need some dozer advice

[mahindraman]

hi everyone. I've been thinking about getting a dozer to clear up some land i have and came across a one today and was wondering what to look for when buying one used. A buddy of mine has a john deere 450 dozer and he just rebuilt the motor,and hydraulics and also put new tracks on. He said he would let me have it for $5200..I've serched the web and this seems to be a pretty good deal...it's an early 80's model..so, what do you guys think?

 

[George2615]

I can't believe he just rebuilt the motor, hydraulics and new tracks and now wants to sell a JD450 for $5200.
Seems the rebuild or the tracks would have cost that much.
In what shape is the undercarriage. Is anything in need of replacement.
$5200 is cheap for a 80's dozer especially with all that work just done.
Ask him to demonstrate this dozer. If it performs well then purchase it, use it and resell for a profit.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

If it runs and turns ok, then buy it. That is a steal and you won't be sorry. At that price, even if there is something else wrong, you would be able to get the parts and fix it. Load the blade so that the dozer won't go forward, if both tracks spin, you should be in good shape. Remember, this is a ranch dozer, not a dozer that needs to be working 8 hour days to make you a living. There might be parts that are warn out, so what, as long as the machine works. We have a 1943 Cat D6 with 9 bizzilion hours on it. Most guys would tell me that we were crazy to be running it. All that I can say is that we have about $2500 in it and it still shakes the earth. It does what we need it to do and has paid for itself 10 times over. Go buy that dozer.

 

[MarkV]

Around here you can get a heavy equipment mechanic to come and evaluate a machine for $100-150. It is a friend of yours so it may well be as he said but it sounds to cheap for what has been done to it. How many hours on the machine?

MarkV

 

[Jaxxson]

If it runs and turns ok, then buy it. That is a steal and you won't be sorry. At that price, even if there is something else wrong, you would be able to get the parts and fix it. Load the blade so that the dozer won't go forward, if both tracks spin, you should be in good shape. Remember, this is a ranch dozer, not a dozer that needs to be working 8 hour days to make you a living. There might be parts that are warn out, so what, as long as the machine works. We have a 1943 Cat D6 with 9 bizzilion hours on it. Most guys would tell me that we were crazy to be running it. All that I can say is that we have about $2500 in it and it still shakes the earth. It does what we need it to do and has paid for itself 10 times over. Go buy that dozer.

Holy heck is that the '43 dozer in those pictures? it looks in AMAZING condition. WOW.

Anyways $5200 is really dirt cheap for that machine or any machine for that fact, Its probably worth that much in scrap metal. Take it ASAP for that price, who cares whats wrong with it, it can always be fixed.

Jaxx.

 

[GreenWannabe]

Gotta love that old D6 with the LeTourneau PCU! It looks like it must have been set up to pull a scraper, there isn't any overhead cable run for a dozer blade. I'd love to see it sometime!!

 

[mahindraman]

i am not sure how many hours it has..I am going to look at and drive it tomorow..he did tell me he had about $5000 into it. Ill let yall know how it goes but i think for sure i am going to get it.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Holy heck is that the '43 dozer in those pictures? it looks in AMAZING condition. WOW.
Jaxx.

That is it, it has been a good tractor for us.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Gotta love that old D6 with the LeTourneau PCU! It looks like it must have been set up to pull a scraper, there isn't any overhead cable run for a dozer blade. I'd love to see it sometime!!

Actually the cable for the blade runs through a tube on the right side. And it is set up for a 6 yard pull can and a sub soiler with 3 rippers that rip 30" down. I mentioned $2500 that we have in the D6, we also bought the 12" disk in the picture and the 6 yard can and sub soiler for an additional $1000.

 

[mahindraman]

well, i went by to look at the dozer today but wasn't able to drive because it was pouring down rain all morningI did have a few questions for yall though. The lift arms and the whole hydraulic assembly is mounted on the outside of the tracks as aposed to the inside that i've seen on just about every one listed on the web...was wondering if that is an advantage or disadvantage and why it would be set up on the outside as aposed to the inside. he is unsure of the hours but has no hours at all on rebuild. thanks

 

[MtnViewRanch]

If the hydraulics are on the outside of the tracks, it sounds like an old after market setup. But I wouldn't think that anything that new wouldn't have that. Better to see a picture to be able to help out. Normally (not always though)the blades that have the external arms are not 6 way blades.

 

[mahindraman]

forgot my camera at home so no help there...this blde is only a two way-up and down...is this a disadvantage, mounted outside and should i maybe look into having a new inside type mounted by john deere or do you even think thats posible..im a noobie at dozers looking for advice so srry if some of that sounds stoopid. The machine looked good and like i said: new tracks and very good rollers, bushings, and sprockets, with a recently rebuilt motor..I don't know When I can get over there to see it run but hopefully soon..he is in no big rush to sell it so thats alright.

 

[mahindraman]

It looks like this: pic1
What most others have: pic2

 

[BarryinMN]

I have a 350 now for several years. The 6 way PAT power-angle-tilt is quicker to say cut a road into a sidehill. The 2 way can do the same thing by simply crawling straight up hill a little more & backdrag down fill to create your angle, put the dozer on your newly created pad & cut away the side of the hill...

 

[SEMI-RETIRED]

forgot my camera at home so no help there...this blde is only a two way-up and down...is this a disadvantage, mounted outside and should i maybe look into having a new inside type mounted by john deere or do you even think thats posible..im a noobie at dozers looking for advice so srry if some of that sounds stoopid. The machine looked good and like i said: new tracks and very good rollers, bushings, and sprockets, with a recently rebuilt motor..I don't know When I can get over there to see it run but hopefully soon..he is in no big rush to sell it so thats alright.

I have run dozers with a straight blade, much harder to level with etc.
If you are going to just be clearing should be ok though..
6 way blade much nicer for getting small trees up, leveling etc.
For the price though, sounds great..

Bob..

 

[PILOON]

The 'up-down' blade would be a real pusher, sometimes called a rock blade and a stronger machine.
A 6-way blade is a landscape or finishing doser.
You can always back blade for finishing work.
To check the under carriage here are a few tips.
Sprocket teeth should have flat tops, sharp and pointy = lots of wear.
Pads should not be smoothe, new they would have about 1" of bite.
If you use the hydraulics to jack the dozer off of the ground it should hold itself up.
As said, load the blade up and push, if tracks spin the power and drive train should be OK.
Should be able to spin/turn left and right 'on a dime'.

I had an old 'rock blade' machine and was able to finish grade 3 miles of road real nice.
In real rough terrain it could lift dig 4ft boulders (using corner) with a bit of 'technique'.
When it came to trees, I'd catch the rootball with blade corner and push while lifting and topple 8" maples easily.

Another idea is to hire a local heavy equipment mechanic for a probable $100 to render an opinion.

Good luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

... A buddy of mine has a john deere 450 dozer and he just rebuilt the motor,and hydraulics and also put new tracks on. He said he would let me have it for $5200...

I think that he must have a different idea of what he did compared to what I can a rebuilt motor and hydraulics. I rebuilt the motor on my case dozer and it cost $8,000 just for the parts. The machine work was another grand. That dozer is allot smaller, but Deere is pretty proud of their parts. I cant imagine rebuilding the engine on one for under $5,000. But I'm just guessing and anything is possible.

Wonder what he means by rebuilding the hydraulics? The pump can be very expensive, but you should be able to get one rebuilt for $2,000. That's what I paid for mine to be rebuilt. Would an older, smaller one be cheaper to rebuild? I don't know. What else? hoses? Filters? valves? If he did all these, that's another $2,000.

New tracks are around $5,000 Getting the old ones off is easy enough, but getting the new ones on is a bit of a challenge. If he did all that other work, I can imagine that he's capable of installing new tracks.

With the skill and ability to do all this work on a dozer, and having an idea of what it would cost just for the parts, it sure does seem like he's giving away the dozer at a loss to what he put into it. Does he have other financial commitments that require quick cash? I think he's selling that machine for about a third of what he could get for it fairly easily if those things were all done to it.

Either buy it and enjoy your good fortune, or run away from it in a panic. It's one or the other.

Eddie

 

[mahindraman]

hey eddie,

let me give you all a history on the machine. the dozer originally belonged to the georgia forestry people that maintained brush fires and whetnot with it. Apparently they thought the dozer was just worn out or something or other or they knew it needed rebuild and didn't want to put the money into it and my buddy ended up with it i think at an auction. While the forestry people had it they did put new tracks, and sprockets on it, and the bushings and rollers are in pretty good shape theirselves. since the motor was "shot" he got it cheap and started tinkering. He found what he thought that they had used to much ether in trying to start all the time and used it too often and it messed up the internal parts of the engine. So, onto rebuilding the motor. He did not go directly thru john deere but through a company in florida that supplies john deere with replacement parts and got it a little cheaper that way. As for the hydraulics he said he just rebuilt them. Now i dont know any thing about this kind of stuff but thought john deere made their own parts but maybe not for these older models anymore?

 

[EddieWalker]

Deers a good name, and the 450 is a good dozer. You won't find another deal like this. ever. The price is very cheap. He's obviously a very good buddy of yours. My concern was to why it's so cheap. It sounds like he's just getting rid of it and not trying to make a buck off of you. Even if it breaks, and all dozers break, you will be money ahead to buy it.

Eddie

 

[mahindraman]

thanks eddie,

thats what i was thinking. He still has few little things to do to it beforei can get it but when its finished i will go drive it and then hopefully buy it. He said he will make me a root rake to attach to the blade, for 800$. He showed me one that was for someone else and it looks to be pretty good. It's 5" tubular steel with square cut out's about every, maybe 8", and rippers are dropped down each one with three adjustment hole on them so i can adjust how deep i want it. It will bolt to the blade. FYI just incase anybody was wondering, the blade is 9'. thanks all