Hi all. Heard on the grapevine of a d9h that's for sale and rang the owner about it. So the back story, guys old man bought it out of the mines, spent almost as much again on the rear end before using. Used it for a while on the farm and cooked it, apparently one of the heads cracked and it lost coolant and overheated. ( you would assume it would most likely happen the other way) anyway a mechanic pulled it down to rebuild it and ended up leaving town and it has never moved since. I have seen this tractor years ago and I know it's been sitting for at least 15 years Mabe longer. That being said what would you say this is worth and would it be viable to fix? Obviously this depends on price and condition just after a few thoughts from people in the know before I go for a look. He is going to do some research about price and get back to me, it might be out of my league to begin with lol. Ps they have 2? New heads for it aswell. Cheers all will appreciate any suggestions and advice.
A good runner sold at Ritchie bros a couple of months ago for $37K. Bearing in mind it's an oversize load to float out of there ($$$) and it's been sitting with the heads off for 15 years, I would be looking at paying scrap price.
Hi Cmark, yeah I figure its only worth scrap value also tbh. It's only just up the road from me which kinda makes it attractive to me, (can probably sneak down a back road lol) float costs compared to anything else could be spent on parts. The big factor I suppose is how good the rest of it is, I'm pretty sure this tractor would be a1 mechanically other than the engine. Well it's suppose to be. Might go for a look on the weekend and post some pictures up. Thanks
Pictures are always good. If you can make a bid on scrap value that covers your trasnportation costs, even better, Jack and chain up the blade and drag it onto the trailer.
Hahaha yeah worst part is scrap is worthless now aswell. Anyone know what an engine rebuild kit would cost roughly? Probably sounds silly to buy a machine like this but in all honesty it's the only way I can afford gear, buy and fix. I can't justify a runner for the little bit of work it will do, need to rip and push a heap of gravel and I don't think my hd9 is up to the task lol. What is a realistic price? It has to be worth something, what's the difference between this any other piece of equipment that needs an engine rebuild?
You might try pricing a running take out engine and figure the purchase price of the dozer that way. Then you'll be covered if the cost to repair the engine gets too high. I imagine the price range for a rebuild would be considerable depending on what parts are salvageable.
What is this "X" or "Y" or "Z" worth? What is this "X" or "Y" or "Z" worth? This question seems to arise about every day on HEF. “What’s it worth?” really means, “What is its market value?” But, what is market value? Market value is the collective opinion of buyers, sellers, lessors (owner who rent out), lessees (non-owners who rent from owners) and, to a degree, industry lenders, of the value of a specific property in a specific location as of a specific moment. Any price, or any offer, is a fact, and may have nothing to do with market value, which is an opinion of market value which can change on a moment’s notice, depending on an infinite number of variables. Market value cannot be “determined,” but can only be estimated, albeit strong data support and a knowledgeable analysis of the market can provide a much more defensible opinion of market value than the opinion of the old fella who based his opinion on the distance to the moon strictly on the fact that he’d watched the moon every night for 70 years before he went to bed. In the d9h, Neily may have found a “diamond in the rough,” or he may have found “the ultimate in a money-pit losing project.” I certainly don’t know, and this “nerdish” dialogue is not meant to advise anyone on the value of anything, but to perhaps lay out a procedure for valuing “stuff” that needs substantial mechanical work. Okay, we’re all experts on automobiles, right? I am, because I drive one (snark, snark). So let’s talk about an older Rolls Royce I have been, hypothetically, offered. I know that a highly similar but properly restored Rolls recently sold at auction at $37,000. That’s probably the highest that I can make this car worth after I’ve done all the work it needs, which includes another engine (or a lot of work on the existing engine), transmission work, a paint job, a new interior, new tires, and body repair from when it swiped a float-loaded D8 in a parking lot. Following is how I would try to ball-park an estimate of value. Also remember that once I’ve got that jewel into great shape, I must still consider the costs of selling it in the estimation of market value (also, neither your labor, nor mine, is free, so don’t sell yourself short by saying “I can do that cheaper than any shop.” The next owner doesn’t care who did the work, so long as it was done correctly, and if you want to put your sweat equity into it, that’s fine, but always remember, “Your labor is not free.” Thoughts? Questions? Challenges? From your experience, what did I leave out in the below? Value as restored: $37,000 COSTS TO RESTORE THE ROLLS ROYCE Engine repair $5,000 Transportation of the Rolls to various shops. $500 Transmission repair $4,250 body & paint work $6,500 New interior installation $4,750 Tires, installed $1,250 Subtotal $22,250 Profit & Management @ 20% $4,450 Insurance $750 Property Taxes $100 Contingencies @ 10% $2,225 Subtotal $29,775 add loss on substitute investment @ 5%, $1,489 Subtotal $31,264 Sales Commission to sell the Rolls @ 5% of $37,000 $1,875 Total soft and hard costs for restoring the Rolls $33,139 Value of the Rolls as unrestored. $3,861
That's the worst thing about buying something like this, sellers always seem to think they have an a1 machine that just needs the engine put back together, if it was the case they would of just paid cat to rebuild it in the first place. My opinion of what it is worth to me would be what the wreckers would pay for it and that's all. There has to be some money in it, for eg if this has realy good tracks on it they have to be value to someone that could use them etc. I suppose at the end of the day a d9 delivered at my place is gonna be $50k+ this could be a realy cheap tractor. I know it's an every day question to ask and hard to answer but I don't know what I'm looking at, I need some advise as to what to look at to assess what condition the machine is in to make a good assessment of what's its worth to me. I suppose I'm thinking $20k if its looks good and allowing $10k for the engine which is what float cost would be for them to get it to Tilly's or for me to get anything simmilar delivered.
I've bought a few machines that have sat for years, and worked on a bunch more customers have bought; and I can tell you from experience, It's not in great shape. Things will be stuck, rusted, seals and hoses will be dry-rotted. It may still be well worth fixing, but I personally would make sure I could scrap it or part it out and get my money back.
Does it have a D353 engine in it? I did alot of repairs on a D9G w/ a 353 there ain't nothing cheap on it. Going to Empire it is hard to find some parts, it is so old the manuals ain't available on their networks. If it's 55 tons and scrap is $50/ton or so, that's $2750, your gonna be at least that much just getting the engine done. Then you have to look at track condition, sprockets, rollers, trans, diff, finals, and whatever cooling issues, as well as any hydraulic issues. I had to put a pump on that 9G, no kit for the original, it was $2000 for the pump. I did the equalizer pad, it was $1200 for those 4-5 parts. The diffuser for the air cleaner came up missing somehow, it was $1200 for that. It broke a track shoe and a 100 ton press wouldn't budge the pin, $2000 to fix that. So, if you're thinking about it you better go over it with a very, very, very fine tooth comb.
Sitting for 15 years could have brought on problems as big or worse than the engine. I wouldn't look at a D9 unless I had a lot of work for a D9. It's expensive to run even when everything works and you better have pretty firm ground to run it on. The engine could cost well over $15,000 to fix and then you have no idea what the transmission or finals or anything else is like. I wouldn't consider a D9 a DYI fix it project. It's just up the road, that does mean you hope to get it going and drive it to your place? Even for a parts machine you need to have a buyer.
Hi guys, all sound advice and its what I need to hear, I will have a good hard look at it before I make any decisions. I'm pretty confident this guy is gonna want way to much for it anyway. I bought the neighbouring farm and it has a gravel hill eg quarry hence wanting something sizeable to rip with. Welder Dave, no don't intend to drive it home but it just wouldn't cost much to have it moved. This isn't what you would call a big earthmoving area so there isn't much around so basically it would cost $10k just to get anything delivered.
Ok it's real close but nothing on a D9 is going to be cheap to repair and you'll need a hoist to lift pretty much everything. I think you'd be better off looking at something like a D6 that would likely have used parts available and much more common.
Assume,you got it for free (which you know isn't going to happen) A machine of this size ain't for the faint hearted that's been sat for years. D9's are a whole different league of their own. The advice already given here is spot.
Yep would have to agree on advice nicky. Mechanical work means nothing to me, it simply comes down to cost. Ill ring the guy and see where we're at with it tomorra and go from there. I'm confident he is going to want top dollar for it anyway which makes it unviable to begin with.
Yair . . . Neily. I have been thinking about this dilemma and, as I see it, the machine as it stands probably has almost a negative value . . . that is to say the owner would have to pay someone to take it off his hands. It would have some value to an outfit such as Tillies or some other tractor breaker but loading and freight could kill the deal . . . depending where it is there could be several thousand dollars involved just in getting onto a float. If you could really use this tractor I would print out this thread as reality check for the owner and see if he will agree on a price with the machine up and running ready to walk onto the float . . . a realistic price that reflects your labour and he supplies all the necessary parts. If, part way in, you find the engine to be beyond repair you can walk away with the experience. Cheers.
Even at bargain prices there's plenty of "Flintstone" D9's around!!!!
hi nearly we bo0ught a d9e at a clearing sale near us in running condition for $16000 bout 5 yrs ago, (deceased estate), walked it home an started work on it. tracks were 90%, an engine claimed to be overhauled before owner died(so couldn't ask what was done). during a total fluid replacement, noticed crown wheel an pinion looking REAL SAD. started blade ploughing and tractor just paid for itself (equivalent to paying a contractor to do same work) before BANG went the pinion. direct drive gearbox, OH ,, got new crown wheel easy BUT pinion took us 12 mths to find a good take out from the states. cat classic parts helped source us wreckers for us (THANK YOU CAT CLASSIC) we had to buy and import though 2 gearboxes to get the best pinion. gave tractor a total backend rebuild (clutches, brakes, etc) . anyhow the old girl has now paid for itself and repaires, many times over in ploughing done and still going strong, the power of these old girls is awesome. so consider the cost of purchase and repairs vs hireing a contractor for job , or smaller tractor, for us it worked but for others it might not
Hi all, old mate is still trying to research what the tractor is worth. I'll Let yous know when I find out. My guess is $30k anyone else wanna put a guess on it lol.
Selling something like that D9 is similar to an estate agent selling a house with "character" - in other words something that only appeals to a certain type of buyer. They can say "it's worth so-and-so" until they are blue in the face but at the end of the day it's only worth what a potential purchaser is prepared to pay for it ....... I'll bet money the owner will come up with an extremely inflated number for it. If he does tell him it can stay where it is for the next 15 years.....
Value is what a market for a property, real or personal, believes at any given moment that property is worth. Market areas can be very small, to global. Value is the opinion of the market for that property. An appraisal is an appraiser's opinion of what the market for a property believes a property is worth; therefore, an appraisal is an opinion of an opinion. Deriving an appraisal of a used car is one thing, but figuring out how much less that car is worth if it is badly wrecked may be hugely more difficult until the car is taken apart, the problems diagnosed, and the numbers run. I would think that the larger a non-operating piece of heavy equipment is, the more difficult it could be to establish the cost to put it back into longer-term operating condition. Flame away.... Neill
Hi. Tarhe driver, yes working out what this thing is realy like is going to be the problem. I'd hate to think what a final drive would cost to replace, I'm realy going to have to check this thing out to the best of my ability before I can establish its worth to me. Nige. I'm with you on the " I'll bet money he wants an over inflated price" way of thinking. My thoughts are that if it is taking so long to work out a price it's because whoever he asks tell him it's either worthless ( which is defiantly not what he wants to hear ) or "that 4 barrel ripper is worth 10k on its own" attitude which puts $$$$$$$$$$ into the sellers mind. I'll be surprised if I even need to look at it once I have a price lol.
Neill, No flames from me on that one. Once you get over a certain size the bigger they are the less they are worth! Company I worked for had a few front end loaders to sell at auction. Some 966C Cats and some 988B Cats. The prices they got for 966C's with parts missing and engines have gone and open to the weather seemed crazy where 988B's went for next to nothing in comparison. Would hate to think how cheep a 992 would go for if it had engine problems. Bet it would be the same for a D6C and a D9H in the same condition.
Update, spoke to a mate yesterday that had this picture taken a while ago. Machine is in this state, owner contacted me today and is going to send me a few pictures through. She looks a lil sad :/. Ill post some more pics when I get them, she doesn't look real flash!!
General appearance of tracks/blade and the engine issues lead me to believe anywhere from $0-$20/tonne would be fair.
Undercarriage looks almost worn out for a start. Not much left in those grousers or the sprockets, links are pretty well down to the bone, or certainly appear so from the photos. Evidence of leaking hydraulic cylinders on the ripper at least. This thing is looking more like scrap price every day......
Hi nige, yep certainly doesn't exactly jump at you in the pictures does it. I should know a price soon so that's what will determine if I'm even going to go for a look at it, pictures are good but not like a walk around with your own eyes. You wouldn't happen to have a rough idea of age would you? Also what kind of average life expectancy does one get from a new undercarriage? I realise that's a pretty broad question. I'm never going to do thousands of hours, more like hundreds I'd say, uc would probably see me out as is.
That S/N plate is actually the engine number, not the machine. For newer machines if you throw an engine S/N into the system it will come up with a machine S/N and a date of manufacture but with something that old the data simply isn't there. Ask the seller for the machine Serial Number. For a D9H the S/N prefix should be one of either 12V, 90V, 97V or 99V followed by the number.
97v2939 I think
12V, 97V, & 99V machines ended at 144. IIRC these were the dual-D9 machines. Most likely 90V2939 in which case early-to-mid 1976.
Are these the numbers?
Now that's the engine number plate. D353 is the engine model, 97U2939 is the Serial Number and 8S3233 is the Arrangement Number (aka Bill of Materials). They all seem kosher but there is no info in the system on that engine to date it. I wonder if the plate in your previous photo on Page 2 is from a component like the hydraulic control, ripper, or blade..? Back in that era the hydraulic control would certainly have had its own S/No, today they don't. It certainly doesn't look like any machine Serial Number plate I've ever seen but on the other hand it appears to be a genuine Cat plate. Edit: Found it ....... 28H17344 is the Serial Number of the Hydraulic Control, that tag will most likely be mounted on the hydraulic tank. Despite now knowing what it is we're no nearer dating the tractor. So we're still looking for the machine Serial Number.
Everything except the one needed lol, I have a picture of the ripper sn. So the other could very well be for the blade or something else, that's all the pictures I have. No worries I'll have a look if I ever see it for myself, thanks for having a look. I'm getting a bit curious as to what price he comes up with lol.
I agree. It's probably going to be a 90V machine. Unlikely to be a 97V as only a couple of hundred were made and if it were you would probably be able so see the remnants of the air control system for the DD9 setup. If, on the off chance it is a 97V it would possibly be worth saving as a collector's item. If the original machine serial number plate is still there, it should be in the cab riveted to the lower firewall behind the brake pedals. And yes, 28H is the hydraulic control.
Hi all, old mate wants 25k think I'll let that one go :/. Went and had a look at this one today, it has its issues also! No turning brakes on rhs, sluggish in reverse and the engine blows black smoke like crazy. Although sounds and runs nice. Give me your opinion.
This just goes to show that Australia really is "upside down"
Yair . . . Looka that fixed it for you Neily Cheers
Yair . . . Well I'll be (Laughing) It bloody was right and now it's not!!! Oh well, people reckon I'm a smart ass . . . but not with computers. Cheers.
lets see if i got it Scrub
It's upright, but now it's a LEFTY. How'd you change that?
Ill just have to put that down to poor photography. Thanks for the upright. Anyone have an idea how in depth steering brakes are, is this a trans out job or removal of finals and in the side? How is this job approached? Just after a rough idea how much this would take so I can factor it into the price.
Ps how common is it for these to have a 3508 fitted?
I just rotated it in windows photo viewer
with out a serial number one can't tell you much , going by sales model of a D10 there is 2 serial number prefixes and they both show a D348 engine
Hey walkerv, it's an 84w not sure on the number. It should have a d348, been changed obviously. Any idea on steering brakes?
sorry cant help you there only experience I have on those was helping my old man with a little reassembly and ran the dozer so he could check brake pressures afterwords . My background is 15 years of trucks primarily. I have been all heavy equipment for only a little over a year and I have lots to learn I study the forum most every night
Sounds simmilar to myself. I spent 5 years fixing trucks, farming now. I do my fair share of study to lol, hopefully someone can set me straight on the brakes.
Depending on actual S/No the tractor could date back as far as late 70s or as new as mid-80's. The original engine was a D348 which is/was a dog. The emissions repower engine would most certainly be a 3508, that's what went into the 11R. Whether the engine conversion on that particular tractor is a factory-approved repower or a home-brewed job is up for discussion. I assume the installed 3508 engine has a Woodward governor, correct..? That would make sense as the original 84W machine was totally non-electronic. Also it might (and I stress the might) explain the black smoke, because if someone has been buggering around with the governor settings, especially the droop, it could cause all sorts of weird issues. Come to think of it, if the conversion is a home-brew and the 3508 originally came from a generator set the governor settings (and mabe some internal parts in the governor itself) would be completely different. If you can get and engine Serial Number it might help in tracing the engine provenance. There should be lots of expertise on D10/D11 brakes/steering on HEF. In fact check out this thread it may give you some ideas. You have to remember that the original model tractor like the one you are looking at was badged as a D10, then when Cat changed the models around the D10 morphed into the D11N. So whatever's said about early D11's will apply just the same to this D10. HeavyEquipmentForums One last question. If you end up buying the 10 just exactly how do you plan on moving it around..?
Hi nige. I didn't get to in depth with the governor, wouldn't know what I was looking at anyway. Old mate told me that the engine was out of an 11r but who realy knows at this point. Supposedly an 82 model but I didn't worry about the getting the serial number. Yeah I had read through that post when it first started, worked out that it looks as though it's just break the track and pull the whole final off so that doesn't look to hard at all realy. As far as moving it about its no worries getting it home on a truck, once it's home I can walk it anywhere it will ever need to go. If I do find a few outside Jobs to far to walk it the bloke that brings it home can move it no worries. Not sure if it's an economically viable option at this point just yet.
If the engine was out of an 11R then it would be either 1st or 2nd generation electronic (ADEM-I or ADEM-II) depending on what particular model it came out of. I'm not sure how an engine like that could communicate with the transmission which in an 11R is electronically-controlled. It doesn't make sense to me. Now if matey boy had said the engine came out of an 11N I could see that it would work because it would be mechanical injection. The fact he's saying it came from another machine model (as opposed to being an official factory repower using a brand-new or Reman engine along with factory-supplied wiring harnesses, etc. to do the conversion) sounds like a potential world of hurt to me. As I said above if it was a mechanical-injection 3508 that would make sense because it would be instantly compatible with the rest of the mechanical 84W-prefix D10 with no need for electronic communication between the engine, transmission, and monitor system. Do that and you'd better have really deep pockets to pay for all the fuel it's going to burn and the wear on the undercarriage...... No joking, we used to move our 10's & 11's on a lowboy for any distance over 1000 metres in order to save fuel and wear & tear on undercarriage. I would guess at today's prices a full undercarriage overhaul on the tractor you're looking at would be close to or maybe even in excess of US$100,000 just in parts.
Hi nige I did notice that the throttle linkage seemed to go into a governor box on the rh front of the engine block? I don't have deep pockets and I can't argue with your experience on that one lol. To be perfectly honest the bloke that owns it is hard to talk to he dosent answer his phone and kinda changes his tune a lot, it's very hard to ask him anything and get answers. It's like he dosent even want to sell it, I've encountered this before and it annoys the **** out of me. Sorry having a rant lol but I should have had a better look at the machine in respect to the engine. Tbh this machine is starting to feel like a trap, I'm no expert on earthmoving gear but my first impression of this machine was that it has been neglected maintanence wise. I'm starting think It might be worth giving it a wide berth considering the price.
If it had a throttle linkage across the top of the engine it's a mechanical governor engine and it didn't come out of any 11R on this planet......... Just be aware that the D10/D11 line are expensive machines to operate and maintain. undercarriage is just one part of the equation.
Just on the walking thing, on most farms here in Australia(esp in the pastoral/cropping zones) when a dozer gets "walked" it will generally be doing work on the way like raking along a timber line etc and not just blade up flat out in third. Whenever we go here there is something for the machine to do enroute to the "job". When raking timber its all day in second and not much reversing in total. Mike.
Yair . . . Good one mht1156 . That's exactly right. I can't comprehend bringing in a float to save a thousand meter walk. Nige though has wide experience on operations costs and I have no doubt it pencils out. I have often wondered why large tractors now seem so disproportionately expensive to operate despite their larger size. I used to always try to negotiate pulling a strip at half rates or whatever to help cover costs. Walking empty was often unavoidable though and I have walked D9g's one hundred and fifty miles in three long days dragging eight hundred feet of two and a half inch chain. As you say, raking and pulling tractors saw little reverse and in dusty conditions we often walked them backwards as it was easier to see phone lines strung from tree to tree. Back then, in the in the late sixties, the rate on D9g's was fifty bucks an hour each and the chain thrown in for free. Cheers.
Yes, a totally different form of operation. Basically I was looking at dead-heading from one work site to another. Also we used to blank 3rd gear off on all our tractors to stop the boys getting too over-enthusiastic with them because we could never rely on the operations supervisors to keep their operators totally under control. Easy to do on electronic transmissions. We didn't have to bring a float in Scruib, we had one on site 24 x 7 with a permanent crew whose sole function in life was to move equipment from one place to another, drills, dozers, etc. Basically anything on steel tracks. If they made one move or ten in a shift they were paid the same. The 1000m number was again something we plucked out of the air because the operations people always had the tendency to wing it when it came to doing their work. It was like "Oi Fred, take your 10 and just pop over there and clear that area up, then when you're done move to so-and-so and do such & such, then etc, etc....". You could easily have dozers working for different supervisors criss-crossing the job, even passing each other in opposite directions at times when dead-heading. You get my drift..? Having a relatively restrictive limit on how far they could move under their own power made the Ops boys actually think about what work they had to do and come up with a plan on how best to organize their assets in order to do it.
Tell us a bit about your gravel pit Neily. Unless it is hard rock or you are selling huge amounts, you may be just as well off with something a little smaller. Spend a week on a 7 or 8 and you should have an impressive pile of road gravel.
Yair . . . . Gotcha Nige Excellent explanation and it puts it more into perspective . . . that's a nice line up that last picture. (Big Grin) Cheers.
I'll second that scrub, very nice line up! I wonder if they would notice if one went missing Hi queenslander, it's kinda a long story. Bare with me lol. I brought the neighbouring farm off my cousin which has a hill with an old pit, say 20-30 years ago all the easy stuff on the top was removed. Once it got to hard going ( hd21 ) they moved through the fence into the neighbours ( boundary fence basically runs over the top of the hill ) and started again and this has been the local pit ever since. My mate owns the pit through the fence and has done for about 10 years, he isn't overly excited about selling gravel which has me beat? $$$ I think. Anyway when the shire used to use it they mainly blasted it and than had it crushed. Now where my problems start are. 1 there is also a road over the hill and just the other side of the road another mate of mine has just built a lovely new brick home ( about 350m away) , so without a bit more research I think I'm gonna be out of luck on the blasting front. 2 the rock isn't what I'd consider hard, probably fairly soft I think as rock goes. That lead me to thinking a big machine might do a pretty good job of smashing it up while ripping and pushing ( track rolling I guess ). 3 big tractors don't seem to bring half the asking price of smaller ones around here. 4 I have an old hd9 that would do the job if it was blasted, might take a while but 5 for some reason I'd rather buy my own machine and do it instead of paying someone else but this might not be viable. There is potential to sell a fair bit if I can dig it up, So I'm realy unsure at this point what to do. I asked my mate about it he said walk the old allis up there and see what happens, he suggested that would give me a good indication what will happen. Ie if it can rip it and it pulls out chunks that won't break up that chances are that a big dozer is only going to do the same on a bigger scale, and looking in the neighbouring pit this is probably true. I'm unsure about that but he works for an earthmoving company so he should have some idea. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'll take some Pictures of both pits and the rock and mabe you and others mabe able to give some advice, thanks neil
Scrub, I can't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head but IIRC an 11R costs about US$200 per hour to run just in fuel and undercarriage without counting anything else. Now in 2nd speed she'll do about 7km/h, so that equates to almost $30/km just in fuel & running gear even when it's not pushing dirt. Move a dozer 10km a few times which would be easy on a big mine site and if you have a fleet of say 20 dozers all of a sardine you're talking real money just to walk them around. More than enough to justify a lowboy and crew.
Yeah reminds me when one of my brothers worked for a large mining company here in Australia doing copper from large open cuts. At the time rubber for trucks and associated machines was at a premium due to a world wide shortage of large tyres and a mining boom was ramping up here. Just by running operators through some schools dedicated to tyre wear and maintenance they achieved significant savings and sort of put paid to the widely held belief that large mining = waste, not always so. Mike.
The Rock in Those photos looks eminently rippable IMHO. Just how much it would crush by running a heavy dozer over it is a different matter. It's also not what I would have immediately thought of when you originally mentioned the word gravel.
Yair . . . Gotcha Nige . With running costs of two hundred dollars an hour Neily would need to be getting good money for gravel and selling plenty of it to justify such a large machine. I believe that rock/gravel would be rippable with a smaller machine . . . for sure the bigger the machine the bigger the pieces. A lot will come down to operator technique. With the existing fractures and horizontal planes a good ripper hand will figure out the grain and work the seams to best advantage. Others are far more qualified than I to talk about excavators but a few years back I watched what I imagine was thirty ton Kobelco with a ripper tine making short work of similar rock in a road cutting, doing pretty much as well as a hi-track D7 I thought. That may be another option. Cheers.
Hi nige and scrub. I would have to agree about the running costs, I suppose I figgure if I can find a machine for the right money I should be able to do a lot of work without spending to much on undercarriage etc. Ie if I end up buying something hopefully it will see me out apart from General maintenance. I might take my loader up there on the weekend if it's dry enough and see how it goes, hopefully I can get down a bit with it before it gets to hard going. The pictures of the green clearing are where I'll be working, the rock face in those photos is about 5 m high if that puts any perspective to the size of the rock. Unless it breaks up there will be some big chunks come out with a big dozer. What kind of rock would you guys call this stuff? Hey scrub my mate told me a similar story, he generally drives a 30t case digger and said if he can't get through rock an 8 won't either. I priced blasting today and it came in at $4.50m roughly, local earthmoving guys I know are about $3 with a dozer.
Ps what size dozer would a 980 (A) roughly compare to when it comes to ripping?
Looks a little like the sandstone they use a little west of here. Comes up in lumps the size of a large suitcase but works down to an excellent road base under a heavy grid roller. I guess it will come down to the amount you hope to shift.
Here's one for you Neily. Would have to be a misprint, but you never know, could be worth a phone call.
Dang, I think the place I worked bought just a used engine for a D9H shortly after I retired and paid that much!
Hi Neily just wondering if your brought the old D9 I have done a lot of work on these old tractors and I think I might know the tractor in your photos is it near Parkes/Forbes in NSW cheers Pat
Hey pat, yep that's the tractor your thinking of. No mate I passed on it, the number$ didn't work for me. ive put the tractor idea on the shelf for the mean time, got a local coming to push up 5000m for me. I'll see how he goes before I look into buying one, get a feel for demand aswell once people see a pile pushed up. Queenslander, haven't been back here for a while. I'd assume that guy had 300 calls about the 9 for 22k lol, surely a misprint.
Yeah, It was advertised elsewhere as 22k for a stickrake and offers invited for the tractor. Plenty of big, more modern, gear on the market in that area with the downturn in mining fortunes.
Hey neily Is there any chance you can put me in touch with the owner of it hasn't been sold yet? Thanks mate
Pat, I sent you a pm or tried to anyway.
Queenslander. yeah Certainly some cheap gear out there atm, been some big gear bringing no money at auctions that I've seen. Still dosent seem to have effected the prices on private stuff though.