Howdy-- A fellow is (was) doing some clearing on a neighboring property and has gotten himself in a real mess (using a rental of course). It was just mud at first, but has been raining heavy for the last few days - now more of a soup. These shots were taken yesterday evening. I've watched some excavator recovery videos and know that this will be a real pain to get out (and it's on the back of the property). I'm curious of a couple things. At what level does the water and mud have to be to ruin things- electronics, engine, etc.? And will it, or should it still start in this depth of mud and water? They'll clearly have to wait a while for it to dry out to get in there. Thanks! Jim
First thing that should be done is to disconnect the batteries until it's safe to move. Not knowing what the surrounding ground is like it's hard to say how hard it will be to recover. If the fan side of the engine is out of the muck then you are in good shape. If not then more caution will need to take place. Renting another excavator is probably in order to help with the recovery. Either way it's going to cost. Hopefully there is insurance.
Yeah- I'm certain this guy just walked away without disconnecting anything. As you seen in pic 1, it's leaning to the left (facing the back). I'm not sure which side the fan's on. I can't imagine trying to get this out without it running. I believe it's a 350G.
$$$$$!
Correction- hard to see the numbers on the side, but I believe its a 210G.
This is a good video of a recovery. This guy has a good set of mats and knows how to use them. If the excavator is not running its a whole lot harder.
Thanks-- yes, I'd actually seen that a while back (Youtube must have seen the future when they suggested it). That one in the video does appear to be stuck worse and they got it out. The one near me appears to have more water around the machine, but I think it drains fairly well. Based on what I've seen, the battery box must be under water. Yeah- this guy near me should certainly have had some mats.
IDE like to know how this happens? I’m not even a operator.....I just don’t see myself getting in this position.
That's what she said. But really. Its a rental- so you hope they got the extra insurance to go with their skill set. I think they get in soft and think its going to get better. And it doesn't and the bottom falls out, then you don't have anything good and hard to push on with the bucket to work your way out. Work it back and forth and it just goes in deeper. And there it is. And the insurance company pays out to deere or the rental house, and our insurance rates go up.
One would think when renting a 200K machine. That you wouldn't want to take unnecessary risks that you would be responsible for.
Not to mention that the rental fee is still being charged whether it's stuck or not.
Maybe a couple D9G's with winches could get it out. Highway Thru Hell: Bog Rescue - YouTube
I'll just put it like this-- this guy isn't the type to worry about the outcome. I doubt he got the extra insurance either.
I dont think you can rent equipment bbn like that from any rental place without 1million in coverage. At least that's the way the rental company i worked at worked. Joe homeowner couldn't walk in and wave insurance like you do at uhaul. If it was me i would have rented a ditch pump and start pumping. But then again i wouldnt be in that position
Hopefully you can get some recovery pictures
Same in my area for all rental companies renting a 320 sized machine. Most will not rent to individuals, only companies that have either have their own rental insurance or purchase the rental company's insurance.
Most rentals you need contractors insurance but I don't know if that includes damage to the machine from getting stuck or abusing the machine. There might be a separate policy for that that's optional. Not much different if the stick cylinder got bent from pounding the bucket trying to break concrete.
The amount of machines we get back just flat tore to hell proves what should be common sense isn’t. I’ve seen excavators come back every door ripped off, handrails and steps wiped off, hyd and fuel tanks caved in (all on one machine), wheel loaders come in with all fenders and steps completely torn off and hard lines sprung, cab glass all smashed, etc. It’s terrible to do body work on this stuff especially when you can’t replace panels and frame parts because they are permanently affixed to the machine.
I used to go in to United rentals and get whatever I wanted. I'd mention Olson Brothers or whoever I had last rented equipment from them for. Now I would ask the boss and put it on the company insurance. Too many people have screwed up too much equipment over the years. Regarding that hoe, the fan is in the soup. Dragging it into the radiator and coolers would not be bonus, so they need to de-water and get another machine in there with mats to assist. I wouldn't try starting it till it was at least below the doors.
I believe this is a 210G. Do you think that would make a difference in insurance requirements? It does make sense though. I wouldn't rent one to someone without insurance.
that's a ~48000 pound machine, similar to a 320. When I think homeowner I tend to go no bigger in my mind than a 4~6 ton machine. Still plenty big to kill yourself or others if you don't know what you are doing.
This guy is a "pro"....does demo work, but clearly got in over his head here.
demo work is worlds away from where he got. Demo is almost always really hard ground.
Yeah that makes sense. The setting is important when it comes to your capabilities.
The setting is the only thing that matters when it comes to capabilities As for that machine I see it for sale at a good discount some guy like me will probably buy it cause project machines are cheap to purchase
I see it as something a schmuck like me pays full Machinery Trader price for and THEN finds out the history!!!!
I've seen my share of stuck machines and it's done by some pretty good operators. It happens and there is little to nothing you can do. Most of that machine is sealed up. The engine and maybe the swing machinery dipsticks might leak a little water but the oil can be changed. Big thing is washing all the mud out of the radiators and making sure the air cleaner and intake piping didn't take on water. It's not like a fire where everything is destroyed. Computer and all the switches in the cab will likely need to be replaced. A $250,000 machine won't be totaled till the repair costs exceed $162,500. This won't come close to that.
Water getting into the intake then trying to start in may bring that repair big up.
Thanks for all the feedback and info everybody. Hopefully I'm around when they come to recover and I can get some pictures/video.
I too remain curious
Helluva crater to fix back up!!
Curious why the crane was in the middle of a field?
From the video- I'm assuming installing power line poles. I did like how they tried to shove out some stick to lighten the back end, but ended up giving up- and just pulling the counterweights off. That's just a bad situation, with a really expensive crane. You could see a little creek/ wet area just on the far side of the crane, opposite of where they were working with the excavators.
They showed you at the very first scene there was a tower they were setting.
Makes you wonder if they ever got the pole put up? I didn't see anything wrong with that crane, they just went in cheap. Put the counterweights back on, use crane mats and finish the job. I have been in the unenviable position of one track in deep with a d9 high track with four barrel rippers. I got myself out but that track never got back up on top of grade I just blew out the side of the fill at the same tilt.
Utilities are bad on Cranes, I enjoyed the dubious honor to remove the mast off a Grove Truck crane for my employer as it laid on its side in a BAD Place.
Well before my time the company that I worked for tipped over a national boom truck, using it to pour columns with a bucket they were way overloaded. Knocked the two guys working the trimmy clear to the ground they ended up torching off the boom pulling it up right and driving it out of there.
Acid Sulphate in the mud or water is not good for electronics. It dissolves wiring and fittings very quickly. Don't ask how I know.
We can't rent a plate compactor at Cat, United or Sunbelt without either having our COI (ACCORD form) on file or we pay their house insurance rates which is much more expensive than our carrier's rental insurance.
I think that machine could be moved with 500 or 1000 ft of cable, enough sheaves to rig about a 12 part line and start connecting to them bigger trees. A good log skidder backed against one of them trees and geared down with the multipart line would slowly winch that right up out of there. I would hook thru both tracks if I couldn't get to a better hook point and just slide it. It would not have to move far before the back came up enough to run it. The boom cylinders oil pressure could be relieved to allow it to float out straight and drag as needed. Still expensive but doable. What do you all think.
RE: the crawler crane ... My heart sank like those counter weights when they first let go of the crane. Didn't think they were gonna stop sinking... they went down so fast. Looks like they had mats but the crawler weight was too much for them. There were a lot of timbers & splinters laying around. A thumb would have helped shift them around quicker.
Good wash/detail job and maybe they won't notice? *sarcasm
More then likely someone (hopefully someone had insurance) is buying the rental house a new machine and that one is gonna get totaled out and find its way to the ol'Ritchie Brothers eventually like all other "gems".
Yes, that would do it. Might have to put some logs under the front to keep it rising. If you could get the water pumped out and start it up, I'd think a few strong guys and a chainsaw could get it out as quick as anything. Of course if he had stopped halfway to getting it stuck that far, then a lot fewer logs would have gotten him out of trouble.
knowing when to stop struggling is difficult for some. Just letting the engine idle can run it in deeper once you break into a layer of the bad stuff. I was splitting a settling pond with a rocky dam once. The offoad trucks would dump at the edge and I'd shove it out with the 6. back off it quick and repeat. Just let it idle and the whole thing would settle under you. After it set up we dug a trench across it with the hoe and poured a concrete core in it.
I had to go witness a PC400-3 log loader sunk in a log lay down area down at the Port of Olympia a bunch of years ago. It had sunk and then turned on it's side where the only thing you could see was the top of the cab and the end of the stick. Standing at ground level a hundred foot back from the machine, all you could make out was a couple of pieces of yellow looking like they were sitting on flat ground. I was there to decide on the pick points for the 300 ton crane that was coming down to lift it out of the muck. The port is on Puget Sound for those who don't know the area and the water coming up and down with the tide was the salted variety. This was one of those swing by and check out the situation on Friday on your way home from a weeks work at the Bay City shop in Aberdeen. I didn't carry a camera in those days but would have loved that photo. One of our other wrenches went down on Saturday and helped get it out and started the dry out process. He drained the engine oil, swing drive oil and checked the hydraulic and final drives. They wash the machine out from a fire hydrant. I went down after he was done to troubleshoot and change the computer and the machine worked for years more.
I recovered a large vertical door Knakbox from a Pensacola, Florida project I was on after Hurricane Ivan flooded Pennsacola a few years back. The subcontractor had insurance and gave me the box when they said the "loss" disposal was not covered. I washed it with a pressure washer a half dozen times and now 15 years or so later, the piano hinges, which have been oiled a few hundred times still get sticky if I dont open the doors for a couple weeks. It has a nice rust hue to it also even after only a few days in the saltwater before it got the first pressure washing.
You can't believe how fast something can go down until it actually happens to you. I took my hoe out into what I thought was a firm field to recover a sprayer (and a tractor, and a loader backhoe). I pushed a little dirt around, dug a little over there, and next thing I know I'm bulldozing dirt into the cab when I swing the house. I stopped right there and started calling to find crane mats. This is dry country, not many around here. Next morning with waffle mats the hoe came out easy on its own. The sprayer not so easy, but no damage done.
I have not had a hoe down, but we had a large one go in backwards in the Orting valley one time. That was a terrible place to build houses. You'd dig down 7~8' and the once-firm ground became a milkshake. It was mud from Mt. Rainer's several lahars over the millenia, just waiting to be disturbed again. We had a crew of 6 and would get in about two sticks of sewer main a day. Dig down to the soup, drop some 20' steel sheets on end and tamp them down gently, and bail out mud. Get enough mud out and add 4~8" spalls till it felt solid, then set a trench box and add pea gravel to bed the pipe. I was digging co-trench and had to dig through 4' cedar trees that had been underground 500 years or more, still fresh as the day they rode the wave. We had to leave them in place as there were already curbs and gutters and pavement over them, so you sliced through with the teeth very carefully. I cannot imagine it will be fun when the next big earthquake hits the area, that valley will be like riding a wave.
Watched as a old Cable 8 dragging a pan went down to belly pans almost instantly. Was NO moisture indicating a problem, general area clay, dragging off hilltop for a subdivision, damp sandy earth covered the rebound shield, idler was in half way and was high centered. Had been cutting across that spot in August for two days where finally enough moisture loosened up a sand boil, and on TOP of a small hill. According to engineer as to geology was a remnant of the 1812-14 New Madrid events but in St. Charles MO. Hill overlooked river bottoms. Took two MORE 8s pulling will winches and a old rubber tire push dozer to get it out, was like quicksand and had a hard suction on machine.
my father always told me a track machine would go farther than a wheeled machine but the trade off was that when it did get stuck it was going to be a lot worse to get out.
High Cedars golf course? I remember some specialty wood outfit from back east wanting to buy everything that could be dug up.
I had a friend that was regional sales guy for UR he had a wall of pictures like that.
Yep the high cedars job with Olson Brothers.