What are everyones opinions on the cat d4H? I would like to buy a small dozer and there a couple d4h's for sale in quebec. I'm not at all familiar with dozers, i just always dreamed of owning my own equipment so i bought a hoe last year, maybe a dozer this year.
I think you would be more than happy with a D4H They can move alot of dirt. I run an older 85 D5B and its a tough old dozer. I run a small landfill and and push down and spread cover with the 5B as well as stripping and othere tasks. Dad found a 94 D4H with a cab and I wasnt really sold on it and the 6 way blade and the 4 cylinder engine compared to the 6 in the D5B. I was suprised at what I can do with it and how well balanced it is. Its alot smoother to operate to.
Make sure it has the 3304 instead of the underpowered 3204.
thanx for the info so far, Two that i looked at had tags that said made in japan. Is that bad?
I think all of the D4h's were made by Shin Mitsubishi Caterpillar. Im not sure if any were made here or Canada. Also make sure its not a grey market either. I have a friend that has a Cat D4H and it was a manual transmission. Not the North American Straigtht shift. He has problems with some parts.
The manual you speak of, is that the ones with the shifter like a car in the middle instead of the shifter on the left side by your arm?
Yes it is, I think the NA models had this to but a different set up. My friends thats was a grey with the straight shift had it in the center with al lthe forward gears in a left to right 123 with the coresponding reverse right be hind them. I some of the timbe companies used to run forestry D4H's wit hthe NA straight shift that had a 3 or 4 speeds on the middled shifter and a reverser on one side if Im not mixed up. Call Cat with the serial numbers and make sure it wasnt a grey market rig. My friends dozer was bought from a sale without running the serials and it was a grey with the odd bearing set. Most of the NA straight shifters here were used to pull forestry plows and raking. and V blade work. They lasted longer on the straight pull applications than a powershift.
I have a D4H series 3.......does a great job for me around the farm building roads, general grading and clearing,.......as with any tracked machine look over the undercarriage as you can get as much as a small dozers total value in undercarriage parts......if you had not mentioned you already had a hoe i would have recommended considering getting a 953 sized track loader for a bit more versatility but i use my D4H and my 416c hoe together when i need a loader........if your working in hard clay chert soils a ripper comes in handy........i am at 2800hrs with no issues so far..
I was talking with some of the older gentleman at work and they said it's rediculously expensive to replace engines or undercarriages, Is that true?