New to Me dozer

[Abscraperguy]

Deereman the reason the 200 was bought was price. The daily service was always done. I would really like to know of a Deere Company that has better parts and service than Cat. Unheard of. The real reason is how cheap they're selling them. I'm around four different Cat dealers so I do have a knowledge of whats what. I can really continue but I think the point is made!

Come to Alberta. On one hand is Finning (Cat) big and arrogant or Brandt (Deere) smaller and more down to earth. When I've bought parts at either place I've always been amazed how little Finning stocked and how much Brandt did. And speaking about service, I spent part of a day in a Finning shop and I'll never take anything there for repairs. Were never more than 3/4 of the guys working at one time. The rest were standing around or staring into space. As far your comment about Deere/Hitachi hoes come to Alberta and tell it to some our pipeline crews. I don't know of one fleet of Cats but I do know of lots of Deere/Hitachi fleets. Whether its just price that sold them I don't know but these guys run their machines harder than anyone else and they're very obviously making money.

 

[North Texan]

Some of those retired military dozers are in pretty good shape. We've looked into buying one for our volunteer fire department, because we can get them through the Texas Facilities Commission at a reasonable price. They are all older machines, but they don't have a couple thousand hours at most on them. Makes me wonder if the taxpayers really got their money's worth out of that machine or not? I get the feeling the decision makers focus more on the age of the equipment than the actual functionality.

The 850J is really a pretty nice dozer as far as new dozers go. I know Caterpillar has a lot of fanboys, but keep in mind the new Caterpillar isn't a D7G, either. Caterpillar's newest D7 incarnation, the D7E, has probably more electronics and computer controls on it than any dozer ever made. It is also far less "proven" than even the 850J. The D7G has been Caterpillar's best effort in the D7 class machines, and will probably remain there as technology, electronics, and emissions standards will keep them from ever having a machine like the G again.

 

[Yellowirondude]

x2 North Texas.....I fully agree and am sad to see the old iron fade back into the sunset. But I guess new times are here....adapt and overcome.

Regards,
YID

 

[Greg]

Or i you get to be my age Yellowirondude you start to think about saying "screw it," it ain't worth dealing with any more, hang it up and go play.

 

[Yellowirondude]

Oh believe me Greg, though only a year from my dirty 30 bday, there have been ALOT of days I thought of moving back to the cabin in Crooked Lake or even the Peshtigo region, grabbin a sixer of some Blatz and just leveling the snowmobile trails/logging roads. Guess someday....

Regards,
YID

 

[Greg]

Peshtigo? You a Wisconsin boy there Yellowirondude?

There are also a couple of things that stop me from hangin it up too. Makin money and havin fun at the same time.

 

[Yellowirondude]

After moving in my early early years from eastern TN, my family moved to Sturgeon Bay (north of GB).

Regards,
YID

 

[JD955SC]

*Throws some gasoline on the fire*

Didn't the Army adopt the Cat D9 recently to replace their D7s? What's the opinion on them compared to the 850J?

 

[Yellowirondude]

JD- the DOD has used D8's and 9's since the beginning of the Iraq War. Originally, they were from the factory, with aftermarket up-armor kits installed. As the war progressed on, they were waned from field use. All services still house them in their inventory, one way or another, to be used from time to time. The Army still uses their D7F's and G's, as well as the JD Hi-Speed dozer and they have the 8's and 9's as well. The Navy uses the bogey suspension 7's and 8's as in a beach landing team role, either to push off their LCU's or to improve the beach. The SEABEES also use it for production dozing (moreso the 9's then the 8's). The Marines have all their 8's and 9's store for contingency use in Albany GA for the next big "thing" to happen. Now as the opinions are considered, well, its all about the job!!! I cant speak for any one soldier sailor or Airman, but here in the MC, we use the 8's and 9's for production work only. Such as berm making, vehicle survivability positions and mass demo of a area. Everything else, it's the 850. As stated earlier, I am not a big fan of the 850. With that being said, I would take the 850 over a 9 if I was to say, level a area of ground. A whole firm base berm? That would be a 8 or a 9. Just another devils opinion.

Regards,
YID

 

[Deereman]

Here we go again deereman. When you go to the banker it sure as hell is relevant if your machine is paid for. What I am getting at here is that my D7G produces as much revenue and is just as productive as the newer machine while being paid for. That means that the funds not required to pay the note go right back into my pocket for a cash cushion or to use for expansion or new equipment if I think it is warranted. Around here expansion and new equipment is not warranted. What you say about other parts of the country booming does not make a damn bit of difference to me because I am not in those parts of the country. I look at the local market that I operate in. I make my decisions on the local market, not what is happening 2,000 miles away. The stupidist damn thing I could do is go and start buying equipment because things are booming 1,000 miles away. Only a damn fool with a complete empty head would do that.

By having my fleet paid for and carring almost no debt load I can pick and choose the work I want to go after and go after it the the rates I want. I don't know where you get the idea I am comparing myself to the US government you your previous statement. If I was that screwed up I would have been out of business 19 years ago.

As far as the strong will survive go ask your banker who is the strongest. The guy in debt up to his ears or the guy with little or no debt load. I know what mine told me. That is why any time I want something from him I can get it with out a problem. Around here it is not about a pretty new fleet which seems to be very important to you no matter what the cost, but what the profit margin is and how much cash is in the bank. If you ever get to the point that you are the guy paying the bills and managing the cash someday you may realize that.

Like I have said before. The kind of work we do here can be quite profitable. Profitability is tied to debt load. When you sit with a big note on a bunch of machines the payment each month consists of interest and principal. The interest is deductable, the principal is not. Principal is paid out of profit before taxes. The bigger the debt load, the more revenue required to meet expenses as well as interest and principal. When I first started out I had a big debt load. Had to, cause I had to buy a bunch of equipment. Now that it is paid for life is one heck of a lot easier.

That puts me in the position that if I want to do something business and I need money my banker says go do it.

I just happen to be making my money with Cat equipment. There are other contractors out there with the same phlisophy running Deere or Komatsu, or Dresser and all of the other kinds. Those guys are all doing well too.

The make of equipment does not make the contractor deereman. It is the brains in the head of the guy. Always has been, always will be.

If you ever get to the point where you are the one paying the bills and managing the money you may change your attitude about what is more important, low debt load and a cash reserve a full yard of brand new pretty equipment that is setting with nothing to do. Overhead does not go away just because there is no backlog of work to do.

Cat lover greg, i didn't say anything about you doing what someone 2K miles is doing. I was stating that everyone is not in the same boat as you. I didn't tell you to go out and start buying equipment.

Yea, go ask your banker. Thats if their are still there. Good for you to be able to go get something. No questions ask. Pat yourself on the back. I never said about having an all new fleet . I was comparing a new machine to an old as far as the machine itself goes. I'm not 13, yes I pay the bills and can more then manage what I have. I do know what P/e ratios are and all that pertains to financing.. Where did i say anything about the make of equipment makes the contractor??? You jump to a lot of conclusions with me and coming off as a *****. Take it easy.

 

[Deereman]

Deereman the reason the 200 was bought was price. The daily service was always done. I would really like to know of a Deere Company that has better parts and service than Cat. Unheard of. The real reason is how cheap they're selling them. I'm around four different Cat dealers so I do have a knowledge of whats what. I can really continue but I think the point is made!

I can say the same for cat. I've seen cats as well as other makes in the deere dealership getting new P & b, rebuilding the motor and so on. Yes I can list a whole bunch of dealers that give you better service then cat. As well as the guys that have always been with deere and the guys that switched because they felt like they got a better overall product then cat or whoever for that matter. I can't speak for all the other areas but, thats the reason here in the southeast that deere has become so big over the past decade. When cat was to busy worrying about there big customers a lot of the little guys switched. And more so today some of the bigger outfits have changed either to deere, komatsu, volvo or whoever.

 

[Deereman]

JD- the DOD has used D8's and 9's since the beginning of the Iraq War. Originally, they were from the factory, with aftermarket up-armor kits installed. As the war progressed on, they were waned from field use. All services still house them in their inventory, one way or another, to be used from time to time. The Army still uses their D7F's and G's, as well as the JD Hi-Speed dozer and they have the 8's and 9's as well. The Navy uses the bogey suspension 7's and 8's as in a beach landing team role, either to push off their LCU's or to improve the beach. The SEABEES also use it for production dozing (moreso the 9's then the 8's). The Marines have all their 8's and 9's store for contingency use in Albany GA for the next big "thing" to happen. Now as the opinions are considered, well, its all about the job!!! I cant speak for any one soldier sailor or Airman, but here in the MC, we use the 8's and 9's for production work only. Such as berm making, vehicle survivability positions and mass demo of a area. Everything else, it's the 850. As stated earlier, I am not a big fan of the 850. With that being said, I would take the 850 over a 9 if I was to say, level a area of ground. A whole firm base berm? That would be a 8 or a 9. Just another devils opinion.

Regards,
YID

Yellow I know this is not you and the USMC, but I thought it was a little funny that this was written as we were discussing this: http://www.deere.com/en_US/docs/construction/zmag/dmag_nov4.html
And I couldn't find that article I was searching for. But does the T.R.A.M unites rig a bell with you?? If it doesn't its probably one of the other branches.

 

[tdkreg]

OOH RAH! Awsome machine! Wish we had one of those when I was in the Marines!

 

[tdkreg]

That looks like North Carolina?

 

[catken]

Tcb?

Why won't Deere bid a TCB? Total Cost Bid sorta tells you how good of a machine you have. Deere or and other mfg. will not bid on blades with this concept except Cat, anyway in our region.

 

[Yellowirondude]

But does the T.R.A.M unites rig a bell with you?? If it doesn't its probably one of the other branches.

Yessir it does!!! I havent used military acronyms on this post as I didnt want to throw off any subscribers or readers....BUT....now that you mention it, TRAM is what we call a front end loader...daily. Tractor-Rubber tired-Articulated steering-Multipurpose vehicle. Also, in that dmag link you shared, page three, I know of ALOT of Marines that drool to have a hy-ex. Seems the Army, Navy and AF all have hy-ex's (namely deeres) but the MC doesnt. Just a TLB (CAT 420IT) that sometimes isnt suited for the mission. Solution says I? "Acquire" one in country from the army...LMAO. Anyways....carry on

Regards,
YID

P.S. I have a thread under wheel loaders for the 624KR TRAM....link is https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?25989-Marine-Deere-624KR

 

[Yellowirondude]

tdkreg- what year were you in? MOS? PCS duty station? And those photos are from a training op in IN a couple years back. Forget the fort we were at.

Regards,
YID

 

[Yellowirondude]

catken - I wouldnt know from my perspective. I'm paid to wear the BLACK chevrons, not the shiny silver or gold ones; and to pull levers and sweat all day :cool2 all in the name of :usa

Regards,
YID

 

[ramheadjim]

YID

We will have a fight if you try to "Acquire" my HYEX.

Ram

 

[Yellowirondude]

Challenge accepted:
1500 at the motor pool, bring the MRE's.

ROFLMAO
YID