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I think it's either little man syndrome or or Thomas the Train.

What you say?

I've said it before, but if I hired a person to do some work with a dozer and they showed up with a skid steer I would tell them to leave the skid steer on the trailer. Different machines made for different work. Besides that most operators charge a good bit more for a skid steer per hour.

The OP said " I need to make fire lane roads, clear some 20 year old regrowth, build a pond, and make a long gravel driveway. " Now you bring your 257 skid steer and I'll bring my D6N or 953C and we each bring $1,000 for every hour the other is still working after the first one finishes. I won't even charge the OP. The floor is open for side bets too.

The OP said " I need to make fire lane roads, clear some 20 year old regrowth, build a pond, and make a long gravel driveway. " Now you bring your 257 skid steer and I'll bring my D6N or 953C and we each bring $1,000 for every hour the other is still working after the first one finishes. I won't even charge the OP. The floor is open for side bets too.

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Now this is getting interesting. Lol. This is a very helpful debate for me. I thought about a skid steer for the ease of transportation and I already know how to operate one somewhat. I don't think it has the weight to accomplish what I need without it taking a really long time. I thought about a dozer because of the ability to level dirt. I thought about a loader for knocking down trees and carrying dirt. I guess the debate in my mind carries on. But, if y'all want to have an equipment competition on my property. I will open it up to you. I will buy the beer. Winner gets turkey rights for 5 years.

I had a loader with a 4:1 bucket, we called it a clam shell. The bucket was heavy as hell and you needed 6 hands and 3 feet to operate it. No one ever stayed on it long enough to become an expert but I could see where it would be useful. We mostly used it for site demolition activities. When you used the lower blade for grading, it was hard to see what you were doing/going because the upper bucket was in your line of site. It was very unbalanced and made anything other than rough grading tough.

You leave the bucket closed for grading and a good operator doesn't see what the blade is doing, he feels what it's doing. I don't mean to say he can do that blind, obviously he needs to see but just looking will get you that washboard effect every time. And that's another plus, to using a loader bucket, it's easier to float and grade when you get used to it.

Now this is getting interesting. Lol. This is a very helpful debate for me. I thought about a skid steer for the ease of transportation and I already know how to operate one somewhat. I don't think it has the weight to accomplish what I need without it taking a really long time. I thought about a dozer because of the ability to level dirt. I thought about a loader for knocking down trees and carrying dirt. I guess the debate in my mind carries on. But, if y'all want to have an equipment competition on my property. I will open it up to you. I will buy the beer. Winner gets turkey rights for 5 years.[/quote]

I'll take the D6 for a 1,000 too. What folks tend to forget is a big dozer will push more than a loader will tote. You can grade and build water bars and turn outs and click on down the road while the loader is making a mess. Funny thing I never noticed the forestry , road builders and pond builder guys pull up with a skid steer or loader.

You might use the bucket to grade if that's all you have, but eventually it fills up with dirt and becomes inefficient. You cant roll the material with a bucket either. When I said it blocked your line of site I wasn't talking about the grade line, I'm literally talking about what's in front of you, like your rodman. But hell, now everyone uses machine control so Stevie Wonder could blue top.

I'll put $1,000 or whatever the max bet is, on the 6. Let's go ahead and have this little competition soon. I'd like to get my winnings in hand asap.

A D6 with 6 way blade all day long. No comparison

It's $1,000 per hour, no max

But personally I like the comfort and controls on the 750 Deere vs the D6

I had never operated a dozer at all when I bought a D3 with a 6 way blade. I had the guy who delivered it to run it out into a field and leave it there. I got on it and started running it, with no instructions from anyone. After I figured out what the controls did, I pushed over a 10" pine and then started clearing land.

I don't think it requires much skill to learn to push over trees and clear land. You mentioned clearing land and making firelanes, and I thought my machine was ideal for a landowner doing such things. I didn't want to tackle trees bigger than about 15", but I could eventually get most anything down if I was willing to dig enough. Angle your blade and cut the roots on 3 sides, then push from the other. If it doesn't come down, dig some more.

I sometimes spent 20 minutes on one big tree when a bigger dozer could have gotten it down in 30 seconds, but you have to ask yourself how much money you are willing to spend on it. The bigger the machine, the more you have to pay for it and keep it up. I also think that something in the D3 or D4 size works well for making firelanes.

The thing that separates a real operator from an amateur is the ability to work dirt well. I am certainly an amateur in that respect. On the other hand, I got all my roads made and crowned and they are just as good as any made by a real operator; it just took me longer. All the fields I cleared are as smooth now as those cleared by a real operator. And I had all the fun of doing it myself. But forget building a pond with a machine like this unless you have a very unusual situation.

Good luck deciding

I know a little about this. Many ways to skin this cat, but some good advice would be to hire an experienced contractor for a small job. Watch him closely and study his work. Buy you a used dozer and make it happen. It's not rocket science.

I agree PCP, however , I don't understand why you think it would be hard to build a pond. Lota ponds built with small dozers , just takes longer to move dirt. I have a neighbor built a good one with a tractor and box blade. Took a while , but he got it done.

It would have taken me an eternity to build a pond with the machine I had and my amateur skill level of operating it. Ponds in my area usually require a core, and it would taken a lifetime for me to do that with a 6 way blade. I would rather tackle it with the FEL, but either way would take to long for me to be practical. I think there are better ways to build a pond, but more power to those willing to build one with small equipment.

I don't know but a good friend of mine that owned a NASCAR truck and Busch racing team and ran dozers and excavators for a living along with welding for more than 25 years told me that skid steers like bobcat are much more maintenance than a Dozer or excavator. Said the skid steer tracks were not like a Dozer and had to be changed much more frequently for higher operating cost. Had one briefly and got rid of because of track costs and high maintenance frequency. He advised me against ever even considering a skid steer. He's a fabricating fool from his NASCAR days I guess. For what it's worth that was his opinion on skid steers. Of course he was using equipment for business so high maintenance costs of a skid steer.

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What you say?[/quote]
The OP said " I need to make fire lane roads, clear some 20 year old regrowth, build a pond, and make a long gravel driveway. " Now you bring your 257 skid steer and I'll bring my D6N or 953C and we each bring $1,000 for every hour the other is still working after the first one finishes. I won't even charge the OP. The floor is open for side bets too.

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What are you going to pay for that D6? What are you going to pay for that 953C? What you gonna need to transport that equipment? Y'all are laughable sometimes. A D6will out perform a skid steer by a small margin because of its sheer size. And you'll need the extra side bet money to pay the guy that picks up the leftover limbs and roots up that you leave behind. I'll bring a 289 and tin circles around that D6.