Anyone rolled or flipped their skidsteer?

[Timberman]

Just curious. I've scared the bejeezus out of myself a few times, with the bucket raised for loading dumptrucks or whatever, and felt like it was gonna roll backwards. Of course, I've pitched it forwards with a loaded bucket plenty of times, but that's normal. You just have to act like you meant to do that. I'm sure someone's got some stories.

[iluvscag]

Yes, I've tried making it look like I meant to. But one time it didn't work and a bucketful went into the cab from having it to high in the air.

[RockSet N' Grade]

Funny you should ask....I was just talking with my buddy who is a large excavator in California. They were doing hillside work and one of his sons was running their cat skid up a hill. Drove that thing straight up the hill, and I guess youth was on his side.......drove it straight up and it flipped over backwards and no one got hurt.....good chuckle. We also talked about the old days when Johnny had his young twin boys in the yard when he was loading an end dump with sand. After awhile, he couldn't see or hear the twins anymore so he shut down the equipment and looked for them. They climbed into the back of the end dump and he had partially buried them with a load of sand..........

[milsaps118]

We also talked about the old days when Johnny had his young twin boys in the yard when he was loading an end dump with sand. After awhile, he couldn't see or hear the twins anymore so he shut down the equipment and looked for them. They climbed into the back of the end dump and he had partially buried them with a load of sand..........

LMAO:laugh: :laugh: I'm sure they didn't get hurt......? Right?

[Scag48]

I was loading our dump trailer once and had a fun ride. The ground was fairly level, but there was a ridge of dirt close enough to the trailer that when I was at loading height I rolled over it. Well, sure enough, I was moving just a little too fast, had to get the arms all the way up so I could clear the sideboards, the back tires rolled over it, the back of the machine pitched up and I landed right on my nose. Turned the key off halfway down, I felt it coming. No damage, other than my ego. My dad wouldn't let me see the end of that one.

[nc-native]

Its almost impossible to flip backwards on level ground while operating a skid steer. The engine compartment will bottom out preventing a roll back. I have seen people drive them off drop offs and land on their back or the top of the cab. Saw one fella drive off a drop off and land upside down in Lake Norman, NC. Talk about biting the buttons off the seat. If it wasn't the quick thinking of a Hispanic who witnessed the incident that guy would only be a memory know.

[Mr. Vern]

I was loading our dump trailer once and had a fun ride. The ground was fairly level, but there was a ridge of dirt close enough to the trailer that when I was at loading height I rolled over it. Well, sure enough, I was moving just a little too fast, had to get the arms all the way up so I could clear the sideboards, the back tires rolled over it, the back of the machine pitched up and I landed right on my nose. Turned the key off halfway down, I felt it coming. No damage, other than my ego. My dad wouldn't let me see the end of that one.
What you just described has got to be the number one cause of tipped loaders. I can't tell you how many times I have seen that.
I used to run a snow removal division of a construction company and we used Cat 950's to clear residential driveways in the Sierra Nevada mountains above Lake Tahoe. I had an operator neglect an account for most of the season (most homes were vacation homes) and when I discovered it there was 12-15 feet of snowpack in the driveway. I had to pull up the pre-season photos in order to find where the driveway was supposed to be. I sent him up one day to clear it. I drove up to check on him and he was in the loader laying on it's side when I got there. The knuckle head had been dragging the snow out into the street and leaving it there while he punched the hole into the driveway. Well, he comes backing out with a bucket load and runs the left rear up onto the pile in the road and over he goes. That was the final straw for me. I sent him home for good that day. That's one of my main safety teachings to new operators - keep the ground level and flat where and whenever possible and you will reduce your risk of turnovers dramatically. Unfortunately they still happen, but you can definitely reduce them.
This one is off topic, but recounting this story reminded me of another funny incident. When we would clear these driveways we would have to make large ramps out of snow in the yard in order to pile the snow up. Sometimes the ramps would be over 20' tall and 50+ feet long. I get a call from a customer saying "your loader is stuck in my yard, I always wondered if one of these could get stuck. Now I know, they can get really stuck". I go to the guys house and this same operator (I use the term loosely) has driven off the end of his ramp and is 15' down and completely surrounded by snow. He can't even climb out of the mess he is in. It took us half a day and another loader to get him out. We had to completely remove the ramp, then we lifted him up by the counter weight and shoveled snow under the tires and set him back down. After multiple iterations of this we had a good packed base under his rear tires. We had to repeat this up front using his bucket to lift the front. Wish I had not been so frustrated as to forget to take photos of that one. LOL

[RockSet N' Grade]

OK....here we go...a little off track but I am sure everyone will have a good laugh....and me, well it has been a hidden secret for years....At the end of the day on every Friday in Cali, I would drive my MF30 to the corner liquor store and fill the bucket with ice and beer and go back to the job where we would all have a few. On this particular day, I was wearing a swim suit, t **** and tennis shoes. Got to the liquor store, pulled up to the front door as usual and jumped off the right side of the tractor. My pants got caught on the bucket controls, and when I landed on the ground, I was wearing a t-shirt and tennis shoes. My pants had been ripped off and were hanging on the tractor controls. There I was in all my glory.....I took my t-shirt off and put my feet through the sleeves to make as make-shift pants, bought the beer, went back to the job site and quickly went home nursing my very bruised ego. My buddies, to this day some 35 years later, still like to bring that one up for a good laugh....

[Dirty Water]

Liquor store to buy beer?

You crazy utah people :)

[Mike33]

My first year plowing snow with a bobcat, it must of been like a coat of ice under the fresh snow. I took off sideways then straight 2 donuts then sideways and landed next to a tree. This was a bad ride about 150' and half of the neighborhood watching. I invested in a set of chains and no one else there asked me to do there driveway.
Mike

[ksss]

I have had numerous close calls but never tipped one or flipped one, in the last I added it up, about 13,000 hours. There is a learning curve though. I have never changed brands of machines nor I have deviated much in the size of machines and that has a lot to do with it I think. There was a new learning curve the first 95XT I had. You can "get away" with a little more with machines that size but the consequences would be higher if you make a mistake. I usually can feel what my machines will do before it happens. I really wouldn't want to start that education completely over again. The different makes all have a different feel to them I think. Learning the operating quirks quickly of the machines you run, saves a lot problems and there is really no substitute for time in the seat.

[Canon Landscaping]

I was mowing a field along a river and the brush was about 4 feet tall i was making my first round in my 6410 4x4 JD and i ran into a washed out spot in the bank saw one of the front wheels drop off in it and i hit the brakes but it was too late the ditch was about 10 feet deep and it was just wide enough for the the tractor to fit the loader caught one side and the bush hog was sitting on the other side and the tractor was almost upside down bridging the ditch I landed against the side glass of the cab I didn't have my seat belt on had to open the door on the side in the ditch and drop down into the ditch and climb out I had to get a semi wrecker to come and lift it out of the ditch the tractor was not damaged bush hog tongue and drive shaft got bent. I mowed the field many times before but we had a bad flood that spring and it must of caused the wash out.- Another story- we were hauling one of our tractors into a field on our gooseneck and we were turning around to park the truck facing up towards the road and the trailer went into a small depression in the field and the tractor was chained on and the trailer tractor and all flipped over the coupler on the trailer bent and came off the ball the truck had a steel flatbed on it so it was not damaged bent the cab on the tractor had to use a dozer to pull it back over.

[RockSet N' Grade]

Not only is it seat time, but not getting too cocky or overly self confident. I have seen some ugly things happen. Personally, I try to remain safety concious.....and yes, I know, s*** naturally happens but I would hope to error on the side of safety even when that day occurs. Today, for instance, we were doing final grades ( we have 13 to do in a tract) and the contractor wanted us to go across the street and start working on that one. Well, the roofers were still roofing with cement tiles 2 1/2 stories up.......I told him no way would I put myself or my laborer in harms way like that......but, on second thought, if he wanted to be my shovel man and work under an army of roofers....I guess I would too. Needless to say, we will do that one when the roofers are done and gone!