Just going to start a thread with random pictures of our equipment I've taken New water truck Blades ready for snow this past winter New truck this winter New Pickups this winter More to come later!
Our 320BL with 20,000 hours getting new rails and rollers, and having one of the lift cylinders resealed, and getting new bucket pins. Then we had to tear down a Catholic Church with the 230CL Deere New to us 624J this past summer After I had to cut down a berm in a water way with the D5G LGP
Our 2 320CLs working, along with our 624G, and one of the 700Js and our D6R XL Burning trees with a 320CL 140G that I blade townships with One of our internationals hauling a big evergreen after the July 1st storm here last summer After I got done with snow removal with our 980G
Cleaning up with the D5G Casting some sand/gravel with the 320BL Our 966C pushing snow, I'm in the 980G Older picture of me pushing up sand/gravel with our D6H XL with 19,000 hours on it One of our Steiger Cougar IIIs with a disc
Another older picture of me operating one of our 627Bs I thought the 140G looked cool in the early morning with the lights on Our 938F that we use as a yard loader New to us 950G with 7,500 hours we got this winter. We now have 2. One of our 3 belly dumps. 9900i International with a C15 and Trail King
My personal 922B next to our Broce Broom that we no longer use I had to paint the frame on this truck Then I painted the wheels and put them back on Fueling up my baby at night after running townships
Very impressive line up of equipment! Especially love all the nice wheel loaders! If you ever wanna get rid of that 980G let me know.
Thank you! That's not even all of it yet. There's still a couple old 950s, another 950g, and some 624Hs and then a bunch of other stuff. I don't think we'll ever get rid of that 980G, it's one of the nicest I've ever seen. It seems like they are all beat to hell if you're looking for one. Ours has 12,000 hours on it right now
Very nice, would like to see the rest. Trust me, I know about the 980G, we are looking to buy a couple this year and they all look good on the internet, but when you go out to see them, they have little things they forgot to mention that are wrong! What part of MN do you guys do your business?
Yeah it's ridiculous with some of them and the shape they're in. We're in southwest Minnesota. You know where Marshall is? Where are you located?
Can't say I've been through Marshall, but I know you're pretty far down there. We are about 50 miles north of Duluth, right in the middle of all the taconite mines.
Oh okay, yeah we're way down here. So are you into the mining or dirt work?
Mostly just involved with the taconite, crushing and screening, would eventually like to start a dirt work division though, lots of competition around here.
I see. Well there's probably 6 or so substantial companies around here including ourselves, but 2 of those mainly do road construction
This is a quick video I took of our Cat 3406B generator starting up. We use it for our JCI screening plant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkilevpAJRI&context=C4ef865bADvjVQa1PpcFM5hJuXZf5KUzVRLZ9wxC-gOqO2P0vFlQY=
How long have you been in business? Lots of work lined up this year?
My grandpa started the company in 1979 and then my dad took over in 2008. Then hopefully I'll be next in line. We did have quite a bit lined up but with the mild winter we've been burning through it all because everyone wants it done. What about you?
Nice equipment man! Someone knows how to run a successful business during hard times.
Thank you, my dad said he appreciates it! The last 5 years have been very trying on my parents. (I don't have anything to do with management yet)
Thanks for posting your pictures. It's great to see equipment that has been taken care of instead of being run into the ground or the scrap heap. The hours that you have on your equipment shows that if you buy quality equipment you can get the hours out of it by taking care of it. Keep the pictures and the stories coming about your operation.
Thank you for the compliments! I'll be sure to keep posting pictures. I can post a bunch of old pictures of our equipment and stuff from the '80s and '90s if you guys want me to. Believe it or not, we still have our first loader that my grandpa bought brand new in 1979, and we use it every single day! It's a 1979 Cat 950 81J, and it has right around 20,000 hours on it. My 140G that I blade township roads with actually has 22,000 hours on it. It is on its second transmission but the motor has never been touched. I put about 1/2 gallon of oil in it every 4th day that I use it. It will actually keep up with our 143H pushing in 3rd gear.
Here is a picture of our crew in 1988. My dad is the second from the left, and then my grandma is third from the left and my grandpa is fourth from the left Our 230C LC tearing down an old Schwan's building in downtown Marshall The 320BL tearing down an old Schwan's warehouse in downtown Marshall New lowboy truck in 2007. 2007 International 9900i with a C15 and Trail King lowboy. You can see our 1996 International 9370 lowboy in the background Older lowboy truck hauling an old office building. 1996 International 9370 with a N14 Celect Plus. Actually this is currently our oldest truck
Here's a cool picture of the 230C LC Grandpa moving a shed with our old 930. We traded it in 2008 for our 938F My dad hauled a lot of dirt with this truck in the early '80s. This is right after we had it restored in 1994 More recent picture of the old Studebaker. Don't worry, I've since pulled it out of storage and have been driving it at least a couple times a year Back when we used to have TS-14's. We traded both of them off on two 627Bs
320CL taking down trees at my parents house Our two 700Js pushing with the D6R XL Same thing Our D8L working on a pond job D5G LGP working on the same pond
One of the 320CLs and the D6H XL on the same pond job Same pond D8L again on the pond 2010 International Paystar 5000 2010 International Paystar 5000
The amount of equipment you have is very impressive. I'm in the same boat as you, my dad started the company in 1987, now I am hoping I will be taking it over in the next 10 years. Does he have you out in the field doing work, or in the office? We have 2 jobs that we run 24/7 almost all year long so that keeps the money flow pretty nice all year, otherwise we will get a big rush on jobs in the summer months and have 6-7 plants going at once, then it dies back down to just the 2 for the winter-spring.
It's always fun to meet other guys who work for their family's company. Right now I'm still in college for a 4 year degree for construction management, but everyday I'd much rather be working. He has me out in the field, I don't think I could stand to sit in an office. I work all summer, and every break that I get from school. I mainly operate equipment, but every now and then I do labor all day long when I'm needed. What So does your dad have you in the field or the office? What size crew do you guys have?
We must be around the same age, I'm doing a college class or two a semester online, and working full time running loader at one of our plants. I too wouldn't be able to sit in the office all day, I like being out at the job sites. We probably have a crew of 15 year round, then in the summer it might jump to maybe 30. You guys must have a pretty big crew.
What size loader do you run? Well I'm 20, and I've been working full time since I was 14. I started out when I was 10 mowing the lawn around the office and shop. In the winter we have a crew of about 20, and in the summer time it's around 45-50. It depends on how busy we are.
I'm 20 as well, will be 21 next month. Haha ya same thing as you, I've been a shop hand since 13 as well doing painting and mowing, and then got into the Operators union at 18, and have worked full time operating since. We only run 980s or WA 500s on our plants so thats mostly what I run, we have a 950 there though too for fines.
View attachment 89658 Was it you who bust the step off it .....?? :tong
I have to say our 980G is my favorite to operate
No it wasnt actually. It was the guy before me who was running it. He also managed to rip one of the fiberglass front fenders off on a snow pile. By this time we had it fiberglassed back together and mounted it back on. How me managed to break that step in snow is beyond me
I have yet to run a G series loader, hopefully soon we will have a couple. Does yours have the controls on the steering wheel, or is it the raised pistol grip?
Ours has the quarter steer with the transmission controls on the steering wheel. It's so nice, and that 950G we just got this winter has the same set up.
Yup the quarter steering sounds nice, I'm sure it takes getting use to from the full steering wheel though.
It seems overly touchy at first but it doesn't take long, unless you're an old guy haha. You won't want to go back once you use it
We work at a CN railroad yard, and they have 4 new 988 H with the joystick steering, not sure if I'd be into that, some of the guys say they would much rather have the G series.
I think i would rather have the G series too. I've never been in a 988H but they have that 3/4 throttle thing where you can set the engine at 75% power and all you do it dig and shift. It just seems like that is un-needed wear and tear on the transmission.
Just a side note on your step. One time while running a 966c, the first step up was ripped off. I think that one was cable from the factory. Anyways as I went to climb up the chain broke (it was 3/8 g70) I smaked my head on the top rung, woke up on the ground with a bloody forehead and a banged knee. At the time I gusse it was a good repair, I never thought the chain would wear out just hanging there. muzy
Yeah, to me it just doesn't sound right. I like the new cabs the loaders are getting, and the style of the bodies, but some of the other things they are doing are negative not positive, in my opinion
Most larger loaders are going that way. You set the "cruise control" for the throttle at whatever RPM you want to run at and then run the machine on the steering joystick, the left pedal for fine power train modulation, and the lift/tilt control. Sit back in the seat, two hands & left foot, and have at it. Easy peasy. As far as I'm aware the 988G & H both run pretty much the same. And as a side comment I'd far rather have joystick steering than that poxy half-steering wheel abortion.
Is the joystick quick reacting? Does it throw you around the seat because its jerky? My concern would be driving up a ramp with the joystick.
No the joystick steering I've come across on loaders is as smooth as you like. In fact on some systems you can dial the sensitivity up or down to suit the operator's comfort zone. The nice thing is that instead of leaning towards the steering wheel it encourages you to sit back in the seat with both arms resting on the armrests, which steadies them and leads to a much better control. Lastly you have the advantage that the transmission F-N-R and upshift/downshift controls are right there on the same joystick used for the steering.
I guess I've never tried out the stick, but I do really like having the gear selectors on the 1/4 steer, and I really like the 1/4 steer. I doubt we'll have anything new enough with a joystick for a while. That 624J on the first page has the transmission controls on the joystick for the bucket. It's pretty nice
I'll have to look out for that. When the steps break on our older loaders, we put chains on instead.
Well back on track. Here is our first excavator. A Poclain LY80 Our first dozer. Allis Chalmers HD6E First New dump truck, 1979 International First new loader. 1979 Cat 950 81J. We still use this loader everyday Picture of our 320BL helping at the fire on the campus of SMSU in Marshall in 2001. The local scrap iron company's 235 is in the background
Interesting that ya'll's first excavator was a wheeled machine. What's the history on that? Just curious.
Well from what my grandpa told me, he found it for dirt cheap at the time. Also we didn't have a lowboy back then, only a tag trailer big enough to haul the HD6E, so my dad had to drive that Poclain from job site to job site. I think the farthest he said he ever drove it was to a Pipestone, MN which is 50 minutes away from us on the highway. So it musta been quite the trek in that old Poclain! He always jokes that on that trip to Pipestone, he was going down a hill in the Poclain and a butterfly flew in the cab through the door and flew right out the front window
Current picture of our old lowboy #60. 1996 International 9370, N14 cummins New to us dump truck this last fall. International 4700 Caterpillar 308CR and my 140G in the background One of our International Paystar 5000s
International dump trucks International 9400 with an Arnies V-Max side dump Our open end demolition truck. 1994 International Our newer International 9400 with an Arnies V-Max side dump
Our first loader my grandpa bought new in 1979. 1979 Cat 950 81J One of our 627Bs The big International Paystar 5000 again. Our other 950G which we've had for a while.
Here's a picture of our 2011 International 9900ix with an ISX hauling one of the 320Cs back to the shop for new rails and segments Just started taking the pads off the 320C Down to the rails on both sides Rails off and old segments off
Great pictures! Do you have any more of your 922?
Thank you! I sure can. I should be able to get some tomorrow or later this week.
Well I was out blading townships when this happened Then this happened Not an overly productive day in the blade
Well sorry for the delay. Here's some pictures of my 922B
And some more
and two more
Here's our new dump truck. It still has to be painted red. And here's our new to us blade. It's a 163H with 5,000 hours on it. We're finally trading off my old 140G with 22,000 hours on it. I'm gonna miss the old girl but this thing is a nice trade up!
Any more pictures for us?
Brand new Case 235C SR arrived last week. Waiting on rubber shoes & hydraulic QC to be installed.
T370 we just picked to help with the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy at the Jersey Shore. This house is less than 1/4 mile from our shop and is typical of the other 30 or so along the beach where we work.
Great Pics! is that 163H 6x6?
Sorry guys I've been slacking on the pictures. I have some more for you so don't worry!
Well I have a bit to update since the summer. We ended up trading off the two white International 9400i's for 2 newer red International 9200i's with ISM Cummins motors, and the two Arne's Vmaxes for 2 new SiDumpr trailers. The first two trucks are the new side dumps. The 3rd one is a spare that we use for hauling scrap metal down to Iowa for a local company. Then our 2006 Chevy 3500 Duramax that we use to pull a 35' 5th wheel. Then the last three trucks are our 9900i internationals that pull belly dumps
Then I took this picture of our Deere 230C LC with one of the new work pickups, then a few weeks later we traded the 230 off for this 2012 250G with 800 hours on it.
Towards the end of the year, getting both of our 627Bs going on a frosty morning.
Picture of our John Deere 4440 with the Cat 308CR in the back ground. And then Dad checking out our new Jet low boy trailer for hauling sprayers, combines, and tractors.
938F and the older 950G melting off in the main shop after an early morning of snow removal Our new plow pickup after we just finished setting it up. You can see our old 950E with 25,000 hours in the back ground. Then I was sent out to do some drift breaking on the townships with the 143H And then I got to be the first lucky one to try out the new plow pickup!
Yes both our 143H and 163H have the front wheel assist
A farmer hired us to cut a water way into his field. I was loading our D25D with the soil we cut out (it was all black dirt, no clay to be found) with the newer 950G with command steer. You can see the D5G LGP way in the back working on the water way. Tearing out a concrete slab with the Cat 302.5C and a Cat 246C. This was the amount of rebar in a slab that was 10x15 and 6 inches thick. And the newest addition to my personal collection, a John Deere 450. You can see our newest dump truck in the back ground (the one that was waiting to be painted a few pages back).
Stuff filling up the shop this winter for repairs. One of the supervisors had a little mishap with the 624J and the blade for it. Replacing a cylinder on one of the 624H's after repacking it this winter.
One of the 320C's after tearing out, burning, and burying a grove. Our Deere 700H with 10,000 hours next to one of the work pickups. Tearing out the concrete from an old feed lot. Me looking out the back of a 700J. You can see one of the 320C's and one of the 624H's in the back ground.
Unit #1 with the 5th wheel hauling a Farmall 656 diesel back to my buddies house for him. Unit #70. 2011 International 9900ix with an ISX Cummins in one of the local parades. All three of our lowboy trucks lined up. Units #60 #69 #70 Unit #69. 2007 International 9900i with a C15 in the same parade as above. Unit #5 after just being painted and delivered to us. 2008 International 7700 with a Caterpillar C15
Very nice thanks for sharing.
Thank you! My dad and I are pretty proud of what we have.
Here's a couple of pictures of my grandpa next to one of the 2 Linkbelt 2800A's we had at one time. He's the one who started this all in 1979.
As well you should be. That is a nice looking fleet.
Thank you very much. I still have some pictures I'll have to upload later.
Some work I did at a farm with the 700H Doing some work with one of the 700Js The new 250G lined up at the shop with a few of the other excavators.
Blading at the beginning of last summer. Beans under about 6 feet of water on either side of the road. Eventually the water came up and over the road. New 279C with the old 279C Traded off our last 2 Gehl 5640Es for 2 new Cat 246Cs. This was the first one.
Nice photos! You guys have some pretty cool equipment. I really like that Deere trackloader with no ROPS.
You should be proud of a well turned out fleet like that!, hope the work keeps coming in for you and your family business
Thank you very much! If the snow would stop, we have a few solid months of work lined up already. The frost went out partially, and then it started snowing again and everything is just a mess now. We haven't been able to use the 980G for snow removal this past month because the parking lots can barely handle the 950s and 624s
Do you think you could take some pictures of the shop and the yard? Yall look like a very successful company I always enjoy your pictures.
Sure I can do that sometime soon! In the mean time you can look at this. https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=2376+county+road+30+marshall+mn&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x878a5011be8fe943:0xd420784a66e94730,2376+County+Road+30,+Marshall,+MN+56258&gl=us&ei=ODF9Uej3FIf2rAHTnoDIBA&ved=0CDIQ8gEwAA The marker is right in our driveway
Very nice looking business you have there. That garage looks sweet, and huge. Guess its required with your long, cold winters to have a nice place to work on equipment.
Great video
Well I suppose I better update this thread since I have been saving up pictures. I'm just going to post a lot of random ones I have on my phone. Some of them are projects I worked on this summer, and some are pictures of our equipment. Okay this is a job where we were hired to dig the footings and then back fill them. How do these walls look to you guys?
Driveway that a guy wanted widened about 2 feet on either side, but didn't want to pay for any gravel to be brought in. There was only a driveway up to this house, so I cut out the sod and black dirt and put in some gravel. I had to replace this culvert at my grandparent's place with our 302.5C Customers machine shed. I built up the gravel about 6 inches. Stripping a lot for a new hotel.
Building up the roads and parking lot at a fertilizer plant. Used the 700H to build a haul road across a wet spot. This job was way too wet for our 627Bs. Believe it or not, it took our D6H XL and D6R XL to pull/ push me out of this one. My dad wanted to try out my old John Deere 450. We cleaned out some trees at my place. After we were done.
I thought you were never gonna update this thread. As always I love the pictures. Looking forward to more updates.
Sorry, and thank you! It's just one of those things that I get busy and forget about
Another customer who wanted something done as cheaply as possible. He just didn't want his loading dock to turn to slop, so I cut out the clay about 8 inches down from the concrete and sloped it about 6 inches out at 100' or so. Put down some filter cloth, covered it with crushed concrete and packed it. Some more work I did at my house with our tractor hoe and my John Deere 450. The sales man told us to try this out, and I was lucky enough to get to put 15 hours on it. One sweet machine if you ask me! Parking lot I was working on for a company to park their truck fleet on. It was crushed concrete, and the dark spots are just where I had watered it, packed it, and bladed it again. The stuff was so hard it didn't want to saturate.
Any new pictures?
Well I guess they would suffice for supporting a slab on grade..
x2 I didn't know a string line was that hard to come by up there...
That was the first time I've ever seen concrete work that bad around here. It was an out of state contractor.
Been a long time since I've been on here! Been way too busy with work. But I'll start updating some more pictures First is a picture I took of our 250G
Some of our equipment lined up in the yard this past winter Working at Action Trackchair's new facility The oldest lowboy truck getting some pampering in the shop this spring Here I had to dig out a 10ft deep pit with the 308C CR so a dealership could install in-ground lifts
Dad snapped a picture of me sub-cutting on a sewer and water project this summer in the 312CL Deere 700H, 700J, and the 143H sitting on a waterway project I completed. Same waterway project. Fueling up the 700J Had to move a sign for CHS in Marshall using one of the 320C's and a spreader bar
One of your trucks delivered my "new to me" backhoe earlier this fall!
That's awesome! Small world haha. Where in South Dakota are you from?
Brookings... I actually see those trucks coming and going from the quarry occasionally as well.
I actually went to SDSU for construction management. What kind of backhoe did you get? We are over that way every so often to get some stuff from the quarry. Last year we were hauling rebar off of I29.
Deere 410G
You've hauled a few loads to me too! Greg's a Great driver! I thought he was going to have to rough up a Wyo Hypo one day! They were being downright unreasonable! We got out of the Sundance Scale without a ticket, after Greg done some fast talking! You run a very good business! Scott
Haha thank you! Our lowboy drivers have been a great asset to us. Heck, Greg has been with us for more than 10 years
Anything new to share?