have a look at this youtube video of a LeTourneau scraper and dozer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njNvxJj6ZpU
Great video. LeTourneau was a real inventor and a great to see his grandson posting some footage. Hope to see more. Cheers
R G LeTourneau What a LEGEND I love my 111A What cy3 was that scraper, Cheers Leroy
found this on youtube guys, what a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahH7B5-O8Vc
very cool video is it just me or does that setup seem massively underpowered? seemed like it was struggling to get loaded and once it was it could barely get outta the cut.
this is more like it http://www.youtube.com/user/tournadude#p/a/u/2/ahH7B5-O8Vc
What a magnificent piece of ironmongery that is.
Priceless footage, How good is THAT Cheers leroy
And another. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HulrAIu2AbU http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=lh-EeZLm6dI[/url] Letourneau must have had a great imagination. One question, that loader looks like it might have electric power on the bucket lift and curl. Does anyone know it that's the case?
I always wanted to see that L90 in action. Looks like it would have been a real dirt mover. It's my favorite scraper that LeTournea built.
Reading thru a couple of books on R G Letourneau, he was dead set against hydraulics and all his machines were electro/mechanical using rack and pinion as a means to do everything so the loader is all mechanical. Some say it was his downfall as hyd became the accepted way in yrs to come. The current generation of Lt loaders still have elec drive but use hyd for bucket and steering. You gotta wonder in the vid of the L90 theres a lotta time spent just pouring dirt thru the bowl and putting it straight on the ground again, 40cum thru the bowl, 10 on the ground to go away with 30cum in it, not very effiicent by any stretch of the immagination. Cheers RDG
RDG, I noticed that the operator wasn't the best I've ever seen either, at one point he completely stalls the machine when he's loading the second bowl by taking way too big of a cut. It must not have been a promotional video for him to do that. As much of a genius as RG was in some of his creations, I could never figure out why he didn't go with hydraulics on his later scrapers like the L90 for the steering and bowl operations. I know this video has to be from the mid to late '60s. I think I saw a '64 model GMC pickup in the video or maybe it was in one of the books on RG Letourneau written by Eric Orleman I think. If I remember right, that book states that this was his best selling large scraper. Seems like instead of zeroing in on improvements to the scrapers that were selling and paying the bills that he was off in the fringes developing humongous machines that to me couldn't be produced in enough quantity to be anywhere near profitable, much less pay back the R&D costs.
Caterpillar didn't really set the world on fire going to hydraulics either. They had cable on dozers and scrapers for a lot longer then they should have.
Those V12-71N's Are running so sweet they don't even leave a trail of smoke, For the 1960's i think she had plenty of power I've been lucky to operate both old and new gear in my short time, Carn't wait to see what hasn't been invented yet????
If you notice they do not spin the tires,, I believe that is one of the keys to the electric drive.
Maybe they were letting the other manufacturers work out the bugs first.
If he would have moved into hydraulics sooner theres no telling what would have come about. You gotta think about his fisrt 4 wheel all electric scraper how nice it was to have a pusher axle without a motor and transmission back there. Ive read about Letourneau from a Guy that grew up around is equipment. I was fascinated and still am. I recently got to go the the Letournea plant in Vicksburg MS. I saw the carcass of the big 3 wheels dozer they use for parts. They still run a big 3 wheel dozer and the 4 wheel articulated dozer and that army tank dozer/ winch that was an old jungle crusher tender. They use them to help steer the oil rigs they build into the Mississippi River. THe remanned the 4 4 wheel dozer. I m getting permission from Longview Corporate to tour and take pics of the 3 machines. Still tons of tourna cranes running around the yards. One of the mangers showed some old pictures of the machines built there and tested nearby that he saved the photographs from it was really neat.
I had the Privilage Of Operating one of Letourneau Rubber Tired Dozers/Tractors, i dont know the Model, I sure wish i did, we knew them a TD, back in the early 60s i was in the US Army, with a Heavy Equipment Co, at the time we were in France in the Verdun area, we had a number of these Tractors, about 1/2 had Blades & the other had Big Bumper with a Big push Block in the middle, it was about 4 x 4 best i can remember, the ones Push Blocks were geared just a little different, they were faster in all gears, I was a signed to one with the Push Block, all were pulling pans, i dont remember how many yards, seems like 18 yd. all the tractors had 2 big elect winches on the rear, That winch could snap that cable like a shoe string, Loaded you sure had to be careful going down a grade, it would cross friction on you in a min. If you look at how far the Hitch is Behind the Wheel Base you can see that it was like a lever, if the load behind you was pushing on the rear of the Unit, the shift and brakes were air, there was for ever a air leak some where, the heat on the brakes would make the rubber dish crack & the clutch packs out front were all operatered by air, i hauled a Many Load of dirt behind one of those Tractors, There was another Unit working near by that were Running what is called a MRS ><It was & is the best seat i have ever set on, no moving parts, it was the way the Bottom Part was Made, The Back held you in place as these Tractors Bounced along
Thanks LakeRat1 This is what this form is all about ,Ifyou have photo posting problems email them to me and I will post them for you cheers Malcolm
We had MRS scrapers in the Seabee's up into the 80's. Pretty tough simple machines.