fine.
6 month written warranty.

Con's Just rebuilt
Price $25K

The third was a JD 750 I haven't looked at yet The asking price is $18K. He said he has ran it and it ran fine. He said he'd pay to get an oil and hyd. sample done. He said that he wouldn't want to sell me a bad one. But, he said he can't see into the future. I was going to go tomorrow to look at it. But it will be Wednesday now. He said I could come run it all day if I'd like.

I look at the Komatsu and it has some problems. But, I could do a lot of work on it compared to the Case as it's half of the price. On the other had basically the Case is like brand new underneath and it has a warranty. But it cost twice as much. Then the JD 750 is in between. But, like others have said it's a 30 year old Hydrostat.

The Case might have better resale if I decide to sell it later on.

Is there anything else that I might not be thinking about that you might mention.

I know that the price of dozers here, Texas, always seems several thousand dollars more than in other parts of the country.

If you have any comments ideas suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I want to get the best one I can. Since I don't know that much about them overall I'm trying to bounce my thoughts to everyone. Don't hesitate to comment. I need all of the info I can get.

James

 

[stathamj]

No one has any thoughts or comments. Looking for some input.

James

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot depends on how you will use.

I wanted a Dozer that I could transport and what I found did not look too good.

I then found a CAT D3 at a Deere Dealer with a warranty and decided it was the right one to buy and they delivered.

For 17 years I used it for more than I had ever thought when I first bought it... for the few things I did need... my CAT dealer, 5 miles away, always treated me like I was their most important customer...

Parts were never an issue and when it came time to sell... I was within 2k of what I paid...

One thing I noticed is smaller often does not mean less expensive when it comes to good used iron.

The guy I sold mine too said he passed on a D5 for the same money because it was just too big...

 

[Ken45101]

I don't have a dozer so take my comments for what they are worth.

How well do the various machines meet your needs? You mention lack of sweeps. Will you be operating in the woods, or in an open field? What's important to your needs? How big/heavy of a unit do you need? Will you be transporting it?

Can YOU do the repair work? From what I've read, used dozers require a lot of maintenance and the proper equipment to work on them.

Perhaps you need to keep looking to find the right one for you if none of these really meet your expectations.

 

[PILOON]

Had an Allis HD6 at one time, owned it for 4 years without any major issues.
My one advice would be to (as I did) hire a local mechanic to evaluate the machine B4 laying any $$ on the table.
In my case he spotted serious issues that I never would have caught. Seller made good and everybody was happy.

A few hours of mechanics labor B4 purchase is a very small insurance policy and can pay BIG dividends.

 

[kevin37b]

Stay away from that 750 .Transmission is a nightmare and engine cooling system is poor .Case is a good machine and that one sounds like it has had a little care . Iwould rather spend money on a good / warrantied dozer than spend my time working on one . Case has good parts network and good dealers , or they are sorted out by corp .

 

[sweettractors]

I would go with the Case as a first choice and the Deere as choice #2. Unless you do the work yourself, a dozer can eat you alive in labor costs, if you encounter problems. I loved my Cat D3B at $17k purchase price and many years of trouble free service. Resell value was great. Ken Sweet

 

[ultrarunner]

I would go with the Case as a first choice and the Deere as choice #2. Unless you do the work yourself, a dozer can eat you alive in labor costs, if you encounter problems. I loved my Cat D3B at $17k purchase price and many years of trouble free service. Resell value was great. Ken Sweet

I guess I was just lucky with my D3...

Except for a couple of lines... it was problem free over 17 years.

 

[DJ54]

We had Case dozers where I worked, and they were pretty well bullet proof. We got a new 850E, supposedly the first one produced. That was one sweet tractor. We had it in what I would consdier pretty severe work conditions. From working creek channels, clearing trees & stumps, mud, ripping shale, and even pushing snow, opening township roads in severe weather. Other than replacing the undercarriage, there were 0 problems with it, and when we got a new 850G, one of the counties took it for their themselves, and had about 9,000 hrs. on it.

Love the Case for the fact you can do power turns, putting one track in high, and the other in low. Or to feather as turn, one in low, and the other in neutral. A tractor with steering clutches, you just kill one track to make a turn. If you would decide on a Case. I would get one new enough to have the oil bath brakes. We had a 450C, and while it was a great litle dozer, if you took it in a creek deep enough to get water in the dry type brake housings, they'd get rusty, + sediment getting in them making them grabby. Just need to take them apart, and clean. Not sure what the 850D has.

Hard to suggest to someone what kind/size of dozer you need, unless you know what you'll be doing. You can move a lot of dirt with an 850, if doing a larger cut. You just need to cut a slot, to move more dirt. You can push 2-3 times as much in a slot, than just chasing it around on top.

Sometimes you can have one too big, and practically gets in the way of itself. All depends on what you're doing with it. 8" to 10" trees were'nt a problem. Anything bigger you cut the roots, and build a ramp up to get more leverage. Just don't get hung up on the root ball when it goes over. Been there, done that one...

If you can find one with a good working winch is a plus. They can be your lifeline in the right situation. Plus the fact it gives you more weight for traction, when pushing.