Good morning all, I am borrowing a D8H from a business partner for a while to do a bunch of dirt work at my house in southern California, near Temecula. I have run a lot of equipment before, graders, backhoes, all sizes tractors (buying a new 60 horse Kubota also ) but I haven't operated a dozer before so I am looking for tips, tricks, suggestions, reading material, whatever to help get me going. My father used to own a D6 when I was barely out of the womb so he is going to help out as well but he lives 9 hours away. First thing is getting the dozer up to the house from where the lowbed is dropping it off. Next I have some minor things to fix on it, left track is a little loose, starter solenoid is not catching all the time so a screwdriver is needed occasionally and I think one other thing that I can't remember right now. I have worked on a lot vehicles/tractors but nothing of this size so I will probably be looking for some help with maintaining this thing. Is there a service manual for this that someone could recommend? Or a good resource for regular maintenance etc? Basically I am a newbie dozer operator and I need some reading material before the dozer arrives. Hopefully in the next week or so. Let me here it! Thanks
helo tgibbs,I have ran 9 of the series H D8's over the years.You will allways have some 'minor things to fix',not to mention a few bigger problems from time to time that will make your eyes water and your wallet lighter!!.A hammer,screwdriver,9/16'',3/4'' and a 15/16'' spanners are as essential companions in the cab as your tea flask.Just remember that it's about 40 years old,so go nice and steady and it will move the muck for you.It will have had a hard life but will look after you provided you look after it.Keep the radiator core clean and the fan belts tight.Don't ever let it run out of diesel.Keep plenty of oil in the tranny and if in doubt....thow the longest lever out and it should come to a stop I still run a couple as a side line and make a small profit so enjoy learning to drive the thing
Well the dozer arrived at my place. Right brake was dead, fixed that, the adjustment screw was out as there is no safety clip on it. Shutting her down was a chore as the linkage wasn't adjusted correctly, fixed that. Alternator is fixed and the new batteries so she starts up great. But the track adjuster has bad o rings and that looks like a bigger job than I want to tackle. So does anyone have a recommendation for a service guy for the inland empire/Temecula area? I think I may have a turbo issue as well. There wasn't a cap on the stack when the transporter picked it up and it doesn't sound like there has been one on it for a while. As soon as I start to load up the engine it starts to smoke like a freight train until I reduce RPMs a touch to bring the fuel back. Just keep doing that until you reduce the load. This is a lot of fun to drive, a touch of a hand full at times but fun none the less.