About 40 years ago when we where kids I remember my grandparents living next door to a old abandoned wrecking yard full of these old retired earth movers, dozers, dump truck and excavators like the one in this video, some of the best memories I have are of us playing for hours at a time exploring, climbing on and pretending to operate these fascinating machines, good times!!!

One of the nice things about older machines is no computer tech for the manufacturer to keep tabs on so they can punish you for working on it yourself. Yeah, Im looking at you, John Deere!

The two guys pushing together that is true artists that know their craft

No hydraulics here... Hmm I could have sworn that the third cat dozed had some!

I'm older than dirt and that's what I ran many years ago! You work them sticks all day every day and I guarantee you that you will not have any flabby muscles ! Still love to hear them old machines bellow ! 😊 Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍

due to budget cuts that old shovel is your new machine.... good luck... the management..

I’ve got a Ruston Bucyrus 19 R-B , which is a slightly larger English-built machine, with the same front end. To get the best out of one of those cable trench hoes, tuck the dipper under the boom as it comes out of the cut, set the hoist clutch as the dipper teeth reach the top of the cut - start the swing as soon as the back of the bucket clears the cut. Leave the hoist clutch in through the swing and, as you approach the dumping point, slacken the drag brake and let the dipper run out to dump. Do not disengage the hoist until the dipper is empty and commence the return swing before the dipper has quite emptied. Slacken the hoist brake on the return swing, so that the dipper is just above the ground by the time you reach the cut - set the drag clutch an simultaneously lower the dipper into the cut for the next bite. Take an even slice through the cut so that the dipper slides through fast and easy. A fast fluid motion that’s easy on the machine and the operator, and moves most yards per hour ! I couldn’t do half of what you guys do with a hydraulic machine today, but in straightforward easy trenching, I could still give you a good run for your money !

Started running a 2U D8 back in 1972. This brings back memories. The steering frictions were tough to pull. The old timers back then said you could tell a 2U operator by his knuckles dragging on the ground when he walked.

Amazing the work they did with those old machines. When those came out I bet they thought it couldn't get any better. Love it

That's some cool old iron!!! Amazing how it's advanced over the years.

Very neat old machines! Way before my day of course but would love to play around with these. Very interesting to watch!

Wow it’s amazing to think when this stuff came out it revolutionized the excavating industry! But from we have today this stuff is so inefficient, but still impressive to see them run! Nice pieces of history there. The first dozer I ever ran was a 1948 international track loader with a gas engine I thought that thing was a beast! Thanks for sharing Chris, very cool!

Thank god I was born in 1969 not 1929. But very impressive to see how it was done years ago .We all should have a lot of respect for the men and women who did not have it as easy as we have it today.

these are the machines i operated when i started working I still love to run them they are awesome

God I love excavation equipment videos. It's truly an odd obsession but I watch them during my free time after working.

Those old Cats are things of beauty, and I say that as an old Catskinner. And that Bucyrus-Erie 15-B, can’t beat ‘em. Never surprises me when I see Cats that old and still purring. They were built to last. And still are

Now that's what I call old schooling from a real man's world. Geez, that goes back to me grandad day it does. Blimey that's an old one. Me pawpaw used to run heavy equip. And I used sit on his lap I did. Thx for the memories mate. Really made me think of me grandad.

My two uncles owned a construction company in the 40s and 50s. I never gave it much thought to how they worked before hydraulics until I saw a photo of them with their first excavators today. Now I'm here haha. Thanks for the upload.

The only thing wrong with a bulldoze is it spends half of it's life going backwards.

Sure beats a shovel. Old power shovel is neat

Made back when our country actually made stuff... no sensors just nuts, bolts, pulleys, cables and steel.

Love seeing all of those antique machines out there

Great video, I love seeing old gear still working

They might be slower but they still get the job done 👍👍

In 60 years these machines still will work, but how many of the new machines will ? Thank you for sharing.

Wow that old digger. I started on a uh 121 Hitachi 37 plus years ago and back then it was state of the art. God it would have been great to see that old digger in the real

Growing up in the 60's, I remember dozers like this, cranes with cables controlling the boom and the only cylinders were on dump trucks. Ironically, My Tonka Dump truck had one too!. But the Wrecker had a winch.

I could just picture you trying to dredge that pond with that thing...LMAO

I just enjoy watching that old iron work.

Like going back in time, wonderful! Must haven taken a long time back then!

Still more modern than the stuff they used to build the Panama canal.

I love this video! Very nice.

You win the internet today! Coolest thing I've seen all day! Probably all month! Thanks for the video!

very good to see these still being used for work

Those cats bring back memories. I grew up around a D-9 like those. First dozer I ever ran.

the old timers that ran the cable dozers were vary skilled with them

Hell, that shovel was older than the dirt it was digging! Really cool to see them in action still. Thanks for the videos.

Thanks for this Chris,...what a way to spend a day!

It's kind of amazing to see that thing dig with just cables and pulleys. And it seems fairly strong. Sure it has it's limitations though

The sound of post war America building itself to greatness..

The first dozer i learned on was a cat d7 cable with pony motor. You learned real quick to pick your lines and only turn when absolutely necessary.

beautiful old machines, the 15 B is my passion

Lived in An old house in northern Ky where state route 16 and 17 came together. I used to ride on a CAT D8 with an operator H.F. many hours of pure pleasure.

We have a big show like that near my house. Awesome old iron.

Used to be one of those cable driven excavators near my house when I was a kid. It sat in the weeds with some other equipment for ever. Would love to have it now.

That takes me back to some nice memories

For some 20 years, I've been cleaning my acreage in southwest MS, STILL finding pieces of these cables in the ground. Even found some cylinder sleeves where someone re-sleeved an engine in the woods.

Just flat awsome!! Love it!!

Old iron is cool but new iron is so much nicer to run all day. We do enjoy playing with our old tractors in the fields from time to time. Let’s us know how good we have it now.

I’d heard about cable and brake excavators. But I guess I’m spoiled. Been operating for almost 20 years and since I started machines have come along way since I started. Back in those days the operator worked harder then the labours lol. The machines now are like Cadillacs. My job is a job after all these years but I’m grateful I don’t hate it or getting up everyday. And thanks to the union it pays very well too. Love the old machines. Oldest dozer for me was a 1970 Cat D6. Not a cable machine

There is a similar show with old equipment in Virginia in september- field Day of the past- in Goochland just west of Richmond.. they even run an old steam shovel..

These are the machines that built our roads way way before my time! Where’s the auto stick?? 😀

That's very cool! When I 1st started operating in 1982-3 - My 1st dozer was a 'cable-8.' Took a little getting used to, but I learned. My 1st job was clearing an area for a bunch of sports fields for a city park. Took us a week. I imagine with equipment like you have, Chris, you probably could get'r'dun in a 20 minute video clip, LOL!

Very cool. I feel like it's worth a mention that at our local fairwe have a CAT 50, which is basically the tractor version of an early D8/early D9

I ran an Insley K machine back in the 70s. Brought bsck memories. I was only 20 years old. Cluches. Brakes. Levers oh my! And cables.

Good to see ppl making America great again...building parking lots...in the middle of the woods...with equipment made during the Spanish-American War. Two steps forward and three steps back is apparently considered progress these days.

Charlie out buying "new" equipment...lol

now that's what I am talking about ... nothing beats the Old School equipment with pure raw Horsepower & pure cold hard steel for the job... Yeah " modern" machines can do the job faster,.. BUT.. I mean when you look at / watch these beasts at work and consider they are still going strong & getting the job done and their age .. and compare it to today's modern equipment made with all electronics, hydraulics & cheaper steel & parts and their lifespan / and how many average work hours they last before something goes wrong (in many cases if anything electronic / electric goes wrong the computer shuts it down automatically) there is no comparison ( like my Grandfather ( who used to operate an old shovel) would say ... the less electric / electronic / & other junk you have on the equipment means there is less that can go wrong )

Looking good as usual glad the hurricane 🌀 missed you too and excellent video 👍😎🇺🇸NY

Growing up my dad had a Bcyrus similar to the one shown. He had the Hoe, dragline and shovel booms for it. Later on the be replaced by a Bantam Shield and a Link Belt drag line. All cable driven, talk about exercise.... if dad said to do something you had better do it because if he ever grabbed you it was like having your arm in a vise. Miss those days...

That first Cat looks like it would push until it found itself up against a train

When grownups miss playing with Tonka toys in the sandbox

You should go to Denton North Carolina Thrashers event July 4 week. Great old steam stuff and show.

As a kid, I use to watch these monsters work. Now at 66, I have only fond memories of America's greatness.

Love seeing the old iron

Why no covers on some of the dozers? Which hand held the umbrella when it rained or the parasol when the sun was out?

those cable cat dozers were hell when you "double blocked " them we had all this stuff in the early sixties I was an oiler one year on a Bucyrus Erie 32B local 4 Boston Mass. the old Northwest shovels were the worst when the linkage got out of wack you needed arms four feet long to run one

i love the fixed curl on the excavator and wow was that thing violent when he strechted it out so cool to watch

Man those old machines are cool

I like, at least no oil leaks, filters or hoses to break, no rams or hydraulic pumps to fail, no costly oil refills or costly electronics plus they are environmentally friendly, the excavator although slow is still a useful machine.

Ran a D7 back in the 70's cable blade & power shift ?

I've been retired for a while now but when I started running equipment everything was cables,hydraulics were out there but it was some time before I was able to get my hands on them

Wow!! Thanks. I have only seen pictures of these.

I could listen to the distant drone of these beasts forever.

nice to see the old iron still working ..

My father use to drive a dragline digger with the bucket on steel wire cable use clean silt & mud out of streams & rivers looked like there was an art to putting the bucket in the right place he could throw the bucket right up under a bridge without touching it

I remember as a little kid watching bulldozers and other types of heavy equipment all having cable controlled blades, etc. The weight of the blade controlled down force, unlike today hydraulic controls give two way control.

2:00 wonderful to see the vintage equipment doing their thing...funny how the modern day stuff doesn't appear to do it any better despite the change to hydraulics.

I would imagine it is like comparing modern airplanes (joystick) to fly-by-wire - in those machines you can feel the machine - the revs of the engine - knew when to add more power, or less blade.

Wish I could find something like that around here in N TX

This just shows how game changing hydraulic systems are

There is A couple cable excavators like that in A construction company’s yard on my street. They were still using them in the 80’s

I remember these well.

That old D6 is running clean and pretty quick too.

That is bad ass. A fan from Montana

Playing in the sandbox is always fun

Old school side by side dozing... nice.

I lost count on how many of these old iron I've cut up for scrap metal over the years at many strip mines ..here in North eastern Oklahoma..

Imagine what an awesome sandbox toy a mini version of this would be if driven either electrically or with manual winches.

Can't beat the sound of that old iron just working away.

Great video. The cable machines are a D6 and a D7. What is the hydraulic dozer?

Hard to imagine even older excavator technology than this built stuff like the Panama Canal. Makes ya realize how far technology has come in just 100 years.

Hey, 4 in 1 buckets, power angle blades, self levelers, etc etc,,, have made the business much easier... However, the skill level of the "older" operators was extraordinary...so much done with so little and few "aids"

¿Como he llegado aqui? Es increible! ¿De que año es?

so on these cable operated did they rely on gravity and weight of the boom and bucket to dig down and the weight of the dozers blade kept it on the ground and cutting down?

You would go nuts if you had to run that stuff all day my dad did when they built the Gwinnett airport

TRABALHEI MUITO COM ESSAS MÁQUINAS ANTIGAS, DA SAUDADA.

very cool equipment! have you ever been to the coolspring show in florida? they have some of this type of stuff there too

That open station D6 is sweet.

Hey Chris how great of you to show your first excavator you used. Lol God bless