Old Cat hauler!

Saw this at a truck museum in WALCOTT, IOWA this weekend!



Museum is by the "worlds largest truck stop" off of I80. Free will donation to get in and you can take all the pictures you want!

Rick

Very cool

nice truck

Looks about the same vintage as the one we "restored" years back where I worked. Ours had wood spoke wheels. It had been a "drill rig" truck but we made it in to a flat bed.

Forget the real term for the type of drill it had, used a rope to pull steel up then it was dropped to pound the hole in rock for blasting. I'm sure it was a bit slower than the one the contract driller uses for the blast holes at the quarry these days that is powered by a KT16 Cummins!

kshansen said:

Looks about the same vintage as the one we "restored" years back where I worked. Ours had wood spoke wheels. It had been a "drill rig" truck but we made it in to a flat bed.

Forget the real term for the type of drill it had, used a rope to pull steel up then it was dropped to pound the hole in rock for blasting. I'm sure it was a bit slower than the one the contract driller uses for the blast holes at the quarry these days that is powered by a KT16 Cummins!

Click to expand...

General term is called a "cable tool" rig. Oil wells uses to be drilled the same way.

kshansen said:

Looks about the same vintage as the one we "restored" years back where I worked. Ours had wood spoke wheels. It had been a "drill rig" truck but we made it in to a flat bed.

Forget the real term for the type of drill it had, used a rope to pull steel up then it was dropped to pound the hole in rock for blasting. I'm sure it was a bit slower than the one the contract driller uses for the blast holes at the quarry these days that is powered by a KT16 Cummins!

Click to expand...

You are describing a "Churn Drill", they were used to drill blast holes, wells and foundation piles into rock

What is the manufacturer of the truck. Looks a bit like a old Autocar that a buddy has with a water tank on for the antique Cat shows.

Looks like a Mack AC. Would be sweet to see her motor down the road.

Yair . . .

In Australia they were know as percussion drills. Thousands of holes were drilled down into the artesian basin, essentially allowing grazing on millions of acres of otherwise waterless country.

Percussion drilling was an art and it frequently took months to bump and bale a well.

Cheers.

As a kid growing up in Texas they were called "Spudders". My Dad drilled oil wells with a large one, brand name was a "Walker-Neer", and later drilled surface holes and water wells with a Bucyrus Erie. I think it was a 22 or 24.
Mike

In a way I think it was a shame that they scrapped the drill rig part. But they were more interested in seeing if the truck could be salvaged. I know I have wrote somewhere on this site about that project but not sure how to find the posts right off.

Up to a few years back I would see those types of drills working around here drilling private wells. See them at the same place for days on end. Back when I built this house, mid 70's, hired an outfit to put in the well. Around 7:00 am he stopped by at the quarry and we went down to the property and showed him where to well needed to be. About two hours latter he was back at the quarry. Well was done, about 150 feet with all but fifteen of it in solid limestone.