I Almost got Killed Unloading a D2 - Pops would have missed me!

Mike, I am glad to hear you escaped disaster. People think D2s are cute little tractors, but they still weight as much as 5 tons. I think that when we become accustomed to working on bigger machinery, we loose sight of the smaller machines and the hazards they possess. I have a 7 ton hydraulic jack that probably weighs 200 lbs.. I recently pinched a finger while hoisting it into the tractor bucket to move it. I saw stars, and I doubt it would have killed me, but it made me take notice of handling things in a safe manner.

Mike, we would all miss you. Glad you averted disaster Mike.

Glad to hear that your O.K.!!👋 It just goes to show.......never let your guard down!
Be safe!!!

Tractorboy1

[attachment=14900]Battery acid.jpg[/attachment][attachment=14899]The Bad.jpg[/attachment]Hey OilSlick,

For safety sake, keep me off your tractor. First, I am glad you are safe. Second, I can remember when I was a small boy, my father would ask me to give him a foot rub. I can remember asking why his leg was so scared up. He went on to tell me how he had a crawler, I think he said it was a TD-9 on the 6X6 Army transport. I remember my Pops telling me he was going up a hill next to the Church in San Rafael, Ca. There was a school bus at a bus stop that he passed climbing up the hill. At the steepist point of the climb, he noticed the load came loose and the tractor was rolling off the truck. All my dad could think about was the kids loading on the bus. He stopped the truck and pounded pavement running towards the crawler that was rolling down the hill. He reached the tractor and jumped on the dozer arm. He then tried to get to the operators compartment, but his foot slipped off the fender. My father wore knee high lace boots back then. His leg got caught between the track and the frame of the TD-9. As the tractor rolled backwards, his lacing of the boot got caught in the track. The further the tractor rolled back, the further his leg was pulled down in the track. It got to the point that he told me he thought his leg was going to be ripped away from his body. All he could do was look at the Catholic Church that he was a member of, starring at the steeple and prayed to the Lord to save the kids. The tractor stopped rolling on the steepest part of the hill with no explanation why it stopped. At the hospital, it took hours of time for the doctor to pull piece by piece the leather from his boot from his flesh. I'll never forget the story, or his scares. Pop didn't fear for his life, he told me he feared for the school kids, and he knows, so did the Lord.

OK, OilSlick, it's confession time. Since you spilled the beans, so will I. Barstart has been good and hasn't spilled the beans. Garlic Pete didn't come have fun this year at the Yolo County Fair, so he missed out on my accident. You see, Jesse asked me up to the fair and wanted me to bring my DW-6. He went and got a new US Flag to hang off the tractor. The event opened in an areana with 200 people or so watching a tractor parade. They asked me to run around with the flag blowing behind, and I stopped in the center for the pledge to open the event. Then a parade started with a dozen or so tractors in a parade. We had two cars in the center of the areana. Then they blind folded Jesse and I. Jesse was on his D7-17a and I was on the DW-6. So they passed the portable micro-phone to each of our spotters. Francesca, Jesse's sister was my spotter. They called out instructions to guide us blind folded around a figure 8 course around the two cars. The crowd was having fun along with us too. They were announcing that Chapter 5 and Chapter 15 were competing. Jesse thinks he won, but he only got the crowd to cheer him on more, because he hit the car with his dozer. Then after with no blind fold on, I pushed both cars up against a ramp we built. Then the announcer told everyone we were going to attempt the first tractor car jump. I ran test attempts by the ramp in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and finally 5th gear. That DW-6 gets going around 30 mph plus in high gear. I told everyone I was going for it, backed up, and Jesse the SOB, shot out with his D7 and crawled over the cars before I could get to them. Man did the fun begin. We were taking a car at a time and smashing them dozer blade to dozer blade, ramming them together and smashing cars BIG TIME. On one attempt the car rolled up my blade and climbed 90 degrees straight up. It was standing on it's rear bumper and I pulled on the clutch and then like-body slammed it on it's roof. Boy did Jesse and I do some damage to those cars. I was feeling kind of left out though, as the tires on the DW-6 run around $3000 a piece, so I was not car crawling with them. Jesse was doing a good job at that, while I was pushing them around and stacking the up for him. So.... Jesse stopped to talk to the announcer, and I backed along his side with about 12" clearance. We were laughing our a-ses off, it was so much fun. I asked if we could switch Cats, and Jesse took mine and I his. I stacked two cars on each other with the D7 and crawled up the roof heading for the hood of the top car with the left track. The cat was climbing pretty steep, around a 1&1/2: 1. I was feeling pretty good and thought the crowd was going to get a good look at the bottom of the under carraige. So I kept climbing and the Cat turned with one track on the ground and the other leaving the roof and heading towards the hood. It was sideways pretty good, but was still in controll until.......the track was slipping on the steel hood a little, then it caught traction and grabbed the hood. I thought the car was going to buckle and the worst was over, but......:jaw: the track didn't buckle it down, it buckled out pulling away from the car. It was too much, it pushed the Cat away from the car. It was the sraw that broke the camels back. I came out of the seat and was heading for the ground. I tried to push the clutch out, but I'm not as strong as Jesse, and trust me, he has his clutches tight. I just couldn't throw it out as slipping out of the seat. Every thing went into super slow mode. I was really ,really aware of what was happening, second, by second. OilSlick as you are aware I have a surgical hearnia from my operation last year. At times, it slows me down, but I knew that if I did'nt move my a-s, I would be a goner. The Cat was coming over on me. It had a good OROPS on it, but I had to pull my arms in, it was getting close. I had to roll towards the center. I was calculating the ROPS position and adjusting my body to clear. My legs were in trouble. I realized the fender would cut my legs off. I had to really move quick to get them cleared. I had to curled up in a ball and SLAM, in a cloud of dust it was down around me. I was OK, I didn't fear for me, I was really worried about the engine. The Cat was on it's side with the OROPS holding the Cat up 90 degrees. The Cat was still running. It started to spin, turning and rolling the Cat sideways, slowly. I was heading for the throttle, but battery acid was leaking out of two group 24's that Jesse added with direct electric start. The battery acid was pouring on my arms and body, but I had to shut er down. I had the Cat shut off in two-three seconds. Hydraulic oil was pouring on me and the ground, as the 30 gallon hydraulic tank on the fender had a loose cap on it. I crawled out the tops of the OROPS and the dust settled. The crowd gasped for air and I heard a slight relief from the crowd as I popped up with a thumbs up, letting everyone know I was OK. Jesse backed over with the DW-6 and with a chain we pulled it over. Jesse went and got 15 gallons of oil and put a gallon in the motor and the rest in the hydraulic tank. Jesse's got a nice D7, it's probally woth $20,000. I asked him if he wanted to sell it to me. He starred at me and told me to just start it, he'd see if I just bought a Cat. He had me open the compression, roll the motor over for 5 seconds. The he had me close it, and it fired right up. No smoke, great oil pressure, purred just like nothing happened. I sent my wrench over the next week and completely serviced the Cat for Jesse. Cats are built tuff, Glen Tuff. I rolled Jesse's Cat and it didn't even scratch it. CAT TUFF. When Jesse heard the Cat start, he walked over to the DW-6 and was climbing on it. I yelled to him that I would give him $1600 for his Cat, Man you should have seen the look on his face. The next day when I was talking on the phone with him, I offered $1700. Later in the week I went to $1800, but he doesn't want to sell. I will tell you what, Jesse and his whole family are the best people around, and as a family they are real tight, real good people. As for the clothes I was wearing, Jesse says kids pay top dollar to get holes in the paints the way the battery acid did.LOL

A number of years ago a guy was unloading a D4 off a steel decked trailer right at the start of winter, with just a skiff of melting snow on the ground. From what I was told, the trailer wasn't on completely flat ground, the deck was wet and as soon as the D4 started to move, it slid sideways off the trailer. He wound up between the ROPS and ground and and I guess you can figure out the rest.

I'm just glad Mike and Glen avoided serious injuries.

A number of years ago a guy was unloading a D4 off a steel decked trailer right at the start of winter, with just a skiff of melting snow on the ground. From what I was told, the trailer wasn't on completely flat ground, the deck was wet and as soon as the D4 started to move, it slid sideways off the trailer. He wound up between the ROPS and ground and and I guess you can figure out the rest.

I'm just glad Mike and Glen avoided serious injuries.

Will I’m glad to hear you to outlaws (Mike and Glen) came out ok with your close calls, to what could’ve been a devastating end.

Kelly

Pops, how you get Jessy's D7 upright without it falling hard on the tracks once it breaks over? Put a crushed car there for it to fall on?

Are you crazy cat operators welcome back next year after the near mis?

Bruce, what frustrates me was I realized it was a hazard having the D2 on the tail and I was trying to be safe. We probably should have got another cat fired up and pulled it free to break the tracks loose. Your right it's just not worth it. Life's to short as it is.

Hi, Folks.
I am VERY pleased to hear that those two near misses were near misses and not direct hits. Two great people and two pretty careful people have had these misses and one of them a VERY experienced operator. I think it pretty strongly underlines the fact that we always need to be on our guard, not just around heavy machinery but ALL the time, whatever we might be doing.

Just my 0.02.