RDO Equipment Co. Provides United States Border Patrol with High Speed Dozer
Posted 01/29/2010 —Members of the RDO Equipment Co. construction sales team checked out John Deere's new 764X High Speed Dozer (HSD) at last year's spring training in Sacaton, Ariz., and arranged to receive a prototype of the dozer for use at demos. Soon after, they became involved with the United States Border Patrol (USBP) on a border fence maintenance project for the U.S. and Mexico border.
Team members initially coordinated a rental agreement for a 9630 Track tractor towing a large water tank that applied a soil stabilizer to control blowing sands at locations south and west of Yuma, Ariz. After some conversation, employees determined that the 764X was designed for this specific duty, and would be ideal in this exact application. They convinced the USBP to demo the prototype dozer for this project. "It took some serious work and lots of documentation to make this happen," said Eddie Good, Sales Professional at B&B Rental.
To get to the jobsite and also demonstrate the full potential of the 764X HSD, it needed to be dropped off at the closest maintained roadway by semi truck. It then traveled at 15+ mph to the jobsite over sand dunes and unimproved roads for 1 ½ hours in 100 degree weather - which is usually a full days work for a standard dozer. However, once the machine arrived to the jobsite, it performed flawlessly and impressed everyone involved.
Soon thereafter, the United States Border Patrol developed a performance study: a standard dozer versus the John Deere 764X HSD. Based on the study, the new dozer out-performed the standard dozer 3 to 1.
A federal specification was developed for a machine of this type, one that could travel to the worksite at speed, one that could float over the sand and leave a finished product behind, and the 764X was the only machine that met specifications.
The construction sales team in Yuma was notified that the bid was going out on a special federal bid site, and that the machine had to be delivered by December 30, 2009. "We entered our bid, and were awarded the contract for delivery of the machine. This was the first 764X HSD to be sold west of the Mississippi," said Eddie.
On January 7, 2010, employees held a special walk-around and demonstration of the 764X HSD at the Yuma store for the USBP.
Eddie added, "The success of this sale was the product of many different people's hard work, including multiple B&B Equipment Rental and RDO Equipment Co. employees, and many people at John Deere."
