Grading Tractor and HD Box Blade vs. a small Dozer?

[Piston]

Assuming that dozer starts, runs, moves through all the gears, steers left/right, will spin the tracks with the blade cutting into a big pile and will lift itself off the ground with the blade, $4K is nearly stealing it. Cleaning it up, going through it a bit and a paint job would raise the price to at least $10K in most places. I shopped for dozers for months and nothing under $10K was really worth looking at...all were very, very rough.

I have a D3B and they weigh right at 16K, so a touch heavier than you thought. The tracks, sprockets, etc look pretty good on that one. As far as steering clutches go, they were made with dry clutches, but many were converted over the years to wet clutches. CAT made a retrofit kit for them that wasn't terribly expensive, and I think it still available.

Short version, if it has dry clutches, just move it every month or so if you haven't been using it, and it should be fine. Parts availability is quite good, so I wouldn't worry about that. I did a lot of research on the D3B before buying one, and it was pretty universal that people praised CAT for supporting them decades later.

The amount of work you can do with one compared to even a large CUT or Utility tractor isn't even close....clearing a path, grading a piece of ground, etc will be much faster with a dozer.

I haven't gotten over to the guys house to take it for a "test drive" yet, but regarding the dry clutches and moving it around every month or so, why is that? Do they rust up and get stuck in place? Is there a way to "unstick" them once they are.....well...stuck?


Thanks for the info on the weight of it as well. I have a guy that would transport it cheap as long as it's under 17k.

 

[GManBart]

I haven't gotten over to the guys house to take it for a "test drive" yet, but regarding the dry clutches and moving it around every month or so, why is that? Do they rust up and get stuck in place? Is there a way to "unstick" them once they are.....well...stuck?


Thanks for the info on the weight of it as well. I have a guy that would transport it cheap as long as it's under 17k.

Dry clutches are like the transmission clutches used on cars 50 years ago. If they sit for long periods of time they can absorb moisture, expand, and freeze up. I was talking to my father about this and he said years ago people knew to put something heavy on the clutch pedal so the clutch wouldn't get stuck like that during periods of storage.

I've never done it, but I've heard it can be a bit of a chore to get them unstuck since it requires a bit of disassembly. Sometimes you can get lucky and moving the tractor with the good track will work the stuck track free, and I've even read the technique to do it, but I can't recall the details right now.

 

[Piston]

Thanks for the reply. If I find the clutches are stuck I will probably take a pass on this. I'm pretty sure I'll end up buying it as long as it goes forward, reverse, operates strongly, and can spin both tracks when the blade is up against an immovable object. I'll post up if I do, but it likely won't be for a while either way.

Thanks again for all the replies, especially in regards to how much more capable the dozer would be vs. my small tractor and 7' box blade.

 

[johncanfield]

I had a Komatsu D39P-1 (20,000 pounds) dozer for my small ranch, great dozer and large enough to knock down decent size trees. Learning to grade with a dozer takes a bunch of seat time, for me it was faster and less frustrating to use a tractor box blade. The dozer was superb for clearing the rocks from my fence line so I could drive it in the Mule. Also used the dozer to clean up a large tank/pit. Operating a dozer this size was a load of fun but I ran out of jobs for it and sold it to a family member.

A dozer about 20k pounds can do a lot of work, the little 10k ones not so much.

 

[Piston]

Thanks for the reply. If I find the clutches are stuck I will probably take a pass on this. I'm pretty sure I'll end up buying it as long as it goes forward, reverse, operates strongly, and can spin both tracks when the blade is up against an immovable object. I'll post up if I do, but it likely won't be for a while either way.

Thanks again for all the replies, especially in regards to how much more capable the dozer would be vs. my small tractor and 7' box blade.

Well, 3 years to the day isn't too bad is it? I said it would be a while

I did NOT end up buying the dozer, but I did end up doing a bunch of dirt moving work with the tractor, and wishing I ended up buying the dozer. So, I called the guy, he still has it, and I'm buying the dozer. It turns out that he had replaced the entire undercarriage not too long before he (not knowingly) stopped using it for his business, so aside from it being 'old' and rusty, it really is in great condition as far as the sprockets, chain, track pads, and rollers go. I see no reason to think any of the undercarriage components will ever need to be replaced in my lifetime of homeowner use.

Assuming I can get it started and get it moving, I will be purchasing it. I will hopefully take the time in the future to give a comparison of the differences I noticed between using the box blade and this little dozer, as well as if it was 'worth it' or not.

I should mention, that this box blade has certainly proved it's value however, and a LOT of work can be done in a short amount of time with it!

 

[fried1765]

Well, 3 years to the day isn't too bad is it? I said it would be a while

I did NOT end up buying the dozer, but I did end up doing a bunch of dirt moving work with the tractor, and wishing I ended up buying the dozer. So, I called the guy, he still has it, and I'm buying the dozer. It turns out that he had replaced the entire undercarriage not too long before he (not knowingly) stopped using it for his business, so aside from it being 'old' and rusty, it really is in great condition as far as the sprockets, chain, track pads, and rollers go. I see no reason to think any of the undercarriage components will ever need to be replaced in my lifetime of homeowner use.

Assuming I can get it started and get it moving, I will be purchasing it. I will hopefully take the time in the future to give a comparison of the differences I noticed between using the box blade and this little dozer, as well as if it was 'worth it' or not.

I should mention, that this box blade has certainly proved it's value however, and a LOT of work can be done in a short amount of time with it!

Stick with the box blade!
Forget ANY...... LITTLE dozer!

 

[Xfaxman]

A little, little dozer can be very handy :thumbsup:

With the 4' box blade:

 

[fried1765]

A little, little dozer can be very handy :thumbsup:

With the 4' box blade:
View attachment 652491

Looks a lot more like a "little" loader, and THAT is MUCH more handy than a "little dozer".

 

[Sawyer Rob]

it really is in great condition as far as the sprockets, chain, track pads, and rollers go. I see no reason to think any of the undercarriage components will ever need to be replaced in my lifetime of homeowner use.

Did you confirm this yourself? The above pict. isn't very big, but that doesn't look like the case from the pict., of course like I said, the pict. isn't very big to see clearly...

SR

 

[fried1765]

Did you confirm this yourself? The above pict. isn't very big, but that doesn't look like the case from the pict., of course like I said, the pict. isn't very big to see clearly...

SR

That appears to be a little Magnatrac loader.
A very little .... "play machine".