Unconventional Machine Shifting

These photos have been doing the rounds on the plant and machinery social media scene for a while now, so I thought I would share them here on the Digger Man Blog.

What do you do when you want to shift an ageing piece of equipment around on a jobsite, well according to the guys featured in these photos you just send in the Cat 988G wheeled loader to scoop it up in the front bucket!

The old machine in question is an American built Warner & Swasey G-880, a forerunner to the Gradall excavator, which works in an unconventional way using a telescopic movement, while the main boom itself is raised in a more conventional manner. This example was probably built in the mid to late 1970’s and was powered by a GM diesel engine of some 160hp. One would imagine that this machine has long since worked its last day, as there is clearly not much respect being shown to the old girl as she has been unceremoniously picked up and dumped elsewhere on the jobsite. Its impressive going by the Cat 988G though as the old excavator probably weighs in around the 24-tonne mark and if the photos are anything to go buy, the shovel coped well with the dead weight in the bucket.

The photo above shows another example of the G-880 which was being sold at an auction.