Hi, just got my posting wings as a noob!! I've got an opportunity to pick up a 1981 D6D, 04X serial prefix. Its got an angledozer, hydraulic tilts and a cute little parallelogram ripper that looks like it should have been on a grader... I haven't seem much talk on this site about the D6D...is it a decent machine? Any warts that a guy should watch out for? In the same lineup as this machine there is another D6D, 1979--I noticed it had fish plates welded to the sides of both track frames just ahead of the sprocket. Weak track frames? I'll be using it for clearing on my stump ranch--mostly small pine to take out and grading the land enough to get agricultural equipment working the soil. Probably try to get a little outside work as well. I'd appreciate any and all opinions and commments!! Thanks, Jon.
The D6D is an excellent machine. You dont hear much about them anymore because they are older machines and most big contractors have traded them in on H and R series. I personally own one and a D5B of the same vintage, and like both of them. I use them on my farm/ranch and also work them for others. My dozers are direct drive instead of the powershift which you are looking at, but set that aside and everything else is the same. I have not seen any major problems with the roller frames on the 6D's it was probably abuse IMO. The final drives require a little care to get the maximum life out of them, but the machines are good overall.
Parts for these are very easy to find and available from many aftermarket sources. If the owner will let you, put it in the dirt for a couple hours and push for all it is worth, if the trans/torque gauge goes into the red there are issues here to deal with. Listen for exhaust gaskets leaking, this means broken manifold bolts, best fix is to trade head to cat for a reman and a new manifold, probably a new turbo too. Probably need new injectors too at the same time, look real hard at the fan drive..if bearings are loose, hub is probably shot. Also the fan and alternator pulleys may be shot (this is an old tractor) and this will slow down the fan for less cooling. Radiator core must be good for good cooling too. These are just problems that all old tractors will run into, don't let it sway you much, I fixed every bit of this on my D6D, and it is a very dependable and economical tractor to run. Factory D6 ripper is pretty large so it sounds like this one is lighter, but still might be fine. Pull off the floor panels under your feet on the operators station after you get it hot and look around for leaks. If it has been run hot a lot, the seals under the trans pump and assorted other valve blocks near the torque will be leaking. No big job to re the seals, just an indication of what has been happening. Tractor will do a ton of work and you can haul it on a two axle lowboy.
Welcome to the board sawmill, a D6 in good shape of that era should serve you well.
D6d the early ones had small bearings in the crossshaft, the finals drive bearings go out around 8,000 hrs, the angle blade is for shaping, not worth a crap for trees or production dozing, probably why roller frames are cracked I've got an opportunity to pick up a 1981 D6D, 04X serial prefix. Its got an angledozer, hydraulic tilts and a cute little parallelogram ripper that looks like it should have been on a grader... I haven't seem much talk on this site about the D6D...is it a decent machine? Any warts that a guy should watch out for? In the same lineup as this machine there is another D6D, 1979--I noticed it had fish plates welded to the sides of both track frames just ahead of the sprocket. Weak track frames? I'll be using it for clearing on my stump ranch--mostly small pine to take out and grading the land enough to get agricultural equipment working the soil. Probably try to get a little outside work as well. I'd appreciate any and all opinions and commments!! Thanks, Jon.[/QUOTE]
Very good tractor. Had one in northern Manitoba where it's pretty tough going. Hung together well and when using arctic type oils would start when it was -25 without being plugged in. What are these worth nowadays?
D6d I got 32k for mine, granted not what it was worth. I bought it brand new in 1983 with factory cab, engine enclosures, lights and logging sweeps. It had 16,000 frame hours 8,000 hrs on everything but the engine, think engine had around 10,000 hrs, someone filled it with sand at 6,000 hrs in North Omaha. I had just rebuilt the finals, resealed torque convertor, tilt cylinder, new hoses on transmission, new stiff bar pads and wear plates, had a fresh turn on 3,000 hour rails and shoes. Resealed the cable control. Good paint, no bent sheet metal. Needed a couple wiper blades and one switch and I think 3 headlight bulbs. The windshield washers I was going to unplug, they had not worked since new, tips were plugged with paint. Heat and a/c all worked. I paid $138,500 for it in 1983. I have never seen nor never will find another one as good. I did an engine back overhaul in 2000, think I spent 70,000 on that tractor in like 3 years. Rebuilt everything up to the fan and alternator pulley's. Funny after 26 years that I never unplugged those washer nozzles. Like how often do you push dirt when it is raining anyway. I had a 1978 D6D and 1974 D6C before this one, they both had to get updated cross shaft bearings, but were good tractors too. The D6C 10K was about the same machine other than sheetmetal and crosshaft bearings. They went to a direct injection engine sometime between 1978 and 1983 and also put the blade tilt on wobble stick with the d series.
D6d All, thanks for your opinions and observations--they're all good. (even if they're bad!) Tripper, the only real information I can find on pricing is from what the dealers want (highway robbery--$40K) and on the Ritchie Bros auction results pages. From there it looks like an early '80s D6D goes for about $15-25K. One stuck out--a wide pad machine got nearly $40K. I get cold just thinking of the North. You must have had a pretty tight engine for it to start at -25 without the usual sniff of ether! All my diesels on the farm need a sniff when it hits zero C! 'Course the newest is 1972, so I guess my herd of geriatric diesels have an excuse! Is the engine a decent design? OldDirt, you have pointed out a lot of small items that can help the life of the girl. Good points! Is there any way of telling how good/bad the turbo is? I guess if you can hear it rattling it's probably already shot... Is it a big buck to get a reman turbo? The small ripper I was talking about is a Cat ripper, built for the '6. It just looks small compared to the monsters a guy sees on the back of '8s. Mockman, you are hard on the angledozer. I can see why it probably isn't good for pushing distances unless you slot doze but why do you say its no good for pushing trees? Is it that it isn't as well braced as a straight blade? Thanks, Jon.
ripper on a 6 The standard D6 cat ripper is really big, it looks way bigger than the machine could ever tear up. Mine will turn my tractor sideways if one side hits something solid enough not to break. when I bought my 6D there were plenty of open station tractors that were priced in the 35K range from original owners that you could trust. Auction tractors were 10k less but needed about everything fixed so it depends on what you want.
Ripper I wonder if somebody put a ripper off a motor grader on that dozer. I've seen that done on a D5B, they'll bolt right up. A D6D is about the same size where the ripper hangs.
The D5 ripper would work just fine on a 6D. I know of one near me that has one off a D4, it has been run several years and has hung together ok.
Time for a couple of photos... Hi, guys, I figured a couple of photos would help sort out what this d6 has on it for a ripper. I photographed the ripper on it and then a ripper we had off a grader. They are starting to look very similiar.... Does this poor old D6 have the embarassment of carrying something that a grader should have? The shanks look pretty much the same. The grader just has more holes for them! Jon.
Yep, that's a motor grader ripper.
That is the standard Cat No 6 ripper for the D6 C/D models.
If you look at the ram size , the top linkage size and the main lower frame they are all different, much heavier for the dozer one. To big a ripper will make it tail heavy, hard on final drives and rear bottom rollers, at the end of the day if you want to do serious ripping they make D8s & 9s for that.
D6 These are tough machines and probably used to do tough work. The older D6's in my area was used in the logging operations, clearing acreage of big stumps. They really get abused in our area. Unless I got a get deal on a D6, I would prefer a D5 size machine, not as heavy and burns less fuel. If your land is soft/boggy the lighter machine maybe better. This really a big machine, but its a workhorse. Make sure its not worn out
Ripper Yep, I'm wrong. That is a D6 ripper, I didn't realize they had 5 shanks on a 6. I looked at some on Machinery Trader.
that picture of the dozer and ripper shows a D6 ripper. It is the same one that is on mine. It is really heavy and actually balances the tractor pretty well. cat says the D6Dno. 6 ripper weighs about 3500 with three teeth.
I have 2 of these and probably not a bucket full of bolts left unturned on either of em. They are tough, and probably the mosty trouble free tractors thar Cat ever built in a low sprocket. Over the years I've had about 8 other 6'ds and they are great. If they gave much trouble, then Cat wouldn't have built D6E's, and D6G's that use 99% the same parts. Perfect size to push trees with. You should get a straight blade to get those stumps though. The first thing we do to one when we get it is put a push rack on the blade to clear brush. In thick woods these will outwork my D7G because they can wiggle their way through the trees better.
D6D ripper It seems like there is more positive opinion about the D6D than negative...unless the negative guys are just more close-mouthed!! :tong I've read that the D6 has been a favorite size for a long 'way back--especially with loggers. Apparently, the idea of balance and nimbleness has been an issue with crawlers even back to the late '30's. Supposedly that is why the old Cat 60 had such a good production run--it was about the same size as a 6 and the loggers loved them. One thing my boys and I were tossing around was that the rippers look very much like root rakes. And since a real live root rake would set us back another $5K, at least around here, any opinions about using the rippers to clean up the root network in the ground? I suppose, to be really effective, the whole rack should be filled with shanks? Jon.
ripper for a rake and to Will.. There is no room to carry anything in front of the ripper teeth, so that might not be real productive.. to Will Musser.. I wonder if there is a way to move the dozer cylinders forward on the hardnose like on the E models to eliminate that darn pivot shaft going through the motor compartment. My only gripe on this thing, these are a great all around tractor and are nicer to haul around weight wise. They must have built a zillion of them.
An E hardnose will fit, but in all the time I've run them and worked on them, that hasn't been too much of a problem. I think the work you'de have to do and the cost would be prohibitive I'd personally put that money toward getting myself as straight tilt blade, and building myself a pushrack on it or a root rake, although, I personally don't like a root rake on a dozer.
D'oh Oldirt, regarding the ripper and pulling roots, you're right. We got a little too enthusiastic in our discussions around the coffee pot!! :tong Early in this thread, you had mentioned several things to look over and repair when getting a machine. (All real good common sense, too--Thanks!!) One detail was the turbo. Can a guy tell when the turbo is getting sick, other than when it starts to rub the impeller on the housing? I guess you don't need bits of turbo getting into the engine. Whats a rough idea on the cost of a replacement? Jon.
I believe one of the symptoms of a bad turbo is a loss of power - if the dozer has a boost pressure gauge, be sure the pressure is nominal with a good load on the engine.
turbo's will push about the same amount of air even when the bearings are getting loose so you have to pull the intake off, and try to feel how much play the shaft has. I have one I just took off mine, it doesn't feel real bad but cat wouldn't take it for a core, I nicked the hot housing around the bolt holes a little with the torch and this cost me I think several hundred bucks. Lots of times the motor will push oil through the turbo and you will think it is just normal. all the little things I mentioned to watch for are very common to every tractor with a bunch of hours on it. Mine had plenty, and apparently nobody was much interested in keeping it up, just running till destruct. I still think it is a great tractor. though. Look closely at the final drive sprockets, look for segment bolts that have been allowed to get loose, these will wobble the holes out in the drive disc. Don't despair if yours has this, you can strip the shields, pull the segments off one at a time, and with a wire welder build up the hole, then use a carbide tipped die grinder to fit the bolts to the hole for a tight fit (use new bolts, too). Both sides of mine was like this and I didn't feel like spending 3000 for two new discs. I had the tracks off anyhow to r&r the rails/segments so this was really easy to do. Hope this helps, I have really enjoyed working on this tractor.
I replace the turbo on my D6c...bought it through a local shop instead of Cat. If I remember, it was about $750-$800 exchange. They didn't seem too pickey about the condition of the core.
turbo core I tried cat first, ended up going through a diesel pump jobber. He wouldn't take the core either and it ended up costing just under a grand. This was last august.
D6d Gidday I,ve got a 1985 D6D; japanese built; but still the same horse, has been a good tractor for me, but Im real fussy maintence wise with it, and yes everything the others have said about them is true and after 10 000hrs you will have to fix a few things on them, so try and find out whats been fixed on it and check things out fairly well on it. They are probably the best and easiest dozer to find parts for. Pic of mine hopefully. Merv
1985 d6d D6 Merv, Nice lookin iron! It looks like you keep two blades for it? The middle photo looks like the same machine with an angledozer? Jon.
Hi Jon Yes I 2 blades for it and a hyd cat 70 scraper too and will swap them to suit jobs. Bullblade is better for stumps and hard going but an agle blade is better for hillside cuts as it has much more high reach on batters and is better when roading uphill. Angleblade is actually of a TD15B but only needed the lift trunnions changing to fit, is set up with a single tilt ram. Will try another pic. Cheers Merv
Here's a coupe of pics of a D6D I was part owner of back in late 80s, the scoop was a cut down DW 15 bowl cant remember what the model No was but was about the same size as a cat 70. We used to drop the rippers off and put on the PCU & drawbar when we had scoop work to do. That D6 was originally bought new by Stan Walker in Te Kawhata and we bought it from him, had around 10,000 hrs when we got it, was a good machine. Think it was eventually traded in to Eagles/Porters after I came over here.When I saw the pics of Mervs machine I thought it was the same machine but dont think it is as ours had front sweeps from the rops down to the radiator. Cheers RDG
D6d Hi RDG I started work with Goughs in Hamilton as a apprentice mechanic in 1978 and that was the same year stan walker bought that D6D, it was the first one in the waikato. Whats your opinion of a D6D vs a TD15C; seeing as how youve had both ? Most people I know who had inters spoke very highly of them. International Harvester had a much better design of bullblade in their semi U design that cat did in my opinion. I have seen 2 or 3 D6s that their owners did fit TD15 blades to, but never spoke to them about how much it improved their performance, so Id be interested in your thoughts. A DW15 bowl is the same as a cat 70, as I have a 70 and my main opposition here has a DW15 bowl converted to hyd, and both scrapers are the same. Few more pics of mine, other dozer in pic is a long track frame D4E. Cheers Merv :drinkup
The semi U blade was an excellent blade much better than Cats straight dozer, the shape kept the material in front and less spillage round the sides specially when tidying up. Was a bit frustrating when first on the D6 and was nearly going to modify it or fit an IH blade. I think IH were way ahead of Cat in the early days as they had hands only steering, single lever 4 way blade control and planetry final drives way back in about 64/65 with the 15B 20B models. We did have a few engine problems in the 15Cs in that they would run a big end bearing sometimes in as little as 1300/1500 hrs, one that I was on thru a rod out the side 70hrs after IH did work on the motor, turned out their fitter had used the old big end bolts and not put in new ones. The early model 466 engine in the 15C also had a few problems with the rotary fuel pump, later ones had the 466B /467 engine which had an inline pump, Bevel gear, steerng system and final drives wre pretty much problem free. They were much better in soft going than a D6 as they had nearly 6'' more ground clearance no diagonal braces under neath and a flat smooth bottom to them, all in all a very manourverable well balanced and productive dozer. We used to tow Onions 8/11 scoops but also had a 6/8 Onions with hungry sides which when the going got tough was a better deal than an 8/11, didn, get stuck as much, quicker loading faster up the hills and at the end of the day just about moved as much. I remember when Kaipara Excavators were doing the Apata section of the Kaimai tunnel rail line they hired one of our 8/11s and put it behind a D8H to work some wet material, I guess today it would be a 6x6 ATDs and excavator but back they wernt yet born. Cheers RDG
Hi RDG Thanks for that. Confirms what I had suspected about the blades. I welded some cutting edges on the side of my blade and made up my own corner toes to improve its side cutting abilitys and is better when cleaning up, but will have to keep my eyes open for a IH blade. Cheers mate. Merv :drinkup
Hi Rdg Would that be the same d6 with the front sweeps on that Dave Mallion ( I thinks how his last name is spelt ) used to drive for Renners ? Brainzie
Yep that would be right, I worked with Dave for many yrs at Renners , think he is with Phil Rouse now. Cheers RDG
My new toys... I finally made the jump and picked up a '78 D6D. It is fully bare: No blade, nothing on the back end. I'm working on obtaining a proper angledozer and a brush blade. (Read: trade!) I'm not sure I'm going to need anything on the back end except for a drawbar for the immediate future but I'm going to keep my ear to the ground for a winch. It is set up for a ripper. The undercarriage doesn't look to bad but the grousers aren't far from needing some attention with grouser bar. The track chain still has the yellow paint from being changed out not too many hours ago. It had a small fire in the area of the starter and only the starter was fixed. It needs the rest of the wiring in the area redone before the alternator can do its thing. Thats one of my boys in the photo, itchin to take it for a spin. His chance will come: we got quite a few acres of land to clear in the back 40. The other toy that got managed to get on the same lowbed is a 1956 LeRoi compressor tractor. Its an interesting bit of history--the engine is a 4 cylinder but the block is cast with 6 holes, the rear two quite a bit bigger bore than the 4 engine cylinders. It makes a 2 cylinder, 125 CFM compressor. Jon. Jon.
Thats a nice tidy looking dozer and should do you well. For me I would be inclined to hang some rippers on the back unless you have situations where a winch would be used more often than rippers, other wise its gonna be nose heavy which is not a problem unless you are working on steep country where the weight on the back helps when backing out of steep places. The D6D we had was much better balanced with the rippers on than with the PCU and drawbar and we only put the PCU on to do scoop work then took it off and put on the rippers. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers RDG.
I think you got taken...that's definitely not a D6D
Shoulda never believed the salesman! He had white shoes... Frap! The guy told me it was one of those Eastern Uropean Cats. He said they build them solid and add the rust to keep the mafia guys from taking too much tax on the way outta town! Them rubber tires are really how Cats are made--Bubba told me that them farmers on the praires just cut the sides out of a great huge tracter tire and stretch them between the front n'back of the tracter. I'm still wonnering how to stretch them little donuts on the back 'f that D6D.... Aloysius.
I'm thinking the guy given the job to paint that tractor was a bit of a Cat fanatic. At least they didn't get the idea to paint it green...
Sawmill, where did you take the pic of the grader ripper and is it for sale?
Enigneer4255, The photo was taken in Cranbrook, BC, Canada. The ripper isn't for sale. It gets used for foresty road repair when the snow wing comes off the grader. I wouldn't mind having it, either, to decorate the back of my bareback '6! Jon.
Very nice pictures.
... :cool2
... :cool2
must be a bloody good job if you can get 2 tractors working on a job phil ! Hows the 15 going ? Take it you got that 70 scoop, hows it going and what are you pulling it with ? 15 looks to be more on par with a D7 size compared to the poor little D6 ! Been driving a D6R-1 last 2 weeks, not mine unfortunately ! a mates one. Nice tho certainly moves more dirt than my D, but eats some diesel doing it. Cheers merv :drinkup
latest acquisition ! :beatsme Dead, but will fix engine, liner seals gone. Not bad for 3k, well I hope its not bad ! Be a good winch tractor. HD11ep
Yair . . . just reading through this old thread and I see several references to removing the hooks and fitting a pcu to do a bit of scooping . . . bloody hell! I can't imagine such a carry on . . . has no come up with a way of running a scoop behind a ripper? Cheers.
depends on the tractor and ripper setup scrub. Only seen one setup that worked good. that was a no 25 pcu mounted between the mounting brackets on a no8 radial arm rippers on a early D8H. They just had to drop the 2 ripper frame pins and the 2 hyd ram pins. Usually is just no room to mount a pcu between ripper frames. Hydraulic scoops make it easier; but usually isn,t enough clearance between bottom of ripper linkage for the drawbar pole when the tractor goes into a ground depression. And the idea of hooking onto the ripper frame drawbar just don,t work in practice. Problem is there is too much thrust when trying to turn with the drawbar connected so far out from the tractors rear sprockets. The point of connection needs to be as close as possible to the tractors rear frame With my hyd 70, I just knock out the 5 pins connecting the ripper linkage and pull off the ripper mounting frame.
Yair . . . Gotcha D6Merv . I thought there may have been a setup where the goose-neck of the scoop mounts directly to the ripper . . . I haven't really thought it through It is interesting to note that millions of yards of earth works and the early development of the grazing industry in Australia would not have been possible (or prohibitively expensive) had it not been for cable controlled equipment on crawler tractors . . . it would not be possible to do that scoop-work cost effectively with present day hydraulic equipment. Cheers.
yeah scrub, too many people think diggers and trucks is only way to move dirt. Tractor and scoop is 'old' technology. Is is but it still works and works well too on shorter hauls. In my case 100-500m. As long as I can get ontop of and behind the dirt, its just 1 man and 1 machine, load, carry, dump, spread, trample, return and start again. Digger and truck has there place, but not do all and end all of dirtwork. Each one depends on the other to move dirt. Digger or truck breaks down, things stop. 2 scrapers, don't matter if 1 breaks down, other one keeps working. Forgot; I did see one setup on a late D85 with a 15SBW kokudo hyd scoop that seemed to work ok. A towing hitch was fabricated and mounted midway underneath the lower centre ripper linkage. Had 4 barrel rippers and with linkage right up and tilted forward and all picks removed, the point of connection was pretty good and wouldn,t create too much thrust when turning. Is still quite a few D8H/Ks running around NZ with both cable and hyd scoops. And a a lot of D7H/D85 with the 15 kokudo scoops, on swampy or standard shoes too.
fat fella workin
Hey Merv. Those photos of the 15 and the d6 together where taken just as we got the 15. Only just got the torque converter fixed up on Wednesday with parts out of Canada. The rivets came out of the the impeller and absolutely buggered the inside of it. so it was recond converter and new impeller, the new one having 16 rivets instead of just 8. both D6`s sold now. great pics of yours, looks like you`ll be kept out of mischief with the Alice Chamlers
Yair . . . What did not come over in my poorly worded #51 post was that earthworks in any part of the inland pretty much have to be ripped every floor and with hydraulic equipment (as we know it) the work could not be done with a scoop. With cable you start off with the drawn ripper, drop it off and fit the scoop, clean the floor out, drop the scoop and so on . . . takes about ten minutes max to swap over. As I have mentioned before on this site in remote areas there were plenty of tractors that never saw a float and, during their lives walked thousands of miles between jobs. The normal shifting situation was a "Road Train" with the tractor towing the scoop, ripper and often four wheel dog trailer with fuel drums and oil. An off-sider (or wife) would tow the caravan or another trailer with water drums with tent and camp gear and very often a tribe of kids. It could have been done with hydraulics if the scoop and ripper were converted but of course that never happened. I believe in remote areas cable was more practical and of course easier to fix. As pointed out by D6 Merv earth moving by this method was truly a one man operation. Cheers.
still using them here in the UK.There are still a fair few of them about. There is a chap in Sweden who runs a lovely D8R and Hyd 463G.His tractor has a ripper fitted to it all the time and he just drops the shank out of it to use the scraper.Not sure how effective it is though.
Ah the old 'Ben Hurr' rippers scrub Another Bob Letourneau invention; along with the scoop ! Only knew of one contractor that used that setup and scoop, behind his 14A D8. He worked stripping in a rubble quarry and regularly swapped them around. Was certainly the easiest way if you had to rip the ground. Most scoop work over here was in clay and scoops would either dig it themselves, or they had to have another tractor ripping and pushing for heaped loads. Always enjoy your pics and banter Nicky, and Roly Billings. Nice tidy machines, and some good youtube videos too from you fellas in the UK. Cheers boys :drinkup
Yair . . . D6 Merv . Yes, it sure had to be ripped mate . . . we are talking hard red, less than twelve inches a year rainfall country, sometimes much less . . . Google Earth (say) "Cunnamulla Queensland" if you are interested. The probably irrelevant point I was making was that we could not move the dirt as efficiently (in those remote areas) these days as you need to be able to rip and scoop with the one tractor. Sure, you could do it with the blade but some of those tanks were pretty big and nothing beats a scoop when you are running dirt a hundred yards or so building out a wing. Back in the late fifties/early sixties not much dirt was pushed, it was almost seen as sacrilege to touch a batter with a blade. Having a floor of loose ripped dry dirt introduces a whole new technique to getting a load . . . a sort of a drop it in and pump it and get outa there with what you got sort of a carry on (big grin) . . . and dust. The apron around the excavation can powder up into a flowable talcum powder medium that most folks have never seen. Cheers.
Hey Scrub what does CPU stand for. I guess continual power unit meaning the winch right? Always wanted to have a go at one. With a hyd set up why can't u simply drop the rippers out and hook up to the box. How wold this setup compare with ellervated scrapers as far as bang 4 ur buck goes in today's world. Just out of curiosity would there b anyone left around in Australia still dam sinking with such a setup.
Oh by the way I know all about the bull dust u speak of I really do. Just to give u an idea the last job in did was a 35000 meg stock watering dam I built with a 615 ellervated and a direct drive d6c worked out yo b $1:80 one dollar eighty per Meg do u reckon a scoop behind a dozer could beat that.
Yair . . . Guday Cam85 ! Good to see you back? Wotcha upta? We knew them as a PCU Power Control Unit . . . the folks in The UK and US seem to use the terms CCU Cable Control Unit or CPU Cable Power Unit. On the back they are usually two drum. The right drum is used for blade lift and, when hooked to the scoop runs the hoist, the left drum runs the eject and the apron. Don't understand your hi-falutin terminology . . . I work in cubic meters of excavation. You need to compare apples with apples and would need to know tank details, distance to wings, and hourly rates before any comparison could be made. The point is that a scraper alone is a bit limited . . . you need a dozer to clear the site and clean up. I haven't seen a scoop behind a steeltrack in a long time but there was an outfit in the US with a heap of D11's and 52yard scoops up until the financial crash . . . apparently they reckoned there was no cheaper way to move dirt up to a thousand feet. Google McAninch on Youtube. Cheers.
Hey Scrub I haven't been doing anything I can't seem to find work. I'll have to get my diary out and find the sums but basically I shot the levels and worked out how manny cubes I had shifted then I worked out how much water the hole would hold with 1 meg being 1000 litres. Then worked out how much the job cost then worked out the cost into the Meg's and that will tell u how much each meg of water cost to construct. Then reversed the math to double check my math. So with 35000 Meg's that's 350000 litres x $1:80 =$63000 I can't remember how manny loads I did but that was an averiege of 1 load every 5 minutes with the bowl being 15 yards. I do have all the details in my diary up 2 and including fuel burn , cubes , even distance hauled total strip costs , topsoil cost trim cost including batter of cost all separate. Now I think about it haul distance would b the diving factor and fuel. Scrapers love a drink where as direct drive tractors are pretty economical that would b big factor 2 . The scraper would b way faster over distance but things like high matience costs on the scraper and so on effecting the hr rate the old scoop might b cheaper in the short haul. Was just trying to work it out that's all for a bloke whose sworn off the industry I don't know why Ime still interested. Maybe it's in the blood and Ime doomed ha ha ha. I trust ur poking along alright down there old feller. Regards cam
Yair . . . Gotcha Cam85 . I will start another thread called "tanksinking" . . . this is going off topic, apologies to the original poster. Cheers.
A megalitre is a million litres... A kilolitre is a thousand litres, or a cubic metre..
Oops Rc ur dead right
************************************************************************ I have been reading this thread on the D6D, very informative. This past year I bought a D6D (04X0 w/3306 engine, power shift) for use on farm, pushing brush: cedar, hackberry and other. This past summer (August-September) in my location (central Texas), it was about 95F-100F every day. After about 5-6 hours of work, the transmission heat gauge was getting near red, so I stopped work for the day. On some days, similar heat-up to near red, other days the gauge stayed in the lower to mid green zone. In your discussion, you note “if the trans/torque gauge goes into the red there are issues here to deal with.” Can you elaborate on what the issues are, difficulty to repair? Also, if you have reference to recommended repair manuals, this would be helpful.