The 666B is a rare scraper down under, you could count them on 1 hand how many came to this country.
Rare Beasts. Hi, Gavin84W. I was once told that the 660B's were pretty rare DownUnder too, that the 6 that Thiess originally imported were the only B's that came into the country. Do you know of any more? I have been told that Hunter Valley Earthmoving's 660's were all A's. Izzatt so? It's a pity to see those old girls melting away like that. I had the privilege and pleasure of using a D9G to push-load a very nice 660 at the Best Show On Tracks at Woodland, California, in June. There were times when you could cut washers off that D9G's fundamental orifice while it was pushing that beast. LOL. There was also a D9D there on the Saturday of the show. It was fitted with a cushion blade. It worked even harder to get a load on the 660. Thanks for the photos.
I was about to write that those 666's looked ready to go to work, then I saw the 2nd pic..... Still, the 1st two look pretty good compared to some I've seen here recently. Wow, air conditioned and all. The only one I ever ran was open cab, it was still a thill of a beast to operate. It was fairly early in the year in south Texas so not too bad weather wise, but still a hot motha to run.
I see the unit number on the bumper in the first pic is 666-14. Does that imply there were 13 before it? Maybe "A" models before the "B"s
Great Stuff Gavin, i didnt even know there were 660's in Aus. I was also looking at Wabco 353FT pictures, not too many of them here in Australia. Cheers Jim
Jerry, no such luck as for 13 more 666,s in front of this one, they just numbered there scrapers as they bought them i believe. I have an old local dealer magazine that had a story on these and that no 2 machine that i am standing in front of was on the front cover of the mag with 1500hrs on it!! Looked a whole lot more gracious than it does now!! Story went on to say they purchased 4 of them back in 74 i think it was.
Gavin the picture of the two 666's, the one your standing in front of is that a runner? the other one with no tire on it, would it run if it had a tire on it? How cool to see those two old girls. Do you know the owner of those 666's, what the rental world like in Australia? is there a lot of dirt jobs down under? I seen a 666 on the internet sold for $3000.00complete in the last two years, Do the contractors down there rent big equiptment for there jobs very often. Send me your e-mail that way we can chat and send some photos back and forth. Mike Nebergall
Hi Gavin.........I used to watch them at Leminton Mine and had mates driving them, I was sure there were a lot more than 4 out there
G,day Brendan, Between Rixs Creek mine and Fourmile i have found 8 666B,s so yep you are on the money. A gent in QLD has purchased 2 660B from Rixs Creek (originally 666B with rear powerpacks removed) and he also has 2 of the Thiess big bowl machines. He also has just purchased the running 666B from Fourmile along with a 666B tractor less bowl to allow him to resto the tractor portion and then swap it amongst his fleet to keep em going. He uses them all most days winning material in Austral brick pits. I bet life without scrapers and tyre hassles is a whole lot easier now hey! If your looking for plenty of scraper stuff the SoCalearthmovers forum has a bunch too.
G'day Gavin. I had the pleasure of operating 666 scrapers including an auger 666B twin powers for a number of years. I have pics of them as well only I havent found how to post them on this board yet. Will do when I find out. Cheers, Ironbark.
I found this; . So it might be a while before i can post the pics? Sorry. Cheers, Ironbark.
Good stuff ironbark, i think you have to rack up a couple of posts and then you are allowed to post pics, Socalearthmovers site lets you post em straight up so maybe jump over there also as there is a mass of 660/666 stuff. Look forward to seeing them when you get them up. Some one needs to do one of the aussie 666B,s like the 630B just posted and i know just the guy to do it!
Looks like I'm in with the attachments mate. The files are too big so I'm going to have to find out how to resize them manually. I'll register at socalearth while I'm at it. Cheers Ironbark.
G,day Gavin, Wish ya had'nt told me about the Socal site ...........looks like I will be tied up for months now looking at it ..........sure looks like Scraper operators heaven
So i should not mention his youtube page also?!!!! Kenny is a good guy, he showed me around SoCal in April this year when i went over for Conexpo.
I spent many hours in this 666auger scraper stripping and replacing. Like operating from an old lounge chair. Cheers, Ironbark.
Awsome mate, never knew they had the auger machine. Look forward to more pics.
Cat 666 Hi Gavin84w Today in 2016 those beautiful machines are still alive? There still running on some job? They're for sale? Or the worst end they cutted for scrap?
There 2 I know of still working every day just south of Brisbane in a landfill site. X Thesis machines .
Cat 666 Hi tones They're a 666b units? Have you ever seen in person?Do you have any photo? Can you tell me the name of landfill site or the specific location of it?