johndeere2240
Active Member
Hey guys, been lurking here for years and usually am able to answer any questions I have by searching the forums, but I have finally run into something I can’t find a good answer for so here goes, (this is probably going to be long winded)
I have been doing dirt work/excavation work now on the side for about 5 years, in that time iv bought and sold some equipment and grown my little business always using older equipment ( I like old school) and I currently have 4 pieces that I work with, a Peterbilt 359 tandem dump, a John Deere 310d 4wd backhoe, and a Dresser 175c loader, and finally a Dresser Td8g dozer
My first dozer was a Dresser Td8e, I loved that machine, it was standard track, fast, powerful and you could grade anything smooth as glass with it, but the dt239 engine is know to be troublesome and you can’t hardly get parts for it, so when I found a TD8g with the Cummins motor and rippers I thought that would be a updgrade that I could keep from now on as I really like Dresser/International equipment, this machine was a wide track machine with the 9’ blade, compared to my e model with a 7’10” blade, but it has been put back with standard 16” pads, which I like because I rarely work in soft ground I tend to do a lot of pad work and driveway installs and genral clearing work where the extra compaction and traction of the narrow pads are better. And it has what looks to be nearly new salt tracks, with new front idlers and top rollers, and sprockets, bottom rollers were reused, can’t tell much about them because of the rock guards but what I can see I can tell they are worn, when I got the machine the blade was bad loose, as was my Td8e so I bought all new pins and bushings and tightened the blade.
Now the trouble is I can’t make a smooth spot of dirt with this thing to save me life, loose dirt is okay, but trying to shave hard virgin ground, or shape up a driveway is nearly impossible, it seems like on hard ground the blade is constantly moving up and down with the rhythm of the tracks, and the blade gouges in and starts the washboard, iv tried everything in the world to make it work, slowing to a crawl, just making tiny cuts to where I’m just tickling the dirt, trying to always keep the blade loaded you name it.
I have a seasoned operator helping me, he has been running machines for approximately 40 years doing pipe line work and major road construction and says he has never been on anything as hard to run as this, everything iv read the Td8 has a stellar reputation I can’t imagine how it could be this hard to run, especially as nice as my Td8e was, I understand the wide blade machine will be harder than a standard blade to keep from gouging but this is horrible ♂️.
Sometimes it seems like my hydraulics are slower than they are supposed to be, like I know I need to be coming up with the blade but it won’t come up fast enough, I was told my hydraulic pump could be wore and not providing enough volume making the spool for the blade control slow to respond, so I replaced the hydraulic pump, no difference.
Now the other thing is when I got the machine the front idlers had no shims under them to shim them down against the track frame, and you could see the idlers moving up and down, so I ordered shims and shimmed them down pretty close to tight against the frame, now I’m wondering is the combination of worn rollers and new idlers shimmed down causing a problem? Is my track riding hard on my front idler and then coming back up to my rollers and will this make it hard to grade with? In other words do I need to replace my rollers? Or is this big rant all for nothing?? Am I just imagining problems??
Any help or opinions is much appreciated
Thanks
I have been doing dirt work/excavation work now on the side for about 5 years, in that time iv bought and sold some equipment and grown my little business always using older equipment ( I like old school) and I currently have 4 pieces that I work with, a Peterbilt 359 tandem dump, a John Deere 310d 4wd backhoe, and a Dresser 175c loader, and finally a Dresser Td8g dozer
My first dozer was a Dresser Td8e, I loved that machine, it was standard track, fast, powerful and you could grade anything smooth as glass with it, but the dt239 engine is know to be troublesome and you can’t hardly get parts for it, so when I found a TD8g with the Cummins motor and rippers I thought that would be a updgrade that I could keep from now on as I really like Dresser/International equipment, this machine was a wide track machine with the 9’ blade, compared to my e model with a 7’10” blade, but it has been put back with standard 16” pads, which I like because I rarely work in soft ground I tend to do a lot of pad work and driveway installs and genral clearing work where the extra compaction and traction of the narrow pads are better. And it has what looks to be nearly new salt tracks, with new front idlers and top rollers, and sprockets, bottom rollers were reused, can’t tell much about them because of the rock guards but what I can see I can tell they are worn, when I got the machine the blade was bad loose, as was my Td8e so I bought all new pins and bushings and tightened the blade.
Now the trouble is I can’t make a smooth spot of dirt with this thing to save me life, loose dirt is okay, but trying to shave hard virgin ground, or shape up a driveway is nearly impossible, it seems like on hard ground the blade is constantly moving up and down with the rhythm of the tracks, and the blade gouges in and starts the washboard, iv tried everything in the world to make it work, slowing to a crawl, just making tiny cuts to where I’m just tickling the dirt, trying to always keep the blade loaded you name it.
I have a seasoned operator helping me, he has been running machines for approximately 40 years doing pipe line work and major road construction and says he has never been on anything as hard to run as this, everything iv read the Td8 has a stellar reputation I can’t imagine how it could be this hard to run, especially as nice as my Td8e was, I understand the wide blade machine will be harder than a standard blade to keep from gouging but this is horrible ♂️.
Sometimes it seems like my hydraulics are slower than they are supposed to be, like I know I need to be coming up with the blade but it won’t come up fast enough, I was told my hydraulic pump could be wore and not providing enough volume making the spool for the blade control slow to respond, so I replaced the hydraulic pump, no difference.
Now the other thing is when I got the machine the front idlers had no shims under them to shim them down against the track frame, and you could see the idlers moving up and down, so I ordered shims and shimmed them down pretty close to tight against the frame, now I’m wondering is the combination of worn rollers and new idlers shimmed down causing a problem? Is my track riding hard on my front idler and then coming back up to my rollers and will this make it hard to grade with? In other words do I need to replace my rollers? Or is this big rant all for nothing?? Am I just imagining problems??
Any help or opinions is much appreciated
Thanks
