Found a pair of 977s today...

[spitzair]

Hello everybody,
I came across a pair of 977s and a huge Allis Chalmers crawler loader today, a fellow in town had passed away and the machines are sitting there rusting away. I visited his widow today and took a look, I'm mostly interested in the 977s. One appears to be in great shape other than the tracks are quite worn... It's a pedal steer machine but I didn't get the serial number. It still has the hydraulic cylinders in the back and the air cleaner hanging off the left side. Other than the undercarriage being worn it looks in very good shape, obviously well taken care of. It's been a long time since it ran, the lady couldn't remember when it last ran. The other machine is slightly older, it's a lever steer but otherwise mostly identical. It didn't have a bucket on the front but the tracks appear to be in great shape. Of course I forgot my camera too. I offered her $5000 for the pair, was that unreasonable? What would you guys offer for them assuming they don't run after having sat for so long? She wanted to make some calls and find out what they'd be worth in scrap value. What do you guys think? Sorry about the no picture situation, I might go back later on this weekend and take some if I can.
Thanks,
Toby

 

[Red Bank]

I don't know about the value of the machines, but I think that scrap value would be a good start in purchasing them. I like the fact that she wants to check around on the scrap value. Remember everyone wants to get a good deal but nobody wants to be taken advantage of, this includes you and her. Let her call around and may be someone else will chime in here to give a value but I know that in my experiences I recently closed a deal on a bunch of Mack parts that the guy selling them knows what they are worth but we decided on $100 less than the scrap value. Not seeing the machines but realizing what could be involved in trying to get them moved and started and repaired and working again I think that I would have offered $5000 for both and felt comfortable with it. Again give her time and check around on your own, maybe a deal can be worked out and two machines can be resurrected to move dirt again:drinkup

 

[spitzair]

Surprisingly enough my phone rang earlier today, and the lady said she'd give them both to me for $5500. So I told her yes and that I'd come over tomorrow and try to get at least one of them running. A friend of mine used to haul them for the fellow when he was still alive and he says that the pedal steer machine ran great and they've been kept in a shed all the time. He's going to lend me his lowbed to haul them home and he also wants to come and help get them going! The lady also offered me a Hein Werner excavator, I think it's a CS14 if I remember right, with buckets and a log grapple attachemt for $3K so I told her I'd take it too! It apparently runs great, just needs a battery and a good cleaning. I've seen it operate a few years ago. She's got a few other treasures too, I'll see if I can't pick some of them up as well, funding permitting... I'll keep everyone posted on progress. By the way, how does one operate a pedal steer 977? I've operated wheel loaders a lot so the loader part won't be a problem, just wondering about the tractor itself. I've only ever run a D6 9U and way back when a 931 for about 30 minutes...
Thanks!

 

[Wolf]

As I have said before, the 977 is a great wrecking machine. Enjoy them.

 

[spitzair]

I went over there again today (with the camera) and paid the lady, then I tinkered for a while and got one of them going! It started after a few cranks and belched a big hornet's nest out of the exhaust. What an awesome sounding machine! I drove it out of the shed it was in and cycled all the hydraulics, they all worked nice and smooth. I didn't do anything else with it as there wasn't hardly any room and never having run one I didn't want to run the risk of smashing something so I just backed it back into the shed. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the other one going and then haul them home. Here's a picture of the one I got running!
Cheers :drinkup

 

[Wolf]

sweet machine

that is one sweet machine. glad to hear you got it running. what are you planning to use it for?

 

[Ozz]

Got pics of the Fiat Allis?

 

[daman]

Wow them tracks are wore! look smooth,lol, more pics!

 

[spitzair]

Daman, Yeah, the tracks are worn but luckily the tracks on the other one are like new! So I'll make one really good one out of the two and either keep the other one for parts or if somebody wants it badly enough I'll sell it... We'll see... Ozz, yup, I got pics of the Allis, it runs too! A friend wants it and he got it running... The other 977 runs too, I hauled them home yesterday. Wolf, I'll use it for whatever comes up here on the farm, we've got 23 acres of forest and there's always something that needs to be done. I used the first machine yesterday for about an hour just learning how to use it and trying it out, all I can say is WOW! What an impressive machine! It'll push over an 18" fir tree and not even break a sweat! I moved a huge boulder that my D6 9U wouldn't even touch! It dug rock straight out of the bank like nothing and once the bucket was full it just wanted to climb up the bank! I can't say enough good about this machine, I'm so impressed with it! I just LOVE it! Can't wait to think of more projects for it! Here's a few pictures of it and the Allis Chalmers!

 

[daman]

You stole those for 5,000,lol :notworthy

 

[AmerIndependent]

Nice buy spitzair. Congrats!

 

[Tony]

Wow!

Been a looooong time since I've seen an Allis-Chalmers 12G. They were the S##t back in the day...straight pipe, no muffler, and would move mountains (if you didn't break a final first!).

Good luck, and thanks for the pictures!

Best,
Tony

 

[Red Bank]

Congrats on your deal! What kind of truck is that in the pictures?

 

[spitzair]

Thanks for the feedback fellas! I really love those machines! Red Bank, that's an old Hayes Clipper in the pictures. It hasn't run in a long time as you can tell... It has an Allis Chalmers engine in it, I never even knew they made truck engines! Here's a better picture of the truck...

 

[surfer-joe]

Yeah, AC made truck engines, but they never caught on. I've only ever seen two in class 8's.

I agree with daman, you stole that equipment. Some guys just get lucky, eh!

 

[Wolf]

Daman, Yeah, the tracks are worn but luckily the tracks on the other one are like new! So I'll make one really good one out of the two and either keep the other one for parts or if somebody wants it badly enough I'll sell it... We'll see... Ozz, yup, I got pics of the Allis, it runs too! A friend wants it and he got it running... The other 977 runs too, I hauled them home yesterday. Wolf, I'll use it for whatever comes up here on the farm, we've got 23 acres of forest and there's always something that needs to be done. I used the first machine yesterday for about an hour just learning how to use it and trying it out, all I can say is WOW! What an impressive machine! It'll push over an 18" fir tree and not even break a sweat! I moved a huge boulder that my D6 9U wouldn't even touch! It dug rock straight out of the bank like nothing and once the bucket was full it just wanted to climb up the bank! I can't say enough good about this machine, I'm so impressed with it! I just LOVE it! Can't wait to think of more projects for it! Here's a few pictures of it and the Allis Chalmers!

The 977 is such a sweet machine. I'm glad to hear you are falling in love with it. Keep us posted. Hope you get to do some demolition with it some time. It is a perfect wrecking machine.

 

[spitzair]

Hi Wolf and crew, I ran the machine for a few hours again yesterday, what a sweetheart! It doesn't stop at anything! It pushes, digs, loads, tears, shoves and does everything I ask of it and just seems to want more! I piled about 20 truckloads of gravel with it in my quarry in no time flat, it just keeps impressing me over and over again! I took some pictures for you all to enjoy! I tried to post them all day but it wouldn't let me log on for some reason so here they are now.
Thanks again for the help everyone, I LOVE my new (to me) 977!

 

[daman]

Now that your working it any little problems,glitches,leaks surfacing?

 

[spitzair]

I'm happy to say that no, no glitches or leaks or anything like that. THe only thing I've noticed is that the hydraulic pump moans when it warms up under a heavy load... Other than that it works great!

 

[daman]

Thats good for sure,done any routine maintenance oil/fluid changes?