Who else operates heavy equipment at work

[hardtail]

Ya and I like the way he thinks 🤔 

[bitty]

2 hours ago, TractormanMike.mb said:

This is what I drive, it's a 2006 Kenworth t800 Michigan special. Maximum legal gross with this axle combination is 154,000 so I guess it counts as heavy. The second pic is of the machine that cuts ahead of me. In addition to hauling I also do the road and site prep on our jobs so I do play in the dirt once in a while.

My question is what as is that wood used for? Lumber or firewood? I have never seen logs hauled sideways on a truck. 

[Twolines]

I operate heavy equipment every night for about 30 minutes. Dont get paid for it either. 

[bitty]

I occasionally get to run some big equipment but not like years ago. In '99 we got a Cat 977H and opened our own shale pit. We eventually replaced that with a Cat 235 excavator. We just reclaimed the pit last year. We sold the Terex C6 dozer two years ago that we got from the excavator who did our barn work. We still have a Gallion T600 grader from him to get rid of

[DC Snider]

Most days I’m in the office or traveling checking on jobs. On really good days, though rare, I get to run the occasional excavator, loader, dozer, or whatever the need may be to stay on schedule. I’m far from an operator, by my Dad’s definition, but having been around it all my life I’m decent. My favorite machine to run is our old Cat Series G 933 we have on the farm. My dad was present the day the machine was delivered new in 1965 to his mines. He purchased it in 1990 from the original owner. I hope it always remains in the family. My grandson loves it…

In 1965 Walker Machinery in Charleston, WV delivered a new
933 Series G to a fella doing some subcontract work at Eastern Associated Coal's Keystone 2 Preparation Plant in Herndon, WV.
My Dad, straight out of the U.S. Army, was a 23 year old new hire just starting out in the Tipple thanks to my Papaw, who was a Tipple Boss at another of Eastern's Mines in Kopperston, WV. My Dad was just fascinated with the new
Caterpillar. He asked Willard Underwood, the new owner of the
machine for "first refusal" if he ever parted with it. 

Fast forward to the summer of 1992. I was sitting at my Mom & Dad's kitchen table one night when the phone rang. Mr. Underwood, true to his word nearly 30 years later, was offering Dad "first refusal". Having been retired a number of years, Mr. Underwood had kept the machine on his near by farm. Within a couple of days the machine was being unloaded in my parents backyard, much to the chagrin of my Mom and the rest of the neighborhood, though my Mom had grown accustomed to Dad's taste for old tractors and equipment over the years.

That was nearly 30 years ago. The ol' 933 resides, along with my parents, at the family farm in Monroe County, WV. Dad will be 80 come May, the 933 just a few years older than me. Dad still enjoys operating and caring for the ol' Caterpillar, as do I and my nearly 4 year old grandson, who enjoys riding alongside his great-grandpa, digging out stumps and pushing over small
trees from time to time. I'll never part with that machine. It's part of our family history and so much a part of my Dad, pictured below…

[DWF]

33 minutes ago, bitty said:

My question is what as is that wood used for? Lumber or firewood? I have never seen logs hauled sideways on a truck. 

I used to haul wood in NE Minnesota. We hauled mostly like this (cross ways) unless we had longer logs 12' to 18', then length ways. On this truck they have to be for lumber as they are sorted. Pulp wood is usually smaller diameter. We had one mill that took tree length for a while, had to haul that on a semi trailer. I hauled with a truck and pup, but much smaller loads as we had different weight laws.

DWF

[TractormanMike.mb]

26 minutes ago, bitty said:

My question is what as is that wood used for? Lumber or firewood? I have never seen logs hauled sideways on a truck. 

Mostly everything from our jobs is made into pallet stock. The company I work for is a pallet manufacturer but we also log for our own needs. The exception is obviously the pulp wood and cedar and sometimes veneer logs if the market is up

[oldscoutdiesel]

Out West in Idaho they haul tree length logs, semi style with a detachable trailer.  After unloading, the trailer is loaded on the back of the tractor and hauled back to the timber where it is off loaded from the tractor, hooked back up to the tractor and the entire outfit reloaded.  When I worked in the timber up on the Continental Divide between Idaho and Montana, that timber went to stud mills.  There aren't many of those left but I still see a few trucks on the road when I'm out West in Idaho.

[Twolines]

Used to see them everyday in Oregon.

[Dasnake]

Your talking the extendable center shaft? Those guys amaze me, one lane fsr's and don't get in their way, they usually are on radios up here and you are obliged to be aware of the surroundings when you travel them.

[smfarms]

Retired now but was a road mechanic for a large contractor for 30+ years. Mostly dirt and asphalt. Ran equipment occasionally when short of help. Had a mixed fleet. Not brand loyal to anyone except Detroit Diesel. If a machine could be had with that option then they would buy it. Terex Euclid Cat Komatsu LeTerneau Hyster I-R Blaw-Knox Barber-Green just to name a few. Belonged to Operating Engineers Union for 25 years. Local 150. Enjoying my retirement except for the arthritis 

[serioussam]

45 minutes ago, smfarms said:

Retired now but was a road mechanic for a large contractor for 30+ years. Mostly dirt and asphalt. Ran equipment occasionally when short of help. Had a mixed fleet. Not brand loyal to anyone except Detroit Diesel. If a machine could be had with that option then they would buy it. Terex Euclid Cat Komatsu LeTerneau Hyster I-R Blaw-Knox Barber-Green just to name a few. Belonged to Operating Engineers Union for 25 years. Local 150. Enjoying my retirement except for the arthritis 

I also love the sound of Detroit diesels , I ran the old clark and timberjacks back in the day . The Euclid r22s were fun to drive with the 671s . I'm still in local 793 

[Buddy]

10 hours ago, DC Snider said:

Most days I’m in the office or traveling checking on jobs. On really good days, though rare, I get to run the occasional excavator, loader, dozer, or whatever the need may be to stay on schedule. I’m far from an operator, by my Dad’s definition, but having been around it all my life I’m decent. My favorite machine to run is our old Cat Series G 933 we have on the farm. My dad was present the day the machine was delivered new in 1965 to his mines. He purchased it in 1990 from the original owner. I hope it always remains in the family. My grandson loves it…

In 1965 Walker Machinery in Charleston, WV delivered a new
933 Series G to a fella doing some subcontract work at Eastern Associated Coal's Keystone 2 Preparation Plant in Herndon, WV.
My Dad, straight out of the U.S. Army, was a 23 year old new hire just starting out in the Tipple thanks to my Papaw, who was a Tipple Boss at another of Eastern's Mines in Kopperston, WV. My Dad was just fascinated with the new
Caterpillar. He asked Willard Underwood, the new owner of the
machine for "first refusal" if he ever parted with it. 

Fast forward to the summer of 1992. I was sitting at my Mom & Dad's kitchen table one night when the phone rang. Mr. Underwood, true to his word nearly 30 years later, was offering Dad "first refusal". Having been retired a number of years, Mr. Underwood had kept the machine on his near by farm. Within a couple of days the machine was being unloaded in my parents backyard, much to the chagrin of my Mom and the rest of the neighborhood, though my Mom had grown accustomed to Dad's taste for old tractors and equipment over the years.

That was nearly 30 years ago. The ol' 933 resides, along with my parents, at the family farm in Monroe County, WV. Dad will be 80 come May, the 933 just a few years older than me. Dad still enjoys operating and caring for the ol' Caterpillar, as do I and my nearly 4 year old grandson, who enjoys riding alongside his great-grandpa, digging out stumps and pushing over small
trees from time to time. I'll never part with that machine. It's part of our family history and so much a part of my Dad, pictured below…

I have a 933 like that one here. Mine don't have that nice cab. 

They were, are nice little machines.

[smfarms]

Still have an ear for old Detroit's purring in the distance. If you want to make a railroader upset call an EMD engine an overgrown Detroit. Same sh!t different day🤔

[Steve C.]

15 hours ago, Jess_656D said:

Hey those log are sitting on the truck the wrong way!!!!  Lots of rubber there, trailer push you around much?

In my much younger years. Don't have a picture handy. I drove a 2594 Letourneau log stacker with 50 ton drivers. Tire size 92" x 33" x 35"

Was all Letourneau equipment diesel/electric?

[forwhldrv]

I work for a local redimix concrete company. Most days I drive  a mixer. I use to run their  wash and crushing plant. I do plant repairs and still screen some sand at a couple pits if it is slow enough with concrete. With everything being busy this summer I’m stuck trying to make a stockpile of sand in the cold weather it makes it harder to do but the owner figures if we were to busy to have slow time in the summer it’s worth a little more to make what we can now. These are a few pictures from the past week the loader I run has a 6 yard bucket and the mixer is a refurbished 2002  with pre emissions Cat in it. It’s nice the last shot was Friday morning I was in the shop all by myself at the plant it was snowing out so I put my old Chevy in to melt off the mixer snow pictures were that afternoon. The loader view was Thursday I think 

[kracked1]

15 hours ago, Farmer in training said:

I used to work for a farm drainage outfit that also did sewer and water among other things. I now work for the  State of MN driving plow truck,  run excavator, motor grader and mow ditches. I don't have many current pics  at the State but have a few over the years. The tile plow pics are BRON 550s. The one with the quad trac pulling me I'm plowing in a 10" time main about 5' deep through peat ground and the other one I'm plowing a 4" pressure sewer sub main in 8' deep. 

You must be close to me. Trying to figure out which quarry that is.

 

[kracked1]

Been playing in the dirt for 30+yrs. Been full time at it for 20+. Run everything from LS98 dragline to #2 shovel. LeTourneau Model D 4yd scraper to 660 Cat. Komatsu 007 hoe to Cat 349. Skid loader to 980 loaders. Owned my own trucks before that.  Pic is a house I tore down for a fellow a few years ago with a 650H JD dozer. 4 bedroom house I took down crushed as best I could and slid the roof back on top. Thought I had more pics but I dont on this computer.

[Farming Enthusiast]

28 minutes ago, kracked1 said:

You must be close to me. Trying to figure out which quarry that is.

 

Fountain MN. My father in law is running the loader in that picture. He retired in October.  I was waiting to get loaded

[DirtBoyz07]

I have been around dirt my entire life , my dad run dozer , semi , cement truck , dump truck for most of his adult life . Most of you know me on the IH side of things but I do dirt work too , mainly all dozer work building waterways , ponds , clearing timber , fence lines . This past fall I got my dads original dozer restored and it was great , I have been riding and running that dozer for my entire life . He had me on ther at 6 months old when he built the golf coarse in my home town the spring of 1963 , I really enjoy it 👍😊In my off season I work in my shop helping IH guys with repairs and restoration work . Our son started his own business this past may so he is working out of my shop and it’s working really good having an extra guy around . 
 

Danny

[KWRB]

20 hours ago, TractormanMike.mb said:

This is what I drive, it's a 2006 Kenworth t800 Michigan special. Maximum legal gross with this axle combination is 154,000 so I guess it counts as heavy. The second pic is of the machine that cuts ahead of me. In addition to hauling I also do the road and site prep on our jobs so I do play in the dirt once in a while.

Is that hardwood, firewood, lumber, pulpwood or what?

[smfarms]

4 hours ago, Steve C. said:

Was all Letourneau equipment diesel/electric?

Any that I was ever around. Read about him. Anything he ever built was. I worked on Model C Turnapull and D Turnapull. Both had Hancock elevating scrapers. All electric. Steer with a toggle switch. Engine drove wheels with a transmission and generator was for steering and elevator chain on pan. If I remember correctly it was 300v 3 ph 120 cycles. Just remember when a cable got pinched fire flew!!

[Dasnake]

7 hours ago, serioussam said:

I also love the sound of Detroit diesels , I ran the old clark and timberjacks back in the day . The Euclid r22s were fun to drive with the 671s . I'm still in local 793 

 

6 hours ago, smfarms said:

Still have an ear for old Detroit's purring in the distance. If you want to make a railroader upset call an EMD engine an overgrown Detroit. Same sh!t different day🤔

When the dept changed over from the ford gassers to diesel our first engine and ladder acquisitions had Detroit engines, it’s been 40 years or so and I still remember the whine of the engines, driving was fine but riding you sat right beside the doghouse, earmuffs became a prerequisite order from worksafe to all guys on the back.

my earlier comment about the tree cutters running detroits still reminds me of work days.

I remember years ago when we were on holidays in eastern bc we stopped in sparwood and saw the big truck on display, junior started thinking about running equipment then and taking courses got to where he is today, we’ve been a happy blue collar family forever, my gurl has her cdl (Canadian class 3) with air, but she is hoity toity though, drives hollywood people about and is a teamster member for what we call hollywood north.

[TractormanMike.mb]

1 hour ago, KWRB said:

Is that hardwood, firewood, lumber, pulpwood or what?

88" hardwood for pallet decking

[searcyfarms]

3 hours ago, DirtBoyz07 said:

I have been around dirt my entire life , my dad run dozer , semi , cement truck , dump truck for most of his adult life . Most of you know me on the IH side of things but I do dirt work too , mainly all dozer work building waterways , ponds , clearing timber , fence lines . This past fall I got my dads original dozer restored and it was great , I have been riding and running that dozer for my entire life . He had me on ther at 6 months old when he built the golf coarse in my home town the spring of 1963 , I really enjoy it 👍😊In my off season I work in my shop helping IH guys with repairs and restoration work . Our son started his own business this past may so he is working out of my shop and it’s working really good having an extra guy around . 
 

Danny

very very neat = nostalgic = and great you are passing the torch on I will get there one of these days hoping to work for someone