Got my 50k Excavator stuck in some endless muddy Clay. It Sunk up to the counter weight and then some been slowly walking it out with logs under the tracks and using the bucket curl with a chain attached to it to pull it out. But all the chains I had were grade 70 3/8 chain. lucky it’s moving. We are double up the chain. . I’m thinking about buying grade 80 or 100 1/2 or 5/8 chain in case it ever get stuck again and it needs to be pulled out. Looking to see what everyone else is using . I like the idea of 5/8 chain but the thought of carrying it ehhhhh
fwiw/ I would look at 3/4 or 1" wire rope rather than chain
You are playing Russian Roulette by using chain. Esp that small of chain. I learned my lesson years ago when we had a Cat 225 break through the frost in a wet area. A neighbor brought his excavator to pull it out. We were one shackle short to get the cable hooked up. I told the neighbor I would run home quick and get another shackle. He said no we will just use this 1/2" chain in place of the shackle. So got it all hooked up to his excavator bucket and he barely started to pull when the chain broke. I swear my heart stopped when I saw his windshield shatter. I ran up to him as he reached in behind his insulated bibs and pulled out that broken 1/2" chain link. He had metal grating in front of his windshield that probably saved his life. No more chains for me..... Just my $.02
Ive seen cables and chains break. Best thing Ive seen is 1" cable with a tractor tire in the middle of it.
DON"T do it. We used Amsteel blue in the coal mine and it worked great! Its a little bit pricey but way cheaper than killing someone. Its super light and stronger than cable I do believe. The best part is, if it breaks it drops to the ground. No recoil. Only major downside is that it doesn't like sharp edges or abrasion.
Sling and shackle. Everyone goes home.
With chain or cable-it's double the capacity, 5/8 100 is around 36,000 lbs. But even at that you have to use clevises rated for what your doing. 3/4 wire rope on my winch on the tow truck is rated at 58,000 the winch is rated at 45,000. I use two 5/8 choker chains rated at 36,000. Plus I have two short 3/4 cable chokers.
And that's why tow trucks use snatch blocks and air bags for layed over loads, to increase lifting capacity. You're trying to drag 50,000 out of a muck suction plus, you don't know what might be hanging up underneath. You could be pulling in excess of 100k or more. As mentioned before, slings drop, chains become projectiles and cables become mad bull whips looking for a head to lop off, and no ROPS/FOPS will stand in its way. Be safe and mind your pucker factor, it usually knows what's best.
why even use one they are heavy to get there, bucket to bucket,or bucket to trungon ball or even blade yes might make a mark on them but at least no one has to drag it or get hit by it. i have push aprons on back of dump trucks you want fired hook anything to front of my truck. nothing every gets tore up getting stuck, but the wrong people tear everything up getting them out. my aprons are two eight inch channel welded lip to lip put up to rails at angle have yet to have one hurt on new beds put under and weld to aprons.
We tried to do bucket to bucket but my excavator just sunk the LD so using the LD and a dead man with its bucket angled into the ground. what’s a good place to buy slings at. I do need a few feet of chains or cable for the rocky areas. Guess I’ll do the grade 100 5/8 will is 36k breaking is 96k
https://www.iqsdirectory.com/wire-rope-slings/oregon/ First thing I grabbed off the internet