someone vandalized my skidder

tlandrum · October 17, 2012, 08:42:02 PM

today i had some problems out of my skidder and decided that if i was going to have to replace the head i would go ahead and do an in frame on it. well when i pulled the pan on it i found 9 22long rifle shells in my oil pan. i dont know if somone thought it would destroy my motor or kill someone. what the heck was they thinking. im going to go and file a police report about it in the morning.

WDH · October 17, 2012, 08:53:12 PM

The things that sorry people will do.

ga jones · October 17, 2012, 08:56:29 PM

A few years back a friend was cutting near a development and tree huggers drilled hole in the tires trans. engine block axles. totaled the skidder. one of the holes went through the block and the conecting rod.

hardtailjohn · October 17, 2012, 10:33:40 PM

I was running a D8 years ago on a road job, and when I started it up one morning, I had a big oil leak. A little more investigation showed a small hole in the block. We got to looking and about 50' away, we found a 303 British casing. Some jerk had shot into the block. We dropped the belly pan and oil pan (not a small amount of work), and recovered the bullet and made sure it hadn't hit anything internally, and for a fix, we drilled and tapped the hole to 1/4" NPT. When I saw the 8 years later, that pipe plug was still there and not leaking.
JH

lynde37avery · October 17, 2012, 10:56:06 PM

my uncles skidder TJ 230d. someone had dumped antifreeze in the fuel one time. he noticed the empty jugs on the ground. so he didnt start the engine yet. had it all flushed out & everything went ok. but he was some mad. i hope i never have anything like that happen. i am sure id be serving a life sentence if some hippies ruined any of my equipment that puts the food in my belly and the roof over my head.

poorfarm · October 18, 2012, 06:37:53 AM

Quote from: lynde37avery on October 17, 2012, 10:56:06 PM
my uncles skidder TJ 230d. someone had dumped antifreeze in the fuel one time. he noticed the empty jugs on the ground. so he didnt start the engine yet. had it all flushed out & everything went ok. but he was some mad. i hope i never have anything like that happen. i am sure id be serving a life sentence if some hippies ruined any of my equipment that puts the food in my belly and the roof over my head.

I second that!!

Bert · October 18, 2012, 07:21:10 AM

I feel you pain too. Last year our skidder and stationary log truck were parked at a job overnight. Came back the next day and all the windows were broken out of the truck except the windshield which was shattered but not fully out. The rocks that went through the side windows were in the cab. I put them behind the seat because if I find out who did it, I'm gonna bounce them off of their head. Scares we just to read about this kind of stuff because our equipment is out on a job now and hunting seasons are upon us. Alot of idiots with guns out there looking for something to shoot at.

HiTech · October 18, 2012, 08:19:35 AM

Hunting season always amazes me. You get the Great white hunters with their big 4 wheel drives and their ATV's in the back and they drive the back roads with their gun barrels on the window sill and a beer in their hand looking for something to move to shoot at. If nothing moves then they shoot posted signs or road signs or skid tanks, anything to hear the gun go off. At a dollar a piece for shells or more it seems a big waste of money. If these bad asses want to shoot sooo bad then they should join the Army and fight for their country. Most are too cowardly for that though.

Shotgun · October 18, 2012, 08:33:55 AM

Quote from: HiTech on October 18, 2012, 08:19:35 AM
Hunting season always amazes me. You get the Great white hunters with their big 4 wheel drives and their ATV's in the back and they drive the back roads with their gun barrels on the window sill and a beer in their hand looking for something to move to shoot at. If nothing moves then they shoot posted signs or road signs or skid tanks, anything to hear the gun go off. At a dollar a piece for shells or more it seems a big waste of money. If these bad asses want to shoot sooo bad then they should join the Army and fight for their country. Most are too cowardly for that though.

Sorry they're that way in New York. That's a pretty broad brush you're using, though.

Disclaimer: We have a few of those in Michigan too. ;)

moosehunter · October 18, 2012, 09:37:11 AM

"That's a pretty broad brush you're using, though."

My thought exactly ;)

Thehardway · October 18, 2012, 10:05:10 AM

Sorry to here bout the vandalism. When you say that there are 22LR cartridges in the oil pan, are you saying someone dropped live ammo in the engine?

IMHO that's not just mischief or vandalism, that is criminal intent to harm. That rascal need to be cabled to a yarder and drug through a patch of honey locust in his birthday suit.

On the flip side, we had a tornado go through our Sub,d a few years back. A local logger said he would come in, chip and clean up the debris (mostly pine) in exchange for some of the good saw logs which landowners were willing to let him cut. This sounded a bit fishy to me as the cleanup was a lot of work and chips would have to be hauled a long way and weren't bringing much at the time so I didn't sign on suspecting some foul.

To make a long story short, he came and cut trees he had no business cutting, left the pine and debris, moving it just enough to get to the hardwoods, used my driveway as a skidding road without permission and ruined several nice trees on my property using them as turning trees. to remove logs form the adjacent lot. He left Rotella jugs and 5 gal Hydraulic fluid pails all over, drained the oil out of his skidder engine on one of our roads next to the lake, left 2 bald skidder tires in the ditch not to mention pails of dirty antifreeze and numerous beer cans and beer cases (empty of course). He hauled out 4 or 5 trailer loads of nice 30" dia. White oak saw logs and couple loads of Red. Left the tops laying on the landowners properties for them to clean up and took off.

This lack of logging ethics makes an otherwise law abiding hunter feel like shooting a John Deere skidder instead of a whitetail deer.

I did notify the sheriffs dept. of my property damage. I called the owner of the logging co. and he promised to come out and repair the drive and pay for damages when he got back in town, blaming it on his "fool" crew supervisor. He never got back in town I guess as I never saw hide nor hair of him and I ended up fixing my own drive and paying for a load of gravel out of my own pocket. Several of the other landowners decided to take him to court.

Recently another logging crew has begun work up the road and they have completely trashed the road with debris. They have run several people into the ditch needlessly.

I'm not a tree hugger and have absolutely no tolerance for ignorant environmental activists but I do think greed and tight profit margins in the logging industry have driven some companies to unethical and careless practices which feeds the fire with those who don't like or understand the forestry business to begin with.

Ok, enough sensitivity training, ;D Back to work.....

poorfarm · October 18, 2012, 12:11:21 PM

Quote from: HiTech on October 18, 2012, 08:19:35 AM
Hunting season always amazes me. You get the Great white hunters with their big 4 wheel drives and their ATV's in the back and they drive the back roads with their gun barrels on the window sill and a beer in their hand looking for something to move to shoot at. If nothing moves then they shoot posted signs or road signs or skid tanks, anything to hear the gun go off. At a dollar a piece for shells or more it seems a big waste of money. If these bad asses want to shoot sooo bad then they should join the Army and fight for their country. Most are too cowardly for that though.

up hear not many hunters shooting up skidders, skid tanks and equipment ... they would be shooting there own stuff..

terry f · October 18, 2012, 12:12:23 PM

That might be a broad brush, but too true. Give a kid (16-30) a four wheel drive, a gun, and some beer and see how much stuff they can tear up. I don't mean all kids or your kids, but there are enough of them. Shoot at anything that moves like duck on a pond, or stuff that don't move like beer bottles or skidders, and in the spring see how big of ruts they can put in the meadows.

gunman63 · October 18, 2012, 05:16:54 PM

Quote from: moosehunter on October 18, 2012, 09:37:11 AM
"That's a pretty broad brush you're using, though."

My thought exactly ;)
[/quote

how can u harm someone with dropping .22 shells in the oil?

gunman63 · October 18, 2012, 05:18:13 PM

i hit the wrong quote button

1270d · October 18, 2012, 05:50:40 PM

Here in the UP, alot of the hunters forget that the roads they use to get to the laand they hunt, were built by loggers. They are maintained by loggers also. Most guys in the woods either hunting or working are good folks, but its the few jerks that stick in your mind. Snowmobilers in winter are worse than hunters by a far stretch

Mooseherder · October 18, 2012, 06:14:21 PM

It's a shame someone could do that.
Have you thought above trying to secure the area with game cameras?
Catching the twirps would be sweet justice.

beenthere · October 18, 2012, 06:25:56 PM

Quote from: gunman63 on October 18, 2012, 05:18:13 PM
i hit the wrong quote button

The "preview" button is your friend. ;) as well as the modify option. Can cover up most all mistakes.

I've the same question, how can .22 shells droppped in the oil do any harm? Get in the oil pump?

thecfarm · October 18, 2012, 07:25:37 PM

I would not be concerned about "How the shells could do damage" I would be more concerned about why someone would even do that in the first place. :

Lucky they did not put some sand,dirt down there too. Before I lived here I kept the tractor in a locked shed. I still put something over the fuel cap and the dip stick,just in case. I made a lock for the hood too. Sometimes those running around acting stupid are big kids too.

Bobus2003 · October 18, 2012, 07:42:43 PM

Had sand dumped in the oil of my Skidder back in 2001 when it was still my dads, Didn't catch that in time to save the engine of it or the Skid Steer.. Thats what prompted the 4045T swap.

Have showed up to find Bullet holes in the tires (Not flat though), Holes in the Tin, and Fire extinguishers, and all the windows of a Road grader parked next to hit shot out, and flat tires.

Last Fall a Local Logger had his Water Pump go out on his Timbco, While it was tore apart he had someone come along and shoved paper towel in the Coolant passages, far enough in you couldn't see it.. Didn't realize this until it was back together and running that it wouldn't not overheat, pulled the radiator cap to see paper towel pieces. Also had "Tree Murderers" written on the Windows of his skidder

treefarmer87 · October 18, 2012, 08:00:53 PM

i havent had anything like that happen yet. did it hurt the motor? i hope you find who did it too. when idiots do that to the equip. in the woods i wonder if they stop and think that equipment helps pay bill and support our families. it makes me mad.

tlandrum · October 18, 2012, 10:24:00 PM

the 22 shells were dropped in thru the dipstick tube. the shells rattled around enough that i guess when picked up and slung around by the crank they got jammed in between the crank throws and rods.there are pieces of shells ground up in the pan.

240b · October 19, 2012, 04:13:47 PM

On the bright side it was brass and lead which is fairly soft and not pieces of steel.

sealark37 · October 20, 2012, 10:07:09 AM

Judging from the horror stories I hear about loggers and their ethics, I am amazed that skidders and trucks are still left in the woods, unattended. Seems that property owners most always get the short end of the stick when it comes to selling their timber to loggers. After sitting in on a "negotiation" between my neighbor and his logger, I would not even wish to be within 30 feet of the logger in a public place. It must be tough living with so many landowners having you on the top of their list. There must be some honest loggers out there, but they certainly keep a low profile. Regards, Clark

tlandrum · October 20, 2012, 10:23:43 AM

i think your painting a bad picture of loggers in general. there are far far more good honest logging operations than there are crooked logging operations. you just only here about the bad ones. i have a very good reputation in this bussiness and the only enemies i end up with are the hunters that think they have more right to hunt than i do to make a living. i dont think a hunter should be anywhere near a logging operation while its going on. if the hunters want to pay my bills during hunting season ill stay at home. otherwise they need to respect the man making a living and the landowner thats has made the decision to sale their timber. i dont know of any land owners in my area that have been forced to sale timber let alone sale it to any one particular outfit.