I'm getting ready to trade dozers and was looking for everyone's opinion of Caterpillar D4H Series II LGP dozers. Like reliability issues, what to look for when buying one and at how many hours do the major problems start. The machine I'm looking at is a 92 or 93 model with 6500 hours. What do you think of diff steer? I need something to dress up behind my excavator and do general finish work. It will do it's fair share of piling brush and digging ponds now and then too. I'll probability put a brush rake on it also.
Cat D4H ? The Standard Cat D4H is a nice small finish machine. Dunno about using a LGP model for Building or street, finish work as too much squirming around. Hard on the undercarriage. LGP would be good for Water and Sewer work clean up. Digging ponds also. Brush work , hard on the tracks. You might consider an XL version instead.
I never really liked them from an ownership point of view. The high drive undercarriage on that size of machine is way more expensive to replace. They are no more productive than a D4G, 550 Deere or TD9 and they cost a whole lot more to fix. I really like differential steering but I don't recall if that was ever available on a D4H. All the ones I have been on had conventional lever steering.
I used to run a d4h It was a good machine good for trimming ,but the transmission did get a bit warm with constant harder work.
Ive run a D4H xl. With all the track that high track has it seemed to be a slug and too heavy. It didnt seem to push as much as i would expect it to. My opinion, pass on the 4H. Go with a small flat track dozer. Itll save you a bundle on uc parts. It will be lighter, and you probably wont need lgp tracks. Personally, a 550 or 650 long track Deere would be a good choice. They are reliable, fast, and versitle little dozers
i used to run one. i liked the high drive when in dirty/rocky/muddy environments. less clogging of tracks. also seemed to back up better in steep ground because of the balance of the machine. easy to work on cause the tranny comes out the back like all the other high drive dozers. the typical advantages of repair on a high drive applies to these dozers just the same. the machine seems to be built heavier and better than a flat track dozer. but...i can see where it is overkill when you can get a smooth hydrostatic d5 dozer flat track dozer. but...now that the d4h dozers are older and used....they may be a good option in the price department compared to a more expensive d5g or jd650. i would say they would last alot longer. and, i think they had mostly steering clutch systems. or..i never saw a hydrostatic one.