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Crawlers, Dozers, Loaders & Backhoes Discussion Forum

Should I buy this HD-4?

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ETD66SS

04-16-2005 14:07:52




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I gotta a guy wanting to sell an HD-4 for $4500.

It"s a 1969 I think.

Included in that price is a 6 ton home-made trailer.

The steering brakes are worn out on the left side. Also included in that price is that his mechanic will fix the brakes, and get the thing running as it has not been used in 9 months.

He siad when he bought it, a little while after, he broke a "spindle". I"m assuming he means axle?

Anyways, he spent $8000 rebuilding the final drive on the right side.

It has a torque converter & shuttle shift, etc...

Should I worry about the left side final drive?

If the right side needed a rebuild, should I be leary of the left side???.

From what I can see, the undercarriage looks good. The rollers in the center that hold up the track were replaced not too long ago.

He"s gonna get it running early next week so I can hear it go...

What should I checkout on it?

I"m a total crawler noob...

Oh yeah, it hase a 6 way blade, for those of you who were gonna ask.

If I hear it run, see all the hydralics work withot any major leaks, I was gonna offer him $4000 for everything, including the brake job...

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thurlow

04-16-2005 15:50:48




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to ETD66SS, 04-16-2005 14:07:52  
Personally I'd be a little leary; we (my Dad actually) bought a new one in the late '60s and used it..... intermittently..... for about 20 years. jdemaris is the resident expert; maybe he'll chime in..... ....



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jdemaris

04-16-2005 20:09:08




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to thurlow, 04-16-2005 15:50:48  
I'm not an expert on the ACs, although I own a few. I spent most of my life as a Deere mechanic. That being said, I like the way the Allis HD4 is put together better than a Deere 350. Parts are not as easy to get though. As far as the guy spending $8000 on a final drive? Sounds like a pretty wild story to me. Any good diesel crawler with 6 way blade and hydraulic reverser ought to be worth $6000 and more - sometimes a lot more. It sounds to me, without seeing the machine, that $4000 is a good deal. But, if the guy buying it can't work on it himself, and is paying someone else $80 per hour to do it, then I don't know if buying any used machine is worth it. Parts and labor add up fast. I prefer to buy machines beat up and cheap. Then I spend some money, fix everything, and know what I've got. You can pay top dollar for a good used $16,000 machine and still have it crap out the first time you use it. You never know. If I found an HD4 in the condition as decribed, I'd buy it in a minute for $4000.

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ETD66SS

04-18-2005 06:31:20




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to jdemaris, 04-16-2005 20:09:08  
Thx for the input.

If it runs well, and I see no major hydraulic problems, I'm gonna offer him $3500 for the HD4 & Trailer.

I'll do the brakes myself...



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Nat

04-18-2005 19:54:46




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to ETD66SS, 04-18-2005 06:31:20  
I had an HD-4 loader that i made aliving with for a couple years. They were a pretty good little machine. The operative word being little. The loader only weighed around 9000 lbs with counterweights. I found the axles to be the biggest problem. They would break at the splines, and to replace them you had to work through a bung hole in the final drive. I used it part time and when I quit my real job to go to grading full time the first day I broke the axle. I replaced both a couple times as the motor is pretty stout for the machine. Just for referance the 655 AC is the same machine except it had pedal steer, whereas the 4 had levers and brake pedal. I never had any motor/torque converter/ trans, hydralic problems and a dozer generally has less problems than a loader because the loader can multiply the traction a bunch. BTW it won't come close to doing what your backhoe will do in an hours time, food for thought, Later, Nat

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jdemaris

04-19-2005 15:54:06




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to Nat, 04-18-2005 19:54:46  
I don't see how the weight you mention is possible. The HD4 series has a base weight (no loader or dozer) of 8800 lbs and a loader has to weigh at least 3000 lbs.. My HD4 dozer with 6-way blade weighs over 11,000 lbs. I have a little Deere 1010 crawler-loader that weighs over 10,000 without it's counterweights and it's quite a bit smaller than a HD4. I suspect an HD4 loader is up around 11,000 - 12,000 lbs.

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ETD66SS

04-19-2005 03:48:12




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to Nat, 04-18-2005 19:54:46  
Thanks for the good advice NAT.

I was looking to pick this up to build up roads & do the finishing work on the pond I will be digging this summer, as well as simply for pushing dirt around.

The pond will be a little over an acre, and I don't fancy taking the backhoe down in the hole, I want the small dozer down in there pushing dirt...

You have me worried about the spindles now though, as I had planned to use it to rip out stumps... I'm just starting the task of clearing trees, have about 300 stumps that will have to be removed, mostly from trees smaller than 12" diameter. I was hoping the HD-4 could just scrape them?

But if I'm gonna keep breaking spindles... $3500 no longer seems like a great deal... (I'd have to put brakes on it if I get it for that price, he was telling me $300 for parts???)

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Nat

04-19-2005 04:42:53




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to ETD66SS, 04-19-2005 03:48:12  
I doubt you want to tackle a 12" tree with a dozer that small, you can dig it out with the hoe in a fraction of the time. A small dozer is great for smothing and fine grading, but don't think you are going to move lots of dirt fast with it. The best thing about a small dozer is you don't bust tires. If you cut the trees first and then dig out the stumps a small dozer will push them to the pile so you don't have to keep moving the hoe and as I said , you can do some fine grading with it that is tough to do with the hoe. I don't think I'd worry to much anout the axles, as much as I would with a loader. The blade won't let you overload it like a loader will. Later, Nat

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ETD66SS

04-19-2005 05:18:17




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 Re: Should I buy this HD-4? in reply to Nat, 04-19-2005 04:42:53  
I'm having second thoughts on this deal... I'd hate to pass up on it, cause it seems like a good one...

Just leary about the $$$$ to maintain an UC if anything breaks...



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