dozer

What is a good farm dozer (brand & model)? We want one for cleaning fence rows, the creek needs some work, and general stuffs. I'd like a 6 way, dad is thinking track loader.....thoughts?

Excavator would be handier in a fence row. Better for cleaning ditches as well.

Farmers around here use to buy dozers. Now they all buy excavators.

Gary

I agree! Unless you actually need to move dirt, buy a nice excavator, a bigger, older on is AWESOME. Move brush, round bales, what ever! (make sure it has a thumb on it).

Really a slick do-all machine!

My son has a 750 Case. But a track hoe would be better for tree removal. Get a 20 to 25 ton one at least.

My brother's been running Case for a long time. Got a cousin who's had Dressers for a lot of years too. Neither one seems to complain much.

I have Cats--D3B dozer with 6 way and a 941B loader with 4 in 1 bucket with teeth---for trees and brush i use the 941b and for pushing and grading dirt the D3B

If your main goal is to push and grade off dirt, buy a dozer. If you want to clear stumps and clean out the creek, get an excavator. A dozer wont load old stumps or dirt into a dump truck either, excavator does. Look at what most of the jobs you need to do, and if grading off dirt is last skip the dozer.

Rick
(a former dump truck, backhoe, dozer, excavator owner) and other stuff.

Now just a dump truck and backhoe owner!!

Whats your budget? A track machine (like a skid loader w/ permanent rubber tracks) would be my personal choice over a clunky, slow, awkward, steel-track dozer any day. Of course the problem with these things is they are not cheap!

Each machine has better points over the other but from my personal ideas get a good track loader. A dozer can push and a track hoe can push pull and dig but a track loader will do it all. My first was an old IH TD9 track loader with a 4 in one bucket and it was a beast to run. I cleared a lot of trees fence line and brush with it and it did it all. Digging up tree stumps pushing trees over busting tree roots up and loading stumps roots and other junk into a dump truck. You can push, dig, grade, scrape and top dress and load with a track loader and on the farm that is what you need. You don't need a new one (to much money) but a good older machine will do the trick, Like a Cat 933 or 955 track loader with ROPS (is a must for any machine to keep you safe) will be a good machine for farm use. This is what I would look for to use on the farm and when your done with it sell it for close to what you gave for it and you did all your work for the cost of fuel and any repairs and that's what I did. Its cheaper that hiring it done that's for sure and if your like me I have more time than money. Just my 2 cents. Bandit

That's pretty much what I also did. Bought a 933 for a thousand less than I sold it for 12 years later. The new owners shipped it to Peru at an unbelievable cost.

933 was a little small for my trees, but it worked. I had a smaller JD trackloader before, but I spent more time repairing it than using it. Too small, with enough power and weight that if pushed hard something in between would break. 933 was larger and better balanced, nothing broke when pushed hard.

I went to a 944 (rubber tire) with a 3 yd 4-in-1 bucket. Better for the size trees I have here, and I can road it, heavier than I want to tow. Both my 933 and 944 had heavy homemade widowmaker canopies, with dents in the steel.

I'd recommend a skid steer with a dozer blade we have a tracked cat at the farm I work at and the dozer blade on it works real well and you can switch it off and use the skid steer for something else

Well if i was to get a Dozer for clearing fence rows and such i don't need a six way blade as long as it has tilt , and one other little accessory a WINCH on the back with a full spool of cable and tail chain for those time when you THINK ya i can get thru that , next accessory would be ROPS and limb risers . When playing in the BUSH they will save you life . No next thing to think about is will this dozer just stay on the farm and no hauling is going to be requierd or am i going to have to haul it from place to place ?? and how far will it be hauled . If you plan on hauling it then you will want to be able to keep the blade inside the rub rails and depending on what you have to haul it with. Then this is when the six way blade comes into play . dozers and such i know quite a bit about , Now here i am a little partial to two . They are a nice size to get work done , they are fast (love fast) they have good weight , they handle nice and they do a super nice job on finish grade , they are not jerky while operating . The 650G Deere with a winch on the back or four slab weights makes for a nice dozer with lever steer ( don't like pedal steer on this one) The D5G Cat is also a nice working dozer , here again a winch or weights on the back make a world of difference . They both can be hauled on a 20 K trailer behind a one ton BUT you will have a load really more then you want. Both are around 100H P and Both are around ten ton give or take . If you have a way of moving larger then a good older 750 B ( here again i said GOOD ) and on then pedal steer is better as both of your hands are busy and since god did not give operator two let hands the pedal steer is best on the older Hydrostat Deers . The older D 5 's were good but a little slow . But ya need a lowboy and semi tractor to haul and you would have to get a stupid permit to move. And here again a winch on the back. I know Why do I need a winch ??????? Well you may never need it but you said you wanted to do a little Creek clean up and to me all i can see is a STUCK Dozer . BTDT and it can happen so fast as you are pushing along and everything is goind SOOOOOooo gooooood TILL ya lift the blade and go to back up and the nose starts DOWN , And down and they you try and go foward and everything goes down . NOW you are STUCK . If you have that little fishing reel hanging on the back and a full spool of cable and you were smart enough to keep that one BIG tree standing till you were done You can get yourself out with a little work . This is where the Deere shines over a Cat as you can winch and track at the same time . when looking at Dozers take some with you that really knows them inside and out . Run them for a good twenty min/s or more to see how they act when they start to warm up. look at the under carrage COUNT THE CHAIN LINKS and know how may are suppose to be there as SOMETIMES they will cut out a link or two to cover up a plum wore out chain and make the ft. idler look like it has a lot of adjustment left. I could go on for hours on this . I have seen way tomany guys get handled on Dozer buys .

We're still running an IH TD7-E that Gramps bought brand new in 1985 (excavating contractors). The machine was recently serviced and is by far the best 30 year old machine you'll see working today.

If you can afford it, look into an excavator with a dozer blade for the best of both worlds. After having one, I couldn't imagine an excavator without one. The later models are seeing bigger and bigger weight classes come through with blades

Oh.. if you do get an excavator, a thumb (manual or hydraulic) is something to look into as well

I'm guessing that a track loader is going to be less money and would probably do the trick.