BrentD
Active Member
So I took the little Mitsubishi BD2G out to do some work on the pond we're rebuilding today, trying to push out some more of the 4+ feet of sand that collected in the bottom since the dam collapsed a few years back. Everything was going smoothly until I got down about about three feet below ground level. Just as I noticed that the sand I was pushing seemed awfully wet, the dozer stopped moving forward. Looked down and the tracks are coated with gray much. I apparently found what used to be the bottom of the pond. Unfortunately I also found where the 2 inches of rain we got last weekend went.
The front end of the dozer is buried so deep that mud is about 1" over the front of the tracks and the blade, fully raised, is sitting on the ground. The rear is in better shape. The mud is only half-way up on the tracks. We borrowed a friend's trash pump and tried to pump the water out of the hole, but the pump quit on us after about 5 minutes of use. Kept fouling the plug, so I couldn't get it to keep running. We tried pulling it out (backwards) with two tractors, a 43 horse and a 50 horse, both pulling together, but it wouldn't budge. The tracks just spin. Tried packing some logs and rocks and stuff behind the tracks, but we can't get them down far enough for the tracks to pull them under and get traction.
Trying to dig out behind the tracks to get the stuff lower was an exercise in futility. The gray muck just kept oozing back into the holes as fast as we could dig it out. I don't think we'll have any success with that until we get the water out.
Bringing in a larger dozer may be difficult too. I was digging perpendicular to the banks, which are rather steep, and am almost dead center between them. The pond wasn't very wide at that point so a larger dozer would have to be on about a 45 degree slope to be far enough away from where I'm stuck to avoid bogging down, but sill be close enough to pull in a straight line. Going forward would be impossible at this point.
And to make matters worse, the weather forecast is predicting another 2-3 inches of rain on Tuesday. If we don't get it out before then the water will probably be up to the seat. I didn't have a chance to take pics today, too busy trying to get the dozer unstuck. Current plan is to run to the nearest Tractor Supply in the morning (40 miles away) and pick up a new trash pump, pump the water out of the hole and then see if we can't get things at least dry enough to dig out the rear sections of track and get something under them. Fortunately everything we're working in is a sand base so it drains very quickly to the lowest point, if we can get the water out.
Anybody have any additional suggestions? I'm guessing once I get this thing pulled out and back to the shed I should change the oil and all the other fluids and probably drain the final drives as well, correct?
The front end of the dozer is buried so deep that mud is about 1" over the front of the tracks and the blade, fully raised, is sitting on the ground. The rear is in better shape. The mud is only half-way up on the tracks. We borrowed a friend's trash pump and tried to pump the water out of the hole, but the pump quit on us after about 5 minutes of use. Kept fouling the plug, so I couldn't get it to keep running. We tried pulling it out (backwards) with two tractors, a 43 horse and a 50 horse, both pulling together, but it wouldn't budge. The tracks just spin. Tried packing some logs and rocks and stuff behind the tracks, but we can't get them down far enough for the tracks to pull them under and get traction.
Trying to dig out behind the tracks to get the stuff lower was an exercise in futility. The gray muck just kept oozing back into the holes as fast as we could dig it out. I don't think we'll have any success with that until we get the water out.
Bringing in a larger dozer may be difficult too. I was digging perpendicular to the banks, which are rather steep, and am almost dead center between them. The pond wasn't very wide at that point so a larger dozer would have to be on about a 45 degree slope to be far enough away from where I'm stuck to avoid bogging down, but sill be close enough to pull in a straight line. Going forward would be impossible at this point.
And to make matters worse, the weather forecast is predicting another 2-3 inches of rain on Tuesday. If we don't get it out before then the water will probably be up to the seat. I didn't have a chance to take pics today, too busy trying to get the dozer unstuck. Current plan is to run to the nearest Tractor Supply in the morning (40 miles away) and pick up a new trash pump, pump the water out of the hole and then see if we can't get things at least dry enough to dig out the rear sections of track and get something under them. Fortunately everything we're working in is a sand base so it drains very quickly to the lowest point, if we can get the water out.
Anybody have any additional suggestions? I'm guessing once I get this thing pulled out and back to the shed I should change the oil and all the other fluids and probably drain the final drives as well, correct?