Grading Possible dozer purchase

pharmer phred · Feb 26, 2013

I have a couple hundred acres of stumps and residue left from where they cut pine trees for pulp. The price of the land was right, but now I have a mess to clean up. The stumps are beginning to rot since the cutting was done about four years ago, but I need to get a dozer to get the land cleared for farming. I'm thinking that a small dozer (less than 100 hp) would be good for this. Does anyone have experience in this area? Suggestions? Should I rent or buy?

Thanks,

case245 · Feb 26, 2013

i would rent a dozer repair cost can be 10s of thousands if the tracks system is wear really badly or needs an engine final drive work tranny work ect i would rent a 943 series cat i had a 943 cat replace motor with a used one 4k that was back in 1990 replaced rails that the pads bolt to 10k in 1988

Gordon Gould · Feb 26, 2013

How big are the stumps ? We have white pine here. It can be any size up to 36" even 4 footers are found. The stumps are still solid after 10 years. That is why I ask.
I have a 70 hp 14,000 lb TD7G dozer. It will take out a stump. Especially if it was left high on purpose for removal. But still an 18" stumps can take quite a bit of work. 200 acres of big stumps cut close to the ground could take an awful long time with a small dozer.
If they are 6" stumps that is a lot different.
On big stumps I would rent an excavator to get them out then rent a dozer to rake the roots and level.

crazyal · Feb 26, 2013

I think I would opt to rent a stump grinder. You could turn them into mulch and not have a bunch of stumps left over. Afterwards you could do like Gordon said, rent a dozer with a root rake.

BarryinMN · Feb 26, 2013

I'd second a big excavator - rip the stumps out & pile for burning.

A dozer is gonna make a huge mess & wipe out your topsoil.

Use the dozer to push the burn pile tighter as it burns down.

A stump grinder is gonna make large mulch piles & kill any growth around it for a awhile.

mud23609 · Feb 27, 2013

I'd go for the excavator as well.

I do own a dozer. A old d3 to be exact. It will take out stumps, but its not the best tool for the job. A eight inch stump is a bit of work for it if the stump is cut low to the ground, at least in my clay soil. Its not gonna be just a push and go exercise with a small dozer. It will do the job, but its kind of like driving a 16 penny nail with a wrench.

MBTRAC · Feb 27, 2013

Here's pretty much what I posted on another thread recently to a similar question - IMO: "nothing costs like a dozer can...." -

There's a lot of "cheap" dozers around & very few represent good value, add to that small dozers invariably cop more than their fair share of abuse being pushed into tasks usually well above their "weight" & the cost can soon escalate.

Also consider relative to their "output" it costs roughly the same to repair, maintain or replace undercarriage on anything up to c.D6/7 sized machines & for the uninitiated dozer ownership can quickly become a whole world of mega $'s & pain when the first major repair comes your way - make no mistake owner any dozer is a high cost exercise. We run earthmoving gear including dozers & traxcavators on our farms/commercial earthmoving operation & if there was anyway I could avoid dozer/traxcavator ownership I would, unfortunately for us it doesn't (just) make overall commerical sense.

Depending on what you're trying to achieve, c.200acres is a large job of making good a logging "mess", I'd suggest you may be far better off with an excavator in the c.12T (maybe up to say 20T) class: it'll dig up stumps quicker & far cheaper than small dozers & is a whole lot cheaper to run on a cost/hr basis, fit the excavator with a thumb or grab & you can stack a burn pile really easily (& move fairly large rocks around), with the added bonus is an excavator isn't going to tear your land up like a dozer & has much greater versatility - you'll also find reselling any excavator is generally easier than a fairly limited market for a small dozer.

Also running a dozer for the uninitiated might be fun for the first day but it's also a whole lot harder to master & whole a lot rougher on the operator than an excavator, & whilst bogging a dozer is quite easy, getting it "unstuck" is a major exercise, whereas unless you've tried to "walk on water" an excavator can usually self recover.

Operating a small & aged dozer within its design capability will work out close to 3hoours working to 1hours repairs/amaintenance (at best, start asking much more of an already aged machine & the costs/downtime are going to escalate quickly & exponentially - for c200 acres pop the stumps/stack with an excavator then if you want to cultivate the land use a contractor with a large dozer (min.D7) fitted with root rake (or better stiill contract out the whole job)

rustyshakelford · Feb 27, 2013

Quickest way and probably easiest would be to have a guy with a d8 or d9 that runs a shear come it and make cuts thru there. Then you buy a 14-20k lb dozer to do the clean up and push up piles. This is a tremendous amount of work! Lots of diesel and seat time. Sounds like fun but will be very rewarding.

Brett

jenkinsph · Feb 27, 2013

MBTRAC said:
Here's pretty much what I posted on another thread recently to a similar question - IMO: "nothing costs like a dozer can...." -

There's a lot of "cheap" dozers around & very few represent good value, add to that small dozers invariably cop more than their fair share of abuse being pushed into tasks usually well above their "weight" & the cost can soon escalate.

Also consider relative to their "output" it costs roughly the same to repair, maintain or replace undercarriage on anything up to c.D6/7 sized machines & for the uninitiated dozer ownership can quickly become a whole world of mega $'s & pain when the first major repair comes your way - make no mistake owner any dozer is a high cost exercise. We run earthmoving gear including dozers & traxcavators on our farms/commercial earthmoving operation & if there was anyway I could avoid dozer/traxcavator ownership I would, unfortunately for us it doesn't (just) make overall commerical sense.

Depending on what you're trying to achieve, c.200acres is a large job of making good a logging "mess", I'd suggest you may be far better off with an excavator in the c.12T (maybe up to say 20T) class: it'll dig up stumps quicker & far cheaper than small dozers & is a whole lot cheaper to run on a cost/hr basis, fit the excavator with a thumb or grab & you can stack a burn pile really easily (& move fairly large rocks around), with the added bonus is an excavator isn't going to tear your land up like a dozer & has much greater versatility - you'll also find reselling any excavator is generally easier than a fairly limited market for a small dozer.

Also running a dozer for the uninitiated might be fun for the first day but it's also a whole lot harder to master & whole a lot rougher on the operator than an excavator, & whilst bogging a dozer is quite easy, getting it "unstuck" is a major exercise, whereas unless you've tried to "walk on water" an excavator can usually self recover.

Operating a small & aged dozer within its design capability will work out close to 3hoours working to 1hours repairs/amaintenance (at best, start asking much more of an already aged machine & the costs/downtime are going to escalate quickly & exponentially - for c200 acres pop the stumps/stack with an excavator then if you want to cultivate the land use a contractor with a large dozer (min.D7) fitted with root rake (or better stiill contract out the whole job)