Well, I got notice on Tuesday that the transporter had picked it up and was on his way to Kansas City. I was a little unprepared but also relieved as this has been an ongoing problem for me over the past year and a half. The parts crawler is locked up (seller could not back off brake bands) so unloading would be a trick. Even to load, they had to use a combination of winching and puching with a large forklift.
I took off work yesterday (luckily employer did not get too upset) and met the transporter near my farm. I then showed him the routes in and out and prepared to unload it. Due to changes in grade on my farm, we had to unload it onto the county road and then I would have to move it onto my property.
Here is a pic of the rig near my property on the right- you can see the change in grade.
After arrival, I learned that my 2010 crawler would not start- the starter had finally fried on it. Thus I had to scramble to find a neighbor who could bring over a wheel tractor as I didn't want to keep the transporter waiting.
While the neighbor was getting the tractor, the transporter and I had to jack up the crawler and slide a board under each track.
We soon learned that the tractor wasn't going to be enough to drag the crawler off the trailer- the transporter used a clever technique to aid the tractor. He put a chain perpendicular to the bed, ahead of the crawler. He then attached a single pully to the chain and had the rig's winch run back through the pulley to the back of the crawler to help pull it towrds the end of the trailer. It and the tractor had to be used in unison. I don't have a good picture of that because we were trying to hurry and I didn't want them thinking I wasn't serious about their help.
Picture of the crawler being pulled to back of trailer- the area I wanted to put the crawler in is in background:
Once at the end, we couldn't use the winch anymore which was OK but had a problem with the crawler sliding almost off the transporter's $1300 aluminum ramps due to a slight tilt in the roadway near the ditch.
Luckily, I had purchased at auction two large heavy steel channels that we lashed to the ramps- once we went there was no stopping. The crawler dropped off the ramps and onto the steel channels, bending them slightly. I was relieved it was them and not the ramps.
Luckily we got the transporter out of there before noon- he was on his way to Texas so he needed most of the day. It was a lot of hard work but went as well as could be expected considering my crawler didn't start.
The second battle was to get the crawler out of the roadway and onto my property. That didn't go as well- we tried to move the crawler up the incline- it slid OK on the gravel road but bogged down in the soft soil as we have had a lot of rain lately. I spent the next couple of hours fixing the starter and then taking my crawler over to it.
I then cut down the incline to be much less steep but also exposed underying wet soil that hadn't dried. I tried putting the steel channels underneath the front of the tracks but the crawler sank enough to not allow that to work. The neighbor had put a board under the loader (not something I woud recommend) but it worked to keep it above the surface. In the end I lowered it for safety and to keep the channels from rising up as the crawler went over them.
My main concern was the counterweight bracket was sticking out in the roadway and it had become dark. Even with my truck flashers on and me waving my flashlight, there were a number of people who barreled through and didn't see it until the last minute. I tried a number of tactics, including pushing it from behind which did move it 5 feet, but in the end had to settle for now on getting it parallel to the roadway but beyond the edge of the roadway. It is still in the easement, but is much less a traffic hazard. I was there until almost 11 pm.
Hopefully it dries up soon so I can get it on my property, but unfortunately it rained this morning so who knows. I hope I can get it with my crawler when dry- otherwise will have to find a neighbor with very large wheel tractor or rent a crawler.
