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Offloading Tracked Vehicles

Recovry4x4

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Might have been a 3rd world country where you make do with nothing, often fatally. You should see the conditions that the shipbreakers work under in Bangladesh. Horrifying. Thank God forn ROPS.
 

dilligaf13

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south, florida
I think even with ROPS, a tumble down an incline like that will result in significant injuries (both internally and externally) that will be fatal.
 

pctrans

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First big mistake was the wrong type of trailer for that machine. Should have used an RGN (removable gooseneck). Side loading is tricky with a dozer, blocking up the bed in front of the rear tires is a must. Side loading a trackhoe is much easier.
 

jw4x4

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Dayton, Ohio
The fatal flaw was the fact that the trailer was not level. That is certain. It's difficult to tell from the camera angle, but the trailer appears to be a RGN (Removable Goose Neck) or detach trailer. That IS the proper trailer for this task. And he was unloading on the correct end of the trailer. Those ramps at the rear are for much lighter equipment. As for ROPS, that isn't going to help the occupant in this instance. There is no way he survived. I doubt that the seat belt was being used, the door wasn't even closed. Steel tracks don't have any traction on hard surfaces like the steel and wood decks of trailers.
A big mistake that cost someone their life. THINK people.
 

18operator

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Seville, Ohio
We just loaded up a 138 Link Belt using a removable gooseneck trailer yesterday. Even under ideal conditions you still have to be careful, have the proper cribbing and rubber softeners or old mud flaps to lay down on the trailer so the tracks have grip on the metal trailer. Slow deliberate operations and movement of the machine are key to getting the unit on the trailer safely. What happened in that video could have been avoided.
 

tennmogger

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Looked to me that the driver was trying to brake the tracks against power (torque converter power shift transmission?). Coasting off would have been better. Kinda like trying to drive on snow with automatic transmission and idle set too high. Vehicle trying to go and stop at same time.
 

wreckerman893

Possum Connoisseur
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Akenback acres near Gadsden, AL
I have "combat offloaded" dozers before and there is always a pucker factor when that dozer stands almost straight up.

In my opinion that was the only way that one could have been offloaded without the result we saw.

Someone did not think that operation through.
 

Artisan

Well-known member
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CDA Idaho
Spending a couple grand to build an earthen ramp
off the BACK port side of the trailer w/ cables securing
the trailer front and back obviously would have been
a much wiser decision, but hey, any one can be a
Monday Morning quarterback...

Even w/ ROPS and seat belt I doubt the driver could survive that.
I believe it sounded like a 400'+ drop. SAD
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
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Location
Abilene, Texas
August 10th, 2015.:-(


Looks like the gooseneck was still on the trailer, but using 100 ton jacks to level the trailer before attempting the unload would have helped, along with traction mats on the trailer. It didn't look like there were many large trees, so anchoring the cat on the uphill side might have been difficult. We used to unload over the side on the old gooseneck trailers, but ours had heavy wooden plank decks.

if they had blocked the back and downhill side of the trailer frame and taken the ramps off the rear, likely he could have gotten the machine down off of the rear end in his first move. It was the sawing back and forth that possibly put the machine an a situation to go off the right side of the trailer.

The angled up front of the trailer caused most of the tractors tracks to go clear of the deck when he started to climb, and what was left in contact with the deck did not have enough friction to resist the effects of the inclined deck and of gravity. Do note until that event happens, the tractor seems to have a fairly good location and grip on the deck (this event occurs at approximately 1.40 to 1.44 in the video).

In any case, wrong location, wrong method, and the result was a deceased operator. One had to bear in mind that in a situation like this, no ROPS system is going to do much once the machine rotates 180*+. We used to unload the cable winch D-4's and one always had to be aware of the surroundings and the situation, as the cable frame never gave any protection in a rollover.

God rest the soul of the operator, and God help the trucks owner and the construction company owner, as some lawyer's justly going to have a field day. Sounds like most of them in that crew were speaking Spanish, so it could be Mexico or just about any Latin American country, often where workers safety and rights are not considered very much in business calculations.


There's no cure for Terminal Stupidity except likely what we saw here in the video! Arrrgh!:-(
 
Last edited:

m1010plowboy

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Nobody died so we're going to post it as a reminder that this is NOT how you offload your MV. Spring runs have begun and the noodles must be firmly mounted on the shoulders again.
This incident is avoidable. If you don't watch the video, in the theatre of your mind picture people falling off the front of your MV while in forward motion. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Giving rides is the life blood of our hobby, inspiring youth, adding interest to the sensory experience of big iron.

Giving rides is a life and death opportunity so don't let the excitement overrule the logic of life preservation.

Pass it around and remind the boys that if you live to 100 years old it's only 36,500 days.......don't screw this one up!

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=alpHm_1525110999
 

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

Chaplain
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San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas USA
Nobody died so we're going to post it as a reminder that this is NOT how you offload your MV. Spring runs have begun and the noodles must be firmly mounted on the shoulders again.
This incident is avoidable. If you don't watch the video, in the theatre of your mind picture people falling off the front of your MV while in forward motion. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Giving rides is the life blood of our hobby, inspiring youth, adding interest to the sensory experience of big iron.

Giving rides is a life and death opportunity so don't let the excitement overrule the logic of life preservation.

Pass it around and remind the boys that if you live to 100 years old it's only 36,500 days.......don't screw this one up!

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=alpHm_1525110999
WOW !
That's NOT what anyone wants to have happen when promoting these MVs.
 

Karl kostman

Well-known member
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Fargo ND
WOW There is a very long list of ignorance/laziness that goes with this, oh and of course nobody cares!
Karl
 
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