Story time for Arborists; getting stuck

[evo]

With the other thread “what’s your worst accident”. I thought I’d start another story time for Arborists.

My most recent was two years ago, the first year of my first for really reals chip truck 1995 Isuzu FRR. I staged a brush pile down a bank, near a road on a steep hill. I thought the shoulder was firm, it wasn’t, driver side wheels still on the pavement facing down hill.
The truck would kinda creep a little and then the rear sank, when I exited the cab I noted the odd creaking sounds and the odd movement wiggle of the truck. The ground was much further away than I expected!
Quickly I found a chunk of wood to use for a chock, and in doing so I noticed the driver rear was about 4-6” off the pavement and the truck was still making some creaking sounds.
Being by myself and not quite sure what todo I decided to shift the half load of chips to the drivers rear corner. The drivers rear inside dual settled barely to the ground.

Called a friend that lived in the same neighborhood, who has a old 2ton dodge power wagon with a logging winch on front. He popped me right out of that hole.

Super spooky teetering in the back of the chip box, shoveling as fast as I could, waiting for that moment if the parking break failing or the tipping over with me in the box suffocating under 7-8 yards of chips.

 

[Jehinten]

When I first bought my bucket truck, I got it stuck the day after I drove it home. At first I set it up in the driveway removing a maple that another company started and gave up on. They removed all the brush that wasn't over the garage then split. I did all I could from the driveway and then drove into the yard to get closer to reach the top. I don't remember the yard being wet before the job, but a downpour started right after the top came out.

I was already wet so I kept taking the trunk down then felled the stick, before trying to pull the truck out. Ended up spinning tires and sinking to the running boards. Attempted to lift myself out of the ruts with the outriggers by placing rounds under the outriggers and pushing. I could only get about a 10-12" tall round under it with it being buried, and I managed to push one underground, tried a second and buried it, then tried a third before giving up on it.

Moved on to the next plan which was two half ton, 4 wheel drive pickups pulling at once. It had quit raining by this point which was nice. Both trucks pulling at once were just spinning tires. Eventually got the truck out, the homeowner went to his shop and got his triaxle 18 wheeler to pull my truck. Took a couple of good jerks while I was in the truck trying to drive out before we finally got it.

Luckily the homeowner didn't care about the ruts, and since he drove an 18 wheeler, he gave me some nice contacts for shops around town for my truck repairs. After that I started parking on pads when off pavement and not in a drought.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

After a few days of rain the ground was soft. I backed in to dump a load of chips. Got in just fine but that broke the grass layer and it was mud, with no weight coming out. Fortunately I was driving my gear truck and helper in the chip truck.

We ended up rigging a double-compound cascade of mechanical advantage with the big rigging gear. I think we had a 3:1 on the chipper then added a 2:1 and another 2:1...you do the math LOL I could position the gear truck on the driveway and pull. We gained about five feet at a pull then had to redo the MA. The yard was a MESS but my client wasn't bothered. She was impressed with our rigging.

Corb Lund wrote about getting stuck

 

[Chaplain242]

Not quite a bogging situation.

On a municipal job had to tip on a demarcated area adjacent to power pole. Steep slope access only from high side.

tipped and wheel sunk and bin leaned over on to pole. Gently tried to lower bin - nope. Tried to move truck - nope.

ended up putting blocks under chassi side Close to pole and spun wheels - enough to level truck enough to free it and lower bin.

Still had to free truck but would have been a nasty media opportunity if couldn’t free it before photos were taken.

 

[southsoundtree]

With the other thread “what’s your worst accident”. I thought I’d start another story time for Arborists.

My most recent was two years ago, the first year of my first for really reals chip truck 1995 Isuzu FRR. I staged a brush pile down a bank, near a road on a steep hill. I thought the shoulder was firm, it wasn’t, driver side wheels still on the pavement facing down hill.
The truck would kinda creep a little and then the rear sank, when I exited the cab I noted the odd creaking sounds and the odd movement wiggle of the truck. The ground was much further away than I expected!
Quickly I found a chunk of wood to use for a chock, and in doing so I noticed the driver rear was about 4-6” off the pavement and the truck was still making some creaking sounds.
Being by myself and not quite sure what todo I decided to shift the half load of chips to the drivers rear corner. The drivers rear inside dual settled barely to the ground.

Called a friend that lived in the same neighborhood, who has a old 2ton dodge power wagon with a logging winch on front. He popped me right out of that hole.

Super spooky teetering in the back of the chip box, shoveling as fast as I could, waiting for that moment if the parking break failing or the tipping over with me in the box suffocating under 7-8 yards of chips.

I'm making a board to wedge between the brake pedal and seat.

 

[evo]

I'm making a board to wedge between the brake pedal and seat.

Good idea! I was on the roof of this same truck getting the top of a hedge, also parked on a hill.. I didn't realize when I set the parking brake I pulled the ratcheting prowl well beyond the teeth. It just kind of sat there.

So while up on the roof, the brake handle shook loose and I heard a loud pop and bump. Jumped the poor excuse of the single wheel choke I used and started taking off. The truck was facing up hill and as I was running to lemming it over the top of the cab there was another hard bump, then a jolt to a stop. The first bump was a large planter box, slowing the run of the truck, the jolt was the wheels hitting the curb... If it weren't for the planter box cushion there was no way the curb would have slowed down the truck. On the other side of this was a 'light' well in the decking at high end hotel

 

[27RMT0N]

Fortunately I've only been stuck once, a few years back, and it was 100% me being stupid.

I'd unloaded chips near the gate to an orchard a while before, and had more chips I wanted to add to the same pile. Without checking the ground, I backed up my full truck and thanks to recent rains, sunk in almost immediately. 4x4 Low, all four tires spinning, down in the mud to the diffs. NO chance of getting out myself with the tools on hand. After calling a friend I was pulled out without any troubles. Once out, I unloaded farther uphill from solid ground...

These days I carry four off-road traction boards, a More Power Puller, and a Warn 16.5Ti winch is on my shopping list this year. (edit: also being smarter.... or at least trying.)

 

[flushcut]

I had an idiot partner who sunk our loaded chip truck to the frame, spring thaw, dumbass.

 

[Chaplain242]

I had an idiot partner who sunk our loaded chip truck to the frame, spring thaw, dumbass.

How bad? Wait till Summer?

 

[adolan]

I live in the land of ice and snow aka Canada- more specifically Ontario. In the winter Im guessing a week wouldn't go by without getting a truck stuck lol. It's mostly our forestry style bucket trucks- usually when we are dumping chips. Once the chip weight is gone there goes any semblance of traction. Our primary dump spot in the winter months is at a tree farm that we've been dumping at for approximately 20 years- the owner just keeps pushing the pile back but there has to be 3-4ft of chips in the entire area- very easy to sink a truck.
I think one of the more memorable times getting stuck involved a train of tractors and pick up trucks pulling our chip truck up a hill on an icy road. I kind of wish I could have been a bystander for that one- would have been quite the sight!

 

[Reach]

Thirty five minutes to get in and stuck, seven hours to get the overgrown paperweight turned around and back up the hill... Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the gravel drive to the barn ON TOP of the old manure pile?

We ended up parking two big chip trucks side by side, with a spreader bar between them and hooked them to the crane to drag it up the hill. By far, that is the worst I’ve ever seen something get stuck!

 

[colb]

I sunk a subbed grapple truck. The client was in a Florida swamp. Usually not a problem since the landscap is a patchwork of swamps and hammocks. Unfortunately and unknown to us, the hammock was fill, and was floating almost everything atop the surrounding wetland - even the doublewide. My guy picked up the load and it was fine, but the second he moved, the truck dove to the axles as the ground liquified. With grapple trucks, the solution is straightforward. He unloaded the truck, put out pads for the outriggers, jacked up, inserted branches under the wheels, drove a length away to the gravel packed road, reloaded, and was good for it. It's just really weird to see solid-appearing ground instantly turn to a fluid.

 

[Stumpsprouts]

Picture says it all.. scary day. Slid back going up a hill in four low, lost all control of vehicle, almost lost the rig to a very steep ravine on the left side of the picture.

Many bright minds and mechanical advantages later, we got ourselves out with the gear on the truck.

 

[flushcut]

How bad? Wait till Summer?

$600.00 tow bill they had to bring in a big rig tow truck. Plus turf repair $$. He's gone thank god.

 

[Phil]

Working in the country...roads were tar chip, culverts under the road at the intersections, drainage ditches along roads...no curbs. I was in a bucket/chip truck towing a chipper. Pulled up to a stop sign and was hugging the right side of the road to allow any cars to go past me the other direction. Roads were narrow to begin with. I was making a right hand turn and totally neglected to take into account how close to the road edge I was and how much the rear tires will off track from the fronts. When I made the turn the rear duals went into the culvert, the chipper slid into the drainage ditch. It happened so fast but I just remember thinking, "Welp, I just lost my job" and accepting it instantly as I assumed we were about to land on the side of the truck. There was a passenger in the truck with me, the look on his face as the truck started to tip was pure horror. I got really lucky though. The fuel tank was on the passenger side of the truck and that ended up supporting the truck somehow so it didn't go on its side. We didn't have chips in the box either. The truck was at this weird almost 45 degree angle. The front driver side tire was about 3 feet off the ground. We un hooked the chipper and got a big 100 HP John Deere tractor to pull the truck out, then the chipper. What a day that was.

 

[27RMT0N]

Picture says it all.. scary day. Slid back going up a hill in four low, lost all control of vehicle, almost lost the rig to a very steep ravine on the left side of the picture.

Many bright minds and mechanical advantages later, we got ourselves out with the gear on the truck.

Can you tell me more about your chip truck? Not many 4x4 chip trucks out there and that's what I need eventually. Isuzu? I can't tell in the low res photo. What's the GVW and how's the turning radius?

 

[Stumpsprouts]

Can you tell me more about your chip truck? Not many 4x4 chip trucks out there and that's what I need eventually. Isuzu? I can't tell in the low res photo. What's the GVW and how's the turning radius?

It’s not mine- The company I worked for had two of these Fusos, not sure complete specs, mid to late 90s, manual, 4x4. Turning radius was very ample, spoiled me. I never knew the GVW but we routinely loaded it with about 2t and occasionally 3t.

A couple years ago they got a brand new fuso which had a host of problems with the automatic transmission. Do not recommend! They sent it back to the dealer.

They switched recently to a brand new Isuzu but it’s 2wd.

They still have one of the older fusos and it is still the preferred rig.

 

[Bart_]

Logs into the ground - Monty Python's "I built a castle, it sank into the swamp, so I built another castle on top of it and it sank into the swamp too, then I built a third castle..."

Not arborist related, but got real stuck on a 70's 125 trail bike. 125 = gutless. Had spring fever and wanted to go for a rip out across the frozen and frozen/dried farmers fields. So I wind it up, sailing over swells, big grin, get to a bit more of a dip an in about 20 feet flat went from 30 mph to zero. It was gumbo mud, the kind that slowly turns your boots into 10 lb weights with each progressive footstep. So a few things were stacked against me. One, there were no trees or tree branches to put under the wheels. Two, I still had a cast on my ankle covered by a plastic bag to keep it clean. How did I shift? I rotated the shifter 90 degrees to vertical and operated it with the side of the cast. Three, there was bupkus for clearance between the excuse for a knobby tire and the swing arm which instantly turned into a gumbo direct to tire braking system. I left the bike propped at an angle wheels in the mud, mostly the rear dug in and limped to the edge of the field where there was a train track with hugely overgrown dried out weeds with almost woody stems. Grabbed a few arm fulls and turned the gas off on the bike, cranked it near horizontal and built a about 3 or 4 feet of weed corduroy under both wheels. Poked as much mud out of the swing arm as I could, pick the bike back up, gas on, kick start, drop it into first and abuse the ---- out of the clutch to get the rear wheel to turn, move forward three feet, turn the gas off and on purpose drop the bike on its side again, handle bar deep into the goo, pick up the muddy weed stems, shuffle them to in front of the wheels, pick up the gooey handle bar - wash rinse repeat 3 feet at a time. When I hit solid ground I pinned it for high ground thankful I could get home. It wasn't particularly warm either. The bag on the cast ws reaching it's limits too. I did feel bad about leaving the mess in the farmer's field.

Let's just say that's a very vivid memory as it was decades ago and I can almost smell the spring melt smells recalling the story. On another gravel road ride with same bike and cast a policeman pulled me over. As I limped over to him he had quite the look on his face.

Young and dumb.