Caterpillar Draglines

Long years ago my dad had a D2 he wanted to fix up (never did). Somehow he found out about a drag line being parted/scrapped, so we went to look at it. Of course it was a much bigger engine than the D2. The only part I remember recovering was a set of 3 Cat gauges mounted in their cast iron pod, in absolutely mint condition due to the indoor nature of the dragline's engine room. Wish I still had those.

Hi, Haberaj.
I would not by any means consider myself an expert on drag lines but I have operated several over the years. When you get used to the machine, and assuming that is in good operating condition, it is possible to be quite accurate with them. I never worked with a full electric one, only with diesel-powered units but I think that trying to drag an electric cable would be VERY high on my list of DON'TS.

I have also never operated one on shot rock which is pretty much the exclusive realm of the BIGGG fellas. But I have worked with dozers over shot rock and one of the things that I tended to keep a sharp eye out for was un-exploded charges.

They do tend to be high maintenance when working full time and operating habits can shorten or extend rope life markedly. That said, I would not be at all surprised if much of the greasing and lubrication these days is done automatically and the main thing with those systems is to not let them run dry.

It IS fun to be able to pull the bucket in close and then 'throw' it out beyond the tip of the boom for a bit of extra reach that you can't get with a long reach excavator.

Just my 0.02.

We have some good operators by us. Mike Furgason, owns a 22B very low hour machine and Bucryus 41 steam crane, restored better than new. David Pichardt runs our NW6 which he restored, he is a ACMOC member. Josh Johnson, has a older 22B and runs our Little Giant. Dale Barliss has a Bantam he is a ACMOC member. Most these machines are set either as Drag Lines or set up with clams. These are some of our operators.

running dragline was and still is my favorite. i never ran the big electric machines just the duty cycle crane draglines by American,Koehring,Insley,Bantam,Link Belt and B&E for the most part. i still have a Koehring that i run from time to time cleaning my farm ponds. used to load trucks a lot and if you have the pile and pit set up right i could load a truck faster than a loader.

I've never ran a dragline but when I was stationed at Ft Campbell, KY. we read a story one day in the Sunday paper about the coal fields in KY. So one weekend my buddy and I went up there to check it out. We first saw a 45 yd shovel and after we had checked it out, we went on down the road. We came to a new dragline that we found out was only 3 months old. The operator had just picked up a load of dirt and rock and was swinging it over his power cable, when a rock about 10" in dia. fell off and landed right on top of the cable. It cut it bad enough that the dragline wouldn't work anymore and the bucket just kept swing back and forth till it finally stopped. We walked up towards the machine to get a better look and to take pics., when the operator appeared at the door. He asked us if we would like to come inside and take a look. You don't turn a offer like that down, so up we climbed. I went first and when I got up inside the door, the first thing I spied was a wet-dry vacuum
cleaner. I was really surprised at that. The operator said it was a 120 yd, bucket and the cable was 4" in dia. He said there was a 180 yd, dragline on down the road but we ran out of time to go see it. The operator had to wit till a electrician could get there to repair the cable. He also told us that the 145 yd shovel was on down the road and that is what we came to see, so we thanked him and left. We went on down the road and came to the big shovel. A guy was outside working on it and asked if we wanted to go inside and look. We told him, you bet. So he showed us the elevator and we road it up 55' and got out and there was the operator right ahead of us, so we went and talked to him. A very interesting trip. This would have been in 1962. catskinner

When we built the 2nd phase of the coal fired powerplants in ND in the late 1970s there were numerous large electric draglines around. While touring them a number of times when they were down I never got to pull a lever. I did along with a few co-workers weld a 26 ft. long vertical crack in one of the main structural members of the house on the local 60 yard machine one Memorial Day weekend. It was near the rotating feet supports that drug the dragline along. The coal company could not risk moving it without the repair. They paid very well to have certified welders working that holiday weekend.
The other event I remember is when the county sheriff arrested a local lad that was trying to raise drug money by selling a section of the copper electric cable that strung for 3 miles or so across the prairie from the power plant to the 60 yard dragline. Under cover of darkness had taken a axe and after many chops succeeded in chopping out a 300 foot section of the 3 to 4 inch diameter cable. He hooked it up to his dads pickup and drug it home to further cut it up. It was easy for the sheriff to follow the black rubber snake tracks down the highway and right to the farmyard. The lad was fortunate in that the power had been shutdown to the cable that night in order to add length to the feeder at the dragline end. Any other time the cable stayed live and the results may have been different when he cut into the line.

I have had the pleasure of being around and on many of the largest draglines and stripping shovels ever built... Big Muskie, BE 2570WS, 2570's, 8750's 8200's 8050's, The "GEM" of Egypt" Sliver Spade, and several others, along with many rope and hydraulic mining shovels, trucks, mining dozers etc... Stories too many to mention here.....I would suggest you look on this Facebook Group...First ask to join it, and then enjoy the photos and videos, discussions etc... You can use my name. I posted tons of videos and photos I have taken over the years, in the last six months or so. As far as I can tell its the best page for stuff like that. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HSSA.US/

Have operated one briefly and poorly, and only up & down! (and not CAT)

Sharing only because the picture turned out nice.

Sue

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do you mean Bucyrus drag lines 😙. well when they brake they brake BIG. we do outside work for the local coal mine hear but can't take any pics as apart of doing the work onsite wish we could in are shop we make all the bucket rigging pins for them witch used to range form 3" pin to a 9"O.D. pin most are in the 5-7" range. they sold the little digger 2355 PH 25 yard and on tracks it now lives in Florida moving sand. so all we are left with are walking big boys (2) 8750 2570 9020 1570 and a 1800 waiting to be cut up. 70-125 yard buckets. i be leave the PH 9020 is the larges running drag line right now i think there are 4 or 5 in the land down under too. they did a tub job a few years they removed the hole tub the drag line sits on and swigs around and i got to stand under the hole house being jack up in the air that was a little unnerving to say the lest. the tubs are built like a ship with little man way hole thought out one can get lost down there. bucket teeth we used to sell them where 201 lb each. i do believe that they run on 30,000 volts Roger or that what the main power cable coming in. the mine has a custom 535 CAT skidder that they used to move the power cables with i seen some of the tracks and places it's gone it's amazing how far someone can take equipment when they don't own a bolt in them. still i would love to take it out for a spin sure looks like fun. i own a Northwest 25D with a CAT D318 sadly i have not put the boom back on her since i mover her home it's runs a 1 yard bucket. the pic is of the brass hitch bushing used on the CAT 777 to hall a mega 150 ton belly dump trailer it's about 22" O.D. we make them and the pic was of cutting the grease groves in the bottom 1/2 of the ball.