http://www.davemerrinearthmoving.co.uk
Yair . . . Welcome to the forum DAVE MERRIN It never ceases to amaze me at the numbers of those old D8's that are up and running as mainstream rigs in the UK . . . and the elegant simplicity of the string controls compared to juice. Wonderful pictures and, when possible, please keep posting snaps of your ongoing projects, they will be well appreciated here. Incidentally I was born in Capel St Mary but I never made it back to see that soft and gentle land. Cheers.
Thanks for the kind comments Scrub Puller, thought my website might be of interest to other like minded souls. There are quite a few D8's still running around earning a crust in the UK but I think my fleet is probably the oldest being 'H' series 22A's. They still do well even coping with that monster Cat 90 scraper which is 17 tons empty! Capel st Mary is just down the road from me! You should make a visit back to the old country, parts of it have not changed.
Yair . . . Thanks for response DAVE MERRIN . I will follow your thread and give it a bump from time to time. Cheers
Sure can't beat a tractor and scoop for some jobs, I spent a lot of time on them back in NZ, TD 15C with Onions 8/11 and TD 25B with Cat 80 and 463, 2 speed steering on the 25s made them excellent scoop tractors.
Bloody old yellow fellow ! Good to hear your still alive and kicking Dave. I used to chat with you abit back on the old acme site. You had a 88A D4D that you had untold problems with. Graham Rush had told me about a video of you and the D4D and onions scoop on youtube, that I watched once on youtube. Little girl was certainly working ! Chat with Graham abit on facebook; is some good machinery groups on there too. Hope you have a good summer. Cheers from kiwiland; Merv :drinkup
Hey Merv. Is Graham Rush any relation to the late Frank Rush from Kaikoura?
probably not; the graham rush I know is in England, comes on here abit under D4C 24A, and knows Dave. And I think got the onions pcu off him to put on his D4C.
Thanks Merv just wondered.
No relation that i know off , although family history is a bit sketchy
Hi tones , did you know frank rush ?
I meet Frank bout 45yrs ago in another lifetime. A true gentleman and one hell of a dozer operator, absolute legend.
Yes he was, he is my grandfather, so I grew up riding on the dozers and diggers, scrapers etc. That era of dozer work has gone now but the farm tracks, county roads and clear hill still shows what was done in the past if you take the time to look! We're you here in Kaikoura?
No mate, I lived in CHCH but worked on road jobs quite often in the area (Hunterleas and coast road upgrades).I first met Frank when I was working on the new Crib Creek bridge approach's. He had just brought a new D6c then. Your Grandad was always good for a yarn and had some very funny stories to tell. Did he ever tell you how he nearly backed that dozer off a bluff on the road to Hamner?
No not that one but I was lucky enough to be old enough to spend heaps of time with him, going to get new gear and shifting gear to and from jobs as well as rides and fixing. I don't remeamber the d6c,s but can remeamber the 2nd d6d coming and his first cat215 digger coming to town. Did he have the wabco scrapers at the crib job?
Firstly, apologies to OP for hijacking this thread. nzpatch, the Wabco scrapers on the Crib job belonged to an outfit from CHCH who's name I won't taint this web board with. Now for people who don't know the terrain of where we are conversing about, it's as steep as a hens face. Now Frank was clearing slip on the above mentioned road with his then new pride and joy so had decided to get a photo of it. So he backed it out to the edge of a sheer drop so it was at the point of balance, got off, wandered up the road and took the pic. He reckoned his mind was on other things as he climbed aboard and threw it into gear and opened the tap. It was just as well it was powershift cause he was in reverse. As the dozer was going the edge Frank had the presence of mind to bang into forward and it only just climbed up and over the edge onto the flat of the road. I never knew if he took any more photos but I think his pants would have been pretty full that day. Just a lapse in concentration