Hello, I have been reading a lot on the forum and appreciate all of the great information shared. We are looking to buy a dozer to replace our ailing D7 3T. Use is ranch work; constructing & maintaining roads, clearing brush and building a couple of ponds. Annual use would be light, probably around a 100 hours. After reading here, I had narrowed my search down to a D6C or D6D. I found a nice direct drive D6C 74A661. I was hoping for powershift so have not yet bought the C. In the mean time I have found a D8H 46A29500 with powershift and in the same price range as the C. Both machines are only on their second owner. I know these two machines are somewhat apples and oranges; but I am looking for an idea on reliability between the two, operating cost, fuel consumption, repair cost and if the 8H is ridiculous over kill for a 3500 acre ranch. I realize the 8H is quite a bit larger than our D7 but I have never wished our D7 was smaller, so that is what made me consider the 8H. Any input would be appreciated.
Hey left coast, I have a D8H, a little newer 46A31500, that we bought 6-7 years ago. I farm and do some dirt work as a side job. Most of the work I do is trees, old farmstead cleanup and some road work. If that d8 is in nice shape it will last forever around the farm. they are good machines. if you don't need to haul it much or can stay off the paved roads I would buy it. The power shift is way nicer than a direct drive one, I had 1957 d7. no compare to the D8. If the one you are looking at is wore out than that's a different story the parts alone will be expensive to replace anything major. best of luck. Steve
Thanks for the info Steve. What is fuel consumption of your D8H like compared to your old D7? I realize for dirt work you can get a lot more done per hour with the D8, but for clearing brush there is probably not much difference in what the 7 and 8 will do in the same time if they have the same width blade. Thanks again, Kris
To make things simple, the more dirt you push the more fuel you burn. It takes fuel to move dirt.....
operating cost of a decent 6 compared to an obviously not decent 8 (or it would be priced accordingly) is so much cheaper there is no question which one this guy should be looking for. personally if he has only a few small jobs a year to do he would be tons of money and headaches ahead to hire it all done.
Hey LC, If you think of fuel use per job I think they would be pretty close. The D8 will do it faster. with the 8 you can push more brush farther before it powers out, plus it takes a good size tree to stop it. if you can put some pics up, of the two you are looking at. Steve
Thanks for the replies. I took a look at the 8H and it was a decent old tractor. The owner seemed to take good care of it; it was certainly used, but did not seem abused. He just put almost his asking price into the engine a few years back and has not used it much since. I am going with the advice of a decent 6 costing less to operate and maintain than an 8. I have found a couple more D6C 10Ks to look at in the next month or so. As far as hiring the jobs out, it is nice to have a tractor on the ranch when we need it right then. I also enjoy getting away from my day job and spending some time on the tractor. I realize with an older machine like this not all the time is spent on it; but also under it and next to it and on top of it... we have kept our old D7 3T going for over 20 years and it was on its last leg when we got it. So maybe the money does not pencil out... but there is more to it. Thanks again for the replies.