hey all, i am interested in buying a 2nd hand D8 dozer, and as a first step i was gonna check here as i dont have much idea about how long they last hours wise etc. one i have found is a 1991 model D8N, it has done 13,000 hours and had a fulll reconditioned engine 1300 hours ago and transmission 300 hours ago, and UC is at about 70%. I know that a D6 these days is expected to still be "going strong" at 15,000 hours. how many hours, on the average, could i expect to get out of it before it is likely to start running in to costly problems? its for sale for around $130k. however it is in Australia and we seem to pay a bit more for our heavy iron then the US. has anyone got any experience with a D8N and could educate me, it would be greatly appreciated. Jeff
I have never touched a D8N but 13,000 hrs is not a lot of hours for a machine that can be rebuilt over and over. My only advice is make sure you see the w/o's for the work done and check what was done. The word "rebuilt" and "reconditioned" are VERY loose and can mean different things to different people - people selling machines love those words. Engine re-conditioned - Pistons, liners, main bearings, head, turbo, injectors, fuel pump, water pump, etc. ???? I have seen reconditioned engines - a head was installed cause it dropped a valve and left in the damaged piston but somehow they think this is a reconditioned engine. Cat OEM parts or aftermarket ? Powertrain is even more - just transmission or pump, torque convertor, etc. And if a new transmission why ? Failure or just because ? Any warranty on the work done ? Just be careful if your paying more cause things are rebuilt - make sure they are rebuilt and if they had failures was the system repaired properly. I learned this on a collector car I bought once. I payed more cause it was a freshly rebuilt engine the owner said. With in 4 months it was not drivable. Long story short the temp gauge was not working right and reading hot so they pulled the thermostat out to get it to run cooler and glazed all the cylinders. And had the cam ground to a very steep racing profile and bend all the exhaust valves. I could not even get a core for the cam cause it was ground down so much !! Oh well live and learn right !
cool, that's some useful info, thanks
actually also what exactly does EAROPS stand for? i know the rollover protection part but not sure on the EA
Enclosed Air-conditioned Roll Over Protective Structure
A D8N should be rebuildable up to at least 30,000 hours so long as the chassis is still in good condition. Everything else is bolt-on.