I had a close call this afternoon. My excavator and I almost went ass over tea kettle right down a steep slope!

I wasn't sure I was going to live long enough to participate in the Forum again. I was moving snow with my little excavator. The snow was just soft enough that it packed and was slippery as the devil. I was moving it across a slight incline (only a couple of degrees), when it slid sideways toward the bank. There is a drop off of about 18 inches and then it slopes downward at nearly a 45 degree angle. The only thing that stop the excavator was an old wire fence. The one track was literally supported by some snow. As you know, that ain't much to depend on.

I got out of the cab and fell down the slope end over end, right to the bottom and on to the street. My neighbor saw me roll down the slope and get up looking like a walking talking snowman. He's probably still laughing.

I got some chains and lashed the machine to a tree to keep it from sliding any further down the slope. The chain was all that kept the machine from going over the edge and tumble sideways down the slope. Because the machine was sideways and because there is about an 18 inch drop, the excavator would have toppled over on the way down. Fortunately, the chain held and prevented that from happening.

I used the bucket to hoist the low track up about 18 inches to level the machine. Then I threw ten 40-pound bags of wood pellets under the track and let the machine down. Every time I moved, the machine would slide toward the drop off a little more. I kept the machine chained to the tree as I swiveled the tracks and drove up to solid ground.  I cut the chain loose and parked the machine.  I was exhausted! 

I really feared that the machine and I would go over the bank when it first happened. If the machine did go over sideways, I wouldn't be here writing this post. The door opened toward the slope and excavator would have crushed me when I fell out without any doubt. The only thing that kept the machine from going over was a thin steel wire. The wire did break when I swiveled the tracks and made my final move toward solid ground. I haven't been this scared in many years. The old heart was beating a mile a minute.
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My wife would not look out the window while I was trying to get the machine out of the fix it was in.

Catch you later! I'm still alive!

Best regards - Al

I have no doubt the Creator watches over me. I've had many close calls over the years and walked away unscathed.

My father-in-law once told me, "Butch, even a cat only has nine lives. You've used up at least eight of yours."

It is good to know someone a heck of a lot smarter than me is watching over me and my family. I figure he has plans for me that I am unaware of.

I've had close calls when I was an Ironworker, like the time the building collapsed while I was connecting. Another one was when I was scheduled to work on an offshore platform in the Gulf. I wasn't able to make it. My wife stood her ground, "If you think your going to leave me in New Orleans for two to six weeks while you go play offshore, you're nuts."

Anyway, when we got back to New England my father-in-law says, "I thought you were going to work offshore? Isn't this the company you were going to work for?"

I said, "I was, but Marion convinced me otherwise. Son of a gun, it is the same company!"

He tossed the newspaper down in front of me. The helicopter that I would have been on crashed and killed everyone on board.

I just hope the "Big Fella" doesn't blink while I'm in the middle of doing something crazy. It is another good reason to say my prayers every evening.

Best regards - Al

Thanks everyone!

Al

To help with this not happening again. Put about 6- 3/8" bolts in each track for the winter. It will give it just enough grip so that it won't just slide on a frozen surface. I used to weld about 6 1/2" nuts on the steel tracks on my trackloader each fall just so it wouldn't be an ice skate.
Hope this helps. Pretty scary experience when they take off like that.

oh dear!! At least you had a little adventure haha