Dozer usage

[spruce Deere]

2 acre pond is a good size pond. How deep ya gunna make it?

If you could have one dug by someone for 10 grand, the price of the dozer you have in mind that would be the way to go.

BUT, nothing matches the feeling of dozing dirt, clearing brush, skidding logs and sculpting the earth with a dozer. 10g is a good, fair price for a dozer at that age @ 65% undercarriage and that size if it don't burn gallons of oil or no gusher leaks.

20 to 30 bucks an hour is what I figgered for operating cost for the 1150 for myself on my own ground. Charge buy the job for custom work, which I am very selective about....whole 'nuther large can-o-worms.

 

[ultrarunner]

Owned the D3 17 years and put about 50 hours per year on it...

Spent average of $200 per year maintaining... fluids, battery, lines... but did not change the fluids annually.

One time it sat for 7 months... started fine but one track really tight... after that I ran every 6 to 8 weeks even if stationary with blade and rippers down.

The 350c about 40 per year... needed a $1000 injection pump repair in year 4... may have been bio diesel related?

Tried other machines for fire trail maintenance but the dozer makes quick work of it...

 

[Patrick Herd]

I have a '54 D47U here: I usually try to at least start it every few months to stir the oil around. The clutches did get a little sticky when I didn't move it for the best part of a year one time. It lives in a shed that keeps it out of 95% of the weather. Look up Squatch253 on Youtube to learn everything you need to know about crawler tractor maintenance.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Most of my components are wore enough seizing is not an option.




I like that !!

I should have added above on how I store the tractor is that I put new SALT (sealed pins and bushings) track rails on it.

gg

 

[BackRoad]

Mr. Patrick, I have watched Squatch 253, along with Dirt Perfect. Both provide high value content on dozers and I've watched enough of them to start thinking "I should try that..."!

The pond is planned to be 20 to 25 feet at the deepest...it's an area that has some springs and stays wet all summer...unusable otherwise.

Which is a blessing for keeping it filled long-term...but a curse for digging out all the clay soil it's sitting on.

It WILL be very soft initially. Still researching how to do it, and if it's going to require "expert" level credentials to not make it a dozer burial ground.

Thanks for the information above...greatly appreciate it.

 

[Loaderman22]

All great info everyone!! I bought a 79 Cat D3 early this spring, it had lots of new internals (brakes, clutches, etc). So I went for it. Paid a bit more than what @BackRoad is looking at for a larger machine, but seemed a fair price to me. I used it to start my driveway project, and hope to make good use of it around here. It's been sitting since May, but I hope to get back on it now that the ground has firmed up. The spot I am putting the driveway runs next to a very soft wet spot that sits on pure rock, so the water doesn't drain. My plan is to use the rock (about 3' down) to my advantage, then create drainage along side the driveway to drain.

 

[grsthegreat]

Wet deep clay can be a dozer burial ground

 

[plastikosmd]

Fiat fl5
It doesn’t get much use but I do smile when I get to use it. Sits more than it should. Always starts when needed. A few frozen track pins make for a bumpy ride. Costs have been an oil change and starter rebuild over the years

 

[blueman2]

I have had a JD450C for 30 years and sits for a year between uses. No problems. Last year it sat for a year, I put the batteries in, and it started right away

 

[greenerdreams]

dozers can sit for a long time, i agree with those others stating the problem is usually frozen brakes. keep things lubed and you probably won't have a problem. have had two dozers and they were great but i got tired of them breaking. IMO dozers are one of those machines that is essentially destroying itself everytime you use it. Anything with steel tracks is usually pretty high maintenance. A rubber tracked skidsteer or excavator is much lower maint. A rubber wheeled skid steer is almost zero maint, but you need a pretty big machine to come even close to the work a dozer can do and it needs to be dry or you have to put on over tire tracks. sold my dozers and replaced with a skid and an excavator, I feel that is the perfect combination for almost any job. BTW, the other machine that destroys itself every time you use it, a stump grinder, but they are handy for sure.