amount of hours on machine

if it actually has 3500 hours that is very low and a should be a good solid machine.

Agreed with you on the UC and tracks. The grousers have a good 1.75" to almost 2". Tracks need to be adjusted as they are loose by any visual standard. I did not pry up on the track for a measurement but stood on it between the support roller to see how much of a dip is showing. Needs to be taken up an inch or two.

Great questions for sure. Here is what I did. Not to say this is the only way to do this for sure.

1. The machine is 2 hours from my place. The owner of the machine suggested a company that he used to get
    machine delivered to him. As for buying the dozer, I sat on it, drove it, pushed some dirt with it, and did a
     walk around checking all the stuff I wanted to know and what others have suggested. If I had a friend that
     was knowledgeable about the dozer I would've had them with me as well.
2. I checked engine hours,sprockets, tracks, chains, gauges, fluid levels, hoses, oil leaks, damage to frame or        blade while looking for welds and repairs. The person I bought it from had it for 2 years and only used it to clear one field he says. He bought it from the original owner. Owner had all the books, manuals and service records.

3. I paid by check, and had a bill of sale made up with model#, serial number, numbers of hours on meter, and
     cost. As you can guess you do not get a title with construction equipment or Ag equipment either.
4. I found a Construction Company in my town that charged me hours and the permits. As the blade is 11'6"
     wide, it is considered an Oversize load and needs a specific permit. MDOT tells you what route you can take
     to get home with the haul based on roads and most of all road construction. This has been my major problem
    in that the roads have had construction on them somewhere and the hauler cannot get on them with an
    oversized load.
5. The owner offered to load the tractor when the hauler comes in but only because its in his cattle field and
     he does not want to take a chance that the hauler lets any steers out. I will meet the hauler and help unload
     if necessary. The hauler is the Construction Company and he loads cranes, front end loaders and many
     dozers. No Allis Chalmers however and mostly Cat D8 and D9.
6. I was charged $900.00 for the 6 hour turnaround and $75.00 for the permit. If they had to take different route
     and more hours incurred the rate could have gone up to $1,500.00 easy.

Hope this helps you Ferdinand.

Thanks, jerbob for the in depth reply !
Yes, that is very helpful information.

I hear what your saying for sure. I was surprised at the hours as this is a 1961 machine. Running and working just pushing around cow manure and soft loam. I was pleased a the extent of material on the track grousers as well.

I got it more to play with and restore cosmetically and not going to be working it very hard. Not to say Im not going to push some stumps around and clean out some hedge rows but nothing very extreme.

I am a graduate of the University of "If its too good to be true likely its not".

As a backup on the hours check how floppy the control levers are'

Our FA 10 showed around 3600 hours on the tach - which is cable driven so could be disconnected.

Transmission selector lever shows freeplay and over-travel wear.

But it did have Fiat track chains on it that hadn't been turned

If it only had 3600 hours they must have been pretty rough by the scars on various pieces of the machine.

Sort of where on the one hand you'd like it to detail what's happened but on the other probably better to speculate




Edited by Ian Beale - 14 Aug 2017 at 4:57pm

I purchased an HD6B several years ago that had around 2000 hours on the meter ! Machine has been repainted ,and grousers were built up higher . I new nothing about dozers when I bought it but was told to check for pin wear which in my opinion my machine has none . I can feel no wear at any point on the track pins !

Thank you guys. When I get her home, I will take pics to share. At this point The deal is done and I will sort it out when I have her home and cleaned up.

Great thoughts and ideas from all of you. Great idea on calling original. Great plan.

Always interesting to hear what the past history is of a machine and the projects they worked on looking forward to some pictures and your lucky to get such a low hour dozer it makes you wonder if 3500 hours whether it has paid for its self yet

Local Quarry operator Mertens used Allis for years, used Cooke Eq.in Fulton MO for supply. He has passed but the quarry he had are still operating. One in Danville, one in Kingdom City or Auxvasse and one in Reform MO. I suppose he had others at one time, made his big money on the highways system.

That is a great story. I Enjoy digging into the history of old equipment. And also hearing the history of others.

Thank you