If you don’t know anything about the world of heavy-duty recovery equipment, then welcome to the rabbit hole. A big job like this is sure to leave you plunging down it, with rigs like the John Deere 470RR and Miller Century M100 working together. Bill’s Towing and Recovery had to bust out both of ’em to retrieve this gigantic Caterpillar excavator after it fell 15 feet through a parking garage in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Officially, the M100 is the world’s largest rotator tow truck model. We’ve written about it a time or two here on this site, showing how easily it can lift smaller tow trucks—and yes, that’s supposed to be plural. This one in particular had its work cut out for it as the CAT in question weighed 135,000 pounds and was rolled over on its side.
Amazingly, the operator walked out on his own and was cleared by a medical team soon after. Peep the local news piece on it here:
Excavator tips into hole at Courthouse Square demolition site
Bill’s Towing and Recovery deployed its M100 in support of its newly acquired John Deere 470RR, a machine specially built to upright derailed train cars. The red-boomed rescuer is pretty well-suited for something like this thanks to a lift capacity of more than 150,000 pounds. It was the lead machine on the operation, but it couldn’t yank out the excavator without a helping hand.
A thorough breakdown of the recovery lives on Facebook, where the towing company posted photos of the mission. First, they had to fill underneath one of the excavator’s tracks so it had a somewhat solid surface underneath it. The crew then put their hard hats together for a safety meeting. With the rigging completed, they used the M100 to assist the 470RR in getting the construction equipment right-side-up. Keeping the stuck excavator steady with the rotator truck, they hooked it up to the John Deere in order to pull it away from the center of the pit.
Another lift proved tricky as the excavator wasn’t moving the way they wanted it to. Following another safety meeting—I respect the thoroughness here—they started the excavator, pulled in the boom, and attempted the lift again. It turned out to be a smart move as the equipment was able to slide back until its tracks rested on the outside wall. A relatively straightforward (or is it straightbackward?) tug finally got it out as the excavator moved under its own power with help from the John Deere.
It’s hard to really grasp how much planning goes into a task like this. Of course, the internet is full of experts who know what they should have done instead, except none of the proposed alternatives seem to make much sense. And plus, this way worked! Everyone was safe and the excavator is now free from its concrete prison.
I’m just glad I don’t have to foot the bill.
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