Lessons learned

57knox said:

there are so many here are my top 3

1-always make sure hydraulic pressure is relieved before removing 4 inch hose

2- Do not stand in front of said hose

3-Dish washing soap really works great as body wash.

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That's great.... one of mine is: "Just because an AC condenser looks damaged, that doesn't mean there's no pressure in the system." Followed by:"You cannot reconnect a snaplock AC connection under pressure." Whoops.....

Don't expect an operator to stop a machine just because of a blown hydraulic hose (988B) had one one travel to me rather than call me up, drained most of the tank.

You're just an mechanic. ....I mean he's an operator.

Always pull the engine oil dipstick before starting anything, had a customer send a young laborer up to push off a few stumps with an older case dozer in a seldom used pit, well an oil drip once an hour can become a whole pan in a few weeks, needless to say not good.

Eaton fuller clutch forks need to be dropped after going over throw out bearing.

Don't bring your dog to a jobsite that doesn't have an out house.

The"we don't use it much" always is a red flag to me.

daterplant said:

Don't expect an operator to stop a machine just because of a blown hydraulic hose (988B) had one one travel to me rather than call me up, drained most of the tank.

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Lol. This reminds me of a conversation I had many years ago. Working on a government road job, a backhoe operator comes over to me and says

"I've broken one of the hoses off the four clamp thingys on the backhoe and it's leaking some oil on the floor".

Well, he obviously means one of the hydraclamp lines so I say " Yeah, it's just a 1/4 inch hose, it can only be a dribble. I'll come over when I've finished this job."

Twenty minutes later he comes over again and says "Can you come soon? The environmental inspectors are getting a bit antsy about it"

So I pack up the service truck and mosey on over to find an eight foot wide pool of hydraulic oil with six people shovelling the contents of three spill kits to try and keep it contained.

Says I "Why don't you stop the engine?"

Cmark said:

Lol. This reminds me of a conversation I had many years ago. Working on a government road job, a backhoe operator comes over to me and says

"I've broken one of the hoses off the four clamp thingys on the backhoe and it's leaking some oil on the floor".

Well, he obviously means one of the hydraclamp lines so I say " Yeah, it's just a 1/4 inch hose, it can only be a dribble. I'll come over when I've finished this job."

Twenty minutes later he comes over again and says "Can you come soon? The environmental inspectors are getting a bit antsy about it"

So I pack up the service truck and mosey on over to find an eight foot wide pool of hydraulic oil with six people shovelling the contents of three spill kits to try and keep it contained.

Says I "Why don't you stop the engine?"

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Hummm never thought about that!:Banghead

Or this one.

Many moons ago while working in the shop on some engine. The pit loader operator parked about 50 feet from the shop door with his H400 Hough Loader. Climed down of machine and walked into the motor shop and asked me to take a look at his machine he felt the brakes might be dragging. I put down down what I was working on and cleaned off hands and put on jacket as it was a cold day. Walked out to the machine and as I got close I could smell hot brakes, hard to miss that smell. Smell was strongest near the front so I took a peek at the front axle from the center of machine. This machine had a large, maybe 18" or bigger disc brake for the parking brake. Well that big disc was glowing a nice bright orange color! Not sure but did not think that was normal!

Just glad this machine did not have any bad oil leaks in the front end or it would have burned to the ground!

Then there was the truck driver who had a funny noise in his Cat 769C engine. Decided to run it up to shop to have me check it out, almost made it. I had to walk back about 100 yards to get the offending connecting rod that decided to jump ship!

I recently learned a lesson on a 854k. Was changing the footbrake valve under the cab. I had previously been shown how to drain the accumlutors by pumping the brake 100 times with the ignition on and engine off. i did that and another 20 for luck. I was lying under the cab and the first 3 hoses came off no bother.

4th hose and boom. Knocked the 24'' shifter clean out of my hand taking the hard hat off on the way out and leaving me with a duck egg on my forehead and a nervous laugh. Had to climb down off the machine rather sheepishly and collect my shifter and hardhat from where they lay about 20' from the dozer.

A rather lucky escape