R 4 Overloader in Australia

Hola Sir Lancelot,

When I was a small boy and ran around bare foot, Tumbarumba Shire had a D4 fitted with an overloader. They were taking gravel from our farm and using it, unfortunately when they went to leave with it a small disaster struck. They loaded it onto a single drive short body tipper with drop sides on two long planks, as the truck pulled out from the loading bank it lurched and D4 finished up on its side on the ground. The good news was our near neighbour had a D4 7U and came to the rescue and righted it, then luck would have it, I was offered a ride on the D4 7U, wooopeee for a little boy.

The Mad Mouth From The South

http://www.museedelaroute.be/overloader/

Here is one that I think may be in Belgium. I am not smart enough to read what it says about it. I'm sure they are very rare on a R4. I have seen a few at shows here in the US, seems to be a mishmash of crawlers they are on. Always a rare site to see in any event. Grab it quick while you can.

Hi, Lance.
While I admit they are a rare beast, I can remember seeing at least 4 of them. Bruce Rock Road Board as it was way back when had one on a Fiat crawler in 1953-4. I saw one parked in the back of a council yard in Katanning, Western Australia, while I was dam sinking around that part of the world - couldn't tell what it was mounted on 'cos the bucket was down and facing the street. Third one was onna farm not far out of Katanning and was on what I think wazza D4 5T. The 4th was/is sitting behind the one of the sheds out at Graham Bird's farm onna Fiat crawler which I think is a 55L.

Further, in case you haven't 'figgered' it out yet, there is a VERY good reason why they are now like hen's teeth, rocking horse manure and honest politicians. They WUZ dirty mongrels of things. Another reason was that they had 'disfigured' the sides of more than just a few trucks.

Just my 0.02.

This topic was discussed a few times in the past. Do the advanced search at the top right side of the page.

http://www.acmoc.org/bb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15485&d=1280012548

Overloader on an Allis chamers crawler at Scoresby Steamfest .I remember seeing one parked at Cirrumbin creek many years ago .
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdic3k-0EAQ[/video]

Memory is a bit foggy but pretty sure there was one in the play area at Murray Bridge national NHMA rally a few years back. Should be a photo here somewhere.Cannot remember what it was mounted on. Also a local council had one a LONG time ago. The operator was always aware of the wind direction and trucks lined up where they were told.

Lance, I'm a little puzzled as to how anyone in Australia could buy a brand new R4 LeTourneau overloader in 1942, when it wasn't in production - and new equipment wasn't available to civilians, it was all needed (and produced) for the Military, for the War effort.

In 1942, even if you had a near-new item of modern equipment, be it earthmover, truck, or even a ute (pickup), it would have been commandeered for the duration of the War - and if you were lucky, you got some compensation down the track.
The reason so many blokes joined up, is because they had their jobs taken from them by the seizure of their equipment. The Australian military would stop you in the street, and take your near-new truck off you, on the spot, in 1942.

The LeTourneau overloader (called the Tournaloader) was produced in reasonable numbers, after WW2 - but during the War years for Australia (1939-1945), the military got virtually all the earthmoving equipment production.
You had to establish a "priority" case, to be able to buy new earthmoving equipment, tractors, trucks, or any other commercial equipment, from late 1939 to around mid-1944.
That "priority" reason had to be, that you were engaged in work, that was directly in support of the War effort, or the Military.

The overloader you speak of was more than likely produced from the Australian LeTourneau factory at Rydalmere, NSW, which opened in July 1941 - and the overloader was built, after the War ended.
The Rydalmere factory produced a wide range of equipment for both the Australian and U.S. forces during the War.

You can tell if the LeTourneau article was either produced in the U.S.A. or Australia, because the steel sizes are different, and the LeTourneau blueprints had to be changed, accordingly, for Australian production.
The American LeTourneau equipment used American standard steel sizes, and Australian LeTourneau equipment used British steel sizes, which were different to the U.S. standard sizes.
If you look closely, you will see either "USS" stamped on the American steel, or "BHP" stamped on the Australian steel, in the LeTourneau products.

From around February 1942, the U.S. military forces arrived in Australia in force (they docked in Melbourne), bringing a lot of earthmoving equipment with them - but mostly D7's, D8's and Carryalls, with a few Harman shovels.
I don't recall seeing any photos of the U.S. forces bringing in overloaders, but it is possible they brought a couple with them - but they almost certainly wouldn't have been LeTourneau overloaders.

I strongly suspect the LeTourneau overloader wasn't put into production until around 1946, as I can find no information on them in Wartime LeTourneau catalogs - not even photos of them in operation.
I have found the first public advertising for Tournaloaders in Australian publications, to be June 1946.

The preferred truck loading method at the start of WW2 was a Chinaman. A trench was dug, it was roofed with a hole in the centre, the trucks drove under the roof, and the crawler either dozed or scraped the material to the hole on the top side.

The Australian LeTourneau Tournaloaders came in two models in the late 1940's and early 1950's - and those models were listed as the 40A and the 60A. I believe they were rated at 3/4 yd and 1 1/2 yds.
The overloaders were virtually out of business by around 1954 or 1955 as better front-end loaders appeared.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C255749

Here are some more photos from the AWM, of Wartime operations, showing the truck loading methods used.

There are photos of power shovels, Trackson loaders, tractor front end loaders, and Chinamans - but no overloaders.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C26100 (Trackson loader at work)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C26088 (Trackson loader at work)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C10556 (tractor front end loader)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C240232 (shovel being "walked" ashore from Landing Craft, Labuan)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C197311 (construction of a "Chinaman", Borneo)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C207697 ("Chinaman" in use, Tarakan)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C48158 ("Chinaman" in use, New Guinea)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C194314 (TD9 fitted with hydraulic B-E front end loader)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C196904 (loading truck with power shovel, Labuan)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C19692 (loading gravel the hard way!)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C230548 (night loading of trucks in New Guinea, using power shovel - 1)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C230548 (night loading of trucks in New Guinea, using power shovel - 2)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C48567 (using the natives to load trucks! - New Guinea)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C77893 (loading truck with power shovel, New Britain)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C81551 (Engineer equipment used in RAEME training at Moorebank, NSW - 1944)

Hi Ozdozer, I agree with You on Wartime usage and thought to Myself that War Effort would have taken that Gear, He gave me serial no of Machine and it is 6G2647SP which is 1942 production and I did ask if it had any Green Paint and He wasn't sure but would Check. I just tried to contact Him about the Photos he said He would get For Me , but never made contact.
I may be in His area next Week , if it happens and I have Time, I will look at it personally LJ