Did something dumb today.

Magicman · July 22, 2023, 01:14:42 PM

I added this Thumb LINK to my forks. Also scroll down to Reply #183 & Reply #185.

It's not a grapple, but it certainly secures the load on the forks.

aigheadish · July 23, 2023, 09:01:18 PM

Thanks for the notes guys. I'm with Ted in that I don't raise anything nearly that high. My forks are mostly used for pallets or maybe a single log getting dumped on a fire or a short pile. I usually do my arranging on said piles with the backhoe side.

Magicman · July 23, 2023, 10:18:59 PM

It's not what one intends to do that injures and kills. It's the unintended when "stuff" happens.

Remember too that there are as many guest that reads here as members.

Southside · July 23, 2023, 11:58:37 PM

Hydraulic levers get stuck in the "up" position due to the operator getting jossled in the seat, something wedges it, distraction, etc and it only takes seconds for a tragedy to happen. If the machine has the ability to dump the log over the backstop then the risk is very real and may just be a question of when and not if.

SawyerTed · July 24, 2023, 05:45:39 AM

Sometimes you have to use what you've got and be careful. We are presented with various risks doing the things we do. Minimizing them is always best.

Don P · July 24, 2023, 10:41:45 AM

Remember when you check the tilt angles on level ground and set up the machine. Just outside is a 40% slope. Very often you are not ideal, it can still bite you.

Hilltop366 · July 24, 2023, 12:39:36 PM

I've seen some tractors with the ROPS ahead of the dash (rare) and others with metal frame running from top of cab or canopy to the front of the hood both would reduce the risk of getting a log on the lap the frame from the top to the hood would also save your hood and deflect branches away from you.

Old Greenhorn · July 25, 2023, 07:41:55 PM

Well, changing the subject, I have a new submission. I was going to get a bunch of work done today with the Toolcat here in my yard. I got started really well and was taking a full bucket of splitter junk out to the swamp for fill, but I went in a tad too far and sunk it right over the front axles. When I teried to back out..... yup, the rears dug in also.

Kind of hard to see how bad it stuck in that photo, maybe this will give an idea.

I hooked up the Mule and winch behind it and waited until Bill could stop in. I thought it would only take a littel help, but no soap. We finally chained the mule to a tree at and odd angle, then used to winch. The Toolcat pulled the Mule around and the Mule pulled the tool cat sideways. At one point I had all 4 Mule tires off the ground as the chain went tight (high lift point) and lifted the Mule as we pulled back the machine. It took a lot of wangling and holy cow what a huge pigg wallow we left. I don't even want to look at it right now, let alone take pictures.
After Bill stopped laughing at me and left, I got the stuff dumped in another location, spread some gravel and loaded dirt in the mule to fill holes in the back yard from the tree job. The it started raining. So I came in, had lunch, took a shower to get the mud off me, then went food shopping while we got another 1/2" of water. >:(

I did a bit more when the rain stopped and then hosed off the bigger clumps of mud off the toolcat. Man those axles were packed full. The rest of the machine looked like it was down range at a cow flop throwing contest. I should have known better, that machine is just too heavy for that ground.

Big_eddy · July 25, 2023, 08:29:11 PM

I'm confessing to almost the same this weekend. I was bush hogging my trails and I have one section that is similar to a rail bed across a low spot. 5' wide of raised gravel bed 3' above bottomless muck. Rather than running straight down the center, I ran out to the one side and back on the other. Of course I dropped a wheel off the edge and down I went. Ugh. This was not my first rodeo and I had chains on board. I hooked up to the usual tree, and then pulled myself out about 2' at a time using the bucket curl. You would think I would have learned last time - or the time before that. But no.
On the way out, an errant branch grabbed my brush axe and tossed it on the ground . If I hadn't been watching the front edge of the bush hog at the time , I would not have stopped in time. Either that or I would have just carried on my merry way until I noticed it was gone. Ever tried to find a dropped brush axe along 3km of freshly hogged trail? That orange handle seems to be the perfect camouflage colour for old leaves. Been there, made that mistake before too.

Old Greenhorn · July 25, 2023, 09:10:30 PM

Bottomless muck, yeah, that's what I got. And yeah, I should have learned the first time too, I hope I learned this time. I tried the curl trick first, but this machine doesn't have much in the curl department. I thought if I could lift the front end, the back tire might get better grab, but no, they just dug deeper.
Ah well, anything for a laugh.
Oh and painting those tools, I use the ugliest odd paint colors I find on the shelf, to get rid of them, or buy that cheap day-glo stuff stores are always trying to get rid of. So far that day-glo bright green seems to work best, but I'm out of it. I spray my pulling chains once a year or so, it wears off.

aigheadish · July 26, 2023, 06:51:26 AM

It's been a little while for me but getting stuck like that (and knowing better) are hard lessons to learn. Always an adventure!

K-Guy · July 26, 2023, 08:52:33 AM

Old Greenhorn
Anybody who has done any amount of real off-road driving with equipment has done similar things at least one. If not they are lying or the luckiest guy out there. So, been there , done that, got the scars to prove it. ;D

GAB · July 26, 2023, 09:33:37 AM

My brother and I got stuck with a fergie 150. You had to step down to get on the running boards.
Does that count?
GAB

Resonator · July 26, 2023, 11:39:25 AM

Back when I was in grade school many, many, years ago, the school janitor bought a brand new 4wd pickup and parked it out front of the school. Us boys all gathered around it, in awe dreaming of all the off road adventures it could go on. The janitor looked over and said: "Four wheel drive just means when you get stuck, you're REALLY stuck!" ...words of wisdom still true today. :D

K-Guy · July 27, 2023, 08:04:38 AM

The rule I use is "If you get stuck in 2wd, 4wd might get you out. If you get stuck in 4wd, you are usually stuck. "

fluidpowerpro · July 27, 2023, 10:16:32 AM

Back in the early 80s I worked at a gas station. One day 4 of my buddies pull in. Each had lifted up trucks with 36" tires. They had an ample supply of beer and needed gas. They were going out to a swamp about a mile from town to go " muddn".
Well, about an hour later I see the tow truck from the Sinclair station next to me head in the direction of the swamp. Another buddy worked there and he was driving. Then about an hour after that I see a big IH 4 wd articulated tractor head in the same direction.
Finally just before dark, I see a big tow truck, one that's used for semis, go by.
Turns out that all 4 trucks were stuck, the small tow truck had managed to get stuck as well as the tractor.
That was one expensive afternoon mudding. Since the last, big tow truck had to actually be hired, it cost big bucks. It came from 15 miles away and I was told they paid $100 just to get them to start it and leave the lot.
We still laugh about it when I see those guys.

Southside · July 27, 2023, 10:28:42 AM

That's why we always called the 4 WD lever the "stuck stick", because using it got you stuck.

fluidpowerpro · July 27, 2023, 10:38:10 AM

Also that teenage boys with big 4wd trucks and beer is sure trouble. My friend who drove the Sinclair tow truck almost got fired and the boy driving the tractor had some splanin to do to his dad.

jpassardi · July 27, 2023, 10:47:25 AM

I remember going wheeling years ago, we came to a swampy area and there was a old square body Chevy with stock pizza cutter tires buried to the rocker panels. They must have walked out - no one there. :

Resonator · July 27, 2023, 11:14:48 AM

Oh and the FUN begins the next day, when you have to power wash the truck at least 3 times. Mud gets plastered into every nook and cranny, especially underneath. Worse yet watching videos of guys crossing streams with water up to the hood (not realizing all the diff's probably now have water in them).

Big_eddy · July 27, 2023, 12:15:02 PM

I'm still waiting for Jeff to get his backhoe stuck. He's gone longer than I ever did, and mine were 4wd.

Course I have no intention of starting an " I've been more stuck than you have" discussion, 'cause while I've been good and stuck, I've always managed to extract myself without outside help and I know others have me outclassed by far.

Old Greenhorn · July 27, 2023, 03:19:25 PM

Quote from: Big_eddy on July 27, 2023, 12:15:02 PM.........
Course I have no intention of starting an " I've been more stuck than you have" discussion,......

Yeah, we'd have to start a new thread for that subject. :D
But since you mentioned it, It did remind of a story long forgotten until now.
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Back in the late 70's I had a Dodge Ramcharger 4x4 with a 360 and a special order transmission and 3:55 gears in the axles. Anyway, we were camping in February in the Catskills at a camp that had a 3/4 mile driveway from the main gate to the parking lot, all winding downhill. It was hard packed snow and plowed as best as the ranger could do to keep up with the snow rate. It was a council wide event with an urban council. Meaning that family cars and at best, station wagons filled the parking lot. 4X4's you could count on about 3 fingers, let alone trucks. I was an oddball (why do you need all that truck, they would ask? ;D).
Anyway, Sunday comes and they have put in a radio system at the top and bottom of the hill to make sure everyone gets out, one car at a time. If they got stuck, we could send help without a traffic jam. It worked well and when you were all loaded you just got in line and waited a few minutes for your turn. Seemed like everyone was getting out fine. Well I am still tying sleds on the roof and final packing and a guy comes over. He says, "Hey, you have the only truck in the lot and there is a guy stuck up near the top, could you give him a pull?" Well I told him I'd try. So I get up there and the guy has a 3/4 ton 2WD pickup with a utility body and he is a plumber. His cabinets are full of pipe fittings, tools, pipe threaders and dies, he has a load of 1-1/2 pipe on the rack, plus a full load of all his troops camping gear. Not a big concern, but what is a concern for me is that both rear tires have cut nice clean halfmoons in the ice that is a road bed. His truck is literally teetering on the rear differential. Oh, and they are highway/street tires.;D Given his weight and how deep he is stuck in those halfmoons right good, I don't have a 'warm fuzzy' about this at all. He says "whaddya think, can ya gave me a yank?" I shook my head and said "Brother, I wouldn't bet a plug nickel I can get you out, but I will give it my best shot." I also explained this could get ugly and might cause some damage, he was OK with that. So I hooked up a tow strap and put up his hood for protection against the gunshot explosion I expected. I put the tranny in 4 wheel Low Lock and told him to just apply a little gas, but hardly any until/if he started moving. IF we got it moving I would keep pulling until we hit the flat at the top. Well I started to apply load and added fuel steady until I heard (and felt) WHAM! as my truck shot forward 2 feet and I looked in the sideview to see if it were my bumper that tore off or his, I was sure it was one or the other. Instead I see his left arm out his window waving me madly on. Somebody ran over and slammed his hood down so he could see and I was only moving at a steady 2 MPH (I dared not shift), and I pulled him all the way up the hill and out of the gate.
As I unhooked and he was excitedly thanking me I reminded him I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in heck I could have pulled him out and I truly expected some ugly damage on either vehicle in any event, but sometimes you get lucky. That is he toughest pull I had ever done, before or since. That was some truck and the only one I ever gave a name to. I called it my "Little Stump Whumper" because I pulled probably over 100 stumps with it and never got it stuck. I hated to scrap it, but I did run it into the ground and could not get/afford parts. If I had lived up north back then it would still be a doodle bug around here somewhere.
I hadn't thought of that event in a very long time, thanks.

K-Guy · July 28, 2023, 09:26:53 AM

Not me but this does belong in this thread. In the 1980's my brother was a tow truck driver with a 3 or 5 ton International rig. He got a call on Sunday to go out of Calgary to a spot where guys were trying to cross a river for a truck stuck in it. When he got there one regular tow truck had tried and failed, and another was going to try, he told him to get out of the way as he had to leave the drag races to do this call and wanted to get back. He positioned the truck and called the driver over, handed him the tow hook and told where to hook up on the truck. The driver asked "Aren't you going hook it up?" he replied "I didn't get it stuck." so wades out in the river and hooks up. Once he was clear my brother pulled him out, the ask for $300 for his tow plus told him to pay the other drivers for a callout. The guy didn't like it but paid. Then after my brother unhooked him he says" why don't you stick round, once it dries out I want to try it again." my brother replied "Okay but next time it will cost you $600.". The guy asked "Why so much?" and my brothers reply was priceless "If you're dumb enough to try it again, you're dumb enough to give me $600."

He decided to try some other time.

My brother could tell when he pulled up there was no chance to make it across.

firefighter ontheside · July 28, 2023, 08:12:24 PM

Apparently the dumb thing I did this week was take my camper on a trip. We havent used it since last august. Got hooked up to it and pulled it forward to check the tire pressure. Had to put a few pounds in but no much. Right before we would have left i decided to check turn signals. Nothing. No tail lights. Went thru all the troubleshooting and nothing. I'm sure that squirrels or other rodents have chewed thru the wire harness going to the rear. The only option I had was to go buy a 100' roll of trailer wire and run temporary wire to get me blinkers and brake lights. I can't drive after dark because I didnt wire for that.
Had to ziptie the wire to the underside of the camper and wire into the trailer harness at the front. Made it to Branson and got hooked up to power. Hooked up water and turned it on. My son said theres water leaking underneat. Looked behind the cabinet where the water hooks up and found that the rodents had chewed thru 3 water supply hoses. Luckily I was able to run to home depot and get washer supply hoses and fixed it. Of course I have a bad back and shouldnt be doing any of this. Last night called for a few beers.

SawyerTed · July 28, 2023, 08:38:15 PM

Campers and boats break sitting still!

Last year I had a flat tire on our camper while in a campsite. Called roadside assistance. The guy came, installed the spare and reinflated the original tire. I didn't have a jack, tire tool etc at the camper.

The tire held air for a a couple of months. So I switched it back because the wheels match.

Same campsite one year later and the same tire went flat! Should have just gotten it fixed.