You know the ones: “My driveline is laying in the street. Be sure you have fittings and hose, it tore off the relay valve. Oh and I’m partially blocking Eastbound 124th .” “I’m in the ditch and broke a tie-rod end……on the haul road” “Backed over a short stump, I’m gonna need and oil pan and oil.” “His front end is in a utility ditch we didn’t know was there. I think the tie rod is bent, cant tell…there’s mud up to the leaf springs.” “My bucket fell off…it’s hanging by the hoses…” “There’s a housecat stuck in the backhoe. He’s still alive…” “Can you weld up an air tank?” “Backed over a rock….gonna need an oil pan“…….. Remember any calls that left you with "Momentary Turrets Syndrome"?
"It just died and now it won't click or do anything, I've got 8 yards on and I'm blocking the 270 Exit" Translation: I've spent all morning driving with my voltmeter @ 11 volts, But I never once looked at it.
Yeah...one day at work when OCR called me. Suffered from temporary lapse of concentration. The calls I'd rather have not gotten? Easy, any call after 3:59 in the afternoon. Pretty much a sure bet it's a call about a rental machine that is down. No, it couldn't do it first thing in the morning, has to happen 2 hrs before quitting time. :tong
LOL... God, that was good... loved it... :lmao Heck, I thought you did good... you're kinda hard to fool... Course, my 'story' was none to good... :tong OCR... lol
Two of our men were loading rocks out in a farmer's paddock and bringing them back to the yard. My phone call went something like this. 'The truck and trailer are stuck on a sand hill.' 'Ok, well maybe tip the trailer off, get a chain and try and ease the truck out with the loader, carefully. I'm on my way.' On my way out there I meet the truck and trailer coming home fully loaded. 'So you got it out then.' 'Yep, took it easy'. 'No worries, take it home, dump the rocks off, load the truck and trailer with rubble, and bring it over to where I am working.' Next phone call. 'The truck won't start.' Under my breath: 'For Christ's sake, now what?' 'Ok, wait there , I'm on my way home.' I get back there, turn the key, and the starter just took off like it wasn't engaging. The reason, the engine was laying over far enough that the pinion was completly missing the ring gear and the bell housing was totally smashed' The reply: 'It must have been from fatigue.' I think we can all draw our own conclusions as to what really happened out there on that sand hill, because no one was volunteering any information. RnR.
Hey I just met a friend from high school I haven't seen is fifteen years. Send a tow truck. Why do I need to send a tow truck? He was driving a logging truck when we met.
Driver called me yesterday, "I was just sitting still beside the scales in the scrapyard, and my new steer tire just got cut." "I dropped my loaded dump trailer on 2 concrete blocks, I thought sure they would hold it up." "My tailgate won't unlock", get there, see tailgate is bowed out in the middle, and the whole load is piled against it. "Hell no, I didn't dump it with it latched" and about a thousand more I can't think of now.
Got a call once, "The skid steer fell off the back of the flat bed. We need it ASAP" Driver had tried to take it under a 10' railroad trussel. 2 weeks later I got a new ROPS/cab fabricated for it and the cylinder towers on the tree spade straightened out. 2 years on a large farm with lots of unexperienced operators yielded lots of those stories.
cust: yeah, my swing bearing just tore apart...the machine is in two pieces. me: where are you? cust: halfway onto the lowbed. 10:30 pm...300 km out in the bush ,-33 celcius, 70 km/h winds
From the days before cell phones, as relayed by the job superintendent: "Your dump truck ran out of gas." The rest of the story--I let the builder put a driver in it, to take it to another site. I'd told the guy it was low on gas, and the gauge wasn't reliable; dip the tank. (Upon further questioning, it was revealed that he had, and was sure that the one and one half inches that showed on the stick would be plenty.) I found the truck, sitting in the right hand lane of the expressway, windows up and doors locked, no driver anywhere, and smokey impatiently waiting with it. I had to break into it, and smokey was kind enough to steer it while I drug it off to the shoulder. The driver had walked to a pay phone and called the super, and then walked to the other job, taking the keys with him. :Banghead
The D6R I think has a bad idler it's trying to lock up.Four bottem rollers bolts broke holding them to roller frame and the idler bearings shot.Boss asked if they could run it till parts came in.Told him yea three days ago maybe but now nope.
Truck driver: "Hey boss" Me: Yea, "They got a really cute girl at the (blank) quarry" Yea and, "She was wearing these short shorts" OK whats your point? "She walked out the scale house door" Now I'm really getting annoyed waiting for the punch line, "Well, I turned to look at her and ran the front wheel hub cap into the scale post and broke it and all the oil ran out - sorry"
Any call between eight P.M. and 4 A.M. It's not going to be good news.
Any call when scraper operators want to cut the machine off in the middle of the cut or fill then it wont restart. Which wouldnt be too bad except they always seem to do it when its really wet material. My all time best though: at about noon on a friday in Centreville Va. I got a call. "Hey, we need you to run up to Frederick job we've got a D8H the track busted." I get about 15 minutes from the job. "Hey, are you close yet" Me: yea why whats going on? Foreman: "Well we've got a bigger problem than the track off the D8H" Me: Well jeez Larry what could be worse than that?" Foreman (Larry): Well its in the bottom of a barr pitt and you probably wont get your truck down there to it. But thats not even the bigger problem. The problem is the water is half-way up the track frame right now and it doesnt look good for you right now." The good thing was this happened in the summer and a lil water cooled me down. Took 2 other D8s and a 977 to drag her up on dry ground so I could get the job done.
These are good short stories! Keep them coming. The scale house story is Pricelsss!
I get these all the time usualy when it gets down to -40 or so and 3 in the morning Evan where is the big girl? Uhh its in the yard Ok c who you can round up, we have a 16" main out of the ground and want it fixed NOW Do you want a police escort ? Of course ! Or hey boss yea u remember how i needed a new windsheild in my pick up? Uh huh Well i was brush cutting and Uh hit a big tree and well now it's sticking out of the windsheild and the grill O had a guy spread a belly dump of 3" down HWY 2 and i had to come with blank cheques to buy windsheilds and grilles... And i looked like the ********
The one I didn't want but got 10 minutes after I sent a message to my boss that read "I'm not going to make it to Dallas this weekend, it's outrageously priced" and the call: Me: 481 This is Ray The boss: Hey Ray how's your day going? Me: Really well, thanks The boss: That's good, because you're not going to like what I'm about to say Me: I'm going to Dallas Aren't I? The boss: Yup, book the flight! Me: OK
boss calls me 7:30 on a day i thought i had off because of rain. boss : do you remember that pump septic system we installed a few years ago on stallard dr? me : yes? boss : well the pump truck is on its way, the pump quit. me : ok.... boss : do you have a ladder that will fit in the tank...and some old clothes? some days you just hate life!
Had the wife following me in one of the semi's and we were both hauling equipment to the next jobsite, I turned off the busy highway and noticed she wasn't following me anymore, about the same time the phone rang, my wife: hon my truck doesn't move, me:where are you, my wife: half way across traffic turning off the highway blocking both lanes and everyone's really upset, me: any idea whats wrong, my wife: yea I don't have a drive shaft anymore me:where do you think it is my wife:Maybe you should come and see for yourself and while your here you can take care of this.....................did I mention some of them are really upset...........................hon I don't want to drive truck anymore I'd rather go home...................about now would be nice.
This was my first winter in the service truck. I picked a hell of a year to start wrenchin for a commercial/municipal snow removal contractor... Storm 1 - 24 hours into a 34 hour shift -Hey Kev, the international 4900 is stuck. -Ok, are you hung up in a snowbank? -No im in the middle of the parking lot, someone forgot to mark out an island. -Mmmmk, did you back over one? -No no i was doin about 20mph or so and hit the thing head on. But the truck looks like its fine the plow soaked up the hit. -Holy f%#K hows the plow look?!?! -I can't tell, its underneath the truck. Its pinned in between the tranny and the island, i guess thats why im stuck... Storm 2 - 12 hours into a 25 hour shift -Hey Kev, the state called. They want all 14 trucks at the DOT garage in 45 minutes, if we're late they are back chargin us $200 an hour. -Ok, ill send the kid out to start em all up 15 minutes later the kid comes back and says... -Hey Kev, theres a problem with seven. -Truck seven wont start? -No, seven of the trucks wont start Storm 4 - 24 hours before the snow starts fallin' -Hey Kev, we got big problems with one of the tri-axles! -Wonderful, what seems to be the problem. -Well i dont have all the details yet but i guess the plow frame got hung up on a railroad track with a load on. -How the F#$K...I'm gonna go grab dinner, keep me updated. 2 hours later... -Yeah so the plow frame tore off the truck, got wedged on the front axle and went through the oil pan. All of the hydraulic and powersteering lines got torn to shreds. The PTO driveshaft tore in half too. Is it hard to re-tube a driveshaft? Oh and can you stay until the truck is all back together? -:Banghead:Banghead:Banghead:Banghead 29 hours later the truck was on the road and i was in bed...with my phone turned OFF!
this one comes to mind
I didn't work on it but the driver kept complaining that the power divider was acting up.Three days later I looked and the Jack Shaft U joint was the problem.By then it was joint and yoke.
"It started really clunkin so I quick drove it out to the landing". Groan...Why don't they stop the machine now?
"Copy workshop, can you come out to bells pit" "whats up" "Oil leak from around the final drive of the digger" "leaking bad?.. from a hydraulic hose?" "nah it was leaking bad near the track but its slowed down now" "ok i'll come up for a look" "oh wait hang on it must be a hose cause the machine wont track straight" "park it up I'll be there in 5" this is what i found after i pulled the master link bolts haha snapped the main axle/bearing housing almost lost the final drive as it started to roll down the haul road into the pit
"Ah hello" (driver), how many guys are at the shop? (Me) "around 10 or so, why"? I picked up the terex back hoe from the cape and forgot to retact the extend a hoe. (ME) Yeah? (Driver) "well i just it the second bridge on the interstate on the way back and it tore the machine off the trailer, flipped up side down, and broke the trailer away from the tractor. All the fuel and hyd oil is all over the hiway! Can you grab every bag of speedy dry, shovels, brooms, and man, woman, mechanic, yard person and get down here befor clean harbors gets the call. Oh and bring a loader, tractor, lowbed, to right this out of the hiway too. How long till you get here? Talk about a chain gang with push brooms. He didn't measure before took off, and hit a 12'6" at 65MPH.
I had all most the same thing.Final leaking oil.Op yea it locked up today but I kept rocking it back and forth till it popped.Then it was ok.All spider and sun gear busted.So we had to get a new final.Removed other side and had it gone through to be safe.I think the new final was near $16,000 but all the rebuilt and pull outs were close to new price. Mechanic told me same operator got a tree on the cab of a new rental.That means new cab.Bosses best A kisser.
yeh, this repair was looking to be quite pricey due the the age and relative rarity of the machine, a new final drive was about $75,000 ex germany.. we managed to find a whole second hand running machine for $100,000 or a complete final drive/travel motor off the same machine for $20,000 but the powers above decided to park it up I've since found out that they made another one from 2 or 3 second hand final drives they had kicking around so its back running again (2 years after it broke)
Hey 2stick. I've got a question I'm kinda curious about. How come the shovel/excavator you are working on has a master link? Every excavator I've ever been around up to a Cat 385 had a master pin you had to drive out to seperate the tracks.
Pull on to job site to check out progress. one of the employees who isnt the sharpest tool in the shed but always is reliable to show up is fueling his d8. i help him fuel,grease,etc... as im pulling away i see the new foreman truck being backed over from the hood to the cab and keep going. basically turned the 2500hd into a pancake was able to salvage the valve stems and thats about it. after kindly letting this employee know that was his last day with the company i went to the golf course to swing some sticks and enjoy a beer.
we got sick of pressing out pins so we fitted a set of CAT track chains off a dozer and they do the job nicely! FYI theres a crowd over here in WA who modify their scrapers to fit CAT D4 dozer chains to their 633D/639D elevator chains to get more life from them they last about 5 times as long
I think that's the best story yet epuip guy.
railroad not construction engineer: hey dispatcher i think i got a problem dispatcher: oh yea what is it? engineer: well the second unit is on fire, but its still pulling
One Sad Set of Tracks Had a call from customer (after repeated advise given to them re condition of their tracks!) ointhead - "The drott is on a job in steep country. You won't get your truck within a cooee of where the machine is. You'll need to load your tools into your 4wd ute to get to it......" So go out in 2 vehicles, truck & ute, load ute with various pulling devices & crow bars, drive into a deep gully, fit the floppy thing back on, tell operator to keep a little more tension on tracks, drive out & back to w/shop. Barely get out of truck back at w/shop & phone rings - "Guess what, slight problem with the other side track" .......... load ute & do it all again.:Banghead Some mothers do have 'em!
I totally understand. I do believe I've encountered some of their kinfolk on occasion. :crazy
willie I know I have run into their kin.Couldn't pour urine out of a boot with directions on the bottom.
Now thats funny.
Trucker " i dont think you gotta worry about finding a driver for the next shift Me "Why is it laid off?" Trucker "No its on fire" Me "well dont put it out"
Most recent call: me: "Hello, this is Sean" cust: "hi sean, my name is ......., I hear you like challenges" me: "haha, who told you that?" cust: "doesn't really matter, I've got a 345B with basically every hydraulic component off the machine and sitting on pallets all around it ready to be put back on" me: "doesn't sound all that bad, just time consuming" cust: "Well, the guy that took it apart is no longer employed with us and the bolts are all in 5 gallon buckets on one of the pallets." me: "FML" I muttered to myself, customer just heard silence.
Got a call from a man i had never worked for before had left track off 155 komatsu at a lake about 15 miles from me. Get there cant drive where its at have to carry tools about 250' in the woods The track is about 60' downhill from the machine. after comealonging up the hill and getting it back on the whole time this guy is sitting in the seat of the 155 telling us about his gold business and how much he makes in the next town. We get finished and he gives me a check and bounce bounce a few days later i go to his business. The older lady at the counter said he was gone for the day but he would be back later in the afternoon and that he lived above the store. I came back and waited for about 2 hours later that day and he shows up and starts the lying and needs a few days. ( not a problem if you are upfront and honest with me) Anyways i tell him to get me the money or hes gonna beat my *** or im gonna beat his he gave me cash and has never called again
Im pregnant!
grandpa lol you got us all beat
even though the other ones are great and funny, I really think this one is more to the point, about they dont call between 8-4 unless they have problems. I had a driver call me twice in one day, saying I am out of fuel, of course I took him 10 gals the first time, enough to fet him to the fuel shop just down the road. I asked him them why didnt he fuel up in the AM, like I always told him too, he said he thought he had enough fuel (how much did you have?) reply 1/4 tank (my cam reply, you have been driving this truck for 2 months and you know the guage is stuck at 1/4) his reply OH' That was around 9:00 around 2pm the same call, Im out of fuel My not tooo cam reply, why are you out of fuel, I told you to fill up after this morning crap His reply, I put $50 in, that was all the tank you let me get, without scanning the card again ($50 divided by $3.90 fuel HUMMM) My reply after I took him fuel again, TAKE THE TRUCK TO THE SHOP AND GET YOUR SH-T OUT OF IT, he still didnt understand why $50 wasnt enough fuel That was about 2 years ago and he still is unemployed, wonder why? I have alot more, but Im taking blood pressure medicine, so I better not go there LOL
driver- you need to come to asphalt plant scale house, I just tore the front hub cap off, the steps on the fuel tank and I almost forgot, the fuel tank has a hole in it. I have no idea how it happened, I think they moved the concrete barriers, closer together (he has been working on this same job at the same scale house for 2 months straight) driver-Im sorry HUMMMMMMMMMMMM (my thoughts, plus a few I cant list)
I got a phone call Saturday afternoon July 23 of this year that I hope I ''ll never ever get again ..... A very dear and near to my heart friend / customer was killed while under a truck ....Please everybody becareful life is precious ....
No, Granpa, I think you're just confused, and maybe constipated; you're not pregnant.
I got it all figured out Mitch. My last child support payment will be the month b4 i turn 97... oh what a great party thats gonna be!!!!
This was the funniest call I've ever had. It was for a dropbox on a Volvo A40D. I couldn't believe it. Dealer: The customer is saying that this isn't the same dropbox that they sent you. Me: It's the same dropbox, what seems to be the issue. Dealer: They say that it's sitting about 6 inches lower than the other one. Me: ......................Tell them to turn the mounts around and stick it back in the machine. Holy Cow!
Happened back in the mid 70’s when Dodge was having difficulties: On the radio: Truck shop, Truck shop, go ahead…. Can you send the transport up here on the 70 line? Sure, why? My new Dodge pickup is broke and it needs to get back to the shop. Sure, it’ll take a couple of hours to get there… Oh, by the way, send the boom truck also…. Oh? Why? The front of the truck is about 30 feet away from the back of the truck; the frame broke in half behind the cab…. Logging foremen were hell on pickups, and this one was a real go-getter, had a new Ford the next day.
Got a call from a girl in site office,can you sent a fitter straight away, the shovel is broken down me, Ok whats the problem Girl, the driver said it went bang and all the oil came out Me, ok, is it engine oil,gear oil,transmission oil or hydraulic oil Girl, dont know me, ok where about is the oil leaking Girl, in the quarry Ok,i'll come and have a look
Ive gotten several calls that hurt my checkbook. For the mostpart nothing to major. But my first question is always is everyone ok. Thats all that matters, I can replace equitment.
Had a guy who put a rear diff in upside down on a shovel and insisted that the diff was crap and that the brakes were now locked on!
I've had a lot over the years, but here's a couple that I can think of right off hand. About 3am," I just hit a cow on I90 just past Adams Road, and it's balled up under the front diff." What a friggen mess, blood guts hide, hair and **** hanging off everything. Had to crawl in there and cage the brakes to move the truck. Turns out it was an 1800 lb breeder bull. Did about 30k worth of damage, totalled the truck. Another middle of the nighter, " I just tossed a tire chain, and gutted the air plumbing and wiring out of my trailer, now my brakes are locked up and I'm blocking traffic!!" Or, " I have a Freightliner Century with a Detroit 60 and it has a fuel leak at the back of the engine."
How many calls want you to tell them how to fix it over the phone?
I had a guy call me once and said "hang on, I'm gonna put my phone by my engine so you can listen to it" no lie, I can't make stuff like that up.
Parts counterman here. Dmax, I've got that call more than once. And gentlemen, don't have your wife call me if she don't know anything... Chances are good all three of us will be pissed off before the call is over.
got call from one of the drivers can't bring the truck home as its got a broken mirror. I asked since when does a broken mirror stop a truck and got politely told the cabs sitting on it.
Most of them. Here's another. "My engine's making a rattling noise, do you think it'll make it to Seattle?"
2010 - construction site outside uk. Foreman "Boss come quick!!!!" me "*** happened now?" Foreman in a shaky voice "operator went over the slope" me "yeah and???" Foreman "It rolled over many times and is upside down" me after a brief pause "who died?" Foreman "no one, he got out unharmed" I put the phone down and drove to the site. The operator did not turn the machine off when he crawled his ass out. My right boot connected automatically to Foreman's ass while I shouted ENGINE YOU WANKER! and he promptly ran over to switch it off. Operator had no excuse for attempting to go down that gradient as he was told already it's too sleep. Strange things happen when you're in a different state...breaker bar was too close to me which I picked up and wanted to crack the operator's skull open. My brother knew it would not end well and had to restrain me from doing the unthinkable. The repair bill was very bitter.
One of my best ones.Boss said check D6 it is locking up.Well I checked it 4 rollers broke thier mount bolts and idler was broke loose then Boss asked if it would run till we got parts.I told him yea if I was told about this four days ago..
We were working late in the shop one night....as usual. Phone rings, it's the operator of one of the graders we have plowing snow for the city. Op: Umm, how fast can you get here? The blade fell off. Mech: What do you mean the blade fell off? Op: Well, I was just plowing down the street, and the blade fell off. Mech yells across the shop: Hey, sounds like the edges came loose on G2. The pinhead says the blade fell off. Me: Aw crap, that thing just got new edges today, they must not have torqued up the nuts. Mech: Ok, we'll be there as soon as we can. Op: Can you hurry? I'm in kind of a bad spot. So we throw a set of edges, nuts and bolts onto a service truck and head for town. When we get there, we find the grader....a 16G......sitting in the middle of a major intersection, with oil all over the ground, and the moldboard under the rear wheels. Seems hitting a raised manhole, wide open in 5th gear when it's -40 will break the circle knees, and he managed to stop the grader before he made it all the way over the wreckage. Back to the shop to grab a boom truck, hydraulic oil and some sorball, as well as another grader so he could keep plowing. Fun night.
Sunday it rained all day, freezing rain, about mid afternoon a friend called and asked if I could pull him out of the ditch, we chatted awhile on the phone, told him probably not but since he was a friend, I'd come take a look anyhow, when I got there, he was on the cell phone with his boss telling him what happened and his boss said, I'll call right back another driver is calling me. So in the meantime we assessed the situation, he had a quad axle milk truck, nearly loaded and stopped to put his chains on, after setting the brakes, and about to get out, the truck took off and slid sideways across the road and swung around and backwards into the ditch, no harm done, but noway I'd ever get him out with anything I had, not to mention I'd never get anything I had there anyhow due to the icy conditions. As we chatted about options, which were very few, along comes a pickup and stops short of the accident, that slides and is in the ditch behind the milk truck, another car does the same thing and in about five minutes, its total mayhem. We locate a wrecker who'll come to do the pull and form a plan how to get it out, but need a sanding truck pretty badly, once out, nobody's going anywhere without one, nothing damaged, nobody hurt in anything, looks like a good day thus far. As we wait for the wrecker, my friends boss calls back, confirms to get the wrecker and to hurry it up, another route guy, just dumped his fully loaded quad axle truck on its side in the ditch about 40 miles away, trucks a total loss and the third one's also in the ditch, still upright, but not for much longer 60 miles the other way, and two semi tankers are in about the same shape and my friends the only unit they can use to off load the rest, plus do the remaining routes that day, so don't hurt the truck and get a sander to drive ahead of him to each accident so his isn't totaled as well, after getting off the phone with his boss, he asked me if he'd figure he'd get fired over the deal, I told him I doubt it, the accident was't his fault, and besides it sounded like there were other coworkers in far more distress than he was and his boss was far busier with them right at the moment and if he needed a person to vouch for him, I'd be glad to tell his boss what happened, as would the wrecker operator. On the way back home after the ordeal I was thinking now that would have to be considered having a bad day for the boss on every level, then I got to thinking, you know, it was just starting to rain and ice up, they had the whole day and most of the night yet to go and the sander trucks were pulled off the roads everywhere, so it could have gotten a lot worse after I left the equation, I was sure glad to be back home and not be directly involved.
Any call that starts with, hey um, we have this crane here.... The worst was a hydraulic pump split wide open. Crane has a 150 gal hydraulic tank. It was a bad day. Still don't know what made that pump split in half.
:roll
had a lowboy hauling an excavator up a steep winding road, went to drop a gear and ripped out the driveline. i get there and the operator is in the hoe with his bucket in the ditch pushing the whole rig up the hill. bucket down, release brakes and push, set brakes reposition bucket and continue. another driver gutted both differentials hooking up to an empty float in a freshly layed and packed rock yard. got a call that a stringing truck had a bad starter. when i get on site its mud knee deep. the truck is 3-400 yards down the right of way with a trail of oil leading to it. had a ball valve for the oil drain that opened when they drug it through the mud. hoes flipped upside down in the ditch with fuel and hydraulic tanks blowed. i could go on and on lol
Let me prefice with "I am a service manager for a large equipment RENTAL company.... 10k reach forklift with "hoses and chains hanging out the back and we ran out of oil, it won't even move in and out now" 200C excavator "slid off in the hole sideways and pulled a wrecker in behind it, you're probably going to need a few cranes" 6k reach forklift "chains fell out the hole in the bottom of the boom and it looks bent, oh and it won't go in and out any more" 310J backhoe "we parked it Friday and after the rain this weekend there is no dirt under it, it's just sort of sitting in mid air on one tire and the buckets" Haul truck driver "the wheel loader slid off my trailer sideways, but it's not my fault it just went sideways, can you bring a big forklift or something and another truck?" 225D excavator "I was unloading it and it went sideways off the trailer ramp, it's ON IT"S ROOF, you're going to need a crane and another truck and a hazmat crew" 310J backhoe "we were crossing the RR tracks and it quit moving, something is hanging under it- oh yeah, they are live tracks and the RR company is PISSED and says we have one hour or they will push it off the tracks" 60' boom lift "the crane ran into the boom basket, we have the boom back on all four tires now but we're going to need another one out here" 8k reach forklift "it has a bent wheel, it got tipped onto ONE wheel, and the boom (s) might be bent a little" 50' towable boom lift, delivery driver "I turned at the light and heard a screaching sound and when I looked in the mirror I saw the tires of the boom lift instead of the top, I don't know how that happened" Haul truck driver "I think something broke, I was winching the backhoe on my trailer b/c it wouldn't start and there was a big bang and then it rolled really easy, so I just finished loading it and now it's unloaded out in the yard, you should go check it out, it's a piece of junk" Haul truck driver "the dump truck I just brought in won't run over 1000 RPM's and a bunch of lights are on, it's a piece of (expletive)--- turns out the customer put diesel fuel in the DEF tank and ran it until it locked down and then said "come get it I'm done with it" Yard hand "the roller was smoking pretty bad so I tried to get it to the line and it just quit--- right in the middle of the parking lot, I think "somebody" put diesel in the gas tank"......yeah, somebody.... Shop mechanic "I think I need more parts" Me "ok, what" Mech "well, that seal you bought for the axle housing, well it wouldn't come loose then when it did I "found" the housing was cracked" Me "sure, that sounds about right"--- and about a MILLION of Those! There is a lot of story to each one and hundreds of more stories like them. I get a good one about once a week literally it seems.
"I'm gonna need a chainsaw, some tail lights, black spray paint, and some cat yellow spray paint" Driver didnt set the brakes on the trailer, unloaded it on a steep hill in a wooded development, with a D6 on it. The rest explains itself. Oh but the dozer was chained down good, it rode the trailer all the way to the bottom of the hill.
I got a radio call one rainy afternoon operator said his wipers were not working. I told him to try a different speed, his reply was that he has been running from 10 mph to 70 mph and it didnt make any difference! I reached down turned the radio off and proceeded home.
Not construction related but while in the Army I was the SGT of the guard for an ammo storage area when we were the detail BN for 2 weeks. Now in the Army you can be reduced in rank and forfeit money for running out of fuel.The Duce and a half we were issued had a bad fuel gauge. I ordered the driver to fuel it twice a day. The lazy SOB didn't and I got the call that he was broke down (out of fuel). He was about 2 miles from the motor pool. I got out there after getting the call that he was broke down and first thing sticked the tank.....dry. I gave the guy the option of carrying 2 five gallon cans back and forth to the truck or of me writing him up for disobeying an order plus running out of fuel. I made him fill the tank. 5 trips with the 2 fuel cans and one with just one can. It was only 55 gallons but he always followed orders after that and always made sure anything he drove had fuel! But serving in the Army for 20 years the worst calls were always at 2AM and when something like this, SGT this is the commander, you need to go the the police station in (whatever town) or MP station and pick up______________. Knew darn well I was going to be in the commanders office explaining why this guy got busted for drunk and disorderly or a DUI. Rick
Some of these calls ring very familiar. I work in u/g mining and have had a few crackers. One that springs to mind was an LHD (Cat R2900G) operator called mid shift "copy fitter Hughie", " yeah copy". "Mate I'm up in the 5100 level, I just tipped a load into a truck and she won't steer" " righto...". I get up there to find this big metal pin sitting in the level access, " this will be good" find the lights of the machine. Long story short, the bottom articulation pin had fallen out and so the weight of the load in the bucket had been keeping the machine together.the operator tipped the load, the bottom clevises open up and the middle of the loader hits the ground and snaps the ends of the steering cylinder rods and bends the top clevises so it can't be jacked back together. Had to cut the loader in half with the oxy and drag it piece by piece the 4 km tunnel back to the surface workshop. What a day!
That'z a good one Hughie Welcome to the forum.
3pm in the afternoon after hot day in the sun - "We had a small problem with the track on the Trex, but we managed to get it back to the yard. Do you reckon you could take a look at it for us? ........ Not sure if we can have anyone there to give you a hand, will you be OK?" I'm gettin' too old for this cr@p .... :deadhorse
This actually was me making the call to the highway dept. when I was slipping on ice going up a VERY steep hill with my 10 wheel dump and backhoe on the trailer: ''I'm stuck at almost the top of your f------ **** Rd.with a big rig because you guys apparently didn't salt the road.'' Highway super." Ummm,that's in our jurisdiction,but you are on a private road,don't you see all the sand/salt barrels around you?'' Me,[sheepishly now of course] ''Yeah ,I do,but there's a problem--my maxis will not hold that load plus the ice is making me slide some,there's no way I can get out of the cab and I'm so nervous my feet are jumping on the pedals and if I start backpedalling any faster and get out of control,I can wipe out houses on either side below me.'' He says he'll be right there in 5 and he was.At first he stupidly said to unload the hoe after he chocked a few tires--I said NO WAY on that steepness.So,we both went over to those sand barrels and put some salted sand in front of the drive tires and I made it up that hill.
Hey boss, you might need to come have a look at this. What happened? Well, the hoe is a little stuck, and we cant get it out. I will be right there. This is what I found: