I remember when these were new 631D

[skyking1]

https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/hvo/d/cat-631d-scaper/7249444852.html

Scarsella had 6 of these when they were still running B's on my job.

 

[John C.]

I looked at that machine twice. Once in 2006 and again in 2012. I believe it was one of Scarsella's machines. I looked at most of their B and D machines at one time of another.

 

[skyking1]

I never ran scraper for them, only Tucci. I was on an old 225 on that job, burning fires on the right-of-way for the highway widening.

 

[kshansen]

I think our company had one of those but with a self-loader option I think it was called.

Had a hydraulic motor mounted to a speed-reducer up high that ran the paddles to push material into the body. They used it at a gravel bed just a bit north of here. Guy who ran it actually drove it home at night as his house was only a hundred yards from the place they were stripping the gravel.

I recall one time boss asked if I wanted a rode trip no tools needed. Said sure doing what? He said the scraper needed a new speed reducer and the closest one is at the factory near Peoria! So a few minutes latter I was on the road from Syracuse NY to Peoria, they actually let my wife go along in the truck to help keep me awake.

Drove out and picked it up and returned to Syracuse with new reducer, that's when we got the news that the large shaft that the reducer turned was bent and none available so turns out there was no rush on the reducer!

 

[colson04]

I looked at that machine twice. Once in 2006 and again in 2012. I believe it was one of Scarsella's machines. I looked at most of their B and D machines at one time of another.

Do you have a log of machines you've looked at? Just curious how you know you've seen this machine at two different times.

 

[John C.]

Yes

 

[skyking1]

That old 225 was as loose as I've run, it looked like it had palsy when you swung it around. The thumb circuit was wrong, you could kill the engine with it, it would not unload the pump. I had to load a log truck with big export logs with it, and the driver tripped the nearside bunks so I could get the biggest logs on. I'd tap the thumb switch as I carried the logs over. It looked and sounded like *ss warmed over. If I let up totally, the big log would fall out. Hold it down, and engine would bog out.

 

[Bluox]

I think our company had one of those but with a self-loader option I think it was called.

Had a hydraulic motor mounted to a speed-reducer up high that ran the paddles to push material into the body. They used it at a gravel bed just a bit north of here. Guy who ran it actually drove it home at night as his house was only a hundred yards from the place they were stripping the gravel.

I recall one time boss asked if I wanted a rode trip no tools needed. Said sure doing what? He said the scraper needed a new speed reducer and the closest one is at the factory near Peoria! So a few minutes latter I was on the road from Syracuse NY to Peoria, they actually let my wife go along in the truck to help keep me awake.

Drove out and picked it up and returned to Syracuse with new reducer, that's when we got the news that the large shaft that the reducer turned was bent and none available so turns out there was no rush on the reducer!

That be a 633 chicken picker.
Bob

 

[kshansen]

That be a 633 chicken picker.
Bob

Probably right as I had very little to do with it other than the trip to Peoria to get the reducer.

Only other scraper I really worked on even a little was a smaller one, not sure if it was a 613 or 619. All I can recall is the engine was a double overhead cam inline four. Basically the same as the inline six used in the 87A 988 loader but two cylinder less! I'm kind of recalling it was a Johnson scraper that was built around the time Cat took over that outfit. No cab or Rops just a seat and windshield for a cab!

We rebuilt the engine on that way back when I started in the shop and then many years latter I had to fix a problem with the locking differential. As I recall there was a air operated shift fork that locked the diff. when you hit a button on the floor. Seems the lock bolt for the fork had backed out and it would not shift the collar that locked the diff.

 

[Tinkerer]

I worked for a contractor that had a fleet of 15 631D's. They were the most gutless pigs I ever had to maintain a haul road, and dump / fill area for.
The mechanics did all they could to get maximum speed and horsepower out of them.
The 631C's would easily pass them on the haul road.