I'm in the market for a finishing dozer. The Deere 764 has been out for 5years now and just haven't heard much about them. Local dealer has zero experience with one other than seeing them at trade shows when they were first released. Any of you have any first hand knowledge? How capable are they compared to a steel track version?
They were released just after I left Deere. Don't see many of them at all out on job sites. I'm sure they are more than capable but I get the impression they were deigned as more of a grader on tracks than a dozer. For brute force pushing power, I don't think I would want a rubber track set up. Just my .02
I have no experience with them, but I remember thinking when I saw one at Con-Expo that it was a solution in search of a problem. Even with GPS and a laser I don't think you can grade at 16mph, and you don't make money roading a machine like that... I guess if you do lots of really big areas with relatively soft ground it might make sense. For most contractors I would think a mid size long track dozer would be a better fit. YMMV :my2c
We have a few of them in our rental fleet and from what I can tell the guys who use them love it. They are a little hard to get used to at first but the operators seem to get the hang of it fairly quickly. They were not built to replace a bulldozer as it is for high speed finishing/spreading out light material at high speeds. They are an absolute nightmare to work on and they have many problems that are costly to fix. also, the undercarriage components on these are very costly.
I see atleast one being used fairly often by Michael's
A large paving outfit here in Chicagoland uses them. For grading stone and topsoil, they can't be beat. They aren't dozers, they are for finish grading and they do that extremely well.