Insley Dragline Crane - Engine Tuning and First Moves in 20 Years! - Part 3

Based on the mostly negative feedback for the "premier" feature, I cancelled it and made the video live. I thought it was kind of cool to be able to chat with the viewers, but I probably will not try it again.

Thanks from an old mechanic. You keep doing what you're doing. And remember, "Don't let stupid people ruin your day."

"I'm willing to milk a couple more videos out of it". I like that,....refreshing honesty. 👍😄

Pretty cool to see an old Insley run. I am one of the owners of the parent company that used to own Insley and I personally ran the facility that last made them in Minnesota called Badger equipment. Ironically I noticed you mentioned a Pierce governor, it just happens that our company owned Pierce as well. I am glad to see someone get one of these old girls running again. Looks like fun.

Thank you I absolutely love this project. I had the good fortune at age 17 to operate a very old link belt drag line. It was the same size as much I can now recall. It had been converted to be just a crane. The original engine had been repowered to a 400 cat diesel. Your crane is much newer in design. The link belt I operated had large drum and brake system with esentric yoke the sinched a brake band around the drum. All functions where controlled by three or four levers. There were piped coming straight up out of floor of the cab. Chains with bull rings came up through the center of the pipes. You would pull up on the rings and rotate them 90 degrees and perch them into different cut outs on the interior walls of the tubes to change the functions of the levers. There 2 or 3 petals on the floor also. One I distinctly remember held the lift cable. I and another guy took turns hooking and operating the crane. We were standing under 10000 pound steel boxes of fine ground ceramic brick dust. Ron was a Vietnam Army Corp of Engineers Veteran. We had to trust one another not to lift off of that cable brake pedal while the hooker was removing the door locks at the bottom of the containers. They called them jim boxes cause the material came from a johns and mansfield fire brick plant. We used it as a filler for a product that was applied to the walls of underground coal mines to seal them and also it had something in it that would detect methane gas by turning color. Just like I notice your house movement the levers get pulled and you have to catch them and push or pull them the opposite way. The crane I ran was a different animal everyday because of the temperature and humidity. The bands would grab or slip. You had to use both hands or it could get away from you. I being young and Ron being used to crazy dangerous stuff from the war, we made a good team. Sorry to go so long you brought back some very good memories. Thank you again.

I have an incredible amount of respect for the guys that ran these things back in the day and built this country with machines like that!! Were so spoiled with hydraulics and electrical motors now that we forget what the old timers had to work with!!

Wes, give those jerks no mind. I have COMPLETELY enjoyed your efforts in all of the 3 vlogs. The reason they balk at your efforts is that they can't open a beer and fart at the same time. There's many more that like the videos than not. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

When you were struggling with fitting the valve-spring, I was fighting not to reach into the screen to give a hand. Great job!

106,000 views 800 comments in two days should tell you Wes that we like watching your detailed real life make it happen repairs. No matter what you tackle you give it your best and you are not afraid to say "that didn't work". I assure you 99.9% of us viewers will never see or be around n INNSLEY Crane so this is cool old schools technology and we like it.

I remember these old drag lines, 62 years ago i was 13 years old , my dad has a friend named Moon Smith that had a dirt pit. I would sneak over there and watch him dig dirt . One day he ask me to come on up and set in this iron seat and run this thing.. I was so scared that thing rattled and shook when you pulled those levers. Old Moon would just laugh when i made it swing to the right and left and make the boom go up and down . Dragging the bucket in was with dirt was something else you had to do 3 are 4 thing all at the same time ?? I guess that's why we love your old video's , they bring back a lot of old memories .. Thank You so much.. I rang the bell ??

Post'em and I'll watch'em!! As mentioned, love to see old iron brought back to life. Realize it's not $$$ practical, especially when missing parts either.

Loved it when Wes went out to his family property and attempt to start the old abandoned machines.....wish he'd do this again every now and then....

I really enjoy watching these! Been a mechanic in Alaska since 1992, tons of old iron up here!

Wes, milk away and resurrect that behemeth. I would love to see it move again and love seeing your videos. Good Luck and keep them coming.

You should do a series on restoring this rare beauty , I think it will be really nice and cool looking once restored.

I love it so much I watched it twice. Im just fascinated by a person finding a derelict piece of machinery (especially a tracked machine) and taking the time to make a video show how it was brought back to life.

You milk as many videos as you like and we will keep on watching. I personally think its great that you not only put the work in but you rescue these magnificent machines rather than just letting them rust into oblivion, i mean who can afford to just dump something like this and walk away. We love it.

DUDE... That thing is awesome. I mean, yeah, it's old and would have limited uses but that thing is still just... awesome old iron. Keep it up we're going to have to nick-name you Lazarus.

Never thought I would see anything move on her. Fascinating. Will be here every time you post.

The more negative comments and people you get viewing your channel the better your doing, just jealousy for either what or how you do things or what your working on or how you found it, some great work and a nice piece of history saved and useable, well done.