Old cats and other old construction eqpt.

[mla2ofus]

A couple of members in introductions forum expressed interest in hearing about old cats and pics of them. I'm sorry to say I don't have any pics of them. Just wasn't in the shutterbug mode then. I've run Mostly D-8's,9's & 10's . The 8's cover quite few yrs starting w/ the 8/R(series #),2/U & 14/A,all of which had the cable dozers(no down pressure) and stick shifts w/ hand clutch. Then comes the 8's w/ hydraulic dozers, 36/A(stick shift),46/A(automatic trans). After that Cat started naming models w/ a letter after the 8,as in D-8 K,D-8 N,D-8 R.
The funny part was as each new model D-8 came out it was a little bigger than the previous one. As a kid(young man) we'd get these newer models and after a couple or three different ones had come out you go back to running a 14/A and think"Man, this was a huge machine the first time I crawled on it,now it looks like a Tonka toy!!!"
I don't really have any hair raisin' stories about cats that happened to me. A friend got the ride of his life once while cleaning loose rock off a solid rock slope. He made a mistake by not keeping a pile of loose rock between his cat and the bottom of the slope and the cat slid sideways about 200' like a sled on packed snow. Fortunately it came to a stop slowly(they will tip over!!!)and all he had to show for it was a few more grey hairs and some soiled shorts.
Since I've retired they make cats now w/ GPS aboard and will practically cut a slope by themselves. I guess the catskinners of the future will no longer need the "Bubble in your a$$". That's what we always called that builtin level that a good catskinner had in order to know when he was on grade. The future ones will probably sit in a room running the cat w/joysticks and a monitor.
Well, I've rambled enough for now,
Mike

 

[Mark777]

Mike,

Very interesting. As all things are relevant to size in the equipment industry...I rented, on occasion, a D3 and thought how huge this thing is.

We had to raise an area (60' X 80') 36" before forming and pouring a slab for my mobile home. It was (is) in the 100 year flood plane and the base and fill was clay. Anxious the Friday morning I rented it as it was during a down pour and got about 3" from morning to late afternoon. And anyone familiar with this area can tell you - once it's wet, it's like standing and operating in peanut butter. The little cat was useless...until I added 1000 #'s of lime and roto-tilled it into the clay for a full day and a half. The remainder of that day and the next I just used the little Cat to compact the pad site....It was really a lot of fun and under different circumstances I could have learned allot more.

Mark