IS a HG 42 the right fit for me?

[mike26now]

I've been trying to find info on the web about these dozers for days and have determined there's very little info... hardly even any youtube videos!  I recently bought my first house with about 3 acres.. I want a "toy" to make trails through the woods for my dirtbike and four wheeler...  I also wouldn't mind clearing out a small area, maybe 40'x40' for a garden.  I have no experience with tractors, dozer etc and first started looking at a few older farm tractors with loaders to buy, then got hooked on shovel dozers but a friend of mine has said shovel dozers are hard to sell... and half of my property is very wet and soggy so a tractor might not be best... he's been pushing me towards a 1940 HG42.  I have a voicemail in to the owner so dont have much info about this yet other than it looks to be maintained well and the ad says its in good running condition but needs paint...  he's dropped price from 3k to 2.5k and now he's asking 2k or best offer.  I had previously been looking at an older Case 450 shovel dozer but reading reviews, people said it was a terrible machine and was too small to do any work.. and that was a 11,000lb machine... i think this one is about 3,000lb? 

so what im looking to do with the dozer....  have fun... make trails.... push downed trees and rocks out of the way...  move stumps after ive cut down the trees.... clear an area for a garden  and maybe try to make some jumps for my dirtbike...

Would this be a good machine to do that?

Thanks for responses...im hoping to take a look at it Saturday

[hotratz]

It's really going to depend on the size of the rocks and stumps you want to displace. For most of what you mentioned I'd say the HG would be adequate. Peoples opinions of a machines ability to do work are subjective to a lot of variables.

Also I wouldn't rule out a tracked loader. One advantage a loader has is the ability to use the bucket as a lever to pop things up out of the ground. Dozers are better for pushing material and leveling grade.

[oliverchris]

You are going about this the right way. An HG is a capable versatile and above all a highly maneuverable machine, but if you read the sections on auxiliary transmission is moves a bit too fast for pushing a lot of dirt. With snow, it'd be just fine. It was built for agricultural applications that demand faster travel rates. The blade set-up you are looking at leaves a bit to be desired in terms of visibility but it still a solid set-up. I doubt you'd be mowing down large saplings with it, but if you don't bite off too much, you could blaze a path with it in softish ground ? indeed in very soft ground they come into their own vs. rubber tires ? some people keep one around for this very reason. They will pull more than their own weight, so the are useful in logging, for example. Personally, I would not be using this set-up if you have a lot of large rocks sticking up through the ground...I have seen many a set of blade push arms with patches and welds from this kind of abuse.
If it were up to me, I would look carefully at the range of OC4s out there for sub-$5,000. Much stronger, and geared down for the job, with 4 forward gears, and other options like reversers or even more geared-down slo-lo transmissions.
Here's one I have for sale...613-536-5252

[mike26now]

I appreciate the replies.

Personally I'm a fan of the track loader.  And think it could work well for what I'm looking to do.  My plan is to buy one of these machines and probably use it this fall and the spring then probably sell it.  I have about 2.5 acres of land but but about 1/3 to 1/2 of that is yard so my area to "play" in the woods isn't huge.  I think once I have my trails made and the area for the garden cleared I won't really have much "need" for it and would plan on selling it... at least that's what I told my wife to get her approval.  So my friend has just said track loaders are usually priced on the cheap side cause they're hard to sell and I'll admit, I see the same track loaders being relisted online and in want ads and they appear to be harder to sell than tractors or bladed dozers.  I also should mention my budget is about 2,000-2,500.

Most of the trees are on the small side, less than six inches and some are probably less than 14".  Larger ones I can just leave.  There's not many boulders, so mostly trees really.  A big thing are old rotting trees that have fallen and need to be pushed out the way which im sure this would be more than capable of.  It looks like you have a track loader.  Has that worked well for making trails?  There are about 4 stumps by the end of the driveway I'd like to get rid of which are larger...about 24" diameter.. but id be ok to paying someone else to remove those if they're beyond the capacity of this dozer or even a smaller track loader or tractor.

Oliver Chris - around what price range is that tractor in?

From both your replies it's sounding like the HG 42 may not be as ideal for what I'm looking for.  Glad I found this site since I wasn't able to find much other information online..

[oliverchris]

I prefer loaders too as a blade does one thing only...and a loader does with practice many of the things a blade can do, and a whole lot more. The OC46 is my favourite - without the bucket teeth it can do a half-decent job of grading and leveling. Great for snow clearing. Plus you get to move rocks, gravel etc. etc. and dig to some extent.
That dozer I have listed for over $4,000 coz of the nice paint  and recent upgrades, like soft comfy seat  rebuilt engine, starter etc. etc.
The Ware 3-WI is a good strong loader if you go with an OC3 (the heavier-built but same sized successor to HGs) or a fully integrated OC46 loader like hotratz's beauty will do all kinds of hard 'cottage' work without complaining.
Or - there's an OC12 round here with an integrated loader for sale. Only $2,500 but it weighs 35000 lbs!
And a word of advice, if its $2,000 or so, test it in third gear to see if the engine has any power left. Check the track bushings, sprockets and adjustment, and check to see if the roller shafts are loose or leak badly. Poor steering, however, is an easier fix than people imagine. But one thing you don't want is to lose a track coz the machine is baggy and worn out, or not be able to push anything up a slight hill coz it has no power. There's other things to check but those would be top of my list, I think.

[oliverchris]

Oh and yes, dozers seem to be easier to sell than loaders...I have no idea why. Probably coz most people are thinking S_N_O_W
Am I allowed t say that word in September? 

[John Schwiebert]

Chris: How much does that OC-12 weigh? I had one on the scales with a good Heil blade and weight was less than 10,000 Pounds.

[oliverchris]

Ooops, you are right John...with the loader an OC12 is probably no more than 14000 lbs. Still too big for my trailer  but thanks for making me think again 
That is cheaper than its scrap value, isn't it?

[mike26now]

Lots of good information.  I appreciate all of it.  I'm holding off on the HG 42.  It may work for me, but I'd hate to buy it and not really get much use out of it.

I called on another dozer and the owner said he'd give me a call back possibly during his lunch break or after work.  It's a OC3 -42 with shovel dozer and he's been trying to sell for a while..  downside is he parked it 2 years ago and hasn't tried running it.  He just wants it gone and is looking for scrap pricing on it according to his ad.  He's asking 1,500.  I'll try to find the weight so I can determine scrap price and know what his break point is.  Downside is you can't test ride it to determine engine power, operation etc and is harder to get on a trailer!..  plus side is the low price.  I'm mechanical and wouldn't mind a winter project...  there's a good chance it wouldn't take much to get it going if the engine turns freely.  I have a free weekend so maybe can take a look tomorrow.  He said he's received a lot of interest but no one has actually showed up.  Only about an hour from the house so not too far.

Based on the post from oliver chris the OC3 with bucket would be a good option for me... (of course Im sure you were talking about a running one)...

[mike26now]

Talked to the guy with the OC3-42 during my lunch break.  He said he used it for a few years but parked it two years ago after buying a new Kubota 4x4 tractor and hasn't moved it since.  He said he just wants to get it out the yard since it doesn't get used.  He has had about a dozen no shows and is about to scrap it.  He said everything worked fine on it before it sat.  He recently charged the battery and the motor turned over freely but didn't start.  He said it's not getting spark but while turning over with the battery he moved the loader controls and the loader moved.  Sounds like he has someone that wants the bucket off it if he scraps it but doesn't feel like doing any of that work.

In my experience with other older motors that have sat a while without running, the points often need to be cleaned up...  Anyone have any worst case thoughts... things that could happen from it sitting for two years...  he mentioned maybe it is a magneto problem. 

I made plans to go look at it tomorrow morning but sounds like all I'll be doing is literally "looking" at it...

[Doug424]

If it turns over, you'll most likely be able to get it started. Like you said, it will need the points cleaned and most likely the carb will be gummed up if they didn't drain it out. Mag problems can go deeper than the points though. In most cases, I find I can get those motors running pretty easily but usually find them to be wore out, the main reason people park those machines. They are easy to rebuild, but parts prices are scary.

[mike26now]

Thanks Doug...

ya, I was reading a few posts on Magneto problems and the posts were talking about having the magneto's rebuilt by a pro shop...

What price range are you looking at for performing a motor rebuild?  is a "rings" only rebuild ever possible or usually a more involved rebuild...  I know it's nice to do a complete full rebuild but sometimes not always necessary... though I've never rebuilt a motor this size..  more so smaller two stroke dirbike engines (top end only), riding lawn mower engines.. usually just top end and motorcycle engines... have done bottom end on motorcycle but parts were cheap so did it more for the learning experience though probably could have gotten away with rings only, but it was a long winter ...

Well what would you guys do if you were looking at a non running dozer such as I've described?  certain things you'd try to check for?  would you take the chance in buying it non running?

[Doug424]

Well, depending on how bad an engine is,, you might get by with rings and a valve job. The biggest problem will be the crank/bearings. They are most often bad, and the mains are real killer to find and to pay for when you find them. Every part for those engines is expensive compared to a more common tractor engine. If you do some searching on ebay, you'll get an idea of the cost. If you get the engine running, and has decent oil pressure, no knocks,, you might get by with a quck fix. The way I often go with a bad mag is just to replace it with battery ignition.. You'll find lots of distributors off of other equipment that will bolt right up in place of the mag. The most common one is Farmall, most of the old 4 cyl models used a distributor setup that works just fine,, and no more mag headaches.

[Blake Malkamaki]

Before you talk about all the "what ifs", I would go look at it and see what the rest of the machine is like. If the tracks are shot, the engine will seem minor. Perhaps you'll be surprised and find the whole tractor is in relatively good shape? The engine could very well be just fine.

And if you can get it for the right price it may not matter much anyway. Look it over and see what it is like, think it over well, ask specific questions on here, and go from there. It doesn't sound like you're gonna try to make a living with it anyway.

I wouldn't spend much time going through a list of what could be wrong when we don't even know if anything is wrong at this point.

Blake

[mike26now]

Blake. Good point. Didn't mean to play the what if game. But on the plus side now I'm aimed with some negotiating leverage since I can talk about the unknowns of the condition of the engine and how expensive and hard to find replacements are. And that I can't test ride it to find any other potential problems.  Any thoughts on what he could get for scrapping it?  Sounds like the weight is around 6,000 lbs and I saw earlier this week scrap prices for scrapping cars was about ten cents per pound which would put this dozer around 600 bucks though maybe more if the scrap yard parted out some of the hydraulics etc. Anyways just wanna know what he can scrap it for and hopefully try to talk him down to that price. He sounded frustrated with the no shows and wants it gone so I may have leverage. Anyways. Gonna look at it at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Ill post an update afterwards. Thanks again for all the info so far.   was about ten cents per pound which would put this dozer around 600 bucks though maybe more if the scrap yard parted out some of the hydraulics etc. Anyways just wanna know what he can scrap it for and hopefully try to talk him down to that price. He sounded frustrated with the no shows and wants it gone so I may have leverage. Anyways. Gonna look at it at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Ill post an update afterwards. Thanks again for all the info so far.