hey all, i am looking at a D5B. i will try to get pics uploaded soon, but i have a couple questions. the current owner said it was dunked in a river. is this a big concern?? i know he has flushed the fluids, except the torque converter i think he said. and i also know he has been using it, and it seems to run good. it doesn't seem to smoke much, but he says it uses oil. it looks like a descent machine, i think he takes care of it. what do you all think?? thanks for your thoughts!
More details needed on this "dunk". Pictures if you can get them! lol
A few more particulars would be nice. How did it happen? Was the machine parked in a low area that flooded? Did it roll down a hill while it was running and end up in the water? Was the water clean or muddy? It sounds like you are looking at basicly a "flood vehicle". If all the fluids were drained and refilled with filter changes, the injectors pulled and the water pumped out (this could cause a hydraulic lock and bend connecting rods, valves, push rods or do other damage to related parts... remember water won't compress) the machine may be allright but, only time will tell. Moisture in the gauges, wiring connectors, starter and alternator could also develope issues.
well i dont have any pics of it under water, if thats what you are hoping for, lol. i just have pics of the machine for the mechanics, to see what kind of overall condition it is in, the tracks ect. the owner is the one that dunked it. all he said was it had a lil run in witht the river. and they had to find machines to dig/pull it out. he had a d3 and a tractor there as well. i wish i know how long e has been running it after this happened. if it happened a few years ago... then maybe it is fine?? if it happened a month ago.. maybe it is not fine?? i dont know. what do you think? like i said he is using it, and it looks and runs good. it is a lgp, is this good or bad when just pushin dirt? i am not in swamp ground, we have clay hills. will a d5 size move enough dirt for normal farmer type work? such as terraces and land clearing? thanks!
Since you're in eastern IA, hopefully "had a lil run in with the river" doesn't mean the Mississippi...
I would be very leary of it if it went in far enough to get water in the transmission or torque converter. I was a mechanic for John Deere for a number of years. I know that water in a transmission will cause the glue that bonds the clutch material to the steel to separate. It does not happen right away but after time it will. You could probably tell if he got water in the transmission if the fluid is milky it can take many complete changes to get rid of it completely. If you are very intrested in it I would pull a sample and send it to cat sos. As for the rest of the machine it dosnt have enugh electronics for water to give to much trouble and you could send a engine oil sample also. I think the D5 would be a nice size for light farm work terraces waterways and such it wont be a great clearing machine for large trees 12'' and up just because of the small size and low weight. I like lgp dozers for most work in Iowa they are good finish machines because they usualy have a extra roller in the frame and we dont have much rock and usualy the clay is wet enugh they still bite well. The undercariage will have a shorter life expectancy than a machine with 24''s but you probably wont wear it out very quick just doing your own farm work. We have a 750c deere lgp with 3900 hrs on it and the rails are complety shot I would say there on run out. Good Luck and send us some pictures. Rember to do your home work dont make a hasty move and buy yourself another job.
pic, hopefully. trying to resize stuff, i have more, but am running out ot time right now.
Seeings that its a "b" series I would be a whole lot less worried about water problems than if it was a newer "g" or "k", they have alot more wires and computer controllers that might not like water so much. If the accident happened a year or so ago and they haven't had a bunch of electrical issues, I'd be ok with it. I imagine we all would be suprised if used machines could talk and tell us all the dumb stuff they have done.
Ive seen a 6N hungup in water deep enuff that the fan was in it!
As CMSMOKE said, get some Cat SOS bottles and take samples of all the oils, including hydraulic and both final drives. This will indicate any water / mud still in the compartments and also indicate if wear is occuring due to contaminated oil or rusted bearings etc. If these tests show up ok, do some engine / converter / transmission / hydraulic performance tests as per Cat procedures and if OK, tractor should be OK if the price is right. Regards, John
X3 get the oil sampled
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You're fine, It looks like a nice little dozer, dont worrie about the water in the the fluids, change 'em and run it a few hours and keep changing them untill fluid isnt milky colored.....if its not milky now dont worrie about it tommorrow we've had machines flooded before and no big deal, the only time i worry is when sandy silty water gets higher than the turn table on a excavator. and as far as the motor .....if she aint knocking you're fine there too..... you could sample everything but it's almost guranteed that it'll come back some sort of water contamination,....the guy isnt hiding the fact that she's been swiming, save your money from the sample bottles and buy a case of beer and go play on the new little dozer as far as the LGP thing goes.....personally I dont like them due to internal pin and bushing premature wear but we are typically a little rockier than you guys up in IA, But remember you arent buying it new and if you get a good deal what does it matter just buy what you can. I know you didnt ask about price but check out machinerytrader.com on the AUCTION results and see what a comp machine is selling for dont just base your price opinion on what they are listed for sale for on the MT website, I have seen tons of machines on there for well over a year. Pj
well i looked at machinery trader auctions, and similar machines sold for around what he is asking. there were more that sold cheaper than those which sold higher, but i think he is prolly in the realm of reason. does the leaky throttle body cause any concerns with anyone? i am goin to call him tomarrow and see how long it has been since he dunked it. just out of curiosity, from the pics... how much of the UC is left? the pins and bushings have not been turned yet. thanks.
Thats a new one on me. I run a D5B every day and never seen a wide pad machine. I have to agree though they are good sized machines. Im looking at one now thats a low hour govt machine.
My Grandpa used to tell me stories about using a dozer in northern Manitoba. It happened a few times where they had to move a dozer across a lake in summer. So they put extensions on the intake and exhaust and put er wide open and sent er across the lake. They somehow rigged up some lines to their controls so the guys in the boat that was following it could kinda steer it. He said it looked kinda funny to see the just the two stacks poking out of the water and this boat following it. Once they got it across they always immediately drained and replaced all the fluids and put er right to work.
lol, sounds cool as hell too bad there arent any pictures around of that Pj
not at all, it's prolly just a shaft seal or something. and besides that, who knows how long its been since its been cleaned.....you could have 400hrs of buildup there I would guess around 65% remaining without being able to actually feel it Pj
i'm just sayin but.... this sounds like one of those fish that got away stories to me. Its a good one. But i can see myself challenging grandpa with the problems related to fuel tanks, hydraulic tanks, cracked exhaust manifolds, wet turbos, and of course the soft bottom and unseen obstacles. I'm just sayin..... One the other hand, given enough time to prepare, im sure it could be done.
Of course Komatsu made the "underwater" dozer -- Here is one in action YouTube - 水陸両用ブルドーザー救出作戦 Komatsu D155 W Bulldozer
My guess is that Grandpa probably had a roll of duct tape and a peice of sewer pipe and NOT a helicoptor big enough to fly it out lol. Life is about being inovative and thinking outside the box. Pj
Ya it sounds far fetched I'll admit but he's not the kind to tell whoppers. In fact its almost irritating how precise he tries to be. I believe he said they taped or sealed the fuel and oil tanks somehow. As far as cracked manifold I would think if it was on the cool side when they drove in it wouldn't crack. As far as lake bottom this was the Whiteshell area of Manitoba. Its Canadian shield so my understanding is most lake bottoms are pure rock. There is another thing this wasn't done just 10 years ago. This was in the 50's so crawlers were pretty basic back then which would help. I'm not sure if this was with one of the AC crawlers or it could be the Caterpillar. The company he worked for bought the first D7 (the letter designation slips me) in Manitoba and one of the the first Canada wide in the mid 50's I believe. As far as submerged machinery we had a neighbour who was pumping water out of some river bottom land and the river rose quicker than he realized. By teh time he got down there the water was over half way up the engine but was still pumping like mad. He just pulled it out, replaced all the fluids, and that Deere 4040 tractor has put on about 5000 hrs since then with no problems.
Back about 1986 the man I was working for called on a sunday afternoon and wanted me to come to his hobby farm NOW because he had run the JD 450 off the boat ramp and the tide was rising. I got a man with a skidder and got it out just as the water went over the hood. I put both tracks back on (long story), changed all the fluids, and he ran it for another 20 yrs. My brother in law bought it and is still running it with no major repairs. Good luck
mitch, i hope that is the case with this one i am looking at. of course the dude went on vaca for 2 weeks and shut his fone off... lol. i guess no questions for him at the moment.
PLENTY of life left in those tracks especially if you use it occasionally and light load as you described.
i wish i could find a good deal on a flooded D3 or D4, my old D47U is ..........well, i'm so use to it i think i could get 5 times the work done with one of these 'newer' machines.
whats the asking price if you don't mind telling this what we are looking for also thanks sounds like you are on things pretty good john
he was asking $19,000. we did end up buying it so prolly many questions to come as this is our first dozer. just got it yesterday as a matter of fact. dont know what dad paid for it, but i think that it is a good machine, and it was 2 miles from home. also the previous owner was an older guy that seemed to take of stuff. cool... another machine to play with!
I work in the oilsands running dozer in the tailings ponds and we sink one allmost every week.We have a d9 currently getting extracted and all you can see is the roof lights. If the water is only up to the can then generally they can be saved by flushing all the fluids but its an expensive job.Wish Icould post pictures but were not allowed to have cameras on site.I do have some nice pics though and we generally run in close to 3 meters of mud and water.
Opps,no edit button,i meant 2 meters of water allthough i have had mud coming over the blade on my komatsu 375.They say they can be safely run in water just over the tracks but we get mud and water right up to the deck level.
komatstuck
You might try pontoons instead of tracks.
Or stay away from the quicksand.That 375 is in the shop right now getting the wide track LGP package on it.we also wanted the rad mounted on the roof like most tailings ponds komatsus but they want $600,000 to do that. We do have floating excavators but they have aluminum tracks and cant take the abrasive silica sand in the tailings ponds. Our undercarriages on the dozers dont make 1000 hours.
I hate quicksand.No wonder they gave me a lifejacket.