2xtreme
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Kayak Pt, WA
Titled after my sister-in-laws interpretation of the drama and limited understanding of recovery techniques.
Last Friday I took my Bobcat over to my Brother and Sister-in-Laws to help move about 17 yards of soil from the front yard to the back yard. They live in a VERY upscale neighborhood in Issaquah. Due to the significant amount of rain that they have had over the last week I had some difficulty getting traction with my (hans inspired 31x15.5 tires) high flotation tires (great for not leaving damage on the grass with a skid steer but not so good in the mud).
To make a very long story a little shorter, I had to "rebuild" the "road" we were useing to move the soil almost every time I drove back and forth. The dirt was getting so muddy that I was getting a little concerned about "sliding" off the edge of my brother in laws property and down into the front door of his neighbors house (remember this is a VERY upscale neighborhood and this was not a good situation). We used sheets of plywood and 2x4's in order to try to provide as much traction as possible.
After about 20+ trips I didn't quite negotiate the corner (I think this is the term the newspaper would use). In the process of "skidding" around the corner one side of the Bobcat started to slide off of the edge of the enbankment. Since I had no traction on one side of the Bobcat any movement just pushed it further off the edge of the embankment. I got out and tried to analyze the situation, unfortunately I had almost no tools, no recovery gear, and was a little worried about how to get the Bobcat unstuck.
After a long analysis I decided I needed assistance (winch, Hi-lift, tow straps at a minimum). I called Matt (IXNAYXJ)(I know, I can't believe I am admitting to calling Matt to help me with an extraction :shhh: ). After reminding myself that Matt's winch doesn't work, his Hi-lift was not working, I convinced him to come on over anyway and give me a hand. Luckily he had Johns Jeep with him who does have a brand spanking new Winch (Thank you Matt West!!).
After repairing Matt's Hi-Lift
(I put in the rebuild kit Matt had) and finding a handle (the tire iron from my trailer tool box) it still only went up and required lots of "assistance" to go back down (Matt, if it isn't obvious you need to get your winch working and a working Hi-Lift, even if it just for my use).
After some time (I don't have a clue how long) and lots of effort it was obvious that we needed more tools and recovery gear. Due to the location of the Bobcat we could only winch from the rear and anytime we pulled on the back the front slid further down the enbankment. By this time I was getting pretty worried that the only way out was to attmept to drive/roll it down the enbankment through the neighbors boarders/plants on onto their driveway, not something I was very enthusiastic about.
Matt called Rich (Mc2KXJ) and he and Alex (Alex, I can't for the life of me remember your sig name, Sorry) took their time away from their families to assist in the extraction. With the additional Hi-Lift and come a long we, for the first time, started to make some progress. We were able to VERY slowly start to get the Bobcat to actually start to slide back up the enbankment. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to continue due to the angles that we could winch from and a Tree that was now wedged right behind the rear tires.
Rich (Here I go again admitting my lack of ideas that worked) came up with this idea to winch over the top of the Bobcat and lift the lower side of the Bobcat and help it "slide" back up the enbankment. It worked well, and we got it almost totally back up on the top of the enbankment but we still didn't have any traction. So we winched again lifting the lower side and built a 2x4 framework for the lower tires to drive on.
After recovering the Bobcat (total of more than 5 hours) we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Chilly, plenty of drinks, dessert and had to put up with Rich's terrible conversation :kissyou:
Matt, Rich, and Alex, Thank you VERY much for your assistance, ideas, tools, and time. I really appreciate it!!
Matt will likely have much better pic's than I have to add to the story (who knows, he might actually have a very different version of the story).
Michael
Last Friday I took my Bobcat over to my Brother and Sister-in-Laws to help move about 17 yards of soil from the front yard to the back yard. They live in a VERY upscale neighborhood in Issaquah. Due to the significant amount of rain that they have had over the last week I had some difficulty getting traction with my (hans inspired 31x15.5 tires) high flotation tires (great for not leaving damage on the grass with a skid steer but not so good in the mud).
To make a very long story a little shorter, I had to "rebuild" the "road" we were useing to move the soil almost every time I drove back and forth. The dirt was getting so muddy that I was getting a little concerned about "sliding" off the edge of my brother in laws property and down into the front door of his neighbors house (remember this is a VERY upscale neighborhood and this was not a good situation). We used sheets of plywood and 2x4's in order to try to provide as much traction as possible.
After about 20+ trips I didn't quite negotiate the corner (I think this is the term the newspaper would use). In the process of "skidding" around the corner one side of the Bobcat started to slide off of the edge of the enbankment. Since I had no traction on one side of the Bobcat any movement just pushed it further off the edge of the embankment. I got out and tried to analyze the situation, unfortunately I had almost no tools, no recovery gear, and was a little worried about how to get the Bobcat unstuck.
After a long analysis I decided I needed assistance (winch, Hi-lift, tow straps at a minimum). I called Matt (IXNAYXJ)(I know, I can't believe I am admitting to calling Matt to help me with an extraction :shhh: ). After reminding myself that Matt's winch doesn't work, his Hi-lift was not working, I convinced him to come on over anyway and give me a hand. Luckily he had Johns Jeep with him who does have a brand spanking new Winch (Thank you Matt West!!).
After repairing Matt's Hi-Lift
(I put in the rebuild kit Matt had) and finding a handle (the tire iron from my trailer tool box) it still only went up and required lots of "assistance" to go back down (Matt, if it isn't obvious you need to get your winch working and a working Hi-Lift, even if it just for my use).
After some time (I don't have a clue how long) and lots of effort it was obvious that we needed more tools and recovery gear. Due to the location of the Bobcat we could only winch from the rear and anytime we pulled on the back the front slid further down the enbankment. By this time I was getting pretty worried that the only way out was to attmept to drive/roll it down the enbankment through the neighbors boarders/plants on onto their driveway, not something I was very enthusiastic about.
Matt called Rich (Mc2KXJ) and he and Alex (Alex, I can't for the life of me remember your sig name, Sorry) took their time away from their families to assist in the extraction. With the additional Hi-Lift and come a long we, for the first time, started to make some progress. We were able to VERY slowly start to get the Bobcat to actually start to slide back up the enbankment. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to continue due to the angles that we could winch from and a Tree that was now wedged right behind the rear tires.
Rich (Here I go again admitting my lack of ideas that worked) came up with this idea to winch over the top of the Bobcat and lift the lower side of the Bobcat and help it "slide" back up the enbankment. It worked well, and we got it almost totally back up on the top of the enbankment but we still didn't have any traction. So we winched again lifting the lower side and built a 2x4 framework for the lower tires to drive on.
After recovering the Bobcat (total of more than 5 hours) we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Chilly, plenty of drinks, dessert and had to put up with Rich's terrible conversation :kissyou:
Matt, Rich, and Alex, Thank you VERY much for your assistance, ideas, tools, and time. I really appreciate it!!
Matt will likely have much better pic's than I have to add to the story (who knows, he might actually have a very different version of the story).
Michael
