Try not to drop a wall on yourself.

[o2batsea]

You hate to tell people thse stories because it makes you look so stupid, but here's a small testimonial to the cabs on the DK45. I was dopey enough to think I could raise the end wall of my new barn by myself using only gravity and the loader. Keep in mind this wall is only 32 feet wide and 16 tall. I built it in three sections, two corners and the middle. Got one of the corners up and then went for the middle section. This has an opening for a 10 by 10 door, so it was 16 wide 16 tall and has this header beam in the middle. OK I get it chained to the bucket, raise it, place it on the foundation, get it tweaked into place and have it propped on the loader bucket. Great, yeah? Time to nail some braces to it so I can move on to the next section. OK well the tractor's kinda in the way of getting some 2 bys nailed on so I deceide to back it away from where it's holding up the wall since the wall's more or less standing on it's own held up by the corner section and gravity. Only one small flaw in the plan, which is that there's a small breeze. Nothing to muss your hair, just a gentle puff now and then. So I'm standing there with a two by in hand getting ready to put a nail thru it with the nail gun and, yup, here comes one of those puffs of breeze. Just enough to push the carefully balanced wall off balance. Guess who didn't back the tractor far enough away, or worse just left it where it was in the first place. Yeah. Here I am standing there watching the wall go over as helpless to stop it as can be.

POW! Right on the cab roof lands this wall section. I am sick. No choice but to back out from under the wreckage to see how bad. To my dismay, nothing worse than a busted mirror, a crack in the fiberglass and a door that wouldn't close. Gotta say that I was thinking that it was gonna be way worse. I have done the repairs and it is none the the worse for wear.

 

[groundcover]

At least you didn't get hurt! They are making new tractors everyday but if you are injured you can't buy them. I was helping a timber framer years ago and another crew on the site was stick framing. They asked us to give them a hand to stand a gable end wall. It folded over at the top plate and all the bent nails made quite a mess of some of the guys on the way down,our crew was able to duck out the side but it was a tough day none the less.

 

[jake98]

Tall walls are always tricky. We did one like that on a restaurant addition and even with an extending fork lift tractor to hang it from it seemed crazy. Glad you didn't get more damage. Wall jacks are probably the way to do it, but who's got them?