Could have been BAD!!

[Giles]

Some years ago, I was moving dirt with my front bucket of my I.H. Backhoe. I had to pass a large tree that was on a hill beside my barn. I had made several trips and on one trip, I noticed a sharp decrease in power while traveling up the hill. I had the full bucket about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and when I got under the tree something suddenly happened
For some unknown reason my boom cylinder had activated and bottomed out with the rear bucket in the maximum raised position:confused2:
There was a large limb on the tree that the boom contacted resulting in an extreme wheelstand. The front of the Backhoe came up high enough that a large amount of dirt covered me before I had time to press the clutch.
When I pressed the clutch, the weight of the machine and the "springing" of the limb, shot me back down the hill!
This all happened so quickly that I had no idea what had happened until it was over!
The only thing damaged was my underware
I used the backhoe for many years and many hours and had no repeat of the boom malfunction.
Accident do happen even if you are careful and paying attention to what you are doing. I just considered myself luckey this time but I still thank about it while using any machine:thumbsup:

 

[Renze]

My, at that time 78 year old neighbour also accidentally operated a spool valve, or it operated itself (he couldnt tell how it happened) and slushed 8500 liter of cow sh*t over a kilometer of public road. He spent the rest of the day carting water while a contractor got there with a road sweep to clean up the mess.

The direct result of the opening valve was not as dangerous, but the indirect result could have been bad, if someone went into a cow crap covered corner at speed...

 

[Thomas]

Yep you just never know when it comes to equipment.