We finally bought some land, now we need a dozer to move dirt, so we checked "Equipment Trader Online" every Thursday when they updated the site. From others we learned we needed at least a 6 way blade and the more options the better. Then in spring of 1998 we found one that looked like it fit the requirements!

Without knowing anything about any equipment, we bought it! It runs good, but the oil pressure is low at idle. We had it moved (by CMA Heavyhaul) to a RV storage yard near the house. We started by cleaning all of caked on mud from the tracks. Learning more about dozers, we found it to be in good shape with little wear on the undercarriage.

Our inspection did find a turbo with a wiggly shaft bearing, we thought this was a $$ disaster! costing $1,000s, but we found that turbos' on diesel equipment are fairly cheap. A shop out in Lansing sent us one for less that $300. The oil line to the turbo was charred by the exhaust and the pressure sensor was in that line, so that fixed the low oil pressure and might be why the turbo died.

The seat was badly ripped, so I bought some material and cut new sections and had a local shop sew them for me. Other than a few adjustment, some lube and cleaning she works great!

One thing we did learn while we had the machine apart was.... if it's left in gear, and you hit the start button to look at the turbo spin, it will start...and it will move, and it's hard to catch and it's even harder to get inside to stop it! I screamed like a girl as it headed toward a large RV without me.

By the end of August we had the work on the dozer behind us, we lined up a ride north with CMA again. We had little chance to move the machine around in the storage lot, so the driver ED, really got a laugh when I tried to load it on the truck. But 5 hours later it was up north, and we started pushing dirt!

It's harder than it looks to push dirt. Flat ground becomes wavy ground until you learn the machine. And it doesn't care what's in the way, it will try to move it! It's been a great little machine, we all love it! All we need now is a barn to store it in!

During the summer of 2003, I noticed the engine really spews a lot of steam from the breather The dozer has always run good, but but when pushed hard, it really went through the coolant! So in the spring of 04, before I had a major engine failure, I decided to get it home for some work. Old Helga worked good to hold our old chainfall. We plucked the engine right out, and took it home for an overhaul.

I've never worked on engines, so I called Jasper for a price on an overhaul. They quoted $8,500 complete! OUCH! I called another place, and they wanted over $5,000, so it's time to learn about diesel engine repair, I think I can do it myself for a lot less.

The gearheads at work assured me it wasn't that hard to do, they provided tools, advice, and moral support. Thanks to Ron & Bob for all the answers, and Rich for all the stuff he provided. The guys at Reliance Parts dug around and found a part number for a cheaper overhaul kit AP-206. The AP-206 pistons & rings are un-assembled, but it's $230 cheaper than the RP-206! More time than money, I always say. Matt at AIS in Lansing helped me order the right parts, and gave me a good deal too!

The clutch never did work, now I know why. It looks like the clutch plate springs blew through their housing, and the pilot bearing was in tiny pieces. The flywheel and the pressure plate looked just fine. The Deere dealer wanted over $360 for a clutch plate, my dad turned me on to Quality Clutch in Westland, they had remans for $65, and the tested the pressure plate operation for free!

With the head off, the valves needed a bit of attention. Most machine shops wanted $300 and up to work on my head. All it needed was a little touch-up on the seats and valves! Again, my dad suggested Mid-Five Auto, they did the crack check and clean-up for $70. All told, I think it was under $1,000 bucks total.