Don't laugh - how do I operate my D39?

[JASON M]

You'd be surprised at how easily you could get ejected from the operator's seat (if you don't have your seatbelt on) And you'd be surprised how hard you're gonna hit when that track slips off that trailer. You can get seriously hurt. Don't dare do that w/o experience. That D39 is a very spunky dozer, could dance right off that trailer, and hurt you.
Have the driver or some experienced guy unload it, then take it into an uncongested field, put your seatbelt on, be familiar where the kill switches are, and have fun.

 

[John Canfield]

The specs for power train and control are :

Brake, secondary left location
Mono-lever steering, left hand location
Transmission, F3-R3, full power shift
Torque converter, single stage, 2.0:1 stall ratio

The right pedal is the primary brake and deceleration.

A question for you guys - do you throttle up the engine (a lever to the left of the operator) and leave it at whatever RPM you need and then use the right brake/deceleration pedal to slow down or speed up? If you come to a complete stop, then you pull back the throttle?

I do like to wear the seatbelt on my Kubota tractor when appropriate and I will get the seatbelt fixed on the dozer.

Thanks to the comments in my thread, I am very leery of driving it for the very first time off the trailer. I appreciate the help very much. :notworthy

 

[rocko59]

Enjoy your new machine John! They are a nice little dozer. You have things pretty much figured out, like they said, get someone else to unload it. There is a lever on the front side of the steering/shifter control stand that needs to be flipped up to unlock the shifter. Also be gentle after turning with the stick, the steering clutches grab quite suddenly unless you recenter the stick slowly to go straight after a turn. Otherwise there is a lot of shock in the steering clutches and final drives when the steering clutch starts to drive again. Only thing I don't like about these units.

 

[Neil D]

John
From what you have said you have no experience driving, until you get a bit of seat time where the controls are second nature get your mate to unload.
Good luck with your new purchase!

Neil

 

[jughead]

cant help on unloading but please use that belt. this old man almost learned the hard way. went over a 12 in log the wrong way. tossed me up on the hood with several good size bruises. inches away from burns from the muffler.

 

[RDG]

Been there and done that, fell into a pit that had a tin roof and covered in dirt on an a TD 9 back in the days before seatbelts, 14 stitches across the forehead from hitting the canopy and 3rd degree burns on the inside of my legs from cuddling the muffler on the way down the bonnet, ended up on the blade then 5 days in hospital and it all happend in the blink of an eye. Seat belts are good value. Cheers RDG

 

[John Canfield]

Thanks guys!

Since that original post, I have maybe 8-10 hours of seat time and I'm totally comfortable running the machine and I think I'm even starting to get a feel for the blade. It is pretty simple to make it go but a learning curve for the blade.

I've noticed my D39 won't make a gradual turn (tracks moving at a different rate) unless the engine RPMs are up a bit - one track will stop and the other track is turning at lower RPMs. I suppose it is operating normally :beatsme . At maybe 1/2 - 2/3rds throttle she'll make any kind of turn.

The dozer has been a bunch of fun and I am getting all kinds of work accomplished with it in a fairly short period of time.

I do wear the seat belt - one of the first jobs was to get it working.

 

[Willis Bushogin]

dozer unloading

If you don't have much experience running dozers, unloading one off a trailer, especially a rear unload is not a good place to start. Things can go bad in a hurry, and you can slide off the trailer, flip the dozer and other not so nice things...

Best off finding a friend that has done it before and watching them, or let the driver unload.

It sounds like your getting a hydrostatic machine. Here is how I start a d5g. With the thorottle at the lowest setting, engage the park lock, might be a switch, double check that machine is in neutral, turn the key to the one notch right and wait about 5 seconds or so for everything to sync up, then turn the key right some more and it should start.

Let it warm up for 5 minutes or so, then increase the thorottle to about 3/4, but keep your right foot pressing on the decelerator. Put the transmission in first gear and the apropriate direction, and as you lift off the decelerator it will start to move. The left joystick steers, and it probably will counter rotate the tracks if pushed too far left or right. I only use my brake when the grade so steep that it overcomes the decelerator.

With cat's I change gears at will without decelerating, and I don't use third gear hardly at all, always decel for foreward reverse changes. That being said, I down know what komatsu sugests.

Brings back old memories. I had two job sites going on (about 15 years ago) and my brother was the dozer operator and I mostly drove the trucks. My brother loaded the dozer for the lowboy guy and when it got to the new site, the low boy guy didnt know how to operate and equipment. We were in the road, so we had to do something, I figured it cant be that hard, so I took the binders off and started the D5, opened the throttle about 3/4 and put in gear. That was the mistake (3/4 throttle) before I figured out what the pedals and levers were for, I almost ran it off the side of the lowboy, boy was I scared, almost messed the underwear up.
Word to the wise, if you dont know what you are doing, get someone to unload it, you can learn how to operate it on the ground. Things happen mighty quick on a lowboy. When you get good, you can turn it around on the lowboy.
Good Luck

 

[John Canfield]

Word to the wise, if you dont know what you are doing, get someone to unload it, you can learn how to operate it on the ground. Things happen mighty quick on a lowboy. When you get good, you can turn it around on the lowboy.Good Luck

Here's the video of Danny the truck driver unloading it. Danny was slow and careful as you can see. I don't think I'm quite ready to turn it around on a lowboy or step-deck, but I am feeling quite competent and I can back her right up to a fence or whatever and do what I need to do. Once I discovered the decelerator pedal, life got significantly easier :falldownlaugh

YouTube - It's a boy! 19,000 pounds and 14' 6" long! Danny delivers our 1999 Komatsu D39P-1 track dozer

 

[Willis Bushogin]

dozer

Here's the video of Danny the truck driver unloading it. Danny was slow and careful as you can see. I don't think I'm quite ready to turn it around on a lowboy or step-deck, but I am feeling quite competent and I can back her right up to a fence or whatever and do what I need to do. Once I discovered the decelerator pedal, life got significantly easier :falldownlaugh

YouTube - It's a boy! 19,000 pounds and 14' 6" long! Danny delivers our 1999 Komatsu D39P-1 track dozer

Nice dozer
I think that cheating a bit, I was thinking it would be on a detach lowboy, or a low boy with ramps. The ramp ones are really fun, even for a experienced operator.
The flat bed was just like driving down the road, almost LOL
He did a great job, have fun with the dozer, I like this model

 

[TxD5Garrow]

I too am in the same boat but I'm getting the hang of it. I currently have problems tho.

 

[MrKomatsu]

that is a D39p-1...made in poland..it actually is a TD9 with komatsu's new paint scheme...good dozer and should last forever.......S/N should begin with a PO....

 

[John Canfield]

Yup - begins with a PO. I realized it was basically a TD-9, did not realize it was made in Poland. Our Komatsu dealer said it was a good machine - easy to work on.

 

[Vantage_TeS]

This video I made may be of some use. The controls on the D10R aren't exactly the same (your steering isn't on the two toggles it's a push to turn left pull to turn right with a twist knob on the end to shift) but all dozers are the same principle. As far as your throttle, pull it all the way back (wide open) and use the decelerator to control your RPM. The only time you should be adjusting the hand throttle is if you're getting off and wanna idle down.

YouTube - Cat D10R Startup and Controls

I'll see what else I have stashed...

Edit: that's all I have that has a good explaination of the controls, if you're interested in dozers I also have some good action videos here (just scroll down through the videos on the right, there are 10+ D6/D7/D10/D11 videos): http://www.youtube.com/user/vantagetes

I'll have a couple D8R videos (building a pad with rock trucks and an explanation on how to slot doze) soon.

I don't have a Komatsu but if you have any questions on operating don't hesitate to drop me a line, I can probably even make a video answering your question(s).

 

[John Canfield]

Very cool video! Running something in the 100,000+ pound class would be really amazing. I'm doing pretty good on my D39 - still trying to get the "bubble in my butt" to work reliably so I can control the blade. I'm doing better, but I'm still too slow with the blade joystick.

I worked the D39 in my borrow pit this afternoon and it was a completely satisfying experience

 

[Vantage_TeS]

Are you blading in 1st gear? Second gear is more a Jedi trick, you have to use the force to know where all the little bumps are because your reaction time won't be fast enough by the time you feel it.

Another good trick is when you're trying to clean up go in first gear and half throttle (use your decelerator). As I back up you can feel the machine find all the bumps (even a little tiny bump will feel huge as the tracks go over). Keep backing up until you feel the machine smooth out and become level. Then set your blade, switch to first gear fwd and use just a little (1/4 throttle) to slowly go forward. As you trim off the bumps and start picking up dirt on the blade start adding throttle so the machine has the power to push.

Basically when you're trying to smooth things off just keep it low RPM until you're pushing a bunch of dirt. If you come to a spot where the machine is going to change angle on you (coming off the flat onto a slope etc) you can hold the brake with your left foot and use the blade to change the angle of the machine. For example as you come over the edge the blade holds the front up, so you hold the brake so you don't cut anymore, and then lift up (which lowers the nose and brings the tracks into contact with the ground again). Once the machine is "tipped over" you slowly let off the brake and then get back onto the power (decelerator out).

Another thing is if you feel the bump in your butt, you've already missed it with the blade, back up and try again. Remember the easiest way is to back up until you feel the machine level off, that way you have a starting point where your blade doesnt need adjustment. Starting on an angle/hill/dip takes a while to do well and a very good feel for your machine and where level is.

Let me get my camera and see if I can find a video from today that shows what I mean.

 

[John Canfield]

Yeah - 1st gear and I'm on the decelerator pedal while trying to get an idea of the grade and what position the blade needs to be. When the going is reasonably smooth, I'm okay on the blade - not great but okay/fair. When it is not well graded out, it is more of a problem. My crutch is backblading - I know that isn't great for the long-term life of the blade, but I like the results.

This reminds me of learning to fly RC airplanes - you have to do it for many hours before you acquire 'muscle memory' - the hand reacts instinctively without much thinking.

 

[Vantage_TeS]

Just keep practising then, sounds like you have a good handle on it =)

With a little time you'll get just as good results going forwards as you can backblading.

If you haven't already watched, this video is good to hear the throttle control. You'll notice I only hit full throttle when spreading at the very end, and backing up.

YouTube - D10N Side View

 

[d9gdon]

Mud

What's that mud you're pushing into, looks like it's straight out of a reserve pit from a drilling rig?

 

[Vantage_TeS]

Digging a pond, hit a layer of grey sandstone that when ripped, dug or pushed turns into small chunkies with alot of powder. The water came from a puddle we had sitting at the toe of the slope for the longest time (rain water) so I just pushed it out and mixed it with some dry material so the scrapers could grab it.