This machine was bought by the equipment manager/head of operations. For the first 4-5 years he was the only one that could run it, he wouldn't allow anyone else too. Of course he was a busy man so the time he had to operate was very minimal. He had several machines around there like that. When it had probably less than 100 hours on it one side went down on some soft ground and he bent the cat walk up on it. I straightened it out but he still spent $36,000 to buy a section of cat walk so it would be perfect. He was very, very particular.
They had a 994 loader they bought new and 3 years later it had less than 2000 hours on it. They only worked 1 shift.
That 1800 is a hog. I saw it push a D11R out of a soft spot once, very impressive. I wish I had a digital camera back then.
He had a ripper for it. It would set in on rock and pull the ripper thru like a knife thru hot butter. That thing will bury a comparable sized Cat, plus they are much more reliable.