How To Buy A DOZER

[hunterridgefarm]

A BIG THANKS to everyone that replied, good information that I needed to know.

I talked with one of my BIL's today and he knows several people in the grading business and a couple of them rebuild dozers. He is checking with them to see what they have.

Even though I am "very ready" to buy I will take my time and get everything checked out. Realistically I can see owning one for a couple of years.

I will keep everyone informed and get feedback on what I find.

But don't you think I should be able to find one in good condition for 10-15K?

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But don't you think I should be able to find one in good condition for 10-15K?)</font>

Depends on what you are really looking at. A late model gray Komatsu D20/21 should be in that price range but they are small light machines, less than D3 size. But they don't have enough weight to do the big jobs efficiently. Remember all dozers are not created equal.

What kind of land are you clearing? Plenty of big stumps/rocks or sandy soil? It makes a difference when looking to buy a crawler.

The bigger and heavier the dozer the more work you can get done more efficiently. The lightweight less than D6 size will most likely not have the oomph to dig up stumps and rocks that easily. The JD 350/450 are also smaller in size and older ones may be in your price range but mechanically they may not be worth it.

There are just so many factors to look at if you want to spend your money wisely.

 

[ShiningSky]

I agree that a D21 is light and small for most big jobs but if you take your time you can do quite a bit with it. Once I mastered how steer it with the blade I found that I could do much more with it.

As for tree removal. I can push over up to 12" fir trees but it will not touch hardwoods such as oaks even as small as 4".

Cheers

David

 

[hunterridgefarm]

(" What kind of land are you clearing? Plenty of big stumps/rocks or sandy soil? It makes a difference when looking to buy a crawler. ")

It depends on which location we chose. One area is at the top of a ridge that flatens out and has a slight grade. This site will most likely have some rock. There will also be several big oak stumps, don't know actual size be I can reach around the trees and touch my finger tips.

Another area is in a small valley around 4-5 ac flat with nothing too big.

Area #3 is is at the far end of our land and is about 18-22 ac and mostly flat, large trees but spaced out more than the ridge site. This is the perfect place for a house. The problem is I have 3 people whose property boarders this end and you never know what people are going to build or put there. The two other sites, ridge and valley, are boardered by two roads and a river. Plus the bottom I crop is on this end.

So most of what I will be taking out is the smaller stuff in the begining with some 10-12 inch trees. It is thick enough that I cannot get a good view of the lay-of-the-land without removing the undergrowth.

Of coures I don't know alot about dozers and what they can do but I was thinking around 8000 lb would be a good size...?

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Of coures I don't know alot about dozers and what they can do but I was thinking around 8000 lb would be a good size...? )</font>

Way way too light. You are talking Komatsu D21 size which is smaller than a Cat D3. Pulling up hardwood stumps will be quite a chore. My 15,000 lb TD6 has problems with anything over 12-14" but I can spend time and dig around the roots to get them out. A lot depends on soil conditions.

Based on what you said, you probably need something in the 20,000-35,000 weight range, with 10,000 to 15,000 lbs being a minimum. Getting something too small will be a big disappointment power wise.

 

[JoeinTX]

MadReferree is making valid points here.

You are aiming too small and light at 8000lbs to do what you want to do. At the absolute least, a JD 450/Case 450/Cat D-3 size unit is what you will need. Even at this, they will have to work to dig the stumps you mention but I have known a person to get this done with a little extra time.

Another thing is the money. For $10-15000 to spend, what you're going to find are the older, small machines likely with considerable wear. You could find a gem, but you never can be sure. There's not much worse than buying a cheap dozer and then realizing it needs a whole lot of money spent on it. And, then there's the maintenance. What if the machine has a major breakdown while you have it?

A 30 year old $15000 dozer can become real expensive real quick. Most of the decent small dozers of the last 20 years are going to hit around $20k.

But, I do have to ask, why is it necessary to buy instead of hiring it done? A good operator with good equipment at, say, $75/hr could probably do what you want to do in 2 weeks time. Figure 8-hour billed days.....and that's $8400. Have him do the major stuff, you handle the lighter work yourself, and it could be half. Consider it a $4-8000 investment in your property rather than sinking $15k-plus in what may be a risky purchase. Just so you know, if you buy an older machine for the money you mention and wind up having to replace a rear-end or track group or have tranny work done on it (to the tune of several thousand dollars), you won't get your money back on it's sale. You buy a $12500 dozer, spend $5000 replacing a final drive......it's not going to impress many buyers enough to get your investment back out of it.

This isn't to be negative, I'm just being realistic....planning for the worst and hoping for the best. In buying a dozer, buy for less than what you have to spend...expect to pay for repairs...and don't expect to get what you paid for it back when you sell it.

 

[JoeinTX]

Just to add...

A couple of years ago I had someone offer me an IH 250 trackloader for free if I would just take it off of their property. It was in overall good shape and something of a rare 250hp, V-8 diesel honking monster to boot, but they had inherited the land and knew nothing of machinery. It hadn't been run in 5-6 years and the tracks were shot. Hoses cracked, radiator corroded, unsure of winterization, etc. I asked an acquintance who was in the construction business to drive out and take a look at it with me for the price of a free steak dinner.
After an hour of inspection he had a pretty good idea of what it would cost to be useable again and over the steak he figured it would take around $20000 to have a working machine out it...... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif So much for a "free" machine.

But, he did save me $19950 on a project..... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Egon]

JoeinTX :

Sound solid advice.

Never would I invest in an old dozer as the repairs can be horrendous and for most of us will require a service man with proper tools to come out to location.

Egon

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Madref, 40chicks, and everyone else here is making good points and good advice. Now I know 8000# is to light, that is why I came here to ask the questions.

The JD 450 would be the minimum needed.

("But, I do have to ask, why is it necessary to buy instead of hiring it done?")

I will be getting a quote from a friend in the grading business. Because of the amount of undergrowth and clearing needed this could turn into many hours of work. I thought I could get a good dozer to do most of this work cheaper than I could hire it done. I may be wrong. I will have to hire this same person to dig the basement for the house and do the final grading on the dirveway. If there were some larger stumps that needed to be removed I could have him remove them at that time. There is a lot of work I want to do on this land. I can see clearing 18 ac. on one section of this property, but leaving most of the big trees. The amount of large stumps depends on where the house is located. Basically I will remove any large trees close to the house and just the small undergrowth everywhere else. My first plan was to buy a 60-70 HP utility tractor to take out the smaller stuff. But in reading threads on TBN most seem to suggest getting a dozer for this type of work. So that led me to start thinking about buying a dozer instead of a utility. Now if I need to spend 20-25K on I dozer I may have to re-think this. I will not jump into this with my eyes closed, I really think things through before making a major decision and to me this is a major decision.

I will be taking my tractor out this weekend just to see what I can accomplish with it. I will also be looking closer at the 18 ac section that is a consideration for the house site. If I don't forget, I'll take my camera and take some pictures of the property to show what I am looking at.

 

[PBinWA]

You should really consider just hiring a contractor with a huge machine.

For $1000 (off day for the excavator), I got a 50,000# Excavator in to pluck 55 mid-size Douglas Firs out of the ground. He shook most of the dirt off the root balls and stacked the trees up for me. I think it took him about 3-4 hours of actual work to do it.

I missed having him dig up one old stump and it took me around 8 hours to dig it out with my 26hp tractor.

It's all about having the right equipment for the job.

I had to call around and got the big delay from one company but once I found someone with a machine that was sitting idle between jobs they were out in two days.