Vintage Track Building Equipment

[N22]

I started building our Motocross Track on the farm 40 years ago with a Cat D3 with a PAT blade,it has been improved over the years with various pieces of Gear from bobcats through to excavators.The last big change occurred when we cleaned out the 4acre dam in the middle of it,with the longreach Cat excavator,operated by another bike nut,and used all of the silt to build the track up.We can now catch yellow belly between "races".

However my favourite and most versatile earthmover is the 1960,Wabco D-Pull/Hancock Scraper which we bought as a wreck and rebuilt in 1983,powered by a GM4-71 with electric steering and
elevators,it was way ahead of its time.The Wabco can do the jobs of multiple machines,digging,carrying,levelling,compacting,and is especially good at building jumps.
 Checkout "Vimeo.com/27394481",there is some footage from the 2011 Trailride,which went around the track,with plenty of older XR's and TT's in action.

I like building tracks as much as riding them,and was interested if anyone else had vintage gear they still used,or tips,eg using the silt out of the dam,as it is great for holding moisture and following rain,is the best surface to ride on.

[Mick D]

Great read mate.
One of the most professional 2 min videos ever too.
Well worth the watch, cheers.

[nigmax]

Very cool vid,
I have a Thomas bobcat and a Massey Ferguson 698 to do my track chores, nothing vintage would love an old dozer to play with

[Mick D]

You blokes have some of the way coolest toys,,
A mere city slicker like me can only dream of,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[80-85 husky]

GM4 - 71---turn diesel into noise

ol mate resurrected a gm powered scraper many years ago, probably a Wobbly..i cant remember...it had electric steering (I remember that!) cause on its first test run it sopped working and the machine went beserk in the bush running trees over and finished in a ditch!
We were having hysterics till the driver walked back white as a ghost having heart palpitations...he had just missed the dam bank as well as a 4 foot thick gum tree by inches at full noise and it bellied out on a trench stockpile allowing him to hit the motor cuttout he had set up out the back!

don't get me started on Eric the Excavator....

[N22]

They were known as widow makers( the TM400 of earthmovers)because you have to have full revs for the electrics to work properly,which is a bit of a trap for new players,the steering winds around the ring gear at the same speed,so when you are travelling at 30mph,just a touch on the switch puts you in the ditch,the trick is to click over and back quickly,and at slow speed you can have a nap while it turns.If you get bogged when loaded,you can lift the front clear of the ground,turn it 90degs ,let it back down,and drive out.
   My standard employment test,is if you can use a shovel properly,and work out how to steer the Wabco,the job is yours!

[N22]

A yes,a runaway GM,they were built for landing craft in WW2 and were only expected to have a short life.They have mechanical rail(rack)fuel injection system,on a two stroke diesel,with a super charger,and when things go wrong the engine "runs away" and the only way of stopping it,is to block the intake,but if the cable is seized(and they usually are)you get it into neutral and run as fast as you can.Check out You Tube for runaway GM's.It reminds me of the time I rode a mates RM125 in a race when the throttle cable seized at full throttle,but managed to finish by pressing and releasing the stop button,talk about all or nothing,just like the TM400.

[80-85 husky]

beautiful...isn't the adrenaline rush of a stuck throttle "something else"