Jim Timber
5 year old buck +
Yesterday was supposed to be easy. Just load an empty container on a flatbed, drive it up the hill to the garden, then spend some time in the woods and head home.
Against my better judgement, I went along for the ride in the truck instead of spotting for the driver as I'd offered. I had a 8' wide road, truck wheels were about 7'9". Doable, but no room for error.
Mark's standing where the truck should've driven. He claimed to feel the rear slide, but he actually drove the front off first. Missed it by about 2'.
The tractor pulled until the shoulder gave out under the spinning rear wheels of the truck. Now it's on the pumpkin and really stuck. Time to call the boss.
Who being mad, promptly drives off the road upon arrival...
After getting the blue truck back on the road, we couldn't budge the flatbed with it, so I suggested taking the container off thinking if it was lighter we might be able to pull it out the other side with the tractor. That is eventually what happened - more on that in a bit.
So we got the container off without flipping it (which was hairy for a bit), and dragged it out.
Although I don't recommend it, a 20' container does a lovely job as a drag. :D
Flatbed had worked lower with the attempts to use the stinger to lift itself out, and the blue truck wasn't budging it. After snapping 2 cables, it was time to bring in some muscle, kinda.
This is a class 8 wrecker. It's what you recover/tow a loaded 80,000# semi with. Big truck, big winches, and 100% Bad Ass - except this one needs new gears in it's winches, and the guys say the hydraulic pump is shot. They supposedly have a different truck with better winches and more cable on the spools, but the boss (who was driving the blue truck) explicitly said to bring this one. I was next to him when he made the call.
Eventually, after snatch blocking off a tree and getting the truck pulled back onto the top of the road with the big wrecker, we decided to try pulling the flatbed forward with the tractor, drive it up the hill, bring the tractor back down and repair the road, then drive the flatbed out. I spotted him this trip through the swamp road. That worked like a charm.
So now my container is out of the in-laws yard, but it's on the shoulder of the street and can't stay there long either. We're expecting rain this afternoon, so the plan is for the guys to come back Friday and we'll get it up to the garden then. I wanted to move it before the rain so we didn't end up sliding a truck into a tree. Things should be good by Friday even if we get a soaker.
I need a new culvert.
Against my better judgement, I went along for the ride in the truck instead of spotting for the driver as I'd offered. I had a 8' wide road, truck wheels were about 7'9". Doable, but no room for error.
Mark's standing where the truck should've driven. He claimed to feel the rear slide, but he actually drove the front off first. Missed it by about 2'.
The tractor pulled until the shoulder gave out under the spinning rear wheels of the truck. Now it's on the pumpkin and really stuck. Time to call the boss.
Who being mad, promptly drives off the road upon arrival...
After getting the blue truck back on the road, we couldn't budge the flatbed with it, so I suggested taking the container off thinking if it was lighter we might be able to pull it out the other side with the tractor. That is eventually what happened - more on that in a bit.
So we got the container off without flipping it (which was hairy for a bit), and dragged it out.
Although I don't recommend it, a 20' container does a lovely job as a drag. :D
Flatbed had worked lower with the attempts to use the stinger to lift itself out, and the blue truck wasn't budging it. After snapping 2 cables, it was time to bring in some muscle, kinda.
This is a class 8 wrecker. It's what you recover/tow a loaded 80,000# semi with. Big truck, big winches, and 100% Bad Ass - except this one needs new gears in it's winches, and the guys say the hydraulic pump is shot. They supposedly have a different truck with better winches and more cable on the spools, but the boss (who was driving the blue truck) explicitly said to bring this one. I was next to him when he made the call.
Eventually, after snatch blocking off a tree and getting the truck pulled back onto the top of the road with the big wrecker, we decided to try pulling the flatbed forward with the tractor, drive it up the hill, bring the tractor back down and repair the road, then drive the flatbed out. I spotted him this trip through the swamp road. That worked like a charm.
So now my container is out of the in-laws yard, but it's on the shoulder of the street and can't stay there long either. We're expecting rain this afternoon, so the plan is for the guys to come back Friday and we'll get it up to the garden then. I wanted to move it before the rain so we didn't end up sliding a truck into a tree. Things should be good by Friday even if we get a soaker.
I need a new culvert.
