Thanks for the bolt info, so a hardware store grade 8 is not good enough then. Would anyone know what this dozer weighs in its current config?

And whos has the best deal on a set of sprocket segments ? Thanks, Dave

Hi, Garlic Pete.
We're not QUITE fanatical about having rippers on everything We don't put'em on baby carriages or push lawnmowers 'cos that'd be too much like hard work but I seem to remember seeing an old ex-operator in an electric wheelchair fitted with rippers. Guess it made him feel more at home. It mighta P-ed him off no end that they wouldn't let him fit a blade to it 'cos he mighta tripped over it while entering or exiting the chair. LOL.

Just my 0.02.

"davo727" wrote:

Thanks for the bolt info, so a hardware store grade 8 is not good enough then. Would anyone know what this dozer weighs in its current config?

And whos has the best deal on a set of sprocket segments ? Thanks, Dave

Nope, get the bolts from Cat. They're just as cheap but even stronger.

Segments are available from aftermarket suppliers or your Cat dealer. Cat may have Classic segments which would compete with aftermarket.

I will go further than Deas, Caterpillar only fit scarifiers to D6 tractors, here in Australia we actually fit proper rippers to a D6, yep, they are variable pitch too, balance the tractor so much better with the extra weight. I find a bare arsed tractor too nose heavy, wont back up slopes etc and just lacks the weight for traction.

Photo shows a D6R XL with a ripper that we fit in Australia

Regards, The Mad Mouth From The South

Latest segment group numbers (set of 5) and individual segments.
Group # 6P9102/5S0050/7P2706
Segment # 8P5837/6T4179/Berco CR3330

Thanks for the info guys.

SW of Coldspring TX. I dont have a single rock on this piece except for what I had dumped for driveway. This little area is sandy and drains nice then down 4 or 8 feet is a red iron oxide colored stuff with a medium hardness - not rock. But I have a section in the back that has some black soil. I can go 10 miles away and its gumball clay or slimy mud. Going NW by Killeen there are roads blasted through the rock hills. Texas has a big variety.

"Deas wrote:

Hi, D9gdon and Davo727.
Even though I normally live 'upside down', I have driven across parts of Texas on I 10 while travelling from Baton Rouge to Denver. I don't recollect seeing a whole lot of rocks.

Just my 0.02.

Hi, Folks.
To elaborate on Wombat's comments re rippers, a LOTTTA people have the notion that if you can dig it with the blade alone, you don't need rippers. Think again. I have seen it demo-ed time after time, a bare-assed dozer Vs an equivalent dozer with rippers in the same ground - the ripper-equipped will out-perform the bare machine even without using the rippers. And, even though both machines can dig the ground without ripping, if the ripper-equipped machine rips the excavation area before trying to dig it and/or between successive layers, it will be further ahead of the bare machine again, sometimes quite substantially.

On one job, building a retention basin for irrigation water, we had 3 X Cat 660B scrapers with 58 cu. yd bowls running, being push-loaded by a 'Kummagutsa' D455A dozer. I was operating an O&K G350 grader, a 380 hp, 42-ton machine with a 20-foot blade and 4 X almost D7-sized ripper shanks across the back end. Although the 660s could cut the silty clay material relatively easily, one of my jobs was to regularly rip the floor of the cut with the grader to make it even easier. That G350 would sink those 4 shanks in full depth, around 3 feet, and take off like she was late for a hot date and the loading time was cut by about 8 - 10 seconds per scraper.

That grader would also push-load a 660 better than a D8H dozer.

Just my 0.02.

I found a track shop -Adobe in NW Houston-Cypress , if I bring them the bare clean rails they said will turn the bushings for about 600pr and new sprocket segments for 400 for both sides. This seems reasonable to me.

When I do that I feel like I want to pull that right roller frame off and fix all those broken roller mount bolts. Should be fun cutting the welded roller bodies off....

Does this dozer weigh 33K ? Thanks, Dave

Hi, Davo727.
I was waiting for the guys with all the reference books to chip in on the weight but 33K figure sounds like it will be in the ball park.

Having it stripped down with the track chains off would likely be the best chance you will have for a while to get those bottom rollers done right. When you are putting the new bolts in, many people recommend some form of anti-seize and I don't disagree. How-wevver, I have also had good results with plain old Stockholm tar. Seems it acts as both a holding agent and an anti-corrosive.

Just my 0.02. Happy wrenching.

Ok. Im tracking down a can of Armite LP 250 lead anti seize. Im thinking maybe its more tenacious than the copper or nickel based?? But ya that tar deal sounds like it should work.