I am looking at purchasing a JD 450 J LGP. Is it financially feasible to put the electronics on it for automatic blade control? Does the stuff have to come from JD, or can it be generic? I have a D3C LGP no, and only am interested in the 450 for the ABC.
I think there are aftermarket systems to fit different brands but they are a fairly pricey. Do you have a lot of work where you need it and what is your budget? You'd want a pretty tight dozer to put ABC on.
I would certainly not use it every day. However, I will build a large building pad every now and then. I'd go $10K for it. I agree, blade needs to be tight.
What type of automatics are you wanting - full GPS or laser guided? Does your 450 have any prewiring on it? Our Next Gen D3 came with some basic grade control and wiring for the GPS we put on it.
I believe the only prerequisite is having electric over hydraulic controls. Topcot and Trimble both work with many brands of equipment. I'm not familiar with JD and don't know who they work with or if they have their own. $10k won't touch what you want using GPS. I don't know about laser, but you would still have to have hardware and wiring etc. Hard wiring of an excavator, which is more involved due to additional sensors communicating, is around $20k on older machines that were not pre-wired, and that just provides grade checking capabilities, nothing automated. @KSSS has experience with total station control and maybe lazer control. Maybe he can help.
I spent many days on dozers with laser sensors on each side of the blade. The blade was not controlled by them. I just watched the lights on the poles. Unless you have a lot of fine grading to do I would suggest that you consider saving a ton of money and try that kind of set-up.
Might be able to get that setup for around $10K.
I only want it follow a laser, not GPS I have a target that goes on the blade of my D3. It was $1,600 about 25 years ago. I want the laser to control the blade.
I would contact Sitech or Topcon dealers in your area to find out what will be required. Leica may have a system as well.
I do not think he's going to be able to buy any kind of laser-based autograde. Those systems have been obsolete for at least 10 years. Indicate-only with an in-cab display is the extent of what he's going to be able to find.
That's what I was thinking but we rarely use a laser anymore and I wasn't sure if there were some improvements that I wasn't aware of.