Here are some of the things I get to play with.

First the old standby D-7G bulldozer. All the ones the Army has were purchased in 1985-86 and have been rebuilt when needed since then, I expect to see them in the system for another 15-20 years at least.


This is what my unit has, the DV-100 Deployable Universal Combat Earthmover, or DEUCE. The DEUCE wieghs just over 36,000 pounds ready to roll, will do 36mph on the highway and will dig as well as a D-5 or ACE. The tracks are all rubber and tension driven.



The 130G Grader. Most in the Army inventory are standard models, the ones my unit has and the one below is a special sectionalized model, we can split it just foward of the cab to slingload or airdrop it as two pieces. Once again part of the big Cat contract of 85-86.

The 621B Scraper... virtually identical to the civilian counterpart except for camoflauge paint and blackout lights. The Army is fielding a sectionalized 613 now for light units such as mine so it can be air lifted/dropped. The 621's are also all mid-80's models.

The FLU-419 Small Emplacement Excavator, or SEE. Everyone loves a SEE except the operaters and mechanics. Thankfully the Army is testing replacements now.

The HYEX, a standard John Deere excavator, these have proven very reliable thus far.

The M9 Armored Combat Earthmover, or ACE. Design on this began in the late 50's, it was fielded in the 80's. They are a hydraulic nightmare, but get the job done.

And a few shots of the 21B's and thier 5-ton dump trucks.




And finally a picture of one of the two Grizzly prototypes, as it was unloaded and driven to its final resting place at the Engineer Museum. I really wish this program had never been cut.

bump..fixed a few broken links

Cool toys, maybe it's not a bad job?

That is some fun looking toys.

Quoted: Cool toys, maybe it's not a bad job?

It's a great job!

Thanks!


In August I was in Port Hueneme. CA...right near the Point Mugu SeeBees Museum.  Unfortunately it was closed to visitors due to heightened security.

I commanded a construction engineer company.
Talk about a maintenance nightmare.
The D7Gs are being replaced with D6Rs.  Just as the D8s were replaced with the D7E.

The duece and the ACE are interesting pieces of work.
The ACE is great in the offense, but don't try to dig with them.  You missed the absolute best piece of combat engineer equipment ever, the M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle
Boom, Mold board, 165mm Main Gun, M85 .50 machine gun, M240 coax.
.

Thank you Garand_Shooter for neat pix. Most of the earth moving machines look like the typical ones we see on a USA construction site.

Thanks for your service and Congrats on 5,000

The M728 is gone... there are some still in storage but none in service. It was retired anticipating the Grizzly to replace it, but then they cancelled that too.

They cut back funding on the D6R to replace the D7G's too, the bean counters figured it was cheaper to keep rebuilding the 7's, so I expect we will use them till Cat no longer supports them.

Boys of all ages enjoy earth moving equipment.

Thanks GS!

Those SEE's sure made short order of a foxhole, too bad they liked to tip over alot!

Are you a 62B?
didn't know about the D6Rs, that sucks.  They are a great piece of equipment.
I personally think all active duty combat heavies should be moved to the reserves.
That and it should be an all male branch again.

Quoted: Are you a 62B? didn't know about the D6Rs, that sucks.  They are a great piece of equipment. I personally think all active duty combat heavies should be moved to the reserves. That and it should be an all male branch again.

Used to be a 62B, 919A now

Yeah, we are Corps Light and have females only in HHC. Our MTOE basicly mirrors and Airborne/ Air Assault unit, yet they are not about to spend the $$ to send a battalions worth of USAR soldiers to either school. It would make more sense to have us as a heavy.

Rangers!  

congrats on 5k! cool pics!

Quoted: Those SEE's sure made short order of a foxhole, too bad they liked to tip over alot!

Tipping is the least of the problems.....

I got my hands on a couple of the prototypes for the replacement, and I think no matter what model gets selected it will be a huge improvement.

Great great great! This is the kind of stuff you just don't see everywhere.

So what are they replacing the proposed Grizzly with??? What are it's supposed specs?

the SEE looks like a very badly made unimog

Quoted: Great great great! This is the kind of stuff you just don't see everywhere. So what are they replacing the proposed Grizzly with??? What are it's supposed specs?

Nothing.

Quoted: the SEE looks like a very badly made unimog

It is a UNIMOG with a Schmidt front bucket and a folding Case backhoe. Assembled by Frieghtliner.

tagged

Quoted: Quoted: Great great great! This is the kind of stuff you just don't see everywhere. So what are they replacing the proposed Grizzly with??? What are it's supposed specs? Nothing.

What was the grizzly capable of?

Very! interesting.  I'm kinda hoping that I end up in an engineer unit.

Quoted: What was the grizzly capable of?

Grizzly: a heavy force obstacle breacher The Grizzly is designed to breach simple and complex obstacles. Mounted on a modified M1 chassis, it features a mine-clearing blade equipped with an automatic depth control. It can clear mines at up to 3mph. The blade also cuts wire obstacles. It is complemented by an excavating arm that can attack anti-tank ditches, log cribs and rubble. The system is required to clear a standard anti-tank ditch in five minutes or less. The Grizzly promises to provide the manoeuvre task force with a robust, survivable, and mobile breaching platform to use against wire, mines, tank ditches and log cribs. The Grizzly also will have a dramatic impact on engineer doctrine, training, leader development, organisation, material, and soldiers (DTLOMS). Finally, soldier survivability for both the supported task force and the engineer force will increase because of the Grizzly's faster breach times.

More here:
www.global-defence.com/1999/landsys/land2.htm
www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/grizzly.htm
Obstacle breaching was the primary function. Imagine a vehicle with a mine clearing/ bulldozing blade, plus a Gradeall style arm to reach out and destroy ditches, log obstacles, wire ostacles, roadblocks made up of vehicles etc, plus reach out and destroy or breach buildings if needed.

All that with M1 survivability and speed.

Caterpiller makes some damn fine equipment.
A 1963 Caterpillar SD-8 LGP still working for the US.gov in 2004 at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

The Caterpillar SD-8LGP – which stands for Stretch D-8 Low Ground Pressure – was built specifically for polar programs by Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., during the 1950s.

“Most of the machines were purchased by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army in the 1950s to 1960s era,” wrote Fred Kaiser, Caterpillar’s sales application engineer. “They were sent to Antarctica and Greenland to do the heavy towing work.”

They were designed to carry heavy loads across snow, featuring a special cold-starting ability and a 54-inch wide track instead of the 36-inch track found on modern equipment. They also had a drawbar pull capacity on snow of 30,000 pounds, compared to about 24,000 for the D-7 model.

“The design was optimized by increasing the flotation of the machine by installing a much wider track than a standard D8, but retaining the weight so high drawbar pull could be exerted even in soft underfoot conditions as snow,” Kaiser wrote.

All the extra heft meant some trade-offs, which is why the newer machines don’t try to imitate them.

“Everybody would rather go 20 mph hauling nothing or hauling a little than 4 mph per hour hauling tons,” Magsig said.

Caterpillar stopped producing the machines because military orders for them stopped, Kaiser wrote.

The design life of Caterpillar equipment is 10,000 to 15,000 hours without a major overhaul, he noted. He said overhauls typically extend the useful life of machines and “I think it would be safe to say the D8 LGP machines at McMurdo have exceeded their design life many times over.”

Part of the reason the machines have lasted so long in Antarctica is driving on snow and ice put much less strain on the bulldozer’s drivetrain than soil and rock, which the drivetrains are designed for, Kaiser added.

Thats a helluva machine, I would be interested in what weight lubricants they are running in it at those temps.