Euclid B-70's
Hello Stepp3360, Lashlander,
AIC and Alaska Frontier Cons't , maybe ?? SKW-Eskimos, have all the remaining B-70's .
They have made the rounds through various owners, M-B, Green , Tennessee Miller aka Frontier Rock and Sand.
I like to work with the B-70's , they give you 50 yd+ load of dirt to work with. Things get done, you can see progress. Use a Cat D9 , D10 size dozer or Cat 16H grader , and things really move along, road building .
Hello Surfer-Joe,
I think Emissions compliant was an after thought when replacing the Detroits. The Cat engines were such an improvement in Fuel economy and power, that even at $35,000 a pop for conversion , they jumped at it.
I'm sure all the owners are converting for economic reasons. I see them passing through all the time at the local gas station, on the way to the Slope, and at NC Machinery's yard.
The B-70's are just a wonderful piece of equipment for Alaska Operations. But the small market place has prohibited the reintroduction of new production models.
I wish Caterpillar would build replacements along this product line. Simple tough machines. Tires and rims are a huge issue now, tough to find replacements, obsolete !!
I like the Holland Clamshell type better, wish they had them up here, as the dirt freezes when traveling from the pit to dump site. The wedge shaped box, consolidates material , packing it in tighter , so it has to be bumped to discharge, by the Dozer, sometime 3-5 times depend on how hard it gets wedged in .The frosty material just seems to freeze into one solid lump when packed in and then jostled by the bouncing, when traveling to the dump site, wherever that may be . That is the drawback in winter operations.
The B-23's had the little mechanical wheel, I seen one day it just spun off and rolled down the road, the driver tried to dump and NO Dump results ! LOL
He went down the road and turned around and come back. Tried again, till I stopped him, told him his wheel came off and to go back and pick it up. Took awhile to get it repaired, came back and did his thing. ! Trials of equipment failures in dirt working.
LOL