Well I decided to change out my Furukawa small dozer (selling it) with a Komatsu 1981 D31P-16. I spotted one through Machinery Trader that I am buying from report and pictures (not my preference, but travel across country to view is expensive and difficult to get the time). One thing that the dozer is missing is the muffler. For some reason there is just a straight exhaust pipe. I will have to locate a muffler for it after the dozer is delivered. One question is can a standard Automotive pipe muffler work or does it need the OEM? I wonder why the original owner replaced the exhaust pipe with what looks like a chrome big trucks exhaust, could be the price of the OEM. The Dealer that took the machine in on Trade has stated the mechanics of the dozer work good with about 40% undercarriage left. If true, I will probably be having to redo the PB after a year or so. Should be fun when the thing gets here, I will post some pictures. Will have to change my username once the Furukawa sells.
make time....i know it's not easy to make time to view but it's a lot harder to save up the money again when you lose it, anyone can fake a report or airbrush a few pictures things are not always what they seem but i wish you the very best of luck with any new machine you choose to buy....
Quite true. However the Company that I am buying from is quite large with hundreds of types of heavy equipment for sale (I notice they currently have 50 dozers listed in Machinery Trader). If nothing else reputation has to play some role when dealing with people. It is like Auctions, there is always risk of what you might get. Thanks for the comment though.
Heard from the trucking company to expect the dozer on Friday eve or Saturday morning. They are bringing it out on a lowboy so unloading is not a issue just having to shuttle it up the County road for 3.5 miles since the truck and trailer (50ft lowboy) is too big to get it to my place. Should give it, the dozer, a good test out just getting it home. I had the company I bought the dozer research for a replacement muffler and they said that Komatsu wants too much and I would be better getting a aftermarket unit put on. Probably why the original owner did not replace it however. Have ordered the Operator's manual from sbb tractor.
We want pictures!
Had to have the Lowboy driver come up close to my place since the batteries were dead on the Dozer. You will see a image of the blade of my Furukawa that I ran out to the road to jump start the komatsu for unloading. (did not work had to swap the batteries over. What a pain! Once started it seem to run good running back down the 1/2 mile to my home. We just barely had enough room to turn the delivery truck around after I had dozed a bit off the side of the road. It was a tight fit to even get the big rig onto the County road. Was sure glad that I still had the Furukawa. It is due to disappear to Texas mid week. Sold it to a Equipment repair guy that seems to know his stuff on the small gray market dozers. No problem with the muffler it looks fine. The only immediate problem (besides the Batteries now on the chargers will hope they are ok. I notice that the dozer is rigged to disconnect the ignition wires at the battery probably due to a short somewhere, and when the dozer was loaded for delivery no one disconnected it, so the batteries drained.) is the Dozer does not go into neutral very well and the control pedals are stiff and need lubrication. Had my Operator's manual show up in the Afternoon mail so I will give the thing a thorough going through.
Nice looking! Congrats to a fellow Komatsu owner
Thanks! Not as nice as yours. Should be fun however. Just have to get used to foot steering since my previous dozer was lever. Not to mention the inching pedal is new to me.
Well the batteries charged up overnight with no problems, expect the delivery driver was not made aware of disconnecting the ignition wires. Pulled all the plates and WD'd all linkage areas (too bad there is no zerks for greasing). Adjusted the Brakes which made a major difference in control. Have hydraulic leakage on the Blade right hand angle cylinder, may have to rebuild it. Started it up and did some pushing. Knocked down a couple of small trees and tried a larger oak which I did not succeed immediately, will have to dig it out some more. :Banghead Just getting used to the foot controls is something that will take many hours of operation. I have run dozers with speed control steering (Case? I believe) and ones with levers so it is a matter of changing instincts to use this foot steer type. I have a tendency to want to push down the left brake control like the clutch on my Furukawa. My right foot that used to be for the dozer brake (Furukawa, and I avoided using the machine brake on it as much as possible) is not trained to think as a steering option. For me the direct drive transmission with clutch and gears is much faster responding than these hydrostats. Well for buying a old used dozer unseen other than description and pictures on Machinery Trader it looks like I did ok. Well just have to run it more to see if there is hidden issues.
Looks like the first thing to do is turn the tracks around as they are on backwards, will save a lot of wear on the pins and bushes and sprockets and will also improve traction when going forward. Cheers RDG.
Well I'll be. It looks like you are right about them being on backwards. Not to brilliant on someones part.
Well after communicating with the Dealer, Danny Clark Equipment of Kentucky, They agreed to pay for the batteries and track flipping. I told them I was able to charge the batteries so nothing necessary there and I would go half on the Tracks since I needed the repair place to move the dozer and I felt that is was more than fair if they picked up half the total cost. They agreed and are going to send me a check. It is nice to deal with Honorable people.
Isn't that a pleasant surprise! Equipment dealer name filed away for future reference - let us know if they actually come through for you. I was pretty leery about buying my dozer sight unseen, but everything worked out incredibly well via Iron Planet.
Just to update. Yes I received a check from them. Have to admit it was decent of them. Been using the Komatsu some this last week, it sure is a lot more powerful than my Furukawa is. Still working on getting the foot steering down. I wish the blade was faster for action, I am not sure if this is due to design or just age of machine. With leaky hydraulics it could be the problem, though I plan to get the worst cylinder repaired fairly soon.
Matt - the blade operation will be slow (at least that's the way it is on mine) unless the engine is running above a certain speed. That may or may not reflect your situation.
Thanks John for the information. I do not detect much difference between full throttle and idle. I guess have to just be a bit more patient with it.
Nice dozer, I've always been a fan of Komatsu's.
Thanks Jonathan. I have some issues mechanically to overcome like getting the tracks flipped and having some cylinders rebuilt. There also seems to be a issue with the track tensioner for the right hand side. It does not move either to tighten or loosen, but hopefully it will be corrected when the tracks are turned around. I would think the folks doing the turn around have encountered that scenario before for repairing track.
Found out that the Alternator was dead which could explain some things. I priced a replacement from Komatsu and they wanted over $700! I figured I could simply buy a generic 24volt alternator and fab some brackets but when I Google'd around I was able to find a Brand new Chinese made replacement one for only $138 shipped. Ordered it and put it on yesterday, works great putting out 28.3V charging. Have found another issue with the Undercarriage. Not sure how to fix it. Seems there is Cat parts on my Komatsu tracks (see picture)
god machine i have one
Nice pic.
Glad to here Clark equipment is good to deal with, they have some of the better prices, I just bought mine from Penn. (Cambria) without looking and that worked out good. I got burned by Cook equip, in allegan Michigan I think they left the "R" out of their name. It sounds like You and They were fair.
Used equipment through a Dealer is always a bit chancy. Some times they are unaware of problems that the original owner glossed over when selling/trading to them. Things only found out after running the equipment for a bit. What did you get?
850K with winch,sweeps,screens.
Sounds nice. Going to do land clearing or just dirt pushing? If clearing woods those sweeps and screens will come in handy. I find for pulling logs a chain to a hitch is quicker than winching though a winch can get you unstuck if you get in a soft area.
I am in the dozer biz, so yes alot of clearing and dirt pushing, Has a cab with a/c. it has a logging setup(arch roller) pic on other posts -need input on buying a dozer. -