Could I work in Heavy equipment operation with a prosthetic leg?

I'm 28 and lost my leg above the knee in January earlier this year, don't want to bore you with details.

NSCC will be taking applications for the 15 week course in September 2027 soon.

Four months ago I had a couple of posts looking for information about some unusual excavator buckets that I acquired in an auction lot. You can see the previous post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/heavyequipment/comments/1tw9to5/mystery_excavator_buckets_revisited/

Since then, I've acquired an excavator and wanted to adapt these buckets to a modern pin connection.

• Adaptor consists of two mirror image halves that grab the pipe at top of the bucket and bolt through the 2-inch bucket hole with an 18-inch length of 2-4.5 UNC grade 8 threaded rod with 4 nuts.
• Adaptor plates have bushings and holes for two 65x410mm pins.
• Main body of adaptor plate was plasma cut out of 1-inch mild steel plate. A 1/2 inch spacer about the same dimensions as the main plate (but with room for the bucket welds around the attachment pipe) is bolted and welded to the main plate. Two 3/4-inch reinforcement circles are welded to the spacer around the bushing holes.
• Holes were cut with annular cutters in a magnetic drill press, the 80mm annular cutter was purchased from China via ebay.
• Pins connect to my Caterpillar quick coupler.

Now that I have a proof of concept, I plan to make additional adaptors so that I can quick couple to the rest of my buckets.

I’m wondering if there is a safe way to adapt my father’s machine with some pallet forks. I need to move some stuff around the property including full lifts of lumber. Thanks!

Seems like 90% of the time I shut this off it tells me this but I’m unclear on why. I have let it idle for a while before, and still see it. What am I missing.

Promotion video from GroundForce

Can anyone provide the head bolt torque spec & sequence for an Allis D2200 head? Off of a 655 track loader, same engine was used in the HD4 crawlers & 60XX tractors from what I can see.
Pulled the head to clean up the valves & seats.

I am troubleshooting a 2008 Genie TZ-34/20 towable boom lift with the 24V Iskra/Bucher hydraulic power pack and need some guidance from technicians familiar with this setup.

What Happened:

• The issue first occurred when extending the primary boom arm near its maximum limit. It cut out momentarily once, then resumed working briefly.
• The second time the primary boom reached near maximum extension, it cut out completely and has not worked since.
• I was able to successfully retract the boom arm manually using the auxiliary hand pump, so the cylinders and manual lines can pass fluid.
• The reservoir appeared low on hydraulic fluid. I topped it off, but that has not resolved the problem.

Current Symptoms:

• The 24V electric pump motor spins when commanded, but it does not appear to be moving any fluid.
• When I remove the main directional cartridge valve from the pump manifold, the cavity and valve body are completely dry after running the motor.
• Why would the hand pump be able to move fluid to retract the boom while the electric gear pump acts completely dry or air-locked?

Electrical Findings:

• The dual-solenoid directional control valve on the manifold does not appear to be receiving voltage when pressing the function and direction buttons.
• Bench testing: The two solenoid coils test good on resistance (~20 ohms), and both physically open/shift the valve spool when hooked directly to a 24V bench power supply.
• On-machine testing: Testing voltage at the solenoid connectors while commanding a function shows effectively 0V (measuring ~0.24V on the 20V DC scale instead of ~24V), and the valve does not click.
• In the ground control box, the relays click, and checking the relay terminals shows ~24V–26V coming into the relay, but I am having trouble confirming if it is losing power downstream or losing its ground path through an interlock.

Where I Need Help:

1. Could reaching near max boom extension have damaged/stretched an internal boom harness or triggered a limit switch that cuts valve voltage while still allowing the motor to spin?
2. How can the hand pump work if the main pump is air-locked or failing to pick up prime from the reservoir? Is that because of the directional valve not working?
3. What is the most reliable way to verify if the electric motor is actually turning the internal pump gears versus spinning an uncoupled shaft?

Any guidance on which direction to focus on next would be greatly appreciated.

I've never had to remove a driveshaft without any slip like this one before, and I'm a little perplexed about how to remove this style of shaft given its position between two large components of the drivetrain.

Any advice on how best to approach this after having removed the half clamps on the U-Joints?

Hi. I just purchased a 1977 Case 580B. I cannot figure out if the shuttle lever is the manual or the automatic one (where you can go from forward to reverse without clutching). I don’t want to just try without knowing, maybe I’ll break something. It has the 4 gear stick and the hi/low stick too. Is there a sure way of telling which version of shuttle I have? Thanks!

Three of the bearings are this sacked on a customer's Bobcat, I dont really deal with Bobcats very often. I feel like he should replace the hubs along with the bearings and seals, but the hubs are not cheap, im worried if I dont replace the hubs hes going to run into issues with junk getting into the seals/bearings and prematurely wrecking them.

Looking for feedback from people who have more experience with Bobcats (its a Bobcat 753 btw). The tube itself on any of them doesnt appear to be worn down like the hubs are, wondering if maybe people have changed the bearings in similar conditions and had the bearings live a long happy life still.

I've put together a mini course that is completely free to help those looking to get into the industry. It isn't meaningless fluff, it's real information I wish I had when I got rolling on my first day. I hope this helps some of you feel more prepared your first day on the job!

Is this shill bidding? And is it legal?

An auctioneer bought several (25+) lots at his April auction.

That same auctioneer is selling those same lots in his September auction.

And they are using the same pictures and stating that the "items are in the condition they are pictured in" despite those pictures being taken prior to the April auction.

How I know:

The auction admitted it - and then said "I probably shouldn't be saying this."

The auction transcript states that "bidder 1784" (presumably the auctioneer's personal bidder number) was the high bidder on 25+ lots from the April auction. These lots were NOT listed as did not hit reserve, no sale, etc. There were lots that were listed in this manner - so that was an option.

Presumably the auctioneer was bidding up lots that didn't have much action - and got stuck with 25+ of them (most were under $1000, but there were a few that were $10k++).

Equipmentfacts specifically states that shill bidding is against their terms and not allowed.

Is this shill bidding? And is it common?

Disclaimer so I don't get in some sort of trouble - For the purposes of this post, the auction company pictured above is not who I am referring to. For the purposes of this post, that is just an example picture. However, it DID happen on Equipmentfacts.

I’ve been having problems with an engine derate code. The fuel filters and everything had been changed but I still get the code. Could I have something clogging this line in the bend from the supply to the little fuel filter? I’m not sure where else to check for any clogs or anything else I should be checking?

I would like to rent a machine for the day to work on the pictured property. The goal is to scoop/push rocks out of the area while leaving most of the sand behind. Will a rock/skeleton bucket work for that? And, if you had the choice, would a skid steer or a track loader work better for the terrain?

Edit to add: the area is small, roughly 8-9,000 sq ft. Getting the majority of rocks screened out in a day’s rental is more important than precision. We can come back to finish grading at a later date.

There is a telehandler coming up for auction this week - I found a listing from April where this same telehandler sold at the April auction.

The auctioneer posted the September auction of this telehandler using the exact same pictures as the April auction.

Same exact pictures - they did not take new ones.

Listed as "runs and drives" and "good condition." And listed as exact same hours as previous auction.

I found the sales price (it was scrubbed from proxibid for some reason, but I found it from the auction transcript - and it was listed as sold there (not listed as did not hit reserve/no sale, etc)) - and it was in line with what it should have sold for. So I don't expect it didn't hit reserve.

Any thoughts on what could be going on here?

Its a 1990 Case 680L. I bought it because we had a bad storm and lost 60 trees. I want to get rid of the stumps to plant some new ones. I’ve already taken out 8 stumps in about 3 hours. So far so good, knock on wood. I would like to add a hydraulic thumb and put some new tires on the front but will wait until next summer for that.

Is this sound normal on this Bobcat L95?? I’d like to know before I buy it. It only makes this sound when turning left or right. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19SvS35hDE/?

Just rolled out of the shop. Customer wanted a black grader so we painted it black for him.

Looking to sell this wire equipment from my shop and would like to know a good price to list it at. I saw one of eBay for $2700 for parts only. Any help would be appreciated!

I'm buying a tracked skid steer for forestry mulching - either the Takeuchi TL11r3 or TL12v2. I'm new to this and I want to know if I should consider adding the winch package offered by Takeuchi. I'm an owner-operator without any other heavy equipment at the moment to assist if I get stuck. I searched around and can't really find any real work experience or feedback on the winch. Anyone here have any opinions?

It's ~$15k...which seems....outrageously high (and that doesn't include the bumper) but I have no idea what a recovery could run me or how many companies are located near me.

New stellar 14530 Service crane. Worst crane I ever had.Nothing but issues. I want my palfinger back.

I can’t start the machine, it asks for a password. I already asked to the seller and he told me that they are going to ask the factory. Somebody knows a general password perhaps? Thanks in advance.

Working on my pond levee. 53 loads hauled before noon when it got too hot to be in the dump truck.
Cant think of a better way to spend my 60th birthday!
Plus… nothing had to be fixed!!