What is everyone’s favorite piece of equipment? The dozer and excavator seem to be the most popular.
A dozer, "flying a blade", is by far the most boring for me. I prefer an excavator any day of the week. More to keep my brain busy than just flying a blade. Now that I have the Menzi Muck with the RotoTilt, I have finally found something to keep my brain working consistently. 29 potential functions per joystick, 4 foot pedals and a bank of over 30 switches give me something to memorize and think about. Throw in a swamp or a 35-45 degree slope and life gets interesting. Challenges make a job fulfill the satisfaction factor requirements to enjoy a job. I just don't line up too much work to stay busy with that alone. I enjoy the clearing work because it's always a challenge not to get a machine, nor myself, hurt or killed. I don't miss the dirt work and I certainly don't miss the employees and issues that came with them. I would suppose that the Barko 937 would be my favorite clearing machine. Lots of power and super fast on the jobs. Good AC completes the deal. It's just tough on the knees and takes more effort to maintain. As long as I'm off in the woods, life is good!
Any machine that's reliable and doesn't need continuous fixing.
I really have enjoyed time on our Euclid C-6 (full “U” blade/Ateco ripper). Most would say this is a crazy sentiment! Older than I am (by 3 years)…1964. One of the first hydraulic Garwood blade set up’s. Really nicely balanced machine. Allowed really inexpensive stripping of the larger cuts (greater than 15’; the oldtimers left alone…). Amazing after all these years how strong the Allison power shift tranny engages. Several years ago a buddy asked if I wanted to run grader for the winter…I replied I just run excavator/dozer; no where near the skill set to run a grader… Peltor 108 earmuffs allow full enjoyment of the 6-71 powered dozer… A lot of hours on excavators, so dozer is a nice change..factory caged/sweeps/no cab; so feel the surroundings nicely. Especially when in the mountains.
Menzi muck!!! You sir are highly skilled! My hat is off to you! As an aside: saw one go thru the North Okanagan on a low bed about a month ago…very rare here! (Enjoy your posts!)
Grader obviously, but not fine grading, just grading in the woods. I love the sights in the woods, the smells, the sounds, the hiss of the cutting edge on hard ledge
Grader…yes, always appreciate a good grader operator! A high skill-set indeed!
953 trackloader pushing a dump off = heaven for me. Second an excavator - mini, mid or 100K lb Third CTL Fourth a dozer - large or small I absolutely detest running a backhoe.
Why do you dislike the backhoe?
Fine grading is exhausting. Every now and then. I just want to grade
I'm right there with you. I hate those with a passion even though it was the first piece of heavy equipment I learned on past the Tonka toys. Some operators can really make them shine but I have no use for them in my life. Great for some but not for me. Thanks. This thing is a real learning experience. The more I run it, the more I like it. At first, I hated the kinematics but as time has progressed and I have learned the work envelope, I realize how much power it has wrapped up in a small package. It is impressive. I just wish I was 6"-12" shorter so that I could fit in the cab better without banging my head so much. But that's just an incentive to become a smoother operator. A spider excavator will really keep you thinking if you want to work outside of normal limitations.
I like a busy crane gig. Does not matter what machine, just pick after pick and the more variety the better. The boom truck gig was fun, despite the weather. I remember some Iron Horkers and I were setting some parapet steel waaaay the heck out at the end of the reach, over the nose outrigger in a pretty stiff breeze with rain. I was all geared up for it. They kept hoping I'd call it for weather. Nope, that meant they could point at me as the reason. We kept going till I ran out of reach, and the tower crane took over the next day I liked slinging glass. Tower crane is at the bottom of the list on the cranes. Bigger dozer on a big fill job, the day goes quickly. Knocking down 10K + yards out of a bunch of end dumps is kinda fun in a sick way. Loading them with the big hoe? not so much for me anymore. I'm a little hoed-out.
brother I feel you on the hoed out . I do love a backhoe for the versitilliy though . when you are good on one it's fun . Knuckle booms are cool . Graders are fun Track and wheel loaders are fun too . Not to good on a track loader but pipelines love a good wheel loader operator !!!! I think favorite to comes down to what some don't want to run but you don't mind it . No matter what I still get a check for it so yeah its my favorite !!!!!!!
I'm at the end of my career now and it would take a fun gig to get me to stop the pension checks.
1st is Any dozer that weigh's over 80K pounds, I can't take the 3 to 5 inch size rocks and sticks feeling like huge boulders and large logs, the back can't take it. Excavators are boring, I kinda like playing on graders and scrapers. Off road trucks can be fun, but only at certain times,like when speeding and drifting the rear end into load position LOL. Most gravy machine is a compactor, easy money and very boring.
I used to think these older guys were crazy when they said a stump was worse than a rock until I hit one
Jack of all trades - master of none. Ok at load and carry with the front bucket but sucks at grading. Backhoe is OK digging trenches but it's no mini ex. First piece of iron I bought new was a 2003 420D IT. Kept that machine until a couple of years ago where it was just taking up space on the yard so it went to the auction block. A guy in Memphis bought it.
My favorite used to be a skid steer, then I grew up and got old. Now I am Leary of the backwards spin and drop.
I’m not an operator, but I enjoyed the thrill and pure mechanical violence of the 70’s era of ridiculously loud and clanky wheeled logging skidders. Not the grapple ones. Winches and twisted bird nest cables with jaggers. A single joystick for steering. Foam on plywood vinyl seats. No windows, no HVAC. Two-stroke greatness, crankcase fumes, cedar oil and fir pitch. Old growth bark soaked in hydraulic oil. That should be a perfume.
It depends on the job you're doing. If I'm working on something more precise and can picture the outcome makes it much more enjoyable on whatever machine I'm on. If I'm just doing routine stuff like clearing snow in a big parking lot for hours on end it's boring. I like the grader but it would be better if I was more experienced with it. The track loader is OK if I'm loading into the dump truck but it's tricky to do grading with the 4 in 1 bucket. The backhoe is OK for basic digging but frustrating because it only swings 190 deg's. I liked running a mini-ex so a bigger excavator moving more material would be even better. I'm most proficient in a skid steer but can be a little stiff and ache if running it all day or several days in a row. I'm in awe when I see master equipment operators making things look easy.
Yeah that is just normal stuff in this area when clearing, stumps can almost put your head in your lap if backed on to it, not good on anything.
The sister to this one--Built by Continental Towing L.A.---1" main 7/8" deck. All mechanical 4 speed winches in or out. Tulsa winches rated 40 & 50 tons. If could keep in place would drag a rotator sideways along with wreck. No much to look at but always brought home the cash.
That is a very interesting cabover tow truck/wrecker. Some people in the business get annoyed when a heavy wrecker is referred to as just a tow truck. The biggest wrecker winches seem to be 50 ton even on tri axles. I think Al Quiring's tri axle has an 85 ton winch and 50 ton wrecker winch. Jaime Davis bought one of the very first rotators from the LA Fire department. It was in mint shape with low miles but it got in a bad multi vehicle wreck itself and had to be rebuilt. He sold his original $739K 2012 Western Star 75 ton rotator. I think not enough work for it and too high of payments. His brother has a couple rotators he can call up if needed. I think they mentioned the rotator was $600/hr. That's a lot money for the customer if it has sit at a job for awhile because of delays or other issues. If there's a big traffic jam could take hours just to get to the wreck. Highway Thru Hell’s Jamie Davis involved in multi-vehicle crash Typically the one to assist people after a crash, Jamie Davis was at the centre of one this weekend. The Highway Thru Hell star was involved in. www.kelownanow.com jamie davis la rotatator accident - Search Videos Watch videos instantly on Bing—enjoy direct playback, discover related clips, and dive into trending content all in one place. www.bing.com
What is this thing called snow you speak of?
Tow/Recovery. If inspected up close most 50 ton units only have Ramsey 45,000 lb winches. This Dewalt 50 has twin 45's on it. *
It's cold and wet which isn't so bad but when it's -25C it's not so fun. At least I have a good heater. Have seen some bozos with an old machine and no cab try to be snow removal contractors. One sits in the running truck trying to keep warm and switches with the operator every ten minutes because they're freezing. Then they didn't even clear all the packed snow. They undercut the legit operators and I don't see how they made any profit. Then it warmed up a couple days later and people were getting stuck! Another outfit with a big wheel loader had to come and do the entire parking lot again. That was kind of a farce too. The guy had it 75% done but quit at 5pm and brought the loader back the next day. Nobody does snow removal to set times. Would have been less than hour to finish the first day. The worst part though is unloading and loading the skid steer when it's brutally cold with a strong wind. That and having to fuel it up. I had a manual pump at the time.
Are the frames on tow trucks reinforced for heavy pulling? I worked building winch trucks but think they were just heavy spec'd. trucks. Winch mounts were bolted and welded. Winches are rated with a bare drum too.
I guess of all the machines and trucks I've operated over the years I think the Cat D8K was the beast I really enjoyed operating, the sound of that D342 engine was intoxicating machinery porn.
Some triple frame---Winch ratings very on manufacture of unit--a Holmes 750 for instance was rated on a full spool at 25 tons. Holmes rated all on a full spool, a first wrap on a 750 would have been 32 ton , but it's pretty rare anyone pays that much rope out, normally on the third or fourth wrap or more. For the simple fact always want to be in close proximity of what your hooked to. For something buried/stuck it takes several motions to move it, you want the boom line to pick weight forcing wheel chocks or stiff legs in the ground and count on deck line to pull it ahead, which my be only 4 to 5 feet, pull ahead and start the procedure over again. Recovering from a long distance normally just drags the unit to wreck, plus more cable leaves the chance if a cable decides to give up the ghost it has much less distance to whip.
Can use pully blocks to increase pull. If that's not enough you hook up 3 Cat D9G winch cats. I think they're 45 ton winches but might be more. That's what they used to pull 2 excavators out of a water soaked peat bog. Some idiot that worked for the owners of the excavators was arguing trying to say the Cats could pull more driving than they could winching. He was informed winching has about 20% more pull than driving. You need good brakes on the Cats though. I think the Holmes 850 was rated at 45 tons or maybe only 40 tons but was the biggest Holmes made. It had two independent booms that could swing to the side somewhat and dual winches. Watching the difference between the old mechanical wreckers and the newer hydraulic wreckers I'd be a little ticked off if I was charged the same hourly rate for an old and slow truck compared to a newer one. Just the hydraulic spades to hold the truck are way better than the scotch blocks I think they're called. The hyd. winches are quite a bit faster too.
With correct rating---and many are not and is a weak link. I exploded a 30 ton block lifting a trailer that sunk to the pin. sheave was made for 1" wire rope, that block weighed about 85 lbs. IIRC.
They broke a type of becket? on a D9G that they've never seen break before. It was replaced with a larger wedge type. I think the rope was 1 1/4". Scary when stuff breaks at that many tons. On the big draglines I'm curious how they get the rope around the wedges. Big Muskie had 5" dia. cable that was 42lbs. per foot!
I've had I think 1.125 cable so tight it would not move at all, like a solid rod, and it was out over 100 ft, that was on a D8K winch I think they are rated over 100,000 lbs.
850 was 40 ton, 48 on first wrap, 1801 squirt was 45 ton. Holmes bult two only--rated at 70 ton in back in the 50's. Old Grand Dad. Note the size of winch drums. *
I'm a homebody that hasn't run much. Only my backhoe and a tiny bulldozer my neighbor had for a few weeks. The dozer was real old and brutal on my body at every turn, but I could see the appeal of a bigger one and what can be done with it. I like the backhoe but do get a bit frustrated with its limitations. For my use it's by far the best tool for me to have, due to its jack of all trade nature. I don't like to worry about repairs and I'm always kind of anxious about it. It seems like an excavator would be fun for a while but watching the gold shows makes me think it could get old pretty quickly.
A mild winter, the wing isn't even full:
Jamie Davis has an 850 and an 1801. He likes the older stuff. I found an interesting video on old Holmes wreckers. holmes 1801 wrecker specs - Search Videos www.bing.com
D9G winch is apparently 45 ton so a D8K would be less than that. Still don't want to be anywhere near the line if doing a heavy pull. The kinetic energy would be incredible.
The charts show hmmm 100k pounds but the numbers ????? Page A42 it starts the specs The D9G I'd think would be a pull over the machine weight. Because the machines will pull much more than their own weight on the correct surface of course. You will always want a winch to pull at lease the machine weight, if your pulling yourself up a 60 degree slope. https://dozerwinchparts.com/content/WEBDAV%20MANUALS/Hyster%20Legancy%20Parts/Parts%20Hyster%20D89A.pdf Yeah and this is the older A version
An old Deere 450c track loader with a back hoe attachment. Back hoes are fun too.
It appears the D89 winch can be used on a D9 or a D8. The D9 would have significantly more holding power though. A D8K by itself would likely be pulled back well before getting close to max. line pull which is based on an empty drum. I read somewhere the D89 winch was rated at 90,000lbs. pull so maybe the 103,000lbs. listed is theoretical line pull. The cable would likely still be like piano wire at far less than max. pull.
I call it an under designed winch, it should be rated at full drum to 150,000 pounds line pull or more, can always tie with guy wires to pull more. When I did major winch recovery work on a job I'd dig in for more pull and to stop moving the cat, and it was only a D7. I noticed they also made a yarding version, for yarding with a D8 or 9.
My favorite piece of equipment
Each pulley block doubles the line pull. They pulled one excavator out with a 5 part line. Figured it was over 250,000lbs. pull. Need to pull on something really solid on the stuck machine with that kind of pull. I've also heard of hooking to the track pads when a machine is buried in slop because that's all they can get to.
Not a ton of experience…. Backhoe, skidsteer and now a mini excavator. I don’t love the backhoe, but humility aside, I am quite good on the skid steer. I always wanted a mini excavator, but couldn’t afford one for many years. I was surprised when I finally got one that I still preferred the skidder! I made a grader for it and use that in most instances instead of the bucket. I also built a tree spade for it. For a small machine, it packs a big punch! I remember hearing that what you enjoy doing as a three-year-old is a good indicator of what you will do when you grow up. While I make no claims of being “grown up” I did play with Tonka trucks and tractors when I was three!!
My favorite machine to "load" was an old D-7G. I did cut some roads on a friends ranch and of the small dozers I ran, I liked the JD 550J the best..
run a hoe all the time. Really liked a good d8k with a 463 scraper with winches set up tiptop cutting slopes and doing the final trimming
Sounds like they share some DNA with LHDs of the same era - coincidentally my favorite things to run. Air-cooled Deutz power, loud as all hell, no kickouts, no electronics, open station, and tons of fun. Smells like oil, wet rock, and powder fumes.
Not an operator I get bored quick running most machines in dirt I like forestry especially mulchers. I wish I had a chance to really go at some big stuff with a big mulcher. Testing new setups for tuning I was limited to reaching over the fence into the overgrown unused lot next to us
I can't say I have a lot of experience on different equipment but I have run some different machines. I owned a Deere 410 TLB for 10 years and my Cat 248 skid steer for 25 years. I got very comfortable running both and feel they became an extension of my hands. I still have the skid steer. I've run excavators up to 40 tons, not a lot but enough to run them fairly well. I was on a D3 sized dozer for a couple days, got the job done but I'm sure others could have done it better. I've run wheel loaders of a number of different brands. I worked for a construction company in 1980 that sold a lot of gravel. We had to load our own trucks. They had an old Cat 950 loader that was so sloppy it scared me to drive down the road. They also had a Deere 844 loader that was only a year old. That machine was a dream!!!! Quiet, smooth and tons of power. Something about the controls just came naturally to me and within a couple weeks I was operating it as well as the seasoned veterans. That loader is my favorite machine to have operated. Unfortunately it had transmission problems, it had to be replaced frequently. My least favorite machine to run was a roller. Just too boring for me. The same company with the loader did roadbuilding and I sometimes ran the vibratory roller to compact the base material.
can't say favorite because I didn't run them but a couple of times but I will say most unique was Melroe 880 and Champion 100T This was for McCoy in so cal in the late 80s . very lucky to get a chance to run them . I watched both of them get painted McCoy green and white in Calabasas when they were brought in for a one mile square grading project. 10 mil cubes. nice little job for McCoy !!!!
Do you have any pics.?
No sir Dave . Only camera I had at the Time was the round disk Kodak and just to in the moment to take pics .
A J-3 is fun to "operate" especially in the summer with the door down and the window up.
Kubota SVL-90, No EGR, no DPF, no DEF. Most universal machine we have.
Cat D8H/K and ccu powered scraper box. Stripping topsoil on cool spring morning.
I have run a lot of stuff but one job i was on i drove a Cat 740 haul truck. It was fun because there wasnt a lot of thinking to running it. I was on the night shift we would haul around 100 loads a shift . The day shift i under stand there was more stuff going on traffic and other stuff but they only hauled around 30 loads a shift. I always wondered if the day shift guy when he reset the counter believed it .