That could have been a much more interesting video had the person filming it actually shown the dozer operator doing all the prep work to extract the excavator instead of just quick shots and then panning over to a stuck excavator that wasn’t doing anything. Then when the actual extraction took place we got to watch it through their finger or a poorly focused lens.
349 is a big machine. not the one you want to get stuck. it is the one you use to get everybody else unstuck. The operator did know to stop. It could have been bad if he didn't
I've driven them some, back when I was younger, I was told by several people you can't get any stuck if you know what you're doing, if I've misspoken and hurt your feelings I apologize.
You have to give it to the operator. He quit while he was ahead making the extraction of the excavator possible without huge cost. Every operator gets into tight situations, we have all buried one from time to time, slopes collapse, terrain varies from what it will hold in ground pressure. Sometimes you see signs of impending doom, other times it all drops out from underneath you. Operating these machines efficiently is science first, then mastered as an art with a great operator. Every job site is different and experience pays dividends.
NO we have not all buried one from time to time and the reason for that is GET YOUR ASS AWAY FROM THE MUCK HOLE!!!!!! These are huge dollar machines and rule #1 is to NOT BURY THE $$$$ MACHINE. Some ground and soil conditions just do not merit big machinery and it comes with these projects. SOmetimes the machines are simply too big and heavy for the site conditions. I have seen entire sites closed down with equipment parked on fine sunny days waiting for the soil conditions to ripen enough. Now this dude here, I have no freakin idea what he was trying to do in that muck hole to begin with and for me that would be grounds for termination.
@@kevingthompson14 Of course you are right - in theory. Problem is: apart from experience and perhaps some luck how is testing the ground conditions to be done. In the end you have to run the machine over the ground and see if it holds up. Sure you can spend a fortune with geotech, and spend days doing it, but the even then there comes a time when your operator just has to run the machine over the ground, and get the job done. Sure you can give up on the job until the sun does some drying out, but no consultant will guarantee that the ground will hold up to heavy machinery trafficking, without a very substantial margin of safety - safe for him or her that is. The real World just will not wait for this process to take place, or pay for it. I have worked over ground that held up once or twice, but on the third pass gave up on me, the machine bellied down into the muck, and the tracks lost traction. Not a disaster, but I needed a pull to get out. That's just the real World of contracting.
@@evanpenny348 The issue is not the ground at all. The issue is always doing the job as fast and cheap as possible regardless of how safe it is or is not. For that reason machine operators are forced into running these mega machines in situations where it just isn't advisable. They are not lightweight and will push their way into the soil as well as churn it up. In certain situations there are workarounds like excavators on floating barges or excavators with swamp treads. Thing is those are for more specialized situations. For everyone else when the job schedule is really BEING PUSHED, the machines go into the hole because of the site management who never ran a machine and basically don't care because its all the operators fault....right?
Cat 349e 55 000 KG weight :) not god to conditions for excavator like in this film, that great machine but should work in mine or other stable terrain. i work on 336e and CAT is on the first place on list of best baggers.
We had some terrible storms. One of the companies doing repairs walked a 349 off the hwy down an embankment. It didn't make it back up. Two large tow trucks and a dozer were needed.
As an operator, I've been fucked many times by doing what I was told by foremans. I tell them it can't be done, they insist I do it, and when it fails they blame me.