All right, who's getting me this for Christmas??

[Ray III]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kei_ByF9DDE

I started laughing at that thing until I saw how much power it has.

That would be great to have for annoying the neighbors.

[digitup2]

Believe it or not a farmer up my way actually pushed out for a 120 foot chicken barn with one of those Magna tracks .It took him nearly two weeks but he did it .Where are those things made ?.I know where one of those crawler loader hoes has been sitting for 6 or 7 years now .I don't think any one would pay him to dig with it though .It would be nice to have a bit more size .Digitup.

[Lavoy]

I think some place in WI if I remember correctly. You can search them on the web, not hard to find. Seems to me a loader and backhoe crawler, hydro and 26HP or something like that used to be in the mid 20's if not higher. I have seen some awful nice 450s and 550's with loader and hoe not sell for that much.
They really are an overgrown, overpriced toy. I had an early one with a blade, played with it for a few months and sold it to a collector I knew. The one I had was belt drive, friction reverse if I remember correctly. I used to see them in Popular Mechanics when I was a kid, always wanted one. Back them they called them Struckkits (sp) because you put them together, now they only come assembled.
Lavoy

[cdunn]

I have one, an older model, late 60s. It was a basket case when I got it, I went thru it and completely restored it. They are a product of C.F. Struck Corp., PO Box 307 Cedarburg Wis. Parts are still available for most models, although expensive. They are made extremely heavy duty for their size and because of the multiple belt and chain reductions, have a lot of power. The newer models use hydraulics instead of the belts and chains, I think. They are very useful around the yard and garden, maybe lite landscaping, not much else. Lavoy is correct, they are overpriced and somewhat of a toy, a very high quality and expensive novelty. I turn a lot of heads when I pull mine around town on my trailer, a real conversation starter.

[digitup2]

I must be a bit spoiled with larger machines but a small blade like that would have it's place .I just don't think my back would take it any length of time .If you shorten the track base just a little bit it makes a huge difference in the ride I can imagine I would need at least a chiropractor after several hours on the job. Digitup.

[Lavoy]

Many of the old, small ones do not even have bottom rollers, they ride on the sprocket and front idler. The one I had had a dozer blade with an electric actuator to raise and lower it. I pushed a little dirt with it just for fun. If the kids had been older, I would have probably kept it.
Lavoy

[digitup2]

Ya it would have make a nice addition to my sons play toys for the sand box he had a 007 Kubota excavator and a 8 hp Kubota tracked dump truck from the age of 5 on .Just after getting them new I found the pair in the sand pile Scott digging with the 007 and his mother sitting on the dump truck .So with a grown adult as his accomplice he never got told he was messing with some $.I let him use the equipment as often as he would like and now at 21 that kid can handle any excavator but he has a few years experience at this point I guess he should of had one of those crawlers also just to round things off for blade experience .Digitup.

[Lavoy]

I have seen those tracked dump trucks, with an excavator along side it, I bet he was having a blast.
Lavoy

[pop pop]

i think putting a kid on a piece of machinery is fine,, i have seen many great operators and seems they all had an early start,, they are not in a rush, and naturally go a bit slower and easier,,, until they get the hang of it, of course there are a few you gotta keep your thumb on, and you don't let them do any dangerous stuff, until trained to handle it ...
we used our loader for many things and had a kid running it cause he was too little for muscle-work. he loved the job, would be on that thing and rollin' before you finished the sentence.
so having smaller equipment is almost like candy to a kid, they take to it naturally, probably why tonka went so well. the toys just keep getting bigger.

[digitup2]

I think the best advice you can give a new operator is to get smooth at 1/4 throttle and work your way up.If you can't run it smooth get out and let someone else run it .Every year we get two or three green horns from a local heavy equipment operators school .This years knuckle draggers got 1/3 throttle and told to get efficient as possible and they get more throttle after that .Burying a barn foundation in the middle of a hundred acres .At first it wasn't safe to be in the 850C on the same farm .But they got on to it and one of them is now running a mass excavator loading blast rock on trucks .He never uses more than 60% of the throttle.We have had a few good operators learn on our time but I would rather have it that way . Digitup

[Ray III]

I read an old Deere ad that said the ride quality was a big reason they went to 4 and 5 rollers. If 3 rollers was that bad then one of those toys in the woods after a big lunch must be fun.

Why only use 60% of the throttle? I thought machines were most efficient when run at rated speed, with the maximum load it will handle at that throttle level. Or are we talking finish work here?

[Lavoy]

One thing I can say as far as reduced throttle, is when doing fine work, the hyd flow is reduced somewhat, and you don't get as fast of movement.
Lavoy

[digitup2]

Any of the new stuff can be throttled back considerable .You get better fuel economy by far .You can run them hard if you want but with the new J series I can work right along side you push for push at 3/4 throttle and use half the fuel with the h series you had to run at 80% to get the same results but with the new transmission you throttle back for smoother ride and fuel economy The new dozers and excavators aren't like the old stuff .The new excavators and dozers work great at 70-75 %throttle anything more and I have control over .And yes I can Quickly down load the info to prove operation and we also program top RPM into the Dozer .We can even program horse power into or out of the dozer as well as down load fuel consumption of all newer dozers and excavators If you told me you put 30 gallons of fuel into a certain 550J of mine at a certain time then it better show up as soon as that machine gets started again along with start warm up & run times and procedures and all rpm in between and exactly where that machine is at all times now I can program shut down and alarm trace if a dozer goes off the job site or is ran after hours .It is all gps up loaded 24 hours a day .That is expensive but cheaper than insurance so I guess you buy it and shut up .Digitup.

[Lavoy]

I have some friends that are engineers at Cat. One of them was telling me about the new series of road grader he was working on. To meet emissions, the engine will run at 1200 RPM, FULL THROTTLE!
Lavoy

[digitup2]

I feel that the slower the engine rotates the longer it lasts [to a point]The big thing is that a dozer doesn't act like a dozer did twenty years ago .These new dozers are more nimble but they can't do most of the things we used top RPM for get them down and dirty in the mud and make them work at pushing a stump out of its hole and you would wonder what you just spent big bucks on[My 450J was 112,000canadianand the 550Js were around 135,000]and even worse just get your self committed after spending that much money on a dozer that couldn't crawl through mud .Run a new dozer for twenty minutes and you will find they are a fair weather friend .Gone are the days of brute power built to go through hell and back .Just go into a thorn thicket with a new dozer and you won't come out with your air conditioning intact or all windows intact in that pretty little cab I cant do the jobs with the J series that I have done with the old original 550 s they are a lot lower clearance and the cab gets in the way and as for brute power to push that stump out of it's hole well it will push to a point then it just sits there and wines like a unionized worker asked to stay ten extra minutes after work.They sure don't make em like they use too.Digitup.