Just wish I had the camera

**LandyAndy** · 1st June 2006, 09:07 PM

Hi guys
A "just wish I had a camera" pair of moments.
The boss's son works for a local earthmoving contractor who we use quite often.
Yesterday morn we got them in for a few days remodeling the tip.Things got off to a bad start,during transit the excavator had shifted on the float,the boss's son is actually VERY handy on the excavator despite only having about 8 weeks experience.As soon as the excavator moved it slipped sideways on the float,it was very wet and dewy/foggy.At this stage there was only 3" of track on the float on one side and all it wanted to do was slide off.Eventually after 2 hours and lots of sucking the excavator chair up the bottom and lots of pushing and pulling with our big loader the thing was unloaded,
FATHER AND SON WORK RELASHONSHIPS SEVERELY TESTED
Dad tells boy how he should go about the next step,which is digging a trench alongside the exsisting rubbish heap,he was clearly told throw some dirt on first and make a work platform before proceeding.
Boy knows better and dives in without building the platform and promptly bogs the excavator in minutes,it couldnt even slew 180deg,and I forgot to mention the tip was illegally set on fire a month ago and is still smouldering and extremely hot.
Boy panics and luckilly one corner of the tracks were on cool ground and decides "if its too hot in the kitchen,get out",dad goes to the rescue and eventually claws the digger out 30mins later.The Excavator could have easily burnt as a hydraulic hose burst during the episode,it was just lucky the oil was contained in the belly plate as once it was parked on a different angle the oil gushed out on the ground,probably 40lts worth or more.
Made for around 3 hours of paid entertainment,and who thought a shire workers job was boring
Andrew

**Quiggers** · 1st June 2006, 09:26 PM

Uh oh! Now where's those videos of same happening in the Falkland Islands? No doubt happy it wasn't you, Andy?

Brother in law buried a big digger thing once and got the sack!

Cheers, GQ

**JDNSW** · 2nd June 2006, 05:58 AM

In the 1950's I had a vacation job with the then Bureau of Mineral Resources. One of the tales told against one geologist was how (in a remote area of the NT) he drove his Landrover into a quicksand - scrambled out, rescuing his camera and other kit, and spent the hours waiting for a search party taking a series of photos of the Landrover slowly disappearing, eventually disappearing altogether. Presumably still there.

In 1970 I was peripherally involved in the drilling of a well in the Gulf District of Papua. A contractor was employed to make a road from the nearest navigable water about 2km to the site. They landed a D7 from a barge at the start - the river bank was firm, and it started pushing the jungle. About two lengths from the bank it sank rapidly leaving the driver swimming in heavy soup. The road was eventually completed using corduroy construction with forty foot long logs - cost to the contractor was reputed to be more than three times the (fixed price) contract. That operator did their future wells in similar circumstances using a helirig.

John

**BogBuster** · 29th July 2006, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Quiggers

Uh oh! Now where's those videos of same happening in the Falkland Islands?

Right here

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php'showtopic=3271

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