Welder Dave
Senior Member
The TC12/ later Terex 8280 used two 6-71 Detroits. Each side had its own engine and transmission and pivoted in the middle to follow the ground.
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Gainsborough Loading Shovel M.O.D.
- Thread starter trombeur
- Start date
skyking1
Senior Member
Letournau has made some really remarkable machines. The most common ones are the diesel-electric log stackers.
With the facilities and technology for big iron, they also made some really far out machines!
These road trains were cold war tools for crossing the northern territories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_train
the tree crusher, also diesel-electric.
With the facilities and technology for big iron, they also made some really far out machines!
These road trains were cold war tools for crossing the northern territories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_train
the tree crusher, also diesel-electric.
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
What an education you are giving me.. I had never heard of a dozer with two of everything, the tree crusher like something from a futuristic apocalypse movie and us Aussies think we invented road trains, a tundra beating version, astounding.. a weird part of me wondered what the Westinghouse part of the partnership would have come up with for the kitchen if they’d been given free reign..
pure innovation those machines..
pure innovation those machines..
skyking1
Senior Member
That first road train picture got too big for diesel and has 4 turbines in it.
I love all the spare tires on top of the load on the last road train, and that crane on the back of the tractor is clearly for changing out tires on the trailers.
Also love that willys jeep on the first trailer.
I love all the spare tires on top of the load on the last road train, and that crane on the back of the tractor is clearly for changing out tires on the trailers.
Also love that willys jeep on the first trailer.
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
Well spotted on the Jeep skyking.certainly gives it some scale... an M38?.
skyking1
Senior Member
I'm not good on that, all I know is that looks like Ken and Barbie's jeep right there.
Le Tourrneau was an absolute legend of a man and pretty much everything we know and use today regarding earthmoving equipment, is due to his innovations. I still find it hard to believe the scope of his achievements in one lifetime. This is a great read and should be read by everyone in the earthmoving industry. The book is Mover of Men and Mountains, -R-LeTourneau. https://www.amazon.com/Mover-Men-Mountains-R-LeTourneau/dp/0802438180
Really enjoyed this thread.
Really enjoyed this thread.
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
What an amazing man..from an invention point of view but especially from a philanthropic view., just imagine if some of the world’s billionaires contributed more (I know some do) to making a better world..
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
This is a pic of the area the 980 loader with no brakes on page 2 worked in..the liquid slurry level was usually higher..the photo is taken just by the bin the sand was dumped into..
This is of the stockpile that was constantly built and used as top up for the process.. there was a penalty to us as the contractors if the bin went empty..obviously the scraper bowl has slid off when rebuilding the stockpile..we didn’t always have a dozer available to push out the sand and shape the stockpile..
This was the full compliment of 633C and one D model..it wasn’t unknown to have only 2or3 machines working after breakdowns during night shift.. that’s when we’d have a dozer pushing the stockpile into the bin..aI do remember having a 627 twin power push/pull briefly but it must have been between contracts, also had a couple of earlier models with a rigid hitch..
skyking1
Senior Member
you keep finding more pics Ian, this thread has some legs!
Welder Dave
Senior Member
How common were 633's?
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
Other than brief appearances of the occasional 627 or something the 633 were all we had.. that was the only mine I worked on but they had similar size machines on the mine next to ours.. in my years in Australia I have seen mostly these being transported..
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
I think that’s about it skyking1.. I am feeling there may be a sigh of relief… I don’t know whether it was the same in the US.. but it was a very English thing for people to go on holiday then some time later to have a ‘slide night’.. think.. bad photos, probably of places you can’t afford to go to, or wouldn’t want to, maybe with a relative you hardly know..
Welder Dave
Senior Member
I was wondering how common 633's were in general? I know Cat has some elevating scrapers but are more known for their conventional scrapers.
OzDozer
Senior Member
A local company called Leightons had a fleet of 631 open bowl scrapers carrying out large-scale overburden removal from open-pit gold mines in the W.A. Goldfields in the mid-to-late 1980's.
I can recall watching this fleet at work stripping the overburden on the Paddington Gold Mine, near Broad Arrow, W.A., around about 1985.
There were about 20 x 631's in Leightons fleet, and the guy running the fleet was a real gun on scraper fleet operation.
He would stand on the jobsite and watch all the operators to ensure maximum production with minimum machine abuse.
He would be watching for excessive wheelspin and ensuring the pusher dozer operators were working with care and skill.
Unfortunately I either got no photos of this operation, or they've been lost somewhere. It was an impressive dirt-shifting operation to watch.
This the Paddington Mine and nearby mines in recent times.
Leightons earthmoving operations were exceptionally well run, and they ran their equipment almost non-stop. I often saw Leighton machines with 10,000 hrs on the clock, after just 2 or 2-1/2 years from new.
I would often buy ex-Leighton machines after they were traded in on new ones, because they had such a good maintenance regime and records of maintenance, and Leightons didn't spare the money when it came to repairs.
If an engine was getting tired, the machine would get a complete brand new or fully reconditioned engine installed. The same for other major components. They kept their machines in excellent condition.
Leightons apparently had an excellent maintenance funding arrangement, in that they kept a maintenance fund running for each machine from new.
As the machine clocked up hours, they would top up the maintenance fund for the machine with X amount of dollars for each hour operated.
So when a major component was required to be replaced, the funds were there to do it.
They had the running costs of each type of machine well-tuned, and if a machine was burning up more money than the maintenance fund contained, it would be sold off as uneconomic to operate.
I can recall watching this fleet at work stripping the overburden on the Paddington Gold Mine, near Broad Arrow, W.A., around about 1985.
There were about 20 x 631's in Leightons fleet, and the guy running the fleet was a real gun on scraper fleet operation.
He would stand on the jobsite and watch all the operators to ensure maximum production with minimum machine abuse.
He would be watching for excessive wheelspin and ensuring the pusher dozer operators were working with care and skill.
Unfortunately I either got no photos of this operation, or they've been lost somewhere. It was an impressive dirt-shifting operation to watch.
This the Paddington Mine and nearby mines in recent times.
Leightons earthmoving operations were exceptionally well run, and they ran their equipment almost non-stop. I often saw Leighton machines with 10,000 hrs on the clock, after just 2 or 2-1/2 years from new.
I would often buy ex-Leighton machines after they were traded in on new ones, because they had such a good maintenance regime and records of maintenance, and Leightons didn't spare the money when it came to repairs.
If an engine was getting tired, the machine would get a complete brand new or fully reconditioned engine installed. The same for other major components. They kept their machines in excellent condition.
Leightons apparently had an excellent maintenance funding arrangement, in that they kept a maintenance fund running for each machine from new.
As the machine clocked up hours, they would top up the maintenance fund for the machine with X amount of dollars for each hour operated.
So when a major component was required to be replaced, the funds were there to do it.
They had the running costs of each type of machine well-tuned, and if a machine was burning up more money than the maintenance fund contained, it would be sold off as uneconomic to operate.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
They could be great advisors to other outfits or contractors on how to run the most efficiently. You save more money having a system in place to cover repairs and maintenance than just hoping for the best.
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
I would love to have seen that Ozdozer…I was going to ask about using an elevating v open bowl with a dozer, then. Twin power.. I think I have heard of a CAT book that gives all the efficiencies of machines.. ..
Ian coombs
Well-Known Member
After the mining job I went to work in a refinery as an operator where all maintenance was breakdowns.. having come from the military I was used to planned and preventative maintenance.. I saw the area maintenance supervisor who was a mechanical engineer and asked about planned maintenance, I don’t remember the words but the gist was ‘are you mad’..or ‘what would you know’.!