Hello, I have been labouring for an oilfield servicing company in northern Alberta, and I'd like to eventually move onto equipment operating. They have a few dozers in the D6, Deere 850K size range. I have operated older style Cats, direct drive D6C, D7E, but I don't have any experience on newer style controls. On these machines, do you just rev them all the way up and leave the throttle? Let's say you're moving along in second gear and you need to reverse. Would you pull it into neutral, hit the brake, then shift into reverse once you're stopped? Or it is designed to just pull it straight into reverse while you're still moving? These sound like really dumb questions, but I'm pretty green on this stuff. Do most Cats have 3 gears and most of the time you push in second? What about the machines that you just set the speed and you don't have "gears"? What is a good speed for general, topsoil pushing? I know that on the bigger machines, they have a decelerator pedal. When would you use the decelerator? Are most new dozers differential steer or steering clutches? What kind of maintenance are operators expected to do on a daily basis? What is a good pre-startup checklist? Why does Cat currently make 3 different D6s? Are they just different weight classes, or are they built for different applications? What is the cold start procedure for below -15C? It gets extremely cold in northern Alberta. Do these machines have any kind of plug-in coolant heaters? Let's say you had to start a newer dozer that had been sitting in 30 below for a few days. Would you get a propane heater out, or would you just preheat and start it up? Do modern, direct injection diesels have glow plugs or grid heaters? I know that my Dodge Cummins uses a grid heater because it is direct injection and there is no prechamber for glow plugs. Thanks so much for answering some of these questions!
Ask your employer, if they're happy with your work might be a great to get your foot in the door to be become an operator. There not just going to throw you on a big machine and let you have at it. An operator training school would help but talk to your employer, maybe they'd be willing to train you and answer all your questions. It's never good to slam a dozer transmission from forward to reverse at full throttle unless it's an emergency.
I've worked as an operator before, just not on these style machines. I guess that I could just go and ask my employer the same questions, but I think that it's a good idea to pick up some background knowledge beforehand. I would rather learn as much as I can on my off time rather than just telling them that I want them to buy me professional training. Obviously I know that it's not a good idea to throw something into reverse at speed, but a lot of these dozers don't have a decelerator, and the brake is only used for emergency stops. I know that there are some really smart guys on this forum and these are some pretty simple questions.
Sometimes it is BEST to let the employer train you on how they want their machines operated and maintained. Not always (there are some employers that have no concept of maintenance or proper operating techniques) but looking on the internet and talking to so and so doesn't mean it's going to be the correct advice. Reading the operating manual for the machine would be a good start. Some employers don't want the operators doing any repairs because they have mechanics that know how to do it right. I wasn't suggesting your employer pay for your training. If you want to become an operator you may have to invest in the training yourself. The questions you're asking are like a totally green 16 year old asking about driving/owning a car for the first time. You're talking about machines that cost 100's of thousands of dollars.
If there is no decelerator it must be hydrostatic drive. If it is hydrostatic drive run with the throttle wide open and use the hydrostat lever to control the ground speed. I always decelerated when changing travel directions. All the Caterpiller dozers I was ever on were run wide open in second gear. Any newly hired operator that would run a dozer in first gear usually lasted one day on the job.
I know a guy with a JD 850J WLT and I believe it has a decelerator which he uses when changing direction the same as a power shift. I think what gear you use depends on what you're doing with the machine. General dozing would probably be second gear.
IUOE local near to me has a training school, teach every aspect of ALL machines available to a operator and many companies will pay the trainee to attend if seriously interested. They include safety functions and directives as well some HAZ MAT training. I was discounted some years back, 20/150 vision(corrected) in left eye disqualified me for cranes. The 3/4" cold chisel that gave me that beauty mark is still in my toolbox, one of the worst stupid incidents in my history.
An old family friend, a private pilot since 1942 died a few years ago at 94. He was blind in one eye from a piece off a cold chisel that struck his eye. He never mentioned safety glasses but to his dying days he often remarked that he sure wished he had dressed that cold chisel. He felt he could have had a good career in the airline industry if he had both eyes.
Sure wish it had been a splinter Chisel was used to remove a pitman arm from a Ross steering gear On re-install it decoded it wanted out before I chose to knock it out Met me as I turned back in under the cab COE IHC 9670 to do that and I was wearing safety glasses that did slow it some
I had a cold chisel encounter too, some 30 years ago. I was driving a cold chisel in a flanged joint to separate it on some air ducting that had been silicone together & after really pounding on it, the silicone allowed the joint to elasticize some & it stretched open some & then suddenly it spit the cold chisel back at me & hit me just below the eye. Very lucky it was an inch below the eyeball where it hit. Lucky there was no vision loss on that one.
Pretty similar MM55, mine was lodged in pretty tight, it came out with a vengeance with timing spot on to hit the left safety glass eyeglass lens in my glasses. Hit pretty square, drove the lens to my face then exploded it as it was supposed to, small square chunks but only slowed the chisel. Split my cornea, ripped my iris in a couple spots, impact flex clouded the lens inside. None singularly requiring replacements where two of the three could be fixed independently but with all three together impossible to fix better than it is. Can transplant a cornea, can set a replacement lens in a good iris, cannot in the ripped iris I have and therefore not worthy of a cornea someone else could see thru. Doc told me had it hit without glasses I would not be listening to his dissertation of the damage, rear of eye socket is thinnest region of the skull, it would not have even slowed it down on entry. Story of my life for injuries, back broken 1977 but not crippling and somewhat repaired some 39 years later, left hand run into wood jointer at fifteen but saved the fingers messy as they are and still function to about 80%, almost crushed in two by a leaky jack under a semi, almost had my head taken off changing Dayton Springs under a loaded dry van trailer by a kickout jack. Lots of old horror stories, lots of other memories I tend to keep to myself. Probably most horrifying for my Mother was when I ran into the street in front of her at three years old, got hit by a '51 Chevy, I see that scar every day in the mirror and know am still alive.