I learned to run a crane in the Army. I stood around and watched till the regular operator that was leaving asked 'You figured out what does what'? I said 'I reckon' and he said 'Go to it'. He bailed out and I hopped in and I killed every bug in the sky till I got the hang of a free swing. Swarp, swarp, swarp. I had the clutches and brakes but the swing was a different animal. Never ran a clam after that but paid several light bills with a drag bucket. A-PLUS! GBWYou!
Keep the bucket low always. Jerking is caused by carrying the bucket too high. Let the drag out generously when beginning to hoist. The bucket should back away from you and then begin to rise rather than jumping up right in front of you. Keep only enough tension on the drag to keep the bucket level. When digging, always keep your teeth down in the cut. Doing otherwise results in piles pulled up in front of you. Work your cut so lose soil falls back into the hole. Stop digging just as the material begins to pack and before it spills over the sides and heaps out to the front, do not pull the bucket all the way in every time. Fractured soil that does not stay in the bucket is wasted power. Dump after the swing is completed, gently control the bucket to an easy stop before fully releasing the drag so you don't have slack in the drag cable after the bucket is dumped. Engage your drag immediately after dumping and lower the bucket generously as you begin to swing back toward the cut. A bucket carried low while swinging back to the cut will be in a partly dumped position and less prone to jerking. Engaging the drag early on avoids too much slack as bucket is lowered and helps with smooth timely casts. Keep the area of your cut within easy reach. A bucket placed correctly digs as soon as it comes in contact with the soil. Like a boxer's footwork, walk the machine back in small increments and develop a methodical pattern. Avoid digging out large random patches. Maintain a steep bank where material feeds easily into a bucket that is faced upward. A level dragline bucket does not load efficiently. Never try any long casts before at least a year or two of steady practice or you WILL damage the machine. When you replace your drag cable, try to find left lay if you can, it will spool onto the drum better. The hoist always uses right lay. It has to do with the rotation of the drum and the side that the anchor is on. That matter mostly concerns machines are used for clamshell work and a tag line is not be used because of obstructions. Clamshells become a world of spinning and twisting when two right lay cables are used and there is no tag line. Hope this helps you and others who have a relationship with one of these old girls.
Don't run yourself down, if that's the first time you've handled a Dragline, your doing fine. I was far worse than that when I first drove one. It's all a matter of repeating everything over and over again until you get your hands and feet to co-ordinate and then you'll be fine. Have fun with it, it's a great little machine and you're keeping it alive by using it.
Great looking old machine. Very rare to see an Osgood still operating. There was a contractor in La Crosse Wisc. that had two of them -Used to watch them on sewerline and water projects all the time in the 60s when I was a kid👍
@@lewiemcneely9143 That'd be fine with me but the old mans partial to unit cranes said he ran them in the army. Theres a unit not to far away but its mounted on a truck, well thats two projects wrapped in one and we've plenty of those already. But yeah I like this fellas channel had hoped to see more of him thanks for reminding me of him I'm gona see if he has posted any more lately You have a good one
@@ofdirtandiron2868 I ran Units when I got out but I ran a little gas job truck mounted while I was in that post engineers had that had a clam on it. I ran a clam in RVN and that's what I learned on, feeding an asphalt plant of all things. The truck crane was very stable. Didn't need any outriggers with the clam and was loading deuce and a half trucks. I had a pal that worked for post engineers there and we swapped out. I had a D-7E and he liked to make black smoke and racket sometimes. Worked out really well. I liked the Units too but you know how it is. You hop in whatever is sitting there. Yall remain calm and GBWYall! Snag a gear in that Car for me!
I grew up in Oxford Michigan, which at the time was the gravel capital of the world, according to the Britannia Encyclopedia of the time, we lived about 3-4 miles from American Agg by the way the crow flys, in the summer, you could hear the singing Detroit's on top of the dirt piles at our house!! I've never heard of a Osgood machine!
Thank you, it definitely has a few welds here and there. Also, a couple pieces of angle iron added for support down near the cab (where the bend starts)...If these old machines could talk
I just bought a 200 it's been sitting since early 2003 it's identical but it's a 1944. Engine turns over, some of the levers are stuck but some heat and kroil will make short work for that
I'm an old dog trying to learn new tricks on an old clamshell. I've never ran a crawler crane before so it's all new to me. A lot of hand, foot and eye coordination or muscle memory. One piece of advice the guys told me was , " No matter what. Gravity always works". I still need a lot more "seat time" to become proficient and then when I feel comfortable, I'll move over to the shovels.
I don’t think I’ve watched this one before. So that’s what it looked like when I learned 45 years ago. I worked for my old neighbor, we were on a pond job. He had me watch for a while. Then he put me in the seat for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Then he walked any and left me on my own for an hour or so and came back and checked on my progress, he was probably just watching from a distance, l don’t know. I’ve always said that a pond is a good place to learn, when you start it doesn’t matter much how it looks. By the time the pond is finished you are getting the hang of it. I only operated one for 2 or 3 years but it’s like riding a bicycle, you don’t forget but to be proficient you have to stay in practice.
I'm a retired heavy equipment operator operator and I ran a drag line for 9 years. So just take your time once you get your rhythm down and learn to make the rig do what you want it to do you will be fine
Great old machine hope you get a life time of fun along with the work out of it . Seems that keeping it oiled/greased and turn run from time to time they last. The other issues are keeping the weather out and having a comfortable operators seat . I did read on blog that back in the day they would use dish cleanser powder on the clutch bands for better grip? According to one of the old timers , The brand I don't recall , it came up when a fellow started working on an old cable machine , the operator commented that he found a number of empty cleanser cans in the crane house and wondered why they were there
What an awesome machine! Your operating skills are quite familiar to me personally. Maybe this gives some arm-chair operators a good idea of how difficult it is to operate a machine like this smoothly. I’ve been at it several years now, and still feel terrible at it. Great video!
I can hear the old Journeyman, Master operators just raising Hell !! That's not the way it's done. Get out of that seat & I'll show you how one more time. Lol. Even though you're probably 98.999% better than me trying to make it cooperate. I sure miss the O'l guys stories about how they got started in the profession of heavy equipment operations. Thank you for sharing. 👍👍
Congratulations. This little machine was quite a find and appears to be in pretty good condition, considering it's age. It moves well. If some of your brake bands are sticking, try some talcum powder on the drums, but check that with an experienced operator, before trying it. I have no reason to doubt that suggestion, from an older operator friend of mine, but you probably know how that goes, and I never got to try it, my self.
If you look around on you tube, there's a few cable machines like a excavator It looks as fast Mabe faster than hydraulic machines. One has to see it to believe it. 👍👍
If you understand how complicated the controls are on these, the hydraulic excavators are far easier to operate. The old guys would've seen their specialized skill be deflated by new machines that were easier to operate. Having said that, these barely wear anything out. The cables last for years and other than that, it's the giant clutches. And the basic engine maintenance and oiling/greasing moving parts. Whereas the hydraulic ones are all pipes and seals and O rings.
Hydraulics are great and, I am sure easier to operate, but from my observations, hydraulics can not reach nearly as far as a cable machine. To reach, even as far as this little machine, would cost 3 times the money to manufacture, and probably weigh twice as much. Imagine the cost and weight of a hydraulic machine, with the reach and capacity of The Silver Spade, for example. There is the bucket wheel machine, but they have their problems and I believe, still use cables for support.
I was told by the previous owner that it was made for the war, and that it had military markings on the exterior. However, it was never used, and sold off as surplus. Their is quite a bit of OD green left in the house.
