Homeowners buying old giant excavators?

[Shimmy1]

Wasn't too long ago I remember seeing a PC1000 for around 20 something K close by.
The tracks looked like new.

I just saw this post, @chidog I wander if a PC1000 would get enough travel time to wear out a set of rails. I know I certainly wouldn't want to have to walk one back and forth to the refinery to refuel...

 

[skyking1]

A smaller outfit here in town had one when they were new, and got all the big drain tile jobs and some deep stuff. They had a big B-E excavator with no stick and a winch on the boom, dedicated to pimp for the big hoe.
It last worked doing some deep bailing at this pit maybe 20 years ago. I bet it was hell on parts.


One day it was working an 8' tile job down the road from a bridge job I was on. It got it's toes to the gutter and they set the bucket in the suicide lane and ran traffic under the boom for a lunch. That was some funny stuff.

 

[Deere500a]

Tonnage is nice but stop at the front door nice to have a machine you can challenge warning ads not to use & do a beer run in we had it 40 yrs ago

 

[John C.]

A smaller outfit here in town had one when they were new, and got all the big drain tile jobs and some deep stuff. They had a big B-E excavator with no stick and a winch on the boom, dedicated to pimp for the big hoe.
It last worked doing some deep bailing at this pit maybe 20 years ago. I bet it was hell on parts.
View attachment 359247

One day it was working an 8' tile job down the road from a bridge job I was on. It got it's toes to the gutter and they set the bucket in the suicide lane and ran traffic under the boom for a lunch. That was some funny stuff.

I worked on that machine many times over a couple of years and a couple of times in that exact spot. The company was EJ Rody and those machines had too small of tracks installed on them. They would actually snap the track pins and pull the links apart. That machine provided a few house payments just in the overtime I put in on it.

 

[Coaldust]

I really enjoy your posts, John C. Hope things are well with you.

 

[skyking1]

I worked on that machine many times over a couple of years and a couple of times in that exact spot. The company was EJ Rody and those machines had too small of tracks installed on them. They would actually snap the track pins and pull the links apart. That machine provided a few house payments just in the overtime I put in on it.

Thanks John, Rody had slipped out of the memory banks.

 

[John C.]

They were nice people to work around and had a lot of Komatsu gear in those days. I think I saw that PC1000 sitting across the street in the Corliss pit last time I drove by there.

 

[Welder Dave]

Tonnage is nice but stop at the front door nice to have a machine you can challenge warning ads not to use & do a beer run in we had it 40 yrs ago View attachment 359253

Great pic! I looked and couldn't find a pic. of a Warner & Swasey like that. It looks very similar to what the guy that put in our cistern had except his was much cleaner. He pulled his 1 ton behind it so he could leave it at a job site. Only pics. I could find were of conventional truck chassis. I think it's bigger than a 300 despite it being called a 300 (I found that pic, from Night Rider) maybe a 500 or 550. 300's I've seen only have one screen cover on the side and this one has two. I've also seen 300's on single axle trucks which this would be too heavy. I'd guess about a 3/4yd. or maybe 5/8yd. bucket. Wonder if somebody knows for sure what model it is?

 

[BC Placer gold]

I really enjoy your posts, John C. Hope things are well with you.

Same!

 

[John C.]

Alive and kicking living in Idaho.

 

[Deere500a]

it's bigger than a 300 despite it being called a 300 (I found that pic, from Night Rider) maybe a 500 or 550. 300's I've seen only have one screen cover on the side and this one has two. I've also seen 300's on single axle trucks which this would be too heavy. I'd guess about a 3/4yd. or maybe 5/8yd. bucket. Wonder if somebody knows for sure what model it is?

That's dayexco dad's machine's Hoptos & Drotts. Hopto 300 late 50s & 500 60s had no traditional boom cylinders,they mounted on the house floor push from behind below boom pivot . W&S 550 cylinders visable

 

[Deere500a]

Now I want too see the episode

 

[Welder Dave]

Great! That confirms it. The guy who dug our cistern had a Hopto 550. I read they stopped making them in 1974 so think his would have been close to that. Don't think he bought it new but maybe. His brother in law got him in the business and had a much older truck mount excavator but I don't know what make. It was much rougher. You don't see them for sale often. Would be curious to know how many they made. He kept it in really nice shape. Doesn't appear to have stabilizers. Guessing there's enough counterweight and the operator uses his seat of the pants gauge to judge when it leans too much.

 

[Welder Dave]

That's dayexco dad's machine's Hoptos & Drotts. Hopto 300 late 50s & 500 60s had no traditional boom cylinders,they mounted on the house floor push from behind below boom pivot . W&S 550 cylinders visable View attachment 359358

I never noticed the lack of cylinders before. Very odd design but W&S were at the forefront of hydraulic excavators. It appears that later model 300's did have conventional boom cylinders.

https://www.vannattabros.com/adospics/h3004.jpg

 

[Deere500a]

I think that machine was bubba's handy work to swing logs. The 300,360 & 500 from my dad's stories in 70's they were 10yr plus old joke bring on a job the boom design no lifting power for the bucket & slow to newer 550/Koehrings/other standard boom & his JD 500 digmor backhoe was faster similar size bucket capacity digging fuel tank holes

 

[Deere500a]

Remember right on the Hoptos first two numbers were weight ie 300 would be 30k lbs as a crawler excavator up to 70's big 1900 was a 95ton hoe 190k lbs

 

[IceHole]

I was waiting for the giant excavator.

What i was thinking. It's roughly a 200 which is a nice size.

 

[Welder Dave]

Remember right on the Hoptos first two numbers were weight ie 300 would be 30k lbs as a crawler excavator up to 70's big 1900 was a 95ton hoe 190k lbs

1900 is often listed as 103 tons. I think I read where a 550 crawler was about 44,000lbs. 300's were mounted on single axle trucks so even without the crawlers would be too heavy for a single axle truck. Maybe some brochures could be found.

 

[nicky 68a]

I have some yard art that I’m not really sure how the hell I ended up with.
It’s a rebuilt Michigan 275C coal dozer.
Was rebuilt by the power station owners and scrapped a couple of months later.It has all the toys including aircon and fire suppression.
Unfortunately,it’s of absolutely zero use and far too big for a wannabe collector.
It’s occurred to me that it’s actually sat there for the last 4 years.
I just haven’t got the heart to scrap it

 

[CM1995]

I have some yard art that I’m not really sure how the hell I ended up with.
It’s a rebuilt Michigan 275C coal dozer.
Was rebuilt by the power station owners and scrapped a couple of months later.It has all the toys including aircon and fire suppression.
Unfortunately,it’s of absolutely zero use and far too big for a wannabe collector.
It’s occurred to me that it’s actually sat there for the last 4 years.
I just haven’t got the heart to scrap it

Pics??