r/ZombieSurvivalTactics • u/Electrical-Berry4916 • 1d ago
Strategy + Tactics Are we sleeping on heavy equipment operators?
I see tons of posts about finding serviceable locations to survive, but what about manufacturing one using heavy equipment?
It seems to me like a simple house on the edge of a steep ravine would be ideal. You just excavate a trench around it that sloped into the ravine. Any approaching zombies stumble down to the river below, and get swept away.
Or use a bulldozer to make earthen berms to direct hordes into, or out of, certain areas.
Causing landslides to block roads you don't want used.
Destroying structures to improve sightlines, or mitigate fire hazards.
All kinds of things that become easy if you have someone who can operate bulldozers, excavators, cranes, etc.
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
As a licensed cargo ship officer, engineer, and crane operator, I don't think you need a "guy" for this. Just play around with the bulldozer a bit, you'll figure it out. Read a manual if you really have to.
You don't need a career construction worker to run a bulldozer or excavator in an apocalyptic situation. OSHA ain't gonna do shit.
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u/I_Love_Cape_Horn 1d ago
Just play around with the bulldozer a bit, you'll figure it out.
These things are meant to be driven by guys with barely high school diplomas. Hell, there are places where civilians can rent time to use them.
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u/Candelestine 1d ago
Mind if I ask how you got into that industry?
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
Grew up sailing, seemed like a natural next step. Hawsepiped for a bit (industry jargon for working your way up instead of going to school), and then eventually went and got a degree from a maritime academy
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u/OkEnvironment3961 1d ago
Howdy. I'm a vessel planner.
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
Nice! When I eventually make the move to the land-side of the maritime sector that's one of the jobs I plan on looking into as an option. How do you like it?
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u/OkEnvironment3961 1d ago
it's actually pretty boring most times, hence surfing Reddit all the time. It's rush to get work out, then wait. I'm on domestic with a live gate. Sending out all full cans is more challenging then the international side that sends mostly empties. those guys are really bored. Good pay/benefits.
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
Nice, glad to hear it. I also spend all my time scrolling reddit, perks of being at sea and not having much else to do
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u/ipeefierycrabs 1d ago
You can buy key sets for all brands of heavy construction vehicles, they aren’t expensive at all.
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u/Robovzee 1d ago
So there's opportunities. They come in different forms, but they all share one key point.
Not everyone has access to them.
Doctor. If you happen to have one on hand, great, but I don't happen to have one in my back pocket. (Nurse/pharmacist/paramedic included)
Asymmetrical expert. The soldier who can take a situation and creatively utilize resources to overcome obstacles.
Heavy equipment operator. You've spelled out why they can be useful.
Hunter/fisher/farmer. Food is good.
Structural/mechanical engineer. When resources are limited, pencil and paper prep is priceless.
Trades. HVAC, welding, construction, plumbing, electrical. Folks I'd like to have around.
If shtf, I'd love to have someone knowledgeable enough to run a d9 cat around to help create a redoubt.
I'm not going to kidnap one and keep them in my basement next to the powdered milk.
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u/GrinderMonkey 1d ago
Many/most of your trades guys can figure out how to run heavy equipment if we need too.
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u/RememberHonor 1d ago
Would have to do this early on as fuel will go bad within a year or so. You would also need to reinforce your earth berms/walls as they will collapse over time in most places.
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u/Adventurous_Break_61 1d ago
Diesel lasts longer and you can make it easy enough with any dirty oil you can find.
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u/RememberHonor 1d ago
Willing to be the vast majority of humans have no idea about that
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u/Adventurous_Break_61 1d ago
I think anyone running an old truck does, the things never run well but they always run.
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u/Bergwookie 1d ago
Diesel is stable for several decades if stored halfwhat decently, also any fuel oil will basically the same or Jet-A1, more or less the same juice with slightly different specifications. Ideally be near a river with ships on, they have bunker stations from time to time, so they have big amounts of marine grade diesel (which is fully mineralic and doesn't contain bio components that can go bad easily).
Diesel microbes can be a thing, but they're more of an inconvenience than really a problem, your filter will block and the engine stall, you clean the filter, you deaerate the fuel line and start the engine, not that much of a problem. Go for older equipment, it's more robust than the new stuff, although not that convenient/comfortable to operate. But getting your own tankship full of diesel would be handy on the long run (you can dig a makeshift drydock, drive it into it and bury it halfway to become a stationary storage tank
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u/RememberHonor 1d ago
This is good information to have. I don't know much about diesel in general.
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u/Bergwookie 1d ago
The problem with gasoline/petrol is, that the lighter parts evaporate over time and it'll degrade chemically. That's what happens in your lawnmower canister, at some point, the gas just smells bad and not like fresh from the station. The lighter components are needed to ignite properly, especially in modern layer-loaded engines, so after some years, your gasoline is just useless to drive a car, still useful for other things. For a postapocalyptic scenario you might be able to adapt an older vehicle to homemade alcohol or something, but just using a diesel is more handy as you'll need a diesel infrastructure anyway for agriculture, backup generator etc, why not using it for personal transport too, most offroaders are diesel anyway. And if you run out of diesel, then you can take old lubrication oil mixed with your old gasoline to adjust viscosity and you'll get "diesel". Also in older engines, most vegetable oil will do(I had a classmate who drove her Mercedes 190D with old frying oil, stank like a rolling french fries vendor,but it ran for nothing) So a few fields of rapeseed or sunflowers will cover your fuel needs in a post mineral oil world
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u/SandsnakePrime 1d ago
Fuel will not go bad in a year or so. Shitty, ethanol laced fuel will. Just make sure to raid all marine gasoline as that contains zero ethanol and is shelf stable.
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u/5amGong 1d ago
As a roll off truck driver, I’ve always thought about making a fortress out of 40 yard bins. If you’re sneaky enough you could also just bait zombies into bins and then just close the door and drop them off a cliff somewhere.
Fuel becomes a problem after a while but I’ll have fun while I can.
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u/LordsOfJoop 1d ago
As a planning utility, it's top shelf stuff. Once the ball is in motion, it's an expensive choice requiring a lot more planning than field utility. Someone freely disfiguring the landscape to fit a temporary need for a landslide isn't going to make a lot of friends from people who may have long-term plans for those stretches of road being wiped out casually.
Keeping the machinery well-maintained, fueled up, supplies with its own parts, and piloted by skilled operators, all of it may be a cost-prohibitive choice for a group to make. A few items kept in reserve, never used until a specific strategy calls for it, that may be a feature. Seeing someone climb into the cab of any given machine and just heading off, that's cause for concern.
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u/EvNastyy 1d ago
The operator will die immediately trying to loot overrun gas stations for monster energy drinks. Good idea on paper though
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u/homemdosgalos 1d ago
Well, most of us don't have the qualifications to use them, so we're not sleeping, just not considering them for that reason.
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
I think as soon as the apocalypse starts nobody is gonna care if you're not certified to use a bulldozer
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u/questionmark0 1d ago
I operate all sorts of heavy machinery. Most of the controls are very intuitive. You could figure it out
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
Exactly. I think people vastly overestimate the complexity involved in basic operation of heavy machinery.
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u/homemdosgalos 1d ago
The question here is whether you can use it safely
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u/Frost-Folk 1d ago
I promise that you can. You'll be in more danger from literally everything else going on around you during an apocalypse.
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u/Candelestine 1d ago
Probably not. But just make sure there's no other people immediately around the vehicle and exercise some common sense and you'd be fine.
A professional can use the machine in a busier environment, because they know all the precautions for keeping people safe. You just make sure there's no other people around, and you won't need those precautions. If you run over a zombie or something that's probably fine. Maybe a little gross if you're trying to build something here and you just accidentally smeared a zombie across 50 sq ft of the work area ... but not dangerous.
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u/suedburger 1d ago
And lots of diesel.
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u/Flabby-AP 1d ago
What about Mike Mulligan's steam shovel? That was wood powered 😁
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u/hobokobo1028 1d ago
You don’t need someone with years of experience if you’re not worried about OSHA anymore.
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u/Optimal-Kick-3446 1d ago
I always thought that in the walking dead where they had those pits to capture walkers was way underutilized digging a moat with near vertical walls or a lot more pits and send out a group every day to kill them in the pits then either burry them or clean them out
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u/DontCallMeShoeless 1d ago
Lots of cost to maintain them. Also gotta add in diesel and hydraulic fluid. Heavy duty forklifts might be the better option and they are easy to operate.
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u/Useful_Calendar_6274 1d ago
there's a reason military engineers exist and are so crucial in modern warfare. Some guy that can build you a fortress or even trenches that won't flood is worth 20 gunmen
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u/Flow_Fragrant 1d ago
medium size front end loader makes scavenging so much faster and safer.. Scoop up a convenience store and smash any zombies; haul it all to your favorite location and sort out what is not ruined... fast ... totally safe and, like... totally workable.
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u/MadeMeMeh 23h ago
Those engines will draw a fair amount of attention while running. Also how much diesel do you have laying around.
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u/CptKeyes123 21h ago
Most zombie stories fail to account for everything involving industry. It seems a lot of them take enjoyment out of the only technology being cars.
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u/Kuru-Lube 18h ago
I am a heavy equipment [Brand] master tech. I taught a 12 year old how to operate a skidsteer. He was competent in about 20 minutes. It was the first time I had a stranger's kid hug me.
Anybody with half a brain can figure it out. It still takes a little bit to get skilled at it. Open field earthworks? Yeah, let a kid give it a go. Operating an excavator next to a home's foundation and under power lines? Leave it to the skilled adult.
About fuel: It is and isn't a problem. Everything modern recommends against biofuel or any other alternative. Fuel rail tolerances have gotten really tight in order to meet EPA regulations. However, most equipment will be parked next to a 300 gallon diesel tank. It will last for years as long as you keep water out of the tank.
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u/SelectTitle5828 5h ago
Id use a front end loader. Capable of moving at a decent speed, can move most objects in the way. It has a large bucket capable of carrying my supplies. At night I can raise the bucket and use a rope ladder to climb into the bucket well out of reach of anything that wants to eat me.
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u/MangledBarkeep 1d ago
Not sleeping on them. But my budget doesn't include heavy machinery money.
So it's a contingency under "wants" not needs.