Loading excavators, big cherry pickers, tracked vehicles, forks-best place to see how to drive them

Excavators:

Once you've broken the neck down on the lowboy, or dropped the rear ramp/ tilted the bed on a beavertail, landoll, track the machine to the beginning of the deck. Swing the house sideways (ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be watching for power lines, phone lines, any overhead structure), pay attention to your boards on the deck. Use the boards to know your lateral (side-to-side) spacing, find the board or split between the boards that centers the machine evenly side-to-side, then swing the house back centered with the tracks, extend the boom and stick a little bit to keep the weight reasonably centered on the machine then walk the machine on using the boards for lateral spacing. Try not to swing the house if you can while moving up the trailer, the weight shift will cause the machine to want to move side-to-side.

If you're loading onto a lowboy, you will have a point at which the excavator feels very "light" right before the machine breaks over-center and onto the deck. KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE CONTROLS and make sure you keep the tracks walking forward as you drop down onto the deck. If you let the tracks stop moving, they can bind on the growzers (the little strips of steel that are raised from the ramps) and cause the machine to grab and slip to one side or the other.

As a general rule with excavators, and ANY machine wider than the deck, once 50% or less of the track or tires is on the deck, it's time to swing the outriggers out and get some boards laid out.

Loaders:

The simplest and most direct way is to raise the bucket and use the lift-cylinder to help center you on the deck. This, however, necessitates always driving forward onto the deck and backing off.

To back onto the deck, the method I tend to use is to look out the side of the cab as best I can and use the inside sidewall of the tire to gauge my position on the trailer, similar to using the tracks and boards with an excavator.

In short, the boards are your friend for determining lateral spacing on the trailer.

There are certain machines this can become exceedingly difficult to do with, especially as you get into moving larger and larger machines, as you will "go blind" and not be able to see the deck. Use common sense when first doing these sorts, and then, once you've loaded, figure out what visual markers you can use, like placing a cone, or anything, behind the center of the trailer to help you center up, or dropping a binder on the ground next to the trailer as a guide-point for how far the tires should stick from the trailer when you're centered.

Oh, and most of all... GET OUT AND LOOK.

If you don't know where you are, set the brakes, get out, and visually check.

 

I did what your doing for a zillion years...The area I had trouble with is with new, small stuff..

You'll get used to hauling big heavy things, then you'll get a crappy little lighting trailer, or a mechanics toolbox, or a compressor unit...Its easy to damage that stuff...Be carefull and let everyone know when your doing first time stuff..it can save you a bunch of time, and possibly money...

Geez man, sounds like your under the gun as the everything guy...have fun man, so much to discover...always walk around a few times, see whats on the ground that needs to come up..forget that on a grader or dozer with a massive ripper out back you cant see and you'll surely be trenching involuntarily...

I was slow at times, I wasted a lot of time in the early days doing things the long way..But I never busted anyones equipment, never had a wreck, ended up being hire-able for the whole life as an everything guy

On strange new equipment, always crack open a valve ever so slightly, just send a teeny little squirt of hydro in there to see what happens/moves...
So much to learn...Often you'll have the entire machine operation down pat, except for the dam parking break...you wont find the button!! LOL
Ive had older CAT excavators where you had to reach down and pull the gas pedal back to shut the machine off!!!...youll see a ton of wierdness...way to much to list!!

Obviously you got some skills and will be ok im guessing...If not, you'll be in trouble within the week!! LOL...

Always bring a good floorjack...It can substitute a blown or missing tire on a generator/compressor trailer when your runnin the roll-offs around...

And, how bout a picture of the heavy-duty tow rig!!!

 

Don't move any equipment in the dark, job sites are notorious for not covering small holes. Not to mention using a traffic cone over electrical ends. Invest in some 180 lumes LED lights .



If you can add some lights to the back of your trailer.
Do so. And be careful, in construction we had buddy system in case of injury.

Your being alone. Double up on everything you do.
If you look once get out look two more times.
You practice moving the item. Practice two more times.
Take your time never rush, its not a heart it doesn't need to be there yesterday.