OK, while we have a lot of scraper guys around here at the moment, lets see if we can put down who the big fleet owners currently in and around California are and perhaps list there fleets. ACI 660,657 & 651 Ralph D Mietzel ??????? Ebenstiener ??????? McCoy & Sons 660 & 657 Independent Construction Company 666,657,637 & 631 ?????? Sukut 657, 651 ??????? Share the knowledge gents, lets find out what is belching smoke!!!!!!
i typed in aci and it came back arch coal inc. is that the same aci you are talking about? they are right here in wy also if its the same.
I believe the ACI he is speaking of is Atflitch (spelling?) Construction Inc., very large dirt company in Califronia. They are a very private company though from what I've heard.
Sukut Construction might be the biggest dirt moving contractor in the nation. Right now most of their scrapers are parked due to the collapse of the housing market. But they're big and know how to move dirt. www.sukut.com Pinnick Inc, formerly Signs & Pinnick runs a big fleet of 657E's. Solely a dirt moving contractor, they move dirt fast which earned them the title "Screams & Panic" from a bunch of the Local #12 scraper hands. www.pinnickinc.com Teichert Construction does a lot of mass grading work in California. Last time I was out there they were working on a large residential development with Granite Construction. www.http://www.teichert.com/teichert-construction.cfm Ralph D. Mitzel has a pretty decent fleet of scrapers. All of which are old, but kept in cherry condition. He recently laid off one of his 651B hands after 10 years, who ended up spending the summer working for me running a 16. Last I heard he had most of his iron parked due to current market conditions. Granite Construction is a pretty big player in mass grading in California as well. They're spread out so much nationwide that their fleet fluctuates quite regularly, but I've seen several of their projects in California with decent sized spreads of 637G's and 657E's. I know Kiewit Pacific Co. has 22 657E's on the Schaeffer Ranch project in central California currently. There used to be video on YouTube of those scrapers on that project. Skanska USA Civil has done some big Federal Highway projects in California involving some decent scraper fleets. I don't know what their current status is, but I know from watching the Central Federal Lands Highway Division's website they're a pretty active player in federal transportation projects on the west coast. www.usacivil.skanska.com
Thats right ACI in Cal, check www.acigrading.com real nice fleet shot on the opening page. Another couple of big scraper outfits i have come across is Coburn Equipment Inc, Cobra Equipment rental and Don McCoy Corporation anybody have any detail on them????
i heard for an operator from Desilva Gates that they have the largest fleet of 657's in CA i believe that they also have somewhere around ten 666 running everyday as well
A lot of these guys started parking or cutting there fleet way back then the new CA emission regs came out a while ago too.
Here are some of Sukut's 657E's on a rental job I worked last year in Ventura Ca. http://youtube.com/watch?v=N9cLWv85nPc
Good stuff, there has just been a bunch of new videos put on youtube, if you put in Cat scrapers they should come up. Some great 657B P/P stuff with an onboard camera at the rear of the puller and you can see the action for a full cycle and the sweet sound of a D346 & D343!! There is some french 631E/D10R stuff on there too, gee they move dirt a bit different and when you see old mate launch the D10R backwards off a bench to push the next scraper uphill well, hmmmm. Not to mention the angle of the shank for ripping, but good stuff nonetheless.
Here are a few more links to companies: Don McCoy: http://www.donmccoycorporation.com/index.html Another McCoy, Dennis this time but not sure how big there fleet is: http://www.mccoyandsons.com/default.htm From what I can remember CA Rasmussen have/or did have a large fleet at some point but I think they may have scaled down in the past couple of years. A year or two ago I remember there being a number of 666's and 651/657's up for auction with Ritchie Bros which I believe where theirs. Anyone know what size their scraper fleet is at the moment and what it contains ? Nonetheless they have some nice old photos on the website of when they did have 666's here: http://www.carasmussen.com/74-2.htm http://www.carasmussen.com/74-3.htm http://www.carasmussen.com/74-14.htm Guy.F.Atkinson Do they still have a large equipment fleet ? OE3 have an article and a couple of pictures of the scrapers on Kiewits Schaeffer Ranch project here http://www.oe3.org/news/archives.html Do Independent have a website ?
Thanks for the links, I typed Independent Construction in Google and couldn't get anything for a company in California.
A few other large scraper contractors to add to the list would be MESA http://mesacontracting.com/ STICE http://sticeco.com Earth Tek http://www.earthtekeng.com/ Here's a few pics of some of McCoy's Scrapers at a project directly behind me...
Here's some pics of Sukut's scrapers... The thing that amazes me so much about Sukut how many large scale projects they have going on at one time... These pics are of just 2 of the who knows how many projects they currently have going on at the moment... Check out my website http://www.socalearthmovers.com if you want to see more pics I have a few hundred shots scrapers alone that I've photographed:usa
cool pictures, especially that one with the 57 turning and the ocean in the background, thats one to enlarge and put on my frontroom wall, i noticed some little rocks in one of them, maybe those cali guys dont just dig in "tater dirt" all the time. that one loaded 57 looked like he was traveling with his can pretty high, the boss better keep his eye on that guy, lol. he was in the lead too.
Ebensteiner went out of business a few years ago. I sold them a bunch of scrapers from the east coast back in the late 80's. They had one of the larger scraper fleets in California at one time.
In my post with the california scraper pictures, several of them had COBRA decals on the sides. Is this a company or a rental/lease company? Just curious, alan627b
Yeah... Cobra is in the rental business.
Thanks, Pete. alan627b
Hey guys... stumbled upon this post and since you posted the links of the bigger companies with Scrapers in CA, I was wondering who has the largest fleet of scrapers in North America? I work for Sureway and the rumor goin around our Earthworks Division is that we have the largest fleet of "buggies" out there. At my last count they had 45+ 657E/G's kickin around, and at least 40 627B/E/G's. I have only seen 4 pull pans and their all small ones. It just made me curious as to what some of these other companies are running for fleet size.
Desilva Gates purchased 24 657E's in 2004 from Peterson Tractor up in the bay area, plus all the other support equipment to go with it. There are 8 of them now on machinery trader.
Hey Burnout we likely know a lot of the same people. I have not worked for Sureway myself but know several people who do/have worked for them. Alberta has some big dirt eh, there are quite a few huge contractors based there.
Yeah there are. When I moved out here last year a 330 was a mainline hoe to me. My first day they had a 375L on site and I thought "wow this company is huge". Within 3 days they had 2 385's there and a couple days after that they floated in a Hitachi 1100EX.
Wow, 375 + 2 385's + EX 1100 - that is not messing around at all, within days of each other. Must be a very impressive company! Any other info on the job or company?
Here is a link to ther website http://www.surewaygroup.ca/ It has been a while since I have been on a big dirt job, often miss it. I had to take a trip out to Alberta the other day and was going to stop in on a freinds jobsite in Calgary to take a 57 for burn but I passed through to late.
Sureway is one of canada's largest earthmoving companies. I work for the Underground division, but we have some sweet equipment. Our division has over 40 hoes, 16 of them are 385's. We also have 30 or so track loader, most of them are 973's. The Dirt division is where the real equipment is though, 40+ 657's, 40 627's, 40 ADT's, a couple 385's, a Komatsu 475, I think a D11, a few D10's, D9's,8's,7's, the Hitachi 1100EX and a 2006 Komatsu PC1250. They also have a ton of graders, fram tractors with discs and blades, and packers including an 836F. One of the foremen told me at the xmas party that their lookin for a 24H grader to try out for haul roads. The owner of Sureway is an equipment buff and loves owning the biggest of everything he can. The job with all the big equipment was our big subdivision of the year. They stripped 400acres of topsoil, piles it, dig a couple huge ponds and did sub grade for everything, just so we could come in a service 800 lots.
How much dirt did they move on that project?
Hello Burnout. Hey, does Sureway have a D11 pusher or is that Kidco Construction? - Chris
Kidco Construction http://www.kidcoconstruction.ca/
I don't know how much we moved in Windermere but it was the jobsite of the year. As for the 11 pusher, I don't know. Like I said I have heard we have an 11 but I have never seen it. I am in the underground division so I don't see a lot of the equipment rolling around.
Thanks for the reply. Sounds like you folks have quite a fleet. - Chris
Yep and it's gettin bigger... tons of new junk for us sitting at Finning in Edmonton. I'll head over there sunday and snap some pics for you fine people... as well as our shop to see whats kickin around there. And I have to find out where this super secret gravel pit is where we keep all our equipment in the winter.
Here's a cool article I had scanned and saved onto my computer from the Orange County Register about a year ago, I had totally forgot about it till I was going through my pictures...I'm sorry for the poor quality... Hopefully it will come out clear enough for you to read Gives a good overview of just how much earth moving is going on and all the projects happening down here in Orange county alone... If you look at the first page Sukut states "Eighty Percent of the world's scrapers are in Southern California." I don't know how true that is but for awhile it sure seemed true there were scrapers everywhere:dizzy
It's cute how the paper is calling the Cat rubber-tired dozer a "front-end loader." At least they didn't fall back to the old newsman's standard of calling it a "steam roller."
Interesting article Kenny R, thanks for posting. For almost a year now, I've had a mechanic (who owns his own truck) working as a sub on the project I'm on, maintaining my scrapers. He's spent the last nine years working for Rentrac, Sukut, Signs & Pinnick, Desilva Gates, etc. He also told me about the 80% of the world population of scrapers were in California. He may have gotten that statistic from the article. I know I was blown away when he was telling me the number of scrapers some of the California contractors own. The fleet of 150 that Sukut has (or at least had at one point). The tremendous number of 657's that Pinnick and Desilva Gates run, etc. On an interesting note, I'm curious to see how that's going to change in the upcoming future though. With the tremendous growth in China, and the overall hilly topography of much of that country, its going to be interesting to watch Chinese mass grading contractors figure out the big dirt game. I know that China Communications Construction Co. www.ccccltd.com has a pretty decent spread, and I'm sure that will only grow in the near future. One of the best equipment managers I ever worked with took a job a couple years ago for an oil drilling company that has him working in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. He told me that KBR has been importing scrapers from all over the world for the last couple years for their infrastructure projects and new highway development projects they're doing. They've built up a fleet that's numbering around 300 according to his estimates. They're mostly E's, but they've also got D's and G's in the fleet. He said that one of KBR's current highway projects in Afghanistan is doing a new stretch of highway, 600 miles in length that has over 125 scrapers on it. I'd sure like to be on a project like that. Just like the good old days, to be moving dirt like that. Minus the safe place to go home and sleep at every night.
That's the trouble with big scraper jobs these days. They are all in developing countries , some of which have dubious health and safety records for American personnel. But, you're right, a 600 mile long scraper job would be about as much fun as I could have with my clothes on or off. Once you have scrapers and push cats in your blood, all other occupations pale in comparison........
Yes, but all other heavy equipment is still known as a "bulldozer".
More fleets Inaddition to who you listed here in So Cal you have: Varner Construction -637,657 Dennis Post - 637 Chino Grading -657 Shelton Construction - 641,651 Titan Engineering -637 Mckenna/Grade Pros - TS24 ECM- Earth, Construction, & Mining - 641.651 Reed Thomas - 637 FM Construction - 637 and Rental Fleets you have Cobra(just sold all their equipment) Tony Crissali - 637, 657 LD Anderson - 637 Coburn - 637, 657 Jagur Tractor - 637,657
Great thread! - Chris
Cobra RIP Smog Rules -CARB
i totally agree. one winter being layed off, my third year on a scraper i stopped in at the local bar the old super and his foremen were in having a "gouge" so i stopped in, many beers and stories later along with some tips about dirt, since i was only 21 i mostly just listened, but i worked up the nerve to ask when he thought we could be back to work, he just smiled and said "once you get this business in your blood you will never be the same", and it was true.
Maybe I'm too old already. Has anyone heard of "MK" (Morrison Knudsen) spelling?? They were large road builders in 1960 to 70s, and took on projects worldwide in difficult conditions. Another one I worked alongside in Bougainville was "Dillingham". Of course this was when D8H and D9G were the latest new toys and before excavators even existed. Self propelled scrapers were small and slow back then. Cat 619 and DW21 were the best of a bad lot. Times have surely changed with computers and satelites guiding engine power and dirt moving.......C ya........Ray
"MK" was purchased by Washington Construction Group www.wgint.com in 1996. MK was in serious money trouble.
Do you know how big of a Rental fleet does Peed Equipment Co. has?
KBR no longer is tied to any oil companies, they're a contractor much like fluor or bechtel. i can't believe the stuff that goes on in California, here in PA we're lucky to see a highway job with a 385 and a D8T doing the cut/fill, grading isn't even a vocab term used in construction here. everything just gets cut and filled and then on to the drainage crew. i have a friend who runs small projects for a regional heavy/highway contractor and they use scrapers on site development jobs but it's rare to see scrapers on a highway job. any of you guys heard of lane construction? they're big, but they don't venture out west, future employer, lets hope it goes well
Forgot Peed, they have a good amount of 657's and D10's
Calhusker, Why did cobra sell all their equipment?
CARB rules (California Air Resource Board), most of their equipment would need to be retrofitted. Also about a year ago most of the dirt work came to a halt with the housing crunch.
bjl14: " KBR no longer is tied to any oil companies, they're a contractor much like fluor or bechtel " I should have been more clear in my post. My friend doesn't work for KBR, he works for a different company, but in the last year that he's been in the middle east he's been around KBR's jobs and employees quite a bit. That's where he's gotten the information about some of their projects that he's passed along to me. calhusker, do you know anything about a toll road in Southern California that's supposedly kicking around on Schwarzenegger's desk? I've heard rumor from a few different sources of a planned toll highway in SoCal that, if passed, would generate a tremendous amount of scraper work due to the topography in the area that it's planned. Curious if you know anything about it?
MASS X- I'm guessing this is what your hearing about, there is a huge push going on right now for completion of the final 16 miles of the 241 toll road... Here's a link to their website http://www.relievetraffic.org
Hey... has there been a Ritchie Brothers auction in California lately? Or has some big land scraper company done some shuffling around of equipment? I was talking to one of our foremans for the dirt crew today, he and another guy just flew down to LA last week to start dismantling and loading 10 657G's that we just bought. I was told we weren't getting any more land scrapers this year, but thats 16 or so 657G's they have already bought since january.
Ask your purchasing officer if he has heard about fuel costs rising? Maybe the seller sold out at the right time. What price is scrap steel in USA these days??..........C ya..........Ray
We buy directly from the refinery. We also won 2 big jobs that haven't been made public yet, 1 is for 400 million over the next 2 years, and the other is over 1 billion over the next 8 years. Purchasing officer? I don't know if we have one. The owner of the company is a iron man, he likes going to auctions to buy the biggest newest equipment he can find. As for fuel usin a lot of fuel..... bah they make new fuel everyday!
Atta boy Burnout...keep me workin! Brian
I wonder how much money each of those 657's were purchased for, appx?
It was pretty ugly, they were all freshly painted. Most of them had a set of newer tires on the front or back, and the brought around $35-30K on average.
Not for G's
a 57g for 30 to 35,000, had to be a misprint.
No "G's" in the Auction. In fact never seen a "G" in an auction. Only a few companies have them out here. Still mostly "B & E's". If you are spending the money for a "G", you probably wouldn't send it to auction to sell it.
b and e models that sounds better but still pretty cheap, so is there a 57 c or d? i always forget the order of the 57s, i know they skip letters sometimes.probably not too many gs in need of fresh paint yet either.
They were G's, I saw them the other day sitting at our shop all stickered up now. I was told what they were bought for and it definately was a hair more than 35g's.
G's are in auctions often but not that cheap
Sweet Pics! I was on that job next to the water for a few months, I was running A35 & A40 Volvo's that Sukut rents from us. That was a pretty sweet gig...me and a few of the other operators would often meet for an early morning surf session in Dana Point before heading to the jobsite! An awesome company, I know a lot of the big dawgs over there. Stice Co is another great company I work with on occasion. They have a pretty gnarly fleet (a lot of it sitting at the moment) I work with them closely over the past few years. Keiwit Granite Yeager/Skanska All good size companies I work with.
That is so awesome that you got to surf before going to work on the site. What time did you start? and what time did you get out to hit the surf? Must have been pretty early AM, no?
Start times on jobsite were always 7am. We'd meet in the water (or parking lot above water) at 5:30 am...ish and have about an hour session. We were only 5 minutes from the site so it was always easy. Totally vibrant...AWAKE and ready for the day!
you got any surfing pictures. would love to try it sometime.
Burnout: "Hey... has there been a Ritchie Brothers auction in California lately? Or has some big land scraper company done some shuffling around of equipment?" Pinnick Inc. (formerly Signs & Pinnick) recently turned back the order for 8 657G's that were originally placed on order in early 2007. It's more than likely the machines that were meant for them are the same ones that ended up at Sureway.
Mass x would it be fair to say that the top scraper guys in SoCal would be Sukut, Independent & ACI?? Followed by the Pinnicks, PCI McCoys etc?? We are hearing down here that if you place an order for scrapers at the moment they will be shipped the next day as the factory had a lot of orders cancelled and now have stock machines ready to go. Heaps of scoop work down under at the moment
Gavin: Mass x would it be fair to say that the top scraper guys in SoCal would be Sukut, Independent & ACI?? Followed by the Pinnicks, PCI McCoys etc?? I would say that depends on what you mean by top? Who is the biggest? Who is the best? With “best” being defined by most efficient and profitable? If by largest, than yes, but add Desilva Gates Construction to the list of big guys because when I was working in California 4-5 years ago, they had a big fleet of scrapers, a lot of nice iron at that. If by best, most efficient and profitable, than I would (in my opinion) place Signs & Pinnick Inc., now Pinnick Inc, at the top of my list. That could simply be due to the jobs I saw them do, but as far as scraper contractor goes, I’ve never seen anyone run scrapers like they do when it comes to efficiency and productivity. We are hearing down here that if you place an order for scrapers at the moment they will be shipped the next day as the factory had a lot of orders cancelled and now have stock machines ready to go. I’ve heard that CAT has machines in Peoria sitting and waiting, so I’m sure that’s true. From what I understand, in 2005 and 2006, getting new scrapers required getting on a waiting list. Sometime in 2007 (with the early pull-back of American home-builders due to subprime mortgage concerns) contractors on the waiting list either got what they wanted, or cancelled orders. Heaps of scoop work down under at the moment Is it largely mining work or is there still a lot of residential housing work taking place in Australia? I know right now, that the big scraper jobs taking off in the next year to year and a half are all transportation, infrastructure and mining work. With ore and coal prices where they’re at, there’s becoming a tremendous amount of scraper work in those markets. I’d like to see an updated statistic as to where the scrapers have gone. All through the 1990’s, 80% of CAT’s scrapers were in California. Watching all the auctions lately, I know a lot of those machines have moved out, to China, the middle-east, Australia and to mines all over the US. Be interesting to see where a lot of them have ended up.
Hi guys I'm new here. I'm local 12 I worked for Sukut for a few years and before that I was with Ebenseiner up untill they closed there doors. I would have to agree Sukut and ACI are the largest rite now. Sukut has aprox. 150 scapers 80-90 51's, 20 37's and the rest 57's. Roger
Mass x sorry for the slow reply, been busy fixin scraper customers, from a dealer perspective (where i work) i look after the biggest scraper operator in NSW, they currently have 47 scrapers and all are working, they predominately do roadworks and there biggest job now has 16 x 651E and 8 x 637G on the job. Lots of roadworks keep the scoops busy and if you take a look at http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/construct...egional/southwest/hume_duplication/index.html you will see some of the works. We had the no 1 scraper guy from Decatur and the senior eng. down here a couple of weeks ago and there is a very big push from Cat to introduce and reintroduce the scraper so great news for scraper fans with big improvements in technology. They are looking at load cells via the lift cylinders, wet brakes and adding technology for load counts,cycle times etc and operator comfort is high on the list also. Kunming airport job in china is 180 million bcm job and they are getting scrapers into that along with a big road job somewhere that has taken any old scrapers they can find to get it done. Might be time to reintroduce a big 3 axle!!
That is great news indeed Gavin! While at ConExpo they were saying the 637G and 657G were scheduled to be upgraded and re-released in 2010 (but who knows for sure). I am glad to hear that Caterpillar feels that scrapers are still important enough to continue upgrading. Here are a couple of photos of the new 613G cab. - Chris BTW: This is still one of the best threads in a long time in my eyes.
It looks like Cat went back to the 3-lever controls in scrapers.
I spoke with the CAT scraper rep at ConExpo quite a bit regarding scrapers and one of the things I asked was about the 3-lever control in the 613G. She said due to the large number of changes made to the 613 to update it and the 615 (now discontinued) from the C series to the G series, they simply didn’t get the controls changed in time for ConExpo. She said it’s likely that there will be 613G’s with the single joystick control introduced shortly after the debut of the machine shown there.
Scrapers Ok...thanks squizzy for helping with my post. I can see that there are a lot of big scraper operators on here. I am just a farmer. I bought a scraper to move dirt while building a pond and for building waterways. The thing is probably ancient. I'm just trying to find out some information about it. Did there used to be a company called Murray? It says Murray Billings - Sacramento. I can't find any information on-line about a company called Murray. Thanks for any help anyone can give to a little guy. My dirt moving equipment can't compare to yours. Perhaps you would like to see a picture of my combine?????
hello DFARM, good to see another illinois farmer on the forum! And yes, lots of combine pics please! What part of illinois are you from?
Deere9670 - I'm from central IL. What part are you from? We use Deere equipment also. I can't find any information about my scraper though.
Im from north-central Illinois. We farm around 2000 acres up here. Sorry im not a scraper guy, so I cant help you out there, but if you post some pics of it in a new thread, I'm sure someone will be able to help ya out! Lets see some pics of that equipment if you dont mind!
Ebenstiener Co. (Ca. scrapers) At thier peak Ebenstiner Co. had over One Hundred (100) Cat 651-B scrapers, allong with a large amount of support equipment. They had many large projects with large amounts of rental machines,sometimes running over 200 scrapers on all combined jobs. Paul Ebenstiener passed away in 2001 and his wife continued the company for a while. Stephen Passy & Assoc auctioneers bought all the equipment outright and sold off quite a few pieces in private sales. I saw a few machines on Sukut Jobs with Ebenstiner decals & Sukut Equipment numbers.The rest of the equipment was sold at auction in April 2004 & by that time they listed (46) 651B's at a Stephen Passy & assoc auction in Riverside CA. (I still have the color brochure) Here is Pauls Obituarary:usa Paul Ebensteiner, 69, wealthy engineering contractor and philanthropist who aided hospices. Ebensteiner, born in Cold Spring, Minn., served in the Marines during the Korean War. He earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for delivering supplies to front-line troops despite severe wounds from enemy fire and a land mine. Settling in Southern California after the war, he worked 20 years for contractor J.A. Thompson Co., rising to general manager. In 1971, Ebensteiner formed Ebensteiner Co., which prepared sites for several Southern California freeways, golf courses and the Getty Center, among other projects. He was named contractor of the year in 1999 by the Southern California Contractors Assn. Ebensteiner was a lifetime governor of the National Hospice Foundation, and worked extensively with the June Ebensteiner Hospice Foundation established by his wife in Calabasas. Ebensteiner was a major contributor to the building fund for the Catholic cathedral of Los Angeles. On Sunday in Los Angeles.
I had a partner name jimmy that worked for ebensteiner we worked for cobra before they went under he told me the dissapointing story that his wife was getting taken advantage of.
You CA guys have it made! Great thread with lots of terrific photos! Sure does make me jealous of you guys out in California though. I'm stuck here in boring old New Jersey and can't even remember the last time I saw a decent dirt moving job. There's very little in the way of open land around here and what there is will probably never be developed. About the only scraper action out here is when I stumble across an old 621 rotting away in the back of some guy's yard. Haven't gotten to see any pans in action for ten years or more, and never anything bigger than a '37. So please keep the great pictures coming, guys. And do your best to stay away from New Jersey!
Hoppy that's not completely true. Vollers Excavating still has 20 some 637s, Caruso has some 627s including some G models, Pillari Bros have 6 or so 627s, Sambol has some 627s, 615s and 613s, a company from Freehold whose name I cant remember now has 2 627s a 633 and a 623, down South Jersey, Richard Pierson has 637s and some self loaders. There are a lot of small housing contractors who still have a few self loaders like 613s and 615s around. How much any scrapers will be working around here with the economy slowing down is anybody's guess, though.
Hey Hoppy, come up north, we still got some running around too! Mather Corp. of Bloomfield, CT has some 631C's, Borggaard Construction of N. Grafton, MA has 4 631's and 6 637's, Spazzarini Construction and Simscroft-Echo Farms also got some Cat pans running around (631's I think), and S. Carpenter Construction of Bristol, CT and the QVEA in Colchester, CT both have Clark elevators. Nothing comparable to CA, but that's good enough for me!
Buckethead - Vollers has always been one of my favorites, but I haven't stumbled across any of their projects for quite a while. Ten years or so ago, they had a big spread of their 637's grading out the old Lockheed site on Route 22 in Watchung for a new mall, but except for a couple of really small jobs I haven't seen them around since. I'm not familiar with any of the other contractors you mentioned. The outfit from Freehold that you couldn't remember may have been Hess Brothers. They had a number of 633's and these were the only self-loaders I've ever seen in action. Self-loaders aren't a good choice for my part of the state - too much rock!
NJ Pans When Hess bros. went out, we(HAAS Exc.) bought a bunch of iron from them. We bought two 633D's, a 623B, two D8K's, B-E 61B dragline and an old FWD Co. water truck. All the hess iron is still working for us except the water truck, which the blue smoke wrench got to, and one of the 633's. We were stripping topsoil for a housing development in hammonton NJ. when she blew a hyd. line, and sprayed on the turbo. The Foreman and opperator just about had the fire out using dirt and fire extingushers when all H#&^ broke loose. The NJ Forest Fire Service Noticed the smoke and deployed one of there water drop helicopters to investigate. I know when i was in elementary school, i learned that water makes a grease fire spread. So that 633 sits in our yard for parts. She was the better of the two 633's too.We also have a 613 and six 627's. If i can find my camera i will get some pics.
Well I guess I can give the Northern AB update for Scrapers. Waiward has 10 627's kickin around, 2 E's, 6 F's and 2 G's. and then there is the big dawg in scraper power. Sureway still has a fleet of around 60-70 627's, most range from B's to some E's, 3 F's, and at least 25-40 G's. As for their 657 fleet, it's gotta be around 85-90 by now. It's a cross between all E's and G's.
Hoppy, it's not Hess Bros. they were from the Parlin section of Sayreville. They were huge at one time but as Tdozer said they sold most of their equipment. They have an office next door to their old yard but I don't think they have much equipment left. Like you said you're in a rocky area, that's why you don't see many pans at all, much less self loaders, by you. Tdozer does Haas still use the 61B? It's not every day you see a dragline anymore.
Draglines As with most of the big iron we have, most of it sat idle this year. The 61B was used to strip the clay overburden in two of our sand pits for years. This past year it was cheaper to uncover small sections with a hoe and endumps as needed. hopefully the economy will turn around so i can have a chance at running one of our draglines. we also have a northwest drag thats a little bigger than the 61B. I cant find a model # anywhere on it. But that big old murphy diesel does have an amazing sound. Ill get pics of that too if i can find my darn camera.
Cobra Equipment Rental Alan, Cobra Eq had a fleet of about 20 657's. Cobra Eq rental was formed in the mid 1990's after Willie Rasmussen & his brother spilt up Pacific Tractor and Equipment of Colton Ca. (known as PTE) They has about (40) 657's 20 "B" & 20 "E" each taking about 20 machines each plus support equipment. One company is called Cobra Equipment Rental and the other was Pacific Independant. P.I. sold off thier scrapers a few years ago & now have a fleet of cat D350E's & 735's. Cobra Eq rental had a complete dispersal sale with Ritchie Bros about 1-2 years ago. If I am off on this company history,some one free to correct me. The pictures that were posted in another thread with Beaumont Ca scraper spreads on two sides of the freeway were Cobras. They were the older ones & the newer spread with all 657E's was Pinnick Inc. 657B's above; Cobra Eq Rental on a Mesa Contacting job 657E's below; Pinnick Inc job Dug
Those 2 jobs on opposite sides of the highway are sort of like my own job back here in Nebraska...I get to run the old junk, work union and make about $22 per hour...our competitors have all the new stuff, are non-union and their new hires start at app. $15 per hour. It's also interesting how many of our competitors, with the new machinery, have gone belly up over the years, and these guys are still here...they've been going out of business for 40 years! That being said, I hope to get to run some of the newer machinery before too much more time goes by! That old stuff is starting to hurt me. Dug, thanks for the information! Alan627b
A shot of Independent Construction's job at Bee Canyon --651's and 657's
Damn that's a lot of scrapers 992G!!!!:dizzy
wow that must be a nightmare to keep moving. I had 11 on a road job once and that was headache enough
Hey Kenny R, Looks like you had some real good connections to get in there while they were running. Must of been great!!!!!
Wow that looks like a job that I ran a push cat for sukut on 2 years ago. Roger
Ebensteiner was a great company to work for till the old man pased away. This is a nice obituarary but he made his way to the top by more companys than Thompson. I think he was the head estimator for Fulmer & Petty then it became Fulmer then Fulmer & Ebensteiner then finaly Ebensteiner with the help of his wifes money. Roger
Dug, That was a pretty accurate descrption of Pacific Tractor, Cobra, and Pacific Independent Equipment. I will post some pics of P.I. repowering a Cat 657E and a Cat D350 E as soon as I figure out how.
Here are the pics I promised....
cobra equipment rental yup good old dale rasmussen and jim atkinson i was on those jobs with pinnick and mesa in beaumont ca and grand terrace
Peed equipment rental 992G, From your question on 2-4-2008. I have not talked with David Peed latley, last I did they had about 2 dozen 657E's & 10 651B's all the 651B's are tier III and most of the 657E's are also tier III. Had some D10N push cats, D9N's also. Peed maintains thier equipment very well. If you look on socal earthmovers web site, remember seeing some photos of Peeds Scrapers, know the 651B's had red decals. They are one of the sierial number is the equipment number companies. With things so bad here in California lets hope they make it through, they are a good outfit. Here's one of thier D10N's (2YD1144) Dug
Peed sold all of their 651's and dozers all they run know are 657E's, they have somewhere around 26 I believe. And yes they do keep their scrapers in top shape and most or all of them are re powered to tier 111
Chuck Green down in Lakeside, Ca. has a few of Peed's 51B's and a D10N right now for sale. Wonder if he is down sizing due to current times?
I was an equipment operator in AZ, I worked for Rummel Construction. We had 14 657 E's while I worked there. Those are pretty fun to operate, but I wasn't a regular in them
If you work in Windemere in '07, do you meet Lisa, the packer girl on his 836 or Alan, a french acadian guy on his D9N??? Me, a worked most of the summer '07 in Summerside and the big job called 17ST - Industrial during the fall with de 1100EX. About the D11, I think is in the pit at Villeneuve or in Wabamum coal mine. Frenchy
Peed Equipment Co Inc, is one of the best 57 fleet going in Cal right now, all 33 of his rigs are teir 3, on average he has a 98.2 run time, little to no down time.
Bonechip, i would think everyone has no downtime in Cali at the moment when it comes to scraper fleets, not much happening from what i can gather?
Yes your right about that, he is still able to keep some running here and there, but when they are running down time is very very low, Peed equipment does deliver a good product to their customers.
Does anyone out there have an address for the company called McKenna/Grade-Pros in Ca.They run mostly TS-24's.Thanks Mike Durkin
They are located in Corona. I will try to get there address tomorrow for you. You might try the Blue Book also for there address and phone number.
the ts,24s dont belong to McKenna they are Jason Caufeilds machines of Caufield Equipment and i heard that he sold them but not positive Mc Kenna is in Corona right off the 15 and 91 i use to work for Senior on some jobs in Victorville
Kenny, love the website! good pics! :usa
desilva/gates construction had 32 657's but now are down to only 16. they sold them because of the downturn in the economy and no subdivision work in northern california.
Nice pictures!
Scraper Tires We bought this year entirely too many tires: 37.5-39 44PR Belshina 219B E/L4 If anybody would know a sizable fleet of 657/631 this tire would be a great value. I have them sitting safe and sound in a warehouse in Carson CA. Any referral to help liquidate these is greatly appreciated. I love to buy and sell tires and parts, just got a little overzealous on this one! Thanks for any insight. ointhead
I will give you $100 each delivered.
37.5-39 44PR Belshina E/L4 Scraper Tires @ $5,000 USD Hi Dualie, We need to get $5,000 per tire delivered any USA warehouse / site. Qualified parties may set up and account. Let me know if you could use some tires. Thanks, Brian
Alright, $150
37.5-39 44PR Belshina E/L4 Scraper Tires @ $5,000 USD Hi Dualie, How many do you need? What is your billing / delivery info? Thanks, Brian
for $150 (USD) each i will take every tire you have, delivered to Oakland, CA
37.5-39 44PR Belshina E/L4 Scraper Tires @ $5,000 USD Hi Dualie, You want to pay $150 for freight or the $5000 tire? So you want $5150 Delivered? I have offered to deliver @ $5,000. Glad to accept the freight amount but no need. We work clear and transparent, shot you our best deal @ $5000 and will honor it. Please advise the bill to / ship to info and we can get started tomorrow. Thanks, Brian Cohn
Since you were trying to make back door cheep deals against this sites terms of use policy i figured you were looking to deal, but apparently not. I will stick to known major brand tires for my equipment, not Chinese tires that might not be fit for use as a tugboat cushion. not to mention your FIRST post here was one trying to solicit sales.
Hi Dualie, Thanks for the feedback. Belshina is made in Belarus and approved OE for CAT / Komatsu. Scrapers are a specific market and only thought I was helping. If you have any issues. Thanks for the dialog. Brian
Do any of these outfits have work now? I would love to run a pushcat for one of them. How hard would it be to go to work for one of them? Let's get alittle update on what they are all doing now considering these outfits probably move the most dirt in the country
Most went to RUMMEL in AZ.
Hey Guys! I notice this is an old thread but I wanted to leave some contact information and updates on our company. http://www.peedequipment.com Our website to find out more about us. We are currently in the process of updating it as well so that it is more accessible and convenient.