Basic intro on myself. I'm a farmer in central Ohio and do a little bit of excavating on the side, mainly tree work involving clearing fencerows and ditches. I'm wondering if it's possible to fab a 6 way blade onto a 963LGP? What it boils down to is, I'd like a bigger dozer than my 650G for pushing and piling big trees and think a 6 way on a 963 size machine would be handier than a shirt pocket for such work. Wouldn't be tearing trees out with the trackloader( have a trackhoe for that), just pushing brush piles. I've found complete take off 6 way assemblies off a D6K and for $5500 and I think I could make them work. What's everybody's thoughts on this idea?
I have a straight blade on a 953 and it works great.
Welcome to the Forums Fencerow! :drinkup Just curious as to why you would want a dozer on a loader to push brush piles? I prefer to push and stack brush with my loader as you can roll the brush if need be to get dirt out of it or separate/stack the stumps on top of the pile for maximum burn. With a loader I can wad it up and compact smaller brush into the pile. A trackhoe and a track loader make an impressive clearing team. It's been a while since I have done any clearing to speak of, cleared a 1/2 acre for a parking lot last year, lol. Most projects I do now a days are out parcels or existing sites involving demo.
If all I had was a 963 then the blade and its cost make sense and I would have one.. However with an excavator to do the knocking over of trees and such and a 650 to do finish dozing with why bother. A 4n1 bucket would make sense and if doing a lot of land clearing a root/brush rake as well. However sometimes 'sense' is not what one needs to follow and if your heart is set on having a 6 way dozer on your 963 then the 'heart' should be followed. It would be an impressive set up or sure. As always 'pics' of your equipment would be nice. Cheers and good luck with whatever you choose. Lowbed Driver
I can control a pile of small brush and limbs a lot better with a 6 way than I could with a straight blade on a 4 in 1 bucket. Big trees would be no problem with a straight blade. I also think it'd be slick to be able to get to the pile I'm pushing to and be able to "pick up" (more or less) whats in front of the blade/root rake. The 6 way would also come in handy for the finishing work after clearing. Just an idea I've had and wondered if anybody thought it was possible. I'm thinking I could possibly make it detachable so I could go back to the bucket pretty quickly if I ever needed to.
I know it can be done as I have seen 953's with six ways on them. How ever if you have a third valve already it would be super easy as I think that adding 2 sets of remotes could be a chore. Best of luck and please post pics of the finished product.
I think I could handle the details of the hydraulics aspect with a Fasse hydraulic splitter. I need to lay eyes on the 9x3 Cat in person to get some drawings and ideas on paper. My season for clearing is winding down now since it's time to get ready to get crops in the ground, but I hope to get this project going over the summer and be ready with it by the end of this fall. If nothing else, I sure do want to find a 150hp range dozer with a cab. This winter has been great for doing the work I do, but it has been pretty nippy on the ole 650.