I Bought a 1947 FLYING Scraper! (Will it Run after Sitting 10+ Years?? )

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[DieselCreek]

What do you guys think of this neat old scraper!??

[pixienuggets]

This was my grandfather's scraper - that's my dad and brother in the video. My kids never got to see it run - until today. Thank you so much for giving this amazing piece of machinery the work it deserves, and for the privilege of finally seeing it run! Best of luck!

[jarmstrong]

That LeTourneau Scraper was manufactured in Longview, Tx. That company is still in existence and makes some of the largest loaders, dozers, and haulers on this planet. Additionally, LeTourneau University, a private school, is located in the same community and has a phenomenal reputation for educating great engineers.

[michaelatoz]

What the hell it has paint and was stored indoors. I'm so disappointed in you Matt😂😂😂😂

[DavidSellars-bl]

Been waiting for this video. Mr. Dale Hardy, formerly of LeTourneau, whom I hope is still with us, is probably the authority on these machines. I recall he had a list of all known surviving units.

If memory serves me, these were originally designed to use a one-ton truck for power (hence the rear tire size) but grew into requiring their own power unit. Dale maintained that no WWII cargo plane was large enough to air drop them in the final configuration. There were other small airdrop items made. Clark built a small crawler, Austin-Western, a grader, and LaPlante-Choate, a pull scraper. After the war, there were many of these units still state side for sale to the civilian market. Many were modified into such as waterpulls. Some received larger engines with altered front sheet metal. LeTourneau built many two drum PCU's and a few four drums. This was the only three drum unit. It is said that R. G. LeTourneau built more construction equipment for WWII than any other manufacturer. dave

[Martin.Wilson]

Matt, we need to talk. Your content is always great, no complaints there but I've got an incredible set of wrenching blue balls waiting for the "Overhead Crane" episode. The crane is there...the shop's got the right mounts in place and you just need to git er done. I realize it will be a huge project, but I'm guessing most DC fans would love to see a 3-4 part series of that bad boy going up. Please give this project a green light.

[lancefisher]

My uncle was a SEABEE in WWII and he mentioned these machines, it was really great seeing this one. Thank you for sharing

[KCobra]

Anytime scrappy industries appears in a DC video you know it’s going to be a good one!

[dashlamb]

In the early 70's (71/72} the Union Apprentice program I attended had many pieces of LeTourneau scrapers, dozers, and compactors. All purchased from military auctions. We (as young 18, 19, 20 year old's had a blast watching the frustration on our Instructors faces as we, at the flick of a switch, two blocked cables and watched them break. Of course, we had to help fix the broken cables while listening to the profanity of our wonderful and learned teachers. They're all gone now, I'm sure, but God bless those guys. Respect.

[intheshopwithcraig]

My brother has one, it’s still in its green. Still looking for the Clark dozer that pairs with it. Be sure to contact the registry and let them know you have it. Around 2012ish when we got ours, they said ours was the 100th located. Super cool scrapers.

[FlorpyMcScraggles]

I like having someone behind the camera and a buddy or two in the shop with you. Adds an element of comradery to the mix and makes the video much more enjoyable to watch. I've been with you since you were clearing this land in your first videos. Matt and the Semi-supervillains have come a long way. Great to see this kind of progress.

[Tomhohenadel]

Yeah, Matt comes through on Sunday morning. Always a pleasure

[peterharms]

Hey Matt, don’t ever feel silly about anything you do, you are us and we are you. The reason we follow you is because you don’t do anything that we haven’t or wouldn’t and the fact that you don’t disguise that is what keeps us all loyal to you. Thanks again for another great video.

[kble]

FYI my dad drove them on Okinawa build runways. they laid down metal fabricated that looked like running boards that locked together. then they used the turn around to spread sand over them to level them. My dad was a sgt in the 185th engineer battalion 1944. love all the things you do.i have a pic of him on Okinawa, i ll try to send it to you. thanks

[haydenwatson]

When I first saw this beast, my first thought was “I will bet that is a blast on a down grade!”

My very first time operating any type of tracked vehicle was on a WW2 surplus M1 Heavy Tractor [IHC TD18].

I was a newly minted farm diesel mechanic, and my first job was as THE mechanic for a farming and logging operation in the mountains of north Idaho. The first assignment other than oil changes was to “recover” the M1 which had thrown a track near the top of Yellowjacket Peak. Given that it was the log skidder it was the only vehicle that could get that high on the mountain other than a Tote-Goat. My boss drove that up there and showed me how to start the thing [start on gas then throw a lever to raise the compression and switch to diesel.] and said good luck. I needed to drag all of my tools and gear about a ¼ mile from the high point I could reach with my 4x4 pickup.

Somehow after a lot of reading of the manual, cursing and a fair number of tears of total frustration, I managed to get the track back on it and prepared to drive it down. I had never even stood next to a crawler before this and knew nothing about how to operate one. I assumed that it would have a hand clutch, and the gear shift was obvious. I figured that the two levers in the center of the floor were for steering.

It was pointed downhill at an angle to the skid trail. After some experimentation, I found reverse and was able to back it up and turn it so that it was pointed straight down the trail and dropped the blade for a brake. I put it into 1st gear, dropped the clutch and lifted the blade and off we went straight down the very steep trail. All was great for the first 50 feet, and I was thinking “I so got this!”
Then I came to a slight right turn and so I pulled on the right clutch lever. Instead of the gentle right turn I expected, the right side shot forward lightning fast and turned a hard 40º and ran into a 40”ø Doug Fir. Have you ever run 20, 000 lb machine at high speed into a 40” diameter tree? Well at least it felt like high speed but was probably more like 3-4 mph.

After some head scratching, I figured out “clutch = freewheel”, D’oh! I then proceeded to drive without further incident down to the bottom of the mountain when I again drove it into the ditch. I did not correctly anticipate the loss of cross steering when the grade became shallow enough for the thing to no longer roll on its own.

[johnsullivan]

Matt, I almost spit my coffee out when he asked about the hedge trimmer. Too funny.

[OldSloGuy]

On the antique stuff, manuals are the measurement of happiness with a project. Without the manuals you need two projects, the first one to learn on and the second one to restore it.

[Itsjustme-Justme]

There is machinery you have because you need it for work and there is machinery you have because you love it. This baby monster is for being loved and there's nothing wrong about it.

[parkerray]

When I was a boy in Iowa in the mid 70's, we had a farmer next to us that had an entire woods full of discarded antique farm equipment. I those woods, he had a very early horse drawn combine with a model T size flathead engine that only powered the combine and the whole thing was pulled by a team of Clydesdales. It still had the drawbar!

[REDBIRD-]

Those old Continental engines will run forever. My Dad has a 1952 Massey Harris Mustang tractor with the Continental engine. It never has been overhauled and it still runs😁