I can always count on the HEF forum members to come though when I need pictures. I'm working on another modeling project. Does anybody have pictures of either the Drott 80 or 120 excavators Would prefer crawler mounted. I have been able to locate parts and service manuals, but still need some pix's. Thanks, John
What you are asking for is somewhat new to me and I worked for years on Drotts. The model 80 was a rubber tired backhoe or out here in the Northwest they were also log loaders. I've seen the truck body also used for Drott cruise cranes. I have never seen or heard of a Drott 120. Maybe there was something different that was used in your section of the country?
Drott 120 Based on what I can locate on line. The Drott 120 was a 120,000 pound crawler mounted excavator. Their is several pictures of a Drott 80 log loader on line on a wheeled undercarriage. I seem to remember seeing one in Alaska years ago. It's Big! John
I've worked on a half a dozen 80s. The biggest Drott I've ever seen or even heard of was a 50. If you find those photos please post them here. I would be interested in seeing them and I'm sure others would also.
ebay purchase I have purchase this transport guide off e-bay. It will give a since of the size of a Drott 120. Looks like it weights around 135,000 pounds ready to operate. I've been though all my books, but no pictures. Now it's a challenge to locate something.
Drott 160 Brochure pics Drott pictures hope this helps
Thats pretty cool.We have a few Drott 40 & 50 excavators in my area.They have the leveling house for side hill digging.Neet idea.
We use to have tons of 35's and 40's around. Then the 1080's and 1080b's took over. They had levellers on them too.
What happend to Drott?Did Case buy them out?They must have had a good patent on the house level option.I dont see any other companys using it.
Ithink I have a sales literature for a 120 Drott at work. I will check monday and let you know. The 160 that Graham paoted is acually a Poclain built machine. Case had to use the drott name for so long after they bought them out but must not have had any stipulation were they had to use the name.
Now I understand. Goose is correct in the photo of the machine is a Poclain with a Drott decal. If there was a Drott 120 I'm sure it would have been a Poclain. The history on Drott that I heard was they got into trouble with law suits on the cruise crane line and had to find a way to bail. Tennico Corporation acquired the Drott line, Case Manufacturing and Poclain all about the same time and ran the company for several years. Case eventually bought their way out carrying what was left of the Drott line with them. As I understand it the engineer with Drott that developed the tilting house was friends with the people that developed the Timbco feller buncher line and put those ideas into that machinery. At any rate I would still be interested in a photo of the 120 Drott.
Sorry I don't have a Drott120 picture or brochure. You are correct though the 160 I posted was a Poclain/Drott they later became Case/Drott/Poclain. They early ones were Poclain Red and White with Drott decals, later they were Case Tan and Brown with Drott stickers although still much the same as a Poclain/Drott. Here is a picture of an 880D Case which is really just a Drott. The major changes were probably engines. The first ones were Detroit later replaced by Case 504 at least in the smaller excavators.
I have NEVER seen DROTT on an excavator and was convinced that gggraham was on a wind up as that machine to me is definetly a Poclain which I understood were a French machine. Just hunted &highlight=Poclain Scroll down the first page and you will find a 220 and then a wheeled 61 which has the gap between the back of the cab and engine like on the Case 788 and probably others. So which came first, as excavators, I would take it as Poclain then to get into the States a tie up with Case who had fingers in the Drott pie. :beatsme
If it works out that it is actually a badged Poclain, pictures should be a lot easier to find. I know I have some of a 75 I was on in 1978, to be honest it looks just like the 160 and 220 just further away
burnout posted this one earlier here's a pic of a 120 drott burnout posted earlier.
I would have to admit that looks a darn sight more like the one on the lowloader in the original post than the Red and Grey ones I know as Poclain.
Thanks for posting that picture. It has an unusual configuration with the boom lift hydraulic cylinders. I wonder what their engineers were thinking. John
Thanks for the photo. That machine has the sheet metal of the Drott line but that boom and stick combination suggests to me that it is one of or at very least a very limited production machine. I can't see how it would ever have been productive in that configuration. Learn something new all the time on here. Thanks again!
Found the brochure A friend located this brochure on the web. I wonder the number of these units that were sold. I did locate where one was sold at auction for parts in 2006. It certainly a different looking boom design. Is must a little light feeling in the rear when fully loaded. John
If you look at some of the old parts books for Poclain/Case excavators there was a decal for the counter weight that said "Poclain by Elf" I don't remember seeing one flagged like that. I do remember the Drott series and the older red and white Poclain. I'll try to dig something up at work if the old books are still around.
Heres some more detailed info on the Drott 120
Goose, Thanks for posting these pictures. I find it's a great looking machine. It's a big help for my modeling project. John
Some cool old brochures in this thread...must be a bunch of older guys here...me included.
i cut my teeth on a drott 50 with a v-6/53 detroit...loved the 2 speed hoist..turntable leveler...at age 55, i'd give my left nut to spend couple of days on a 120. can you imagine the scream a v/12/71 would make? close to orgasmic
:badidea keep the nut and the dreams. I bet the noise would be a let down even without ear defenders but I get your drift .................... ........... PARDON! ........ I said ...................... dont matter, enjoy :drinkup
The other day I was looking at mini excavators and I found on Gehl's website that on their 223 and 373 mini's the house leveling comes standard. www.gehl.com
It was not only a screamer, but a fantastic earthmover. The City of Saskatoon had a Drott 120 that they only brought out in the dead of winter, because the 120 was the only machine in that day that would dig through the deep frost. The Drott 120 was eliminated from production when Case bought out Poclain and started to market Poclain excavators in the USA in the late '70's. I've operated a 120. It was a slow deliberate, but very powerful machine!
I had the opportunity to sell one of the last Drott 120's manufactured back in 1980. It was sold to Davis Industries (Uniontown, PA) then sold to Starvaggi Mining in Masontown, PA. The Drott 120 was a monster of a machine for its time. It was big, slow, and powerful. Unfortunately, it was also prone to breakdown. Yes, listening to that V12 Detroit was a breath taking experience. The advent of high pressure hydraulic backhoes from companies like Poclain, Leibherr, and Cat were a contributing factor to their demise. Drott was acquired by Case as was Poclain. Poclain made major inroads in the U.S. with sales and distribution through Caterpillar dealers (prior to Cats introduction of backhoes). Poclain then used a variety of dealership networks but never regained the market share once Cat introduced their backhoes. The Drott name appeared on "Poclain" models as did the Case name once Case cleaned up their marketing line.
I have a chance to buy a drott 120 you said they were prone to breakdowns what kind of breakdowns.
You must consider that was 32 years ago. The machine had continuous hydraulic problems. We had constant service calls (2 hours from shop) for pump, lines, control valves, and cylinder failures. The low pressure system was very taxed to keep up with the massive cylinders in order to create the power generated at that time. Therefore, the development of the HP system. When it did run it was a beast. However, it couldn't hold a candle to a HC300 or 400 Poclain. Good luck.
I have a Aug 1975 Roads & Streets mag with a Drott add in it on page 71-72.It says it handles buckets up to 3 and a quarter yards,reach more than 47 feet and will dig deeper than 31feet.Weighing more than 134,000lbs and has a 456hp engine,(Which is a 12v71N Detroit) Track width is ajustable from 11'11 1/2 to 13'6 wide. It has 36" track pads and the track is 18ft long.The counterweight weighs 27,500lbs which two cylc lower in the back for transport. Hope this helps.Will try to post the pic later.
Drott 120 old RB auction photo.
Hello "Johnny boy"!! That's quite the machine you're looking for.....not the easiest to find!! But as of Friday, i am heading to Pennsylvania to do some machine hunt.I will be on the lookout for anything obsolete and hard to find.You can be sure that if i come across one of these beasts, i will take lots of picutres of it along with some measurements of all the main components for you. I gotta admit that the 120 will be a terrific model to have in any collection of vintage construction equipment. Good luck with your search. Max.
Great old picture with this old machine. What is the specs of this machine?
I worked for a company in the 80s and as the story goes there either was only 10 of them made or 10 in the country, but we had 2 of them new. They were slow but strong as we set 9ft dia concrete pipe with them. Not off the bucket we picked them from the end of the boom. Lift cylinders were mounted behind the boom arch and pulled in wards to lift the boom. They had a wild long boom and a short stick which made holding grade hard. But good for going deep. Guy I worked for would never fix any leakes on them from the time they were new so we put a 55gal drum of hyd oil on top and just kept filling the hdy tank
anyone visit this forum anymore? I have some info on that Drott 120.
Yes I'm still here and always looking for information on the Drott 120!! Thanks, John
Hello my father still has a 120 excavator. At 1 time we had 7 of them. I will try and get you some pictures of ours. I believe he has a model of 1 of them also. Are construction company had every size excavator that they made. John drott had a photo taken with them in are yard around early 80s. I will get you some photos as soon as I can. Thank you Scott
scott, I would appreciate any pictures you could post here or send to me. thanks, john
I will get some pictures of the actual machine when I can. I am sure he has manuals too just not sure where. We also have a trailer full of spare parts. I have a really cool drott frost tooth never been used machine could dig threw frost like nothing
that looks close to tomahawk.