I've looked through the various excavator threads and have seen all the threads pertaining to Koehring excavators, a number of years ago I worked on a site with an 866 and found them kinda fascinating. So I thought I'd start a thread for people to post their pictures of the old first and maybe second generation hydraulic excavators. I also know a guy back home who has a rare International excavator that he still uses from time to time and he use to give me rides in as a kid. So if anybody has pictures of old hydraulic excavators like Hein Werner, Warner & Swasey, Lima etc. Please post them.
I am so with you on this...the more, the better. I love this vintage (the first and second generation stuff, as 245d calls it). Let's see what you got! I'd love to see the old Koehring, Insley and B-E machines, and the International Harvester excavator as well. Best, Tony
This one could and will get really interesting ...... Lets see if anyne out there knows why there are 2 main styles of control patterns---JD and Cat control---or as they are supposed to be called ISO and SAE--- and most of all WHY ? ...... But PLEASE this is not intended to start another Pissing match which one is better or worse or who is the worst... ect...ect... this is more of a history question ..... I was first suprised when I found out.... then it sunk in and it made sence when I found out why, years ago I had always thought it had to do with Jd that they had the first 2 stick control, like in the old backhoe attachments you would add to an old 2010 bucket dozer that I first learned on in '74....???? ..wrong ... so lets see what the thread will flush out ..... a good clue is the old 690B ....hope to see some good pics of those too
Big Koehring 1266. Took these pics 2 weeks ago, Ketchikan Alaska.
WOW ! ... awesome .... when I look at the bottom pic showing the side view of the bucket and see all of the stiching welds all over it ..... can you imagine the hours it took to do that .... and the smooth pads ...guess it won't be leaving the flat land ...LOL
Hey contract logger thanks for the pictures I have a few pictures of Koehring excavators though they're smaller machines being 866's. Do you know the story behind this 1266? And Craft if you wanna get into the control pattern thing please do it in a different thread I just wanted to see pictures and read a few stories about the old machines. The oldest machines I ran (I'm thirty next week by the way) was in 2003 in Edmonton, Alberta I ran one of the first generation Cat 245's. I personally liked the old dinosaur a lot of the other operator's there wanted to run the newer iron but I really didn't mind the old girl. Plus I found that the "rowboat" long joysticks forced me to keep my back straighter so I didn't slouch so much. lol
You don't get any earlier generation hydraulic excavator than these 2. The first 2 Gradall's which were the FIRST hydraulic excavators ever made. The 2 amchines date from 1943 & 1944
Cool thread, I'd love to see some more pics. Some may disagree but I think the early Hitachi's fit this topic as the case with this machine, it has the long levers no pilot like the Bucyrus or Koehring machines of the same vintage but to me looks alot closer to todays machines.
Interesting I love the Gradall machines I knew they went way back, but I had never seen pictures of them in action like that. They're probably one of the only full size American full size hydraulic excavator manufacturers left on the North American continent. I like the Hitachi excavator too, sure looks like its in good shape.
Northwest, American, Insley, Bantam. The tall sticks came from the cable machines including the left hand swing control, you pushed foward to go left and pulled back to swing right or stop you from swinging, remember they were clutch swing, the other hand was boom up and down and the feet controled the bucket and stick. I remember it was a big event when my dad got the American 797 with a hyd. bucket. Dan
Here's the answer to WHY they have the boom controls switched ...... Hand closest to the boom controls the boom .... Like this '73 JD 690 B ... Cab on the right side of machine .... recently seen an old JCB that was the same 245DLC ... NOT the beginning to a control pattern Argument ! BTW..... Happy Birthday !
what year do you suppose that deere is? It's got tripple grousers and looks like a planetary reduction.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33654046@N03/3434734329/ Early International Digger.Click on all sizes to make the pic bigger.
I feel dumb now! To many beers last night.
Weirdo but whatever, but go figure its the internet. I have an old brochure for the original John Deere 890 they also ran on a low pressure hydraulic system with gear pumps, instead of variable displacement piston pumps. I've also got one for the Koehring 1066E.
Where abouts in Ketchikan, Im going to take a shot in the dark and say somewhere around Ketchikan ready mix. If memory serves me right, the folks there call that Koehring B.O.B
Those early early International's were actually Yumbo machines designed and built in France. If you ever see a Yumbo machine of the same vintage it looks exactly the same as that one.
Mid to late 1970s or early 80s.
roadrunner ...... If you're talking about the...'73 ... 690 B, I posted the pics of its a 1973, was the first year the "B" was made ..... history says they were made from '73 to '89
Yes I was, then I read your post this morning and noticed you had already stated the year hence the "I feel dumb" post. I was thinking that It looked like a later machine with the tripple grousers. Makes me think about how long they were in production as I think I've seen them with crane pads and chain drives? Maybe they were just a 690
I thought the first Excavator Built was a Poclain ???? tctractors
Oh dear, major design flaw in the position of the dipper arm ram but I guess it beats a shovel.
Now that's some fancy machines.Even got A/C
I noticed the stick cylinder is on the bottem not the top.
Yeah I've seen a few Case 1085 Cruz-air wheeled excavator's running around the city here with that configuration, the city owned railroad here also has one but it's the older Drott 40 and its got rail wheels instead of tires or tracks. They have a mower attachment for mowing the front slope of the railroad tracks for it too. One of these days I'll go down to they're yard and take some pictures of it.
The first rig I ever ran and learned on was a drott 40, in 1979 brand new back then. And you know what? That machine did everything that the new ones do, albeit a little slower. It shows you what a waste the mode and computer systems are today, after all the 215 cat is still as fast as any hoe out there today.:beatsme
Suprised the B504 hasn't been mentioned yet... First FULLY hydraulic excavator. I took some pictures of it at the KMG factory. I guess it has now. B504. Discuss!
That's mostly because Demag really didn't get into Canada or the U.S. until they started making the big mining shovels I honestly completely forgot about them. Sorry
Wow how did that unit not tip with such a short carriage.
Here's an old Koehring brochure definitely not first generation but I'd thought I'd share it anyway.
And the last the page.
And here's some pics I took in Edmonton about nine years ago...I can't believe it's been that long already.
245d that machine in that brochure is our machine thats my cousin standing on the trench box in the picture and the picture inside of the 1066 in the middle of the field is hanging in our conference room from when it was new.
first pic, is a 300 hopto my dad had mounted on ford cabover. 2nd pic is drott 40 mounted on ford cabover. 3rd is when he went to track machine of his drott 50
Nice Hitachi pics!!!
Good photos by all you guys!!
I love the truck mounted pictures, that's definitely a thing of the past except for the Gradall's of course. Interesting way of loading the Drott I hate to find any low bridges with it. lol
Here are some pictures of the two Drott 50s me and my dad (Sawmilleng) are looking at:
Yeah I remember seeing a few of those ugly old things in northern Ontario with felling heads and grapples.
There's a Drott sitting right beside the Highway just south of Cranbrook, not sure if it's a 40 or a 50, didn't have time to stop and take a look... I noticed that it does have the cab leveler though... Looks complete from what I saw driving by... Might be worth driving out and taking a look...
What are you using the old beasts for puffie?
We hope to do a bit of land clearing and road building with it, and it's lifting capacity will be useful as a crane. the logger will probably wind up as a parts machine. I drive by it every day on the way to school! That one is a 40, and it showed up there about six months ago. The very attractive thing to us about the 50s is they are only a couple of klicks away from us, so hauling won't be much of an issue.
Some good excavator pics here, this is a snap of our 460 loading an A35.
Yeah that's nice and all Jasper but I was hoping to steer this thread towards first and maybe second generation hydraulic excavators. If you wanted to show off your pictures you can always start your own thread which isn't hard.
Here's a few pictures for you. The Bantam C450 was the first excavator I owned. I got it from a friend for a load of lumber and a few other little itty bits. It wasn't a fully hydraulic machine yet, more of a transitional machine with frictions and clutches for the drive and swing, and a hydraulic arm. It had 3 commercial shearing pumps feeding into a 3 spool valve bank. There was also a hydraulic motor that looked identical to the pumps that drove the drive line to the swing clutches and drive clutches. Very simple, very slow and very strong machine! I still regret selling it! So when I found this Hein Werner C12HD I just had to have it! It's a tad newer than the Bantam in that it is fully Hydraulic, but it still has the flat crane style tracks and chain drive. It also has 3 hydraulic pumps and 3 different valve banks, each fed by one pump. I currently have a grapple on the front but do have two buckets for it as well. I bought it at an estate sale with my 977s and aside from replacing 2 hydraulic hoses I didn't need to do anything to it. I've been using it lately to sort and pile logs. I absolutely love it! It too is simple, reliable, slow and strong! Here comes a deluge of pictures! Enjoy!
And now for the Bantam...
Just a few more. Puffie, I would agree that for you the 50s would be better, especially having a parts machine! Too bad I'm not in Cranbrook any more, would've loved to go for a coffee...
that...last photo...is ART...it is FREAKIN awesome, beautiful..hope the above link is what i'm talkin about, the one of the koerhing in the woods, kinda dark, detroit smoke in the background...that is AMAZING!!!...care if i blow it up and print it? photoshopped, isn't it?
By all means go ahead and print it! I can even send you the original un-resized photo if you PM me your email adress! Nothing is photoshopped. That thing smoked like a mosquito fogger, sounded like it only ran on 3 cylinders... I had fully intended to restore the machine until my ex came along... That was the end of my relationship with that machine :Banghead. Now that I'm single again, naturally I've had to grow my collection back to where it was before, maybe even a bit beyond.:drinkup
Nice little Koehring, looks cool with the exhaust and working inbetween the trees.
Whats with the Bantam? Spitzair, Do you know the story on the Bantam tracks? It looks like the outer edges were cut off at some time. Maybe to fit within a DOT spec? Jon.
sawmilleng, the tracks were cast like that as best as I could tell, doesn't look like they were cut off... I guess if a guy wanted a bit more stability he could've turned them around and have the wide side stick out... As worn as they were I never had one come off. As it sat the machine was around 8'6" wide, maybe even a bit narrower. When I sold it I loaded it on a 9 foot wide lowbed and had a few inches of room on either side.
Yumbo excavators manufactured in Italy were the first excavators ever made, the first one was created in 1948 by two brothers from Italy (whose names escape me at the moment). Poclain made its first hydraulic excavator in 1951 i think and that one was called the TU. But of course who actually made the first will always be contested however that is the information i follow.
The Drott excavators are some of my favorites, they are one of the first companies to manufacture their own hydraulic excavators in the US and the almost always had that stick cylinder design. The design itself is commonly called "knuckleboom" and allows the excavator to have stronger forward movement capabilities but is weaker for digging because hydraulic force in backwards movement is lower. But yea, i really like Drott machines and its too bad they arent around anymore, they had some really revolutionary designs at the time. They also were based out of Wausau, WI which i think is cool too since im from WI.
Go Koehring!! Out of Milwaukee, WI that's where I'm from!! Its a shame we don't really make anything anymore, but back in the good old days we were never too far behind Chicago in manufacturing!
Do you have any more stories of these machines in the pictures? Those are some really cool vintage machines, i would love to hear more about them. Also, if anyone was curious what HOPTO meant, its an acronym for Hydraulically Operated Power Take Off (gotta give credit to PAMining for that one, he mentioned it in one of his videos).
Fantastic pictures spitzair! saying "gotta love the old iron" just doesnt cut it, these machines are something else, truly awesome.
I've seen tracks like that on a Bantam cable machine.
I am suprised no one has given Link-Belt a mention, they used friction drive and swing, but it was driven via a hydro motor, as the motor only drove a hydro pump.
I suppose we will see all of the brands sooner or later. There's plenty left to be seen, Cat's, Link Belt's, American's, etc. We just have to be patient =D besides, there's plenty of great machines that have already been posted All of your pictures are really appreciated guys, keep em coming this is a great thread.
Spitzair, The tracks must have been set up to fit lowbeds, then, if they were a tad shy of 8'-6". It seems to me that this is a "magic number" in terms of width before you need an overwidth permit, at least here in BC. The next step up is where a machine needs a pilot car--I think that is 10-6 or thereabouts. And I suppose it was even more important back when the hoe was built--even trucks and lowbeds back then were smaller so 8'-6" might have been a lot more of a big deal. Its a neat idea for the machine--turn the tracks around for extra stability. I'm guessing the pins are relatively easy to pull in the shovel pads. The real job would be to wrestle the track around and get it lined up under the machine! The engineers who designed the machines also look like they put some thought into the hydraulics, having 3 gear pumps. That is the only way that they can guarantee that all of the hoe functions work independently of each other with gear pumps. The modern way to do it is with a variable output pump, at 10 times the cost. My 580B Case backhoe has one gear pump driving all the hoe functions, and, even though it works, isn't very fast or smooth. Jon. Jon.
Koehring 455 I wish I knew how to post a "Youtube" link! I'll have to do this the Stoneage way... There is some video of my Koehring loading a Euclid. Go to youtube, type in "Zagray Farm Show" You'll get to see it in action. Plus that memorable sound of that 4-71 engine!
You just have to copy and paste the link like this: YouTube - Zagray farm show YouTube - Zagray farm show YouTube - Zagray-15.MOV By the way love the videos next time I go to my parents place I'll have to get some photos of an old Bantam sitting by the side of the road. Socal earthmovers have some pretty neat videos of a 1066. YouTube - KOEHRING 1066E backfilling trench YouTube - KOEHRING 1066E tearing up asphalt I'd like to see some videos of the old American excavators and the Warner and Swasey Hopto machines, I've only heard stories and seen a few partially wrecked over the years.
That 1066 is awesome. I don't know if its just me, but it also seems to have quite the reach for a machine of its size. The other Koehring filling the Euclid is really sweet also, fast or slow, that machine is a vintage piece of art! Watching these older excavators dig never gets old either, something about those machines just makes them so darn interesting lol. For the first time i also got to see the transgression from the older 60's Koehring excavators to the still pretty old 70's excavators. Its a great example to compare the changes that went on between the two models. I would like to see some American hoes as well. Ive seen them advertised in old Highway and Heavy Construction magazines and they are another really cool machine from the era. The ads also called American Hoist and Derrick excavators "The Diggin' Fool." I was laughing myself silly for five minutes when i saw that, the phrase fits in so well with the 1970's and its just awesome, but hilarious to hear a hoe called "The Diggin' Fool" at the same time.
Oh and if anyone knows or has magazines of Highway and Heavy Construction anywhere from 1979 and earlier, i would be extremely gratified to see them. I was lucky enough to look through some of the magazine articles here at school on microfiche cards, but i would still love to see them in print. I never find any on eBay or anything, they're pretty tough to find i guess. ESPECIALLY if they were in color, that would be so awesome if they were, i wouldn't know what to do besides buy them from anywhere and put them on proud display in my dorm room. Great pictures everybody, its a pleasure to know people on this forum who share the same passion i do.
Koehring Video Hey,245DLC. Thanks for the lesson & thanks for doing that!! Hopefully I'll get some video of the 466D up soon.
Here's a fresh picture of my Hein Werner C12HD as I was using it to move some more logs. I'll try to get a few more in the next few days. Cheers!:drinkup
Sawmilleng, Those tracks were very easy to split, every link was held together by a pin with a cotter pin through it. Simply pull the cotter pin, pull the link pin and hey presto, you've busted the track. You certainly can't be in any kind of a hurry with the ol' HW, it sure likes to take it's time! But learning the wierd controls on it it's just as well!
Yeah no problem keep the videos coming
international cool pics. the international/yumbo/drott machine is equipted with a " y " boom and has the stick cylinder mounted under the boom because you could change out the bucket for a wide front shovel bucket and load trucks from the bottom of the excavation...like a modern front shovel. this boom type was sold along with the standard boom .after this option was no longer available they switched to the standard boom only. the one in the pic looks a bit early to have international decals on it. it should have drott decals as by the time international re branded the yumbo machines they were well past this design. my old international dealer lit shows this being a drott machine...could be diferent in other parts of the world though.
Here's another few pics of my old Hein Werner being put to use. We had to set a pole for a movie and my EX200-2 wouldn't fit through the gate to get into the field so I fired up the old Hein Werner and used it. It worked very well I love this old girl! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th7T6CFrWfI Here it's being walked to the site of the pole. A bit slow but it works.
Hi ! Here is my own J-D 690B 1980 !!! http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/towoc999/JD-690-B/JD690B_005.jpg
You asked for an American? Voila! Our American (that is sadly very worn out, and really too big for what we'd ever use it for (60k excavator is ALOT of excavator). On a related note if anyone knows of a 1st or 2nd generation excavator they or someone is looking to get rid of in the intermountain PNW (Idaho, Washington etc...) let me know...
I have a question. Why were the cabs on the right on the early ones and changed to left? I have a 690b and haven't run anything else so I don't know any different.
What's odd about that American is that if I recall correctly it has Cat controls, which is odd cause it has the cab on the right side, so it should have the Deere controls, (after all the left stick is the one next to the boom). Don't know why they switched that around, but I can sure tell you between this machine and the Takeuchi mini my grandfather had, I've still yet to figure out the Deere controls, nothing against them, just I haven't had enough experience with them. My mind just hasn't reprogammed itself for that yet, suppose just need to buy myself a Deere ***
1950s or 1960s Warner & Swasey (Badger Division) HOPTO Here's a buddy of mine's vintage Hopto he just got, earlier in the year. Most of you guy are probably laughing, as the seat sits you about 5 feet off the ground--I doubt if the bucket holds even a half yard! Must have been sold by Marks Tractor and Equipment Co. I used to climb on it, when I was a kid. Bud's grandpa, who left it to him got it running a couple of years ago. Highest patent number comes back October 13, 1953 (u.s. pat. # 2655269). I wish I knew more about it. It could be a 200, I'm guessing. Here's a couple of pics: http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/clt/3281980132.html Here's bigger pics: http://triqqle.com/mgs/hopto/
3964 I know for a few 1066 s, a few Poclains a few Kohrings and a few old Jd 690s, I owned two Internationals 3964 and a 3963 both were 1975 s. the earliest digger i have seen up here is a Bycyrus Erie (sp) about a 1960 model .
Friend of mine has an International 3964 but with all the levers instead of joysticks. Where in Canada are you living?
Poclain GC120 built from '64 to around '74 duetz air cooled.taken last week
She's had a hard life! To say the least I think there is a similar machine on Panet Rd. in Winnipeg and with an air cooled Deutz too.
oh flash back from the past! we used to have one pretty much similar from memory.
I'm in Newfoundland
Old P &H taken by a friend
Yair . . . Back to the future. This interesting thread raises some points I have raised elsewhere . . . and no one commented. So here goes again. . . If you had one of these early non electronic gear-pump machines in 'as new' condition and lined it up with its modern equivalent baling into trucks how far ahead would the modern machine be after ten hours . . . and one thousand hours? I did a bit of time on early Kato's and apart from eventual issues with the chain-drive walking gear I remember few issues. They were simple strong machines although, in rough going the sticks developed cracks which Kato fixed. I'm not too interested in comments about creature comforts and 'operator friendly' layouts and controls . . . LOL Cheers.
Yair... Scrub Puller, From my limited experience there's no comparison, the modern machine would be way ahead of the ancient equivalent. I keep wanting to take some video of my Hein Werner in operation but just don't have the time to do so, and when I do it's usually pouring rain or I can't find a volunteer to run the camera, etc... There's no question the Hein Werner is slower than a modern machine, especially walking to where it needs to go, it literally crawls along at a snail's pace... I'm pretty sure though that the Hein Werner will still be operational many years from now and as long as I can get the engine to turn over it will run. In fact, the entire electrical system on it is shot, all it has that works is a wire from the battery to the starter and a button right on the solenoid, everything else is just along for the ride now. I will be rewiring the machine soon, again I just need to find the time... Cheers, and hope this is kinda what you were looking for...
Here's some pictures of an International excavator I took years ago....
I think that's a 3964 same as my friends old machine, still running to this day.
Scrub, I think the current machine would probably walk off and leave a '70s machine, But, I run a '90 Cat 215cLC. The only necessary wiring on the machine runs the starter and alternator. It will run right with a Cat 320. One major difference in old and new hoes is that for a given physical size, the newer machine will have much higher horsepower. As you know, horsepower doesn't determine what you can do, it determines how fast you can do it.
Yair . . . Gotcha mitch504 Well said. I reckon that is a defining statement. A couple of old excavator blokes I have spoken to here reckon the biggest differences were in the actual walking ability and agility of the newer gear. Thanks for response and cheers.
I just thought I'd throw in a couple pics of my kitty, I guess she'd be a 2nd generation hoe. She still works full time, and I have no plans to trade her in for a box of transistors anytime soon.
Yair . . . mitch504 She looks a real tidy machine mate. Whats that unusual dome shaped silo in the background? Never seen anything like that before. Cheers
Nice looking "2nd generation" machine Mitch, how many hours on her? Have you had to do anything major to the engine or hydraulic system?
All of you shoe the nice picture,especially the Big Koehring 1266,when you saw the bucket and track,it surprises me.Wonderful.
Scrub, that is a salt dome, they bring salt in by ship and load it out onto trucks and rail. JB, she's got almost 11,000; I've put about 6000 of that on her since 2004, operating her myself about 85% of the time. The only thing I've done to the hydraulics is repack a couple of cylinders. When I got her she had a tiny water leak, (quart a month, or so) and after running 4 years, it suddenly got much worse. I replaced a cracked head and all 4 injectors since neither I nor the Cat dealer could get them out. Other than that, the only major repair was to replace the swing drive gearbox, but that was broken by a man I thought I had trained to be an operator, totally not the machines fault.
looks nice.....
Insley H2250 Insley that was first produced in 1965 with claims to be the largest hydraulic excavator at that time.Another oldie.Taken by a friend.
I reckon a new UH series Hitachi would keep up with todays machines..
I would like to own a new UH081 . Compare the undercarrage of an Hitachi to the new ones or Cats or any other comparative machine . My 081 could dig with my new 320 and was a heavier machine all around The Hino and of course the Izuzu are two of the best diesels ever built for this application ....half the fuel , start up in the coldest conditions are are trouble free(my opinion) I still own a UH122 that I have in my quarry. Its built like a tank
We have one of the last UH-07 models made. Its rounding 17,000hrs and spends its winters stationary frozen solid in the Yukon winters and in the summer it digs in tough conditions (permafrost). Its always the easiest machine to start up in the spring! Its seen all its routine maintenance throughout its life and has never let us down. Great old machine.
Another P &H Friend took and shared these.
Koehring 466D in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFOfgWitwgc Fortunately, this operator had ran one of these during the 70's & gave me the opportunity to get some video. :cool2
early to mid 70's this was in responce to the jd 690b
nice old machine looks like a c-12 if iam correct.
that is so cool to see the old literature. my dad had a 73 koehring 866d 135000 pounds. that was one amazing machine we had that machine for about 13 years.
old koehrings were real puffers. always puffing smoke.
totally awesome
After seeing all of the great old iron in this forum I just had to post about my C-28 Hien-Werner. When I bought it, swing and boom was with the sticks, crowd and curl was with your feet. Talk about uncomfortable; we found a way in the operator’s book to put everything in the sticks. The control linkage is direct to the spool valve, with a hydraulic assist actuator connected in line with the push-pull cable. The machine is late 70’s early 80’s with an operating weight of #96000 powered with a 318 Detroit. As I understand it, they were manufactured in Minnesota.
Welcome to the forums Steve/Iowa! Is there any chance you could post a picture of your C28? Until now I've never even heard of one!
Thank You Spitzair. I will see how this goes with pictures.
Wow, she's a beauty! Thanks for the pictures! Makes my C12HD look like a toy
Wow! Very awesome machine! I like the engine of it. It looks good and I think she's good on any job.
1971 Insley 875 A real straight old gem. http://youtu.be/RgvX3PU-ZIQ
Had to repost a link to some pics of a 80's? Koehring i took a few years back HeavyEquipmentForums
This is actually our machine that is shown in some of my posts. That is my second cousin standing by the box
My Hein-Werner C14 working. It's a late 60s early 70s machine. This thing can dig! PK
WOW great old picture thanks for sharing
What did he do to break the swing drive gearbox? It always kills me when an operator is the cause of machine breakdown. Use the right tool for the right job and have an easier life.
He was putting large concrete footers and pieces of slab over the edge into an old sand pit that we were filling in with a hotel complex. He got tired of picking them up and dropping them over, so he decided to push them in with the side of the bucket. It wouldn't push them from a standing start (as it that isn't bad enough) so he started swinging around and hitting them, sorta like a golf swing. :badidea
Wow. No doubt. Hopefully he was involved in the repair at least.
The old and the not-quite-so-old posing together for a photo...
The PC200-8 Hybrid is powered by the Komatsu Hybrid System which uses a newly developed electric motor which turns the upper structure, power generation motor, capacitor and diesel engine. Compared with the standard PC200-8 hydraulic excavator, the hybrid model achieves about 25% reduction of fuel consumption.
I see some of these old machines around here all the time in my area. I will have to get some pics to add. love the tread
Speaking of old Iron, I just bought this circa 1970's Drott 40 the other day. Came with a cleanup bucket and thumb. Runs very well. Thinking it's going to take a few days to get used to the foot pedal controls for the swing and bucket.
Does it have wobble sticks or do they just move back and forth? The very first excavator I ever ran was a Case 880B. Those levers were awful by about noon when you're 12 yrs. old. It had all four pedals but only used middle two for tracks and right pedal was for the house leveler. Possibly you could switch controls around and have swing on the stick??
Cruz Air & Gradalls are a couple of machines I would like to try someday just need money. Clean looking 40 you have
The levers just move back and forth. When I heard about the thing, I was hoping it would have pilot controls, but after checking it out and seeing the shape it's in, I figured I can learn a new way to dance.
I wish I had some pics of the old girl. And pics of our second hoe, a 1080B. 50,000 lbs, hydraulic thumb, had a 6' 2½ yd bucket for loading trucks. I would put that hoe against ANY 200 class hoe loading trucks. No air, no radio, but you sure could shovel some dirt. I put close to 5000 hrs on that how, probably about 2500 on the 880.
Yeah they didn't have pilot until the 1080/1085 size machine. A 880D had the pilot levers, but still had linkage back to control valve. You could possibly retrofit levers from a 880 into your Cruz air so you could have stick swing. The base of the levers is inside the cab, right?
Yeah, those old machine had no problems digging, they were just relatively slow. But like every good hoe operator knows, you don't have to go fast, just maximize every move and you'll make some less experienced guys in shiny iron look pretty silly. And Deere500a, I'd keep snooping around for a deal on a Drott or Gradall. This pristine unit went for a very reasonable price: https://www.gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm...=1&str=1<nf=1&lcn=300429&lct=L&sf=ferm-clos As for the Drott, I got that DIRT cheap. So they're out there.
Yes Shimmy1, the levers are on the floor. It's an interesting idea that I should investigate. My kid wants to learn how to operate, so having the controls set up like on a conventional rig is a good idea.
Really nice looking Drott 40 you got there WRS_Mark, there's two (not nearly as nice) sitting on a private excavating lot down where I'm at in NoDak that I've been wanting to get photos of lately; they're the white/ orange color combo. Seems like they'd be fun machines to run!
Thanks Chopper! I was impressed by how clean it is compared to anything else I have seen from that vintage. Most have been pretty badly thrashed. And yeah, I'm looking forward to learning the new steps to get this one to dance. Thought I'd check and see if Shimmy1's idea about retrofitting the controls to get the swing and bucket functions moved from floor pedals to the sticks but that looks to be more work than it is worth. Besides, I may as well be the only guy around capable of operating my own machine.
I worked for a dealer of those units back in the late seventies and early eighties. We used to do frame up rebuilds on two units every winter for the state. Did that for three years and then the economy changed. As I recall they let 13 out of 33 mechanics go in the fall of 81. As far as I know the state never had another one rebuilt. As I recall we only tried to swap controls over on one machine. The guy doing the change over had all the rods and levers out of the machine. Cut connections off here and welded them on there and would put is all back together and have an clearance issue or something and have to take it all out and make adjustments here and there. I'm sure he had it apart and back together at least three times that I remember. Maybe more. I didn't see anything wrong with running all the levers and pedals back then. It sure beat getting down in the ditch with a shovel powered by arm strong. Maybe that would cure a lot of whining that goes on today.
Yeah, it's a pretty substantial undertaking, John. It can be done, but the time, effort and materials required is hardly matched by the potential pay off. The ones you worked on were likely identical to the unit I bought. Seems mine is a 1978 or '79, based on the serial number.
There's a lot to be said for that!
Does it have a four cylinder Detriot for power?
You bet. Screaming Jimmy power. I learned on a 266 Koehring, so in a masochistic way, I miss those drooling old lumps of iron.
WRS_Mark, seeing your machine sparked my curiosity enough to go down to the lot that I mentioned earlier this week and take a look at the two Cruz Airs that were tucked away. I caught the lead excavator operator as he was leaving, he said the owners bought the two machines a year before he started working for them (thirty years ago) and he used to see them driving around town. He personally had no like for the machine since it went against all the controls he naturally wants to do when digging. Apparently one owner just retired, and the other one (older gentleman) is the only one who can run the machines to some degree; everyone else gets too tripped up by them. I'd be curious to see how the later model ones with the Cummins (it's got to be a 4 or 6BT engine) compare to the Detroit engines. Still a cool looking machine in my book. Wasn't able to find exact dates on the two, but one was a true Drott 40 (different paint scheme/ cab/ etc.) whereas the other was an early CASE model.
No pics of BE 30H or 40H? Ours had a V 12 Detroit weighed 140,000# I can't find any old pics
I see those Case/Drotts have four outriggers, eh? Cutting edge '80's tech! I'm not sure how much more powerful the Cummins were back in those days, but I'm willing to bet they were quieter and likely slobbering a great deal less than those two stoke Jimmys. Thanks for posting those photos Chopper. I'm not going to be running the Drott until spring, but I'll post some video once I get reasonably proficient on it. Seems it was a solid, yet hilariously cheap investment considering I have four basements and it seems five septic systems to put in with the old girl. Run what you brung, I suppose!
WRS_MARK, I just found this thread, but if you want to change the pattern I have a diagram for the orientation of the bell cranks for a pattern change. I did mine in about 10 hrs with no help, I switched from foot swing and foot bucket curl to the ISO control pattern.
That would be totally awesome bigshow! I just received the service manual for the machine, so I was planning to go through it anyway. Shall I PM you my email address?
Sure, I'll send a copy and I'll leave some instructions as well.
PM sent! Thanks so much!
Steve/iowa, That's a hell of a nice machine you got there, she looks very tight!! We don't get to see these H-W machines often anymore-especially the bigger ones, thanks a lot for sharing your pictures. Regards. Max.
Well, I got the Drott 40 going and converted to 3/4 ISO controls (the bucket is still operated via foot pedal). A few issues like the brakes, a bad axle leak, assorted other relatively minor engine and transmission leaks and cooling when run hard have to be addressed, but it does function pretty well for a nearly 40 year-old machine. I'll see if I can post a video. The thing is slow but bull-strong!
Had a friend of mine shoot a quick clip as I was starting to dig the septic. Great machine for the price. Needs about three weeks invested into fixing all the minor leaks and getting the brakes working (that's at my pace, which is probably slower than yours). https://youtu.be/VyErj1E0v5U
Have a few photos of First Gen excavators. Run a 455 Koehring and a 466D Koehring. Have pics of them, a 466 Koehring, 1066 Koehring, 1266 Koehring, Bucyrus Erie 20H, and a Link Belt LS5000. Seen a lot more but haven't taken pics
Found this old girl parked in a field a Hein-Werner truck mount dont know what model exactly but she's in pretty good shape. There was also a newer Case backhoe parked nearby that I got shots of for comparison.
A few more pictures I usually take lots even if there is a big thunderstorm weighing down on us....
The last batch of photos