Rollover-Layover Resolution

[MFL]

Evening Guys,

Wanted to really thank everyone for their generous and on the money advise! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but the squish-over and the resolution has been keeping me busy /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I was able to get her upright Sunday morning with the help of the Cat bulldozer and a tow strap. All of your comments, suggestions, and ideas were tremendously helpful when we started to check her over. The veteran heavy equipment guys that helped me get her on her feet were pretty impressed at how thorough and knowledgeable I was!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I told them I had had a conversation with 1800 or so of the worlds best technical advisors the night before!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you count my wounded pride, the B7800 came out better than I did on the whole thing. After checking the fluid levels on the battery, the front diff and the crankcase, we cleaned the small amount of fuel that had leaked out, pulled the injectors and cranked her over. With Billy (the Cat operator) watching from a safe distance, I tapped the starter enough to get the motor to turn over. No oil. Nothing but a little fuel spay. After this we put a clean white paper towel in one of the openings and cranked it again. The towel went flying but no oil! Having more luck than sense, we (Billy mostly since he's been working on diesel engines most of his life) put the thing back together, topped off the oil in the front diff that had leaked out the bleed valve and fired her up. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Perfect!!!! Not even too much smoke! Didn't lose any oil, tranny fluid, or battery fluid, nothing! Cosmetically, she's perfect. Since the problem was caused by soft soil (and a bone-head operator) the ground she ended up on was just a soft mud pillow!!

Final word: I can still hear the bullet as it whistled past! Learned a super valuable lesson, and walked away with only my pride dented.

Here's a shot of my baby after a quick rinse and wipe down sitting by her diesel EMT!

Thanks again for all your help!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

BTW...KUBOTA KICKS *SS!!!!

 

[slowrev]

Great news ! Now you can get back on and ride the horse that threw ya /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Have fun and be careful.

Ben

 

[Henro]

Thanks for posting the update.

Glad all turned out just fine. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Junkman]

Glad that it turned out OK for you and the tractor. I was thinking of you and your accident today as I was transversing the slopes picking rocks for a rock wall. I also remembered something that a friend mentioned. Move the hoe to the high side as a counter balance and lower the outrigger to within a few inches of the ground. This will help prevent a roll over and keep all four wheels firmly planted on the ground. I did have a few "tipsy" moments, so I decided to back blade all the areas that I was working to remove any larger rocks that might give me that butterfly in the stomach feeling. The loader did most of the work, but my arms are tired. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[MFL]

Thanks Junkman,

I figure that if any good comes of my accident it will be if one of my pictures comes to mind and helps someone be a little more careful. Sounds like you had a full day! As a recovering city dweller, I am more and more astounded by what if must have been like before the advent of the tractor. As you said, even when our tractors do the work, we still get pretty beat up. It's how I feel after a day of fencing. To me, it's almost impossible to imagine that 300 years ago a couple of men with an axe and a team of draft horses could walk into the old growth forests of the northeast and cut out a field, and then work their acreage until it sustained them!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Makes me REALLY appreciate being able to jump on my pile of mechanical muscle to help me work my little ten acres!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[markct]

yea i have had that thought too, i think of how people have all sortsa trouble taking out a single tree stump in there yard with hand tools, and to think that years ago people cleared hundereds of tree stumps with nothing more than an axe and shovel, no chainsaw to cut up the tree, no stump grinder or backhoe etc, yes they had an ox to pull on it but that could have helped too much, most work still had to be done by hand. i know even with our TD9 dozer it still takes a good amount of digging and pushing back and forth to get out a decent sized tree stump, and no pair of oxen woulda been able to pull what that dozer would. and ontop of that, most of the trees we deal with today are regrowth from after the farming era ended in the 1800s to early 1900s, so they most likely woulda had trees even older and bigger than alot of what we have to deal with today when clearing land, it couldnt have been easy work at all, well sorry to take this thread so far off topic, but glad to see you got your tractor upright without any injury or damage to you or the tractor

 

[Varmintmist]

If you really want to get some respect for the old ways, find a draft horse outing near you and go to it. The run one here and plow a field near a rest home so that the folks can have a garden plot if they want to. Most times you can get in behind a team and run the plow. That will put hair on your chest /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Its a blast, and a lot of work but after 3-4 passes, you really respect a tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Dont discount oxen, or any other draft animal. They can change footing to not lose traction and they are STRONG. No not as strong as a D9, but they can do the job.

Time is what kills us. We are torn between to many things. If the only thing you have to do is one job and can work it 12 hours a day 7 days a week, you can get a lot done.

 

[jrdellaratta]

Can you outline where exactly the tow strap was affixed, to get her upright again? I would worry that putting the strap or chain in the wrong spot might just drag the unit along the ground. Glad you came away unscathed, and thanks for the sobering photos.

 

[MFL]

Raphael,

I was a worried about that too. You can't see it in this picture, but the path I was on is fairly narrow and were the path ends is the property line. I wasn't sure where we were going to position the Cat to turn her without towing her. In the end Billy was able to get the dozer backed up so that he was facing the bottom of the tractor with enough room between it and the dozer blade to flip her on her wheels. Since the blade can move in and out as well as up and down, Billy was able to change the angle of force as we watched her start moving. the strap went around the mounted loader bracket on the tractor, just at the 90 degree bend. Also the ground itself helped. If you look just under the rear wheel you'll see there is a small berm that kept the wheel from sliding forward as pressure was applied to the strap. As it was, she turned up without too much trouble. The close quarters did add to the stress level, though!

Next time I flip over, I'll try and do it in a little more accessible area! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MFL]

Varmintmist,

Funny you should mention the Draft events. Last year we were invited to see a similar event in W. Georgia and were just wondering if it was going to be held this year. The one we went to was very impressive. Along with working plows and other field equipment, they also had a plain old pull. Concrete blocks on a skid, and pull for distance! Some of the Perchies and Shires were unbelievable! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif As you said, they would be constantly shifting weight and repositioning to get the best traction. Some of those horses could outpull some of our CUTS, mine included, over rough ground!! Still, back in the day, it must have been tough to find a spot to mount the magnetic cup holder or the sun shade! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif