Quad 9 & 641's in Alaska

[Tvan]

Dd9h

only DD9H i ever seen Kiewit had one in Fairbanks when they developed Fort Knox Gold-mine in 98-99

 

[580bruce]

I used to work with Dan Walls wife,he still a foreman for Scarsella?I did a lot of hydroseeding for them,great outfit.

 

[Tvan]

Be sending to ya

Tvan, Love the photos, please post more if you have them. Also, would it be possible for you to either upload larger images or email the images to me and i will upload them larger for you if your having trouble with larger images.
Thanks. Dumptrucking []at[] comcast.net

I'll email some to you I have Lots, most all my photos are high end digital don't know how to get them down to the 640x640 it keeps telling me to do, open for help, that's what happens when you spend 50 years sniffing blsck smoke!!!

 

[DirtHauler]

I'll email some to you I have Lots, most all my photos are high end digital don't know how to get them down to the 640x640 it keeps telling me to do, open for help, that's what happens when you spend 50 years sniffing blsck smoke!!!

REPOSTING FOR Tvan.

 

[DirtHauler]

more for Tvan:

 

[malcolm]

photos

Thanks for your efforts with the photos guys
love those those original action shots
cheers malcolm

 

[Gavin84w]

Very nice shots indeed, if they can be made larger i would love to recieve them via email. Thanks

 

[buckfever]

now I understand thats a lot of power behind those pans. Did they only double up with the H model D-9's or did they use newer higher HP models also. Did the push blade have to be beefed up to handle all that power. they look like a blast to operate. all that power at the tip of your fingers.:notworthy

 

[JTL]

now I understand thats a lot of power behind those pans. Did they only double up with the H model D-9's or did they use newer higher HP models also. Did the push blade have to be beefed up to handle all that power. they look like a blast to operate. all that power at the tip of your fingers.:notworthy

Unforntunaly Caterpillar did away with the DD9 and SXS9 in about 1980? when the D10 came out on the market, followed by the other high drive machines; the 9L and 8L. If memory serves me Cat only built like 13 paris of
9H quads, and around 40 9G quads, not to count the half dozen Pertersen machines.
People still doubled up the push cats though, now it just reguires two operators. Im pretty sure the push blades were pretty standard from the factory, but the contractors, as always, ended up beefing them up to handle the abuse.

Im really surprized that nobody has paired up any of the newer machines to be quads for pushing scrapers. But I quess if you can buy a 10 or an 11 you would'nt need to!
I have never been pushed by quads, but from what the guys say, and I belive it, two 9's with seperate operators will never be able to hook up as fast as one quad. You have 700 to 800 plus hosepower at once. More track on the ground, which relates to more tractive effort at once. And with that cylinder on the front, you can use it to adjust the down pressure and ballance between the two Cats.
There is no lag time waiting on the rear skinner to catch the front Cat. I dont care how fast the back skiner is, or how close you try to stay to the front Cat, there is still a human error factor involved. Wrong gear choice when contact is made, backing of the throtle for just a split as you bouce over the squirel tracks left by the front Cat. One plus to having two operators though-if one guy has to get out of line and do some "dust controll", the scrapers are still getting pushed!

 

[Tvan]

Well Said

Unforntunaly Caterpillar did away with the DD9 and SXS9 in about 1980? when the D10 came out on the market, followed by the other high drive machines; the 9L and 8L. If memory serves me Cat only built like 13 paris of
9H quads, and around 40 9G quads, not to count the half dozen Pertersen machines.
People still doubled up the push cats though, now it just reguires two operators. Im pretty sure the push blades were pretty standard from the factory, but the contractors, as always, ended up beefing them up to handle the abuse.

Im really surprized that nobody has paired up any of the newer machines to be quads for pushing scrapers. But I quess if you can buy a 10 or an 11 you would'nt need to!
I have never been pushed by quads, but from what the guys say, and I belive it, two 9's with seperate operators will never be able to hook up as fast as one quad. You have 700 to 800 plus hosepower at once. More track on the ground, which relates to more tractive effort at once. And with that cylinder on the front, you can use it to adjust the down pressure and ballance between the two Cats.
There is no lag time waiting on the rear skinner to catch the front Cat. I dont care how fast the back skiner is, or how close you try to stay to the front Cat, there is still a human error factor involved. Wrong gear choice when contact is made, backing of the throtle for just a split as you bouce over the squirel tracks left by the front Cat. One plus to having two operators though-if one guy has to get out of line and do some "dust controll", the scrapers are still getting pushed!

Well said my friend, can tell you been there done that!!!

 

[typ4]

Great pics, I had heard of these but never saw one.

 

[AK HDM]

That Quad & 641's used to belong to Alaska Unlimited out of Fairbanks. Wilder bought the scraper spread in the late 1980's. MB Contracting out of Anchorage had a Quad & a fleet of 651b's, I don't know where MB' stuff went when it was auctioned several years ago. Green Construction had a Quad up here years ago along with 651's 657's & 660's.

 

[Randy Krieg]

Old Memories

Great pictures! Great Memories! That is the same Wilder unit which I ran on the Seward Hwy project and on the King River job. That is also the same unit which I built two models of. I gave the one to a Superintendent as a retirement gift and the other is sitting in my theatre room at home. Mr. Van is correct I only spent about 1 week on that project right at the very end doing a little blade work. I was on another hwy project further north that year. I recognize Salauch Burke at the controls in the one picture. I also spent a few too many hours on those same 41s when I was with Wilder. No wonder my back MRI looks like old pretzel. The winter after the King River Job I had to get an L5/S1 Nerve Root Block done on my back and always figured it was bouncing over all those rocks in the King River Pit on that Quad that did the trick.
Regard, Randy

 

[Cletus]

Your Making Me Dig For Pictures!

Big Delta 1974 Friday, paycheck in pocket, no direct deposit back then!

 

[JTL]

Well said my friend, can tell you been there done that!!!

Well thanks! I've done that a time or two.
One thing I never understood though, when running two pushers, is why the front Cat is always the front Cat, and the rear is always the rear. As the rear push Cat operator, I would get waved off by the front operator when the scraper was pulling out of the cut. (After about an hour the first day, I was able to feel it.) I would grab 3rd reverse and rattle back past the next scraper that was easing into the cut, a few seconds ahead of the front pusher. The first couple times, I would just swing in behind the can and pick him up, then I thought the other skinner would grab me as he came back. The first time it went fine. The second time, he stopped, looked at me with a very upset look, pointed to himself and hand gestured he was #1, then stopped to tell me when I came back after pushing the scraper.
The super told me in firm words at lunch that I was the rear pusher and never really offered to much explaination. I finally figured it out after a couple days.
Its all about the timing. By the time the front Cat got hooked up to me the scraper was over 3/4 loaded. Kind of a watse for him to hook up at that point, just to get waved off to run back and grab another buggy. We might as well been single pushing our own scrapers in the same cut. Even though it ment I was sitting for a couple seconds waiting on the front Cat, the time spent pushing was far less, and the scrapers never had to wait.
I had never run twin push Cats till that job, never even been twin pushed till then, even on that job I had been running a 651 getting pushed by a 657. My 51 went down, a skinner quit and I steped up. After that, I cant understand why all scraper contractors dont double push. Thats the only way to load single engine buggys, unless its a steep downhill where you can self load and bring half the mountian down with you!

 

[Greg]

Only question I have is why do some of the DD9G setups have the fuel tank truned 90 degrees?

 

[Tvan]

I may be Wrong

Only question I have is why do some of the DD9G setups have the fuel tank truned 90 degrees?

the 90 degree fuel tanks was on the Petersen Quads ( he is the man that put the first quads together then Cat bought his patient) I think ,could be wrong

 

[Tvan]

that's why they made Quads

Well thanks! I've done that a time or two.
One thing I never understood though, when running two pushers, is why the front Cat is always the front Cat, and the rear is always the rear. As the rear push Cat operator, I would get waved off by the front operator when the scraper was pulling out of the cut. (After about an hour the first day, I was able to feel it.) I would grab 3rd reverse and rattle back past the next scraper that was easing into the cut, a few seconds ahead of the front pusher. The first couple times, I would just swing in behind the can and pick him up, then I thought the other skinner would grab me as he came back. The first time it went fine. The second time, he stopped, looked at me with a very upset look, pointed to himself and hand gestured he was #1, then stopped to tell me when I came back after pushing the scraper.
The super told me in firm words at lunch that I was the rear pusher and never really offered to much explaination. I finally figured it out after a couple days.
Its all about the timing. By the time the front Cat got hooked up to me the scraper was over 3/4 loaded. Kind of a watse for him to hook up at that point, just to get waved off to run back and grab another buggy. We might as well been single pushing our own scrapers in the same cut. Even though it ment I was sitting for a couple seconds waiting on the front Cat, the time spent pushing was far less, and the scrapers never had to wait.
I had never run twin push Cats till that job, never even been twin pushed till then, even on that job I had been running a 651 getting pushed by a 657. My 51 went down, a skinner quit and I steped up. After that, I cant understand why all scraper contractors dont double push. Thats the only way to load single engine buggys, unless its a steep downhill where you can self load and bring half the mountian down with you!

There is a little ego factor there, but also that timing thing when you're slug loading those big haulers, It may just be me but I think you need that power of 2 pushers even with 631's, isn't to bad in sandy loamy dirt, but you get in the heavier types of dirt you need the power to keep that dirt Alive in your scraper, cause once it dies you might as well pickup and go. My story and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Tvan]

Old Quads and 41's

That Quad & 641's used to belong to Alaska Unlimited out of Fairbanks. Wilder bought the scraper spread in the late 1980's. MB Contracting out of Anchorage had a Quad & a fleet of 651b's, I don't know where MB' stuff went when it was auctioned several years ago. Green Construction had a Quad up here years ago along with 651's 657's & 660's.

The Quad and 641's belonged to Kiewit first, we had them in Healy Canyon in the early 70's, they went to Nelchina in 73, 74, was phasing them out cause they were getting wore out, then to AU, then to Wilder, and now Granite has them stockpiled somewhere, they ran at Fort Greely in 2009.
MB bought a Quad in the early 70's to go with there old 657's, then in 75 Goodfellow Bros brought in a fleet of 651B and a Quad, they did a stretch of road on the Glen Hwy and then they set parked for a couple of years, then MB bought the Quad and 651's, MB kept the 51's until 99 and sold them to somebody in Portland, the Quad that was Goodfellow and 1/2 of a Quad that MB had originally, went to Wilder. So Wilder Granite has 2 and 1/2 Quads, they got the front half that was MBs,the back half had been parted out.
The Quad that Green Had went to ED Nieser(Frontier Const) when he went broke I think that quad went to the lower 48. The Best I Can Remember, could be wrong!!!

 

[EGS]

Well thanks! I've done that a time or two.
One thing I never understood though, when running two pushers, is why the front Cat is always the front Cat, and the rear is always the rear. As the rear push Cat operator, I would get waved off by the front operator when the scraper was pulling out of the cut. (After about an hour the first day, I was able to feel it.) I would grab 3rd reverse and rattle back past the next scraper that was easing into the cut, a few seconds ahead of the front pusher. The first couple times, I would just swing in behind the can and pick him up, then I thought the other skinner would grab me as he came back. The first time it went fine. The second time, he stopped, looked at me with a very upset look, pointed to himself and hand gestured he was #1, then stopped to tell me when I came back after pushing the scraper.
The super told me in firm words at lunch that I was the rear pusher and never really offered to much explaination. I finally figured it out after a couple days.
Its all about the timing. By the time the front Cat got hooked up to me the scraper was over 3/4 loaded. Kind of a watse for him to hook up at that point, just to get waved off to run back and grab another buggy. We might as well been single pushing our own scrapers in the same cut. Even though it ment I was sitting for a couple seconds waiting on the front Cat, the time spent pushing was far less, and the scrapers never had to wait.
I had never run twin push Cats till that job, never even been twin pushed till then, even on that job I had been running a 651 getting pushed by a 657. My 51 went down, a skinner quit and I steped up. After that, I cant understand why all scraper contractors dont double push. Thats the only way to load single engine buggys, unless its a steep downhill where you can self load and bring half the mountian down with you!

Jason, we always double or triple push our 631's. We do it like you first explained. The rear push cat gets the front in the next push and the front cat takes the rear in the next push and back and forth all day.

The only time it doesn't work is with the ripper tractors. We aren't allowed to push on the rippers. The ripper tractor has to take the back all the time.