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the largest crawler loaders in comparison caterpillar 983, komatsu D155S strengths defects character

trombeur

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
1,285
Location
italia
komatsu and benati jd have also made machines with a similar conformation. who copy each other trying to make the machine more competitive, performing and attractive to potential buyers.? ''

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KOMATSU-D66S-1-TRACK-LOADER
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Hough model 12 ??'
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Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,670
Location
Canada
The Komatsu was a copy of Cat but they were short lived because of too many issues. Machine on trailer is a model 12. It had to be state of the art in the 50's compared to other track loaders! Getting in the seat was probably the biggest challenge.
 

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,767
Location
washington
Here is one more of the 977 bucket, then there was this other bucket that was significantly larger but not on a machine. I'm guessing it was put on a 988 or something similar.PXL_20210610_183036936.jpg PXL_20210610_183101942.jpg PXL_20210610_183115091.jpg
 

cb75

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
101
Location
The Bluegrass State
Liebherr never seen in my area, I think it is German I suppose for the German tradition it must be a good earthmoving machine, I repeat never seen in my part I cannot give a judgment, John Deere some old machinery from the 60s small crawler, in my part 955, 541, 953, caterpillar 950 wheeled excavators, then the dealer fiat allis was like crawler trucks, therefore he had a monopoly on the earth moving machinery market. The Liebherr track loaders I worked on were decent machines. They were very well balanced, you didn’t have them nose diving with a bucket full in the air and headed downhill. They had Mercedes OM421 engines that were pretty good on fuel, fairly quiet, and with routine maintenance they’d run forever. However, they had their issues, particularly the final drive input shaft bearings. We’d check the end play on them every ? 2000 hours I wanna say, and it wasn’t uncommon to have to replace them at around 4000 hours. The final drives in general were a weak spot. They were a pain to work on and if those input shaft bearings failed, the entire final was likely to sustain damage. When we switched to 973 loaders, we quickly learned there was no comparison. The 973C models in particular are excellent machines.

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fiat allis fl14E turbo
Liebherr never seen in my area, I think it is German I suppose for the German tradition it must be a good earthmoving machine, I repeat never seen in my part I cannot give a judgment, John Deere some old machinery from the 60s small crawler, in my part 955, 541, 953, caterpillar 950 wheeled excavators, then the dealer fiat allis was like crawler trucks, therefore he had a monopoly on the earth moving machinery market.

BT9847.JPG

BT9847D.JPG


591_3252555749650.jpg


img.axd

Foto0079.jpg

fiat allis fl14E
 
Last edited:

apetad

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Messages
385
Location
Leander, Texas
Occupation
Compact Construction Equipment Sales
Curious question - were there any other hydrostatic track loaders or dozers for that matter in 1971?
We have a customer a long time ago with a Terex hydrostatic dozer, looked ancient to me but alas, year model unknown. UPDATE ACTUALLY they had a Euclid TC12 from the mid 1950's - NOT hydrostatic, but similar in concept - one engine and one transmission for EACH SIDE, could steer by setting left or right side throttles differently, also could steer by brake each side, or could put either side transmission in different gears WOW
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,670
Location
Canada
A TC12 had seperate engines and trans. for each track but quite a bit different than hydrostatic. There were other single engine crawlers with counter-rotating tracks. One I can think of is a Massey Ferguson MF500 available as a dozer or loader. I can't remember what brand but at least 1 more dozer had counter-rotating tracks. Hough maybe?
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,464
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
We have a customer a long time ago with a Terex hydrostatic dozer, looked ancient to me but alas, year model unknown. UPDATE ACTUALLY they had a Euclid TC12 from the mid 1950's - NOT hydrostatic, but similar in concept - one engine and one transmission for EACH SIDE, could steer by setting left or right side throttles differently, also could steer by brake each side, or could put either side transmission in different gears WOW

That was a dozer..not a track loader.
 

gwhammy

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
606
Location
missouri
My dad had a hough loader when I was a small kid. I remember playing on it and the seat setting in front of the motor. I believe it had slick or real small grousers on it. It's the only one I've ever seen and he sold it while I was around 5 years old I think which would have been around 1965. This brings back memories!
 

ih100

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
731
Location
Peterborough UK
Liebherr had hystat from the start in their dozers and track loaders. Just don’t know when the start was.

I actually spent time in a JCB 112 over 30 years ago. The controls were the main thing wrong. Three separate levers for the bucket, all spaced out so it was hard to multi-function, and a lever for each track like an excavator. For a tight turn you needed two hands as the travel on them was too much for one handed operation other than almost in a straight line. If they’d fitted two joysticks they’d have sold a lot more, but as it was, the old front engined Cats and Kommies were far easier to operate.
 
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