We are demoing a John Deere 335P with the John Deere SG96A dozer blade. A big reason for this is we are trying several different grader blades for CTLs to achieve machine grade control for smaller sites. It's been years since I ran a JD CTL, definitely before all the nice electronics. On this site we're grading agg base using a laser. 335P pros. - The machine pushes strongly and handles well. Visibility to the front is very good. - It comes with a good rear view camera that is on all the time on a dedicated screen. When put into reverse cameras on the lift arms activate and display an overhead view of the machine and surrounding area. - It has a comfortable seat that is heated and cooled. - The cab is sealed and pressurized, according to the salesman, and is fairly quiet. - The safety screens outside the windows come off entirely after removing about 8 bolts. 335P cons. Mostly minor. - Visibility to the sides is almost none existent. Even raising the arms leaves me struggling to see the tracks and I could see nothing to the rear corners. The side view cameras are a must for running this machine imo. - I have fairly long legs and like to raise the seat to be comfortable. In this machine the lap bar contacts my legs hard when the seat height is comfortable. - No room behind the seat. The seat back actually bumps the back of the cab in the rear most position. - I wear the seatbelt 100% of the time on most machines. The 3 point seatbelt is not comfortable for all day use imo. I prefer a lap belt. Dozer blade pros. - The blade is 96" wide and 29" tall and seems to be sized nicely for the CTL. - If you run Topcon GPS the blade is mastless since the receivers are in the technology backpack on the can roof. Laser receivers mount on masts on the blade. - I found the blade to be easy to control manually. It does come with an EZ grade setting to help maintain a smoother grade but I found it better to run with it turned off. Dozer blade cons. - I couldn't get it to grade smoothly in automatic. I tried adjusting the valve settings, throttle settings, blade angle, blade load, and machine speed. It all helped somewhat but it still overcorrected. I only ran it for several hours so it could be an operator error rather than machine. - According to the salesman this system isn't compatible with UTS/Total Station. As if now it works with GPS or laser only. Weather permitting I'll be running it for a day or two next week. I hope to be able to get the automatic grade control to grade smoothly. At this point it feels like this setup is better for clearing and rough in than fine grading.
In replying to another thread I realized I'd forgotten to update this one. We had this machine for about a week. For three of those days we were unable to use it due to update problems with the grade control (1 day), wiring harness and sensor problems (1 day), and phantom issues with the grade control that disabled automatic control. This one was never resolved, it finally went away on it's own. My impressions of the machine itself remain unchanged. It is a powerful machine in a compact package with a cab that is mostly well laid out. Other than the lack of visibility to the sides and rear I could be happy with it. The dozer attachment complements the machine. When it's attached it truly becomes one with the machine. One thing I noticed is when the blade is angled fully the toe is an inch or so inside the track width which leaves the outside edge of that track running on a different grade then the rest of the machine. Not a huge deal but noticeable. Another thing is the inability to angle and tilt the blade simultaneously. Again not a huge problem if running the blade manually, but angling the blade while in auto prevents the grade control from correcting the blade tilt. There was a learning curve for me but in less than an hour I was able to carry grade manually with the blade. The disappointment for me was the accuracy of the automatic control. The machine came setup with dual laser receivers. As I mentioned above I tried everything I could to improve accuracy. The best I could get on final trim on compacted AB3 was +/-1/2". Maybe others know some tricks I don't to improve this.
I would recommend running the CASE DL550 Minitour. I would be interesting to see what your thoughts are in comparison.
I'd love to try the Minotaur! It looked like a beast. I don't see it happening for us as there are no dealers that I know of local enough for us.
I have a 325G and agree on all of this. The cab is so low the visibility to everything sucks. I can see the tracks, but only because the majority of my height is from the waist up. I have short legs and thunder thighs so I have the same problem with the lap bar. Did they stop making the 3 point shoulder belt detachable in the P series? I checked and the shoulder belt is still an ordered option on the P series.
Great write up AMBM. Thanks for taking the time to post. +/- 1/2" on dense grade base is pretty good IMO. We can get a consistent +/- 1/2" with a 279D running a Cat box blade with laser masts. Can achieve +/-.10' or less with the D3 running GPS consistently which is well within the spec's on most of the projects we work on. The lack of visibility to the side would be a deal killer for me though.