Tricks 2 pull out of soft ground

[Ronray]

I can't even budge this 24000 pound man lift out of the wheel ruts with my 4 wheel drive 55 horsepower tractor. And the man lift brakes are disengaged with the torque hubs disengaged.

So here was one of my ideas, chain the boom end to a stationary object, like a tree or the tractor, and detract the boom at the same time as the drive wheels? Would this damage the boom or boom cylinder? I'm doing this by myself, and I don't have someone to drive the tractor chained to the man lift while I drive the man lift.

 

[Birken Vogt]

First idea, hire somebody to drive the tractor or manlift with you, cheaper than breaking something, and it will help a lot if you can power the wheels of the manlift at the same time as getting tugged.

 

[crane operator]

You would be better off to take a bottle jack to each wheel and jack each wheel up and put wood blocks down in the ruts, getting you up out of the hole.

As far as using the boom- don't.

If its cable extend you'll tear the cables or the pulleys. If its just cylinder you stand a good chance of tearing up the basket or boom.

And I'm just going to say this, so that I've said it, and I can sleep good at night. Its quite obvious from the questions you've posted up here with your issues with the lift, not having harness, not understanding oil level, not knowing about the torque hubs, etc. etc. etc., that you aren't real familiar with construction equipment.

I think its great that your trying, but my big concern is that you're going to dump that thing and hurt yourself or someone else.

I'm just going to give you a great "what if". So you were on the tractor, pulling on the lift, with the torque hubs released. So if you did happen to pull it out, and its downhill, what was your great idea on how to stop it?

If you did have someone else in the lift, and you've got the torque hubs released, and you pulled it out, and its downhill, the guy in the basket has no way to stop the thing either. He's just along for the ride.

Stop before you hurt someone.

 

[Ronray]

Thanks for that great advice! Just to ease your conscience, this is on flat ground. I definitely don't want to damage the manlift, so I will forget about my idea to use the boom as a winch.

Yes, I do have a 50 ton bottle jack that will lift the man lift, but only from each corner and one wheel at a time and about 5 inches at a time. It's just really time consuming to dig down each corner for the bottle jack and to place two by fours under the jack. And it doesn't help being the rainy season LOL. I'm probably going to have to put some really long wood framing lumber under the wheels. And I'm only about 5 ft away from from my hard surface road LOL

Yeah, I'm very inexperienced with this piece of equipment. It has been a huge really huge learning experience and pain in the rear LOL

 

[Jonas302]

First thing start shoveling it takes way to much power to pull out of those holes is it sitting on the belly pan then your going to need to jack it up or just call a wrecker to apply brute force

 

[Welder Dave]

Get someone to drive the tractor and it should come out easy. I've been stuck a lot worse than that and 5' from hard surface might as well be 2 miles when you're stuck. It's not even muddy so I don't see how jacking it up could take so long. A smaller jack could certainly lift each corner and be faster but I think just getting a helper and it would be out in 5 minutes. The only thing I'm not sure about is if it's hung up and that's why it won't come out. In which case jacking and blocking under the tires would do the trick. Doesn't look like the tires even spun unless the other side did.

 

[Bluox]

Most people have no idea how heavy these lifts are .Like crane man said jack it up and crib under the wheels and get someone to help ,someone who knows what their doing.
That little tractor might not be enough and if the lift will run drive it too.
Good luck
Bob

 

[Ronray]

Great advice everyone, thanks!

I'm trying to figure out why my left drive wheel motor is losing torque in another thread I have had no replies on entitled " Boom Lift Drive Wheels torque fade"

 

[rondig]

Number one fade problem is heat....if you got your hydraulics hot...it will fade

 

[dirty4fun]

You need to have someone driving the lift when pulling it. Other wise the breaks are set on most lifts, so you are trying to drag the whole machine dead weight. Doesn't look like it's setting on the belly pan, so with an operator running it and someone pulling it should make it to the driveway.

 

[Ronray]

Good to know that about the heat effect, but this problem is with the machine just warmed up for a minute or two.

Guess I'll have to get a friend over here to drive my tractor while I'm on the lift.

 

[old-iron-habit]

Good to know that about the heat effect, but this problem is with the machine just warmed up for a minute or two.

Guess I'll have to get a friend over here to drive my tractor while I'm on the lift.

Don't forget the camera operator and be sure to post the video here. I agree that with a man in the basket helping, it will probably walk right out with a slow steady tug. Make sure the boom is retracted and is low so that the axle tilt lock is released so all 4 wheels are pulling correctly.

 

[Ronray]

My machine is a two-wheel drive, not four-wheel drive. I do not know what an axle tilt lock is.

 

[fast_st]

Around here we'd just wait for everything to freeze solid! Hopefully it comes out smoothly.

 

[DoyleX]

I do this all the time in my dump truck when by myself. Helper chains or a couple pieces of chain through the wheel hole around a big timber. As the timber goes around it acts as a paddle and scoops you right out. Just use your head in the forethought process...

 

[fast_st]

I've seen that in russian tractor videos, boomlifts are so amazingly heavy, usually the wheels are solid discs with no holes. Maybe some lime to harden up the mud or a whole lot of 3/4 stone, a shovel behind each wheel, back up onto that, a few shovel fulls in front of the wheel and drive up on that, repeat until level ground, wait till its dry and drive it out. Those machines are so heavy, they'll snap a 2x8 plank in an instant if its spanning a soft spot.

 

[CM1995]

Just call a wrecker and winch it out..

The $250 winching bill will be the cheapest option amongst the other options you are contemplating.

 

[fast_st]

Just call a wrecker and winch it out..

The $250 winching bill will be the cheapest option amongst the other options you are contemplating.

Boring!!! could rent a D8 for an afternoon.

 

[Theweldor]

I learned long ago ( Never put the heaviest piece of equipment you own in the mud puddle first!!!)

 

[Ronray]

Wow, those are some very creative ideas. But one thing that worries me is that with just one wheel seeming to get more torque than the other, that I could break something inside the drive motor with a log or chain strapped to the one wheel that spins and seems to be getting all of the torque. A boom lift is so much heavier than a tractor.

I took the non torque motor apart and found no apparent damage or obvious wear. So I'm going to switch the left and right side motors and see if the same wheels are doing the same thing, which would tell me if it's a motor problem or a control valve problem further up the line. I posted pictures of the disassembled pump motor on my other post entitled "hydraulic high pressure gauge"