you would have information on the old wheeled excavator model 1085 cruiz air I believe the drott case poclain brand, I believe it is the first wheeled excavator prototype, unfortunately on the net I found little information about this excavator, which opinions you have that merits defects and performances, suitable for agricultural use such as auxiliary service machine, what do you say.
Drott was the inventor and I believe these were a variant of the Drott Cruise Crane built in the late sixties and early seventies. They were used extensively by highway crews in the days when drainage ditches along highways were to be kept clear of vegetation. The machines could load the spoil directly into dump trucks and there was enough clearance at the back that still allowed one lane of traffic to get by. The Drott company was involved in law suits over accidents that occurred with the Cruise Crane line and sold out to Tenneco Corp. who later acquired the Case Construction and the Poclain line of excavators. The Drott colors were eventually dropped and Case put their name on the machine. The wheeled excavators were pretty clever in their design with the engine in the lower unit that drove a power shift transmission plus all the hydraulic pumps. The outrigger control valves in the early machines were manually operated by turning the house over the back of the lower and the levers in the cab matched some linkage on the lower to raise and lower the outriggers. Later on this was accomplished electrically. The most troublesome part of the machine was the center swivels. A hydraulic swivel was at the base, then an air swivel to work the brakes and throttle control and on top was an electrical swivel with a lot of lands and brushes. The top of the swivel had a sheet metal cover that was supposed to prevent the grease coming off the boom mount from getting into the electrical swivel. It didn't work very well.
That is a 1085B, 5.9L Cummins, Rockwell axles, commercial pumps.That machine has a "Y" boom, fantastic for cleanup and leveling. You can level right up to the tires. It was set up that you set the bucket on the ground an pulled both levers to the stops and it would give you level ground. John C is right, the swivels are the weak point. Not so much the hydraulic swivel, going thru the center is an air swivel, 14 row electrical swivel, shifter tubes for the trans, and the center shifter tube also ran the fluid for the accelerator. The outrigger controls are electric, over air, over hydraulic. Depending on the transmission and differentials it could do over 30MPH. Big bonus when getting paid by the hour. Something interesting is if you check it out the hoist and crowd cylinders are the same. Later model from Case was 1085C. Same basic idea but updated to 80's standards. Case sold the design, inventory, and the blueprints to Badger Equipment who carried on the 'C' until the brought out the '1085D' sorry to say that was a mistake. They have quit making them the last time I checked. The original Drott's had 2 levers in the cab at your right elbow. there was a bar under the seat you could step on, that would drop 2 fingers thru a slot on the outside of the slew ring and into pockets in the lower works. When facing front these would control the "Hi/Low and first/second" shifts of the trans. When facing backwards, the fingers would drop into pockets controlling the outriggers. Pretty inventive for the early 60's. P.S. don't ever forget to take your foot off the lever, it will tear off the fingers. You will spend the next 2 hours rewelding them with your father staring over you're shoulder reminding you how big a bonehead move that was, not that it ever happened to 15 year old me.
thanks to all the information, and the right considerations and opinions, on the net there is no information on this excavator, although it is a prototype of a wheeled excavator, thanks again, if any other user friend had photos or other information or useful news, I invite him to intervene, thanks again
I guess I'd probably call it a variant more that a prototype. This machine type saw far more utilization in Europe than it did in the United States. When I was in the navy in the mid 1970s I saw many similar machines of different make working in construction at most sea ports. Years later I also had occasion to work on Komatsu PW 90 model machines that were a lot smaller and used hydraulic drive systems. I think that the speed they can attain on the road is the major limiting factor in this country. If you have to load them on a trailer to get them to a job, then a tracked machine is probably a more productive choice in this country.
Drotts and their later versions were popular with municipalities. In the 70's and 80's there were dozens around here. Check out the Case website, the have some interesting pictures there.
thank you for your interventions and your comprehensive answers