David “Heavy D” SparksDavid “Heavy D” Sparks knows a thing or two about heavy equipment and diesel-powered trucks. However, he nearly got more than he bargained for on a trip to southern Utah to pick up two abandoned excavators. Let’s break down the game film and see just what happened.

Upon arrival at the construction site where the machines had been languishing, Sparks and his crew planned to use a loader to push the excavators onto a semi-truck flatbed trailer and hit the road. Unfortunately, the rusted equipment wasn’t exactly willing to cooperate.

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Heavy D's Challenging Excavator Recovery

“[The excavator] was running good for a second, and then it just quit,” said Sparks. “The tracks weren’t working, even when we did have it running. The only component that was working was the boom going up and down. The bucket was leaking … and it wouldn’t even swivel.”

Undeterred, the crew set to work removing the planetary gear from the final drive on the excavator. Once this was done, the tracks would be disconnected, allowing the machine to roll freely.

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Sparks proceeded to wrap a one-inch steel cable around the excavator, securing it to the loader. After several hard pulls on the cable – bang, it snaps.

“I go to pull on it, and it’s not moving … It’s supposed to be freewheeling right now, but as I look at the tracks, they’re rusted, they’re caked-full of mud and dirt and rocks,” he said. “So finally, we figure out a way to hook chains to each track on the excavator, because that’s going to provide us with more leverage ... so as I start pulling backwards the chain actually starts rolling the tracks.”

Finishing The Job

Excavator Recovery
via YouTube

With the machine finally rolling, the crew just needs to gently push it onto the trailer. Sparks excavated a makeshift ramp to facilitate loading the equipment. After a bit of diesel-powered cajolery, the job was soon done.

The crew member driving the semi-truck summed up the experience: “We were going to get them loaded one way or another,” he said. “Funny thing about situations like this, when you’re in the middle of them, you’re like 'oh man, what’s going on?' But, the day always ends and the job always gets done, you just don’t know exactly how you’re going to get there.”

Source: YouTube

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