Tractor vs. Bulldozer

[Iplayfarmer]

What are the pros and cons of a tractor vs. a bulldozer for ground leveling and road building? I have a piece of ground that I want to improve for camping etc. It's mostly hilly. I want to make a few leveled spots for parking campers and make a road to connect things.

I have purchased a Case 801B with a bucket (with tooth bar), front blade, and bale fork attachments for the included Farmhand F11 loader. However, I have found myself hankering for a bulldozer lately. There are a few smaller bulldozers around as I peruse Craig's List, Marketplace, etc. Is my emotional need for a bulldozer purely emotional, or are there instances where a small bulldozer really will outperform this tractor as equipped?

The other option is to do what the tractor will do well and then sell it or trade it for a little dozer. What should I do with the tractor, and what should I do with the dozer?

 

[Egon]

It’s all a mater of machine size. A big tractor will bury a small dozer. A big dozer will bury a tractor.

 

[plastikosmd]

1) a dozer is well suited for the tasks you have mentioned but is less versatile than the tractor.
2) dozers usually bought second hand or 20th hand are worked hard and need to be assessed for undercarriage life, clutches or whatever
3) I love my dozer, I started garden tractor size and now am up to a 18k lb machine. I will always keep my deere TLB. If i could have only one, it would be the tractor. The best is having both. The dozer moves the dirt, cuts the trails and yanks the stumps, rocks or stuck vehicles with ease.

 

[LouNY]

A dozer of comparable or larger size size with a 6 way blade will do a better job of grading and leveling and road building.
If it's in decent shape, many of the older ones are pretty well whipped and parts for the under carriage will add up fast.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A dozer of comparable or larger size size with a 6 way blade will do a better job of grading and leveling and road building.
If it's in decent shape, many of the older ones are pretty well whipped and parts for the under carriage will add up fast.

Yup, a tractor anywhere near the weight of the dozer, the tractor looses!!

SR

 

[deereman75]

The problem with dozers is that small ones aren't overly useful, and large ones are either expensive, or cost as much as the purchase price in repair bills every time you try using it.

But as far as getting work done there is no comparison. A D6 or D7 can do in a day what would take a month with a tractor

 

[Industrial Toys]

There is no comparison in operating cost between the two. Buying a used dozer is a money pit. You had better have mechanical abilities and time, if you want to do OK buying a used dozer.

I ALWAYS wanted a JD 450 (wet brakes version) but it never happened and probably never will. Watching so many videos of repairs makes be realize, it would be foolish for me.

 

[Tinhack]

I have a tractor and a crawler. The JD 420C at 20-something horsepower will out push and pull my 50+ horsepower tractor. I use the "dozer" to maintain the dirt path I call a driveway. :ashamed: It's over a quarter mile long and sloped. After a hard or long rain, there's many areas that need attention. I've also used the dozer to pull my tractor out of a mud hole in the back. I also use the dozer to consolidate cactus patches where I wouldn't dare take my tractor(s). I built the backstop for my range too. Once you have it, you find all sorts of work for it. Mine has a crane I've used many times to unload trailers and move downed trees. It picked up a 3500lb OBI punch press off a trailer. I also used the crane to move my Bridgeport mill into the shop. I only paid $1500 for it and haven't done anything except do a valve job and put a new carb on it. Oh, and put gas in it. It's a 1956 model. It's paid for itself many times over.

She ain't pretty but she sure is a hard worker.

 

[Tinhack]

Oh yeah. One other thing about a crawler. Don't run over rattle snakes. There's a good chance the tracks will throw them up on a rear fender. That will scare you into a new pair of shorts.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Thank you for some great replies as always. I appreciate the mention of maintenance costs. That is something I had not considered. It sounds from those with experience like a dozer is a high maintenance machine. I do have some mechanical aptitude, but I have less and less time as my life gets longer. If I could get into a deal like Tinhack with a machine that hasn't required much work that would be ideal.

I'll probably still keep my eyes out for a good deal on a dozer, but maybe with a little less urgency. I'll also probably do a lot more investigating on a used machine than I would have before posting this thread. Are there any specific checks or tests that I should do when looking at a used dozer?

Also, any thoughts about what tasks I should save for a dozer? I.e. if I were to use the tractor for a while and then sell it to get a dozer... What land prep should I do with the tractor and what tasks should I save for the dozer?

 

[4570Man]

A dozer will be way better than a tractor for moving dirt after all that’s what it was built for. But you don’t want a junk dozer. You can buy a nice machine use it and get your money back it when you’re done or you could buy a junk machine, spend all your time and money working on it and it’s still junk when you’re done.

 

[plastikosmd]

4670 has it right

I have never lost $ on my dozers. Learn to assess them ( not complicated) and buy right. Don稚 be in a hurry. Of course the unforeseen mechanical repair could always occur but usually the older maintained machines are survivors!

 

[deereman75]

Another thing to be aware of is cost of parts, even if you can do the work yourself.
Caterpillar is notoriously bad. There are some jobber parts available but they can be hit or miss.
A lot of my business as a machine shop is rebuilding worn out caterpillar parts. Even simple parts such as pins can be in the thousands of dollars from Cat.

Driveline and undercarriage is what you really need to pay attention to. If the clutches seem suspect, run away. If there are any bad noises from the transmission or final drives, or if the controls don't seem right, run away. If you are able to pull off the filters and check them for metal particles, do it. That's usually the first thing you notice when a planet carrier goes, before it gets bad enough to be heard.

And lastly undercarriage wear. A bit less of a factor for a hobby/farm cat that will see minimal use. But make your decision with the knowledge that if you have to rebuild the undercarriage it will cost you $10-30k or more depending on make and size of dozer.

 

[homesteader13]

I love my John Deere 420-c crawler, added $2500.00 to our offer when we bought the property for it.
The engine was rebuilt in 2009 and he took imaculate care of it.
That being said, if I could only have one or the orher it would have to be my tractor and its plethora of implements, much more versatile.
But for reference, dozers are for building roads, tractors are for maintaining them.
Good luck with your decision, keep us posted on what you decide!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Having a dozer around, can be really handy.,

This one has been reliable and it's nice to have around, and when something like this,

is needed to be taken care of, or maybe you just don't want to rut your field all up with a tractor. So, you can fix that problem by using your dozer,

Like I said, handy to have around,

SR

 

[Ortimber]

In my opinion, there’s just not much common ground between a tractor and a dozer. If I could only have one, it’d for sure be a loader tractor. I have a 100HP tractor, and a 100 HP dozer. On rough ground the dozer is a pleasure to operate, the tractor is almost dangerous. Both could pull a disc or plow, the tractor would be more comfortable and probably less costly per hr based on wear and tear. For pure versatility, obviously a tractor is a jack of all trades.

 

[Mat4644]

Your limited with a 2wd tractor. Heavy skid steer or 4wd tractors might be better options.

 

[ultrarunner]

Owned the CAT D3 for 17 years and spent about $200 average annually for repair and maintenance.

When it came time to sell I got my purchase price back... the annual $200 was the cost of ownership.

I thought my Deere 110 could fill.the gap but comes up short.

Now have a Deere 350C which is much less capable but makes great trails and is a little mountain goat...

 

[Ken45101]

At one point I thought about a dozer. But hearing the warning that you had better be mechanically inclined or ready to pay a lot for maintenance, I gave up on the idea. I'm not mechanic.

For the work you mentioned, a dozer would be ideal. A skid steer might work or a mini excavator. I do a lot a trail building on hillsides. A tractor is very limited because it does its best work behind it (scraper blade or box blade.). The bucket on the front of a tractor is a --loader--, not a dozer or exavator. A skid steer is better but still has difficulty cutting into side slopes. The mini excavator of course digs a level path for it to sit on. Many times I start out trying to do a trail with the skid steer but always come back for the mini excavator. I'm often working on 20 to 40 degree side slopes.

Ken

 

[mikester]

Thank you for some great replies as always. I appreciate the mention of maintenance costs. That is something I had not considered. It sounds from those with experience like a dozer is a high maintenance machine. I do have some mechanical aptitude, but I have less and less time as my life gets longer. If I could get into a deal like Tinhack with a machine that hasn't required much work that would be ideal.

I'll probably still keep my eyes out for a good deal on a dozer, but maybe with a little less urgency. I'll also probably do a lot more investigating on a used machine than I would have before posting this thread. Are there any specific checks or tests that I should do when looking at a used dozer?

Also, any thoughts about what tasks I should save for a dozer? I.e. if I were to use the tractor for a while and then sell it to get a dozer... What land prep should I do with the tractor and what tasks should I save for the dozer?

If you need to move spoil long distances get a wheeled machine. If you need lots of grunt and low ground pressure get a tracked machine. Once you get a dozer you always find something to do with it.