Need help on dozer pick.
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GeneD14
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I bought a small dozer a few years ago to clear some land and I did learn a few lessons about the cost of this type of machine.
If it's for a one time use you will be money ahead hiring a pro to come in and do the work. If you are a die hard do it your selfer I would lease or rent and then return it. That is very low risk as far as repair bills go.
If your are determined to buy: dozers under ten grand are usually a money pit. Take some one with you to shop that really knows what to look for. Worn tracks, idlers, brakes, clutches, all can drain your slush fund quicker than you can say Caterpillar. Good luck.
If it's for a one time use you will be money ahead hiring a pro to come in and do the work. If you are a die hard do it your selfer I would lease or rent and then return it. That is very low risk as far as repair bills go.
If your are determined to buy: dozers under ten grand are usually a money pit. Take some one with you to shop that really knows what to look for. Worn tracks, idlers, brakes, clutches, all can drain your slush fund quicker than you can say Caterpillar. Good luck.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Having a dozer is the most fun you can have on a tractor. Nothing else quite like it.
You didn't state your price range. You want the newest machine you can afford, but also something that you can repair.
Just about all of them are money pits. Something is gonna break on it. That's guaranteed!!! If you can repair it yourself, then owning one is a good idea.
If you need somebody to come out and work on it for you, don't bother buying one. Finding somebody is just about impossible. Good dozer mechanics are already busy with regular clients. No time for a small timer.
You also didn't say what your needs were. Small dozers, 80 hp and under are fine for smoothing dirt and removing small saplings.
If you want to move allot of dirt or take out some serious brush or trees, then you need to get into the hundred hp range. Mine is 160 hp and thats still not enough.
Little dozers are good for portability, cheaper to work on, cost less to operate and sell quicker.
A big dozer will do the same work as a small one three to four times faster. The guy who bought some land off me brought out an operator with a Cat D5 to remove some brush piles I'd made clearing a pasture. I built the piles in two days. He spent a week before giving up and bringing in a 200 hp trackhoe. That did it in one day.
Eddie
You didn't state your price range. You want the newest machine you can afford, but also something that you can repair.
Just about all of them are money pits. Something is gonna break on it. That's guaranteed!!! If you can repair it yourself, then owning one is a good idea.
If you need somebody to come out and work on it for you, don't bother buying one. Finding somebody is just about impossible. Good dozer mechanics are already busy with regular clients. No time for a small timer.
You also didn't say what your needs were. Small dozers, 80 hp and under are fine for smoothing dirt and removing small saplings.
If you want to move allot of dirt or take out some serious brush or trees, then you need to get into the hundred hp range. Mine is 160 hp and thats still not enough.
Little dozers are good for portability, cheaper to work on, cost less to operate and sell quicker.
A big dozer will do the same work as a small one three to four times faster. The guy who bought some land off me brought out an operator with a Cat D5 to remove some brush piles I'd made clearing a pasture. I built the piles in two days. He spent a week before giving up and bringing in a 200 hp trackhoe. That did it in one day.
Eddie
For 40 acres I can't imagine it being cost effective to buy a dozer. Right now I have two dozers working for me. I bet I have contracted out over 5000 hours of dozer work over the last 10 years at my job and yet I still have not thought of buying one. A good decent sized dozer in good shape is going to be 100k plus. At $85/hr you could have a contractor come out and do 150 days of work for the same cost with no risk of cost of breakdown or loss of your time.
BarryinMN
Platinum Member
All good advise from others. I bought a JD350 dozer backhoe because I was tired of getting wheeled things stuck in mud. Would not clear forests with it but is an excellent trail making machine. Landscape around house etc. Weight is 10K lbs can be trailered behing a 1 ton dually. If you get a portable one work requests from friends relatives etc. will pile up /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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Thomas
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Are you planing to do fair share of stumping..light boulder pushing or just leveling??
JD450 etc.. good all round dozer,also when the major of the work done you won't have big dozer just setting around.
JD450 etc.. good all round dozer,also when the major of the work done you won't have big dozer just setting around.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I bet I have contracted out over 5000 hours of dozer work over the last 10 years at my job and yet I still have not thought of buying one. A good decent sized dozer in good shape is going to be 100k plus. At $85/hr you could have a contractor come out and do 150 days of work for the same cost with no risk of cost of breakdown or loss of your time. )</font>
150 days at 8 hours a day is 1,250 hours. For 5,000 hours, youd get 625 eight hour days.
5,000 hours at $85 an hour is $425,000
If you paid half that amount, it's still $212,500
I'm missing something here on how that's cost effective.
For the $100,000 you could buy a dozer for, even after ten years, and 5,000 hours on it, you could still sell it for half of what you paid for it. Fuel and oil for 5,000 hours would run you at the most $10,000. If you hired an operator at $15 an hour, it is still only $75,000 over the ten years.
Add breakdowns and maintenance, you should still be out $150,000 over ten years if you'd bought the dozer.
I'm sure I'm missing something here, but my thinking is to buy it, use it, then sell it when your done. If it's a small job, rent it and return it. I do both depending on the math and my priorities.
Eddie
150 days at 8 hours a day is 1,250 hours. For 5,000 hours, youd get 625 eight hour days.
5,000 hours at $85 an hour is $425,000
If you paid half that amount, it's still $212,500
I'm missing something here on how that's cost effective.
For the $100,000 you could buy a dozer for, even after ten years, and 5,000 hours on it, you could still sell it for half of what you paid for it. Fuel and oil for 5,000 hours would run you at the most $10,000. If you hired an operator at $15 an hour, it is still only $75,000 over the ten years.
Add breakdowns and maintenance, you should still be out $150,000 over ten years if you'd bought the dozer.
I'm sure I'm missing something here, but my thinking is to buy it, use it, then sell it when your done. If it's a small job, rent it and return it. I do both depending on the math and my priorities.
Eddie
Highbeam
Super Member
I bought a small dozer for my 15 acres of young forest jungle. Not to clearcut the entire thing and smooth it into a lawn but to put in roads, clear out certain areas, and smooth certain areas. My small dozer is 45 HP and weighs 10,000 lbs. Age is largely irrelevant as long as everything works and mine hasn't let me down in a major way since I started with it about a year ago. The features on a small dozer haven't changed much since they went to hydraulics more than 30 years ago.
For cutting in roads and knocking out brush between keeper trees it is a great tool. It can't knock down big trees or their stumps which is really fine anyway as that is what the logger is for. The dozer can push material into a low pile like a bird's nest which is not the best for burning.
The dozer can't make apple pie out of dog poo. (I love that quote) so if you are working in mud, you'll end up with deeper mud at best smoothed out like frosting. Traction goes down in mud so the piles of debris that you can move will be smaller.
Dense brush like blackberries seem to disappear as you just blow through it, not much debris and the most satisfaction.
I bought the dozer for 10k$ (Ebay!) and have sold it for 9k$ after the year of use to a local guy. I only burn one gallon per hour of use so fuel is cheap. The guy should be picking it up next weekend to use it the same way I did. I cleared about 3 acres plus a few miles of cat roads. Land clearing in my area is no less than 2500$ per acre and who knows what a cat road costs per mile, so by that math I made myself some money on the deal.
I have been happy with my purchase, no regrets.
For cutting in roads and knocking out brush between keeper trees it is a great tool. It can't knock down big trees or their stumps which is really fine anyway as that is what the logger is for. The dozer can push material into a low pile like a bird's nest which is not the best for burning.
The dozer can't make apple pie out of dog poo. (I love that quote) so if you are working in mud, you'll end up with deeper mud at best smoothed out like frosting. Traction goes down in mud so the piles of debris that you can move will be smaller.
Dense brush like blackberries seem to disappear as you just blow through it, not much debris and the most satisfaction.
I bought the dozer for 10k$ (Ebay!) and have sold it for 9k$ after the year of use to a local guy. I only burn one gallon per hour of use so fuel is cheap. The guy should be picking it up next weekend to use it the same way I did. I cleared about 3 acres plus a few miles of cat roads. Land clearing in my area is no less than 2500$ per acre and who knows what a cat road costs per mile, so by that math I made myself some money on the deal.
I have been happy with my purchase, no regrets.
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MMM
Platinum Member
What kind of a workover do you plan? Around here trackhoes do the clearing and dozers just pile up the aftermath.
I rented a JD450 from friend for about 50hrs @ 35$/hr. It was fustrating to operate fast enough with standing trees...forget a stump of much size. A big dozer with both a shearing blade and a dirt blade might have better results, but I imagine rental rates are real spendy.
I rented a JD450 from friend for about 50hrs @ 35$/hr. It was fustrating to operate fast enough with standing trees...forget a stump of much size. A big dozer with both a shearing blade and a dirt blade might have better results, but I imagine rental rates are real spendy.
slowrev
Elite Member
A used dozer can be a money pit if you don't know how to check them out before buying. Find someone that knows dozers to check it out for you. As to size a small dozer is good for small road building, leveling and brush clearing. For taking out trees of any real size you will need at least a D8 sized dozer.
Ben
Ben