Interested in purchasing a secondhand tractor and pull pan combo. We do a lot of house pads, ponds, road building etc. Soil conditions vary from soft soils to really hard red clay in this area of Louisiana/Mississippi. Any guidance/opinions on the minimum size tractor and pan you would go with for this type of work would be greatly appreciated. Open to any brand for tractor and pan as well, thanks guys!
I bought a Kubota M135GX, an Ashland 50CS, and a 12' Landpride RBT6012 rear blade this time last year. I haven't used it much (shouldn't have bought it) but it pulls the pan very well... well enough that I considered getting a second pan to pull doubles (10 yards per turn). The main question is how much dirt do you want to move and how much are you wanting to spend?
Why would you not consider a used motor scraper like a deere 762 or Cat 613
Nice! I would think 10-14 yard range would be ideal. I’ve looked at them, wasn’t sure how good they held up on some softer soils. I’m definitely open to any ideas fellows. Why I came here for advice. What’s your opinion on a 762 or 613?
i decided that in our area, it's easier to get equipment than qualified people. We spent most of the summer with an excavator, a couple of on road dumps, a dozer and a roller working a job with a quarter mile off road haul. With the soil we were in, i believe we could have done it just as fast with a pan and freed up 3 or 4 men, depending upon compaction. I started looking and talking to the helpful and very experienced posters on these formus and decided to start making offers on smaller pans. I now have 2 Dresser/IH 412b's that are light projects, a cat 615 that is one service short of job ready, and an offer on a pretty decent looking 613b. The downside to the 412s is lack of a formal dealer network and parts, the 615 is large enough that i am not comfortable getting axle weights right on our 35 ton trailer and not overjoyed at the prospect of what may happen with the driving pool that we pull from with that much weight, and the downside to the 613 is the 3208 engine's reputation and, apparently, a very rough ride. The 762 i found close enough to us to consider was just too far gone to think we could economically get in the shape to put on a job for what i could get out of it if we have to sell it to eat, but to my reasonably ignorant eye, would have been my first choice if it were a better example. I looked at an old Clark/Michigan 110b that looked viable, but was too far away to economically transport. My bet is that the labor shortage and growing economy will make these popular again. Merry Christmas!
Id probably go for 613, never used mine but I bought because of less people do more theory and parts are available as well as service. why load truck and spread needing three machines. I was joking around with my friend one day and said hell if you just pull the sheepsfoot behind the pan its an all in one!! hahahaha
The common mistake is to underestimate your desired cubic yards per pan. Always go bigger than what you think, as it will pay off in efficiencies, and resale value down the road. I personally woudn't look at anything less than a 28 cubic yard pan these days.
I do mostly farm type work (terraces, small ponds and a few building pads) that I use my scraper on. I ran across a Steiger ST 310 that was in fairly decent shape and in my price range. For a couple of years I would rent a neighbors 11 yard ashland scraper when I needed a scraper. I then ran across an old Reynolds 14 yard pan that was 14 ft wide. Since the ST 310 handled the 11 yard scraper with ease I thought the 14 yard would be a nice match for the tractor and being 14 ft wide would be nice at times since the tractor is 12 ft wide with duals. Don't get me wrong, I have hauled alot of dirt with the ST310 and 14 yard scraper and I don't have much money wrapped up in them but if I were to do it over I would probably look into a 615 or TS14. It seems like I am constantly fixing something on mine, especially the scraper. Maybe that is why I have never seen another Reynolds 14/14 scraper. Just my $.02
My friend loves terex (i call it the T-rex!) after seeing and reading about the ts14, no wonder people love them, Not a detroit lover but I'd buy one. 4wd, just like your Steiger! lol
I was in same boat as you, we farm, very little(160 acres) so we had an ag tractor. It was an old case 2470, 3 speed power shift pulled an old 9 yard scraper that was converted to hyd. Did ok, my main concern was life out of tractor, any major repairs were going to be more than tractor was worth. Looked into self propelled scrapers, mainly Deere since that is all we run. Most of them have been out of production for at least 25 yrs. my cons on a self propelled were age, parts availablity, cost of break downs/repairs, have to have dozer and another machine to up keep. I would a cat 65d for a good price and a 12 yard Reynolds . I have right around 23k in them, it can flat out move dirt. 12 yard is way to small for tractor, it is a 12’ cut. If I would do it again, find a 18-20 yard with a 10’ cut. Not sure you said nothing smaller than a 28 yarder....have to be a big tractor and a big pocket book for scraper
We have a John Deere 9560 scraper special and a 24 yard pan I was told by Deer to trade it off at 5000 hours
The manufacturer suggested to trade off their own scraper after 5000 hours? That would be a big red flag for me on quality. I understand the rationale behind trading off the tractor at that point, but the scraper too?
It’s just really hard on them been told that with all brands
Just finding this thread now. Hands down, a 1810E scraper is probably the most durable pull pan built, IF the operator takes care of it. I put almost 5000 hours on the first one I pulled, and have over 3000 on the one I currently own, no idea how many were on it when I got it, and it is just fine. I am going to replace the pins and bushings in the hitch this winter, it's time.
For doing smallish jobs you are probably better going for a dozer and towed scraper as any job you go to there is always going to be some benching, clearing or a multitude of other things that will need a dozer blade, at least with a dozer/ scraper combo u can do it all with one machine. I used to be partners in a D6 D years ago and we had a Cat scoop for it a Cat 25 pcu and a set of Cat rippers for it. Depending on what the job was depended on what we put on the back of it, was a good versatile unit, no scoop work,.. just go and do dozer and ripper work. Think we paid $ 88,000 for the whole lot back in 87, machine was owned by an owner operator who bought it new and had approx 10,000 hrs on it when we bought it. I t was a good unit.