Here's the ACCO and Champion Models, both obsolete. The ACCO grader was made in Italy, and Champion 100T in Canada. The Caterpillar 24M currently is, the worlds largest production model. :usa
A replay Ah , so, it's a replay here on this forum. Thanks for pointing it out. I'm a newcomer here.
I would bet that it would take more than one person to throw that set of chains over the wheels
A correction to the old post: That Champion 100T is running at Rana Gruber AS, a iron mine in Nothern part of Norway. Just south of the polar circle.(i come from a small community just north of it.) Mo i Rana is the name of the closest town, the mine lies between the town and the polar circle. The Grader was bought used in US, a indian tribe wanted to buy it too, but the mine got it. It was for sale some months ago, they have changed to underground mining now. The open pit is changed to a racing area. Artic raceway, or something like that. They can run F-1 race's, but that sircus wount travel so far north.
Harris Blade Northart; a gentleman by the name of Kenny Harris from Rapid City, S.D. built the first big blade. I watched the thing being built and was roaded from Rapid City on I-90 and went to the bentonite mines at Belle Fourche,S.D.. This was the beginning of the large Champion blade bought from Kenny Harris. This was in the 70's. Should be someone around to really add to this. I could tell you alot about it. FYI Northart. Ken
Harris Blade ? Hello Catken, Did Harris have anything to do with the Raygo Giant or the Terex, pictured .
Harris Blade That blade was first designed by Kenny Harris to my knowledge. Alot of contractors in that area used them on the fill. He later built that big blade in the early 70's. John Deere came with that articulated blade and he kinda took the idea from that. He owned a machine shop in Minneapolis area and alot of stuff was build there and taken to Rapid City. His shop in Rapid City was by the big truck stop there, believe its a Flying J or something like that. He built that blade in a big round steel building that I would sneaked into a couple of times. Man I'll tell you that it was a horse. He roaded it from Rapid City to the mines and it literally covered all the shoulder lane and one driving lane. The blave was 4' by 22' if I remember correctly. Harris also build a TS 14 with a sheepsfoot in the middle. I believe he also build the Euclid powerspray water wagon. Some of those old guys around Rapid area can really inform you. The guy was really a pioneer in the business. Maybe someone else can get up here and shed alot more on this guy because it's very interesting. Hope this sheds a little more history to you Ken
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums catken! :drinkup
Northart, do you by chance have pictures of the Allis-Chalmers HD41 compactor setups Green had at Pueblo Dam?
HD-41 Compactor ? Hi Surfer-Joe, No, I'm totally unfamiliar with what your talking about.
OK, I thought that maybe, as you had the picture of that Raygo, that you might have some pics of the HD41's. Green had three of them at Pueblo Dam. None had hydraulics. They were each equipped with a large frame into which were set six sheepsfoot roller drums -- Caron's I believe. Two drums in front, two in back, one on each side. I'm told they were a bear to turn. After the dam was finished, Green put the sets up for sale. We needed more push power for the 651 scrapers in Wyoming, so it was decided to send one 41 up to us. A new pushplate for it was manufactured by Balderson and sent up as well. It didn't fit, so my crew had to modify it to mount and it never was quite right, but we used it anyway. There was no give in the pushplate being as it was mounted solidly onto the front of the 41 tractor frame. So we usually stuck a D9H on the stinger and the 41 caught up and hit the 9 from behind. Using the 41 decreased loading times in Scory by 3-5 seconds or more. It really packed a punch and you knew when it came on. It was a difficult unit to use though as without a regular pushblade to cushion the initial contact it really smacked into stuff. It also had the transmission brake and we never did figure out a way to disable that. Fortunately, we had one operator that made it his business to become very good with the machine and he was about the only guy to run it for several months. The 41 could load 651's by itself, but not as well as two 9's pushing together. Occasionally the operator would line up behind both 9's and the dirt literally flew over the top of the ejector because it was going in the bowl so fast, all three cats would be in 3rd gear. We sorta banned this practice after we started losing cutting edges as the plow bolts snapped off.
HD-41 Pic ? Hi Surfer-Joe, OKay, I missed your thought completely. It was the caption on the pix your referring to . No I picked that from the net surfing. Green had a Raygo at Moose Creek Dam. I seen it there. I worked for them on the Steese Hwy, 82 mile to 112mile . There they had a HD-41 working. 1978 . They had 2 HD-41 dozers. One was a lemon, always down and the other always working. Yes, too bad I never took more picture of equipment back them days. Even on the net they are hard to find.
HD 41 pics. Hi, Northart. Would you like the odd pic or three of some HD41's?
Another thread Hi Deas, We are getting sidetracked here, so I started another thread on HD-41's . Thanks, Northart
neat pics is the front end of the raygo blade a scraper tractor:drinkup
Front end of Raygo grader. Hi, 140gdirtman. Although it may look like it. I don't think that front end was ex-scraper. It did have an 8V71 'jimmy' in it which was the power plant of choice for some Euclid/Terex and other brands of scrapers so Raygo would have had a fair pool of design ideas to draw from. I have been asked a number of times if the front end of the Acco grader was a Cat scraper front end and I doubt that too. I think Umberto Acco built both that 200 ton version and the earlier 160 ton 'prototype' from the ground up.
Wonder how many things have to be removed in order to haul that big one? Also what were they built for? Why would you need such a large grader for?
How much stripping. Hi, BIGBEN2004. Welcome to the forum. On a machine that size, some of the bolts are gonna be too big for your average pick-up and you sure cain't get those wheels onto a tray-top truck without dismantling the duals. I'd guess that it would need to be stripped pretty much to basic units like front and rear engine modules, blade, main frame, wheels off everywhere, cab and chain cases removed for normal road transport. I know there are floats that would handle it in one piece but that pre-supposes that the roads it would need to travel over are designed to handle floats that would carry that big a lump of machinery in one piece. The Acco dozer would be easier to transport than the grader, I theenk. Blade, ripper and cab off and it would come back to a fair bit smaller lump than the grader.
Do you know what the purpose of building that big of a road grader was for?
I know that Champion was shipped by boat in one piece to the nearest big town, Mo i Rana. There it was roaded along the road up to the mine. They closed parts of the road and did the trip in many short ones.
Northart That twin engine blade was called the Harris Blade and Ken Harris did bild it.
Big machines Hi, BigBen2004. To see more about these machines look here:
Here is a link to the Cat 24H we rebuilt in our shop the first of 5 http://www.pbase.com/impalass/24h
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums Mike Stobbs! :drinkup
sweet pics of the 24H. how's the price of a rebuild compare to a new machine I wonder?
Acco grader Acco had made an other big grader before the grader on the picture above , that was an proto type , i have an picture of these .
Welcome to the forum Super Roel. Don't be afraid to share some of those photos that you have!
Do you mean this one????????????????? Hi, Super Roel. As Grader4me said, welcome to the forum. Re Acco's protoype grader, do you mean the one in this thread: If you have any more photos of any of Acco's machines, I doubt anybody would want to shoot you if you posted them here. In fact, folks here might even think you are a good fellow and offer to buy you a beer. LOL. Please, feel free to post your photos.
Acco grader Yes it is the same grader ,but i have some other pics from Acco , but i may not send them in , i am an junior member .
Acco grader Yes it is the same one , but i have some other pic,s .
The last pic is from the dozer .
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums Super Roel! :drinkup
The Acco grader and dozer were built for a large project in Libya. The grader was used to flatten rough surfaces.
Acco grader and dozer. Hi, D11RCD. As I understand it, neither the Acco grader nor the Acco dozer have ever moved a bladeful of dirt 'in anger'. Sure, they were built for a contract in Libya but a trade embargo was slapped on Libya about the time they were completed and they never got to go there. I think the trade embargo was over the Lockerbie plane bombing but don't quote. I do know that a trade embargo was placed on Libya when it wouldn't extradite the people thought responsible for the bombing but I'm not sure of the time frames.
Hallo , the machines standing now as a big museum .
look like you guys put some work into that rebuild..great pic
It's my understanding that the grader has worked a few beach reconditioning jobs in Italy, but that's all. Brian
I do stand to be corrected. Hi, Alco. I do stand to be corrected. I hadn't heard that it had done even that much. I understood that both had been mothballed when Acco wasn't allowed to go ahead with his contract, which must have been a pretty boot in the wallet for him
Hi Deas, No doubt that would have hurt the pocketbook all right. Can you imagine if that had happened in this day and age with all the money hungry lawyers out there? Brian
Sorry, I read that out of a book I have. My bad.
Your 'bad'???????????? Hi, D11RCD. Your 'bad'??????????????? What bad? I was under the impression that it was built for haul road maintenance but I could just as easily be wrong. It may well be that the rough ground levelling was the original intention for the Acco grader. I don't know. It would make a "WILD" haul road grader. It would be about the first one where I wouldn't be all that worried about being run over by a scraper or any haul truck less than a Cat 797B. LOL. Hi, Alco. IF it was that trade embargo on Libya that stopped them going to work, I think they'd have had to take the U.N. to court 'cos I'm pretty sure that is where the embargo came from. I agree though that there'd be a lot of legal sharks and vultures itching for a shot at it if it happened today. BTW, did you know that there was a 160-ton prototype grader made before that BIG one and it too is still in that same museum as far as I know.
Sorry, My bad is what we say at school if we get something wrong. It would be cool grading haul roads with that!
sweet pics
41b compactor pictures Hey SURFER JOE I HAVE PICTURES IN MY FILES OF THE 41 WITH SPECIAL COMPACTOR SET UP I WILL TRY TO POST THEM WHEN I GET HOME AFTER WORK
RayGo Giant I am new to this forum...Found it surfing the net...usually I cruise the aviation sites...concerning the big blade from Rapid City originally owned by Ken Harris...I am very familiar with it, as the shop it was built in was my dad's, and my dad along with another welder built it, as well as several proto-types...I have many photo's, however they are in storage in Rapid City...I now live in Alaska. Kenny was a great man and was always thinking...that what he was...an idea guy...men like my dad did the building, testing and re-building...there was a lot that came out of that shop...and I have many memories of that time...my dad was Garvin Langseth, and the other gentleman who worked on it was Downs...can't remember his last name.
Terex motorgrader I have 1 pic of a Terex grader , it looks of the front and the back are from Terex scrapers , i hope that there are more pics of this machine .
J5Ron; Welcome to the Heavy Equipment Forums. Great post for your first here...hope the reat are just as informative.
Terex Grader ? Hello Super Roel , I never seen that picture before . Thanks for posting it. Definetly is of Terex vintage. Looks like a TS-24 scraper, with the bowl cut out, and a grader spliced in. LOL
Acco Hey fellas, Great pics & info here...thanks for sharing. You have to admire the mental/physical & financial courage shown by guys building new machines. Here's a copy of an article from an Aussie magazine...not sure if it has been shown before. Jim
Acco Holland Loader . Acco made also an kind of Holland Loader .
Your grader looks kinda like this one. It's at a coal mine here in Western Kentucky. The Owner thought it was the biggest grader ever and said something like only 4 of them exist?? I don't know asking you all.
ooops couple more me standing under the grader
The owner is incorrect - twice at least. Hi, Jgivens. The owner of that Champion 100T grader in Kentucky is incorrect about that being the largest grader ever built - twice. Acco built a 160 ton prototype before he got serious and built the BIG one. Neither of these went into manufacturing production runs so the Champion 100T probably qualifies as the biggest production run grader ever but not the biggest ever built. I don't know how many of the big Champions were built but it would be a fairly safe bet that less than that number survive today after several years of scrap steel prices being through the roof.
Thanks Thanks for the info. Deas!! I saw the big Champion run a few times this past summer. They was using it to reclaim a few areas at that mine, very impressive machine.
Be an awesome rig for speed grading..
You'd run clear over a car and spit it out the tailings before you knew what happened!!!!
someone told me komastsu made a big one to but ive never seen proof
On running over cars and not knowing it. Hello, OVRSZD. I would suggest that if you ran over a car and failed to notice the fact, even with something THAT big, you ought not to be up there in the operator's throne. Hi, CatD8T. Check for 'Kummagutsa's' "big' grader offering here. http://www.komatsu.com.au/equipment/new/graders/Pages/index.aspx
Guess you missed the smiley face Deas?? Man, I think you and Northart need some hormone shots!!!
opcorn Hope my popcorn lasts lol
Seems everyone's been a little uptight lately. Just trying to lighten the mood!!!
On smiley faces and hormone shots. Hi, OVRSZD. No, I didn't miss the 'smiley' face. I chose to see the fact that someone would make a comment like that as being more indicative of character than an emoticon. ointhead :ban I can't speak for Northart's hormone levels but, after reading his posts here and on other forums for a few more years than I've been reading yours, I have a lot of respect for his skill and knowledge levels and for him as a person. :notworthy As for my hormone levels, you're never gonna know for sure but I don't think there's much of a problem there. :drinkup They've lasted me a while longer than yours have you and they are still going strong. :cool2 :bash P.S. Try not to take this personally. :Banghead P.S. 2. Please note the emoticons.
Dr. Digger will not be prescribing hormone shots for anyone at this time, however, he will open the medicine cabinet up and pass out large quantities of "don't take HEF so seriously" pills, which members are free to slip into each other's drinks, as they see fit. :drinkup
Amen to that!!!!
I see you've already taken a few yourself. Good. Good.... :bouncegri
Well, when we talk about the Champion 100T and cars.. In the mine at Gruben they used Lada Niva's as firm cars in the mine.(Small Russian 4wd cars) They used to say that if the 100T dug up a stone and graded it to the side, the whole was so big the Lada fitted down into it. I've also heard that they used to drive over a couple of Lada's a year in the mine.(trucks backed over them) Stories aslo confirmed that it might have been intentionaly... Niva's is not what u would buy as your private car...
A few years back a local grader operator backed into a car. He was working an area and the car pulled right up behind him. The operator backed a few feet and hit the car before he realized it was there. We all make mistakes. But as you mentioned MKTEF, sometimes it might be intentional!!! Last time I pushed snow I was way out in the country at midnight. My gravel road ended in a T at a paved road. As I approached the paved road with a blade full of material I saw car lights coming from the West, my left. I dumped my pile of snow at the T, off the pavement and backed up to get another load. The car slowed and finally stopped just before it got to the pile. I thought maybe she wanted to turn onto my road so as I approached with the blade full I angled the blade to make an entrance, again leaving my pile on the gravel road leaving the paved road clear. She just sat there staring at my pile of snow. I went after another load and needed to turn her direction to pile it off the shoulder of the paved road where she was sitting. I drove forward until my front tires reached the edge of the pavement and stopped. Now I'm sitting with my left front tire turned in her direction, about ten feet from the right front corner of her car, with serious lighting going on. She's sitting there staring at my front tire and not moving. I pulled forward a few inches indicating I needed to come toward her. She pulled forward a few inches and continued to stare at my tire/lights. All the while her path to continue on the paved road was clear. I pulled forward again, this time stopping with my front tire about two feet from the corner of her car. She's got the typical two hands on the wheel, leaning forward staring thing going on. When I pulled forward I could read her lips, she said "WHAT THE ----". Then she put the car in reverse and backed slowly with me easing forward toward her until I could dump my blade. I backed down the gravel again for another load and she slowly drove away. In this case here's a car that you want to run over real bad!!! But I didn't, I just spent the next thirty minutes talking outloud to myself about how stupid she was and speculating exactly what drugs she was on!!!
You name ut man.. I've spent some time in our tank transporter. Its a 63 feet(21m) long tractor and trailer. With a short 3 axle tractor and a 6 axle trailer you indeed need som space in the crossings.(and our roads look like yours, not as the highways) Countless times i've driven into the the crossing, taken to the left, and of course used the oposite driving lane. People just drive right into the crossing, don't even think about that i am gone use all the space. They stop with their front nearly under the 3 first wheels of my trailer. Looks just stupid inside their cars... I use to roll down the window and lean out, look at them and wait... Of course i am not backing that beast, because of a stupid car driver... Gets real funny when car number two, gets its front close into the first one.. Patience my man, you got to have patience.. There was a lot of different animals aboard Noah's boat, my mum used to say..
I've drove semi quite a bit. Someone will pull into that spot you are talking about almost every time. I like your Mum's quote, hadn't ever heard that before. Very funny. Very true.
Champion graders story
Here a large XCMG Grader: https://www.facebook.com/XCMGGroup/photos/pcb.1141778585845932/1141778529179271/?type=3&theater
Went out to the Dakotas the other week to see some of the late Kenny Harris's creations. The double bowls are still on the ready line. Definitely the "Peterson" of the green line
Where in North Dakota are these. I am going thru ND well headed west in a few weeks.
XCMG new mining grader GR 5505: https://www.facebook.com/XCMGGroup/...079487415848/1320371454653310/?type=3&theater More pictures: http://www.cirthem.com/xcmg-des-niveleuses-minieres-high-tech-et-surpuissantes-a127899600
Are these just north of Pierre SD?