crazyal
Super Member
I'm pretty sure my Case 450 is right about 10k lbs, maybe a little under. My trailer can have about 18k on the deck and the dozer doesn't make the springs even budge. I used it for pretty much everything when it came to leveling or grading. But since getting my grading scrapper I now use the 450 for the rough work and the tractor to finish things off. Often times there will be humps and dips in the land that I would like to smooth. With the dozer I can take a 2' high 30' long hump and cut it down in minutes. Then when things are close the tractor can remove the track marks in the land, the rippers do a nice job at gathering the roots, and it smooths the ground without compacting it too much making it much easier to get grass growing. $15k isn't going to get you much of a dozer around here. I think you could find one and the good thing about the older Case dozers is there are lots of aftermarket parts around. The 6-way blade just can't be matched, would never get a dozer without one.
The biggest problem with buying a dozer is there is a lot to look out for. It's not just the chain and rollers. The trunnions for the blade should be checked. The front wheels have bearings in them that can go bad. Unlike a car you just can jack it up and shake the wheel to see if it wobbles. Then there's the rear drive sprockets, there are bearings for them as well. The seals take a lot of abuse and can fail. Then there's the fact that dozers are very rough. All that vibration and shaking tends to loosen up bolts. If the previous owner didn't keep everything tight holes will get oblonged (not sure if that's a real word). That makes keeping them tight in the future very hard. I have about a half dozen grouser pads that just can't stay tightened because a previous owner never checked them.
If you don't know much about dozers and you don't have someone to help you then here are a few tips. Take a look at the tracks. They have adjusters, how far are they adjusted? What shape is the rear sprocket in? If it looks unusually great shape the seller may have replaced just it and not the chain. Simply using the front blade you should be able to lift the front of the dozer off of the ground. If the chain is slightly loose you should be able to try and spin the lower rollers to check the bearings and to look for excessive wear. On my Case it uses grease and a grease gun to tighten the tracks. The zerk fitting can be easily removed allowing the front idler to slide backwards to loosen the chain up to check it. Other things to look for would be the blade and all of it's pins to see how much wear they have. A worn blade will make it very hard to be precise. If it's got mud on it have the seller wash it all off. Dozers rarely get a good washing and mud will hide damage. It will also build up between the oil pan and skid plate. That could cause the oil pan to rust out. Finally check the gauges. They have good information. On my Case the charge pump will build up about 175 psi of pressure that feeds the torque converter. A trick if the charge pump is starting to go is to park the dozer on a slope with the front lower than the back. This will help get fluid to a pump that's not able to create enough of a suction because it's worn.
Over all a small (Case 450 size) dozer is a very nice tool. I'll do things a tractor couldn't even dream of. But the steel tracks do wear and cost a lot of money to repair/ replace. I had a rear bearing go when working in some deep mud and the track fell off. I was able to drag it back to hard ground with a 3/8 chain and my backhoe. But everything with a dozer is heavy. Just like a filled tire on a tractor a dozer's track is not something you can easily manhandle. Plus there's lots of places for fingers to get pinched. Buy one in good shape and keep on top of it and it'll make you plenty of money.
The biggest problem with buying a dozer is there is a lot to look out for. It's not just the chain and rollers. The trunnions for the blade should be checked. The front wheels have bearings in them that can go bad. Unlike a car you just can jack it up and shake the wheel to see if it wobbles. Then there's the rear drive sprockets, there are bearings for them as well. The seals take a lot of abuse and can fail. Then there's the fact that dozers are very rough. All that vibration and shaking tends to loosen up bolts. If the previous owner didn't keep everything tight holes will get oblonged (not sure if that's a real word). That makes keeping them tight in the future very hard. I have about a half dozen grouser pads that just can't stay tightened because a previous owner never checked them.
If you don't know much about dozers and you don't have someone to help you then here are a few tips. Take a look at the tracks. They have adjusters, how far are they adjusted? What shape is the rear sprocket in? If it looks unusually great shape the seller may have replaced just it and not the chain. Simply using the front blade you should be able to lift the front of the dozer off of the ground. If the chain is slightly loose you should be able to try and spin the lower rollers to check the bearings and to look for excessive wear. On my Case it uses grease and a grease gun to tighten the tracks. The zerk fitting can be easily removed allowing the front idler to slide backwards to loosen the chain up to check it. Other things to look for would be the blade and all of it's pins to see how much wear they have. A worn blade will make it very hard to be precise. If it's got mud on it have the seller wash it all off. Dozers rarely get a good washing and mud will hide damage. It will also build up between the oil pan and skid plate. That could cause the oil pan to rust out. Finally check the gauges. They have good information. On my Case the charge pump will build up about 175 psi of pressure that feeds the torque converter. A trick if the charge pump is starting to go is to park the dozer on a slope with the front lower than the back. This will help get fluid to a pump that's not able to create enough of a suction because it's worn.
Over all a small (Case 450 size) dozer is a very nice tool. I'll do things a tractor couldn't even dream of. But the steel tracks do wear and cost a lot of money to repair/ replace. I had a rear bearing go when working in some deep mud and the track fell off. I was able to drag it back to hard ground with a 3/8 chain and my backhoe. But everything with a dozer is heavy. Just like a filled tire on a tractor a dozer's track is not something you can easily manhandle. Plus there's lots of places for fingers to get pinched. Buy one in good shape and keep on top of it and it'll make you plenty of money.
