Been lurking here for some time but getting close to retirement and thinking about a small dozer to do some work on my property. Not an operator by any means but spent 6 years in the coal mining industry and got just a taste of operating on a D-8 and a Cat 637 scraper during contract strikes. I own 55 acres of reclaimed mine land that was overgrazed and neglected for years and needs some work repairing eroded drainages, covering some acidic shale, cleaning up rock on the surface due to erosion, clearing some brush - not trees, building roads etc. My main hobby is training labrador retrievers for hunt tests and field trials which is why I bought this ground. Two sides are on a large mine lake and there are two ponds on the property and a draw I would like to dam up for a technical training pond. I would be pushing some points out further into the existing ponds and then building the points, levees, island etc for the technical pond and putting in the dam. I have lots of time and a low budget. Wanted to get opinions on the JD 550H and was a little concerned about what I read on here about the Hydrostatic drive. The machine I am looking at has 5700 hours on it and owner claims undercarriage is 70%. Interested in experienced folks' opinion on this or other small dozers that would do the kind of work I am looking for.
Oh, my budget would be around 30K tops.
From what I have heard hydro drive dozers can be very expensive to work on. Might look at the G models I believe they can be had for less money and cost less to repair. Rocking W Equipment specializes in these type older dozers, might look them up they are in NE Texas.
Thanks for the info.
I bought a G series machine for my property. The hydro's are nice, but I fear electronics and expensive pumps.
Kinda hit and miss depending on machine. Hard to find final drives for "g" machines anymore and a reman is 16k...I'd stick with H.
You are correct about the final drives. Mine is leaking, so at some point I will tear into it. Just for giggles, I had broken tractor quote me a new one. $10K. I have the ability to rebuild, so I won't go that route.