A few years back I went to Metallica concert. My seats were up in the nosebleeds but that really doesn’t matter when you see Metallica as long as your ears work. Of all the concerts you could attend you probably never would guess that you would told to be sit down while watching the likes of Volbeat, Lamb of God(not that great) and the infamous Metallica but that is what happened to me. This is a HEAVY METAL CONCERT PEOPLE! Thundering guitars. Pyrotechnics. Songs with lyrics about the electric chair, armageddon and sanitariums! Of course you would find people who just want to sit calmly in their seat and play sudoku.
Below is a video of REAL heavy metal. The kind that can really crush and maim you with little to no effort required. No one will tell you to sit down so they can see the show. As I mentioned last week there was a large auction held in conjunction with the Empire Farm Days show. I’ve singled out some of the older bits of equipment for this video. Looking back I wish I had done a better job highlighting all the interesting details on these machines but for some reason I was running a marathon through the auction yard.
The first star in the video is a Cat 621 scraper. The pan contained a layer of dirt that had sprouted a healthy looking patch of grass. There were many other parts of the machine that had accumulated dirt from which other pieces of flora were growing. I’m guessing the last time this Cat did real work was more than a few years ago. Cool looking beast no matter how you look at it.
The next subject is a International PayLoader. You really don’t see to many of these loaders around anymore. I imagine parts are starting to thin out making them difficult to keep on the job. This Payloader had its fair share of custom modifications. Keep an eye out for the beer bottle fuel filler neck plug. Use what you have at hand I suppose? The cab of this machine was loaded with every type of insect know to mankind and a few others yet to be classified. They were all angry and looking to attack so I left them be.
Of all the machines in the video the Cat 977K track loader looked to be the best of the bunch. All the necessary parts seemed to be there but I’m no heavy equipment buff so I could be wrong. How do you determine the life left on an under carriage? That seems to be a popular way to gauge the vaule of an old dozer like this one. To sweeten the deal the 977K came with a “premium” bottle of starter fluid. Lets make a deal!
And finally we end up with a Koehring excavator which might be the rarest of the group. This machine comes from the wild times of the 70’s when every who wasn’t named Caterpillar was buying and merging in an vain attempt survive a shrinking market. The counter weight of the Koehring wore the name Bantam as proof of this turbulent time. I like the twin pod engine bay look of this excavator. The pod opposite the operator holds a Detroit engine while the other holds hydraulics. I only assume this as I didn’t bother to look. Much like the payloader this machine is beeeaaattt. If any major parts like the turntable are too far gone this unit probably will end up on the scrap heap.
