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Cat D4 errr

Started by 4x4American, September 15, 2014, 10:09:58 PM

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4x4American

Lady down the road has a Cat D4 all set up for logging.  Forestry package you might say.  gotta hyster winch on it, no cable.  She said she had to repossess it.  The thing is bad to the bone.  Undercarriage is decent.  It's got a ways to go yet.  Track pads look brand spankin, well, sides the rust.  Anyways...she wants $10k for it.  Is that about right?  I tried gettin her down but she wouldn't budge.  She's a 75 y.o. lady, not sure how she ended up with it, but she won't back down from $10k.  It's been sitting there for a long while. 

It would be handy as all heck, but I'm trying to decide whether I might should just get a skidder.  I have some dozer duties anyways, and in the future I might do a little dirt digging and a dozer would be handy.  But for now, I've gotta sawmill to feed and need to be able to skid logs.

What yawl think?
Boy, back in my day..

M_S_S

What series of Cat is it. The started making D4 in the late 1930's (RD4). About the mid 1950's the D4 7U came along with direct electric start being an opt. (before that they all had a little gas pony engine to start the diesel engine) another opt. was a five roller swing frame which was a lot better on a dozer. After the U series came the D4C , it had a Johnson Bar ( another lever for reverse). The U series were about 45 drawbar HP. After the C came the D series, it was about 75HP. What I am getting at is the age will determine what it is worth. I sold a 7U direct electric with dozer, no winch , under carriage about 75%, 5 roller swing frame, ROPs for $5000 about 5 yrs ago. Lol wish I had kept it. Ed
2- 562xp 24"bar
         576xp 28"bar
         385xp 28" and 32" bars
         25 ton Speeco
         6600 Ford
         02 Dodge diesel
         73 Ford 250

4x4American

the only thing i remember is that its from 70s-80s.  has electric start.  four cylinder diesel looks like.  needs some minor work. 
Boy, back in my day..

thenorthman

Age is important.

My uncle's is a 49 j? series, pony start, hyster 2 speed winch.  What I learned to log behind, couple it with a real log arch and it would pull anything you could get a choker around.

Motor has always been strong, even when the pony wouldn't start, crazy ass unkle would push start it on a hill or some such... alone... once he had it running he'd park the oliver hop out chase down the cat... climb over  the tracks...

Anyway 10k is all depending on year the newer the more its going to be worth, I can get my uncle's tomorrow for 350, and a new diff bearing... and a 9 mile ride up and down a steep windy log road
well that didn't work

4x4American

yea i think its spendy too...i dont think im gonna be able to get her price down.  I can go get the year tomorrow.  anything else to check on it?
Boy, back in my day..

M_S_S

If it is a 70's it is probably a D4D, if it runs it is worth 10 grand. The C series are worth 10 grand if they are in running order. ED
2- 562xp 24"bar
         576xp 28"bar
         385xp 28" and 32" bars
         25 ton Speeco
         6600 Ford
         02 Dodge diesel
         73 Ford 250

M_S_S

Northman, I have owned several 4's. My first one was a J series, lol think they was all of 37 HP but pulling little buggers. Parts are hard to get on the real old cats now. I know some things for the U series can't be had. Ed
2- 562xp 24"bar
         576xp 28"bar
         385xp 28" and 32" bars
         25 ton Speeco
         6600 Ford
         02 Dodge diesel
         73 Ford 250

4x4American

Think it would be a good unit to have, or would a skidder just blow it away in the woods?
Boy, back in my day..

Compensation

D4D caterpillar, lt10 Woodmizer, 8x12 solar kiln, enough Stihl's to make my garages smell like their factory :) Ohh and built Ford tough baby!

Bert

I would go the skidder route. IF pulling wood is your goal, that's what they are made for. Not saying the CAT wont do it, but it will be mighty slow.
Saw you tomorrow!

4x4American

Ten fir.  Its an 81 D4E.  The thing I don't like is that it doesnt have an arch to get em off the ground, and I'm skidding them to my sawmill, which doesn't have a debarker or anything, so it might make more work in cleaning them.  What I do like is it would have double duties, skidding and dozing.  Would be good for clearing land.  One thing that stinks is I can't drive it down the road.  With a skidder, I've driven them far places down the road. I'd have to trailer the dozer everywhere.  Not that i'd take the skidder down the road alot, but the option is there if I have to.  I wonder how hard/spendy it would be to put a log arch on?
Boy, back in my day..

Bert

You can move some dirt with a skidder too. I filled in a pond with a timberjack simply because it was handy at the time.
Saw you tomorrow!

BargeMonkey

 Depends on what winch it has, but a normal 4 roller fairlead will work just as well. An arch is nice, and a D4E has enough weight you might not look at the sky as much, but a high arch wears sprockets alot faster. For 10k if it seems fairly clean your not getting hurt.

4x4American

Thanks everyone!  It will be a hard decision, I'm going to see whats out there for skidders.  From what I've seen, skidders tend to be more spendy
Boy, back in my day..

thenorthman

Worse case scenario, you can fab up a bigger badder version of the ATV arches that are so common now, kind of a bear to turn around but not impossible, and if done correctly you can drag massive amounts of wood with one

My uncle's is a cut down front end off a medium duty truck, and 4" 1/4 wall pipe, not sure where the fair lead came from. Pinned straight to the cats hitch and away you go, when you want to do dozer work just unpin it and crawl away.
well that didn't work

M_S_S

I see some old log archs around this country that were pulled with Cats, they are big, probably pulled with old 3TD7's. A D4E is a pretty fair size machine, weight wise and HP. They should pull those type of arches ok. Most of these arches are on tracks. Look around you should be able to find or build and arch like North said. ED
2- 562xp 24"bar
         576xp 28"bar
         385xp 28" and 32" bars
         25 ton Speeco
         6600 Ford
         02 Dodge diesel
         73 Ford 250

log cutter

 i have a D4E.  For ten grand it will either be a bargain or a money pit.
If it were me it would have the local Caterpillar Dealer do an inspection.
they will measure the under carriage and check the transmission pressure if its a powershift tranny.
Those two items if either one needs to be replace will cost more than the dozer.
The one down side of the D4e is it is a narrow gauge and the center of gravity is high so they tend to roll over fairly easy. I've often said its a better dirt dozer than a logging dozer.
One other thing to check is on the final drive housings where the sprockets and track go over the pinion gear. The clearance is really narrow and in  time it will wear into the bearing pocket. If that happens then you have to buy new hams in 93 they were 2500 a side.     
Timbco 475E

4x4American

Woof!  yea the local cat deal isn't very local.  I found a sweet lookin 518 cat for sale.  guy want 16k obro.  I'm not what they go for, but my old logging boss told me the 518 cat was the best dang skidder to roam the woods in his day
Boy, back in my day..

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