What have YOU hit?

[EZSnow]

Plowing against a 'soft' (120* angle) curb, kinda feeling my way along, and the contractor refuses to mark curbs and obstacles.:fuming So I'm trucking along,:burnout 12-15mph or so- wanting to get to my accounts, but this guys got my arm behind my back to work for him. I just wanna get done. (bad attitude) Anyway- Curb is on the left, but we're plowing to the middle of the road, so the plow is angled full right. Turns out there's a storm drain in this gutter. Due to the angle of the plow, it doesn't trip when I hit this grate... just STOPS! omg omg omg Didn't blow off the relief, either. MAN- WHAT A HIT!!! I hit my head on the visor, my hat ended up on the floor by the passenger door, my ash tray full of change was nearly emptied, and everything that was on the seat or console was sent to the floor. It's 11:30pm and we're in a retirement community. I got out to see if there's any damage, and this lady comes out to see whats going on. There wasn't a light on in the house and she was in her nightgown (easy, now...). I am almost positive that I woke her up!!

Must say, though- the pro-plus took a SERIOUS hit and as far as I can tell sustained no damage. The truck (with 1000# ballast) scaled out at 9000#. My proplow would have crumpled like an aluminum can in that hit- especially with that much weight behind it.

off to the chiropractor!!! :wah

[Adams Plowing]

wow sounds like ya got lucky that ya didnt hurt yourself or yor blade... woulda sucked to trash a new blade this early in the game...

[Adams Plowing]

Also you might want to losen those trip spring tensioners up a lil bit so the blade might be able to trip a little easier its nice to have em wound tight so it doesnt trip to easily but its not good when they dont trip at all...

[EZSnow]

I know- it makes me feel like a rookie again!!

I guess plowing snow with a bad attitude is like driving drunk- not the way to go, but actually, I don't know how I haven't done this before. I plowed this street last year, plowed it the same way, and this never happened.

The contractor and I had 'words' about the benefits of marking curblines and obstacles...
:argue

[EZSnow]

on the trips- it trips, but the angle it hit it at didn't allow it to trip. It pretty much took the hit on the end of the blade. It would have had to pop off the relief and rotated closer to stright to trip, but the aforementioned 9000# of truck wasn't moving over to give it the room to rotate. Couldn't trip, couldn't rotate... STOP

can we have a little longer to edit our messages, please?

[CNY Joe]

Make sure you send the chiropractor's bill to the contractor, and tell him it would have cost him less to mark the curbs and obstacles

[JohnnyU]

Last year, I uprooted an evergreen bush, just popped right out of the ground. It was so small that the snow covered it up, oh well. re planted it, its sorta ok now...:zoinks

[drobson]

Took up one of those cement parking space curbs once. They were setup with rebar going down about 8" into the ground so they could be moved. The corner of the blade caught it and pulled both pieces of rebar out of the ground. Easy enough to slide back in, but had to wait until the ice melted a bit because the holes filled up right when it came out of the ground. Luckily, this has been the only thing of any substance I have hit,well, that I know of anyway.

[cat320]

When I worked for the town I would hit manhole covers and water gate caps all the time did not hit the windsheild but the plow flew up in the air and the chain would fall off.

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Two stories here-
The last snowfall I was plowing the fire station lot when I hit something HARD! It turned out to be the base of a light pole that had been taken out earlier this year. My blade tripped and then rode right up over it, but it wasn't until I was DRIVING over it that I realized what it was that I had hit! Luckily for me there was no damage done to my tires by the BOLTS that were left in the concrete and were still sticking up!! Gee you would think Us firemen would think twice about leaving something sticking up in a parking lot where we run around alot! LOL!
It will be taken care of soon- one way or another!

The second one is one I heard while working for the phone company. It seems that there was some ice build up under a manhole cover and when the plow came down the street- moving along at a really good clip- they hit the cover and it was launched off of the end of the blade and straight through someone's house! The cover went right under a picture window, though the living room wall, under the homeowners bed, and out his back wall! I would not have wanted to be woken up by that at three in the morning!!

LOL!

Bill
SPC Addict

[cardoctor]

ups truck

back plowing a drive at a foreign car repair shop
had my head out the window so i wouldnt side swipe
a porshe 911
looked in my rearveiw mirror sold brown
next thing i heard was fiberglass cracking

fortunately they did put in a claim for the damages

john

[urethane dino]

Not trying to sound like a wise guy, but that is the exact type of situation where a urethane edge would have prevented that. If for no other reason I would own a u edge to keep that from happening. Cheap insurance to keep your plow and truck in like new condition. Add 1.5" of edge overhang, and you protect the side of the plow even. SIZZLER, OR PERHAPS RED LOBSTER- MY TREAT
Dino

[BWhite]

I got my u edge today . Need to find a piece of 1/4" steel 3" x8 feet to mount it . THis should stop those "hits" . Thanks Dino

[BWhite]

I once hit an old mold board that was burried in snow near my drive . THis was soon after I replaced the "peeler " with a replacement moldboard Fisher sent me . Dented my brand new shiny moldboard :headwall

[Joey D]

I opened up a Dodge Neon with the blade. Tore through the rocker panel , door , buckled the roof, and shattered the windows on the driver side, all in one shot.
The plow was a little twisted, the a frame bent and the piston broke in half.

[W-n-K Landscaping]

OUCH!!!! How did you end up using your plow as a can opener? I hope nobody was hurt in that incident!

Bill
SPC Addict

[greensway]

Just one, backed into a concrete pillar for a light pole in the middle of an empty lot.
I plowed around it for an hour -forgot it was there, long night

[sonjaab]

A few years back the bank put up plexiglass enclosure
around their new ATM.

Well....Snowing like crazy.....Going back and forth in the
front of the lot....... windrowing happily along........

Don't I FORGET about the NEW enclosure and SMASH !

I take that mother OUT ! GONE , SQUISHED.............
Backed right over it !!!!!!!

Bank mgr sez..........NO problem geo ! We have to
remove it anyway...Somebody forgot to get a permit
to put it up! We are moving the ATM anyway next week!

PHEW!!!!!!!.................geo:burnout

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Way to go Crash!! Oops I mean Sonjaab!! LOL!!

I have yet to really hit anything major, but I am sure it will happen one of those loooooonnnnnngggggg days where we're out plowing for 24 hours or more!!

Bill
SPC Addict

[CNY Joe]

I have to go out and get some strobe for my truck in case Bill or Sonjaab call me for help so they don't hit my truck...lol:D

[mikegamb]

not to take away your fire or anything,but ive hit things alot harder with my plows.i have ripped out curbs,ran into dumpsters(well they were in my way lol) i think the worst is when i hit a man hole cover doing 30mph.the plow was to the right when i hit the edge.it lifted the frontend a foot off the ground and the truck followed half way around the edge of the man hole.poped a spring and alittle bend in the blade edge.im still using that same blade edge it was new last year lol lol :D

[sonjaab]

OK GUYS.......Time to confess another sin...........LOL!

Last winter when I returned from a 90 day bid
"out west"........I was so excited to be back in the
saddle plowing instead of behind bars (and not the
kind that serves drinks either!)

I was out blasting my parking lot and going too fast
and misjudged and smacked into the corner of my
barn ! I bent a Turkey Wing and my moldboard
pretty good.......BUMMER.........................geo

BTW: Got grass, Bill, and Joe......
You may now bust my chops !...............LOL:burnout

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Yup- I've seen in person what he did to his blad and the wing. I've also got the pics to prove it!!!!! LOL!!

:burnout Good old Sonjaab- out he**raising in the parking lot!!

Oh, well, we all do things like that once and a while!

Bill

[CNY Joe]

:confused: Sonjaab I can't belive after meeting you that you would be going to fast that you would misjudge and hit the corner of your barn:drinkup :drinkup lol:greenange

[scfall]

I popped a man hole cover off in a church parking lot then dropped my rear tire in the manhole and hung the truck up. Took a pretty good tug to get me out.:(


Scott:burnout

[wyldman]

I almost took the storefront off a Toys R Us store one night driving a tandem dump with a plow and wing.Trying to turn around a tight island,and the ribbed front tires just slid.The big road blade slammed into the aluminum store front,and the whole thing buckled.Broke some glass,and twisted the whole enclosure up pretty bad.

Spoke with management the next day,and they weren't even concerned.They replaced the glass,and just left the rest of it.They didn't even want to file a claim.

That same year,same lot,we took out a catch basin with the wing.Ripped the entire thing out of the ground,and spun the truck out.That one we did pay to fix.I couldn't believe the wing or the truck had virtually no damage.I wasn't the one driving the truck that night,but the operator and the wingman looked pretty shaken up. :scramble

[BWAMX]

:D Scott ,
Good to see someone else got stuck in the middle of a lot!!!

5yrs back.
Plowing a drive i've done for years, a car parked in the area where I normally push snow.
It was a 1 1/2 ft storm so I needed a place to put it.
So I lift the blade up plow off the side of the drive.

Boom frontend drops, put it in reverse, no move!!!
Go look..... Complete front wheel fell into an old dry well, now I'm hi sided completely on the front axle!!:headwall

Oh well 1 hr later floor jack and planks trucks out, good thing I was close to the shop!

Last Yr plowing on Christmas night. 1 ft + wet heavy snow,
did I mention the ground wasn't frozen yet?

Got right on the edge of a lot that I plow,and ploop slid the right
side of the truck off the edge sitting on both axles.
Call ProSno, he comes and laughs, at least the truck stopped before it slid in to the brook!

We couldn't pull it out with his truck, SO dragged it out with a bigger wreaker!!

To easy to get into trouble.

Mybe Bill ,ProSno will fill us in on the Alum StreetLight Pole.

Bill??? Bill?????

Bob

[windmill]

While going down our driveway (reasonably steap) a few years back I found myself sliding towards the road. My son, grasshopper, was fortunately turning around in the driveway. I hit him instead of going into potential traffic. Both trucks were his so he didn't claim. Sure was quiet around the house for awhile:D .

[sonjaab]

Bill, Joe, Mike...........Wait till I meet up with the Philly
guys this week at Hooters in PA.!

I wonder who will get kicked out or barred first !

LOL.........geo

BTW: Confession is good for the soul............
Keep those boo-boo post coming !::D

[ratlover]

Originally posted by wyldman
I almost took the storefront off a Toys R Us store one night driving a tandem dump with a plow and wing.

I'm picturing a scene outa the Blues Brothers when they are flying around the mall and bust through the toy store. Flying Kermits and Legos evey were :zoinks

I think the worse thing about hitting something is when it catches you completely unaware and you think you just kersploaded something and for a couple seconds you are trying to figure out WFT happend. Wakes you up and keeps your heart going for a few minutes anyway. Hope I dont tag anything with my new rig.....

[szorno]

After 28 years, I got a bunch of 'em.
the first, I was in college plowing my Sr. year. I pulled into the school lot in my 73 Dodge 3/4 T with Meyer 7.5. There was about 4 inches of fluffy powder. I slow down and get ready to pull into a parking place only to find a sheet of ice under the snow. RR quarter panel of Ford pickup coming up fast. Drop blade, pump brakes like crazy and open the ford like a tuna can. Called insurance co and begged for mercy. They covered it.
Next year I was teaching my new bride to plow. Same truck as above. I teach her to backup by the mirrors, not looking over her shoulder. (crinks the neck bad) so I am backing at about 8 mph and right smack into a telephone pole. Head hits back window. Only damage was curved dent in bumper. Smart-aleck bride says "Do I have to do it that way??" :D

[Joey D]

Originally posted by cnypropertysvcs
OUCH!!!! How did you end up using your plow as a can opener? I hope nobody was hurt in that incident!

Bill
SPC Addict

3 of the 4 were fine, but the driver is tring to go for the gold. She is claiming my fault but no way. I have pictures and a discription to match my story so I will so how it goes.

[W-n-K Landscaping]

I hope you were ok, and that you have an eyewitness or two, either way, be prepared to start looking for a new insurance company just in case. I had the unfortunate experience of having a head on collision with a motorcycle due to a third party that did not stay on the scene, and I had to get a new company because mine chose not to renew my policy after 8 years of faithful service with them on my auto and business policies. :mad:

I just switched agents today for my homeowners insurance, and was talking with him about possibly consolidating everything, but he doesn't have a company that will cover me for snow removal!:mad:
So I now have two agents in two different towns and two different policies. I plan on switching my auto over to my new agent at least fo rnow, and I will wait to see on what I can do for the business policy.

Bill
SPC Addict

[digger242j]

I was doing a karate school with an L shaped lot, with a slope toward the base of the L. It was steep enough that you had to backdrag the top part because the blade wouldn't go down far enough to do it going down the hill forward. It was the last stop of that particularly long night and day, and I was in a hurry. I backed down the hill and cranked the wheel hard to back into the "base of the L". Trouble was, I was only about half way back along the building when I did. I caught the building with the corner of the rear bumper, and cracked two blocks in the wall. Fortunatley I was just the right height that I caught only one course of block, other wise I'd have probaly busted four of them. It also bent the drywall in on the inside of the building. The owner of the school was good enough to let me do the repairs, so no insurance claim, but the bumper of the truck was never the same.

[Adams Plowing]

lol digger I hate when buildings jump out behind my truck in the middle of the night after a long night of plowing... or mabye its just me and they were there in the first place...:greenange

[Prosno]

Gee Bob you would have to remind me of that one. About six years ago I was plowing the side walk of an account with my f-450 dump truck and mind you this sidewalk is 10 ft wide and about 3600 ft long. Well as I'm going down the walk the truck starts to kick out a little and I feel a nudge! What the hell was that? My helper calmly looks out the window and sees the 50 ft aluminum streetlight pole falling right next to truck. Just missed the mirror. Sparks everywhere and a big flash and pop. And calm as could be he just says think ya hit the pole with the dumpbody. Another time I was plowing same account and I've been out for a couple of days and backed my 350 flatbed into the building. Steel building and it was hit before by delivery trucks, forman comes out sees what happened and says dont worry everybody hits that corner, he then waves and goes in. sometimes its just better to go home and get some sleep.

[Got Grass]

Not me.

Guy plowing self storage lot w/ dump, flys arround corner of building, only to see guy in Bobcat facing downhill stacking snow bucket fully up.
To late. Hit's bobcat at perfect angle & flips it forward into snow pile, thank god the cab was enclosed or it woulda been pretty messy.
Same lot same guy blows through the security gate just like you see in the movies.

Another guy.
Plowing supermarket, throws it in reverse & slams into light pole snaping it just right to casue it to drop across the bed...

[gordyo]

In 1986, My first year at the college, I had been plowing for about 30 hours. My boss asked me to go down behind the Administrative building and clear spots with the backhoe as people left. Going along pretty good until I got into a real tight area. No problem I thought, I will just swing the backhoe boom to the left gain about 6 more feet to back up and when I continue forward I will swing the backhoe boom back to the middle. Worked slick for quite a while until the one spot that I forgot to swing it back and the backhoe bucket hit the rear windsheild of an Oldsmobile Cutlass, rode up the post and across the roof causing $3800 worth of damage to the car. I went up to tell the professor what had just been done to her car. After she absorbed the bad news for a few minutes she told me she had just bought it the week before and it had a mere 800 miles on it. The worst part was that she took it back to the dealer to get it fixed and they gave her back her old car to drive for three weeks.omg

[Progrounds]

Backed right into a minivan in the middle of an 18" storm. Good for me I had a trynex on the back. Bad for the minvan. Took out the entire rear 1/4 of the sucker.
Remember, always wear a seatbelt.

[slplow]

I backed in to a telephone pole in the wee hrs of the morning hitting my speader That woke me up. Hit trees with the mirrors.

[atgreene]

When I was in college I plowed for the local public works. My boss at the time sent me out to clean intersections with an old 580 case backhoe. At one intersection that had a small building right next to the road I moved all the snow away from the front of the building and stacked it to the side. Figured I'd help out the guy and clear the intersection rather than block his driveway. About three months later when the snow melted he came into the town office to file a complaint. Seems he had a antique thunderbird parted where I had moved the snow. I never knew it was there, and he didn't know I hit it until spring. The town ended up settling and paid him $1200.00 to make him go away. Wasn't the first time, probably won't be the last.

[BWinkel]

Last year after a heavy snowfall I tried to squeak by a Mazda pickup in one of my customer's driveways. I had enough room to get by, but my plow caught and edge and knocked me sideways into the rear quarter of the truck. My truck and plow didn't get a scratch but it creased the side of the Mazda pratty good. The worst part was when I told my customer she said she had borrowed the truck from a friend for a day while her car was in the shop. I ended up sending the owner a check for the damage. Now I think twice before squeaking by vehichles especially with the plow angled.

[CNY Joe]

well it finally happened I was out plowing and back into a cement post about 3 feet high and creased my rear bumper:headwall

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Joe- When did you do this? I don't remember this story. LOL!

Just got in and checked the radar- it's coming!!!!


Bill

[CNY Joe]

The day before the get together. I didn't see it until a few days later when I was blaming the wife for hitting somwthing, I then realized what had happen at one of the office complexes:headwall

[windmill]

Hope you took her out to dinner and said, "sorry dear". :)

[Big Nate's Plowing]

LOL

I peeled up a total of 352 linear feet of asphalt curb/parking stop that wasnt bonded correctly, and I am sure most remember about that island I found last year http://www.nclsllc.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif

[CNY Joe]

windmill, yes I had to take her out to dinner for blaming her after see yelled at me for an hour after I made her feel guilty for the damage...:D

[Mick]

Just this afternoon - I was hooking up the plow. Drove forward - got out to check alignment - put it into Park. Got to the front of the truck and it started backing up. Ran around to the driver side - I'd left the door open. Couldn't move fast enough. I'd gotten ahold of the door handle but it jerked out of my hand and knocked me to the ground. If you know me, you know I have bad knees, so I couldn't get up in time, just watched the truck as it kept rolling backwards. Hit the garage at the edge of the doorway. Knocked the frame post about half a foot from it's foundation, tore up a 1" board and a piece of vinyl siding.

Actually, it's lucky that it hit exactly where it did. The doorway is structurally the strongest part of the garage (except for the concrete foundation). Hitting it at an angle and directly on the framework lessened the potential damage.

[BWinkel]

Mick
Nevermind the garaqe, how's your truck?
Bill

[BWhite]

The truck and house can be fixed . How are you ?

[BWhite]

BWinkel , I agree I never act like a cowboy and try to squeak by cars etc . not worth it

[NNJSnow]

I backed a mason dump over a mail box, heh dam snow piles.

[Mick]

Bill and Bill, thanks for the concern. The truck got a creased rear bumper. I'd already twisted it up pretty bad and straightened it to pass inspection, so didn't really hurt much there. I pulled my shoulder a little from having the door handle yanked out of my hand. Not bad, really. I was mainly lucky that the front wheels didn't run over me. Like you said, garages and houses can be fixed, that's why I have insurance (as the mail this month has reminded me).

[Mick]

The guy I have do home renovations came out today and looked at the garage. He suggested and I agree that I shouldn't even file a claim. We're going to jack up the door, just replace the short pressure-treated 2x6, pull the frame back in place, replace the aluminum on the frame and replace one piece of siding. Won't amount to $100 T&M.

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Mick- #1Glad you're ok , and #2- your right, that is a quick and easy fix, so it's not worth the claim. You'll be done with it in a day easy- just save te beer and pizza for he end:D LOL!

Things like that happen to the best, as long as noody was hurt you can look back and laugh. Hope all goe well with the rest of your season!

Bill

[CNY Joe]

Mick glad to hear you are alright. I agree you shouldn.t file a claim for $100 that is an easy repair.

[Adams Plowing]

Its always nice when things can be fixed for cheap w/o having to make a claim...

[JimL]

Last year around 3am or so after being out for 2 days straight and a full work day before that, I fell asleep.

I was sitting in the middle of an empty lot, in my John Deere 5200 tractor. I must have had it in gear and my foot on the clutch.

When i woke up I had pushed 17 of the short cememnt parking curbs/stops around, they were just setting on the asphault.
I pushed them into a pile and fixed them in the spring.



nother time i was plowing a parkinglot and took out some of the asphault curb with the tractor,

[windmill]

Kind of like setting up a driver training course.:D

[W-n-K Landscaping]

LOL! Windmill!

Knock on wood I have had no major hits this year- which is surprising since I plow a very busy gas station- I'm just waiting for something to happen- the way people come flying in and out of there I'm afraid that someone will hit another customer- I am going to be talking to the regional manager this week about salting the lot. They originally did not want salting(afraid I was going to use rock salt) but I use the same compound that they do on the concrete pads by the pumps, so I hope to be able to convince them to use it- it will definitely make the lot safer, and my job easier.

Bill

[mac]

I hit a K-Car.
Cost 50 Bucks.

[W-n-K Landscaping]

Those things are still around?!?!

LOL!!

Bill:burnout

[windmill]

50 bucks??? Did they give you the papers for it too?? A bit pricey don't you think?
:D

[aleksei]

Uh, what's a K-Car? :confused:
Sorry for the ignorance

aleksei

[W-n-K Landscaping]

I laughed at first, then I remembered that you are in college- so you probably had no idea what we are talknig about- so here is a pic of one of the little pathetic attempts to make a car- LOL!!

Nothing against Dodge- Chevy had their Chevette- Ford had the Pinto, etc....

Bill:D

[aleksei]

Actually still in 11th grade.
Thanks for educating me ;)

aleksei

[EZSnow]

A TOYOTA!!!!:headwall :headwall :headwall :fuming :fuming :fuming

The owner put it where I asked, then I backed into it... So much for this snowfalls profits... can you say DE-DUCT-I-BLE????

ARGH!!

I wiped out her whole left rear taillight and quarter... scuffed my bumper. gotta love trucks!

[Mick]

Thanks for the laugh, mac, aleksei, windmill and cnypropertysvcs. My age was showing. I was thinking the same thing - for $50 they must have totaled it. Fortunately, the pathetic attempts at gas mizers went the way of the scrap heap (after being pushed up any 5 degree incline).