A few of you may know I've been trying to get a bush hogging service started. Last week I had a nice 35 - 40 acre job about 18 miles from home. I moved the tractor and mower on Thursday evening and put in about 10 hours overall on Friday. Just as I was getting done the owner shows up and wants just a little more mowing done. The area in question was a little hard to get to and he promised there were no obstacles hiding in the 8' tall Polkweeds, briars and Locust sprouts. I was tired and ready to go home but I went ahead and started to mow the area against my better judgement.
Like I said the weeds were high and I had trouble believing that there were no hidden obstacles. I devised a plan to back the mower slowly through the mess hoping to find any rocks or stumps with the mowers 6 tires before the blades did. It's a tactic that's worked well before.
All was well for the first little bit as the tractor crept backward while straining my torso to see behind me. First pass done, second pass no problem. I had to stop once and inform the owner he was standing entirely too close and needed to move. On the third pass backwards it finally happened, disaster... Not 10 feet from where I had started the bush hog suddenly fell into a hole. Not a little hole, a big one. So deep the deck hit the ground and the blades contact the dirt, killing the engine before I can stop the PTO. I rush to start the engine to see if I can free myself, no dice. The wheels spin and it sits still. I dismount to see how big the hole really is, the weeds are so thick you couldn't even tell there was a hole.
"What do we do now?" the owner asked. "Nothing" I said, " I'll deal with this later."
It rained off and on all weekend. Not good weather for extracting a stuck machine. So it remained there as I pondered my options.
Today I went back with a machete to clear the weeds enough to see what I'm up against. "WOW!", "Holy Sh*t!", " I'm lucky I didn't hit the hole with one tire of the tractor!" and a few other things came to mind.
So here is my stupid problem. What we have is a sink hole 12 or so feet deep with an opening about 5'x8' and nearly vertical sides. It opens up on one side and goes much deeper UNDER the tractor.
Like I said the weeds were high and I had trouble believing that there were no hidden obstacles. I devised a plan to back the mower slowly through the mess hoping to find any rocks or stumps with the mowers 6 tires before the blades did. It's a tactic that's worked well before.
All was well for the first little bit as the tractor crept backward while straining my torso to see behind me. First pass done, second pass no problem. I had to stop once and inform the owner he was standing entirely too close and needed to move. On the third pass backwards it finally happened, disaster... Not 10 feet from where I had started the bush hog suddenly fell into a hole. Not a little hole, a big one. So deep the deck hit the ground and the blades contact the dirt, killing the engine before I can stop the PTO. I rush to start the engine to see if I can free myself, no dice. The wheels spin and it sits still. I dismount to see how big the hole really is, the weeds are so thick you couldn't even tell there was a hole.
"What do we do now?" the owner asked. "Nothing" I said, " I'll deal with this later."
It rained off and on all weekend. Not good weather for extracting a stuck machine. So it remained there as I pondered my options.
Today I went back with a machete to clear the weeds enough to see what I'm up against. "WOW!", "Holy Sh*t!", " I'm lucky I didn't hit the hole with one tire of the tractor!" and a few other things came to mind.
So here is my stupid problem. What we have is a sink hole 12 or so feet deep with an opening about 5'x8' and nearly vertical sides. It opens up on one side and goes much deeper UNDER the tractor.
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