Warning: The old way of setting up a dozer on a slope in the rain

Back in the day on a muddy site near Tacoma, we'd just drop the blade and hope for the best. After a bad slide, I tried something my grandpa mentioned once. I started cutting a small bench about two feet wide uphill first, then parked the tracks on it. It gave the machine a solid shelf to work from. Anyone else have a simple trick for wet ground that sounds dumb but works?

4 comments

4 Comments

evan_davis1mo agoTop Commenter

Honestly that bench trick sounds like a waste of time when you could just angle the blade down and go slow.

terryscott1mo ago

Always looking for the shortcut, never the right tool.

evan_davis1mo agoTop Commenter

Isn't it just a general life thing now? Like using a butter knife as a screwdriver because it's right there, even though you own a screwdriver. Or trying to fix a wobbly table with folded paper instead of just tightening the leg. People would rather spend ten minutes on a weird workaround than thirty seconds getting the proper thing.

wader7110d ago

Grandpa knew his stuff. That bench trick is solid, not a waste of time. Angling the blade on pure mud just digs you in deeper. A two-foot shelf gives the tracks something to bite on so you don't fight the machine all day. It's the difference between working smart and just working hard.