I am thinking of buying a small bulldozer for personal use and to rent out. I am only familiar with the bigger dozers like D8"s and D6's. Can any one help me out with a few pointers on these smaller ones, I want one that I can haul on a gooseneck trailer (pulled with my truck so no more than 20k lbs dozer trailer combo) so size is an issue but I don't want a dozer with hardly any power also. I am thinking about CAT, John Deere or Case. Can yall give me some model numbers for these small bulldozers? Thanks for any help you can give me I just don't want to walk into a dealership and look like a total geek.

 

Sounds like you're looking at a D3/D4 CAT or a 350/450 JD or a 350/450 Case. Don't know much about the Cat or JD but we had a 450 Case out on the farm that was just about perfect for what you described and I see them on a gooseneck behind a 1 ton all the time around here. Haven't checked lately but a year or two ago you were looking at $14K-18K for a good used one.

 

You may want to go to www.antiquecaterpillar.org if you're looking for an older machine, that place is a wealth of knowledge. The forum requires membership but it's free... I have an old D6 myself, really easy to work on, parts are still relatively easy to get hold of considering the machine is 50 years old... When I bought it it had a connecting rod poking out the side of the engine. I bought a replacement engine and a few other parts and pieces and now I have a reliable workhorse. In total I have about $5000 invested in it. A D2 should be the perfect machine for you... Hope this helps.

 

Ive seen people

A buddy of mine pullin a D3 cat. www.caterpillar.com should give you the weights and specs.. a 3 or a 4 should suit ur needs, a four would be pushing it tho. He pulls that 3 with a duramax on a big tex gooseneck.. accordin to him it does well.. i wouldnt know ive just seen him on the road..

http://www.cat.com/cda/layout?m=37840&x=7


hope these help you.. good luck....

Tx

 

the john deere 450c is an older 80s model and has got to be the best small dozer ever made .I owned a lot of cat and JDs and that 450c was my fav. ran perfect and very few repairs and most of them minor the big ones were operator error .
I traded it (for a jd 850 D6-D7 size) with 14000 hrs on it and it was still running good it had the best power to weight of any machine i owned. my .02

 

John Deere is the leader in small dozers and they have been for many years.
In the past the major difference in the models has been horsepower more than weight/size.
I am talking about the 450/550/650 models.
That might not hold true for the newer "H" models as the 650 does seem larger than the 450 but the John Deere website will have all that info if you care to look.They sure are lovely machines to run though,I promise you that!!!
I have more than four decades of running equipment behind me so you can consider this more than a casual observation.Cat would be my preference in the larger dozers and Case would NOT be a consideration at all,they were so outclassed by their competition that unless you had never run anything else you would see right away that they did not measure up.
The newer Case seems okay from what I have seen but the older ones were terrible. Ron

 

Big as you want in the jd model is a 550, cat would be a d4 case the 850 is pushing the weight limit. cats a good dozer but you'll be spending the $$$ just for the name. I believe the case has the cummins motor in it. You'll be looking at 15k to around 45k depending on the year, shape and the percentage of undercarriage left on the machine. Sometimes rental place have their machines for sale, they been maintaned real well but then any can get it and run it

 

I'll second the JD 450C. I used on during one summer (1979) to clear property for one of my Dad's friends. Very user friendly even for a 17 year old.

MikeyB

 

I run a Case 450 quite a bit, it seems to be a pretty good machine. I have pulled it a couple times, but would not want to go very far with it. The only problems we have had with it other than the normal hoses, is the foot brakes are almost impossible to keep working.

There was one in the heavy equpment trader the other day. Said it had 80% undercarraige with a reman motor. Price was listed at $6K in Ohio, but bet that price was a typo.

Ed

 

Thanks for the help guys I think I have decided to go with the John Deere 450. I'm also going to buy a 25' dovetail gooseneck trailer with 2-12k axels. I appreciate the help on this.

 

So how much does the Case 450 or JD 450 weigh? Just an estimate would be fine. Thanks

 

I run a JD 450H on a daily basis. The steering and blade controls are all hydraulic which makes it very easy to use. The six way blade is also nice. The dozer weighs in around 16,000 lbs or so. I pull it on a 28ft gooseneck with my 03 dually without any problems. The JDs are fairly easy to work on and parts seem to run cheaper than for the cat. 450H has about 78 horsepower. Overall it has been a great machine. I've used it to build ponds, roads, clear fence lines, brush, trees and even an old house.

 

There are more in more improvements on newer models, they are getting easier and easier to operate. I am renting a a JD 450 from Hertz, had 4 hrs on it when we got it and we are putting the hours on it now. Very easy to deal with, espeacially when compared to an older model (80's). You may consider an equipment rental company b/c you have a good chance of getting something fairly new. At least with a rental company, you know that the equipment is supposed to be on a scheduled maintenance schedule. Good luck!

 

I have lots of hours on dozers of all sizes. The company I am with has 2 450's , one new 650 hdryo and one 750 hydro. The Deer with a 6 way blade are great clean up machines. If it is a hydro it will fall short when trying to carry a full blade and are hard on fuel. The 450's we have are power shift and work well if you can put up with foot controls.

I have a 1966 D4d for sale. It has a rebuilt pup motor and is a standard shift with new undercarrage. Pm me if interested.