MRS scrapers

Does anyone have pictures of the Mississippi Road Service rubber tired Dozer Scraper combos I think the Seabees used them in the 60's & 70's. I remember the ship I was on Transporting some to Sata Hip Thailand in 1972 for a of detachment Seabees

I've got a few, stinky, take me a little time to get them together for ya.

The Job Corp in White Swan, WA got 2 BRAND new MRS scrapers in 1994 when I was there. If memory servs me they were 1972 models. Sorry no pics though.
I remember they only had 8 hours on the meters and all the paint was still on everything.
It took us like 3 days to get all the moth-ball grease off of everything. Within 2 weeks the mechanics had replaced dang near every O-ring, seal, and hose that could be replaced. What do you expect after 22 years of sitting.
I never did get a chance to operate one, cause I left 3 weeks of them showing up, and they were always broke down!

Dunno if this is what your looking for ,but sure does sound like it.

http://www.acmocbb.org/ACMOC_BB/showthread.php?t=4770

Slagpot

Let's try this....

I scanned this from a Seabee cruise book.

Never mind the caterpillar DW6 with pull pan.Are you talking about the Clark 290M scraper ? These are still around,do a check on the net looking under the name clark 290M scraper. Tons of info.

Slagpot

Try again

Hope this works...sorry for the poor quality. It looks better in the scan file. This one was working in the Phillipines in 1991. Brand new out of storage to work on the recovery of Subic Bay Naval Station and Cubi Point N.A.S. after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

That is the beast with DD 8V71, I was told by some Seabee EO's that it was really under powered. But thanks for the picture it brings back memories of better days and lots of liberty in Subic

stinkycat,

Send me your email - I've got a lot of info & pix on MRS :drinkup

Air Mobile MRS machines

D-Co (Air Mobile) 168th Engineer Bn (CBT) in Viet Nam had several small MRS Tractors with dozer blades and drawbar type pull scrapers. The scrapers were 5 or 6 cy conventional HYD scrapers. I think they had 3 banger Detroits. Maybe 4 bangers. I also think they were under powered for the scraper but worked well as a dozer. They had 4 wheel drive/steer.

We (HHC) had scraper attachments that mounted in replacement of the turn table and blade on a CAT 112F Grader. Only about 3 cy, but you'd be surprized how much work you could get done with one Grader and a Grader with the scraper set-up. You could tilt you cutting edge with them

Sorry I don't have pics.

MRS 100 and MRS I-100

stinkycat said:

Does anyone have pictures of the Mississippi Road Service rubber tired Dozer Scraper combos I think the Seabees used them in the 60's & 70's. I remember the ship I was on Transporting some to Sata Hip Thailand in 1972 for a of detachment Seabees

Click to expand...

The picture in post #7 is a MRS I 100 The United States Marine Corps had both the I-100 and 100 models in Vietnam and post Vietnam until they were replaced by Cat 621B scrapers. The I-100 had a 8v71 Detroit diesel and the 100 had a 4-71 Detroit. The I-100 was a 4x4 hydraulic scraper were as the 100 was a 4x4 hydraulic scarper but had a dolly converter added to pull the separate scraper. The last time I saw or worked on them was with 7th Engineer Support Battalion USMC in 1986. I cannot find my old pictures of them.

I saw one in storage at the Navy Ammunition Station at Fallbrook Ca.

There was one for sale on Craigslist in Alaska. There were some decent pictures on the add.

I think the grader attachment was called a Martin after Martin mcg co. I've seen two one on a 112 Cat and another on a galion.
A few years ago I got to meet one of the founders of MRS. He told me about the weight transfer system some of the dolly scrapers used.

I think your right , i only saw them in the 60's and 70's while serving in the bees,havent seen one since , and like others have said they did seem a little underpowered for certain scraper jobs

Without tractor

MRS scraper - Mississippi Road Service built 'er for the Navy, in 1967- Sorry, forgot to snap a pic -
This buggy has 4 rubber wheels. 2 in front. ( Empty Wt. 36k# !! )

Anyway, are any parts available?

The collar, bolted under the big gooseneck, and holding on to a big 12"? ball, is cracked.

Even worse, the dump linkage is busted...
Looks like somethin bound up and broke the 6-ft. cylinder, which has been fixed,
but the curved track going up the back of pan is bent up, flange is wrinkled,
which caught the little 4-in. clamping rollers, and broke em clean off.
(Luckily, the cylinder didn't bust again!!!)
The wide roller against the outside of curved track seems OK.

The whole design is a mystery, any one know how it works?
Does the bucket hinge near the blade? And the whole load gets heaved up and forward?
All that action from the cylinder between the back wheels?
The cylinder pins directly to a pair of 16-in. square plates, which seem new (shop-built).
Also 2 new shop-built arms, maybe 6-ft. long, pin onto plates and run way down under pan.
But may have been involved with curved track gettin twisted?

OK- why not re-mount cylinder so no linkage is needed?
Instead of pushin straight forward, move the base down 3 ft & forward 5 ft., then push on a 45-deg. angle... up against back of pan.
...gonna give up ground clearance, but....
....may need more stroke, but....
No, leave base where it is, but elevate ram 5 ft., creatin the 45-deg...

Hmmm... Time to start drawing !!

I believe there is a MRS tractor on the grounds of the Rough and Tumble Treshermans Reunion in Kinzer, PA. Maybe somebody else is more familiar with it?

There is a fellow over on the ACMOC site that ran them in Nam. He said they never used the MRS for work unless they absolutely had to as it was troublesome. They used it when they got a chance to go off base. Then they drove the MRS as it was the fastest thing they had to get around on.