I know these are old videos but I just saw the video of this beauty being pulled off the trailer and driven around unrestored and now this days later. I'm just in awe. Great job fellas
I ran one of these back in the day. The company I worked for put a hitch on the back of mine so I could push-pull with a 657B. I had a lot of fun, but the guy behind me didn't like it so well. My rear wheels were taller than his and the 3-axle scrapers were a smoother ride than those stiff-neck 57's. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
+dyer strayers,great to hear from someone who used these old girls ,glad you liked the video ,what was the name of the company that you ran the 666 for?.This one was originally owned by SJ Groves.Cheers
+dyerstrayts,oh ok they were and still are a very well known earthmoving out fit with a large fleet of 666s I believe at one time .we communicate with one of the Mc Coy sons on Instagram as he got inI touch when he came across our 666 .Also one of the big toy model company’s bought out a 666 model based on the Mc Coy 666s with the green ROPs on it.Cheers.
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated 👍👍 The old stuff was certainly built to last, but also a lot more basic so not so much to go wrong which is another big help :-)
Great restoration, I’ve only ever seen pictures of the 660 & I worked in the earthmoving business all my life before retiring, I operated the cat 657 and the 631 over here in the U.K. for 5 or 6 years before being promoted to a cat D8, my back still hurts when I see these old scrapers there was no cushion hitch on these old girls. Nice to see someone preserving these old girls & not letting them get chopped up for scrap.
@@Bostonpowercat no thank you 😜 I’m retired now but still do the odd shift on a landfill on an old D8 & then I need 3 or 4 days to recover, I really miss the old muck shifting days before the ridiculous health & safety regs we have here in U.K. & I miss going for a job when you could jump on a machine & the foreman would follow you to the tip to see if you were capable of operating it without needing to pay extortionate fees for a licence, I had 14 different machines on my licence with what they call grandfather rights which lasted 10 years when they introduced them & when they ran out I finished & bought a quarry, which I ran for 10 years before retiring with health issues, it’s around £2000 per category now & I think there’s 4 different category’s just for the 360 excavator alone. I also really miss the craic with the lads I worked with. Watching vids like this bring back very fond memories of my working life so thank you.
@Andrew Gill ,yes it doesn’t seem to matter what type of industry you are involved with in the uk it has been overwhelmed with parasites trying to get money out of you any which way they can .👍
Beautiful restoration. I grew up on southern California and remember seeing theses monsters moving mountains. While all my friends were playing sports I was off watching the dirt projects, I knew where every dirt job, big or small, was within bike riding distance. Still love watching the big iron, I mostly run the small stuff, Skid steers and mini excavators. Thanks for the video.
Glad you liked the video and thanks for taking the time to post a comment 👍 Are you still in Cali? Haven't long got back from a holiday there, an amazing part of the world...didn't want to leave!! I can see why you loved watching the big dirt projects, construction gets in your blood and becomes an addiction :-)
+Bostonpowercat Yes, still live in So Cal. Can't beat the weather, got the beach and the mountains. But the government has to go, we are way over regulated. It is out of control! There is an "off road diesel regulation" and "truck and bus regulation" the construction industries have taken a big hit and are unfairly double regulated. But as they say it "Location, Location, Location" and it is still a good place to live.
I grew up their, in camarillo. Use to play on scrapers. 45 years later i own 2. Never use them. Have D7 use once a year. Excavators, loaders, backhoes, skids and minis daily. Sites are too small. Big companies get the big jobs.
I operated the 666 and the 660 back in the 1970s. What a great machine. Your video brought back many fond memories. You did an incredible job on the restoration. Thank you!
@T E Thankyou for comments ,it was a lot of hard work restoring her but certainly worthy of it being such a legendary piece of kit .Who were the companies that you drove these for ?,it’s great to hear from you as you were lucky enough to operate these in their heyday👍.Cheers.
I operated the 666 for McCoy Construction which at the time was based in Southern California. The job site was a housing track in Anaheim California. Being the new guy, they put me on the 666 while the veterans operated 657's. But I didn't care. I thoroughly enjoyed the triple six. I hope you hang on to her. She's certainly one of a kind.
@T E ,yes I know of that company they ran quite a few 666s I believe ,we follow them on Instagram ,I guess it must be a son running the outfit now.We are over in the uk but will certainly be hanging onto her ,I believe it’s the only 666 on this side of the water ,and only a couple in Australia ,I guess there aren’t many around with you in the States now . Cheers.
S.J. Groves & Sons Co. purchased this scraper & 8 others . I worked on these scrapers on 2 jobs in New York in the late 60’s & early 70’s. A real dirt hog
I had the pleasure to operate a 660 single power at the Morwell river diversion in Victoria Australia, push loaded by a D10, the 4 wheel prime mover made it a very smooth ride, we were hauling a 15 k round trip, all the horsepower and the smooth ride, pedal to metal, ahh bring a tear to my eye
Hey great to hear that,i worked on the same project,would have been '74 and operated a Euclid scraper same setup as this Cat,there was a big dragline doing all the main earthworks loading dumpers from the Euclid trucking Co.I expect you worked on a later stage.Looking at Google earth now shows all our work has been consumed by the open pit Coal mine.
Worked on many of them for California Tractor, they probably had at least 25 push pulls. Did many engines transmission and finals. Triple Sixes as we called them
I have woeked on many of these with different contractors in Ca. I have seen them stretched 4 feet and 3ft side boards. I have worked on these stem to stern. Retired now and miss these old girls in action, nothing like having one of these fully loaded coming down a hill about fifty miles an hour.
Jim Christie Great to hear from someone who was actually involved with them during their heyday. Which contractors in Ca were you with and did you ever come across SJ Groves? Did you ever have anything to do with the Cat DD9G (quad tracks) which were around at that time pushing the 666's? Your right they certainly can reach a decent top speed that's for sure!! A shame there aren't many around these days.
Bostonpowercat Worked for Burhoe when they had some, McCoy after their huge fleet when they were downsizing, Random, ss40s, 660's 641's and one lone triple 6!
Haven't heard of Burhoe, but have certainly heard of Don McCoy. Do you know if anyone is still running any 666's now at all? You still doing anything with machinery now you've retired?
I operated both the B and C Model Cat 666 Twin Engine scraper for close to 6 years, they were a very productive earth mover in there time. The early models had a three speed transmission, later a eight speed. These scrapers could go over 40 miles per hour at full bore. Strictly a big production machine.
Awesome to hear from someone who actually drove these beasts when they were in use!! Who and where did you drive these for if you don't mind us asking? Cheers
Washington Construction Co Inc., Missoula Montana. On Heavy Highway and mining projects throughout Montana and Wyoming. Back in around 1975- 80's. The company owner around 20 of these 666 scrapers back then. I am retired now and love looking back...Enjoyed all your posts here.
Haven't heard of that company, but to be running that many 666's they must have been in quite a big way working on some big projects? Glad you are enjoying the videos, it's nice to meet like minded enthusiasts, have a look at our website www.bostonpowercat.com we have lots of pictures of the 666 restoration on there and some other stuff you might be interested in. Thanks for taking the time to get in touch.
Any chance yall are gonna move dirt with it? Would like to see that. I run a quad scraper. Can these load turning a corner too? The quads can do it and most conventionals cant.
Had a chance to see some of these work back in the 80s on a job in newington ct. What a site to see. Video does not do them justice on there size. Glad I took pics because u do not see them any more. Excellent job on the restore.
@Thankyou sir,would have also loved the opportunity to see these working on a job, what company was running them?. Yes they certainly are a very big lump and a fleet of them would be very impressive to have seen!.
Bostonpowercat Company was Cosgrove out of ct. They had a few of them with some big twin engine rubber tired pushers. When they moved the the cops shut down the rd and they brought them to a big open lot. They sat there for years. Company had a lot of big iron. Neat to see work. We had a cat b7 and dresser td20 leveling off and it was impossible to keep up.
Green Construction pulled a fleet of triple 6's off of the Alaskan Pipeline and sent them to Polk County, Iowa in America to build the Saylorville Dam. I worked there fall and winter 1973 only a few months out of high school. It was my first time on a D9G push cat from a rubber tire. Three nines pushing triple 6's night and day and you had to be quick. Open cabs with no heat and cold temperatures in late November made driving seventy miles to work for a green weeny kid seem really short at times. Reversed fans on the 9's was a warm and welcome relief from behind while gang pushing if you were lead or middle dozer. Tail dozer was cold and a bummer without a heat-houser or engine enclosure to help keep you thawed out.
+Ramjet74 Wow that is a real mans story when men were men and no cabs and no heaters were the norm!! Did they ever run a quad d9 at all?? Any idea if Green construction are still going and where were they based? We have never come across that company, our 666 originally came from SJ Groves in West Virginia.
+Bostonpowercat I don't recall the crew I worked with quad-pushing but that is not to say another shift didn't. It was a Corps of Engineers job and Green Construction Company ran a day shift and a night shift building the dam. There were 2 women operators running scrapers at the time. I recall my dad and his buddies talking about it because several guys though warned, ran with their hands on the gear-shift lever. When they bounced their hand would knock the lever into neutral setting the air horns off and down the road they went for over-revving the engine. The thing I laughed about even back then was the gals never had it happen to them. They kept their hands away from the shifter lever. Dad was finish blade and haul road grader on a 16G and after several weeks he commented "those gals are good help" and it was the truth. It just didn't go over too well with some of the guys. That's been a long time ago and I'm afraid I do not remember where Green head quartered or if they are still even out there. They were one of the biggest dirt contractors around back then and it seems like I remember being told they worked in Saudi Arabia some back then also. It may have been the year after I graduated which would have made it 1974. I say that because the following excerpt from wiki mentions Green in Alaska in 1974 so I'm sorry for the mix up in years when I worked on the dam. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_of_the_Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System "Section Four was 143 miles (230 km) from south of the Yukon to Coldfoot. It was contracted to Associated-Green, a group formed by Associated Pipeline Contractors, Inc. and Green Construction Company. The group also was one of the main contractors for construction of the Dalton Highway."
I miss the sound of heavy plant. I used to work with a firm in the UK about 10 years ago and I was round some different machines in my time and the bigger ones always sound better. Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
I've been smiling all morning since watching this and as Ralph Emorson said "The reward of a thing well done is having done it". Well done and keep up the good work on your website.
Thanks very much and I think a quote by Mark Twain is particularly pertinent here:- "To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with."
When I-70 went thru Kansas City, they had several of these and I heard Double D9s as well. Early 60s I think. LOTS of black smoke so much you could near walk on it.
The 666 was also had the highest top speed of any Caterpillar. Also, at Point of Rocks Wyoming, there is a Cat 660 water wagon, powered by a Cummins KTA1160. The K model is equipped with Jake Brakes, no retarder and the frame required being extended 13" at the front.
I ran a few triple 6 scrapers in my time on very steep hillside jobs in California. We used to pioneer our own down ramps it was so steep that you had to open the aprin almost all the way up to keep the rocks From falling forward and hitting you in the back of the head . I remember pulling up to the edge and the push cats would push you off and the tractor would sometimes swing to one side or the other than as they shoved you a little more it would swing back straight and the cats would then launch you off . The fun we had
+Mike Mayfield ,I bet that was hairy for the first man over the edge!bet the push cats loved shuffling you over the edge!.What company would have that been with?,do you have any old photos of the 666s you ran?.Love to hear replies like this ,as I never ran them I just luckily enough to have and restore one,such a very impressive old Caterpillar even by today’s modern machines. Thankyou for your comment.
@@Bostonpowercat They move a lot of dirt in a short time .when you put a fleet of them up on a ridge you can actually see the mountain come down . I worked for Random construction . I do have some photos somewhere I'll have to see if I can find them . I also ran them for McCoy construction and we would sometimes run push-pull with 57 B scrapers . We had some long down hill hauls that we would kick them out of gear to go faster and let me tell you those tires would start to just sing away! Lol
@@Bostonpowercat look up socal dirt movers on TH-cam there is a big fleet of 660s running still but they got rid of the old swirl chamber motors and repowered them with modern engine s.
+Mike Mayfield ,yes that would be great if you got some old photos,I have heard of Mcoys and believe they had a fair fleet of them back in the day,I see some of their stuff today on Instagram as it must be one of the sons who post pictures.The 666 we have originally belonged to SJ.Groves,and have been told by an ex employee he remembers that serial number scraper working on a big project in Texas ,then she went over to the east Coast to work on that main road that runs from Maine down to Florida(can’t recall the route number you call it).and in more recent years it’s last job was building a large golf course in Newyork,and that was the old gent who we acquired it off that did that job with her.Will check out socal earthmovers on youtube.
I spent many a day chasing these triple 6's around the fill with a Cat 824B back in the 70's and early 80's. They kept me buried and always trying to catch-up.
Hi, thanks for your comment :-) Nice to hear from someone who was around the 666's when they were in operation. Which company was that with, I take it it was in the U.S somewhere?
+Bostonpowercat I was in local#12 in So. California until I retired in 2008. From 1979 to 85 I worked with a company that had 5 of the Cat. 824 B rubber tire dozers that served in a strictly rental capacity on big dirt spreads. This kept me in the fill the majority of the time knocking down the dirt for compaction purposes . I worked on several freeways (highways) where the haul was long and these triple 6's could get out and show their worth. No other scrapers could even keep up with them in speed or yardage. I believe it was E.L. Yeager const. and Rassmussen const. plus several others that I was on rental to.
Thanks for the reply, haven't heard of those companies, this 666 is an ex S.J Groves machine, but they ceased trading in about 1988 as far as we know, but we would love to find out more about them. Yes your right once you put your foot down they soon pick up speed that's for sure!! empty or fully loaded. That's what made them so great on the long haul roads as their turn around time was so quick. So how are you enjoying your retirement?
Bostonpowercat I love being retired. I was a complete knucklehead in the late 60's when I got out of the navy and I had no idea as to what I was going to do in life. My dad was a member of local 12 and helped me get into the industry. I should have been run off but the boss did not want to lose their best finish blade man (my dad ! ) so they put up with me and all my stupidity. My father passed away in 1975 and suddenly I found myself in a sink or swim situation. This forced me to learn the trade and not bring further dishonor to my dad's good name and reputation. I went on to become a fairly decent operator of just about anything I sat in the seat of including being a fine grade operator. I was a very good grade checker and sometimes foreman. I love the wonderful legacy that my father passed on to me and I look back with love at all the fine people I was blessed to work with and the better world we have all tried to make.
We have all been there once when we were young, it's hard sometimes actually getting down to it all, but it sounds like you got yourself sorted in the end and nice to have great memories of your late father. The construction industry contains some weird and wonderful characters, but all salt of the earth and a great industry to make friends in. Where in Cali are you based? We've just come back from vacation there, an amazing place :-)
There was a scraper like this that used to sit out in my front yard next to the road. It sat there for ,many years. Accoriding to my dad the scraper had a issue with its water pump he said that it had been driven up to my house and parked. One day it was pushed via dozer into my back yard where a scrap company soon came and got it. I'm not sure if it is the same kind of scraper but it looks very similar. I think the one in my yard was a good bit smaller but it defiantly had a four wheeled tractor at the front. Another key difference is that it was cable operated not hydraulics.
+David Vermillion Hi and thanks for your comment, by the sounds of things it was a Caterpillar DW20, the predecessor to the 600 series of scrapers. Have a look at some pictures and let us know :-) Cheers 👍
@Turbo Conquering Mega Eagle,sounds great glad you are enjoying,we will try to get some more done ,the main issue is that my brother did all the filming ect ,and he now has a young family so his time for filming at the moment is very limited.I do put up some pictures now and then on Instagram .Cheers 👍
11yrs old the first time my Dad sat me in the seat of one of these.......11 yrs later I got a job driving the same one....41 yrs and its still around...about 50K's down the road from my place....widow makers was what we called them....they get moving at full noise, thats why the bowl was carried two inches off the ground...the big handbrake...and if you stick your thumb on the inside of the steering wheel, you only do it once..haha....bloody good old gear....they don't make em like that anymore...
Thanks for your comment 👍 The cutting blade change frequency will depend a lot on the type of material being handled, but I'm glad we aren't replacing them all the time as they aren't cheap!!
Very Nice job on the Restoration of it. I know this was very costly for sure. Back in the mid 60's and the 70's I used to haul these to job site's for a couple construction company's around the Kansas City area when they was building I-435 and different Hi-way's back then. Thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it. = )
+Paul Lowson Thanks Paul, much appreciated. There is a bit more information over on our website www.bostonpowercat.com about the restoration, it's in the "blog" section if your interested. Cheers 👍
Fantastic job, great to see these pieces of history restored and kept going, have been around quarries my whole life,( me and dad have 60 years at Torr works between us), keep up the good work you can't beat the old machines.
@darren baker ,Cheers ,yes I do like the history and jobs that these old machines did,a lot of people don’t realise what a massive role the old plant has played in developing the modern world .👍
Not quite sure if it flattens hills or they just dissolve in terror at the sheer sight of this beast!, the ground is simply intimidated into being level!
+Kevin King ,this old girl got the weight transfer rams ,which I believe was to help stop that issue,but not sure how well they worked?.Did your ones have these rams?.Cheers
@@Bostonpowercat yes, the ops would engage them and pick the front end up and just keep hauling ass. Had 2 of the first D10L’s with close to 1000 hp before CAT derated them pushing in the cut. Calimus Dam in Nebraska. I was on a TD25 shaping the fills.
@kevin King ,you sure be moving some dirt with a pair of 10s pushing ,there is a video on you tube of a 660 being pushed by a pair of open cab 10s ,very impressive to watch.This old girl of ours is an ex SJGroves so she will have seen some big projects.👍
Amazing video of an amazing classic machine.... I miss seeing these but I guess not alot of large jobs to keep them going, and the Excavator/6x6 truck also bit into their use... Wonderful job restoring and preserving this beautiful piece of HISTORY
Nice machine, I prefer operating the two wheel drive scrapers, you can turn them around on narrow roads by doing a spin-a-rama can’t do that with this beast.
They were never set up in a push pull configuration originally unlike the 657's, but they had the "quad" D9's pushing them!! But yes your right it certainly would be a great sight to see two of those beasts in tandem 👍👍👍
✋🇫🇷✅Merci pour les deux vidéos notamment celle où l’on voit 666 avant sa restauration et après sa restauration, avez-vous aussi une vidéo qui montre pendant la restauration, démontage du moteur, de partie du châssis, des vérins, la nouvelle peinture, le nettoyage, etc. etc. etc.. 🤔Quel courage il faut pour redonner vie à des engins de chantier mythiques, afin de conserver le patrimoine vivant mécanique et industrielle du monde entier. ✋✋✋
Very nice work, I love it when old machines are brought back to life. Does the motor in the scraper just work the scraper functions or does it also help push? Thanks
Thanks :-) The Cat 666 is pretty rare these days, not too many left in the world so it's nice to put some life back into this one!! The rear engine is around 400hp so it's certainly used to help push it along!! Ideally you need 2 D9's behind pushing as well to get her full quickly!!
+Bostonpowercat .. The 657 push pull scrapers pretty much took there place after caterpillar quit producing the 666. The 666 was always pushed with 2 D9's, sometimes three.
+M Hoff did you ever have anything to do with the Cat DD9G's (quad tracks) they had around the time of the 666? They were specifically built for pushing the 666.
I have seen the single engine version; but, never seen the dual power version. I saw the video of 661 just the tractor! I bet the local Police weren't too happy to see it on the road. It looks like a tank on the road. Had to have a few on the road saying OH LORD!
Soy de un lugar en latino américa que a lo mejor los Estadounidenses no les importa mucho pero esto no me quita el sueño,el lugar es Puerto Rico y aquí en este territorio 100 x 35 con 78 municipios, somos de área geográfica una combinación de montañas y valles,y vivimos entre éstos dos tipos de área geográfica,nuestras carreteras,avenidas y caminos fueron construidas iniciando en valles y terminando o cruzando por las montañas y el equipo pesado usado fue desde las marcas de detroit diesel,cummins y caterpillar,creo que más el caterpillar que las demás marcas, aunque en estos tiempos modernos la maquinaria pesada a cruzado fronteras en cuanto a la prestación de motores, transmisiones,ejes de tren delantero y trasero de unas marcas en cuanto a esto último que les he dicho y el chasis como su cabina de instrumentos y lo que se refiere a comodidad de asientos y dirección asistida etc de otra marca, aunque para que tanta explicación si los que construyeron o están construyendo maquinaria de equipo pesado saben más de lo que yo he visto en mi país en lo referente a la construcción de la infraestructura física de cada sitio donde la marca caterpillar ha intervenido.....para el 1972 al 1973 en mi País Puerto Rico hubo un camino primero en tierra y luego cuando la densidad poblacional fue en aumento y el tiempo fue pasando y se iban descubriendo, construyendo y ensayando con maquinaria desde unos mecanismos rústicos a unos más o menos adelantados para el tiempo en que se iban inventando y es fascinante la historia de la fabricación de la maquinaria diésel y el inicio y desarrollo de la marca caterpillar,en mi país ví,mejor dicho escuché el sonido maravilloso de la maquinaria pesada,yo supongo y tenía que ser la caterpillar ya que en mi familia tengo un tío político que fue operador de las "Buldozer caterpillar" y estás fueron de transmisión de cloche y embrague (bueno eso se me dijo que estás máquinas para esos años 70's eran del tipo "standard" y eran manejadas por medio de palancas y el motor de arranque era un embobinado de cordel al cual se enroscaba en una polea y se tiraba de él para encender el motor diesel,según mi Tío político él estuvo envuelto como operador en su Buldozer caterpillar "standard" de palancas con su sonido original peculiar cómo metales rechinando cuando está máquina pesada se movía en su trabajo de mover grandes extensiones de tierra en la construcción de muchas urbanizaciónes en el municipio donde vivo,en un principio en muchos lugares de mi municipio eran realmente profundas ondonadas que mi Tío político junto a otros operadores de maquinaria pesada caterpillar contribuyeron a rellenar con los agregados de material compactado que son materiales para darle firmeza al terreno donde se iba asentar unas edificaciones, avenidas,carreteras etc y es hoy un lugar llamado Caguas y entre estás edificaciones cercano a mi lugar actual de vivienda como añadiré para mí edad de 7a 8 años entre el 1972 al 1973 ya se estaba construyendo una famosa carretera en Puerto Rico llamada la carretera 172,que comienza como parte primera de una avenida llamada, avenida Turabo y está es en un inicio plana y va cogiendo sus pequeñas cuestas de carretera hasta que se conecta de frente a la carretera 172,estaba yo en segundo grado de escolaridad y me quedaba en la ventana de mi casa escuchando y tratando de ver algo más en esa super brillante luz que salía de los predios de la construcción de esta carretera 172,muchas veces desde la ventana de mi casa como a las 7:00 PM a mis 7 añitos me fascinaba escuchar esas máquinas trabajando,funcionando y rechinando ese sonido metálico,me recuerdo ahora ver en mi mente ese cuadro de mi única experiencia a esa tierna e infantil edad,estar bien entusiasmado en no perder me aunque a la distancia de ese frenético trabajo de aquellos operadores en horas de la noche para acabar de construir una vía de comunicación que ameritaba se construyera a todo vapor y dejar la antigua via que conectaba desde mi municipio de Caguas a otro municipio llamado Cidra,la primera carretera era una de pequeñas extensiones en su ancho de tránsito de subidas bien pronunciadas,de curvas bien cerradas y un tramo de tránsito vehicular unas anchas y otras estrechas,hay una parte de esta antigua via que en su primera construcción no hay una constante en la anchuras de la carretera,está antigua carretera de momento es ancha como estrecha y cuando construyeron la carretera 172 seguía una anchura constante dónde los transeúntes vehiculares de inmediato confiaron en un buen rodaje en esta nueva carretera 172 por qué la maquinaria pesada que ayudo a construir está famosa carretera en Puerto Rico fue la gente de la marca caterpillar
pretty cool scrapers. specially if the differential or traction rams work. these things will climb a 50% slope like it wasn't there, and turn around on it. the deck is big enough for a party on. run em like a 51 spread with short hauls 120+ loads in 8hrs with 5 or 6 666's and 3 push cats per spread (sometimes 3 spreads on one hill, with 1 single shank D10 L that only ripped in 1st and walked in 2nd only, never hitting 3, with a guy named McMullen runnin that,) made for some fast rising fills, and bank accounts. Back in the day, they didn't care if you were homeless sleeping under a bridge, or not sleeping at all, if you were sitting in that deep seat both feet flat on the floor with a far away look you were a dirt diggin MoFo. They treated you good. I'd show up couple hours late for work 2 or 3 days a week, they'd say go find a scraper. I did have a policy if it was past 11 AM i wouldn't call in, i'd just show up the next day, like nothing ever happened. fun times.
what a surprise, seeing those traction cylinders, by chance does it have the electric brake on the back end of the retarder, frankly they were a pain, all you need to do was lower the can. anymore now, yours is the only one seen on the net these days. In the UK no less. It was my bread and butter back in the day to have 20 or more on a dirt spread: the company bought up a lot the 666 stretch cans / strip mining. days gone by
@Jim Vet,Thankyou for commenting great to hear from someone who actually ran these beasts.No she doesn’t have the electric brake on the retarder.Yes from what I have read not all the 666s had the traction cylinders?,what company did you work for?,these two old girls are ex- SJGroves machines,as far as I know are probably the only 666s on this side of the pond ,I know there are a couple in Aus and a 660 in Newzealand,and obviously there are still a few about in the states,but I think they are thin on the ground?.Did you ever do anything with the Cat DD9s/Quads?
They don't make three axle scrapers anymore only 2, but whatever the model up close you get a perspective of their colossal size. The back engine is a Caterpillar D343 engine pushing out just over 400HP and it's used to help push the scraper, it's a one man operation all controlled from the single drivers seat. Ideally in heavy going conditions the 666 needs two D9 bulldozers one behind the other to help push it as well !!!
Jay Groom These big girls definitely needed the 2 d9"s to get them loaded quickly!! Buster Peterson even invented the quad track/DD9G to increase productivity which was two Caterpillar D9 bulldozers linked together, but operated by one driver. They were used/invented specifically to push these big scrapers. Your right it would have been an amazing train to see in action!
Yeah that's what the dual D9's were used for originally, they were invented by Buster peterson, but later on the design was bought by Caterpillar who then made them themselves. A bit later than the 50's more like the early 60's and into the late 70's. The 666B was produced up until 1978.
They don't have enough room to even let the machine clear its throat. I'm surprised they are even allowed to have a smoke belching beast like that in europe at all.
fredboat Yep it certainly was made in the USA :-) not many ever left the shores of the U.S, as far as we know this is the only one in Europe, there aren't many left any where these days unfortunately.
I can’t believe it wasn’t built with some means to tow it from the front, incase it got stuck or needed more power with scraping. Push by a dozen and pull by a dozer
Cheers glad you liked it :-) The frame on the top is called a ROPS (roll over protection system) it's an add on after the machine left the Caterpillar factory, but done by a professional company. Motor scrapers have been known to roll over if they are working on uneven/banked ground as the scraper box when full is very heavy and can topple the whole lot. The frame is there to protect the driver so he/she doesn't get crushed if it does roll over as there is no cab on the tractor unit to protect them.
Lol we do do a bit of work for ourselves with them, but they are too old to be working on modern jobs, and with no cabs or heaters you won't find many drivers wanting to drive them either!!
I remember Seeing A Scraper just Like this or a Dw15, But It was Powered By A Supercharged caterpillar, Much like the old Supercharged cummins used in boats and trucks.. Do you happen to know what model this was?
We may be completely wrong, but it could have been a Euclid scraper? pretty sure some of those were supercharged, I don't think Cat did a supercharged engine, but as I say we may be wrong!
Thanks for the Response! I did some More Digging And Found Out That The Early D337 Engines Were in fact Supercharged, Skadill Has a Video of one in a Dw20 Scraper, Sadly Not Running though.
Thanks for the information, they say your never too old to learn and you learn something everyday, well both those things are true for us today!! Cheers :-)
+Bostonpowercat a Euclid scraper most likely would have had a Detroit diesel ,,I have operated a Euclid TC12 twin engine dozer and it had twin 6-71 detroit diesels ,,Euclid later became Terex ,,I worked at a rock quarry back in the late 90s and most of his machinery was Terex or Euclid ,,my favorite machine was the Terex 72-71B front-end loader , it wa powered by a 12V-71 detroit turbo diesel
Bostonpowercat Budd Hecker was an old mechanic that designed special locking nuts for the front wheels. When the triple or 660 would cross over the windrows fast, they had the tendency to push their own front wheel off
Cheers, didn't know that, you learn something everyday :-) we changed the front wheel bearings, but luckily she's not going to be doing any hard work now so hopefully shouldn't be a problem!!
Very nice! I worked for Cat for 38 years, used to weld frame rails for the 660 and 666 case and frame assemblies, think we made the last one in 1975.
That's badass
Can only imagine how many man hours,parts and gallons of paint went into that big brute,sounds and looks great,super job
My guess is 4 years to restore it. They have a video that was posted 11 years ago of them driving it. Then 4 years later this video showed up
I know these are old videos but I just saw the video of this beauty being pulled off the trailer and driven around unrestored and now this days later. I'm just in awe. Great job fellas
I ran one of these back in the day. The company I worked for put a hitch on the back of mine so I could push-pull with a 657B. I had a lot of fun, but the guy behind me didn't like it so well. My rear wheels were taller than his and the 3-axle scrapers were a smoother ride than those stiff-neck 57's. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
+dyer strayers,great to hear from someone who used these old girls ,glad you liked the video ,what was the name of the company that you ran the 666 for?.This one was originally owned by SJ Groves.Cheers
@@Bostonpowercat They were a SoCal based earth mover... McCoy const.
+dyerstrayts,oh ok they were and still are a very well known earthmoving out fit with a large fleet of 666s I believe at one time .we communicate with one of the Mc Coy sons on Instagram as he got inI touch when he came across our 666 .Also one of the big toy model company’s bought out a 666 model based on the Mc Coy 666s with the green ROPs on it.Cheers.
I ran the 666 and 660 in copper mines in AZ in the 70's. This brings back memories. Had a great time on the job
no one could ever 'knock' the old cat stuff, not like todays gear.
beautiful job, well done!
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated 👍👍 The old stuff was certainly built to last, but also a lot more basic so not so much to go wrong which is another big help :-)
Great restoration, I’ve only ever seen pictures of the 660 & I worked in the earthmoving business all my life before retiring, I operated the cat 657 and the 631 over here in the U.K. for 5 or 6 years before being promoted to a cat D8, my back still hurts when I see these old scrapers there was no cushion hitch on these old girls.
Nice to see someone preserving these old girls & not letting them get chopped up for scrap.
@Andrew Gill got an old stiff neck 631 b ,donkey start if you want to loosen yer back up!😂👍
@@Bostonpowercat no thank you 😜 I’m retired now but still do the odd shift on a landfill on an old D8 & then I need 3 or 4 days to recover, I really miss the old muck shifting days before the ridiculous health & safety regs we have here in U.K. & I miss going for a job when you could jump on a machine & the foreman would follow you to the tip to see if you were capable of operating it without needing to pay extortionate fees for a licence, I had 14 different machines on my licence with what they call grandfather rights which lasted 10 years when they introduced them & when they ran out I finished & bought a quarry, which I ran for 10 years before retiring with health issues, it’s around £2000 per category now & I think there’s 4 different category’s just for the 360 excavator alone. I also really miss the craic with the lads I worked with.
Watching vids like this bring back very fond memories of my working life so thank you.
@Andrew Gill ,yes it doesn’t seem to matter what type of industry you are involved with in the uk it has been overwhelmed with parasites trying to get money out of you any which way they can .👍
Beautiful restoration. I grew up on southern California and remember seeing theses monsters moving mountains. While all my friends were playing sports I was off watching the dirt projects, I knew where every dirt job, big or small, was within bike riding distance. Still love watching the big iron, I mostly run the small stuff, Skid steers and mini excavators. Thanks for the video.
Glad you liked the video and thanks for taking the time to post a comment 👍
Are you still in Cali? Haven't long got back from a holiday there, an amazing part of the world...didn't want to leave!! I can see why you loved watching the big dirt projects, construction gets in your blood and becomes an addiction :-)
+Bostonpowercat
Yes, still live in So Cal. Can't beat the weather, got the beach and the mountains. But the government has to go, we are way over regulated. It is out of control! There is an "off road diesel regulation" and "truck and bus regulation" the construction industries have taken a big hit and are unfairly double regulated. But as they say it "Location, Location, Location" and it is still a good place to live.
+MS Earthworks
I too can relate to that.Getting to know the drivers and riding round on d8 and boxes all day during the school holidays,happy days.
MS Earthworks Funny, I grew up in SoCal as well, and I was also that kid. I loved watching the machines!
I grew up their, in camarillo. Use to play on scrapers. 45 years later i own 2. Never use them. Have D7 use once a year. Excavators, loaders, backhoes, skids and minis daily. Sites are too small. Big companies get the big jobs.
I operated the 666 and the 660 back in the 1970s. What a great machine. Your video brought back many fond memories. You did an incredible job on the restoration. Thank you!
@T E Thankyou for comments ,it was a lot of hard work restoring her but certainly worthy of it being such a legendary piece of kit .Who were the companies that you drove these for ?,it’s great to hear from you as you were lucky enough to operate these in their heyday👍.Cheers.
I operated the 666 for McCoy Construction which at the time was based in Southern California. The job site was a housing track in Anaheim California. Being the new guy, they put me on the 666 while the veterans operated 657's. But I didn't care. I thoroughly enjoyed the triple six. I hope you hang on to her. She's certainly one of a kind.
@T E ,yes I know of that company they ran quite a few 666s I believe ,we follow them on Instagram ,I guess it must be a son running the outfit now.We are over in the uk but will certainly be hanging onto her ,I believe it’s the only 666 on this side of the water ,and only a couple in Australia ,I guess there aren’t many around with you in the States now .
Cheers.
I didn't like the 660 because they road 2 ruff not like the 666 I LOVE THEM jk
What an impressive piece of equipment. Very well done restoration. I'd bet this thing can haul a pile more than that hopper can hold.
Big boy , moved lot's of dirt in so cal. 666,660,657 and 651. Nice machine !
She looks brand new. What a labor of love.
This machine just looks amazing after the restore. Nice work people with keeping these machines alive :D
+farmertrg Thanks very much, much appreciated 👍👍
S.J. Groves & Sons Co. purchased this scraper & 8 others . I worked on these scrapers on 2 jobs in New York in the late 60’s & early 70’s.
A real dirt hog
that takes a lot of guts to do that, well done. proper bit of kit.
It was a lot of hard work to get it all done, but in the end the effort has paid off. Thanks for your kind words
I had the pleasure to operate a 660 single power at the Morwell river diversion in Victoria Australia, push loaded by a D10, the 4 wheel prime mover made it a very smooth ride, we were hauling a 15 k round trip, all the horsepower and the smooth ride, pedal to metal, ahh bring a tear to my eye
Great story 👍 That's a fair old round trip, I guess that's why they have such a high top speed so they can have a fast turnaround time!
Hey great to hear that,i worked on the same project,would have been '74 and operated a Euclid scraper same setup as this Cat,there was a big dragline doing all the main earthworks loading dumpers from the Euclid trucking Co.I expect you worked on a later stage.Looking at Google earth now shows all our work has been consumed by the open pit Coal mine.
Worked on many of them for California Tractor, they probably had at least 25 push pulls. Did many engines transmission and finals. Triple Sixes as we called them
I have woeked on many of these with different contractors in Ca. I have seen them stretched 4 feet and 3ft side boards. I have worked on these stem to stern. Retired now and miss these old girls in action, nothing like having one of these fully loaded coming down a hill about fifty miles an hour.
Jim Christie Great to hear from someone who was actually involved with them during their heyday. Which contractors in Ca were you with and did you ever come across SJ Groves? Did you ever have anything to do with the Cat DD9G (quad tracks) which were around at that time pushing the 666's?
Your right they certainly can reach a decent top speed that's for sure!! A shame there aren't many around these days.
Bostonpowercat Worked for Burhoe when they had some, McCoy after their huge fleet when they were downsizing, Random, ss40s, 660's 641's and one lone triple 6!
Haven't heard of Burhoe, but have certainly heard of Don McCoy. Do you know if anyone is still running any 666's now at all? You still doing anything with machinery now you've retired?
Jim Christie hey Jim I know your right ! Awesome mechanic miss working with you and John back in the day
Bostonpowercat Aci still runs them in ca
I operated both the B and C Model Cat 666 Twin Engine scraper for close to 6 years, they were a very productive earth mover in there time. The early models had a three speed transmission, later a eight speed. These scrapers could go over 40 miles per hour at full bore. Strictly a big production machine.
Awesome to hear from someone who actually drove these beasts when they were in use!! Who and where did you drive these for if you don't mind us asking? Cheers
Washington Construction Co Inc., Missoula Montana. On Heavy Highway and mining projects throughout Montana and Wyoming. Back in around 1975- 80's. The company owner around 20 of these 666 scrapers back then. I am retired now and love looking back...Enjoyed all your posts here.
Haven't heard of that company, but to be running that many 666's they must have been in quite a big way working on some big projects?
Glad you are enjoying the videos, it's nice to meet like minded enthusiasts, have a look at our website www.bostonpowercat.com we have lots of pictures of the 666 restoration on there and some other stuff you might be interested in.
Thanks for taking the time to get in touch.
Any chance yall are gonna move dirt with it? Would like to see that. I run a quad scraper. Can these load turning a corner too? The quads can do it and most conventionals cant.
Wheres my manners.....nice work!
Had a chance to see some of these work back in the 80s on a job in newington ct. What a site to see. Video does not do them justice on there size. Glad I took pics because u do not see them any more. Excellent job on the restore.
@Thankyou sir,would have also loved the opportunity to see these working on a job, what company was running them?.
Yes they certainly are a very big lump and a fleet of them would be very impressive to have seen!.
Bostonpowercat
Company was Cosgrove out of ct. They had a few of them with some big twin engine rubber tired pushers. When they moved the the cops shut down the rd and they brought them to a big open lot. They sat there for years. Company had a lot of big iron. Neat to see work. We had a cat b7 and dresser td20 leveling off and it was impossible to keep up.
Green Construction pulled a fleet of triple 6's off of the Alaskan Pipeline and sent them to Polk County, Iowa in America to build the Saylorville Dam. I worked there fall and winter 1973 only a few months out of high school. It was my first time on a D9G push cat from a rubber tire. Three nines pushing triple 6's night and day and you had to be quick. Open cabs with no heat and cold temperatures in late November made driving seventy miles to work for a green weeny kid seem really short at times. Reversed fans on the 9's was a warm and welcome relief from behind while gang pushing if you were lead or middle dozer. Tail dozer was cold and a bummer without a heat-houser or engine enclosure to help keep you thawed out.
+Ramjet74 Wow that is a real mans story when men were men and no cabs and no heaters were the norm!! Did they ever run a quad d9 at all??
Any idea if Green construction are still going and where were they based? We have never come across that company, our 666 originally came from SJ Groves in West Virginia.
+Bostonpowercat I don't recall the crew I worked with quad-pushing but that is not to say another shift didn't. It was a Corps of Engineers job and Green Construction Company ran a day shift and a night shift building the dam. There were 2 women operators running scrapers at the time. I recall my dad and his buddies talking about it because several guys though warned, ran with their hands on the gear-shift lever. When they bounced their hand would knock the lever into neutral setting the air horns off and down the road they went for over-revving the engine. The thing I laughed about even back then was the gals never had it happen to them. They kept their hands away from the shifter lever. Dad was finish blade and haul road grader on a 16G and after several weeks he commented "those gals are good help" and it was the truth. It just didn't go over too well with some of the guys. That's been a long time ago and I'm afraid I do not remember where Green head quartered or if they are still even out there. They were one of the biggest dirt contractors around back then and it seems like I remember being told they worked in Saudi Arabia some back then also. It may have been the year after I graduated which would have made it 1974. I say that because the following excerpt from wiki mentions Green in Alaska in 1974 so I'm sorry for the mix up in years when I worked on the dam.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_of_the_Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System
"Section Four was 143 miles (230 km) from south of the Yukon to Coldfoot.
It was contracted to Associated-Green, a group formed by Associated
Pipeline Contractors, Inc. and Green Construction Company. The group
also was one of the main contractors for construction of the Dalton
Highway."
Most have been the class of 72 been thier but now wete the old guys
@@jackwillie2729 Yep.
I miss the sound of heavy plant. I used to work with a firm in the UK about 10 years ago and I was round some different machines in my time and the bigger ones always sound better. Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
I've been smiling all morning since watching this and as Ralph Emorson said "The reward of a thing well done is having done it". Well done and keep up the good work on your website.
Thanks very much and I think a quote by Mark Twain is particularly pertinent here:-
"To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with."
Oliver Boston I
Awesome Restoration
Beautiful Beast
Beautiful restoration
just imagine so many of these on a job site like a highway build shaping everything.
Yeah that would be a sight to see for sure, they need some pushing power to load them as well if it's rocky ground.
When I-70 went thru Kansas City, they had several of these and I heard Double D9s as well. Early 60s I think. LOTS of black smoke so much you could near walk on it.
Beautiful restoration!! Awesome job!!
The 666 was also had the highest top speed of any Caterpillar. Also, at Point of Rocks Wyoming, there is a Cat 660 water wagon, powered by a Cummins KTA1160. The K model is equipped with Jake Brakes, no retarder and the frame required being extended 13" at the front.
Looks and sounds like it just came off the assembly line, well done man
+LeiserGeist Thanks very much, appreciated 👍👍
I ran a few triple 6 scrapers in my time on very steep hillside jobs in California. We used to pioneer our own down ramps it was so steep that you had to open the aprin almost all the way up to keep the rocks
From falling forward and hitting you in the back of the head . I remember pulling up to the edge and the push cats would push you off and the tractor would sometimes swing to one side or the other than as they shoved you a little more it would swing back straight and the cats would then launch you off . The fun we had
+Mike Mayfield ,I bet that was hairy for the first man over the edge!bet the push cats loved shuffling you over the edge!.What company would have that been with?,do you have any old photos of the 666s you ran?.Love to hear replies like this ,as I never ran them I just luckily enough to have and restore one,such a very impressive old Caterpillar even by today’s modern machines.
Thankyou for your comment.
@@Bostonpowercat They move a lot of dirt in a short time .when you put a fleet of them up on a ridge you can actually see the mountain come down . I worked for Random construction . I do have some photos somewhere I'll have to see if I can find them . I also ran them for McCoy construction and we would sometimes run push-pull with 57 B scrapers . We had some long down hill hauls that we would kick them out of gear to go faster and let me tell you those tires would start to just sing away! Lol
@@Bostonpowercat look up socal dirt movers on TH-cam there is a big fleet of 660s running still but they got rid of the old swirl chamber motors and repowered them with modern engine s.
@@Bostonpowercat Made the day go fast dropping of those cliffs!
+Mike Mayfield ,yes that would be great if you got some old photos,I have heard of Mcoys and believe they had a fair fleet of them back in the day,I see some of their stuff today on Instagram as it must be one of the sons who post pictures.The 666 we have originally belonged to SJ.Groves,and have been told by an ex employee he remembers that serial number scraper working on a big project in Texas ,then she went over to the east Coast to work on that main road that runs from Maine down to Florida(can’t recall the route number you call it).and in more recent years it’s last job was building a large golf course in Newyork,and that was the old gent who we acquired it off that did that job with her.Will check out socal earthmovers on youtube.
Back in the day, my step-dad was a motor grader operator. A big Caterpillar. This however is Huge.
Beautiful Machine!
I spent many a day chasing these triple 6's around the fill with a Cat 824B back in the 70's and early 80's. They kept me buried and always trying to catch-up.
Hi, thanks for your comment :-)
Nice to hear from someone who was around the 666's when they were in operation. Which company was that with, I take it it was in the U.S somewhere?
+Bostonpowercat I was in local#12 in So. California until I retired in 2008. From 1979 to 85 I worked with a company that had 5 of the Cat. 824 B rubber tire dozers that served in a strictly rental capacity on big dirt spreads. This kept me in the fill the majority of the time knocking down the dirt for compaction purposes . I worked on several freeways (highways) where the haul was long and these triple 6's could get out and show their worth. No other scrapers could even keep up with them in speed or yardage. I believe it was E.L. Yeager const. and Rassmussen const. plus several others that I was on rental to.
Thanks for the reply, haven't heard of those companies, this 666 is an ex S.J Groves machine, but they ceased trading in about 1988 as far as we know, but we would love to find out more about them.
Yes your right once you put your foot down they soon pick up speed that's for sure!! empty or fully loaded. That's what made them so great on the long haul roads as their turn around time was so quick.
So how are you enjoying your retirement?
Bostonpowercat I love being retired. I was a complete knucklehead in the late 60's when I got out of the navy and I had no idea as to what I was going to do in life. My dad was a member of local 12 and helped me get into the industry. I should have been run off but the boss did not want to lose their best finish blade man (my dad ! ) so they put up with me and all my stupidity. My father passed away in 1975 and suddenly I found myself in a sink or swim situation. This forced me to learn the trade and not bring further dishonor to my dad's good name and reputation. I went on to become a fairly decent operator of just about anything I sat in the seat of including being a fine grade operator. I was a very good grade checker and sometimes foreman. I love the wonderful legacy that my father passed on to me and I look back with love at all the fine people I was blessed to work with and the better world we have all tried to make.
We have all been there once when we were young, it's hard sometimes actually getting down to it all, but it sounds like you got yourself sorted in the end and nice to have great memories of your late father. The construction industry contains some weird and wonderful characters, but all salt of the earth and a great industry to make friends in.
Where in Cali are you based? We've just come back from vacation there, an amazing place :-)
A very sweet unit! more like truck than a scraper. Love the look it has.
+John Combs Thanks for the comment 👍 we have another 666, but just the tractor and no box, now that's a beast for flying around in!!
There was a scraper like this that used to sit out in my front yard next to the road. It sat there for ,many years. Accoriding to my dad the scraper had a issue with its water pump he said that it had been driven up to my house and parked. One day it was pushed via dozer into my back yard where a scrap company soon came and got it. I'm not sure if it is the same kind of scraper but it looks very similar. I think the one in my yard was a good bit smaller but it defiantly had a four wheeled tractor at the front. Another key difference is that it was cable operated not hydraulics.
+David Vermillion Hi and thanks for your comment, by the sounds of things it was a Caterpillar DW20, the predecessor to the 600 series of scrapers. Have a look at some pictures and let us know :-)
Cheers 👍
Bostonpowercat I just asked my dad he said it was a DW15.
+David Vermillion Ahh nice thought it might have been from the DW series, a real shame it's gone, they are pretty rare beasts these days!!
Cat DW21
gotta love the sound of an idling Caterpillar
Yes there is something special about it, thats for sure 😄
Justin Myslive my favorite is a D4 no exhaust and under heavy load also sounds real good
Nice resto. You don't these big girls anymore! I,ve never seen one except in some old movies. Seen the 660 but not the 666.
Terry Presnal Cheers :-) Your right they are pretty rare beasts, I would guess there are only a handful or even less are left
wahoo ..so cool..would love to have one in my garden..
I've been having one of your videos with my coffee every morning, the problem is I'm going to run out soon. Please pop some more up.
@Turbo Conquering Mega Eagle,sounds great glad you are enjoying,we will try to get some more done ,the main issue is that my brother did all the filming ect ,and he now has a young family so his time for filming at the moment is very limited.I do put up some pictures now and then on Instagram .Cheers 👍
11yrs old the first time my Dad sat me in the seat of one of these.......11 yrs later I got a job driving the same one....41 yrs and its still around...about 50K's down the road from my place....widow makers was what we called them....they get moving at full noise, thats why the bowl was carried two inches off the ground...the big handbrake...and if you stick your thumb on the inside of the steering wheel, you only do it once..haha....bloody good old gear....they don't make em like that anymore...
Awsome piece of machinary
Wow. What a Beautiful Brute. I can't imagine how often the cutting blades would have to be changed to prevent wear on the base unit. Very Cool unit.
Thanks for your comment 👍 The cutting blade change frequency will depend a lot on the type of material being handled, but I'm glad we aren't replacing them all the time as they aren't cheap!!
A very sweet unit! more like truck than a scraper. Love look it has.
Very Nice job on the Restoration of it. I know this was very costly for sure. Back in the mid 60's and the 70's I used to haul these to job site's for a couple construction company's around the Kansas City area when they was building I-435 and different
Hi-way's back then. Thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it. = )
Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed the video 👍
One of the construction companies you hauled the for wasn't SJ Groves at all was it?
Bostonpowercat SJ Groves was a big construction company they owned Plymouth locomotives to build dams with
Nice restoration.
Thanks much appreciated
lovely resto job on tractor and scraper. like new
+Paul Lowson Thanks Paul, much appreciated. There is a bit more information over on our website www.bostonpowercat.com about the restoration, it's in the "blog" section if your interested.
Cheers 👍
The music of that CAT V8!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful Machine , looks and sounds great
I love an old tractor with new paint make it look like new
Great job!!!
Very nice work on the restoration. Makes me want one.
Lord Motorsports.👍Thankyou.
The wear on those tires. She did a lot of work and def earned her keep.
Fantastic job, great to see these pieces of history restored and kept going, have been around quarries my whole life,( me and dad have 60 years at Torr works between us), keep up the good work you can't beat the old machines.
@darren baker ,Cheers ,yes I do like the history and jobs that these old machines did,a lot of people don’t realise what a massive role the old plant has played in developing the modern world .👍
Not quite sure if it flattens hills or they just dissolve in terror at the sheer sight of this beast!, the ground is simply intimidated into being level!
+Andrew Wilson 👍😂
We called them Cripple6’s. Front wheels always coming off🤣🤣🤣They would sure haul ass down a road.
+Kevin King ,this old girl got the weight transfer rams ,which I believe was to help stop that issue,but not sure how well they worked?.Did your ones have these rams?.Cheers
@@Bostonpowercat yes, the ops would engage them and pick the front end up and just keep hauling ass. Had 2 of the first D10L’s with close to 1000 hp before CAT derated them pushing in the cut. Calimus Dam in Nebraska. I was on a TD25 shaping the fills.
@kevin King ,you sure be moving some dirt with a pair of 10s pushing ,there is a video on you tube of a 660 being pushed by a pair of open cab 10s ,very impressive to watch.This old girl of ours is an ex SJGroves so she will have seen some big projects.👍
So this is Lucifer Caterpillar? Nice !
Aka the Dirt Devil.
Can you imagine how much a machine like that must cost? Not to mention maintain? The rubber alone must cost 50,000.00 dollars. amazing.
No ac and lots of water That is scraper nicely done
Amazing video of an amazing classic machine.... I miss seeing these but I guess not alot of large jobs to keep them going, and the Excavator/6x6 truck also bit into their use... Wonderful job restoring and preserving this beautiful piece of HISTORY
7:14 tração traseira com conversor de torque ou tração hidráulica ? 🤔
Nice machine, I prefer operating the two wheel drive scrapers, you can turn them around on narrow roads by doing a spin-a-rama can’t do that with this beast.
Still looks great, are you guys still creating content? Notice your website has gone dead.
if you ever find another one you should set em up for push pull it be something to see
They were never set up in a push pull configuration originally unlike the 657's, but they had the "quad" D9's pushing them!! But yes your right it certainly would be a great sight to see two of those beasts in tandem 👍👍👍
+Bostonpowercat ya i know that thats why i said they should be set up for push pull. it be something neat to see
Even sounds like a monster!
Lol 😂
✋🇫🇷✅Merci pour les deux vidéos notamment celle où l’on voit 666 avant sa restauration et après sa restauration, avez-vous aussi une vidéo qui montre pendant la restauration, démontage du moteur, de partie du châssis, des vérins, la nouvelle peinture, le nettoyage, etc. etc. etc.. 🤔Quel courage il faut pour redonner vie à des engins de chantier mythiques, afin de conserver le patrimoine vivant mécanique et industrielle du monde entier. ✋✋✋
@sarra gount ,Thankyou 👍
beautiful machine
Cheers 👍
aí é de se tirar o chapéu !!! grande cat.
They use to do this with mules, if the mules did not work hard enough they would whip them.. hence the term mule skinner.
Wow! im use to workin on 627s. They raye on the scale as Damn but thats at a HOLY SHIT and a 1/2!
I wonder how hard it is to find period correct tires for it.
Nice!
Cheers 👍
Very nice work, I love it when old machines are brought back to life.
Does the motor in the scraper just work the scraper functions or does it also help push?
Thanks
Thanks :-) The Cat 666 is pretty rare these days, not too many left in the world so it's nice to put some life back into this one!! The rear engine is around 400hp so it's certainly used to help push it along!! Ideally you need 2 D9's behind pushing as well to get her full quickly!!
Cheers :-)
+Bostonpowercat .. The 657 push pull scrapers pretty much took there place after caterpillar quit producing the 666. The 666 was always pushed with 2 D9's, sometimes three.
+M Hoff did you ever have anything to do with the Cat DD9G's (quad tracks) they had around the time of the 666? They were specifically built for pushing the 666.
Yes, this company also has a pair of D9 cat's hooked together used for pushing the scrapers.
Bigger than the 657?
the big girl is lookin good
+Mrs Hudson👍
Sharp TRiple6 double barrel. jpaydirt will be grinning all over hisself!
Thanks, a lot of hard work to get it to where it is now, but it looks good :-)
good shape for a old gal
I have seen the single engine version; but, never seen the dual power version. I saw the video of 661 just the tractor! I bet the local Police weren't too happy to see it on the road. It looks like a tank on the road. Had to have a few on the road saying OH LORD!
Built dam on mighty peace river.
Man she sounds sweet
that is one beautiful machine ,, i love large construction machinery and this one is beautifully restored
just wondering how did you get it to europe?
It got shipped in and then hauled from the dock on a low loader, the tractor unit and the box came separately though and assembled later on!
Soy de un lugar en latino américa que a lo mejor los Estadounidenses no les importa mucho pero esto no me quita el sueño,el lugar es Puerto Rico y aquí en este territorio 100 x 35 con 78 municipios, somos de área geográfica una combinación de montañas y valles,y vivimos entre éstos dos tipos de área geográfica,nuestras carreteras,avenidas y caminos fueron construidas iniciando en valles y terminando o cruzando por las montañas y el equipo pesado usado fue desde las marcas de detroit diesel,cummins y caterpillar,creo que más el caterpillar que las demás marcas, aunque en estos tiempos modernos la maquinaria pesada a cruzado fronteras en cuanto a la prestación de motores, transmisiones,ejes de tren delantero y trasero de unas marcas en cuanto a esto último que les he dicho y el chasis como su cabina de instrumentos y lo que se refiere a comodidad de asientos y dirección asistida etc de otra marca, aunque para que tanta explicación si los que construyeron o están construyendo maquinaria de equipo pesado saben más de lo que yo he visto en mi país en lo referente a la construcción de la infraestructura física de cada sitio donde la marca caterpillar ha intervenido.....para el 1972 al 1973 en mi País Puerto Rico hubo un camino primero en tierra y luego cuando la densidad poblacional fue en aumento y el tiempo fue pasando y se iban descubriendo, construyendo y ensayando con maquinaria desde unos mecanismos rústicos a unos más o menos adelantados para el tiempo en que se iban inventando y es fascinante la historia de la fabricación de la maquinaria diésel y el inicio y desarrollo de la marca caterpillar,en mi país ví,mejor dicho escuché el sonido maravilloso de la maquinaria pesada,yo supongo y tenía que ser la caterpillar ya que en mi familia tengo un tío político que fue operador de las "Buldozer caterpillar" y estás fueron de transmisión de cloche y embrague (bueno eso se me dijo que estás máquinas para esos años 70's eran del tipo "standard" y eran manejadas por medio de palancas y el motor de arranque era un embobinado de cordel al cual se enroscaba en una polea y se tiraba de él para encender el motor diesel,según mi Tío político él estuvo envuelto como operador en su Buldozer caterpillar "standard" de palancas con su sonido original peculiar cómo metales rechinando cuando está máquina pesada se movía en su trabajo de mover grandes extensiones de tierra en la construcción de muchas urbanizaciónes en el municipio donde vivo,en un principio en muchos lugares de mi municipio eran realmente profundas ondonadas que mi Tío político junto a otros operadores de maquinaria pesada caterpillar contribuyeron a rellenar con los agregados de material compactado que son materiales para darle firmeza al terreno donde se iba asentar unas edificaciones, avenidas,carreteras etc y es hoy un lugar llamado Caguas y entre estás edificaciones cercano a mi lugar actual de vivienda como añadiré para mí edad de 7a 8 años entre el 1972 al 1973 ya se estaba construyendo una famosa carretera en Puerto Rico llamada la carretera 172,que comienza como parte primera de una avenida llamada, avenida Turabo y está es en un inicio plana y va cogiendo sus pequeñas cuestas de carretera hasta que se conecta de frente a la carretera 172,estaba yo en segundo grado de escolaridad y me quedaba en la ventana de mi casa escuchando y tratando de ver algo más en esa super brillante luz que salía de los predios de la construcción de esta carretera 172,muchas veces desde la ventana de mi casa como a las 7:00 PM a mis 7 añitos me fascinaba escuchar esas máquinas trabajando,funcionando y rechinando ese sonido metálico,me recuerdo ahora ver en mi mente ese cuadro de mi única experiencia a esa tierna e infantil edad,estar bien entusiasmado en no perder me aunque a la distancia de ese frenético trabajo de aquellos operadores en horas de la noche para acabar de construir una vía de comunicación que ameritaba se construyera a todo vapor y dejar la antigua via que conectaba desde mi municipio de Caguas a otro municipio llamado Cidra,la primera carretera era una de pequeñas extensiones en su ancho de tránsito de subidas bien pronunciadas,de curvas bien cerradas y un tramo de tránsito vehicular unas anchas y otras estrechas,hay una parte de esta antigua via que en su primera construcción no hay una constante en la anchuras de la carretera,está antigua carretera de momento es ancha como estrecha y cuando construyeron la carretera 172 seguía una anchura constante dónde los transeúntes vehiculares de inmediato confiaron en un buen rodaje en esta nueva carretera 172 por qué la maquinaria pesada que ayudo a construir está famosa carretera en Puerto Rico fue la gente de la marca caterpillar
this must've been used when they built the highway to hell
sales brochure says 980 hp total, 580 in tractor, 420 in pan unit. 54 cu yd capacity, 125,000 pounds empty. That's a hoss!
+Wild Turkey ,she sure is a real Hoss!,Cheers.
มันช่าง สุดยอด เสียหลือเกิน เครื่องไม่ เครื่องมือ บ้านเขา 😊☺☺☺
pretty cool scrapers. specially if the differential or traction rams work. these things will climb a 50% slope like it wasn't there, and turn around on it. the deck is big enough for a party on. run em like a 51 spread with short hauls 120+ loads in 8hrs with 5 or 6 666's and 3 push cats per spread (sometimes 3 spreads on one hill, with 1 single shank D10 L that only ripped in 1st and walked in 2nd only, never hitting 3, with a guy named McMullen runnin that,) made for some fast rising fills, and bank accounts. Back in the day, they didn't care if you were homeless sleeping under a bridge, or not sleeping at all, if you were sitting in that deep seat both feet flat on the floor with a far away look you were a dirt diggin MoFo. They treated you good. I'd show up couple hours late for work 2 or 3 days a week, they'd say go find a scraper. I did have a policy if it was past 11 AM i wouldn't call in, i'd just show up the next day, like nothing ever happened. fun times.
What a great story, sounds like you have plenty of experience running them, who did you work for at the time?
Cheers
Is that a 57 can, or just 39.5's wheels?
It's got the 39.5's on which was one of the options from new :-)
what a surprise, seeing those traction cylinders, by chance does it have the electric brake on the back end of the retarder, frankly they were a pain, all you need to do was lower the can.
anymore now, yours is the only one seen on the net these days. In the UK no less.
It was my bread and butter back in the day to have 20 or more on a dirt spread:
the company bought up a lot the 666 stretch cans / strip mining.
days gone by
@Jim Vet,Thankyou for commenting great to hear from someone who actually ran these beasts.No she doesn’t have the electric brake on the retarder.Yes from what I have read not all the 666s had the traction cylinders?,what company did you work for?,these two old girls are ex- SJGroves machines,as far as I know are probably the only 666s on this side of the pond ,I know there are a couple in Aus and a 660 in Newzealand,and obviously there are still a few about in the states,but I think they are thin on the ground?.Did you ever do anything with the Cat DD9s/Quads?
sweet looking old girl.. never seen scraper up close. what is the back engine for? pusher? Do you control from cab or is it a two man operation?
They don't make three axle scrapers anymore only 2, but whatever the model up close you get a perspective of their colossal size. The back engine is a Caterpillar D343 engine pushing out just over 400HP and it's used to help push the scraper, it's a one man operation all controlled from the single drivers seat. Ideally in heavy going conditions the 666 needs two D9 bulldozers one behind the other to help push it as well !!!
Holy cow you need two dozers too? That would be quite the train to see.
Jay Groom These big girls definitely needed the 2 d9"s to get them loaded quickly!! Buster Peterson even invented the quad track/DD9G to increase productivity which was two Caterpillar D9 bulldozers linked together, but operated by one driver. They were used/invented specifically to push these big scrapers. Your right it would have been an amazing train to see in action!
I had seen one of those dual D9's in a picture. Always wondered where they were used. That makes sense. Is this 1950's we are talking about?
Yeah that's what the dual D9's were used for originally, they were invented by Buster peterson, but later on the design was bought by Caterpillar who then made them themselves. A bit later than the 50's more like the early 60's and into the late 70's. The 666B was produced up until 1978.
GO JOB !!!
Grande.
👍
They don't have enough room to even let the machine clear its throat. I'm surprised they are even allowed to have a smoke belching beast like that in europe at all.
+sequoyah59 Lol very true, yeah this setup would need a huge space to do even do an hours work!!
Impressive, Made in the USA. Snow plow later?
fredboat Yep it certainly was made in the USA :-) not many ever left the shores of the U.S, as far as we know this is the only one in Europe, there aren't many left any where these days unfortunately.
Love the old school cats I run a d8 cat
What model D8 do you run?.cheers
@@Bostonpowercat 1979cat d 8
good nice
Thanks very much 👍
nice
I can’t believe it wasn’t built with some means to tow it from the front, incase it got stuck or needed more power with scraping. Push by a dozen and pull by a dozer
@braydebpresber,don’t think she gonna get into trouble with the Quad 9 up behind !💪👍
Love it :)
But what for the big frame on top of front engine?
Cheers glad you liked it :-)
The frame on the top is called a ROPS (roll over protection system) it's an add on after the machine left the Caterpillar factory, but done by a professional company. Motor scrapers have been known to roll over if they are working on uneven/banked ground as the scraper box when full is very heavy and can topple the whole lot. The frame is there to protect the driver so he/she doesn't get crushed if it does roll over as there is no cab on the tractor unit to protect them.
what do u guys do with them once restored?
Not too much to be honest!! They are a hobby, so they just get started periodically and we have a "play" with them 👍
that seems to be a waste, put em to work lol
Lol we do do a bit of work for ourselves with them, but they are too old to be working on modern jobs, and with no cabs or heaters you won't find many drivers wanting to drive them either!!
This is a magnificent beat. What year was she built?
I remember Seeing A Scraper just Like this or a Dw15, But It was Powered By A Supercharged caterpillar, Much like the old Supercharged cummins used in boats and trucks.. Do you happen to know what model this was?
We may be completely wrong, but it could have been a Euclid scraper? pretty sure some of those were supercharged, I don't think Cat did a supercharged engine, but as I say we may be wrong!
Thanks for the Response! I did some More Digging And Found Out That The Early D337 Engines Were in fact Supercharged, Skadill Has a Video of one in a Dw20 Scraper, Sadly Not Running though.
Thanks for the information, they say your never too old to learn and you learn something everyday, well both those things are true for us today!! Cheers :-)
+Bostonpowercat a Euclid scraper most likely would have had a Detroit diesel ,,I have operated a Euclid TC12 twin engine dozer and it had twin 6-71 detroit diesels ,,Euclid later became Terex ,,I worked at a rock quarry back in the late 90s and most of his machinery was Terex or Euclid ,,my favorite machine was the Terex 72-71B front-end loader , it wa powered by a 12V-71 detroit turbo diesel
@soupertrooper Most allis chalmers had Buda diesels, and I do know some were supercharged. Sadly there is next to nothing on the internet about them.
Oh,no, a beautiful,clean machine and then you ran in the water, lol.
I have to wonder if he put Bud Hecker nuts on the front wheel bearings.
Jim Christie Bud Hecker??
Bostonpowercat Budd Hecker was an old mechanic that designed special locking nuts for the front wheels. When the triple or 660 would cross over the windrows fast, they had the tendency to push their own front wheel off
Cheers, didn't know that, you learn something everyday :-) we changed the front wheel bearings, but luckily she's not going to be doing any hard work now so hopefully shouldn't be a problem!!