Are we really this spoiled

[old-iron-habit]

Spoke with an old Catskinner/Cat mechanic friend today. He was telling me that a few days ago he was visiting a friend of his that is a larger dismantler of heavy equipment. They had a not to old high track D6 in there that they were parting out. As the machine looked to be in really fair shape by appearance Gary asked what was wrong that it and why it was being parted out. The owner of the yard said that nothing was wrong except that it had no cab, air conditioner, or heater. They were pulling the engine to send to a customer. The previous owner apparently could not get any operator to stay on it. Gary asked what they had paid for it and his friend said $10,000. He then told Gary that there was absolutely no market for open machines so it was being parted out. Are we really getting that spoiled?

 

[willie59]

Yep, operators are now marshmallows. I recall operating cranes back in the 80's, no heat, no AC, cab was a toaster oven in the summers or a cryogenic storage box in the winter. Now guys gotta have heat/AC. One thing I do notice, especially on excavators in our rental fleet. It's common for the job boss to tell the excavator operator "you can run the heat and AC, but you better have the cab door open". I think they do this to keep peace on the site, to keep the ground grunts from complaining about an operator working in climate controlled comfort while they either melt or turn into a block of ice. The problem with doing that, operating with the door open, that heat/AC unit sucks in all the job site dust. I've had to take apart many excavator cabs to get to the heat/AC unit to clear the pile of dirt built up on the evaporator core.

 

[td25c]

It's common for the job boss to tell the excavator operator "you can run the heat and AC, but you better have the cab door open". I think they do this to keep peace on the site, to keep the ground grunts from complaining about an operator working in climate controlled comfort while they either melt or turn into a block of ice. The problem with doing that, operating with the door open, that heat/AC unit sucks in all the job site dust. I've had to take apart many excavator cabs to get to the heat/AC unit to clear the pile of dirt built up on the evaporator core.

Sounds like job security for willie59 .

Keep up the good work !

Had a similar conversation with a buddy trying to sell a mid 80's Cat D7G .

No enclosed cab , no air & heat ......... No sale .

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.co...other-question&p=668493&viewfull=1#post668493

 

[Dickjr.]

I am an owner operator , not to come to the operators defense but I bought my first cab machine 3 years ago. I get more seat time due to the better conditions. I was the same way before , when I turned 40 my allergies are terrible and we had a drought. When I showered , the bottom of the shower looked like chocolate milk. I had ways to combat the heat , start early , quit when it gets hot, sometimes go back in the evening when it cools off. I had a 6H open , and spent 6 weeks in a lake bed pushing mud. With the fan pushing forward on a 90 plus degree day it really was not bad. I peeled off my shirt and went on. On the backhoe when I get off and on several times a day I don't see the need for the cab as much. If I were digging 1500' a day with it then yes to a cab on the backhoe. I'd love to find a big pusher in a couple years for heavy work then finish with my smaller machine.

 

[RZucker]

I started running scrapers in the mid 70's... No cab, no climate control, and a noisy Detroit next to me or in front of me. Just seemed to be the normal thing at the time. I got to try out a fairly new 637 once, A/C stereo, tilt wheel, all the good stuff... It just couldn't out work my old hot and noisy '69 TS-24. Oh, for the price on the 637, I could have bought 40 more TS-24s. I was never spoiled.

 

[CM1995]

$10K for an operational D6H? I'd given him $20K.:cool2

Why didn't they just retrofit an aftermarket cab and HVAC unit? :beatsme

As an owner/operator I do like the nice cabs with all the bells and whistles. An enclosed cab is more productive in our brutal summers.

 

[kshansen]

Why didn't they just retrofit an aftermarket cab and HVAC unit? :beatsme

That was my first thought too!

On another thought. I often said that we should have kept at least one of the old Hough 120 loaders at each quarry. Just to let operators know that if they damage something on the 980G-K's that is the machine they will be running till I get around to fixing the Cat! OH Shoot! Did I forget to order that oil seal? Can't believe they are on back order again!

 

[alskdjfhg]

I've hired a dirt guy to do some land clearing in order too make room for a shop.

I've been hauling away the waste in a 1968 F600 grain truck.

One tree I told him to take out had bees in it (I didn't know or would have left the tree standing). Well this dosent bother the dirt guy one bit, he's in a nice Deere 250G with a cab and AC.

Me on the other had to roll up the windows and try to seal the old truck up too keep the bees out. AC would have been nice then....

But this $2800 truck has paid for its self a few times over just in the amount of debris its hauled off on this clearing job. All it needed was a hoist cylinder repack.

If really like to find a good running open cab dozer for 10k. I could really use a dozer.

 

[check]

A lot of us landowners and farmers and ranchers could use equipment without cabs. It pays to own equipment you only use 100 hours a year. You run them when the weather is nice. As a matter of fact, since I only buy older junk that needs TLC at 15% of new cost, I regard an open operator station an advantage because they are more service friendly. I would have snatched up that dozer in a minute.
Now if I had to make 40 hours a week year round, I would have a different attitude.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I spent the summer before most recent in a truck doing service calls with no A/C between jobs. Because I was going to retire the truck for one with A/C anyway.

I probably could have made up the extra money by fixing the A/C. I got so pooped by the end of the day I'm sure I missed out on available work because I just didn't want to go any more.

Now it's something I will pay good money for if broken.

 

[DMiller]

Local contractor had a early 80's Deere 750 dozer, no cab just ROPS and had it on my place pushing in a road, he offered it to me once then almost immediately traded it off to a dealer for a used 963C. I missed it by realistically DAYS for less than $20k, had I been smart I would own it now as the dealer it went to sent it to a boneyard just to be rid of a "Old" non-cab no A/C track no one wanted and sold it for half what they gave for trade in. I also missed that by a few days, still kicking myself.

I too am older and getting softer these days but still push dirt with my old open station Allis loader or farm operations with a open station Allis 2wd tractor(still diesel), there are days I look in envy at the neighbors units but shudder at the payments they make each year only to 'trade up' after a few short years as small things fail on those soft machines. Grade contractor still comes and does work for us, uses primarily Deere hoe/loaders, Cat excavators and tracked loaders.

 

[DoyleX]

The owner of the yard said that nothing was wrong except that it had no cab, air conditioner, or heater. They were pulling the engine to send to a customer. The previous owner apparently could not get any operator to stay on it. Gary asked what they had paid for it and his friend said $10,000. He then told Gary that there was absolutely no market for open machines so it was being parted out.

I was in there while it was getting stripped. Truly a shame as it was a front line works ready machine. Track frames had not been updated but not cracked either. Good drivetrain, good paint, straight tin except for the rops (literally looked like a hoe bucket pulled on it). On 345's they pull the engine, finals and the rest goes in the dumpster.

 

[mowingman]

Due to MSHA noise regulations, you really can not use any open-cab machine in a mining application. When the newer noise rules started being enforced in the early 90's, it made open-cab machines a thing of the past in mining, for the most part. So, there is no market for cabless machines, anywhere in the mining business nowadays.
Add-on aftermarket cabs with A/C are kind of ok, but I have never found any that were economically viable,( I put cabs on 14 Cat machines in the early 90's), or that held up like a factory cab does. The upfront cost, and poor performance of the aftermarket cab components were factors in going new, or used closed factory cab, for the rest of our fleet.

 

[Jonas302]

Thats a damn shame mind sharing what yard? Always looking for parts Maybe they are junking an 8k with a new undercarriage (;

 

[DoyleX]

Thats a damn shame mind sharing what yard? Always looking for parts Maybe they are junking an 8k with a new undercarriage (;

7950 Ziegler Shakopee. Old general tractor. Just jump in the scrap bins and drag out what you need when nobody is looking.

 

[old-iron-habit]

$10K for an operational D6H? I'd given him $20K.:cool2

Why didn't they just retrofit an aftermarket cab and HVAC unit? :beatsme

As an owner/operator I do like the nice cabs with all the bells and whistles. An enclosed cab is more productive in our brutal summers.

Gary asked him the same thing. He said he would have bought it in a heart beat. The reply was that they had a market for the engine. I'm sure it was easy money to sell the engine and have lots of stuff left. Easy quick dollar was the bottom line.

 

[old-iron-habit]

7950 Ziegler Shakopee. Old general tractor. Just jump in the scrap bins and drag out what you need when nobody is looking.

You got it.

 

[John C.]

Noise was never a problem out here. Dust is the devil now days. I've seen many canopy machines sold out of a gravel pit or coal mine because the operators refused to wear respirators or even a dust mask. The logging industry on the other hand would for the most part in my experience rather have a canopy.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with air conditioning. The loggers wanted it and all was good with the aftermarket Red Dot units we installed until the rear entry cabs came out. All that window glass turned the cabs into green houses. Up sizing the air conditioning to handle the extra area turns into a logarithmic scale. Double the area of the glass and cab and you need three times the cooling capacity with about four times the cost. The gypos just knocked out a window or two until it could get sorted out. The marshmallows cried like a four year old brat that stubbed a toe. Usually the Weyerhaeuser or Simpson people were the worst.

 

[Jim D]

I've never ridden a horse with EROPS, or a quad or dirt bike with AC or heat, or a dune buggy with a windshield. More dust and mud is better when we're having fun... I guess the dirty, real, environment is only fun when we are playing, not when we're working.

A nice cab is a good thing for farming or mining or large scale excavation, i'd guess; but a closed cab is not a good idea for construction equipment working close to people on the ground. On construction sites i really don't like to look thru glass to see what's happening, or lean out of the cab to hear what someone is yelling.

 

[gwhammy]

I've got cabs on all but two machines. I can take the heat, when it gets to hot neither the loader or I like it. I start early and usually quit at noon on farm work. Heat in winter is a great thing, sitting on the mini ex in real cold weather is no fun. Luckily when it's that cold it won't dig the frozen ground anyway. I just can't see making the big payments on new machines at my age. Older payed for equipment doesn't have to work to support itself.