Just thought I'd post some pics of the excavators I've operated over the years. First, a 451 Bantam. That's me standing on the track, when I was a little kid. I operated it later. The pic was probably from about 1975 or so. I sold it in 1993. Second is a 266 Bantam. Bought new in 1978, I still have it. Hasn't been used in years.
Next is our old 225 Cat. Had it from 1985 to 1990
Koehring 666D, had it from 1985 to 1990
Case 125B and 170C. bought both new in 1990. Still have both of them, 170 got vandalized a few years ago though.
Komatsu PC300-5. bought in 2004 (it's about a 1991 model), has 22,000 hours on it, and is used practically everyday when we're busy.
Now, my baby... PC200-8 we bought new last year. Nicest machine I've ever ran.
Couple more. 200 Hitachi we had rented for a while, and a 450 Hyundai I ran for a couple of month loading dirt for another company. Started the dirt loading with our 300 Komatsu, working by the hour. They brought the 450 up from Texas, and paid me to run it. Sad thing is, if I'd had a bigger bucket for my 300, I could have loaded the trucks just as fast as with the 450. That 450 was about the slowest machine I've ever ran. I was loading mostly end-dumps, with some bobtail tandem dumps mixed in.
That's what I've mostly ran (excavator wise), and all of them that we've owned. I've also ran 210, 290, 250 and 320 Hyundais that we've rented, a 210 Case, 225 and 450 Deere, 300 Hitachi, and 320 and 325Blc Cats. Plus numerous smaller ones we've rented.
You have some nice pics and equipment. Do you guys still do any pipeline work?
sweet pics, Quite a neat look at how things have progressed both for your company and for the hydraulic excavator over the years. After the PCc200-8, what would you say is the best to run?
We havn't in quite a while. I quit pipelining in 1995 for the most part. We did an 8" HP gas line in a Kimberly Clark plant in 2000. Switched mainly to water, sewer, storm sewer and dirt work though. I still have my pipeline equipment though, and have been thinking about getting back on the bid list here with the local gas company (which we worked primarily for from 1972 till 1995)
I really like the PC200-8. It's quick, smooth, and very stout. Not to mention the most comfortable machine I've ever had.
which one was your least favorite one
Probably the 451 Bantam. The 266 Bantam was pretty new when I first started digging with a trackhoe some, and it has the 2 sticks (didn't have pilot controls back then) with foot pedals for travel. So that was the first one I ran, then I usually ran the Cat if it was on the job after we got it, and I was there. The 451 Bantam was just awkward to me, with the odd control configuration. Plus, the travel motors on the 451 always seemed weak. The triple 6 was kind of different to run, with the air controls, but not really that bad as long as you kept the air tanks drained daily. For it's size, it was actually pretty quick, and smooth after you got used to it. If I remember right, the right stick was boom up and down, with the air switches for bucket curl. Left stick was swing, with air switches for stick crowd. Has a forward pedal, reverse pedal, a forward/reverse lever for tracking long distances, and a lever to steer or lock the track brakes for digging. It was kind of like a dragline to travel, you'd quit traveling, move the steering lever to disengage one track or the other and lock the brake, rock the machine in the oposite direction, then proceed to turn. It also had free-swing like a dragline, instead of an automatic swing brake. I don't think anybody else really like running it, but I thought it was pretty cool. Which, I was only about 14 when we got it. Dad bought it at an auction, paid $17,000 for it. We had it 5 years, used it on 4 or 5 jobs, then sold it back to the company we bought it from for $27,000. Only thing I remember doing to it other than routine maintenance was re-packing the crowd cylinder. When the previous owner called and offered $10,000 more than what we paid for it to buy it back, we had just bid on and got the contract to re-locate an 18" and 24" high pressure gas transmission like for ONG in several locations in South Tulsa. Where the Creek Turnpike is now if anyone is familiar. This included several locations where we had 500' crossings that were over 20 feet deep, the deepest being 32'. Dad told me about the offer, and said if I was agreable to it (I was about to graduate High School, and was going to do most of the digging on these jobs, plus run the crew when he was busy elsewhere) I could pick out whatever NEW hoe I wanted, and we'd buy it. I tried a 4300 Link Belt, 270 Hitachi, and a Case 170B. I liked the Case, so our salesman flew to Dallas with me, and we went to a LARGE Case dealer there, that had like 15 new 170C's on their lot. I picked out the one I wanted, and we bought it. Dad made me write the check for it, $156,000 was a lot of money in 1990.
Great pictures handtpipeline.Thats pretty neat viewing the photos and the time line of how your company has progressed though the years from the 451 Bantam to the new PC-200 . I still say that Koehring 666D looks like a beast.Hey, we need a 2010 pic of you standing on the track of the PC-200 to go with the first pic of the 451 bantam in 1975
Well, I just got off the track in this pic. That close enough?
Here I am in 1985 or 86.
In the interest of safety we shall consider the above picture (well the one with the yellow machine) to be an example of how NOT to dismount a machine. Although I do it too mobile phone on the ear, going over to the truck to look at the diary to make an appointment.
Yep, guilty...I think it's a bad habit i've developed over the years, from steps either being knocked off, or mangled beyond use. I'll tell you the absolute worst way to dismount one though. At night, mixture of mud and ice on tracks, on a slope digging a creek crossing... Warm boots to muddy, frozen tracks. Not a landing I think I'll ever forget. You can't grab hold of anything quick enough to stop or slow you down. At least the back of the trench was kinda sloped, and not a straight drop off. I finally stopped when I got to the bottom. That was on the 225 Cat. At least I was younger then (I think I was about 17), that's probably the source of some of the aches and pains I feel everyday now though.:Banghead
what's that triple 6 weigh?
It was somewhere around 110,000 to 115,000. Way too heavy to haul in 1 piece like we did that one time. After that, we always took the counterweights and bucket off, and that supposedly got it down to around 75,000.
Those 666's where really popular around here back in the day for doing sewer and water jobs. I was told they where a good machine in their day.
That is the most beautiful Triple 6 I have ever seen. Same with that 125 and 170 Case, grew up around a 125 they were a beast back in the day. Say... I don't suppose you have a couple pics of that 580E and K... I have a special place in my heart for them. Although that Super M you have now is quite nice.
great pictures of you and the track hoes bro. keep them coming.
This is my 170C, brand new, before we even put a bucket on it.
I need to scan more of my old pics. I've got lots of them I need to dig out.
I like that middle side boom in the 2nd pic. What is it an old Ford, Massey?
It's actually and old Oliver. A 770 I believe.
handtpipeline that pic you posted on pg 1 of the hitachi machine on the trailer looks like that trailer is really small for that machine. Is that a 200LC and what kind of trailer is that?
It's a Holden tandem axle. It's a 25 ton trailer. It looks too small mainly because it's only an 8' wide trailer, instead of 8'6" like the newer ones. And yes, it is a 200LC. I've hauled the Case 125B on that same trailer, which is a 54,000 pound machine. Not very far, usually just when there was no possible way to get there with the Phelan 50 ton tri-axle. Some places we've been, there are ground clearance problems with the Phelan.
Did that 666 have a Cat motor in it? My dad used to run some Cat powered Koehring cranes up here.
Koehring 666D SWEET! I take it those lowbed photos were taken just after the auction purchase. it looks brand new! Nice deal on the buy/sellback! The guy must have missed it. I have a 466D Koehring I'm planning on restoring, Maybe I'll get it to the HCEA convention in RI. this year. Stock engines in all the D model Koehrings were Detroit. The 666D has an 8V71. On the early excavators { Mid late 60's } Caterpillar engine were an option. Got any pics of that 666D on a job???
Yeah, it had a Screamin' Jimmy in it. And it sure sounded sweet. I know the machine was old technology, but even in 1990 it was quite an impressive machine. It took a little to get used to running it, but not really that bad. Especially if you had any dragline experience. To me, the biggest thing was getting used to the free-swing. When I first started running the 666, I hadn't been on the dragline but a hand full of times (Link-belt LS-78PL), but it didn't really take long to get used to it. The reason for us getting it in the first place, the contractor that had it got into some trouble with the city of Tulsa on some jobs they had with them, and had to seel some of their equipment off in order to finish the jobs. I didn't get to go to the sale, since I was in school, but I know among the machines was a 225 Cat, 2 of these 666D's, and a 1066D. Dad actually went to buy the 225 Cat, but the 666 was going so cheap, he jumped in on it, and before he knew it, had bought it. Anyway, the company was able to pull thru their bad times, and decided they'd like to have the 666 back. We've talked the last few years about trying to open a dirt pit, as a little side business. If we were to do that, I'd buy another tripple 6 in a heartbeat to put in there loading trucks. Yeah, they're old technology...but for the power and reach they have, plus the capacity of the bucket, I think they would be well suited. Plus the simplicity of their design makes maintanence and repairs very easy.
I'm sure I must have some pics of it on the job somewhere. When I find them, I'll put them on here.
Koehring Yeah, I like them. Definitely powerful. The air systems can be a maintenance challenge though. There is a guy on ebay that has a 1066C in Wisconsin. He wants 14 G's for it. I know where there is a 666D in RI. Don't know the price or if it is still there. Unfortunately during the Scrap Rush in '08 a lot of these went under the torch. :usa
Love that old Koehring stuff. A local contractor in my area was once a very big Koehring customer and had several 666D's 866E's and 1066's. Real beasts in both performance and sound. Incidentally, I ended up with a bunch of Koehring manuals (operators, parts, service) from years of collecting that kind of stuff. I'm selling most, if anyone is interested. Send me a message. Thanks for this great post. The more pictures, the merrier!
pics Those are real nice pics.Did your 225 have a 3208 engine in it? That Case 170 look's like a strong machine.I know a salesman/demo operator that worked for Baxter Equipment out of Toronto in the early 70's,said Koehring was the king back then.:canada Dominion
Yes, it did have the 3208 in it. I know a lot of people don't like the 3208's, but we never had any trouble out of it. It did blow a hydraulic line a couple of times, blowing hydraulic oil on the exhaust manifold, catching it on fire, but that was about it really. The 170 Case was a strong machine, and it makes me sick every time I look at it sitting in the yard after being vandalized. I think it only had about 1800 hours on it.
here's 3 different machines my dad owned...i cut my teeth on that drott 50...v6-53 now THAT was a screamer...he had the drott 40 mounted on that ford cabover, and the old hopto 300 was originally mounted on a single axle truck, he bought an old twin screw cement mixer truck, took off the twin screws, and put them under the hopto 300. be damn nice to have turntable levelers on the new machines like the 50 did
Koehring Contractor Tony, Does this guy have any parts/parts machines left?? I'm looking for some parts for my toys.
Miles Handtpipeline, How many miles of pipe do you estimate you've set since the first pipe to now???
I really wish I knew. When we were actually pipelining (natural gas, everything from 2" poly to 26" High Pressure steel transmission), we did several miles a year. And size wise, we never were that big. I think the most employees we EVER had was probably around 40 to 45. We had mainly 2 crews thru the 70's and most of the 80's. Then in the late 80's, early 90's we kinda cobbled together a third crew. Before that, when dad wasn't doing office work, or bidding (which he did most of both at night, or early in the morning) we (if I wasn't in school) or just him would go wherever the most "problem" job was, and mainly operate. Dad did most all of the big or rough road bores, until I got old enough to know what I was doing on them. Usually on the bores, he'd run the machine, and I'd run the hoe or sideboom (whatever we were setting the casing in with, then we'd switch off welding the casing. I was welding bore casing when I was 14 years old. Then about the time I graduated high school, we got some pretty good size jobs, most of which were highway re-location jobs that had some degree of challenge to them. Like 400' stretches of 24" steel transmission line that had to have 32' of cover. Double stopple tie-ins with bypass lines to keep the line up and running. Fun stuff. So we started the 3rd crew for those jobs, while the other crews handled the more basic jobs (in town distribution jobs, new housing additions...) Now days, doing mainly water, sewer, storm sewer and electric, we don't do near as much footage wise in a year. But when you think about it, that 2,000 foot here, and the 4,000 foot there does add up quite a bit in a years time. A little over a year ago, we did a rock trench job for electric. Dug a little over 4 miles in about 2 months with a 955 Vermeer trencher in solid Limestone. So it does add up.