How much for a dozer?

   / How much for a dozer? #1  

newcountry

Silver Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2004
Messages
192
Location
NE Kansas
Tractor
2005 Kubota BX2230
My father-in-law and I are trying to figure out what to do to clear some of our land. We think our best options is to buy a dozer and share it. How much would you expect to spend on the smallest dozer that can down up to 40-ft trees (though most are very spindley). Maybe, more accurately I should ask how little can I spend while still get the job done w/o stopping every hour to fix another broken part :eek: . We are looking at clearing a pickup-width path around our 50 acres of farmland, plus clearing 5-6 acres behind his house.

I'd love to be able to get my hands on one of those skidsteers with a tree mulcher but noone locally has one to rent out. I haven't checked into finding someone to do it for me -- Both my FIL and I are both do-it-ourselfers, what's the fun watching someone else do our job :p ?
 
   / How much for a dozer? #2  
I really think you need at least 100 hp in a dozer to beging using it to clear land. Anything smaller is questionable and the smaller you go, the worse it will be. HP and weight are what knocks down trees and pushes them to the burn pile.

If you don't want to be working on it, then you better have $40,000 to $50,000. Less money will get you a smaller dozer or an older one. It might be better to know how much you have to spend?

Owning a dozer on small acerage is more of a perk then a smart finacial decision. THEY ARE MONEY PITS!! The fun ends the fist week, then it's misserable work. When it breaks down, that miserable work becomes something you dream of doing instead of trying to fix the dozer. hahaha

My dozer is 160 hp and I use my backhoe for taking out trees a foot thick or more. If the ground is dry, then even those are tough to get out, depending on the species.

Do some searches here on dozers. Lots of good advice and first hand stories of those who have them.

Good luck,
Eddie
 
   / How much for a dozer? #3  
Sounds like you are planning some serious fun.

EddieW comments are spot on as usual.

I bought a refurbished 40 hp class JD in '02. Use it to develop lakefront, build gator width trails and last summer grubbed out a pond.

Your timber may have commercial value. A forester or logger could tell pretty quick. If so, mark out the roads & let them open it up & clear away some of the mess.

There will still be plenty of cleanup and maintenance to do.

If word gets out you have a dozer, be prepared for new friends, relatives and neighbors' work requests.
 
   / How much for a dozer? #4  
I've had success and good luck with my 14,000 lb Cat D3, 62hp Dozer.

First I use the ripper to make a pass in front and then on both sides of the tree... leaving the roots intact on the back side where you want the tree to fall. With the roots ripped, the trees usually don't require much effort from the dozer blade to topple.

I agree with Eddie that more HP is never a bad thing when it comes to Dozers.
 
   / How much for a dozer? #5  
What do you plan to do with it when this job is over? If that is all the dozer work you need to do, it doesn't seem to justify buying one.

I know there is no fun in hiring people to do work but sometimes it makes a lot of financial sense.
 
   / How much for a dozer? #6  
if you really want to do it yourself how about renting? cheeper than owning :rolleyes:
 
   / How much for a dozer? #7  
If you're going to rent, you might as well go the route and hire an operator...

Per the original post:

"Both my FIL and I are both do-it-ourselfers, what's the fun watching someone else do our job "

Reckon this depends on if you want to pay for the hours utilized training yourself to operate the 'dozer efficiently.
 
   / How much for a dozer? #8  
jpm said:
if you really want to do it yourself how about renting?

I don't think you can rent a dozer big enough to get anything done. Before I bought my dozer, I ran a JD 450G for a guy on residential jobs and minor grading. Not for land clearing. I priced renting one and was told it would be $1,000 per week. Instead, I worked out a deal to use his 450G on my land for a few weeks and learned the hard way that you can't get very much done with a 80 hp dozer. It won't dig in compacted clay, nor will it take out trees of any size.

Of couse, if you move enough dirt, you can probably get any tree out, but it takes hours to get a medium sized tree out with a small dozer. Even then, the tree is big enough to flip the dozer if ou don't know what you're doing.

It is MUCH CHEAPER to hire it out with somebody that has a large dozer. D6 size or better will clear land. Anything smaller and you're wasting time on a machine that's too small to be effective. A big dozer will just knock down everything keep moving.

Eddie
 
   / How much for a dozer? #10  
You can rent for a whole lot less, and do a lot of work in a day. I rented a cat for $400.00, for eight hours and did all the work I needed ( cleared 2-3 Ac of mesquite trees brush.)

The trick is get the Dozer late on a Friday, then you have all weekend to do your eight hours and only be charged for ONE day - not three. Better yet if you do it on a Holiday week end, you then can be billed for 16 hour, (doing more work in two days) and have 4 days to use it.

The Cat Rental Store
 

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