Insley H875 Weight?

[Metalman 55]

I was wanting to ask if anyone out there would by chance have any literature on the weight of the old Insley H875 excavators with the 10' stick on it? When I was young I ran one some & often wondered in later years how much they weighed? Most of them were powered with the 4-71 Detroit, although I did occasionally see them with a Cummins too. Just curious if anyone knows........... I found this one while travelling in New Hampshire a couple of years ago & had to stop & look her over!

 

[Wes(MI)]

42,550 lbs according to my sales brochure.

 

[Metalman 55]

If you had a way to post a picture if the brochure I would appreciate that very much.

It has been likely 40+ years since I sat in the seat of an H875, but often think of them!

Thanks

 

[Wes(MI)]

Here's the first four pages.

 

[Wes(MI)]

And the last two pages.

 

[Metalman 55]

Thanks. That will give me some reading to check over those specs from a machine from yesteryear! Always wondered how they compared to todays excavators.

Did you happen to run one of these as well at one point?

 

[Wes(MI)]

I own one! Mine is a 1968 H875, with a Detroit 4-71.

 

[Metalman 55]

Nice! If it is a 1968 model year, it would have the rocking type stick & bucket pedals not the 4 individual ones, right? And the boom & swing levers would be on the outside of your legs, not between, right?

How long have you owned it for?

 

[Wes(MI)]

I've owned it for a little over 2 years now. Someone before me got in there and did some modifications to the control levers.

 

[Metalman 55]

Looks like it may have had the rocker pedals at one time & someone converted it. Those linkage cables would get stiff on the rockers & they were sure hard to move when they were no longer free!

I remember lotasa grease fittings on the undercarriage of those old critters! Took nearly an hour to grease it at the end of the day!

Does your unit still run pretty good?

 

[Wes(MI)]

Still runs very well. The only downside is that it leaks like a sinking ship when it hasn't been run in a while. I'm slowly fixing it, amongst my other projects.

 

[DMiller]

I would hate to try to trailer one of those old slick tracks, has to be butt puckering driving up ramps!!

 

[Metalman 55]

We used to load them all the time & under varying conditions on a beaver tail float, the deck height would have been 3' high too! I must admit, it was real dicey when icy conditions prevailed! Somehow it worked out.
Never used to chain them in those days either, except for long runs!

 

[DMiller]

Used to cut new seat cushion buttonholes loading old American Draglines or other slick shoed bustards, had one scoot ONE TIME, a lot, like OFF the ramp, damned near soiled myself!!

 

[Wes(MI)]

I have only ever loaded it once & unloaded it once. That's when I picked it up & got delivered to my house. I have considered bolting angle iron or channel iron onto the flat pads to act as pseudo grouser pads. Each pad has 4 holes drilled into them.


Metalman 55, do you remember if there were bushings for the rods that connected the pads together, or was it just metal to metal? Mine are 'Z' pretty bad.

 

[Metalman 55]

I don't think there were bushings, just something like a 7/8" diam rod that went through the pad hinge points. Are the rods retained by a carriage bolt at either end? Seem to remember that from 40+ years ago.

Isn't greasing that undercarriage an undertaking? Seems to me it took three tubes of grease to do the whole machine!

 

[Wes(MI)]

They probably started out as carriage bolts, but they now look more like roofing nails! I think the diameter on mine is roughly 5/8", but there is still a lot of vertical slop in it. My slack adjusters are almost maxed out.

I damn near went through an entire case greasing mine the first time. The rollers sounded like nails on a chalk board. They finally got quieted down after another greasing.