Good morning. Over here in the UK I’ve worked with plenty of scrapers over the years,but although I’ve driven TS24’s with p/p equipment fitted,I’ve never actually used it. Over here,it’s allways a push load operation,however there are now a few scrapers here with the p/p set up in use. Obviously you need a longer dig,and I’m guessing that’s why only 2 work in tandem rather than 3 In triple. Does triple loading cause unnecessary stress on the scrapers,or are they ok? I’m new to push pulling but would like the opinions of you chaps across the pond who have plenty of experience in this matter. Many thanks in advance.
I ran Caterpillar 627's and we never tripled up. I also worked on jobs with 637's and I never saw them triple up. I don't think two good operators would need a third scraper to increase production. Unless there was only three scrapers operational out two pairs.
Triple push-pull would appear to require an extremely long cut to get them all full. Not impossilbe to do on the right job though. This outfit from Califronia seem to have a good handle on push-pull operation. https://www.youtube.com/user/SoCalEarthMovers/videos
They have that down to a science!!
We tried 5 x 627 Bs hooked up for a few loads once, it does work but heaven help if the last scraper hooks into some thing hard, plus you need a long cut area.
I could only imagine the carnage if the tail scraper found a nice boulder. Pull the tractor right off the pan with that much power dragging it.
I would like to go out and see one of there excavations in person some day. Socal seems to be one heck of an operation. They can move dirt on such a large scale it is incredible.
I'm not sure if HEF member Rollover Pete doesn't work for SoCal.
I managed to get down to take a look myself yesterday.The pushpulls were loading in a much shorter area than I imagined and were impressive.I’ve concluded that a third would certainly work although that’s about as far as it goes,as anymore would me counter productive I’m thinking. I have to say that those towed scrapers were shifting great loads at some pace.I’m looking at them with a more positive eye than before.I’m abit of a die hard D8 and towed scraper man myself,but those Challenger and K.Tec’s were really motoring
There are some interesting stories here on HEF. Not just a rear unit hooking a rock and tearing out the neck, but also a front unit hooking a rock and the rest jack knifing into the unit.
I think it’s all down to the material being moved. SoCal seem to specialize in sand which lends itself to push-pull operation. There doesn’t appear to be too many rocks in it. Ag tractors pulling towed scrapers is one thing because they are designed to have weight on the drawbar but I think you’d tear the arse out of a wiggle wagon in short order.
I have both a deere elevating scraper and a pull pan behind a scraper special ag tractor. Sand or good dirt the pull pan and ag tractor really shine. Now admittedly the ag tractor is much newer than the scraper, but the ag tractor is much more comfortable. But when I get in tough clay, the pull pan won't hold grade. It sucks into the cut quickly and can stall the tractor. About as soon as it starts to load you have to be raising the pan. Clay that wants to load in chunks doesn't want to come out either. As for speed, the pans are made to load 5mph or faster. When starting to fill a ribbon of clay will sometimes shoot clear up out of the bowl and land 20' behind the pan.
SoCal is just the name of a website with a bunch of pictures/videos of earthmoving based in Southern California. The machines are usually owned by the bigger companies there, Sukut, Coburn, Mitzel, Peed etc. There’s some cool stuff on there though.
Thank you. I wasn't aware of that. Seen the site and enjoyed watching the videos. I'm sure that Pete must work for one of those outfits you mentioned above. HeavyEquipmentForums
a Cat mechanic in Colorado told me a customer kept trying to hook 3 scrapers together and the middle one would always get ripped apart. Where I'm at now they'd fire the super for allowing it so I'm guessing they heard or had similar issues.
Yes you can. We used to do it in az. Hooked up 4 one time. You need guys that know what they're doing though or it can be a mess
Those 657's have to be the worst-loading scraper I've ever watched! That last scraper in the triple pull is just dragging the dirt along, it's not even feeding into the bowl properly! R.G. LeTourneau would be spinning in his grave, watching that! A LeTourneau Carryall loads dirt so smoothly, the dirt boils over the sides before you even realise it's full!