What do you like to run?

[RonG]

As the title reads,if you have a choice what do you prefer to run?

 

[BKrois]

I don't get to run machines too much, but i like running excavators, large or small.

 

[digger242j]

As I may have stated elsewhere, most of my time has been on Case backhoes, with some time on other types--mostly Cat and Case track loaders, skid loaders, an occasional dozer, a Pettibone 30 rough terrain crane, a few rollers, etc. It's only in the last few years I've gotten onto excavators, and I have to admit, I got spoiled rotten in a hurry.

With all the time I spent on rubber tired hoes, to be able to dig and move the way an excavator does, and spin 360 degrees besides...I can sit and bail dirt all day long and not stop having fun.

 

[cat320]

I like to run just about everything but loaders and excavators are fun to run.

 

[leadarrows]

I have some what limited experience. I was fortunate enough to work for a friend for a while that gave me a chance to operate his back hoe, track hoe, track loader,and for a few days I even used his earth mover. I can load trucks and dig holes OK but digging grade work is still beyond me. I'D have to say the 963 track loader was my favorite of that type of equipment. Still though I"M a farm boy at heart and my gram-pa's JD 2020 is the most enjoyable piece of equipment for me.
And now I will sing Green Acres.
Be glad you can't hear me. LOL

 

[Taylortractornu]

Ron I enjoy operating any thing but a &((*()() roller lol. I like running an excavator and dozer. I also like finish work with a scraper. When i was 21 I was taught to run a 5299 American friction crane. Im dying to run a Gradall and dragline. I also like to operate alot of older machines, straigh shift pans like a 260 AC and cable dozers. I kinda like arolelr when im working a fill but my brother burnt me out on one on rainy weeks it was my job to take his Komatsu roller ( 4 1'2 feet wide 6 foot tall) and roll parking lots for a trailer company. after 2 passes over the whole lot it got boring. it wasnt uncomon to roll one lot 10 or 12 hours. Loading it was fun the it had 3 wheels in the back on the steering axle and 4 on the front drive axle. It was 2 narrow to go up both ramps but almost 2 wide for the on had alot of fun loading and unloading.

 

[Steve Frazier]

I think what I enjoy running the most are wheel loaders with the single stick control. Other than climbing in and out, they aren't too tough on the body and the newer ones are so much quieter now with modern conveniences.

I haven't tried the compact track loaders yet, I'd like to demo a Cat 277. If these operate as nicely as my 248 skid steer, I think it would be a close second for me. I imagine the rubber tracks would smooth the ride over the rubber tired skid steer.

 

[RonG]

Thanks to everyone for their replies.......as I have stated elsewhere here I probably enjoy the dozer the most.I can be having a bad day and running a dozer is like therapy to me unless the dozer is the cause of my bad day of course.
Running a dozer whose tracks will not stay in adjustment can give you whiplash when changing direction or steering brakes so far out you can't steer it without using the blade to gouge the earth gets old fast.
I too started with cable machines and it would do us all good to learn on a dozer that could not tilt or angle its blade and you had to figure out how to get the job done without them.
Probably the one improvment most valueable would be the ability to tilt the blade from the operators station.The angle feature is real nice too but the tilt capability saves so much time.
There are some jobs that are so repetitious that you can put your brain in neutural and still function.A roller can be that way and a loader as well.I worked a good part of one winter moving fill in a housing project being built on the side of a hill from the high side of the street to the low side.I could not tell what I had done at the end of the day the hole was so big.That is boring!!
I too would like to try a gradall and a crane,both would be new to me.
I like running an excavator too but my age is getting to me and if I am digging a cellar hole and shooting my own grades just climbing in and out of the machine and up and down the bank to check the laser is taking its toll on me but I still love it.!! Ron

 

[Taylortractornu]

Ron I enjoy a crane except on a friction crane they can jump put of gear walking down a ramp. Its like knocking a D7 out of gear on a 2 to 1 slope. THe fella that taught me to run a crane made me start on the 5299. He said if I could stand the noise of the cables clanging on the latice boom and not get nervouse Id be ok. Sure enough they went through 5 other operators. I remeber when I was little wtching the man that taught dad to run a dozer when he was 16. He and dad took a 5 yard NorthWest dragline and dad took a 790 JD hoe and dug a boat ramp for the water way. Tom could land the bucket right on the spoil dad would lay out.
Now we can drive through the country and see the septic tanks dad put in years ago when he was my age and basements he dug with an old D6. Now Im replacing some of the older steel tanks he put in. Ive learned a bunch from dad Ive seen him take a straight blade cable HD20 AC and bluetop. Its amaing at the presicion some of the dozers have. Im not at all good on a smaller dozer and this sounds funny I cant hit the ground with a 6way blade either. I can do real good with a D5B or a 400 MF with a straight blade with tilt. THe MF400 has the tilt on a seperate lever and it is easier to user the machine to keep the blade level. Dad has told me when I get more experience on a slope ill be able to tel lthe grade from the feel of it. We did a few 2 to 1 slopes without a surveyor for a company that rented us some equipment. When the surveyor came out he was stunned.

 

[RonG]

Taylor,I saw a dragline go into the brook once,actually a holding pond for a crusher and I think the operator was reeling in the bucket when it happened,I am not sure of that though.
He did not have much experience and that was all the experience he ever got because he refused to run it ever again.LOL
I have pics of a big rubber tired crane in the meine river in Germany...I was part of the 58th engineers when I was there and we used to put a pontoon bridge across the river every year for training and the dozer used to be the deadman for the cables that held everything in place.When we were all finished the crane guys cranked up their crane and with no air for the brakes and it rolled right back into the river.I have pics of the top of the cab and the boom sticking out as I remember.) Spring brakes? What spring brakes.?I think of that often when I have to wait for air pressure to move whatever I am driving today.It really takes very little air pressure to stop an unloaded truck on level ground and I have worked for people who want you rolling as soon as the oil pressure is up.Us old guys remember those things.
That Northwest sounds like a pretty big one with a 5 yard bucket.
I tell other dozer guys looking for tips(dozer guys don't ask for tips 'cause we are all the best there is)that you have to have the ability to see in front of the blade,when you can do that you will have a pretty good handle on it.
Truth is as you have already observed that it is a combination of seat of the pants,the sound of the engine and travel speed is an indication of how much you are pushing.Being used to your steed is a big help too.
Boy,I get longwinded don't I? Ron

 

[motrack]

I am lucky in that you gotta test them after you fix them, so I have had the chance to run about everything.

my favorites........dozer, scraper,and excavator

 

[Jakegypsum]

I enjoy running any type of equipement. I am limited to the equipement that we have but have been told that I am a natural when it comes to operating something new.
I run Clark forklifts and drywall booms by Prentice & IMT. Jake.

 

[Blademan]

I too really just like operating , and see that in just about everything I do . Be it car , truck , dozers , scrapers , graders , heck , even go-karts , or motorcycles . It's the jobs with the equipment that sometimes suck . Running around in the rain and mud in a scraper can really be a exercise in fustration . Especially if the terrain is dangerous ( gravel pits , steep hills , bush etc .) And running a packer can get boring real fast too , but for the most part , give me a motor , some levers and a job and I'm pretty good to go .

Rob

 

[huffmanmb]

Learning to operate an excavator has been a thrill for me. I grew up on a kubota backhoe and then we bought a compact excavator. Swinging around and be able to load trucks from one spot, or being able to grab stuff behind the machine is nice. I was able to go from that to 120 Cat, to a 315. Switching to Cat controls from deere was a challenge though.

 

[killdozer]

I thought I'd put my 2 cents worth in since I have run a lot of different kinds of equipment over a lifetime. I have run big ones and small ones in most categories. I prefer to run graders since they suit my personality, methodical, accurate, fussy about quality work. But I ran a dozer this past fall that beat the socks off anything I've run before.
The machine was a Cat D-9N with a semi-U blade and a parallelagram ripper on the rear. Cat really put the features of this machine together with a lot of thought. They moved the steering levers off the dash and placed them just in front of your left hand at the shift control lever. The right hand controls not just up and down and tilt left/right but also blade pitch can be controlled on the fly with the pull of a trigger switch under your index finger. If you're digging hard material you can tilt the blade ahead at the top to get a better bite and after the blade is full you can set the blade back on its heel to travel faster. A toggle switch on top of the lever sets the speed at which the blade tilts, fast/slow, a very handy feature. The blade raises faster than other D-9's I've run, another good feature. This machine features double bogies on the track rollers which make it a very stable grading platform indeed. This is the first D-9 I have been able to fine grade with, if need be, and then in 2nd gear. Of course the cab is climate controlled to keep out the dust. This is the best damn dozer I've ever run and I've run 'em all, from cable blades to ones with twin engines.

 

[Oregon Rob]

New

It’s interesting to hear what different folks like. I guess I am going through my midlife thing. I’m 37 and have been selected for an apprenticeship through the local IUOE. Training starts in May and I am really looking forward to it. Over the next 4 years, I will have the chance to run a little bit of just about everything. At some point, I will have to select a “majorâ€, but at this point, I don’t have any idea what it will be. I’m normally the kind of person who likes to get a lot of roughing work done, with the biggest tool available. I really like the idea of building roads in the woods, but not a lot of that going on right now.

 

[Dirtguru]

Hey Rob, your right about not much roadbuilding going on in the woods right now and their probably won't be much for some time. Instead of building new roads they [BLM and USDA Forest Service] are taking out roads, they call it decomissioning. Some roads are simply waterbared and blocked with a gate while others require all culverts to be removed, fills pulled back, major streambed restoration in which streams are returned as much as possible back to their natural condition. Basically what the gov't "ologists" do is Identify an entire watershed that needs attention. Spur roads are removed while main connectors are upgraded, upgrading usualy requires removal of culverts which are replaced with huge open bottomed multiplate arch type culverts to facilitate fish and other wildlife passage as well as to be more likely to handle large movements of sediment. Sometimes a road is removed from beside a stream and replaced with a new one built further up the hill. I have put in arch culverts big enough to drive a 10 wheeler thru. 75% of the work I do involves this type of stuff. I also build a lot of short, 1/2 mile or less spurs for private timber companies which are most often removed after logging is completed. I have even built temporary roads used to place oldgrowth logs, rootwad and all into a creek or river. Their is also a lot of federal highway work here in the northwest in which entirely new sections of rural state and fed highways are built in order to realign these roads away from rivers and streams. One company that comes to mind from your part of the state that does alot of this kind of work is ELTING INC out of Clackamas. I know they have hired a number of people right of the street and grandfathered them in to the IUOE. Exp wasn't a factor in some cases, just a willingness to work hard. Others in your area are JOHN L JERSEY and SONS and GOODFELLOW BROTHERS as far as union shops go.
My advice to you if you stick with the app program would be excavator, dozer, grader or crane operator or rigger. As you have probably noticed there is a ton of bridgebuilding going on in the northwest right now and this is mostly union work, doesn't slow down as much in winter either. Good luck to you and have fun.

A Chapman

 

[Oregon Rob]

DirtGuru,
Thanks for the info, I will keep it and may well end up useing it someday. As I said, i'm really looking forward to starting something new. I just hate having to wait until the end of May to start.

 

[coopers]

For 3 years I drove case backhoes, 580B's! :spaz Old machines, but I got so good at driving them that I could do stuff with them that most people would want to just give up and use an excavator or something. But now that I work for a rental company with the most up-to-date machines, I LOVE excavators. Hopefully I can find an excavation company to work for, for a while before I become a cop and get some more experience under my belt. Eventually I'd like to start a small excavation company, but that might be a long time down the road. In the end, I like driving backhoes and excavators. Here's a picture of one of the backhoes I had to use for a while.

Blake
WA

 

[erthmover]

I enjoy running just about everything. But i'd have to say backhoes and excavators are my favorite.