Any Good "Machine Runaway" tales?

[redramnc]

Local Ford Ag Tractor dealership used to rent out tractors to contractors for pulling pans, compactors, etc. Back in early-mid 60's Ford had a "Better Idea" known as the Select-O-Speed transmission available on their tractors. It was basically an early version of a shuttle-shift except they had some interesting quirks. One of the largest tractors equipped with the SOS (what an appropriate moniker for these transmissions) was sent out to the RDU airport site to be used for pulling a large sheep-foot roller. Upon delivery the operator was told that the trans had a bad reputation for jumping into reverse from park. Sure enough, a couple of days later they got a call to come get the thing. The operator had left it running in Park and hopped off and it had jumped into reverse. When they got to the site they found the tractor sitting on its tail with the nose straight up in the air. It had backed OVER the sheeps-foot roller and stuck the lift arms in the ground. Foreman on the site swore he would never have another one of those around again. The dealership took all of the SOS-equipped units out of the rental program shortly after that.



I have an SOS-equipped utility tractor and chocks are a part of the normal routine. I also shut her down before hopping off if I possibly can. I don't want to "Be like Illflem" and use my body (or parts thereof) as a poor substitute for a mechanical chock.

 

[rrausch]

"Runaway Driver"



I was at Home Depot 2 years ago, and bought a pallet load of Saltillo Tiles for a house I was helping to finish. This was out in the San Fernando Valley, and everybody workin' at that Home Depot was from South of the Border.



So I pull my truck up in front and a Senor comes drivin' out with the tiles and I am standing next to the tailgate and he pulls up and lifts the pallet up. The forklift is stopped, the load is in the air, and I look at the Senor and holler out, "Wait, let me get this blanket out of the way!" And I step in front of the load, between the load and my tailgate, out of his sight, in order to get a moving blanket out of the way.



Now whenever I was trained on tractors, forklifts, etc, the rule was NEVER to

move the load if you didn't know EXACTLY where your helpers are. Don't endanger anybody if you can't see them. Well I guess the Senor hadn't gone to forklift school, because I had just put my hand on the blanket when he strarted driving over me. Here came the load of tiles, about 6 inches higher than the bed and there I went under the load, between the pallet and the Rhino-liner! I was hollering pretty loudly, but he couldn't see me or hear me. Finally a lady sitting nearby started screaming and he saw and heard her

and stopped. After he backed up, to his credit he asked me if I wanted to call

a Doctor, but I figured if it wasn't broken and bleeding it must be OK.

 

[HEMI®Dart]

rrausch,



Your forklift story reminded me of something.



Back in '86, when I was in lawncare, we had an big old forklift we used to take pallets of the trucks. One day I was playing around with it in the parking lot. Zipping around and other stuff a 25 year old would do. Took a fast corner at full speed. Well it ended up on 2 wheels. It came close to tipping over. The roll cage had broken off off it long ago. I don't like to think of what could have happened. I had Post-Tramatic stress disorder for days after that.



I NEVER played around with the tow motor after that experience!

 

[DMalone]

I had a old popping john deere tractor, i was taking down some post. This old tractor has a front end loaded and i had my wife hooking a chain around them and i was pulling them out of the ground. Well on one post while lifting pulling up the post the tractor started hopping up and down. The next thing i know the battery box lid pops open and the battery swings out and gets caught under the clutch pedal, well this old tractor didnt have a key and i used to hot wire the thing. I had to start it them get up in it. When the battery caught under the clutch petal i couldnt stop the thing and my wife is screaming for me to stop tearing up the yard and post, ha what a mess. I couldnt turn it off either i finally dropped the bucket and reached around after getting my wfe out of the way and knocked the wires loose and killed it, of course i made the yard look different

 

[illflem]

redramnc, I'm very familar with the Ford Select-O-Speed. We always called them Select-O- Jerk.

 

[LarryB]

Good friend of mine was the service manager at the local VW dealership in the early 80s. A new VW diesel was being given it's first 3K service. The mechanic changed the filter, added 4 qts of oil and went on break. The mechanic covering for him noticed on the work order the filter had been changed but no oil had been added. Oops! He added 4 qts, finished the service and started it up. Instant run away. Everyone ran knowing what was coming next, Kaboom. New engine after 3K miles. Schmitt happens!

 

[roadranger]

I was 17 years old, and had a night job cleaning and washing charter coaches. Go out into the yard one winter night to bring a GMC fishbowl into the shop, and was freezing cold and too impatient to build up full air pressure, so I head for the closed garage rollup door with 45 psi showing on the gauge. Apparently the air suspension system on these coaches takes all of the air first, before the brake system charges up. As I pull up to the door and hit the air brakes, got that sickening feeling when the pedal has no resistance to it and the damn thing keeps heading right for the door. This bus had the old style johnson bar parking brake, and as I reached down and yanked on it we went crashing thru the rollup door and smacked right into the rear of the bus parked inside. Very little damage to either bus, but that garage door was laying in a smashed heap on the floor. Had to get the Maint. foreman out of bed at 1 am and help him nail up a plywood covering over the door opening before everything in that building froze up tight. That was the last night I ever worked for Arrow Bus Lines Inc.

 

[Doc Tinker]

roadranger, if Arrow was anything like most charter companies, you didn't miss anything by leaving. That crash through the door probably saved you from wasting a few years of your life.



Doc

 

[LWilliams]

Mowing pasture

I was mowing pasture with an old Massy 65 when I was about 16 and there was a pine limb that had broken out of a tree laying on the ground. It was about 6 feet long with a slight curve to it. I ran over it with the front wheel and as the limb came out from under the wheel it began to raise up as the wheel rolled along the length of it. The small end came up and went right up my right pants leg, clear up to my knee. As the tractor kept moving forward it just kept lifting my leg up and up. I was watching this happen and still couldn't stop it. When the tire came off the end of the limb it was standing on its big end with me doing the splits. I had one leg up beside my head and the other one trying to find the clutch. As the tractor proceeded forward the limb moved under the rear axle. This caused it to twist, grabbing my pants leg even tighter and now we started down. My leg quickly started going forward and down bringing me with it. I still can't find the clutch. As the limb is now being pulled down under the wheel I am following it. Finally I give up on using the clutch. Luckly this tractor had a push-pull switch as a key. Push to kill the engine and pull to turn on. I hit the buttton and the tractor ground to a stop. My right leg was on the ground just inside the rear tire and my left foot was on the left side of the transmission, hung under the clutch pedal. I was able to free my left foot and fall off the right side and get my pocketknife and cut my pants leg free. I was 16 then and in pretty good shape. I was a little sore is some very important places but not hurt. If that happened to me now I would break in half. It just goes to show how quickly something bad can happen and you can't do a thing about it.

 

[KPhillips]

When I was in high school I worked during the summer at a local company that installed the coax cable through-out Austin for cable TV. I was aditch digger basically.....



My usual job was to follow the ditch witch and clean out loose dirt still in the ditch. Well being a dumb kid I usually followed just a couple feet behind the cutter cleaning...



Well one day I was following the big cutter (a rock saw) which basically had like a ten foot diameter cutter that sliced through rock and anything ele that it hit.



I had just hopped out of the ditch to go get a drink of water when I heard a god awful noise. What I saw was a huge flame that shot probably 30 feet or more in the air..... the cutter had gone throug a power main that either the driver ignored the marking for or was not marked, I don't remember which...



but if I had been in that ditch following a few feet back with that shovel in front of me, its likely I wouldn't be here today... .