Smallest push cat?

wnydirtguy · Jun 10, 2011

I know it is a silly question but I figure what the heck. What is the smallest dozer you have pushed with. Was self loading the other day finishing up a little job and got to some hard wet clay and need a little help. So what all I had was the good old 850 case and the nice 750J deere with GPS. So instead of smoking a tranny we pushed with the 850https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif. looked funny as could be but work great in a pinch. So it got me wondering if any one else had to "make it work".
'

hvy 1ton · Jun 11, 2011

You got me beat bad.

Smallest i've seen used was a 5M PAT on a wetland project couple years ago. There were 2 613's and a 611. They were pushing the open bowl through the really nasty stuff and the dozer was finish grading in between pushes. Whatever works, right?

CAT D7 man · Jun 11, 2011

Used an old D6 8U stickshift to pushload elevating JD760s in Oklahoma's muddy red clay while working a housing development.

trainwreck · Jun 11, 2011

we have pushed our 613s with a jd650 before. it worked great for what we were doing.

JTL · Jun 12, 2011

I was pushing a 613 with a D4C through sand a couple years ago. Worked pretty slick.

Taylortractornu · Jun 12, 2011

At work the landfill we run we use kiln dried saw dust to make a nonslip road surface for winter. After a few weeks if its wet it will sour and smell. Ill make a few long pushes with the D5B and let what spills off my blade makes aomd good windrows. The 762 wont pull it without spinning the road up. I got to pushing the 762 with the 5B. The 762 isnt real beefy in the rear but you can lightly pus them for traction. ill lett him load it and take it to the compost piles. Ive even done this with a D3C.

Deeretime · Jun 12, 2011

pushed our 27s with our old 850B... helped but wasnt great

Greg · Jun 14, 2011

put my D3 behind a D7 pulling a No. 70 pan. Was more for feel good support.

Jim Irwin · Jun 15, 2011

I got told as a youngster, to never push load an elevating scraper.

The draft arms and neck were never designed for it.

Anyone else heard the same?

crayton · Jun 15, 2011

As a young lad my dad had an HD 5 AC farm cat with a dozer. The county was building a new road through our place and was using a D 8 and cable scraper. I came up behind the outfit unbeknown to the operator and gave him a push. Don't think he even knew I was back there. When he got loaded I sliped into 5th gear and rattled up alongside him so he stopped, looked down at me, spit on the track and hollered over to me. "Why don't you park that thing alongside this one tonight and let er suck awhile."

sprknranger · Jun 16, 2011

Haha, I had a John Deere 450 help push me through a wet fill while I was on a 651 cat! He just happened to be tracking through the fill when I spun out and I just needed a slight nudge to make it! But as far as pushcat in the cut, a single D6 pushing on a 651 for a little T&M project is the smallest I've seen.

Showpony · Jun 16, 2011

Yes Jim I agree , best use for the back end of an elevating scraper is a tow hitch for your ute

RDG · Jun 16, 2011

We used to regulary push load E 211s & 412s with TD 15B/Cs back in NZ, never had any problems with draught arms etc. The main thing was for the dozer operator to ease off on the power as the bowl filled to allow the elevator to keep turning at max speed rather than stall it out. The main reason for pushing was in slippery going traction, or lack of it was the problem, the dozer was there to provide forward motion while the elevator did the loading, scraper was usually in N with full power to the elevator and the dozer controlled the forward speed. Worked well. Cheers RDG.

lpnt65 · Jun 16, 2011

I used a Wabco 550 to push load our scrapers really worked well it was about 160hp, my brother used an old cat d4 to push his scraper when it needed a slight shove

JTL · Jun 16, 2011

RDG said:
We used to regulary push load E 211s & 412s with TD 15B/Cs back in NZ, never had any problems with draught arms etc. The main thing was for the dozer operator to ease off on the power as the bowl filled to allow the elevator to keep turning at max speed rather than stall it out. The main reason for pushing was in slippery going traction, or lack of it was the problem, the dozer was there to provide forward motion while the elevator did the loading, scraper was usually in N with full power to the elevator and the dozer controlled the forward speed. Worked well. Cheers RDG.

Exactlly! All I was doing was providing a little extra traction to get the underpowerd 613 through the super loose blow sand. Last year I was pushing a brand new rental 623G with a 6R in the same conditions. Just back off the push cat power and let the elevator do its trick. The push cat is just to keep the momentem up, and keep the scraper from spinning out in the loose sand.

Showpony · Jun 17, 2011

Guilty, pushing elevators with a JD 772

JTL said:
Exactlly! All I was doing was providing a little extra traction to get the underpowerd 613 through the super loose blow sand. Last year I was pushing a brand new rental 623G with a 6R in the same conditions. Just back off the push cat power and let the elevator do its trick. The push cat is just to keep the momentem up, and keep the scraper from spinning out in the loose sand.

We werent loading it was just too steep!!

RDG · Jun 17, 2011

When u really get down and look at it, by push loading a scraper there is less strain on the draught arms/hitch etc by push loading cause all the power from the pusher goes directly to the cutting edge, so the front assembly has virtually no load on it apart from steering. In self loading the draught arms/ hitch etc take all the pull so would put it under more stress than a push load operation. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers RDG.

wnydirtguy · Jun 17, 2011

here is a pic i snapped

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Taylortractornu · Jun 17, 2011

THe rear end of a 762 is really lightly built the channels that the ejector plate rollers run in are buiil into the rear bumper and thay can be twist from heavy pushing. THe one we just started redoing had a large push block on it from the landfill that closed. They pushed it with a 953 loader when it was stuck . Pushing wont hurt when empty and the scraper is stuck .

Showpony · Jun 18, 2011

RDG I think it boils down to the operators, there are guys out there that can bend draft arms on 631s with a d8, I would'nt let them on my elevator let alone push it. On the other hand a person like yourself and the others talking on this subject all seem fully aware of the implications of pushing an elevator and would have no problems. I think the cost of pushing an elevator takes away the economic advantage of the self loading scraper, if the material or terrain is not suitable for an elevator , maybe an open bowl machine or twin power elevator is the way to go. If you are pushing an elevator effectively the elevator itself becomes a hinderance and slows materiall entering the bowl, If the elevator is running it tends to pound on the material rather than carrying it up, this is hard on the chains and gives the drive train gyp. I still stand with Jim on this one its better not to do it.

Smallest push cat?

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