Track loaders vs dozers for dozing type work?

A friend of mine selected a track loader for work in clay/loam soil doing some pond cutting a grade work on a larger private property. He is probably cutting up 5-7acres or so. I just thought it odd that he selected a track loader as the job seems to be just dozer work. Not having any seat time in a track loader myself, I guess I don't know the usefulness in this application. I tend to think he bought it more based on "what was available" or what a salesman told him, or maybe he needed that bucket for something I am unaware of.


He is no dirt expert so I don't think there was a "higher understanding" involved. it just looks like the bucket mounts on the loader are higher and would cause the front of the machine to lift when dozing, and for certain the grousers are not all that tall as I think they need to be able to turn more in which the taller dozer grousers dig in and terrorize the UC a bit more.

Am I missing something here? I realize the conditions and such would dictate but I have spent enough time in a wheel loader to know they don't dig all that great in compacted soils and tend to add compression as they dig, causing them to fight, BUT the track loader has rippers on the bucket and I have never tried that.

Just looking for thoughts, no biggy.

A track loader may be more versatile as it can also carry material that a dozer can't. In soft ground a dozer is better but depending on a few things a track loader can do a good job levelling. What machine did he get?

X2 on what Dave said. The problem with track-loaders is that if he hits water he is screwed. With a dozer not so much. Even a rainshower will put the loader out of business for a while.

imo the track loader is a one machine do all, it can take down trees bigger than a dozer can ,it and a truck,make a scaper, on most house places you can grade the low sides from the high and dress up as you go with dozer you have to leave mess till dirt is moved. they have there place in small company.

Not sure on the model but is a Komatsu and about the size of a D5-D6 cat. I am not knocking the track loader as I am sure they can be very useful, sort of like a backhoe.....not the best at anything, but well rounded. I could sure see where backfilling home sites and such could be much better than a skidsteer. Maybe places where a wheel loader would be desired but wheel pressure would cause issues maybe.....

I hear the term thrown around on the track loaders call them a "dozer" but I have yet to see one perform very well pushing? I found a couple videos of a guy 'trying' to run one on youtube. It was painful to watch! The guys can't run it and was trying to doze/level a road path. He basically just tore it up.

I have never heard that the track loader is better with tree removal. Can you explain? It is because you can get higher on the tree trunk or have more lift to walk the tree down? Just curious.

I did see a real pro using a small excavator removing stumps with a smaller excavator and that was a precision operation. Able to clean the soil off the root ball, set them aside, etc. This was not land clearing though, he was prepping for a road where it was not desired to damage other trees.

The question the OP had was in regards to digging a pond.
Lots of variables in the conditions.
I finished a lot of them with dozers and there is no way a track-loader would be any faster. Especially when finishing slopes. I ran everything from D3 size dozers up to D8's in ponds.
We never ever put track-loaders in ponds.
A D8 would run rings around a 973 track-loader on slopes.

You can't base something off a you tube video of people not knowing what they are doing. Look at some of pics. of jobs members on here have done with track loaders. It sounds like you don't know a lot about equipment either. A loader can reach up higher than a dozer to provide much better leverage for pushing tree's over. You can also lift the tree's and/or stump easier. Comparing a wheel loader to a track loader is like comparing a 2 wheel drive pick up to a 4 wheel drive pick up. Both will carry a load but if the ground is soft or there's snow, the 2 wheel drive might leave you stranded. When deciding between a track loader and a dozer one of the first considerations is the type of ground it will be mostly working on. Anything soft or wet would likely require a wide pad dozer. Steeper slopes should be done with a dozer as well. There are some models of wide pad loaders but they still have a lot more ground pressure than a wide pad dozer. The concern I would have is the model of track loader. If it's a D66S hydrostatic machine they were known for problems. I don't think there were any common problems with Komatsu powershift models.

Gotcha. We don't do too much land clearing around here and don't see too many track loaders either. My experience is primarily in final grade work either for municipal storm sewers, bridges, and golf courses.
This is just a vid that I found trying to simply see what track loaders do, but I was left with "wtf" on this one.

Look in the archives on this site. There are much better examples of what a track loader can do.

well here i am telling my age again, you mean to tell me that no one has every tied track loader to a dozer to cut a core in pond, before we even knew what a trackhoe was, or walked a hard bottom in a pond to get mud out ,in my day run what you had get work done. and i guess you every pushed dirt 500, 600, or 700 foot to build chicken house pads, i was bad mouth around here when i got track hoe cause no else had one, and first pan was d w 15 know wander i hurt all over. but would not trade my life with anyone what a experience.

should have watched video first that guy looked like monkey bucking football, now i know why we have computers on machines, total brain dead op. no planing or thinking.

It was so pathetic I fast forwarded several times. Maybe watched less than two minutes total.

Well a 963 obviously isn’t his primary weapon, but I wouldn’t call him brain dead or pathetic, he got his job done how he wanted it without too much machine abuse.

Track loaders used as dozers are common in my area. Mainly used for terrace building but used as general dozer work as well.

Search forum member ippielb’s posts to see what can really be done with a track loader.

To me a loader can doze but a dozer can’t load

DB2 said:

Search forum member ippielb’s posts to see what can really be done with a track loader.

Click to expand...

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/cat-track-loader-purchase.50512/

I suggest you read all 17 pages...........

bam1968 said:

Track loaders used as dozers are common in my area. Mainly used for terrace building but used as general dozer work as well.View attachment 205072

Click to expand...

I like that! It would be the cool tool till it got too wet than it would be a 55,000 pound doorstop. Now if you had a pin on brush rake to fit the blade too...

DB2 said:

Search forum member ippielb’s posts to see what can really be done with a track loader.
To me a loader can doze but a dozer can’t load

Click to expand...

have seen a small dozer cut a hole and a make a berm, back a truck into the hole then push fill the truck from the rear, certainly not the best way to load.

bam1968 said:

Track loaders used as dozers are common in my area. Mainly used for terrace building but used as general dozer work as well.

Click to expand...

I think the machine in the image changes the definition of trackloader. Looks like it would be awful handy in the right conditions.