As the proud owner of a 20 year old Komatsu D20 gray market dozer I have recently run up against the proprietary parts and dealer network Boogeyman. I am one of those people who got the machine to do a lot of work on our land which otherwise would have been prohibitively expensive to have done. As a side note to that, there is the part about keeping the machine running. I am sure a bunch of folks out there also make their own repairs out of necessity or just because they are slightly masochistic or whatever. I have been reading the Gray market topic which is now up to 50 some odd pages long and perhaps we could siphon off some of that expertise for us shade tree mechanics. These have been my major problems and outlays over the last 3 years. Buy rusty D20 tilt but no angle blade, swamp track dozer which I knew nothing about from importer in Northeast Texas, $11,000. He recommended trucker who was OK. Trucking 100 miles, By someone else, $325 the trip Welding half inch by one inch by 24 inch bars on very worn pyramid swamp tracks, including steel, rod, and portable welder rental, $300. Don’t count the time. 12 New track rollers installed by me, From HeavyQuip Chinese made so far so good, $960 for the set. Don’t count the time. 22MM impact socket to remove rusted roller bolts. $20 Found extensive fatigue cracking under subframe that holds fuel tank on left side of seat, probably caused by severe vibration from worn out rollers. Had to jack up fuel tank to get subframe off machine, took it back to shop to weld up cracks, fabricate large piece to replace chunk which was missing, retap bolt holes, paint Krylon safety yellow, reinstall back down in the country. Total $ spent $20 on rod, grinding wheels and paint. Don’t count the time. Buy used 1972 3 Axle flatbed gooseneck trailer, sandblast, repaint, flip floor boards, rebuild brakes and lights, 2 new tires, add a garage sale Warn 20,000 lb winch all by me, $3100. Don’t count the time. Buy used Miller portable welder off Craigslist, $250, $50 for carb and fuel pump parts. Had to make my own parts for guts of carb because it is Obsolete. (Heck I’m not even in Canada) Don’t count the time. Haul dozer 110 miles and back to shop on our gooseneck for a track repair after it kept throwing left track, $350 for new clutch in my 1982 Chevy one ton. Top speed 40 mph. Truck is not overpowered. $75 for gasoline. Don’t count the time. Idler guide shimming at shop in addition to track repair, by HeavyQuip, $1100, (Tracks now stay on) Don’t count the time. Built and installed 2 padded arm rests which had been missing when I got it. $7.83 for Naugahyde. Don't count the time. Seat back finally disintegrated, New from Dealer, $375, fellow who upholsters "low riders" charged me $75 to recover mine. Don’t count the time it took me to replace rusted out sections of seat frame. Needs starter relay or rebuilt starter but am making do with a generic 24 volt starter solenoid, unfortunately neither hour meter nor alternator are working now which presents it’s own set of problems. 2 new Wal-Mart cheapy batteries, $47 each plus $9 dollar recycling fee each. Now that works out to be about $18,000 I have dug 3 ponds, cleared about a mile of fenceline through the woods, dug about three quarters of a mile of drainage ditch 3 feet deep, and redug two ponds that silted up the first flood after I built them. I have put about 400 hours on the machine so far. That works out to about 45 dollars an hour. But if I can get $11000 back after sandblasting and repainting her, that’s only $17.50 an hour so far and dropping. Not counting my labor. If I didn’t love it I wouldn’t do it. Staying broke is the only way I can stay busy fixing all this old stuff I have. I guess it beats making payments. When the big auction comes, hopefully the wife will get her money back with interest. My most recent unanswered question: What is anti restart relay for and how in the heck is it wired into this little gal. I have the schematic but can make no sense of the circuit. I took it out and the hour meter does not run and the alternator light is on ever so dimly. It shows hooked to the alternator and thru the hour meter to the water temp gauge. Suggestions? And please don’t tell me the dealer.
The safety relay on the starter is powered by the alternator. You have an extra wire from the alternator running to the relay and it prevents energizing the starter when the engine is running. To troubleshoot the alternator just turn the key on and check for voltage on the wires at the alternator. The big wire should be hot. The ground wire shouldn't be and the third wire should be dead when the engine is not running. If it is hot you have a problem. The other check is the oil pressure light will come on when the engine is not running. If it is hot, disconnect it and try to start the engine. If it turns you know the alternator is the problem. Good Luck!
Thanks John C. I'll try putting the relay back in the circuit and see if the hour meter will turn. Maybe I can use the relay for that function even if it will no longer work the starter. John
To demystify how the no restart system works on the D20, when the machine is not running the alternator isn't producing any voltage so the the solenoid sees a ground threw the lead coming from the alternator and the solenoid works. When the machine is running the starter solenoid sees 24 volts coming from the alternator lead so there is no ground to operate the solenoid. Who knew?
you need a rops on there before you become another statistic
Pretty typical Japanese starter safety circuit. Over here we just install a key switch that only lets you turn it to start once without turning it off first, LOL.
You are correct. Removed ROPS to transport machine. I use cross chains to give grousers something to grab holt of but yes you are correct.
Scares me every time I see someone driving up trailer ramps forward with no ROPS. If you're going to do that, please back it on? Too many good men are no longer with us because they made some small error and the machine went nose over teakettle and squashed them. Probably never happen with that setup, but you don't get second chances on a deal like that either.