Dozers and operator cabs

[alan627b]

Sweatin'/Freezin to The Oldies

We run scrapers all year with open cabs, and it's no picnic...stuffing rags in the gaps in the summer, pull the engine access panel off in the winter.Cover the radiator with cardboard....
When winter approaches, I hit the building sites, looking for plywood scraps or big sheets of cardboard. Then it's over to Lowes for some double wide Duck tape....I even made my own glass rear window out of a storm window, Plexiglass flat out sucks after you clean it once....
Come summer, get out the foil/bubble pack insulation and the 3M adhesive, cover the firewall and the shift tower up. I get tired of having a 6 inch red circle burned into my right leg from having it lean against the shift tower....
put bicycle foam grips on the control levers...
I took one of those inside/outside accessory car thermometers and installed it on my 627B, one sensor inside with me and one on the outside of the cab. Outdoors it was 90F, inside it was 130....
Someday, I hope to work for somebody with more modern equipment!
alan627b

 

[csquared]

you wouldnt image some of the cats in b.c. There is soo many old d6s and d7s with just the rops. My grampa has 3 that he does siviculture with/ and build roads and skids logs with.
And in the winter, -20, snowing, whos the guy running it, the owner(my grampa) at a young 65 with his dog sitting besided him. :crazy
The northwest is famous for old still working equipment tho. most of it has no heaters or stero and definitly no a/c with older guys running in the dead of winter. You could go to almost any landing and find old 966c loading trucks or d6c pulling logs, old 225 hoe chucking and even some old 518 cable skidders.

 

[Dozerboy]

A guy can always dress warmer, but cooler on the other hand. Alan my first day at Negus was the coldest I ever got running equipment. Running one of there 825s with one small window and a broken heater, I put my bare hand on the engine block and it was even cold. The next day I made damn sure I wore my long john’s the Carharts just wasn't cutting it.

 

[hoeman600]

corden ta o.s.h.a. ifit dont wrk ya better fix it:bash

 

[biggixxerjim]

All but one machine (the poor old roller ) we run has a cab and A/C. The problem that we have had is the operators want to run with the windows/doors open when the weather is mild and it trashes the cab with dirt/dust. I solved this problem when I got them all together and asked which one they would rather run - open rops or enclosed cab. All said cab machines of course! I told them if they wanted to run with the windows open then I could make that happen and take all the glass out and disconnect the A/C. I don't have anymore dusty cabs. I don't mind the added expense of a cab machine but I expect the operators to take care of it. Cabs and A/C do have a positive effect on productivity.

As for the poor ol' roller - the next roller we get will have cab and A/C. You just don't see many rollers in my part of the country with a cab. On second thought it is a good way to weed out newbie operators - just put them on the roller either in 30 or 90 degree weather and see if they last a week.

My #1 Pet Peeve:

When someone runs the air conditioning in a machine with the windows open :Banghead :guns

Sucking all that dust in a day into the AC is like funneling dirt into the motor of your car before leaving for work.

 

[alco]

We run all enclosed cabs at work. We need to though, between the blowing sand in the summer and -50 in the winter, open cabs don't work too well. As for A/C, we are the first priority on site for A/C repairs since the slurry we work in comes out of the pipe at 190 degrees. If the A/C stops working, we park the machine and a service man is sent out right away.

Brian

 

[CM1995]

That sounds like some nasty stuff. What kind of operation is it?

 

[alco]

It is a Tailings operation in the Canadian Oil Sands. We handle and dispose of all of the sand that the plant has processed to get the bitumen out.

Brian

 

[t3chw00di]

Enclosing a cab has never improved the visibility on any machine.

I've ran old equipment many days throughout my career in dusty conditions, even to the point of having an eye bandaged over from getting the retina scratched from blowing sand. Other times I recall spreading top soil in real windy conditions where you couldn't see the corner of your blade. In conditions like that a cab definately improves your visibility. I refuse to run anything without a cab and A/C now.

Keeping the operator comfortable definately improves productivity. If you can concentrate on your job rather than the conditions around your body, you will do a better job and not be as tired (and bitchy) at the end of a long day. Having a radio to listen makes the day go by a lot faster.

 

[Dozer575]

Alco
Could you tell us what brand the dozers are?

Not sure I would want to move there but I would like to work there, I hear it is very good pay.

 

[tylermckee]

Alco
Could you tell us what brand the dozers are?

Not sure I would want to move there but I would like to work there, I hear it is very good pay.

http://www.coneco.ca/connection/pdf/june2004.pdf

says here that this place is using komatsu d155 dozers specially modified for the work in the slurry. I've also seen pictures of d6 cats modified to run in the oil sands

 

[alco]

At our operations we run D7R dozers, our last D6 left for garbage dump duty years ago. Our other mine runs D7R, D8R and D155 dozers. Our competition runs D155, D85, D8R, D7R and D8T dozers. Those are at a couple of different companies. It seems as if everyone is going away from the Komatsu machines and going to the Cats.

The pay up here is good, but the living expenses are outrageous. A starter home will run you upwards of 400,000 bucks and trailers are only about 20 to 30 thousand behind them.

Brian

 

[Copenhagen]

I come from a different generation of operators. The newest generation. Just about every single piece of equipment that I have been in has a cab. I guess that was just part of learning, to learn how the smallest convex in the glass can affect your perception of the blade.

I employee 4 operators. All of them under age 25. And all of them quite good. I have not even considered purchasing a machine without a cab. I figure it as the cost of doing business. All of my machines have all the bells and whistles. Cab, A/C, heat, stereo, cupholders, etc. And my guys are never late to work.

We did rent a roller last summer. A little Ingersol-Rand. It was an open cab but IIRC it was only 40" wide. Tiny little thing, but I usually got on it in the afternoon. Felt like I was on my motorcycle!

 

[Lashlander]

It seems as if everyone is going away from the Komatsu machines and going to the Cats. Brian

:jawdrop :OMG

 

[alco]

What can I say, the Komatsus just aren't up to the job at hand.

Brian

 

[CM1995]

At our operations we run D7R dozers, our last D6 left for garbage dump duty years ago. Our other mine runs D7R, D8R and D155 dozers. Our competition runs D155, D85, D8R, D7R and D8T dozers. Those are at a couple of different companies. It seems as if everyone is going away from the Komatsu machines and going to the Cats.

The pay up here is good, but the living expenses are outrageous. A starter home will run you upwards of 400,000 bucks and trailers are only about 20 to 30 thousand behind them.

Brian

I don't know which one is more disturbing: $400K starter homes or companies swithing from the absolute best oval track dozers in the universe to track throwing, undercarriage eating, top heavy Cat dozers!

 

[Squizzy246B]

I don't know which one is more disturbing: $400K starter homes or companies swithing from the absolute best oval track dozers in the universe to track throwing, undercarriage eating, top heavy Cat dozers!

:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :notworthy :thumbsup

 

[d4c24a]

hi tracks

Alco
Could you tell us what brand the dozers are?

Not sure I would want to move there but I would like to work there, I hear it is very good pay.

wont be going there then bob

 

[Wulf]

It seems as if everyone is going away from the Komatsu machines and going to the Cats. Brian

Interesting... what do you base that on?

 

[CM1995]

:beatsme Maybe it's seeing all those Komatsu's being traded in on Cats.