Hoopee loader

[Countrybumpkin]

I was at the scrap yard today, and in the corner sat this red loader. In the front it had Hoopee on it...it looked to drive like a fork lift-it had about 36" tractor tires on the front, and smaller tires on the rear-and it was a rear steer unit. The guy said the man who scrapped it told him it was an auto-dump-that is, the bucket lifted so high, then dumped itself. You sit above the engine, right in front-it has a continental engine on it. I googled hoopee, and everyother thing I could think of, and no luck. An old guy at work remembers hearing about something like that used at grain elevators, but he never seen one. any ideas? The scrapped would sell it for $500, and it would be fun to restore, but I need info first! Thanks!

[Bret4207]

I remember seeing pics of them but am unsure on the spelling. A brief google search didn't help me. Try the antique construction equipment sites. I think one is the Historical Construction Equipment Assoc. Something like that.

[taylorlambert]

Can you get some pics of it. Ill bet it used truckk running gear or tractors. Front wheel drive loaders were built by many MFG back before power steering was wide spread. It put tull weight on the drive wheels and took weight off the steering. MF Made the 11 which was an MF 50 industrial turned around., Honey Bee was a littleB or A conversion Farmall turned around and a set of loader armes on the rear. They were a trycycle arrangment used in cotton gins and feed mills. AN older man in the next town had one in his tree service with a grapple on it when he was in a soft yard and couldnt use the skid steer.

TractoMotive and Henry both made loaders from reversed tractors. THeres several. It would be nice around the place and not in China.

[OntarioMan]

What did the bucket look like?

I've seen a few "tippers"... some folks call them "dumpers". Many are almost all hydraulic, even the drive system.

[OntarioMan]

Its not "hoopee", its "hoppee", and it is a tipper. Do a google image search for "hoppee tipper" and I think that is what you're referring to.

[Windy in Kansas]

I was thinking more along the lines of a rough terrain fork lift/stacker/whatever.

[Wis Bang 2]

I remember my father operating those style loaders, but not tippers, for the city during the 60's. One was a Michigan 165A & the other was a Trojan. Both were a little heavier than tractor chassis w/ large front drive wheels mounted under the cab, rear mounted engines and much smaller steering wheels at the rear. The Trojan had this huge cast steel bumper under the radiator w/ the brand name molded in. One of them had a step on the loader arm and the cab roof tipped back and the window slid back to the operator could climb in/out.

In addition to easier steering that design increased production as the bucket end didn't have to travel too far between the pile and the truck being loaded. Hough & Pettibone were two more common makers.

[Countrybumpkin]

It was a TractoMotive! We finally figured it out-it has Hoopee on it, but someone else must have placed it on there. Its gonna take a boatload of work to get it going, but we are still looking into whether it is worth messing with, or not. Thanks all!