Do I need to buy a machine with a dozer blade. im shopping for a used excavator to work on my 28 acres, clearing land, digging water and power lines, etc etc. I’d like to get a used excavator with a blade but when you start looking at older and bigger models the blade goes away and is harder to find. Is it that important to have? I will probably not have a dozer on hand and will use the excavator for most of the chores on the farm.
Dozer blade is handy to work over. Small excavators don't have much counter weight.
Blades on hoes aren’t meant to replace a dozer. They are for smoothing up jobs ,pushing small piles around.
What size machine?
A good hoe operator don't need no dozer blade...……..at least that's what I've been told.
I’m looking at 18k and up.
I want a blade on an 18K lb machine. A blade on a smaller machine is handy as a shirt pocket especially if you don't have a CTL or small dozer around.
The full timers tend to use the engcon type tilt rotators to grade out areas with (combined with the electronic laser etc systems) available for a range of machine sizes, fairly expensive new The lower cost option is to use simpler grading type tools that attach to the excavator boom. Also angle blades for the compact track loader.
The blade is only marginally useful, it’s a non-factor for your purchase decision. I wouldn’t want an excavator as the only piece of equipment on property, a tractor plus implements would be more useful. Rent a hoe when you need to trench. If you can afford more than one piece of equipment, an excavator is really useful and fun to operate.
I recently just sold my tractor because I kept trying to use it as a skid steer and I was murdering it
Maybe a skid steer would be more useful then? I've thought about buying one but I really can't think of a use for it since I have other equipment. I sold the dozer because I ran out of work for it, I do occasionally miss not having it though. I hate to have equipment just sit and not get used. Use it or lose it.
Well, I just bought a Cat 307 and as a demo machine had a blade. Having a dozier and CTL I knew I didn't really need it to push anything. But- as was mentioned before it can add so much stability. A 18K machine isn't very long in the tracks. I am on uneven ground a lot and the machine tends to rock. Dropping the blade generally settles that issue. You're lifting capacity is higher over the blade, and you have more downforce to dig when the blade is to the rear. So after 6 months with the machine, my experience is the blade is used more often like the stabilizers on a backhoe than a dozer blade. Just my experience. And yes- I'd get one again.
Or if the excavator has a thumb, you can use a piece of I beam to smooth out....