Cable vs. hydraulic

[caterpillarRy]

He was running dozer since he was bout 14 and rebuilding engines since bout the same time he can run almost anything and fix almost anything without a ton of electronics so I'm still hoping to learn as much as I can from him so I can keep the old machines running myself.

 

[Lindsey97]

okay, here goes.....cable? is that what you pull to start it?

 

[wrwtexan]

I run both a cable Cat D8H for land clearing and my hydraulic IH TD 20 (manual tilt). Even though I am a young pup at 33, I like the old cable 8 as it is simple and inexpensive to repair, I don't have to worry about trying to keep (??) gallons of expensive hydraulic oil in a 50 year old leaky and worn machine, and a heavy blade with a good cutting edge doesn't have too much of a problem getting a bite. For clearing heavy timber, there are no hoses to worry about and pryout force is more than enough to pull out a good stump and load the tracks down. I have been considering buying a D7E standard with a cable lift. Cheaper than hydraulic and quite a few around.

 

[tctractors]

Well, the string job Wins in my mind in the right location, CAT compaired to other Machinery builders seemed very slow to get to grips with fluid power, they used Hydraulic lines on their early 631's on the steering etc but cable on the bin section even developing the cable saver over-hoist gizmo, the Graders had gears and teeth in control sections that now are hydraulic, but cable to me is the perfect way of powering a towed scraper, the hydraulic pull scrapers are heavy also easier to damage if tipped over with plenty of cost to repair, the feel and control a CCU puts back into your hand is something that no hydraulic lever can deliver,the CCU's are easy to work on and adjust and as for cable getting nasty in your hands and being troublesome, well wearing gloves helps out this task no end I never find it erksome or challenging to work with, the cost thing has to play a part so the fact that 1/2" scraper cable is cheaper now than 10 years ago helps plenty, in the U.K. its often Hissing down with rain making iron rust fast, so if you have a Scraper stood for a few months or years if its cable control the rams dont go rusty, but my love of Cable Control is based on its low cost and its feel and effect from the drivers hand, Steel Hydraulics its the Future stuff all them pipes and things.

its just my way tctractors

 

[oregon96pd]

Well Scrub Puller I tried to help ya with your discussion, didn't work though lol

 

[Bluetop Man]

Say what you will about cable dozers. A cable blade was more responsive in cutting to grade. But in retrospect, that probably wasn't in itself what made or unwound contractors. It was the quality of help available back in the day. People who learned their trade the hard way, and knew there was to be no wasted motion, no doing it twice. Now the machines make it so easy to just keep going and going and going like that bloody battery rabbit.
Back and forth, back and forth, just keep it moving and the stupid blokes at the top who don't know the diff will cut eventually you a paycheck.

 

[Iowan]

I'm still wet behind the ears at 24 but I've spend a fair amout of time on/around cable dozers my granddad has had since I was about 12. The first were 2 D7's he used to have and a allis chalmers 11b hes got now. Yea they were old and alot of work to run but not very many people can say they got to run a cable dozer not that it's an big deal just kind of cool i guess. If you like running a dozer enough I suppose you will use whatever is available to you cable/hyd/direct drive/powershift. At the end of the day the results are the same given you know what in the he** you are doing!

 

[razz]

I have a 2 D8s 14a and 36a both are cable still use them 14a has a blade and 36a pulls a cable scraper. They work very well. Razz.

 

[Bluetop Man]

Cable dozers and cable pans, OK. One thing I would not want to experience is a "cable-operated track hoe". Saw a couple from a distance once in Houston, They were both down for cable replacements. A hot, greasy mess if you ask me. Of course, no cab AC. Of course, the old geezer who owned them digging on subcontract swore by them. But in the background, a CAT hydraulic hoe was steady slinging dirt, making footage on underground. No sir, I don't no bloody cable operated track hoe.

 

[grandpa]

cable dozers are cool,,, nostalgic,,, and part of our past. 'why part of the past? Because something better came along... Hydraulics!!! If cable was the cats a** they'd still be out there producing them.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Okay grandpa Just because it's newer it isn't necessarily better.

If we go O/T and take your thinking a step further you are saying a proper instument cluster of two inch gauges mounted in a panel that screws to the dash with six 3/8" bolts with plenty of slack in the wires has been superseded by the plastic and plexiglass abominations that are foisted on us now . . . you're saying the modern stuff is better?

It's getting to the stage where you must have an A/C cab with tinted windows or the bloody control stations fall apart and the instruments become unreadable in a few years.

If you apply that kind of thinking then yes, I reckon cable is the cats arse. (he grins)

Cheers.

 

[grandpa]

Cable will never come back,,,,, never. Model A's will never come back, steam engine's will never come back.

Next you'll tell me cable will out produce hydraulic day in and day out...... Lol.

 

[DPete]

Cable wasn't that bad if in good condition and the cable unit was in good shape & adjusted correctly. The dozer would go down indefenately if you had enough cable unlike hyd rams that rod out. Now you take a cable unit that got hot and leaked grease into the friction discs or on the brake band and you have some headaches. alot of guys would run the pressure plate to tight and an hour later had grease dripping out of the clutches. Many just did'nt know how to adjust them and created their own problems. Spill a little fuel on the brake band while fueling and the dozer won't stay up, throw dirt on it and finally you can get to work. Lots of problems but they beat a shovel

 

[ih100]

We've been down this road before. The manufacturers didn't ram hydraulics down our throats, they offered hydraulics alongside cable and people bought - hydraulics. It's like crawler loaders, if no-one buys a six ton model, they don't keep making them. Not like the new technology that we are getting rammed at us without the ton.

 

[td25c]

Its pretty hard for me to compare the cable dozer to the hydraulic dozer in the same context.They are different machines from different times in history.Only complaint I have about my old cable dozer is it only had the rear winch on it driven through the transmission so if the tractor slowed down or stoped so did the blade controll.You pretty mutch had to stay in rhythm with the machine as it was moving.Now if ya had a cable dozer set up with the front mount direct drive winch and rear winch with all the implements to pull behind it like a disc-harrow,scraper,and ripper that would have been a cool setup back in the day.I kinda miss running the old dozer.We ended up doing some trading with it an ended up with a motorscraper. Hard telling what happend to the old dozer,it may still be running or could have been scrapped out ,sent to china and came back as rebar laying in a concrete slab somewhere

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . td25c

if the tractor slowed down or stoped so did the blade controll.

Mate a lot of fellers never realised that if you pulled both steering clutches back the rear PCU went "live".

Cheers.

 

[td25c]

Yair Scrub..That technique also works well when operating a drag winch,leave the tractor in gear & use the steering clutch lever to feather the winch controll. A buddy of mine had a IH td 20 with the front mount direct drive unit,It was pretty fast and responsive.Nice old machine.Probably cycled faster than the hydraulic dozers of that day.

 

[DPete]

Its pretty hard for me to compare the cable dozer to the hydraulic dozer in the same context.They are different machines from different times in history.Only complaint I have about my old cable dozer is it only had the rear winch on it driven through the transmission so if the tractor slowed down or stoped so did the blade controll.You pretty mutch had to stay in rhythm with the machine as it was moving.Now if ya had a cable dozer set up with the front mount direct drive winch and rear winch with all the implements to pull behind it like a disc-harrow,scraper,and ripper that would have been a cool setup back in the day.I kinda miss running the old dozer.We ended up doing some trading with it an ended up with a motorscraper. Hard telling what happend to the old dozer,it may still be running or could have been scrapped out ,sent to china and came back as rebar laying in a concrete slab somewhere

The Cat #25 unit ran off the trans and was as you say, the #29 had a pto shaft off the rear of the engine ( under the floor deck)and was live power

 

[grandpa]

And the next complaint I have is someone saying the old operators were the best and the new one,s aren't. That too is the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Don't underestimate the younger generation. Don't blow your own horn so loud you can't hear the music around you!!!

These young fellow's are bigger, faster, smarter and superior in just about everything. And if you don't think so then you probably think a caveman was superior also,,,, good god!!! Records were set to be broke,,, I don't think I can think of a record that will stand for eternity.

 

[tctractors]

We are all different with our own thoughts, I love the cable control units ( CCU's) and the string they tug on, its purely what I am used to I supose, there is a few outfits in the U.K. running wet Bins (towed Scrapers) but I will be happy to stick to the " Good Stuff " now untill I get my 6 bits of wood, I work on hydraulic systems near daily, so the chance to work on something that comes over as the " Dark Side" to the young pilots puts a big smile on my face and a total pleasure to work on, Steel hydraulics are the future i've tasted it.