I am looking for a D5 high track to put on the fire contract for next year. For me the obvious chioce would be one with a winch and the full forestry gaurd package., now that is the easy part. The real question is what is the best year and model of the D5's and I'm talking about reliability. I already know that I won't have anything more to do with one that has the "finger tip steering" or any other computer controled garbage. I am looking hard at the H's or the M's with lever steering, what do you guys think :beatsme
D5s were notorious for vibration issues if i remeber correctly. I would definitley go with Diff steer over steering clutches
care to elaborate on the vibration issues ? I didn't notice any on the one that I've been running
Is there such a thing as a diff steer hi track D5? Have to step up to a 6 for that, no? I must have been lucky, I have run a lot 5H, M and N's and never had any vibration
I had a d5h and loved it.It just ran and ran.The only reason I up dated was for a better air cond. cab.
nope they were finger tip controlled to the end.
Did the D5H have the 3304 mechanical engine ? Thanks for the replies guys, keep'em coming.
Wer there any little things that wer proned to go wrong with the D5H's, you know just some things to watch out for like component failures at a cretain amount of Hrs. for example, say i was looking at one with 6k hrs. on it and it had never been touched, am I going to have to put clutches, brakes in it and rebiuld the tranny and engine by the time 8K hrs. rolls around:Banghead,,,,,you guys smell what I,m steppin' in.
Yep! Maybe this is the vibration mentioned above. Never bothered me, though.
I'm wondering this as well. I want a high track, engine with liners. No overwidth or overweight, no LGP, would prefer EROPS cab but that's not a deal breaker. Open source design. The least computers and the most reliable. Cannot find a good deal on a d4h series 3. All used ones are worn out and many painted to cover major flaws. Thanks
A lot depends on your budget. You want a really clean machine for fire service. It might be good to look at machines at a dealer where all the components could be better evaluated and pressure tested, etc. Finding a low hour machine might be difficult. It still depends more on how a machine was maintained and operated than what an hour meter says.
We got one at the farm, as far as engine reliability is, i guess u can´t find anything better. 3300 series engine with all the gadgets a modern engine has, plus the benefit of Nil electronics. Litle thirsty but that is not a concern i guess. We recently had to overhaul the TXM, and it is very nice to work, one man can do pretty much what is needed, besides the heavy parts. Modular construction help a lot in this job. Before buying check with owner if possible to operate it over 3/4 hours, any TXM problem may not show in a 30min run. Ours was LGP, right now is modded with short pads(480mm) plan is to shorten the track frame when time comes to fix the undercarriage. Probably will be narrow´d too to XL wide. Plan is under conclusion. Avoid as much bringging a used unit directly into a contract, before having some maintnance done and get to know condition. Maintnance i mean looking at vital components , besides only replacing fluids... usually one finds a lot that tells much about machine history.
Forestry, a D5H TSK might be an option
Did a lot of drill road layout in the Toodoggone back in the early 2000’s. The contractor used a D8/roadbuilder excavator with a D5H TSK for finishing, skidding etc. the crew really liked that machine…reliable, versatile & well balanced dozer.
D5H 1DD was the most profitable tractor I ever owned.Reliable and punched above its weight. Put 13000 hours on it with a tranny overhaul,a cooler and various bushes in the pat blade and eq bar in all the years I owned it. Sold it to a chap that’s put another couple of thousand hours on it with very little trouble.He loves it.Still going. It was very well looked after though
Looks great for the woods, I can see why they would say it's well-balanced. Take it out of the woods, and I'd say it might be pretty useless.
I've wondered if the TSK machines get longer track life, especially in reverse being the sprocket is almost centered between the sprocket and idler?