Ok guys I got some pics of my new 953C they brought out for me to try today. It's a demo model LGP with a light duty flat edged bucket but here she is.
Huh something elce that turns the snow yellow, sweet pics tho...
Nice pics. Do you have a 953 now? How do you like the controls on the C?
So is the 953 machine not coming out with the D series yet,or is this new C carry over machine:beatsme???:usa
D series is out already.
The D series are out, but this is a machine that was still kickin around at Finning here in Edmonton. I am working for an electric company this winter and they had a 963 from Japan that blew a head gasket last week so they wanted to demo a new 953. I had the 53 but they floated it away now because they want to try a D. SDo I have been runnin backhoe until they bring me another one. But the rest of the year I work for Sureway running a 973. I will be getting a 2007 973C when I go back to my regular job. I love the controls on the C, soooooo much lighter touch on the steering pedals than the older models. And the computer control for the engine is nice. The engine actually revs up when you hit the steering pedals to power you through a turn. About the only thing I don't like is the crappy ride. My 973 is heavy enough that it basically crushes what I run over. The 53 just bounces around.
Burnout, you say that the new C series controls are alot smoother to run? The 3 different 963's that I've run have all been the older model's, before the B series, my knees kill me at the end of the day. I would love the chance to run a newer C or D. None of the contractors around here spend the money on newer highlifts since they only use them about half the time.
Put it this way with the new controls... I normally rest my feet with a little pressure on the pedals of my old 973 so that when I want to turn I dont have to push down on 3" of dead air. Now when I run the new C models I still do it but I notice myself slowing down a lot because I'm applying both steering brakes at once. The steering pedals take about as much pressure to push down as the loader lever does. I don't know how old the 63's you were running are, do they have the pilot control loader or still the old stick up through the console? As for our track loaders.... Sureway bought 7 973C's last spring.. all have or are close to the 2000hr mark already. My old one got its rebuild at 17 300hrs, I got it at 17310, when I got a newer C in October it had 19 000hrs on it. But as I said... all of the new track loaders got sent back to the dealership for blown final drives, 1 with a blown engine, and another was a complete lemon.
Are you using the loaders more as a dozer pushing dirt,that might be the reason for all the final drive problems.As loaders they are really more for carrying ,those less stress to finals. I realize you do what you do with what machine you have too work with.What percent of the time are you carrying dirt compared to pushing. Thats a guess,but i think it is a good one.What does the Cat rep say?
Burnout, I'm talkin somewhere between probably 1982-1988 models, all 3 that I've ran have all been that old. One of the loaders had what I would call a joystick for the bucket and the other ones have been the 2 stick controls. 3 sticks if you want to count the 4-1 bucket. You ever noticed that nobody wants to run a highlift, at least at my work nobody does, they discovered at work that I can run one, and seems like here lately I'm getting voltunered for it, which I don't mind, something different
dirthog28; Ha ha, here they can't get enough guys to run em its soooo true. I am actually a Excavator operator and the superintendant of our division saw me screwin around with one at lunch one day and asked me if I wanted a raise and a change of careers. Here the track loader guys are pretty much the highest paid operators because we are the backbone of the backfill crew. All of our 973's have an actual pilot controlled joystick for the loader so its very nice and light to the touch for grading. Construct'O; A couple people have come out and basically described what we do as "Extreme Severe Duty". We backfill sewer and watermain trenches with our 973's. We cut ramps down into 10 meter deep holes, cut dirt out of walls, push tons of dirt, back up ramps and up piles, and once the dirt is down in the hole we push and turn with a full bucket of dirt and then grade it all do a nice finish for the packer. Basically everything hard you could possibly do to a track loader..... we do. In all the time I have spent on my loader... I loaded 2 rock trucks with sand and thats about it. The rest of the time its serious pushing and grading. As for percentage wise......99.7% is pushing/grading or working on piles.....
For years we had a 953LGP that we used mostly for single home sites. One machine would do everything, clear, strip, dig, load, backfill and even final grade. Never loaded out to much on a bigger site, used wheel loader mostly for that. Operating a track loader is definatly a specialized job, its nice because of the variety of work you can do with one machine and operator. Had about 20,000 hours on it when we sold it.
nice new toy!!
Nice loader. We had 2 new ones like that where I used to work and had nothing but problems with the computers that controlled the pedals to steer it. Good luck with yours. I know they have fixed allot of problems with the new D models including going back to a flip up cab. The first one they brought out I overheated in the first day. Come to find out they had to reprogram every new 953C after that because they had them set up to shut off the engine fan every time a brake pedal was activated. Of course this meant that the fan hardly ran since you push the pedals all day long while digging a basement. Even the mechanic had to wait for new software to be sent to him to reprogram the computer with since it was so new he didn't even have the correct software to fix it with yet. I want to try a new 953D model out now. They are a big improvement over the C models especially in the cab.
Foot pedal steering??? I thought everything but the throttle was on the hands?
953's have always had foot steering. I believe that Deere's TL's are all joystick control.
Well that sucks.
I haven't seen a Cat track loader with hand steer yet except for the baby 939 which has the same hystat system the small dozers do. I never even looked at the fan in the 953.. I figured it was a belt driven unit like our 73's are. The computer has been reflashed in this machine because it actually starts decent. I know a lot of people have complained about poor starting because the computer waits for oil pressure before it allows it to fire. All the C series 973's and 963's I have seen have been reflashed so they get ether everytime you turn the key to keep from killing starters. This summer when I got my first 973 (1997 model) she had a brand new 3306 in her with a brand new trans and I was working side by side with a 2007 973C. Every morning me and Ken would get in at the same time and he would spend a solid 30 seconds or more cranking that C9 over before she would fire and then he fogged me out when it finally did start with unburnt fuel. My first day he said ALL track loaders did that. Mine was a quick blip of the key and she fired. The next big thing we noticed in the difference between mine and his was the fact I was burning 110 gallons of fuel in less than 5hrs.... 3-4 if I was pushing away from the hoe. Then I found out that Finning had the engine cranked up to 275hp compared to the 240 the new model had. Needless to say I had the extra power to motivate that 5.75cu yd bucket I had.
I have an '04 BBX 953C and have not had any major problems with it. I did have the computer reflashed to make the drive motor speed up when turning and it did make a big difference. One problem I have found is it is very sensitive to fuel filters in cold weather. Of course down south that means 20F mornings, the condensation in the fuel lines will cause some issues, but other than that it is a money making machine.
I'm glad to see some people talking about track loaders Gentlemen, I am the proud owner of a 1993 555GWT track loader. It is a versatile support machine for doing sewer, water & drainage pipe. The 24" pads are a real help in the winter when you wouldn't dare bring anything with tires to the worksite. The new 605's don't have as wide a pad option on them so we are going to keep our 555 around as long as we can. Sincerely, ZAXIS
I have never had a problem with starting a Track Loader but the company I used to work for had a Cat Wheel loader I think it was a 934 I cant remember that is probably the wrong number but it would crank for at least 10 minutes and smoke out the entire neighborhood before it would fire. It was even worse when it was winter time and cold.
i love the foot steering, its great. dont knock it 'til ya try it.
Just like a two lever for the bucket and lift. It is the best in my opinion over a joy stick. Again cant mock that until you try it and get used to it. Once you get used to foot pedals they are the best. The new ones are so soft and accurate it just amazes me. I love em.
I will definately admit that the foot steering has gotten a LOT better on the C series machine over the old alpha's. I would like to try out the hand steering for a longer period of time, I love it in our Komatsu dozers and I think it would be nice for what we do with our loaders. In our 973's we sometimes squeeze inbetween manholes with only 6" on each side of the tracks and I have been known to do donuts around a manhole while keeping a distance of 3-4" the entire time, the preciseness of the hand steer would be awesome for that. I definately love how the engine powers up when you steer... makes steering with a full bucket while pushing a bit nicer. But I will never go back to twin sticks for the loader. I'll go back to runnin a hoe before I jump on twin sticks. I can't see myself being able to flick dirt clumps or tossing dirt at the edge of a manhole with a twin as you can with the joystick. I also found out this afternoon that I am getting that 953C back... the company bought it so it's now mine. So now I have a decision to make... stay with the smaller company and get a new 953, or go back to Sureway and get a new 973.
We had bought a 953 brand new in '84, that machine started at the turn of the key from new till the day we sold it in '99 with 18,000 hours on it. It would crank for maybe 10-15 seconds if it was below 30 degrees or so. We have all wheel loaders now, I miss that machine, amazing what you can do with a track loader.
Around here a track loader is still more prefferable for operations over Wheel tire machines. I personally hate a rubber tire loader. They are so unstable and spin out to easy. I will stick to a Track Loader.
With Sureway wheel loaders are for sand and carrying pipe. For any kind of backfilling we do it with the track loaders. For the last couple hours of the day today at my winter job I was running a 426 JCB wheel loader and this thing is gutless compared to the 963 they rented. But TOMMORROW the new 953 is coming back from Finning. They bought the little beast but I am pleading with them to not weld cleates on the tracks. They had them welded on their old 963 and it killed my back to run around on frozen ground with them. I made it my personal mission to break as many of them off as I could. Their last track loader man said he couldn't work without them when the ground froze but this 953 did more without them than the 63 did with them. I am definately not the best track loader man out there since I just learned last summer but I don't think their necessary most of the time. Just build a pad of decent material over the ice and away you go... and track loader donuts are a lot of fun. :cool2
very nice indeed eh. what would this machine retail for approx. nice to look better to touch
A brand new one around my area sells for around $185,000 give or take a little. Not cheap at all but can do allot if you know how to run one. I can grade a yard to where you would look at it and swear a dozer did it. Also I have put a 963 in the front yard that was not much bigger than the machine and I graded it out around the sewer clean out and the water shut off valve with no problem. They are just a all around versitile machine.
They bought that chariot for 205 000 canadian after Finning put teeth and new cutting edges on the bucket. I think it was a little overpriced since they were quoted 225 000 for a 953D LGP with a heavy duty bucket instead of that light duty bucket. They finally bought it though, got delivered to our site yesterday. I will definately be getting some pics tommorrow while im in it. Can't wait to try it out, g/f also got me a new ipod and fm transmitter so I can have tunes whilst I work.
Same sort of thing between Cat and Deere's tracked loaders, the smallest model has a joystick to control forward reverse left and right and gear select. and the bigger models have a joy stick for forward reverse and gear select with the foot steer. Where Deere has only three models cat has 6 models if you include there waste handling models.
Ahhh in reality there is only 1 model of track loader out there worth buyin.... the 973C. Even with that fancy new one today I ended up having to strip frozen topsoil and I have never longed for a big track loader more.
Yay the loader actually started today.. So I took a couple pictures of it.
At least you had a cab! Plus didn't have to be wearing your gloves while working(laying there on the dash) that is a plus.Don't you just love working in frozen ground.Ripper work me nice i would think. Does this mean your be keeping your day job running the 973 C.Good luck! By the way i'm sick of winter also !!!!:usa
Yeah I have been giving it some serious thought but I am going back to Sureway on the 973. They took the time last year to throw me in a track loader and send me with their most experience man to learn the ins and outs and I think I owe them that. Plus running a 953 pushing dirt into a 4ft deep trench compared to a 973 and digging ramps into 10m deep ditches, backfilling double and triple ditches is a riot. It's a different feeling pushing dirt down off a spoil pile over a waterline 2m deep to get to the sanitary sewer thats beside it and 6m deep and then havinga storm sewer 4m deep on the other side and backfilling only the middle ditch until you get up above the other sewer. It's hard to explain how we do it, but it's a blast. Although the girlfriend wants me to keep this job because of the nicer hours.
Twin stick bucket controls are the best IMO it gets fun with a 4n1 and triple stick. I also like the foot steer the best too, but a joystick is nice when your pioneering so you don't have to hang by the seatbelt all day.
foot steering That might be hard for a one legged man to do. I guess I will just stick to the dozers.
d6peg, I am intrigued by your last post . Can you elaborate?
d6peg its not that hard to run one with one leg I have to do it now and again when my knee hurts.
Legdoc, My right leg above the knee was pulled off in a train accident in Aug. of 1993. Spent 29 days in the hospital & had 6 surgeries. I was working for a grain elevator at the time, we were loading rail cars and got in the wrong place at the wrong time. I quit the elevator in Oct of 95 and went back to work for Dad, then in '98 I decided to get in bussiness for myself and bought some trucks (hence the Peg, that was my trucking handle). That lasted for about 3 years and now I am back with my dad as a co-owner. Thanks for asking, I dont mind talking about it. P.S. Never get on a piece of equipment if it is moving unless your the one in the seat.
Might say as i do sometimes.Paul Harvey !!!!!! "The rest of the story" Glad you have at least been able to carry on with you life.Thanks for sharing.Take care.:usa
you can run our liebherr 621....i hate, hate, hate the controls in that...joystick steer and joystick bucket
I would have to learn how to say Liebherr correctly before I could run it though.
It's easy to pronounce.... just say John Deere.. ha ha More accurately a john deere track loaders pappy... but it doesnt roll off the tongue real well. d6peg: You can run them with one foot, I do it when im feeling lazy. Thats a pretty wild story but you find a lot of those in this industry. I learned to run Dozer from a one legged guy, and his working leg didnt work so well. He had an old D8K setup for all hand controls. I learned to run dozer with my hands, throttle, steering, gear shift and hand clutch on left hand, blade on the right.
Does he still have that machine,or is it around.I would like to see a few picture of how the controls was set up.:usa
I have often thought about putting a de-accelerator switch on the dozer control, something like a 4 wheeler throttle. It looks like with the electronic throttle it could be done. I dont have any problem running a machine with a foot operrated throttle, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to use the foot brake with my good leg instead of using my prothesis. Construct'0, I had a left foot deccel pedal designed so I wouldnt have to turn sideways in the seat and when we owned our 938g loader we equiped it with a left foot throttle also. My apologies to Burnout, didnt aim to hijack his thread.
d6peg, small world, I am a Prosthetist and I certainly know what you have been through. It sounds as though things have worked out for you. In my line of work it is always good to hear a success story.
Yeah its sitting at my grandparents place in Ontario now.... unlucky for you I'm 3700kms away.
Thanks for the kind words Legdoc. Just got me a new socket made and I hate it, every since I've had it, my back has hurt.