Close one!

[dr deuce]

Today I was using Annie the CCKW-Schield-Bantam crane to lift my 9 ft snowplow and 7.5 ft wing for the 42 Chev plow truck out of their summer storage positions.

After I had parked Annie, I was about to leave for some lunch when my Son in Law yelled up to me needing my help.

He had been using the brush-hog on the back of his Kabota tractor to clear out the summers growth along the sides of the long driveway to his house and past the POD (Pembroke Ordnance Depot)

He had rolled the Kabota onto its side and luckily was thrown out with only a scrapped up shin!

He asked if we could right it with Annie. I naturally replied that I could but it would be tricky with the power lines. I would have to get off of the driveway so I would be outboard of the lines.

We attached a chain to the roll bar and I proceeded to lift the tractor. I almost had it righted when one of the boom extender cables snapped! Fortunately when I had added the extension to the boom, I had kept the round bracket that connects the two boom cable pulleys that the boom extenders attach to. The boom dropped about a foot and the other cable held. The connection bracket went to the limit and jammed the two pulleys. Without that connection bracket, the pulley with the broken cable would have flown back to the cab of the crane and allowed the other pulley, holding the boom to have all that extra cable thus falling!

We finished righting the Kabota with his PU truck while I held it with Annie. (I don;t think I could have lowered the boom anyways with the pulleys jammed with that weight on it)

I have since replaced the broken cable and bought enough so I can replace the other one...