Classic MachinesAnd Forgotten Manufacturers.

Hi Deas, At Macksville Weekend I was going through a Book Store Stand and I came across a Couple Books for a Le Tourneau Crawler , [Parts and service ] Picture Looked like tractor size of D7 or Maybe D8 bit hard to tell . Kicking myself now for not Buying them . I didn't know they actually made a conventional Crawler dozer , seen plenty LW12-16's and Tourna Dozers but they are Rubber Tyred of course .
what do You are Archives say ?? LJ

Hi, Lance.
Archives?????? I don't have any archives, especially these days since I started 'down-sizing' and getting ready to hit the road in the 'Popemobile'.

I have been told several times that R. G. never did make a crawler anything and I have never seen anything anywhere to say that he did. I suspect that if anybody who contributes to this BB might know, it would be Phil Gowenlock.

Can you remember the name of the mob on whose book stand you saw that book? If you can, you may be able to look them up online and ask them about it.

Some people in the past have attributed this jigger to LeTourneau:

[attachment=44688]Original clipping Tracked Jungle Crusher Re-sized 75.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44689]48-Crawler-Crusher_1_Captured.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44690]Crawler Crusher press photo_1_CFC.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44691]Crawler Crusher press photo_2L_CFC.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44693]Crawler Crusher press photo_3A_CFC.jpg[/attachment]

How-wevver, it was not LeTourneau but a company in either Fort Lauderdale or Leesburg, Florida, named Gregg, Gibson and Gregg who had it built for clearing work on the now long abandoned Cross Florida Canal project. It would have been quite the beast in its day. I suspect that the engines may have been Cat D353 engines as fitted to the D9D but have no definite information on this.

If anybody has any more information on it, I would be very grateful if they would share it here.

Just my 0.02.

Looks kinda like a FLECO Corporation (Florida Land Clearing Equipment Company) cab on there, possibly they built it. They were out of Jacksonville Fl. I would think around that time 270HP would be D342 (D8H engines) engines. Gary

Hi, Rome/KG.
As I understand it, that machine was built around 1956-57 as shown in the first photo, not the 1967 build that is quoted in the second photo. That would put it in the D9D era when the D353 engine was at 260 HP.

I AM open to 'kee-wreckshun'.

Just my 0.02.

Hi, Lance.
Archives?????? I don't have any archives, especially these days since I started 'down-sizing' and getting ready to hit the road in the 'Popemobile'.

I have been told several times that R. G. never did make a crawler anything and I have never seen anything anywhere to say that he did. I suspect that if anybody who contributes to this BB might know, it would be Phil Gowenlock.

Can you remember the name of the mob on whose book stand you saw that book? If you can, you may be able to look them up online and ask them about it.

Some people in the past have attributed this jigger to LeTourneau:

[attachment=44688]Original clipping Tracked Jungle Crusher Re-sized 75.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44689]48-Crawler-Crusher_1_Captured.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44690]Crawler Crusher press photo_1_CFC.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44691]Crawler Crusher press photo_2L_CFC.jpg[/attachment][attachment=44693]Crawler Crusher press photo_3A_CFC.jpg[/attachment]

How-wevver, it was not LeTourneau but a company in either Fort Lauderdale or Leesburg, Florida, named Gregg, Gibson and Gregg who had it built for clearing work on the now long abandoned Cross Florida Canal project. It would have been quite the beast in its day. I suspect that the engines may have been Cat D353 engines as fitted to the D9D but have no definite information on this.

If anybody has any more information on it, I would be very grateful if they would share it here.

Just my 0.02.

[quote="Deas Plant."]Hi, Lance.
Archives?????? I don't have any archives, especially these days since I started 'down-sizing' and getting ready to hit the road in the 'Popemobile'.

I have been told several times that R. G. never did make a crawler anything and I have never seen anything anywhere to say that he did. I suspect that if anybody who contributes to this BB might know, it would be Phil Gowenlock.

Can you remember the name of the mob on whose book stand you saw that book? If you can, you may be able to look them up online and ask them about it.

Some people in the past have attributed this jigger to LeTourneau:



How-wevver, it was not LeTourneau but a company in either Fort Lauderdale or Leesburg, Florida, named Gregg, Gibson and Gregg who had it built for clearing work on the now long abandoned Cross Florida Canal project. It would have been quite the beast in its day. I suspect that the engines may have been Cat D353 engines as fitted to the D9D but have no definite information on this.

If anybody has any more information on it, I would be very grateful if they would share it here.


Just my 0.02.[/quote]


Deas, the only "crawler anything" built by R.G that I ever came across during my research for the books was the tractor-drawn track-mounted Telescopic Scraper, said to be #3 LeTourneau scraper. It is the one at Mickie-Grove Park in Lodi, C.A. and it was still there when I dropped in after BOTW in June. R.G and Kaiser built a few more Telescopics so that machine at Lodi (and the variants of R.G and Kaiser made) is the only R.G LeT machine that I am aware of, that has crawler tracks.

Hi, Ozphil.
As I understand it, the one at Lodi started out as one of LeTourneau's first attempts at making electric powered wheels. He built the whole scraper on 4 powered electric wheels - and it worked - sorta. It loaded, travelled, dumped AND returned, ALL at the blinding speed of ONE mile per hour. Another contractor said to him, "I think you oughta get a tractor to pull that."

LeTourneau then ripped the wheels off, put tracks in their place and rigged a tractor with a generator to power the electric telescoping sections of the scraper and its hoist and away he went, moving dirt like nobody ever had before.

I didn't know that he and Kaiser had built others later.

Just my 0.02. (AND open to 'kee-wreck-shun'.)

[quote="Deas Plant."]Hi, Ozphil.
As I understand it, the one at Lodi started out as one of LeTourneau's first attempts at making electric powered wheels. He built the whole scraper on 4 powered electric wheels - and it worked - sorta. It loaded, travelled, dumped AND returned, ALL at the blinding speed of ONE mile per hour. Another contractor said to him, "I think you oughta get a tractor to pull that."

LeTourneau then ripped the wheels off, put tracks in their place and rigged a tractor with a generator to power the electric telescoping sections of the scraper and its hoist and away he went, moving dirt like nobody ever had before.

I didn't know that he and Kaiser had built others later.

Just my 0.02. (AND open to 'kee-wreck-shun'.)[/quote]

Hi Deas,

Kaiser won the earthmoving on Philbrook Dam in the Sierras. So he bought the patents to that machine design from R.G. He then hired R.G to build a factory in Oakland to buiId tracked-telescopic scrapers for the Philbrook Dam job. R.G later bought the patents back. Here is a pic from the San Joaquin archives of that same machine (said to be #3) on Roberts Island - that is now at Lodi.

Hi, Ozphil2.
If the one now at Lodi was indeed #3, it is unlikely that it would be the original self-propelled electric drive one that R.G. converted to tracks and put a tractor in front of. Thanks for the heads-up.

Just my 0.02.