Brings to mind a story.

In the 50's a TD18 one evening was on a lowboy in the coffee shop parking lot. It did not look much worse than any other logging cat in the area(there were quite a few in those days) except it was leaking oil out of all the casting cracks and the paint looked new. As it turned out:

That was a brand new TD18 that morning. With the choker setter riding shotgun it was crawling up a rocky point when apparently the upper track hooked a rock that was in the ground at suchan angle that "jacked' that tractor over like a shot. Both the operator and the choker setter ended up below the tractor as it rolled over them but they were saved by a log by which they landed.

Now the roll started at close to the top of the ridge so it had some hundreds of yards to go before it hit an equilibrium point(at the bottom of the canyon).

My friend Charlie was a faller that morning. At the tavern that night as everyone was talking about it Charlie told his story. He said he had just shut his saw off when he heard the damdest noise across the canyon, he thought maybe a cat got out of control.

He said "I looked across the canyon and here come that 18, 15ft in the air and upside down. And I knew dam well it was out of control".

Hi, Cojhl2.
I was a bit hesitant to make that assessment during your story - - until Charlie said it was 18 feet in the air. Then I was figured it would be a pretty fair guess that it WAS out of control.

Just my 0.02.

"Deas wrote:

Hi, Cojhl2.
I was a bit hesitant to make that assessment during your story - - until Charlie said it was 18 feet in the air. Then I was figured it would be a pretty fair guess that it WAS out of control.

Just my 0.02.

Actually Deas Plant that first evening most of us questioned that 15ft in the air. But others came in later and testified they found trees broken off at more than 15ft off the ground.

Also they said when the tractor hit the bottom it lit on it's tracks, gave a great puff of white smoke and somberly shut down.

I have another "out of control" but that will wait. Also it is not as dramatic as this TD18 story.

This is hilly steep country so it happens.

"janmeermans" wrote:

Wow! After that roll down the mountain, I'll bet the paint got really scratched up and cracks leaked a whole lot more! The crew was very lucky!

Thanks for sharing that story John.

Jan

You are welcome jan. The cracks were from the fall and I guess since the tractor was in the air most of the time the paint was saved.

It was a brand new that morning TD18.

Keyword "WAS"!

Sounds like still brand new that evening, just not mint condition.

Good Point!

Did the warranty cover any thing? lol

quite a story, but I still want to know the diagnosis of the 3t