Equipment Operator Thread

[skobylenski]

I'm a CAT mechanic in NH so i get to play with anything in the lot :-laf

-Stew

NH as in New Hampshire? Any chance you work for Milton road service and been sent to Kimball Union Academy at all for the new turf field cluster, er, uh... project? They've had service trucks here at least 3 days a week for the last 2 months.



Anyway, I work for KUA's grounds department so I get to play with MUCH smaller toys than everyone else who has posted, I. E. 3 Exmark mowers (Turf Tracer 60" and 48" walk behinds, which I love, and a Lazer zero-turn 60" , which might better be used as a boat anchor :-{} ), a Kubota ZD28 zero turn, brand new Kubota 5030 tractor, and a Bobcat S130 Hi-Flow skidsteer. Plus a bunch of smaller hand-held stuff. I'm also a bus driver for the school, so I have 2 Freightliner 28 pass. white cheese wagons with *gasp!* Cat motors in them, and a 44 pass. white cheese wagon with *YAY!* a mighty Cummins 5. 9 in it to play with.



(Secretly kinda jealous of all you guys who run that big stuff that shakes the ground from 200 feet away. )

 

[LSchulz]

A little off topic, but you live in Hartland? I'm going to school in Hanover, so you've probably seen us in your area a lot, mostly with white Sprinter vans towing a bunch of whitewater kayaks.



The equipment I've been running has varied over the last few summers. JD 200LC, Cat 315L, Cat 920. At home I get to choose between a few - JD 80, Ford 5610 (lots of brush hogging the last few days), and in the winter, a Pisten Bully 170D snowcat. Now if my dad hadn't sold the logging business, there'd be a lot more to play with...

 

[bmoeller]

I run various farm equipment, big and small. Some smaller heavy equipment (backhoes and smaller D3 sized track loaders). Pull a bullrack and grain wagon. Sometimes the flatbed or (smooth-bore ) tanker.

 

[yooper]

I'm a retired Operating Engineer Local 324. Forced to retire early because of health problems, but I did get 26 years of operating in.



I worked for a poured concrete basement co. My last crane was a 46k CCC truck crane with a conventional lattice boom P&H upper. It had a 50 ft boom and a 30 ft jib. We used them with a dragline so you could set forms close to the crane and for control on windy days.



When you drove it on the road we chained the jib under the boom and put it in the cradle over the front of the carrier. On the road the length was 67 ft in one unit.



It wasn't huge like the equipment some of you operated, but any kind of operating is enjoyable.



I was hoping I could work until I was 62 and get a full pension but life has its up's and down's. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.



Ed

 

[BILLVO]

I am a diesel tech at a coal mine in central ND and I get to play with all the REALLY BIG stuff. we have the worlds only 5 ch300 Kress coal trucks 300 ton capacity. and 2 250 ton kress trucks. we have 789 cat trucks 200 ton and 793 cat trucks 240 ton. komatsu 330m 80ton trucks. 1 5230 cat excavator 2 5130 cat excavators. a fleet of cat D11,D10 and 2 D9's. And lots of smaller equipment 24h cat motorgraders and 16g's. 657 E cat scrapers. the list goes on and on,

 

[BSwope]

I always tell people that i do what i did when i was 10yrs, and thats PLAY IN DA DIRT :-laf !!! Thanks for all the replys fellas and keep em comein!

 

[Dl5treez]

Today I got to play with:



Hitachi 550 excavator

Caterpillar D8K dozer

Caterpillar 972 wheel loader

Kenworth T-800 lowboy tractor

General 80 ton lowboy trailer with gooseneck, tandem booster axle, jeep, and 3rd lift booster. Somewhere around a 150 ton capacity setup.

Kenworth T-800 tractor with lift axle... . pulls a 53 foot Peerless drop center chip trailer.



Tomorrow something else will break--our 100 ton P&H crawler crane is going through a massive rebuild next door---I gotta take a camera to work.

 

[mrsnow]

By the way, do you guys have the 2- 20ft 1/2 inch chains we loaned to get that out? They never came back from that adventure and we miss them!

uuumm... yo no hablo inglés...

 

[mrsnow]

And lots of smaller equipment 24h cat motorgraders and 16g's. 657 E cat scrapers. the list goes on and on,

OMG! If your calling a 24H small, then the other equipment must be massive.

Where I'm from a 136,000# plus grader is not small :-laf

 

[BILLVO]

OMG! If your calling a 24H small, then the other equipment must be massive.

Where I'm from a 136,000# plus grader is not small :-laf

The 24h looks massive next to a 16g motorgrader,but is very small next to most all of our other equipment. We call them "Road Dozers" because the moldboard is about 3feet tall and 24 feet wide. it dozes dirt more than it rolls out a windrow in our sticky clay ground. It doesn't leave a windrow it leaves a berm. :-laf

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Are you current EO's happy with your choice of career?

I've always loved the thought of running machines like that for a living. How hard is it to 'break' into this line of work?



Matt

 

[Jim Fulmer]

Here you go!



[/IMG]#ad




Went through School in the 96' and I've been flying on it ever since for a total of about 4000 hours. Position: Flight Engineer Lead Instructor for VQ-3... ... . Yes that say Navy on the back!



Jim

 

[Pinion Twister]

Have to keep that 24 grader on the hard stuff.

Had a night shift guy decide he was going to blade some topsoil. That was a bad move, think they had a 7 and a 9 both to get him out.

 

[BSwope]

Here you go!



[/IMG]#ad




Went through School in the 96' and I've been flying on it ever since for a total of about 4000 hours. Position: Flight Engineer Lead Instructor for VQ-3... ... . Yes that say Navy on the back!



Jim

Hey Jim its no wonder your truck has 800hp, after takein off in somethin like that... id be board in a vehicle that didnt damn near break the seat off on a launch!

 

[CATCRACKER]

the only thing better than operating heavy equipment is owning them and playing when you want. toys we own 2650 link belt track hoe, d-50 komatsu (big boy), d3b cat dozer, john deere 450g dozer, john deere 5525 tractor with all the goodies old ford dump truck. we dont make a living with these we just use them around our property.

 

[RollOver_Pete]

Are you current EO's happy with your choice of career?

I've always loved the thought of running machines like that for a living. How hard is it to 'break' into this line of work?



Matt

Happy?. . Blessed is more like it... . I mean, how many people do you know who truthfully enjoy their job? I can't stand some of these holidays that keep me from working. When the weekend comes, I can't wait for Monday so I can do my thing. As far as breaking in to this line of work? Some common sense, balance, mechanical know how( legos)... ... and a taste for dirt . I started moving dirt when I was..... 2 or 3. Yeah, in the back yard with my Tonka's..... oh. . good times . Started getting "paid" for doing the same when I was 13. I'm doing what I've always wanted to do... . getting paid to play in the dirt :-laf . Yeah, I never grew up. I just got a bigger Tonka Toy

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Thanks for the comments...

Are the majority of the EO jobs unionized? What's a good way to get your foot in the door?



Later,



Matt

 

[BILLVO]

Some are some are not. The mine I work at is not and the pay and benny's are better because of it. But ND is a right to work state,As the Igrersoll Rand Bobcat workers here at the manufacturing plant are finding out now is that the union can guarantee you nothing except to be without a paycheck while contract negotiations are going on. HMMMM picket for nothing or work for $$$.



It is different at all company's.



Shop around EO jobs are plentiful,and pay scales are numerous also,from a little to lots of $$$.



Where I work starting is $26. 50/hr top is $33. 50/hr.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Thanks for the info.

I'm starting to like the sound of this.



Matt

 

[Tcolesanti]

I just ran across this thread by chance on a bum search. I have been operating the last 12 years of my life, 9 of it in the U. S. Navy SEABEES. I am an Equipment Operator First Class, I love my job, I get to run all kinds of equipment all over the world. I am Blasting/Quarry qualified, so I get to blow stuff up occasionally too. I have run a whole lot of different stuff from Cat 138H/140H, Champion 710/712, JD 570A/670A graders, Case 1150 Dozer, D5/D6/D7/D8 all different models, R's N's K's G's, you name it, Cat/JD/FiatAllis/Case loaders and excavaters, P+H, LinkBelt, and B+E laddice cranes up to 50 tons, JD 310/410 backhoe's, Cat Backhoe's, Cat 621/623 Scraper's, Cat 779 rockdumps, Ingersoll-Rand rock drill's, and too many tractor trailers and configurations to name. I love it, but slowly I am moving into the office because of my rank. I think after my 20 years is up I will probably get a job operating on the outside. Its the best job on earth.



Just remember guys: "Earth First!... ... ... ... ..... We'll mine the other planets later. "