I have never had the opportunity to take a D8H/K up an 8-foot vertical wall like I did with a D9G one night, but I have also never felt that I could take a D8H/K up such a wall. I also felt that the D9G/H was a little more sure-footed than the D8H/K. However, when they had the revs up was when it really showed. The D9G would always reverse back up the slope for the next push faster than the D8H which, to my simple mind at least, indicates a better power-to-weight ratio.Ī lot of operators could not see that 'cos the D9G's and H's were always a little slower to build up revs than the D8's. Where it really showed up was if you had a D8H and a D9G working side by side pushing down a fairly steep slope. Personally, I would always pick a D9G or H over the D8H or K because I found that they had even better balance than the D8's, way more power and could put that power on the ground better than the D8's. Everything about them is easy and it just got better when they changed from the front hyd tank model to the side hyd tank model and even better again when they brought in pilot valve controls with the K. They were one of the more user-friendly dozers that I have ever had the pleasure of making black smoke with. I have never yet run a D8H or K in good operating condition that I didn't like. Possibly the 'H' was better from an owner's point of view due to less downtime and fewer repair bills. Maybe for operators the 'K' was preferable due to the easier controls. The 'K' was a slightly more productive machine but seemed to have a little more downtime than the 'H's'. I did manage to perfect the art with the 'K' series by using both the steering clutch control and foot brake pedal together, just as I would with the older machines without inter-connected steering but I found it noticeably easier with the older machines with separate clutch and brake controls. This takes precise timing and control of the turn as the scraper is picked up. The best test I have found for this is to pick up scrapers on the run with no bump. I have never yet operated a larger Cat (I found a well-adjusted Cat D5B to be an exception.) that had inter-connected steering that was as delicate in its steering as the older D8H's/D9G's. Having said that, the controls on the 'K' were easier to use, EXCEPT for the inter-connected steering clutches and brakes. If I HAD to make a choice, I would say that the 'K' had a slightly better power-to-weight ratio than the 'H' but it would be marginal in my estimation. Next, I personally found there to be nothing to choose between them as far as balance was concerned. What I will do is to put my own observations about them and leave it up to the individual to decide for themselves.įirstly, from my observations and reports from many others, the D8H seemed to give a little less trouble with transmissions and final drives, possibly due to having a little less power and weight to load them up. I won't attempt to choose between the two models.
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