999 American Dragline

Tom in west Mi. · Nov 14, 2012

Here are some pictures. This crane has a 100" boom and 5 yard bucket. It was repowered with a Cat D353 engine by the previous owner. I think this machine would have had a Cummins 855 origanaly. It was bought in Conneticut and hauled to this pit in pieces. I am working this pit near Allendale Mi. The plan is to dig a 55 acre lake with it. There is currently about 2 acres of open water so we have a long way to go. This picture was taken around July 1 after taking a swim in the pond.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 15, 2012

Looks like you're going to have work for several years.

NCWayne · Nov 15, 2012

Nice looking machine, you can't beat the old ones. I got a call today from an outfit in the mountains that has a 71B Bucyrus. Dad and I did a 19 week, all but total, rebuild on it about 10 years ago. They somehow managed to bend the butt section of the boom, and the front arms on the gantry, and they wanted to see if I was interested in doing the repairs for them. Needless to say I'm going to jump at the chance. Now if my customer in Chapel Hill could just get his finances right so I can put together his 190D Northwest and his 80D Northwest shovel and get them both back up and running.

Just thinking as I wrote this, what are you doing with all of the spoils your pulling out? I don't see any piles in the background and it just seems like ALOT of material to be hauling off even for as much as you've done so far, much less for the entire project.

Tom in west Mi. · Nov 15, 2012

It is a long term project. They sell around 30,000 yards of sand a year. I will try and take some more pictures with the pile soon. Right know I am only digging part time for the owner.

NCWayne · Nov 15, 2012

Makes sense. There are small operations around me that dip from a creek, etc, but the larger sand pits are about an hour East of me, closer to the coast. Those guys typically do trench cuts to expose the sand and throw the overburden back into the last trench, which is now empty of sand. Once they are done they grade it all down and the absence of the sand leaves them with a lake whatever size the piece of property they are digging on converes. It's amazing to go into a pit one year, and then go back a year or two later and see how much material has been moved. It's staggering to the imagination that it all left one bucket load, and then one truck load at a time.......

999 American Dragline

Tom in west Mi.

New User

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

NCWayne

Well-known Member

Tom in west Mi.

New User

NCWayne

Well-known Member

Similar threads