I currently have a D3 series II LGP. While the pads and rails are getting down there, and the guy who owned it before me narrowed the blade down to 8ft, she run pretty good. I know what I have with her, and know what to expect while operating it. With that said, I wouldn't mind having a larger dozer. I was thinking about jumping to a D5G LGP machine. I haven't ran a G in quite some time, and never side by side with my dozer. What I was wondering was, how much more production will a D5 give me over my D3?
I haven't had experience with the G series, but have had quite a bit of time on a D5C and a D3C, both of which are clutch steer and have 3F/3R powershift transmission. I would say a D5C would be at least 50% better than a D3C, on some jobs maybe 100% better. The bigger blade will push more dirt, the extra height of the blade enables higher sidecast banks, the extra weight helps when you are trying to pull rock apart. Visibility is similar. However one fault that they both share is that they seem too light on the front end to give decent blade penetration without ripping first. If you like your D3 you will love a D5.
Yair . . . Plant Fitter Time spent ripping is seldom wasted. I have taught a lot of blokes to push dirt and a general rule of thumb I use is if the blade won't bury in the float position (imagine you have a cable blade) it is not in fit condition to push. Sure, you can do it but you'll do it quicker and easier on the machine if you rip. As I keep saying, you bulk out front to back and clean up the slots back to front . . . anything that pi##es me off is seeing a tractor jacked up in the front trying to cut and he's got a perfectly good set of rippers on the back. Cheers.
That is what I have found, the time spent ripping is usually more than recovered by speeding up the rest of the job. But in some places it would be nice to be able to get into it a bit better where it is too steep to rip before an opening cut. The front to back method as you describe helps a lot with efficiency as well.
Being hydro over your D3 the 5G will more than out perform the 3. More fuel as well. I'm not big on LGP machines, its so rocky here you bend the pads. The 5G will out perform a 5C clutch brake machine due to the fact you keep power to both tracks. Ease of operation as well. No more jerky clutching. If I had the money , I'd do it.
D4 is the CAT's meow in small dozers. The extra ten h.p. of the five will just spin the tracks. I'm talking G models. The extra h.p. is unnecessary unless you go wide pads, a popular option here on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. This is old stuff, mind you. Might be some changes I'm unaware of by now. Your comment tickled me, Scrub Puller. 'Round these here parts with various sticky, extremely cohesive soil types the rips just close and bond back together. Ripping is almost like nothing happened. The way you load a blade in this crappy crap is to move it up and down so's that it shears some dirt off. then the rise forces it to accumulate in front. I don't get much reception on slot dozing. Folks here don't understand it for the most part, and don't have the mathematical ability to run the time-motion numbers to get it. That said, many a northern contractor as come down here to the Bayou State thinking they were going to cut a fat hog in the a** but went home bankrupt. Then these ignorant Southerners cleaned up many a carpetbagger's mess and finished the job. I'ts just sumpin' in the swamp water, I reckon.
I think you guys have sold me on jumping to the 5. Having power to both tracts would be nice!
Yair . . . Bluetop Man LMAO . . . I think you may have told me before it was known locally as 'tiger sh#t'? It 'ud be mean stuff to handle I reckon. Cheers.
It's called gumbo mud. Not to be confused with this gumbo, also very prevalent on the Gulf Coast: http://faculty.piercecollege.edu/perretjd/mygumbo.html
Yair . . . Thanks Bluetop Man , I'll try that this weekend! Cheers.
Bluetop you must be farther north than us, we call it blackjack not to be confused with gumbo. Bad stuff, some times cutting with half the blade is to heavy to push, then you cant shake it off. When you dig down 5 to 10 feet you might find the prettiest sand you ever saw and you might not. Have seen shinny row plows turn rusty a couple of hours later while plowing that stuff.
Man, that stuff sounds terrible! Working in clay and dust doesn't seem to bad...