I've done it a lot all over the country I know for sure it wasn't legal in CA one of our operator had cuffs slapped on him for it. I have driven my pickup to Cat rented a 27 and took off down the road to the job with it. They weren't happy when they saw me pulling out of the gate and had a few things to say to me when I came to get my truck. Here in TX you can do it all day long even in towns like Houston. At 15' wide it tends to really be a PITA even if you have a police escort.
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moving scraper down road ?
- Thread starter EARTHWORM
- Start date
ETMF 58 White
Well-Known Member
Yep, it's a different world now. I remember as a little kid in the 60's my dad and his crew roaded old Euclid S-7's all over this part of the state; hauled D-7 dozers on old single axle R-190 International trucks and lowboys, moved cutter blades hanging from the gin poles on a R-190 winch truck, NEVER chained a dozer to a lowboy - just an oak block in front of and behind one track- and never lost one, either. Didn't have a lowboy handy? Just run a piece of equipment up on a float trailer with no dolly legs that had the front on the ground, winch it up to the fifth wheel and take off. No trailer lights? No problem, just have Billy Bob or Jackie follow you in the pickup if it was gonna get dark. And Mother was at home, making sure supper was ready when we got there.
Now, farmers move more dirt with a medium sized tractor and a small dirt pan than an S-7 would haul; tri-axle lowboys are the minimum, and Mama works in an office and her 5th grade kids are much more interested in video games than in going with Dad to a dirt job or a clearing job.
Now, farmers move more dirt with a medium sized tractor and a small dirt pan than an S-7 would haul; tri-axle lowboys are the minimum, and Mama works in an office and her 5th grade kids are much more interested in video games than in going with Dad to a dirt job or a clearing job.
We used to move drag line machines cross ways on the trailer with 50' - 60' of boom hanging out the back. No flags lights or anything. Did a lot of early morning moves, when it is dark hard to tell you were way over loaded. Yes had someone follow the truck, to keep someone from running into the boom.
Aussie Leroy
Senior Member
Sunday morning good time to run my CAT 865 and pans about 20 kilometres down the road to the next job, just hung a number plate on the front no problem.
Vantage_TeS
Senior Member
Call your local DOT and ask, every area has a radically different set of rules.
I remember we bought a 657 in Vegas and had another company haul it to somewhere in the midwest and drop it off. They managed to get a permit to drop it off there but for whatever retarded reason they wouldn't give us one to go get it from there and finish the trip across state. Solution? Took the pilot truck down and just drove it to the state line. Got an awfully funny look when we dropped 1,500L of diesel into it at some backwater gas station but that's it.
657s in the city, on pavement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3oRT5AkjQc
Oh and use your head too. When we got our 24H we phoned to see if we could road it.
<us> We are looking for a permit to move our 24H
<dot> Whats that?
<us> a motor grader
<dot> well it has rubber tires doesn't it?
<us> yes...
<dot> oh well you don't need a permit for a grader
<us> OK! *hung up very quickly*
Only problem is that sucker takes up a lane and a half. Sure you CAN road it but heaven help you if you ever meet anything else that's wide on the road. Going over onto the shoulder is NOT an option as it's heavy enough you sink pretty good.
We don't road it anymore.
I remember we bought a 657 in Vegas and had another company haul it to somewhere in the midwest and drop it off. They managed to get a permit to drop it off there but for whatever retarded reason they wouldn't give us one to go get it from there and finish the trip across state. Solution? Took the pilot truck down and just drove it to the state line. Got an awfully funny look when we dropped 1,500L of diesel into it at some backwater gas station but that's it.
657s in the city, on pavement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3oRT5AkjQc
Oh and use your head too. When we got our 24H we phoned to see if we could road it.
<us> We are looking for a permit to move our 24H
<dot> Whats that?
<us> a motor grader
<dot> well it has rubber tires doesn't it?
<us> yes...
<dot> oh well you don't need a permit for a grader
<us> OK! *hung up very quickly*
Only problem is that sucker takes up a lane and a half. Sure you CAN road it but heaven help you if you ever meet anything else that's wide on the road. Going over onto the shoulder is NOT an option as it's heavy enough you sink pretty good.
We don't road it anymore.
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company i used to work for had 6 651's and when we had to move them under 30 miles or so they would call in 6 guys they trusted and we would road them at about 3am! Worked good and never had a problem, but if there was a soft spot in the road they found it
About 10 years ago I saw a scraper being towed with a front wheel dolly trailer like u haul uses to tow cars. Has any had any experience moving scrapers with this type of trailer. Does anyone know who makes dolly trailers large enough to do this?
RZucker
Senior Member
I haven't seen that done for years. But I guarantee, that if a machine is moved that way it better have perfect tires and wheel bearing. About 30 years ago I assisted in moving an old Wabco 333A around 50 miles and could not keep the driver under 40 mph. We were almost home... and BOOM! good bye 33.5x33 tire.
surfer-joe
Senior Member
In the seventies, I helped move Cat 651B's all over Wyoming. It was a common practice then. We used scraper dollies, or roaded them when it was a short distance. As I recall, the Dolly's were made by Cozad of California, but Trail-King might too, or they may have been made by some one else as well.
In 1971, I watched as the now defunct Holloway Construction Company roaded their 651's up from Southern New Mexico to Cherry Creek Dam by Aurora, Colorado. There were about fifty of them altogether. They came right up Interstate 25, took them three days to make the trip. In 1970, on my way to Albuquerque, I was run off the road just outside of Cuba when two Kiewit 651's came barreling around a tight curve towards me. They were taking their share of the road out of the middle. Fortunately, I had a small car then and was able to squeeze by.
By the late seventies, roading heavy equipment had become all but impossible as most states by then were demanding all kinds of permits and police escorts. Most would not allow roading any more, scrapers had to be moved by truck. I was still able to move some 777 Cat end-dumps from Hellertown, Pennsylvania to Easton. We took the back roads and made the move very early on a Saturday morning. In Kentucky in the early eighties, I moved Cat 773 end-dumps on back roads fairly often (that was all eastern Kentucky had then, way back roads), and was never bothered. But that's just how Kentucky was then. I also roaded Cat 992 Loaders from Stewartsville, New Jersey back to some town over in the eastern part of the state. Went right down I-70 all the way at slightly less then 25 MPH. No permits, didn't even call the cops on that one.
On one 651 move in Wyoming, we took 6 of these brutes down I-25 from just north of Buffalo to thirty miles north of Douglas. We used a Wyoming trucking outfit, now defunct of course, and those boys wanted to "get er done" quick and go home!" They were out of Gillette as I recall. I was bringing up the rear as an escort and the last scraper had been delayed by a flat tire, which the driver and I changed as fast as we could. Once we got moving though, that driver wanted to catch up with the rest of the herd and he floor-boarded the throttle.
Pretty soon he was clipping along at over 60 MPH, and the rear tires of the scraper were about as wide as a car tire and ballooned out to the point they were smoking against the fenders. I called him on the CB radio and suggested that unless he wanted to buy a pair of new 39.5X39 scraper tires, he better slow down to about 30 MPH and stop at the next rest area to let the ones on the machine he was dragging cool off. I've never seen since that time, scraper tires stretched out as much as those two were.
He did slow down, and when we pulled over finally, I couldn't touch the tires as they were too hot. We sat there for an hour and then continued on our way. We caught up to the rest in Casper where they had stopped at Wyoming Machinery's yard. I figured I might lose one or both of those tires on the job, but they never gave me any trouble.
My boss at the Buffalo Job recalled a time when they had to moved about a dozen 651 scrapers in Pennsylvania from one job to another. They decided to road them, but as a precaution, he bought a dozen sets of Cat 631 decals and covered over the 651 decals on the scrapers. As luck would have it, they got lost in some whistle-stop town and had to pause at the State Police Station to ask directions. The desk Sargent went out to see what was making all the noise and he just whistled and gave my boss the directions he needed. They couldn't get out of town fast enough he later recalled! That would have been about 1970.
Good luck on your search.
In 1971, I watched as the now defunct Holloway Construction Company roaded their 651's up from Southern New Mexico to Cherry Creek Dam by Aurora, Colorado. There were about fifty of them altogether. They came right up Interstate 25, took them three days to make the trip. In 1970, on my way to Albuquerque, I was run off the road just outside of Cuba when two Kiewit 651's came barreling around a tight curve towards me. They were taking their share of the road out of the middle. Fortunately, I had a small car then and was able to squeeze by.
By the late seventies, roading heavy equipment had become all but impossible as most states by then were demanding all kinds of permits and police escorts. Most would not allow roading any more, scrapers had to be moved by truck. I was still able to move some 777 Cat end-dumps from Hellertown, Pennsylvania to Easton. We took the back roads and made the move very early on a Saturday morning. In Kentucky in the early eighties, I moved Cat 773 end-dumps on back roads fairly often (that was all eastern Kentucky had then, way back roads), and was never bothered. But that's just how Kentucky was then. I also roaded Cat 992 Loaders from Stewartsville, New Jersey back to some town over in the eastern part of the state. Went right down I-70 all the way at slightly less then 25 MPH. No permits, didn't even call the cops on that one.
On one 651 move in Wyoming, we took 6 of these brutes down I-25 from just north of Buffalo to thirty miles north of Douglas. We used a Wyoming trucking outfit, now defunct of course, and those boys wanted to "get er done" quick and go home!" They were out of Gillette as I recall. I was bringing up the rear as an escort and the last scraper had been delayed by a flat tire, which the driver and I changed as fast as we could. Once we got moving though, that driver wanted to catch up with the rest of the herd and he floor-boarded the throttle.
Pretty soon he was clipping along at over 60 MPH, and the rear tires of the scraper were about as wide as a car tire and ballooned out to the point they were smoking against the fenders. I called him on the CB radio and suggested that unless he wanted to buy a pair of new 39.5X39 scraper tires, he better slow down to about 30 MPH and stop at the next rest area to let the ones on the machine he was dragging cool off. I've never seen since that time, scraper tires stretched out as much as those two were.
He did slow down, and when we pulled over finally, I couldn't touch the tires as they were too hot. We sat there for an hour and then continued on our way. We caught up to the rest in Casper where they had stopped at Wyoming Machinery's yard. I figured I might lose one or both of those tires on the job, but they never gave me any trouble.
My boss at the Buffalo Job recalled a time when they had to moved about a dozen 651 scrapers in Pennsylvania from one job to another. They decided to road them, but as a precaution, he bought a dozen sets of Cat 631 decals and covered over the 651 decals on the scrapers. As luck would have it, they got lost in some whistle-stop town and had to pause at the State Police Station to ask directions. The desk Sargent went out to see what was making all the noise and he just whistled and gave my boss the directions he needed. They couldn't get out of town fast enough he later recalled! That would have been about 1970.
Good luck on your search.
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Scrub Puller
Senior Member
Yair . . . As has been said upthread . . . times have changed.
On the Gold Coast In the 'seventies we always roaded scrapers and I remember one convoy of two D9's on floats, the 333 Wabco, four 627's and a 621J winding their way through the narrow streets and traffic of the tourist strip . . . I wish I had arranged for photo's.
Cheers.
On the Gold Coast In the 'seventies we always roaded scrapers and I remember one convoy of two D9's on floats, the 333 Wabco, four 627's and a 621J winding their way through the narrow streets and traffic of the tourist strip . . . I wish I had arranged for photo's.
Cheers.
RZucker
Senior Member
Back in the early 80s I roaded my share of old 657s with sloppy steering and bad brakes...Interesting to say the least, especially crossing small county bridges with light load limits! I also got to road a 252 Wabco 150miles both ways. And more than once have driven a TS-24 in city traffic. That one had excellent brakes and steering thankfully.
RBMcCloskey
Senior Member
Did you work for Green or Groves? What happened to Holloway?
dozerman400
Well-Known Member
Back in 1981, drove a 627 142 miles across Montana 1 day to next job site. The loboy kept passing me moving the track machines.
Andrew_D
Senior Member
Did the lowboy driver blow the horn (and laugh) every time he passed you??? I bet he did!
Andrew
Nige
Senior Member
More years ago than I care to remember we moved a fleet of a dozen new 631Ds 1200km from a port that shall remain nameless to a job site. The best thing was that transport was at such a premium that the scrapers didn't do the run empty. Every bowl was filled with kit like spare parts, tyres, and even in a couple of cases 15 tons of cement in 50kg bags........!!