Using bucket as work platform.

[ns_in_tex]

I know this is a frequent topic of discussion. I know the owner's manual says never to lift or support people in the bucket. I understand the risk is from hydraulic failure.

I can't say I won't kill myself tomorrow, but I think if I had tried to do all the things I have done with a FEL over the last 30 years, without it, I would probably already have gone to my happy hunting ground.

Attached is a pic of my last project to help along these lines. Sorry, I took pictures before I painted it.

 

[Soundguy]

I have stood in a fully raised bucket,on a JD 5205 with a "chain saw on a stick" and cleared branches. I have climbed a 3 section ladder that was chained straight upright to a forklift to change 8' lightbulbs 30' up. I have pulled a dead man out of a tree ,that he cut down onto himself, 40' up into a firetruck bucket. I have climbed a radio tower then jumped 4 ' to the 2nd story roof of a sawmill,with a firehose(empty) in my hand. I will climb just about anything no worries,but I dont care much for going under ground.

Yikes.. just reading that made me queazy... I don't do heights. I have , very infrequently, and with protest, had to climb some antenna towers to do repair work.... But I'm older and smarter now, and now I always suggest that the new guys with less senority do it....(grin)

soundguy

 

[3RRL]

Yikes.. just reading that made me queazy... I don't do heights. I have , very infrequently, and with protest, had to climb some antenna towers to do repair work.... But I'm older and smarter now, and now I always suggest that the new guys with less senority do it....(grin)

soundguy

 

[escavader]

Yep im guilty of the loader bucket thing.How about using my 20 ft extention ladder in the bucket to get"that much higher" up in a tree to get a clothes line pulley,or even a rope to pull the tree over.Its scarey .I always chalk the wheels, set the brake, and stand up a timber under the edge of the loader bucket for a safety back up.It aint like the ladder legs can slide out of the bucket.The worst part is the ladder on a round tree.Not safe ,but i geter done! All the pics of the ladders in the buckets,havent shown one timber placed under the bucket for safety.With the exception of the tractor rolling,it cant come down if you prop it up right in my opinion...not oshas of course.
I would NEVER let someone move the tractor with anyone in the bucket,OR LET ANYONE BUT MYSELF GO UP.
On the light side its hard to climb up the loader arms with the beer in hand.They should put ladders welded on loader arms!!
ALAN

 

[SkyPup]

FEL buckets do make a teriffic working platform for the visiting mother-in-law, when she opens her mouth I simply move the joystick to the DUMP cycle....

 

[mikim]

now I always suggest that the new guys with less senority do it....(grin)
YOU TOO ?! I had my 2 guys up at 60' - 65' on our tower just yesterday installing some weather gear .... I was up there last week and after the fact I got shaky ... go figure - I was ok while up there - but not after. I figure it was the Man's way of telling me that was the last time. I've been climbing those things for 16 years - I'm calling it quits for the next 3 yrs ....which are the last 3. Just getting too old I guess.

 

[N80]

You know, its funny. I climbed telephone poles for three summers. Usually no higher than about 25 feet, but occasionally over 60. When I first started it was a lot of fun. But, the more I did it the less I liked it and towards the end I really hated it. During the third summer I was climbing one of those big green treated poles. I hated them compared to the older creosote poles. When you put your spikes in the older poles it splits the fibers and digs in deep. With the treated poles the spikes just sort of mushed down into it. One day I was up on one of these poles and for whatever reason my hooks popped out (I was probably leaning in too far) and down I went. I only fell about 10 or 15 feet when one of my spikes dug in by shear luck. All my tools bounced out, my helmet came off and the hip on the side that the psike cauht on hurt lke the dickens for months, but I didn't really get hurt. I was a lot more cautious after that, and probably didn't get as much work done. That was my last summer of college so that job was over anyway but I never have liked heights much since those days.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. I've got 3-4 years of senority on the next oldest guy there.. and 5-6-7 on some of the others... And when i can get away with it.. I use it. OTOH.. I don't mind doing my fair share or more.. of the dreary boring work that the new young hotshots don't want to do... I figure.. it all pays the same.. they can do the 'exciting stuff'.. and I'll handle a few boring jobs... and my kinees will appreciate me for it!

Soundguy

now I always suggest that the new guys with less senority do it....(grin)
YOU TOO ?! I had my 2 guys up at 60' - 65' on our tower just yesterday installing some weather gear .... I was up there last week and after the fact I got shaky ... go figure - I was ok while up there - but not after. I figure it was the Man's way of telling me that was the last time. I've been climbing those things for 16 years - I'm calling it quits for the next 3 yrs ....which are the last 3. Just getting too old I guess.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Yikes.. just reading that made me queazy... I don't do heights. I have , very infrequently, and with protest, had to climb some antenna towers to do repair work.... But I'm older and smarter now, and now I always suggest that the new guys with less senority do it....(grin)

soundguy

When I first started doing carpenter work, my boss was a tough old-timer that didn't take a lot of excuses. On my first day on the job, he sent me up on a roof that we were framing that was all of 40' off the ground. I let him know I wasn't too good with heights. His reply? "So? You expect ME to get up there"?

From that day forward, any time we had ANYTHING to do that was off the ground, I got picked for the job. Didn't take long before I wasn't afraid of heights.

As for the original topic of this thread. We use loader buckets for scaffold on a regular basis. In a lot of cases, it's safer than some alternatives. Helps that we have a few very experienced operators.

 

[keeney]

RE 5 gal pail:

The guys who did the sheetrock in my house were _crazy_ when it came to safety in hihg place.

Crazy example during hanging phase. 2x12 size Plank is on top of pail on a balcony over open-to-below living room and other end is on the rung of a ladder leaning against the opposite wall. Two guys walk out on the plank with a 12' sheet of drywall on their heads and lift up with one hand to hold it up and reach down with other hand for screw-guns...

2nd slightly less crazy example during finishing: 5 gal pail used on top of the plank instead of underneath it while applying joint compound.