I was thinking , which has been dangerous at times , in todays economy what would be cheaper to build a 953 A/B or a 955L. My thoughts are the 955 would cost more to build because of the complex transmission parts. The engine and loader mechanism would be a wash due to the similarities they share.
I would think a 953B only due to having more parts availability than a 955L. There are more 953B's still running on a daily basis than 955L's. In my area you won't find a 955L working on a paying job but plenty of B's, C's and D's.
There is still a few lonely A models making money not to far from you. Too. But I don't see any A or b machines any more over here near west Atlanta with the big companies. It also seems they all have cabs with air too. As far as which is cheaper, I think it would be better to buy a working machine vs a rebuild. It is a pia unless you have a big shop and the right tools. I guess that would apply if your are making money with them. 3 weeks of running will almost get you a machine, and I bet it would take longer than that to do a complete rebuild.
Actually I am referring to the manufacturing of a new machine. I didn't clarify that in the first post.
if was cheaper to built a 955l they would still be building them. I am sure there are more 955L's still running than 953A's
think of the resale value in this, 955l,s are not in demand anymore for the majority of commercial use.
thats because nobody want's to or knows how to run them anymore and how many did you see with cab and a/c on them
everybody I talk to says there slow (955l,s compared to the hydro units ) also the tracks are narrow they say in same respect.
955 K,L series around here show up most often on farm service, almost none still on commercial sites, 977's headed that way and fewer 973's with 963's and 53' managing most of the duty. Deere units not so popular anymore, see almost no other manufacturer as a sales yard anymore. I would believe the 955 was too intense in manufacture otherwise as stated they would still be made, bulletproof yes but cheap and quick to build no.
and there lies the answer to the question - no built-in obsolesence, so no repeat sales of new machines ........back in the day machines were built to last. I would still say that for a certain section of the market a powershift-equipped track loader would be better than a hydrostat for the simple fact that it's within the capability of the average owner to repair it using basic tools.
Yes and to a certain extent no. The hydro loaders are faster and easier to operate compared to the older power shift loaders which gives the advantage to the contractor running them vs. one that is running power shifts. That part is the evolution of efficiency. Unfortunately as you said Nige, they're not built to last on and on without major rebuilds/repairs. It just comes down to the bottom line at the end of the day. I seriously doubt there would be a large enough market to sell a power shift loader to offset the cost of manufacturing one.
So I guess the answer is it would be more costly to tool up and start making 955 than the 953. What set me to thinking about this , I recently bought a new Ferris zero turn mower. If you shop mowers they are all built about the same , all use the same wheel motor systems and mostly all use a similar or the same engine. The cost of these vary greatly from 4 grand to 35 grand. I thought basically they operate similar to a hydrostatic loader or dozer. Hence the question at hand , I figured a 955 would be more costly due to the power shift transmission. Lots of parts in there. The 53 , mount wheel motors , hpcu , engine hoses etc. Next question would be did they build 955 transmissions in the same assembly plant or were they built and trucked in. Were they built in Peoria or elsewhere. I guess none of this really matters just thoughts.
Interesting topic Dickjr. I wondered about it myself . Anyone know the low down on the newer Cat D7G's you see in china . Are they still the old D7G wrapped in new sheet metal ? Power shift , torque convertor , undercarriage , etc ? http://www.machinerytrader.com/list...026&Manu=CATERPILLAR&Mdltxt=D7G+II&mdlx=exact
When we spent 4 days in Peoria a couple of months ago we toured the assembly building where the D7s, D10s, and D11s are built. They had a line of engines being installed in machines and depending on where the machine was headed is this world they went from no emissions on some overseas ones to the U.S. models that had so many hoses on the exhaust you could not see the stack. The whole group commented on how simple some of the machines looked compared to the U.S. models.
Ah-ha, the good old LRC (Less Regulated Country) engines. They are a lot simpler aren't they .....??
Yair . . . I dunno how you blokes keep track of all this B/S. I see three D6's listed available in Australia the K the N and the T and I understand until recently there was another oval-track six powershift which no one wanted. Cheers.
Thanks for the explanation old-iron-habit . That almost suggests that it cheaper to build the older model machine or Cat would not offer the choice for the overseas consumer . Here is a 2005 D7G that looks about identical to the early 70's D7G when it was first introduced . http://www.machinerytrader.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=10121063
TD, I think that's Chinese marketing - IE it's not a 2005 model.. Here's a brochure for a new D7G II. - http://s3.amazonaws.com/szmanuals/95b4cdf91217bd28a1cd385836314087
Scrub , that's one of the ones I thought of as well the D6E which is basically a D6D modernized a little but not a big variation in the drive train. Why wouldn't you want a solid tractor like this ? Around here they push the 6N over the straight blade D6. Back to topic , to me a 955L is the same as a D6D as far as dependability. Those two tractors made guys a lot of money because of the simplicity to repair and the high standards of the build quality. I would give 20k for a damn nice 955L before I would give 20K for a 953A in similar condition.
Yeah CM , That deal sounded a little to good . Thanks for the link on the D7G II . Looks like it closely resembles the old D7G with horse power , torque convertor , & power shift transmission . Shame they don't offer it world wide . That's about the perfect size dozer for my work .