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The Michigan scraper range: an overview by Richard Campbell

Michigan, a division of Clark, surprised everyone when it introduced its first motor scrapers in 1957.

In a market segment that included Euclid, Caterpillar, LeTourneau-Westinghouse, Allis-Chalmers, Curtiss-Wright and International-Harvester there didn’t really seem to be any more room for another brand.

Michigan was after a share of the burgeoning US highway building programme. But it left its run a little late as most of the really big jobs had been almost completed by the time Michigan got its machines to market.

There were initially three models – the 8 cubic yard model 110, 13.5 cubic yard model 210 and the 22 cubic yard model 310.

All were of exceptionally clean, modern and functional designs and used Cummins diesels as their powerplants.

Also, they utilized all-Clark powertrains including powershift transmissions, differentials and planetary final drives.

Design of the bowl drew heavily on Euclid influence but apart from that one concession, the machines were ‘all-original’.

In 1964 the three models were joined by another machine, the 33 cubic yard capacity model 410 that was powered by a 570 horsepower Cummins VT1710-C diesel. This very large machine either did not live up to expectations or was introduced at a really bad time as less than 20 were ever manufactured and by the end of 1968, the 410 was discontinued.

Next to go was the model 110, discontinued in 1969.

However the news wasn’t all bad for the model 110 as it reappeared again in 1970 paired with a Hancock elevating scraper (Hancock was also, by this time, a division of Clark).

The models 210 and 310 soldiered on up until 1975 when they too were discontinued as Clark-Michigan decided to concentrate entirely on elevating scrapers.


The Michigan 210 Described

As the model 210 was the most widely produced variant we will examine this type in detail.

A 262 horsepower Cummins NTO-5-CI turbocharged 6-cylinder diesel provided the power and this was remotely connected via drive shaft to a Clark 4-speed full powershift transmission.

At customer’s request, a 290 horsepower GM 8V-71 V8 diesel could be fitted in place of the Cummins.

The all-Clark transmission, differential & planetary axle powertrain was a proven and reliable unit and gave few problems.

A quite respectable 29 mph was attainable in 4th gear on a smooth haul road.

Standard tyre equipment was 26.5×29 all round with air operated shoe type brakes providing the stopping power.

Very well styled, the 210 tractor unit looked modern and fast.

Twin, double acting steering cylinders were mounted low down in the well behind the engine compartment and were attached to linkage at the base of the machine’s triangular hitch.

As alluded to earlier, the bowl employed many of the design features of contemporary Euclid scrapers.

Holding 15 cubic yards struck and 20 cubic yards heaped, the bowl featured a 4-piece reversible cutting edge and was raised and lowered by two single-acting hydraulic cylinders buried in the gooseneck.

These were attached to levers and links on the bowl’s spreader bar while the apron was raised and lowered by a similar lever acting on a 13-foot length of cable.

Where the design differed to that of Euclid was in the use of a bulldozer type ejector instead of a roll-out type.

Bowl, apron and ejector were all independently controlled.

The operator sat in a relatively sparse & narrow compartment placed just ahead of the left wheel and was provided with an air suspension seat.

Instrumentation was mounted on a panel bisected by the steering column with the transmission shifter and bowl operating controls mounted along the left side of the bonnet.

A small sliding door allowed engine heat into the operator’s compartment in cold weather.

Optional equipment did include an insulated cab with a heater, but at an extra cost.

Your author has seen very few photos of early Michigans fitted with this cab. As the operator’s compartment on these machines was quite narrow it must have felt like being in a cell!


Thanks for checking out NZ Contractor magazine's Michigan scraper clip.
These clips are made from images published in conjunction with classic machines reviews at http://www.contractormag.co.nz/catego...

Captions and associated images have all been uploaded to Pinterest   / contractormag  

Author Richard Campbell has sourced these images; Richard also blogs at http://www.contrafedupdate.me

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