955k cat loader

what are the good an bad on these loaders?looked
at a running one today and the guy wants 5,000
he said it would bring 4,750 in scrap. that sounds to high and heavy to me.
also where are some numbers at on the dozer so i can find out what it is? thanks
 
Given the size and scrap prices today, its got to be close. I've ran several of these, from an operators stand point, they were all very reliable and seemingly durable crawler loaders. Nothing stands out from memory, but you do want to know its mechanically sound, decent undercarriage and all the rest. I used to clear trees from pipe easements with that era 955, not sure if it was an L or K, was a '70, the others were the same era, one may have been even older. One job I was assigned to take down some very large oak trees, near Red Bank NJ as I recall, also loaded a lot of trucks with a 955, when a wheel loader was not available, a real slow and monotonous job for one of these. Ran 977L's too, liked the 977. One thing to know about these and regular dozers is that on the crawler loader, the track frames do not oscillate over rough ground, whereas the same era cat dozer track frames will oscillate.

I was not aware of any drive train or other inherent problems with 955's they were a good tractor like the 977, if that is field ready or close, not a bad deal if it proves out, and the best way would be to go to a pile and load a few trucks, see how it does.
 
Given they are stumps, its likely you will have to dig in a bit with the bucket, sever some roots and get some leverage first, I would think the 955 would handle it without too much trouble. However it will be in the operators hands to figure out what works best and not push the tractor beyond its means. Ideally its so much easier to push a tree over intact because you have the leverage being up high with the bucket,(not full height but more than a dozer blade can go) but their is risk with things that can fall from above or similar, with care it can be done and then the stump is already popped, you sever the tree from it with a saw or push the whole darned thing out and deal with it later in a pile or what have you.

Most of the pipe easements I cleared were in southern NJ sandy conditions, pines and other softwoods, sometimes different amounts of other younger trees etc. They popped out easily, I could bunch and pile them, carry too, then used the bucket teeth to rake the soil, worked well in those conditions. The big oaks, I would have preferred to fell with a saw and wedges, but what I did with those was sever the roots on one side, weaken the the base, and though it was assigned to me only, no other help provided, this 955 only had a weather cab, I was not fond of clearing with it, I did do the work asked of me with it, but in this case, I went over to the other side of the site and asked one of the excavator operators to come over and use the bucket way up high to get leverage, all those trees were pushed over safely, I did not want to be that close to a large falling tree on that machine, heck I would not wanted to have been that close with a D8 and OROPS, open roll over protection system, too much weight and distance to fall. I was always able to garner a good reputation with the field superintendent, and they really trusted me to get all kinds of oddball, "one-of" jobs done, most times alone, being young and foolish, I did them too, just never forgot those oak trees, I think that super got a little too confident with me, so I "commandeered" an excavator without even asking, just did what I knew would be safe, having done large trees the same way before.

Hopefully the one you are looking at has bucket teeth, those will be helpful. Depending on the root systems of the trees, they may come out easier or could be more difficult, hard to say, also how long they have been dead will weaken them the older they are the easier they should come out. 955 is a stout crawler loader for sure, meant to dig into hard run of bank or similar materials, real common for demo work back in the day. The track pads on these are often double grouser type pads, nothing real aggressive, unlike a dozer track pad, so slippage may be more, then again, rather have some track slippage, than put all that force through the final drives, per say when pushing on stumps or trees. I have seen these with single grouser, dozer type pads, on pipe jobs with slopes or other terrain where they were likely needed, not sure if they were designed to take the additional stress, the final drives, but some have fitted them with non typical pads, same with excavators where a taller dozer type pad grouser was needed for a better bite into the ground.

I would bet dollars to donuts Bob from Ont who posts here often could tell you what to look for on this tractor, I highly respect his advice given the help and participation he's given in good faith over all these years, specifically with this era caterpillar equipment. Same with Old Magnet. Places I have worked have had people with similar knowledge, its nice to hear from them as they remind me of people I have worked with, but that were on the mechanical side, ones that take these machines apart and repair them.

My view is only from an operators stand point, they were a long time good reputation tractor, both the 955 and the 977. I ran a 977L quite a bit for one company, it had limb risers and a brush kit orops on the operators station, was a really nice tractor, no leaks, all new undercarriage, nice paint even, but it was 20 years old then, both of these stand out in memory as good models.
 
There was one at the Carlinville IL sale last week.Desent under carriage with 8000 hours.Brought $14,500.
 
Steven I too an in Tennessee have a pretty good contract on scrap now. $310.00 a ton so yes he is close on price around $ 4,300 or so I am guessing. Bigest thing is the undercarriage or condition of it. Like a car with worn out tires if the tracks are worn out won,t do much. The serial number is stamped in the rear housing in the upper rear conner if you walk up to the rear of the machine.
 

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