I am currently shopping for a dozer to add to my stable of homeowner equipment. My wife and I just bought 20 acres, and will be building a house this year. It's a back lot, and will need a 700ft driveway. The quote I have for sitework is pretty steep, and so I want to be able to take care of some of it myself. I cannot afford a shiney new piece of equipment, and my limited budget is coming up with many Deere 450C's, a few TD7's and some older larger machines (couple of D5's). I was thinking that I should get a 6 way blade. Can anybody give me any advice on what to look for, opinions/plus's/minus's of a 450C ? Likely after we are done building, I will keep the machine to use for trail cutting/logging. I'd like to find one with a pto on the back to run my Winco 25K off of and keep my tractor freed up in those instances. Any help/advice will help
A 6 way blade is nice but in my opion should not be a deal breaker. How much dirt are you looking to move and how far? Remember that buying a machine is just the first step, keeping it running can burn a hole in your pocket fast.
Looking to cut my 700' driveway in, prep my house site, some grading.. I also have a Deere 410C that I will be using to dig the stumps and move dirt around. for smaller /tighter areas I also have a compact 4wd loader, I really want the dozer to maintain the road, do sitework for future barn, cut trails, pull logs. poss help to dig a pond.
You beat me to it. Nicetoy, when you get a price for sitework it's not just the cost of equipment, fuel and labor - you are getting experience that is only learned by doing it. Clearing, stripping and prepping before fill is very important, crappy soil will follow you through a fill lift and rear it's ugly head in the finished product - I know this because I have tried to bridge a bad spots, only to end up digging back out and bringing it up with compactable fill. Proper compaction, grading and crowning the road to direct water where it needs to go is vital in creating a proper drive that will not hit your wallet every rainy season.:cool2 I have re-done multiple long driveways where they were just plowed in without any thought of where the water should go. No side ditches, pipes or turn-outs. The property owners paid good money to put it in (some hired it out and some did it themselves) and then countless dollars maintaining a drive that would only wash out in every heavy rain. Spend the time and money to do it right the first time - it's the cheapest route to go in the long run. Heres a thread with pics of a 1200' drive we went back in shaped up - HeavyEquipmentForums What's your price range on a dozer? For what you want to do I would suggest a 6 way blade. With a 6 way it will be much easier to grade a crown and shape your side ditches and water turnouts.
I'm looking to spend about 10 grand, I've thought out the whole water thing and bounced my ideas off my father (engineer with 35 years of state construction experience) all of which he agreed on. My excavation and trucking guy is pretty laid back and actually likes working for people who look to save money by doing stuff themselves. He has offered to be a knowledgable resource as well if need be. Where this driveway is, it is an existing logging road, there is an up hill side, and a down hill side, I'm planning a uphill swail with rip-rap and drainage under the drive to the downhill side.. the remainder crowned with drain trenches on each side . I'm leaving all the foundation/septic/house drainage issues to my sitework guy.
Another option might be a crawler loader instead of a dozer. Get one with a 4-in-1 bucket and you could blade with it a bit as well. Maybe not as critical since you have the 410c as well?? Andrew