Got my little girl stuck

[EddieWalker]

I was on a roll. I finished off two areas that I'd been wanting to get done and decided to clean up an area with some drainage issues.

It was getting late, but I still had plenty of light out. I was moving dirt and happy with the results I was getting.

The low area was holding about two feet of water. I filled it in and cut a wider drainage canal to bring the water away from the hill and spread it out to dry faster and minimize erosion.

The darker it got out, the more impatient I bacame to finish it off. I knew I could get it done nf just a few minutes, but was having trouble seeing.

That's when I made my mistake. I went too far into my fill area and sank.

This picture is what she looked like yesterday morning.

 

[EddieWalker]

She weights a lean 40,000 pounds and all woman. hahaha

First step was to dig out all the dirt around her and hope for the best.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just digging around the sides wasn't enough. Next idea was to add some traction with a few trees. I also made the hole bigger.

 

[GRUMPA]

A person would think that something that weighed so much would have one heck of a time getting stuck. And here I thought I was the only one in a four state area that had rotten luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

I used to have a culvert in that area to help with the water issue I was attempting to correct. Instead of one 20 foot culvert, I have a bunch of culverts 2 to 4 feet long.

The logs didn't work, so I my final idea was to get to dirt out from under the belly pans. I figured she was resting on her belly and the tracks wern't getting a hold of anything.

It took a regular shovel and a garden hand shovel to finally break her free. I was gonna take a picture of the little tunnel I dug under her, but by the time I was done digging, I was done messing with the camera!!! hahaha

This picture is her after she broke free of the mud hold. She still couldn't get out of the hole, but that is just a matter of cutting a ramp.

 

[EddieWalker]

Once she had traction, it was simple to cut a path out of our little hole.

That was the first time I've gotten something that big stuck. I'll have to be more careful in the future.

It kind of reminds me of my first jeep. I figured it's four wheel drive and I can go anywhere. Ooops. I learned real quick how untrue that is. Same with tractors and dozers.

I've run a little John Deer 450G that only weights half what this one does. When I buried it in the mud, I just hooked a chain up to my backhoe and out she comes. Real simple and easy.

Theres a reason for small light dozers.

There's also a reason for big heavy dozers. I've started a new project clearing land with her and will start a new thread with those pics pretty soon.

Eddie

 

[hillslider]

It is times like this that I would have a hard time keeping cool. You did a great job at getting that thing stuck. You would have been up the creek without the help of the backhoe

Thanks for the pics....

Rob

 

[Scozz]

I did the same with a 450 about 5 years ago. Except I was backfilling my foundation and hit it sideways too close to the house. Sank just like yours with about 2" clearance fron the house! I called a wrecker .. he popped it out like a tonka. Cost me 100 bucks but that was cheaper than crashing into the house. Glad you had better results than me ... Scozz

 

[ScottAR]

That would make me want a winch so I could pull the cable all the way out and still be 50ft. short of anything that would hold.
/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Great job getting her out.

 

[Dargo]

I had a 955 Cat that had a winch on it, so I figured that I could get out of anywhere! After I did get it stuck, I managed to pull down every tree in sight, and still couldn't get it out. Fortunately for me, there is a farmer out the road that has a really big Versatile (sp?) that articulates in the middle and has duals on both ends. He had to work at it a bit, but he got me out fairly quick. I'm no longer "fearless" on something just because it has a winch on it. If it's really big and it's really stuck, it becomes a tree remover! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif