tractchores
Veteran Member
Wanted to share a cautionary tale from the other day. I was putting my subframe mounted Back Hoe back on the tractor after having it off for a long time (so I was rusty with the procedure). I noticed it was on the dolly wrong and nearly falling off, which made lining up hard and required me to tilt the tractor back down with the bucket to hook the pins. Now with the bottom pins mostly in I lowered the tractor taking the weight off the front of the dolly. Since I was using the dolly I did not have the stabilizers deployed and they were in the full up position (first mistake)
To line up the top pins I went to tilt out the boom, but hit the wrong lever and uncurled the bucket (second mistake). On the now loosened dolly this caused it to slide out, but also lifted the bottom pins just enough that the right one came out... Result - the backhoe fell over on its side
. Estimated weight on it is 1400 lbs. Thankfully it fell AWAY from me and I had the presence of mind to be putting it on in a clear area of the garage. It missed hitting a car by a couple feet and thank god the kids weren稚 around.
I got lucky and the hydraulic lines didn稚 rip, so I still had hydraulic power to the hoe. I was able to stand it back up using the stabilizers and get it on the tractor. I got lucky that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. It could have easily gone the other way, had it fallen on me I would have been seriously injured. Now I致e got a new rule - stabilizers out regardless of if I知 using the dolly or not so they catch it and nothing and nobody can be in the vicinity when I知 switching it on and off.
To line up the top pins I went to tilt out the boom, but hit the wrong lever and uncurled the bucket (second mistake). On the now loosened dolly this caused it to slide out, but also lifted the bottom pins just enough that the right one came out... Result - the backhoe fell over on its side
. Estimated weight on it is 1400 lbs. Thankfully it fell AWAY from me and I had the presence of mind to be putting it on in a clear area of the garage. It missed hitting a car by a couple feet and thank god the kids weren稚 around. I got lucky and the hydraulic lines didn稚 rip, so I still had hydraulic power to the hoe. I was able to stand it back up using the stabilizers and get it on the tractor. I got lucky that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. It could have easily gone the other way, had it fallen on me I would have been seriously injured. Now I致e got a new rule - stabilizers out regardless of if I知 using the dolly or not so they catch it and nothing and nobody can be in the vicinity when I知 switching it on and off.
