Komatsu in Iceland

These are pics I took last month along the south coast of Iceland. The Komatsu may belong to a farm in that area or the highway department. Iceland doesn't typically put any official markings on its highway equipment. The sheep farm pictured was once part of the Atlantic ocean. Now the coastline has changed and the water is very close--about a half mile away.

That's a big motha !

(quoted from post at 16:39:04 02/10/17) That's a big motha !

Click to expand...

Ja they don't fool around with mini-dozers in Iceland. Most of their heavy equipment is super-sized ;-)

Looks like a D65 LGP. I demo'd a new one, but a '94 model, flotation from the 36" track pads is something, its around a D7 CAT size per the salesman, joystick control, darned good machine for the money then, we went with it, but also had a D6 LGP which I also demo'd brand new, paint still on the tracks, I liked the cat better, but the cost was significantly more.

Landscape in the photos is incredible, thanks for sharing !

Seems a little nerve racking to build up so close to a pretty good potential for a land/rock slid. I would find it hard to sleep I think. Pretty view though.

Billy, I think it's a D61PX. I worked at a Komatsu dealer for quite a few years, and any D65 I ever saw or prepped never had a 6 way blade like that machine does. Every 65 I ever saw had the blade push arms that came down and mounted on the track frames. The 61 is a nice machine, but the way the 65's turn is totally different, they are a herky-jerky machine when turning compared to a 61. I always liked the D6 and 7 Cats more than the 65 Komatsu.

Ross

You're right, the one I demo'd way back when, was a PX series and I'll have to see if I can find a photo of the one we had, as I've got some good shots of it somewhere in the box of old photos. Another operator and I were taking photos of each other on this job, glad we did, cool to look back ! It was a D65PX LGP like in the link below, yellow and blue, earlier than the yellow and gray models. I've run the older D65's, and small D31's and yes the PX had just the small straight blade,(wide but short in height) being an LGP is probably why, its a much lighter blade. D65 with the 2 steering clutch/brake levers, the PX with joystick controls and you had to get used to joystick or it could be jerky like you say. The company was hiring new operators and giving short tryouts on the job, was funny to see someone new to the joystick controls try and get used to it.

Honestly, the same model year cat D6 LGP, was a better machine in my opinion, it would turn better with a blade full, (same light LGP blade) and it would get out of soft material better than the Komatsu if you broke through the crust on these huge stockpiles we made on that job. The Komatsu always needed a tow, whereas the CAT you may get it out on your own. The rep from Komatsu took photos of me for their product literature, I never saw any of it though.
D65PX LGP

D65