Buying a D6H

[Hardcountry]

G'Day Ya,all, is that how ya spell it lol. New to HEF and enjoying it very much.Ive been looking around for a D6H to use primarily for clearing scrub and pulling a small Blade Plough, would like to hear any pro's and con's anyone may have on these machines.Has anyone had experiance with IronPlanets IronClad Assurance are they pretty spot on with their desciptions. Looking on IronPlanet dozers seem to be nearly half the price in the States as they are here Down Under, does anyone know the cost of Sea Frieght or haulage costs per mile in the States to get a dozer to a Sea Port. Thankyou in advance for any help. Dave

[John Canfield]

Dave - I just bought a Komatsu D39 from an IronPlanet auction last week - no problems so far. I have not received the dozer yet so I don't have an opinion as to the inspection report vs. what I have observed.

The opening bid/price on my D39 was $8k, I had to go to $20k to win the auction (it's a very low hour machine.)

The transportation cost for 1300 miles (and 19,000 pounds) was $2575. Then of course there is shipping from a port to you guys way down there - don't have a clue what that would cost.

[AmerIndependent]

Welcome to the forums Hardcountry! You may find this thread useful:

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/...ad.php?t=16858

[AmerIndependent]

Oh, and the proper spelling for the improper word is: Y'all

[gasfield315c]

D6H is a good machine, same thing as a D6R basically, just a little earlier model, i have ran one alot and the one i ran was wore out with over 8K on the hour meter and it still ran like a gut shot comanche

[Santina]

Depends on where in the State's your starting from ? If you are fortunate it's close to Longbeach port on the south west coast, from there I think it would cost in sea freight around US$ 8,000.- depending on blade/ripper attached !
But I think you should be really carefull Hardcountry before you import any equipment into your country because of the contamination rules are very hard - I have paid very high money to have machines I have exported to Australia cleaned, and when I say cleaned I mean you can eat food of it. I spoke with one company a few years ago who exported two brand new Cat 740 ADT's from Europe, and while they were waiting in the port that day it startd to rain and because of that they collected some mud - So when they arrived Australia they were refused to leave the ship and had to sail onto Indonesia to get cleaned, and $ 20,000 later shipped back to Australia, Oh and there was the nice addition of a fine. You should have your forwarder to take care of the cleaning, I would say that would cost around $ 1200. Otherwise talk with IronPlanet.

[iuoe513]

Hey i have a D6H, it's got a six-cylinder engine producing 165 flywheel horsepower motor and I'll just say for the money it was one of the best investments I have ever made. It is a little cold blooded in the winter but I have a block heater on it now for next winter. I hope it does me some good. But honestly until something goes wrong with it I can't give you any cons. I have had it for about 2 years going on 3 so ill keep you updated let me know about yours once you make your decision.

[Hardcountry]

Thanks everyone, road frieght seems very reasonable John, if you got a dozer transported that far here it would cost at least $6K. AmerInd thanks for the tip . gasfield you cracked me up thanks for the laugh mate. Santina thankyou for the advice, 8k seems reasonable but 28k is a bit steep lol, ive heard our quarintine is very strict. So if you engage a forwarder would they take care of transporting it too a port, cleaning it then shipping?

[Santina]

Thanks everyone, road frieght seems very reasonable John, if you got a dozer transported that far here it would cost at least $6K. AmerInd thanks for the tip . gasfield you cracked me up thanks for the laugh mate. Santina thankyou for the advice, 8k seems reasonable but 28k is a bit steep lol, ive heard our quarintine is very strict. So if you engage a forwarder would they take care of transporting it too a port, cleaning it then shipping?

If your forwarder is any good, then yes. After all your the one paying the bill's, but you should make sure which ever company does the cleaning they know what standard is expected - once I had someone who thought standing there with a hose pipe was fair dinkum

[minime]

Dave, i have shipped gear out of the Far East into Australia and yep the Qurantine rules are harsh and that is being kind ...
" Santina " is spot on with his statement....!!! try to get AQIS to do a inspection in the load country , we used a forwarder called Agility to start the ball rolling and i understand they had "Toll" at the bonded area in Brisbane to wipe off the dust ,our client was so happy he had never seen 3 year equipment look so clean , also word of advice don't respray your equipment it traps the dirt so just get them cleaned and leave them as is ..

[Hardcountry]

minime thanks for some great advice, inspection in the load country if they will do it is a great idea. Also thanks for a couple of names of forwarders as trying to pick one out of a list on the net is daunting to say the least.

[Santina]

minime thanks for some great advice, inspection in the load country if they will do it is a great idea. Also thanks for a couple of names of forwarders as trying to pick one out of a list on the net is daunting to say the least.

HardCountry - I use Hanson Shipping based in Florida, they specialise in transporting heavy equipment from begining to end.

[Hardcountry]

OK thanks everyone for your input, ive contacted Hansen Shipping for a guestiment on costs and am awaiting a reply. We are not far off starting our cotton carting season so that will mean a few months of 16 hour days behind the wheel of the ole Mack so i wont be able to do anything untill that finish's but ill let everyone know what i decide to do.
Once again thanks to all for your help.
Regards Dave

[Hardcountry]

Can ya just take the swamp pads off an lgp dozer and put normal grousers on it. Dave

[John Canfield]

Dave - the local Komatsu dealer said what ranchers do around here if they have the wide pads is to cut them down with a torch. My 39P-1 has 24" pads, the E1 has 18" pads. There is a minor difference between the P and E blades, the P blade is slightly wider.