Heres another great posting...but we're starting with clues for those of you who can guess...Regards Ray
Spoke to the owner of this machine last Saturday,He told me to have a look which I did.I might be sticking my neck out but would have to say this would be the best example of this model in the world,its a credit to him.Terexkerry
Well this sounds interesting, so i,ll stick my fat little neck out and say with a name like kopuku express it would have to be a caterpillar; as there was very few Terexs and no Wabcos out there; so what is this treasure ? 1693 powered DW20 i hope !
It's a nicely restored Cat 630B scraper......one of only two imported into NZ and used by Stevies at Kopuku? There is a nice video on youtube of this machine as well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRyga_d_a4
Very nice !
Cat 630B Well no surprises here...Yes Vic Drapers latest restoration...one fantastic machine..Photos were supplied from Vic
For those of you who remember the machine...here's the Plant No..Plus check out the instrument panel showing the extent this machine has been restored...a true credit to Vic.
Just to get a clear perspective here's a few photos that I took prior to Vic starting the restoration
Well that is bloody impressive; great to see some of kopukus fantastic history preserved. Stevies had 2 630Bs as well as 2 630As as well as all the other scrapers including those classic repowered DW20s. Anyone know if any of there other scrapers had been saved ? Bloke Toomey had a 1693 powered DW20 converted to a sheepsfoot roller that was quite tidy, only other machine I knew of. Although I do know of where stevies No16 grader is that could be bought to go to a decent home. Machine is complete plus transmission of its wrecked sister. In Ken Andersons book about kopuku it had a great shot of a DW20 being pushloaded by there new D9L in 1986. Bit like the spaceshuttle pushing the ark. But living proof these old girls can still move dirt
Absolutely stunning, well done to all involved and the dedication to the rest of the resto shines through in that gauge cluster, absolutely spot on! A contractor i know here in Australia is just about done repainting a 666B he has just purchased and will be putting it to work with his fleet of 4 660B,s.
Great job, amazing work!
a bit of youtube footage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRyga_d_a4
Wow, that's an impressive restoration.
Hi Graham. Thanks for that link. The sight and sound of diesel being converted to smoke and noise. Couple more beers and i may even be able to smell it. Merv
it certainly is a cracking restoration :cool2 i have just seen the D8 pictures too have a couple for me too Merv :drinkup cheers graham
What a remarkable job!!!!!!!!!!!! That one is way to pretty now to drive around in the rain let alone go play in the dirt with it.
Stevensons 344 Here's a couple of photos I took of the sister machine No344...taken at Stevensons ..Lochinvar Station...back in 98...I'm pretty sure this machine has now gone to a good home down South
I saw that old girl a couple of weeks back at vic drapers place' and i have to say that its a credit to see Vic restore this old Iron to a magnificent standard.
do you mind me asking where you saw the pics of the D8? amazing restoration job !! defines the word "dedication" !!
Great job on the restoration. A bloke in West Auckland surname Yuckich owns a Cat D9G and a Cat 630 ex Stevies they did a job in East Tamaki, South Auckland a couple years back. Craig
click here mate HeavyEquipmentForums
630b That is really a fantastic job of restoring that 630. I use to own 2 of them and I really appreciate looking at that. Tks for posting that.
what a legend !!
Updated Photos Heres some updated photos that I took to show how truly impressive this machine really is
And a few more
And a few more..and it sounds sweet.....thanks Vic much appreciated::notworthy
Just about as good as the day it came out of its box when new, awesome job and good to see. RDG.
Great photos again Ray,Did you happen to get any of the 16TDT for the TEREX thread.Kerry
630B Resto Thanks for posting some more Ray, i reckon it is worthy of an article in the Antique Caterpillar Machiner Owners Club magazine, pretty sure there is a chapter in New Zealand too so maybe that wouldn,t be to hard to arrange.
Ken Anderson in his book did not get a lot of his facts Quite straight. So it does need to be read with that in mind
A while back I did see some blokes posting some pics i think it might have been on the Acmoc site of a D9 or two they had got a hold of, Ds& Es they were, they had one on a float and were taking it somewhere but any way they were some of Stevies first D9s into NZ, any one over there know any more on those machines, they would be good restoration projects no doubt.Cheers RDG.
hi RDG A couple of Stevensons original D9s and carryalls where in Rex Wilkinsons yard near Helensville when we purchased our 333ft from him, 18 months ago. I beleive he would sell them, they are in good nick for their age, and they wouldnt be too hard to restore, or put into work if you like fresh air.
That sounds like them, lets hope they dont get the gas torch through them and some one gives them a good home.
Rex had 6 maybe more early D9D's in his yard at one stage mainly ex Stevie's but also one that is ex Winstone's. Two were being parted out, One sold to someone in Wanganui, with 3 possible runners remaining including Stevies first one. (18a's & 19a's)
630b Still can't get over how nice that 630 looks! That should go in about all the mags. ACMOC for sure. Just a super nice job of resto. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Good Morrning RayC, What neat photos of the 630B before it was painted, the photo you took standing on the right front is that a DW20 in the back ground? You need to take some photos of it two, and let us old timers drewl over that one to. I take it you don't live to far W.Stevenson & Sons LTD? and make sure you tell them for me that they did one fine resteration on that 630B. Do they still use the old girl every once in a while? Remember Ray we need more photos. Mike Nebergall
Hi 68M and RDG. Paul Watson [motat] on here is the guy who got the D9D, stevies no 81. He has also got one other of Rex,s D9Ds but has yet to pick it up; don,t know which one; as well as what was originally Duck bros D9D 18A1044 as a parts machine. pic hopefully Merv
Another pic Rex also had in that collection No 41. 18A488 the very first D9 sold in NZ
I am lead to believe there will be another nice resto job of a Cat scraper coming out of Drapers soon too.
Thats a awesome resto job on the 630 congratulations I worked for Stevensons at Kopuku about 1971-72 I have some photos i will find and try to post on here I have one of the 630B No 348 parked outside the workshop after a repaint It was a great place to work. I think they were the only hydraulic scrapers onsite when I started work there They could not hold off the DW 20s repowered with the 1693 truck motors, on a run to the tip head and back to the cut The DW 20s could do about 50 mph if I remember rightly The sound of those 1693s roaring through strait pipes, 3 feet in front of you is unforgetable,the main reason I am half deaf now I reckon Cheers Wayne
hi Wayne, yes but man what a way to go deaf;music to my ears. did you know a mate of mine worked ther Stu Edmondson; always used to drive machines in bare feet, and still does !
Hi Merv,the name rings a bell, would he have had blonde curly hair in those days,probably like me and got none now. One of the foreman Static was his name went barefoot also, all year round too tough old bugger he was, feet like a rhino He might remember me mention a mark three zephyr with a v8 in it with big tyres on it. My mates were **** and Yogi Got some photos to post but they are stuck, like in glued into an old album wrecks them getting them out will keep trying tho Thanks for your reply Merv. Cheers wayne
Kopuku 58 Its been a while since this thread moved so heres a few more photos.....these are originals from Stevenson's and were taken around 1958..enjoy
Kopuku contd A couple more
Kopuku And one last one....can we tempt anybody else to dig into their archives...if you need a hand to post photos either send photos to me or Malcolm and we can post them.
Wow, great pictures. It was an impressive fleet! I like those two d21's loading right side by side.
Yair . . . RayC. The push tractor tagged onto the three axle rig in the second picture post #43 appears to have a second "C" frame around the back . . . did this have a pad for tandem pushing or was it an early mounted ripper? Cheers.
Great pics Ray ! Goughs used to have a full size colour picture of that first fleet shot in auckland, but is long gone now. Hi scrubpuller. Several tractors had the rear c frames for tandem pushing. mainly earlier models. some of the later 9Gs and Hs had proper pushin cushions and rear push blocks. And some had rear rippers. Stevies also had some "Ben Hur" rippers. the old towed rippers; like the roman chariots, hence the nikname, that they used with one 9 towing and another pushing. Merv
Yair . . . D6 Merv. Thanks for clarification about "C" frame. Back in the 'sixtys there was a tank sinker working out of Kingaroy with a rear "C" frame mounted up with ripper tines. It ran off the second drum and could be pinned in the up position. I saw it on a couple of his D7's over a period of maybe fifteen years. I was surprised the idea never took off as it saved hooking up the "Ben Hur". . . that is you just had to drop the scoop off when working on a tank and you always had the ripper if you hit a bit of hard stuff with the cable blade. That's the only other time I saw a rear "C" frame--exept for the time one of our blokes pole vaulted through the frame in a break away and came back to the tanker with the vee blade dragging upside down behind . . . but that's a whole 'nuther story. Cheers.
Gidday scrub puller ya last post gave me abit of a chuckle, about the man pole vaulting over his own blade. Had heard of a similar story here about a guy sliding downhill on greasy clay on a string blade D7 and he tried dropping the blade to stop him 3 times [first 2 blade never bit in the clay] 3rd time it bit alright. String snapped and he did a pole vault too. Was a little bit skepticall about it, but after reading your story, must be possible. Bet both men had eyes the size of saucers after it happened :beatsme The idea of rear rippers on a c frame would be a good idea; esp if you can pin it up and just use it as a drawbar for the scoop when not ripping. Means you just have to change one string, One other unmentioned thing about all those machines of stevies in the pic about 1958, is that alot of those girls where still working up until about 30 years later in 1988, around when kopuku closed. They,d all been rebuilt umteen times, but they still kept on going. Testament to a good design; along with fastidious maintence, and good operators. Is even a pic of stevies new D9L pushloading a DW20 around 1985 ! merv
Yair . . . D6 Merv. It woulda be a bit scary on the seven coming down a greasy slope but in our case I can imagine it may have been pretty uneventfull. I can imagine how it happened. The erosion gullys in some of the scrub country can just a few feet wide but undermined and in places twenty odd feet deep. Coming back to the tanker in the dark, heavy dust, iffy lights, drop blade to get through gully, string breaks, blade drops straight down into undercut, enough momentum to rock over and just land on the other side, dust clears, where's my f###ing blade . . . woops what's that there behind me. Woulda been a scream to see his face. O/T back to scrapers. A hypothetical. Given the scraper spread in post #43 is what? Close to fifty years old would any one like to venture an opinion as to how far a spread of current machines of equivalent capacity would be in front at the end of the month? Cheers.
The Kopuku book is a fantastic account of that site and the company, a couple of real interesting facts to me when i read it was that the largest Caterpillar fleet in the southern hemisphere was at this site and the 2nd was that they were the first DW20/21 outside of the USA. Both things hard to believe and even harder to believe it was in NZ!! Now, i am not having a crack at the Kiwi,s there. The shot with the fleet on the bench really is amazing.
Those push cat's look like D8-15A's I suppose there were close to being brand new, that one photo of the DW20 from the top those were clean mechines. I worked next door to a spread of brand new DW21's right at the begenning of 1960 they were the electric shift models. I really enjoyed DW20's and 21's I even enjoyed the D8-15A's and the 14A's. I liked the first 657's and the D9G's and the H's I did not like the 657's when the 657E's came out or the high drive dozers. The most comfortable scraper Caterpillar ever made was the 637 narrow nose, push pulling you had such great visibility the push block you could practially see the farside of it, and the hood was narrow, the 637D's I could never figure out why Caterpillar made the hood so wide the first D's the front engine was a six cylinder. Give me the choice I'd take the DW20 or the DW21's.
Don,t ever think the first 637D had a 6 up front.
Maybe I was talking about the first 637's when they went from the narrow nose to the widw nose with the six cylinder front motor? I owned six of them. Mike Nebergall
627 Restoration Well following on from the 630 Restoration Vic has just completed another Top Restoration that I would like to share with you all...comments from Vic...this is one of his working 627’s. A lot of work went into this and it come up great. The r.o.p.s. cab was built in his workshop and involved stripping the machine back to the chassis and building it from there. It is his own design .Thought it might be interesting to put it on the Kopuku site, although not ex Stevies it comes from the same place that did the 630 resto. It is great to see the 333ft restored down south, and think it would be good to show that other in N.Z. are doing the same thing. This is the second push-pull 627 that they have done recently, both look the same, they go good and are quite nice to drive despite their age. They are both built in 1973 and still do a good honest day’s work.
that is one great looking scraper , thanks for sharing
Very nice resto job.Great looking unit.:thumbsup
Hi Ray I was working at Lochinver I think it was 87, we were contouring for black oats and barley crops and doing road repairs on the station. I spent a bit of time in seat of #344 , Stevie's sent us there for the winter , we alternated between the 630B, the DW20 and the dozers and trucks depending what was needed.
Hi Razor...awesome pictures...many thanks for posting...wow its been a while since I have posted photos here....I have moved into Facebook technology and set up a page titled NZ Road Transport and Contracting-Arch ives Now over 2100 members and 4000 plus photos posted of NZ Earthmoving and Transport history...if you are Facebook members check it out https://www.facebook.com/groups/571928599531216/ If not a Facebook member just go through the sign up process...nothing scary and no longer just for kids...a whole new world of Earthmoving History
I think I peed a little. Great stuff Scrub. This is why I wish I'd been born 30 yrs earlier.
Yep; Ray C facebook page; NZ road transport and contracting is a great view on facebook :notworthy; along with a heap of other interesting machinery sites; Classic earthmoving and dozers, Allis chalmers crawler tractors; and IH crawler tractors. If a troglodyte like me can navigate my way around facebook; anyone can !
I know this is a very old thread now, but I was at Kopuku when that fleet photo was taken, about oct-nov. 1958. I would have known all of the operators.Away in the back of the scraper line-up were two Hiel-Liner T75's also out of sight but around at the rubbish dump was a Vickers VR180. Alf wasn't very proud of that thing and it went down to Taupo out of the way.
Hi Ray do you recall the names Wally and Val Ellison Wally was at Kopuku from day one worked on the bucket line road out to the Meremere Power station was with Stevie’s for many years Aunty Val ran the cookhouse in the camp Sadly Uncle Wally passed away earlier this year Wal went from Stevie’s to Green And Mc Cahill was involved in the earthmoving industry all his life I worked at Kopuku myself back in 1971 bought my first D7 a 17a back in 1979 still got some 7s scratching a bit of dirt here and there around the Waikato
Hi ya Wayne, yep I remember Wally, roly poly good natured guy, but most of them were. Did you know the Dews boys, Wally. Archie and Brian? We are going back aways now, there was over 100 pieces of Cat gear there.Can't say that early stuff was trouble free though
Hi Ray that’s great that you knew Wally he must of been 80 when he finally chucked the work boots away was piloting wide loads for J Swap from Matamata for the last few years that he worked He could sure tell some great stories about his years in the earthmoving industry Brian Jew was at Kopuku when I was there back in 1971 remember him well he used to polish his work boots took a lot of pride in himself and his work I started my earthmoving career there on a DW21 thought that was the real deal back in those days Nice talking to you Ray Cheers Wayne
Hi Rayman.....been a few years since I logged onto this site to check response so apologies for long delay...I have collected a mass of Kopuku History and have been posting up on the Facebook Page that I have set up NZ Road Transport and Contracting-Archives.....nearing 11,000 followers so if you keen check it out and search Kopuku...or if any specific info contact through this page
Hi Wayne...see my previous message ref Kopuku history...regards Ray