I am going to clear about 20 acres to replant in pine trees. I cleared about 20 acres about 8 years ago with a wheel loader with a rake and a skidder pulling a rome harrow. I no longer have the wheel equipment, but I am looking into getting a cat 955 or so track loader that can rake and stack, and also pull the harrow. I know that track loaders have a higher ground pressure that crawler dozers, but what really can I expect as far as bogging down? Most of the land is lower wire grass flats down here in south Georgia. I plan to work mostly in the heat of the summer, when it is typically dry.
i know with the 953 series you can go to lgp configuration, that might help. A 953d std equipment is around 10 psi. I can't find any wheel loader ground pressure charts, but they should be way worse in soft ground than a track machine, Now if your running dual floater tires on the skidder and still getting in trouble, I dunno. I would try to find one with at least double grouser tracks, I have tripples on my deere 450 and in muddy clay the tread packs till its smooth. If your not going to be doing much turning I'd even consider single grouser tracks on your loader.
yup! never looked back and wished I had double grousers anymore, not for the work I'm doing.
I don't know if this helps out much, but I just did land clearing with a 963B. It was pretty wet and it left 1-2foot ruts in the wettest areas.
Thanks for the info so far. I was not running duals on the skidder, it was dry, but I was still getting down in some really low areas that were still wet. Is a track loader, the basic same crawler as a dozer? So it would have no problem pulling a harrow? I am looking for an older machine, I don't mind working on something, although I want a tractor that runs and operates well. I was looking at the older Cat 955's 951's. I see quite a few of those in 10K-15K range , that look like decent tractors. Opinions?
955's are good stout loaders, and depending on how big the harrow is you should not have any trouble with it. the loaders are not designed for real heavy pushing or pulling but you can still do a lot of towing or whatever with them. I used my 953 last year to drag a stuck 2-155 white out of the mud with pull type chopper and fully loader 20' chopper box in one pull, just to give you an idea of the ability of the loaders, granted, grousers and the fact that it was a 953 not a 955 or 51, which I believe are a bit lighter all had something to do with it......but even so, you should not have too much problem with it towing say a 24 finishing drag, or a 12 foot field cultivator with it, especially if it is for short periods of time. (I'm thinking of maybe 1 to 2 acres at a time to keep the oil from getting really too hot.)
The harrow is a Rome TAH10 , new ground harrow. It is not a field harrow. It is very, very stout. We pull it through some really rough stuff. I am trying to kill two birds with one stone. I want a machine that can rake---a loader if at all possible, but something that is also designed to pull a load. When I pulled the harrow with my skidder, I also had a rake on the front, but they have very little lift power, and would not perform anything like a loader. Wheel loader typically are not designed to pull loads. So I thought, well maybe a track loader would do both. When we pull the harrow, we pull it all day. I thought about getting a crawler dozer , it would pull the harrow fine, but it doesn't seem like a dozer would rake as well as a track loader. So a track loader is not designed to pull like a track dozer is?
How is a track loader not designed to push & pull things? They have been used for years to push up stockpiles, dig / push out basements, knock trees over. If fact I believe they are superior to dozers in tree tipping & stump popping. I have a 450c deere loader and suposedly the undercarriage is one link shorter than a dozers and a dozer has pads that are 2" wider in standard configuration. Trannys, finals, and motor are exactly the same. Now I can see where the tripple pads might slip easier than singles I'll give you that. And proper operation of the equipment entails keeping an eye on temperatures, in heavy long pushes one can heat a dozer up. I would follow the manufacturers recomendations for tracked tractors and remember that a loader might not have as much traction as a dozer.
i think you would be fine pulling with it, it couldn't be much harder than digging a basement unless you are in 3rd gear all day. and go 955 the 951 was a pig machine, but a 941 was pretty good
Thanks stumpjumper83. That is what I was looking for, do all tracked tractors pretty much have the same drive train? I thought that they would. You see tracked loaders with rippers on them. Those types of harrows were made to be pulled by crawlers. And for sure lgamman, I don't think it would be a good idea to pull in a high gear all day.
http://www.ritchiewiki.com will give you specs on differant machines you could compare there.
My 955 gets stuck in soft ground easily. We have good farming soil. No rocks/ sand, so dirt turns to mud. Good news... I am good at getting it out. Oh, it is a tree clearing SOB. Wags
So I looked at the specs on ritchiwiki.com and the 955 L & K have a powershift transmission, like the dozers. But the 963 is a hydrostatic drive machine. I had a cut down machine that was hydrostatic drive, and if you put too much of a load on it, it will overheat the hydrostatic pump and motor. I would not pull with the 963, but the 955 looks like it has the same basic setup as a dozer.
While I don't have super duper experience with a 963 hydrostat, I believe from what I have done with the machine, it would be hard to overheat the hydrostat unit. Someone correct me if I am wrong?
we have two hydrostat machines a 943 and 953b, never even had one get hot!
The only time we ever had trouble with our 953 trans overheating was when we had an exhaust leakand the fan would pull all the exhaust thru the radiators. My grandpa had an early powershift 955 that he had alot of trouble with overheating. Enough so that he bought a brand new D6C with a gear drive, but we are talking a 955 form the early '60s.
the 955 is a good stout machine,try to get a later model like the K or L series. You can clear w/ one all day long and they are good workers,just use the right lubes and pay attention to fluid levels as they all leak a bit.I've heard of stories of the loader towers getting cracks in them right above the lift cyl mounting bushing,and some of the later models had gusset plates(on the outside)-installed right above the lift cyl circular mounts..might be resulting from demo usage but I guess those were getting pounded a bit hard on the concrete.For my money,I'd buy an old 955/977 for a farm machine anyday,the powershift is more reliable than hydrastat for occasional farm/estate use where daily production isn't really an issue.As for any used machine,drop one or two of the bellyplates and give 'er a good washing out,most are full of crap and crud from years of use