Need a FAST ANSWER/ OPINION on a Dozer,

[ericscher]

I am looking at a 2011 NEW HOLLAND D85B.

It's a rental sell-off (from a good shop that's also big enough to have a real service dept.) with about 1,600 hours and in good solid shape with no obvious issues that I can see.


I won't pretend to be an expert on ANY equipment and this would be my first dozer, but as near as I can tell it's a solid machine and has been well maintained.


I have first shot at her and if I don't take her there is a 2nd buyer ready, so it's now or never.


They want $45,000 for it and have offered me good terms with a low interest rate.
It will hurt a bit to squeeze out the down payment, but I could swing it.

In order to make it pay, I would need to put 200 hours on her per season.



What is the general opinion...?

Grab her or walk away?


http://www.machinerytrader.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=11306337

 

[old-iron-habit]

Any time anyone says buy right now or walk, I normally run. If they had another buyer it would be already be gone. Do you have 200 hrs of work for it each year.

The sprockets look pretty pointed and worn when I zoom in. Take someone whom understands undercarriage to look at it with you. Pictures to not show undercarriage very good but seems well worn for 1,600 hrs. Lots of money to replace.

 

[ericscher]

On the second buyer...
I've been dealing with these people for a long time now. If my contact tells me there is another buyer, there is another buyer.


I'll take a second look at the sprockets tomorrow morning.

But I just noticed something...

Those pictures are out of date. That sheet metal damage wasn't there when I looked at it today and I would have sworn the sprockets were pretty fresh when I looked at them earlier. It was also cleaner. I hadn't looked that closely at the pics when I posted the link.

My only experience is with an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, but I'm assuming a good chunk of it carries over, especially in terms of the tracks and UC.

I know when I checked with the service guys they had refreshed a bunch of stuff, and I did have a guy with me who is also not an expert but does have some experience and was a second set of eyes.


Still, I'm going to take another look at the area you pointed out.

THANK YOU. I appreciate the help.

 

[southernman13]

That's a good looking machine. The sprokets are worn but not worn out. Sprokets normally aren't super expensive. The grousers look really good from here hehe. I don't know anything about new holland dozers but everything I've read is they're not real desirable machines and why that is I have no idea. Do a search which you may have already done. Good luck but I like machines that don't show abuse such as that one. I bet it'd clean up real nice.

 

[ericscher]

Yeah, as I mentioned, I think they took those pics before doing a pretty comprehensive service and cleanup and I wasn't paying enough attention when I posted the pics to notice that.

I did notice the rear sprockets were actually fairly new and that the Zerk fittings I found all looked well used and on some you could even see fresh grease.


I was actually planning to rent a dozer for some work I have this week, which would have been equivalent to a month's payment, so January is basically taken care of already.


I have to be honest, I don't currently have the work to make that dozer pay, but the thing is, the area I want to branch out into is going to require a dozer, so it has been on the "sooner or later" list for a while now.


I did look around for other D85's, but there are multiple letter variations that go along with that model and other than cab vs no cab, I have no idea what they mean.
Still, the price does look pretty good from what I can tell.

Maybe those pics have driven off prior buyers..? I dunno.


I do appreciate ALL input though....

You never know what might be important.

 

[Dickjr.]

If that's the same as a Case , I would not be afraid to by it. I think they went to the 4.5 Liter CASE (cummins) engine in these. I would damn sure make them fix the sheet metal , It being a rental you can bet someone or some insurance paid for the damage and they put the money in the pocket and not the parts. I been down that road. Make a lower offer just to see. You both have something each other wants , a dozer and or cash. Cash wins cause they have dozers. By all means don't rush into this.

 

[JBGASH]

I think it's priced reasonable and if you have the work for it that would do it for me. In the grand scheme of things a big compact track loader costs around 70k and they are very costly per hour to keep running as compared to a dozer of that size that will do a lot more work at a much lower cost per hour.

 

[oldirt]

there are so many used older dozers of all varieties looking desperately for a home you really don't need to allow anyone to push you with the old "buy it now because somebody else has real money on it" bs.

 

[ericscher]

I just want to be clear...

The 2nd buyer is NOT bullschtien. He really exists. I just have right of first refusal.

 

[watglen]

I looked at a New holland dozer one time. Same deal. Decent low hr machine, good shape, decent price.

I called an aftermarket undercarriage house in Toronto to price some typical UC parts. They couldn't source them. They also said they have had calls for New holland UC and simply can't get them.

So I called my local case dealer to cross the parts to the Case tractor. They couldn't get them either.

So I called my local new holland dealer. Same story again.

Long story short, make sure you can get parts for it. I couldn't here in Canada, and I tried pretty hard.



Good luck


ken

 

[Tags]

My honest opinion would be to look for a slightly older dozer for less money. For only 200 hours a year an older would work fine, also it IS still a rental, lots of guys don't give a crap about grease, service, abuse or putting someone on it that's never run one before. I'm not saying that's the case with this machine but you'll never know. As a side note, I almost never see those machines working anywhere, and when I have its been few and far between. I think Fiat may have something to do with the manufacturing but I'm not 100% on that. Either way, good luck!

 

[Dickjr.]

I think this is the same thing as a 750K Case. I think u/c parts should be available. I think some of the early on New Holland dozers were Italian or a Fiat New Holland venture that wore a funny undercarriage.

 

[ericscher]

OK, just a couple of things real quick...

The rental place selling it is the biggest rental company in probably the State. They have a huge facility, a shop that could stand in as an airplane hanger and they run these machines in their fleet, so parts are not an issue. They are also very serious about their maintenance and they take care of the stuff they own. Plus, they have an excellent rep and for good reason. I've been very happy dealing with them.

So, parts and maintenance aren't really an issue.


That out of the way, I decided to go ahead and buy it.

Basically, I want to expand my business in ways that are going to require a dozer to do certain work.

For right now, while I build that new business, I only need 200 hours a year to break even based on what it costs to rent the machine. Actually, I probably need less because I charge for my time as well. I anticipate the business building to the 500-600 hour/year range by the end of 2016.
I can also look at sub-contracting and leasing it to a couple of people I know.

The deal is $4k down and finance the rest at 3.5%

I'm already using it on a job today and tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone for their input. I really appreciate it.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

The deal is $4k down and finance the rest at 3.5%

I just sneezed in my coffee when I read that. (big grin)

Cheers.

 

[JBGASH]

Ericsher, I think you got a good deal and a good plan to build business with your new dozer, all you got to do now is MAKE IT HAPPEN for yourself. Will it be easy? No, never is. But where there is a will to do, there are a dozen ways to accomplish any task at hand. I too have bought several well maintained items from rental companies, with excellent luck with every one and they did not break the bank in the process.

 

[grk82]

Congratulations on the purchase! I have the same dozer (it's a case) finding parts is not an issue. They are a good machine. Did you buy it from Tom? I just bought a New Holland 135 excavator from him last week.

 

[ericscher]

JB -
Sometimes I feel like I'm in a dark room with broken glass all over the floor and all I can do is start running to keep my feet under me.
Building a business is exhilarating, but WOW can it wear you out.


GRK82 -
I got it from Franklin.

 

[grk82]

JB -
Sometimes I feel like I'm in a dark room with broken glass all over the floor and all I can do is start running to keep my feet under me.
Building a business is exhilarating, but WOW can it wear you out.


GRK82 -
I got it from Franklin.

Tom is the outside salesman at Franklin. Great guy, he drove all the way up to Medina this morning to sign paperwork.

 

[ericscher]

I worked with Peter.

 

[dirthog]

Hate to tell you this but they are NOT the same as case and parts are becoming a problem. I know this quite well from working for a dealer.