Had to haul a dozer to one of our bridge jobs , 911 deal but no details shared . Untill I got there . The op didn't stop till the engine started running water out of the exhaust
Damnit.................................looks like your operator may need a new job after this.
what the hell was he doing? I know he wasnt thinking
Sometimes they have so much fun you just cant stop them.
Talk about digging your own grave.
I wonder what the water level was before they started pumping. Tiny there has to be more to this story.
Well , The op was told to take that machine to the other side of the bridge , Super didn't relay info that he wanted a machine on each side .The machine can't go across the bridge . Driver (Not Me) dropped both off in the only spot he could get off the road. 330 deere and a 300 komatsu The op started off on the other side of the bridge . rolled down the bank, turned and got all the way to the other side walking in the bottom . said when he turned to go up the bank on that side , it just dropped .
Once you finally drag it home, I'd make him wash it. He'll never stick another digger like that.
I did hear the bridge big boss ask my boss about bringing the 200 demag crane out and just picking it out of that mess but its on a week long job in northwest Missouri To compound things , This creek is known for flash flooding (4 miles from my house) .... So it might get rinsed off any way
Trust me (one who washes these things), even withstanding a flash flood, there's gonna be mud in places you wouldn't think mud could get. Make him wash it...he'll never stick another.
One thing for sure , I won't haul it like that
OOO, that looks gooey. Would be a heafty pull to lift that out. Just for fun I would say 180,000 lbs might break the suction. If you try lift it let us know how many lbs of pull it took. On the other hand you dropped of a dozer, beter make a couple more trips . Have a great day. Would come and drag tow lines just for fun if I were closer. muzy
You need that guy from BC who has the D-9 winchcat on youtube.
Wow, I would love the see the manner this was pulled out of that mess. Good Luck and keep us posted.
They got it out around 9:30 last night , Its headed for the shop . One of the mechanics pulled the drain for the finals and it was full of water . Bridge super was in the middle of things and had most everyone up set . also they took the 300 upstream and built a dam to keep the water back . Well that helter skelter dam broke about the time they started gain on it and nearly swamped it again. One of the laborer's said I should have been able to hear his cussing at my house when that 2 foot wall of water rolled thru . Had the 300 komatsu and a dozer hooked to it and finally wrestled it out . Sheet metal is hurt and who knows what else will be found after its cleaned .
I'm tellin ya, if I was the wrench, I'd make that operator clean it.
Being the owner/boss of my company I agree with the make him wash it, since he won't taste the pain of the repair bill. Ideally he should offer to do that part if he truly cares about his job and wants to say sorry. Actions speak louder than words.
"now where did I park that machine?" Just paint in muck gray and you'll never notice the difference{hahahaha}
in defense of the operator .......... uhhh, okay can't think of any really though, that kind of muck will suck you in. Guy shoulda stopped just as soon as it started slipping but probably thought "well if I do this" I might get out
Brains again, any expierenced operator would have the cop on not to take a 35 tonner across a muddy river bed and when he tracked in it would have nosedived that was the time to sink the bucket and walk her out in reverse qhile the rear of the machine was still on solid ground, but he mistakenly kept going and destroyed a nice machine, if he worked for me he would be under the tracks by now!
Probably just another fat lazy lever puller. Should have investigated the conditions before taking the machine down there. How long would it have taken to poke a stick in the mud to see if there is solid ground in there? Then ring the owner/boss and say that you don't think driving the ex in there is a good idea, if boss says to do it then you got an excuse. No excuse for driving an expensive machine into unknown conditions, especially a creek bed.
He was going where he was told to go, he was across to the other side and it went down. Thats when he should have stopped, well he was stopped but it looks like he tried a bit to long to get it out.
Question is who told him to go and where the conditions inspected prior to deciding to drive a machine weighing 35 tonnes into a mud hole. Far as I am concerned it is up to the operator to know where he/she can and cannot go, that's why I said the lever puller should have got a long stick and gumboots and checked out how deep and slushy the mud is. If he/she then rings the boss and says that it's a 100% done thing that the machine will get bogged and still got the OK to go in there, then I would agree that there is no fault with the operator. Would an owner operator drive their machine into that pit? End up in the situation of a very damaged machine, recovery costs and the job is not done. An easy way to go broke real quick. Also I don't think that machine would have got out there by itself in any event, you try and lift up one end, the other would have sunk deeper. Perhaps if the tracks had been facing the bank but..... Anyway hopefully the company will have learnt a lesson and get someone with experience and brains to supervise operations. I don't have much of either of those but can tell you that driving an excavator into a six foot deep mud hole is not a good idea.
why not just have the lowboy come and move it to the other side???
That was my question when I pulled up with the dozer and lowboy ...
In 01 I worked for Huffman Construction out of Poplar Bluff MO. THey were doing a job in the next town over and I got on as an operator. I was on a loader and tlb mostly and a little on a 300. We got a new one in and a foreman thoought he would be the one to back fill an intoake tower on the river. I locked the cab door on the new 300 I just unloaded that a friend was supposed to get. I saved that machines life. He took the 99 300 we had on site claiming he had 50 hours on a hoe. The thing about this back fill it was backfilling a hole with waterin it. He had seen me the day before using a set of logs and crane mats. He decided to do it on a day that the super was in a meeting. I had backfilled a depth of 10 feet. I ran down the hill on the loader to look at it and it was holding up good but he was walking around alot and counter steering the tracks alot. I tried to get him to stop but being alot younger than him I got shooed away. I was gettin a few things put on the new machine and about that time I noticed that foreman and crew hadnt come out for dinner. I got the super and we road down there and to our shock the 300 was sunk. I had to step down 2 feet to get on to the counter weight of it. He had slewed it engough to wreck the side panels cat walks and door and batery box. Took 3 days to dig it out. When she left to go back to MO to be rebuilt the sheetmetal on the house was held on with 10 straps. The super and head mechanic and others pushed to fire the concrete foreman that did this but hte company wouldnt do it.