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How hard to add a 6 way blade to a D6H?

G

Garrik

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Feb 12, 2020
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16
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Looking for my first dozer. Need something mid-sized, mostly going to use it for cleaning up and putting in roads, and some forestry work, mostly skidding. So I'm looking at D6 class machines with either a winch or grapple, which limits my choices considerably, esp in the D6H's.

It feels to me like I want a 6 way blade if I can get one. Finding machines with straight blades (mostly they seem to be 4 way, ie S blades with tilt) is easy. Finding one with a PAT / 6 way blade is hard.

Assuming that I can find the parts - ie probably that I can find a donor machine of the same type and vintage - how 'hard' would it be to remove the 4 way blade and replace it with a 6 way blade on a D6C, D6D or D6H?

Thanks much!
 
Dave Neubert

Dave Neubert

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I never saw a 6 way on any of these 6s not saying there arn't any out there but I bet it will be tough finding a donor dozer best but one with it on already
 
R

rodney watson

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ohio
Hello, this is my first bit of shared info on this forum, hope I do ya well,
In my own opinion, I would even consider it, the rails are different the front of the machines are different, a 6 way blade is mounted under the machine, I could be completely wrong, I am not familiar with the 6S model, I’d say find a dozer with a 6 way blade on it if it were me, take your time don’t force, your machine will come to you, done it many times!!!! Hope I’ve helped and didn’t make a dummy of myself!!
I can dig it...
 
mowingman

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We have a 6 way blade on the D6T we just rented from the cat dealer. I am not sure if they were available on the D6H machines. I have never seen one.
This is the third time we have had a D6T with the 6 way though.
Jeff
 
Nige

Nige

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Answering thread title "how hard to add 6-way?"
Answer. A lot harder than you think.
One of the reasons is in post #4 above, the push arms and trunnion mountings are completely different. See below. On the left the 6-way blade, on the right an S-U blade. Machines with 6-way also generally seem to be LGP configuration. I haven't checked but it may even be the case that the track frames are also different.

upload_2021-4-10_3-12-34.png
 
T

Tinkerer

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The conversion would probably cost more than the dozer. If it could be done.
D6N's are available with a VPAT blade everywhere. With a winch not so much.
Any D6 LGP with a VPAT blade was one my favorite dozers to operate. Especially on slopes.
For sure Nige, I have never seen a VPAT with narrow tracks.
 
Spyros33

Spyros33

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I think it is easier to find a 6way blade with manual angle changing like i have on my 955L.
It has three positions straight/angled right/angled left.
It is not very handy for comstant angle changing but its an easy installation
 
R

.RC.

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[QUOTE="Tinkerer, post: 964269, member: 10054"
D6N's are available with a VPAT blade everywhere. With a winch not so much.
[/QUOTE]

A D6N is not in the same class as a D6H though. A D6N is nothing more then a glorified D5H. I do not even know why the D6M and N exist.
 
JPV

JPV

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The 6Ns I ran have a 3126 6 cylinder, the 5H I ran I think had a 3304 4 cylinder. I don't know what the hp numbers were but the 6M or N would bury the 5. Both are the same size and weight. I did really like running every one of them though.
 
John C.

John C.

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What the OP is describing is a Cat tracked skidder that would be of the 517 or 527 models. Cat never made a D6 sized machine with a grapple. Both the 517 and 525 came with the six way and either a winch with an arch, dual arch grapple or a swing grapple. Those models were discontinued years ago but are still necessary for certain operations and areas so are rare and hard to find as well as very expensive. A D6 with oval track is a very handy machine in the woods for pioneering roads and general clean up. Add a winch on the back and rake on the front and you can take care of the underbrush pretty well. I never cared for a high drive in the woods in the D6 size range. The grapple skidders were based on the D4/D5 high drives that balanced out pretty well with the grapples on the back. If you want to skid logs, they work a whole lot better than a D6 in any configuration.
 
G

Garrik

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Santa Cruz, CA
Yeah, a 517 or 527 would be ideal, but WAY out of my price range.

The machines currently under consideration (ie I can afford them) are a late model (3306T, 11k serial number) well maintained D6C with winch, a high drive D6H with grapple (guessing aftermarket), and a purpose built forestry Dressta TD9M with PAT and winch.

The D6C is the cheapest, I know the MX history of the machine in detail, and it has a winch. But it is a manual angle blade with tilt (ie no PAT), and my understanding is that parts for the D6C and its winch are getting harder to find. Still, right now this machine is the front runner.

The D6H with grapple has a straight blade with tilt, which I don't love. And no winch, although I may be able to add one (I have seen a D5H with both grapple and winch, so it may be possible. That D5H would be perfect but it is too expensive, over $80k). It is high drive, which I have heard is easier to maintain, and has a lower center of gravity (which would be good for me, obviously). And the D6H is near me, so shipping will be much cheaper than either of the other options (which are at least a $4-5k low boy ride away).

The Dressta is perfect except for its size - it is about 60% the size, weight and horsepower of the D6's. Given that I will only own one dozer, I think I need it to be more in the 35,000 lb and 140 HP category (the Dressta is 20,000 lbs and 100 hp).

Sounds like I am not adding a PAT to a D6C, D or H - so I am going to have to decide to either spend more money, buy the Dressta (which has a PAT) and deal with the smaller size, or accept a manual angle blade or just a tilt blade.
 
firedozer

firedozer

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The first 6 way dozers on D6's were made by Bateman in canada. Not Cat. Cat started making their own after a few years.
Not positive but I think I remember seeing D6H with Bateman dozer at Peterson Tractor once.
 
E

epirbalex

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Garrik said:
Looking for my first dozer. Need something mid-sized, mostly going to use it for cleaning up and putting in roads, and some forestry work, mostly skidding. So I'm looking at D6 class machines with either a winch or grapple, which limits my choices considerably, esp in the D6H's.

It feels to me like I want a 6 way blade if I can get one. Finding machines with straight blades (mostly they seem to be 4 way, ie S blades with tilt) is easy. Finding one with a PAT / 6 way blade is hard.

Assuming that I can find the parts - ie probably that I can find a donor machine of the same type and vintage - how 'hard' would it be to remove the 4 way blade and replace it with a 6 way blade on a D6C, D6D or D6H?

Thanks much!
Click to expand...
Whats the terrain like .if its easy ground with deep soil making roads without rippers is possible . Logging trucks need good roads , easier to make with a bigger dozer . the newer D6's are not like a D6D weight wise . Again what is the size of the trees you are going to log and are you needing to remove large stumps to place your roads . The closer you can get trucks the better , dragging logs behind a dozer is expensive . Most roads would be built with power tilt on a bull blade when built by dozers , power tilt makes it easy . Cleaning up stumps it would be better to have solid push arms holding the blade rather than rams . All depends on your land and tree sizes what size dozer would be best .
 
G

Garrik

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Santa Cruz, CA
All depends on your land and tree sizes what size dozer would be best .
Click to expand...

Doesn't it always! If you don't know what problem you are trying to solve, it is very hard to solve it...

My real issue is that I don't really know what problem I am trying to solve, because I have never run a crawler before. I have several wheeled tractors, from a 60 HP Kubota MX6000 up to a Cat 966c, and a Case backhoe - but none of them are stable on steep terrain.

The ground that we will be logging is steep. Most trees are redwoods in the 12-30" class. Some tanoaks and madrones in the 6-20" range will need to be removed to clear way for the logging. There are existing skid trails that cut across the steep slopes in most places, but are old and need to be cleaned up (fallen trees and debris removed, water bars removed and then put back in, minor slides dealt with) and in some cases extended a bit. The ground is mostly fairly soft, with some 6-12" chunks of granite but nothing bigger.

My concern is that it will be difficult to use wheeled tractors on this kind of terrain, esp for fixing the roads and skidding the larger logs. We typically try to skid full trees when we can, 33' logs when we can't. 33' of 24" redwood is surprisingly heavy when you are skidding up hill.

Around here, according to the local logging crowd, the D6D is the tractor of choice for this kind of work. But I can't find a good used D6D with a winch anywhere. The nice late model D6C that I have found is basically a D6D in terms of size, HP, etc. - which is why I am zoomed in on that one.

The D6H XR is a bigger machine obviously. 25% heavier (31,500 vs. 39,500 working weight), and 35 more HP (175 vs. 140 net). But about the same physical size (a foot longer, and 9" wider gauge). The Dressta is quite a bit smaller in every sense.

Most roads would be built with power tilt on a bull blade when built by dozers , power tilt makes it easy .
Click to expand...

Yes, only looking at machines with tilt blades. I have hydraulic top and tilt on my box blade on my Kubota, so I sort of get the idea I think.

Any hints or suggestions most welcome.
 
DMiller

DMiller

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Crawlers can still roll, can still skid down a steep enough slope and can cartwheel if gets out of control.
 
E

epirbalex

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Garrik said:
Doesn't it always! If you don't know what problem you are trying to solve, it is very hard to solve it...

My real issue is that I don't really know what problem I am trying to solve, because I have never run a crawler before. I have several wheeled tractors, from a 60 HP Kubota MX6000 up to a Cat 966c, and a Case backhoe - but none of them are stable on steep terrain.

The ground that we will be logging is steep. Most trees are redwoods in the 12-30" class. Some tanoaks and madrones in the 6-20" range will need to be removed to clear way for the logging. There are existing skid trails that cut across the steep slopes in most places, but are old and need to be cleaned up (fallen trees and debris removed, water bars removed and then put back in, minor slides dealt with) and in some cases extended a bit. The ground is mostly fairly soft, with some 6-12" chunks of granite but nothing bigger.

My concern is that it will be difficult to use wheeled tractors on this kind of terrain, esp for fixing the roads and skidding the larger logs. We typically try to skid full trees when we can, 33' logs when we can't. 33' of 24" redwood is surprisingly heavy when you are skidding up hill.

Around here, according to the local logging crowd, the D6D is the tractor of choice for this kind of work. But I can't find a good used D6D with a winch anywhere. The nice late model D6C that I have found is basically a D6D in terms of size, HP, etc. - which is why I am zoomed in on that one.

The D6H XR is a bigger machine obviously. 25% heavier (31,500 vs. 39,500 working weight), and 35 more HP (175 vs. 140 net). But about the same physical size (a foot longer, and 9" wider gauge). The Dressta is quite a bit smaller in every sense.



Yes, only looking at machines with tilt blades. I have hydraulic top and tilt on my box blade on my Kubota, so I sort of get the idea I think.

Any hints or suggestions most welcome.
Click to expand...
The D6C would do the job so long as you not going to stump the area . A D7G , Komatsu D65 if you are . D6D's will be all worn alright , last of the traditional Caterpiller's built to a standard not a cost , kept till the end .
 
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