Don't even want to make this post and sound stupid but had a small whoops unloading off the lowboy yesterday. Figures as I was just telling the trucker some mistakes others have made when loading and I have a track slip partially off the trailer. It was damp, I had sand on my tracks, and the unload spot was the side of a crowned road. I swung machine sideways, lifted that side a bit and got it off. The reason I am asking about technique is I was taught to have the bucket out and once the breakover spot is felt climbing the ramps, move stick out to change center of gravity, and lightly set it down. Unload is similar in having the bucket out and sort of catching you when it breaks over. However, I kind of feel like I caused this screwup because I think my bucket touched the ground while walking machine. I think it slightly spun the one track. Just curious what you guys do? I have seen bad stuff happen if you just let them breakover hard. I was also thinking of some mats to place for this. Even cardboard is amazing between metal on metal.
I have rubber cattle mats to put on the trailer when loading anything with steel tracks. My former trailer had steep ramps I never got around to fix, coming up ramps & beaver tail was spooky with a dozer.
I've got the luxury of not dealing with this, as the breakover point on my tilt with ramps is so small it's pretty much non-existent, I can walk the machine on tracks frozen solid right over the breakover point without a second thought, only thing I make sure of is don't stop at the breakover point. Ramps and beavertail are angle iron which is great though as the pads will grab them a bit. For safety though I always have the bucket within 2' of the deck when loading. Unloading i'm not concerned at all and don't do anything special. I've seen some guys who will have bucket on deck and once you know tracks are past breakover set it down. IMO i'm not a fan of moving stick to change center of gravity, I think once you are close to breakover point you gotta keep that momentum going until you are well past it. Old trailer many years ago with steep beavertail I just let it breakover, 10'6" hoe on 8'6" trailer was sketchy at the best of times but a million times worse with everything icy. Almost dumped it on it's side, it was icy enough I was able to lift one side spin other track and it slid back on.
We use a couple of chunks of belting. Steel on steel dosent leave much room for error when it comes to a grouser bar lining up with traction bars on a lowbed. My old crawler cranes can be real exciting as you wait for one drive chain to match up with the other right on the breakover. As siad above dont stop and try to mess with it just go.
If you met the trucker out there with your work truck, then you could haul a couple of 2x10 chunks to put under the low side trailer tires. I know that is scant comfort now but if the sidehill gets significant, it is pretty damn hard to predict what will happen with steel-on-steel. My current setup is a tilt with 1/2" square solid bars welded to it, and the excavator grousers grip it pretty good for avoiding any spin/slipping that way. Full disclosure i have slid a small dozer off a ramp trailer because of the sidehill, maybe 30 years ago.
I know the trucker but I don't think he will want to do that because he may have trouble hooking back up. I do agree to try to get the deck level. However, I do like the rubber belting idea. Probably some old baler belting around for this. The issue I see is pad on the hoe run side to side, and so to the traction bars on the trailer, so there is literally no resistance other than friction side to side.
Old stuff is fine if you can get it. Mine are cattle mats from Tractor supply. They were hard to move, as they are pretty limp & hard to grip. I cut mine in half. Once it breaks over at top of the goose neck, I can move them from the beaver tail to the front. I sometimes carry the dozer on the truck (see my avatar). Smooth steel floor, I want a good grip. It also saves a lot of wear on the truck floor.
There would be no difference hooking up unless you made it radical. Many times the lowboy tires are not on the same exact plane as the tractor.
I have a tilt trailer with rubber floor, I've not seen anything that works better. If you're using someone else to move your machine, you might want to bring along some baler belts, I keep some rolled up in the excavator tool box. In a pinch I have thrown a couple old tires under the tracks (like car tires, nothing heavy and stiff). As for technique, I always load with the bucket as close to the cab as possible, meaning boom up, stick in, bucket just clearing the trailer, the farther from center the weight is, the less precise your control. Crawl very slow but don't stop at the break over point. Bring it to proper place on the trailer, I haul mine facing backward, so at this point I spin around slowly, again close with the bucket. Unloading I crawl back to the break over, extend the bucket to just behind the trailer, keeping it off the ground a few inches, then travel through the break over catching yourself with the bucket, now I will stop traveling and raise the boom, this gives a very controlled break over. Raise a few more inches and drive off. Be safe and burn some diesel.
I use old snowmobile track screwed on to the beaver tail and first foot or two of the deck. Plenty of traction and old tracks can be had free easily if you're near a snowmobile dealer or repair shop
That's precisely how I was taught to unload, though for loading I was taught to hold shy of the CG, then just extend the stick and bucket to move weight forward and it will just flop down......in a perfect world.
Good post. Thank you. First time loading my excavator I slipped and I didn’t like the way it felt. When that happened I put my conveyor belting on the trailer. And it’s staying there. I should really fix it to the trailer permanently. But I have boards I want to replace.