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Long reach trackhoe or Dragline??

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
Thanks for the nice comments about the excavator.

It's a 1991 RB Industries. Ruston-Bucyrus got in Financial trouble and was bought out by there employees. So yes it was a Ruston-Bucyrus but it was made after the buyout so it is badged a RB.

They were made in England and have a Turbo Charged Perkins Engine like in a 1135 Massy Tractor. Very few come to the US. They were pretty popular in South America and the Middle East. These machines were used a lot after the first Gulf War putting out Oil Well fires in Kuwait.

Although the cables throw everyone for a loop it operates just like a Cat Excavator. The only real difference is the swing speed is 5 revolutions a minute vs 10 or 11 for a standard excavator.

The idea with the drag winch is you have 18,000 lbs of breakout force no matter where the bucket is. It's hard to get any leverage to the edge of the bucket on a long reach. The drag winch takes care of that problem.

The boom extends back in the machine where the counterweight is on a normal excavator. The stick cylinder works the counterweight which pulls the cables on the boom which kicks the stick out.:) This way the farther the bucket is from the machine the farther down the boom the counterweight is. This keeps the machine in "equilibrium". It really works. I was loading some concrete pillars the other day swinging at 55 or 60 feet. No problem, even over the side.

That's a neet machine roddyo.I thought it was a Ruston Bucyrus design.It's like a crawler crane married an excavator and they named the baby Ruston Bucyrus.It has the the pull of a drag line and the speed of an excavator.Cool pics!
 

notime1977

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
10
Location
Canadian, Texas
Thanks to all replies this is the info I was looking for ....Very Interested in the Drag hoe ....it is something I would love to see working.
 

dskinner

New Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2011
Messages
1
Location
St. Louis, MO
Priestman/RB Industries VC20/20 Draghoe For Sale - $19500

I am interested in buying the draghoe if you could contact me at 618-250-8985 or if you have a contact number that will be fine also. I did not find a number listed in your add on craigslist.
 

tctractors

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
2,383
Location
Worc U.K.
These V-C excavators are still about in the U.K. 2 of my customers still run them, 1 has the VC-15, the other runs the RB-20 this is painted white, they are very simple bits of Iron, the running costs are very low, it seems odd they stopped building this excavator as it was well liked and very effective at the right task, lots of Gravel Pits around me used them to dig out wet Gravel and heap it on the level to drain out the water from the material excavated, then they would use loading shovels to feed the drained off material into Conveyors feeding the washing plant, I at 1 time used to look after about 6 of these V-C (variable counter-weight) excavators, the parts are still about for them, as already said the engine is a Perkins 6pot unit, these engines are very cheap to buy parts for, and very good on fuel, I still have a few service manuals for them in as new condition, altho they are so simple they hardly need any technical back up, 1 plus side is No Computer/Controler to let thing get silly, so it is a simple low tech very effective working bit of Iron.

tctractors
 

roddyo

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
788
Location
Arkansas
Occupation
Manipulator of the Planet
Manuals

These V-C excavators are still about in the U.K. 2 of my customers still run them, 1 has the VC-15, the other runs the RB-20 this is painted white, they are very simple bits of Iron, the running costs are very low, it seems odd they stopped building this excavator as it was well liked and very effective at the right task, lots of Gravel Pits around me used them to dig out wet Gravel and heap it on the level to drain out the water from the material excavated, then they would use loading shovels to feed the drained off material into Conveyors feeding the washing plant, I at 1 time used to look after about 6 of these V-C (variable counter-weight) excavators, the parts are still about for them, as already said the engine is a Perkins 6pot unit, these engines are very cheap to buy parts for, and very good on fuel, I still have a few service manuals for them in as new condition, altho they are so simple they hardly need any technical back up, 1 plus side is No Computer/Controler to let thing get silly, so it is a simple low tech very effective working bit of Iron.

tctractors

I send you a PM about the Manuals.

I would really like to have one.

Thanks, Rod
 

dblott

Active Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Southwest Oregon
Occupation
Old school trained(here's how you start it, here's
Another possiblity. A Yoder or back spar. Basically an excavator with an extra long stick top (stick extends a ways past the stick cylinder bosses, with shives acrossed the top for the main line and haul back.) Set the bucket down and "log" away. Check several different ones out pages 6 & 7 in the Forestry Section- Loaders, Limbers and Roadbuilders thread. Very mobile with no guylines. Still have a bucket to move material away or load trucks after slacking or dropping lines. At least I think one might work well for your application. I go by a yoder side every day, and if they are still working, I might get a picture of what they can do. They usually shut down before I go home though.
 

dblott

Active Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Southwest Oregon
Occupation
Old school trained(here's how you start it, here's
Since I mentioned a yoder, here’s a pic. This one has a foot instead of a bucket. Don't need to use guylines. These guys were logging out about 500’. Quick logging without having to rig up a swing yarder. They had the road closed but moved out of the way to let me through with the lowboy. Probably not many yoders in Texas though either.yoder.JPGyoder across canyon.JPG
 

dblott

Active Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Southwest Oregon
Occupation
Old school trained(here's how you start it, here's
Now for a couple of long reach pics from one of my projects. I finally got these transfered from my old computer.

We own our own long reach excavator. It's a JD 270 with 66’ of reach. We had rented a couple smaller L.R's in the past to dig out an old barge slip. Had to haul them 1/2 way across the state to get them here to our site. Not many just sitting around close. We decided to buy one for scaling rocks from the high walls in our rock pits to keep in compliance with MSHA. We've used it for cleaning irrigation ditches, and deepening the same barge slip. But, it does tend to sit idle for awhile.

I had been talking with some foresters about using our JD 270 Long Reach to clean out and deepen heli-ponds. I was waiting for cutters to fall my right-of-way, so I was free to do the work. Ended up doing 6 ponds. It worked really well brushing the flight path, and around the ponds also.
helipond cleanout 2 (640x480).jpghelipond cleanout 1 (640x480).jpg

The long reach is just like any other excavator. A couple tips you probably already know:
Digging in existing ponds, you want to watch (feel) for stumps and logs. Crowd slowly. A little stick cylinder movement is a huge movement at the bucket. Hit something with a lot of crowd power or speed with one side of the bucket, and you could twist the stick a bit.:eek: In the loose pond muck, there is plenty of crowd power.
You get used to knowing/guessing when the bucket edge is horizontal. Overloading the bucket is pretty easy, and you don't have enough lift cylinder power to lift out of the water until you can bring it in closer. A full bucket of mud displaces the water so your waste pile can stay less runny. Try to keep the muffin top from falling off before the waste pile, or the sides of the truck.:D
Full Bucket.JPG

Be smooth, as that is a lot of weight hanging off that long stick and boom. Keep bucket lower when swinging over trackside and if it feels tippy, just slightly crowd in. You can pile further away if over corners or track ends. Swing back soon enough, you can see the bubbles coming up from your last pass. Don't be too aggressive nearing the dam of your existing pond. Dislodging an old log or culvert which may have been necessary when the road fill was built ,and then was simply blocked/sealed off to create a pond as an after-thought, is a possibility. So far the water level has always been back to the overflow level and going out the overflow the next day and running clear. An empty heli pond wouldn't be good.:mad: None of these ponds were in high flow or fish bearing streams. Pumping prior to cleaning wasn't required. A couple of scoops lower the water level below the outlet pipe anyway. Contrary to the pics, it is possible to keep the pond water fairly clear, so discharge isn't turbid. I stirred this one up showing the forester the depths.:Banghead
 

ror76a

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
211
Location
Michigan
I am going to vote for a dragline. I own a small dragline (a Unit 1220 with 50' of boom and a 1yrd bucket) and pound for pound it makes a long reach look silly. Unless you are doing some type of precision work. I have rented a 200 with the long reach set up and it is easier to run, great for precision work (like diging around a pipe in the middle of a pond) and has as much reach, and is a little faster but only about half the bucket vs my dragline. If you keep up on the maintance (and there is a bit more than a hyd. machine) they are quite a bit more economical to run than an excavator. As far as moving a dragline, it depneds on how big. I just drive mine on the lowboy and away I go (have over width, weight and lenght permits). With a biger machine or longer boom you would have to start tearing it down to move, but if the job is big enough it is not a big deal.
 

dblott

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Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Southwest Oregon
Occupation
Old school trained(here's how you start it, here's
and has as much reach, .

HI ror76a,

Is this the 200 LR compared to the dragline? If so, is that due to lack of deflection from the 50' tower? Or is it a reach limit because it stands alone with out guy supports?
Do you have any pics of your machine?
Just curious because a dragline might be the best answer at least for a potential project we are looking at (over a small dredge and LRs). Looking at the pulling/lift aspect. Not alot of room, and needs to stand without guys. Tailhold would be out around 500'. Machine would sit about 25' above watermark at start of project. That's why I was suggesting the Yoders. I expected someone would have commented for or against them as drag line power. Still some logging equipment available out there if you can find it before the scrappers. I hear metal is back up there again.
Large dragline pics in Raynier skyline excavator thread, and better yoder pics at Yoder pics.
 

bruchelduche

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2011
Messages
1
Location
new mexico
I am looking to purchase a White RB VC20/20 Long Reach Excavator. The last ones were sold in the 1990's. I am not interested in the Yellow units. Thanks if you can help.
 

qball

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
1,072
Location
il
Occupation
local 150 operator
i have run a few draglines. it is tedious work, but they are very efficient.
i recently ran a lr hoe. it is an hundai 290 with about 56' reach. what it lacked in bucket size it way more than made up for in cycle time. simply amazing hoe.
i was digging a 48' deep shaft in clay and it was un-stoppable.
 

D&GExcavating

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
341
Location
Minnesota
I know these things are a pain but here's what we had back in the 90s :D

A Cat 225C LC with an Add-A-Stick. Kind of a bad picture but that's about the only one I have of it. We used to use that thing quite a bit, then we got rid the 225 and just started renting long reach excavators when we needed one.

2594_75486684687_6701131_n.jpg
 
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