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Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

silfarmer1997

Posted 4/7/2015 16:42 (#4502315)
Subject: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Southern Illinois

I am going to look at a dozer with a 6 way blade tomorrow. I am not by any means an authority on these. What are some things I should look for? BHTN

Posted 4/7/2015 17:03 (#4502339 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

West Tennessee

West Tennessee

What brand and model? Undercarriage wear is something that it takes a little experience to judge. We have totally rebuilt 2 different machine's 6way blade pivots. Be aware that it can be really expensive to fix slop in the blade and various linkages. We're out $2,500 in parts on our Cat D5M right now and an astounding amount of our shop labor. At Cat labor prices it would probably total the machine. :-( If you can do all the work and have the time it's well worth it.

Basically if you put the blade on the ground hard and pick it up and blade parts or bearings are moving or slipping there is a potential problem that will need to be addressed. Our Cat dozer now got to where when you picked up the blade, the hydraulics had to move several inches before the blade moved. That is NOT good and makes the blade hard to control and is expensive to fix. Josh in Pa

Posted 4/7/2015 17:09 (#4502345 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

s.e. Pa

TRACKS! And undercarriage. I bought a small dozer because it was inexpensive and I had some small cleanup jobs to use it on. Track pads were very deep so I thought it had a good undercarriage. I was wrong. You should be able to find specs on chain pitch and rail height. Measure these and compare to specs. Pick it up with the blade, is there play in the idlers and rollers? What do the sprockets look like? Undercarriage work is expensive. The other poster made a good about checking slop in the linkages as well.
Josh squish

Posted 4/7/2015 17:20 (#4502360 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

NE Indiana

If the rear drive sprockets are pointy, or the front idler is pushed all the way forward, the tracks are shot. Price out new chains, idlers, rollers, and drive sprockets before you buy, just so you know what you're getting into. 6 way blades are an expensive thing to fix up too. Dozers are expensive to maintain. Don't buy it unless you can justify the maintenance costs. squish

Posted 4/7/2015 17:23 (#4502363 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

NE Indiana

What kind of dozer are you looking at? JasoninMN

Posted 4/7/2015 17:24 (#4502364 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

What do you look for?  Someone who knows a lot about dozers, ideally the make you're looking at. Buy them lunch. Bribe them with cash. Get them in the truck to look at it with you. Whatever you spend, it'll be well spent. 

SteigerSt320

Posted 4/7/2015 17:30 (#4502376 - in reply to #4502360)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Northeast Louisiana

My advise is, if you never been around one. Hire a dozer mechanic to look at it. Or someone that knows dozers. You could wind up buying a dozer for $50k that's worth $10k and still need tons of repairs.

Undercarriage is costly. But if in excellent shape, can last u a long time.

Transmission/convertor condition. Sometimes takes an hour of hard running for some issues to show up once oil gets hot. E718

Posted 4/7/2015 17:31 (#4502378 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Sac & Story county IA

The 3 things to check on used dozer are undercarriage, undercarriage, and undercarriage. dondozer

Posted 4/7/2015 18:05 (#4502432 - in reply to #4502364)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

NW Ohio,near Findlay

Agree with Jason, find someone who knows what to look for. When you bought a new dozer 20 years ago, a basic rule was you would have the total cost of the dozer in repairs in 10 years. Buying a used dozer, one undercarriage rebuild, you will have the cost you bought it for. Don't buy the big, cheap dozer. Most of the time there is a reason they are cheap, too costly to rebuild. Don't buy a off brand of dozer. We had a very nice grading dozer, a Fiat-Allis FD-5. We traded it for basically nothing, parts were not available. Traded it for a Deere 450 G Long Track. Parts were easy, not cheap, and resale good. Whatever you buy, get a torque drive, power shift, no direct drive. John Deere Hydro's are OK till they need drive line work, expensive.
Unless you really need a dozer for long term, hire it done. Sodbustr

Posted 4/7/2015 18:20 (#4502466 - in reply to #4502378)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Western Iowa

For sure.

If the U/C is almost new, that means it is 50%. If they say it is 50%, it is shot...... at least that's how guys represent stuff to me when I go look at it.

My dozer needs new U/C. Personally I think it is a waste of time to replace just parts of it, so I ran mine till its all junk. Roughly 14K for all new. Not bad considering the 2500 hours I have used it and the tracks were maybe 60-70% when I got it. The 50 hours this spring I had to tension the tracks pretty hard so they didn't slip.

A quick way to tell on the tracks is to see how much adjustment is left on the idler. As long as nobody took a link out (which is a bear to do, but some guys are cheap), that works pretty good. Idler all the way in tracks are very good. Idler almost all the way out tracks are stretched out and likely everything else is about shot.

Motor and tranny is pretty basic to tell condition. Sometimes though, a torque convertor can seem OK when cold and not pushing. Best to let her warm up a bit and be able to do a test run if at all suspicious. A good tranny will move the dozer at idle. If you have to rev it up to move, that may indicate weakness. Philny

Posted 4/7/2015 20:14 (#4502769 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

We have been looking for an engine for our Cat D4C for months it's a 3046 hard to find. I'd go john Deere next time JP2

Posted 4/7/2015 20:15 (#4502774 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Yes check the undercarriage. If it is bad the dozer is probably run down too. Count the links check push out on the front idler , pointy sprockets always mean junk as well as worn out grousers. Also find and take out the magnetic screen that tells you a lot about the trans and pull the plugs on the finals and check whats inside and leakage of the finals. Engine blowby and coolant condition. Take an experienced dozer guy along if possible. Condition and wear of the cutting bit and dozer blade face is another indication of general condition. DixieDeere

Posted 4/7/2015 21:14 (#4503005 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Jackson County, AL

Jackson County, AL

We have a 650J and have gotten along great with it.  Only issue is the size, we'd like one about twice the size at a minimum.  We grade very little with it so a straight blade wouldn't be that bad.  A 750 with 6 way would be great however.  We'd like to push more stuff over with the dozer and not always have the excavator around to clear trees quickly.  With the excavator a 644 wheel loader with root rake would be preferable to the dozer IMO.

Dirtpoor

Posted 4/8/2015 06:35 (#4503497 - in reply to #4503005)
Subject: +1

Hazelton, Kansas 6.75 miles N of Crowbar

Have a TD25C to tear the heck out of things. Wheel loader and small 6-way dozer for finish. Dirt hog987

Posted 4/8/2015 14:16 (#4504353 - in reply to #4502315)
Subject: RE: Going to look at a dozer......What do I look for?

Central Alberta

Central Alberta

What everyone else has said plus look for any non factory welds. This can give an idea of the abuse the machine has had. Also I have done repair jobs in the shop. Broken weld. Ok the customer just wants it welded back up. Upon looking at it the thing broke because the pins and bushings on the blade or what ever are very worn. Will I can weld it up for you but you will be back next week cause it will break again. Or we can re due the pins and bushings and get the thing fixed right.

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Almost every little boy had a toy bulldozer as a kid. The iconic symbol of heavy equipment, the bulldozer is an awesome machine to see at work. From digging and ditching to spreading soil and removing tree stumps, this versatile machine is one of the must-haves of most construction and landscaping companies, and of most forestry, mining, and agricultural applications. In fact, bulldozers were invented in 1923 for use in plowing fields. Over the years, the bulldozer has become a heavy-hitting machine, and one that you should know about.

 

Wagner Used Equipment is proud to offer used Caterpillar heavy equipment. We offer dozens of machinery, from bulldozers and skid steers to tractors, asphalt pavers, draglines, feller bunchers, and more. Caterpillar has been around for almost 100 years, helping supply the equipment to do the heavy lifting in this country. Our top-notch customer service representatives can offer up advice and help when you need it.

 

In addition, our Cat Parts Store offers every part you need to repair and maintain your Caterpillar machine. We offer genuine Cat parts at any of our Cat dealers in Colorado, New Mexico, and west Texas. We also offer remanufactured parts, exchange parts, and a parts drop box. Wagner Used Equipment also has over 230 field service technicians ready to service your Cat heavy equipment as well. We believe in supporting you in all of your heavy equipment needs. Below, we’ll take a look at the parts of a bulldozer. Contact our Caterpillar parts store today!

 

History of the Name

We couldn’t start a blog on bulldozers without first explaining the name. Many people think the name derives from the fact that this machine could plow over a bull. While that is certainly the case, the name did not come from there. Instead, the name comes from an expression used in the 1800s. Field overseers would manage their men by using a “dose of a bull” or a bull whip. “A bull’s dose” of lashes was the punishment for misbehaving, which became bull-dosed, or bull-dozed. Bull-dozers then became a slang word that was sometimes applied to those doing the punishment.

 

Eventually, this word was applied to equipment. In 1910, a boat that pulled a device to scrape out and clean a canal was called a bulldozer. This then turned into any machine with a front piece of metal that pushed objects around. By the 1920s, bulldozers were what Caterpillar tractors were referred to. Finally, the name settled on our beloved bulldozer of today.

 

 

PARTS OF A BULLDOZER

 

The Engine

All machinery need an engine that contains the components that create power that make the machine do the job it was meant to do. More precisely, an internal combustion engine converts energy to torque that is then applied to the wheels to make it move. Engines have pistons that move up and down inside tubes called cylinders. These pistons are connected to the crankshaft vai rods that then move up and down to spin the crankshafts to power the wheels. Fuel and oxygen ignite in tiny explosions called combustion, or the power. All bulldozers have diesel-engines because they can develop the torque necessary to do its job of moving rough terrain. Most diesel bulldozer engines can generate anywhere from between 50 and 700 horsepower, making the terrain it has to negotiate easy.

 

The Blade

The most distinguishable part of the bulldozer is its front blade. Powered by hydraulic arms, this blade can be raised and lowered to move materials, such as dirt, snow, trees, mining material, and more. The blades are made from heavy metals, so they won’t bend under the weight of what they are moving.

 

As you can imagine there are many different types of blades available. Some of these include the PAT (Power-Angle-Tilt) blade, which is easy to maneuver and can be angled, tilted, and lifted in almost every direction. These blades are used for land clearing, scraping, backfilling, leveling, and grading. Another type of bulldozer blade is the angle blade. It can move debris to the side since it can close to a 30 degree angle either left or right. It can spill, but you’ll see it on snow plows and on construction and road-building sites to move gravel and soil. It’s also great for stumping, stripping, and ditching. Another bulldozer blade is the U-Blade, which has side wings in order to keep the material in. It is one of the largest blades in both height and width and is great with soil. Popular uses for this blade are crowning, pushing, hauling, and ditching.

 

With Caterpillar heavy equipment offered by all of the Wagner Used Equipment dealers in Colorado, New Mexico, and west Texas, you can easily switch out the blades of a bulldozer in order to suit your needs, so whether you are looking for an S-blade for backfilling work or a U-blade to clear snow and ice, Caterpillar has a blade to fit your needs. Reach out today!

 

 

CHOOSE WAGNER USED EQUIPMENT FOR ALL YOUR HEAVY EQUIPMENT & PARTS NEEDS

Caterpillar bulldozers are engineered to be the best at what they do. They create smooth finishes and grades, move dirt and debris where you want it to go easily, and can help break up the land for farming and more. Our cabs are top-of-the-line nice, featuring an electronic monitoring system that tells you all of the gauges, armrest, adjustable pedals, coat hook, cup holder, floor mat, storage compartment, and an air suspension seat. Truly, all you need is a bed! Constructed with stability in mind, our bulldozers are made to last years.

 

Our service department can help you when your Cat machine decides to be uncooperative. We have over 230 field service technicians who can come out to your location and get your machine up and running. Our Cat Parts Store offers factory Cat parts for every piece of heavy equipment. Odds are, we have the part you need in stock at one of our Colorado, New Mexico, or west Texas dealers near you. Simply give us a call, and we can direct you. You can also utilize our Wagner Parts Exchange program. Here, you can save money and time by bringing your parts to us and we’ll replace it with refurbished parts. We remanufacture the Cat parts you bring to us and test them before being exchanged, so you can rest assured that the refurbished parts you receive are top-notch.

 

Caterpillar is the proven name in heavy equipment. From mining and forestry to agricultural and construction, you can find our Cat machines performing work all around you. In fact, without our machines, we’d be centuries behind where we are now. We’ve invested heavily in technology, offering not only machine control systems and surveying rentals through our partner, SITECH Rocky Mountain, but we also offer fluids analysis so you can better gauge the health of your heavy equipment. Staying on top of maintenance requirements will go a long way in the longevity of your machines.

Wagner Used Equipment is dedicated to ensuring you have the Caterpillar heavy equipment you need, including bulldozers, along with the Cat parts, to keep going strong all day long. Visit us online, or stop by a Cat dealer to get started today!

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