I had a buddy call and wanted me to load and get to his excavator asap, as it was sinking. He was digging a tile line across a swampy area. He made it 100' and then got to the base of a dam and started sinking. I laid some cedar trees down and tracked down around his tail to dig around the back side after finding his tracks and tow hole on the high side. After digging him out, we hooked his dozer and bucket cat to it to help him pull himself out.
He broke the "crust" and that looks like it has no bottom anywhere close. I've used smaller machines to dig out bigger ones before, with another bigger machine on high and dry land to pull the little one out if it gets stuck.
You never want the biggest thing on the job in the bottom of the hole
This could probably start a new thread entitled "How Stuck Have You Been" or something similar. In our area there are not many places that are bottomless, so sinking machines is not a normal occurrence, but......... 10 or so years ago while working for a contractor building an earthen dam, I needed to move a D7G from one side to the other. There was a gravel county road that wrapped round the project, so I just paddied out onto the road and went across the culvert and in a gate on the other side of the creek. I had probably traveled on the road about 1/4 mile or less. Just after returning to the dam site a gentleman in a county pickup drove in to our project. Fearing that I would be in trouble for walking the dozer on the road (despite it being gravel) I braced for the lecture and walked over to him. The county supervisor asked me if I would be willing to walk the D7G down the road to a source that the county has (about 3 miles or so) and pull out some equipment. Before volunteering the boss's equipment I asked some questions. The conversation went something like this: Me: What all do you have stuck? Supervisor: A loader, a blade, and by the time I get back probably another blade. Me : What happened? I should at this point state that the county's pit is at the head end of a reservoir, in an area where there are a bunch of springs, and a bunch of sloughs and backwater area. Supervisor: Well, over the weekend a young fellow was out with his 4 wheel drive pickup driving around the slough area and tried to cross a backwater channel; he didn't make it. His pickup is in with the back end sticking out, but the hood is under the water. Knowing that the county had a loader just down the road at their source, this young fellow decides to borrow the loader to pull his pickup out, and buried the loader in the process. The Sheriff got wind of this somehow and has detained the young man for stealing the loader, and contacted us to tell us where our loader was. I sent my guys down with a blade to try to pull the loader out, and it is stuck. We called for another blade, and by the time I get back there I wouldn't be surprised if it's not stuck as well. Me: Sounds like it is awfully soft, I don't think it would be wise to add a D7G (not exactly low ground pressure) to the collection of stuck yellow iron. Tell you what, we are bringing a 325 excavator out here tomorrow morning, and in these situations it is much better than a dozer for pulling out equipment. How about if I just unload it near where the equipment is stuck in the morning and pull stuff out, then we can jump it back on the lowboy and bring it here (I called my boss to see if he was willing to do this as a professional courtesy, and he agreed). Supervisor: I hate to leave all the equipment there overnight, but I guess that's what we'll do, see you there in the morning. So...the next morning the boss brings the excavator out and we unload it and walk into the helpless machine repository. In a bit of time we have all the equipment back onto high and dry ground, which leaves the pickup still in the channel with water over the hood. I asked if they wanted us to pull it out as well while we were there and they said sure. I walk the excavator over to the late 70's pickup and see a bumper sticker on the back window that says "STUPID PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BREED" (I kid you not). The county took a picture of it, and we all got quite a chuckle before pulling it out. In defense of the young man, I've seem me do similar "stupid" things, which takes us to yet another thread! Cheers!
Rules to live by!
high hoe, high hoe, it's of to the sinkhole we go
He still needs to finish the job....is he going to add a rat tail on the back so as not to climb in all the mud for hookup next time ?