tinytec, If 'ya can't get it out, look on the good side.....just cover it back up.....You may be changing history!!
I always try to leave my mark on the world for future mankind. Every time I lose a wrench or tool I just shrug it off & try to tell myself "it's for the future generations"....that way I don't get mad & it don't seem to hurt so much.
I figure that grease gun I "buried" last week out there close to where that Crescent wrench & hammer should be "buried", will get dug up in about 2970 AD or so.
Headlines will read "Newly Discovered Previously Unknown Settlement West Of Town!!"
All the famous scientists will show up with their shovels, picks, shifters...along with their Carbon Daters & spend 2-3 years marveling over my rusty grease gun & stuff....trying to figure out how we skinned or built something with it.

Hummmm, think I'll throw a couple of chicken bones out there too.....

(I better get my smart a** out'a here & get busy....too much coffee:D )

Hello Tinytec, Yep its chain a log or something to the tracks time, Dad, neighbour and I (small boy at the time) once had a D4 in the botton of a newly dug pond in the same sort of predicament, water was running in real quick. This was in the days before there was much other heavy machinery to hand so it was panic stations as the pond was 10' deep when filled.

The only "big stick" handy was a pole from a electric company's private telephone line, but that didn't stop these old boys, out with the chainsaw, and down came the pole. (Dad hated the Electric company, they put a line accross the end of our airstrip, the best strip for about 20 miles)

10 minutes later it was across the tracks with No 8 wire (chain is a lot better) and 5 minutes later the D4 was back "up"

Someone mentioned fixing a cable to a tree and walking it out, if the tree isn't in the right line its not too much digging to bury a post/log/lump of something and make a "deadman" to pull against.

Good Luck and Cheers

Foster

Further thoughts, you have a winch, you shoud be damm near able to put that machine up a tree with the winch if you have a mind to, let alone pull it out of a bit of a hole. Put in a deadman (more than one if necessary to get the lead right), use turning blocks, double up the purchases with more turning blocks if you have to.

Hi Everyone again,

Thanks for the many posts on this subject. This morning I found a contractor working a project only 1/4 mile from the D4 grave - he has agreed to rescue the CAT tomorrow with his equipment. He says he's pulled many dozers out of similar conditions. I think he's over-optimistic, but we'll see what happens. I certainly hope he's successful.

In response to the many good suggestions here are the respective situations:

We cannot use a crossbeam because we can't get one between the blade and the tracks. The blade and its push beams are on the ground and will not raise any higher.

A cable attached between the tree and the tracks would be a problem because the only available strong tree is out of alignment with the tracks. This sounds good with a deadman.

ttman4: Love your suggestion to bury the CAT for future posterity! I would sure want to see their faces 2000 years from now, when their subterrainean radar shows the image of that poor rusted CAT submerged about 50 feet deep.

NZcat: I'l bet you guys were sweating with the CAT in a pond about to be filled with 10' of water. Great story about the utility company's pole!!

The deadman idea sounds good for my situation if nothing else works.

The winch is unusable because it and the CAT are buried with the back end up against a bank, so we can pull from the front end only. No tree overhead to raise it with the winch.

Wish us luck for tomorrow!

Fred (tinytec)

You guys may be missing a couple of opportunities:
The blade is your built in jack, use it to raise the front end of the tractor and block under the tracks, repeating the sequence of blocking tractor and blade until you get the elevation you need for a cross pole.
An under wound winch cable draped over logs will actually raise the back end of the tractor if you can get anchoring for the winch cable. Repeat the same sequence as for the blade. You have the two best built in features for unsticking the tractor if you can make use of them. I know it's easy to say from 1000's of miles away but that situation is not all that bad. Would be glad to lend a hand if wasn't so far away.

Easy there now Magnet (quote: "would be glad to lend a hand if wasn't so far away")

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who knows???----me an your buddy Tractor Don might chip in together on a bus ticket for you.

Course----it would all be dependent on whether Don could spare a clean pair of white coveralls for you to travel in. Wouldn't want you to go travelling off across country in anything less than official attire.

Keep us posted TinyTec----lots of good advice in the previous posts. Getting that contractor sounds sorta like cheating----but it should be OK for this one time----you can always do it the hard way the next time. And I'm betting there will be a next time. Been there----done that. There is something about holes like that

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that are irresistable. Good luck.

Delta Dirt

Hello again

If you can't get a log across the front of the tracks across the back will do, I'd be surprised if you can hurt (through a track etc) if shes set up right even though you are up against a concrete lump. Just chain/wire it on and let her grind out.

At least you are past the "growl at everyone who comes past" stage. My neighbour got his little crawler stuck just below my house one day. He wasn't specially fond of me at the best of times, so I was a bit reticent about going down to lend a hand. After several hours of watching him stuff around (and get his wheel tractor stuck as well)I couldn't bear it any longer and went over. Needless to say he " flew off the handle" at me, but we had him out soon after and he was sorta civil to me for quite a long time !!

Cheers

I'm with old magnet on this one--my wife buried my 941 up to the top of the tracks and we used the bucket to raise the front and threw every log we could find or cut under the tracks--after a few cycles of this the machinne moved forward and up--then we just threw logs in the trenches on the rear and backed it and her right out!

You went down to pull your neighbor out and he flew off the handle at you. I would have turned right around and went back home and let him dig his damn tractors out by hand then. The nerve of some people.
A story told to me when I was in the service about a operator on a D8 and pan in Korea. He got it stuck and they pulled him out and said not to go back there again. Next day, there he was, stuck again same spot. They left him set and dig it out. A General came out to the site to inspect and asked why that guy was digging out that Cat. They told him why, and he said very good. It took him 2 days of digging but he never went back in there again. catskinner

Well Friends, we're finally back in business.

The contractor came over from the job he was working 1/4 mile from the CAT. He used a medium size backhoe to dig an exit ramp through the dirt bank behind the CAt. We hooked a 3/8" chain between the winch cable and a tree and tried to use the dozer reverse drive along with the winch but the chain popped like a piece of string.

So we connected triple 3/8" chains to the cable. With the throttle full open and the winch pulling at full force the CAt backed out of it's muddy grave like there was nothing to it.

What seemed like a long week of trials and tribulations, three full days of hand picking and shoveling muck, and all you friends giving so much help and suggestions ended up with a time to celebrate! The contractor took only one full hour from start to finish and charged only $100 (a bargain).

And here's "the rest of the story". One of the men who spent a day helping me dig had left a blank signed check in the CAT's tool box with an offer to pay for the entire contractor's charges. I told him the contractor did it for free so he wouldn't feel hurt because I turned down his offer. How's that for a great friend!!

One sad note - I forgot to take a camera. . .

Fred - truly blessed. Thank you all.