Well my day was going just nice and good until I got a phone call from the bossman saying that he had just buried the daewoo out in the middle of a pond were getting ready to dredge out. So I made a mad day over to the site to help in the recovery. The daewoo is sitting on TWO 8'X16' mud mats. that's just how wet this place is. What I stubbled apon ok now I've got water in the cab, holly Sh*t. the battery box is under water and the machines still sinking. crap it's damn near going outa sight. I've got my volvo on the way and the bossman just picked up some mats.
The volvo had just arrive, two hours until dark, gotta get going. ] Working it's way out on the mats Finally reached the daewoo, started digging out in front of the machine to get some more mats under it. My oh my.... Alright now we got the front of the machine up some.
Slow but steady Alright now it too muddy to get out, passed the camera off and gave the dawoo all she had. Here's me doing some serious thinkin
Now the volvo is getting bogged down. Were getting there... I guess [-o< Now the volvo is really down deep, I'm not in a very good postion. I've got 12" of mud in the cab, having to kick it out so I can see the track pedals and It's getting dark! Now it's dark, I'm standing on a sinking ship.... too dark for anymore pictures
NIce save Looks like you got there just in time. I had one that did kinda the same thing,360 Volvo , but it didn't turn out so well!!!!!!!! I guess we were posting at the same time. I hope this all works out
looks like the Volvo got in a lil trouble there at the end as well!
Well It took some work but we got them both out. Now the clean up begins. Only one bent pannel door.. and It has to be on my freaken volvo [-( But atleast their out. I guess we'll have ot figure out plan "B" tomorrow... Welcome to the pond Excavating Business:drinkup:drinkup:drinkup
On looker???? Post #3... Picture #4... Kinda looks like... maybe an elderly lady with her arms crossed?... "And I suppose I'm paying these guys for this"??? ... ...... :lmao Been there a few times myself... Dirtman2007... Boy, don't that pond mud smell good?... :cool2..... LOL OCR
u might have the funnest job in America honestly
Oh that was just one of the many onlookers who were walking around. That's was actually some old guy taking pictures. the only reason the boss worked today was to feel around and get a feeling for how this material was going to be... I guess it was too wet. I've almost been that deep before with one of those machines, luckly I was able to get it out. I don't even smell the mud anymore. I just say, "it smells like money" and this job smells like a million bucks!
Great pictures! That looks much like what we want to do with our pond. Having the excavator disappear into the mud and water is one of my worst fears. So far, I'm approaching it very cautiously by working from one edge. Since we still have lots of water in the pond, I also have to build causeways out into the pond. Dirtman, how do you plan to move the mud out of pond? Do you have some rubber track dumpers or a conveyor for that? It looks too wet for a crawler dozer or loader. And can you tell me more about those mats that you placed under the excavators? Are they made of timbers fastened together with bolts or cables?
You have to have a positive outlook on these things. If you just get all workd up over thing slike this it just makes the problem worse. I kept saying to mayself "I'm getting thing machine out" It took a couple hours but it came on out. I had a task to day and that was get the machine to high ground. I stuck with it and succeded. Now I'm afraid to take a machine back out in the pond to do the job!
i hope you have videos.....i will check your youtube site.
The smell of Money: I'll buy that... hook... line... and sunk... LOL OCR...
Congrats on getting both machines out. I been there and done that. Looks like the Daewoo slid off the matt in the first place to start this show?
Thanks That's the 3rd mat, the machines sitting on the other two From the story I heard he was transfering the 3rd mat to where it was, the extra weight of the mud covered mat cause the machine to just sink like a rock. he then swung around behind the machine to pull himself up and then sunk where the back of the machine was. so he swung back to the postion it is in the first pics, got out and called me ointhead Junior saves the day again
not the first and probably not the last,most of us have been there,i enjoyed the play by play good job.
What about the months??? But apparently not for calendars..... :lmao OCR......... :laugh
That looks like loads of fun .....at least you got both machines out! Operator + 1 Mud + 0
It was late.... No comment:ban
Done that awhile back, too... KoO's fault! I understand... Good job getting unstuck though. :thumbsup OCR.....
dirty calander It would be a great January photo you know and it mightn't upset Me Fraizer either.
You should send some pics to the Discovery Channel, see if you could get Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) to come spend some time with you.
chris i knew it had to happen sooner of later...at least it wasnt you that got the machine buried...i honestly cant believe some of the places that you all take those machines and dont get stuck tho...i guess if this is your one big stuck your good to go where ever you want for awhile...great pics got me a little choked up to see everyone's favorite daewoo and volvo all sunk in the mud! haha
awesome rescue!!!
Don't you love it when its the Boss Man who does this. At least you have ammo if it ever happens to you
Well you know if it was Me who stuck the machine there would be no pictures of it LOL did some washing today Before Today I also bought some grey touch up paint to fix the scratches that got on the machine during the recovery.
Now it was time to wash the dirty daewoo Before After
Whew...lots o mud in that cab! What did the engine compartment look like? My guess is gumbo
actually there was less than a couple shovel fulls in there. the mud was just dense enough not to run through the gaps in the doors
You should check the swing motor for water, Also air cleaner etc. Had a machine stuck like that we change everything ( fluids) but the swing motor and that went bad in 6 months. Glad you got it out before it was too dark or too stuck.
Did anything get hurt on the daewoo?
Nice wash job. Hate to see the scratchs too. What would have been your plan of action if the volvo would have gotten stuck aswell?
Make sure it was sunk really good, let it fill with water and destroy everything, then call the insurance company and collect on all those years that have been paid for. Actually I would have been able to dig it out with the daewoo. The daewoo was only stuck for about 10 minutes after we started digging on it with the volvo, after that It was able to move under it's own power. It just took 2 hours to transfer mats back on forth and get both machines back to high ground
OH MY GOD You SCRATCHED the counterweight:ban Wait until those paint cops catch you Don't you know you should have wrapped those machines with saran wrap before you get in the mud?
Scratches.... what scratches I already took 20 minutes to repaint the Counterweight. It looks new again now! I start the dedging tomorrow, wish me the best of luck! On EDIT: saran wrap.... That's a good idea! LOL
:beatsme I dont see a problem. haha, looks good.
Looks like new Dirtman..
Stuckagain ? Prevent stuckagain itis . LOL
Stuckagain ? I've seen machines similar to that, Northart. From what I've read and heard... they work very well... almost never sink, and hardly leave a track... especially , if you work at night, under a full moon.... OCR...
Your a very brave man, but at least you know its going to be tuff and will treat it with due regard. You did well to get out of there and not a scratch to show for it :notworthy Be careful and take the camera
I have seen those machines up close, since much of my areas is wet, and the company that puts in the ROW runs just about everything on those, they had a set of those tracks with the tensioner mounted on them...
excellent pictures, you guys sure were lucky that both machine didn't go under. thansk KoO Published Author
when you get into those situations its because you are haveing a go.you use your head,stay safe take your time and sort it out then have a beer and go back tomorrow and do it again(without getting stuck,hopefully) nice job.
You got any picks of the dredging....I would like to see some if you do.
Yes I do but for some reason the forum will not automatically resize my pictures. So I will have to resize them all first. Check out "Pictures of my work" under the showtime forum in the next day or so.
Here's a little video I took the other day while I was making the last cut/ transfer of mud. Well I was just going to make a little video of me pulling out and sure enough the mud mats slipped out from under me and a dang near buried the volvo Check it out http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=A8p_qSkB92A
Nice save!!!!!! Last time I was in that deep,it didn't work out so well for me!!!
Very impressive video. I was wondering how you'd get out of that, but never thought you'd be back up on the hose mats. Thanks for sharing, Eddie
good vid, looks like your pretty used to working in the mud, i guess those mats are the way to do it, ive never seen anything like that, pretty impressive. showofff
Not showing off, just really wanted to get it out before the boss returned back to the jobsite. I've given him hell for getting the daewoo stuck and didn't want him to see me in the same situation. that just wouldn't be very cool
hey dirtman dont you wish you had a q/c to spin you bucket around.
Nah, Then I have to think lol. I've got one on the mini ex. it takes me a few minutes to figure out digging backwards.
mats & thumbs Great video as always Chris. That really shows the positive use of a thumb. Remember we dont use them in UK :beatsme I hate to imagine how long I would have had to chase those mats about with only a bucket to balance them on, probably would end up wearing one whereas you can move them in seconds :notworthy Either that or spent all day looking / digging for the labourer who went to put the chains on
As good as an operator as you appear to be that really surprises me. It is just the same as if you were trying to smooth out a grade while pushing out on the stick. It is completely involuntary for me to dig that way. On some days I may turn the bucket around backwards 40-50 times. Works great for some work.
More pics....works great for digging into the riverbank for placing log deflector. Works good for lifting the logs into place also.
Maybe it's just that I've only used a bucket that was put on backwards about 5 times in my entire life. Until we bought out newest mini, I had never used a Q/C before, whick I really like now!!!! Now a question on the logs your putting in for erosion control. It seems to me like that would cause it to wash out faster as the water would start swirling inbetween the logs sticking out:beatsme The stream jobs that I've done we stick the log into the bank and let the rootball of the tree stick out a little further than the bank. Must be different ways of doing it in different locations.
Ya it is a new way of doing it. THose logs acctually are angled up stream at 20-25 degrees. and angled up approx 10 degrees during high flow the los will slow the water against the bank and "catch" the gravel and create a natural gravel bar in the crotch of the bank and the log.It will then turn the water and direct it to the center of the channel. It works, I have done 30+ projects in the last two years with every one being very effective. Here are so more pics. WE also do the root balls. The last two pics are before and during pics
Oh ya, grading bucket on backwards works great for ditch cleaning also. We have quick couplers on both our 135's. because we use those two machines mainly for stream work. actually Every machine we have have quick couplers on them.
Very intresting info and great pics :yup. Dont get to play in water much, thank goodness but I can understand how that would work. How do you keep the logs in place?
The logs get keyed into the bank about 6-10 feet and then we drill holes every four feet and drive five foot rebar into the river bed and bend about the last six inchs over to hold it down. We always bend the rebar down stream to prevent debris from snagging the rebar. we do single logs and multi logs. Multi logs we just make a pyramid with the logs. If we have gravel with in reach of the deflector we will fill in the crotch a bit.
Dirtman, I was just watching your vid, and thinking about maybe the thumb being removed to reduce your weight on the stick....then I realized a huge advantage with it. By grabbing the pads with it, and pulling them edgewise through the mud, it would greatly reduce the suction effect that pulling them straight up (as you would have to do with them sitting on a bucket.) Also, you can take the pads and 'shake' the mud off them when they are in the air....
Got you in one Reuben, very simple and very effective thanks :thumbsup
Credit to the Bossman! Loved these rescue pics Chris. Done a fair few now myself due to having access to some good mats, and a reputation for getting on with it. A real text book rescue, and we all know they happen late in the day with no low loaders avaliable for the rescue machine. Some seem to think the thumbs a real advantage, but in reality I find purpose made mats easy to handle even with a 13 tonner and grading bucket. Just get one on some wet grass for a few minutes and you quickly find the required technique! Obviously a thumb would be a lovely addition but you won't see one in the UK especially not one of them beautiful hydraulic ones usually seen in Canada. But to my main point, much credit must go to the initial Operator for giving up straight away. I know from experience the feeling of having to say 'It's Stuck!' and the dented pride etc, but be thankfull he stopped when he did. I once rescued a 30 Tonne Daewoo from a hole where the operator only stopped when he explained how water was 'squirting from the exhaust'!! If he had continued for a few minutes thrashing around you would be looking at some serious bills now. A post with a few best rescue tips might not go amiss on the forum for anyone else caught out and in a panic!
Last week one of our guys stuck a truck. He stopped shut it down and said I am stuck. Any more messing around would have made it worse. Then the best thing to do is do what dirtman did in picture number fifteen.....stand stare and ponder. Going off half cocked is just going to break things or make it worse.
Need Help? How is your work holding up over there? Over here in East Tn. things are slow! Not to far away if you need an extra hand! Thanks
Wow is this the first time you guys ever delt with mats the dae woo should have had at least 5 mats before going out in there you can never have to many mats in a situation like that been there done that!!!
Ya..maybe He should have had 20....ya i said 20 maybe 30 to be safe(ya I am being sarcastic)...............................But, you work with what you have:thumbsup
You can have all the mats in the world but you can only set on so many at one time. Those were 8'X16' two is all you need and a third to transfer. If a 16'x16' square wont hold up the weight of the machine then its just too wet. We got it done though!
Got to back Chris up on this one. Three Mats is all you need to get about. You can put a hundred down in a roadway, or stack em double in a lattice pattern but whatever you do you always fall off the last one into the softest spot late in the day with nothing to pull you out! Anyone else tried big Straw Bales in a soft spot instead of Mats?
Maybe he wanted you to stack them for some reason:beatsme
From what I have seen and where I have seen those guys go and work I would say they KNOW exactly what is happening and how to and etc. Shoot I get scared if I lose sight of half of an idler. I run the opposite way these guys actually want to go. Darin
I could have probably stacked them 10 high and still got the machine stuck, that was a freaken sink hole!! I've bin in some horrible places but have never seen mud that was just like water. there had to be a big undeground spring there or something. the only problem with stacking them is it pushes the bottom ones so deep down that it becomes impossible to get them out. There so much suction on a mat 4' deep that it tries to pull the machine down when you grab it. Bigger mats are not a option because they become too have and the machine can lift them. Git a bigger machine and then you have more weight on already soft mud. It's a no win situation. This pond has claimed 2 of my NEW mud mats:Banghead They are 6' deep in the mud. I tried for over an hour trying to get them out. I had all 9 other mats under the machine, yes I had them stacked and still I almost got stuck. I had 9: 4'X16' mats under the machine and still could not see the tracks. It was bad!
Here's something similar to that machine Art.
Hey I was being completely sarcastic. You are doing a hell of a job. I just did a job very similar to the one you are doing but with out the mats. I just had to really stay on my game.
Oh I Know, I was just rambling on like I usually do. I've got some more pictures uploaded in my "pictures of my work" thread in the showtime section.
You keep on rambling Chris, theres plenty of people that visit this board ( me included ) that learn an awful lot more than many of us would admit to, just by reading your ramblings. Credit where credit is due, you are the man in mud ? ( I always thought mud at least had some substance to it ) where you play many men fear ( me included ) to tread
I have found the following secrets to digging in mud with "no bottom". Keep the stick under the end of the boom,dont take big bites and/or bites from the bottom,dont pull the mud into the machine and always keep the track pointing in the direction you have to go to get out. I have heard of guys I know track out into the mud turn their tracks this way or that way and then with every cycle they go deeper and deeper and then when they try to get their tracks pointing in the direction they need to go... they cant. Digging in the mud is a whole different ball came just like digging on side hills. thats why I love my job......NO monotony!!!!
To add to your points. If using a small machine with a blade, always keep your blade facing the way to have to had out. If the blade is behind the machine when you try to come out you will quickly discover that you will not make it back as the blade will act as a anchor in the mud. As long as it's facing the way to need to go you will be able to use the boom/ stick the help pull and lift the machine. Just something you don't think about until it happens to yourself.... I guess you really do learn from experience:drinkup
fishing on the job :drinkup
You could have left it there and reported it stollen in the morning!
And people wonder why insurance is so damn expensive
You'd think so but no, as one boss once told me in no uncertain terms "you stuff up, I pay. I stuff up, I pay." Funnily enough when a boss makes a mistake it can be explained easily, that is was not really a mistake but rather it was unavoidable. When the workers make a mistake they are the biggest idiot's under God's great sky and should not be trusted with anything more than a hand shovel. Which reminds me of the time I put a set of 60 foot spray harrows into a strainer post, the boss went off for a good 10 minutes about how useless I was, blah, blah blah. Anyway a few weeks later I was walking down that fence line and noticed that the strainer I hit was a good foot out of alignment with the rest of the fence, due to a sloppy fence builder. Because I was using an articulated JD 8850 to pull the harrows, as I went into a rather tight turn the back of the tractor swung towards the fence a bit, pushing the harrows towards the fence line. The catch 22 is that if I had given myself some extra safety room and not sprayed close to the fence line the boss would have gone off about me missing bits. When the boss had a chance, he went down and had a look at the alignment of the strainer and all I got out of him in way of an apology was "you're right that strainer is a bit out", I took that as a full apology and as an added bonus, a week after I smacked the post, the boss's nephew smacked the other set of harrows into a tree, guess the tree was out of alignment as well. I manged not to say anything as the nephew was a up himself so and so and always telling us how much of an super operator he was.
How come thumbs are not use in old Blighty? Perhaps it's a case of "me dear old dad never needed thumbs and I don't either" And yeah great vid, shows that not panicking and thinking your way through it can achieve heaps. Did you make the vid to show to your boss? "here ya go mate, that's how ya do it, you old fool"
Hey Rob why dont you use hydraulic thumbs ???
Its not that, me dear old dad still has both his thumbs, thanks :tong Its wierd but thumbs have not caught on over here :beatsme It has cropped up a couple of times in different threads, we just dont do um. Grapples are popular mainly in demo but now fully hyd rehandling/sorting grabs. Having said that there seems to be areas in the States where thumbs dont seem to be so popular.
Thanks For the relpy I just did not know if it was some weird English or EU law or something. :usa
hey dirtman2007 i have watched 90% of your videos on youtube and i am amazed at the places you take that volvo i just had to give you props
Having a thumb can make an average operator a good operator, IMO it takes allot of the learning curve out of the driving,loading and dandling materials.
I just find it a lot more productive to have a thumb than to fiddle all day with trying to pick stuff up without one.
Thanks man, gotta go where the work is!
For sure you are right, But you should see some of the operators I have seen who never even heard of thumbs, back in Ireland where I grew up. Thats where I saw a driver roll rocks sideways into his bucket and he barely slowed down doing so.... Thumbs are great though
What part of Ireland did you grow up in???
Donegal, 20 miles North West of Letterkenny, Where abouts are you :beerchug
Put in a wind farm up that neck of the country years ago,I reside near the Peoples Republic Cork.
Good stuff, a good friend of mine is leaving Cork tomorrow to return here to Vancouver where he lives, Morgan is his family name, he reckons when he is home in Cork, That talking to god is easier as its only a local call
Question,around here people use draglines to dredge ponds.Do you do that to in certain situations?Cool video!You have some skills dude!
OUtstanding PIcs, and your vids on BigTube ARE absolutely Wicked Man! Right On!
dirtman, how often do you guys change the oil in you're finals being in water so much. i have a buddy that does a lot of big pond and lake work and he is a freak about changing the oil in his finals after every job
i guess it's not the right thing to say but if was upto me i would have left it in. Deawoo could not pull a greasey man outta bed. i used one that was only 2 months old slowest bag o nails i've ever been on