CAT 374 transport modification

www.amazon.com/shop/onfirewel...

[@westerntruckandtractorrepa1353]

You know that lower eye is gonna get ripped off. Take care bud.

[@OFW]

It definitely won’t last long. Just doing what the customer wants. Lol

[@michaelmcdonald6727]

Hey you know you’re famous when Warren comments on your video. Important to keep the customer happy! Thanks much for the video

[@dmk1529]

An inch is an inch. When transporting, an inch can save you 100 miles!

[@dirtfarmer7472]

@@OFW And the customer is always right even when he’s wrong !!!

[@neilheriot2361]

Up here in B.C , some truck drivers are not measuring their load heights. When they get out on the road their loads are smashing into over passes. Nice work , quick and simple.👌

[@GNaron]

Back in the 90's I ran a Komatsu PC 650-5 with a 10 yard bucket on it. The bucket empty was 14,000 lbs. It had to have the stick and the bucket removed to be transport it on a 9 axle. The bucket pin was about 10" around and 3' long probably weighed 300 to 400 lbs. We used the end of the service truck boom to push the pin in and out.

[@oldpete3153]

Being an operator and a low-bedder I personally would just load the hoe then pull the pin only and pin backup at destination. Over the years I've seen shit happen and the loss of stick function should definitely be held to a minimum as in after loaded and tied down then pinned up before unloading.

[@bradleyfitkin4141]

I've seen the weld bead run off on ag equipment on another channel. That person explained it as a stress relief.

[@regsparkes6507]

The bucket cylinder/ram is taking some nasty abuse here isn't it? 'Ouch!'

[@OFW]

That’s is nothing compared to what happens when they run it. The ground was very soft.

[@regsparkes6507]

@@OFW I am an operator, and yes I have a fair idea of the conditions that the stick etc. can be submitted to. The sand and dirt on the ram and seals not to mention the side stresses / loading of the ram as it's pushed against the ground, is what made me wonder aloud, so to speak. :)

[@rildain76]

That’s what I was thinking. I’ve seen plenty of CEE videos where they have to replace the rod and sometimes even the barrel due to scratches. Wouldn’t think an owner would intentionally want to be pushing it into the ground no matter how soft. I would think you could accomplish the same thing with a ratcheting chain hoist without having to push the stick into the ground. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@regsparkes6507]

@@rildain76 Aye!

[@mponce661]

Putting a lot of trust in that sling

[@MrRebar15]

*On Fire Welding* Bravo well done, thank-you sir for taking the time to bring us along. GOD Bless.

[@Chad-qe6yv]

The point of knocking the pin out is to get the height down. But generally you want the stick and boom to touch in the joint. With that big bucket not really gaining all that much because the teeth are hitting the boom. In certain situations where there is no quick coupler I've had to knock the 3 center teeth out to get them to tuck all the way up.

[@hubertrobinson8825]

I think that is to keep cracks from happening at the edges of the welds I might be wrong I'm just thinking out loud

[@terryperrott9913]

Yep,it's a height when it's on a beam trailer to clear like bridges- over passes . Good job

[@Bigmike3406E]

Job security buddy . You know they are going to hook something way heavy to it and When they tear the eyelet out of the stick, you get to replate it and weld another eyelet on .😊

[@bobtrailers4561]

Say when you pull the stick cylinder pin out like that, you got to make sure the rod doesn't smash down into the stick and ding the rod up. It's best to put a block of wood under the rod so it doesn't get dinged. Also when you smashed the bucket cylinder rod into the dirt like that if there would have been a rock in there she would have been a reseal job. And a re-chrome job.

[@frfrpr]

Seems like a good-sized bucket.

[@crbrepairmotorcycles6608]

It gets transferred to the border to help build the wall ,I seen a video of 4 of them lined up holding sections and placing them up

[@gregolson1824]

Most long reach machine have this, its to get your height down. If you end up redoing this after the rip the lower eye off, I would suggest moving it up the stick farther. Like right under the cat logo on the boom and make a rigid bar to connect them instead of a strap. More of a PITA to connect but you can make it so the rigid bar hold the boom and stick apart just enough so the teeth aren't bouncing on the boom as it goes down the road. Great content as always, still waiting for the cheap line bore setup review.

[@Chad-qe6yv]

On a long reach it's to make it rigid for transport. So it doesn't sit there and put all that shock load on the cylinder and joint between the stick and boom

[@jackdawg4579]

The extended welds move the HAZ typical fracture area away from the high stress points, hopefully making crack formation less likely in the future.

[@Jdigger4130]

Man, I know ZERO about welding but love machinery and trucks, esp in Ca... W that said OFW, you are an amazing channel to follow and watch. I really dig yer whole style. Glad ya take the time to share yer livelihood w KZbin. Def giving first class vibes and it's clear why yer thriving! Cheers from Santa Cruz

[@johnpope4464]

Like the way you turned out the welds

[@BruceBoschek]

Interesting job. I always enjoy seeing your service truck. It always looks so clean and well organized. Thanks for the video!

[@stevenakn1]

Pretty cool project, nice overhead welding man👊

[@iainkinsella4708]

Cool, great video! Love the detailed explanations of things

[@danielpullum1907]

Your kind words about my former employer was nice. As always the customer may not always be right but they are still the customer and you give them what they want. Some of the stuff you do "by yourself" makes me laugh because I am confirmed "do it by myselfer"!!!!! God Bless ya Brother.

[@woodartist2021]

Well done addition for transport. Thanks Greg for your variety of content. Each job you post helps us less experienced welders than yourself learn how you approach the job at hand. I am most sppreciative!

[@donsmith9081]

Finally an easy one! Good job as usual, Greg.

[@sjohnson1776]

Customer satisfaction is worth it's weight in $$$$$$. Nicely done!

[@jeffo881]

As always, thanks for sharing, always learning something on this channel.

[@johnw4590]

On the East Coast, we remove the stick, counterweight, and catwalk for 374 transportation. Even removed the boom on a few dredging units.

[@SPEEDY-FABSHACK]

Cat knows a thing or two about a thing or three. Sick welds 👌

[@DaveImagery]

Love your channel!

[@12Georgia83]

Cool, good skills bro. Retired IUOE here 👍.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Welderfabber spent a few minutes in his last video showing a bracket that goes in the hitch, and with the hitch all the way curled in has a lifting eye hanging in clear view of the operator. Might be worth a look.

[@mykalmcb]

That lower eye will allow this excavator to become the concrete barrier moving machine. Nice work!

[@dirtfarmer7472]

It already has 1 on the back of the bucket, I think that’s what I saw.

[@carloskawasaki656]

Awesome, thank you for sharing and your explanation are awesome 👍👍👍👍

[@user-yr5ee9vm9e]

It was a quickie I think she liked it Great Vid 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@ypaulbrown]

good day Grag, hope all is good for you...best regards, Paul

[@jaymarshall7632]

Thanks for your videos.

[@christopherw4527]

That ram in the sand scared me a touch. Didn't know you could get away with that. I imagine that is the reason for the thick soft sand base?

[@BullseyeConcreteServices]

I noticed that in the thumb nail and it’s part of the reason I watched

[@george8873]

I think that piston rod has a lot more issues to be worried about other than being in the sand for a bit, lol. Look at it @ the 10:00 mark. Looks scarred up already.

[@Jcreek201]

@@george8873 Pretty sure that's just wet sand stuck to the rod, not scarring. That much missing chrome would be blowing seals left and right.

[@a-fl-man640]

i was just getting ready to ask about the angled ends of the weld bead when you explained, i was ready to pause and comment, thanks. never seen that technique before. i could see them bouncing the hell out of that strap unless they're careful.

[@scotthultin7769]

61 👍's up on fire welding thank you for sharing 😅

[@allenbrown7820]

Great job! Hope the Cat yellow paint sprays better than JD yellow. The JD yellow seem to get on everything including the person spraying it. Be Safe!

[@glenngosline3303]

Great job again

[@segomatu7063]

Salut de la France ! I like your job and your channel, but here on this one ... Just to say (as an ol' timer of Public Works and earthmoving), a simple piece of wood under the end of the bucket cylinder would have been much better for the sake of that big girl ! Anyway, no big beal Buddy ! Keep on Rocking !

[@SootyDiesel81]

We do the run off on semi trailers here in Australia

[@OregonCrow]

thanks dude

[@theessexhunter1305]

Think i would have made a dog bone type strap as no stretch

[@duck0fdeathc336]

Normally when they transport these they wrap a Chain from both boom lift cylinders under the stick . Might be a little slower that what you did but it does require welding

[@chaseallen808]

Good job

[@alanclark639]

Yeh, my old mate who spent some of his youth recovering 8th Army tanks while Fritz and Helmut were doing the same on the other side of the same jebel for some of theirs - always ran stress relieving out and away from regular beads - reckons that's what the Jerries had done and their kit made ours look rather Mickey Mouse. See you're on lonely money again - middle of nowhere - I do hope you keep yer cell phone charged up and near to hand messing around with this big kit!

[@Myfamily1964]

I thought those pass on those brackets wasn't enough . I would think you would typically use three passes and the bracket seemed to be a little small for what they do in how long they'll last.

[@MySynthDungeon]

Coffees on!! Cheers!;-)!

[@dadyo63]

No preheating before welding that high tensile ,just wondering

[@paulusmarc]

Bon Boulo 😆😆👍👍

[@raycorb2938]

hey greg if you disconnected the ram from the bucket also would the bucket be able to roll tighter to the back side of the stick maybe giving you even more room or undo the hinge brackets on the bucket altogether allowing the bucket to fold all way back or take buckett off totatally ? all kinda room then

[@OFW]

Maybe. I was just doing exactly as the customer asked.

[@Dmbyers2002]

Buy a big gearwrench indexing prybar for pulling pins. I have one that extends to 48” with a 6” prying end. Paired with a 2x4 block to extend how far you can pry, it’ll change your life.

[@OFW]

I have one

[@baar6892]

does the extra weld on the ends provided additional strength or something or is it just decorative?

[@OFW]

Helps with cracking

[@markwarley3194]

Hope there was no stones in the ground under the bucket ram as that was forced into the ground like it was, that would have wrecked the ram rod and been more costly then the welding and pin removal cost.

[@OFW]

It’s subjected to much worse than that when it is running. The ground there was extremely soft. I put barely any pressure on the ground.

[@viktoriyamalavola6041]

​@@OFWidk why you think it's subject to worse when running? No offense but when running even at full power the ram is always going straight back and forth. When you did that you put side load on it that can easily bend the ram. I had a leaking cylinder from just some ten-thousanths out of round. Those seals fail if that ram isn't perfectly straight. Also I wouldn't say you put hardly any pressure that boom and buckets weigh somewhere from 8k-12k lbs and then you walked it forward creating more stress. That's a tremendous amount of side force for somthinf that isn't made to take literally any. Again no offense but you shouldn't ever do that again. Even is the operators don't take care of it don't be like them. Those cat cylinders that size cost over 20k you don't want to be responsible for having to buy one!

[@mjk8710]

Hey Greg sounds your suffering a man flu /cold situation on your work schedule FairPlay sir ! Outstanding Greg keep this sh1t up 💯🫵🏻🇬🇧👋🏻

[@OFW]

Yes, I do have the flue at the moment.

[@raganhayes4924]

Do you wire weld everything? Haven't saw you use a stick. Obviously those are some strong welds.

[@OFW]

I try to use wire as much as possible. I do stick weld when I need to.

[@johnpope4464]

They weld it like that to help prevent cracking

[@steveanderson4768]

That’s a real simple way to make a few hundred bucks in your pocket depending on how far you have to drive

[@roadsideservice2406]

👍

[@Freedomfabrication777]

Just curious, why did you taper your welds outward on the long side of the picking eyes? Does it have something to do with trying to eliminate somewhere that a crack could potentially start?

[@OFW]

It helps with stress and cracking.

[@victorjeffers1993]

Wow I was surprised that the strap help that ! What are those straps rated for ? May have invest in some of them for when I haul my farm tractor !

[@OFW]

16k I believe

[@victorjeffers1993]

@@OFW Cool deal I believe I'll invest in some of them

[@stevenakn1]

There strong as hell so long as there's no sharp edges to cut it. ​@victorjeffers1993

[@victorjeffers1993]

@@stevenakn1 Thanks

[@joannepeterson2631]

Perfect is close enough

[@HVACQualityAssurance]

Not a welder, and not trolling, but I'm guessing the 'run-out' of the welds is prolly a way of spreading out the load?🤔

[@aa999xyz]

don't they need something on the ground to give protection to the chrome cylinder on the bottom aren't they opening it up to be scratched?

[@OFW]

It’s exposed to worse when it’s running. The dirt was really soft.

[@dans_Learning_Curve]

How difficult is it to put the bucket? Would that give the same advantage? 🤔

[@OFW]

I think the idea is to not pull the bucket.

[@burgerboy13]

Wouldn't make a difference bucket or not. We run couplers on our 374s and still have to pull that pin to make height. How we do it is loop a chain from where to boom cylinders pin to the boom and run it down to the lifting eye on the coupler, or H link. @@OFW

[@joeandmichelle7375]

I got my welding ticket in '96. Obviously you knew your way around equipment but i have to ask, why don't you preheat stuff? Do you sometimes? Ive watched a few of your vids and i see it (or dont see it i should say) the torches come out and chase the moisture out of the steel. I cant be the only guy that asks so sorry if you've dealt with this before.

[@OFW]

I do preheat stuff when I feel it’s necessary. Sometimes the preheat part doesn’t make it into the video, which in return causes a lot of comments about it. I do not mind the comments, I like them all. Positive and negative.

[@Cancun771]

Do you worry about people getting hurt when they inevitably abuse the eyelet for lifting and it tears off?

[@OFW]

Yes and no. I think about it, but there needs to be some common sense used while working around these machines.

[@daskiier]

How do you decide whether to use mig or fluxcore? I’d think for the vast majority of what you do , fluxcore would be the obvious choice.

[@OFW]

I use hard wire for the thinner material and dual shield for the thicker material.

[@williams.7314]

On this episode of On Fire Machinery

[@middleway1885]

Noice... it wouldn't be fun to spray paint oneself (especiallyin the face)... lol

[@JohnChuprun]

Why not use those new wireless MIG torches? So much nicer not having any cables go to the torch when welding.

[@cortcam664]

It's so that they can go under overpasses, right?

[@OFW]

Yes

[@TarZan49]

I guess you have to understand how to run all kinds of equipment as well as welding.

[@michaeldavid2320]

You would think the high dollar enginerds at Cat would figure a way to do this as a OEM feature.

[@jimhoward4749]

never was good at overhead..used to repair semi trailers had a lot of burns in my pants down my boots and everywhere else in between sitting under the trailer there's no place to get out of the way

[@harkbelial]

That thing is yuuuugeee

[@watch1ngy0utub3]

Middle aged CAT got some new piercings, midlife crisis !

[@einfelder8262]

Needs a chain not a stretchy strap. Removing the teeth would be pretty easy too giving a heap more boom down travel if height is the issue.

[@OFW]

I agree with the chain. Removing a tooth would not change the situation. I just did exactly as the customer asked.

[@user-fq3mk4os7e]

Removing the teeth isn't "easy". Not a smart idea at all

[@einfelder8262]

@@user-fq3mk4os7e Oh dear, did I offend your highness? Finishing a sentence without a full stop is not a smart idea at all.

[@user-fq3mk4os7e]

@@einfelder8262 so should we address how stuріd your idea was or...? Also on top of it, I see you know nothing about those "straps". Those "straps" are called slings and are not some homedepot strap they are used in recovery and lifting situations and cost easily exceed 20k capacity. You must work in an office? 😅

[@einfelder8262]

@@user-fq3mk4os7e Oh dear, you are upset. Never mind pet. There's no difference between a strap and a sling, if you know the English language at all. Who are the "we" who want to address my idea? You and your doppleganger? Go back to your kindergarten class, mate, I'm not an American home depot shopper like you.

[@bmlennox]

use a blow dryer to help speed up drying time on those paint jobs ...

[@michaelreischman9429]

looks like the bucket cylinder Rod might of got bent when you let it down

[@OFW]

I highly doubt it.

[@Turfyfan]

First but love your work.

[@jameslopez407]

I believe 13’ 6” is the highest you could be on the highway , but I also believe that the width of this excavator is over width.

[@LJT7907]

In California you’re actually permitted to go to 14 foot legally. The trucking company I work for has 14 foot tall dry box trailers in California. And you actually allowed in California to go up to 14’6 on an oversize load without needing an escort vehicle that has a height pole on it. I suspect that’s why they’re doing it to avoid the extra requirement of having an oversized load escort with the height pole, because then the permits get more expensive as well as the escort fees.

[@Asomesauc]

14' is correct and 12' wide for wide load any big is a special permit.

[@dirtfarmer7472]

If I had of done it I would’ve used a chain & binder instead of the strap, but I’m old

[@stevebader6385]

Doesn't seem like that much distance was gained but i'm sure they wouldn't have you done it for nothing.

[@slg7300]

I thought the point of removing the bucket, stick and counterweight is for overweight

[@johnpope4464]

13' 3" is the overall highest it can be for trans without special permits

[@1leggeddog]

Looks to me if they need to do this often, they'd need a longer ram

[@2xKTfc]

Almost everything looks OEM and like a million dollars with a can of Cat yellow on it. Probably because the can might as well be as much...

[@electricsnut]

That poor bottom ram lol

[@OFW]

It’s a lot worse when they run it.

[@gfmikols]

Are you hiring?

[@OFW]

I am hiring welders with a high experience level.

[@sackvilleweldingservices]

An unusual task but executed expertly. Those elongated weld beads are to help prevent cracks starting where the weld beads would normally run around a weld on eye or other such joint.

[@Harry-ll2xm]

Why don’t they use a chain safety first

[@user-pi2nw5pf6y]

I like the new paint, however it kinda shines like a diamond in a goats ass

[@merkyworks]

For sure this bottom one will be misused and abused lol

[@sergeyveltistov352]

These guys will now be repairing the lower hydraulic cylinder because you scratched the chrome on the rod.

[@OFW]

The cylinder is fine.

[@user-rq3np2qo5s]

Жаль нижний цилиндр.

[@Cw49911994]

I think in this situation the best thing that could happen is make a pocket on the boom for the tooth to curl into and that will hold it plus no worries they will hook something and break it off or be used as a lifting eye or shackles and strap to keep up with.

[@HuntMountain06]

Second.

[@malinowygosciumg5158]

So what?

[@crbrepairmotorcycles6608]

🏆🏆🏆