I'm looking to purchase a small dozer in the near future, most likely a john deere(because of my familiarity). I'm just starting out in business and do a alot of stone driveways, but I would like to get into house lot prep and such. My haul rig is a 85 gmc 7000 with a 366 gas (23,000 gvw) and a 9 ton eager beaver triaxle). Anyway there is a local guy that has a nice jd 350b for sale, fixed up, never used on a construction site for a fair price. Do you think i would be happy with this small of a machine for the time being, or should i be looking for a 450 of the same era. Consider my hauler and that i' dont have a ton of money at this point in my life.
Go for a Cat D3. Lot less problems with the hydraulics and in my experience the Cat will push more and require less maintenance.
I have had a JD 440 icd and a 450 c. I think the 350 would be too small> a skid steer would run circles around it, and you would be happier with a 450 size ( c model w/ wet clutches). I think a komatsu 39 or cat d-3 would also be a better fit.
I do have a contractor friend that uses a komatsu d21 that he loves> he uses it for pads an such. These are the size of the 350 but usually in a lot better shape due to age.
Well, yeah its gonna push more, because it weighs about 50% more! Burn about 40% more fuel too.
If the price is right I'd buy it, especially if you're starting out and doing driveways. You can always sell it if something better comes along.
Thanks for the advice fellas, its hard to pass up on a little free life experience
Cant go wrong with a 39 or d3 - d4 . U will b surprised at what u can do with a rubber track skid loader ! Gehl or takeuchi loaders are great! Got three of them. The versatility of a skid = $$$. Think out side the box especially in the residential business
You know, I have seen this many times on this forum - making comparisons between skid steers and track loaders. A lot of landscaper type guys are prone to say that the skid "will run circles around the track loader" That is just inexperience talking. The 2 machines are meant for 2 TOTALLY different applications. A Bobcat T330 is NOT going to push tri-axle loads of fill 60 feet down the job like a 450 will, ain't gonna happen. A 450 ain't gonna kick 3 inches of native crushed stone on top of a driveway nearly as fast as a large skid steer. Nobody who actually owns these 2 types of machines is going to be "surprised" by anything - this is basic stuff here.
guess i struck a nerve . cya
Its sort of hard to give you a real solid answer. Depends on alot of things. I do alot of the work you are talking about. I stayed real small for two reasons. #1 is its hard in my area to get someone with a 450 or larger to do the real small jobs. Sometimes they are too big. #2 The cost. I stay under cdl, keeping my insurance lower, etc. I am on my 4th small dozer like you are talking about, ** 200, Case 350, Small HD4 and now a little Mitsubishi. You can buy a a 450 size dozer for what one of the smaller dozers cost. But it depends on what you are going to do. Like one person said you cannot do with a skid steer what you can do with a small dozer. There is times when I use my dozer and times when I use a skid steer, as they are faster and cheaper to operate. You will be suprised what one of those little dozers will do unless you are cutting and moving alot of dirt. I used mine backfilling for a septic co. after they finished installing. Does a nice job. If you are going to be cutting roads and heavy work, dont waste your time on a small one.
We once owned a 350B and a 350C. In fact I still have the operators manual and parts catalog for the 350B, and the operators manual, parts catalog, and technical manual for the 350C. They are not bad little dozers and I liked them when I had them, and never really had any problems with them. After these we had a couple of 450 Deere dozers, and now have our Cat D3C LGP and D3G dozers. How much are they asking for it?
Doing some research on the small US available dozers I find for Weight (all are in the 70+HP) Case to be lightest with the 550 weighing in at 14K+ lbs The rest are: JD 450J 17K+ lbs Cat D-3 17K+ lbs New Holland 18K+ lbs Komatsu D-31 18K+ lbs I also have used a small dozer that can be hauled with a 1-ton truck/gooseneck trailer for the smaller jobs, It is a gray market Furukawa at 10K lbs and has done a fair amount of work for its size.