1946 Insley Crane

Man...I had NO idea that this would generate so much interest...I basically put it up so the family could take a look.
I'll try to answer a lot of the questions that have been asked several times:
The machine is in Northwest Conn.
We have no use for the machine and don't have the means to repair or restore it - we would most definitely like to donate it to an association that would be willing to take it and repair it.
It makes no sense for us to keep it and it would probably cost more to cut it up than we would get for it as scrap. This machine has been in the family for a very long time and we all have a bit of an emotional attachment to it.
My Grandfather bought it for his construction/excavating company in the early 50s, our father worked for him at the time and literally has hundreds of hours of seat time in it, using it as a dragline to build ponds/drain swamps (I can remember watching him numerous times as a small fella), using the backhoe attachment to dig ditches and bury stone walls, and using the front shovel to load trucks.
When Dad went out on his own, he bought this Insley and an A-50 Mack and had a one-man gravel operation.
After that, he started a metal fabrication business and used the machine as a crane. I operated it as a crane in the mid to late 70s, but without a live boom it had its limitations. I never learned to operate the boom, but my middle brother did, that's why he was the one to lay it down.
As the metal business got better, Dad got newer and better cranes (all used, of course) and the Insley was gradually phased out and ended up in the wood lot. It was getting sloppy and was needing more and more work, without the live boom it wasn't as useful as the others, plus they all had more capacity.
My youngest brother never ran the crane as part of the business, but both of them were very smooth crane operators of the other 3 string machines that were part of the business. This was the only time that he's ever 'operated' it.
The metal fab business has dropped off to the point where cranes aren't needed and too expensive to keep maintained.
Our sole aim with this one was to try and get it out of the woods and lay the boom down for safety (if it would start and move), plus make it accessible if we ended up scrapping it.
It is an International engine, I think it was an International "UG" engine if my memory is correct.
The entire undercarriage is not stock Insley, but was built entirely from the ground up by my Uncle. It is shorter with wider pads, each pad was made by hand and the whole thing was built with a stick welder "back in the day". I vividly remember using an old power company FWD pole setter truck to lift the house off of the original undercarriage and set it on these tracks.
I'm pretty sure that Dad told me that the original direct connection clutch and gear drive was also replaced with the torque converter and chain case that was designed and built by the same Uncle to eliminate the shock of the direct drive. ( I may not be remembering this correctly and Dad passed in 2013 so I don't know....)
When this was filmed it had probably been sitting for 4 or 5 years and the sound of the start-up really brought back memories. We weren't all that sure that we could get it going but we had to try and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought, however (obviously) everything was rusted and stiff. It really didn't make sense for us to try and lube everything up because we were only interested in getting it moved a short distance.
We all agree with all the comments about giving it to someone that has the means to restore it, or at least bring it back to usable/display condition.
I don't check in on this video all the time and am not set up for notifications on it, but if someone has a real, legitimate interest in restoring it, you can send me a message (kind of a PM) between users and I will eventually get it.
We haven't done anything at all with it since we laid the boom down, so there is no guarantee that it will still be movable.
I appreciate all the genuine interest and all the memories that it has created for some of the viewers.

Видео 1946 Insley Crane канала bensunkl