looking at buying a cat for around the farm and maybe do some work for the neighbors
I cant think of any disadvantages to a 6 way blade. I started out on a old Cat D4 with straight blade. I then move up to a JD550 with a 6 way. OMG! Never ever would I go back to a old straight blade.
It seems the straight or semi-universal blade is what is preferred in my area. If I go by a site that has the two machines, the angle blade is always the one parked. I think for heavy pushing the six way doesn't put as much dirt in front while the SU can load up and go with little fidgeting on the control.
For farm work, i would go with the 6 way blade unless the farm is a rock pile.
I would go with a 6 way if what your doing is mostly grading and touch up work get a 4 way for pushing bulk dirt. I have not seen that many 6r's with a 6 way blade and always figured that was because if your doing the kind of work that requires a 6 way blade a 6r is a little to big and heavy for that type of work.
I couldn't be without the six way blade.
There are really two questions here. 1.)How does a 6-way blade work on a 185-200 hp tractor? 2.)How is the 6-way blade on a D6R? 1.) There isn't a more handy tool than a 6-way blade on a large dozer of this size. Unless you are planning on performing a lot of land clearing (removing a lot of stumps and large rocks) or need to bulk out a lot of material I wouldn't have anything else but a 6-way. 2.) I would stay away from the D6R and D6R2 tractors with 6-way blades. These tractors have a plate style c-frame that actually uses the front frame of the tractor as wear guides as the blade goes up and down. Any kind of side load is transferred into the main frame. Starting with the D6R3 and continuing to the D6T Cat started using a box section c-frame that is much stronger and better design. This is what all manufacturers use today on 6-way blade machines.
The disadvantages are working in hard material, rock, pushing stumps out, and other demanding tasks. If used for these things, you will be disappointed with the 6 way blade. They are not strong enough, especially on this size of tractor, to be put to hard duty. For general grading work, they can't be beat. It all depends on what you need to do with your dozer.
Those two comments would be what I would have said. What kind of work are you looking to do? That will help answer the question. If I was looking for a 6 way, I would look at the 6N's, very nice all around tractors. Ohh yeah, Welcome to the Forums!:drinkup
If you need a 6-way blade, you probably don't need or want a 6-way on a D6R. If you push hard, and that's why most people buy R's, you'll spend time repairing cylinder ends and push framework. Just my cheap opinion