Im 38 and have been running heavy equipment most of my adult life. Mainly excavators, dozers, grappler's, telehanders. I start a new job on monday clearing out new oilfield pads. Boss man asked me if i want to learn the scraper and blade. I almost cried because its only two i haven't operated. This seems extremely intimidating. Thats a lot levers and stuff ive never heard of. Send me "good vibes" because this completely different then what im use too. Stay safe out there, and much love for the video
It's not bad. Just don't be scared of the machine and make sure you watch your cutting edge to see when dirt is going in your bowl. That's how you know when to stop pushing your bowl down until you can grasp how it feels when your digging.
Jeff, this is a valuable video. There's clearly quite a lot to learn when it comes to operating push pull machines. You don't want distractions, especially in the big old girls you drive. I'm looking to get my butt in a scraper sometime in the next year. I just need to get a start, and I'm working on a foreman at the moment. His company runs 6 x 621G's and they also have 2 x 627G's. I'm hoping to sweet talk my way into getting a bit of time in a 621. Everybody wants experienced operators. Getting a start as a middle aged man is hard. I don't want to spend the last 15 years of my working life on a shovel in a trench. I love these earth moving machines, and moving earth is what I want to do for the rest of my working life. I think working a scraper is realistic. I'm too old to start learning a grader. Those things take many years of practice to operate really well. A scraper, or maybe even an excavator, is a realistic goal. I really like your channel, it's become one of my favourites in the last month or two. Please don't change. You're doing everything right with your channel. Les from Canberra, Australia.
There's a lot of them old T-Rex scrapers in your part of the country you don't want to try one of them trust me they don't have one lick of coolness them damn old cats do an old cat 637 will drag circles around the T-Rex
Just watched the 10/03/2023 posted video, and saw your comment to a viewer, and referring them to this video. Not sure how I ever missed watching this video from 4yrs ago. Wow, “so easy a caveman could do it”…, hahaha…, “not”. There is a whole flurry of activity going on in that operator seat, that nobody knows about, holy cow Jeff. And I suspect one doesn’t learn that all in a hour. Great informational video Jeff, Thank you sir.
All of the equipment I've run through the years this is one I've not been on, and after watching this......... not sure if I'm sad or glad ! 😊 Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍 👍
I used to run a cat d8 cable scraper when I was in my 20s and you don't really understand how hard the old guys had it until you run the old iron then you have so much appreciation for new air conditioned cabs and hydraulics
Back in the 70's, I was working on a large dam and operating a CAT 631 with side extenders. The machine could haul 36 cubic yards of dirt about 25 MPH. In the cut we had several D-9 push CATS with Cushing blades to push the pans to load. There were 25 pans hauling at any given time up to two miles from cut to drop.
Used to drive a scraper in the Army Engineers. Our beasts were built differently than these so I always wondered. We used dozers to push scrapers the cut. I can remember once having to drive our scraper 60 miles down country roads because we couldn’t find a route that’s didn’t have low hanging power lines
steven heckert i went to work with my dad riding on the equipment he operated from the time I was in diapers. He was surprised when I joined the army engineers. Ft Leonard wood! Those were the days!
My pops has been a scraper operator and has operated various other heavy equipment since his mid 20s. He’s now 50 and he still gets excited teaching me the ropes I should’ve done this earlier its fun as heck.
Not that I'm probably ever going to need to know how to run one of those contraptions, but I've always enjoyed learning things like this anyhow. Thanks for the video.
What if the zombie apocolypse happens and you don't know how to run one, then you will be like those people on ???????? I can't even remember the name of the show, I quit watching it, I'm like.....go get an excavator or a frontend loader or a snowplow or a snowblower, or go to the tank farm and get a fuel truck I yelled as loud as I could but they wouldn't listen to me
I've run them all the 627G is pretty decent scraper. I think the best scraper cat ever made was the 627F had enough horse to get a load and they would jump out of the ground and enough power to get up and go with a load.
Dam that was fun. I love those Cat vehicles and the skilled trade men that run them. I never dreamed there was so much going on running a scraper. These guys make big moola!
Gee,10 hours of doing that every day would be so much fun.They would have to carry me away in a basket after a day on one of those.Thanks for showing us.Shows how much it takes to be a dirt mover.Nice smooth ride too!!
That was awesome, Jeff! Thanks so much for explaining some of that! I want more! Like what's different between each of your scrapers regarding controls? Really, anything about all that is very interesting to me! I love learning new stuff so, keep em comin! Thanks for the video!
Thank you for the video Jeff. Like playing a piano, just like a mistro!!! It's a work of heart .when you've got a good team of operators, there's nothing that will move material faster. Dad use to say ,you have to be careful when using the rear motor and turning . Take care 😎👍🇬🇧.
Great inside look at how to operate these girls, it is an old school art. Never driven them but worked with plenty. Scrapers and Tractors & Boxes are making a comeback here in England.
Hi Jeff, here is Max from Germany. Am following your channel since three years now. I will start on a 631G soon and was searching for any instructional material when I found this video. Very well done, nicely filmed, structured and explained. Ok, a 631G is a single engine with joystic control, but still I see many paralles. I have experience on scrapedozers of 55 tons and 80 tons weight and am really looking forward to get on the big dirtpans. Keep the good stuff rolling, cheers, Max
I ran an old Allis Chalmers push pan for a couple days that was pushed by a old cable dozer and ran it for a day once and that was enough for that old tired iron. The boss put me on a John Deere self loader and I stayed on it off and on for a couple years. Lots think you just scrap dirt and dump it but there is lots of skill keeping level and putting dirt in a pile with a scraper. What we ran was only 11 yard bowels nothing as big as you have there. I mainly worked after hours of my main job and on the weekends just to make enough money for my X wife spend. That was all in a different life back in the 70's.
Digginok sent me here! Where I come from everyone calls that machine a pan. Nice video! Great job getting the shots and narrating what you are doing and why you are doing it.
You have a great channel here Mr. Digginok was correct about that! I really enjoy Frank's channel it is my favorite on all of youtube. I would like to take this chance to thank you for all the help you sent Frank's way.
Comrade paydirt! Very interesting vidja, informative and entertaining. Love the smoke shots in there too:) keep up the good working comrade and thanking you for sharing. As always my friend, DRINK MORE VODKAS!
I left school at 16 in 1970, and while waiting to start my apprenticeship on the uk railways i got a job on a construction site. No health and safety of training back the, the foreman simply told me to climb in a cab, what leavers to pul and away i went. Fantastic time, me 16 years old driving dumpers, cranes and diggers. Can't imagine that know.
Best way to have a smooth hook up when going from pushing to pulling is to turn the nose a bit to either side so the bail slides around the inside of the hook, and plenty of grease on the bail and push plate make things a lot easier as well, been there an done that.
I have watched your other videos while you both were operating and wondered about what the reasons were for needing two scrapers hooked together. I thought that two hooked together would allow four power packs to provide power and eight tires to load the... first scraper and then to load the rear scraper. Makes perfect logic. Your tutorial explained the operation very well. When I grow up I wanna
I have heard scrapers don't have brakes not that they need them. I bet you can walk and chew gum at the same time. You make it look easy thanks for this video
They have drum brakes on all 4 air actuated S cam type with spring overide for park, but typicaly once there worn out they dont get fixed until the tyres and rims come off for other repairs. Cheers mate 🍻
That is one toy that is extremely hard to find. There’s a lot to remember when operating one of those. I absolutely love the sounds they make when they move. There is actually a funny story couple years ago I was watching is they were building a new highway connection, and One of the push poll scraper operators got him self stuck on the hill.
I like self loading pans with a conveyor myself. I’ve run both those, and push pans. I’ve even seen pans that break down into a tractor to become a pusher. What I’ve never quite gotten, is what the advantage of a tandem push/pull setup is. Seems like either of those double barreled pans could easily load themselves, especially if they already do it, then tow the one behind. I gotta be missing something here. In any event, an air ride suspension on the haul road makes the ride smoother than a baby’s bottom.
@@thundervalley9766, yup! Lol In some soil conditions they might be able to load themselves all right, but once you get into harder soil, even with 2 engines you don't have enough power, or enough traction, to cut and load that much material, and so you either need dedicated push dozers, or use push pull. Conveyer self loads work great in some conditions, or where you don't have the room for push dozers etc, but when you need high volume, these can't be beat. Look at some of the jobs that say socalearthmover shows, with large fleets of these constantly going at speed, and think of how many push cats would be needed to keep up with the fleet, or how long a conveyer load would take to move the same amount of material. It's all about speed and efficiency.
Interesting. I have run excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, track loaders, graders, dump trucks etc. but never seen a scraper live. They don't use those here in Finland. I guess the ground is not suitable for them, lots of rocks, clay, tree roots/stumps, wet in the summer and frozen in the winter, so we mostly have to use excavators and dump trucks.
@@tomsamplonius4297 As said, I guess the soil here is just too tough and rocky for scrapers to be economical. It's often very hard even for excavators, we use different shape of buckets from most parts of the world, our buckets are narrower and deeper for better penetration into the hard soil and easier lifting of large rocks. We also don't use bulldozers for cutting much, mostly just for moving and spreading of loose material as they, like scrapers, are not great at handling big rocks. We often have rocks so large they need to be blasted with dynamite of broken with excavator-mounted hydraulic hammers.
Jay, I really enjoy watching your channel keep up the good work. From a Maryland road/ utility contractor. I used to work around these cowboys back in the seventies, very rare to see these anymore around here. JV
Pretty sweet Paydirt. Thank you. I love operating loaders but would be lost on scrapers. One of my older mechanic buddies always said I had the profile of a roller operator though. 😆
Great explanation. I have run cat 627-637 twin push pull scrapers for most my life.. The push pull is a great way to load but, you must have a scraper partner on the other machine you can connect with.. You have to think alike to work two scrapers properly..
I was told by a second generation operator it takes 2 years to even be productive on a scraper it’s just like an apprenticeship. That was from a guy who said he was “average” watching him come down some steep cut faces though, his skill level showed he was “more than average”
Thanks for the Push-Pull tutorial; great job! I doubt I ever get back on a scraper, but I still enjoy watching the older model equipment operating and making money. Its nice to see an owner that actually keeps all the pedals and levers working also. I wrote my first book based on the I-26 job from Asheville, N.C. to Johnson City, (largest job ever let-out in N.C. DOT/ I understand) but I used a pair of 657-b models as the scrapers used, but they were older models as the B implies. I've been workin on a song based around a couple of Dirt-Movin Cowboys: Richard the Wreckin Crew Randle, and Rapid Roy if I finish it maybe I could send it to you and see if U could put some scraper footage to it??Thanks: Rapid Roy the Dirt Movin Cowboy.
Hi I'm a pretty new subscriber, I watched this kind of same video on one of your other videos, and I really appreciate you showing it over, and explaining all the different lever moves and foot moves, because I always wanted to run one of them scrappers but never had the chance. I have a relative that would probably let me try it. Because he owns one, but it don't get out that much. And now i'm retired from Excavating work. And I really don't miss it, because my back and my knees are bad from all the bouncing around that I did over 30 years. Now I just sit back and watch your channel , and a few others on like Socalledearthmovers.. Thanks Jaypaydirt.
I think best tip I got when I was learning on a scraper was just have ur cutting edge ready close to the ground so as soon as the lead is loaded u are ready to pick up the grade where he left off...and shallower cuts barrel into your can wayyy easier than trying to get a deep cut and a lot of material in a short space
Fuck man damn. cheers from sweden. im impressed by the way you are talking us thrue this. iam myself an machine operator, from forest machines to old 20tons forklifts with 7 sticks. Bug up to you. i look up to guys like you. real Legend.
Excellent video👍....one of the few machines I never got a go at, wouldn't mind a few days at it.....having said that I'll stick to my comfort zone and stay with excavators.
As you know there is no front push block on a 623 but they do have a very effective stinger on the rear. We had many jobs with 637's and 623's. We had a half mile hill and of course the 637 were much faster than the 623's. I would stay to the right and raise my can so to lower the stinger. First it started out as a joke but at times getting pushed up the hill worked pretty good. Even in mud.
Damn dude this is the perfect video. I'm now sending this to everyone who asks what a scraper is, and what it does. (besides saying I move mountains lol still the best pick up line when a girl asks what you do for a living.)
Something ide like to do Jeff never had a run it a motor scraper not many use them over here 🇬🇧 loaded a few over the years I have had a few runs in a D8 & box grader excavator loading shovel and dump trucks when I get back over that side il come and work for you for a few days 🤣👍
Right out of high school I worked at a const. co Take that 627 and learn how to run it they said! no instructions at all and no help at all. I almost killed myself
Running my little farm crawler and farm tractors I try to resist "maximum" load where tires spin and grousers slip due to wear, undercarriage is expensive as are big tires on something like that pan.
Thank you Jeff. Sounds easy, well maybe for someone that does it but, for us know nothings out here we are still lose lol. I am one that needs to do the work to not see and hear how to do it.
I would bet that 95% of your viewers do not know what a CAT DW20 or DW21 even is. Had two 1960 models, even in 1960 these cost new at $64k each.... Cable rigs can be productive with the right "Very Old" drivers, now all dead.
In my area in SE Oz we mainly see much smaller scrapers, 621 and such. I guess they're a lot more simple as they only have one engine and don't push and pull each other. They're still bloody dangerous though. Also, I hear the smaller ones beat you up a lot more. The scraper operator who recently left the company I'm with is only 22 and wore a kidney belt whenever he was in the scraper.
Boy Jeff I wish my employer would get some 657's to move overburden, would be much more efficient than the way we do it now, which is 775's or pushing it with the D8t.
