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Close call today!!!!

Started by Woodhauler, January 13, 2011, 08:02:47 PM

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Woodhauler

Going up a steep hill in the woods with my westernstar and much to my suprise there sat a snowmobile and pick up on the crest of the hill, which is on a gradual left turn before you get to the top! This hill is 25 -30 truck lenghts long! On each side is a deep ditch and at the bottom is a narrow culvert with a 15 ftdrop on each side to the brook. Well  i had to stop as i was almost to the top to avoid running into the snowsled and pick up , when i hit the brakes backwards she went! 12 cord of long spruce on back and away we went!After sliding 5-6 truck lenghts it turned sideways in the road, frontend in ditch on one side and drivers in ditch on other! All the while its still gaining speed and i'm hanging on waiting for it to fetch up and tip over! All the time this is going on i'm looking out the passengers window at a 20inch pine tree coming fast at the cab! I am thinking its going to tip into this pine and stave the hell out of everything! But as quick as it started it stopped! Fuel tank on ditch side was 6 inches from the pine and butt end was 12 inches from a oak! Only thing it broke was a bucket hose when i was pushing the cab away from the pine while they was pulling the rear of it around with the shear! Closest i ever have come in 25 years hauling wood to wrecking one! Also the pick up and snowsled had no ones permisssion to be in on the road!
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

Ed_K

 Glad it came out ok,bet they didn't even say sorry >:(. Last two days pushing snow and sliding back down hill,puts white knuckles and high blood pressure on ya  :o.
Ed K

Buck

Man! I thought you parked it up yesterday. Glad you are ok. What a close one.
Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned.

Live....like someone left the gate open

lumberjack48

Why does a truck go faster bark wards, glad you didn't get hurt, and its the wrong time of the year to be fixing a truck.

I would have had me some necks
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

beenthere

Quote from: Woodhauler on January 13, 2011, 08:02:47 PM
Going up a steep hill in the woods with my westernstar and much to my suprise there sat a snowmobile and pick up on the crest of the hill, ............................... Closest i ever have come in 25 years hauling wood to wrecking one! Also the pick up and snowsled had no ones permisssion to be in on the road!

And you stopped for what reason?   ::)   ;)

Glad you came out ok. Sounds pretty touch and go and you were fortunate.   Next time, keep going.  ;)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

captain_crunch

Got to love them IDIOTS Out west we now have 50-60 year old idiots with mountain bikes on blm roads.Glad I don't drive fer a liveing anymore
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

barbender

That's what I was wondering, how come you slowed down?
Too many irons in the fire

fishpharmer

Man, I'm thankful your here to tell it.  Them folks in the road need to be thankful you were driving.  Was it one of those events that happened so fast, you didn't have time to get real scared until it was over? 
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

Chuck White

Whew!!!!!!

Glad to hear things turned out the way they did!  :o
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

snowstorm

those studded winter deeps wouldnt hold it?

clww

Glad you're okay!
That got MY heart racing, too! No fun at all sliding backwards, downhill in the snow.
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

Autocar

Glad your here to tell the story, I leave my truck in the shop in this weather folks are crazy enough driving four wheelers on dry roads let alone snow and ice  ;D. This moring as I went to town at five theres a car so close to my pickup that I didn't even know he was behind me till I drifted ove to the road edge a little and here was his head lite right on my bumper. People don't think any further then there hoods of there cars anymore  ::)
Bill

barbender

I've had a few hills where I didn't make it to the top- not a good feeling sliding a loaded truck backwards down a hill. Throw it in reverse and pray you don't mess up- you don't get a pull ahead in that situation :( One time I was coming out of the woods with a load on and I was at the top of one of the bad hills. I always set the Jake on 1 deck so the drives don't lock up, and just chug down the hill. You really can't touch your service brakes, they just lock up in that situation. Well, I'm about halfway down and here comes a pickup around the corner (there's always a corner at the bottom of bad hills for some reason) He didn't miss a beat, he just drove right into the ditch like that's where he was going all along :D That was good for him, because otherwise, I had determined there would be less damage to a brand new Peterbilt and trailer by hitting him head on and pushing him off the road than me trying to get off to the side and tipping the truck over. Anyhow, I went past, backed up, it turned out this guy was another loggerm, so that's why he knew what to do ;) We hooked a chain on, pulled him out, and on our merry way we both went. There's always someone out on the haul roads that has no business being there, firewood cutters lots of times. They always figure out that THEY are the ones that are taking the ditch, everyone does when a #100,000 truck is coming down the road and not moving over. I've had some loggers that would go out ahead of me in their pickup to get anyone out of the way, that usually on a multi use trail where others have a legetimate reason to be on it.
Too many irons in the fire

Woodhauler

Quote from: snowstorm on January 14, 2011, 07:09:25 AM
those studded winter deeps wouldnt hold it?
Held it for about 1 second! You need to see this hill to really understand! Have hauled over it for 3-4 years without any trouble!
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

Burlkraft

Wheeew... :-\ :-\ :-\

That was a close one!

Somebody was lookin' out for ya for sure that day  ;D ;D
Why not just 1 pain free day?

snowstorm

Quote from: Woodhauler on January 14, 2011, 03:16:39 PM
Quote from: snowstorm on January 14, 2011, 07:09:25 AM
those studded winter deeps wouldnt hold it?
Held it for about 1 second! You need to see this hill to really understand! Have hauled over it for 3-4 years without any trouble!
well i backed down appleton ridge tuesday nite. first tine ever with that ih. maybe if i hadnt been trying to push that old frozzen snow bank back quite so far.it was wild up there snowing hard wind about 40mph

Ironwood

WOW!,

  I once had to stop for a township plow truck on a backroad hill. I was in a 4x4 Dodge one ton w/ a plow (so not nearly as bad as your situation), but started sliding backward, and intially the hill had BIG berms on each side, so all I could think was "bring it around and hope the berms dont rip the plow off" by some miraculus way, I spun it around and started back down the hill FORWARD. I think my ARS hit the one berms and "helped" me out a bit.  :o

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

ljmathias

How's that saying go?  "American by birth, Southern my the grace of God..."  I keep reading about all the "fun" you all have up north in the cold and snow, and remember the days of my youth, growing up in Iowa: we loved going out to play in the snow, mostly sledding down whatever hill was high enough with as few trees as possible.  Left there to go to Michigan where it was just as bad or worse- some years snowfall measured in the multiple feet amounts... and most stayed on the ground.  Down here nowadays, with creaky bones and a cold-intolerant blood stream, cold enough is 20 degrees or so... and that's F not C.  Course, when we do get snow that sticks for a day or so, every four or five years, nobody here knows how to drive in it: what fun watching the cars slipping and sliding into ditches and sometimes each other... but the kids sure love it while it lasts (till next day when the sun comes out). :) :)

Oh, and this is a horrible place to live so don't any of you Yankees get any ideas about moving down here. >:(

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

Ed_K

Sledding 8) we use the main roads during ice storms,that when you can get goin real good  ;D ,just don't run into the deer  :o .
Ed K

Ron Scott

Timber haul roads are often the only open access routes into forest areas and often attract other forest users whether they belong there or not. Snowmobilers and hunters are a winter hazard and 4 wheelers and trail bikes are a summer hazard.

Along with the snowmobiler's right now, we also have to watch out for the rabbit and coyote hunters, Amish horse and buggys, plus our own woods workers. Woodhaulers need to be well skilled with their rigs as the roads they drive aren't the best of situations. Close calls are often in a days work for them.
~Ron

captain_crunch

Glad you came out ok. Have set on a D-7 cat trying to hold back a load of logs on snow covered grades funny how a 50,000 pound cat can become a sled in certen situations :o :o :o
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

Just Me

Quote from: captain_crunch on January 17, 2011, 12:56:50 PM
Glad you came out ok. Have set on a D-7 cat trying to hold back a load of logs on snow covered grades funny how a 50,000 pound cat can become a sled in certen situations :o :o :o

Its not just snow either. Texas red clay can be just as bad.

Before I started building I ran heavy equipment in the Texas hill country around Kerrville. I hung out in this poolhall sometimes and would talk to this retired operator that ran the place. He asked me one day what I would do if I lost a dozer on a side hill. I told him I would grab the downhill brake to swing it around, drop the blade. He told me no, grab the uphill brake, full throttle the downhill track as the sliding track will slide faster than the turning track, wait for it to come around, and drop the blade.

It wasn't a week later when I was working above a drilled and blasted road cut in the rain that the calitchy crapped out from under me and sent me flying down hill on a D8. I remembered what he said and did it, came to a stop about 20 feet from the brink. I bought that fellow a lot of bears after that.....

My favorite thing about driving a truck is old people that their neck is connected to the gas pedal. You plan a pass, back up, hit the fuel so you can get by them, and as soon as you get beside them they look over and their foot goes down and they speed up. You look through the window in the door and they are looking at you like "Why are you driving beside me?" Of course the car that was behind you pulls up so you can't get back in. I hated driving truck, not because I hated driving a truck, just because of all the idiots on the road.

I lived out in Montana for a while, was always up in the Bob Marshall area. I always drove the back roads with my window down no matter how cold it was listening for a Jake brake so I could find a hole to stuff my truck. Those log trucks were not stopping and I knew if it was them or me I was going over the side. Those guys were nuts, but every once in a while you would see a truck carcass down in the bottom. Someone told me they don't even log up there any more.

captain_crunch

Old Boy schooled you right with cat. Brakes dont do much when you are slideing ::) ::). Know of several trucks and one Yarder in bottoms of canyons they just left there not enough left to be worth trying to drag out
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

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