Help Me Decide on New Dozer

[Martin70]

Help me out here, I'm struggling with what to buy.
Caterpillar D8, JD 1050, or Komatsu D155, for mostly pushing out stumps, post logging, and then piling them for burning. The logged land, will then be turned in farm fields, and cattle pastures. Thanks for sharing advice on this.

 

[Simon C]

Help me out here, I'm struggling with what to buy.
Caterpillar D8, JD 1050, or Komatsu D155, for mostly pushing out stumps, post logging, and then piling them for burning. The logged land, will then be turned in farm fields, and cattle pastures. Thanks for sharing advice on this.

How much are you planning on spending and how much is your repair budget. Post that first and we can give some real world scenarios of what you might be up against.
Don't plan on getting a machine that is new for 1 million, and paying 40-60 K and not expect a large repair bill, that will turn it into a lawn ornament.
So tell us some more.
Simon C

 

[epirbalex]

Help me out here, I'm struggling with what to buy.
Caterpillar D8, JD 1050, or Komatsu D155, for mostly pushing out stumps, post logging, and then piling them for burning. The logged land, will then be turned in farm fields, and cattle pastures. Thanks for sharing advice on this.

What size trees are you dealing with and are they on steep ground , it can be fun hung up behind a tree you can't reverse back from with the root system caught between the back of the blade and radiator , big is better . When the tree's are gone is the ground to be cultivated . Dragging a set of disks behind a 40 ton dozer is expensive . Matching your dozer to the trees is number one . Are you doing the repair work yourself . Komatsus are a nightmare to work on but need it less , Cats the reverse . I don't think there is anything more satisfying than taking an area of bush and turning it to grass and wish you luck with it .

 

[Martin70]

How much are you planning on spending and how much is your repair budget. Post that first and we can give some real world scenarios of what you might be up against.
Don't plan on getting a machine that is new for 1 million, and paying 40-60 K and not expect a large repair bill, that will turn it into a lawn ornament.
So tell us some more.
Simon C

Well in Canadian money, they are going to be around $2,000,000 to buy. They will get all the maintenance they need, if anything I over maintain equipment. I am only interested in new, not used. This will be the largest dozer I've purchased, but my needs have also grown. All 3 are close to the same weight and hp, but I want to get the most reliable one. Every 2nd winter it will need the undercarriage rebuilt, and that seems to just be a dozer item. I don't think the undercarriage is really much better on any one brand. I'm more interested in the rest of the machines reliability.
I've had, or have, Case, Cat, Komatsu, and JD dozers. My current Case, and Cat machines are just too small.

 

[Simon C]

Well in Canadian money, they are going to be around $2,000,000 to buy. They will get all the maintenance they need, if anything I over maintain equipment. I am only interested in new, not used. This will be the largest dozer I've purchased, but my needs have also grown. All 3 are close to the same weight and hp, but I want to get the most reliable one. Every 2nd winter it will need the undercarriage rebuilt, and that seems to just be a dozer item. I don't think the undercarriage is really much better on any one brand. I'm more interested in the rest of the machines reliability.
I've had, or have, Case, Cat, Komatsu, and JD dozers. My current Case, and Cat machines are just too small.

There is definitely more info on this site for Cat Dozers, more parts world wide, more people in the know especially in Canada or US, but in some other countries different brands are popular.
Price, warranty, dealer backing you up is important.
The finals on Komatsu from what I have seen will last longer than Cat but that may only be in certain applications. Cat are easier to change.
Simon C

 

[Martin70]

What size trees are you dealing with and are they on steep ground , it can be fun hung up behind a tree you can't reverse back from with the root system caught between the back of the blade and radiator , big is better . When the tree's are gone is the ground to be cultivated . Dragging a set of disks behind a 40 ton dozer is expensive . Matching your dozer to the trees is number one . Are you doing the repair work yourself . Komatsus are a nightmare to work on but need it less , Cats the reverse . I don't think there is anything more satisfying than taking an area of bush and turning it to grass and wish you luck with it .

The majority of trees are 5" to 25", some are 30" to 35" diameter, but 98% are under 25".
Once a field has been stumped, and leveled, the discing, planting, harvesting, etc will be done with my Case farm tractors. Regular maintenance, and repairs, will be done by myself, and employees. Although with all the electronics in today's equipment, I'm sure the dealer will be involved as well. The steep hillsides will not be logged, so about the steepest I'll be logging is about 15% grade. I'm logging 59% of my 12800 acres. Until my own land is done, I will only be doing small jobs for others. Once I have my own done, I'll be going back to logging for others more full time. I've been thinking about buying a larger dozer for a decade. But now I will really need it, so instead of thinking about buying, need to actually buy.

 

[Welder Dave]

Curious why the undercarriage would only last 2 years. Is the dozer going to be running steady all year? I think Cat has optional HD/extended life undercarriage. Being elevated sprocket Cat undercarriage will be considerably more money. Cat likely has rebuilt exchange components that are about 60% the cost of new last I heard. That's a big reason the county I was in bought a Cat D6N. Smaller size dozers but they said for straight pushing power the Komatsu was superior. The JD they couldn't do anything with a full blade. The Cat was the best compromise and being a municipality they got a huge discount.

 

[chidog]

With all the newer machines now, I wouldn't know which is better. I do know I have been in some bad places with big dozers and would not want the high drive in those conditions. They are nice to wrench on though for finals and transmissions. My all time favorite is a D375, steering clutch version. I am not a fan of hydrostats, tiller steering and all that, its too slow for what I used to do. If your clearing and stumping you need a splitter, and a correct rake, not a weeny thing that will bend, some call it a clearing head. Straight blade is more difficult and a bit slower. And yes do rippers and not a winch.
Oh and don't weld junk on the ripper bar to mount the splitter, brackets, brackets and use the ripper shank.

 

[Martin70]

There is definitely more info on this site for Cat Dozers, more parts world wide, more people in the know especially in Canada or US, but in some other countries different brands are popular.
Price, warranty, dealer backing you up is important.
The finals on Komatsu from what I have seen will last longer than Cat but that may only be in certain applications. Cat are easier to change.
Simon C

SMS equipment, which is the local Komatsu dealer, has a good reputation thankfully. Better than the Cat, and JD dealers we have here, it seems. I had a Komatsu D61 for 9 or 10 years, it was a good machine, and the dealership treated me well. I am really happy with my Case 2050, but unfortunately Case doesn't build large dozers. The D6 I have now, has been okay, but not as good as my Case.
Something that I've noticed about both the Cat, and JD dealerships here, are they're almost impossible to get pricing from. They should be thrilled when someone asks for a price, but instead they treat it like a hardship .

 

[Martin70]

Curious why the undercarriage would only last 2 years. Is the dozer going to be running steady all year? I think Cat has optional HD/extended life undercarriage. Being elevated sprocket Cat undercarriage will be considerably more money. Cat likely has rebuilt exchange components that are about 60% the cost of new last I heard. That's a big reason the county I was in bought a Cat D6N. Smaller size dozers but they said for straight pushing power the Komatsu was superior. The JD they couldn't do anything with a full blade. The Cat was the best compromise and being a municipality they got a huge discount.

If a dozer gets 1800-2000 hours a year, after 2 years the undercarriage is junk, has been my experience. I predict that it will be in the 2000 hours a year range, and partly why I want a larger dozer. It makes sense to buy a larger one, and hire one more operator, than 2 more smaller ones, and hire two extra people. Traditionally, every 2nd winter, I rebuild my dozers undercarriages. I would love to get 10,000 hours out of them, but none of them last that long unfortunately.

 

[Martin70]

With all the newer machines now, I wouldn't know which is better. I do know I have been in some bad places with big dozers and would not want the high drive in those conditions. They are nice to wrench on though for finals and transmissions. My all time favorite is a D375, steering clutch version. I am not a fan of hydrostats, tiller steering and all that, its too slow for what I used to do. If your clearing and stumping you need a splitter, and a correct rake, not a weeny thing that will bend, some call it a clearing head. Straight blade is more difficult and a bit slower. And yes do rippers and not a winch.
Oh and don't weld junk on the ripper bar to mount the splitter, brackets, brackets and use the ripper shank.

A 375 is a huge machine, not that I've ever ran one. But I did just Google it, and would love it if someone dropped one off for me to use every summer. I don't even want to guess at the price, my heart isn't that good to begin with.

I really do want a winch, and arch, on it though.

 

[bam1968]

In my neck of the woods we don't have large areas of wooded land. We do have some 10-20 acre timbers scattered around. So I'm not familiar with clearing those type of acres. That being said, around here a decent sized excavator would grub the trees and stumps. Then use a smaller more economical dozer to push into piles. I feel like even the best operators would have half the topsoil in the tree pile using a large dozer. End up with one huge mess. I'm picturing the OP is clearing densely populated acres??? Just my $.02

 

[Simon C]

A 375 is a huge machine, not that I've ever ran one. But I did just Google it, and would love it if someone dropped one off for me to use every summer. I don't even want to guess at the price, my heart isn't that good to begin with.

I really do want a winch, and arch, on it though.

A D475 is 20 HP more than D11T or something like that. A D375 is a monster dozer as the D355 which they had two of at a place I worked at was quite large compared to D155.
All I know is that in big stumps a D9 or more is a huge gain per day of work done in comparison to a D8 size machine. If you are doing 12000 acres it might pay to be big, but that would depend on how soft of areas you will be in. Then it depends on how rocky, and what size excavator will work behind throwing stumps into piles to burn. You will know what you are up against.
Simon C

 

[Welder Dave]

An excavator and a smaller dozer might be a good option. An excavator wouldn't need undercarriage that often and could get rid of excess dirt a lot easier. Once the stumps are loose a dozer with a brush rake could pile them. It would be easier on each machine. I'd look at lower hour used machines that still had warranty too. Could save thousands and still have a capable machine(s). From some of the threads on new machines it might be good to find a machine that has had all the bugs worked out already. Recall a Cat grader thread where there were constant problems on a brand new machine. Some that they couldn't figure out.

 

[nicky 68a]

It seems to me that you have had plenty of experience in running dozers and can answer your own question.
You’re buying new if I read things correctly which means a Cat D9 is the way forward.
You can keep it for 20 years if you like and you’ll always get parts for it and strong resale.I’m over in the UK so can’t comment on parts availability for your Komatsu or JD options,but I can guess that they’ll be worth very little after 20 years regardless of how much money you’ve put back into them.
However,if you’re financially comfortable with buying new and selling them on after 5 years,then take your pick sir.
Cat for me though.

 

[Catsparky1]

They all break its parts and support that is the key .
Im not a fan of big hystat dozers . Haven't heard anyone saying how great a high drive Liebherr hystat is .
Deere makes good dozers
Komatsu makes good dozers
Cat makes dozers with support .

We have a quarry up in northern California in volcanic rock and he runs an
FD 31
Poclian 400
dresser 560
Kobelco crusher from the early 80s

Granted it's a seasonal operation but with care and maintenance and knowledge you can run anything you want .

For me it would be cat . I know I can get parts
I know I can get a tech
I know I can get support .
I know I can sell it

The most important is the dude running it . If they like it they will take care of it YO !!!!

 

[chidog]

The 2 D375's my employer bought were sold to them by a friend of mine, for 25K each. Yeah new cost ? Not as crazy high as a cat. Yeah they were used one was better than the other though.

D475 mentioned above, it out weighs the D11 more tractive effort power etc.

Problem with new D155 is the cheezy ripper design now, looks to be very asymmetrically loaded.

 

[Simon C]

Komatsu D 375 is around 155000 to 160000 lbs. No wonder stumps just fly out with it. Would not be very hard to grab an extra 6 inches of top soil with it if an operator was not careful.
Simon C

 

[Simon C]

Caterpillar D9T is 105000-110000 LBS. Quite a big spread in weight from a D375, even an old D9G or H could rip out stumps well. Always have to remember that the dozer is only pushing 1 stump at a time , as they are not lined up in front of blade. D9T would definitely have more people looking for it if and when you decide to sell, but not sure what prices are these days other than more than a million plus.
Simon C

 

[Martin70]

With all the newer machines now, I wouldn't know which is better. I do know I have been in some bad places with big dozers and would not want the high drive in those conditions. They are nice to wrench on though for finals and transmissions. My all time favorite is a D375, steering clutch version. I am not a fan of hydrostats, tiller steering and all that, its too slow for what I used to do. If your clearing and stumping you need a splitter, and a correct rake, not a weeny thing that will bend, some call it a clearing head. Straight blade is more difficult and a bit slower. And yes do rippers and not a winch.
Oh and don't weld junk on the ripper bar to mount the splitter, brackets, brackets and use the ripper shank.

A 375 is a huge machine, not that I've ever ran one. But I did just Google it, and would love it if someone dropped one off for me to use every summer. I don't even want to guess at the price, my heart isn't that good to begin with.

I really do want a winch, and arch, on it though.

In my neck of the woods we don't have large areas of wooded land. We do have some 10-20 acre timbers scattered around. So I'm not familiar with clearing those type of acres. That being said, around here a decent sized excavator would grub the trees and stumps. Then use a smaller more economical dozer to push into piles. I feel like even the best operators would have half the topsoil in the tree pile using a large dozer. End up with one huge mess. I'm picturing the OP is clearing densely populated acres??? Just my $.02

The top layer all has to be removed for a field to be viable here, after logging it. The duff, or whatever you want to call it, with all the roots, needles, etc if not removed, will just try and reforest itself, and the soils PH level is also bad for growing. Look at a lawn, under a spruce or pine tree, notice the lack of grass. That is largely from the needles that fall, changing the soils PH level.