I'm looking at a 2002 D5G XL - the piece has 5000 hours on it, the pins look ok and it has new sprokets. Generally speaking how many hours is the norm before you have to rebuild the engine - pumps etc. Thanks
I am after that answer also....
not a direct comparison.... For my old relic. a '72 96J D5. I asked my mechanic the same question posed here, had 6800 orginal hours, oil changed by the book. i wanted to overhaul it. he said it'd go to 10,000-12,000 range easily.
Had a cat salesman tell me that cat trys to build their medium size dozers to last 8000 hrs before any of the major components need to be rebuilt. I know from personal experience that we have put many more hrs than that on a machine and never had a minutes trouble other than the general maintenance.
On Cats smaller machines, once you get into the 5-8000 hour range, every minute over that is gravy. But it depends on how hard the machines is used and how well it's maintained, also what quality the lubricants are that are used. I recommend oil samples from the major components every 250 hours, and a U/C survey on a frequent basis by your friendly Cat PSR (Parts & Service Rep). Watch the trends on particles and observe closely the percentage of wear remaining in the U/C. The Rep can tell you pretty closely how many more hours you have left on the bottom. The oil lab can predict how well the other components are faring. The samples are cheap insurance and should be looked at that way. I never got charged by a dealer for a PSR visit, but I also worked for outfits that had larger fleets of Cat iron. A guy with one or two units that he didn't buy from the Cat house might have to lay out some pesos. Some other fellas here may be able to enlighten us on that. Generally speaking, I'd say a D5 with 5000 hours ought to be good for 5000 more, supposing that it had been operated and maintained decently. The U/C, without being able to see it, well that's anyone's guess. Good Luck!
Hey Joe, Thanks for the reply - I did pick up the machine, like anything used its a gamble! Thanks
We normally have seen 8-10000 before any issues. We also have seen up to 18-20000 before rebuilds. Im sure some have more hours than that even. Depends on maintenance.
Undercarriage we usually got 4 to 5K out of them on the 15's and they usually were not TOTALLY shot but to the point that it was winter and they would not make it until the next so change em out. Usually in doing this involved taking the track frame all apart to make sure nothing is wore or broken in there, re-build top rollers and front ideler. New tightener seals were installed and somtimes new dead axle seals. We have had the 8.3L cummins in both dozers and one right now has over 20K on the engine. Taking the time to do proper maintance doesn't always ensure long life but it sure doesn't hurt it one bit. Trbo
We normally don't run dozers past about 6000 +/- hours. They start to break down and normally the time and money you put into fixing some of there problems it would just be better to trade them in.
It may be a pretty good machine if it was a well maintained one owner?