• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

The Ultimate Medium Dozer?

LG 78

LG 78

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 3, 2020
Messages
80
Location
King Country NZ
Id just like to get hydraulic track adjusters on my D7 17a and I think I would be happy as with her. Great machine to do maintenance on everything was made to be pulled apart with ease, and a beaut to operate so long as you have a 15 knot cross wind to get the dust out of your eyes. Also has a nice big seat to crash out on at afternoon smoko time while shes cooling down a bit too
 
RollOver Pete

RollOver Pete

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
1,510
Location
Indio, Ca
Occupation
Operating Engineer/mechanic
RollOver Pete said:
I'd add weight.
Not by making a dozer bigger,
just making them heavier.
The way I'd do this its by removing anything plastic.
Sure they look nice with all of the hoses and wires neatly tucked away behind an aesthetically pleasing plastic panel...
Kind of like in a car or motor home or a Freightliner that is driven every day off road.
Everything plastic starts falling apart.

But since everybody knows that will never happen,
How about an option of a seat that can be positioned or moved off to the side in larger dozers.
Rip Cats for example.
Instead of having to turn your body in the seat to see your work area which is BEHIND you,
how about a seat that swings around just enough to make ripping easier on your neck?
:cool:
Click to expand...

It's been 12 years since I first responded to this tread.
12 more years of all kinds of abuse has worn my body down.
I ran my first CAT 2U in 1978. I remember the owner always talked very loudly and walked like a bent up pretzel. He'd tell me to slow down and take it easy on my back.
I can remember thinking to myself, " shuddup you grumpy old man. You dont know what you're talking about." Boy was I wrong.
So after 42 years of operating, repairing and moving equipment, I gotta say that.. you were right Elmer. I should have listened. Now my only real concern is a comfortable seat and finding a way to easily and safely climb down off of a machine, any machine while I wait to regain feeling in my hands and legs.
And to think that once upon a time I used to make fun of those grumpy old timers with their crooked backs and bent legs as I watched them crawl off of their open cab machines.
Now I am that grumpy old timer.:cool:
 
skyking1

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,620
Location
washington
I liked the early D5 high track LGPs, I forget the model but Ceccanti had one on Mchchord AFB and I did a lot of prep ahead of the grader crew, during the C17 expansion.
 
W

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,492
Location
Canada
I've got over 10 compression fractures in my back laying in a hospital bed right now. I should have hopped back in the skid steer. LoL I think I should start chain smoking and drinking like fish because some of those grumpy guys live well into their nineties with no serious ailments.
 
John Shipp

John Shipp

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2015
Messages
643
Location
England
Occupation
forestry contracting
Welder Dave said:
I've got over 10 compression fractures in my back laying in a hospital bed right now. I should have hopped back in the skid steer. LoL I think I should start chain smoking and drinking like fish because some of those grumpy guys live well into their nineties with no serious ailments.
Click to expand...

Sounds nasty Dave, did you drop in a hard hole, or an accumulation of holes catching up with you? Good luck bouncing back.
 
W

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,492
Location
Canada
I'm just done. I'm trying to be positive but if I passed away I'm OK with it. Not trying to be negative but it's the honest to god truth. I feel like a paralyzed and sore old man. Just being rid of the pain and uselessness I feel would be a comfort. It's hard to explain. I'm fighting but the thought of no pain not a care in the world and just going to sleep is really refreshing.
 
T

Tarhe Driver

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
Messages
248
Location
Savannah, GA
Occupation
Comm. Real Est Appraiser-Retired cargo/helo pilot
Thank you for the reply, Dave. Sometimes its hard for a hard-working person to just relax and let the meds and the medical mechanics do their jobs. We know you have excellent care, so just relax as you can and let them work. If your mind gets too active with worry, try counting to yourself as follows: 10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5. When you've mastered that, add 10 to each number, then 30. It should bore you to sleep. I use it all the time to de-stress.

Neill
 
Flat Thunder Channel

Flat Thunder Channel

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
378
Location
Ohio
I got an opportunity to operate a CAT D5G. It's a smaller machine, but still very powerful. It's handy because you don't need a lowboy trailer to move it around. You can move it to site with a medium duty truck / dump truck and an equipment trailer.

I don't have much authority on dozers. This was the first machine I got to operate. I had a blast! Only problem is now I want one!

Check it out:
 
GoldsmithDozers

GoldsmithDozers

New Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Callahan County Texas
My baby is the CAT D6T, :) I have logged hundred of hours with her, every chance I get I would be out playing in the dirt. Seth would get mad sometimes cause I be out playing instead in the office working. I am anxious to jump in the D9, it's always out on projects though. One day when it comes back, Id like to take it for a spin out in the back pasture.
 
DozerPlowBoy

DozerPlowBoy

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Messages
8
Location
Ohio
The perfect medium size dozer for me would have a bogie undercarriage, Load sensing, low effort hydraulic system, comfortable and adjustable air seat, Quite cab with lots of open view, Integrated GPS, hydraulic belly pans, differential steering, super efficient/durable IVT transmission that gets all the power to the ground, High track.
 
hseII

hseII

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
89
Location
Georgia
John C. said:
The D7E wasn't highly thought of when it came out and I only remember one that came into my area of Washington State. I don't know if it was ever purchased. There was also the issue of the electrical system retaining a charge after the engine was shut down. You needed to go through a procedure to discharge the electricity before working on anything or you could get slapped real hard for touching the wrong thing. As I recall the price of the D7E was nearly the same as the D8T. I have to wonder how much time the D6E has to achieve specified sales numbers before a decision is made to keep it or toss it out.
Click to expand...
To this day anything Caterpillar & “E” model gets avoided at all cost due to a particular Power Shift D7E that nearly sunk dad.

30 years later & Pops still has the serial in his head from all the trips to Yancey to get that devil back moving.

8 hrs from purchase it got a new engine.
10 hrs later a new transmission. Then a new TC.
Then some additional cooler work. And so on & so on until it was on the float to Mobile Bay.


We are certain there are some Colombians in Columbia that have a hit out on us due to us selling that machine to a Central American broker who sent it to Columbia.

Now here I sit on this rainy Tuesday wanting to buy a TD15E for a good all a rounder & wondering how much pushback I’m going to get on it because it has an E in the model number.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top