Seriously though, that had to hurt bad.
I hope a) he had his seat belt on, and b) that the fat guy wasn't the operator. Impressive feat though.
my thought was, the fat guy would not be standing there, belted or not after that impact.
Whomever it was, they STUCK the landing!
I think I wouldn’t be standing that close to it
tucked in close to the bridge like that, it would be almost impossible to lay down on the tracks. A straight crane pick is the solution, but that bridge probably could not take the crane.
Reminds me of a 10K that slid off a rock during a night op. Neither of those two guys were present or witnessed the descent or they wouldn't be standing where they are.
I have heard a story of a cable blade D-7 around here that somehow went over an edge building road in the woods and jump roped the blade when the cable broke, it landed on its tracks with the blade behind it. I guess the operator said it felt like it teetered up there for what seemed like forever before it decided which way it wanted to go. That would have been a sight to see!
I had my poor 350b crawler loader at 90 degrees to that picture and completely buried in a slope, with dirt above the tank behind and over the tracks in front, with the bucket sitting on top of the muck. Those built in chain hooks and the help of a couple of carpenters and we wriggled it out without an assist.
That would be like flipping a penny onto a table and having it land and stop on edge. Is there any documentation of that accident?
No, a google lens search only shows it at Pinterest and FB. Lots of ugly pictures like that on Pinterest. The wheelbase looks.....wrong.
Hard to tell with what's left of that tyre in the way.....
Far better balance with oval tracks
Any machine I ever had would have immediately fallen over because the hydraulics bled off right quick and/or blasted one side of the angle cylinder lines and taco'd the other. Built Cat tough.
That truck looks like both rear struts collapsed. That tire also looks like it was cut straight across the tread. Maybe it is a recap that failed?
That's what I was thinking. Surprised it didn't blow one of the angle cylinders when it hit. Talk about balance.
That tractor has System One undercarriage, you know the balanced undercarriage. I have a picture around here of a small dozer sitting vertical on its back end in the middle of a paved road after it backed off a high bank. Bob
I agree. In addition the fuel tank is up against the front tire with the wheel appearing to be headed straight ahead, it can't turn with that clearance. It looks like the tank could be skewed forward. It looks like the rear tire on the drive's side is off the rim too. It would be interesting to know the story behind it, seems to defy logic.
There isn't a lot of clearance between the front of the hydraulic tank and the RH front wheel anyway. I thought the steering was turned slightly to the right but either way there still doesn't look as though there is enough clearance. I wonder if it was struck by lightning hard enough for the exploding tyres to displace the hydraulic tank forward.? That usually has pretty disastrous effects on tyres.
If that's a thing that might be the only explanation that makes sense! I have never heard that before but I haven't been around quarries/mining much other than to pick up materials.
Plenty of documented cases. Anyone who works in a mine where tropical rainstorms are common is usually well aware of the dangers of a lightning strike on a haul truck. https://www.artc.com.au/uploads/Safety-Alert_2007-11-29.pdf https://pdfslide.net/documents/tyre-explosion-investigation-lightning-strike-otraco.html
I have seen farm tractors drag a chain to discharge static. Would that work on a haul truck to protect from lightning in this way? So the current goes somewhere besides through the tires?
Reading through the first document, it shot a piece of the rim 300 meters! yikes.
Update. It was a lightning strike. " On July 15, 2012 at approximately 2300 hours driver of 777F haul truck was parked at the 1135 waste dump waiting out an electrical storm. Truck was struck by lightning causing significant damage to the rear of the truck. One left side outside dual was propelled away from the truck approximate 250 meters. The rim of this tire was another 50 meters further. All 4 rear tires were blown out and cab windows shattered. Driver exited the truck as quickly as he could and ran away to a safe distance from the truck."
If I were the driver of that rig I'd probably find a church or chapel as quickly as possible and ask what I did to deserve that kind of treatment.
Why? you got told once, you want to get told again?
So was someone telling me to stop driving truck or to stop driving truck there? They could have been a little more specific and a lot less violent.