I don't know anything about those dozers, but do have some opinions on dozers in general.
I started out on a JD 450G dozer that's around 80hp. I wanted it for clearing land, grading the land and digging a pond. I didn't own this dozer, but had access and use of it when it was stored at my place. I have hundreds of hours on it, and came to hate it. Nothing against Deere, just the size of it was very frustrating. I have clay soil. It wasn't heavy or powerful enough to dig into the soil. It was great for loose soil and spreading piles of dirt, but totally worthless at digging undesturbed soil. My neighbor hired a guy with a similar sized Cat. It was a D4 with rippers. He would use the rippers first, then he could move the dirt. Two dozers of similar size both had the same problem with digging dirt told me that 80 hp is just too darn small for working the land.
The other problem what in moving trees that it pushed over. Being that small and light, it was very limited in what it could take down, but for smaller stuff, it was great. But then pushing those trees was a huge issue. Again, there wasn't enough power to push very many trees at a time, and absolutey none for turning with a load. At first, it wasn't a big deal, but very quickly, it was.
Dozers are fun at first, then they turn into work. It doesn't take much for that work to turn into torture. The longer you spend on one, the more you realize that you cannot have too much power, or too big of a blade.
My dozer is 170hp and it's marginal for what I want to do. It gets the job done, but it still takes time and it beats you up. No getting around that part of it.
They are expensive, repairs are painful and they are surprisingly delecate. One branch can ruin your day if it gets up inside of it. I've had pines snake there way through my belly plates and take out my oil pressure sensor. That pine wasn't an inch thick!!!! I've had hoses get snaped off and punctures. Of course, in every case, it's oporator error. Never run over trees and branches. Unfortunatey, that's easier said then done.
Define what you want the dozer for. Decide how much work you have for it. Price what it would cost to hire it out, rent a new machine and what it will cost to maintain it and what you can sell it for. In my case, I have years worth of work, I have thousands of hours on mine, and will need it for quite awhile longer. When it's all said and done, I'll sell it for what I paid for it, but I'll probably have that price in it in repairs. Might already be close to there right now. Mine is a Case, so parts are out there, but it's 20 years old and parts are getting harder and harder to find. I would never buy a machine that I couldn't get parts for. I wouldn't rely on anybody telling me that the parts are out there, I would make sure for myself. A free dozer is just an eye sore if you can't get the parts for it.
Good luck,
Eddie
