Q re Warner Swasey Hopto excavator

I am considering buying a vintage Hopto excavator by made by Warner Swasey. It looks to be in pretty good shape and it is functional. For your information I have determined that “hopto” is an acronym for hydraulically operated power takeoff. I guess in the early days of excavators having hydraulically driven systems rather than cables or some other mechanical means was a novel idea. I’m wondering basically if parts are available for this in particular hydraulic parts like motors and controls. The unit I’m looking at is I think from the mid 60s. I’m gonna go look at it some more today. I think it might be a 211 I’m still looking for serial numbers references and stuff. I may be able to buy manuals on that auction site. The engine is a Detroit diesel so I’m not so worried about parts for that but vehicle specific parts might be a little hard to come bye.
Any comments or directions on recommendations of where to get parts or whether this is a machine to run away from or it might be really good let me know looking for interest info. In particular if there is a website dedicated to these old machines or something like that that would be great

thank much.
New member
Dave Mayer

First of welcome to HEF.

My 2 cents on this is to runaway, unless you are looking for a museum piece to restore. If it works and you have one job for it then plan to scrap it maybe. Parts will not be available.

I can say from experience, my barely 20 year old Volvo is quite hard to get parts for. I just had a turbo shipped form the UK because it was the only place to get one. Garrett has them but can only sell to Volvo; Volvo claims obsolete? Dealer laughs at most of my requests. Spent 4 hours this morning trying to get turbo gaskets. I got the machine right and it gets light use so I’m OK with some repairs but in the future...

Others with much more knowledge will be along shortly.

that's too old for a 211, i'm guessing it's a 550. they were built in winona, mn

I'd guess an H550 too. Years ago a guy near us had a Warner & Swasey excavator on a truck chassis. He put our cistern in. Don't know the model but he kept it in really good condition. Parts will be hard to come by but some could be common off the shelf items.

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/warner-swasey-hopto-h-550.27021/

Definitely not a 211.

Gears and shafts for the final drives are extinct.

Yes Went to see this yesterday.
It’s definitely a 550. runs good. The Detroit actually doesn’t smoke (and yes there is oil in it).
I couldn’t hear any bad noises from the pumps and such. The worst thing appears to be the bucket but that’s just welding. I think this may actually real hours.

any idea where I should be looking for a S/N plate?

I think it would depend on the price. A little more than scrap price might be worth taking a gamble on. It's big enough you don't need to work it to death to do a job.

my dad had 3 different hopto 200's...all truck mounted. last one was a hopto 300 which wouldn't slew a full 360 degrees, had a 3-53 in it if i'm not mistaken. had it mounted on a ford c-700 truck. his last truck mount was a drott 40 on a c-850 ford truck.

It all depends on what you want, what you expect it to do, and how far you have to haul it.

It would be a better investment and safer than a Harley IMHO. Are you looking for a hobby of tinkering with vintage iron? Don't let the parts bother you in the least, this thing hasn't worked to a deadline for many decades anyway, parts will come from where ever you scrounge them up, salvage yard, make it fit, have it made, etc.

If you expect it to be economical, resell it ever for what you have into it, forget it.

It’s going to be more of a hobby piece then anything. I have a few projects that can benefit from this size machine. I have a few 4’x60’ culverts to put in and my wife wants a pond. I have a couple of old Cats and a backhoe but the culvert job a bit larger then comfortable for the backhoe.
I got it for less then scrap price so I’ll be fine. dave

Change all the fluids and check things over good before putting to work.

Welder Dave said:

Change all the fluids and check things over good before putting to work.

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WD. That certainly in the plan. First I need to get this home. I’m meeting with a low boy referred from a friend this week. Matching it up with a back haul will probably make it three weeks before it’s at my place.

On the short list in no particular order);
R&r the fuel tank and have it boiled out.
Batteries: Maybe a charging system if I feal industrious
Install working gauges: oil Pres, Wtr temp, other?hyd pressure??
R&r filters ; air, Hydralic, fuel, oil
Pull some covers and do some more inspections
Weld on the bucket & make/install some bushings
And whatever else comes up.

I just noticed there is an “old Iron”. forum. I’m new to this group. Can a moderator move this string or cross post?

dave

Delmer said:

It would be a better investment and safer than a Harley IMHO. Are you looking for a hobby of tinkering with vintage iron?

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Definitely an expense not an investment. This fits in with my with my other heavy metal projects;
1944 k series Cat 12; mostly functional
1931 cat 10; retirement project
1949 Lima drag line; thats a real project.
Ford 800; works pretty good.

as compared to runners like my;
Komatsu D20
Case 580 K

dayexco said:

last one was a hopto 300 which wouldn't slew a full 360 degrees, had a 3-53 in it if i'm not mistaken.

Click to expand...

. I didn’t specifically check for 360 but it seamed to go all the way around. I’m not sure yet but I think this has 4-71 Detroit. It seams longer then the 3-71 in my Lima and I’d thought I Counter 4 exhaust ports.

You're in CA, put a solar panel on it, plenty of power for charging up to start it once in a while.

No way I'd change the hydraulic oil, change the filter, drain the tank or suck the dregs off the bottom of the tank, but don't bother draining it. You'll get new fluid with every leak, and it didn't survive this long by being sensitive to hydraulic fluid. Probably the same with the fuel tank, burn up the old fuel and forget about it unless you have problems. If that Detroit was going to give you problems it would have blown up already.

Delmer said:

You're in CA, put a solar panel on it.

Click to expand...

The solar panel to maintain the batteries is a pretty good idea. I just ran across a small one that I took out of service that’s probably about the right size. I seam to be forever jump starting stuff with dead batteries around here. I’m liking the idea of re- using the Hydralic fluid as well. But it clearly needs the filters r&r’d

Hi Dave
The old Hopto in the photo is looking good..Im surprised it still exists in Cali..probably illegal in some way to even start a Detroit in that state..but maybe now with all the fire smoke no one will notice..anyway only run straight 30W in the engine, maybe give it a shot of seal conditioner in the hydraulic tank..it's an old school open center hydraulic machine, a whole lot more tolerant of oils and dirt than the newer pilot controlled systems,but will still give you issues if it runs low or out of fluid..you're into making parts for this machine if anything breaks,it's easily 50yrs old and most all of them were cut for scrap back when China was buying.Check out machinerytrader.com there's one in Minnesota for parts,but that one looks smaller than yours..might still be some parts available..I'd grab a swing motor or two if you can find them anywhere,that would be the hardest part to find on the old beast..but with a good welder you can build up shafts and remachine pins and bushings to make it last..best of luck..