I've been thinking of picking up a Cat D4 (not sure if I want either a low or high machine, steep slope work is in our future, but I like the idea of the high drive to avoid breaking finals.) We just rented an 04 Deere 450G and the guys liked it a lot. I know enough to know I want a fully hydrostatic machine, we don't have the expierence or patience to deal with clutches/transmissions. Eventually I want to put a laser tilt/level automatic control on it for pads.
From your post it sounds like you could use a little information about the machines you are looking for. A D4H machine is a high drive but they never made them with hydrostatic drives and I'm not sure but I don't think they make a high drive D4 anymore. The D4G is current production, a low drive and fully hydrostatic. The Deere 450G I believe has a transmission, may or may not have a torque converter and is comparable to a D3C Cat which for construction machines always has a torque converter with the transmission. I think Deere went hydrostatic with the 450H which is a very nice machine to operate. The high drive finals are no better at survival than the low drive finals. I believe the high drive machines will work any slope that the low drive machines will. There a lots of mechanics around that are good at troubleshooting and repairing torque converters and transmissions. The newer hydrostatic machines are for the most part controlled by computers and take very specialized knowledge of which for the most part is only available from new machine dealers. The jury is still out on how long the hydrostatic drives last while good maintenance and operation can make a standard drive last more than 10,000 hours. Hydrostatic machines are very suseptable to contamination so maintenance is particularly important. Both types of drive are very expensive to repair, but your chances of saving money at this time are better with the standard drive than the hydrostatic. Good Luck!
The D4 is considerably bigger than the 450 Deere. It would probably do a fine job on the slopes, but the Deere is also a tough little machine and will give good value for it's size. To compete with the D4 tho, you would need to move up to at least 650-750 size Deere unit. I never saw a good reason for a hi-sprocket D4 and I never saw many of them around. Just not worth the extra cost. Clean hydraulic fluid is a key issue with all hydrastatics, and Deere has had pretty good luck with the smaller machines with this propulsion type. Their bigger units are now the Liebher machines, and I don't know if Deere has had luck combining their engineering with the Germans. The older Deere 750-850 and larger models were terrible. In thousands of hours experience with 450 Deere's, I can't recall ever having much problem with steering clutches or brakes, same with 550 and 650 models. Good Luck.
Not Really D5=650J D6=750J
Just found out it was infact an '04 hydrostatic 450H deere we rented. Here's a of the boss actually running a machine for a change it felt like a pretty good ground pusher, felt on par wtih the cat D4G (low drive, I think it's hydrostatic too.) What do you all think about high vs low drive in general? How about on bigger machines 750/D6 and larger?
Deere 450C 65HP 14400lbs Cat D4D 65HP 17400lbs Cat D3C 70HP 16000lbs Deere 450J 70HP 17500lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D4G 80HP 17400lbs Deere 550J 80HP 17500lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D5G 90HP 19700lbs Hydrostatic drive Deere 650J 90HP 19750lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D4H 95HP 24242lbs Hydrostatic drive Deere 700J 115HP 28000lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D5H 130HP 30600lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D6K 125HP 28500lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D6N 150HP 36497lbs Deere 750J 155HP 32585lbs Hydrostatic drive Cat D6T 185HP 46700lbs
The Cat D3G is closer the the Deere 450J than a D4G, but there is not that much difference between a D3 or D4. The D3G has 70 hp same as 450J, the D4G has 80 hp same as 550J The D4 weighs 1100 lbs more than a D3 The D4 standard blade is about 9 inches wider The D4 has 6 inches more track on the ground And the D4 is about $20,000 more than a D3 In the smaller dozers: A 450J is comaprable to a D3G A 550J is comparable to a D4G A 650J falls in between a D4G and a D5G We just went through all this comparing and ended up buying a new D3G a few months ago.
That makes sense, it felt very similar. What would you guys recommend for a first dozer? Wow I didn't realize the D6 range varied that much.
I have 3 of the dozers mentioned: D5GXL, D6NXL and D6RXW. There is of course a pretty good difference between the D5G and D6R. It depends on what you want to do with the dozer. From the pictures it looks like you are doing some sort of backfilling/grading around a concrete structure. If you will be working around buildings and such, then a D6R would be overkill and probably to big to do the job- IMO. The D5G is a good little tractor. Hydrostatic, easy to operate (it's our trainer) and it has pretty good balance and enough power to tote its blade. The D3 is too small for our operations - my T250 MTL can pretty much do what it can, D4 - like mentioned above, not much difference from a D3 and way more money. Which makes the D5G a better value and a good little machine for grading, stripping and re-spreading curbs, slopes,etc. - plus it's easy to move. Now for the type of development work I do, if I only could have one dozer it would be the D6NXL. It's a good small/mid- size dozer, hi-track and diff steer, that can do a variety of tasks on the job. Unlike the R, we can load it on our tag trailer with a yearly OW permit and haul it where we like. The R takes a lowboy to move. As for the JD's - never owned one but always heard good things about the small dozers. Artherd - give us a little more background on what you plan to do with this dozer because we haven't discussed XL or LGP yet.
John deere makes a nice dozer but from my opinion for longevity and resale Cat is the way to go. Cat dealers Are usually more abundant and parts availability can not be matched. Any of the G series hydrostatic Cat dozers are a pleasure to operate . My company has D3,4,5 G'S . They have been proven to be very reliable with good operators and frequent service intervals.Stay away from dozers with foot steering clutches they will cripple when working in tight places you buy the end of the day!.lol LGP wide pads are excellent for slopes and fine grading and wet conditions. But they ride harder in boney material .:usa
Welcome to HEF ongrademike! :drinkup
Thanks for the welcome countryboy . I Am second generation operator. I stumbled upon these forums and I am right at home here.:drinkup :thumbsup
whats with all the whimpiness with this new hydro drive stuff. nothing like having 2 hands and needing them on 4 levers at the same time. oh and can't forget the joys of stearing clutches. i would go with a D4 cat lgp as long as you're not working in a lot of rocky soil. thats just my 2 cents.
You searched for: CATERPILLAR listings where the model contains D4G Auction Results Prices Equipment for Sale Prices Total number of listings found: 105 89 Highest price found: $90,000 $96,793 Lowest price found: $30,000 $40,000 Average price: $48,874 $68,796 Average price w/out High & Low: $48,658 $68,805 DEERE, DEERE listings where the model contains 550H Auction Results Prices Equipment for Sale Prices Total number of listings found: 102 100 Highest price found: $119,556 $95,000 Lowest price found: $25,000 $41,000 Average price: $43,335 $63,402 Average price w/out High & Low: $42,757 $63,308
have you ever had to recalibrate the steering on ur 450 deere? we had 1 track that would shut off when running it on the left side of the machine in the access door our mechanic replaced the bad parts on the steering controler , there was like 33 steps to recalibrate the steering he got to step # 3 ......lol..... well lets just say thank god 4 john deere dealers machanics they know how to do it and the tools !!! works just fine now, but i must say the deere is a lot better machine than that old 450 case we had... it feel more like the big boys cat D8r , d5 ect
We just got a brand new d4lgp LOVE it. i've operated both machines. idk why but john deere 450 blade moves way to fast for me maybe that's just me though? Buy the catd4lgp -Michael-