Son of a BEESTING!

canadiantreeman

canadiantreeman

TreeHouser
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
1,744
Location
Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
So, the fellas were out yesterday with the forestry unit while I did estimates, and I had left my climbing gear and rope bag on the top of the hydraulic oil resevoir (storage is at a premium on that truck) from the day before. Well today I went to grab my gear and was informed that my rope bag, with 3 ball lock williams and a BRAND SPANKING eye to eye HRC hitch cord, as well as my hitchclimber and 120' single eye tachyon, was run over by the rear axle of the truck as they went to dump. I said, shit man, now I gotta get this all replaced and the driver just said, well it ain't broken so don't even worry about it.

Yeah, tell that to my kids. Daddy needs to climb on a life support system thats been compressed by the rear axle of a fully loaded 5 tonne truck, right. :what:

So, what do you all think? My fault for leaving it on the truck?
 
I would hope not you are working for and with them (Co.) But I hear ya on compressed/ compromised My hope is they take care of ya.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6
Yeah, I thought so. It just seems disrespectful that they neither removed my gear for me nor had the presence of mind to avoid running it over. The gear was stowed right beside the lower hydraulic controls for the boom, which means one of them had to stand right beside it in order to operate the boom and dump. Not to mention that I'm pretty good at putting people's gear back in the tool bin when they're not on the truck. It sux...but lesson learned. I probably didn't even think about it, we usually leave the gear on the trucks as its a locked yard, only take it off during inclement weather. Ughhh.
 
I just don't think I could be comfortable with leaving my kit unattended and unsecured on the truck, outdoors, overnight. I'm just too anal about my gear to do that. I agree the crew acted stupidly.
 
You have to replace rope that was in a bag and got ran over? Doesn't sound like the end of the world.

Even the biners should be fine.

Storing gear on a hydraulic tank doesn't seem like the best idea though.
 
whats the ground pressure psi of the tires? is it enough to cause damage? Honest question, I am no gear expert.
On a side note, maybe you don't need to babysit anyone elses gear anymore either? :/:
 
Damn! This is why I'm a stickler about having everything go back eggzactly where it was got from. Not in another box or on another hook, but exactly where it came from.

sh-t happens, that sucks. I'd inspect the gear closely and probably still use it though. By no means am I endorsing that you do the same though.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11
I figured I would be on the truck next day, and summarily forgot about it. Agreed, it ain't the end of the world. I just spoke with my old boss in Calgary and he just had the motor on his bucket truck die on him, 17k fix. Sure put it in perspective. I suppose its an expensive lesson. I was thinking of welding a storage bin on the roof-rack, I've seen a few Asplundh trucks around here like that. There really isn't another place on the truck, other than in the dump box, to store the gear. The other unit we has has way more storage, but the transverse lift on the truck gobbles up a lot of space.

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable climbing away on the rope and biners anymore, man. These two fellas lost a pole saw I brought in last year, left it on a jobsite I was doing estimates again (blasted estimates). I told the employers about it and they did nothing. I found it later, but I'm not expecting jack from this. It has been mentioned before, I should have just put it in the toolshed. Duh.
 
If you're not going to climb on the rope, then don't trash it. Put it away some place safe and dry. Then when you pull it out in 3-4 years you'll say to yourself "Damn, this is a nice rope! I'm going to start using it again!"

I'm sorry if some experts here disagree, but IMO lifelines are a lot more durable than some of us give them credit for. I cannot imagine a lifeline being damaged to the point of becoming unusable simply by being squished under a truck tire. We abuse our ropes more than that burning down out of a tree on a hot friction hitch. If the rope is damaged to the point of being unsafe then there will be a noticeable lump, flat spot, tear, melted spot or whatever indicating damage to the rope. Fibers are either broken or they're not. We use ropes with a breaking strength of 40-50 times our climbing weight and then freak out if we get a dirty spot on it or if somebody steps on it. I know it doesn't make it right, but the first guy I climbed for used to use his hank of lowering line as his wheel chock for his truck or chipper. It got run over on a regular basis.
 
What sort of ground were they dumping on? Most of my dumpsites are quite 'soft' they're certainly a far cry from paved or anything. I'm not going to try and convince you to climb on gear that you question. Confidence in your gear/systems is half the battle with climbing. But I would think if the rope was physically damaged from the drive over that it would show signs that could be felt or seen.

Still sucks though, slap them fools upside the head and tell them to be more on the ball!
 
Lol see, even the skwerlyman agrees with me!

Now we'll both get in trouble from the safety nazi's.
 
Thats pretty funny, a small walnut:lol: Maybe this could become your small tree or soft ground rope:lol: Sorry about your gear but that struck me as funny. I concur with the fellas on the rope, inspect and keep on using it, an 8k line aint goin to snap with your punny 200lbs;) I would pitch the binners though, they dont like bending as much as the rope.

To put things in perspective I was break testing a new idea of mine the other day and pulled on a 1/2 stable braid with splice to 9200lbs:O A weld broke before the rope.... As Sqwerlito said rope is some tough stuff
 
Auction it off as "Damaged Safety Equipment" on eBay.....:D

I concur with Brian. I wouldn't worry about the rope. The caribiners might be compromised, but a close inspection should show any damage. Just exactly how the tire ran over it could make a huge difference. It may have only run over part of the rope and missed the crabs completely.

I had an impatient customer run over my saddle with his pickup several months ago. In too big a hurry and too lazy to watch where he was going.
 
I'm not about to tell you the gear is unsafe...or safe. That's the problem. No one knows...not these guys, not the guys who let it happen, not you.

To me, a few hundred bucks worth of gear is chump change...not worth wondering about.
 
Again, instead of ditching them I recommend tagging them and sticking them in a box somewhere. Then in 5 years when you pull them out again you can reevaluate them at that time. I know when I first started getting all crazy with gear that I took an awful lot of stuff out of service that was really in excellent shape. A few years allowed my opinions to change.

I'm not suggesting you use damaged gear, I'm just saying that if there is absolutely no physical evidence of damage then maybe it might not be so bad after all. Sure, aluminum biners can crack. But if they aren't cracked or bent then they aren't cracked or bent. And a rubber tire rolling over it in the mud probably isn't going to stress it as much as you may think right now.

Just don't throw the stuff away. You can always ditch it later if you find physical evidence of weakness, or after 5 years you still refuse to trust it.
 
Aye, but he who ran over the blower could never be called lazy. Not as hard as he's been working lately! :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Knotorious
Current/Ideal Bridge Setups (Plus Hardware) for Your Climbing Harness!
Replies
22
Views
2K
Knotorious
Knotorious
cory
Decluttering
2 3 4
Replies
79
Views
3K
BeerGeek
BeerGeek
cerberus
Super-dead limb, conks/mushrooms all the way down stem to the trunk...reallly don't wanna say No to a
Replies
8
Views
1K
CurSedVoyce
CurSedVoyce
Roundhouse
Rope access guy seeking experience in the trees
2 3
Replies
54
Views
3K
Roundhouse
Roundhouse
Tree09
Kyles redneck builds/ ideas
14 15 16
Replies
379
Views
18K
davidwyby
davidwyby
Back
Top