If We Can Get This Giant Abandoned Excavator Started We Can KEEP It!

A little history on this machine, I ran an Excavation company, this was my machine from around 1994, until I sold it to an individual in Woodland Hills in 2022, it is a Poclain 300 with a V-12 air cooled Deutz (most reliable engine I have ever ran), we purchased it for a series of demolition projects with a lot of concrete removal, this machine years through concrete like most machines dig in the dirt, it has a high- low option on the hydraulic system, when running in low it operates around 10,00-12,000 psi, it isn’t the fastest machine, but it is extremely powerful, we once sank a D-8H in a silage pit, reached over the car with this Poclain, hooked a cable on it and picked the nose up, and drug it out of the silage pit. I still have a spare engine and hydraulic pumps for this machine Dave can have if he wants, a couple things about this machine, it actually weighs 153,000 lbs looks like that first poor trailer got destroyed sadly, it is hard to move, when the arm is folded up and all the way down on the ground, it is around 16’8” so it is hard to move, we actually drove it most places, the other thing is you won’t find a replacement hydraulic hose for this machine, you will have to machine, and fabricate your ends, nobody has the European ends that it uses. I also replaced all the low pressure pilot hoses for the controls, and I rebuilt all the hydraulic cylinders, it was hard to do, but there is a company called Hydra-pac in West Jordan that custom built the seal kits for it, and it looks like they are still holding up. I don’t think the last guy using this really cared about maintenance, I can see it hasn’t been greased in quite a while. Any recovery jobs or demolition jobs would be perfect for this machine, very powerful, just hard to move! There was only one I-beam trailer in the state of Utah that could move it when we bought it back in the 90’s, it’s a pain to move, probably should remove the boom entirely to move with that trailer especially considering it actually weighs 153,000 lbs, anyways the hour meter is right, it only had 4,000 hrs. on it when I was done with it! Another cool thing is this machine came from factory with an automatic greasing system on it, that’s why you see all the steel pipe for the grease lines is because it self lubricated! Also does pretty well on fuel consumption, I can’t remember exactly, but it’s quite efficient for it’s size, if properly maintained this machine will be running much longer than any of the junk they build nowadays!

A restoration series on this big ol girl would be very welcome viewing.

I love that Hans is still allowed to fly the drone, even after crashing it so often... It reaally shows, he is one of the best Drone operators on the team! <3

I ran a Poclain (my boss pronounced it 'po-clane) about 1/2 that size MANY years ago. They were still in business back then. I dug sewer/gas/water lines and basements back then. It had a 24 or 30 inch bucket at 3/4 or 7/8 yards. All levers and pedals directly to hydraulic valves (No joy sticks). There was a 'switch' to switch between digging and travel to change the hydraulics pressures/volume to make it travel a little faster when it didn't need the higher pressure for digging. I love that you rescue these older machines. Good luck! Joe

Hans is giving drone makers job security. He is a good man!

I worked on deutz air cooled engines for many years. These engines have bullet proof lower ends. All individual cylinders for easy maintenance. Keep them cool & they run for ever.

Heavy D using his hand to block the sun from his eyes while also wearing a baseball hat backwards will always make me chuckle. Thanks for the continued great content!

POCLAIN is a French compagnie ,very popular in france until it was bought by CASE in the end of the 90's, I own a poclain 90 (smaller than the 300), but really strong and smooth to operate ,very well made machine and innovative for their times, I don't know in the US but here part are still made and easy to found here ,cool to see on in north america

I love that Hans is single-handedly keeping DJI in business. :D

I want to see a restoration video on this machine!

Please do a build/restore series on this, would be awesome to bring it up to date with the smaller things and make her work better then a modern machine would.

Celebrating 30 days of sobriety and has always been a dream of mine that when I became sober was to meet you guys. I love watching your videos and always enjoy watching a good recovery from you. Hope Dave or one of the crew sees this and I can make a dream of mine become a reality. I live in Twin Falls, Idaho so I'm not too terribly far from you guys.

I love that old piece of iron. I’ve watched its life since 1990 when it sat in Salem, Utah, then over to Payson, Utah landfill. It was walked there and then back to Salem and then up to Woodland Hills. I got to watch it. Walk up into Woodland Hills with my son one day. That machine is one of the reasons I became an excavation contractor!! It was a great moment.!! Glad it’s going to a good life thank you so much!! For your service 🫡

I love that Hans leaves the flying of real helicopters to Heavy D.

I love how Hans can crash so many drones and still have a job. Shows how much you value him.

Année de production : 1975 – 1984 Puissance : 271 ch DIN, 199,4 kW Moteur : Deutz F 12 L 413 Empattement : 5,21 m Largeur hors-tout : 3,95 m Poids : 55,45/58,4 tonnes Capacité du godet : 2,3 m3 (rétro) Vitesse maxi : 3,1 km/h

Rumor has it this is a machine

I respect that Hans is consistent. Like crashing the drone for example. You can count on it.

I wanted to say to you guys that I really appreciate what HeavyD said about the fans at the end of Day 1 in this video. Super cool to keep it real and humble.

Hans keeps trying, ya gotta admire that. He won't let it stop him.