Brutus almost bruises better half!

[Richard]

I'll possibly (and rightfully) get toasted for this near mishap, but if it helps, I guess it's worth it.

Working on retaining wall (of which I'm taking pictures finally of that and BRUTUS for all you backhoe lovers)

Had hoe on right side of the rear swinging arc, Marion was also on that side, but further away. I was working within an approximate 90% field of straight back to hard right. I swung the hoe to the left and it just lazily went ALL the way over /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif to the FAR FAR left.

Upshot: One of the two (left one) cylinders that swing the hoe left/right had a bolt shear where the ram locks into the hoe. The bolt holds the 2" x 6" pin which then fell out of it's housing. I was bringing hoe to the left a bit and since the left cylinder had become disconnected it just kept going on over with no control.

Never in my life would I had considered something like that a "danger" (though I'm using that word somewhat lightly, as I have great respect for the power/weight/bone breakability of this machine) But come one now, the pin that holds the hoe to the cylinder shearing???

I hate to look for "ghosts" to worry about as far as safety goes, but it looks like where safety is concerned, there are no such things as ghosts.

Marion was unemotional about what happened. I don't think she really thought about what COULD have happened had she been on other side of hoe and been within arc. (even if engine was turned OFF...that's the scary part to me)

I'm thinking that when this thing is parked, it might always be best to lay the hoe down. I almost always fold it up tight but with the advent of this happening, I guess if it's already on the ground that will give friction a fighting chance to hold it or at least slow it down should this happen again.

Moral for me is though I don't take "anything" for granted, I have to expand my definition of "anything".

Richard

 

[GlueGuy]

Richard,

That story ought to give everyone pause for thought. I hate to think of myself in the same situation...

Which reminds me that I wanted to remind people here to do a preflight check before you start up your hydraulic superman suit. I was working on something unrelated to this when I happened to be under the tractor. Noticed that the bolts that hold the wheels on the axle had both "backed off" from full tight. In fact, the lock washers were loose enough to rattle between the nut and the fixture that the bolt goes through. Could have been real interesting if one of my wheels came off.../w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

The GlueGuy

 

[Bird]

Sunday, I helped my brothers put an engine in a vehicle; used the FEL to pick up a 454 Chev. engine, with transmission attached, to set it into an old Suburban that's being restored. That taxed the limits of the height, and weight at that height, of the B2710. And the hardest part of the job was trying to keep those two clowns out from under that load; they wanted to get in under it to maneuver it into place./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[dmccarty]

Richard,

Yours is a scary failure. This weekend I was taking a break from working and was sitting in a chair with my feet up on the backhoe bucket. I noticed that my backhoe uses a certain kind of bolt to hold various parts togather. Since I just broke a bolt on another part of the hoe I was thinking I should go get two or three of these other bolts incase I had a failure.

Wierdly enough I did have a FEL failure this weekend. Heck my chainsaw had a problem as well. But after dealing with that I started to get some FEL/backhoe work done. I tried to get the 4n1 bucket to open and it would not! Grrrrr....... Not happy said I. I checked hydraulic lines and connections but could not find anything. Grrrr..... I'll figure it out later so I went ot work pulling stumps. After a while I happened to look at the FEL in just the right angle and noticed that a part of the 4n1 controler had fallen off..... Grrrrrr.... My controler has two 1/2 inch metal bars. These bars fit INTO two black dohickeys that I think are elector-magnets. The bolt holding one of the dohickey to the bar came off which allowed the dohickey to hang by the control wire. A few pieces of duck tape fixed it right up! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I will get the bolt but the tape is working just fine. Heck THAT stuff wont fall off...... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Back to BackHoes.

One of the things I dont like about working with my backhoe is the very real possiblity of getting crushed by the boom when setting up the tractor. The JD 48 has two pins, one to keep the boom from moving left and right while the other pin keeps the boom from moving down. I always keep those pins in place if I'm not working with the backhoe. The problem is getting the pins out. What I do is first lower the left stablizer arm almost to the ground. I always keep my left hand on the left rear tire fender as my right hand grabs the control lever for the stablizer. That allows me to keep out of the way of the stablizer as it moves down. After the stablizer is down, not on the ground though, I then remove the big pin that prevents the boom from moving up/down. I then climb in the operator platform and remove the pin that keeps the boom from moving left/right. Sometimes you have to operate the controls to get the pins out of position and I try to stay out of the way but following the above procedure. By taking the pins out in the right order I can't get crushed by moving the wrong lever at the wrong time.

But I never thought about the cylinder failing. But I guess what I do would keep me from getting hurt.....

Safety is something one practices CONSTANTLY. I even put on the seat belt when I move the tractor a few feet. Right now I'm pulling small stumps that had grown into my road bed. I pull the stump up, move the tractor back , pull more stumps, repeat. I always try to put on the seat belt. It may sound silly but if I run the tractor off the road bed the tractor would roll at least once. The incline of the road is very steep and sudden. I really don't want to go there! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif