If a dozer gets stuck ......

[jdmar]

I got my Case 550LT stuck once. It was in a pond I was filling so it was muddy where stuck but dry a few feet away (10 feet or so). I did the same trick of putting a lot of scrap logs/wood under the tracks. I also dumped some gravel as close to the back as I could with the tractor.

Another option is to rent another larger dozer for a day or just call a local excavator. You will likely pay a move in/out fee and an hour of work...but may be worth it. Hopefull they have a LGP type track ( low ground pressure).

good luck!

Peter

 

[polecat]

if i was a dozer and i got stuck and i was voodoo i jist prick myself and i'd awake and i'd realize that i've got mail incoming from a fellow iseki owner..hint ...hint

 

[Hank_Kimball]

Can you hire someone to bring another dozer in an pull you out(providing you are able to keep the other dozer high and dry) ? Have you talked to the people you rented this dozer from,maybe they would help you get it unstuck.

 

[voodoo]

Oh!! - about as subtle as a brick /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I have replied to your mail.
Sorry, I keep forgetting there is a mail service on the forum to check ocassionally.

Nigel

 

[DIYGuy]

I have gotten stuck with lifted 4x4's, but never a dozer or tractor. Winching to a tree is almost always a bad idea with something this big when stuck. It takes a lot of force the break the suction forces of the mud. If the cable doesn't snap (and at 75' plus, that's a lot of cable and chain.) you stand a good chance of killing the tree. A snapped cable at that distance can be fatal.

The method I've seen used locally was the one in the previous post. Lash a timber (6-8" diameter log) to both tracks and back out. It might take as many as a 1/2 dozen to do it, but no danger of cable whip and you won't kill a winch tree either. Although the previous posted said 1/3, the two times I've watched this, they had 5 timbers under track by the time it was moving.

Good luck.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Hank, the dozer's mine. I suggest you get one - just don't get it stuck!. A felllow TBNer has a similar one and lives only a couple of miles away. TIme for some thinking.
Larry

 

[EddieWalker]

Larry,

I had a very similar experience with the JD 450G I'm using. It belongs to a buddy who leaves it at my place between jobs. I have a Ford/New Holland 555E.

My buddy said the reason he runs a 450 dozer is it's so easy to get unstuck with a backhoe.

When I got stuck I couldn't figure out how to get it out with the backhoe and had him show me.

He just backed my backhoe up to about 50 feet of the dozer at an angle. I'd say about 2 o'clock from the front blade.

We hooked the chain to the dozer blade and he just pulled it out by pulling in the backhoe.

I was suprised at how much pulling power the backhoe had and how easy it turned out to be.

With your winch, and you already have a backhoe, I bet you can get it out in no time.

Good Luck,
Eddie

 

[theboman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If a dozer gets stuck in the middle of a field and noone is around to )</font>

Peabody Coal Mines in western KY had the worlds largest steam shovel, as you hear in the song Paradise by John Prine.
When them mining was done they dug a hole and buried the hugh machine.

 

[Henro]

Larry,

Somehow your photo does not seem to match your current situation!

Hope you get that baby out without too much grief.

Also hope to see a pic when you get a chance... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

May the force be with you...

 

[pekabu]

One note on connecting to that tree. My father's first skidder a Clark 664 got buried to the axles in the mud once. He had 100' of cable on it, and proceeded to pull every tree out of the ground roots and all. He hired a bulldozer to make a ramp of sorts and then proceeded to break a couple of chains they used to connect the skidder to the dozer. Good luck.

 

[Dozernut]

Be very careful if you hook up cable and chain for a long length, as previously stated, the cable can snap and can whip back with devastating results. When a dozer gets stuck it is because it is high centered. The belly pan is down on the mud and there is a suction created by the contact. This suction adds to the dead weight of the dozer, effectively jumping the extraction weight several times over what the dozer actually weighs. Taylortractornut gave some good sugestions on using logs. I will be surprised if you get the dozer out using the backhoe as an anchor point, that is a tremendous amount of stress you will be putting on your hoe. The easiest way to get it out would be have a larger machine pull you out. There is no easy solution, good luck!

 

[BigDan]

If you are still looking for somewhere to attach the cable so you can pull the dozer out, you could always use a deadman ---

No, don't shoot someone, but go out as far as the cable can reach and dig a trench perpendicular to the cable. Put one or more logs (lengh to be determined by the user) in that trench and hook the cable to their midpoint. Dig a small trench out of the big trench (like a "T") to put the cable in. Bury the log(s) -- this is your deadman. Pull yourself out of the stuck place. Repeat as necessary to get out of the field.

Go wash off the equipment and take a shower. Good luck.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Dan,
I like that idea. I think that is doable for me. thanks for the idea.
Larry

 

[fishman]

A few years ago my parent's neighbor got a dozer stuck. He used a large chain strapped around the only tree nearby . . . a 150 year-old white oak on my parent's property. The chain girdled the tree on one side and it is slowly dying. Dad didn't want to say anything to the neighbor because after all, he had to live next to him. Well, that neighbor soon sold out and so what was the point. He should have gone after him for compensation.

Anyway, it could have been avoided by surrounding the tree with 2x4's or something. You should consider this if you use a tree for an anchor unless you just don't want the tree anymore.

 

[AndyMA]

Larry

If you've got some time on your hands and your mud is like my mud you could just wait until it dries out. Then dig a "road" to it with the backhoe and also dig out to the bottom of the tracks with the hoe. If necessary dig under the stiuck belly of the dozer with a hand shovel- heaven forbid- by hand /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif then just drive it out. Over the many years I've been around nurseries and farms we've gotten many pieces of equipment stuck in the mud. None are still there. It's amazing what a few weeks of warm sun and a few logs or planks will do to help.

Andy

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Andy,
I've just been sitting out at the end of the driveway waiting for your 44,000 lbs excavator - what's taking so long ... just go up, hop on the Mass pike and head west my friend! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'll take a picture or two this evening.

Lar

 

[Hambone]

Can you push down with the blade enough to put some material under the tracks?

 

[Hank_Kimball]

I am glad it is your dozer,I would hate to have a rented dozer stuck(still does not help any though)
Talk to your friend .
I hope you get the rascal out without too much trouble...be careful.

 

[Lazy]

Hi
been there done that I used chain and the bucket to raise the rear up and put logs under it until I got it out. I have a few pics i will post but the scanner is not doing a good job and its really slow.
Good luck and don't get hurt, time is on your side. the problem in my case was the bottom was stuck to the pond muck and the tracks didn't have any thing to grip too. my tracks are not the aggressive type, only abour 1/2 " and rounded on top. I have some 3/4" rebar I'm going to weld onto the tracks one of these days when I get around to it.
took me 3 days to get it out.

Charlie.

 

[Lazy]

here is the first of many logs I used to put under the tracks