I plan on putting a new slope board on a D8T on my mass-grade crew, and probably follow suit with some other dozers as well. The problem I'm running into; I can't find any slope board manufacturers?
So I started researching with my Equipment Manager. Online searches found a G&X article mentioning slope boards, with one manufacturer: Mountain West Attachments - www.mwattachments.com
The web link doesn't work, the phone and fax numbers are disconnected, and the e-mail address is invalid. Obviously out of business.
My Equipment Manager then spoke with a Kiewit Equipment Manager who informed him that CAT used to make slope boards, but discontinued doing so due to convertors overheating. The problem became so bad that CAT published a bulletin citing the issues and discontinued production of the boards. From what I gather, Mountain West Attachments went by the wayside shortly thereafter.
So what's the scoop? In a recent Equipment Today article there's a picture of a new D8T with Accugrade GPS and a slope board (Sukut machine). And they're not too uncommon on new dozers in MachineryTrader, Catused, etc. They're big in California, and I know a number of contractors out there are running them on new dozers; Sukut, Pinnick, Teichert, Archer Western, etc. When I worked at Kiewit, we ran several of them on National Division dozers.
So who is still manufacturing them? Why did CAT have so many problems with their design but nobody else seems to? And most of all, where can I find one?
So I started researching with my Equipment Manager. Online searches found a G&X article mentioning slope boards, with one manufacturer: Mountain West Attachments - www.mwattachments.com
The web link doesn't work, the phone and fax numbers are disconnected, and the e-mail address is invalid. Obviously out of business.
My Equipment Manager then spoke with a Kiewit Equipment Manager who informed him that CAT used to make slope boards, but discontinued doing so due to convertors overheating. The problem became so bad that CAT published a bulletin citing the issues and discontinued production of the boards. From what I gather, Mountain West Attachments went by the wayside shortly thereafter.
So what's the scoop? In a recent Equipment Today article there's a picture of a new D8T with Accugrade GPS and a slope board (Sukut machine). And they're not too uncommon on new dozers in MachineryTrader, Catused, etc. They're big in California, and I know a number of contractors out there are running them on new dozers; Sukut, Pinnick, Teichert, Archer Western, etc. When I worked at Kiewit, we ran several of them on National Division dozers.
So who is still manufacturing them? Why did CAT have so many problems with their design but nobody else seems to? And most of all, where can I find one?