Good evening All, I was very glad to find this site of knowledgeable people, when I feel like I know nothing. My husband passed and I feel completely helpless with all of his old equipment. We were married 41 years and I’ve never had to know things I’m having to ask now. I’m planning to eventually move and downsize because I cannot keep up all of the property. I had a friend come over & put a new battery in her. She cranked right up with the first try. Now what to do with her. She’s obviously not finished showing what she can do. How old is she? What year? What is the best place for me to sell her? So many people try to take advantage of me because of my age and being alone. I have one child & she does a lot already. I’m not stupid, but this just makes me feel that way. Just looking for advice from legitimate, knowledgeable people that will help instead of harm. Thank you for the time to read this.
Built Aug 13, 1982. Just like people, it's not the years, it's the miles (or, in this case, the hours).
Check sites like machinery trader or rock & dirt. You can find comparable machines to yours and get a close price point. If you want to quick sell it, there are plenty of online auction sites. Sorry for your loss, and don’t feel stupid asking anything here.
Thank you. Learning already. He only used it around our personal farm from time to time here. I’m not sure but I think he bought it new. Is there a place on it to see mileage, or I mean hours?
Thank you so much. I will look up those ones you said.
The second gauge from the left. But it only shows how many hours on that gauge. Bad Bob
Welcome to HEF, BCline !
Actually a D3B model, 1983 build.
Welcome and you did come to the right place, IMO. Since nobody has made you any offer I think you can take our advice and suggestions as sincere. If you get those hours off the meter, and take some close up pictures of the sprockets on either side and the tracks, many of the folks here can give a little bit more of an assessment. It may be the case that the hours do match the wear. If they don't it does not mean anything except the meter got replaced at some time.
Thank you for letting me know where to look. This is the second gauge on the left. A put a picture. In case it does not come through it says 4679
Thank you for letting me know where to look. This is the second gauge on the left. A put a picture. In case it does not come through it says 4679 Thank you so much for giving me this. The gauge says 4679 Thank you so much
Thank you so much. You gentlemen are amazing.
Thank you so much. You gentlemen are amazing. I Thank you. I googled what are sprockets on a cat bulldozer & found them. I took pictures (if you are sitting on the dozer) of left sprockets & tracks first. Then the right. The friend of the family is a retired bulldozer mechanic. He said the tracks tick a little. He said explain to whoever buys it, that’s because she has been sitting up. He said she needs to be driven around & get her a drink of some moist earth. Also he said there is a line in the front (right side there) that is leaking. He said he wouldn’t think it would be more than $60 to replace that line. Other than that, he gave her an all clear to go. He said she’s ready to get some work done.
Can you post a photo of the teeth on the sprockets ? That is what shows how much wear is on them. The condition of the tracks influences the value of the tractor.
Ok thank you. Is this it?
Yes, perfect. That sprocket has lot of life in it yet.
Agreed! Don't let anybody chew you down on price once you figured out a good one. I'm not claiming to know what the right value is but take some time do some research and keep in mind that machines with a high price on them may have been sitting there for a very long time, lol!
Thank you so much Tinkerer. I truly appreciate your expertise and helping me know what to look for on this.
Thank you so much for letting me know you agree, and for helping me. I’m not greedy or starving, just wanna do her right by finding another good person to care for her. But I refuse to be taken advantage of in the absence of my husband. He would fairly want what she is worth and that is why I am taking time to learn these things. My husband was an honest man. Gentle giant. He would help anyone he came in contact with. He worked hard, and came by everything honest. Rare to find these days. I’m not being biased, anyone would tell you that. I can’t use her but I know someone can. I cannot express how appreciative I am to have found you fellas to work with. He has two tractors as well so I’ll have to move them. Therefore I need to learn about them too. I’ve got a LOT to learn, and do, but I will get there.
You are most welcome. But I have no expertise. I just know what to look for when judging the condition of a machine. I am guessing from the little bit I have seen of your dozer that I would buy it in heart beat if it runs and operates like it should. Too bad I don't need one. Take your time finding a buyer. An honest person will (should )offer you a decent price for it.
I appreciate each of your words more than you know. I will certainly continue do my homework before settling on a price. I just need to get her moved & find a really good person to take care of her. Thank you.
From what I see online currently I would say a range of $16k -18K would be pretty good. Thats like an average of what I am seeing. I'd ask 18K myself and leave a little bargaining room. Others here may have a different opinion and may be better suited than me to price a piece of equipment we haven't seen with our own eyes.
A big plus it doesn't have a root rake hanging off the blade, but the blade shows it has been somewhat abused pushing bigger material . The hour meter may be correct as that is about the time it would be ready for a new set of tracks. Looking at the pictures the track groups and the sprockets have been replaced but the wore out bottom rollers have not. As rusty as the tracks are I would guess this machine has set a lot in the last 20 years. As far as the insides that would require a in person visit . A homeowner would pee down his leg for that machine. When you sell it put on the bill of sale "as is where is with all faults" Good luck Bad Bob
Yes it's an early 1983 model. 1983 was 23Y1321 up to 23Y1560. Maybe built in 1982 and sold as a 1983?
https://www.auctiontime.com/listing...ler/manufacturer/caterpillar/model/d3b?ecid=7 D3B Auction results
Those auction results confirm what Vetech guessed for value, most auction results these days didn't actually sell, they were just fishing, and most would be in worse shape, so a value at the top of the auction results is reasonable. I agree with asking a fair price for it and not giving it away, it will get the most loving home that way, only half joking. As far as the tractors, that Ford is clean and attractive in today's market, it's probably gained more value in the last few years than the Farmall has lost. Farmalls are now more collector tractors than hobby farm, and the value has dropped since ten or twenty years ago. Sorry, can't guess a value there.
Thank you so much. I truly appreciate your time. The time you put into looking for me & figuring out the average & posting your reply. Thank you so very much.
What a wealth of information you provided in one small post. Thank you. I appreciate your time in looking at the pictures & assessing my machine. My dad used to use it a lot for my husband when we first bought our place. He was a heavy machinery operator & knew how to handle her & take care of her. My husband took care of his things, but didn’t use it very often. However, when he did use it, it was to get a lot of heavier things moved I think, so your assessment is probably spot on. My husband found out he had a cancer years ago (prostate) then years later found out he also had a blood cancer & rectum cancer. He hasn’t used the machine in years (at all) due to this. So therefore again, spot on with the assessment. I appreciate your time, detailed explanations, explaining about the bill of sale & the pee comment that made me laugh!
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. I like hearing knowledge about the equipment. It is very interesting to say the least. And not for seeing dollar signs, but knowing about my husband’s things and what the world thinks of them. That they are more than just “parked in the shed.” Thank you for telling me about the tractors. I appreciate you & your time in explaining.
But for a few thousand miles of travel, I'd make you an offer on the Ford. It looks like a good one as Delmer has pointed out. Best of luck moving forward.
Thank you SO very much for encouraging me and helping me!
I'll be in Portland OR all next week, traveling with work. I'll bring the Ford with me on the plane. ha ha ha
In my opinion you'd be wise to hire an experienced equipment appraiser and/or a Cat technician to come and physically lay eye's on the machine for an accurate assessment of it's fair market value. Asking on forums is going to get you the widest possible range for a value....again, that's just my opinion.
If possible having someone with some equipment experience to help you sell it could be beneficial. No offence meant but I can see a bunch of tire kickers finding anything and everything wrong (that probably isn't) with the equipment and trying to low ball you with ridiculously low offers. On Sunday a guy at my track asked if I wanted to sell an old truck I had. I said $1000. He said $1000 kind of sarcastically and offered $500. I said no, I could sell the engine alone for that. Then he said $700, no. Then $800. I said I'd sell it for $800. Then he says it will cost him a couple hundred bucks to get a flat deck trailer as if I should take that amount off the price. Idiot. Even worse is he figured he could just boost it to drive on the trailer. The truck has been sitting for about 10 years so would need the fuel tank and lines cleaned out. I would make sure it's not seized but it's sold stricly as is. It did run good when parked. The heater blew cold air in winter and it sounds like the blower fan came loose is why it's parked. The front end was rebuilt shortly before being parked. It's a 2000 Chev. 2500 with a (gas guzzling) 6.0L engine
Thank you. I appreciate your time & your reply.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I value each of your opinions & that is why I came here. I’m glad you were able to sell your truck & not go much lower than you asked. I plan to try to post it somewhere soon & im going to post here to keep you guys updated on how it went. Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. The retired bulldozer mechanic we had put the battery in and run her for us said his old boss still working & owns heavy machinery shop here in town for years. He is going to ask him what he would ask. Also, this forum has helped me out in more ways than you could know. I know a LOT more now than when I did when I first posted a week ago now. I so grateful for that. I’m doing my homework & checking other sites & trying to settle on a figure to ask. I certainly will hold my ground & not allow anyone to take advantage of me. It is not a desperate need to sell, however it will have to be done. I will not settle & I plan to stay only within $1,000 of my asking price. I plan to ask a “little” wiggle room, but I refuse to be low balled for sure. Thank you for taking the time to reply to help me out.
The guy who seemed interested in my truck never came back.
Let us know how this comes out!
Average auction sale in Machinery Trader is just shy of $13,000 over the last two years. Mechanics can tell you about condition but few can give realistic ideas of price unless they also buy and sell on their own. I did this for a living for years so can provide some pointers. I have developed a rating scale for this stuff. The first part of the rating means it has to be operational to some point. Fully operational means everything works as designed. Operational means that it starts and can do most of what it is meant to do but has some problems and if all it does is runs but has lots of expensive problems I call it a runner. In the case of this machine, it is most likely a runner because of its age alone. I compare what I see of the machine against what I have seen in the past. I put condition statements based on what I would expect to see in a comparable machine. Those ratings are better than expected, expected and worse than expected.From the photos you have posted I see a blade face that is pushed in. From that I can infer that the blade linkages are sloppy. I can't hear the engine or know the condition of the transmission so from what I know of that particular model and your statements and that it has been sitting for some period of time. I know all the machines of that era are going to have some issues with those, so I will say your machine is no better than what i would expect to see in any other machine of that vintage. Average auction price does not include the costs associated with transportation, any prep work such as filling oils, draining water from the fuel tank and putting new diesel in or any electrical issues that might affect operation. Taxes are not included in reported auction sales. Neither are commissions. So at any rate you can ask anything you want but I would say to expect offers of no more than $11,000 or less. Everyone now has access to on line listings of retail and auction numbers and knowledgeable buyers will work through the same process I just explained. You could consign it through a dealer and let them do the marketing. That will take some time but you might get a better deal than through an auction or directly from a private buyer. When I was working for a Cat dealer we never got more than $10,000 for that model of tractor.
Wow!! Thank you so very much for taking the extended time to explain all of this. I’m getting ready to try to post it today. I was told by the mechanic he would try to get 10k to 12k so I know you are spot on. Thank you again!
Will do!!!
Gentlemen, I TRULY appreciate everyone’s efforts, time, research & words brought to the table on this matter. We were asking $12,000 but knew we would take $10,000. My neighbor wanted to buy it and offered me $10,000 cash for the dozer & $500 cash for the Farmall. Sold to him this morning. Very thankful for everyone here!!
That's great....a couple less things to think about...I believe you were treated fairly.
^Agreed! Always a plus dealing with people you know too.