Cat D6D--a decent farm cat?

[sawmilleng]

Hi, just got my posting wings as a noob!!

I've got an opportunity to pick up a 1981 D6D, 04X serial prefix. Its got an angledozer, hydraulic tilts and a cute little parallelogram ripper that looks like it should have been on a grader...

I haven't seem much talk on this site about the D6D...is it a decent machine? Any warts that a guy should watch out for? In the same lineup as this machine there is another D6D, 1979--I noticed it had fish plates welded to the sides of both track frames just ahead of the sprocket. Weak track frames?

I'll be using it for clearing on my stump ranch--mostly small pine to take out and grading the land enough to get agricultural equipment working the soil. Probably try to get a little outside work as well.

I'd appreciate any and all opinions and commments!!

Thanks,
Jon.

 

[LonestarCobra]

The D6D is an excellent machine. You dont hear much about them anymore because they are older machines and most big contractors have traded them in on H and R series. I personally own one and a D5B of the same vintage, and like both of them. I use them on my farm/ranch and also work them for others. My dozers are direct drive instead of the powershift which you are looking at, but set that aside and everything else is the same. I have not seen any major problems with the roller frames on the 6D's it was probably abuse IMO. The final drives require a little care to get the maximum life out of them, but the machines are good overall.

 

[oldirt]

Parts for these are very easy to find and available from many aftermarket sources.

If the owner will let you, put it in the dirt for a couple hours and push for all it is worth, if the trans/torque gauge goes into the red there are issues here to deal with. Listen for exhaust gaskets leaking, this means broken manifold bolts, best fix is to trade head to cat for a reman and a new manifold, probably a new turbo too. Probably need new injectors too at the same time, look real hard at the fan drive..if bearings are loose, hub is probably shot. Also the fan and alternator pulleys may be shot (this is an old tractor) and this will slow down the fan for less cooling. Radiator core must be good for good cooling too. These are just problems that all old tractors will run into, don't let it sway you much, I fixed every bit of this on my D6D, and it is a very dependable and economical tractor to run. Factory D6 ripper is pretty large so it sounds like this one is lighter, but still might be fine.

Pull off the floor panels under your feet on the operators station after you get it hot and look around for leaks. If it has been run hot a lot, the seals under the trans pump and assorted other valve blocks near the torque will be leaking. No big job to re the seals, just an indication of what has been happening.

Tractor will do a ton of work and you can haul it on a two axle lowboy.

 

[DPete]

Welcome to the board sawmill, a D6 in good shape of that era should serve you well.

 

[mockman]

D6d

the early ones had small bearings in the crossshaft, the finals drive bearings go out around 8,000 hrs, the angle blade is for shaping, not worth a crap for trees or production dozing, probably why roller frames are cracked
I've got an opportunity to pick up a 1981 D6D, 04X serial prefix. Its got an angledozer, hydraulic tilts and a cute little parallelogram ripper that looks like it should have been on a grader...

I haven't seem much talk on this site about the D6D...is it a decent machine? Any warts that a guy should watch out for? In the same lineup as this machine there is another D6D, 1979--I noticed it had fish plates welded to the sides of both track frames just ahead of the sprocket. Weak track frames?

I'll be using it for clearing on my stump ranch--mostly small pine to take out and grading the land enough to get agricultural equipment working the soil. Probably try to get a little outside work as well.

I'd appreciate any and all opinions and commments!!

Thanks,
Jon.[/QUOTE]

 

[tripper_174]

Very good tractor. Had one in northern Manitoba where it's pretty tough going. Hung together well and when using arctic type oils would start when it was -25 without being plugged in. What are these worth nowadays?

 

[mockman]

D6d

I got 32k for mine, granted not what it was worth. I bought it brand new in 1983 with factory cab, engine enclosures, lights and logging sweeps. It had 16,000 frame hours 8,000 hrs on everything but the engine, think engine had around 10,000 hrs, someone filled it with sand at 6,000 hrs in North Omaha. I had just rebuilt the finals, resealed torque convertor, tilt cylinder, new hoses on transmission, new stiff bar pads and wear plates, had a fresh turn on 3,000 hour rails and shoes. Resealed the cable control. Good paint, no bent sheet metal. Needed a couple wiper blades and one switch and I think 3 headlight bulbs. The windshield washers I was going to unplug, they had not worked since new, tips were plugged with paint. Heat and a/c all worked. I paid $138,500 for it in 1983. I have never seen nor never will find another one as good. I did an engine back overhaul in 2000, think I spent 70,000 on that tractor in like 3 years. Rebuilt everything up to the fan and alternator pulley's. Funny after 26 years that I never unplugged those washer nozzles. Like how often do you push dirt when it is raining anyway. I had a 1978 D6D and 1974 D6C before this one, they both had to get updated cross shaft bearings, but were good tractors too. The D6C 10K was about the same machine other than sheetmetal and crosshaft bearings. They went to a direct injection engine sometime between 1978 and 1983 and also put the blade tilt on wobble stick with the d series.

 

[sawmilleng]

D6d

All, thanks for your opinions and observations--they're all good. (even if they're bad!)

Tripper, the only real information I can find on pricing is from what the dealers want (highway robbery--$40K) and on the Ritchie Bros auction results pages. From there it looks like an early '80s D6D goes for about $15-25K. One stuck out--a wide pad machine got nearly $40K.

I get cold just thinking of the North. You must have had a pretty tight engine for it to start at -25 without the usual sniff of ether! All my diesels on the farm need a sniff when it hits zero C! 'Course the newest is 1972, so I guess my herd of geriatric diesels have an excuse!

Is the engine a decent design?

OldDirt, you have pointed out a lot of small items that can help the life of the girl. Good points! Is there any way of telling how good/bad the turbo is? I guess if you can hear it rattling it's probably already shot... Is it a big buck to get a reman turbo?

The small ripper I was talking about is a Cat ripper, built for the '6. It just looks small compared to the monsters a guy sees on the back of '8s.

Mockman, you are hard on the angledozer. I can see why it probably isn't good for pushing distances unless you slot doze but why do you say its no good for pushing trees? Is it that it isn't as well braced as a straight blade?

Thanks,
Jon.

 

[oldirt]

ripper on a 6

The standard D6 cat ripper is really big, it looks way bigger than the machine could ever tear up. Mine will turn my tractor sideways if one side hits something solid enough not to break.

when I bought my 6D there were plenty of open station tractors that were priced in the 35K range from original owners that you could trust. Auction tractors were 10k less but needed about everything fixed so it depends on what you want.

 

[d9gdon]

Ripper

I wonder if somebody put a ripper off a motor grader on that dozer. I've seen that done on a D5B, they'll bolt right up. A D6D is about the same size where the ripper hangs.

 

[oldirt]

The D5 ripper would work just fine on a 6D. I know of one near me that has one off a D4, it has been run several years and has hung together ok.

 

[sawmilleng]

Time for a couple of photos...

Hi, guys,

I figured a couple of photos would help sort out what this d6 has on it for a ripper. I photographed the ripper on it and then a ripper we had off a grader. They are starting to look very similiar.... Does this poor old D6 have the embarassment of carrying something that a grader should have?
The shanks look pretty much the same. The grader just has more holes for them!

Jon.

 

[d9gdon]

Yep, that's a motor grader ripper.

 

[RDG]

That is the standard Cat No 6 ripper for the D6 C/D models.

 

[RDG]

If you look at the ram size , the top linkage size and the main lower frame they are all different, much heavier for the dozer one. To big a ripper will make it tail heavy, hard on final drives and rear bottom rollers, at the end of the day if you want to do serious ripping they make D8s & 9s for that.

 

[Willis Bushogin]

D6

Hi, just got my posting wings as a noob!!

I've got an opportunity to pick up a 1981 D6D, 04X serial prefix. Its got an angledozer, hydraulic tilts and a cute little parallelogram ripper that looks like it should have been on a grader...

I haven't seem much talk on this site about the D6D...is it a decent machine? Any warts that a guy should watch out for? In the same lineup as this machine there is another D6D, 1979--I noticed it had fish plates welded to the sides of both track frames just ahead of the sprocket. Weak track frames?

I'll be using it for clearing on my stump ranch--mostly small pine to take out and grading the land enough to get agricultural equipment working the soil. Probably try to get a little outside work as well.

I'd appreciate any and all opinions and commments!!

Thanks,
Jon.

These are tough machines and probably used to do tough work. The older D6's in my area was used in the logging operations, clearing acreage of big stumps. They really get abused in our area.
Unless I got a get deal on a D6, I would prefer a D5 size machine, not as heavy and burns less fuel. If your land is soft/boggy the lighter machine maybe better. This really a big machine, but its a workhorse.
Make sure its not worn out

 

[d9gdon]

Ripper

Yep, I'm wrong. That is a D6 ripper, I didn't realize they had 5 shanks on a 6.
I looked at some on Machinery Trader.

 

[oldirt]

that picture of the dozer and ripper shows a D6 ripper. It is the same one that is on mine. It is really heavy and actually balances the tractor pretty well. cat says the D6Dno. 6 ripper weighs about 3500 with three teeth.

 

[Will Musser]

I have 2 of these and probably not a bucket full of bolts left unturned on either of em. They are tough, and probably the mosty trouble free tractors thar Cat ever built in a low sprocket. Over the years I've had about 8 other 6'ds and they are great. If they gave much trouble, then Cat wouldn't have built D6E's, and D6G's that use 99% the same parts. Perfect size to push trees with. You should get a straight blade to get those stumps though. The first thing we do to one when we get it is put a push rack on the blade to clear brush. In thick woods these will outwork my D7G because they can wiggle their way through the trees better.

 

[sawmilleng]

D6D ripper

It seems like there is more positive opinion about the D6D than negative...unless the negative guys are just more close-mouthed!! :tong

I've read that the D6 has been a favorite size for a long 'way back--especially with loggers. Apparently, the idea of balance and nimbleness has been an issue with crawlers even back to the late '30's. Supposedly that is why the old Cat 60 had such a good production run--it was about the same size as a 6 and the loggers loved them.

One thing my boys and I were tossing around was that the rippers look very much like root rakes. And since a real live root rake would set us back another $5K, at least around here, any opinions about using the rippers to clean up the root network in the ground? I suppose, to be really effective, the whole rack should be filled with shanks?

Jon.