I’m thinking in 40 years we’ll be watching Chris walking some young fellas around his place telling stories of every piece of equipment and what it’s done and how it ended up there.
Oh the stories this guy could tell you.... This is a man that has a mental memory of each peice of machine he has owned and goes to show the patience he has for each
The coal mines shut down in the 60's. Just very little left to see of the old time operations. That was my stomping grounds growing up. My late grandfather James Clark Butler, taught us grand kids how to drive on the old mine roads, lots of aqua blue water holes back in the hills that we'd go fishing in. Awesome to see some of the old iron from a place we use to roam as kids.
There’s still some hanging around here in WV, in my 25 years of life I’ve never seen them move but, they remain on maintained gravel lots fenced in and couple with tarps over the cabs some Fiats and others Komatsu D445As, just waiting for that next big coal market boom to hit where they’ll be put back to work which actually might happen as the industry is picking up and a lot older equipment is getting pushed back into service especially trucks.
That is an absolutely amazing beast of equipment - to see her start that easily. Can't think of much she wouldn't shove out of the way. I'm thinking trees would move on their own
Where to begin: this gentleman is a treasure! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. He loves and knows his equipment intimately and I think was "selling it" pretty well! Don't you you need a 20+ foot bladed dozer? Like Robert said, he could have kept up with the 550! It was obvious this gentleman enjoyed having you and Robert there to share in his passion. Question is - did you come home with a piece or two, or three?
The stories you could hear from an old timer like that, man oh man, and the things you could potentially learn from the experiences he has had. Fun video sir, thanks for the tag along sir.
Yeah. Once put in a garden for an old guy that had worked in the machine shop of the Skunkworks for Lockheed. He'd started out as an apprentice and worked his way up to lead or supervisor, been a while. Fascinating man to talk with. Saw me putting in a garden for his neighbor and asked me how much for him. I cut him a deal since I had the machine there already. Hell of a nice guy with great stories.
Equipment was cool.... Doesn't hold a candle to the owner! Pure gold. I'm excited when I come across people like him, reminds me of 2 people immediately, my grandpa and the owner of the farm that I worked at growing up. Knew a lot about everything and with stories for days. Good video Chris
I did my diesel fitting apprenticeship back in the 80’s on these tractors here in Australia. The 31 was a very nice machine, hardly ever gave problems unlike it’s bigger brother the 41 which had weak final drives. If I recall the 31 was between the cat D8 and D9 and the 41 was between the D9 and D10. Brings back memories.
If I remember right, the problem with the 41 was that they used the same rear-end as the 31. It was great in the 31, but the bigger blade on the 41 ripped out the rear-ends right and left.
I worked on the 41B Fiat-Allis (not Atlas) dozer extensively at Island Copper Mine on Vancouver Island British Columbia (1975-1979). Tripple rippers were intalled on our units. Cummins VT1710 V12 supplied the power. To service the transmission flip the operators seat up and drop down inside the chassis. The Fiat company bought into Allis-Chalmers and continued to manufacture heavy equipment. These units were phenomenal!
Chris this video ranks up there with one of the best I’ve found so far. Thankyou for introducing us to this gentleman! I’m certain while you were editing the clip around 32:20 you must’ve darn near fell out of your chair with laughter! Well done thank you for sharing these adventures with us!
What a character, he had me laughing out loud the whole time. You could send him videos to narrate for you, it’d be highly entertaining, thank you for sharing this with us.
the old man is remembering a surprising percentage of names, places, times and tweaks on the machines. Reminds me of the knight guarding the grail in that Indiana Jones movie - choose wisely!
One of the best videos you have shown about equipment. That low idle with a straight pipe sounds incredible. That man has forgotten more than most have learned. "What year is this" "what year was Abe Lincoln born" lol, yes, its been setting awhile.
The stories that could be told sitting with or wandering around his property with this dear old gentleman - a little (and big) boy's dream time. Great lot of old machines from through the ages. -
Wow this guy has some amazing old iron and funny stories lol. I'd love to spend a day or two listening to him talk. 18 ponds!!! Sounds like an addiction.
Great video, Chris. He is a hoot. I could listen to him tell stories all day. I wish you could have pushed some dirt with the dozer. He has a crop of machines growing. He gets around better than I can. I don't know if I could crawl my way upon to the dozer. I would have tried. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I didnt see much of anything sitting there that looked like they were ready to scrap, i saw a lot of equiptment that needed to be revived and put back to work
Looking up this dozer and a 13 year old Letsdig18 video comes up. What a lovely and interesting Gentleman and great collection of machines. I think it's called heaven. Thank you all.
OMG These are so cool Chris!! I hope someone takes these and restores them or at least put together a couple and put them back to work!! Where is Deisel Creek, C&C Eguipment They need these !! Thanks for taking us along Chris!!!
Great field trip Chris & Robert. Sounds like he wants you to buy it all. He sure can remember a lot about his equipment. Sure would look cool to have a nice big/ green alfalfa field full of old iron! 😉
Great Video Chris. My Pop was a subcontractor for several GC's here in the Memphis area for many years. Two of the gc's owned liebherr dozers,(721 & 731) liebherr excavators ( 936 & 942) & liebherr crawler loaders . ( 631B) my pop actually got where he liked Liebherr equipment..& owned & operated a 621B Loader with 4 in 1 bucket ( pedal in the floor operated the 4in1) & a 721B Dozer . 2 of the best machines he owned . Mack
What a fantastic video. I was sucked in from the start to the end. I truly liked the walk around and the cold starts. I like your other videos but this one stands among your best. ‼ I cannot give it enough thumbs up. thank you
When the world comes to an end - Chris will clean everything up! Looking forward to the rest of this story!! Chris is having a lot of fun!! Stay safe, Jim
Brilliant video. Most youtubers do one machine "will it start" in a video. Here Chris gives us several in one video! What a guy this owner is - certainly got some kit and fair play, most of it runs too.
Love seeing this video. He has loved this farm since at least college as we were roommates for years. Incredible what he has done there and his knowledge of the equipment. Now I know why he never listened in class. ❤
That gentleman is the spirit animal for every kid who dreamed to be a heavy equipment operator ❤❤❤❤ What incredible stories he must have with those machines and their adventures. Thanks for sharing. PS: Hopefully you are able to get one of those beasties on the farm.
Happy Easter ! Vintage Monsters - wow - HUGE ! The Old JCB is another Beauty ! The Liebherr sounds Smooth ! Man - he has a lot of other Great Equipment ! You two a a Wet but Great Time - Thanks for taking us along Today ! Cheers from Australia !!!!
Amazing.. I reckon the trees for 500 yards around all flinched and leaned away when that Beast fired up.. if they could have uprooted and ran away they would have when Chris raised the blade and started it walking ! Fantastic exhaust note on start up
I was mesmerized by that Fiat moving all over that long leaf pine in the beginning and somehow managing to stay alive! That place is great! Never in one spot have I seen so much old equipment turn over and start.
That first dozer fired up so easily!! Idled like a friends 1970 454 Camaro that had a huge cam in it! It only took a moment of motion and that motor sounded really nice!! These old equipment videos are great filler for when Chris is running short of other footage due to travels or weather!! Keep ‘em coming if you personally like doing them Chris!! Looks like you found a like minded fan with Robert!! 😂😂. Happy Easter Weekend fellas!
