Dozer Rental in Amarillo, TX
A dozer is a crawler tractor with a blade on the front, rented around Amarillo to clear, strip, cut and grade ground, and its size follows the acreage, the depth of cut and how soft the ground gets after rain. CASE's examples run from the 650M at 15,997 lb and 74 hp to the 2050M at 45,651 lb and 232 hp, a machine CASE says is "designed for large cuts and mass earthmoving." The ground is its own factor: approximately 19,300 playas dot the Texas High Plains by Texas Parks and Wildlife's count, and the USDA describes their clay floors as frequently ponded. A blade that disturbs soil 16 or more inches deep is excavating under Texas law, so the 811 call comes first. National rates for this class come from a single marketplace guide, flagged as such below, along with delivery, OSHA's rules and what a free written quote needs.
$500 to $800 a day for a small dozer, national (single marketplace guide, March 2026) · full pricing guide
CASE's four M-series examples show what each size does. The 650M weighs 15,997 lb with 74 hp, and CASE pitches it for moving dirt and for fine grading. The 850M weighs 22,381 lb in wide-track form, makes 112 hp net and carries SAE blade capacities of 2.16 to 2.62 yd3 on blades 104 to 124 in wide, with a maximum drawbar pull, the pulling force at the hitch, of 41,010 lb. The 1150M weighs 31,618 lb, and CASE credits its drawbar with "48,000 lbs. of dirt-relocating power." The 2050M, at 45,651 lb and 232 hp, is the large example. Small machines handle house pads, driveways and finish grade; mid-size machines cut ponds, roads and building pads; the large class pushes the mass dirt of plant and energy sites.
One national rental marketplace's guide, published March 19, 2026, is the only published source we found for rates on this class, so read its figures as one survey, not a settled market price. It averages $1,011 a day, $2,828 a week and $7,571 a month, and sorts machines by weight and horsepower: small (15,000-20,000 lbs, 80-130 HP) at $500-$800 a day, medium (20,000-40,000 lbs, 130-220 HP) at $800-$1,500 and large (40,000-80,000 lbs, 220-500+ HP) at $1,500-$3,000+. Fuel is not included in its rates, a ripper adds $100-$300 a day, and a damage waiver adds 10-15%. A Texas row it prints, Royse City east of Dallas, averages $1,529 a day, and that is not an Amarillo price either. The Amarillo cost page puts every machine side by side.
Three rules apply before and during the push. OSHA's rollover subpart, 29 CFR 1926.1000, covers crawler tractors used in construction, and 29 CFR 1926.602 lists bulldozers among earthmoving equipment that needs seat belts and, with a blocked rear view, a working reverse alarm or a signaler; our skid steer and track loader page sets both rules out in more detail. Texas Utilities Code section 251.002(5) names backfilling and compressing as well as digging in its definition of excavating at 16 or more inches, so digging, backfilling or compressing to that depth needs the 811 call two business days ahead, placed by us or by you. On the road, TxDMV's legal width is 8 feet 6 inches and its legal height 14 feet, and loads over the limits need an oversize/overweight permit; the heavy haul and machinery moving page explains those permits.
Grading on the High Plains is drainage work as much as dirt work. The Handbook of Texas describes the Llano Estacado as a high mesa sloping at approximately ten feet per mile toward the southeast, and the USDA puts Pullman soils on 0 to 3 percent slopes, with runoff medium below 1 percent and high from 1 to 3 percent. Then come the playas: Texas Parks and Wildlife says they average slightly more than 15 acres, around 87 percent are smaller than 30 acres, and larger ones may exceed 800 acres. The City of Amarillo's Drainage Utility monitors eight playa lakes, and its Lawrence Lake pump station project will raise that lake's daily drainage capacity from 3-4 million gallons to 15 million gallons (May 28, 2026). Our weather and ground data page collects the soil and rainfall records.
For a quote, tell us the acreage or the length of road or pad, how deep the cuts and fills run, whether brush or old fence needs clearing, the ground (sand, clay, caliche or a playa edge), the address and the dates. The free written quote names the machine class, the blade and track setup, bare or with an operator, the period, delivery and any haul permits, the waiver and each tax line, and the maker's operating information rides along with the machine. Loading out cut material is work for a backhoe or wheel loader; deep, narrow trenches belong to excavator rental.
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CASE M-Series Examples: Weight, Power, Blade and Pull
Four CASE models span the class from small to large. CASE's 850M spec sheet supplies blade and pull figures; for the others, CASE's web pages give weight, power for the 650M and 2050M, and a drawbar figure for the 1150M.
| Example model | Class | Operating weight | Engine | Blade (SAE capacity; width) | Drawbar pull |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CASE 650M | Small | 15,997 lb | 74 hp (net or gross not stated) | not recorded | not recorded |
| CASE 850M | Mid-size | 22,381 lb (wide track) | 112 hp net | 2.16-2.62 yd3; 104-124 in | 41,010 lb maximum |
| CASE 1150M | Between 850M and 2050M by weight | 31,618 lb | not recorded | not recorded | 48,000 lbs, CASE's drawbar figure |
| CASE 2050M | Large | 45,651 lb | 232 hp (net or gross not stated) | not recorded | not recorded |
CASE's published figures, the 850M's from its 2023 spec sheet. Blade capacity, pull and ground pressure on a job depend on the blade and track setup. The models show the class and say nothing about what we own; "not recorded" flags a figure we did not copy from CASE.
Signs the Ground Needs a Blade, Not a Bucket
A loader or an excavator can move dirt, but these conditions call for a crawler tractor with a blade. Several of them also bring a rule, a soil problem or a hauling question that changes the size of machine and the quote.
- Several acres need stripping, clearing or rough grading before anything is built on them.
- A pad, a road or a pond needs cuts and fills to grade, sometimes with a ripper, which the marketplace guide prices at $100-$300 a day extra.
- The site slopes toward a playa or holds water after rain; the USDA describes the clay soils on playa floors as "frequently ponded for very long periods in most years."
- The digging, backfilling or compressing will disturb soil 16 or more inches deep, which makes it excavation under the Utilities Code and starts the 811 clock.
- The job calls for a mid-size or large machine, which the marketplace guide says moves on a lowboy, the large class with oversize load permits.
- Soft ground or wet clay is the site condition, and CASE's low-ground-pressure setup brings the 850M's figure down to 4.0 psi from the top of its 5.3 psi range.
Blade Capacity, Drawbar Pull and Ground Pressure on the CASE 850M
CASE's 850M spec sheet (Form No. CCE202311850M, copyright 2023) shows what the numbers on a crawler tractor mean. Its SAE blade capacity, the rated volume of material a blade carries, runs from 2.16 to 2.62 yd3 across its blade options, on blades from 104 to 124 in wide. Its maximum drawbar pull is 41,010 lb (182.4 kN), and its net power is 112 hp (84 kW). Its ground pressure, the machine's weight spread over the track on the ground, runs from 5.3 psi down to 4.0 psi for the low-ground-pressure (LGP) setup, and that lower figure is the one to ask about near a playa or on clay after rain.
Weight in wide-track form is 22,381 lb. The other CASE examples fill in the range: the 650M at 15,997 lb and 74 hp, which CASE's page does not mark as net or gross; the 1150M at 31,618 lb with what CASE calls "48,000 lbs. of dirt-relocating power" from its drawbar pull; and the 2050M at 45,651 lb and 232 hp. Blade width also matters on the road, because TxDMV's legal width for a vehicle and load is 8 feet 6 inches and a wider load needs an oversize permit, which TxDMV says requires the exact dimensions and weight before you apply. Ask for the blade option and track width in writing so the haul and the permit match the machine that arrives.
Playas, Pullman Clay and Caliche: Grading Ground Around Amarillo
Grading near Amarillo starts with where the water goes. Texas Parks and Wildlife's playa page describes playas as shallow, circular wetlands "primarily filled by rainfall," with water moving down through cracks in the clay lining that "eventually swell shut" once wet. The Randall soils sit on basin floors 10 to 50 feet lower than the plain around them, are poorly drained with very slow permeability, and crack open when dry, with cracks staying open 90 or more cumulative days in most years. Around the basins, the Pullman series holds 27 to 40 percent clay at the surface and shows a linear extensibility, the USDA's shrink-swell measure, of 6 to 9 cm in the top meter.
In Carson County, the USDA's Pantex series, whose type location is 1.1 mile northeast of Panhandle, holds 35 to 50 percent silicate clay and forms "Deep, wide cracks greater than 51 cm (20 in) deep," and the USDA's Pantex series description calls it extensive. Below all of it, the Handbook of Texas describes a hard caprock "commonly called caliche." Rain sets the calendar. The Weather Service's summary of the late-May and early-June 2023 storms says "many locations had seen a monthly rain total anywhere from 6 to 14 inches," and on June 7 "water escaped from the already full Lawrence Lake and flooded area streets, businesses, and residents." A grading plan here starts with where the low spots drain and how wet the clay is on the day the blade arrives.
Clearing Ground for Panhandle Projects: Fermi, WTAMU and TxDOT
The big clearing jobs near Amarillo are on the public record, and each figure here is the claim of whoever published it. Fermi America's investor site reported "~300 acres already cleared/ stripped" at Project Matador as of June 30, 2026, with 4.6 miles of gas line and 11.3 miles of fencing installed, on a site the company puts at about 8,400 acres in Carson County. The company also says it builds and funds the campus road network and coordinates with TxDOT on road improvements. The City of Amarillo notes that the site is outside city limits, where the City has no jurisdiction over development approvals; our Panhandle and Carson County page follows that work.
West Texas A&M broke ground in November 2025 on a research feedlot complex on a 42.84 acre land gift by the Nance Ranch, which WTAMU places about seven miles east of Canyon, and expected work on the feedlot itself to start later in 2026; for jobs outside city limits in Randall County the county's Road and Bridge office issues the permit for an access driveway on county right-of-way; our Canyon and Randall County page covers both. On the highways, TxDOT's Amarillo District lists planned major projects, among them expanding Interstate 27 from US 87 to SL 335 to six lanes ($312 million) and converting SL 335 from Coulter St. to FM 2590 to a freeway ($238 million), and its Loop 335 Sub-segment C-1 frontage roads were under construction with completion expected in 2026.
Small, Mid-Size or Large Crawler Tractor
Size follows the acreage, the depth of cut and the haul. The marketplace guide sets its classes by both weight and horsepower, not by model, so check a quoted machine's weight and horsepower against both bands before reading a price; CASE's example figures are in the table above.
Small machine
The marketplace's small class (15,000-20,000 lbs, 80-130 HP) runs $500-$800 a day, $1,400-$2,200 a week and $3,500-$6,000 a month, with delivery at $300-$600 roundtrip on a standard equipment trailer, and the same guide says mini machines typically start at $300-$500 a day. This size fits house pads, driveways and finish grade.
Mid-size machine
The guide's medium class (20,000-40,000 lbs, 130-220 HP) runs $800-$1,500 a day, $2,200-$4,200 a week and $6,000-$11,000 a month, and its delivery needs a lowboy trailer at $500-$1,200 roundtrip, so the haul is part of the price. This size fits ponds, roads and building pads.
Large machine
The guide's large class (40,000-80,000 lbs, 220-500+ HP) runs from $1,500-$3,000+ a day to $11,000-$25,000+ a month, and its delivery note reads $1,000-$2,000+ roundtrip with a lowboy trailer and oversize load permits. This size suits mass earthmoving and the large cuts of plant and energy sites.
Operator or bare is the other choice. The same guide puts operator wages at $300-$500 a day when you hire one. The Comptroller's Rule 3.294 taxes a bare rental, while one charge for machine and operator is presumed a service unless the work is itself taxable, and the quote shows which you chose and the tax that follows.
Dozer Rental FAQs
What does a dozer rent for by the day, week or month?
One national rental marketplace's March 2026 guide, the only published survey we found for this class, averages $1,011 a day, $2,828 a week and $7,571 a month. Its classes run from $500-$800 a day for small machines to $1,500-$3,000+ for large ones, and it says mini machines start at $300-$500 a day. Fuel is not included in its rates. With a single source behind these numbers, the written quote is the figure to plan on.
Do I need to call 811 before grading with a bulldozer?
Yes, if the blade will disturb soil 16 or more inches deep. The definition of excavating in Texas Utilities Code section 251.002 covers mechanized equipment of any kind and names backfilling and compressing along with digging and trenching. Texas811 wants the request in two business days before the work, not counting weekends or holidays, and its FAQ answers "Yes" even for shallow digging. Locating the lines costs you nothing.
What is a low ground pressure dozer?
It is the low-ground-pressure setup of a crawler tractor, rated to press less weight on each square inch of soft ground. CASE's 850M spec sheet shows the difference: ground pressure runs from 5.3 psi down to 4.0 psi for the low-ground-pressure (LGP) setup. Near Amarillo's playas, whose Randall-series floors the USDA describes as frequently ponded, or on clay after rain, the LGP figure is the one to ask for.
Can a dozer be hauled on a regular trailer?
A small one can. The marketplace guide prices small-machine delivery at $300-$600 roundtrip on a standard equipment trailer, while medium machines need a lowboy ($500-$1,200) and large ones a lowboy plus oversize load permits ($1,000-$2,000+). TxDMV's legal limits are 8 feet 6 inches wide, 14 feet high and 80,000 pounds gross, and anything over them needs an oversize/overweight permit.
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