# John Deere 350 Excavator Stuck



## kcress31 (Sep 20, 2009)

Had a chance to come across a JD 350 excavator stuck on the side of the highway 2 days ago. He was brushing along and then had to go around a guy wire. The ditch he went into was a little too soft and away he went. It took two wreckers to pull him out. A few times during the pull both of the wreckers front wheels were off of the ground and they were being dragged into the ditch. I was told that the excavator weighs about 42 - 45 ton.


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## kcress31 (Sep 20, 2009)

More pics.


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## Bigfoot Brent (Mar 19, 2008)

WOW! Thats really stuck, wouldn't want that recovery bill.


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## kcress31 (Sep 20, 2009)

Here are the last of the piictures. Enjoy.


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## RBRONKEMA GHTFD (Dec 17, 2006)

How long did it take to get that big thing out? I'd hate to pay that towing bill.


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## zabMasonry (Oct 13, 2007)

This thread is pointless without a story


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## blk90s13 (Sep 1, 2005)

zabMasonry;1188252 said:


> This thread is pointless without a story


+ 1 to that


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## KMBertog (Sep 9, 2010)

wow! how long did it take to get it out?


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## tailboardtech (Feb 28, 2010)

wow! is right! i love the wreckers also, you don't see them very often with sleepers on them but that might just be around here


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## speralandscape (Dec 28, 2008)

zabMasonry;1188252 said:


> This thread is pointless without a story


He explained what happened in his first post.


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

zabMasonry;1188252 said:


> This thread is pointless without a story





blk90s13;1188271 said:


> + 1 to that


You must have missed the first post.....



kcress31;1188179 said:


> Had a chance to come across a JD 350 excavator stuck on the side of the highway 2 days ago. He was brushing along and then had to go around a guy wire. The ditch he went into was a little too soft and away he went. It took two wreckers to pull him out. A few times during the pull both of the wreckers front wheels were off of the ground and they were being dragged into the ditch. I was told that the excavator weighs about 42 - 45 ton.


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## blowerman (Dec 24, 2007)

zabMasonry;1188252 said:


> This thread is pointless without a story


Did you forget to enjoy the pictures?

Thanks for posting Kcress!

Once you get into owning bigger iron, everyone has a good story of stuck machines.
How's the 980H holding up?


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## keitha (Dec 30, 2001)

Didn't make any money that day/ wk, maybe the month. Ouch.

Be a bit with the PW to clean that mucky mess!

Keith


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## theonlybull (Oct 17, 2004)

nice pics.... that would sure ruin your day in a hurry..

last couple times we've had big tow trucks out like that, it was 150$/hour, from the moment he answered the phone, till his beer was cracked when he got back..... though, they've used us pretty good when we've stuck our fire trucks


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## Jello1 (Jan 17, 2008)

Ouch, That looks expensive. I'll have to look for pics. But a local crane company had a guy roll a 50 ton crane off a 10' high embankment when he got too close to the road edge while moving over for a on-coming bus. Took 2, 75 ton cranes to bring it back up.


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## cubanb343 (Dec 13, 2007)

That looks like a hidden creek or pond or something!! Hell of a soft ditch I'd say. Where was he coming from and headed to? Looks like he coulda tracked right down the road


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## Harford13 (Dec 20, 2010)

NICE!!prsport


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## Supper Grassy (May 31, 2007)

Wow. Cant even begin to imagine what that tow had to cost


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## STIHL GUY (Sep 22, 2009)

must of been fun to watch as long as your not the one paying the towing bill


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## Jelinek61 (Mar 16, 2009)

Do you know what he was doing with the excavator before he got stuck? Kinda weird to be tracking it down the side of a road in the middle of winter.


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## bigbadbrad (Mar 1, 2009)

nice wreckers, nothing can beat a western star


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## kcress31 (Sep 20, 2009)

I think the two local wreckers run about 300 - 500 / hour plus the police directing traffic was around another $160 per hour. It took them about 4-5 hours to get it out. They didn't have both wreckers there at the same time though. The excavator had a brushing head on it and he was trimming underneath the fibre optic line running along the highway when he decided to go around a guy wire for one of the poles. That area of the highway is really swampy in the summer and it never really dries out.


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## DeereFarmer (Dec 12, 2005)

What a mess, but awesome pics!


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## 87chevy (Mar 11, 2009)

Imagine what the first tow truck driver was thinking when he got there..


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## fargosnowpro (Dec 4, 2010)

A little too soft is possibly an understatement


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

yea he was up on top as you can see in one of the pics and then drove down into the abyss.symetrio from swamp loggers would of got it out on his own, he would of had to because only his boss can understand what in the hell he is saying lmao


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## DGODGR (Nov 30, 2008)

kcress31;1188179 said:


> I was told that the excavator weighs about 42 - 45 ton.


The 350 is a smart number but only accurate for the base machine. It should weigh 35 metric tons but can weigh more depending on the arrangement. Such things as a long stick, long U/C, reach boom, thumb, to name a few, will add weight to the 35 tonnes. Anyway, it seems as though welding on some ice cleats would be the order of the day. At least it looks as though the machine did not sustain any damage. Was this machine up on the bank (above where it settled into the muck)? If so, I wonder how it ended up laying on it's left side. I would think that if it slid down the hill it would have rolled over on the right side. It's alway pretty cool to see something like this...as long as it's somebody elses iron that's in distress!


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