Just a bit of trivia from "down under", when the the sales reps were trying to sell them here in the '80s, someone in the sales hierarchy devised some weird calculation, promoting them as "shifting material more efficiently than a 623b". It was probably more to do with cost of ownership. JD earth moving equipment was not a big seller over here in those days either.
There were only a few out here, not many but seemed to do the job OK. Never see them around now. 4wd articulated tractors pulling laser buckets or "pans" as they're known in USA, seem to have taken over the agricultural earth moving scene. My theory on this is, it's easier to find an operator for a big 4wd tractor than a proficient scraper operator.