1988 Cat 953 - Caterpillar. My First Track Loader

[Georgia Iron]

Using my cat 953 track loader, mini excavator, and skid steer to repair a dam.

Cat 953 was recently purchased to move dirt, brush, level off stuff the skid steer struggled with.

So far It has been a great machine. When turning on the dam the rear of the loader is hanging over the lake. The holes being repaired are deep, big and steep. Pretty much straight down 10 to 12 feet. Not much room to work.




The beauty of a track loader. A wheeled loader could never preform here! No room to turn and it gets worse the further in I go.



Cant figure out how to safely pack this stuff. Every time the track gets near the fill it seems like the loader wants to break over and go for a flip down into the hole. I am limited on how much I can put in the hole it boarders a stream and I dont want to back it up.



Decided to drop the rock in the bed of my old 1970 F600 dump. I have owned and used this truck for 7 years with out a break down or repair ever needed other than to fix the tail lights when I break them backing into piles of brush. Never had the truck stuck either. Has some meaty rear tires that just dig.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Almost lost the skid steer in the lake.

Stuck in the lake. 2nd time I have had it stuck since I have owned it. It just would not come out.

 

[CM1995]

Nice looking A model Georgia Iron.

It's hard to tell what you are trying to achieve just from the pictures. Is it the same spot in both pictures where your are filling in the wash with the loader and the skid is stuck?

The wheeled skid is always going to have a hard time in an area like that, also I would be very careful with the loader there as well. A 953 can float over pretty soft ground but when they break through and sit down, they're there.:cool2 You can push yourself out with the bucket if you get stuck in most situations but if there is no resistance for the bucket to push against, like ground the consistency of baby poop, then you are going to need extrication help.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Georgia Iron. You have some nice tidy machines there. When folks put up pictures and make comments on a site like this I assume they are seeking comment.

As CM1995 says it is difficult to tell what you are trying to achieve. Without trying to appear to be a smart arse (and not knowing the circumstances) I would suggest that you are going to need some better material and techniques if what you are doing is repairing washouts through a wall.

In a normal repair situation any thing you do will have to be better than the original or when the next flood event occurs you will have wasted all your time.

Under most situations you will not get away with just filling washouts with dissimilar material.

As I say, in no way being critical, just trying to help. All the best with it.

Cheers.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Heavy Rains and flooding.

Yes the area of the pictures, other than the one loading is all the same spot. Lake to one side; drop off, wash and creek to other. So machine mistakes equal stuck to one side or flip into a wash out a few feet away to the other side. The slope on dam wants to pull all wheeled equipment towards the water. Between the trees, water, and slope it makes getting the fill material there with a truck about impossible.

A few years ago we had heavy rains and major flooding here in Georgia which caused a lot of damage. I believe it was something like 17 to 20 inches in one night. The water in the small stream rose to lake height and then went over the dam into the lake.

During the flooding that lasted for days, a large portion of dirt was removed from the stream walls. The stream also cut itself deeper into the ground going from say 8’ deep to in some places 14' deep. In the process it took dirt from the dam and washed it away. It also took out trees that were 2' or more in size. The lake has been here for more than 50 years and it is about 2 acres in size.

I think the only thing that kept the lake there through this is the fact that there are so many trees with roots every where. The first spot I have shown in the photos, had 3 feet of roots with dirt mixed in hanging over a 12' straight down drop to the creek bottom. Looked like a floating ledge.

The dam area of the lake has long since grown over and be left alone for 15 years or so. Upon doing other work on the property the problem was located.

The material being used to repack the dam is the same material that it was made from. With the addition of the chunks of concrete. I am adding concrete in as I go in efforts to slow the loose pack from being washed back out from rains and the like. I could do a much better job if the creek level could be brought back up 5 or 6 feet.

I was concerned that moving machinery across the dam could destabilize it more and create a break causing the lake to come through. This would take me and my equipment out in the process. I am tiring the fill before I drive further in. In the areas ahead the water is coming through the ground about 8 feet down and going into the creek. Slow trickles. It has taken a lot of dirt just to fix the first 2 wash areas. I believe I am at 20 dump truck loads now. I have had to carry it in, bucket by bucket with the 953. Slow going.

If you guys see something wrong, let me know, I am open to better methods.

 

[AusDave]

The material being used to repack the dam is the same material that it was made from. With the addition of the chunks of concrete. I am adding concrete in as I go in efforts to slow the loose pack from being washed back out from rains and the like. I could do a much better job if the creek level could be brought back up 5 or 6 feet.

If you guys see something wrong, let me know, I am open to better methods.

Hi Georgia Iron.

Putting old pieces of concrete in the dam wall area will only make matters worse. Any material under the concrete will not compact properly and is likely to develop voids as all the material settles. This will make the wall washout very quickly. You need proper compactable fill, preferably clay based so it won't seep.
To prevent flood washouts, once you have the wall repaired you need to have a floodway made from geotextile fabric covered with suitably sized rock rock so the water can cascade over it without the underlying soil being eroded. It may be quite a big job in your situation to do it properly, but you may lose everything in the next big flood if your repairs and preventative measures are not well engineered.

AusDave

 

[CM1995]

Now I understand this a little better. As you already know, the wheeled skid needs to stay out of that area until you can build your dam back up and be able to travel straight across it.

How much concrete do you have? It looks to be 4" driveway or sidewalk tear outs from the picture. I have a creek that runs behind my house, the bottom of the creek is about 12' below the grade of my back yard. I need some more backyard space. What I am planning on doing is using 4" concrete driveway chunks to build a retainer wall that would also serve as scowl protection when the creek rises. I have about 7 tri-axle loads at the shop plus 5 or so tri-axle loads of rip-rap size concrete as well. Since I haven't used concrete to build a wall before I don't know how far this will go.

I plan on excavating a ramp down to where my mini can place the concrete for the bottom run, then stack a wall using the larger pieces as anchors back into the bank and backfill as I go.

What I am thinking is you may be able to do this as well if you can gain access down low enough without affecting the integrity of your dam - which would be my biggest concern. If you could get down far enough and start building a wall on the creek side, it would serve as a ret. wall and scowl protection from the creek. Stack and backfill as you go using the largest pieces on the bottom.

You could then use the smaller pieces of concrete at the bottom of the completed "wall" as rip-rap to add extra scowl protection from the creek.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Here is a company locally that does what I am talking about - http://www.concreterepeat.com/Portfolio.php

 

[Georgia Iron]

CM1995

I have a lot of concrete. What was in the picture is only part of it. I am not sure how far you will get with what you have. I think it will depend upon how big the chunks are. Some of mine are very large. I try to get big pieces on the bed of the truck first so that when I drop it in from the sides it just hits the pieces laying flat. So I have some pieces 7' by 10'. This saves damage to the bed of my trucks. The old truck I just drop it in and dont worry about it. Using big pieces to build with will also use up the material fast. So you might not have enough for your wall.

As far as using the not so mini... mini.

A vertical fall stops me from getting to it from upper side. I would need to go down the creek a ways and try to come back to the washed areas. There is not enough room to swing the cab in the ditch. In some places it is just narrow and deep. I do not think that I would want to stack the wall down in there either. There is too much wall and it is too tall. I like your idea and think it could work for you, but it will be a lot of work and it probably will fail if a lot of water is going down your creek. Also I am not sure what you plan to pack your dirt with if it is narrow down there. You will probably need one of the small wheeled units. If you dont own one a used one is about $5k. I think a jumping jack would be too small.

Also if your ex is in the creek how will you hand the concrete down? Do you have two units?

In heavy rains this creek looked like it would kill you if you fell in. Narrow channel, steep banks, with a pretty steep drop create fast moving water. It took feet and feet of dirt out from under large old growth trees, which had lots of roots and they just fell into the wash. It lowered the creek level further into the ground and the sides washed away to. When the trees fell in it caused weird currents and made the dirt wash away faster.

Not to mention, I dont have the time to try and build a wall like that. I thought about poured walls. I have poured 8 ft walls (never a 12' wall) before but the footings would be to wide and part of the dam would need to be removed to do a correct footing. I dont have the funds and I dont want to carry the concrete in. So other than bringing the creek level back up or moving the creek further away from the dam I am limited with my choices.

My current plan is to to let the dirt slide down at its naturally angle as it falls from the top and let it build upon itself. Let it rain to pack itself, then add more to level it out. Then lay large pieces of concrete on the sloped bank in almost a paved type wall and hope that holds for another 50 years. The large pieces of concete will slow the dirt from being washed out in the rare flood, if it does wash it out I will just put back again later.

If I had a 400 sized machine I could just move the creek over about 10 feet. Put in a bed of concrete and call it good. But I dont.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Scored some Heavy duty Cables and shackles

Today. I went to a salvage shop. I was looking for some 3/4 drive sockets. I noticed a lot of cables out in a grown up yard. Most were 20' 3/4 ropes.

I kept looking and digging and 1 hour later partly under a metal bin, grown over by grass and ant beds I found some jewels.

These will help me out when I get stuck!

2 - 1" 1/4" wire ropes with loops / 40' lengths.

2 - 35 ton shackles.


The rope is rated at 160,000 lbs.






Is this big enough for a stuck loader?

 

[CM1995]

A vertical fall stops me from getting to it from upper side. I would need to go down the creek a ways and try to come back to the washed areas. There is not enough room to swing the cab in the ditch. In some places it is just narrow and deep. I do not think that I would want to stack the wall down in there either. There is too much wall and it is too tall. I like your idea and think it could work for you, but it will be a lot of work and it probably will fail if a lot of water is going down your creek. Also I am not sure what you plan to pack your dirt with if it is narrow down there. You will probably need one of the small wheeled units. If you dont own one a used one is about $5k. I think a jumping jack would be too small.

Also if your ex is in the creek how will you hand the concrete down? Do you have two units?

I thought that idea might not be doable in your situation. The main issue it looks like is protecting your dam from the creek, so try to cover the whole area that is washing with your concrete and maintain any washouts. Not being able to actually walk the site, that's the best advice I can give.

My future project is much more simple. The creek doesn't have much flow except in heavy rains. My goal is just to create more backyard. I will build my wall from the top down, no mini in the creek. As far as compaction goes, I'll use the mini or my 48" vib roller attachment on one of the skids, although I don't think that'll be necessary.

These will help me out when I get stuck!

2 - 1" 1/4" wire ropes with loops / 40' lengths.

2 - 35 ton shackles.


The rope is rated at 160,000 lbs.

Is this big enough for a stuck loader?

The rope may be strong enough to pull the loader out but do you have a piece of iron big enough to pull the loader out?:cool2

This was from yesterday. A friend of mine was grading too close to his lake with his 953 and didn't get stuck but slid down in a soft spot by the lakes edge. He is an old timer that's forgotten more than I will ever know. He knew from experience to stop the machine and get some help. It was an easy extrication and we used a 1 1/4" rope. My loader is the one under the tree. That's a chain we didn't use hanging on the first bucket hook and the cable is hanging on the second bucket hook over.

It worked out well, we had just loaded up the '53 to move to a job and his place was on the way.

 

[Nige]

I'll let the boys with "recovering stuck equipment" experience comment on that side of it, but your sling according to the label is good for 30,000 pounds SWL (15 tons) in a straight pull, not 160,000 pounds as you state above. Even with the factor of safety designed into lifting gear I would say that 60,000 pounds would be its absolute safe limit, and if it goes twang look out, because it'll have someones head off.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Not so! The rope is rated at 160,000.

Nige
"I'll let the boys with "recovering stuck equipment" experience comment on that side of it, but your sling according to the label is good for 30,000 pounds SWL (15 tons) in a straight pull, not 160,000 pounds as you state above. Even with the factor of safety designed into lifting gear I would say that 60,000 pounds would be its absolute safe limit, and if it goes twang look out, because it'll have someones head off"


Most 1" 1/4" cable is rated at around 159,600 lbs. My cable is certified to be used as rigging in a vertical application for 15 tons. The cables sling ends must be certified to be used in rigging applications.

Tires tied to cable help prevent cables from whipping when they break.

CM1995

Cool photo. Has your buddy got any good recovery advice?

How did you guys rig the pull lines up?


I think the only chance I would have getting it out is: 1. using the buckets curl function to pull it backward. 2. Using a cross tie chained to the tracks. 3. Pushing itself with the bucket. 4. Friends 963.

I hope to get a D7 in the future. But for now the best I can follow is dont get it stuck!

 

[Nige]

Please don't think I'm nit-picking, but the weakest point of the sling in your photo is the crimp on the eye at each end. You are correct in that a 6/19 wire rope is rated at 160,000 pounds breaking load and my rigging handbooks show the same number. However I would venture to point out that one or other of the crimps on the sling will fail long before the rope itself does. Typically based on my experience I would say that the breaking load for a sling assembly is around twice, maybe 2.5 times, the rated SWL. That would make the breaking load of the sling assembly somewhere between 60,000 & 75,000 pounds. When you have a stuck machine and an "exuberant" operator on the machine who's trying to pull him out jerking on the tow rope it's easy to generate huge loads for a split-second, possibly enough to fail the sling eyes.

I'm just commenting in order to hopefully avoid someone getting hurt and don't mean to offend.

 

[CM1995]

Cool photo. Has your buddy got any good recovery advice?

Being the old timer he is, I am sure he would say "Don't get stuck".

How did you guys rig the pull lines up?

Well probably not the "correct" way but we hooked one end of the cable to the drawbar on his loader and looped the other one around one of the bucket fork hooks on my loader. I have a set of hang-on forks for my loader and it has 1/2" hooks welded to the bucket that the forks hang on. And yes, I think I bent it slightly...

But for now the best I can follow is dont get it stuck!

Other than #4, that's what I would do.

I'm just commenting in order to hopefully avoid someone getting hurt and don't mean to offend.

Nige I should have pointed that out as well. I don't think any harm was done.


I have broke many a chain pulling out equipment and prefer a wire rope. There are so many variables when you are trying to get a piece of iron "un-stuck" that experience is the best guide.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Great thread on getting stuck and retrievals.

On the 1 1/4" cable, I have broken brand new cable that size using a single line pull with one end hooked to the ripper bar on a very stuck D-8K, I'm talking mud clear to the radiator cap in front, and to the bottom of the seat on the deck, and no, I did not get it that way. The other end was hooked to the lifting lug on the back of the bucket of a 235C Cat excavator. I could not get any pull with all the hoe had normally, but I wedged the teeth into the ground and used the bucket curl out like a lever combined with stick in, and the cable snapped right in the middle. I had stuff, I forget what, hanging on the cable, so it did not whip too bad, but I am telling that to make sure no one believes the 160,000# rating. I am pretty sure without getting into the books that the 235 might make a 50K pull, and using the leverage like I did, maybe 15% or so more, so the cable broke a lot less that 160K. Probably around 70K, or 35 ton, or for reference, between 4 to 5 times the rated SWL. I am uncomfortable pulling more than about 3 times the SWL for vertical lifts.

Having a rated snatch block, and using a double line pull will help. Looping the cable around something to get a double line will NOT help, and will likely ruin/break the cable at much less than it is rated for because of pulling around a corner. Using a proper sized block (pulley) will effectively double the strength.

Also, make sure what you are hooked to is strong enough for the pulling you will do.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Grease guns and such..

I needed to lube my 953 and broke my old grease gun. I then went on a search for grease guns that took me to Home Depot, PK oil, Northern Tool, Walmart, Auto zone and Tractor Supply. Priced from $7.99 to $130.00.

I must have looked at 15 different guns and tips. I sort of have been threw this grease gun BS before. I wasted so much grease on my excavator with the track adjusters when you must let the grease out and repump it to tighten the track. Tubes and tubes gone. I really spent my time and I decided that Home depot had the nicest gun and nozzle for $25.00. The Lucas gun. It seemed like it had the most precise jaws on the nozzle. I bought it and found 3 stubborn grease fittings hid on the front of the track frames.



I started by cleaning the fittings. Then I tried to pump grease. I gave the gun all it would take. I was wasting grease and pissed. Finally the nozzle came apart. The lucas gun failed me. That was last night. I went and got more tools and tried to take the grease nipples out. NO go. Frozen in. So I knew it was down to no grease or a major pain in the ass. I saw a high pressure grease gun 10,000 psi at tractor supply for $130.00. I wondered if it would work. I drove 30 mins to go get it. The last one on the shelf.



It is the bad boy to the left. I noticed right away what a nice nozzle it has. I put the gun on one of the stuck fittings and began to pump with the grease gun on the normal pressure mode. It would not pump. I then put it on boost. You get like 4 times the pressure. The hose got real tight. I started pumping as much as I could and thought it would not do it and then finally, I heard dirt and stuff moving and it started pumping grease into the fitting. It cleared all the fittings and did not waste much grease. What a nice gun. It really saved me.

I also moved up into 5 gallon buckets of grease now at $78.00 per bucket. Much cheaper than the tubes. The gun is MEGABOOST by Legacy.

 

[Flhr62]

I needed to lube my 953 and broke my old grease gun. I then went on a search for grease guns that took me to Home Depot, PK oil, Northern Tool, Walmart, Auto zone and Tractor Supply. Priced from $7.99 to $130.00.

I must have looked at 15 different guns and tips. I sort of have been threw this grease gun BS before. I wasted so much grease on my excavator with the track adjusters when you must let the grease out and repump it to tighten the track. Tubes and tubes gone. I really spent my time and I decided that Home depot had the nicest gun and nozzle for $25.00. The Lucas gun. It seemed like it had the most precise jaws on the nozzle. I bought it and found 3 stubborn grease fittings hid on the front of the track frames.

View attachment 92440

I started by cleaning the fittings. Then I tried to pump grease. I gave the gun all it would take. I was wasting grease and pissed. Finally the nozzle came apart. The lucas gun failed me. That was last night. I went and got more tools and tried to take the grease nipples out. NO go. Frozen in. So I knew it was down to no grease or a major pain in the ass. I saw a high pressure grease gun 10,000 psi at tractor supply for $130.00. I wondered if it would work. I drove 30 mins to go get it. The last one on the shelf.

View attachment 92441

It is the bad boy to the left. I noticed right away what a nice nozzle it has. I put the gun on one of the stuck fittings and began to pump with the grease gun on the normal pressure mode. It would not pump. I then put it on boost. You get like 4 times the pressure. The hose got real tight. I started pumping as much as I could and thought it would not do it and then finally, I heard dirt and stuff moving and it started pumping grease into the fitting. It cleared all the fittings and did not waste much grease. What a nice gun. It really saved me.

I also moved up into 5 gallon buckets of grease now at $78.00 per bucket. Much cheaper than the tubes. The gun is MEGABOOST by Legacy.

View attachment 92442

They make a tool that is made for cleaning out grease fittings. TSC carries them also

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . I am completely unfamiliar with this machine. It appears the idler pivots rather than slides. How does this work out in practice? Is it an improvement in design? Just curious that's all.

Cheers.

 

[Georgia Iron]

"Yair . . . I am completely unfamiliar with this machine. It appears the idler pivots rather than slides. How does this work out in practice? Is it an improvement in design? Just curious that's all.

Cheers. "

I have not owned this machine long. It has 14,000 hours on it so I think it must work well? I have seen others that claim the track adjustment rod was weak and that the new models have larger rods due to them bending. Mine is the old style weaker unit.

The under carriage is about 40% left pins have been turned. I have not thrown a track yet and the adjuster still has room to tighten them up more.

It has made it this long so heres for hopeing.

 

[OldandWorn]

The gun is MEGABOOST by Legacy.

I have that gun and it has never failed to open a plugged fitting. I do want to get a longer hose for it though.