What is the worst equipment abuse you have witnessed? I have seen my share of abused equipment, but as much as run them. I actually go easy on them. I have found it just makes more sense to go from stump to landing without stopping, spinning, pounding and struggling which is what would happen if you loaded the ole equipment to the gills. After all, I don't get paid for big twitches, I get paid by how much wood is on the landing at the end of the week. I have driven junk most of my life just because I cannot afford new equipment, but it makes me mad when people do not appreciate what they do have. I backed the pulp truck into a landing one day and then jumped upon the tree length loader and talked to the loader operator. I asked him if that was where he wanted me to park and he just shrugged his shoulders and said "I'll put it where I need it." He reached over with his grapple, hooked onto the last bunk, lifted the back of that truck up off the ground by a good five feet then drug it sideways and backwards...with the brakes still set on the tractor, and then dropped it from that height. It was actually a newer truck, but that thing bounced and crashed, and it was not exactly easy on the log loader either.
Guys (and gals) I am not a rat, but in this instance I just had to snitch. My neighbor has a camp behind me and is the greatest neighbor you can have. He is from Boston, but likes to get away and has some money. No big deal, he does not flaunt it, and if I ever needed anything, I know he would help out; he is just that way. So he buys a Cat Tracked Skidsteer that is to die for, but being a nice guy he gives his friend's son a weekend retreat to get away from trouble, stay away from beer, and just relax for a week. Well about 10 PM this guy drives his skid steer up to my house, bucket way up in the air, does a power turn on the hot topped road and pretty near dumps it over. he is also drunk...very, very drunk and needs fuel. I got all kinds of diesel fuel, but I am not giving it to this guy. Not because I am not nice, but because running that tractor out of fuel is the best thing that could have ever happened. Nope, this guy decides to see if he can talk to my meth-Lab neighbors. After having a gun pulled on him, he decided to get fuel elsewhere, but first went searching for gravel at midnight by going across another neighbors lawn, then decides he is going to get firewood in the woods with the skidsteer. The only problem is my neighbor does not have any woods, me and another landowner surround him completely. So this guy runs the skid steer down one of my skidder trails, hits a wet spot where there is ruts, and tips the tractor over. The newer tractors kill the hydraulics when they tip at a certain angle, and he cannot open the cab door to get out. He is too drunk to see there is an exit behind him, so he spends the night in it. The next day he is sober enough to see how to get out so he does and comes to get me to pull him out. I normally would have, but I was miffed at him stealing my wood, so another guy pulls him out. Anyway I ended up calling my neighbor in Boston as I did not want this yahoo wrecking his skid steer. It was a really nice machine and this kid did not belong in it at all. I know, a snitch huh?
Wow! I too would have refused the fuel and also would have made the call, perhaps a lot sooner. I recall at a very young age having pointed out to me a neighbor who was racing across a field and on the rear of the tractor was a 3 bottom plow. At the time we had been doing some welding and it was pointed out to me that we had fixed machinery for that neighbor many times. The neighbor also came to us later that day to "fix" the plow... That day I learned much about how to be easy on machinery.
Where do I start Used to work at a rental shop doing the mechanic work, field calls, recoveries and general maintenance and not much amazes me anymore. Even at my current job I still love to stand back and watch the "shows" on occasion especially after me telling them it's a bad idea just short of knocking someone unconscious to keep them from wrecking something or even worse getting hurt! Back to a rental story..... had someone rent a rubber tired skid-steer and got a call the following day that it was "stuck" No big deal right? Took the backhoe over and some chain only to find the machine 30' down an almost vertical embankment bucket first into the creek with water halfway up the cab!!!! Well done sir!! The best part was the one ton size wrecker there at the top of the ledge completely buried in the mud trying to pull the 7000 pound machine out/up. No chance! So two other wreckers came the first a medium duty single axle wrecker that pulled out the one ton then winched his way into position. Doubled his line down to the machine and hooked the tri-axle wrecker to the front of him for an anchor. Took some pulling but he got the machine up then the tri-axle truck hauled the whole shootin match to the road....No injuries the machine was fine after some cleaning and fluid changes. Apparently he was clearing some brush along the bank when he spun and slid back and rolled it one turn over backwards turned sideways then ran bucket first into the water.
