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Fix it or trade?

D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
Posted a while ago about undercarriage cost for a D6c and it seemed I was getting a decent quote.
Still considering whether to spend the money on the machine or trade for a more modern tractor.
Regardless which way I go I'll need to fix the RH dead axle that's loose ( bore and bush the axle taper)
I'd hate to stick someone with the repair if I sold it without disclosing the problem.

I've put a ton of work into the tractor over the years but it's not getting any newer. A few repairs/ mods I've done are:
new radiator core
re-skinned blade (complete strip and replace)
new cutting edges
weld on grousers
new blade trunion balls & bearings, bushed blade braces
changed to D6D joystick blade control
added brush screens
steering clutch seals
head gasket
& many many other smaller repairs and leak fixes...........and there's always more to do.

The repair on the dead axle will probably run $4000 by the time Cat bores it and an independant shop does the rest. But is it worth dropping another $13k in a SALT undercarriage?
If I were to trade it, I could put on a set of dry chains and new sprockets and call it good.

I put less than 500 hrs a year on it and the machine does most everything I need, but with conventional steering clutches it limits it a little. Something with differential steer or hydraulic drive would be nice but I'm not enthused about a high track.

A little more weight & power would help with tree clearing, which I seem to do a lot of. I don't really mind if it's an open station machine and with doing clearing I'm not sure if I could keep glass in it.
Brush screens would be a must either way.

Not sure what's in the 35-40,000 lb size that's oval track....Deere or Komatsu?

When is it time to call it a day and trade?
IMG_20201121_103444202.jpg IMG_20201121_103502297_HDR.jpg IMG_20201121_092821873.jpg
 

Jonas302

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,197
Location
mn
There is a good chance that you will not find a newer used machine any more reliable or cheaper to operate but sometimes a guy just has to move on and work on a different machine
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
Not too many honest sellers like yourself. Another machine is just opening up another can of worms. You could probably save a couple grand putting dry chains on. Salt is better but you're not using the machine for high production. To upgrade will probably cost a lot more than the new undercarriage and you still won't know what you've got. You're machine looks pretty tight for a D6C.
 

Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,062
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
Put greased chains on her and keep the old girl. Salt tracks can be a pain when clearing, they don't like twisting and once they drop the oil out of the bushes they'll wear out faster than anything you've seen.
With good care and attention that tractor may out live you.
 

catman13

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
435
Location
oregon usa
Occupation
refrigeration engineer/excavation contractor
keep it, you know her inside an out, buy a bigger/newer one and your head aches start over , and 500 hours a year you have to justify payments and repair payments
 

bam1968

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2014
Messages
529
Location
IA
Occupation
Excavating Contractor
From your pics that would be a tough decision. I "cut my teeth" on a wore out D6C and absolutely despised the foot tilt thing. About half of the time it would stick one way or the other. I'm assuming the blade tilt is incorporated with the blade lift when you changed it over to the D6D controls??

We do a fair amount of terracing and tree removal. I have a Komatsu D65 EX-12 that has served me very well over the years that being said I also have a Komatsu D65 EX-15 that I wish I would have never seen. I have not had any major problems with it but we are constantly fighting wiring gremlins it seems like. Usually it is a disconnection in the wiring harness somewhere that will throw a code and derate the machine. So half of the time it is sitting off to the side while the older one is just working away.

If you decide to upgrade you might take a look at the Komatsu D65. It will be a little heavier than your D6C but not alot and have @ 40-50 more horsepower.
 

Check Break

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
468
Location
USA
The 10K is one of the finest machines CAT ever built. Sounds like you've put several thousand hours on her. If you're spending $25 or less per hour on machine wear, you're doing very well. Put an undercarriage on her. As has been said, you know what you have. Another machine will have it's own set of problems and you will still be working on it every year.
 

D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
...... I'm assuming the blade tilt is incorporated with the blade lift when you changed it over to the D6D controls??

Yes, the lever is a joy stick for lift and tilt. Found I didn't have enough feet for all the pedals. I had the same problem with the tilt pedals sticking.
Was a job adapting the new control. Took lots of measurements from a D6D and had to build an enclosure to mount it in.

Might have been better off originally getting a D6D. The power brakes on a D would be nice and they have a direct injection 3306 engine.
 

bam1968

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2014
Messages
529
Location
IA
Occupation
Excavating Contractor
I can imagine it was quite an undertaking to switch the controls. FWIW I have a good friend that bought a D6D that came with some heavy brush screens. He took them off and they are probably in pretty loose hands if you happen to upgrade to a D6D and are looking for some. It has a factory cab.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Your decision needs to be based on your business and the actual numbers. It would be nice to have a lot of things, but what you can afford up front and the projected returns are what should be guiding your future purchases.

Average auction on your machine model is around $10K. In general, old dozers are worth what is left on the undercarriage. Yours doesn't have much value showing. A dealer looking to sell you a newer machine doesn't have any room to move around the cost they have in a used machine, so won't be interested in yours at all. I can see a $7K offer real easy and more likely it would go directly to an auction yard and they would apply the proceeds toward the machine you want to purchase. As far as newer machines go, they are all more complicated and get harder to work on depending on what you get. Dozers in the northwest don't hold value real well so you can probably find something relatively inexpensive and then have to put a new undercarriage on. Retail average on a Komatsu D65EX-12 is around $41K while auction average is close to $24K. They are a whole lot easier to run and just as much more expensive to fix than your D6C.
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,260
Location
North Dakota
Put greased chains on her and keep the old girl. Salt tracks can be a pain when clearing, they don't like twisting and once they drop the oil out of the bushes they'll wear out faster than anything you've seen.
With good care and attention that tractor may out live you.

Tell me more about this, Tones. I'm going to put new chains on my 1150 this winter, and was figuring on SALT chains. It's an LGP, and it spends more time crawling around in rough ground than it does in the swamp, but when I need wide pads, I NEED them. Dozer gets a maximum of 200 hours per year. I can get leftover OEM vintage chains for $1500 per chain, or ITR SALT chains for $2000 per. Case doesn't make chains for this dozer any more.
 

Dave Neubert

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
1,649
Location
Monroe NC
If you upgrade you will still have repair problems I have a customer who upgraded his 953 to a 953C run it one week and the hydrostat went out that is a 30K repair machine is really not worth it he only paid 40K for it so now he is down one loader and the guy who bought his old one is still running it
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,436
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
You are at same point I was with my Fat Allis, had so much time and effort and let it go, wish some times was still here even as GLAD and did a Happy Dance when left. NOT going to find one better and in as good overall condition that you CAN still get parts for. KEEP IT, FIX IT!!!!!
 
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Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,062
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
Tell me more about this, Tones. I'm going to put new chains on my 1150 this winter, and was figuring on SALT chains. It's an LGP, and it spends more time crawling around in rough ground than it does in the swamp, but when I need wide pads, I NEED them. Dozer gets a maximum of 200 hours per year. I can get leftover OEM vintage chains for $1500 per chain, or ITR SALT chains for $2000 per. Case doesn't make chains for this dozer any more.
An old bloke who owned a trackshop told me this. On dozers doing clearing or forestry work he would only fit greased pins, reckoned SALT tracks weren't worth the grief for him or this client's. His theory was a dozer doing earthworks the tracks were following the blade on a reasonably flat surface which was ok but when the dozer has to travel over rough terrain the tracks twist to much and chop out the seals leaking out the oil. The wider the grousers the worse the issue becomes.
 

D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
Are what you call greased chains the same as "dry chains"? The track shop has a set of dry ones (no lube) that they recommended if I were going to sell the machine.
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
28,984
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
An old bloke who owned a trackshop told me this. On dozers doing clearing or forestry work he would only fit greased pins, reckoned SALT tracks weren't worth the grief for him or this client's. His theory was a dozer doing earthworks the tracks were following the blade on a reasonably flat surface which was ok but when the dozer has to travel over rough terrain the tracks twist to much and chop out the seals leaking out the oil. The wider the grousers the worse the issue becomes.
Based on his commentsabout twisting, etc, I'd be interested to know how that works in mining. The dozers almost never run on level ground yet SALT joints losing lube are almost unheard of these days.
 
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