Have alot of heavy pushing to do and roads to build (farm work);There will also be some fairly steep grade work to be done. I would like opinions on which would give me better servcie. Both machines are under 5000 hours and both have better than 70% uc. And same price range. Thanks for the help.
Can you get serial #'s or at least the year of manufacturing. I ran a lot of D6C's. The ones from the late 60's were visibly different from a 74-76 despite them all being D6C. I believe the early ones were serial #10?? and the late model 76 that I spent a lot of time on was a #90somthing. I would take that late model 6C any day. It had weight and power and would push all day long even in heavy dozing. Cheers L.D.
I have no serial number for the machine, but it is a 10K Series, which I think should put it between 75 & 76.
The D65E (Extended Frame) is a very competant chunk of iron that is way ahead of a 6C or 6D tractor in many ways, the down side is the parts price, in the U.K. we do have a very good non O.E. dealer that break up Komatsu equipment also selling new PAT parts that are very good in price and quality, the D65 will drive the best and out perform on the blade to the CAT standard drive, its how things sit with you that should point to what banger you go for, the 5'000 hr thing with 70% boots sounds a bit odd as both tractors usualy manage over 6'000 hrs to a set of boots, so it would mean the originals lasted around 4'000 clicks??
Yair . . . After many years off the seat I clambered onto a Komatsu 65 in about 1995. I have never been into models or numbers but it has a Cummins and I believe is about 140hp. It is a simple well balanced competent machine and my impression was that it was a little larger than a six . . . after the D7 mentioned in other posts is the nicest machine I have ever run. The biggest issue the owners have had is finding someone who understands that Cummins engine. I off sided to the Komatsu man a few years back rebuilding final drives and I was impressed with the simplicity of construction and reasonable cost of parts. It has been pretty much retired now but still does a few hours if required. Cheers.
Yeah D65E-6 and 7 were arguably komatsus best ever tractor. They are good solid and reliable, and were a extremely popular logging tractor in NZ. Tony is right they are a better machine than a D6C/D; and I own 2 D6Ds :notworthy. Mine is a case of the devil I know best. D65 finals are a lot less troublesome. The D6 is better to work on than a D65 imho. Most 65s here were screwed up by the dealer to 155hp over 140 to make them abit more lively. They are a lot heavier than a D6. 21 ton vs 17. ton [ metric tonnes] for bush rigged machines. I do a lot of heavy haulage piloting and we have weighed them both. Biggest deciding factor to me would be the machine backup in your area.
Its good to see a few shouts for the D65, the Cummins engine in these tractors (Early Series) is as good as it gets as the motor is very under stressed with no Turbo although the very last few had 1 I am told? the head is 4 valve per cylinder on single springs with the injectors set at 60 in lbs (off the top of my head) they are very easy motors to work on although the cam timing is not to easy for learners, other than that its a winner, the transmission is near noise free compared to the CAT p/shift although to get the transmission out would be best described as a long days work on your own, the extended 8 roller? frame is good for 30" plates to work within the S/blade push beams, I used to look after about 10 D65's for various customers now its only about 4 dozers 3 Galio jobs and 1 D65-8 LGP. tctractors
I'll give the D65 a thumbs up as well. I looked after six dash-12 Dsixty-fives when they first came out (remember the first with the grey colourscheme?). They were worked hard on a quarrying project but they were super reliable. They ran up about 15000hrs each and with regular, on the money servicing and SOS, we never even had to look in the back-end of any of them. (I never did find out how Komatsu had treated the diff-steer system) The (I think) S6D125 engines were good and a worthy replacement for the Cummins in the dash-eights. Bad points? Pretty much just what was carried over from the dash-8. We couldn't get more than 4000hrs from a set uf U/C, but we were in rock. The trunnions on the push arms as per usual were a quick wear-out item, oh and those bloody stupid tilt hoses running through them. Also the big old front door over the radiator would fill up with ****e and need regular cleaning out, but as far as I remember, that's about it.
MS0115, It is good that you ask such questions. You will want to carefully consider the strengths and weakness of each machine before you purchase one. I lean toward the D6c. If you are working on steep slopes, the caterpillar engine will not starve for oil. They had a oil pickup pipe going to the front of the engine as well as the rear. These pickup tubes lead to the a triple section oil pump which dumped the oil back into the deep sump and then the middle section fed the engine works. Steep slopes on some of our highway jobs were often the death of many of Caterpillar's competitors. Oil starvation is not something you want to have happen in a big long six cylinder diesel engine. In addition parts are generally much easier to get for old cats than they are for old Komatsus. Admittedly the Komatsu is bigger and more horsepower, but in my dealings with various contractors they usually got more life out of Cat. ( I'm a civil engineer) I own an old Cat D6 9U series and it amazes me that as many hours are on it, and as wore out as some parts of the machine are, that it keeps working so reliably. That is not to say I haven't had to do repairs. It currently need a magneto for the pony engine. A good site to visit if you want a brief summary of the specs on these machines is www.Ritchiwiki.com I think that is the correct spelling, but Google will easily correct that.
The Cummins engine has all the toys in the sump that CAT have on their double section oil pump system the front pick up pipe is the main oil feed to the engine with the scavenge pipe being sent to the back of the sump to pump oil forward to the oil pan feeding the main oil section of the 2 section pump, both the CAT and the Komatsu are able to stick on a batter and work at the same angle, the S6D125 engine has had a few updates with Non to Turbo then onwards to electronic HPI fuel system and is still in the Komatsu toy box. tctractors
tctractors, I've only worked a little bit in the Cummins truck engines, a 230 hp. NTC. Obviously, that had only the single pick up in the deep sump. But with a different oil pump configuration, I guess the slope issue is a draw. However, a friend brought a Komatsu D68 E-1 up to my shop for me to rebuild the S6D125, it literally put no 4. connecting rod through the side of the block before I got it into the shop. He decided not to repair the machine as the cost was quite exorbitant. Now, I realize that the machine was probably abused by the previous contractor who owned it. Keeping in mind that MS0115 lives in Tennessee, I would still lean toward the Cat based on the cost of repair, and finding mechanics with knowledge about the Komatsu would be limited. Regards, Hammermechanic
It would seem to me people who have little or no experience with a particular machine should keep there unfounded guesses to themselves !!! The 65 is simply bigger and will do a quite a bit more work / hour! It's a very dependable solid machine!!! Better on hillside and slopes also! The 6C is also a very dependable choice!! A 6C in good shape will run a many many hours, hard to go wrong with a 6C!! In the same condition the 6 should keep a higher resale valve!! In good shape, I would have no issues with either one!! Chum...
On all points to mso's posting, I would think a CAT D6C Clutch/Gearbox tractor would be the safest animal to use on his intended road building task, due to its positive drive, to compare the D6C to a Komatsu D65 is not realy a fair contest as they are so differing in base weight, the engines are not miles apart and they both run 4 gear F/Drives but the Komatsu was always built as a heavier tractor than the D6 giving it more advantage to the die hard CAT owners, the manual tractor will always be a better fuel performer, there is a manual version of the D65 tractor but they are not common in the U.K. tctractors p.s. the Cummins engine in the Komatsu is not U.S. build but JAP build under permit some of the parts vary to standard.
Chum Duffy, I do apologize. I am new to this forum stuff and in my exuberance wrote a posting that implied a denigration when I was extolling a positive feature of the D6. The lesson is well accepted and I will be much more careful in the future. Regards, Hammermechanic
Thanks for the help. The Kumatso got sold. The D-6 would not return calls. Bought a D-7E today.
A good choice!! ms0115, In my opinion the 7E will most likely be the most fun to run of the three! And as far as I am concerned not a bad choice! good luck! Chum..