I've never seen one of these before. Has anyone used one or know what the reason would be for having a dozer blade on a loader? Interstate equipment sales and rentals has 2 of them for sale on their website.
New one here for me,but that's nothing new It also has the pontoon track shoes on it.So might have been used in sandy beach some where .Would think lgp dozer would work better :beatsme It might have been stockpile the sand and with the loader they could pile it quite high. Here some guys put straight dozer blades on loaders to build terraces that has to be built from the downhill side on steep ground.The back slopes will get high 12 to 15 feet high. With the loader you can roll back or tip forward the dozer blade like a bucket and actually dump the dirt off the blade on the ridge of the terrace.Especially if the dirt is sticking on the blade.Sand wouldn't be a problem as far as sticking. Since your close there,maybe call and ask where they came from and what they was using it for. Interesting find.Thanks for sharing.:usa
Idk but I want to run it
How are the controls for the blade setup? It does seem weired to put swamp tracks on a track loader. I wouldn't want to run that in much else besides mud.
I looked up there website http://www.interstateequipment.com/inventory_detail.asp?INVENTORY_ID=1256 and email them on there reason for that configuration. Jim, answered me and said they weren't sure why, but one is on rent to a local power plant pushing up "slash"....:beatsme
This thing is must have rated! would be a dream on the motocross track!!!:drinkup:drinkup with a quick hitch bucket system it would be really nice! how does the controls work? with buttons on the loader lever? WOW!
953 I have no idea about snow...only seen it 3 times in my life......could it be used in snow-clearing applications,or is it too heavy & cumbersome?? It looks like a configuration that the Japanese might use in Asia.
It's odd this was brought up here because me and another guy were talking about these machines yesterday. They've been on Interstate's website since back in the spring when I began watching for a 953C. And like the rest here, I don't know exactly what they are set up for. I would assume loose materials such as sand or even snow, but who knows? During our talks, the idea was brought up of having a bucket mounted on this configuration. The angle isn't necessary, but tilting the bucket side-to-side would be nice digging basements on +/- 1" grade. If anyone has seen this setup in action it would be nice to know why they're spec'd this way.
it would be good for pushing and building a good pile...i can see some advantages to the set up, i mean after all guys put blades on their CTLs...but i am curious why the swamp tracks
I wonder if the power plant is using it to push up ash. Do you know if its a wood fired power plant?
Don't know... He didn't say and I didn't ask. He did type out the word "slash" though. I was communicating with him through some type of chat window thing. Once he found out I wasn't interested in buying or renting the conversation was over real quick...
I'm with you sparffo, I would love one for my track.
old idea my parts manual for my 1968 ihc 175b loader showed a similar attachment for the loader, made by drott it was installed inplace of the bucket so the machine could be used for finish grading. not sure if it was 6 way but it angled , id guess this setup on the cat is offered to extend the use of the machine and to elliminate the cost of 2 seperate machines .a loader and a six way dozer.
It would make sense if you had a coupler on the front and could utilize a bucket and the six way blade. But just the six way blade, better off buying a dozer....
Here is a picture of the front: This machine has be baffled. If it was a side dump or regular bucket instead of a 6-way, I would say ship hold arrangement. I just can't imagine why you would put a 6 way on a machine that alreadys does not like wet/soft underfoot conditions and then put swamp tracks on there to help lighten the ground pressure.:beatsme Why go to all that trouble when you can get an LGP 5 or 6 to do the same? Someone spent alot of money on that rather "specialized" machine. ointhead
I use a 963 to build terraces with. On bigger jobs we'll cut the top off a couple of hills with a scraper and haul the dirt in, on smaller jobs we just hog it up with a dozer and shape and topsoil with the loader. Works real good to pat the top and compact it, then dump topsoil on it and rake it with the teeth to spread it. The farmers like that becuase it scuffs it up enough so they can just broadcast seed onto it. Never heard of anyone putting a blade on a loader, seems to me you're just taking away the versatility of the loader.
didnt notice the lack of a quick coupler. id guess its not switching from blade to bucket too often. interesting none the less. brian
The guy mentioned "slash", I have worked with some stuff called flyash that came out a Coal Fired Power Plant. We had to dig the stuff out of the ponds and let it dry.The strange thing about the stuff is that it would set up like concrete in the pond. We would take a excavator and dig out a trench @ 20 ft deep and 10 ft wide just stockpiling behind us. We would let it dry for @ a month. use the excavator to load it on trucks and haul it off. After they dumped,you had about 3 passes to get it level before it would stsrt getting REALLY wet again. My foreman used to say it was like our favorite part of the female anatomy. The more you played with it the wetter it got!!!! What I am trying to say is that it may be possible that this is what they were using this machine for?????? But I'm just guessing!
Lucky you, no snow in down under I have done a LOT of work in snow and ice with trackloaders and dozers, and it's not the best suited equipment for it... If you have regular 3 bar groussers then you will be sliding like a flipperball on a game plate, with good dozerpads things work better. I have never used a machine with those triangle pads, but they should be the best awailable in snow! It's a lot of fun when the whole UC is frozen stuck:beatsme it takes about 20mins to clear the UC after a days work, and about a day to do it if you let it sit for a day or two... the packed mud and snow gets really hard! and there is no chance that the machine would break it loose, only the finals or drivetrain will break. I would guess this has been used in peat fields! those pads work great on peat and they usually use dozers or loaders to pile up the stuff in really steep piles (looks like long pyramids). In anycase, with different pads and quick coupler that would be a really versalite machine! like a two in one!
953 c Hi Sparffo, How's the D41 going these days? I can't figure out why that 53C is equipped as it is.....the angle function must be central to the operation,as a normal bucket can do any stacking or cutting required. I wonder if the machine is used as a grader on unfirm ground....making paths or bike trails. ?? But then you could use a small dozer too....unless the operator's vision is better in the 53C.... & maybe the machine is well balanced for it's intended use. ....I'm just guessing. Jim
That looks like a factory cat D4 blade, I know that Balderson makes some of their blades and that a company called IMAC makes a few blade kits like this.I think this would be super handy with a quicktach Ive run a blade on an AC loader and one on a 250c IHC, they were both just straights. Theres also another company somewhere on the net that make a tilt bucket I rember they had a pic of a 544 JD wheel loader starting a V ditch with one. My brothers Gray market D3C hasthese type pads, Cant bet em in wet areas or sandy places, not good on a 2 to 1 slope either. And good thing to if you mis any sapplings clearing youll get to see them with they pass you they have a bigger opening when they go over the idlers or sprockets.
6 way blade I put a six way blade on a 977L years ago to put in Farm Terraces, when I was doing that type of work. I could push dirt up the back side and then go around on the up hill side and shape the top side. You could have done the same with a dozer, but the loader you did not have to climb the terrace as far and could dump the dirt that was sticking to the blade. Traded the loader and I wanted to keep the blade but the guy wanted it. Been keeping the lookout for another six way blade to put on my 953.
One of these unique machines are being auctioned at - http://www.machinerytrader.com/Onli...6395155&GUID=A460242CA55645268A350C5A70C4000C .
I think it would be better with a coupler then you could put a rake on it for clearing. I saw a couple older machines like this for sale in Indy, but they both had couplers on them and they weren't 6-way's. It would seem to me that the machine would be too heavy in muddy areas. I would like one like this but mainly for switching a bucket to a rake.
I think they are used to clear swamps and other wet areas but they can be used for anything
Interstate usually has some odd stuff they're trying to sell. Every few years they'll get something that sits for not quite a year and they'll do away with the custom mods (unless somebody comes in with a good idea or what they think is one) and make it as normal as possible. That one in the machinery trader ad had been on there since Jan... bet it gets a new bucket about august or september.
Constructo.. where in sw iowa are you? I am in fremont county.. I would say that qualifies as sw as well! I know a guy in Glenwood that grafted a blade off an old 17A on to his 953C last winter and really likes it. I don't know how long the hydro is going to last since the load is so much higher now. He even can roll the blade back far enough to load a truck with it.
Thats an interesting loader. I have see them with the swamp tracks but never a blade, only buckets or root rakes. I just looked at the auction link for it and saw the SN. A quick search and it was sold in Higashimukaiyama Japan. and its Principle Work was Dams/Levees/Canals/& Othr Waterway Const. and it was ordered from Cat with the swamp tracks, third valve but it had a bucket not the blade.
Looks like CAT was short one bucket and one set of tracks and had to clear the assembly line.:beatsme
I remember reading this topic ago, but recently I found a pic of a 963 with a static blade mounted to it,which adds to this conversation. The company was using it for a parking garage job. Not my picture, I found it on flickr
A truck loader with a blade would be handy for doing the back cut for installing shoring like they are, but a little overkill.
I am from northern new jersey and only :beatsme:beatsme:Bangheadthe highly knowledgable contractors are using track loaders any more which I think is a shame because if you ever introduce a crawler loader with a quick coupler, well just think of the possibilities. It is possible to eliminate a wheel loader except for the road part of utility jobs with a side dump and fork configuration that is universal around here for wheel loaders, and mount a q/c 6 way blade and you woulndnt need a dozer 95% of the time. After all,it is so unfortunate that these great rigs arent utilized more and properly
:beatsme Somebody somewhere gotta know.:Banghead:drinkup Bob aka ZZ
dynahoescott, the company I work for has a couple of 963's floating around in MD with quick couplers on them. I also am surprised it hasn't become a more common site. A lot of our 963's use the drap over forks, which is great for the versitlity that they provide, but when you are lifting an object, such as a manhole, it puts the weight considerably further away from the machine than boom mounted/quickcouplered forks would. Course this is off topic quite a bit, opps.:ban
ointheadHello jim bruce, excellent reply. I see your from pennsylvania and when I go out by my sisters house in shamokin PA. there are times when you couldnt throw a rock without hitting a 955 or 977 floating around out there I have even seen a 983 once or twice. I very rarely get off a hoe but I can see so many places where a crawler loader would be the optimum choice for the situation. and that is coming from a long time hoeman. ointhead
When I worked in Oxford MS outof highschool dad had me running a paddle wheel scraper on a building lot there. One the weekly trip to work I noticed an old Fiat Allis track loader pushing dirt and roots off a bank. I thought it had a 4 in 1 bucket but it was a factory made blade for it. I stopped an talked to the owners he said they had bought it from the factory like that. They had all AC equipmentand even had some blades l ike that on theirwheel loaders and the older AC machines. Theyhad an HD20 track loader with a blade and one of thewheel loaderseven had a tilt function. By that time they had some regulardozer to but when they were busy he broke out the trackloader an blade. He said it was easier to use than with the 4 in1 because the apron wasnt in the way or there to get damaged. That was 11 years ago I hope to get down that way and look for them again. One contractor here has an old 175 IHC loader and the other day I noticed that he had a new 953 Cat wit h a 4in1. I get alot of strange looks here at home from operators when I tell them how versatile a trackloader is. I built a hook on fork set for an old D66E Komatsu I used to run for a company. Par of my job on rainy days was to unload pipeoff trucks and other goods when we got rained out. That wheeled tool carrier couldnt get around in wet weather. I got a bonus for the forks because of the time I saved and the safetyfactoer of not slipping in the mud.
never seen tracks like that but i worked for a firm who ran 2 953's and one used a blade on it several times, cheaper than hiring a d6 i guess..but a 953 could not push a greasey man outta bed
Beg to differ, plantman. Granted I've not operated one with a blade, but I've never seen a 953 baulk at pushing straight through the middle of 20 tons of Type One. Never attempted to push a fat man out of bed with one, but maybe the fat man in the driving seat helped traction.
i found a few pics of this 943 on another forum (cant remember where)
A 953 will push right with a D6 Cat with no problem. For there size they will do a lot. There must have been something wrong with your 953.
in terms of the ash at the plant your still better off with the bucket. i spent all of this past saturday stock piling ashes, pushing and spreading them for fill in the old cell as well. i couldnt imagine using a dozer. we also have "backwash" comming from a water treatment plant. its used to cap off the landfill cell. the contractor doing it has a 953c at the plant with a 320 hoe. at the land fill were alos using a 953c to spread it and maintain grade slope for run off.
I would not find much use for tracks but could have used a lozer several times. I turned a bucket around on a PC 220 excavator to put 57# stone behind a 20' poured wall.Would not dump straight down but could shake clean.Worked like it I knew what I was doing.
a 953 push as much as a d6, your kidding right???
It will, but not in one go.
lol yeah i know, a 63 would have a hard time keeping up with a R or a T now an N yeah i can see that
So did anyone ever find out where you can find one of these... not on e bay
Bringing this one back from the dead. We are looking into doing this with our 953C. We don't do a lot of dozer work so we can't justify the additional cost of a D5 or D6 but, if I could have a blade that I could swap out in a couple of hrs and get 90% of the efficiency of a D5 I would be happy.
Not certain how you expect to swap a loader to a dozer, frames for a dozer are designed to transfer loads, side and headlong to the tractor frame, shovel frames are strong but not designed in the same reference. I can see adding a QD siz way blade on a loader frame much as buckets are done but doubt 90% efficiency of a D5 will ever happen. I have a MP bucket on my old Allis, can use it open and cut similar to a dozer but stays within the width of rail unlike dozer blades spread quite a bit wider, I have no six way angling ability so cannot pick side to deliver spoil just straight line shove and that fills the back wall of the bucket pretty quick. Rails are different, loader shoes are designed for pushing to an extent but are more for pivoting with less strain to truck frames and lower rollers with a full shovel bucket and at speed, basically designed for slip. Closest I have seen on a loader is a 4/1 or MP bucket.
Maybe get a 4in1??? I would LOVE a track loader but I work in too many soft conditions. I need LGP 75% of the time so a loader just doesn't make sense. Come on Powerball! You can do a lot with a straight blade but I've learned tilt is a must for grading sooooo.... I'd love to see your set-up if it happens. Good luck.
I think you should be able to just use the bucket and get about any task done. The time to change back and forth , you could just do it all with the bucket. A smaller grade dozer works real good with a track loader if need be or even a tractor with a grader box.
I think the six way blade theory on a 953 would be like the skid steer blades on a bigger scale, a joke. I'm with DickJr I think by the time you swap them back and forth you could do what you needed with the bucket. A 953 with a good operator is a very useful tool. They can push, carry, cut, grade, haul, about anything. I'm not exactly a fan of a 4 in 1 either though. They are terrible dozers, they have a reduced capacity, extra weight, terrible sight lines.... The thing they do best is snatch out small trees and the occasional rock. Just my thoughts John
The reason we are looking at the 6 way is we have to reshape 1 mile of road. Normally we would just do it with the 953 but the road is only 9'- 10' wide so there really isn't much room to do anything but go forward and backward.
Before I'd invest in some heavy architecture for a loader I would look at purchase of a older road grader, simpler, safer bet and designed for the purpose proposed.
A grader is on our list too. The problem is half of the road is between 20% and 40% slope so a grader is going to have a hard time.
I don't have any experience with a 953 but I do have some experience with 977, 973 and 963B that had blades on them. None of them were 6 way blades though. They were mainly used for building terraces. One problem with putting a blade on a loader is traction. Basically need to put single bar grouser pads on them to get adequate production from them. Just my $.02
I have a 953C with a Balderson quick change bucket, straight blade and forks. It is very handy when you do not have a dozer and can be changed in less than 3 minutes to any attachment. The blade will not do what a dozer will but not far behind it.
Nothing really matches as a attachment for replacement of a dozer set up, 10' or 12' wide 6 way angle blade is hard to match for grade function. No add on blade will be over 8' while will be straight shot limited.