There was a thread on here somewhere about this machine, just came across it on machinery trader, thought it was mildly interesting. https://www.machinerytrader.com/listing/for-sale/219300151/1985-champion-100t-motor-graders
The Phillips and Jordan Construction company had one of these on a big dam project near us down in north Texas. I remember it was painted red, and when I sat in the operators seat, I could see for miles in every direction, or so it seemed at the time. Wish I had gotten a chance to operate it.
Only six pictures?!
I saw that a couple weeks ago. Syncrude had one painted orange for awhile. A friend saw it parked beside a Cat 16 and it dwarfed it. There's a pic. of it I've seen parked between 2 Cat graders. I'm guessing it was part of initial trials. There is a promotional video of it I found on the internet too. Champion called it their 100 ton earthmoving system or something like that. I'll see if I can find it.
Looks like it might be a tad larger than a 24M.
It's actually quite a bit bigger/heavier, 202,000lbs. and 700HP! I think another big machine ahead of its time.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...628C798A50C346F12FAB628C798&FORM=VIRE&PC=MOZB
HeavyEquipmentForums
There's a brochure for the Champion 100 ton earthmoving system but I can't find the promotional film. It was a neat film.
A job site I worked on years ago had one push loading 660 Cat scrapers. The blade could shift more dirt than a D10 per hour, a truly impressive machine.
Run that for a couple days and you'd completely lose perspective!!!!
I think the promo video mentioned it could move more dirt than a D10 too. Frustrating I can't find it again. A Cat 24 has a 1 metre high moldboard. The 100T had a 1.4 metre high moldboard.
I can remember when I acquired and drove my first (used) Michigan 475 loader around 1986. My first loader in 1975 was a 1972 Cat 930, then I graduated to an Aveling Barford TS-500P (310HP Cummins) in 1983 - but the Michigan was a whole new ballgame. 86 tonnes (190,000lbs), V-1710 Cummins with 700HP, and a 12 yd bucket. Once in the cabin, it initially felt like you needed binoculars to see the cutting edge. But I ended up with 6 of those old Michigans, they were reliable as the day is long, and they were a beast at bucketing dirt around. There ain't nothing like going BIG, when it comes to reshaping the Earth.
The 475 Michigan's were fairly popular. I used to have brochure for the C series loaders. The 475 had an optional transmission I think called the Turbo Transmission that had a 10,000 hour warranty. I knew a guy that had a 175B with a Cummins engine and he said you couldn't hurt it. He also had a 75B. His brother said the reason the 75B wasn't as tough was because he tried to do the same work with it as the 175B. There used to be 2 Letourneau L700's parked in an industrial park close to the city. 1 had the cab removed. I climbed up on it and it's a long way up. I'm guessing they might have come from a coal fired power plant and likely went for scrap.
Yes, one of the Michigan 475's I owned was a Turbo Transmission 475CT. The TT wasn't up to the hot conditions in the West Australian Goldfields, it ran a lot hotter than the other 475's with the standard countershaft/powershift transmission. It was very reliable, though. I don't think the 475CT was built for very long? Maybe 2 or 3 years? The transmission warranty was 30 mths or 10,000 hrs, so you really needed to be working double shifts, to get the full 10,000 hr warranty! All the Michigan 475's I owned (B's and C's) were high hour machines when I purchased them, some had done 30,000 hrs or more, but the company that previously owned them (Dampier Salt), had never resiled from spending repair money on them - in fact, they were typical company machines - the workshop would rebuild a host of major components, then the beancounters would see the bill, and declare the loaders were costing them too much money, so they had to be traded in on new ones! They traded them on new 992C's. As a result, I would often acquire a used Michigan 475 with new transmission and engine, for less than the cost of a transmission rebuild! They always looked scrappy though, because of the salt. So I'd get them sandblasted and repainted, and they would come out looking great! One 475B I bought, worked for 3 solid years with hardly any bigger repair than the odd hydraulic hose. They were only retired when the mining company head honchos declared they were too old and inefficient and unsafe - due to drum brakes. The mining engineers only wanted machines with wet brakes, so the old 475's were out of a job on major minesites by the mid 1990's. The 475CT lasted longer on minesites thanks to the disc brakes, and she's still going (occasionally) today. She can be seen alongside the highway at Southern Cross, W.A. I left two of the 475B's sitting in the bush on a lease at Higginsville (W.A.), I have no idea if they are still there, I haven't been there for over 25 years. It wasn't even worth cutting them up for scrap, the value of the scrap would have outweighed the haulage cost. http://www.specsandbrochures.com/index.php?option=com_eshop&view=product&id=3175&catid=56&Itemid=339
Have always wondered about this. Happens here too, and wonder when you leave something like that, do you ever think someday somebody is going to call and ask you when you plan on coming back to retrieve your junk? Just wondering is all, not judging lol
No, it's not likely anyone will call me to retrieve the loaders. The Goldfields of W.A. is a huge area, and abandoned equipment and vehicles are common. Items such as these are seen as a source of raw materials for the few people who live there, and they often help themselves to parts or items from the machines or vehicles to assist in whatever they are doing, or have planned. It's entirely likely some scrap dealer cut them up when scrap prices were extremely high and fuel prices were low, around 2 years ago.