Help me decide. Dozer or Crawler Loader!!!

[MBTRAC]

A few days ago I saw a track loader with a backhoe. About all left to add would be a crane on the side.

Bruce

Track Loader Backhoes are great in theory but poor in practice, the backhoe unbalances most machines & hinders the departure angle significantly when the going gets rough - a backhoe on a skid steer is big compromise, a hoe on a track loader takes it to a whole new level...........
We used to run a 977 with a 4/1, logging winch & a very large rear mounted hydraulic crane which proved a fantastic combination for culvert/pipe work, bridge construction & greenfield shed building.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I expect dozer ownership is seldom financially feasible for small land owners. This comes from 50 years of observation. Sellers often have the advantage of novice buyers.

 

[MBTRAC]

I expect dozer ownership is seldom financially feasible for small land owners. This comes from 50 years of observation. Sellers often have the advantage of novice buyers.

:thumbsup: Never were truer words spoken......for every single landowner that claims dozer ownership works, there's probably 50 that can testify it didn't for them........and if you can't maintain & operate a dozer the ownership experience is going to be "interesting" at the very least.......

 

[Loadstar]

I just watched a large chunk of land get cleared and a large deep lake built by a friend of mine. His father is an operator and they purchased a 953 for $25k. I looked at a lot of machines with his family they are/were long time mine mechanics. Amazing the stuff people pass off as "good undercarriage". If you see a 75% undercarriage that usually means 25% unless you plan on turning pins. Most were below 50 and when you pulled a oil plugs on a final one would be good and crap. Lots of people bought something didn't know track maintenance and now have a machine with a mountainous repair bill. Some even seemed offended when his family would politely point out issues like letting pins go too far to turn or other things. "well it works fine for me" was a popular saying. Sorry for derail OP I vote like others do for a trackloader.

 

[ultrarunner]

I still miss my D3... had it 17 years.

I bought it from a large Deere dealer and it came with a 30 day warranty.

Maybe I was just very lucky being a private landowner buying on my own.

If I had it to do over I would in a heartbeat. Owning let me put in and maintain fire roads on my own time and when ground conditions were optimal... plus it was a lot of fun!

A family acquaintance with a paving and grading company said it was a mistake... said having a dozer on steep terrain is an easy way to get an inexperienced operator in trouble and the D3 is too small for the job...

I would still have it if the bulk of the land had not been sold off. The only other thing is California started to crack down on older Diesel equipment so contractors can't use them anymore.

Not many folks with a Dozer in the Bay Area... had I been in a more rural area... I might have just hired it out because there are a lot more owner operators in some areas than in a big city.

 

[stathamj]

Well, right now I haven't come up with anything better than the D4C I originally looked at. I will keep looking though. But, I was thinking if I got the D4 then I could do the undergrowth clean-up and leave the larger stuff to the other guy. When I looked at it I figured (my estimate) that it would take about 8-10 hours. Based on what I've had others do for me. I figured $1000.00 - $1200.00. The owner/operators estimate was 2 days and $3000.00. So, basically it came out 2-3 times what I thought it should. That's $150.00 an hour for a 10 hour day. I thought that was a little high. I know, if you buy one and have to repair it you might appriciate the $3000 for two days. But, buying my own, I could do it when I could as needed. Then leave him the big stuff for later. My analogy may be flawed. But, even if I spent $6000.00 on repairing it that would only be 4 days work and I'd still have it the rest of the year to use whenever I needed it.
Any thoughts,comments or ideas?

James

 

[Turbys_1700]

Usually, it is more cost effective to pay someone to clear out property and then just keep it up...
But, if you are mechanically inclined and can get a good older machine and not tear it up you can do ok...
Repairs are expensive...
Years ago my dad had the pins turned on his loader and it was not cheap...
The neighbor that bought it transported it to the CAT dealership for the service...
That is partly why he purchased it since he knew the condition of the machine...

 

[paulharvey]

$150 per hour is just what a small to medium dozer bills for. Every time it moves, you wear away some of the undercarriage, and they aren't cheap. What I would add is if you spend say $12,000 on a D4 sized dozer, I would recommend using it, trying to finish your projects, and selling it quickly. Reason being is that if you drag it out for a couple years, you likely to face a situation where you have to drop several thousand just to get it running for sale. Even if its it fair shape when you get it, sitting still has a way of bringing problems.

If it was me, and its not... but I would be more inclined to look for a used JD-544 wheeled loader, with root rake. They can be had for $8,000 and even if you destroy it, its still a couple grand in scrap metal, reducing your potential down side, plus you can road run it instead of transporting. Just make sure the transmission doesn't slip, and the tires hold air. If yiur on a mountain side, a loader mighy be out as an option. Even a Komatsu WA-180 will do an amazing amount of work, but a WA-250, Cat-938, JD-544 will be more common and push better. Around me, 85+% of land clearing is done with a loader and track hoe, probably 10% or less with a dozer, and I have never seen a tracked loader being used in florida. Tracked loaders un some ways combine the disadvantages of a loader and a dozer, and don't add to much advantages over a normal loader.

 

[carpenter383]

Before I got my tractor I had an OLD (1950's) D4 with a loader (people call them "hi-lifts" around here) it had the hand clutch and the 2 steering clutches with 2 foot brakes. That thing was ALOT of work to opperate! Shortly after I got it I was driving down a hill with a steep drop off on one side, I went to turn right by pulling the right steering clutch like you normally would, but before I could push the right brake hard enough to turn right, it steered left because I released the right track while the engine was holding back on the left, scared the crap out of me! Another time I was driving along and went to stop by disengaging the main clutch lever, when I pushed it forward it didn't disengage! I had to shut the engine off to stop, then I found a pin had came out that connected the shifter linkage. I used it to dig into the side of a hill where I built my garage, cleared a road in my woods, etc. It was geared way too high, (no low range) since it didnt have a torque converter you couldn't creep up to anything without slipping the clutch. It barely had enough power to spin the tracks when pushing against something that didnt move. The hydraulics were so wore out the loader (when raised) would slowly fall with the engine running! I ended up selling it for 3500 which is about what I had in it. Shortly after that I bought my tractor which was a caddilac compared to that old crawler lol. The D4 would lift more weight and scoup more dirt with each bucket, but I feel like I can get things done more effeciently with the tractor, and it's alot more enjoyable!
I know a newer, nicer track loader would work circles around my little dk40, but I feel sorry for the poor guys who used to run those old crawlers back in the day building highways and what not.

 

[ultrarunner]

I think there is also appreciation that comes into play...

Sold mine for 2k less than I paid 17 years prior...

Maintance and repairs worked out to be another 2k for the 1,000 hours I put on it.