looking to buy a used dozer with 6 way blade any thing i need to stay away from? i would say it would be something in the $12000 to $15000 range
How much mojo.... Depends on the use. The little JD and Case, older 350B with dry clutches are a good starting point for road building and maintaining and a bit of dirt moving. I set my farm up with a JD 350 B in 1980.....3 miles of road....flattened a couple acres for a shop, and put in a half dozen logging landings throughout the woods to set my Mobile Dimension Sawmill in. The roads were ditched and crowned and are as good today, with tractor/blade maintenance, as they were 30 years ago !!! But....I need more now that I am grown up...(62 yrs old).... I didn't have the $$$ for a D-5 with a 6 way.....LOOK....LOOK....then look some more.... I fell in love with a Dresser TD8E. 17,000 lbs....( it won't haul with a farm gooseneck), and 80 hp.....the weight/hp combination puts it in a different class than the little John Deere/Case/Mitsubishi etc that are in your price range. Bargains can be found.....I found what I wanted and paid a dealer his price for it...I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER....BUT ONE HAS TO BE VERY CAREFUL IF IT IS AUCTION OR PRIVATE PARTY PURCHASE. I felt that the couple thousand premium was worth the lesser risk. The TD8E is a "real" dozer.....it will push a lot of dirt, and dig out any tree in my part of Arkansas......It has a 6 way blade....SO it is not a tree pushing dozer. Hire a D-6 to do that, and clean up behind it with the Dresser. Parts are mostly available. After a week on the web....I found 99% of all the replacement/rebuilt parts that will be needed as it wears. I paid about $11K for my TD8E with 3500 hours....a real nice undercarriage, and all the gauges in the green. It has a strong transmission/torque converter, and the oil samples on the engine and transmission were top notch. The machine is fast enough that I cleaned and lubed the seat belt to keep me from jumping out of the seat when I hit reverse going down-hill. Tight and lots of snap. I love it so far......My $.02
In that price range, youre pretty much going to be in the 450C, D, and if youre lucky, E John Deere price range. I say Deere because thats all I have ever used and bought. First of all, be sure to find a turbo machine. Pricewise there is no difference, but powerwise its huge. Before you buy, make sure you can run it pretty hard for an hour or so. Those clutch pack powershift trannys can be troublesome when they get hot. Make sure all 4 bolts are tight, solid, and not missing on the top roller arm. Its not a big deal, but they are notorious for breaking off, stripping out, and being a PITA. Also make sure the track pads havent worn through the top of the final drive housings. If it seems like all Ive done is talk about the problems with this series machine, that was not my intention. My intention was to give you some insight into what to look for. I bought a 450E new in about 1985 or 1986 and these are the main things Ive dealt with in 25 YEARS of running it! Prior to that, I had a 450D, prior to that we ran a C. I just became the proud owner of a 650G. Couldnt see dropping 150K on a new J with timber prices and work the way it is right now.
For your money, I'd suggest the small deeres as well. Don't look at anything older than a 450c. Now, how are you going to transport it, or is it going to stay in one place? 12-15 should get you a super nice 450c w/ winch up to a not so nice, 550g bareback at auction. Then its what do you want, a newer dozer that will need an undercarriage in 500 hrs, or an older dozer that is in a little better shape. Remember this, every 2500 hrs, give or take its 8k for a bottom, so for every hour you run it, put $5 aside for an undercarriage. Btw, there are other dozers than just deere out there. Just deere had a better machine, their repair parts are cheaper at the dealer, and are more common aftermarket, and people don't think that they need to have a millon bucks for an older one.