IHC TD 14A dozer

Would this make a good farm use dozer? What say you?

http://www.nextechclassifieds.com/search/farm-equipment/?q=IHC+TD14A+dozer

David I did not open the link but a 14a is a 60 + year old dozer. They were prone to crack the heads, final drives were subject to breaking. Do yourself a favor and save a little more money . Find something newer like a power shift td15 or older cat . Problem with that 14 is it can quickly turn into a money pit. My e-mail is open 50 years dozer experience.

Thanks for the reply. Been looking for an older Cat but again, got to know what to look for when considering buying. Last spring very old D4 pony start, started and sounded good, sold for $5000 at farm auction.

Any OLD dozer can turn into a money pit fast. I aklso have been around Dozers fgor well over fifty years and crawlers around 62 years . During my teen years i started with a vary large construction company at 13 mowing the grass around the shop and office complex and moved up to broom and dust mop pusher , then shop GO FOR on up the ladder almost with each passing day by the time i turned 16 i was wrenching , welding with the best to running everything . If it moved on tires or tracks the company had at least a half dozen and the problem childs of the track world were the I H,'s the Euclid's and the Alley Cats . Now not sayen that the Cat's did not break down they did just not as often . We had nothing smaller then D4's T D 9's and H D 5-6's . With the T D'I H's as long as you played the game with them on proper start up and cool down we did not have head problems . BUT if you did not cool one down at the end of the day or you stalled one and was not able to restart right away because you were to lazy to top the starting tank off after start up then you could almost count on that one to go down with a cracked head and or block . Final drives were not that tough along with the steering clutches if you were a as we called them LEVER TUGGERS That is someone that is always tugging on the steering levers . As this not only works on them old dry clutches it also adds shock loads to the finals . Old dozers were maintenance hogs , Ya had to grease twice a day atleast we did . Idlers and rollers shivs cylinder fittings . we would grease , fuel and do a fluid check on everything at evening fuel up along with track cleaning before they were put to bed each day and while this was taking place the engines were idled down for cool down . Now as for me IF i was to go looking for something for the farm and depending on how large of work ya want to tackle would guide me on what size i would be looking for . I know what i prefer you may not , from light to medium work the one dozer that impressed me for lets get something done is the John Deere 650 G lever steer . Years back i had a friend ask me to help him do his first large housing development . It was around a 160 plus acres mostly woods with one open field of around 20 acres one main road/ street leading in with a huge oval in the far back and cauldesacks (sp) one retention pond of around 2 1/2 acres lots of cuts and fills first phase had deep main sewers of over 30 feet at the start dropping down to 24 in phase 1 and at the lift station 7 feet then a forced main that was over two miles long . we started this job with two auction finds qa D 6 D and a late D6C and a one owner 690 B Deere hoe . Subbed out the deep sewer work since with out a lot of benching the 690 could not reach the bottom and we had no ditch boxes Tow weeks into just grubbing the 6 D went down with hyd. problems and the ace mechanic that was working on it went thru four NEW CAT hyd. pumps before i got involved . while i was fixing the problem on the D the C went down with transmission and converter problems . Got the D back up and running for a week when she pucked the engine . with out putting anymore money into dead horses He and i went shopping and come home with a off lease 750 Deere and a brand new 650 G , Ran the 650 straight off the truck for about and hour and while the saleman was still there i came back up and told him that it needed some weight on the back to balance it out . Had then install 4 slab weights on the rear and that turned that dozer into a real dozer . A jo0hn Deere 450 C is another tough Little dozer , But here again they need some IRON on the back then they will do well as for what iron to add seams that just a winch hanging off the back of them makes a huge difference . these dozers are smooth running have good power and the C model 450's have wet clutched and brakes . Don't care much for the Case line up they seam jerky . Cat D-4-5 G's are nice and the 5 has good power for grading small tree removal say up to a foot in size and with a little work and a good operator even larger . If they are not big enought the D5Bor D 6 C 750 Deere would be the next best step up . Under carriage is the big cost of a dozer . You are money ahead if you find and OLD fart that knows what he is looking for and that can run it and when TEST driving one ya need to really TEST drive one for more then ten or fifteen min. If you venture into the world of a Hystat this is where yor going to need to get her really warmed up and see what they are doing Power wshift are about the same as not all problems show up in the first fifteen min. of operation. So this is why you take someone with you even if yqa have to slip them a couple C notes and a fancy dinner with adult beverages . As that little outting can save you THOUSANDS.