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Removing broken down equipment from the woods your stories

Started by jocco, January 29, 2016, 04:34:54 PM

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jocco

As title says, I would like to hear some of your stories. Skidder with a blown engine 1/2 mile deep,  :o Front cradle broken off ::) Loader truck that "loader snapped off" and is lying on the ground (or cab) smiley_devil or large bulldozer with blown rear end doing stream crossing :P I can say I been in only a couple of these deals.
You may check out but you will never leave

tj240

2 years ago, the company I worked for had the track frame break on the 445 Timbco. 1 four wheeler 2 skidders, to bring the welder in, chains and what have you. We had chains binders, a bunch of metal welded temporaily, just to get ot on the trailer. That job took all day, the repairs took all week.
work with my father[jwilly] and my son. we have a 240 tj 160 barko[old] works great three generations working together

CCC4

One of the skidder ops ran a rear wheel bearing off the 450 TJ on steep ground. The 648 had to grapple the rear so the 450 could cone out on 3 wheels. This happen last Saturday.

treeslayer2003

had one burn up from the foot board to radiator once. chained the main line of another skidder to the blade, picked it up and drug it out.
lol, it cost exactly the deductible to get her back to work.

coxy

had a cross bar on a dozer snap letting the tracks pod out and fall off hooked one skidder on the front and the other skidder on the back lifted it up  out we came  of course I was the one that had to back over a mile out of the woods  one skidder was faster than the other in the same gear what a pain in the keyster                     dad snapped the axle housing on  the old case cause the tire chain got stuck in a root ball my uncle came with his jd 440a what a mess trying to hold the front of the case up and drive   the 440 never had the front tires on the ground go 25ft stop re hook go    it took all the daylight  to get it out

thatchipperguy

We have a John Deere 848 that the rear axle broke and then locked up the rear end. Had to use the arches to push it back to the landing and then onto the lowboy. It took a few hrs when it would only move about 3ft at a time. It was not excatly straight on the lowboy. When it locked up it broke the rear ujoint and then put the driveshaft thru the fuel tank, so we had to run it off a gallon jug as well. Just another day in the woods!

OH logger

worked for a company that had a dual arch skidder(jack 460). I jumped in it to warm up and run it for a little bit cause it was butt cold and the thing wouldn't move. it ran fine just wouldn't go in gear. they called Lyons equipment and they said you'll have to get it to the landing cause they didn't want to send a guy in the woods in this weather :o(hard to believe theyre out of business). so we had to winch the thing a half mile or so it felt like through the woods to the landing at the road. they came out and here all it was was the seat switch crapped and 20 minutes later they had it fixed. sure glad the mechanic didn't get too cold >:(. we were warm by the time we pulled that much cable. it was 7/8 cable with a big chain and hook on the end that was great for pullin trees over (which was darn neared the only time we used the winch).  the whole time we were doin it it seemed like that grapple skidder was laughin at us and getting back at us for all the times we sat in the seat getting spoiled by the grapple ;D
john

chevytaHOE5674

Few years back I was limbing and topping behind a timbco hotsaw when the 8.3L cummins thru a rod through the block. Buncher was down in a creek bottom down a very steep slope in about 4 to 5 feet of snow. Couldn't get the machine moved so we built a tent over the back end and pulled the motor out with a borrowed forwarder. Was a long trip back and forth to the truck on the forwarder or skidder to get parts and tools.

drobertson

Helped my neighbor pull his grandpa's old Oliver tractor/skidder out a few years ago, it took the big Green tractor to get it out, bout a half mile pull around the draw,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Autocar

Backed a R model Mack down a trail loaded the logs up with the knuckle boom, jumped in the truck and pushed the clutch in and the finger on the clutch arm slipped over the throw out bearing went over the yoke . So I put a four by four though one window to the other and with a log boomer pulled the transmission back far enough to get the fork back on the throw out bearing and put it back togather. Jumped in the truck and did the same thing again. Not happy at all but pulled it again and when I jumped in the truck I put very little pressure on the clutch till it slipped in gear. Old age was the problem a new fork fixed it up till I traded it in for a Paystar 5000 .
Bill

sawguy21

I got sent into the bush to replace a fuel pump on an old gas crawler. It was 40 miles from nowhere on a logging road in a beat to death 2wd pickup, dark and snowing heavily. I found the machine, replaced the fuel pump by flashlight with a tarp underneath to catch any bolts or wrenches I dropped, fired it up and plowed a trail back to the truck. I then put the machine where it had been parked and walked back. I considered towing the truck in but didn't want to waste time if I got it stuck. I had considered apprenticing as an HD mechanic but that episode cured me of any such delusions. ;D
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Maine logger88

I had the front axle housing break off my 540 a few years back


  

 
Dad hauled my 225 over we winched the front end off the ground and went right out with it nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be quite a hole it was in too. I then returned with the 225 and pulled the tire and axle housing up.


 
Another time my father and grandfather bought a 977 cat track loader that was 1 mile back in the woods with one track locked up we hooked my 540 on front and my grandfather pushed on the back with his d4 took most of the day but we got it out
79 TJ 225 81 JD 540B Husky and Jonsered saws

redprospector

I blew the engine on my Fecon FTX 90 mulcher a while back. It was on a 30% grade, and I was thankful because I had just come off a job working 50% stuff. To drag this machine, you have to "unlock" the finals, which puts you in a freewheel mode. My buddy brought a 277c cat skid steer out. I knew it would be about all it wanted, but you work with what you have available.
Well, despite our best efforts to secure the 2 machines together...the chain came loose.  :o As far as I know, my FTX90 set a new Fecon land speed record that day. We figured it was probably doing a good 25 or 30 mph by the time it got to the bottom of the hill.
This area had been burned in a forest fire years before, and there were only about a half dozen trees left on this hill...right in the path of the Fecon.
Just before it hit a 20" DBH Doug Fir it caught a stump and turned left, going between 2 of the trees, close enough together that both trees had slight bark damage from the tracks, then caught a rock, turning straight down the hill again, jumping the cut bank, and sliding sideways into the middle of the road...right behind the trailer we were going to load it on.
Me and my buddy were about 250 yards up the hill from the road, looking in amazement. I just said; "God sure can drive a Fecon". Then we had a good laugh.  :D
1996 Timber King B-20 with 14' extension, Morgan Mini Scragg Mill, Fastline Band Scragg Mill (project), 1973 JD 440-b skidder, 2008 Bobcat T-320 with buckets, grapple, auger, Tushogg mulching head, etc., 2006 Fecon FTX-90L with Bull Hog 74SS head, 1994 Vermeer 1250 BC Chipper. A bunch of chainsaws.

timberlinetree

And I thought people at the office had bad days! Those are some really Good bad stories!

I was ahead and having a good day so I stopped the skidder in a nice spot and took a end of the day breaks. Just my luck it wouldn't start so to Napa and flash light I went.( was on top of a mountain)
I've met Vets who have lived but still lost their lives... Thank a Vet

Family man and loving it :)

madmari

Plugged a fuel filter 3/4 mile from the landing, put in a new one. While bleeding the filter, snapped off the bleeder in the filter housing. Turned out the broken piece with a screwdriver. Found a 5/16 bolt and nut doing nothing on a bracket, same thread as the bleeder. Made a o-ring/gasket from a piece of my rubber boot top, adjusted to allow flow, bled, started and drove out in the dark. Lost fuel again, found a rubber fuel line cracked leaking air. Scavenged the return line hose, put it on the flow side and got it to the landing. Off to Napa for new line and clamps. Filters were fine; the cracked fuel line was the problem the whole time.
I know why dogs stick thier head out the car window.

grassfed

I posted this a few years ago but it fits this topic so...

I had a back axle break right next to the wheel flange on my 440B. I hooked up a cable and drove the skidder out on 3 wheels letting the cable pay out and then winching it in till I got to the road.

I swapped out the rear with one from my parts skidder right by the side of the road.





 
Mike

coxy


Wudman

Early in my carreer, one of my contractors was working a tract of cypress / tupelo in Shoe Heel Creek, NC.  This was blackwater swamp logging.  The tractor is basically running on a foot thick root mat that is floating on water.  He was running 240 Timberjack cable tractors with 44" flotation tires.  He was manually felling by hand.  I was checking on the crew one day when one of the tractors broke though on the front end.  The front tires and blade (fully raised) were out of site.  The rear end hung on a stump.  That is the only thing that kept the tractor from disappearing.  Every tree that they could get the winch cable to would just come to the machine.  It is pretty amazing to watch a standing tree get pulled to you.  The other tractors on site weren't able to get him out.  It took a drag line to remove that tractor from the swamp.

Wudman
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

curdog

Quote from: Wudman on February 01, 2016, 04:08:55 PM
Early in my carreer, one of my contractors was working a tract of cypress / tupelo in Shoe Heel Creek, NC.  This was blackwater swamp logging.  The tractor is basically running on a foot thick root mat that is floating on water.  He was running 240 Timberjack cable tractors with 44" flotation tires.  He was manually felling by hand.  I was checking on the crew one day when one of the tractors broke though on the front end.  The front tires and blade (fully raised) were out of site.  The rear end hung on a stump.  That is the only thing that kept the tractor from disappearing.  Every tree that they could get the winch cable to would just come to the machine.  It is pretty amazing to watch a standing tree get pulled to you.  The other tractors on site weren't able to get him out.  It took a drag line to remove that tractor from the swamp.

Wudman
Those eastern nc swamps are no joke. I'm not sure if it is a stretch of the truth or not, but I was talking to one of our older equipment operators from down on the coast and he was talking about one of the dozers broke through the root mat, and they had to get a diver to go down and hook a cable to the dozer to pull it out. And I saw pictures of three d8 cats with the roof sticking out of the muck and that was it. Supposedly they had three log mats and a track hoe that they had to leap frog the mats for about a mile to get to them to dig them out. I'm definitely thankful to work in high dry ground  ;D

Maine logger88

Quote from: coxy on February 01, 2016, 06:45:35 AM
those are some good pics of JDs  :D :D :D
JDs do make a lot of opportunities for broken pics lol
79 TJ 225 81 JD 540B Husky and Jonsered saws

lynde37avery

My uncles first timberjack? 196? 230 skidder broke in two once.  Busted the center pins. It rolled down a hill and bam in two she went! Held it together with chains and binders and drove it out using another binder to get it to turn proper direction in the trail. The lesson learned was never trust a micro lock on an old jack skidder.
Detroit WHAT?

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