I have been after a dragline or cable excavator for a number of years and was always hoping something would come up for sale that was a manageable distance from home and in decent condition. I would have considered any brand friction machine but had hoped for a Bucyrus Erie 15-B or something similar as it seemed like a nice sized machine to play with. I looked at a couple machines a number of years back but never ended up with any. See my thread from 6 years ago about another 15-B: www.acmoc.org/bb/discussion-d72/20929-bucyrus-erie-15b 
Fast forward to this year and I was finally able to purchase a 15-B that was located fairly close to home. It had been stored in the shed and last ran about 10-15 years ago. The machine  is very original and has my first choice of engines, the Caterpillar D315.
 
 
 

 

I loaded up my tools and supplies with hopes to get the Bucyrus running and walked out of the shed. It was one of the warmest days of the summer so the fan and water jug were the two best things I brought with me that day! I changed the pony oil and checked oil bath filters, Filled the diesel with coolant, Checked oil, Cleaned and gapped spark plugs, Removed and flushed pony fuel tank and lines, Added 5 gallons of fresh diesel. The mag had great spark and I was able to get the pony fired up with minimal effort. The butterfly for the throttle was sticky so I just had to set the RPM accordingly as it wasn't being governed. I opened all fuel bleeders and turned the diesel over until I had fuel and made sure it was building oil pressure and with the compression lever closed the diesel roared to life and settled into a nice steady idle.
 
 
I have very little time on a friction machine and have never operated a Bucyrus but luckily had the manual and gave myself a quick crash course on what the levers control. I slowly engaged the main clutch and watched like a hawk to make sure nothing bad was happening. The A frame was already pulled to tight against the house and my main concern is that was going to cinch in even further. Iv read that Bucyrus' have a tendency for boom creep. Luckily everything turned free and nothing started winding up uncontrollably. I was able to walk the machine out of the shed and to its location awaiting my scheduling for it to be hauled home.
   

A few days later I was able to hire a local excavating company to haul it for me. The machine started and walked up on the trailer with ease. We secured everything and got it ready for the short ride home.
 
 
Finally at it new home!

 

I parked the Bobcat next to the Bucyrus for a couple quick photos.

 

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!
"Crash course", eh? That one looked way too easy. How far was close? Beats having to dig one out of the woods on the side of a steep slope.
Tell us more about it; you have to be a proud new owner! JM

Hi, seyser.
Congratulations. Nice catch and thanks for sharing. It'z not even O.T. 'coz it has a Cat engine. Methinks you might hava lotta fun with this new toy.

BUTTTTTT, WHAT of the other goodies that we can see in the background of the last of your second batch of photos??????? One even had a bucket over the exhaust and another looked like it might be a crane or a dragline.

A kew-ree-yuss mind would like to know.

ENJOY.

Just my 0.02.

Juiceman - The machine was located about an hour away. Trucking costs add up quick these days so one always has to keep that in mind when buying old iron. I’ve been busy so haven’t ran it since I got it home last week but yea quite excited to have it. I hope to move some stuff around in the shed and be able to fit it inside. The many rotating parts will thank me.

Deas - I believe that is a Northwest dragline and a larger Cat scraper. Fun stuff.

Nice. I ran a few old BE's in the past. The Cat powered ones are my favorites. A friend had one with a screaming jimmy in it that I help him with a bunch of years ago. After running Cat powered ones the screaming jimmy never seemed right.      I ran a 15B that another friend has that had an IH UD9 engine. That was also a nice combination.

That machine is a real creampuff. I hauled it home from Aurora Illinois for the prior owner. It is a lower hour machine that was parked due to health issues and sat in the shed in Aurora for MANY years. It had sunk 1/2 way down the tracks in the shed. We had to shovel ramps each way and rock it to get it crawled out of its holes. I honestly think that machine has sat since the early to mid seventies, 90% of that in a shed.

Kracked1 - PM sent