Yair...there has been a bit of discussion about canopies rakes and treepushers. You can see the door into the canopy of the eight and the shot of the nine shows the modifications to protect the plumbing on the rams. As mentioned in a previous post these were probably the first hydraulic nines to be fitted up for the scrub. They could have done with rippers for a counter weight as they were porly ballanced but cost was a major factor and weight on the float was also an issue...the belly and radiator gaurds were re-engineered with probably an extra ton or more of steel. The twenty one is fitted with an earlier version of the canopy design with mesh over the bonnet area. The access door is shown open and for some reason the engine side gaurd is not fitted. I can't understand that as fires were a constant problem. When pulling hard the Allis turbos glowed white hot for hours and you could actualy see the dark blob and movement of the turbo element rotating through the housing.
Thats a lot of steel! Do you know what of brush the the 21 was clearing at the time of the photo?
Hi ya Jordon. Not wanting to steal Scrub Puller's "thunder", but I would say the dozers in question were pulling/clearing Brigalow scrub north of a Queensland (Australia) town of Roma. This was possibly in the Acaida Valley area a prime cattle grazing location in central Queensland. I can remember seeing any dozers as the one's in the photos some twenty to thirty years ago in central Queensland . Hi Scrubb Puller,great photos, don't see too many canopies like those anymore. Some very basic ones are used now days when blade ploughing, but then we don't have or more to the point, allowed to clear scrub today like in the past! Have you any photos of dozers using chains? Regards Bruce:drinkup
I'd like to see some chaining photos too. What year were those pictures taken above? Those dozers look pretty new in the pics. Good protection too.
Yair...guday fellers. Jordon. It was along time ago mate but from the red dirt and Box scrub in the background I'd say that particular shot was taken in the area somewhere south of Roma. Box is a species of eucalypt that covered tens of thousands of acres in that part of the world. In virgin country it could be heavy going hence the treepushers. The country in the background is regrowth that resulted from ringbarking probably forty or fifty years before we pulled it. Much of this country has been pulled and repulled as the rotten stuff will grow from a root and the trees throw lots of viable seeds. bruce michael. Yair mate those twenty ones pulled a lot of country in the Acadia Valley...some of the biggest brigalow and bottle trees I've ever seen. d9gdon. We took delivery of those nines on Christmas Eve 1965. The eight would have a few years later and the Allis would have been about 1962. Most of my Photo's from the era went under in the floods but if folks are interested I might be able to dig up a few. I appreciate the interest. Cheers.
Hi Scrub Puller, I'm sure many others besides myself would be interested in seeing photos of this era! I think our US brothers would not have seen anything like it! It's great that a person with your knowledge and experience can beon a forum like this to show people how it was done. Keep posting!:notworthy regards Bruce PS I should have realised what the country was whenI made my comment...lots of red dirt in that counrty south of Roma (under water again though)!
I'd also love to see more photos.
Would love to see more pics thanks. RDG.
Hi Scrub Puller, I was watching two d7's pulling before the moratorium on clearing regrowth in 2005, it looked like dangerous work, I bet you had to be alert 100% of the time! How did you communicate with the other dozer? When I was watching the 7s the outside dozer had to walk back straddling the chain to push a big tree that stopped them, was there any technique to doing that? Did walking over the chain do any damage, or did it just push into the ground? When I was 15 we went to Glenearn station (near Surat) in my school holidays it was managed by a family.friend (also named glen!) They had 200 Chinese immigrants ringbarking there probably about the same time. He had 2 D8's there and I spent 2 days stickraking, he had a pulling chain aswell, it was a ships anchor chain, I could just lift one link! Anyway, that's my story, looking forward to seeing some photos Ross
Yair...pretty busy at the moment but I'll get around to chasing up some photo's when I get a break. r_steven. There was no communication exept by hand signals...apart from blade on the ground meant "I got trouble". You had to work as a team especialy when pulling with three tractors. For instance when a tree stopped (say) the inside and centre machine the centre machine backed up until the two outside machines were spinning their tracks and then he'd hit it again. If the tree still didn't budge they'd all back up onto the mound of dirt and try to get the tree rocking. They did that three times and if still no go usually the centre tractor went back and pushed it or lifted the chain over the stump or what ever. The ability to move freely back and forth across the chain was a necessary skill. Getting the "chain up" was a no no and could result in damage to final drive gears a little down the track...apart from the immediate hassle of getting the bloody thing unjammed from around the housings or equalizer and of course it would often pop some plates. It was not difficult but it was strange that the odd bloke never seemed to get it. the main thing was to always cross the chain straight...and when going backwards (straddling) to go back more than a tractor length before you crossed it. One simple technique was just to rattle back a bit, lock one track and screw around almost one eighty and then go forward leaving the chain behind you again, pretty simple really. We mostly used new chain manufactured in Brisbane. The few lots of anchor chain we tried didn't seem to hack it. Breaking the chain was a pain in the butt and those nines carried an oxy set to help with repairs. Cheers.
Is there any videos on the web of clearing the land you guys are talking about? Sound pretty darn interesting.
Hullo Scrub Puller, I worked around Emerald in 1968 for a bloke that owned Dozer Development, his name was Stacey R......... He did a lot of work with the brigalow development scheme. He had 2 D9G's cable blades and while I was there bought a new hydraulic D9, also had a D6 and a D4. He also did dam sinking with a scoop behind the 6. I only did a few days on the 9's then quiet a bit of time on the 6 stickraking. Then some time on the D4 on the access road into the Fairbairn dam. Then a couple of years later I went back there on a little scraper dam sinking up past Mt Isa. We drove the scraper from Emerald to Mt Isa, straight thru town early one morning and out about 60 miles towards Camooweal I've only got a few photos of that time, wish I had more. I found all the dams we did in 69 & 70 on google earth not long ago. These are the only photos I have of the D9's. The 2 cable 9s were called Christine and Mandy, named after a couple of ladies??? who were in some scandal in England about then . The new hydraulic 9 was called Rinso after a laundry detergent that "could move dirt like nothing else". These photos were taken a bit north of Clermont. Rinso was building a dam and the other 2 were making an airstrip. Some of the work they did besides scrub pulling. Looking forward to seeing some more of your photos. Certainly gets the memory going.
This is the D6 stickraking near Emerald. And the scraper that we drove from Emerald to Mt Isa and TD18(we didn't drive it dam sinking between Mt Isa and Camooweal in 69 I just googled Emerald To Mt Isa = 658 miles/1060 Klm.. That dam measured up at 32000 cubic yards and took many many weeks. Last night on the job I do now I loaded 29500 tonnes on a 12 hour shift. Boy oh boy, how things have changed.
My little Tractor G'day all, a couple of pics of my D7H i purchased late last year. I built the canopy on the machine out in the paddock under the shade of a Box Tree, not an ideal workshop by any means but i got er done.I still have to fill in the sides with expanded mesh but that will have to wait as i need to earn some $ to pay for it all, plus school fee's :Banghead
Yair...g**** fellers. diggerop. They were nice machines of Stacys...did you ever see his boat? The bulldust on the aprons of that dam brings back memories...not necessarily good ones but memories just the same. Nice looking job you did on that canopy hardcountry...what is the application for your machine are you on a Station or contractor...maybe a bit of both I reckon? For any one who is interested there are some in depth discussions on chaining timber here. http://www.classicmachinery.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66 . I always have trouble getting the site to work properly but it may be worth a look. In the meantime I'll dig out the old photo boxes and see what I can find. Cheers.
Yair...sorry, somehow I stuffed that up propper but according to my computer that link does work. Cheers.
Works for me Scrub Puller, Some of those posts remind me of a story that happened not far from here about 40 odd years ago. Local contractor had just completed a large pulling job with two 21s, for grazier with notorious history of being a rogue. Contractor went to see said gentleman to get a cheque, only to be told that he couldn't afford to pay him just yet. Contractor turned on his heels,retrieved afforementioned 21s ,complete with chain, and put one either side of the homestead. Needless to say, grazier bolted from the house waving his chequebook. I believe the tractors stayed there untill the cheque cleared. Cheers, Greg
Contractor Hi Scrub Puller, im only a Contractor (wouldn't mind a station) im currently sinking ground tanks seems to be a bit of a rush on them lately. Mostly a 50 50 mix of earth works and timber clearing(only regrowth of course ) Cheers
Ahhhh, yes. Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davies, central to the 1963 John Profumo affair which enveloped the British government, and occurred hand-in-glove with the emergence of The Beatles. No pun intended there, mates.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandy_Rice-Davies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_Affair
what kind of these tractors are?i never saw before that kind of tractors..it's amazing old tractor pictures..