The Ultimate Medium Dozer?

[Deeretime]

How about a nice tall cab so you can get in and out easier with cupholders and lunc box holders and on the 6 way blades extend them another 2' so you can get more angle out of them to windrow material more efficiently.


lights whats with the $20 lights i hate them it gets cold and they break off, they suck because they arent powerful enough to see infront of the machine most nights.

12v outlets please i need one for my phone and the other for my sat radio !

Make a factory port for adding other electronics such as 2 way radios without haveing to wire a inverter in

Glass keep it big and cheap i dont need to buy a 1000 dollar piece of glass for the door with those holes in it let me get it from a glass shop or atleast make a factory window cover that is easy to put on not those dumb steel plates

 

[Auctioneerhere]

Seems to me that the after-market would beat the manufactures to the punch by offering replacement hinged belly pans.

I would think there would be opportunity & a large market many older machines have sprung / bent pans.

 

[willd8r]

I thinking the other night int he light rain & dust while on the 11 backing up a 15 degree slop having the mud run down the front window why not have a gutter to stop this also why not make the engine oil dip stick 6 inches longer so a little easier to put back in the dark overall very happy bout all I would change some may have other ideas.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...about belly pans. I like to make them hinged on one side. No big deal to lift them up then and it encourages keeping crud cleared away from around sump.

First off though with the old 9G's (rigged up for scrub pulling) I welded lugs onto the pan at the ballance point and lifted it with a couple of purpose built slings attached to the head of the blade lift rams...that is to say I raised the pan into place by lowering the blade.

 

[Deeretime]

Sompthing i always wanted to see is a u/c ejector so you dont have to shovel as much muck.

I love the winch on the belly pan, But what happens if the winch seases when the pan is up, even a broken wire? you may have to torch the thing off

 

[North Texan]

My ultimate dozer would be:

12' blade
200+ hp engine with close to 10L displacement
hydrostatic transmission
LARGE radiator and oil cooler (and not side by side like JD does it) with large fins. Both mounted on brackets with roller bearings, and both can be pulled out in the field quickly for cleaning when conditions warrant.
Pressurized cab similar to that of modern ag equipment. A little roomier, with room for stuff, a buddy seat, and a 12v cooler.
Air ride seat with control console mounted to the seat, not the cab.
PLENTY of bright lights, and good backlighting on everything in the cab.
Sloped hood and operator seated up on the dozer near the rear for good forward visibility, and unobstructed rearward visibility.
Shields and belly pans that are easy to open and remove.
Easy to remove cab and hood when access through the shields is not enough.

 

[ke6gwf]

I will put my 2 pence into the mix, and would love a response from some Cat person!

Put proper tiedown points on all machines that allow a chain WITH THE HOOK ATTACHED to pass through!

The 2 recent machines I have fought with this on are a D6N and a 320B.
On the D6N there were nice loops on the front and rear of the track frames, but they were too small to pass a standard 3/8" grab hook. I had to remove the hooks in order to use the chains through. I know most people probably don't use them, but I was trying to follow the tie-down rules as enforced in CA and needed more points!

The 320 has some good points in the web between the tracks, but again, it is just barely too small to pass a chain through. You either have to pull hooks or use shackles (which aren't always available to poor truck drivers).

Oh, and on the smaller equipment like Backhoes, if the tie-down is a welded-on loop (as opposed to a hole in a thick plate), make the metal thin enough that a 5/16" grab hook can hook on. And on the back of the 436C (etc), put some tie-down holes in by the outriggers. The ones in the swing mount are too close to the center making things less stable, you can't reach them from the ground on a taller trailer, and they take a lot more chain.
(Our JD 410 I can do a 6 point tie-down [bucket, 4 corners, hoe] with 3 chains and 6 binders but it takes 5 chains for the same pattern on the 436 due to the location of the tie-down points)

Oh, and make some sort of latch to hold the outriggers up. A plate/slot/pin would be great, or some sort of hook. I got an old JCB TLB on the ranch here that has some nice swing down outrigger latches. I got tired of heavy long chains and binders or ratchet straps, so I grabbed about 10 feet of some small gauge chain with about a 500# rating and use some spring links to hook it between the outriggers. It saves me a lot of time and energy, but it should still be built in since everyone is supposed to mechanically secure them!

How hard would it really be to provide better options for tiedowns? My question to Cat is, why were they sized too small like that? Was it done on purpose?


My other thing would be designing things so that dust and mud tend to shed or are easy to clean, since I never seem to get operators that clean before it gets hauled, and I never seem to get bosses that plan my time to clean all the nooks and crannies packed full of dust. Make it so either it's easy to clean, or the dirt is secure enough for transport!

(and to think my wish list for tie-downs was that long, be glad I haven't spent much time operating newer dozers! I assume a lot has been improved since the D9H's I ran...

 

[Dirt Slinger]

I think it would be neat to have some sort of slope gauge on a dozer. It would be cool to run a dozer on a slope and tell exactly if its 3:1 or so on.

 

[Deeretime]

How about a dozer that Makes alot of noise,blows black smoke and you come home at the end of the day feeling like you realy worked as hard as your machine...

I truely miss the smell of raw black smoke first thing in the morning when i used to fire up a old machine, it gives me a rush to start my day when i go start my 850c and smell a little black smoke and listen to that great sound that comes out of that 5'' chrome stack !

 

[old digga]

hey ocr this may help grab a large(not to big) trolly jack cheap ones are fine rip off the rotatable lifting point and replace the cup with a 10''x10''x3/4 plate obviously welding the pin to the center it worked well for me hope it will for you

 

[buckeyebarton]

Ran a d-5k not long ago. The balance of the machine was nice and the power was ok. My problem is that cat seems to be making these dozers way to sophisticated. Do you really need to be able to adjust the speed of the hydrolics in the blade or the tracks when crowding or turning. Keep it simple like the older machines and a good operater will find a way to make the ol girl grunt.

 

[2stickbill]

I will put my 2 pence into the mix, and would love a response from some Cat person!

Put proper tie down points on all machines that allow a chain WITH THE HOOK ATTACHED to pass through!

The 2 recent machines I have fought with this on are a D6N and a 320B.
On the D6N there were nice loops on the front and rear of the track frames, but they were too small to pass a standard 3/8" grab hook. I had to remove the hooks in order to use the chains through. I know most people probably don't use them, but I was trying to follow the tie-down rules as enforced in CA and needed more points!

The 320 has some good points in the web between the tracks, but again, it is just barely too small to pass a chain through. You either have to pull hooks or use shackles (which aren't always available to poor truck drivers).

Oh, and on the smaller equipment like Backhoes, if the tie-down is a welded-on loop (as opposed to a hole in a thick plate), make the metal thin enough that a 5/16" grab hook can hook on. And on the back of the 436C (etc), put some tie-down holes in by the outriggers. The ones in the swing mount are too close to the center making things less stable, you can't reach them from the ground on a taller trailer, and they take a lot more chain.
(Our JD 410 I can do a 6 point tie-down [bucket, 4 corners, hoe] with 3 chains and 6 binders but it takes 5 chains for the same pattern on the 436 due to the location of the tie-down points)

Oh, and make some sort of latch to hold the outriggers up. A plate/slot/pin would be great, or some sort of hook. I got an old JCB TLB on the ranch here that has some nice swing down outrigger latches. I got tired of heavy long chains and binders or ratchet straps, so I grabbed about 10 feet of some small gauge chain with about a 500# rating and use some spring links to hook it between the outriggers. It saves me a lot of time and energy, but it should still be built in since everyone is supposed to mechanically secure them!

How hard would it really be to provide better options for tie downs? My question to Cat is, why were they sized too small like that? Was it done on purpose?


My other thing would be designing things so that dust and mud tend to shed or are easy to clean, since I never seem to get operators that clean before it gets hauled, and I never seem to get bosses that plan my time to clean all the nooks and crannies packed full of dust. Make it so either it's easy to clean, or the dirt is secure enough for transport!

(and to think my wish list for tie-downs was that long, be glad I haven't spent much time operating newer dozers! I assume a lot has been improved since the D9H's I ran...

I had some chains made up.About six ft long with a grab hook on one end and a slip hook on the other.Slip hook fit those Cat tie downs just right.Slip hooks make tie downs easier and faster.

 

[Greg]

Buckeyebarton you are correct. The problem is that Caterpillar and all of the rest of the manufacturers are hiring way to many software engineers. None of them have ever been on a machine and know nothing about them. All they see is the amount of capacity in the computer that is being put on the machine. Now they have to write software to fill it. Was on a Caterpillar tour in Peoria a couple of years ago next month. Asked that question. All I got was basically a dumb stare when I told him that one operator I have would spend his whole day fooling with the hydraulics speed and waste ten times as much time as he would save with adustable speed. The rest of the guys would never touch it. If I had a machine with it on it I would have it disabled so as not to tempt anyone. Oh ya, sooner or later it is going to quit working and than what do we do? We pay through the teeth to get the da-- thing reprogramed.

 

[Wrench_one]

HOW about a dozer that is built 100% in america,, with american parts!!! I have two D-8T's and a D-7R and cannot believe how many parts on these machines are stamped "" MADE IN CHINA""

 

[jwar100]

how about cat starting to build brand new d6c again. new production and no electronics to mess with.

 

[JBlackwell]

The ultimate medium dozer...I thought there was already a such called the Deere 700J? :roll
I believe the power to weight ratio is awesome, adjustable hydraulic responsiveness, can counter-rotate the tracks if you are in a tight spot, really quiet in the cab, lunch box and drink holders, 12v plugs, easy to see blade from cab, can do some impressive finishing work with the 6-way blade (10' blade, not sure about 11' blade), has great balance to me with the winch option, work lights are pretty impressive (has place to add 2 more front mounts with the SWEEPS option to make it perfect), everything is easy to grease and check fluids, belly pans are fairly easy to pull. This is on a LGP model with 24" tracks which can go to 30" pads in the future if need be.

Now it could use a better radio w/ sirius satellite radio and a remote control, but I am not the type to complain.

Justin

 

[Pushysix]

Caterpillar D6T series1

 

[22a]

They already built the ultimate dozer. Caterpillar D8H 46A built on the cusp just before the K's were released. I have owned and run both. The 46A with the 300 HP spacer plate engine is an amazing machine. What's more, I can work on them because there are no computers or other electronic junk to corrupt the system. Just raw bullet proof horse power. We use them for dozer work as well as pulling scrapers. :Banghead

The Best Reply So Far

 

[22a]

how about cat starting to build brand new d6c again. new production and no electronics to mess with.

Another Great Reply. (A D4d as well would be good)

 

[yakmutech]

hello, i once come across somthing like this but i, think is funny but and now i understand that environment is the best teacher. i run a d6r series 2 with c9 engine for almost a decade nd now am having alot of problems with it inwhich some times i had odered a parts from abroad which is a waste of time so i decided to change the engine with 3306 DI, do you guys have any idea about what am trying to do.