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How to dig a ditch fast?

Deeretime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
344
Location
High River Alberta
Occupation
superintendent
OK well in your opinion 95ziv it is wrong and you explained that. I want to know What your procedure would be to sling pipe?????

If there was a way to do it without being under the bucket it would have been implemented

My company my responcibility and my judgement, you may want to run your company diferently than i am, but at the time that was my soloution and at no time did the oporator or the labouror excercise their rite to preform unsafe tasks.
 

rino1494

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
831
Location
NEPA
Talk about beating a dead horse. I can't believe this thread isn't locked yet.
 

Burnout

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
1,448
Location
Edmonton AB
Occupation
Operator at Sureway Construction
Wow... first I have read this thread and ummmm I kinda agree with the boys here DT. I know others have asked but I really really wanna know, why is your hook "in" the bucket. I have seen some interesting locations for hooks... end of the stick, coupler.. back of bucket. All normal places and I will be honest all keep guys from not being under buckets.

Why not weld a hook on the back side of the bucket as our company has done? Or weld a lifting hook on the end of the stick on the inside. Then you can crane in your manholes without standing under the bucket.

I am sure down in Vulcan you heard about the accident up here, that should be enough to make ya think twice.
 

mitch504

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
5,776
Location
Andrews SC
G4me, most people have the hook on the back of the bucket, not inside it; then you can stand outside the arc of a falling bucket. Once when I was confronted w/ something similar, I put the bucket on the ground, and attached a 3' sling to the hook. Then my guy could stand beside it, reach under and grab the sling, then make the hookup. If a hose failed, in the split second that he was reaching, the falling bucket would hit his arm, but not crush it, because the teeth would hit the ground first. I would rather tell a wife that I brought him home w/ a severely bruised arm, not that he wasn't coming home. Considering the odds in a half-second per lift of one hand under the bucket, versus the whole rigging time of your whole body under it, hopefully I would be asking the wife to bring clean underwear to her hubby, cause he can't ride in my truck like that.

Btw, in my 25 years of working around equipment, I have seen 2 boom hoses fail, with the boom falling faster than you can realize, much less move; one on my machine. It did not take a complete parting, just a regular blow-out. The thing that suprised me was that neither one happened under a heavy load.
 

Deeretime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
344
Location
High River Alberta
Occupation
superintendent
our normal hook is rite on the end of the coupler as usual, but with a full lift of pipe on the kart we cant get the bucket low enough to hook the sling on it, let alone getting to the hitch.

Burnout what situation are you talking about?
the one where the wbm quick hitches release? or sompthing diferent
Because that machine is run with the manual lock in at all times.

I can see your concerns and i apreciate them , and honestly if i seen some one else doing it i probably would be a little discusted, But that was what we had and it worked flawlessly , the whole job was done without a single incodent!

The short sling on the inside of the bucked wouldnt work either because it would get cut off and probably tear the rating tags off of the sling
 

JDOFMEMI

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
3,074
Location
SoCal
What about a short sling from the attachment point on the coupler and let it hang so you get the reach you need and the man can hook from behind the bucket? A 3 footer with ane eyelet shackled onto the coupler, and a hook with safety latch on the low end would make it easy.
Just a thought.

Or, as I have done in the past, a weld on hook on the back of the bucket down low enough to reach. I forget the brand, but I got a good deal on weld on, lifting rated hooks with integral safety catches. They worked really slick, and only take the welder an hour to put on.

Not telling you how to run your job. Just trying to give you some ideas.
 

Deeretime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
344
Location
High River Alberta
Occupation
superintendent
yea i tried the safety hook on the back of the bucket but it always ends up taking the safety off and screws the hook. atleast when it was inside it was only used with loose rock
 

ke6gwf

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
81
Location
Napa Valley CA
I am also guilty of taking the easy path rather than the safe path at times, but I have also learned that easy can hurt!

Could you attach a 2-3' cable sling to the hook (short enough to not reach the teeth) and just leave it in? Since it looks like that hoe just places gravel and sets pipe, the sling shouldn't be in the way. Then the groundman just has to reach across to grab the sling and can hook on from the edge of the bucket.


A lot has been talked about how hoses blow and drop booms, and that is easy to discount because that rarely happens on new machines.
I would be just as worried about the operator sneezing or dropping his soda or a hot ash falling on his leg! Unless Safety is repeatedly stressed, after a while you fall into a routine and that's when things happen. That operator has been setting pipe for 5 miles with the same guy on the ground and he knows it takes 25 seconds to hook up the pipe, so he places the bucket and then grabs his water bottle which slips and bumps the lever. Oops! That's never happened before...
If there was a strict rule to engage the Safety Lock on the controls, or at least a crossed arms feet together Hands Off policy whenever somebody was in the danger zone, it might not be as risky, but it doesn't sound as if there is.

I can tell you that if you were in the States, OSHA would buy that picture from you and only charge you about $25,000 for it! (per violation)


Oh, stupid question, since the pipe is pretty lightweight, why not put a hook on the side or edge of the bucket? It wouldn't matter to have the weight offset, and it would speed up the operation and remove the safety issue.


Ben~
 

Grader4me

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
1,792
Location
New Brunswick, Canada
Talk about beating a dead horse. I can't believe this thread isn't locked yet.

Why lock it? There is a lot of good information in this thread from experienced operators. None of us wants to see anyone get hurt or killed on the jobsite. If opinons ruffle a few feathers then so be it. From what I'm reading everyone seems to be keeping their cool.
If it gets out of hand admin will take care of it.
 

grandpa

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
1,979
Location
northern minnesota
Why lock it? There is a lot of good information in this thread from experienced operators. None of us wants to see anyone get hurt or killed on the jobsite. If opinons ruffle a few feathers then so be it. From what I'm reading everyone seems to be keeping their cool.
If it gets out of hand admin will take care of it.

Im against locking it too. Shutting this or any thread down is a form of censorship.
 

Burnout

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
1,448
Location
Edmonton AB
Occupation
Operator at Sureway Construction
I am talking about just welding a hook right on the back side of the bucket, I am sure your regular cleanup bucket has one since I see your using a wrist in that picture. The hook or loop on the back side is the only way to go for water/sewer. The loop on the end of the stick is nice as well for pulling out heavier objects like drills for auger shots.

OHSA is crackin down on stuff like this around here. Thats the kind of crap that shuts a site down man.
 

dozerman400

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
136
Location
schaumburg, il
Occupation
Heavy equipment operator
Old thread, but still a good question.

Think safety at all times!

Say you're using a Cat 320 hoe size machine, digging 4' deep, dumping the spoils along side ditch.

Reach out about 3/4 of your max reach, angle the bucket with teeth(or cutting edge) a little lower than the back of your bucket, try a 2' cut, pull stick in while adjusting boom up. When you feel that first heavy load, slow down on stick, raise boom up a hair, pull stick aggressively and curl bucket in. IF bucket is'nt full enough, you may need to pull stick in farther lowering boom when stick is closer to cab and then curl bucket in. Try and stay level adjusting your boom depending where your stick is. Bring bucket full up and dump just far enough away so you don't have to reach over the spoil pile every time you dump. Your next cut may be 1' or less as you get closer to grade.

If you are rocking on rough ground, take the time to back up 1', put a wheel barrel full of material in front of each track and track forward to stop rocking.

If you can grade with the teeth or cutting edge I think it saves at least an hour a day verses grading with bottom of bucket.

of course all of this can be adjusted except the think safety advice.
 

Bubba

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2010
Messages
107
Location
Lagrange Georgia
Occupation
Locomotive Engineer, Property Management, Clearing
Stay off the Cell Phone and get your mind on your business and DIG - DIG - DIG - DIG- DIG.
 
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