EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I had a little experience running a JD 450G, but not allot before buying mine. The 450 was good for house pads and hauling around, but on my land, it was almost useless. I could take out saplings and clear trails and level out roads or pastures, but that's about it. It couldn't dig in my clay at all unless the clay was already broke up. Even with rippers, it was a challange. Trees of any size would stop it cold and it was worthless for digging, so the tree's won those battles.
The guy who owned it said it was for residential work mostly. If I wanted to take out the trees, use the backhoe. One thing that he did say was really good about the 450 was that he could get it unstuck with a backhoe, which he did when I got it stuck. Just put a chain on the blade and pulled with the hoe.
One of the faults wiht that model is the drive sprocket is one piece. This means you have to remove the track to replace the sprocket. Most sprockets come off in pieces so you can replace them with the tracks still on.
Changing a sprocket that comes off in pieces is very easy and to expensive. That's the easiest thing to do!!!
What you REALLY need to look at is your bushings. If they need turning, expect to pay $5,000. It's not something you can do yourself. The tracks need to come off and put in a press. Each bushing is done one at a time. If they have already been turned once and are worn on both sides, than you need to replace them. Who knows what that will cost???
Don't trust anybody who says the undercairage is a certain percentage. Look for yourself with somebody you trust. Not all, but allot of heavy equimpment sales people will know a rookie right off and take advantage. Imagine your grandma going to the dealership to buy a used car with a ton of cash in her purse. That's the same scenerio for you when looking at dozers.
The 4 in 1 bucket is an amazing thing for cleanup and moving material. I wish I had one on my loader bucket. It's not the same as a blade though. Two totally different animals. Just because they both have tracks, don't confuse a track loader with a bull dozer.
I've heard the track loader is really good at popping out stumps, but I don't know that for a fact. It might be better at pushing over trees if we compare the same sized machines. 20,000 pound track loader and a 20,000 dozer. The higher reach is a huge advantage.
You really need to decide on which is better for you.
When I decided to buy a dozer, I wanted something allot bigger than the little John Deere I'd been running. Over a hundred horse with low hours and for $20,000. There is allot of junk out there in that price range. For less money, your talking about a small dozer. In my opinion, too small for serious tree removal, clean up and digging.
Stay with name brands and dealers in your area. If you see a good deal on a Case, but there's no Case dealers close by, I'd pass on it. It doesn't matter what brand you buy, if you can't get parts for it, than it's just a lawn ornament.
Be sure you can work on it yourself. I'm learning as I go. I have no experience working on these things and never wanted to. The first problem I had with min is the bolts snapped on one of my tracks and the track came off. I tried to get five different guys to come repair it for me, and none ever showed up. I ended up waisting several weeks before figureing it out and doing it myself. Total cost was $200 once I got the track to a place that specializes in tracks 50 miles away.
I had a hydraulic pump fail on my too. Cost to have Case replace it (they wont rebuild anything) is $20,000. I took it out myself and had the pump and drive motor rebuilt for $3,000.
My turbo went out. $500 to rebuild plus my labor.
I've had dozens of hoses bust. Either from age or trees. Trees are very, very dangerous to a dozer. They will find a way to break something.
Alternator, batteries, filters, leaks and heavy fuel usage all add up to why I call my dozer a money pit. IT IS!!!
But when I do the math, it's still way cheaper to have it and do the repairs myself than to hire it done. Takes longer and there's a physical pain factor that doesn't exist when you hire it out, but there's no arguing the finacial savings.
I paid $25,000 for my Case 1550. It's weights over 40,000 poouns and is 160hp. It has an 8 way blade that's 12 feet wide. It's probably bigger than what you're looking for, and it's still too small for taking out medium sized trees. For what it takes to remove an 18 inch pine or oak, I can do it much faster with my backhoe.
Keep looking around. When you see something you like, post the information on it and hopefully somebody can give you some specific information.
Eddie
The guy who owned it said it was for residential work mostly. If I wanted to take out the trees, use the backhoe. One thing that he did say was really good about the 450 was that he could get it unstuck with a backhoe, which he did when I got it stuck. Just put a chain on the blade and pulled with the hoe.
One of the faults wiht that model is the drive sprocket is one piece. This means you have to remove the track to replace the sprocket. Most sprockets come off in pieces so you can replace them with the tracks still on.
Changing a sprocket that comes off in pieces is very easy and to expensive. That's the easiest thing to do!!!
What you REALLY need to look at is your bushings. If they need turning, expect to pay $5,000. It's not something you can do yourself. The tracks need to come off and put in a press. Each bushing is done one at a time. If they have already been turned once and are worn on both sides, than you need to replace them. Who knows what that will cost???
Don't trust anybody who says the undercairage is a certain percentage. Look for yourself with somebody you trust. Not all, but allot of heavy equimpment sales people will know a rookie right off and take advantage. Imagine your grandma going to the dealership to buy a used car with a ton of cash in her purse. That's the same scenerio for you when looking at dozers.
The 4 in 1 bucket is an amazing thing for cleanup and moving material. I wish I had one on my loader bucket. It's not the same as a blade though. Two totally different animals. Just because they both have tracks, don't confuse a track loader with a bull dozer.
I've heard the track loader is really good at popping out stumps, but I don't know that for a fact. It might be better at pushing over trees if we compare the same sized machines. 20,000 pound track loader and a 20,000 dozer. The higher reach is a huge advantage.
You really need to decide on which is better for you.
When I decided to buy a dozer, I wanted something allot bigger than the little John Deere I'd been running. Over a hundred horse with low hours and for $20,000. There is allot of junk out there in that price range. For less money, your talking about a small dozer. In my opinion, too small for serious tree removal, clean up and digging.
Stay with name brands and dealers in your area. If you see a good deal on a Case, but there's no Case dealers close by, I'd pass on it. It doesn't matter what brand you buy, if you can't get parts for it, than it's just a lawn ornament.
Be sure you can work on it yourself. I'm learning as I go. I have no experience working on these things and never wanted to. The first problem I had with min is the bolts snapped on one of my tracks and the track came off. I tried to get five different guys to come repair it for me, and none ever showed up. I ended up waisting several weeks before figureing it out and doing it myself. Total cost was $200 once I got the track to a place that specializes in tracks 50 miles away.
I had a hydraulic pump fail on my too. Cost to have Case replace it (they wont rebuild anything) is $20,000. I took it out myself and had the pump and drive motor rebuilt for $3,000.
My turbo went out. $500 to rebuild plus my labor.
I've had dozens of hoses bust. Either from age or trees. Trees are very, very dangerous to a dozer. They will find a way to break something.
Alternator, batteries, filters, leaks and heavy fuel usage all add up to why I call my dozer a money pit. IT IS!!!
But when I do the math, it's still way cheaper to have it and do the repairs myself than to hire it done. Takes longer and there's a physical pain factor that doesn't exist when you hire it out, but there's no arguing the finacial savings.
I paid $25,000 for my Case 1550. It's weights over 40,000 poouns and is 160hp. It has an 8 way blade that's 12 feet wide. It's probably bigger than what you're looking for, and it's still too small for taking out medium sized trees. For what it takes to remove an 18 inch pine or oak, I can do it much faster with my backhoe.
Keep looking around. When you see something you like, post the information on it and hopefully somebody can give you some specific information.
Eddie
