Bought a D65 sight unseen but have zero knowledge of how how to drive one of these things. Anyone have a how to or can describe to me how to operate this machine? Have some experience on excavators and dump trucks but zero on a dozer. I get the basics but can't find anything online about specifics about this machine so i don't accidentally break it or myself.
Yair . . . ATCme. Most likely it will be power-shift similar to a Cat. Three speeds forward and reverse, selector near the left hand armrest. Conventional clutch and brake steering. Steering clutches on console in front of seat determine direction of turn, individual brake pedals on the floor control rate of turn. Steering clutches are either in or out with one motion, don't ever try to slip or finesse them. Disengage clutch then apply brake to turn onto desired heading. The tractor is normally operated with throttle (on console near steering clutches) wide open and engine speed is controlled by the decelerator pedal (right foot) Blade and ripper controls on right of seat. Blade tilt will normally be side to side movement of lift control although it could be a toggle pedal on the floor. From memory the brake pedals are close enough they can both be applied with one foot and, out of habit, I always stop and decelerate before changing direction. These are a real nice tractor and should serve you very well. Cheers.
I will also add as scrub said, when finishing your turn it's foot of brake than ingage clutches. So many times I've seen operators leave there foot on the brake and get that snap,not good . Happy dozing. Bill.
Yair . . . Good point 8k bill I hear exactly what you're saying. Cheers.
The D65E (E= Extended Track Frame) is simple to drive with 3 speed F/R power shift transmission (no D/D rive 65's) to turn just pull a steering lever, this will activate the steer clutch and brake, the series 6 has Cummins engine series7 has Komatsue 125 engine. tctractors
Yair . . . Dunno tctractors. We must be talking different beasts, I thought they were 65's I was running. Hand steering clutch, foot brake and one machine was power shift other was master clutch and stick shift. Both had Cummins engines. Cheers.
The D65E was power shift (Torque Flow) the Direct Drive tractor is I think a D66, I used to look after 1 of these for a local customer, they are very scarce tractors within the U.K. on the foot brake thing if the adjustment is way off on the brake bands the peddle will make the turn, but with good bands you just pull a lever. tctractors
So i steer with the hand controls not the foot pedals? And if i use the hand controls its a stop and turn no slight directional changes? Confused a little, i have watched others used these things without ever touching the console. It's also a cummins not a Komatsu engine. Has a winch no rippers.
Yair . . . ATCme. I'm confused too mate. I can tell you though tctractors knows his bickies and different versions must exist. The two examples I ran and several others I worked on (in Australia) did not have linked clutches and brakes . . . I have run such a system, I think on a John Deere, and could never see any advantage only added complexity to a simple system. To take the discussion a little further . . . As I said up thread, steering clutches should never be slipped, they are disengaged and reengaged in one smooth motion, that is to say they are either fully out or fully in. As soon as the clutch is pulled the tractor will tend to drift in that direction and, if insufficient, apply a little brake. The brakes can be slipped or applied as hard as required to the point of looking up a track and doing a full pivot turn. With a few hours practice and the brakes in correct adjustment the whole operation will become intuitive and smooth. If you are doing dirt work a tilt cylinder is almost mandatory. When pushing heavy in a cut and drifting a load you will find you tend to steer by tilting the blade rather than with the clutches. One thing to be aware of (and probably the only way you can do much damage to a clutch/brake steer tractor) is the phenomenon we used to call "Sling shotting". This occurs occasionally when a steering clutch is disengaged on a heavy push. Instead of turning the tractor stops when the other track loses traction and spins. When this occurs do not allow the steering clutch to reengage. Instead, decelerate to idle, shift transmission into neutral and then reengage the clutch. If you were to reengage the clutch in gear at full throttle you are effectively trying to bring the disengaged, clutch, final drive and track instantaneously up to speed from stopped . . . from a distance I have heard a cross shaft break. It's not as complicated as it sounds and I hope this thread has been of help. Cheers.
So the machine finally showed up here on Thursday. From a distance it looks fine although someone painted it John Deere green and it was just in the recent RB auction in Chilliwack. (Yay money pit) So yes it is a powershift. IT has two brake pedals and two decelerator pedals. It has a Hyster winch as well. I will get pictures later. The good, it runs, hydraulics work. It goes forwards and back. The bad, one head gasket seems to be blown. You can see air movement between the two heads and coolant slowly leaks. It does run strong though. The other bad may just be me but it seems very weak. With full throttle it stops while trying to turn almost and when pushing dirt in first gear it will stop. The engine bogs a little but the tracks stop moving. I would have thought they would slip under it. While at idle it hardly moves if at all. Fluid is clean all around may be a little low in the tranny. Is there some sort of adjustment or am i just picky? The last bad is i don't know how the engage the PTO on this thing. The two levers back and to the right are for the winch but the PTO drive shaft isn't spinning? It's all a little backwards to me right now but i will figure it.
When i pull a lever it won't turn unless i push the brake pedal and i mean push. I literally have to stand on it to lock the track up. This is all on wet field grass as well.
Try adjusting the brakes, a few photo's would help things. tctractors
Here's what showed up.
Yair . . . ATCme. Sounds like you have a few separate issues. One thing going for you is tctractors is active on your thread. As he mentions adjusting brakes would be the first step and as always pictures help. As I mention up thread, with no load it is normal to pull the clutch on a clutch/brake tractor and it barely turns at all. These are strong good performing tractors and I can't help much with diagnostics as the ones I was around never had many issues. Cheers.
The floor pan removed.
The leak between the heads. While running it you can see it blows dry in the gap so its not the fan.
The winch The reason why the winch didn't work
The fogged up gauges, but no hour meter?
Last picture i took.
Well had the first mechanic look at it yesterday. For sure it has a blown head gasket or two he said. He also said the clutches are shot but he has never changed them out in a D65 before. He said you have to take the finals off to change them out. Basically a 10 grand job. Is this true? I though you could change them out while leaving the finals intact?
Yair . . . ATCme. I think you need a second opinion. On what basis does he conclude the clutches are shot and why? A test. Put it up a against an immovable load, a stump a pile of dirt whatever and get both tracks spinning in low gear, what happens when you pull both clutches? Both tracks should stop. If not there could be a problem with the hydraulic actuator, the clutches are not necessarily shot. They could be of course but you need to work through the symptoms. The clutches come out through the top there is no need to disturb the finals. Having said that old tractors are a can of worms and you may well find excess wear in top pinion flange/spline/bearings necessitating a teardown of the finals. Cheers.
I put it up against a pile of dirt in low and full throttle and the tracks slowed and stopped turning on their own once it bites into the dirt. The engine does bog down. The funny thing i noticed is it seems to have more movement in third than any other speed. I am honestly a newbie with dozers so when i mean movement i mean more power. In second it was almost useless and first it would barely turn. In third you could get it to turn the easiest. All at full throttle. If it is going at any other engine speed other than full throttle it doesn't seem to want to move very well if at all. I need to do some finesse work on the side of a mountain road so it can't all be done at full throttle. Does this machine not do this type of work? Also with the winch it was disconnected for a reasons unknown. What common issues do these winches have? I'm tempted just to throw a bunch of oil in it and see what happens.
Yair . . . ATCme. I'm still not quite with you. I am not talking about turning as in direction, I just mean straight pushing, tractor in gear at full throttle your hands in your pockets. In first gear, engine should load up and both tracks should rotate with the tractor going nowhere but kicking dirt out the back. In second gear the engine should load and depending on conditions the tracks may rotate (barely). In third gear engine will load and tracks will not rotate stalled out on the converter. If you pull both clutches in any of those scenarios the load should come off the engine. In the first scenario the tracks spinning and kicking dirt out the back if you pull both clutches load should come off the engine and both tracks should stop. These are good machines and if you get it sorted it is capable of doing any job possible with a machine of that size. Very sure footed in the steep stuff. Cheers.
ATC, your Komatsu is an odd beast to look at and probably a series 5, I see it is power-shift and the fact it stops moving is going to be very little to do with steering clutches, they are spring locked units with oil pressure used to release, you need to look at the shaft coming from the torque that goes to the transmission and tell me what it does when the drive fails at full engine speed in all gears forwards, as you sit in the seat the filter and screen for the steering is under your left foot, the transmission filter is under your right foot, your First mechanic is a waste of time so blow him out, the Cummins engine has a lower torque set on the injectors than a truck engine off top of my head it's 60 Inch Pounds I will say again INCH POUNDS, the common Truck setting is 72 inch pounds, if it's set to this the starting is very hard, this is just off my head detail so I might be wrong but I can refer, the controls look very early style on this so tell me in photos how far you can press the brake peddles down using turn pressure? tctractors
As for the winch being disconnected, when I last tampered with these tractors it was common practice to unhook the propshaft at the front when the winch wasn't being used. That long shaft spins pretty fast, is dangerous to work around and if one of the spiders lets go the damage caused under the floor can be most costly.
Yes i did the first scenario as you described. Once it couldn't push anymore the tracks would slowly stop moving. No hands on clutches. No foot on brake. edit- Yes sorry i should use paragraphs more while typing
It is a -6 machine, original ID tag is still on it. The brake pedals need to be fully depressed before it will start to turn and when it does it locks up the track no slight of foot turning. When i get a chance to use it in the daylight again i will check to see the shaft. The right pedal is depressed in the picture due to the parking brake being on. Would low fluid cause a problem? I checked it while it was running, it was on the dipstick but not up to the line.
I'm hoping that's the only thing wrong with it. There is a bit of rust on the gears inside but nothing to alarming. Do these have one oil reservoir and if so what oil should i use?
Anyone know where i can get a new gauge?
Haven't had a chance to drive the dozer yet. Too much rain. I did figure out why they disconnected the winch. The input shaft bearing is shot and it leaks oil out of it. anyone have a parts break down of these machines? Including the winch?
Test drove it again this morning. Put it up against a pile of dirt (full throttle first gear) and got the tracks to stop moving. Looked at the connecting shaft and it wasn't spinning. Drove it back to the shop and when i shut it off my dad heard a hissing noise coming from the starter. There was air and oil coming out between the starter and bell housing. So does that mean the torque converter is shot or a pump?