back in the 60s, they were doin a major sewer job in my hood!they were to replace hundreds of septics! a sewer guy was contracted to do all all the dig and install! guess what? this guy hit solid shale rock very shallow!the only way to bust through it , was to raise the boom, free-wheel the down drum ,and let it hit the shale , and break it so he could bust it enough to pull it back up!if you were to hear it all day!!!!!!!! the grunt the boom up to let it fre-wheel_ down!!! it was this ,gruntttttttt, pause, slammmmmmm, all day long!that hoe was junk after that job!!!!!!
Before my time unfortunately But check out hcea.net. It's a club of people who love old machines, like cable backhoes and shovels. :drinkup
Well back in the early 60s cable hoe was the only reliable hoe, or "Pull Shovel". Then if you had a boosted machine it was easy on the arms. The last ones I remember were air control. This is a mind exercise.
Northwest had a monstrous pullshovel, I think called the 190D. I know it was available as a crane and dragline as well. I wish I could find pics of one....they were huge as I recall. Tony
Sales paper on 190-D Northwest 190-D I am trying to locate something that is readable.
widh you guys , could give me more! this hoe beat i5 self for monthes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've got a hoe and a shovel attachment for a C350 Bantam (Dad went to an auction one time, and bought a C350 Bantam with a BUNCH of attachments... We got the Cable hoe, Cable loading shovel, about 40' of crane boom, a couple of clam buckets and I think 3 drag buckets. He bought all of it just because a truck mounted Bantam hoe was what he started pipelining with back in the '40s) And I've also got 2 cable hoes for my LS-78 Link Belt. It's the Pipeliner model with the high-walker undercarriage. When dad bought it in '76, it was our big hoe until we bought a new 266 Bantam in '78. I stood behind the seat of that old Link Belt many hours while dad beat on rock with the hoe... I don't think we've had the hoe front on it since about '79 or so. I've thought about rigging it up just to play with and see if I could run it, but never have. I have run it with both the clam bucket or drag bucket on it though. Just use Hydraulic Excavators anymore. I've still got the 266 Bantam (been sitting for about 12 yrs), a 125b Case (still runs, but havn't used it in about 4 yrs) a 170c Case (needs a motor and a lot of work...got vandelized) a Komatsu PC 300-5 (works practically everyday...even with over 20,000 hours on it) and a Komatsu PC 200-8 (it'll be a year old this month). Crazy as it sounds, I sometimes miss running the old stuff like the Link Belt. It's older than I am (I think it's a '68 model), but with the hydraulic controls, I always thought it was a sweet old machine to run.
Handt, Would love to see pics of some of that ol' stuff. 266B was a sweet lil machine in its day. Darryl, Thanks for the 190D pics!!! Great stuff....if you have any more, "post on" my friend! Regards all, Tony
That LS 78 gets me excited I have all way liked the Hi-Walker model. I know the outfit that works on Northwest I trying to get some pictures. They still use the 190 in the dragline cofig. there were several in Fla. What about the 2400 Lima did it have a pull shovel front for it.
Lima 2400 hoe Hi Darryl, Lima never made an hoe front for the 2400 but another company made acouple. Sadly I dont remember the name of the company. I could find out but I have to go thru some magazines or book's first. I have seen pic's of atleast one machine in HCEA's Equipment Echoes. Cheer's Peter
I remember seeing a pic of the 2400 pullshovel working on a dam job loading Wabco trucks in Washington state for Lockheed. Pity I could never dig it up again, maybe someone else here knows where it is?
It was on the cover of Equipment Echoes (HCEA magazine) a few years ago.
here is ours 1948 koehring 205-1a my great grand father bought it brand new for 10,000 still runs but we don't use it at all. It only moves to go on the trailer for shows .
cable hoe My grandfather and uncle started in 1958 with a pair of Insley's(1/2cu.yd.). They were soon replaced with a Bucyrus-Erie 22-B and a Northwest Model 25.Still have the Northwest and attachments-I have sort of become the preserever of this machine over the last ten years or so.I remember it doing a lot of clam work for pumping stations,but it saw a lot of hoe work as well.The Cat dealer in Ontario at the time was Crothers,which has now been bought by Toromont was the Northwest dealer back then.They bought a Bucyrus-Erie30-B(4-71 Detroit,air controls) and then a Dominion 410,same power/controls as 30-B(built in Lachine,Quebec)both with 11/4cu.yd. hoe fronts. Both were used extensivley on sewer/watermain work . My dad said the Bucyrus was a little better in the rock trench due mostly to the heavier boom.Remember seeing both "in action" when I was a kid.They sounded good,but were real noisy in the cab.Have played around with a 15-B with a hoe front but not tried anything serious with one-but sure would like to,especially on a 30-B. Met a fellow who operated a Northwest Model 95 for a company out of Windsor.31/2yd.hoe front on it,Murphy power.The drums and brakes had fans blowing on them to stop overheating.Said it would pick up a 28 foot long steel trench box stretched right out and not even change sound doing it. Dominion 410
I have a 1952 Insley,it had the cable hoe when i got it,but i rigged it with a crane boom and sold it to a guy building a cement house.He finished his project anumber of years later and gave the machine back to me.it still runs well,with it budda gas engine.i still have the hoe,like to put it back on one day for fun
that 205 is awesome!!!!
Heres more pics of the 205 on our way and in Colchester CT
i have a couple videos of it working but don't know how to post them.
John, were those pics from the 2007 HCEA show?
That is exactly where they were
hoes great picssss!!!!!!!!
I will try and dig out the pics of the show at Boro a couple years before
Bucyrus Erie 14B cable how/crane on tracks found Im new to the forum and I am about to buy a 14B Bucyrus Erie Crane with hoe attachment. After reading Keith Haddock' s New book I belive that this is a 14B on tracks from the early 60's. Its complete but restorable I believe although this would be my first restoration and I would like to communicate with any folks who can help me with info. First thing, where to get a shop and operators manual? I read that there were only about 240 of these machine built so its rather rare. I would like to post some pictures but not sure how to do it and it appears that I don't have permssions on my profile. I live in Northern Virginia. I think that this machine was the follow-on to the 10B. Any one else own a 14B?
I had a Insley Model M cable hoe I put a dragline front on it. It had a 3-71 GM DIESEL. The controls were what was called boosted. I might find some of picks with the hoe front on it.
Here's that 2400 with backhoe I was talking about in Washington state. Does anyone know what happened to it after the project?
i love any cable pics you guys have to share! cable operated machines did thry i love the pics of the cable stuff!!!!!!!!!! yr
Heres a picture of my 1968 Bantam T-350, bought it a few years ago as something I always wanted, sorry it is green but that the way it was ordered from the factory as new (both inside and outside painted Detroit Diesel Alpine green). However I will restore it to it's original Bantam Orange with black bottom perhaps this year. As you can see it does run both the upper and ower have been given lots of tender loving care (and parts). I have thrown in a picture that I got from the internet, probably one of the best restorations I have seen, hope I can make mine look as good. OOP's got to keep those cables taught. View attachment 39953
Lima 2400 Great Picture I through out a lot of equip guide spec. books from the 70' several years ago now I have a use for them. Would the Lima 2400 be the biggest cable hoe? I though 2400 were like 6-8 yd drag? Or is it the same as NW190 D? Northwest41 what a rare find. Looks real nice.
northwest great lookin hoe you got there ,northwest!i wish it were on tracks! lol, nice unit. i really wish i could see one like that up and running, doing a real job!which it is way capable of!not just a show display! heck, i know im nuts! its all about production! i cant argue that! thanx for sharin ,northwest!!!!!!
cables is it safe to assume,that when operating one of these hoes, that when you were pulling the dipper stick in, or "crowding", did that cable on the top end of the dipper stick unwind as a automated feature of the beast? or was the operator doing that also?
No, nothing was automated on those machines. The operator would be working the clutch and brake for the hoist cable while pulling in the bucket.
buckethead You are absolutly correct in that the operator (me in this case) must remember to use both the clutch (hand lever) and drum brake (peddle) in a coordinated fashion when operating one of these, otherwise gravity has a way of making one novis operator look rather like a "deer in the headlights" when all comes crashing down. Creature comforts on this machine are few and far between the mear fact that I had the tin seat re-upolstered this winter and that the gauge cluster on 350's is just above the windshield is wonderful. The controls of course are manual but lucky for me Bantam's did not have heavy controls to operate and did not require boosters, servos or air controls, just plain old muscle, oh and a good pair of earmuffs to keep tha clanking and groning down. Yes, it is very noisy in the cab, however noise must mean that it is running and working, right. Then that means that I must be in the operators seat, and (as Maxwell Smart used to say) "Loving It"
automated cableing this idea of letting out the exact amount of pull cable, in regards of boom cable , the operators were gods! i know i dont have that kind of coordination!
Counter, the best explanation of how a cable hoe works is in the older editions of a book called Moving the Earth by Herbert L. Nichols. Also a book by the same author called How to Operate Excavation Equipment. I have the third edition of Moving the Earth from the 1970s I don't think the newer editions have much info on cable machines.
cable hoes from what i can see, the hoe defined ,digging! the shovel wasnt designed for digging holes!it looks to me like shovels can produce, once they are in a hole, and able to scrape at a face! only my guess!
Counter, you are correct. The cable shovel even today is capable of digging only a slight hole (just about enough of an incline to start a downward ramp in an open pit mine. These are much the same as the difference between a hydraulic face shovel and a hydraulic back-hoe, the face shovel works great at the face of the excavation while the backhoe works best from the top working into a hole (or bench). Hope this helps.
Insley M Model M Can't find one with hoe but came up with the boom on. Back in 1977
cable hoes thanks for the reply darryl!!!!!!!!
cable hoes cool lookin scraper in the background darryl! can you tell us anything about it?
Bantam Working Okay there is a horible green Bantam excavator a few posts back that I feel really bad about posting. I now have the unit poainted back to original (except the insite of the doors... ypu will see what I mean). Anyway heer are a couple of shots of it working and me playing with it last weekend. Feels Great.
My Grandpa and dad had American 595's 795's a couple Northwest's 41 and a model 6 a marion 43m we put a American gantry on that machine. The biggest cable machine was a Linkbelt K 48 http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr110/diggindanhoe/Hines Drive sewer job/photo37-1.jpg There a bunch of pictures on that site pm me and I will give you the link, I have about 250 pictures starting from 1927 to some of my work. I am the 3rd generation contractor and 3rd generation Linkbelt owner. digger
cable hoe Nice looking Bantam.Are there stabilizers on the back end of the carrier? That Link-Belt K 48 must have been quite a machine in it's time.There is a K-370 with a shovel front not far from here,all complete and not in bad shape either.Powered by a Cat D-13000 engine. Dominion
Wow, that thing turned out really beautiful! Great job!:drinkup:notworthy
The K48 weighed 140,000 lbs, had a cat D343 in it,that was put in in the 1960's. We moved it in one piece with the hoe on it, it was a little to tall to fit under everything. When the lattice boom was on that was 70' long we took that off most of the time, sometimes we would have someone swinging it around the corners and dodging traffic lights. Had a lot of fun back in the day. digger