kamatsu D51 thingamabob

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got some new dozers and the radiator is in the rear of the tractor. so i made a thingy to keep trees away from the radiator, not my plan but my workmanship. kinda looks factory to me, but i am prejudiced a little."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Slicker than the face of clock! I just love the smell of dozers in the morning. Jody
Reply:Looks mighty fine. Of course you know it'll get tested.
Reply:Originally Posted by SandyLooks mighty fine. Of course you know it'll get tested.
Reply:it will direct and trees to the tracks and allow them to be pulled under the tracks, away from the radiator. i think our operators will be out there jousting with them before too long. i did 3 and got 2 more to do when the dozers clear customs."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:looks good. what size are the pieces? the tubes look pretty big (i'm assuming they're thick-walled due to the abuse they will be getting) and that plate doesn't look to wimpy either. just curious.later,Andy
Reply:Originally Posted by backuprollerit will direct and trees to the tracks and allow them to be pulled under the tracks, away from the radiator...
Reply:Originally Posted by denrepGot it!  Stumped me, because I was thinking about standing trees.
Reply:Nice workmanship, but I'm not so sure the design is adequate.  That's a long lever arm already angled to try and resist deflecting a tree.  I'd want a compression strut from the 'point' of the V back to the frame of the dozer, instead of just relying on the weld at the far end of the lever arm.Follow up and post pics and let us know how the V-vs-Tree battles go.
Reply:I like it!Dozer 1Trees 0...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:That'll teach them trees.
Reply:Originally Posted by MoonRiseNice workmanship, but I'm not so sure the design is adequate.  That's a long lever arm already angled to try and resist deflecting a tree.  I'd want a compression strut from the 'point' of the V back to the frame of the dozer, instead of just relying on the weld at the far end of the lever arm.Follow up and post pics and let us know how the V-vs-Tree battles go.
Reply:if they back into a grand oak i think the tree will win. but most of the trees on our jobsites are pines. the step is there for fueling only and checking an oil tank in the rear."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Originally Posted by backuprollerif they back into a grand oak i think the tree will win. but most of the trees on our jobsites are pines. the step is there for fueling only and checking an oil tank in the rear.
Reply:Originally Posted by MoonRiseA big tree of almost any type can still put the hurt on you or a machine.  If it's just saplings or 'small' stuff, that's different.
Reply:Originally Posted by backuproller i think our operators will be out there jousting with them before too long.
Reply:With heavy equipment like crawlers you have to be carefull from a different perspective.  You need to have a weak point built in somewhere and that bar just as well be it. I doubt that the plating for that rear drive housing is more than 3/8ths, maybe 1/2 inch max. There's no such thing as making it tuff enough, just where do you want it to break. I think those bars are probably plenty for where they are. Wanna go smashing trees in reverse put a full blown tool bar on the back with all the multiple mounting points.
Reply:Nice job and all that but what I'm thinking is... If an oak tree can sneak up on an operator and whack his machine, you need new operators, not machine guards---
Reply:I like em!  NICE JOB.  I am sure they are strong enough.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Originally Posted by TEKNice job and all that but what I'm thinking is... If an oak tree can sneak up on an operator and whack his machine, you need new operators, not machine guards---
Reply:a grand oak or live oak i don't think will budge inder a D51. maybe a CAT D8 or bigger. but a pine will move. and all new tractors have a rops system to protect the operator from dumdum stuff like backing into a tree. but the radiator on this tractor is like $3500 so the pipe and my time and we have somee level of protection for less than $1000.
Reply:Ya know what they say  -  the bigger they are, the harder they fall.Looks like you're trying to save the boss some $$ and that ain't all bad.  Good idea and good work.  Let's hope the operators don't use it for a push block and pay attention to what's behind them.  Besides, the front of a dozer is the $$$ end, not the back.
Reply:nice job ,and i know from working aroud big machines that if the operator can puck it up thay will ChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:yeh it will do the job , we are pretty hard on our gear over here so would have built a stronger guard over that radiator too .
Reply:Here's an idea of what can go on in dozer land.I used to run a 20 ton dozer. It had a winch on the rear with a heavy cage around it. I sometimes wondered - What in the world were they thinking when they built that ridiculous heavy guard. One day I got her stuck in a soupy suction of a mud hole. The usual self-extraction tricks made it worse. I had it stuck to the point that the fan was starting to slap mud when I shut it down.Along crawled a big hydraulic excavator. The operator reached out and barely hooked one tooth of his bucket to that rear guard and pullllllled as he lifted the operator-less dozer free of the mud hole's grip. There couldn't have been a square inch of total contact between the dead dozer and the bucket tooth. The pull was every which way but straight. But that rear guard, and the bucket tooth, took it!No stopping, no talking, no cable hooking! I don't think the guy even broke a smile as he matter-of-factly, crawled on his way. He was probably deep in thought, wondering who could be dumb enough, to try to run a crawler over that watery sinkhole!I have to agree with those that say; It will be tested!Last edited by denrep; 10-28-2007 at 12:25 AM.If it were me I would look for a mounting point to add another  leg or 2 and make it a pyramid instead of an off angle mounted triangle, the deflection force could be much higher before failure that  way, plus you can add steps and make it access to the radiator and engine.
Reply:I say run it. Consider failure to be a cheap early alert, of an abusive operator.
Reply:Originally Posted by denrepHe was probably deep in thought, wondering who could be dumb enough, to try to run a crawler over that watery sinkhole!
Reply:Plenty of photoshttp://www.tractorshed.com/cgi-bin/g...ouble_view.cgi