Hi guys, I am new on H.E.F and just starting out in the dozer, dirt, and gravel bussiness .... I have collected a few pieces of equipment thru the years and fixed a few of them up to try my luck for a new income here in central Texas . I am not big time like you guys are so, the questions that I will be asking yall might seem a little stupid or off the wall so try to have patience with me ... I just want to learn ... One thing that you will notice very quickly about me is that I am not computer savvy.... I am starting from scrach and am not at all afraid to work to get where I want to be in life ..... This is what I am starting with and am hopeing that as I get more knowledge (more money as well) I will be getting better equipment so if you laugh , dont let me hear you. (like I can really hear you) .... I will start with the oldest member of my group a 1959 D7 cat .... A 1964 TD9 international dozer ... A 1977 C60 dump truck ... and a 1984 JCB 1400B back hoe..... HEY Ive got to start some where , right? Well since this is a dozer fourm I guess that I need to ask a dozer related question or two .... I have been thinking of making a set of rippers that will be mounted under my blade of the TD9 that I can rip ground when I go in reverse if I need to... Good idea or not? When I needed to break hard ground I was using my dozer root rake but it can take some time to get it mounted at times , I work by my self and can be dangerous at times as well.... Another question is , How far down in the ground do you consider top soil ? And the last question of the night , is it better to dig a stump out of the ground with a dozer or a backhoe .... I havent had the chance to use my backhoe to do that yet, What do you prefer ?? I am sure that the D7 will have no problem getting the stumps out but, it not running at the time...And when the TD9 was running it seemed to take beating in doing so..... Thanks in advance and hope it was OK to introduce myself on this site .... You seem to be a good bunch of guys and hope you dont mind if I hang around a while!!!
Well, just by the way you write, I predict that you will be successful. However, instead of messing around with a ripper on a machine that runs, get the D7 working well enough first so that it is available should someone want to hire you and it. From up on the machine, you judge when to stop stripping by soil color. Topsoil is dark brown to dark tan depending on moisture. The clay, rock, shale, etc. that is under it should be evident. Stumps are always tough - but their difficulty decreases as the size of the relative machine increases.
i think the D7 if its half ok mite earn you a few $ also much safer on hilly ground than a backhoe .. having said that a backhoe can be good for building trenches pipelines etc & of course a backhoe is easier to transport .. is the D7 a cable or hydrolic blade ?
Starting out. Hi, Wingnut. Firstly, welkum too ther 4um. Is your TD9 a 192 series or a TD9B, or one of the earlier models? You have a good tool there in the backhoe to make stump removal easier for the TD9. Use the 'hoe to dig around the stump and cut the roots before trying to lift it out with the 'dozer. You'll end up moving less dirt and making less mess. As Special Tool said, get that D7 running as soon as you can 'cos there is no substitute for weight and horsepower when it comes to moving dirt - - or removing stumps or rocks. Technically, topsoil is anything that has vegetable matter in it, down to the first subsoil layer. Having said that, it often depends on the individual job for just how much topsoil you nneed to remove. Sometimes, you can get away with just removing the grass and leaving most of the topsoil layer to be mixed in with the rest of the material that you are moving. Other times, the job will call for all the topsoil to removed and kept separate. Often times these sorts of jobs call for the topsoil to be replaced at some stage. As for easy guidelines, there is almost always some sort of distinct change in color and texture between the topsoil and the subsoil layers. Rear-mounted rippers are a much more effective 'weapon' and they don't have the disadvantge of loading your tracks and sprockets up in reverse, thus increasing track wear a little. But, in answer to your question, some folks have made quite useful reversing rippers out of grader scarifier shanks hinged on the back of the blade so that they fold up out of the way when you are pushing foirward and hang down ready for ripping as you back up. There is nothing needed to lift these shanks up when you are pushing forward. The hinges should allow them to simply rest and drag on the ground as you are pushing forward, then hang down by their own weight when you lift the blade. Please feel free to ask any and all questions as they occur to you. Hope this helps.
Hi guys , Thank you for your input on this.... The TD9 is a TD9B if I am not mistaking, it has a d282 engine, auto. transmission , and its non-turbo.... and most of all , its engine has gone kaput AGAIN, cant seem to keep it alive ... Long story on that, let me know if you want to hear about it... The D7 is another story as well, Man that cat WAS a power house... It has a hydraulic lift blade, manual tilt , and 'swivels" in the middle side to side ... Really neat machine...If you want a story to listen to , just let me know and Ill tell it to you as well .... I often wondered about the top soil , stump and ripper questions that I asked yall about , thanks for the replys .... I have done a little dozer work around these parts for some farmers and just put adds. in the yellow pages just before the TD9 went on strike and left me out of the dirt pushing bussiness at the moment ..... Talk about bad timing!!!! I am hopeing that I can find another engine to put in it before spring time gets here...... Thanks for listening, advice, and knowledge and as soon as I can get this reply to thread thing down Ill be getting them up on the board sooner than this one.... Been trying for a while now , and just cant seem to make it work!!!! (not computer savvy) Wingnut
Instead of turning down work try renting a dozer. Renting isn't really to bad of a deal, machines are usually never more than a few years old and you don't have to worry about break downs. Make sure you call a few places to get a price as I've found some places have crazy prices, some three times there competitor. And just like everyone else right now there hurt'n and willing to deal.....
Hi LT-x7 , I did check into that as a worse case cenerio and the places that I looked into that had the dozers were wanting as much to rent a dozer than I could make working there machine in this area . "Hourly rates in these parts are kinda low"... and if I could afford a weekly rate renting there dozer (they want there money up front) I could get my TD9 back in service... I do all my own mechanic work (25 years working on autos.) so it cuts down on my over head .... I havent had any work at this time to turn down yet , Just getting started as a real bussiness , but I am hopeing that it will soon ... at least I can haul with my dump truck and do some digging and loading till I get some money saved up to get me another d282 dozer engine ..... Thanks for the thought .... Wingnut
D282 engine Hi, Wingnut. Sorry to hear about the little jigger having heart failure. Those TD9's don't do a bad job when they're running. You might have some luck looking for an engine over at Redpower: http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/index.php and go the IH Construction Equipment discussion. Or at Yesterday's Tractors: http://www.antiquetractors.com/cgi-bin/aboards.cgi and post an advert in the crawlers forum. Hope it turns out well for you.
Hi Deas Plant , Ill check into that, Thanks ..... Wingnut
Say wingnut, that d-282 was a common ih agricultural engine. Any used tractor parts place should have one.
Hi stumpjumper83, I checked at one tractor salvage yard here in central Texas and he said that he had a few, all but one or two had holes in the side of the blocks, I asked him how did that happen, and his reply was "CLEAN AIR ACT" was forcing the salvage yards and tractor dealers to destroy all used engines so farmers were forced to buy NEW tractors in the future .... SAD huh.. I asked him how much did he want for a good one of the ones he has and if he heard it run and his reply was " aint never heard it run' and "I want $3000.00 fer it" .....Way outta my price range
Clean Air Act One of my best friends has a salvage yard and no one is coming by here making him knock holes in his blocks.:cool2 This sounds like he is blowing smoke to me.:beatsme Just my 2 Cents
roddyo, yea, thats what I was thinking as well... But , with the things are going now days, you never know.... wingnut
Holes In Blocks Hi, Wingnut and Roddyo. I suspect that that legislation may be a state thing. I have spoken to couple of blokes in Calif. who have had emmission-complaint repowers done and they had to knock two holes in the old block to be able collect the rebate. How-wevver, my eyesight is too poor at this distance to be able check it out. LOL. Wingnut, another option, if your block is still serviceable, would be to buy one of the 'donks' with the holes in the block, strip it and rebuild your engine. This might be a bit of a rsik though as there is usually a reason why somebody disposes of an engine. The earlier gas-start IH diesels had a habit of cracking heads if you worked them hard and didn't idle them down for 5 to 10 minutes before shutting them down. I have had nothing to do with the later ones so don't know if this was also a problem with them.
this might help... http://www.ytmag.com/crawlers/messages/57032.html
Hi guys, Thanks for all your help !!! I got a EMAIL from a man who says he has one that runs but needs rings ... and its at a price that is affordable .... Gonna see how it works out ..... Thanks , Wingnut