D6h diff steer good or bad

I have experience with D6HXL series II tractors 74", possibly the pick of the D6H's with exception maybe D6HXL IG 80". In Australia we generally fitted much heavier variable pitch rippers, they give a significant increase in performance, more weight, greater ripping etc.

The series II tractors have an improved hydraulic system and work much better, as does the XL variant with 7 rollers verse the 6 roller tractor. The XL also has more horsepower 175hp verse 165 for the standard tractor.

Cant say I can really comment on comparability with the D7E/F/G tractors as never owned any. I did discuss with another contractor who had both D6HXL and D7G tractors. He stated the D6H pushing in good materials was equal or better, however the extra weight in the D7 tractors meant they were better in hard and difficult materials.

Don't know if this helps or not, best I can do.

Hi, Dancat.
I have operated both the 'H' and the 'R' series diff steer D6s, nice machines, well balanced and very 'nippy' on their feet, push well too and a great trimming dozer. Both of them had the multi-shank fixed pitch rippers. I was mostly cutting sub-division blocks down to earthworks levels and bulk pushing the excess material to an excavator. I actually found it quite easy to get within an inch or two of the peg levels on the fly and leave the grader to pick up the rest, managed to keep a Cat 320B excavator pretty busy on up to about a 60 yard push length cutting up to about 3 feet of clay subsoil and decomposed shale.

Their pushing capacity is not quite up there with the D7E, F, or G but they certainly don't look silly working beside one of those units. I suspect that you will find it a good bit more 'active' than a D7E 48A 4-banger.

Just my 0.02.

The D7G is a great tractor, easy to maintain and at 200hp.
Gary

Thanks a lot guys for taking the time to reply, I went and run the d6h today it's a 89 model diff steer with 21k hours motor and trans rebuilt at a cat dealer at 16k hours, rails, rollers, and sprockets about pop70 percent pins hadn't been turned, except for pads they maybe 20 percent. Both track frames had been cracked and welded one had recracked, one side of the equalizer bar had around 1 inch play. Guy wanted 37,500 I thought it was more of a 25k machine. Open cab no sweeps or screens. All 4 idlers were thin and had been welded. It did run and steer good, pads seemed narrow thow maybe 18 inch I will learn how to put pics on here someday. Any opinions would be great, thanks.

Hey Dancat,

Did a Ritchie Bros history on pricing to compare. Used 1987-1990 D6H models. 37 units came up in North America. Median price was $34,000. $47,000 was high, $17,000 low. Most of the Cats had around 12,000 hours.

Sounds like a lot of hours. I would be cautious. It might be to your advantage to hire a Cat Dealer to survey this Cat if your seriously thinking of it.
Glen

Thanks Ritchie, the dozer is really for my dad to use, he is 71 and diabetic he has trouble with his feet and legs. He has ran d73t, 17a and d7e,s for years I'm wanting to find a dozer that's easier to operate but will push with the d7e's or close so he will like it. The main concern to me is the differential steer as far as cost to repair if it has problems also how hard is it going to be to fix the track frames. I'm wanting to stay under 30k on the dozer, a d7g would work but it's hard to find one under 30k. The cat dealer I called said the d6h dozer had over 60k spent on it around 2008 but said nothing about the differentials. The forward to reverse handle seemed stiff to turn could it just need oiled? He wouldn't send me the print out since I wasn't the owner.