gotta be hard on this unit

[dayexco]

doesn't look like the proper application of this unit to me.

YouTube - TH62 Caterpillar digging (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJj_cm8Tdo8)

[JDOFMEMI]

I agree it is hard on it, but many are used this way. If the boom is low and in the saddles, it is better, and load straight, no side loading of the bucket.

The operator on the other hand leaves a bit to be desired. He could take a shallow cut and fill easier, not just poke it in at the bottom and try to hump the whole depth at one time.

[rino1494]

I pity the guy who he borrowed that from.

[ATCOEQUIP]

I pity the guy who he borrowed that from.

LoL...he probably talked "the boss" into letting him borrow it for the weekend! :D

[Speedpup]

rental:eek:

[EdB]

Need to make 3 replies so I can ask my question about Lull 1044Cs
I talk with that guy on another forum quite often.
The Cat is his own and he's also a pretty accomplished mechanic. If he breaks it, I'm pretty sure that he or one of his guys can put it back together.

[icestationzebra]

I knew the engineering who designed the CAT telehandlers that were released around 1999/2000. We discussed some of the fine points and he pointed out that they were designed for Europe, which means they were designed to do some digging. If I'm not mistaken they have a saddle for when the boom is lowered to take the side loading. The one thing that scared me is he extended the boom to crowd the bucket. That is very hard on the chains!

ISZ

[heavylift]

I think they were designed for moving material... NOT digging .... I can't remember ever seeing a toothed bucket on one..
I used one to load sand/salt one winter night... Not fun

[plowboy_]

Gee, surprised to learn that I'm so incompetent. :beatsme
For your information I am the owner of the machine, and if it breaks, I'm quite confident we will fix it on our own, thank you very much. We have owned it for quite a number of years and hours now. All the parts bills come to me. So far, that has been two ring and pinion sets (no, that's never happened before....btw the part number subs to this new number...and when it arrives it has a different tooth count with much larger teeth...gee, I wonder why they did that?) two radiator repairs, some tires, a windshield, some boom guide blocks, seals for a couple cylinders, a few hoses, and two tie rod ends. We could have spent a thousand bucks on electronic components, but we just carved through the epoxy to disassemble them and repaired the burnt solder traces instead. We could have spent a couple thousand or so on linkage parts that had been destroyed by lack of grease before we purchased it, but we just machined new pins and bushings from alloy instead. I think we have a general idea how to fix little stuff like that.... and EdB, I appreciate your vote of confidence on that :)

If you think digging a little trench is tough, you ought to see it in the role we bought it for.
Loader (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2206/1685348211_318ebf2512_m.jpg)
Loading pull spreader (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/1685349665_978c60cd06_m.jpg)
Loading 'Gator (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/1685379619_87953ec4c3_m.jpg)

Some of the rest of you need to learn the difference between a telescopic forklift and a telehandler. There are no "chains" anywhere on the machine, save for a 3/8" G70 laying behind the seat in the cab. A TH62 absolutely is designed and intended to be used for digging. The linkage is a Z-bar just like a wheel loader. The quick coupler is a Cat IT interface, common to the 416 and 420 backhoes and the two smaller IT14 and IT24 Integrated Toolcarriers (those machines you probably call wheel loaders, but they have a different boom and linkage) The TH boom is saddled when in digging position, and the only place any side load is going is to the frame The crowd cylinder is far stronger then the tractive effort of the tractor, and it is by far the best way to fill the bucket. There's no way you are going to fill the bucket common to a 30k IT with a 15k TH using the tractor. I suppose you guys would fill the bucket on a excavator by crawling the machine? Caterpillar supplies at least a half dozen different choices of buckets for the TH range, including rock buckets and buckets with teeth, and material buckets up to about 3 yds in capacity, and there are many aftermarket suppliers who build more along with many other attachments. Our normal use for it is loading manure with a 10' wide material bucket built in our shop, which is somewhere around 4 yds in capacity, and which when filled with the manure we normally spread, is right at the rated capacity of the machine. Is this big bucket stressful for the loader? Yes, I am sure it is, and frankly I am surprised we have not had any problems from it. We've proven that this is a well designed machine. We bought the machine for a specific purpose, and the bucket reduces reduces passes to load a spreader by about three fourths compared to the bucket in this picture. It has done this work for many hours, and it has paid for itself nicely, thank you very much. Our big bucket is far far harder on the machine then digging this out was....i was doing absolutely nothing in the video which was outside its design.

Oh, BTW, if you gouge the bucket and attach to the tow hooks on the chassis, it will pull a loaded semi out of the mud with the crowd....in slimy conditions it will probably out pull a 35000 lb belted Challenger tractor using that technique.

We bought it specifically to load manure....but once we have owned it, we will never be without one. It's probably going to be replaced by a lower hour machine in the next few weeks, in fact. One of the two handiest and most commonly used machines on the farm, along with the Datsun forklift that lives in the shop and yard.