Impressive Operator Tricks

[digger242j]

I was reminded today of something I used to do a few years ago. It was something that, to the un-informed bystander looked *really* impressive, but wasn't really such a big deal.

It was probably 15 years ago now, that Pepsi had throwaway type 16 oz. glass bottles. They had a styrofoam label that covered most of the outside of the bottle, except for the very top, and the bottom. I was operating the backhoe one day and saw one laying on the ground and decided to try and peel the label off the bottle with a backhoe tooth (without breaking the glass of course). Surprisingly, I did it. Once I'd done it a few more times, alone, I started doing it with other people watching. It's a pretty impressive trick, if you're not an operator. The trick is to be sure that the bottle is in some nice, soft dirt. You can actually push the bottle a couple of inches into the dirt without the glass breaking. That gives plenty of margin for error. I honestly think that an average operator on a relatively good machine wouldn't have a problem. Newer teeth help too. Too bad they quit bottling Pepsi that way.

Anyway, it just got me to wondering if anybody else has any good tricks to impress the occasional audience?

[mert0714]

I have not tried this and probably won't but I have heard of someone taking a skid loader and in a tight place, popping a wheelie and turning at the same time as if it was on one wheel. I have not seen this either. Sounds pretty stupid but if you were well practiced, I think it would impress people.

[Bob Horrell]

They have a contest locally at a summer fair where you have to open a pop top soda can with a backhoe. The can is anchored and you can have no damage on the can when done. It is not that hard to open a the can without damage. The problem is doing it faster than anyone else. Speed can sure cause some wrinkled up cans.

[leadarrows]

I can pick up a dime off of a concrete floor with a fork truck.

The trick is to angle the forks down just slightly and lower one of the fork's down on top of the dime then slowly back off of it. It will do a back flip from the pressure and land on top of the fork.

[donlang]

Once years ago while working real late for an electrical contractor, he arrived on the job. I might have been showing off a bit and he caught on. He took a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket, snapped it between his hands and said that if I could pick it up with the back bucket (off of the asphalt), that I could keep it. Simple for a good operator..............or so I thought. I did pick it up across the top of one of the teeth. As soon as I got the bucket up in the air, the wind blew the C note off of the bucket and back onto the asphalt. The contractor picked up his money, said good try, and went home.

I thought I got cheated. The check for my invoice came with an extra hundred in it. It said thanks for the extra effort on the project..........we knew what the extra effort was, but he wouldn't admit it.

Back in the old days......................:usa

[riggler]

i have the wheelie thing down with my skid steers....though you cant have much of anything in the bucket, just roll the bucket back, and lift up as high as you need to to feel the balance point....newer machines that have pilot controls are probaly not as easy to do this with, but once your near the balance point, you can pop it up by just bumping the machine forward....i use this trick a lot when working in tight spaces , where i have enough verticle clearance, it can be done really smoothly with a bit of pratice, and saves scrubbing tires when working on asphalt....

[Blademan]

Probably the most impressive feat of both percision and endurance was when I worked for a grader operator we call 140 Gordie . I was a grade checker at the time , and for a specific developer that the company I worked for , there was a margin of 1 centimetere , or approximately just less then 1/4 inch . Day in or out he could core or lay out material consistantly and would not be out more then .5 cm. , or 1/8 of an inch . Everything was always double checked by the developer's engineer before they even allowed us to oil it , or blacktop it . Also , for those that aren't familiar with how we do our roads here , grades are checked every 10 to 12 paces along the already poured concrete curb and gutters ( sidewalk ) , which go in first . Although he's no longer operating much ( he's more teaching/training now ) , he did this for over twenty years , and his attention to detail has become somewhat of a benchmark for the rest of us . Also very impressive was when I watched him doing ' level-coursing ' , which is laying out new asphalt on a older road prior to putting on a toplift . This feat requires you to not only be precise , but fast cause the asphalt starts to set up after only three or four passes ,so you pretty much have to nail it early . After the asphalt gets hard , you're out of luck so it's a additional pressure to deal with . And mistakes can be very costly . In a nutshell , although not really a impressive trick , this to me is what makes a impressive operator . Attention to detail , a fine balance between speed and precision , and longevity , being able to consitantly do it , day in , day out , for as long as you can . It's getting rare to see the grey hairs still at it as they tend to get into management or supervisory positions after 15 or so years , and some don't even make it past 5 before burning out and moving along .

As a aside , Gord was also a Alberta motocross champion finishing first in may over 500cc events spanning a decade of racing , and for the last several years now ( he claimed the dirtbikes was getting harder on his back ) his focus outside of work has been drag racing , in which he has also been doing pretty good at ( third overall in his class this last year ) . Truly a master operator , which is a trick we're all trying to learn .
:)

Rob

[HeyUvaVT]

Allow me to dredge up this old thread!

I have read somewhere of excavator operators that could pick up full soda cans with the bucket and thumb without busting the can..I may have even read about it here...I tried to several times the other day with a rental unit with no success although the machine was shall I say "well broken in"

Just wondering if anyone here knows anything about this

[komatsukid]

i saw my supervisor run a 980G off a 20 ft tall natural bank. he pushed off building a ramp to go up or down the bank. when i first started that was cooool!!!

[Dozerboy]

Allow me to dredge up this old thread!

I have read somewhere of excavator operators that could pick up full soda cans with the bucket and thumb without busting the can..I may have even read about it here...I tried to several times the other day with a rental unit with no success although the machine was shall I say "well broken in"

Just wondering if anyone here knows anything about this


Wouldn't be that hard if your machine wasn't that touchy. Get a tooth at the base of the can enough that it just about to fall over. Then get the thumb close enough that when you curl the bucket in that it wedges its self between the tooth and the thumb.



We had a labor that was supper jumpy around equipment if I swung my hoe fast in his direction he would go running. One day he was standing with his back to me BSing with the loader hand and I tracked up close to him close enough I could reach him. He had some baggy pants on hanging off his butt. And I reached out and put my tooth in his back pocket and started to pull his pants down and I laid on the horn. He turned a little saw my bucket tried to run and ripped the hell out of his pants. I almost fell off my hoe I was laughing so hard everyone else was on the ground. He didn't work for use much longer he was just too jumpy and never got anything done.

[dodge_dude]

I was on youtube and saw this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UsyIxjDqfDc

This guy is good, but can't be good for the bocat.

[sbrem]

I was on youtube and saw this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UsyIxjDqfDc

This guy is good, but can't be good for the bocat.

I'm sure its not the best thing for the Bobcat, but as smooth as he was it probably wasn't all that bad for it either. He was very good!

[dayexco]

stick a kitchen match in the crack of a sidewalk, tape some fine grit sandpaper to an excavator/backhoe bucket tooth, light the match without breaking the stick.

[HeyUvaVT]

stick a kitchen match in the crack of a sidewalk, tape some fine grit sandpaper to an excavator/backhoe bucket tooth, light the match without breaking the stick.

oooo now that one i like!!

[Squizzy246B]

At a quarry I used to work at; once a month on a Friday we would have a maintenance day for machines, trucks, workshop and any safety issues. Often we would be finished by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The boss was happy to pay us a full day so he would go buy a carton of beer and a carton of eggs. We would take turns with a 25 tonne excavator trying pick up an egg, but one of the guys there could win the beer most times if he used a 35 tonne Hitachi. I managed to pick up the egg a couple of times but of course you got excited and rolled the bucket too fast and the egg would break as it rolled to the back of the bucket. This would cause the Boss to laugh like crazy and drink another of our "prize beers".

The trick of course was to spread a little coarse sand around the yard first to keep the egg still, and not use the teeth but the corner of the cutting edge next to a tooth.

[Grader4me]

We used to have an equipment rodeo once in a while a few years back. One of the backhoe tricks was to set up a couple of pylons with tennis balls on top. Also there was a 5 gallon pail full of water. You had to pick up the pail of water with the back bucket, swing it around and knock off the first tennis ball, extend your dipper and lower your boom a bit when swinging back around and knock off the second tennis ball. Set the bucket of water back down on the mark, unhook and place the bucket back on the ground.

This was done while being timed. Points were taken off if you touched the pylon knocking the ball off, or if you missed the tennis ball completely, and the water was measured before and after and points was deducted as to how much was spilled.

Our Supervisor gave it a try once...picked up the bucket of water...hit the boom down lever by mistake...crushed the bucket flater than a pancake. :)

[wrenchbender]

All these are very impressive to me:beerchug but remember I'm a mechanic not an operator. This being said the best trick I've seen or performed is starting a pile of bolts,scrap iron and bucket of rust. Then watch it pushing dirt,digging holes, knocking down trees. This happens on a regular basis and beleive me when I say there are no barriers as to the brand of iron.This is not my average day but rather the guys that have weekend machines for the farm or whatever. They sit out in the weather without being touched 11 months out of the year some even longer. But these guys expect to run down jump on start'er up and begin to play I mean work. The poster child for this was an old D6 cat with pony motor starter cable operated blade.The guy calls ask if I could start his dozer gave me directions to it's where abouts. When I arrived at what I thought was the correct place there was only an empty feild of Kudzu vines. Well as I was about leave there she was covered in Kudzu. The old gal had been sitting for 8 or 9 years well three days later you guessed it she was pushing dirt and Kudzu. Now to me that's a real trick!

[Countryboy]

Props go to the mechanics for when you need a piece of equipment fixed after the :shf.
Without yall the wheels of the world wouldn't turn. :thumbsup

[jimmyjack]

this is pretty cool:thumbsup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgAG_JYGG14

[wrenchbender]

this is pretty cool:thumbsup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgAG_JYGG14

To much time on their hands but cool none the less.

Ya recon dem fellers could maybe dig a hole wiff dem fancy manuvers dey been praticing.

[biggixxerjim]

stick a kitchen match in the crack of a sidewalk, tape some fine grit sandpaper to an excavator/backhoe bucket tooth, light the match without breaking the stick.

yeah ok.. lets see you do it....

[OzDozer]

When I was in the Army, and roadbuilding with old Cat 12's, we'd bury a kitchen match in the road base, horizontal .. and see who could final cut, close to it, and uncovering it .. without pulling it out of the roadbase .. :D

With dozers .. when building a dam (pond) .. running back and forth, levelling the top of the bank, only a blade width wide .. and getting the top of the bank, level, to within 1'' - 1.5" from end to end .. over 150'-200' .. by eye.
No-one who watched, could ever believe the level was so accurate, done by eye .. but one of the secrets was having a distant horizon visible, for reference .. :D

[thejdman04]

Not a huge deal, but we sometimes ahve contests at work, set the egg on the top of a bottle of pop (standing up) and put the tooth on the egg (touching the egg) w/o cracking it.

[dayexco]

yeah ok.. lets see you do it....

give me 10 tries, one time out of there, i'll get it done.

[wrenchbender]

Ok fellers sounds like we may have a dual at sunrise...uhuh... I mean high noon... anyway stay tuned and out of the way. This could be a real MATCH up and not to be taken LIGHTly. Sounds like it could be a ROUGH one and things are HEATING up fast.:stirthepot

[Grader4me]

give me 10 tries, one time out of there, i'll get it done.


I was looking at one of your old posts...I would rather witness your trick with the match.......maybe get a flame instead of bloodshed...



i'd love to be able to blue top....on an excavator, i feel that if the only way to perform a vasectomy was have the scalpel at the end of the stick....you'd want me doing it. i've tried running a blade several times, and i'm no good at it
__________________
to see pics of our equipment, operation, go to
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/dayexco/

[havns3]

i watched a tv show one time where some crane operators entered a contest to see who could knock a coffee cup of a stump with a wrecking ball. that takes precision

[JDOFMEMI]

I seen on another forum a while back a link to a video that was one of the most talented things I have ever witnessed. I would post the link, but it was in my old computer, and it got lost in the crash:crying :crying
It showed a crane in Las Vegas set up at the Hilton, which I believe is about 30 stories tall. The crane had 300+ ft of boom nearly vertical, and another 150+ ft of luffing jib attached. The operator had a spotter on the roof, and there was a table set up on the roof with 2 people and a tea potin the center. This was a timed contest, and they had 5 minutes to complete the task, which was to attach a tea bag to the hook with about a 2 to 3 ft long leader, hoist it from ground level, swing over the building, jib down to the proper distance, and carefully set the tea bag into the tea pot with only the verbal directions of the spotter via headset.
This task was accomplished in the nick of time, and was one of the most skilled operations I have watched:notworthy

The video was on youtube

[havns3]

i am not quite that talented yet but i'm working on it. :D

[Engineer4255]

my father tells the story of a man he worked with years ago who was a crane operator using a clamshell to unload stone cars at a blacktop plant ( around 1952 ). This guy would bet new guys that if they laid their handkerchief flat on the ground that he could pick it up with the clamshell bucket, without getting any dirt in the bucket while he did it. Dad also tells the story of a gradall operator who could write his name in cursive in the dirt with the bucket, and this is with a 660, probably 1960's model. Neither are an easy task, and earned both men pocket money on paydays.

[activeorpassive]

Yeah, but can you make a truck roll over and play dead?:D

[Grader4me]

:OMG That is "impressive" :eek: ....not:Pointhead

[Lochoe115]

Check this out!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UWPd8ELa3pg
:drinkup

[Countryboy]

Welcome to HEF Lochoe115! :drinkup

[alco]

Yeah, but can you make a truck roll over and play dead?:D

Maybe not, but we can get ours to sit up and beg!

[Dozerboy]

Lol nice pics

That looked like a twist off beer cap, I might give that a try next time we have a "safety meeting" after work.

[PSDF350]

Maybe not, but we can get ours to sit up and beg!

Lmao

[Dozerboy]

I was going to give it a try on Friday but the boss cheaped out and got us cans, and it wouldn't have been easy with a 365 cat with tiger teeth.

[Lochoe115]

I was going to give it a try on Friday but the boss cheaped out and got us cans, and it wouldn't have been easy with a 365 cat with tiger teeth.

Haha! Nope:eek: cant see it happening:beatsme Thats a big toy! get yourself a bubba can and have a hack at her with those tiger teath!:D

[Sled Puller]

Those are cool, but how about some more tricks that actually help get work done, and impress the guy signing your paycheck?

[alco]

You mean things like staying awake all shift? That's funny, it just doesn't happen here.

Brian