I am not impressed. The operator seat is dead center. So what is wrong with these manufactures these days? It is very evident that who ever designs these things knows nothing about operating, I could not use a clearing rake on that machine, at least that is how it looked, it was bare no blade or ripper on it, does have the ripper attachment bolted to the rear case. And too much electronics flybywire stuff too. Yeah too much trying to copy CAT. Shame on you Komatsu.
Huh??
Its progress! I take it as you have not operated a D155AX-6 you maybe should reserve judgement untill you get the chance to. It is a good machine which can IMHO hold its own against the competition-I wont get into the its better than this or that debate! The Sigma blade performs well as does the ripper which is a two ram design which seems similar in its working envelope to the radial ripper which was fitted to D8Ls. All the electronics and fly by wire have come along way since the problems of D155AX-3s which had electronic componant durability issues. I think fly by wire etc makes operating the machines easier and less tiring so i give it a :thumbsup Get your backside sat on one in a running condition and report back.
I know what I'm up against as soon as I sit in the seat. Unlike bulk moving of dirt, raking is not a seat of the pants thing. In the old days the operator was offset to the left side of the tractor, on the large dozers anyway. Look at the old 8's and 9's, and the old Komatsu's. This new one the seat is dead center, yeah it makes the dozer look good, but don't help seeing the rake teeth one bit.
I have not run any tractor with a rake fitted only blades and rippers so i cant comment on it. As a blade machine its not at all bad. Do you or have you operated a 575?
blade v rake why is there a need to see the rake teeth ,most of the time the cutting edge of a blade cant be seen ,but that does not matter to experienced operators,so why the need to see the teeth :beatsme i have never used a rake so i would not know ,and only have a small amount of blade time on my own machine and would not call myself experienced thanks graham
No never been on or seen in person a 575. You need to see the teeth to keep them outa the dirt, and to rake debris. If you can't see them you either push dirt, or scoot over the trash.
Rented one and it was a good tractor. I could see the blade just fine. Put over 600 hours on it and had no problems with the machine. I have ran dozers for over 35 years and think it was good that they moved the seat to the middle. At least you can see both side of the blade and machine. Better get use to electronics and hydro as the demand for good operators is getting harder to fill. manufacturers are having to make machines easier to operate. But as I get older I like all the new stuff, like AC/Heated Cabs. Radio/CD electronics to monitor the machine, along with GPS control for the HYD.