Cat 660 Scraper , Cat 666 model

[doncampbell]

Thought some of you might enjoy these photos , I never climbed up in a Cat 660 or 666 so I was amazed at the size of the tractor. So I just had to build a all steel detailed model of one.

 

[Northart]

Cat 666

Hi Don,

The rear tires on the Cat 666 scraper should be larger, than the tractor rears.

Anyway, looks like they are the same, or smaller from the picture.

 

[doncampbell]

Tires are very hard to find so it is impossible to find the perfect sizes. The fellow who bought the model was very pleased even with that tire combination. I wished there was a toy tire store that sold dozens of sizes and tread patterns.

 

[Northart]

Mine eyes ?

Hi Don,

Ah, so My eyes were not deceiving me . LOL

Thanks for the reply.

I ran the Cat 660's and 657's in the UP,(Gladstone) at the Tilden Mine in the early '70's . Nice rigs.

 

[doncampbell]

The number one question I get asked, where do I buy my tires ? ha,ha.

 

[surfer-joe]

The real tire sizes would be 37.5R39 on both ends or 37.5-39 bias ply. Check with the guys at Dave's Model Toys. They may be able to help you with model tire suppliers. http://www.davesmodeltoys.com/index.cfm

 

[surfer-joe]

Any chance Northart, that you were around the Empire/Tilden Complex during the summer of 1976? I was working for the Cat house in Naugaunee at that time and did some work on Black River Construction's 651's at the Empire Mine, also on the emergency generators (D398's) at the Tilden concentrator.

 

[Northart]

660 , 666 rear tires ?

Hi Surferjoe,

I just looked back, at the other thread on 660,666 scrapers. And it sure looks to me, that some of the scraper rear tires are larger, than the ones on the tractor.

Some are the same size , yet others look larger. Hhmmn. So the contractor changed them ?? From the factory recommended size. ???

I worked at the Tilden/Empire Mines during '70-'74 time frame. Had a new '69 Mustang at the time, and then I sold it and come up to Alaska in '74 for the Pipeline.

Hoover Cons't from Virginnia, Minn was the contractor. We nicknamed it the Hoover Movers . LOL Fun outfit to work for . Laughed all day long, everybody was happy, even though, we had lot of junky stuff to run. Never seen a frown on anybody, on that job. Even Snuffy the old hard bitten Master Mechanic just spit his chewing tobacco, and smiled , when something went haywire. LOL

By contrast another local outfit I worked for the previous year, wow, such stern looking fellows. Looked like they got whupped in some poker game , and wasn't going home empty handed, so we were going to pay for it. LOL Nothing but tension, between management and the workers.

Anyway, one of the benefits of lifes, moving around, get to see some real winners.

 

[doncampbell]

Thanks , I'll check into it .

 

[Dug Overburden]

666 tire size's

Don,

That is an amazing model, all it needs is sound & smoke! I believe the correct sizes to be 18:25 steering, 37.5x39 drive axle & 37.5x51 on the scraper axle. Caterpillar did have various tires options including dual tires on the drive axle & they may have put 37.5x39 on the scraper axle.

The larger tires on the scraper axle were for long haul-high speed work. In these photos we apear to see both sizes, with the one the top having 37.5x39's on the rear?

You may want to try Cat 789 tires as they an a 51" rim

Here how the 90 degree V-8 sounds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7kUlBktcQ


Dug

The real tire sizes would be 37.5R39 on both ends or 37.5-39 bias ply. Check with the guys at Dave's Model Toys. They may be able to help you with model tire suppliers. http://www.davesmodeltoys.com/index.cfm

 

[Dug Overburden]

Off the subject (cat D398's)

Surfer-Joe, I always loved the chuging sound of the D398/399 engines, they will never build anyting that sound like that again. Here's a couple of sound clips for your ears to bring back memorys.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5utunFfm2no
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XTAoixPXOs

QUOTE=surfer-joe;138800]Any chance Northart, that you were around the Empire/Tilden Complex during the summer of 1976? I was working for the Cat house in Naugaunee at that time and did some work on Black River Construction's 651's at the Empire Mine, also on the emergency generators (D398's) at the Tilden concentrator.[/QUOTE]

 

[surfer-joe]

That's interesting Dug. I never saw or heard of the larger tire being used on the rear axle on the old 9-speed 666's. That means that Cat would have had to have different gearing in both the rear tranny and maybe the diff too, or vice versa. I could see it on 660's, but having to stock two different tire sizes and one of them rather rare would not have been too cool for the contractor. But, Cat tried a lot of stuff and if the order was big enough, I suppose they would build to customer specification. All the manufacturers did that back then.

The triple 6's that I ran for HB Zachry near San Antonio were the same size all around, excepting the front of course. Washington's old tripple's were the same too in their boneyard in Missoula. I robbed a bunch of the tires off them for my project in Grand Junction, Colorado in the early 90's. When I went by Missoula last summer though, all the old hulks were gone. There were some 660's near Wikiup, Arizona a couple of years ago that were the same all around. I have some pictures of them someplace.

Can't do much with pictures right now though as my original computer mother board burned up a couple of weeks ago and we were lucky to retrieve much. My resident IT type (Son) hasn't fully restored this rebuilt computer I'm using now, a conglomeration of parts he had in a box somewhere in the garage.

I sold almost all of my Cat performance manuals in 2005 when it looked like I might not keep the hammer down much longer. A couple of those went way back and had some of the early scraper stuff in them. Regret selling now. They might have shed some light on this.

 

[Northart]

Scraper Tire Sizes

Well here is a scan from the CPH #3, 1973

 

[doncampbell]

Thanks a bunch

 

[Gavin84w]

Just checked my spec sheets and it is interesting to read that the optional tyres for the 660B were all radials but 37.5 x 39 for the scraper as well as the drive.

Downunder the HVE 666B/660B were converted to 33.00 x 51 as the supply of 37.5 x 51 dried up.This size tyre was also in good supply due to it fitting 150 ton dump trucks

 

[doncampbell]

I can send the info to the fellow who bought the model.