Cat D3G

[dozerman]

Hello,
Anyone have anything to say about Cat's D3G hystat dozer? My TD-7E is tired and people tell me the hydrostatic is the way to go. Mainly because of the power to both tracks in turns.
But...do they push as hard as my TD-7 used to? The draw bar specs seem low on the Cat at speed.


THX-dozerman.com

 

[DKinWA]

Dozerman,

Did you buy a D3G? NC Machinery has a lease option on them right now that's good through the end of June and I'm considering one. I was checking them out today and will demo one next weekend for a foundation job. It looks like a pretty nice machine and it's a reasonable weight to pull behind my single axle truck. It's definitely spendy at $938/month, but it works out to roughly three day rentals a month.

 

[dozerman]

nope,
That old td-7 is getting me by, but I need to do something soon.

Let me know after you run it what you think.

John deere's are hydrostactic as well. A few guys up here swear by em. I would try both.

What I am most interested in is how well they push a load at med speed. The specs seem weak compaired to a transmission model, but the proof will be in the dirt.

There are good tax incentves for buying new.

Thanks for writing

 

[DKinWA]

Right now I'm leaning towards a cat machine since their shop is a lot closer and I hate driving to Pape in Tacoma (can't stand the traffic anymore :Banghead ). I'll be sure and give you an update when I get the machine, but you'll have to take what I say with a grain of salt. I don't have much dozer experience, but I'll do what I can to provide some useful information.

This weekend I've got a D4CXL that I'm using to build about 500 feet of road and a foundation pad. I had to move it tonight and it sure is weird using a joystick instead of pedals or sticks. Even if it was only a few minutes, I think I'm going to like it.

 

[dozerman]

Originally posted by DKinWA

This weekend I've got a D4CXL that I'm using to build about 500 feet of road and a foundation pad. I had to move it tonight and it sure is weird using a joystick instead of pedals or sticks. Even if it was only a few minutes, I think I'm going to like it.

When the kids figure out how fun it is to run modern machines, they are going to toss their video games in the dump, and get jobs.

 

[RonG]

Originally posted by DKinWA
Dozerman,

Did you buy a D3G? NC Machinery has a lease option on them right now that's good through the end of June and I'm considering one. I was checking them out today and will demo one next weekend for a foundation job. It looks like a pretty nice machine and it's a reasonable weight to pull behind my single axle truck. It's definitely spendy at $938/month, but it works out to roughly three day rentals a month.

I am giving my observations here and not trying to belittle your TD 7 but those TD 7's were not very heavy for their size and they had a high center of gravity as well.Both the John Deere and the Cat will work on the side of a hill comfortably where the TD 7 would have problems.As a contractor who is in the business you probably know this but you will be very pleased with the performance of either one of the dozers you are looking at.The hydrostatic drive will take some getting used to,you will be uneasy getting close to the "foundation" for a while but I think you will learn to like it)
It seems to me that the smaller dozers are kind of jerky with the hydrostatic drive like the old Case dozers were but the bigger dozers are just fine.OHHH,the deccelerator is on the right now too)

 

[DKinWA]

The D4 definitely takes some getting used to. I was having a bad day yesterday and was pretty tired, so I had a hard time taking my time and doing it right. Too many times I found myself trying to go to fast and kept screwing things up. Fortunately a relative stopped by to give it a whirl and he finished up the foundation excavation for me. I've got to go back and regrade the driveway to take the humps and bumps out this afternoon.

There's nothing like trying to do first class work when you're having an "off day".

 

[PAYTON]

honestly id stay away from a 3 theres not enuff weight behind it to push its own ass outta wet brown paper sack. d4 is a really decent machine all over 3 is nice for finish work only but if u ever try to cut something your gonna be cussing and throwing things real quick ive had roots spin me out on a d3.


payton

 

[huffmanmb]

The deere 450H is lightweight but with the wide track pads I had one pull me up a 19% (approx) slope loaded on a un compacted road in the woods sevral times and in serveral other spots with same or worse conditions. Three mack T/A's couldnt get up these hills with out spinning, but this little dozer walked us right up with no problem. You see a lot of Cat 527's here in woods, but do more damage than this little pint size. All hystat drive and control. When the bank book approves it, im going for the deere or the cat with similar specs...

 

[RonG]

Originally posted by huffmanmb
The deere 450H is lightweight but with the wide track pads I had one pull me up a 19% (approx) slope loaded on a un compacted road in the woods sevral times and in serveral other spots with same or worse conditions. Three mack T/A's couldnt get up these hills with out spinning, but this little dozer walked us right up with no problem. You see a lot of Cat 527's here in woods, but do more damage than this little pint size. All hystat drive and control. When the bank book approves it, im going for the deere or the cat with similar specs...

I consider the John Deere 650H the finest dozer I ever ran.We also have a 450H and it is also a nice dozer but our 650HLGP which of course has the wide grousers does everything well.I prefer the John Deere over Cat in the smaller dozers but the larger Cats are very nice. Ron

 

[huffmanmb]

The pulling power just blew me away. It was steep enough that the door was a challenge to push open, but as soon as the truck was strapped up to the dozer we were off and running. If can purchase a new one I will spec with the winch and forestry package for the clearing work that we do. I would like the 650H for the power, but I may just settle for a used TD8E dresser I'm looking at right now until year or two down the road until we can afford the upgrade. :beatsme

 

[DR RPM]

Having run both machines, Personally I would go for the JD simply because of balance is better and uses 3 pumps( hydraulics feel stronger ) :waving

 

[9420pullpan]

im running a D5G now

i have ran both cat D5G and the deere 650. i would take the deere 650 hands down. the cats cab sucks the grab handles over controls, etc. the only thing that i see that the cat has over the deere is the blade capacity. but i would still take the deere the cab and controls are very operator friendly, very well balanced <very important> award winning powertrain technology. i would go and run a deere and take a good look. if u were hoggin dirt go with the cat b/c of the larger blade but for finish grading the deere is much better. and cleanin the tracks on the D5G takes sucks, at least the 650 you can push the dirt through the D5 you cant.

 

[PSDF350]

honestly id stay away from a 3 theres not enuff weight behind it to push its own ass outta wet brown paper sack. d4 is a really decent machine all over 3 is nice for finish work only but if u ever try to cut something your gonna be cussing and throwing things real quick ive had roots spin me out on a d3.


payton

Payton curious if you say this becuase of the older d3's? becuase i have been looking alot lately and it seems the older ones where about 10,000# where the newer ones are about 15k which is the same as the JD 450's. just wondering becuase i plan to get dozer in next year or so and am trying to learn all i can about them.

 

[Tigerotor77W]

Deere made a Cat-buster with the H-series dozers... many a company switched fleets entirely based on better Deere service and finally a better dozer out there.

Currently, I think the two are pretty darned near comparable in terms of performance. However, your final decision should be based on preferences and not sumply numbers; as 9420 pointed out, it was the layout of much of the 650 that he preferred, not so much fuel efficiency or reliability. Given that the Cat is a near perfect-image (unfortunately Cat didn't seem to do much... thinking when upgrading their C III line to the G; they just morphed Deere's machine and barely even tweaked it) of the Deere, try out each machine and see which one you are more comfortable with. I don't think either will make you go wrong, but one will probably have better features -- or more useful features -- that you will appreciate.

 

[Dozer_Fan]

I purchased a 650 J LGP back in January and my operator is in love with it. One hell of a little dozer that thinks its a big dozer. Only burns 25gallons a day max. You wouldn't go wrong with the John Deere. Check out the revisions they did on the new J series.

:cheers:

 

[Tigerotor77W]

What would you say Deere did to improve their H-series? What changes have you found on the J?