Well, I have TWO submissions, and really need to win 'cause I got a 22 that needs parts! Both happened back in the 90s with the same company, on the same job, so it couldn't be my fault.

We were doing long hauls using old Cat 637s with no retarders or brakes. It was near the end of the phase for a residential tract, so all the finish grading was done to the streets and house pads. I had a full load coming down a long grade where I had to make a right at a T intersection. The speed was really building up so I was trying to drag the can but it had no effect. I don't know if it was the hard, wet, clay street or funny hydraulics but there was NO slowing and a hard right coming up fast. So I thought I'd just go straight, burn off some speed, turn around and come back. No problem. Just then the foreman's truck pulls up to the T. OK, still no prob 'cause I'm going straight. HA! HE thinks I'm gonna go to my right, so he turns to his right and stops!! OK now what? I'm going way too fast to turn right, and there is a truck parked where I was gonna go straight. So I split the difference. Up the side yard slope of the corner house pad I went, almost 200,000 pounds airborne, landing just in time for the 4 to 5 foot vertical drop into a cul-de-sac, and head-on into the vertical across the street, then a wave a dirt thru the window to the back of my head. As the dust settled I shook myself off, backed the 637 up and motored past the foreman, shaking his head in disbelief.

And later-
They had me wheel-rolling a slope, at the top of a bigger slope, with an ancient Cat 824- no brakes, steering barely worked, cables held onto dead batteries with vise-grips. So with no brakes, after reversing to the bottom of the compaction area I had to slam it back into forward and hope the engine didn't stall. Well one time it did. So off I go backwards down the hill, with no brakes, no hydraulics (steering), and no way to restart. It didn't look like that bad of a ride, it eventually flattened out. Until it started to turn. Toward a power pole. But not one of those nice wooden ones. No, a 100+ foot tall steel Edison transmission tower with what, like 12,000 Kv? Turns out a 824 counterweight is just the right height to shear one of those towers cleanly off it's concrete pier, plunging a large portion of Orange County into darkness.

A few months later I got a bill from Edison for $35,000.

Respectfully submitted,

All submissions must be in by 8:00 P.M. 10-14-07 californy time. The impartial judges will determine the winner in a timely fashion. Don

the book will be ready for shipping on oct 29 2007 so you can have something to read when you pick up the cat.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

oh tractor don, things were going good until i mentioned my book, maybe i should donateing those boots instead????

thansk

Try throwing in you underwear like you did for my last BBQ. That ought to really finish it off Don

maybe i should just fly down there to the BBQ and see what happens. personally sign the book for the winner (that picture will increase ebay resale value) plus the way the boys on the other BBs are talking, my russian girlfriend named Natashia might be joining me. she likes the cold but i don't know how she will like the southern heat, LOL

thansk
KoO
King of Cuddles

well since the contest has died big time here, i submitt my website as an entry of mistakes.

www.kingofobsolete.ca

that should liven up things up, LOL

if i win tractor don, that cat 22 might end up on the bottom of a lake, LOL

thansk
KoO
Published Author

Equipment Stories

Two stories and the first one does not count, wrong brand of equipment. Exhilarating at the time, funny now.

I live in hilly terrain that is good for growing wine grapes. Once the decision was made to plant a vineyard the area was staked out. There were a few areas where the rocks had to be removed. I went to work digging out rocks. Some were large boulders bigger then the tractor could easily handle. I dug around one boulder and couldn’t lift it out of the hole, too heavy. I dug a ramp on opposing sides. With great stain the boulder was pushed out of the hole. With great surprise, I should know better, round objects roll downhill. It was a helpless feeling sitting in the tractor seat watching the boulder roll away. It rolled through the fence, crushed a cedar tree, knocked the bark off the side of pine tree and ended up on a public road. Thank goodness nobody was driving by at the time. Luckily the tractor had street pads and could retrieve my boulder and push off the road.

I purchase a CAT 7T model 12 road grader. It was a typical abused and neglected piece of equipment. After replacing a few components and adding some tender love and care I got it running. My house is on a hill top. The gravel driveway is a third of a mile long with a switchback halfway down the hill. I got the old grader fired up and was driving it back and forth by the garage trying everything out. It stops and goes just like a Volkswagen. I guess I will drive down the driveway. The switch back is too sharp of a turn to make with the grader without backing up a couple of times. When I got to the switchback I stepped on the brakes, really pushing hard on the brakes. The grader slowed but wouldn’t stop. It did a nice job of tearing out 30 feet of fence when finally the two front wheels went over the drop off on the side of the driveway. The blade dug into the driveway stopping the grader.

#1 Here are some pictures of the worst one on the ranch, I found out that IH didn't build airplanes..


Now the board let me back on after posting these pictures I can finish with the story....

I go out to the ranch one afternoon stopped by the shop one day and our mechanic says that there is a problem with the IH again. Prior to this there was some ongoing problems with starting in which the alt, starter batteries and cables had been changed.

So I give the operator a ride out to the tractor and notice that it is completely dead.

I park my truck next to the tractor and connect the battery cables and wait a few minutes for the battery to gain some charge. I try to start it and notice two problems, 1 the solenoid has problems, when it does turn over it starts knocking like its going to fire but then dies. I suspect that there is a fuel problem because we have had a problem with this type of tractor before. With the operator now on the tractor with his foot on the clutch and tractor in natural, I tell him to start the tractor, which is still having fuel problems. I crack a high pressure fuel line and notice that there is air coming out and little fuel, so I start working back at the primary filters and when I get back to the injectors as I bleed one of them and close it I notice it the engine starts to run at a very low idle and knocking. As I am fiddling with the fuel system the operator decides to get off the tractor and help me by getting an offset wrench that I had in the truck. As he gets off the tractor the gear shift gets slid down into low range. At some point I remember seeing the tractor move and I step back, I believe leaving my right foot in the same place. I see the tractor moving towards the lift canal and the driver starts to go after it. I tell him stop and about a second later I see the IHC airborne as it starts rolling down the canal followed by the loudest crash ever.

By the time I get over to the edge of the canal I see it sitting from by my angle it looks like its sitting there perfectly intact. At this time my gut feels like it’s sunk down to my feet. The only thing I could think about was how I was going to get it out of there. I walk over to the side and look down at what looks like a toy tractor sitting about 35' down from the bank with its front end crushed. There is now way we are going to drive this back up the canal to where it is level with the road. I look back at the truck and there is a nice gash across the front probably caused by the axel. The adreline is still running high at this time and I call for some help on the two ways. At some time someone notices a tractor print across my right boot. I go sit down and pull off my non steel toe farm boots, and look down at my big toe which is smashed towards the back of the nail, and the front of the nail is about a 1/4 of an inch gap between my nail and the bed of the nail. About that time reality has set in and all I could do is hold foot otherwise it would be in severe pain. I go to the doctor and they tell me they must remove my nail, the problem is if I let go of my foot the pain is intense and they want to put a needle through mutilated tissue. Once they got the nail remove then there was the problem with bleeding and there was nothing left for them to stitch up. I ended up having my toes broken in three places. I could not walk right after that, trying to keep pressure off of that toe. I'll never forget that pain, and today every time I work in a shop I wear steel toes. I ended up not having a nail for about 3 - 4 years and today I have trouble finding the right pair of shoes.
To get the tractor out, first the canal had to be shut down and somewhat drained as groundwater seeps in at a high rate. Normal water level in the summer is about 6" - 12" above the lining in this canal. Then a boom truck was brought in to lift the tractor out. The biggest problem with the removal was there was no way for the rigger to get down to the tractor because the canal basically has a sheer cliff where the bottom edge is eroded and the top edge is unsupported.

Or boats!