Clark 675 Loader (Dual 16V71 DDE Engines!!)

[mwilson]

Nice video regarding the creation of the Clark 675 Wheel loader. About 20 minutes long and interesting!! Starts with the 475 and then the need for and building of the 675...16V71 X 2 !!!!...happily turning diesel fuel into a beautiful noise..

 

[mwilson]

To put it into perspective...24 Yards in that bucket equals (2) 12 yard dump truck loads....

Two of this size....

 

[mwilson]

Detroit Diesel made the engine blocks capable of being coupled together. The 16V71 was comprised of (2) 8V71 engine blocks hooked together. I need to see if the heads were one piece or two..can't remember how they did that. The 12V71 had a one piece head which was simply from a 6-71 inline but don't remember how they pulled off the 16V....

 

[jhenderson]

Those DDs ran clean. I wonder what the fuel burn was?

 

[mwilson]

Those DDs ran clean. I wonder what the fuel burn was?

I would assume the fuel was going through it so fast it didn’t have a chance to linger long enough to smoke....

 

[JR]

Two things that amaze me after watching that video.

One, that a wheel loader of that magnitude would EVER be built without a cab - think ROPS on ROIDS

And two, the number of white collar engineers that were elbow deep in the assembly process. If only I could get engineers interested in their work like that. In 20 years I've not seen it happen.

 

[jhenderson]

No rops or fops, but I did see a hard hat somewhere. Probably one of the bits of evidence used to create OSHA.

 

[mwilson]

The 475 running around with not so much as an umbrella on it for protection struck me funny where it was in California......that must have been BEFORE they regulated everything to death OR they really, really needed that particular interstate....

 

[Wayne M.]

Fantastic video. Shows American ability pre globalization and NAFTA. Also surprising was how bare handed these guys were- even tacking stuff together. Not many gloves seen.
At the end of Fresh Kills landfill, we had a fleet of Payhauler 350 quarry trucks that had one V16 DD for power- exactly like this loader. They sounded like them too. Hearing this gave me flashbacks! We had a “few” Cat 992’s to load these trucks with. IIRC they had a 20 yard bucket.

 

[Jim W]

Two things that amaze me after watching that video.

One, that a wheel loader of that magnitude would EVER be built without a cab - think ROPS on ROIDS

And two, the number of white collar engineers that were elbow deep in the assembly process. If only I could get engineers interested in their work like that. In 20 years I've not seen it happen.

When I started at Caterpillar in the late 60's ROPS/FOPS or OPS (operator protective systems) as I know the system, was not a requirement on machines that were sold in the US of A. ROPS/FOPS was offered as an attachment on track machines and wheel loaders up until the mid 70's when they became a requirement for selling in the US of A. There are certain third world counties that even today do not require ROPS/FOPS on machines that are sold in their country. When I retired in 2009 Excavators still did not have a ROPS requirement but did have a FOPS requirement.

I use to design OPS stations for Wheel Skidders in the 80's and early 90's. I had to keep up on the design standards and practices if I was ever deposed for a LAWSUIT on these machines until I retired.

I lot of time UNION rules will prevent engineers from helping in the shop on a build. I have gone toe to toe with union stewards over this rule on the assembly line in the past.

 

[GCroyle]

That was pretty good and brought back a lot of memories.

1974 for 14 months I worked at Euclid Inc, Cleveland OH a shirt and tie job in the maintenance dept. fresh out of 2yr college. Laid off due to budget issues.

Euclid Inc. made earth movers, bottom dumps, rear dumps and coal haulers while I was there.

I walked into that noisy, spark making, chip making American factory and my jaw dropped. HUGE components, frames and beds being cut and welded, engines, transmissions, axles, monster tires, wiring harnesses being made, radial drills, horizontal mills, lathes, tracer ox/act cutting, every type of crane that you can imagine, press brakes, every type of welding that existed in the 70's including submerged arc that was shown in this video.

Euclid's logo was the Euclid Pioneer IIRC and I still have one in my shop. Seeing a frame dropped on the assy line, engine, trans, axles, wiring, hydraulics, bed, oh yeah BIG tires and a few days later, it roars to life. When I was there they made a couple of massive coal haulers and the customer spec'd a paint scheme theme keeping with the 1976 bicentennial celebration.

A bit of history, turns out about 10 years later it closed. https://case.edu/ech/articles/e/euclid-inc

American engineering, manufacturing, assembly and paychecks.

Gary

 

[JR]

Thanks for posting that link Gary. I had no idea anything like that ever existed in Euclid. I know where the Lincoln Electric plant is. 10-15 years ago they built a huge wind mill on site to power that very plant.

 

[GCroyle]

JR,

Euclid had plants across the street and Lincoln was just down the road. When Lincoln had their bonus day payday, there was no parking on the street to be had.

It was a bit optimistic IMO for a newbie Associate in Electrical Engineering to go into a shop like that, union to boot and troubleshoot the then in its early stages what we know now as CNC machining.

I had one short ride along in a 35 or 50 ton rear dump while an inspector checked off a few tests. Something about locking the brakes in gear, hitting to go pedal and watching torque converter temps.

Had a really great guy for maint dept Supt he knew everything about that place.

We had a real black friday in the plant one day. One of the big cranes travel buttons stuck and just went down the fab bay bumping its load into whatever, the BIGGEST press brake crank bushings crapped out and the outside yard crane got some serious bad fuel. the maint foreman was popping all his gaskets at the same time.

I went to Fond du Lac WI to train at Giddings & Lewis, big machining center builder. We got several new big boring mills and I was go between for our crew, the riggers and factory rep. All was well until they went for the main studs that secure the column to the base. Factory didn't ship them. So there is a 10' (?) tall column hanging off of a crane, the factory rep sucking Camels faster than ever and asking me for help. What ya need? He gave me a sample for size and pitch, told me the length and said gotta match the hardness too.

The guys at Euclid were pretty nice and tolerable of the newbie going all over looking at this and that. First stop incoming inspection for hardness test, determined grade. Then off to our parts dept and found that they were nothing more than a wheel stud for our trucks.

Now union shop and shirt and tie guy ain't supposed to do stuff like that but next was getting a half dozen or so all the way across the busy plant.

Stuck them in my pockets and made like all was normal as I strode the length of the shop.

Gave em to Camel smoker and he grinned. we didn't even go beyond the lunch brake that was called at the all stop where's the studs.

One truck was almost ready for delivery, final paint and all. Somebody stepped back and looked at the walls of the bed, one side was noticeably angled in. WTF! You should have seen how fast they managed to cut the bed, spread the wall and re-weld then back to paint shop.

It was a fascinating place to work and see the monster trucks they built. I've looked for videos and not a lot of good stuff a few but nothing like the video Mike found.

Gary

 

[NIsaacs]

Thanks for posting that link Gary. I had no idea anything like that ever existed in Euclid. I know where the Lincoln Electric plant is. 10-15 years ago they built a huge wind mill on site to power that very plant.

I think Uk and GM were related at some point? In the early 60's they brought a huge dozer with a vibratory ripper to show the county, as luck would have it they picked a rocky hilltop near our farm. I got to go watch it. The whole hill top just shook until they ripped the whole works off the back of the dozer, lol

 

[TFucili]

Probably a Terex connection, Nick.

 

[NIsaacs]

Probably a Terex connection, Nick.

Yup, you are right...long term memory loss

 

[GCroyle]

Euclid, Terex, White Motors, GM, Damiler Benz and Clark Michigan all are in the who owns it history as noted in the link. My time it was White Motors I'll have to look for old photo when they did an employee parking lot trade show.

This Euclid TC-12 is pretty cool, twin Detroits twin frames halves watch the stacks go up and down independent of each other and you can see the Euclid Pioneer logo on it. These were not being made when I worked there.

The parts that were being handled by cranes were so big that setting anything on a concrete floor would chip it and destroy it in short order. The entire plant floor IIRC was wooden blocks a little smaller than bricks, cresote treated looking things. They would lay them on the concrete floor and pour a sealer glue tar compound on it. Made a very resiliant floor. Until the roof leaked. the water would puddle and the blocks swell and made floor blisters. Not good. Usual fix was rip out and relay whole sections but some guy in maint got good at splitting out a row and letting the blister fall, patch and reseal.

 

[DonFitzwater]

My goodness......I know how long it took me to get the pinion shimming right on my little Dodge 1/2 ton.......I can't imagine how long it took to do that huge axle and third member!