Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Any fellow Dragline owner/operators out there?

Looking to chat with a fellow dragline operator on a couple items.

The boom is 40 ft, I can cast it about 50' if i get it right. It will be great for mucking out a pond. I think I could add another 10ft section to the boom without much trouble. The ideal setup would be to also have a large frontend loader to shuttle the material around. That is next on my list, for now i have just used this and a John deere 990 40hp with loader. I use the crane to relay the material away from the dig site and then finish things off with the tractor. Not super efficient but I used all my good husband points to buy the old dragline, going to take awhile to earn enough for the loader.

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Youtube mostly shows huge dragline cranes in big coal mines.

This one shows what it probably looks like to dig gravel from a typical gravel pit.

[video:youtube][/video]

My search for dragline advice almost exactly matched your experience!

One of the recurring posts on Pond Boss is old ponds that have filled in with muck over the decades. They are very difficult to clean out, even with the capabilities of modern excavators.

I think a good operator on an aged dragline could clean out those old ponds with greater efficiency than just about any other method.

If you are forced to put some significant money into your dragline for repairs, then maybe you could make it back by getting a little work on your neighbor's ponds. (Especially since you will be an "experienced" operator after excavating your own pond!)

Interesting thread. Out of curiosity, I reached to two friends who I thought might know someone that could be helpful. One is a 30 year equipment operator who did not know anyone who ran a dragline and said that was "serious old school" and the other runs a coal mining equipment fabrication and repair company and he does not know anyone either. Sorry to come up empty.

Have you ever had anyone take video of you running your rig? That would be really interesting to see. (I was going to ask if you had any dragline footage and then make a humorous comment clarifying that I meant the heavy machinery variety and not the cross-dressing sort, but I didn't want my buddy TeeJaeh57 moderating me! LOL!)