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Loader or Dozer
- Thread starter HeyUvaVT
- Start date
That's what this Board is all about HeyUvaVT!! Dealers and salesmen are interested in one thing, selling you a machine and preferably a machine that is on their lot regardless of whether it is the best suited machine for your job. Here you hear from end users who have been in the situation and figured out the best ways to get things done with no agenda. I'm glad you're enjoying it!!
Ford LT-9000
Banned
Equipment dealers are just as bad as a used car dealer they can lie to your face just to get a sale. The equipment salesmen in B.C. are always on the hunt for a new equipment sale to a customer. Some of the good customers get bribes like hockey tickets or buying them dinner etc.
This is a good place to get a bunch of different ideas do to your job and you choose which will work the best for your situation. I think you will learn different things I have.
This is a good place to get a bunch of different ideas do to your job and you choose which will work the best for your situation. I think you will learn different things I have.
CM1995
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2007
- Messages
- 13,463
- Location
- Alabama
- Occupation
- Running what I brung and taking what I win
Just my 2cts worth-
I have cleared a couple of hundred acres (down to nothing but topsoil) and have used dozers, track loaders, excavators and artic's. I have to say if you are doing a large job, then an excavator and artic is the way to - especially if your disposal site is of any distance from the clearing area.
Also have used our 953C for clearing and it works pretty well - better than our D5G or D6N. The 953C allows you to root out stumps (up to a 8"-10" in dia) and rake the ground. For sensitive areas a track-hoe does a much better job.
Had a '04 315CL and put 2k + hours on it and NEVER turned a bolt. 953C had fuel filter issues when new - no problems since. D5G only issue was a fuel pump at 2200 hours.
Hope this helps in your decision.
CM
I have cleared a couple of hundred acres (down to nothing but topsoil) and have used dozers, track loaders, excavators and artic's. I have to say if you are doing a large job, then an excavator and artic is the way to - especially if your disposal site is of any distance from the clearing area.
Also have used our 953C for clearing and it works pretty well - better than our D5G or D6N. The 953C allows you to root out stumps (up to a 8"-10" in dia) and rake the ground. For sensitive areas a track-hoe does a much better job.
Had a '04 315CL and put 2k + hours on it and NEVER turned a bolt. 953C had fuel filter issues when new - no problems since. D5G only issue was a fuel pump at 2200 hours.
Hope this helps in your decision.
CM
This has been some very good info...I am planning on getting a 315 within the next 6-12months either way so really this is looking more and more like the loader is the way to go...I am going to the stealership tomorrow to talk $$ wish me luck! :bouncegri
Just wanted to take a second to thank everyone that gave me their advice and opinions on the loader vs dozer....I am now the proud owner of a 2004 939c with a 4n1 bucket..machine had 60 hours on it..delivery should be today or tomorrow! :bouncegri
Now I just gotta get my act together on a truck and tag trailer! :Banghead :Banghead
Now I just gotta get my act together on a truck and tag trailer! :Banghead :Banghead
Squizzy246B
Administrator
Lol...well good luck and congratulations on your purchase. Pics please.
iceberg210
Well-Known Member
I'd go with a loader with a 4n1 bucket. You would be amazed at how much work these can do. I usually use dozers to do exactly what you are talking about, mainly forest cleaning, and the TD-6-62 loader with a 4n1 that I run I'd much rather use in the woods then the Cat D3 we have. Only when you are grading to real close grades would I rather to have the D3. Since we have an old road grader though there really isn't much use for the D3 as the TD6 and the grader can do whatever the D3 can and in the woods and moving logs around the TD6 is alot nicer. Especially when you are loading up forest debris at the end of the day because you can just grab them with the 4n1 and put them in a dump truck instead of pushing it in a pile and then loading it with another machine or just letting it go to waste in the woods.
Loader with a 4n1 would get my vote any day.
Loader with a 4n1 would get my vote any day.
HeyUvaVT - I'm clearing 88 acres in Louisa. I've cleared and seeded the first 35, which was in planted pines (11 yr growth that wasn't done right). I had the remaining 53 timbered and now I'm working on the first 17 of that tract. I bought a CAT 963 for the first 35. It's a 1982 with a reman engine and new undercarriage, both of which were 1 year old at the time. Last August, I bought a 320C excavator.
Depending upon your circumstances and certainly in my case, I found that I needed both pieces of equipment to do the job. The excavator for stumping and lifting material (a thumb is a must) and the loader for pushing.
My problem now is the finer cleanup stuff. I don't want to doze the land and scrub off the topsoil, yet when I scrape with the loader bucket teeth, some of the debris makes it through the teeth and is left--it's time consuming to do the finer cleanup. I'm now looking for a rake type bucket where the tines are closely spaced. That should make for a much finer cleanup job.
Depending upon your circumstances and certainly in my case, I found that I needed both pieces of equipment to do the job. The excavator for stumping and lifting material (a thumb is a must) and the loader for pushing.
My problem now is the finer cleanup stuff. I don't want to doze the land and scrub off the topsoil, yet when I scrape with the loader bucket teeth, some of the debris makes it through the teeth and is left--it's time consuming to do the finer cleanup. I'm now looking for a rake type bucket where the tines are closely spaced. That should make for a much finer cleanup job.
Squizzy246B
Administrator
My Trash rake does so well that one guy even got one built to the same design for his 938 loader...like this"
https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=1577
https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=1577
Attachments
iceberg210
Well-Known Member
Or take a nice straight pine and grapple it in the 4n1 (if your loader is so equipped) and grade with that.
Woodstock
Well-Known Member
We clear alot of cedar with a 963B, some times it works good to get some brush and just push it around with the bucket when we don't have a dozer available. It seems to go a good job down here. Good luck.
IdleUp
Well-Known Member
I tend to disagree You use the wench and the dozer and you give me the 939 with the jaw bucket and I'll while you're jumping on and off the machine hooking up cables, I'll have the whole field cleaned up!
Johnny English
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2009
- Messages
- 113
- Location
- Lincolnshire, UK
- Occupation
- Contracts manager, Civil Engineering contractor
If you want an old machine, go with the best track loader ever produced, the CAT 955K or 955L. Awsome power for its weight. Its the bench mark for all other tracked loaders. Get a 4 in 1 bucket if you can.
IH560JL
Active Member
My old d4 serves me well her and not found anything i couldn't do, just not as fast as a new one.
Abirmit
Member
20 years ago I was the hand shovel operator next to the CAT955L tracked loader clearing a road through heavy woods in Northern Ohio. it was the machine for the job. After he lifted the 100ft oaks out of the ground and leveled the grade he was able to load the dump trucks.
Yes, 955s were awesome machines. I had a couple of 955Ks that I sold about 15 years ago. Their real forte was digging basements before excavators took over that job. They are small enough to work in tight spots, such as backfilling basements. Mine also loaded lots of gravel. I was surprised how well the UC stood up to the gravel.
With good teeth on the bucket, they also are good in the forest (but only with a good ROPS) for pushing over trees. Customers who wanted stumps removed used to ask me how much of the trees to leave. I told them to cut the trees as close to the ground as they wanted. I never found a stump that the 955 would not push out without much effort. Even a 24 or 30 inch spruce stump would come right out with a little push and a lift of the bucket.
Amazing machines - if one can find one that isn't worn out and in need of tens of thousands of dollars in rebuilding.
With good teeth on the bucket, they also are good in the forest (but only with a good ROPS) for pushing over trees. Customers who wanted stumps removed used to ask me how much of the trees to leave. I told them to cut the trees as close to the ground as they wanted. I never found a stump that the 955 would not push out without much effort. Even a 24 or 30 inch spruce stump would come right out with a little push and a lift of the bucket.
Amazing machines - if one can find one that isn't worn out and in need of tens of thousands of dollars in rebuilding.