# jd dozer logging



## dozerman37 (Mar 31, 2010)

anyone use a john deer 350 dozer for logging? if so how goes it?


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## joesawer (Mar 31, 2010)

It goes good in the east if you have short turns and a winch and arch.


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## pinesfarm (Mar 31, 2010)

we use a jd 350 track loader works fine so far just use it on top of the hill and move rounds around with and load them into the dumptruck then haul them down its a nice machine for its size and has some balls not to mention


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## dozerman37 (Mar 31, 2010)

very well. its what i want to invest in one day soon enough. im in MA so the terrain is hilly and a dozer would be good in all that junk i would think. my uncle had a d6. what a monster.


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## pinesfarm (Mar 31, 2010)

my boss is selling a jd 450c dozer in mint condition would intrested? were not to far away


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## 371groundie (Mar 31, 2010)

low production due to ground speed. kind of a rough ride cause of the tracks. but more versatle because of the blade. 

i would like to have one for building and closing out yards. the ones with built on arches are rally nice. backing up a trailered arch in the woods can be challenging. 

i would suggest one with the 6 way blade, because the frame is inside the tracks the machine is narrower to get through the woods.


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## catbuster (Mar 31, 2010)

Hmmm... Not bad. I'd rather have a 450,550 or 650. They have more balls,and can pull more.


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## dozerman37 (Mar 31, 2010)

*my boss is selling a jd 450c dozer in mint condition would intrested? were not to far*

about the 450, i just dont have the capitol yet to buy it, thank you tho for the offer. im just getting all the info i need on a good logging dozer and the 350 looks incredible. id like something small yet strong and very easy to maneuver. we got a 518 cat skidder and 230 c skidder. both awesome but when we had the D6 cat it was like, wow this thing goes everywhere no problems, and no wrestling with getting over stumps or rocky area. i hope in the next year to get one i really do. i use a farm tractor on a small lot of my own right now. my first lot by myself aside from working with my uncle in the woods. and that thing sucks for quick big hitch productivity. like 1 log or 2 small logs each hitch. and is really sketch on even the slightest of side hills.


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## pinesfarm (Apr 1, 2010)

yea i understand exactly what your saying its the same with me i sue the big toys at work but when im home at my own farm its back to the 4 cyl diesel tractors to do the pulling.

yea the d6 d7 machines are amazing the lot in on now at work is a cliff face of granite and the top is nice and flat with some really nice red oak about 14-18 in diameter and ere logging that off so he can blast for the granite. but we used the d 7 to clear out the road up and a landing up top and wow are they amazing i think i spent like 2 days just cutting up the wood it pushed down before we i got to felling. real rough ride tho


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## floyd (Apr 2, 2010)

You will wish you had a 650 with an arch, maybe even some grapples.


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## wvlogger (Apr 3, 2010)

i want one of them cat 527 track skidders


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## Gologit (Apr 3, 2010)

dozerman37 said:


> anyone use a john deer 350 dozer for logging? if so how goes it?



They're slow and they won't pull much but if you're not working big timber on long skids and if you're not on steep ground they'll do alright.

Take your time with it, learn what it will and won't do, and you can get a lot of work out of it if you're patient.


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## woodfarmer (Apr 3, 2010)

an old mechanic told me to skid in second gear, you'll tear the trany apart if you try to skid in first, something to do with the way the gears line up?


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## dozerman37 (Apr 3, 2010)

*jd 350*

right on guys i hear ya. the biggest stuff we skid is usually 24'' - 30'' in diameter. i have seen a couple unusually large hitches on my uncles cat 518 before about 45''+ but only once in a great great while. he offered me to buy his cat 518 for like 12 or 15k. very nice machine. not sure tho on the cat cuz if ya guys are saying a 450 or 6 are better thats tempting. i just dont wanna waste my time and get a headache over a too small of machine. and not be wasting fuel and ripping up land with a too big of a machine. but right now anything is better than the yanmar tractor haha. good for firewood and pulp, but trying to skid a bunch of the big saw logs aint possible. i would like a really manuverable machine basically.


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## 371groundie (Apr 3, 2010)

id jump on that 518 like white on rice. ive seen a guy pull wood over a mile with one. at least he was goin down hill loaded. it will fill a landing before the 350 dozer gets a truckload out.


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## redprospector (Apr 3, 2010)

dozerman37 said:


> right on guys i hear ya. the biggest stuff we skid is usually 24'' - 30'' in diameter. i have seen a couple unusually large hitches on my uncles cat 518 before about 45''+ but only once in a great great while. he offered me to buy his cat 518 for like 12 or 15k. very nice machine. not sure tho on the cat cuz if ya guys are saying a 450 or 6 are better thats tempting. i just dont wanna waste my time and get a headache over a too small of machine. and not be wasting fuel and ripping up land with a too big of a machine. but right now anything is better than the yanmar tractor haha. good for firewood and pulp, but trying to skid a bunch of the big saw logs aint possible. i would like a really manuverable machine basically.



If you're consistantly skidding 24" - 30" diameter forget the 350. The 518 sounds like a heck of a deal. I'd seriously consider it before I went trapsing around the country in search of a dozer.

Andy


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## dozerman37 (Apr 6, 2010)

*any body done this here?*

just went over a plan for a new lot. were gonna put the cat 518 at. my uncles got 2 skidders so he will run the cat at my lot a few days a week. and be able to run his timberjack at his own lot. it will be a good system i cut every day and then he skids. it should be fool proof and pretty fair. we havent discussed how the payment will be, but im sure i will pay him hourly or he might want to get a percent of every load of logs that goes out. so far so good, i cant wait for that to happen.


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## wheelman (Apr 11, 2010)

Better be cautious when buying any 350, 450 up through the C models. Many of them will have tranny housing problems related to allowing the housing bolts to work loose. This can be a tough and expensive fix.


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## 4x4American (Mar 13, 2014)

My old boss told me that the cat 518 was the best skidder to ever roam the woods. Said he's seen it do some things that you wouldnt think possible....which got me wondering why we used a timberjack 360


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## newyorker (Mar 19, 2014)

I'm just a home owner cut 5-10 cords a year I have a 350 with a ripper on back welded some hooks on it look at my profile photo it is a great machine for my woods very underpowered and slow going I would deffently get a 450 more then twice the machine but for my slow no hurry wood cutting it works good


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## mesupra (Mar 19, 2014)

If you are logging, it doesn't get much better than a skidder, dozers work well but their winches are typically much slower and their travel speed is slow, also the cost of maintaining. Dozer is typically more. Dozers are designed to doze, skidders are designed to skid, farm tractors are designed to farm. I would take a large farm tractor over a dozer personally.


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## Sawyer Rob (Mar 19, 2014)

mesupra said:


> If you are logging, it doesn't get much better than a skidder, dozers work well but their winches are typically much slower and their travel speed is slow, also the cost of maintaining. Dozer is typically more. Dozers are designed to doze, skidders are designed to skid, farm tractors are designed to farm. I would take a large farm tractor over a dozer personally.



+1

I have both, a 450 and a 60 PTO HP MFWD farm tractor with skidding winch... If I could only have one, the dozer would be gone!

The farm tractor is just so much faster, uses less fuel, better ride, more usful and MUCH cheaper to own!

SR


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