Thought I would post some pics and commentary on some jobs I have done recently. This project was an interesting one. A frozen food processing facility was installing a new cooler. Problem was the building had a high water table underneath the slab where the new cooler was going. Our job was to excavate 22" of very sticky, very wet clay and replace with woven geotextile fabric and #57 stone to separate the water from the -10 F degree cooler that would sitting on top of it. The Engineer was worried the cooler would freeze the ground and buckle the $100K cooler. This project was done in July, a rather dry time in this part of the country and as you can see from the pictures, there was a substantial amount of ground water. The staging area in the loading zone. T250, S300 and PC78 The bay we were working in. Friday afternoon we mobilized in and ditched the area to a sump pump. Saturday morning we started hauling out the muck. It was a challenge with several large fans to keep the exhaust vented to the outside. The temp inside the plastic offed area was over 100 F. Every bucket had to go out a loading dock door and into the truck. I don't know how many trips I made that very long Saturday.
Some pics of the geotextile fabric and gravel going in. There was also a bore from the loading dock into the bay we were working on to allow the ground water to pass through and exit the cooler area (we did not do that). One of many buckets of very wet, very sticky clay. Woven geotextile fabric going down and gravel going in. We started at 6 AM and left there at 11 PM, it was a helluva long day but we got it done.:dizzy We had to have our part done and cleaned up before the following Monday as they had shipments going out.
A couple of more from the same job: The Engineer wanted a french drain to collect any water that could be above the outside wall of the cooler room to be collected, piped through the area we excavated and filled with stone and tied into the drain that was bored to the loading doc area. Loading out the spoil The tie into the building, the cooler room is on the other side Finished shot of the drain, prior to patching This shows the amount of ground water we had to deal with. This is the end of the bore casing, draining into the parking lot/loading dock area This was an add on while we were there. There was a section of the concrete parking/loading dock area that failed. We saw cut the concrete and excavated the subgrade, only to find probably the worst mess underneath a parking lot I have seen. Undercut about 10CY and pulled out an old tree stump. It was a wonder the concrete had held up that long with heavy truck traffic.:beatsme
I always enjoy your posts CM. Looks like quite the interesting project. Is that PC78 your machine or rental? How is your work load looking for this year?
Thanks EGS. I have finaly figured out how to resize batches of pictures on my Mac, so I have been going through them and picking out the interesting ones. I've got a couple of more projects that I'll post pics of as I get time. The PC78, S300 and dump trucks belong to a business partner of mine. In this economy we have had to get creative and pool resources together to get and complete the few projects that are out there. The only piece of iron I had on that job was the T250.
Nice work CM. I've drilled and installed horizontal drains in that Alabama clay...damn stuff is like drilling peanut butter, and when you loose drilling fluid circulation and friction dries the stuff out, it'll lock up a drill stem tight.
Very nice work in not so good conditions. Amazing to see the water table that high. Great to see you were able to pool you equipment and make the project work. Thanks for sharing with us.
Interesting project CM...thanks for the pics! When I was reading your description of the work and cooler I kept thinking that I had heard about this project at some point. Maybe you mentioned it in an older post while doing the job. Nice to see the details and results.
Thanks for the kind comments. Yeah Willie, the ol' boys that made the bore had a tough time. They were there for 3 days for a 1/2 day bore. They shot the bore the first time and were 3" lower on the inside, which totally defeated the purpose of a gravity drain ointhead, so they had to pull out the casing and try to shoot it again. Problem was the sticky clay just kept guiding the bit into the existing hole. They finally shot it level and we blocked our 2" PVC (that ran from the back wall of the cooler room that connected the french drain on the upper side of the building) to provide a very limited amount of fall to the outside. The good part about that was the bore casing was 3' below finished grade in the cooler room, which will allow the head pressure of the ground water to push it through. Dirty, that's the way we have been working our projects here lately. I have know this gentleman for over 20 years and we have a good working relationship. In this economy we don't want any payments for new iron or pay rent for something the other one has, if that makes sense. We take the jobs, choose the proper piece of iron out of both our stables for the job and estimate the costs. Once the job is completed, the equipment is paid according to the estimated costs and then the remainder (overhead and profit) is split 50/50. In essence we are subs to ourselves. It's a little different way of doing things and as long as you have trust in your partner, it works well. The emphasis being on trust.:cool2 Oldandworn, I think I did reference this project in the past. This was done in July '11. I have a couple of more projects we've done and we are starting the conduit and pond filling job I started the thread on asking pointers of blowing a string through conduit today. With the rate I am going on posting pics, those pics should be in this thread sometime around October..
nice job.
Another pic of the parking lot repair. This shows how nasty it really was. I filled the hole with 2 layers of geotextile and #57 stone. It was the best we could do with the amount of $$ the owner wanted to spend.
I went to "help" my 82 year old Grandpa take down 2 30" + pine trees in his back yard that were dead due to pine beetles. This is how this went - Friday afternoon my mom calls me and tells me that Grandpa is going to cut down the 2 dead pines in the backyard by himself and no one is able to talk him out of it.:cool2 Now I feel totally responsible for this since the weekend prior I was visiting them and remarked about how he had two dead pines from pine beetles and how they needed to come down... ointhead I take off to the Grandparents house that Friday and luckily Grandpa was having a problem with is 30 year old homelite and he wasn't able to start cutting before I got there. After a little discussion, it became his "idea" that we should wait until tomorrow, when I could bring the T250 and grapple down to "help" him clean up the trees once they're on the ground. Me and my Grandpa are close so I was really the only one that could talk him out of cutting those trees down by himself. I'll tell you what, that old man worked my butt off cutting those trees up. It was 100 degrees and I had to work faster than him (this is a man that would literally frame houses by himself :cool2) cutting up the trees because he wasn't going to take a break until they were on the ground and cut up ready to pile. Luckily I had borrowed a Husky from a friend of mine and it worked circles around the homelite. Unloading the machine, my trusted buddy and partner laying in the grass supervising..
Well done on all counts.
Thanks ddigger! Now this was one of those projects that I really love to do. No engineers, no staking, no specs - just meet with the landowner and make their vision a reality. This was on a "gentleman's" farm where the owners wanted a new drive that would go over the pond dam and connect with the existing driveway to make it a circle. The owners live full time in Arizona and this farm is where they are planning on retiring in a few years. It was a pleasure working with this couple and I am sure I will be down there again. Stripping the topsoil for the new driveway. Notice the tire tracks in the grass, that was where I rode with the wife around to determine where she wanted the new drive - the true essence of "design-build". Topsoil is stripped and ready for red dirt to go in to bring the drive to grade before stone goes down. I was able to borrow the red dirt from on site and in turn bury some brush/stumps the owner had piled up, in the borrow pit. He was very happy to have his stump piles cleaned up. Red dirt is bladed in over the pond dam and ready for the compactor. There are two ponds here, one upper and one lower. They were nicely stocked for small ponds. Fueling up at the end of the day. I did this project by myself other than the drivers tailgating the stone. Once again my "supervisor" on the trail of some unknown to me scent. This guy was cool to work with. He brought his Kubota to cut the fields and duct taped to his dash was an Ipad, so he could listen to music and receive his emails. Nothing like a "high-tech redneck".:drinkup
Nice job DFC, hey no mud. You had to like that, and sure makes thing go so much better having good conditions. Glad you have worked out a way to pool with another person to do the bigger jobs. It would be nice if I could get into a deal like that. Thanks for sharing real good pictures.
Thank you for the kind words dirty4fun. I have had to think outside the "box" in order to get work and so far, so good. I have been burned by a couple of partnerships in the past and armed with that hard earned knowledge, I proceed with caution and surround myself with good people, or try to anyway. Yeah, not having to deal with mud, tight working conditions and an almost unachievable timeline was a nice change. This project involved putting down some RAP on a private driveway. The drive had a good gravel base but one section was pumping, so we laid down some non-woven geo-textile we had at the shop to bridge the area. The hydro-seeder on the trailer behind my pickup was used to wet the RAP down, something I learned here on HEF. This was the first project that I have used RAP on and it worked OK. It was August when we put it down and we used several tanks of water while we were spreading and compacting it. First load spread with the truck Finished section
Nice work
I missed that question EGS. So far 2012 seems to be picking up. Right now we are booked up through April, beginning of May with larger jobs that we have not seen in a while. We are starting a conduit and temp. retention pond fill-in tomorrow. On this same project I am also bidding extending a street 200 LF - grading, sewer (storm and san) and domestic water. The developer has sold one of the lots to a local credit union to build a new bank and all this work is in order to get this lot ready to build on. Friday I received the site plans from the construction manager for the credit union to bid on their site work as well. The PM for the CM wants us to do the work since we are familiar with the site and will already be there. They will have export from the bank site and we have it worked out with the developer to use the export on-site in other areas and in exchange the developer is giving them topsoil in return. With this arrangement, we will be under anyone else that prices the job. I have another large job lined up 1hr away from home base that involves grading for erosion control - rills, ruts and slopes, that will take a few weeks to complete. This job also involves quite a bit of rip-rap which my partner will be hauling with his tri-axles. So far so good and I am holding my breath that it stays this way.
Glad to hear things are looking up CM. Nice projects you have posted there. Like you, I have more work lined up than I have seen in a while, if I copuld just get it started. Agencies are slower than ever in approving permits.
Thanks Jerry, glad to see some work loosening up on the other side of the country as well. I think the economy is improving, albeit very slowly. Certain segments seem to be doing OK - industrial, retail and commercial but anything residential, other than a few custom build projects, is non-existent. Same here with the permitting agencies, everything seems slower to get started even thought there is not much going on.:beatsme
Is that HEF's very own CM1995 unchaining the T250? You and me both.
No, that's my evil twin.:tong
I thought I would post a few pics since we have this huge rain event pummeling the southeast and it kinda puts a damper on any dirt work. First a small parking lot for a used car dealership. Supply, haul, spread and compact dense grade base. This project was a very long driveway that was in need of some much needed maintenance. This is what it was before we started. The D5G earning it's keep. Red rock tailgated after we re-graded the drive and installed much needed side ditches. The problem the owner had was the original dirt guy just plowed a road in and didn't plan on managing the water. As you can tell from the pics, the terrain this driveway traversed needed a lot of water management. The T250 clipping and dressing the red rock prior to compacting. Handy little bugger that machine is. The red rock we used is a by-product of the iron ore mines that once dotted the landscape in my area. There are several "quarries" around that screen and sell this material. It's composition is similar to slate but has a red color due to the iron content. It's great material for driveways and parking lots and is on par with the cost of crushed limestone depending on how far you have to truck it, plus it just looks nice.
nice set up
steep slope ??
Thanks Maola and welcome to HEF!:drinkup Yeah that drive was rather steep where it exited to the public road and then it went through some rolling hills. The tri's had a hard time getting up the hill in the first pics empty. They had to raise their beds to put more weight on the rears but what complicated that was an overhead telephone line. 3/4 the way to the top of the drive they had to lower their bed to keep from snagging the line. Fortunately we have some good drivers and there were no mishaps.:notworthy
A couple of pics from the January tornados that came through the area. It's very strange for us to get tornados that early in the year. These storms caused a lot of damage in the area but nothing like the April 2011 tornados that came through. I showed up to clean up some trees in the yard, no big deal. Well it turned out to be more than I bargained for, I had to help cut this tree off the roof and then maneuver the stump to the from yard. All in a days work... I drug the tree stump to the front yard to be piled at the street to picked up by the city contractors. It was a chore for the T250, way over it's weight limit so I pushed it, drug it and pushed it again through a gate in the fence, around the house and to the front yard.:cool2 This is a shot of another tree in the front yard that I had to get out of the ground and pushed to the street. This was easier than the one that was on the house. As we were cleaning up the trees on this house, the power company was just just stringing lines and restoring power to this area.
Oh man, don't remind me of April '11 CM, I didn't have any property damage myself, but I was without power for six days. That sucked! :tong
That looks familar for this area too. Had another tornado on March 2nd '12 that crossed the same path as the April '11 tornados. Although with much less ferocity. But still, some people's who'd just rebuilt had damage again. :Banghead
Nice Work CM1995. Where in the world is all of that water coming from ? The water table taht low in the area ? I love looking at these kind of threads. Thanks for taking th etime to post.
The area the building was built on was a natural valley and the best I can figure is the ground water still finds it's way under the fill that was placed many years ago and the natural ground.:beatsme What I do know is it was a lot of water and a big mess.
Thought I would add a few more pics and commentary of some tornado cleanup I did a couple of months ago. These were the same January tornados that came through and blew the trees over on the house in the other pics. It's very rare for us to get tornados in January in Alabama. This was all that was left of the first garden home when I arrived. Local volunteers had cleaned up what debris they could. This was taken in what was the living room. The holes in the drywall are from flying debris. You can see the kitchen tile to the left in the picture. It was an easy job for the T250. The family rode out the tornado in the hall bath which is on the other side of the brown wall, all 4 of them - it's a miracle they walked away.:notworthy One of the most erie things to see was the amount of sod and mud that was plastered all over the interior walls of the houses. This was taken inside a house that was 60% intact. The front windows were blown out but the majority of the structure was still there. The T250 was called upon again to complete the demo on the second house. The contractor wanted to save the slab so that left the 953C at home, which would have been my first choice. It was tricky getting the roof structure down, but I started at the garage that was still intact and laid it down, inside it's footprint. Then I was able to get high enough to take the main roof structure down. The house in the background is similar to the one I took down. House down, slab cleaned up and debris pushed to the street. The protocol was to get all the debris to the street for the FEMA contractors to come in and haul it away. This particular house we loaded out in 30 yards, as the insurance paid for it but the other debris from the other houses are still waiting on the FEMA contractors to haul away..:cool2 The amount of destruction in this neighborhood was mind blowing, I love demo but this was totally different....
naders are mean mean things. :yup
Another job. This was a "we need to remove a tri-axle load of dirt and do a little grading around the house, it's closing soon" type job. Well as usual it was a little more than that. Removed 2 tri-axle loads of dirt from the driveway, this was a garden home lot, and spread another 20 CY's around the house and then they needed the backyard "dressed up".:cool2 First pic is grading under the deck. Had to bring the fill material between the two houses with the T250 and dump it off the hill. Then carry each bucket with the 334 and carefully place it under the deck and dress the "slope". Different view, the excavator is in the same position as the first pic, just rotated.
Enjoyed looking at your work, CM. I don't come here often enough, but know you're just down the road a few hours... and we often pull or against the same teams, etc. Good pics and commentary of your work. My work isn't as exciting or diverse (and as of this moment, I'm okay with that...) but customers are.. maybe not so diverse... most all jobs just need "dressing up" by the time they call me (or at least that's what they think/hope/wish.) Thanks for sharing your joys and pains... Steve
Thanks for viewing and reading the thread Steve. I seem to get into all sorts of projects, I guess it keeps life interesting. I pull for the Tigers, the orange and blue kind but I was a purple and gold tiger last January.....
This is your mission should you choose to accept it. Fill in temporary retention pond with material stockpile adjacent to it. Intel reports the pond will require 8K CY to fill and on-site material is of good quality. (Later on that bit of intel.. ) Existing retention pond is holding some water and has approx. 1' of muck that will need to be extricated. This mission must be completed in 20 working days. If you choose to accept this mission, payment will only be made once project is completed. In 15 seconds, this message will self destruct... Yeah, that's pretty much how it went. First course of action is to dig a sump and start pumping Second, put the dozer in there and start pushing the muck. I like to keep a dam pushed up that forces the water to the sump. I V-ditched the middle so the water had somewhere to go. Another picture of the sump area. The white PVC contraption is hooked to a 12" ADS pipe that goes into a 15" RCP. This was the skimmer for the pond. Pond stripped and cleaned, ready for proof roll. Proof roll of existing soil went well, compacting the existing sub-grade
Stripping the stockpile. It had very little vegetation on it and if it were my project I wouldn't have bothered as what little was there would have been thoroughly mixed in and not caused a problem. However, the job spec's were to strip the stockpile.. Mixing the fill prior to loading. Now back to the "Intel" that the stockpile contained good fill material...hardly. It consisted of many different types of what I suspect unsuitable spoils from the shopping center next door. Yellow and red clay that was wet and sticky. We had to plow the pile and let it dry. We fought moisture on our compaction tests pretty much the entire time. Only the core of the pile was a nice red silty-clay material that was a very easy to work. Typical fill lift. This was repeated many times. In the background is the spoil pile and you can see where I plowed the pile in order to dry it out while we were loading.
Decent size dirt project CM, beats mowing with a brush cutter eh.
We have the same skimmer contraptions up here. Seem like so much fun... not. Sounds like your Intel of "good dirt" should have said "contractor's mix" instead. Stockpiles on jobs almost always seem to be a risk like that. The "leftovers" from a previous phase, or just a jumble of junk that couldn't be lost in a borrow pit or used as fill. And it's always what is left to use to finish a job.
Yeah it does Willie, especially when the T250 needs the coils clean. BTW - when is that thread about cleaning the Bobcat evaporator coils coming...:cool2 That's just what it was Jim "leftovers". We fought that crap from day one but met every compaction test come hell or high water. The salt in the wound was the parcel next to this where they are currently building a bank. I bid the job but was high according to the GC and they had 3K yards of good material to export. We finished filling the pond with the "leftovers" and not a month later they are stockpiling good fill material on an adjacent lot in the development.:Banghead Oh well, that's how this business goes.
My friend in the business had a bad day. One of his tri-axles was dumping dense grade into a road widener on a county paving job. The truck was full and they started on a section of the road that has a slight angle. The road widener operator kept giving the driver the hand signal to go up in order to fill the hopper. The trucks tailgate was chained to keep a steady feed into the hopper. Well the road had a steeper pitch than it looked..... I got the call - "Hey what are you doing" Me - "At the shop doing maintenance" (IE - not much of anything ) Buddy - " I need your help." Me - "Sure no problem, what's up?" Buddy - "I have a truck turned over on HWY such and such" Me -"Oh #$%^ is the driver OK?" Buddy - "Yes, he's fine but the road is blocked and we have a major FUBAR." Me - "Loading up mini-ex and on my way." That's just how it happens when you have a good Buddy that needs help calls. You know he would do the same for you. As the Sheriff blocked the road, I had to take the mini and dig the load out. First thing was beating down the asphalt apron so the tailgate would release. When the truck went over all sorts of things got out of whack. I didn't get to take many pictures since I was operating the mini and traffic was stopped while we uprighted the truck. It was a hell of a day. This was the result - The tow truck line was hooked and pulling it over. The truck is currently at the frame shop and should be back in service in a few weeks.
That would qualify as a bad day. :yup
Your sheriff must be much nicer than ours. Out here blocking road = wrecker ASAP and big $$$$$ Other than that been there done that with a friend in need. my last situation like that was a 6:00AM phone call "where are you and what are you doing? Scratch that drop what your doing and grab your boom truck i got a load of steel laid out on the freeway" I beat the wrecker there and got it all cleaned up in less than 45 min. But people were P.O'ed
The Sheriff blocked the road for us.:thumbsup Thought I would update the thread with some projects of the past. This was an erosion control job we did last Jan. Had to stabilize the site, add rip-rap ditches, silt fencing and seed/hay the disturbed areas. It was a delicate job as what ever we messed up had to be seeded and it was a lump sum bid. We removed about 1500 feet of old silt fencing as well. I saved all of the T posts and have not bought any posts the whole year for other projects. I love recycling. The property had been 1/2 developed prior to the real estate crash of '08. We had to put new silt fence around the inlets and mulch the disturbed area. We used a T250, 334 mini and chain saws to selectively get to each inlet. There were 5 total. One of 3 rip-rap ditches we installed. My old faithful buddy tracking a scent only she knows. This property is located in a heavily developed area but was full of deer. I was walking the property one day after lunch and rustled up a 6 point buck that was lounging in the pines. My little buddy has had a rough year. She blew her ACL in her left leg, has cancer and turned 13 last July. She is still kicking and goes with me to work every now and then. She is undergoing treatment at Auburn University's veterinarian school for the cancer. She is going in for a chemo treatment on Tuesday, so far the cancer is in remission. The wife and I keep our fingers crossed and cherish each day.
This was a Taco Bell we did in Sept. of this year. Good site, easy job and a great GC. I am currently bidding 2 more TB's with them and they are the preferred contractor for a few other brands. Set a headwall and curb inlet. That is the first coat of mud on the pipes, we come back with another coat to smooth it out after we pour the inverts. Running the main rain leader collector out of the curb inlet in the drive through. This is Contech A2000 pipe. First time I used it and I liked how it went together. Lighter than ADS. The headwall and the other curb inlet can be seen in the background. Connecting an individual rain leader to the interior gutter at the rear of the building by the freezer. The other line is the vent for the grease trap. The plumbers were sloppy so we had to work with what they gave us to tie on to. There wasn't enough room to attach the fernco coupling from our rain leader to the interior stub out. I didn't have any 4" PVC material there but the plumbers left boxes of fittings strewn around the site so we went through them. Not one 4" coupling to be found but did find a Y and that worked nicely - hence the clean-out for the rain leader. It wasn't spec'd but the super liked it.
CM, nice looking job. We have done a few Taco Bell/KFC,s for Horizon General out of Texas, they are a great GC to work with & for. They cover many states, not sure if in your area.
Thanks JB. I have heard of Horizon, seen their name on a few bid lists but haven't bid with them yet. The GC for this job was P&C out of Chattanooga. Great group to work with.
Thanks for the posts CM. I'll bet your dog really enjoys going to work with you and hoping that she can continue to do so for a long time.
She does, although she doesn't get around as easily as she once did but I still take her on Saturdays or rain days when I am out. She's one of a kind, watches TV and has her favorite shows. Her favorites are anything on Animal Planet (that can get rambunctious so it's limited ), HGTV, infomercials - she loves those and action/drama TV shows like the Person of Interest or the Walking Dead. Just yesterday the wife and I were watching TV in the bedroom, I had put Sug up on the bed as well. She was watching that Pioneer Woman cooking show and they had a segment where they were clearing old pens and the guy had a nice D6N he was using to clear with. I kid you not, when the D6N was working on the TV, Sug sat up on the bed and watched intently and then turned around and looked at me. Thanks for the kind words OldandWorn.
CM Nice ditches. Glad to see some of these sites coming back to life again. Here is a little tool I whipped up to do those type of ditches with. Makes short work of them. If you do many of those, it pays to build one. In good dirt it will do several hundred feet of ditch in under an hour. I know that it looks flat on top. For reasons specific to the site, they were supposed to. The grade on the bottom was a nice "V" though. Some of the finished work:
Jerry that's a pretty slick attachment. Did you make the pattern for a standard spec - width/sides that you run into? What I run into is the engineers spec all different sizes of bottoms and sides. I just finished a 1500' ditch that had 10' bottoms and 10' sides. When I get some time I'll post a few pics of it.
CM I built that for a job with 6,000 feet. I recommended the ditch I wanted to build, and the engineer agreed. I have made many different custom attachments to make jobs easier. Some of my ideas make my guys look at me like I am crazy, but when I get the work done they usually change their mind. I have considered making a V bucket with adjustable angles, but have not done so. I have had decent luck in recommending alternate size ditches when it makes sense. I would suggest making one for a common width/depth you run into. Mine is 8' wide and 2' deep, so the sides end up at 2:1. My 287 tracks will ride on the slope with no trouble, and due to their flex, they do not tear down the sides much. It may not work for a concrete lined ditch, at least without some handwork, but for a rock lined ditch it is great.
That's what I first thought of when I saw your attachment. Hitching one up to an excavator would be handy to shape the final ditch. There is a thread somewhere with an excavator with a fixed V bucket cutting ditches. Some of our soil types wouldn't be conducive to using something like that, too much clay and rock to go through.
Put teeth on it? I have one for a mini excavator also, and use it for concrete lined ditches. Built it for a ditch at the top of a 34' high retaining wall I whipped this up quick to cut the 6' wide bench at the top of the wall, with the wing to clean the slope at the same time.
That's nice looking dirt. Reminds me of the river gravel fill in Costa Rica. I like your style Jerry, not many left with ingenuity to come up with a profitable solution to a problem.
I second that.
Looks like ya had to knock the pins out to turn around the bucket/couplet in the last pic.
I'm sorry if you have discussed this in other threads, I'm still trying to catch up on all the info on here. But could you tell me the background of your company, all the equipment/trucks you own and things of that sort? Thanks CM
Sure, a little background info - I cut my teeth in the residential building industry, as my father was a carpenter and builder. I have built a fair number of single and multi-family units in my time. The depression that started in 2008 decimated that market and since then I have concentrated on commercial site work. Small sites like fast food joints and other small retail type projects. We also take on the occasional residential dirt project and other types of projects ranging from erosion control to industrial selective demolition. In other words pretty much anything that involves equipment or Div 2 type work. Currently we have a 953, D5, 321DL, 420D, CS533E, 3 skid steers, a mini-ex and a ol' blue the Gradall forklift. For trucks we only have two pickups and a service truck. I hire all the trucking out. The main services we perform is erosion control, site grading, demolition and storm drainage.
Man, you guys are quite smart with those fabricated ditching buckets/blades. Seems like a great idea. CM, you have a near perfect fleet you've listed. I see your wisdom has taught you to hire out the hauling. LOL.
Did you sell off the roll off company? Great pics and story.
Thanks for the kind words. I build a lot of custom items for jobs. Mine are not as shiny and clean as yours, but they get the job done. I have enough attachments for my skid to fill a trailer. High capacity buckets, V buckets, root grubber, demo grapple, brush grapple, forks, winch, land plane, auger, and a few more to come soon. The one you will likely never find me with is those phony dozer blades. CM, you have an ideal small fleet. I hope 2014 treats you well.
I had two dumps at one time and although they were handy, I was happy to sell them. Right now it just makes sense to pay only when you use them. Yes sold that company to a regional waste hauler back in '11. Thanks Jerry, same to you. I want to grow and add additional crews but the work load is just not there yet.
Oh no, I'm getting one. I just can't resist. I have definitely heard some negativity about a skid steer with a dozer blade. I've found an 8' grouser 1300 I'm interested in. I would love to do some fabricating on it. I have an idea for a multi shank ripper that folds down and then flips up as a guard. I'm sure it will work but it might be too expensive of a fabricating job to justify.
Fastdirt I would take Jerry's advice and not waste your money on a skid steer dozer blade. The only one I know of in my area has collected more rust than wear sitting in my buddies barn because it sucks, for lack of a better term.:cool2
The Grouser 1300 is made out of cast iron,so fab anything too it will be a chore in it's self.I have one ,which for what i do is works good(backfill trenches and lots of it).The blade has skids that are adjustable,which helps.The cast blade doesn't scarer very good at all.The early Grouser blades were steel,which worked better when polished. I also have a Cat blade that is all steel and works better as for actually dozing. I also have a box blade that has the ripper teeth on it and was 3-point hitch that i had a skid loader plate made for the back of it and left the 3-point in front like it was so if i wanted to use it on a tractor i could,Made a laser plate pole on the 3-point hitch .Can remove it and the skidloader plate off the back.Bolted not welded. Sorry no pictures camera went on the blink,neew to get new one,just haven't did it yet.
Pic of dozer blade Most of my use is for backfulling behind my trencher.
Can I ask why the dozer blades suck on a ctl? Never ran one before. They look real handy for doing backfill work and small area clean up. I wouldnt expect them to be able to do a lot of cutting with them. Just look like the would be nice for final grading around a house and small clean up jobs.
It's just my opinion but one can do pretty much everything that this dozer blade does with a normal tooth bucket. Of course there are situations where they work well like Constructo posted but for general excavation work a CTL normally does, a bucket will do the same and more plus no need in hauling around another attachment or the cost to purchase it. The blades aren't built like a real 6 way dozer blade found on D3,4,5's and they can't be as the attachment point is limited to the quick tach. Specialized attachments are fine but the hassle of having another attachment to maintain for the limited benefit it gives you over a bucket is not worth it in my opinion.
I was thinking after my post that its probably no better than a bucket. I understand about the blade not being a true six way blade, makes sense. I liked to try one of those planer attachments, have never seen one before. Just was reading about them in a magazine not too long ago.
A tilt-tach for a ctl bucket would be nice in some applications.
Most of the asphalt co's in my area have a planer attachment in their fleet. From the little I have been around while they are working, they look to be very handy in tight spots around manholes and tying to existing paving in turn lanes and other smaller areas.
This was a rather large (for me anyway) rip-rap ditch project. It was appox. 1500' long and took about 4,000 tons of rip-rap. I started the RPO on the 321 on this project. It turned out nice. Prepping the first part of the ditch. The 321 was the perfect machine having to work next to the light poles. Also the ditch narrowed towards the end and the sides were much steeper. Dumping a load of rip-rap. The trailers averaged 30 tons each and we hauled 12 loads a day with 2 trucks. Did I mention I fought water the whole time. The crappy part was dragging the fabric and placing it in the water/mud. I had plenty of time between loads to prep and fabric the next section of ditch. I did this job by myself as my other guy was bush hogging with the T250.
Here's a little demo job and clean-up. Nothing much on the demo, it was an old house that had basically fallen in. The real story is the two LTD's and the boat that were in the shed.:naughty I have mentioned "cooter" before in another thread and I shall protect his real name to protect the "innocent". Everyone needs to know one of these types as they can be of use in the right situation, like having to get rid of old/junk cars from a site and no way to get a title.:cool2 LTD #1 LTD #2 The boat. Hooking up LTD #1. I smashed it with the T250 and grapple, also had to rip the gas tank out. Stay to the right when you leave, there is an old septic tank to the left but there is plenty of room to go around it.
Lets see the 250. That machines a beast! Did you lift the flatbed out?
Well right there is one big advantage to living in the salt infested north. You could never find a car that old that was still in one piece! Just small lumps of rust with some odds and ends of cast iron.
I'll dig up some pics of the T250. Yeah it was a combined effort of the wheel lift on the roll back, throwing bricks and blocks into the old septic tank and the 250 to get him out, although I don't have any pictures of that operation as my "cooter" tolerance had been maxed out at that point.
These two cars were under an old shed, pretty well preserved other than years of humidity and rats making it a condo. The boat faired well being fiberglass and out in the elements for Lord knows how long. I'll admit it was a shame to send them to be made into cast iron pipe but there was little value in them other than scrap.
Really cool pictures CM! Is that your truck in the background of the first picture?
Thanks Sawdus22, yeah that's my 350 in the ditch picture. Also in the picture with the roll-back in the septic tank.
A few pictures of the finished ditch. Spec's called for covered the slope with #2 stone, 6" deep. It was a fairly steep slope.
This was some 18" RCP we laid on the project about a year ago. This is how I like to backfill deeper storm pipe. Lay your trench back wide enough as you go to get the roller in the ditch once you get above the pipe. This doubles as a safety factor for the pipe laying and allows for nice wide cohesive fill lifts above the pipe. This is not a text book safety trench but it was safe. This ditch was all the 420 wanted to dig but it's what we had to do it with. Once backfilling starts, I put the D5 or the 953 in the ditch to spread backfill material. We used the D5 as the 953 was at a pit.
First time I've read this thread,,, good jobs Cm..... your still wet behinst ur earbones.
Thanks Pops! I don't know what your talking about though, that's me holding the ramps down :tong View attachment 89079
Ya right.... guys his age aren't computer wizards....
Ya' got me, that's my grandpa. I learned a lot from that tough old goat, he's so ornery that in his last working days as a carpenter he framed a 4000 SF house by himself down at the beach because he couldn't keep or want any help. My cousin was the only one who worked on it. Love my Grandpa to death. I have fond memories of working along side him, either in the shop fixing various things or burning stuff. Did I mention he was a fire bug and I learned everything I know about burning stuff from him. I guess I was 10 years old or so and he had loggers come in and cut the pines on his acreage across the dirt road from his house, probably 40 acres or so. There was a big slash pile from where they skidded the trees to the landing area and topped them. The slash pile had been sitting for a few months to let it age, like wine a good burn pile needs to age a bit. Obviously this pile needed to be disposed of and "we" had a plan. Looking back my Grandpa probably enjoyed the time we spent burning that pile more than I did, we spent an entire weekend from early Sat. morning until late Sun. night, burning that pile. He had a Ford 3000 tractor with a box blade that he would push the unburnt ends back to the center. I went home both days smelling of wood smoke and covered with ashes. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
Yup,,, good memories and you have them stored in the right place...... your heart.
This was a nice little demo for an expansion at a quick oil change facility. The building was originally a self service car wash that they converted to a training office. The new expansion plans required this building to be removed so they could expand the 2 other existing buildings and have a drive-thru lane around the right side of the property. Rented a 312 from the Rental Store, it was a tad small for this project but did the job. This was before I got the 321. Tackled it from the front, removing the wood trusses and keeping the debris within the CMU walls, as the facility was still operating. Once we cleaned up the wood, drywall and other debris, we collapsed the CMU walls and hauled the slab out. These were the only pictures I took unfortunately. The metal pile can be seen in this picture. We got a full 30 yard can of metal off this one. I try to recycle as much as possible as it's extra money and one less can you have to pay for to go the landfill. The CMU and concrete was used as beneficial fill at a site my friend is filling.
The work we take on is varied, you have to be flexible in this economy and not say no just because you don't want to do it. This was one of those times. I didn't want to do the trench grate but I had to include it in my scope of work as part of the job. The engineer spec'd a cast in place concrete trench with Neenah grates on top. This would have been a very labor intensive project the way it was designed. My pipe supplier suggested an alternate and we got it approved through the engineer of record. It's a prefab'd trench grate where you dig your ditch, set the finish elevation and hang the prefab units from the form work. It went together pretty slick and I saved money on the labor end, not the material end but we were able to compete it quicker so it was a win. The 2x4's that span the trench are bolted into the holes that hold the grates down. The grates are stacked not the pallet in the upper right hand of the pic. If I do this again, I'll forgo the plywood forms and make a "L" bracket out of 2x6's or 2x8's to hang the forms on and let the trench cast the sides. Poured out, I am not a concrete finisher. We wrapped the prefab units with plastic and painters tape to keep the concrete off the grate rails.
Always check your shop drawings.:cool2 This was a control structure and inlet combo. The above trench drain and a storm tech detention system dumped into this structure in addition to it being a curb inlet. This structure had to be specially pre-cast and I didn't pay close attention to the shop drawings. Once we had the structure set at the correct invert elevations, I realized the walls were not tall enough to accept the curb flow line. Luckily it was only 10" so we dowelled #4 rebar into the walls and poured the extension when we poured the trench drain.
Nice job on the concrete, cant overbuild those things! Once the forms go wacky its too late since the trucks dumping and its there forever
A recent demo job we did. This was for a dollar store project where we demo'd 3 buildings totaling 27,000 SF over 2 acres. The last end cap on the strip shopping center. Peeling the aluminum roof off, destined for the scrap yard. Going for more metal, those old gas furnaces have some weight. GC was on a tight budget, had to keep the toilet in tact until the porto-let showed up.:tong
The final stages of cleanup on the strip shopping center. If it's a slab on grade I like to leave the slab intact until all the C&D is hauled out then demo the slab, stem walls and footings. The concrete and CMU debris goes to an inert fill site, which is much cheaper than a landfill. A shot of the equipment line up. Didn't use the D5 that much since it was a demo job, just mobilized it to the site for the dirt work portion. The 321 and T250 handled the majority of the demo. One 40 yard of C&D and a couple of loads of inert left to haul out.
Yep.:yup The best place to keep them grandpa.
Nice job!
Thanks ddigger! I have some pics on my iPad from the other building that was on site, for some reason they haven't transferred to my mac through the cloud but others have.
Nice work as always CM
Nice demo job CM, looks like you are getting the frequent rains too. Are you going to get the grading too? I'm sure you had some scrappers lurking around as you were doing the demo.
Did you say a few x rated words when you put that dent in your 320 platform???? Just couldn't resist.
Thanks fastdirt. Yeah the rains have been tough. On this project I have erosion, demo, grading and storm. These pics were taken back in Dec of last year. If the rain stops long enough to finalize a proof roll of the parking lot, the pavers can dump base and we can finish up the fine grade. I have a lot of pictures during, just haven't loaded them up yet. Yeah, in this part of town scrapping is a way of life. I had to keep some nasty scrap like old chain link fence or a couple of twisted bar joists to lay on top of the 40's to keep them out of the cans. One rainy day we were loading out a 60 yard dump full of C&D and I was loading some heavy scrap into the loader bucket. Out of the blue this guy steps between the hoe and the truck - while my operator is loading it - and asks "can I have that scrap". The scrap I was obviously separating and loading by hand.. By this time we had no less than 5-6 people ask everyday if they could have the scrap we were meticulously separating from debris, so I just laughed and said "No, this is MY scrap". Since this was in a rough area of town we did strike a balance with two of the local scrappers. One guy goes around everyday with a shopping cart picking up whatever he can find. We would lay out a few pieces by the curb for him to get. The other guy makes his rounds in his S-10 picking up scrap from some of the local businesses. We have given him a lot of scrap, setting it to the curb or he'll come by and ask if we have anything. Also at the start of the project, I went over and spread a tandem load of stone in the parking lot of a hand car wash. The guys were spreading it by hand using a bucket and garbage can. One guy came over one afternoon and asked how much I would charge to spread it. I took a look and told him I would spread it for one truck wash. When I finished it up, they were all so happy they told me they were doing 3 truck washes. I don't know this it had anything to do with it but "knock on wood" nobody has touched my machines in 3 months.
Oh yeah.. I was waiting for that one. It was me. There was a short 8' section of interior CMU wall 10' tall in one of the buildings. It had a wood framed roof attached to a bond beam on top. I was removing the wood roof trusses and one truss was attached pretty good to the nail plate. Long story short, one damn 8" block fell close enough to put that shiner on the 321. Truth be known I was too close to my working area... When I get it back to the shop, I am thinking of fab'ing a new section of skirt under the cab out of thicker metal as the factory pieces are pretty thin. BTW - Cat wants $2200 for that piece!
Something about being in a zero tail that makes you feel like you can go anywhere. I did the same thing to mine on the other side when it had about 1000 hours.
Kind of like a guy I knew when he bought a new pick-up people asked him why he didn't get four wheel drive. He said all four wheel drive does it let you get futher off the road before getting stuck!
Time to update this thread. I have a lot of pics from the past year and I'll go through them and post up a few. Same demo job. Had a nice surprise when we started taking up the slab, copper A/C lines were run under the slab. Fought a serious amount of ground water on this project. This is the undercut portion of the new building pad. We had several dewatering holes and pumped constantly. Temps were in the low 30's and setting up a mud pump in those conditions sucks. Finally talked the geotech and owner into putting an under drain under the pad to help drain the water out. Simple but it gets the job done. Luckily the new storm drain line was low enough to allow positive drainage for the 4" ADS pipe. I charged enough in the change order to add another branch to the drain, which it needed. Actually the whole pad should have been covered with geo-fabric, 1' of #57 stone and another layer of geo-fabric but the developer was a tight ass. Undercutting the remainder of the pad, the layers looked like a tiramisu. We had to undercut and fill the pad in sections, keeping it sloped towards the under drain due to all the rainfall we get in winter.
Same project. This is in an old city and you never know what you are going to run into. This was supposed to be a curb inlet that we were going to tie into. The existing line was 24" clay, so that tells you how old it was. We had quite a surprise when we got close to the tie in point. Scratched around the inlet to remove the top and removed the first homemade concrete lid. The inlet kept going. Got down and shined a flashlight and couldn't see the end. Well this is what we discovered after taking off all the homemade lids. Two 8" DIP lines running through a CMU drainage trough. After a month of trying to find out who the lines belonged to and having the water dept. and gas company come out to verify, no-one claimed the lines and the GC's super told us to cut them out. The gas company did tap the lines and they were empty. Tie in for the 4" under drain under the building pad. Cut some extra slots in the pipe and covered with fabric to allow excess ground water to enter the pipe at the request of the geo-engineer. Inside shot of the grouted pipe. Used hydro cement. Laying 24" RCP in the existing drainage line. Removed the old clay pipe. This was fun in flowing water and 40 degree temps. Setting a grate inlet in the service drive by the building. The spec's only called for an 8" ADS line out of this structure.:beatsme
Nice job as always CM !
Thanks pafarmer. Going back to the beginning of this project. It was in a not so great part of town..:cool2
I wouldnt even wanna think about what went on in that exotic entertainment center.
Me neither, I was packing when we did the walk-through to make sure the building was clear before tearing it down..
Did you at least salvage the pole?
I hope you washed your hands and equipment after finishing that job.
I didn't see one, if they had one I would suspect it broke due to overloading..:cool2 I used gloves and we had enough rain on the equipment.
A few pics from the parking lot undercut. It was an interesting job to say the least. Once the previous buildings were removed, we had to undercut the really poor, nasty clay in order to get a suitable sub-base for the parking lot. Due to the time of the year (winter) we had to undercut and replace sections of the parking lot in order to not have a pond. This was like an archeological dig. The site has had 4 different uses as far as I can tell. One being the current dollar store, second being the strip shopping center/exotic center tong), third being some sort of housing as we found the remnants of house foundations and personal belongings 2' deep and below that barbed wire at 3' deep or so. Advancing the chert fill. Pushing out the undercut material in advance of the chert fill. This stuff was nasty. Finished pic of the parking lot sub-grade and the new building. I don't think I have ever been as happy to get to this point on any preceding project as this one.
Good looking work! More pics of the track loader would be appreciated.
Thanks JNB, here's a few more - Undercut complete and importing structural fill for the service entrance Undercutting a section of the parking lot Bulking in some fill for the pad Parking lot undercut -
Thanks for the pics! I've always been amazed at the versatility of a track loader. Dig, load, carry and place...what other single machine can do that efficiently? My typical workload requires nothing larger than a CTL, which is handy since I can move mine with a 1 ton. But I'd sure love to spend some time in a TL.
That was it's job on this project. Undercut the bad material, load it out in trucks and place the new fill. Worked great as the track hoe was at the pit loading chert. Luckily the pit and the dump was at the same place so we back hauled. A TL is pretty much a large CTL in it's versatility.
Hence the C for "compact" track loader in CTL, maybe? :beatsme
Kinda...but these dang rubber tracks and loading trucks while looking through the roof leave something to be desired.
Haha, smart ass.:tong I have been harping on the true costs of CTL's in relation to the undercarriage per hour true cost. Case in point - Had to buy a rubber track a week or so ago for the T250, $1100. 2 rear rollers $300 each. My Cat PSR quoted new pads and bolts/nuts for the D5G. $2700. If I were to replace both tracks on the T250 would be $2200. $2700 to replace the pads and hardware on the D5G, $500 difference. No other undercarriage components are included on either machine. Now this doesn't take into consideration the track chains on the D5 as a new rubber track includes it's "chain". However, look at the difference in hours one gets between the two. A rubber track will last (hopefully - I have seen these numbers in the past) 500-600 hours, although I have had very bad luck with rubber tracks over the last 3 years, going through 7 on the T250. No change in the operating environment or the types of jobs it does. The problem we have been having is breaking the cords, where the T-bone starts to bulge and creates a knot on the outside of the track. When this happens, just run it to failure as the track is toast. $2200 for two tracks for the T250 and assume 500 hours, that's $4.40 per hour. It's been a while since I could get 500 hours out of a track but I have in the past. In reality, went through 7 tracks on the T250 in 500 hours. Now 2 of those tracks were old and worn so they can be taken out of the equation for an accurate comparison. That still leaves 5 tracks in 500 hours at a cost of $1100 a piece, $5500 total cost and $11 per hour of operation just for tracks. I had the undercarriage measured by the PSR on the D5 a couple of weeks ago. Most worn component was the left track side at 62%, that's at 4400 hours. For the sake of comparison, let's say the D5 gets another 2000 hours out of the total undercarriage before the most worn component the chains, need to be replaced. Estimates to replace the entire UC on the D5 is in the $15000 range. That's roughly $2.35 per hour - $15K/6400 hours. Now the pads on the D5 need to be replaced at the moment so add another $2700 to $15k for a total of $17,700, as this cost needs to be accounted for and assuming the pads replaced now would be worn out at 6400 hours - the $15k includes pads at the time of total replacement. That would bring the hourly operating cost to $2.77 per hour. Now I have replaced the pads twice on this machine already and I don't remember the actual cost but let's assume it was $2700 each time. That's an additional $5400. Add the $5400 to the $17,700 which is $23,100 divide by 6400 hours - $3.61 per hour. Neither cost comparison includes labor to R&R, it's materials only. So in closing my actual costs for undercarriage between the two machines so far is $4 an hour for the D5 and $11 for the T250. This is still not an accurate comparison as I didn't include the other components of the undercarriage on the T250 that will need to be replaced some time in the future but gives one an idea of the true costs of a CTL. If we can achieve historical numbers on the life of a CTL track (500 hours and not this machine) then the operating costs between the D5 and T250 are comparable, however the past 3 years have proved otherwise. I just want to let people know of the true costs involved in running a CTL. I love the T250 and goes to almost every job, as it's handy as a shirt pocket but one has to analyze the true operating costs of every piece of iron you own.
Wow that is a hell of a comparison there CM. I love to see that side of things, I just sit in the seat. And thats just for the tracks, per hour, not including everything else that wears.
Thanks 390. :drinkup The CTL rubber track comparison is only for the rubber tracks per hour, I haven't had to replaced any other UC components on it so I don't have a cost basis. CTL's are handy little buggers and have their place but one needs to know what it cost them to operate one of these, in order to charge accordingly. There are many more factors to consider such as purchase price and related financing/depreciation costs associated with a more expensive machine (initially) such as a D5G compared to a T250. Those costs are real as well and should be factored into the hourly O&O costs. Now I have calculated my costs from my own experience and that will be different for other owner/operators as there are many variables.
CM, I concur with you on the CTL, I seem to be replacing undercarriage components about as often as you are on my 864G, it is by far the most costly to operate, but we would be lost without it. My original tracks lasted till 1200 hrs now we are lucky to get 500 hrs from the replacement ones we have been getting.
Wouldn't OEM tracks be the way to go? Granted I'm new to CTL ownership, I only put 250 hours on my first CTL, 58 so far on its replacement (both bought new), but if my OEM tracks make it 1k hours, I figure I'll go back with OEM tracks.
I am going to buy OEM the next time..
The Bobcat OEM are Bridgestone or were. I was able to get 500-600 out of the OEM on a T190 I bought new in 2003/4, a little less on the 2005 T250 and the current T250 had aftermarket tracks when I got it. The Bridgestone tracks run just shy of $2K a piece. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get 1K hours out of any rubber track - except for the mini-ex but that's a different animal.
Current job we are on. 3 acres of clearing and grubbing, 4K CY of dirt to move, 400' of 12" squish pipe and 18" RCP. Stone driveway and building pad. The property has planted plantation pines, easy to clear but aggravating at the same time. Clearing the silt fence line, the silt fence can be seen in the background. I have a very efficient system for putting in class 1 (metal post, wire backed) silt fence if anyone is interested. Me and 1 guy cleared the line and installed 330' in one day. This was day 1 - The property line and clearing limits were clearly marked for a change. The upper portion of the property where the building is going was an old ball park. Cleared and ready to strip what little topsoil was there. We were on a deadline to get the brush burned and in this county if you want to burn you have to have an air curtain, a pit and an inspection with an $85 fee. All of the burners locally were rented. Called Cat Rental as they did carry them and my rental guy said they no longer carried them - the machines burned up too easily - go figure! Nothing parties like a rental I guess..:beatsme Finally I found a rental machine from the manufacturer in Tifton, GA. That is a 5 hour one way trip. That was two long days going to get it and taking it back. Taking a break at a rest stop on I-65. The air burner set up in the back corner of the property. Inspection went well and we were cleared to burn.
I would have a great interest in your silt fence setting technique...that's a lot of fence for two men to set in a days time. Very interested.
Here's how we do it - Lay out where the fence is going if it's not laid out already. Usually it is or is easy to determine. 4' trencher on the T250 and trench a 6-9" deep trench or whatever the spec's call for. Drop trencher, grab bucket. While you're trenching have your helper load the T-posts into the bucket. Go along the trench with the skid and have the helper place the T-posts in the trench, push the post down with the corner of the bucket. When the posts are in, take a 3-4' long cheater bar and run a chain through it. Thread the cheater bar and chain through the roll of wire. Attach the chain to the steps or other part of the upper bucket, allowing for 2' or so of slack so the roll will hang low enough below the cutting edge of the bucket when raised. Use the teeth on the bucket to the keep the chain holding the wire spaced far enough apart so it won't bind. Unroll the first couple of feet of wire and have your helper hold it as you back up along the trench. This saves a lot of back-breaking time in rolling the wire out. Once you have a manageable section of wire out (50-70') start flipping the wire into place and tie with the aluminum ties to the T-posts. Keep going until the wire is rolled out. Step back to the beginning and unroll the fabric. I don't put the fabric on the skid device as it's usually much easier to unroll. Attach fabric to wire and posts and backfill the trench. We use the skid bucket to carry the posts, wire, fabric, hog rings and tools to where we need them. No manual digging, pounding posts or carrying and unrolling wire. I had an old contractor tell me one time that lazy people make the best operators, as they will figure out how to complete the task with the machine and the least amount of physical labor. Have an old skid bucket at the shop that is toast, thinking of rigging it up with a platform out front to carry more supplies and an "unroller" so to speak on the front. A 2-3" piece of pipe welded up with a hinge to swing out to load the roll of wire on so we don't have to chain it up. A bigger platform would also allow compartments to carry posts, hog rings and tools. On a side note - It drives me crazy to watch those "backyard renovation" shows where they are taking out 4" concrete patio slabs. They have a skid and plenty of room work to break it up with the machine yet they lift a corner of the slab and pound it with sledgehammers in order to break it up. Work smarter, not harder..:cool2
Burner set up and operational. It took me many gallons of diesel and effort to get it going as the material was very green. I had an old backhoe tire I could've put in the bottom to really get it going like the old days but I knew I would be put under the jail if I did that. Yes, the material is overloaded in the trench. Yes, it's green and not burning well. Yes, the inspector did show up the last day of burning season and told me "You know that's a violation". "Yeah I know" - I said. She was cool and understood we were under the gun and didn't write me up, said she didn't want to deal with the paperwork.. Hauling the manifold out from the burn pit. Hauling the burner out to hitch up to my pickup.
Thanks for updating your thread CM. Reading about air burners at the moment. Never heard of the contraption before :beatsme
Don't take my photos as an example of how they should be operated.. :tong
No worries CM....just trying to figure out where the tires go? The ones I'm seeing have like a big dumpster that the debris gets loaded into.
Disregard the tire comment, that was a time long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.. Those are pretty slick, expensive though. Those units would be very handy on small clearing jobs where one could get permission to use it. Drop it off a roll-off truck, burn the debris and pick it back up. Save a ton on trucking and disposal fees, plus be quicker.
Or late at night LOL
Yair . . . CM1195 . Very interesting and detailed post about undercarriage costs . . . now I am going to really show my ignorance. I watch those little (and not so little) rubber track jiggers whizzing around on job sites and, as I have mentioned on this board before, they often seem to be doing a lot whizzing instead of loading up and pushing/digging. Is their main attraction/usefulness due to the fact that the rubber tracks allow them to move quickly and . . . for want of a better word "proper" tracks would slow them down? When I say "proper" I stumbled across this with what appears to be a "standard" type Berco track and I reckon I could probably live with a little digger-jigger running on a set of those rather than rubber. http://sutterequipment.com/sutter_500.html Cheers.
Yep..that too. Scrub that's a good question and I have some thoughts on that but it's late here, time to go to bed. I'll get back with a comment later.
Scrub, Bobcat at one time offered a steel undercarriage and appears to still do. http://www.bobcat.com/buyers_guide/loaders/iss2/tracks Cat offers a steel track UC for it's large CTL's too. I saw one at the dealer a year or so ago, outfitted with a mulcher and forestry package. Since I haven't ran a steel tracked CTL, really can't comment on it but I do have an opinion. The UC cost is high enough already for CTL's and I think the metal would only drive this cost up, probably thru the roof in normal operations. Take for instance the side loading the chains and other components would be subject to in normal close quarters/tight skid steer environments, twisting and turning all the time. The rubber track does allow a little flexibility in this area. Depending on a specific end use I see where a metal tracked CTL would be worth it - mulching, demo, scrap/recycling yard, etc. However for the average contractor, such as myself, I think metal tracks actually take away from the versatility of the machine when one has a small dozer or "real" track loader in their fleet. If I have a job site condition that warrants metal tracks then I won't be using the CTL. Conversely, if a CTL was the prime or only piece of equipment one had, I don't see limiting yourself or carrying around boards or used tires to cross paved and finished surfaces. Unless one was strictly a mulching operation or the like, I still think rubber tracks offer more value. However, we all know how opinions are, we all have one.
The rain is killing us! 3rd day in a row, haven't worked this week. We've probably gotten 3-4" of rain over the last 3 days, flooding is now an issue. This is what the site looked like yesterday - That pipe needs to be in the ground!
Yair . . . CM1995 . Thanks for the comments re steel versus rubber . . . I was looking at it from my point of view working mostly clearing and stacking/burning brush . . . its all hypothetical, I'm not really in any position to get one . . . nice to daydream sometimes though. (big grin) Cheers.
Scrub if I were mainly clearing and stacking brush, I would opt for a 943/953/963 loader - it'll work circles around a CTL. Like you said it's all hypothetical as there are too many variables for a "one-sized fits all" scenario.
Answering Jmac's question from Fast Dirt's thread - Most of these dollar stores are built by developers who hire a GC to build them then keep and lease or sell them to the retail company. This can turn into a cluster real quick, as the developer wants all the project spec's met but doesn't want to pay for unforeseen site circumstances. On the civil side of construction we deal with unforeseen circumstances on a regular basis. A building is a building and is straight forward, what's under the ground can't be determined until one starts moving dirt. For example - The developer buys a crappy piece of property because its cheap. Hires a geotech firm that handles all of their projects to do a soil report. As we all know soils reports are at best a guide and don't guarantee site conditions unless they bore on a tight grid, which the developer is not going to pay for. Fast forward to construction and low and behold the site has issues, might have been the reason why it was cheap. Geotech not wanting to look bad in the eyes of the developer wants to keep costs down but still meet specs as this is a big account for them.. As one can imagine, this creates a FUBAR between the GC, geotech, developer and finally the site guy. The best advice I can give on commercial jobs is keep your notes, job site conditions and meetings documented, with pictures. I didn't loose money or not get paid for what I did but it was a battle and not the way I do business. Take it for what it's worth but I probably will not do another one after seeing how the process works.
Best to keep your communications in writing. If you have a meeting take notes then email them for confirmation after the meeting.
I hear ya! I've been dealing with this fire deal I had with my CASE, trying to arrange a rental, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Worst of all I got into chiggers somewhere on Monday... a lot of them!
Man! I you'd have tilted the manifold on that pit blower and blown it east. All my ag customers have reached the "very worried, spend no money" stage. It really looked like we were finally going to get some today and it just petered out 50 miles west. Yesterday we had a 50-70% chance the rest of the week, tonight it says 10-30% all the next 7 days.
I'd happily box some up and send it over if I could. Flash flooding is becoming an issue as the ground is saturated. Have a project here at home to start but it's so wet I just have to stare at sprayed lines on the grass.
Mitch, I would if I could. Like Scott we're soaked here. Today is the first day we have worked all week and it rained last night. Yesterday I had cabin fever and drove to the project, it's a 45min - 1hr drive one way so that tells you I was bored. Sun finally came out and job was starting to dry up. I pulled the excavator out and figured I grease it to be ready for today, just something to do. Before I could hit all the fittings, it got dark and dumped .5" of rain in about 15 mins. After that passed, clouds cleared and blue sky poked through.:beatsme We're going to try today. It's rained so much there's no fines left on the ground, all that silt has washed to my brush berm check damns.
321 earning it's keep, no I haven't fixed the panel I dented from the last demo job..:tong 18" RCP. This line was 190' +/-. Joints wrapped with mirafi fabric and my graffiti in "sewer green" upside down paint. 4x4 grate inlet box set, ready to slide in cut piece. This box just gets the top with a grate, no riser. This area is a drainage swell next to the new building to take the run-off from the existing parking lot and the new driveway for the new building. It dumps into a retention pond we'll excavate later.
Couple of track loader pics. This area is just a slope that needed to be cut down in order to get sight distance for the new driveway farther down the road. Since it was just a slope where nothing can ever be built on it (not enough set-back distance from the ROW) we mined some good structural fill for a change order and filled it back in with excess topsoil. A little trick, take a look at the right side of the picture. This slope had to be cut down and it's adjacent to a fairly traveled road. The site drains well down and to the right, behind where the picture is taken. We left a dirt berm between the site and the road to channel rain water down to a temp. retention pond in order to settle out the silt before it leaves the site. If we would have installed silt fence and cut all the way to the road it would have been a maintenance headache, as the silt fence would have had heavy silt loads with all the rain we have been having. What we did was create a temp. holding pond for the water at the bottom corner of the property. This allows the run-off to pond and let some of the silt settle out. The trapped silt. The lowest point of the temp. pond drains to the right. Where it drains out use a brush check damn to slow the water down and trap silt. Then it the silt is easily cleaned out with the excavator and it's not 1/2 way up the silt fence. The silt fence can be seen in the background of the pic. I hate silt fence but what I hate worse than silt fence is repairing it after it fills up or breaches.
Oh my goodness the water. Sorry you are having the rains. It seems we are getting daily rains too. Kind of like living in Florida with those hot scattered pop up storms. Sure makes a sticky mess in a hurry. Great looking jobs you have going on there. I love your equipment. You have the perfect fleet. Of course I love Cat and will always love the track loaders. We are going to have to get that dent fixed on that beautiful machine because dents attract other dents. Keep up the hard work. I'm inspired.
Thanks Fastdirt, I appreciate it. We lost 3 days last week to rain, worked yesterday to catch up. Yeah I need to get that dent fixed, I don't know how much of it we can pound back out though. Cat wants like $2200 for that thin piece of metal, so we are going to try something else. We haven't slowed down long enough to get into it. There's another 200' or so of 12"arch and 18" RCP to lay on this project. We're just a 3 man crew and I am ditch man. Exc. operator, skid operator and ground man and me in the ditch. Works pretty good as I can keep production going and make money but I'm not as young as I used to be and feel it after a long day. It works for us but there are a few pieces I want to upgrade. I've got a 420DIT, didn't bring it to this job. I would love to have a larger mini-ex in the 11K-12K range to replace my very tired 334. Been thinking about trading/selling the 420 and the 334 to get a larger mini, maybe new. Ultimately a 308 would be very nice to have but I want to keep the weight down so it can hauled with a pickup. I have been looking at the 305's and E45-50's. Cat or Bobcat are the only two I really consider. We have a Kubota dealer but I won't deal with them and the Case/Kobelco dealer is 45 mins away, one way - longer if traffic is jammed up. I might look at a Komatsu or JD but to be honest I already have long relationships with the Cat and Bobcat dealer and there's not much difference between this class mini when you boil it all down. I know what I am going to get with these two. Also I would like a new CTL and a D6N, but that's way on down the line.
18" RCP pond outflow with 4x4 pre-cast inlet box and 4 post top. The bottom of pond elevation is 2' below the rim of the box, it gets an 8" DI stub at the bottom of pond elevation. Next we're going to lay out the pond and excavate it. Received a change order today for another 150' of 18" RCP and a junction box, that should be the last of the storm on this project.
Great job again CM. I liked the tip, great idea. How you layed out the temp. silt collection pond. The brush filter system. We have used similar techniques in the past. Well done CM... We are getting allot of rain here too, hard to put two whole days of work together lately...13 hours in the new 289D today and I stepped out clean, cool and fresh as a daisy....so comfortable and smooth.
Thanks pafarmer. We have been rain free for 6 days and it's getting sorta dusty.
I'm looking forward to dusty conditions. Getting tired of playing the mud !
I was checking out your loader pics on the last page. Good idea on the berm. There are some guys working on a street modification for a high school here in town with their main piece of equipment being a Deere 955. If they would have thought of that little berm trick they wouldn't have been shut down for four days following a rain shower we had. An inch and a half of rain in about 30 minutes. Their project is at the bottom of a quarter mile concrete street which acted like a drainage swale into their site. The loader was sitting right in the middle of the site in a couple of feet of water. A simple berm would've diverted the runoff to a retention pond a hundred feet away.
Thanks for the compliments JNB. I have learned through trial and error and the ol' school of hard knocks how to handle the amount of rain we get in the Southeast and what it does to a job on and off site. I'll admit we have been in a parking lot of a medical clinic that was downhill from a project one morning scraping, loading and washing the mud that breached our silt fence.
Shaping the pond. The earlier picture of clearing and installing the silt fence is this run. The storm pipe photo from above is this outlet structure. Not the way you want your Thursday afternoon to go. Taking the skid back to the dirt project after installing silt fence on a small, yet high profile project. It's a 25 mile trek back to the dirt job and the tire blew 1/4 mile away from the project.. However this is why I prefer the country over the city, any day. Not more than 10 mins after I pulled over after the blow out, a guy from the water dept. we are working for stopped to help. Within a few minutes he had a friend on the phone that had the right sized tire at his shop and said bring it on over. Unloaded the skid, took the wheel off and 30 mins later I was back on the road. The guy would not accept my money, I tried twice.:thumbsup If this would have happened in an affluent area, I would have received a lot of horn honks and 1 finger salutes.
And the affluent property owner of the site you were going to would be blowing up your phone as to why you're not on site yet.
No doubt Willie!
This reminds me of what a friend who did electrical and plumbing work in our area that is a combination of small to medium size farms and more than a few $1,000,000+ homes once told me. He said the best people to work for were the farmers who might be living from milk check to milk check. They knew the importance of getting paid on time. The guys in the million+$ houses would take their time to pay and would find every thing to complain about to try to get the bill reduced.
That's right kshansen, the people who work for a living understand what it's like. The worst client to work for is a doctor in my experience and surprisingly lawyers aren't that bad to deal with. Pond almost finished, sides tracked in. Received a change order for another 160' of 18"RCP and a junction box. Unfortunately, we were rained out this afternoon with just 3 joints left to lay and the box to set. The large area dug out in the pic was to remove what we call "goose eggs or dinosaur eggs". They are large, flat rocks that you run into in this type soil - you can see a chunk of one to the right, next to the second joint in the pic. They are easy to dig around and move during mass grading but can be a PITA while trenching. Usually there is a soft sand/clay layer underneath them that once you dig around it, can be removed if they're not to large. We were able to remove two large ones with the 321 and lay on through. The little bonus from the "goose eggs" is we will be able to use it for rip-rap at the headwall outflow in the pond.
Cm, looks really good. Will you seed and mulch the site also? Seems like I am constantly seeding now on all the jobs and not long ago we did not do any.
JB, yeah unfortunately.. I say that because I hate doing it. I have a Kincaid straw blower, one of the small ones you set on a trailer or flatbed truck. It makes pretty fast work of it. We could cover this 2.5 acres in a day if we can keep a steady supply of hay. Probably looking at 300-400 square bales. http://kincaidequipment.com/strawblower.html Margins are tight on jobs now a days so there's no room to sub it out and make any money on it.
Isn't that the truth! I did a job for a doctor last fall: driveway and new lawn. He wanted to cut the price before signing the contract. I said ok, fine. Then I went through it with him and we removed items until it fit his budget. To make short story even shorter, I did some time and materials extras for the guy on a handshake. When I gave him the bill for the extras (photocopies of my receipts included) he tells me that my discounted rate is too high on the 1.5 ton mini (40/hr operator + machine ). His reasoning was that it's more money than he makes per hour as a doctor. I tried explaining that I'm a hospital, not a doctor. He went so far as to tell me that my equipment was all paid for and everything I was charging was profit. ....I wish my accountant would tell me that.
They're used to charge the rediculous rates, not haveing to pay them! Lol
That's the kind of attitude I have ran across as well. They think they are the end all be all and justify value based on themselves. Using his reasoning, then after his med school is paid off he should cut his rates because everything he would be charging would be profit... The chance of that happening is slim and none, and slim just left the building.
Good looking work CM! Glad you are being steady with the pictures and explanations. I love reading your posts.
Thanks Sawdus, appreciate it.
CM, I have a question regarding the Mirafi wrap at the pipe joints. Is that to keep silt out of the joint? I don't install too many concrete pipes, but I've used mesh tape and seal-tite on corrugated steel pipe band connections before.
Yes JNB it's to keep silt/dirt out of the pipe at the joints. It allows the water to pass through but not the silt, also helps to eliminate washouts. The Mirafi fabric works great, same stuff we use for silt fencing and const. entrances so we alway have some around.
Had to remove two old water valve/meter boxes - on steroids. One of the boxes was 5x10 and made of CMU and obviously was removed easily, the other one was similar in size but PIP concrete. Started the day out expecting a fight as we don't have a hammer on the job nor did I want to rent one. To my surprise, the box didn't have a concrete bottom, they formed and poured the walls on the dirt, no footing. I dug around the sides of the box several feet on either side and reached inside to give it a tug, as a test, didn't figure it would budge but to my surprise it move several inches. At that point I knew I had her. The hole it left. The 321 handled it but it was all it wanted. I drug that damn box across the whole site to the edge of the retention pond where it is currently buried in a deep grave. Filling the hole back in with the T250. Put 1' lifts in and compacted it as it's just a landscape area. The new junction box we installed last week is to the left in the picture.
Spreading topsoil on the slope. Doing some clean-up around the edges. Fine grading the lower driveway to the building. The material is great to work with, a nice sandy clay. Grades and compacts well. We have a borrow pit on the upper end of the job. The '53 bringing carrying fill. The operator on the '53 is one of my greener ones and letting him get some time in on the '53.
Man...that dirt looks nice. A hundred years from now, some poor shmuck will dig up that concrete box and try to figure out why in the world its there.
Today's work in pictures. Poured three inverts. The GC who has the building contract poured the slab today. I am always keen on knowing when the GC is pouring concrete and especially if there will be a pump truck as there will be about a CY of concrete dumped out of the hopper when the pump truck cleans up. Their finish up truck had an extra yard on it as well. Since I am one that hates manual labor (and hates mixing those damned yellow bags in a bucket ) we stopped laying pipe and went into action. Had enough concrete to pour all three inverts. Nothing like straddling two 18" RCP's in a 4x4 box troweling an invert. The ADS coming into this box was existing. The irony is we ran 150' of 18" CL III RCP to this junction box in order to catch the existing ADS, which has very little to no flow coming through it.:beatsme However, I don't get paid to design it, I get paid to put it in.. This junction box is the one to the left in the above pictures of the valve box removal. Also laid 64' of 18" arch pipe for the lower driveway. We did pretty good today with our 3 man crew, laid the pipe, poured the inverts and were gone by 3. To complicate things a bit, there was a 200 pair phone line buried directly underneath the flow line of the pipe. It's a bit dry. Backfilling the pipe with waste rock. Good mixture of fines and #57 stone with the occasional rip-rap piece thrown in. Easy to work and $8 a ton instead of $13 for washed #57.:cool2
LOL, I feel I am providing future archeologists a job! And the site inspector said I could do it. Yeah, the dirt here is great to work with.
I had never seen that arch pipe. It looks good for getting flow without depth. I haul pipe seconds out of all the pipe plants around here to make artificial reefs with, and have never heard of it. Is it much more than round one? Some of my logging road entrance jobs could benefit from it.
Mitch this pipe is equivalent to an 18", 13-1/2" X 22 (IIRC, celebrating the 4th with a bang..:wink2). At the moment I don't know the cost difference but it is more, I'll look over the invoices. I bid the jobs per spec and use the old formula - double the price of materials and add stone backfill. This is the first time I have laid arch pipe, thought it would be a PIA but it went together rather easily. There won't be much cover over this pipe, maybe 8" or so but it's class III so it should take the weight.
Love the thread cm
Hey CM, Great looking work. I would be more than happy come on down and run the 53 for you. I love my 63 but never really get to use the bucket, just the rake. I also found it interesting you do inverts in your boxes. We have been laying pipe here for well over 20 years and have never had to do an invert, I guess we are lucky. Keep the pics coming.
Thanks Aliate, I have been trying to remember to take more pictures and post them in this thread. I have a couple of interesting jobs coming up over the next few months. Landclearer, come on down but I am going to horse trade you a ride back up your way to run that 320 with the pulverizer. Considered buying an old 6x6 Army dump for this project to use on-site but the distances the dirt needed to be moved was right in the grey area between toting it with the '53 or put it in a dump. The project didn't have enough in it to hire a truck and I don't own a dump and don't want too. Yeah we have to pour all our storm inverts, sanitary varies between mud and brick and concrete - depends on the system owner. We can use mud/bricks, grout or redi-mix concrete to pour the inverts. Usually the storm is in by the time they pour the slab so being able to get left over concrete saves about $300-400 per job by not having to order 1-2 CY from the plant. Another reason we pour inverts is sometimes you got to sink the box in order to get the correct flow line and top. The outlet structure for the pond was this way. Had to cut a 2x2 hole in one side, from the top down. Left 2' of box that would have been a mosquito pit buried. Filled it with #57 stone and poured a 6" invert. We run into situations regularly where a pre-cast box is faster and cheaper than a PIP one. Interesting you don't have to pour inverts. Do you use custom pre-cast structures or PIP? (poured-in-place)
Love following your threads CM and viewing the work you and your crew does. I spend all day in the woods and really don't do much construction anymore. Miss it......keep up the great work and keep posting it here for us to see. I , for one enjoy it allot ! That flat bottom drainage pipe looks like a great idea for landing access entry ways...
CM, I do a lot of jobs (on a smaller scale than yours) that border on getting a dump truck or just shuttling by bucket load. I'm sure that I could find uses for a single axle dump truck, but I really don't want one. Since I'm typically on the job by myself I've been looking at dumping boxes / hoppers. If I could find one locally for rent, I'd sure like to try one out.
CM, no problem on the trade, I think you would like the pulverizer. I will say it is pretty fun. As for the inverts, they do them on sanitary sewer but not storm. About 90 percent of our boxes are custom made and the rest are knockouts. Years ago we would just put in a slab then they would come in and build the entire box out of brick. The biggest problem with that is keeping all the holes dewatered. If you put in 5 slabs, you would have to have 5 mud hogs running for however long it takes for them to build them. Very rarely do we lay pipe that is not in or completely under the water table.
Pafarmer, I miss working in the woods..lol Construction is all I know, my whole family is in some facet of it, mostly vertical construction. I have always loved heavy equipment and moving earth, it's the route I took a little later on in life after a first career in homebuilding. My family goes back 3 generations of carpenters and builders. The knowledge I was taught as a youngster helps me out daily in the site prep part of the industry. After all, it's all just math and geometry, the same principles of rise over run, level and slope apply to all facets of construction. The only difference is the fight against water, vertical construction is always fighting to keep it out, site construction fights too much water as well and then imports water when there's not enough. JNB, in the past I owned two dump trucks a 7600 Inter. and a Mack Granite. Loved the Mack, hated the Inter. They served their purpose at the time when things were blowing and going but with the current economy it's cheaper to hire any trucking out. I really don't know how the dump truck operators make any money..:beatsme I think about buying another dump truck from time to time but then sober up.:tong Landclearer, I know we work in very different situations, I always like to see how other people in different areas achieve the same goal. Dewatering being one issue I rarely, except during winter, have to deal with. Most of the civl engineers in my area have went away from the brick boxes, although I do see some spec's that allow it from time to time. In the 80's and 90's a precast box for a storm inlet was almost unheard of, storm crews had an inlet crew that came behind them and built them all out of brick. That changed in the late 90's and I would say 99% of the inlets boxes are pre-cast, the majority being knock out boxes. We use some round manhole structures from time to time but the cost of coring them or the lead time to have them pre-cast, bring them in-line cost wise with knock out boxes. Filing the invite for a future date.
Toting some structural fill with the 953 to the upper entrance in order to smooth out the approach to the roadway. The builders have poured the slab and we are spreading some topsoil in the grassed areas. A couple of loads of #4 washed stone can be seen stockpiled for the driveway. The topsoil was very wet when we piled it up, spreading out the wetter stuff with the 321 to dry. The 321 is in dire need of a bath, it's still carrying all the soot from the burn pit. The retention pond and lower entrance in the other pics can be seen in the upper left of the picture. Upper area of the project graded out and topsoil being spread. The borrow pit for structural fill can be seen to the right. It's almost filled up with spoil from the booster station project down the road (not ours but they needed a place to get rid of it and we had a hole to fill) and other nasty things from this job. Part of this site was an old ball field. Over the years it had grown up with privet hedge and vines - nasty stuff if you have ever had to clear and grub it. It also rained a lot back at the end of May, beginning of June and there was no way of separating the roots and vines from the topsoil as the roots had grown 1-2' deep. This pile also had some undercut in it from the lower driveway. Like I said, it's nasty. The basic approach to making this material an acceptable end product (graded and grassed) is first to spread it out and let it dry. Then work it to grade, either burying the roots and such in the lift or sifting them out for further disposal, in this case that's the borrow pit.
Nice looking work CM, that wet soil and roots are a bad combination any way you stack it.
Thanks JB, yeah it's nasty and aggravating but with a little time and working it you can get a satisfactory result. In this case it's the owner being able to cut it with a bush hog. Most of this material came from the old outfield area of the ball field. It looks like they carved a flat spot out and everything went over the edge at the outfield. Topsoil and remnants of vegetation were 3-4' deep in some areas.
Some nice looking grading, it is a shame to cover it up. I sure do feel bad for the guy on the dozer, not much fun trying to grade stuff like that(been there before). We call the roots and other stuff "time released nutrients" I will let you know the next time we use the pulverizer so you can book a trip. Chris
Nothing like covering up beautiful work it there? I spent the week working on a small pond and dam. Most of the clay I had to line it with was full of roots and buried burn pile debris. Not much fun trying to sift it out and get a clean finish.
Thanks for compliments. We call it the same land clearer, future fertilizer. That stockpile smelled like wet manure, it was awful, which means it should grow some great grass. The dozer op is a good one, better than me on the blade. Some of the almost finished re-spread can be seen in the first pic with the loader. We'll let that dry and then fine grade. No it's not much fun re-spreading nasty topsoil but it just takes some patience, which I get short on sometimes. Just let me know Landclearer, I adjust my schedule.
Count me in too! Charleston is a hop, skip, and a jump for me.
Sawdus, where are you at?
About 10 miles outside of Columbia. Sorry for the thread hi jack CM
lol, I'm the master at it..:wink2
Clearing a path for a drill rig to take boring samples on another site. I have a good relationship with a local geo-technical company and occasionally clear paths for them. It's rough but all the truck needs to do is get to the area. I did clean it up a bit before the truck came in. Small pines and scrub trees, used the T250. Cheaper mobilization. Back to the site we've been working on. Spraying hydro-seed. Rented a Finn T-60 from Sunbelt Rentals for this job. I have a 300 gal jet agitated hydro-seeder but it just wasn't big enough for this project and needs some hoses replaced. Actually the T-60 is a little small for this but it was available. The distance the unit sprays is impressive for a small unit. Covering the retention pond.
Overall view of the lower drive and retention pond. We'll cover the area to the right tomorrow with hydro-seed. The area to the right in the pic was where the crap pile was a few posts up.
Cm, I have never used a hydro seeder, does it actually need a water supply? How does the seed and mulch product go in the unit? Seems like one can seed / mulch a large area quick from your pics?
JB that's a day and 1/2 of work, went through 40 bales of mulch and 60 lb of seed, we should finish up today and have Friday to do touch up. I decided to hydro seed this instead of hay and seed for a couple of reasons. It would have taken 400 bales of straw and that's 4 trips on the gooseneck plus handling the bales twice. Most importantly it's hot and nasty work. Hydro seeding is quicker and easier for this particular job and much cleaner. This time of year is tough to get a stand of grass to grow and the mulch helps lock moisture around the seed as well. Using a DOT ROW summer mix that has fescue, bermuda, clover, millet and other grasses. It takes a water supply to fill it but not to operate. The unit has a hydro pump for the spray gun. Fill the unit 1/2 way and add the mulch. It's a wood/paper mixture with a green dye so you can tell the areas that have been covered. We are using 4 bales per 600 gal. The unit has a hatch on top where you load the seed and mulch with a water port. We are filling this with a garden hose (which has great pressure), which takes some time however we start mixing at 1/2 full and by the time the unit is filled with water it's mixed and ready to go. There is not a fire hydrant close enough to the job to make it faster as you have to fill it up half way, add the mulch and mix. If we filled it faster, you still have to let it mix or 15-20 minutes to get the mulch broke up and into a slurry. By the time we pulled it back and forth between the hydrant, we can have it filled on site. The tank has an auger that breaks up and mixes the mulch. You can easily break the mulch by hand. I'll get a few pics today of the internals that'll show a little more detail.
Thanks CM, that sure sounds like a slick setup. I am constantly messing with bales of straw and find the straw sometimes hard to come by now. Do u buy the mulch product from the rental company?
JB I buy the mulch and seed from a local erosion control supplier. They have all sorts of erosion control products, silt fencing, silt socks, geo-grid and geo-fabrics. This is the inside of the machine, re-filling it with water, the remnants of the last load are still there. The Kholer gas engine drives a hydraulic pump that turns the auger. Top view of the unit and the hatch to load the materials. This one has a turret on the back with a platform to stand on and a hose real to get into hard to reach areas which fortunately we didn't have to use at it's a PITA. You can also see the bar that goes across the opening, that's to rest the bale on while you cut and remove the plastic cover. A bale of mulch, comes plastic wrapped, about $13.50 a bale. The bag of seed is in the back of the truck as well. Each bale is loaded separately, just slice the plastic with a utility knife. Drop the bale in while the unit is filling with water. The mulch disperses quickly in the water. When it's about 1/2 - 3/4 full, crank the engine and turn on the mixing auger. While we are loading it, I like to break the bales up a little by hand.
Bale broken up by hand while filling. Auger is mixing and almost full. D5 and 321 parked up in view of the buildings security camera, by the fuel tank. The meth heads love to steal batteries.. Sprayed some of the area today on the left.
CM - What kind of coverage do you get with the 4 bale / 600 gallon mix?
Around 1/8 - 1/10th of an acre depending on how heavy you put the mulch down. Some areas that had a slight slope next to the road we put it down heavy. If you have a lot of acreage to cover, it would be cheaper to sub it out. This site was a little less than 2 acres of grassing so it was within the cut-off between sub'ing it out and doing it ourselves, money wise.
Good info, thank you.
Mulch almost looks like green cellulose house insulation. Makes me wonder if that would be passable to use in a pinch. Just thinking out loud here.
No problem JNB, just passing on info that will hopefully help someone out. Lord knows I have gained a ton of info here. Scott it's kinda like the paper insulation they spray on. Not really familiar with it but I have seen it after it's been applied once. The problem I see is the amount of water you would be introducing into the structure. I would guess the bales weigh 30-40 lbs or so and there is 4 per 600 gal, a lot more water than fiber. Personally I think the spray foam, the stuff that comes in a can and if gets on you or your clothes is never comes off, would be a better alternative for structure insulation. They have the big rigs that come in and spray the entire house before drywall is applied. I really like the concept and will probably spend the bucks (it's pricey I've heard) on the next house I build.
Thanks CM for the info on that, I will be trying that the next time we have enough to justify renting one. It is amazing to me the amount of information you can learn from this site from the great group of folks here....
JB it's worth looking into, especially for some of the projects you do. I have been looking for a used on come up at auction. Iron Planet had one just like this Sunbelt was selling in VA, it went for $7K a little too rich for my blood at the moment. Only problem with buying hydroseeders used is how used are they and how they were taken care of. If they're not cleaned well, it can be a problem. Also Finn is known in my area to be ridiculously expensive on parts, makes my Bobcat dealer look like walmart..
Sorry I wasn't clear. I was thinking of using the insulation grade cellulose for hydroseed mulch. Only possible problem I could see is the lack of color and the fire retardant might affect the grass. They used to use borax; I'm not sure if that's still the case.
CM, it is nice to see someone do a nice finish job on a project. We don't see that much around here. I am not saying that all jobs look rough when finished but a lot of them do. I have a friend with a hydro seeder that he is trying to get rid of. If you want, I can see if he still has it and some more info for you.
Thanks Landclearer. I have to admit there are some rough spots in the finish work but I am somewhat of a perfectionist. Spec's called for grade to drain and grass. Yeah if you don't mind PM me the info.
CM, I will talk to him tomorrow and see if they still have it and what model number it is. For some reason I am thinking it was 1250 gallon. As soon as I find out, I will let you know. Chris
Nothing real exciting, rapping up this project and doing the odds and ends. Sloped paved headwalls. The first pics are the pond outflow. I had the pipe cut at the supplier as it was a different spec from the county requirements and not in the ROW. Sloped paved headwall in the county ROW. Tomorrow we'll cut the pipe and mud up the transition between the pipe and apron. Had a nice surprise this morning, walking over the hydro-seed we did last week. The clover, millet and fescue is already coming up probably 1/4 to 1/2" in height in some places. Had a little rain on Friday which helped tremendously. Ran two more tanks to touch up this afternoon and while we were cleaning the rig up to return it tomorrow, a nice shower came through.
Rapping....good pun CM. Is there any functionality difference between cutting the pipe flush or leaving it as is?
Lol, someone get's my humor. The sloped paved headwall is more of a safety issue than functionality. The County requires this type of headwall in their ROW for drives and roads, reason being is if a car were to run off the road it'll launch them like the Duke's of Hazard instead of coming to an abrupt stop if it were a headwall.:beatsme
The counties here and the state require sloped ends on all new culverts. We can pour them or use precast. I always use precast. After 30 years of pouring concrete for living, anytime someone else will do it for me I'm a happy camper! The state passed an ordinance allowing only one culvert per 1400 ft on highway frontages per property. I guess they figure that once you get launched you might be able to regain control before you hit the next one.
LOL, JNB that's probably their rationale. As far as the poured headwalls, I wanted to use pre-cast and the plans called for pre-cast but the county gave a revision that stated PIP sloped headwalls. For some unknown reason (this county is full of pinheads who have their head fully place in their arse, but that's another discussion ) they didn't want the ALDOT spec precast end section and wanted them poured in place. The precast end sections are roughly $500 a piece so it was a wash price wise when you figure labor to form, pour and cut the pipe and the redi-mix concrete. Which brings me to my :soapbox I paid $486 for 3 CY of 3K psi. I know I am not a large buyer of concrete but I needed some vaseline for that price. $105 a yard, $100 delivery fee, environmental fee and taxes. However, what do you do? This was some of the last parts of this project and had to be done in order to final bill. Work is stacking up and the phone is ringing.
The GC's crew showed up today to strip forms from the slab that was poured a month ago. I am really glad they haven't been on the site, which allowed us to get our scope of work completed without having multiple vehicles and idiots in the way. On this job our contract is separate from the building, so we are not under contract with them, directly with the owner. Which is a good thing as the first day they show up, they proceed to drive over our hydroseed and grass seedlings coming up. It's their's now, any damage they do they are responsible for it.:cool2 The 6.7 is still going strong, best diesel I have owned so far. The last little section to grass. Spread hay and seed over this little area. The inner fire bug in my wanted one more bootleg fire to finish the project. The loader and track hoe are parked waiting on the lowboy. Moved the track hoe today to dig some test pits for a geotechnical firm I clear for drill rigs and dig test pits. The same company I cleared with the T250 for.
Digging test pits with the 321 for geotechnical exploration today. They also had a drill rig doing rock bores on site as well. Dug 10 pits today and the depth to rock varied from 3' to 20'. This was the 20' pit. No I haven't fixed the dent yet that I caused on the last demo job, it's going to the shop after this job for some sheet metal TLC. Just about bottomed out the cylinders. Doing this type of work is beneficial in a couple of ways. One it's easy money as the machine doesn't work that hard and you can charge your daily rate plus mob. Second and most importantly you develop a relationship with the geotech company, which is very important, not for compaction testing going easy or the like but for being on the very front end of projects that are being planned. These projects are in the early planning stages and knowing what is coming down the pipeline from the engineering stage is crucial to knowing the future work load in your area. It's all about who you know. I have referred this company for testing services for out of town GC's, it's a 2 way street. They do good engineering work and we do good dirt work. If a problem arises on a project we are working on and they are testing on, we work as a team in order to get the desired result. Unfortunately I don't always work with this company and there are other geotechnical firms that are let's say not as proactive or easy to work with.:cool2 It's good work for someone who is interested. As you build your relationship with the engineering company, it can lead to referrals and future work. Might be clearing for a tracked drill rig with the same company on a major HWY expansion, 1.5 miles and 25-30 bores.
CM Nice to see you are staying busy. You are right on getting in on the front end of the jobs. That really helps.
CM, I'm lucky to have a concrete supplier that also delivers the bulk of my gravel. I get really good prices on both products since I purchase a lot of gravel. They have over 60 truck and pups, semi dumps and bottoms, and they take care of me pretty well. Most of my work is rural in nature with quite a few finish grades and roads for new home builds. Subs for the builder are the worst when it comes to messing up my work. I am almost always working directly for the owner and let them know before I start that I'm not responsible for yahoo-damage to my work. It's in my contract too. I've had more than one owner backcharge the builder for damage and have me redo my work.
Thanks Jerry, hope you have a full backlog too. Don't need to wait until the next Conexpo to meet up again. If we weren't separated by 2K miles, I'd ring you up tomorrow for lunch, first day in a while I'm not pedal to the metal. I hear ya' JNB, it seems this is par for the course now a days - no body gives a damn, or it seems that way. It's a shame we have to have contract language to protect ourselves, along with pictures, from others on site that are clueless to anything except what they were sent there to do.
CM, You have the nicest dirt I have ever seen. Our soil is nothing but rocks and lots of them. More rocks than soil as a general rule and when you get past that layer its nothing but hard pan...and than more rocks but much bigger now....absolute hell to work in and pure torture on my equipment. I'm jealous and can only dream of working in your conditions. I need to get you a picture of what we deal with daily...I'm jealous !
Pafarmer our dirt can be nice and it can be call the blasters. On this site, the pictures I posted are the deepest hole. I dug 5 holes that didn't go 3' until smoke was rising from the bucket. The rock rises up in pinnacles and can tough to determine where it is. We do have great material to work with in areas but it changes rapidly, within miles or less. Being at the toe of the Appalachian Mountains and the start of the Coastal Plain, the dirt/rock can change very quickly. The north end of the area is rock and coal mines, the south end of the area is sand and pea gravel. In the middle is some of the best quality limestone in the country - chemistry wise, has something to do with the calcium content of the stone. Lime plants are prevalent in the lower section of our work area, high quality limestone that is processed into powder and shipped all over the country for various ingredients from chicken feed to football fields. I don't bid a job that doesn't have a rock clause. We also have chert, a very abrasive material, great to work with on the fill side but will wear GET and pads very, very quickly. Had a job back in 2005 with 30' cuts in the deepest section, all chert. Wore out a set of pads on a D6N within 500 hours and changed bucket teeth on the track hoes every other day. Swapped the teeth at lunch so they would wear evenly. Last job we did, used chert as structural fill for the building pad and parking lot. It was winter and it was the only material that would pass compaction. Wore the teeth out on the bottom to the shank, on the 953 back dragging the material in the fill lifts before the points wore down.
It looks like I found someone with as many different soils as we have. We work in anything from beach sand to nasty sticky clay and just about everything in between. The hardest thing we have around here is marl. You know it when you hit it with an excavator. Smoke comes off the teeth and it comes out looking like chunky limestone base. Once you put it in a pile it turns to goo. Did a job a few years ago that the clay was so sticky we had to weld chains in the excavator buckets to help keep them clean. Pretty good looking concrete work for a bunch of operators(haha). Chris
LOL, that's what I told our engineer inspector.:tong He was happy with it and it looked OK so that's all that matters. That's the largest concrete job I care to take on. From time to time I have opportunities to go to the coast to do a project and I decline them, just don't know how to work sand and have no experience with it and the shallow water table. I know how to work rock and clay and the fact it's a 5 hour drive helps in the decision. We did a project back in '08 that was 20 miles or so inland from the Gulf. Good material, a red sandy clay that worked well. Of the machines that went down there that we still have, they have far more rust on them then similar hour and age equipment we had at the same time that didn't go down there. Landclearer, how do you deal with the salty air and the effects on your equipment? On our coast you'll see a lot of Doosan and other cheaper machines working close to the beach, I've been told the salt plays hell on them and they buy the cheapest machine they can, as the salt will get it before it wears out mechanically.:beatsme
CM, you are a better man than me, I would be happy if I never did any concrete work . As for working on the coast, it is definitely a different deal. I have seen good dozer operators try to grade in sand and look like they just started operating. I think I was fortunate, I learned in sand and lots if guys say it and I believe it that if you can grade sand, you can grade anything. Another thing you deal with is having to constantly water to get density. For some reason I don't think you water your sub grade much, we are constantly watering. Then you go the other way, you dig 3 feet deep and you hit ground water. If you are unfortunate enough to run into shellsand than you are really going to catch hell. The shellsand runs water like 57 stone. The salt air is bad but not too bad if you keep the stuff washed off every once in a while. Don't get me wrong it does affect the stuff and you see rust where you shouldn't. Now if you take it out on the beach and get in the water, that is a different story. About 5 years ago they were doing a beach renourishment and the contractor rented a brand new D8t from the Cat dealer and drove it out to the sand bar where they were loading. The water was so deep, the fan was blowing it out of the engine compartment doors. I have some pics of it and will try to find them and post them.
Thanks for the info, reinforces my line of thinking. At this point in my career I am not so much about learning through baptism by fire ( learning how to work in sand on the coast for example), I'd rather concentrate on making money. I know that sounds trite but I'm not getting any younger and I know how to move dirt in the situations I have experience in. I'll leave that stuff to the ones who have experience with it. I bet that D8T went to auction shortly after with a Richie Brothers overhaul..
A little clearing job at a residence close to the job we just finished up in the pics above. Now they will be able to mow it with their rider. I am fortunate to have a great blade hand. This is the correct way to take down a large sweet gum, go at full speed and hit it as hard as you can..:tong My faithful and trusted friend. She's getting up in years (14) and has been battling cancer for the last year. The wife and I have been taking her to Auburn's Vet School for treatment, their level of care is phenomenal. She doesn't get to go with me to work much anymore. Had an easy day between mob'ing out equipment to the shop and having only one side job going on, so get in the truck and let's go! Well, ok I pick her up and put her in the spread of a bed in the back seat.. She is in a few pics spread across HEF. Of course she is standing in the remnants of the drilling mud from the rock boring - one of the few muddy spots on the whole site, that's what vinyl seats are for! I cherish these moments.
Spent Monday and Tuesday at the shop washing and servicing equipment, waiting on next job for the GC to get the permit. Got the call Monday it was a go so we mob'd in Tuesday and started today -but that's another story, I'll update that project later. Needed some cribbing so we fired up ol' blue to get some cross ties that had been stacked in the field for a while, this is what we found. Who says creosote is bad? They were rotten as hell but thought this was interesting pic none the less. The pine had grown down through the first one and between the two. Probably should have saved the pine, full of preservatives. Tuesday evening bringing a load back to the shop. Utmost utilization of trailer deck space.:cool2 It's not my lowboy, contracted. The T250 didn't get a much needed bath or service, went back out this morning for the small job we started.
There is a spot next to the fuel tank, looks like you could have gotten a joint of pipe on there . Do you pay the lowboy by hour, mile or the load?
Lol, LC! :thumbsup This particular mob was part of the contract for that job with the GC, they moved all our equipment in and out. The average mob with lowboy in my working area is $250-300 a move, obviously more if it's farther out.
Thanks for the info on the trucking. That is about he same as what we pay. I hate to say it but we have a lowboy and a tag along and still need to get help sometimes moving stuff. It all depends on what we have going on. The guy we use charges by the mile but the heavier it is, the more it cost per mile.
This project is a pharmacy addition to a cancer treatment outpatient clinic. The last job was out in the boonies, 45 min ride one way, this one is 20 mins away without rush hour traffic. This one is in the middle of suburbia - quite a change, we have a much better selection of places to eat lunch rather than the local gas station/restaurant we ate at for 3 months. Taking some bushes out with the 420. The work was delicate as there were patients on the other side of the wall. We had to demo a screen wall that surrounds the power transformer, chiller, etc. for the new addition. I was pealing the 2x8 wood ledger that ran on top of the CMU wall in which the coping was attached to. The CMU wall was reinforced with web wire and filled cells ever 4' with a bond beam which had 2 #4's continuous. If we would have had the room, I would've pulled the whole wall over in one piece but couldn't do that here. We cut the wall with a demo saw on both corners first and tugged on it a little with the 420 - the whole wall moved. Had to make a few cuts to section the wall up, knock out the cut with a sledge and then cut through the bond beam on top. Once we sectioned the wall it came over easily. Since it had filled cells with #4's tied into the footings, it came down gradually - not the normal explosion of CMU fragments when you pull over a non-reinforced wall. Cleaning the debris up. Normally I wouldn't pile it up and have to handle it twice - the debris goes directly into the can but this job was a "call you on Monday, need to start Tuesday" type of job and I couldn't get a can until later that afternoon. Taking the last section of the wall out, this section can be seen still standing in the pic above. Had to be careful as the stucco wall behind it was to remain and not part of the addition. The GC for this project is local (home office is here) however they are a very large international company that builds embassies. This little project was a good foot in the door.
Cleaning up the last bit of haul off on Friday afternoon. Started this job Wed, the amount of work only amounted to a day and a 1/2 of actual work but being an addition, there were all sorts of "unseens" that needed to be worked out as the worked progressed. Electrical conduits for ground lights, irrigation and the like. Interesting that this picture is reversed (I don't know why) but it gives another perspective of the site. I'm running the T250. The silt fence is run on the uphill side from the job, with fabric facing the undisturbed side. :cool2 The engineer called for this to detour water around the working area..:beatsme Whatever, ya' want as long as you're paying.
A couple of finished pics from the last project. #4 Stone spread for the drive around the new building. The hydroseeded area in the pic was where we were spreading the very nasty topsoil, it came out ok after a lot of work. Cab shot of the lower drive entrance with the slope paved headwalls and retention pond outlet.
Wow! That turned out great. My hat is off to you. The "topsoil" area looks great, especially with what you had to work with. Seems like every job is call Monday, start Tuesday deal anymore but at least they are calling!
Thanks for the kind words LC. Now we just need some rain for the grass to grow, it's dry as a popcorn fart here. The little demo project has been on the books for a couple of months but they were waiting on final permit approval. Luckily we finished up the last project and this one hit right after it.
Getting dry up here in the northern part of the state too. Hope we get some rain soon. Been enjoying your project photos. Keep it going!
Thanks Boone! We had a good shower Saturday of course while the Wife and I were stocking up at Costco.. but not enough to make a difference. How's the loader treating you?
OldandWorn, thought I would give an update. She's doing great considering we're on borrowed time. Back in April of '13 she was given 3-6 months from our vet. It's been a little longer than that and the Wife and I are grateful. Thank you for those kind words, almost a year ago. Sug ready for her dinner and ours later on of course.
Going good CM. Haven't done much with it lately. What time we've had available has been spent bush-hogging. We're planning to cut this weekend and weather permitting we have a spot we're going to clear with the loader. It's been so dry lately that we're going to take advantage if it lasts to clear a wet weather spring that's been like hairy armpit on the front of the farm. There is good chance of rain in the forecast, which I hope it does so for the farmer's sake. Even if it rains, we should be able to get half of it. Sug looks like she's ready for you to put the camera down and lay down that food! LOL Looks like she's doing great.
Happy doggie...:thumbsup
Boone take advantage of the dryness, won't be long until winter is here and it rains every day. It's so dry down here, the kudzu is turning yellow and withering.. :yup
CM, if you want, I can send some rain your way to help with the kudzu . Glad to see Sug is still doing ok. Dogs really are part of the family!
LOL, it don't need any help..:tong Thinking of getting a few goats to turn loose behind the fence in the backyard. Thanks buddy!:drinkup
Yup, we got to take advantage of it this weekend. Sadly, didn't get as much rain as they predicted. I'll try to post up some photos this week in my loader thread.
Taking advantage of the dryness. Cleaning silt out of a detention or rather a silt trap at a strip mall. The 321 is in the shop for leaking duo cone seals on the drive motors. Noticed oil leaking on the track pads and removed the cover plates on the drive motors thinking it might be a hose or fitting - dry, damn. Upon further investigation after taking a few pads off the top, we could see it was something between the motor and final drives, double damn. Got on the phone with our PSR and he asked us how many hours on the clock -2512. Well finally some good luck came my way - Cat has a recall on these drive motors for faulty castings between the drive motor housing and the final drive that causes early duo cone seal failures and the cut-off for this year model was 2600.. Cat is replacing the housing and the seals under warranty. However, it's been sitting in their shop bay for the last two weeks waiting on parts, with no indication of when they'll be here.. Our salesman and PSR got on the horn with Cat corp. and got them to pay for a rental until the 321 is running as we had a few small jobs lined up and as murphy would have it, they are all track hoe jobs. This is the reason why I buy Cat equipment, my local folks go to the bat for us. The rental store had a 316E available and it fit the bill. Quick machine, nice spacious cab but you can't see a damn thing out the right side or the back end. I probably would not buy one as it's too small but it is easy to move. This retention pond is actually serving as a silt catch and hasn't been cleaned out in at least 5 years. There is a large slope behind the shopping center that for the most part is stabilized and has a diversion ditch cut into the hillside that drains into this "pond". There are several bare spots on the steep slope that are bare, thus creating this sediment wash. There are also two levels to this shopping center, a retail section below and office warehouse on the upper level. The top 3' of the pond was dry, the bottom 4-5' was pudding. Built a ramp with the dry stuff out into the pond to reach the far side, then bailed the material back to be hauled out. Stockpiling the mud on the right side of the pond for load out. Excavator is sitting on a pad of dryer stuff for loading the trucks. Far side of the pond, cleaned out to the original bottom.
Cleaning up the slope to the pond. This tractor has been abused in the rental fleet, notice the bashed in bucket. More on that later. Loading out one of my friends tri axle's. This was his job, I just provided the hoe. The bare spot on the hill is the upper slope to the diversion ditch leading to this pond, that's where the sediment is coming from. The limestone rock pinnacles that are common on this hillside that runs many, many miles, can be seen in the pic.
As I said, this little machine has been abused. A few pics of the damage for posterities sake, always do this on rental equipment, even though we're not paying for the rental. Review camera is gone.. A nice whack on the counter weight. Getting ready to dig test pits for the geotech's on a park/trail expansion. These are the same guys I clear for drill rigs and dig test pits. This project is an interesting one as it the walking/biking trail goes through 100 year old remnants of the iron ore industry here. There are multiple ruins and mine shafts. Some of the still standing brick structures have some of the most ornate brick laying you'll see. That type of craftsmanship has been lost, unfortunately.
Nice looking work CM!
Mowing with the T250 for a good client of ours. Saw this little guy at the shop. Tried to catch him and bring him home to the garden since they're ferocious killers of other insects but he was having nothing of it so I left him be. I have never seen one this color, all I have ever seen were green. Work dog taking a nap - shhhh don't tell Sugar.:cool2 This is my buddy's dog that owns the dump trucks. Since I have been going to the shop the last couple of weeks I only get about 1/2 of my biscuit between the home dog and work dog.:tong
Thank you, we try to do our best although sometimes it doesn't work right.
I heard that, hard to please everyone no matter how good ya are. I just figure if I'm honest and do things to the best of my ability it'll all work out. You like your T250 pretty well?
Overall yes, it's a good machine. I have owned bobcats going on 20 + years and an 843 was the first dirt moving machine I cut my teeth on back in the '80's. However, when it's time to update this one I'll probably go with a Cat for a couple of reasons. The dealer support is better than Bobcat here and I would like to get my little fleet all the same brand. Reliability and how hard it is to work on a Bobcat is the main reason. I have never cussed more at a machine and the engineers who designed it than a Bobcat. The only hangup I have is after running foot/hand controls for so many years, it's going to be tough to retrain myself and my guys to run a skid with joysticks. It's the main reason, well that and $$, that I haven't already upgraded.
I guess rental equipment is the same all over . It is hard to believe how little people care about machines. Looks like the pond job was pretty fun. It is nice to get a low stress, dig muck, load it on a truck job every now and then.
Lol. Bobcats are all I've ever run, like you said they'll make ya say a few choice words every now and then. I just can't get used to joystick skidsteer can't hardly hit the ground with the bucket, I feel a lot more comfortable in confined spaces on a bobcat vs a joystick operated machine. I guess it's all what a person gets used to.
That's the exact reason I sold all of my Bobcats and now have only CAT equipment in my fleet. One brand, one dealer and so much better to work on when they need to be worked on that is. My CAT machines take a brutal beating daily and are head and shoulders better than the Bobcats in terms of reliability, ease of use, comfort and maintainability... You will get used to the joysticks quickly CM and I am sure you are going to like the joysticks much more than foot control machines of old. You will be wondering why you waited so long to make the switch. For me it was always money related but at the end of the day the CAT are a better built and thought out machine and at my age the less aggravation the better. My nerves are shot and the less hassle the better for me and everyone else around me too. My crew struggled for a few days when I switched out my machines over yo all CAT and now they wouldn't run foot/hand controls units if I paid them too.
All small stumping job. The timber was cut last April. The 953 earning it's keep. On jobs like this I pioneer a trail plucking out the stumps to get a smooth run to push the debris to the burn pile, which will be in the forefront of the pic. Grubbing the smaller stumps with the '53. A track loader is such a handy tool if one knows how to use it. Still have the 316EL on "free" rent. The 321 is still waiting on parts. Overall I am impressed with the the machine, it fast and strong for it's size - stronger than the 315's I have owned in the past. I don't like the fat ass on the rear or the visibility behind you but it's a good machine, none the less and the cab is quite spacious. Grubbing the larger stumps.
Hey CM, you are so right, a trackloader is so handy. How many acres you doing? Looks like the loggers did a decent job and there is a minimum of slash on the site.
Landclearer that was about an acre, in and out in a day and 1/2. Pulled most of the stumps with the 316 and piled them with the loader. The customers are preparing an organic garden operation to sell produce at local farmers markets and this is their first phase.
A little house demo. This is a sad story. Owner had an owner held mortgage on the home and the "owner" quite paying over a year ago and it took them that long to get them out. After the legal battles, the owner finally gets the person to move out. They showed up at the home expecting a cosmetic make-over - paint, carpet, appliances, etc and a quick turn-over. However this is what they found - The roof has been leaking for a while. The scrappers have been hard at work in the kitchen but the floor had already rotted through and collapsed into the crawlspace. The floor joists and subfloor had rotted and settled 8-10" in the living room. This woman who was living here moved out 2 weeks ago..
Exterior pics. Cleared the over-grown shrubbery and such away from the house as to not mix the debris. The damage to the cornice was done when ripping the aluminum gutters off today. I would guess the home is 3000-3500 sf. My part is just putting on the ground and loading out dumpsters. This neighborhood is not in a bad part of town or an area that is in the process of being run down, that's what makes this one scratch your head as to how anyone could let a house get into this state of disrepair and worse live in it. On a side note, my father and grandfather framed many of these houses for this builder during the '70's in this subdivision, they might have built this one.
That would definitely be going full circle if your father and grandpa built that house. 3 generations would have touched that house!
Hey CM, Thanks for the info on the clearing job. Did you burn it or is it still piled to burn later. That is a nice little demo job. Did you get your 321 back or are you going to use the 316? Interesting but kinda sad if your Dad and Grandfather did frame it.
Might have and it's kinda neat in the "whole life cycle" kinda thing. My family has a long history of carpenters and builders on both sides in my area. My Dad lives far away and my Grandpa isn't doing so well or I would have brought them out there to verify it. LC, burn ban in effect until Oct 1 in our area and it will probably be extended if we don't get some more rain. Burn ban goes into effect May 1 through end of Sept. normally. We stacked what little brush was there with the stumps we pulled. Tried to keep it as clean as possible for a good burn but when it's mostly stumps, they'll need a machine back out to burn it properly. We'll be back out there in the future. The 316 didn't have a thumb so I traded it in for a 314DLCR with a thumb, I really wish I had the 321 back for this one but it'll do. Still waiting on parts to repair the finals on the 321. Really doesn't bother me, other than not having my hoe, as I am putting wear and hours on a "free" rental while mine sits in the shop.
Got the structure down yesterday. Normally I would be hauling debris as soon as I get enough for a couple of 30's on the ground but with the small hoe and the two stories, I wanted to have time to put it all on the ground and not be rushed in one day. It was easy enough but I took my time and had to build a ramp of the debris to reach the second story. I didn't want a partially demo'd house in a neighborhood full of kids. Late '60's early '70's architecture at it's finest.. Started at the garage for two reasons - one I needed the debris to start building the ramp and most importantly the 3 car garage slab provided a great landing area for the roll-offs. Working my way from the garage to the kitchen. Trackhoe is sitting on the debris from the garage. I like to have a little elevation while working across the building. I keep the exterior walls intact to help keep the interior debris contained. The rotted kitchen is in the foreground. In the process of dragging that debris towards the machine to extend the elevated ramp. Now this is something I haven't seen before. This is the roof over the living room. That water pouring out is not water that was trapped on top of the roof but rather trapped between the two roofs. At some point, probably due to a leak they couldn't fix, there was another roof framed out of 2x4's with plywood decking built over the original roof. When I started to pull it apart the water came out, probably 200 gallons or so, I don't know how the original roof supported the weight of all that water considering the state of the house in general.:beatsme I did salvage some of those cedar beams, took them to the yard and added it to the "bone collection".
Working through the second story. There were 3 baths in this area of the house, lot's of good copper and cast iron fixtures. I let my guys get the nonferrous metal, this house will probably yield $350-400 in copper, brass, aluminum and stainless. Just a little bonus as you have to process the debris and it's not hard to pick it out and throw it to the side.. I'll take the ferrous scrap for the beer fund. 2 30's loaded for transport on the garage slab. The scrap metal can be seen piled on the dirt. We'll probably get a full 30 of scrap out of this one.
Hey CM, I will trade you jobs this week. Demo is a lot more fun than laying pipe or grading shoulders. It is also nice to see someone that does a nice neat demo job. That is how you load a can . I can't believe the mess that some people make doing demo. Like you we always try to keep it in the foot print of the house.
Thanks LC, you know how to demo as well. I agree, can't stand to see someone demo a building and have debris scattered around the site like a tornado hit it. Yeah it gets me as well how some contractors load cans - just bang it out with clunky debris, full of voids. The haul per can is the expensive part in my area. We pay anywhere from $15 to $26 a ton for C&D, getting every void filled in the can packed tight is the way to make money as a couple of tons over the 6 ton cap per can is less than an extra haul at the end of the job. I like to take the structure down processing the debris the first time as I go and pick out the scrap. Then process the material again while loading it out, picking out what metal is still left. Locally I can get between $.11 to $.14 a pound for tin, more for better iron so I usually do it if there is enough. A 2500-3K SF house usually yields a 30 of scrap that'll weigh 3-6 tons. There is a nice, heavy fireplace insert still left to demo. It sounds like you are working in the ROW laying pipe and grading shoulders, if it's a live traffic road - I'll keep my demo. If it's a new road, then I'd consider it.:tong Pricing a 3/4 acre pond tomorrow, that may be the next project while we wait for the DOT to approve an access on another auto parts store.
I know what you mean about looking like a tornado. I try to figure what people are thinking and figure out just how much they spend on dump fees because of all the dirt mixed in. Things are very different in Al. than they are here. We pay $40 a ton to dump at a transfer station which is nice. We dump our 34 foot trailer under roof on a clean level concrete floor so no worries about turning over or nails in the tires. If you do use cans, they have a flat rate for the trip and whatever the tonnage is, no limit(within reason). Same thing here, take the building down getting as much scrap out as you can all the while breaking and crunching the trash up as much as possible. If I have big wood timbers or something, I will leave them whole and put them on the bottom of the truck. I like to save up the little bits and dust and so on for the top of the load which helps to fill the holes. You do good on the scrap. The last load of steel we sent out was .11 per pound. Part of the pipe job was on a DOT right of way, lightly traveled road. The other was new subdivision street, no traffic.
Nice work there CM. I feel ya on the blind spots on the new Es, but they are really good running hoes.
Thanks DB. That 316E was a strong hoe for it's size. After using this 314D to demo, I'm ready for the 321 to return.
Did they get your 321 fixed yet?
No. Actually had a meeting with my PSR and the Cat corp parts rep for the southeast today about it. The ship date for the housings from Japan is Oct. 3. Which in reality means the parts will get here the end of Oct. Repair is fairly quick, a couple of days turn around. Cat is paying our local dealer to give me a loaner through the rental store. I appreciate the effort of the local guys getting a rental during the down time. However, I did remind the rep that I was paying for the rental machine, which he looked at me funny (he's young). I told him I was still paying Cat financial for the 321 sitting in the shop so the rental wasn't "free" per se, in which he understood. However, I did leave out the fact I am putting hours and wear on this machine instead of the 321. In reality, I expect to get the 321 back sometime in Nov. This gets back to the discussion on which machine to buy and so forth, which comes down to the relationship with your dealer. I am a small operation but the local dealer gives us great service, sometimes above and beyond such as this incident.
Not much in the job category worth posting. New shoes on the D5. Also re-flashed the computer/sensors to get rid of the drive line lag problem that has been posted in another thread, once again HEF comes to the rescue. Also replaced some bushings in the blade, the tractor is like new again. The original bushings in the blade cylinders had 4600 hours on them and we were able to knock them out.
Finishing up a job we started, the one with the demo up thread. Rain leader - This was probably the strangest spec for a roof leader that I've done. 4" PVC exiting 4' outside the building. The 4" line ran to a 6" line which then dumped out on the slope with grouted rip-rap. That's not what was screwy. This was the screwy part. 4" leader to a 6" outfall with an 8" clean-out. The 6" line was all of 10'..:beatsme 1 CF of concrete for a support kicker. I don't get paid to design it, I get paid to put it in.. Rented a mini from the Rental Store for this job and saw this on the yard. My rental guy was there and I asked him about it. It's been in the fleet for a year, rented mostly to one customer that didn't put many hours on it. I'd like to know out how many hours the undercarriage has and the rate of wear. Started a chain auto parts store today, I'll get pics as that progresses.
Now that's my kind of undercarriage.
I'd be interested to know how that 299 rides with steel tracks.
Looks like system one so it should last pretty good. Not sure about the ride.
If I'd had time I would've took it for a spin to see how it rides and operates. Interesting set up, I'll find out more info as far as hours and wear.
I run a 299XHP steel tracked machine almost daily, Full forestry package , running the steel tracks. We get 5k plus hours to a set. The ride is pretty good. My machines have ride control so that helps a bit but its still a CTL in rough terrain...Our terrain is mostly rocky with very little top soil. Rubber tracks were getting replaced at 1200 to 1500 hours.
How many hours are you getting out of the 299s? Seems like at 5k hours most of it would be getting tired.
Hi guys , is that a serrated joiner link on the 299d , and it sort of looks like oil bungs in the end of the pins too. Are they "salt " chains ? 5k hrs sounds good do the sprockets / rollers go 5k hrs too?
Started an chain auto parts store last week. Nice little job, we've worked for this GC before, good company. Mobilized in, building and property corners marked. Removing an old asphalt driveway with the T250. Site stripped and ready for a proof roll, that will take place tomorrow. Construction entrance and erosion control measures in place. There was a fair amount of #57 stone on the site so we stripped and piled it separately, it's dirty but we can use it for mud control. Found this "little lady" in the plastic wrapping on the silt fence fabric. Good thing I didn't find it first as I would have done my spider dance, it's not pretty..
CM, that is a nice size site for a parts house. What do you guys use for a proof roll? Is that your sheepsfoot roller?
Two weeks ago tomorrow my wife and I had to make the very tough decision to end our faithful companion's suffering. Sugar had been fighting melanoma for the last 18 months and the cancer had finally won. She was a fighter and had a very strong will to live. Sugar has graced this thread and several more here on HEF as I took her to work with me most of the time and she was a standard component of any of our job sites. She loved to ride in the truck, get out at the jobs to smell around and she loved watching the equipment work. Sugar, you will always be loved and remembered as the third Musketeer, my faithful and loyal companion. Always there with nothing but love to give. A picture can say a thousand words, her favorite place, the back seat of my truck - She came home last Friday.
Loaded tandem dump is normal protocol, although I have used the sheep's foot before. We'll be using a tandem for this one as it's bringing the rental 314 to the site. This is a normal sized retail store. We did a HUB store for the same chain over a year ago, it was 18K SF.
The soil guys around here sometimes let us use a loader and a bucket of dirt on the subgrade but we use a tri-axle on the rock. Very sorry about Sugar. It is obvious she was loved very much.
Thank you LC, she is missed greatly. I prefer a loaded tandem on an existing site proof roll, as any unsuitable soils are identified easily, which means T&M outside the contract to remove and replace it.
CM, So sorry to hear about Sugar. I too am a huge Dog lover, very hard to have them past.....cherish her memories. I am sure you gave her the best life possible.....
We are the same way on certain jobs. Most of our stuff is sand and no mucking so it is just a formality but if it is not good we make sure the soil guy is happy or says to muck it.
Thank you Pafarmer, she was as spoiled rotten as a dog could be. It was the least we could do.
I'm sure you spoiled her terrible....I do the same exact thing. My guy goes everywhere with me....I know how hard it is and I truly feel for you my friend. Any fellow who cares for dogs like yourself is my kind of friend. Attached is a picture of my best friend....
Sorry to hear about your companion. I've had to put down two that went to work with me on a daily basis. Not easy.
sorry bout your best friend CM!! I have found a couple of them "little ladies" this summer in parts boxes!!! I was the biggest I have ever found & she had a egg sack & was pi$$ed off at the world!!! that 1 wont b passing along any genes
Thank you pafarmer. A dog is man's best friend and confidant, always ready to go wherever and do whatever you are doing. Looks like you've got a good one, enjoy the time you have as I am sure you will. Thank you JNB, it was tough as you know, she let my wife and I know it was time. Thank you FSERVICE. We find them fairly often - meter boxes and manhole covers are their favorite places we run across. I can almost sense when one is there.
CM Nice to see you are busy. Too bad about your 4 legged friend. Take care
Thank you Jerry. Hope everything is going well out there on the West Coast.
The auto store is coming along nicely. Started the building pad Detention/drainage swale at the rear of the building Another day completed
Note on the plan read - Existing 18" CMP, Contractor to field locate position and flow. If there are conflict's, notify project administrator. Well there's a conflict.. Pipe runs under one corner of the building. The building corner is staked in front of the excavator. They wanted us to uncover the entire length of the pipe to see where it went. This is an old lot with no as-builts. A 22.5 bend, field made. Then the 18 goes into a 20 or 24. This is a well done connection.. Followed it across the site. Haven't found the connection or junction box yet. Who knows what we'll find. The end result of this will be a nice change order.
Funny that the Irish are building across from Auto Zone. Condolences on the dog, it's tough losing a friend.
Thank you, it's appreciated. They do it on purpose, there is also an Advance Auto a block away. They want to be as close to a competitors store as possible, in one small city here they're side by side with shared parking lots. Same way with fast food chains, they want to be clustered together.
As the "in-fill" site turns - Followed the existing 18" CMP to the "junction box" and it's an interesting structure to say the least.:cool2 8" CMU and PIP concrete. The grate inlet was covered with 6" of dirt and gravel. There are 2 - 18" CMP's and 1 - 28" CMP coming into the box with two 18" CMP's on the outflow that goes under the street to the school parking lot. 1 18" CMP comes into the box where the shovel is. The other 18" CMP comes into the box to the right, that's the one we have been uncovering. It was just shoved into the box with no mudding collar.:beatsme The other 18" CMP that runs parallel to the side street comes into the box here. The 8" CMU was mortared and collapsed. After talking with the street supervisor and building inspector, this property was platted in the '50's. The CMP's are rusted, collapsed, poorly installed or all 3. We sketched some as-builts with elevations to send to the engineer of record for the job. The change order should be a nice one but I am dreading the spec of a poured in place junction box - I hate those.
Sorry to hear about the dog CM. Great work!
Thank you RCTech9. The job is getting more interesting, the other existing storm line is made from 55 gallon drums with the ends cut out..
That's a fairly "interesting" collection box... That looks like one of those jobs where the contractor covers things up quickly before anyone gets the chance to criticize the install.
I think someone should get a prize for that pipe job. I am not sure which is more impressive, the 18 to 24 connection or the barrel with the ends cut out. Maybe that was their version of " value engineering"
This was probably installed in the '60's in a small town, when I-20 wasn't even constructed, which is a mile away. By far and away it's the worst I have seen, I have heard of this type stuff before just never ran across it on a project. This one definitively wins a prize LC. "Junction box" no one knew about where a pipe crosses the street. Expertly installed 55 gallon drum drainage pipe - that's recycling! Bottom rusted out, which is a shocker.. The end result of all of this is a total re-design of the storm sewer system and a possible underground retention system. This little job just turned into a bigger, "little" job.
Was/is that "Value Engineering" still functioning?
The best we can tell it yes - somewhat, water can still flow through it. The city street super and building inspector told us that the lot has flooded in the past.
I have seen that several times on farms. I guess if you have a big stack of drums behind the barn, a mig welder, and labor to keep busy in slow times....
CM, sorry to hear about Sug.
Thank you OldandWorn.
Dang, I never realized how much "pipe" I had in the yard. If I cut all my drums, I could put in quite a storm drain. Looks like your job is growing nicely.
Yes it is Jerry.
The local surveyor and engineer is going out to the site the first of the week to do an as-built of the existing mess and get the info back to the engineer of record which is a few states away. Hopefully this will speed up the re-design process. I have a few odds and ends to tie up on other projects so the delay is somewhat of a blessing if it doesn't drag out too long. I expect at least 2 weeks at a minimum before we are back on site. There will probably be some sort of underground retention system spec'd for this site in the re-design. The E.O.R likes the Stormtech system and we have installed one for this company before on another site. Here's the thread from that one - HeavyEquipmentForums
So a couple of weeks of re-engineering has produced a Storm Tech retention system and triple the amount of storm pipe for this project. There are two custom pre-cast boxes for the junction box and outlet structure for the retention system. All plans have been reviewed and pricing has been submitted, should be back on this one next week. Pictures to follow as the work progresses. Our work load is good - two fast food joints, possibly another auto parts store addition and a return to the rip-rap ditch for a nice sized addition. Entering winter time and everyone wants to get started on an earth moving project..
Glad to hear you will be back to work in that job. Sounds like a nice little change order
What's been going on lately CM?
Waiting on them to get us a set of approved plans for this job. They decided against the Storm Tech and for a retention pond at the rear of the building in order to save money. The storm piping increased as well as excavation for the retention pond. I should have approved drawings this week. This delay has seriously jacked up my upcoming schedule but it is what it is.
Great thread CM did cat get your 321 sorted out for you?
Yes they did. Provided a loaner during the whole time while waiting for the parts. Had a 316 and 314, the 314 is in the pics up thread. We had gotten the 321 back and worked it for a few weeks when we noticed an oil leak coming out of the drive motor housing. Turned out the left rear drive lost a seal and was leaking. Again the dealer came out and swapped the motor under warranty on a Sat. to keep us going. I'm dealer loyal, not necessarily brand loyal. I've got a lot of pics from the auto parts store and we are currently on another chicken shack. My computer grenade'd and I took my wife's laptop as she had gotten a new one. Gotta get the iPhone sinc'd to the hand me down Macbook.
I am looking forward to some pics and updates, it is like getting halfway thru a book and not finishing it
It's been a while since I updated, here ya' go. This is the same auto parts store with the homemade storm piping. The "junction box" we found at the entrance. The grate was covered over, no one on the project team knew it was there. A quality CMP connection... What we replaced it with. The custom structure weighed 15K pounds with the bottom and top sections. The 321 handled the two sections easily. The smaller 4x4 JB on the right connects to the existing CMP in the pic above. Another 18" ADS pipe comes into that smaller JB. Laying a mainline 18" ADS. Grate inlet with risers. We used another pre-cast manufacturer for this job and I was not impressed with their quality.
Another shot of a JB. Mainline backfilled with stone and proceeding with dirt backfill. The trench is wide enough to get the big roller in and come up in lifts. End of the day. Backfilled the mainline in front of the building. The line and JB replacing the 55 gal drum line. Hit an old unmarked galvanize gas service, it looked to be 1.5". Normally not a huge issue but there is an elementary school across the road. After calling the gas co. we used a hardwood stake with a round point to seal the gas off. It fit perfectly enough that the gas guys joked when they got there that we already had it fixed. Had a current line locate number and it wasn't marked, so no skin off us, the gas guys didn't even want my locate number. You can see the hardwood stake in the bottom middle of the pic.
We started another project while finishing up the auto parts store. This is "Just another chicken shack" part two. We work directly for the owners of the franchise as they are personal friends of mine. This is the second restaurant we've done for them, they're planning two more. What we started with. This is an old section of the city but is rapidly being redone as it has been surrounded by a very affluent area for years but annexed into another wealthy city a few years back. A Saks 5th Avenue is a couple of blocks away. The property had been neglected for years with many cobbled together outbuildings with old cars, junk, trash and more trash scattered everywhere. Due to the extended estate and familial complications it took the owners over a year and a half to close the property. A pic of some of the outbuildings. There were no less than 30 feral cats living on and around the property. The owners fed them but nothing else. The smell of cat urine and feces was so bad you couldn't walk through the area.:throwup I thought this was interesting. A vine had not only grown through both tires of the bicycle but through a gallon jug as well. The previous owners borrowed a 555 JD track loader to "clean up" and move out their junk. This is what we started with. The old house. They were living in this filth 2 weeks before this pic. Some of the things I've seen on demo projects.. This is not how I like my demo jobs to look but there was so much trash scattered around. We ended up stripping 1' of the site and hauling it off as there were layers of buried debris throughout the property. Hauled around 80 tri-axle loads out not including brush or C&D debris. Everyone that lives around the site who stopped to chat told us thank you for cleaning up a terrible eyesore that has plagued the area.
Getting the site cleaned up. We stripped the site and got that out before taking the trees down. The 953 earned it's keep. Hauled the demo debris and trees in a 60 yard dump trailer which worked great. Your's truly with my buddy's new dog Gunter. The wife and I haven't got another dog yet so I have a lot of love to give to my friends dogs. Site cleaned up, debris hauled off and erosion control in place. #2 stone check dam in place in a high flow area.
Great shots!! The 321 looks great sitting at the end of the laid pipe. That's a money shot. You're the town hero now with demo done. Sure is a beautiful pup. I love them chocolate labs but boy will they run off and cause some havoc but their love and loyalty trumps all that. That's a big commitment getting a puppy, especially a chocolate lab. Try the pound. That's where I found my dog. A pound hound is very loyal and you know what you're getting and don't have chewed up shoes everywhere LOL. Wouldn't a track hoe have done the one job faster than the 953 did Just kidding...people always say that on the internet
Thanks FD! We used the 321, 953 and the T250 on the demo/clean-up job. No kidding - the internet is full of professionals. lol It was a mess, I can't believe the conditions some people will live in... Yeah, the wife and I will either get a rescue dog or one from the pound. I am a firm believer that a Heinz 57 mutt makes the best dog, no papers required in this household.
This was a job from last week. It was a high profile job for a GC on a University Theatre. Rented a 304D and 262D for this job as I sold my mini a while back and the T250 was busy on another job. The job involved tearing out the entrance and patio to make way for a new addition that will bring the entrance out farther. The structure will be a glass atrium imported from Germany, remember I said old money.. Saw cut the stone patio in the foreground and tearing out the brick pavers and steps leading to the street. The existing doors are being removed as part of the addition hence no protection is needed during demo. As I demo'd the brick pavers we found other layers. Originally I thought it was brick pavers on a mud bed during a site visit. What it turned out to be was brick pavers on a mud bed with another mud bed underneath it and some sort of red mortar bed underneath that. In all it was 16-18" deep, which all had to come out. In this pic we unearthed the old steps to the building. Multiple renovations had raised the grade and covered the old steps. Done for the day. There are portable fence panels surround the site that we moved out of the way in order to get the skid in to remove the debris I piled on the street. Those fence panels are a PITA to move around all day in order to work but it is what it is.
Nice work CM! Glad you finally got some time to bring some life to your thread. Next time dont wait so long! I love seeing your work and the explanations that go along with it. Take care.
Well done.
Thanks Sawdus! My laptop took a dump and I have been using my wife's old one. It's not set up to my iPhone in the cloud so I have to email pictures, save them and then post. I like to give explanations of the jobs, usually I have spent so much time estimating and going over the plans that I've built the project in my head before the first piece of iron shows up. Thanks dd, that means a lot coming from a master operator. I wish our soils would hold as pretty as the ones in your pipe laying picture. Mostly heavy clay and rock around here. Sticking a bucket in the ground in my area is like opening a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.
Great updates on all the jobs. Thanks for taking the time to post. Always something different in your post. We have had boxes with risers but the one you used is pretty interesting. I guess that makes the box generic and lets you go as high as you want. You mentioned the quality of the boxes, same problem here, we did a box with 3 risers once, we installed it before we put about 10 feet of dirt in so it was way out of the ground, It was leaning so bad from the terrible job they did, we mounded dirt around it so nobody could see(after we took pics and sent it to the precast mfg). I see you are not lacking in trashy sights either, It is a real pain especially when you are the one that has to put the stuff in a grinder Only thing missing in this post is more pics of the 953
Those are standard 4x4 knockout boxes with 1' risers. The form quality was not as good as Hanson or Foley, they didn't fit together smoothly, they worked though. I tried to get the GC and owner to go with round structures but they wanted square. The round structures would've saved them $1500 on this project and would have had the pipe holes pre-cast in them which is much faster to install. Oh well, what do you do?:beatsme We're putting in storm now on the chicken shack and using round structures, I have some pics of the install. Trying to grind that debris on this site would've been difficult at best. So much metal everywhere. Hauled the brush to a dump.
CM I worked on a similar job a few years back the original owner of the house had some mental health issues and ended up hoarding and keeping 20 odd cats as companions and of course couldn't be bothered to clean up after them. (I have three cats myself and it certainly isn't above me or my wife to clean the litter box) I guess at some point he had a heart attack in the bathtub and after a few days of nobody hearing from him somebody went to check up and found the body. (ewww!) We were tasked with tearing down the house as the smell of the poop and pee everywhere was enough to 'gag a maggot'. Even after I had torn out the basement I thought I could still smell it.
I saw they were knockout boxes. We only use them in shallow cuts so that would explain why I haven't used the 1 foot risers. Good idea though. We got some boxes the other day from a different company, I hope they are good, should find out here in few days. I hate having metal everywhere on a site. You never know what will end up in the grinder. Rusty pipes look like roots so the best place is the dump like you said.
245, you know what that smells like. I cleared some for the geotech drillers before the owners closed on the property and the stench outside would make you gag. LC I like to use round structures whenever possible. That's the deepest I've put a knockout box as well. Back at the chicken shack - There was a tremendous amount of groundwater due to the time of year and the location of the site. Installed 200' of under drain and day lighted it to the ditch in the front of the property. Rented a 303.5 to dig the trench, placed the #57 stone with the 321. Fabric, pipe and gravel in ready for backfill. I put an extra load of #57 in the CO to cover over the top of the fabric in order to get more drainage surface. T'd it off at the end of the property to catch the neighbors basement sump pump run-off that kicked on every 30 mins and dumped several gallons out at a time. This under drain performed well in draining the site. We used it for storm water management as well, grading what we could of the muck towards openings in the under drain we didn't backfill, worked like a charm. No mud or muddy water left the site. The under drain stone filtered the mud out.
A couple of the '53 for LC - At the chicken shack. Walking in some surge stone over geogrid in an undercut section of the parking lot. Undercut about 4' in the side parking lot. Geogrid down and placing surge stone. I took the loader down to the dump to push off the undercut from the chicken shack and some brick and block.
Thanks for 53 pics CM. It is nice to see one in its natural habitat I think it has been a couple years since we have had our bucket on ours. After seeing your pics with the under drain it should not complain about our mucky sites.
Back to the auto parts store. Cutting out the Storm Tech retention system. This was some nasty, nasty stuff. Excavated down to the designed sub grade for the ST system. The existing soil couldn't support the system as designed with only 6" of #57's as a base and then set the chambers. Called the geotech out and dug a test hole with the backhoe, this is what was there. It had the consistency of a stiff cake batter. The fix was to excavate another 2', layer of geogrid, 1' of Class 1 rip-rap and 1' of #2 stone then fabric and the required 6" of #57 stone for the chambers. This pic is after taking another 2' out. A man couldn't walk across it without sinking up to your calfs.
No problem LC, the '53 is a staple in our fleet as it can do so much. You posted while I was uploading some more pics of the very wet, very mucky auto parts store. This was some of the nastiest stuff I've dealt with.
We had to rip 4x8 sheets of OSB down into 2x8 runners so we had a stable surface on top of the muck to walk on and roll out the geogrid, we left the OSB in place. The geogrid and rip-rap has been placed. Putting in the 1' of #2 stone. Notice how deep the hole is in relation to the top of the T250. Rolling out the filter fabric. Isolator row installed. Remaining chambers being installed. Backfilling the chambers with #4's and #57's.
That photo sure gives some size perspective. Good to see pics of the 953!
Quite the drain system CM. I am glad we have better footing here, at least on some jobs. I do have one that could compete though. I lost support for photobucket, so I have to figure out a new way to post pictures now so I can share some as well, at least on the ones I am allowed.
JB, the Storm Tech system ended up being a very expensive hole in the ground. I'll have to look back and see how many tons of stone went in the ground. Jerry, all of the ground around my area isn't this bad. These retail, restaurant projects I've done over the last few years have been infill parcels that had been passed over for years, for various reasons. These parcels had several uses over the years and all sorts of fun stuff is left buried.
100 years from now, when the tract homes finally make their way to my property....they're in for a big surprise! It sure does look look pretty from the back porch though.
Ha! Got some "buried treasure" out there?:tong
Pride in your work is becoming a lost art... This was recently done at a project I worked on..
Now that is impressive. You were not kidding about some nasty stuff in the bottom of the storm tech job. It sure turned out good, nice neat and straight. Those are fun to do.
Thanks LC, some of the chambers came off the pallets warped and it was aggravating to get them lined up and spaced. I was blown away by the pavement markings...
I tried, but the pavement marking photo just doesn't work for an avatar. Too bad, since it's a classic! :lmao
Cm can you explain the purpose of the isolator row with that system? Never installed one before.
Aliate the purpose of the isolator row is to take the initial flow into the system to settle any trash or sediment in that row before it goes into the rest of the system. The isolator row has woven geotextile placed underneath it the entire length and then wrapped around it. You can also see a 4" PVC inspection port in the picture. Theory being that the isolator row can be cleaned out using a vac truck with a water jetter and the woven fabric keeps the gravel bed from being damaged.
If they would've just left the rest of the spaces out, it might have fit.:tong
CM, I have not installed these before. Are the little white dowl looking affairs between the rows just spacers to help hold the alignment when backfilling, or is there another purpose for them?
It's 1.5" PVC cut 9" long. Just for spacing and alignment.
Thanks CM.
No problem, I typed that response on my phone so I'll go into a little more detail with the laptop. The chambers require a 9" spacing per the spec's. The 9" is to allow the gravel backfill between the chambers that ads strength to the system. Like most plastic storm pipe and such, the stone backfill provides support to the entire system. This is how the cake is made - Filter fabric on subgrade 6" of #57's Install chambers per the layout Backfill with #57's, 4's or a combination around the chambers and 6" above the chambers. Another layer of filter fabric Top with 12" of #57's, DGB, 4's, 8910 or other spec'd crushed stone. Then top with dirt to final grade. This particular job had a 2' undercut below chamber sub grade. Layer of geo-grid, 1' of CL 1 rip-rap and 1' of #2's to get to "sub-grade" which we then put down the fabric. It ended up being a very expensive hole in the ground to slow down rain water.
I'll bet your stone supplier gets a woody when you walk through the door CM.....lol.
All I'm say'in is I better get a nice jacket or a bottle of Jack come winter. On the chicken shack we just put a little over 1,000 tons of surge, 2's and DGB in the ground to make a parking lot.
A few random shots from the last week at the chicken shack - Had to undercut the front parking lot 4' and bring it back up with a layer of geogrid, surge, geogrid, #2, geogrid and DGB. D5 pushing out the DGB on the final layer. Running the compactor after installing some storm pipe late on a Friday afternoon. Laying storm sewer. This line is to the left of the D5 in the first pic. You can see the layers of stone and geogrid we installed and then dug back through.
DGB is dense graded base? What's it made from? It looks like some variety of crusher run...
Yeah, it's dense grade base. It's mostly 8910 with 4's and some 57's mixed in. It's all run through a pug mill and water is added. DGB has a slurry to it and when it goes down and is compacted it becomes hard. If you are putting it down for asphalt base, it takes a lot of water to achieve 98% compaction.
It was a busy week, working between 2 current jobs and starting a new one. Ran some storm at the chicken shack, dug footings at the theatre and started a little demo. Didn't get many pics.. Started this demo Thursday afternoon. The mall owners are tearing down a 4K SF end cap that was women's clothing store. In it's place is going an 8K SF beauty supply chain. The end cap was built in 2007 and consists of a structural steel frame with masonry side walls and metal stud front walls with EFIS and storefront glass. Plan on salvaging the steel I beams and columns for a future shop addition, all the other metal is going to the scrap yard. We've got the site demo, erosion control and grading, no new storm sewer is going in. Punched a hole in the front side of the building where the walls were steel studs. There is an I beam supported by masonry on the left which made it a good entry point. Friday we gutted the inside, getting all the partitions and ceiling grid out. After sorting the steel studs from the debris and bringing them out the front with the Bobcat, I shoved everything else out the 3' wide walk door in the rear. At first I was skeptical I could get it all out through the door but gave it a shot and it worked pretty well. The debris broke up into small pieces and the 321 loaded it into a 40 yard. 95% of the interior debris fit in the 40 that didn't go into the metal 40 yard. Renting an 85' boom lift tomorrow (they didn't have a 60 close so getting an 85 for the same price) to demo the structural steel section. The masonry wall in the pic is not load bearing on that side, except for the small beam at the front. The rear masonry wall is supporting the bar joists. We'll start the structural demo at the rear wall, taking out that masonry wall and letting that roof section down, then cut the other end of the bar joists from the basket. The boom lift will be used to cut the bar joists from the safe side and let that section of the roof drop, then cut the other side. There are 6 sections of roof we'll take out this way due to the way it was built. Tomorrow we'll be cutting back the EPDM roof and insulation to expose the roof decking and cut it into the six sections in order to isolate each one as an individual piece. Oh, I forgot to mention there is an operating Best Buy right next to this end cap. Never a dull moment, nothing like ripping out a $100K or more worth of interior finishes and MEP in one day.
That is pretty good, the whole interior in one 40 yard. Selective demo kinda sucks especially when next to a open store. I guess they all can't be easy. Do you have to remove the slab as well? We need more pics once you are into the meat of it
Thanks LC.:drinkup Yeah I was surprised myself that we got most of the drywall, ceiling tiles, casework, dressing rooms and carpet in one 40. Have a 1/2 loaded 40 of steel studs and misc metal. The demo is tricky on this one, we've spent some time planning the demo of the structure once we opened it up and could see how it was actually built vs the original drawings that were available at bid time. You're right, they can't all be easy and one's like these keep you sharp. The slab, curbs, sidewalks and most of the asphalt paving is going in order to make way for the new building. Also have a stand alone outparcel for a cell phone provider on the same property that we'll start in the next week or so. I'll get some pics as we progress, at least for me this is one to document.
I am sure you will do a fine job on this one. You are already one step ahead of some guys, you actually planned out how to do it instead of just tearing into it. Once you get it cut loose from the remaining building it will be a nice job. It worked out good that you have a second job on the same site. Looking forward to the pics.
Thanks for the kind words, my past has taught me to slow down and survey the situation before diving in. LC the good thing is the only physical connection between the two buildings is the EPDM roof and an aluminum angle bolted to their wall. There's a 2" airspace between the two structures, all the way down the footing which stays. The slab for this building has a 2" gap as well from their CMU wall. I'll admit this is one of the most technical demo's I've done in my rather limited demo career.
Sounds like you have a good handle on how it should go. There is no substitute for good planning and proper procedures. No doubt it will go well. I once had to demo half of an existing mall right down the center where everyone would normally walk, the roof was so tall I had to use the demo from the separation to sit on so I could reach it. All of the stores on the one side remained open. The mall was about 800ft long worked my way in from the center entrance and the worked to the right and backtracked over the demo and went to the other end. They closed the mall entrances to the stores and made the folks use the street side. They stood plywood in front of the windows on my side, it was a white knuckle job the whole time, but never lost a single pane. I was sure glad when that one was over!
You definitely get into some interesting work CM, Ive always been intrigued by those retention systems, but Ive never been in on an install. What does something like that cost? That 321 is a sick looking machine, something about a big zero tail machine that just looks so rugged!
DD I bet you were. I assume you had a cutting/burning crew going ahead of you? How was the section you tore down built? Nedly in my area those systems run $50-70K depending on the spec's - # of chambers, depth of cover required, traffic load, etc. This one had additional undercut and stone that is normally not part of the system. They're pretty easy to do, it's like making a big cake. The manufacturers field rep will come out to help with the layout and check things over before backfill. We've been happy with the 321, the D model cabs are slightly larger than the C's and it makes a big difference at the end of the day.
All of the mezzanine roof structure was made of wood with big wooden trusses, the buildings of the mall were all structural steel framed, the trusses sat in saddles, I would come up under the trusses and lift and break the loose and then pull them down and slightly towards me at the same time the whole section would then swing down and the plywood and roofing would shear at the next truss. They had made a 2ft separation in the roof in between the trusses on the side that was to stay.
The 2 inch gap will help out as well as the the attachment being an aluminum channel. At least you are not having to burn steel beams to detach it. Keep us posted on the progress.
Birds eye view getting started this morning. Cut and pulled back the EPDM roofing to expose the insulation and cut the metal decking into sections. Interior partitions and MEP mostly removed. Dropped the duct work and took out the mechanical room walls in the right of the pic this afternoon. All the soft demo went out the 3' walk door at the rear. Separated the steel studs and brought them out the hole at the front. If you look above the column you can see the where the metal decking was cut. There is nothing more aggravating on a commercial demo than the tie wire holding up a drop in ceiling grid. On the other side of the the block wall is an operating Best Buy. Picked the steel studs off the X bracing today as well with the T250 and grapple. Boom lift delivered this afternoon, we'll get into the meat and potatoes tomorrow. Going to drop the bar joist and metal decking, then take apart the structural steel. This building is 4K SF, it would make a very nice shop building one day..
Good thing the roof was wood framed, at least that helped out the pucker factor. It must have been nerve wracking demoing that with people shopping on the other side of just plywood walls. The general public are morons. Friday the temporary fence gates were open at the front of the project and this guy is texting on his phone. He walks through the gates oblivious of what's going on and then realizes he's in the middle of a demo site. Never ceases to amaze me, since then the front gates are cable locked. I was putting together a post while you posted LC. Yeah the 2" space will make this much easier. Razor knifed the EPDM at the aluminum angle so it wouldn't pull against the other wall. The new building is going up higher than this one and the super told us not to worry with taking the angle off as the new building will hide it.
Dunno how i've never posted in this thread, but it's a favorite of mine to checkout CM. Your always up to something interesting. Between you and LC i get my track loader fix.
I figured they must b expensive with all of that stone! Ive always wanted to try out a 314, but I resist as Im afraid I would buy it lol.
Yeah, I hear ya' on that one. Nedly I like the 314's. The loaner the dealer gave us was a very nice machine, a little too small for what we do but being able to transport it on a tag is a big plus.
Thanks hvy. I'll try to get some more pics of the loader in action.
Peeled out the masonry walls that weren't load bearing on the side to get to the first roof section. The wall masonry wall on the back is supporting that section of roof. Every other cell was filled with rebar so I took a tooth and ripped down the unfilled cells on each side of the filled ones. This allowed the filled cells to be collapsed separately. On the right there is an expansion joint that allowed this section to be isolated. Cut the left side to isolate the wall at the load bearing corner. Thought this was a cool pic of the 321, different perspective. Took the rear wall out at that roof section. Once the load bearing masonry wall was down, the roof laid down on the slab, actually had to give it a downwards nudge with the 321. Got two sections of roof down late this afternoon, the rest come down tomorrow.
The job is coming along good. Looks like the planning is definitely paying off. I like the pic of the 321 also, not a view you get of your equipment very often.
I love it when a plan comes together! Nice work!
Thanks LC, I thought that pic was pretty cool. Nice ass shot of the 321. Thanks DD, me too! It's been a little slow go trying to salvage the I-beams and columns for re-use but it's time well spent. This was before lunch today, cutting the #6 dowels from the footing into the wall. The make shift dust control module can be seen attached by a data cable to the column. Bought one of these blades at a local supply house and I am very impressed. Much better than a fibre blade as it lasts longer and doesn't have the chance of disintegrating like a normal metal cutting blade. Cut 200' of roof decking, misc. angle iron bridging on the bar joists, bar joists and rebar - it's still cutting like a champ. After peeling back the EPDM roof, insulation and metal decking we cut the welds with a rescue saw. This weakened the connection enough for the track hoe to give a gentle nudge up on the first few joists accessible from the outside and then downward on the roof section. All 3 sections collapsed without a problem. Removed this roof section, cleaned and hauled off the CMU walls, removed the fire leader valve (yeah it's mine :naughty), pulled up 60' of sidewalk, some curb, 2 magnolia trees and hauled all that off. Tomorrow we'll take the other 1/2 of the building down. Today hauled out 2 - 40's of trash, one 40 of metal (9500 lbs) and 8 loads of CMU and concrete.
Nicely done, lean and mean, plus efficient=profit. Pay attention youngsters.
What's CMU?....I'm taking notes CM
Central Michigan University...where many a loose women can be found.
Cement Masonry Units = concrete blocks
I've taken notes from your thread. This one is in my backyard with a free place to dump concrete and inert with a 40 min truck turn around. Scrap yard is 10 mins away but only getting $.06 a pound, the scrap yards closer to the mills are paying more but not enough to justify the hauling cost. I don't have any plans for the steel frame but it would make a nice 4K SF building one day. Would like to salvage the store front but I don't have the suction cups to remove the glass safely, those big sheets of glass can be very dangerous if they break so I'm scrapping it, not worth the risk to me and my guys. Concrete masonry units or concrete block.
I didn't see your post Scott before I posted. Yep cement/concrete masonry units.
Thanks guys
No problem. If you have any other questions about the industry, let 'em fly.
This was the end of the work day yesterday, 1/2 the building down and cleanup somewhat. Left the one I beam in front of the hoe for lateral support while taking the other 1/2 down. 2 of the 3 40's in the background. First thing this morning taking the rear and last standing CMU wall down, it's the one in the pic above behind the Bobcat. Ran a tooth down the unfilled cells to weaken the wall. When that's done, the filled cells push out easily. There was a bond beam running across the door header across the entire wall, that's where I stopped ripping the unfilled cells. The white foam is block fill insulation similar to Great Stuff in the can, it doesn't blow too bad in the wind. Left this section of columns and beams with X bracing to give lateral support while taking the rest of the structure down. Tomorrow we'll tie it off the hoe, cut the columns and bracing then lay it down on the slab. Much easier and faster to cut on the ground.
My main man came up with a brilliant idea to demo the store front, take it down all at once and lay it on the slab. Great idea and we ran with it. Burned a hole in the column flange to attach a clevis and wire rope. Then cut the box columns almost all the way, leaving a small tab of the column on the back side to make it go the way we wanted. Cut the columns almost through and hoe attached ready to lay it down. Used two old ratchet straps as a safety, tied back to the X bracing. The wall had heavy gauge studs on the front of the structural steel for the front facade that gave the wall some structural support but would pull out easily. Moving the boom lift around towards the sidewalk to clear any passer buys before we pull the wall down. The building is officially on the ground. It layed over easily. Sacrificed the old wire sling, it was getting ready for retirement as it was frayed, the fate of the ratchet straps TBD. Small price to pay for a successful demo.
Very nice taking the whole wall out at one time. Looks like you set it down pretty easy, the awnings didn't collapse. That store front glass is heavy and it should all be tempered. So once you have raw glass any kind of a bump on the edge and you would have lots of pieces of glass to pick up. I had to remove all the glass on an old factory a year ago. I had two glass cups and bought one more, so the three of us could left it off the stem wall. Gave it all away, rather than take to the land fill. It has been enjoyable watching the progress of the demo, thanks for sharing the great pictures.
Good pics, CM. I like how you took down that last wall. Put it right on a trailer and bring it to where you're building your new shop. How does the landfill charge for the mixed styrofoam and concrete? Around here, it's billed as mixed construction waste: (107 euros/ ton vs. free dumping for uncontaminated inert material. (Illegal dumping is pretty common ).
Nice job CM. I am glad everything went as planned. A neat clean, safe job. A little thinking and planning goes a long way and separates the pros from the rookies.
Thanks Dirty, the wall set down nicely. I didn't get any pics today, nothing worthy just swapping boxes and hauling out concrete. We salvaged the awnings this morning intact for some later re-use, not sure what yet. Surprisingly, only one pane of that whole storefront was tempered, all the other panes broke into large shards.:beatsme Thanks Joispoi, the idea came from my main man. On this job we separated the most of the metal and that went to the scrap yards in 40's. The trash went in 40's as well, 3 total. The price for C&D at the landfill is $22 a ton. Due to the type of construction the 40's averaged 6 tons, so not a big disposal bill. The concrete and CMU went to an inert site in a tri-axle, yeah it had a little insulation in it.. Thanks Buddy. This demo had a lot of manual labor involved, I'm ready to move some dirt.
CM Nice work, and good pictures with descriptions. You could charge for the class you are giving us. I am sure there are many more learning from this than there are posting. Thanks
Indeed!
Thank you Jerry, hope everything is going well out on the West Coast. LOL, I couldn't imagine anyone staying awake long enough in a class I was teaching to learn anything. We're in the process of tearing out the slab, strip and column footings. Next week we'll finish the demo of the site improvements and start building the pad. Friday I got a letter of intent for a nice size, high profile condo building that I really wanted with one of the large GC's in the area. It involves tearing down 7 houses, excavation, storm drainage and erosion control. It has a 60" CMP detention system that should be interesting as I've never done one but it's just pipe.
Glad to hear about the condo job. Might keep you busy for a couple days . Have you worked for the GC before?
Thanks LC, it's a neat project. Parking garage underneath, 2 stories above. It's a high brow project, one unit sold for $1M. This will be the third project I've done for this GC. The addition to outpatient clinic and theatre were both for this GC.
CM Glad to hear you have some good work coming.
Looks like this is going to be a good size job. Are you moving much dirt? It is good that you are working for a GC that you have worked with. Makes things a lot easier for everyone. You realize that we will need lots of pics
Thanks Jerry, how is your work load out west? Yeah LC it's a nice one. Not a great deal of dirt, 3K yards or so including bulk excavation, topsoil re-spread and misc dirt. We'll have to import about 800 CY's of the 3K to fill the site. Fair bit of storm sewer and 7 houses to tear down. I like working for this GC, as I said above they are very large but the group I work with is small and personable. Jobsite safety is taken seriously not just lip service and I've learned a thing or two along the way. Their jobs are managed very well and there are seldom "emergencies" that poor planning creates. Just finished a smaller job where the super was a very poor planner, so that created "emergencies" on a daily basis which really chaps my ass and takes profit off the bottom line. Proper planning goes along way towards a successful project for all stakeholders. Looking forward to the work load. A nice mix of multi-family, retail, utility, hospitality and residential development on the board. Some of these projects may not come to fruition but it's nice to have a backlog. Oh there'll be some pics.
That is good that you like the GC. I know what you mean about poor planners and how they cause mass confusion on a job. I have dealt with that more than I would like but what can you do. A good super is worth his weight in gold. Any idea on a start date? Around here you get a job and wait 6 months for a permit than the day they get it they want you to start.
CM I have a fair amount of work now. 5 jobs of various sizes. A couple are finishing up soon, so I will be looking to replace them, and I have some leads to possibly do that. I missed out on two long term projects that I had been hoping for, but for now things still look good. One project keeps hitting unplanned delays that have caused far more downtime than there should be. Most jobs have room to move around and keep working, but this one has no room, so weshut it down. That makes it hard on the help, and I hve lost some good ones over it. All told, while things could always be better, I am happy to be where I am.
Words of wisdom LC, a good super is worth his weight in gold not only to the GC but to us subs as well. Start date is first of June but I expect it to be July. This project has been in the planning stages for a couple of years but there's a lot to work out before actual construction begins. July is fine with me, it will allow us to finish up some projects and be able to devote full attention to this one. Me too Jerry, happy to be where I am. We've exchanged war stories at Conex and I'm glad to see you are doing well and most importantly happy where your at.
Could you give us (me) a recap of what happened when the economy went down the toilet? I wasn't on the forums at that time so I really don't know what happened to your biz other than the bits and pieces you have said in various threads. Did you pretty much have to start over? Had to downsize tremendously? I'd love to hear the full story. PM me if you feel the need, I don't mind a bit.
Sawdust, it's kinda like musical chairs when the music stops and you don't have a chair.
CM good job on that demo tied into an existing building. I've only done that once and it went against everything I wanted to do. It was all wood apartments and a chainsaw did the separation cut but still. One greedy move and the results could be very bad. Nice job and control on that deal. Still love seeing that round Cat in the shot.
This one has been tough FD, luckily the building was new enough (built in 2007) that there was a complete separation between the two except for an aluminum strip fastening the EPDM roof the adjacent wall. However the "separation" was only 2" or so for two structural walls. After the building was down and cleaned up we started taking out the slab and footings. I expected a CMU stem wall and a couple of courses deep filled with concrete on top of a 2x2 or so footing - that was the case on the perimeter. Also expected the column footings to be 2' deep and at least 6x6 - they were 1' deep and 6x6, no problem. The problem arose when we found the 2x4 grade beam from the interior columns back to the party wall but that's not all. There was another 3x2 footing with #6 rebar underneath that grade beam. It took some time and grunting from the 321 to get both the grade beams and footings underneath them out. Concrete is a great product in compression, not in tension. If you can get your bucket underneath it and move it any, you can get it out. It doesn't take beating and banging, just leverage. If you need to take concrete out of the ground, excavate on either side of it if you can, in the case of a footing with no buildings around it or one side if it's a turn down slab edge next to an existing building, excavate down below the concrete and pull it towards the cut. You're eliminating the resistance the dirt is giving surround the concrete. This was one of the grade beams we took out. The under footing is still there. Marked the location as there was about a 10' wide by 4' deep excavation to remove them and we'll have to compact that back for the new building. It sucks working in such close conditions with such big pieces of concrete and big screen TV's on the other side of the 12" CMU wall. The turned down slab edge went down 2 courses plus the depth of the existing building footing. That came out easily once excavating down the side of that saw cut and pulling it away. . Breaking up the footings for load out. Didn't use a hammer on this job and didn't need one. It's quicker and easier to remove them whole and then use old fashioned gravity to break them up into small enough pieces to get them into a tri-axle.
Cutting back through the front where the footings were. We just pushed some backfill back into the holes the footings left to make it easier to move around and not be a water hole if we got a stray thunderstorm. Excavated it out wide enough to get the 533 in to compact it back. Bulking the import material in the first fill lift. Not much fill 2' or so at the rear of the proposed building. Bringing the rear of the pad up to sub grade. This is a chert material, more clay than quartz but compacts and works very well. Pad just about finished, the end of the work day. Now to the ****** part of my day, to say the least.:Banghead Headed into the city to pick up a hyd tube for the bucket cylinder on the 321. Had a blow out on the right rear side. It started to shake and bounce and before I could get from the middle lane of I-65 to the shoulder it blew. At first it just blew the tread off like a re-cap, at that point I knew the side of the truck was toast. Luckily it held air until I got almost into the shoulder/emergency lane. Felt the tire loose air as I was coming to a stop. At that point I was glad #1 that no one was hurt and #2 my rim wasn't damaged. I've never had a pickup tire blow like that, plenty of trailer tires but never a truck tire. The tire looks like a re-cap that delaminated. Destroyed the drivers side of the pickup body. To add insult to injury our commercial insurance doesn't cover "blow outs" or the damage it causes... In the end it's just sheet metal and a new set of tires, it could've been worse.
That job is moving right along and the pad is looking good. I can't believe that about your truck. What the heck. You're right, glad nobody got hurt but your truck sure did. I wouldn't think that could be fixed right. Maybe a new skin or bed huh. Not good either way......now come Monday I'm calling my insurance company to check on blowout coverage.
CM, did the adjacent store personnel complain about the vibration from your 533? I can imagine that it would be felt and heard from inside the store once the material begins to tighten up. Nice looking job!
Wow, that tire sure did some damage, but it's good no one was hurt. I had a trailer tire come apart like that just feet past a kid sitting in a driveway waiting for the school bus. It scared the crap out of both of us!
CM what kind of tire was that? I have bfgs on my truck and I can't wait to get some Michelins.
Thanks FD. The pad is done, waiting on a proof-roll Monday to turn it over. I'm still pissed about my truck. Looking into new take-off beds and just swapping the whole thing. There are a few truck up fitters in the area that I might get lucky and get an 8' box in Oxford White. Also thought of putting one of those nice western hauler beds on it. Everybody check your coverage. Not once Oxbow. Not only did they not say anything about the vibrations from the compactor or breaking the very large footings into loadable pieces, they didn't complain when we moved the fence panels and all the accumulated debris caught in the roll of one of the tarps blew directly over the entrance to the store - we quickly cleaned that up. I knew it was about to blow, just wish I could have gotten to the emergency lane quick enough. Had plenty of space around me once the tire blew.. The tires are BFG's. I've ran BFG's A/T's for 15 years with no problems. Starting an interesting condo job Monday, 7 single family demo's.
What are you gonna do after lunch? Hope the new project goes as well as the last one did. Thanks for sharing with us.
Going to find a new F350 take-off bed..:tong Since it doesn't look like our insurance is going to cover it ( we've been told no but running it up the flagpole), I've found a new 8' oxford white take off for $1800 locally. There are better prices but farther away, I'd spend the difference in fuel to go get them. The side panel and inside panel are about $900 together for just the parts. Add labor and downtime to re-skin it and I'm better off just swapping beds, should be able to do it in an afternoon. Looking forward to the new project, spent this afternoon revising the company safety policy, going over the encyclopedia of a contract, sending out pay requests for other jobs and preparing submittals for this one. The life of small business..
even if you carry collision or comprehensive coverage it isn't covered? You should ask which part of the policy excludes it so you can see it yourself; agents don't always know the same as the actual claims dept. enjoyed watching the demo
A good insurance agent is worth his weight in gold.
Collision should cover it, but for $1800 it wouldn't be worth a claim (to me). It being covered by comprehensive would be ideal, but that's not how it works here in Mississippi.
CM Tough luck about the tire damage. I've been there myself. When my last new truck was about 3 weeks old, I was driving into one of the quarries on their production haul road early in the morning when my right rear picked up a piece of rebar. It got the edge of the tire so it was ruined, then the remaining 2 feet of it whipped around and bashed in the quarter panel before I could get stopped. Insurance might have covered it, but it was a break even due to a high deductable, so I just ate it, as usual. On the fill placement for the pad, I have a question. Out here, the dirt cops make us scarify the existing ground prior to filling so that there is good bonding of the soil and it does not create a slip plane or a water passage in between layers. It looks like you are just filling over the existing, but it may be due to the angle of the pictures.
agree good agent=gold
The policy specifically excludes blowouts and the damaged caused to the vehicle, however not the liability of having a blow out and hitting another vehicle. Either way if I can get a bed for $1800, the deductible is $1000 so I'd take it in the shorts as Jerry and lumberjack said. Jerry they let us fill over the existing DGB under the pavement. The existing soils under the old building were basically scarified when the footings and slab were removed. The new footings are just as deep and big as the old ones, the geotech's are more concerned with the bearing pressure for the footings themselves than the bearing for the slab as it's just a retail store. The deepest fill was only 18"-2' deep at one corner. We only hauled in about 25 loads.
Sorry to see the damage to the truck. That really sucks. Pad looks good. I have a question for you. Around here we don't use sheepfoot rollers much and the GCs always want the pads dead on grade. After you get compaction, do use use a smooth drum roller?
LC most general spec's call for the pad to be within a .10', which is easy to do. We don't use a smooth drum on a pad after it's done. Sometimes we'll use a loaded truck to seal it if rain is coming. The footing guys, plumbers and electricians are going to cut this pad to pieces installing all the underground. The GC will put the pad back to grade after all the underground is installed. Our scope of work is to build the pad within spec's and turn it over.
Depending on the GC we usually have to get it within a tenth but I could never figure out why some guys want it basically dead on when the plumbers and electrician come in and destroy it.
I hear ya. Nothing more dissatisfying that making a nice level pad and then the other trades come in and chop it up. Oh well that's what we get paid for.
WE had a Lowe's pad a few years ago, where the GC tried saying it was off by 3ths... after the utility subs, footer subs... basically everyone but the slab guys were done. It wasn't, but at the same time, how could you tell? The material handler/Lull's are the worse for destroying a well graded pad.
Plumbers we always my biggest headache. We always installed the stone on our pads. At first we would just put it in rough because we knew they'd tear it up. They would take tons of stone out with there spoils and not replace any. So we started putting them on grade at the start. They still removed stone but had to bring some in to bring it at least close to grade. It was always an argument.
I hate Lulls...:guns Oarwhat we get the pad on grade, certified by the geotech and turn it over. Sometimes the GC wants me to supply stone and I kindly decline as it always turns out like you describe.
The only thing that I like about a plumber started on an unfinished pad is you really don't have to try to get the rest of the pad close
Started the 7 house demo job Tuesday. First one First bite on the first one First bite on second one after removing the shrubs and the gutter for the metal can. A little kitchen remodel on the second one. Parked up at the end of the day.
4th house in the row. We have 3 more to take down. This was the super's temp. office, we evicted him yesterday. It was a hodgepodge of additions which made it interesting. The front was built in the '50's by my best guess and the rear addition was built in the '90's. The front was one level and the rear of the house was 3 stories including the finished basement. I was glad this was not a close quarters demo as I had one 3rd story wall fall to the outside of the footprint, that pissed me off. Ate through the center of the house, collapsing everything to the inside filling up the crawlspace in the front so I could gain enough height to demo the rear. Had a man out today and had test pits scheduled for the geotech I work for, so I went and dug test pits for a new Maserati dealership and left my main man at the demo site. Trying to find TP #9. TP #8 of 17. Good material to work with although you hit rock at 8-10'. Rented a 312EL for this from the Cat rental store. Nice little machine, it only had 15 hours on it when it was delivered. Quick and very responsive. Too small for my normal operation but I liked the machine. TP #11.
I gotta ask CM as I have a tremendous amount of respect for your decision making; you do a lot of work with the thumb - why not have a hydraulic thumb? They are so much more versatile than a stiff leg, especially for sorting small items. It may be somewhat of a regional thing, track loaders are rarely seen here for example, but the added utilization versus the cost seems to us in the West as a no brainer? We have a 320DL about like Landclearer's. Again, I have always admired your work so don't take this the wrong way.
Top notch work CM on the whole thread . :thumbsup Did you get the septic bed issue sorted out on the seven house demo job ?
Good question Oxbow and no offense taken, I'm kinda hard to offend. I guess we are just used to working with a stiff leg thumb. I did have a 321CLCR with a hyd. thumb and a quick coupler and honestly I thought it added too much weight to the stick. What I found was I didn't need to swap buckets (had a 54" and a 32") as much as I though I would. The hyd. thumb was very versatile but I don't miss it enough to add one or a quick coupler either. At times a hyd thumb would be the cats meow but when we're bulking dirt or laying storm it gets in the way and takes away from the lifting capacity and the production of the machine. The stiff thumb is easy to pin back or take down, is light weight and doesn't get in the way while laying storm. We use the skid for cleaning and sorting the final debris. There can be an argument made on the price of skid vs. the price of a hyd thumb but we need a skid on site to do other things and it's quicker to pick up the little bits. That's just the way we roll. Thanks TD. I have researched all the State and local reg's and there is nothing about field line removal and disposal. It's just going to happen.
Thanks CD, I wholeheartedly agree on the quick coupler, especially if it is a pin grabber. The weight of the quick coupler and even more so the extra distance that it moves the bucket out on the stick is the reason that we had it removed on our machine when we bought it - that and we rarely have the need for a different sized bucket. My right thumb wouldn't know what to do without the rocker switch on the right joystick to operate the thumb though!
That looks real similar to asbestos siding, CYA.
Understand that CM . I quit doing that type of research on what law might be broke on a job site long time ago . Just stay focused on what's going to happen today & try to keep customers happy . Had a stiff arm thumb link on my excavator for about 20 years now . Really not a big deal to change and it's tougher than a hydro link thumb in my opinion .
Clean bill of health from the environmental survey, none found. I asked on the walk through.
Demo work on houses to me is very enjoyable. It is more so seeing how the old timers, that now I am one, built things. I have part of a storage building done and hope to finish it this weekend. Then have an old gas station, that was converted into a house to tear down. Also have a corn crib foundation to remove, sometime this summer. Sure like seeing how others go about their work, on this site.
For me it seems to be one extreme or the other on demo jobs . For instance , on a job in a rural setting with old house & few out buildings we generally light it & let it burn down and reclaim as needed . I give the Sheriff a call and let them know we will be doing a controlled burn in the area so the Fire Department doesn't show up when someone calls in that a house is on fire . That method is pretty simple . Then on other jobs like a customer I spoke with today it gets more complicated . They have two homes to demo , No problem . Only it's on government land . OK ..... Figure on a visit from EPA & other organizations to show up to the party as they will also get an invitation . LOL ! Same type of job but will cost quite a bit more .
One of the houses had the strangest type framing I've ever seen. Two walls, the right exterior and one main interior wall was framed out of stacked 4x4's nailed together with spikes. The walls ran the entire distance to where the newer addition was added. The 4x4's were staggered and perfectly matched up plumb.:beatsme It looked like giant butcher block cutting boards loading them out. TD I long for the old days when we could just light it on fire. Now we can't burn anything from May 1 to Oct 1 and then it's only green waste - no debris. The fire dept.'s used to burn houses for training but that has all but went away as their scared of the liability. It's amazing how much lawyers and gov't regulations have driven the prices up on pretty much everything.
I like doing demo just for the treasures that I find in them. I have never failed to haul something off (with the owners permission) even if its junk, like an old bathtub that I turn into a mineral feeder for my cows. I've scavenged old hinges, doorknobs, window weights, old wrenches, old oil cans, decorative glass, and other stuff to hang in my shop. Usually the best thing to salvage if you have the time is the old lumber. The quality is so much better than today's stuff. The old time roofing tin on barns can be valuable too.
I wish I had the time and manpower to disassemble more of the these older houses I've taken down d9gdon. Problem is we do mostly commercial work and before the ink is dry on the demo permit the GC wants the buildings down.
Pushed the dump off this afternoon after working the first part of the morning at the demo job. Got to run a Deere 650H that belongs to a friend of mine. I really liked the machine, strong and responsive. Nice pretty day - no phone calls, no super's, no JSA's, no sub daily reports, no safety meetings, no emails. Just working a machine and the dirt - life is good.
The fire dept. used to do a lot of burning of buildings for training, now they like the training but no one likes the smoke. Especially the EPA and such, to bad as it was a great place to teach young rookies. Yes it is amazing what comes out of some of the demo's I have done. I have a habit of bringing many things back to the shop, lucky most of what I do is bid, and within reason no time limit. Since I work most everyday, lots of the salvaging is on my own time or evenings. The shop looks like it but just to hard to pass up some of the wood. 3" x 12" x 14' planks just have to come back to the shop when possible. Besides a some of the other things that just seem to find their way to the back of the truck.
At the moment all i do is Demo. I imagine im near 100 residential demos by now in the past year or two. Im starting to miss dirt is that weird :beatsme
Same here dirty, the FD doesn't want the liability or the complaints of the smoke. That's about the most real training one can get. Not at all Trent, to be honest I'll have my fill of demo for a while and will be ready to push some dirt.
Nice and clean on the demo as usual. Interesting on the stacked 4x4s. I have never seen anything like that but you do run into some strange stuff. I know what you mean about a day with no meetings, phone calls or anything else to bother you. That is what is so nice about working Saturdays. For the most part it is quiet and peaceful. If you like the 650H, you should run a 650K. Real nice machine with a great ride..
I'll be looking at one on the next dozer purchase.
They are good machines and I am very impressed with the SC2 undercarriage.
That right there sums up my favorite kind of day.:tong
Yes it does. Rented a Doosan 360 to help out with the demo and taking the larger trees down. Starting demo on #6 Tried to keep the chimney in tact in order to separate the debris but it was old and crumbling. So it was taken down during soft demo. Loading concrete, block and grubbing out. This was the first one taken down. The T250 comes in handy gathering up all the scattered debris. Working our way through the site. The Doosan is working on the grey house in the first pic. The debris pile on the left in the pic is the metal. So far hauled 55K lbs of metal out. We've got another packed 40 ready to go. We're so busy we're like the cat that ate ex-lax. 3 digging holes, 2 covering up and 1 hunting new ground. I'll have to get better pictures of what's going on.
The job is moving pretty darned quick. Don't get spoiled by the hyd thumb how much clearing do you have on the site. I see some good size oaks here and there. Do you save the logs? Looks like a red oak by the two houses in the first pic. We get good money out of saw logs like that. How do you like the Doosan?
LC most of what you see in the pics comes down. There are some red and white oak's 3-4' in diameter. I've been looking for a mill to take them. Yeah the job is moving along. Currently all the houses are down and we should haul all the C&D out today and then haul concrete and brush. We started last Tues. so we're in 6 working days and we have 15 in the schedule. I'll preface my opinion on the Doosan that it is a rental machine, also our 321 spent 1800 hours or so of its life as a rental machine as well. Both machines on site, our 321 and the Doosan, have right at 3k hours. It's amazing the difference in wear and how the two machines have held up with the same amount of hours. It seems even the joysticks are tighter on the 321. It's not a bad 70K lb machine and we needed one to handle the larger trees safely. That Doosan is a fuel pig though. Worked it just loading trucks out for a day and 1/2 and had to put 85 gals in it.
I wish you were closer, I would be happy to take those big oaks off your hands . There are not to many mills that will take a 4 foot log. I bet the GC is happy that you are so far ahead of schedule already. It is nice to get a good start in case something happens later on. Thanks for the info on the Doosan. I am surprised that is a fuel hog. I always thought our Cats were thirsty. 3000 rental hours is tough on any machine. I do think Cat uses very high quality pins and bushing. They just seem to hold up good.
Hauling out #7 and #8 foundations. View back over the site. The 40 yard full of metal is sitting where #1 was. This just made me shake my head. Went to one of the borrow pits to get a proctor sample for this project. This machine is a Volvo 460B that was sitting at the pit. What I can't figure out is how they wore the shanks and not the cutting edge or they cut the shanks off. Either way this machine will not be productive in this chert pit. This is the same pit we hauled chert out of for the dollar store pad and parking lot a year and 1/2 ago.
Yeah I wish you were, I haven't found a mill yet to take them. GC is happy, we had 3 weeks in the schedule to get the demo and trees down. So far we're on day 8 of 15 working days. Next week will be taking the trees down and hauling the brush off. Using a 60 yard trailer to haul the C&D and brush, tri's for the concrete and brick. Have another 3 weeks in the schedule to get the basement slab sub grade in, we'll need that time and more. The footings for the white house (#5) were carved out of sandstone. 1' below the surface is solid, the Doosan's teeth created smoke as I pulled it across the old house's crawlspace area. This is also the area of the deepest cut for the new basement, 7' or so. It's hammer and T&M time. Our Cats are thirsty but the Doosan seems to be just as thirsty but then I don't have a history of the fuel usage on the orange one. The Doosan won't turn on flat ground in rabbit. The left side drive motor is very weak, if you're on a slope or in soft dirt you have to use the bucket to keep direction or it just wants to go the right, or not at all. The cab is cheaply built IMO. If you need a big machine for cheap, then it's OK. I don't think it would be around economically to see 10K hours.
No this is not my business philosophy but thought the pic was funny enough to share. Take a close look at the name on the dingy.
in my experience it's got to be a yankee ointlaugh
A 7 foot cut in solid rock is going to be fun. How big is the total area of rock to be removed? I am assuming blasting is not an option? Thanks for the info on the Doosan. I think the machine you have might be 2 models old. I wonder how a new one would compare to the one you have on site. It is hard to beleive that someone would run a machine in a dirt pit with a bucket like that.
I had one of those contractors on my site, once. He bid the job low thinking he was going to change order me to death to make up the difference. Needless to say it didn't happen and they went out of business on the next job they were on.
Did you take his low bid knowing it was not enough to complete the job? The picture was just something funny I thought I'd post, like I said it's not my business model. I run across this type situation from time to time, more so a few years ago when work was scarce. The GC or owner would call up and say I've got so and so that will do it for this and I tell them to take their money and hope for the best as I gave you a realistic cost per the contract documents. However, just finished up a project where the final contract amount was 4 times the original contract. This project was not normal as there were many, many unforeseen conditions that no one could've predicted but there were existing conditions that the owners civil didn't pick up and I did during a short site walk through. What I saw on the walk through should have been addressed in the contract drawings but they weren't, they were plain as day. This particular project was a hard bid, bottom dollar price - cut throat and that's the way the owner wants it. If I would've brought it up to the owner/GC I would have ran the chance of not getting the job and giving away my knowledge for free, something I don't do. I don't get paid to design the project, I get paid to put it in according to the contract documents. That's why I like to do negotiated work with owners/GC's that I have a working relationship with. They value your input and I give it freely because I know they won't kick me to the curb for a price that's $500 cheaper. For example, if this particular project would've been for the chicken shack owners, I would've brought up everything I saw on the site walk through but I would've been involved from the beginning, communicating with the civil and owner during pre-con design. I'll give that service if I know I'm part of the team, the security of knowing you have the job and the owner pays on time. As the economy gets better and good contractors are harder to find because they are busy, I see a shift towards negotiated work with people who have relationships they can trust.
I've been slacking in picture taking but it's balls to the wall around here - subbing out work and renting equipment to keep up. Just dropped the roller off at the condo project where we tore the houses down, a pic from the trailer. Even with the dust where the trailer is parked we had to dry out the red clay where the dozer is. It's amazing how this material will hold water. Once it's dried out you can make terra-cotta pots out of it. The nob of dirt to the right of the D5 is solid sandstone. We'll be getting a CO for rock removal in this area of the basement next week. Dry as a popcorn fart on the south end of the job, wet as a swamp on the north end. Got a CO for this section of the building. This section of the building was extremely soft and wet, you could stick a 5' piece of rebar all the way with no resistance. Dirt doctors and civil came up with a plan to excavate below the proposed footings and put in a drain. The drain consists of Mirafi 600X, 1' surge stone, 6" #57 stone, pipe, 12" of #57's and then wrap fabric like a burrito. Fabric, surge, first 6" of #57's and pipe in today. This area is at the bottom of hill which is mostly rock. This particular area is a natural ravine that had silted in over time. The water was following it's way through the rock layers to the point of least resistance. It was a pretty good stream of water flowing down to the sump pit once the hole was excavated. We had a small electric pump (GC provided), that ran a garden hose of water continuously until we got the fabric and stone in.
I wasn't that smart..I figured out what he was up to when he started asking for change orders the first week of the job and continued till the very end. I think of the 20 or so change orders we only approved 2. He could not get it in his head that he was the contractor, not the design engineer. As a rule I don't drink, but when the job was over, I went out and got blasted. Most difficult contractor I ever had to deal with.
More great pictures of your job site, from rock to wet. Not a lot of fun or a fast way to keep things going. Maybe instead of making pottery more machine time would keep things moving. Ha ha. If you bid the job, I hope you, are covered on the set backs.
Oh I bet that was a frustrating situation, probably drug him kicking and screaming through the entire project. First thing contractors should learn is they get paid to put in what the engineer draws - nothing more, nothing less. I use the term "I don't get paid to design it, I get paid to put it in" too often. Thanks Dirty. The wet red clay and the water logged soils are both CO's. GC picked up materials -stone, grid and pipe and we installed it. I've got a unit rate price (per CY) to remove offsite unsuitable soils and to import engineered fill. Also have a trench and mass rock unit price. So none of this is hurting me as it's all extras.:cool2
What, no 953 love on this site? :beatsme Anyway, thanks for catching up...I always enjoy your updates and photos.
LOL, it's there now. Spent yesterday pushing the dump off with it.
Thanks for the update CM. The job sure looks a lot different now then when yous started. Are you sure you are not in Charleston SC, the way you describe the changing ground conditions you might be That is the first thing anybody needs to learn about being a contractor like you said, build what they design.
Thanks LC. My philosophy is - price what they designed, offer an opinion if something is not going to work (they don't always take it but I'll offer it once) and get paid extra for unforeseen circumstances and changes to the plans. FYI - we ended up getting a full bunk of #1 hardwood log and a full bunk of crosstie log out of the trees. We probably have a dump truck load of pine saw log left to haul out.
I agree, you can make suggestions but sometimes they know it all and there is nothing you can do other times they will listen and will actually appreciate you trying to head off a problem before it gets to a point where it is going to cost a ton of money to fix. Glad to see you could get rid of the logs. I hate throwing wood away. We don't have a crosstie mill around here, I wish we did.
We have several cross tie mills, one is not far from me. It's a very large facility that's been there forever. On edit - we have several cross tie mills in Alabama. Didn't know we had as many before searching for a place to take the logs.
We have one hardwood mill that cuts good lumber as well as dunnage and a hardwood pulp mill. They take the wood in, debark, chip it and load it on trucks to take to the paper mill.
My foreman graded a pad for a new dorm building at a local charity and did a great job.:thumbsup Rented a D5K LGP (had 4 hours on the clock) and roller from the rental store. This is a very good local charity that does a lot for the community with the money they have. This project was for a big GC we work for regularly who is doing this pro-bono and I priced it accordingly as well. We all need to give back what we can to our community when it counts and for a good cause.
Meanwhile back the condo project we ran into a little rock. It was sandstone layers about 4' thick that ran at a 45 degree angle through this portion of the site. At first I though we would need a hammer but there was a clay layer underneath the lowest layer of rock. It comes out easily as it's not a hard rock and the layers naturally have fissures which helps when you pry it with the excavator. You don't have to beat or bang on it, just find the layers between the rock and use the bucket teeth as a fulcrum, the rock layers come out easily with patience. The rock separated from the dirt. This site is dirt poor at the moment and we were trying to get all the dirt we could to fill in the building pad. We'll haul this off as a CO. This rock would make great material for a natural stone stacked retaining wall, so it won't be pushed off at the dump. Working on the pad and pulling the rock seam out. The rock seam is on the other side of the 953. A small retail site at a large shopping mall for a new cellular phone service building. Backfilling a storm line with #57's. The 953C is in the background. We're busy.
Good to see a little track loader love on the job.
CM. Thanks for showing me a trackloader in its natural environment ( dirt and rock) . So how as the 5k? So you don't have to wrap the joints on you RCP? We have to wrap ours even if it is o-ring pipe. Glad to see you guys are as busy as we are and doing several jobs at once. Thanks for the pics and update.
This pic shows a little better how the rock seams come out in big chunks due to the natural fissures. Where the track hoe is sitting is solid rock and it angles down towards the pile of excavated rock. The rock is in layers, the softer layers on the top and bottom with the harder ones in the middle. I live in a very interesting geological area where the Appalachian Mountains meet the coastal plain. We have some of the best limestone in the world along with coal and pure white sand. And a lot of clay. This is from the other job we have going on in the pic before of dumping a load of #57 limestone. The load of #57's came from a quarry 2 miles away. This site is a totally different material, it's a soft slate with layers of chert. It's never boring excavating around here, to say the least.
The 953 has been getting a workout. It's been toting rocks on the condo job and loading trucks out on the retail site, all in the same week. Loaded out 28 truck loads today before the rain shut us down. The spec's didn't call for wrap on this install. We use rubber gaskets on RCP whether wrapped or grouted on the outside. Now the condo project calls for grouting all the joints on the outside and no spec for rubber gaskets - we'll use both. Personally I think the gaskets are the first line of defense, wrapping with fabric or grouting is just extra insurance. This was a short run so we forgone the fabric. I didn't get to run the D5K, my foreman did that job. From what he told me he liked the machine as it was larger and more powerful but the seat was uncomfortable after a long day and used a lot of fuel for what he was doing. Fuel pig was the comment. He told me he would rather run the D5G day in and day out. We're balls to the wall too - like the cat that ate Exlax - got two digging holes, one covering up and two hunting new ground.
Thanks for the info on your pipe laying. I do agree that the gasket is the first line of defense. I think wrapping the joints with fabric around here is a good idea. It does not take much for sand to start to migrate. You see roads sagging right over top of pipes and that is because of joint failures. A quarry 2 mile away would be awesome. We can't even get a dirt pit that close. I do appreciate the comments on the 5K. I do not think the K series cabs are very comfortable as well. Our Cat guy came out the other day with a factory guy and I told him they should have never moved away from the G series. I said they should have put a tier 4 motor in and kept everything else. Everything is so computer and grade control based now it makes it hard to run the stuff without it.
I went to a Cat demo day a couple of years ago and ran a new D5K with all the bells and whistles, I wasn't impressed enough to ask more about it. Couldn't agree more they should've kept the G platform. Back to the pipe laying, our soils are so different and I can see where sand migration would be a huge issue. The rubber gasket will seal the RCP pretty well and we backfill primarily with #57's so if water does infiltrate pipe the stone cannot pass through the joint unless you did a really, really bad job of laying it. Got lucky on the little retail site. Another local grading contractor needed fill for a church parking lot and called me up Sat. We have about 1K yards of export left on this site and he's paying the trucks from here on out, all I have is the 953 loading. Sometimes it just works out.
Yes if 57 stone is getting through your joints there is a problem. DOT requires fill put in in lifts and tested or stone bedding for there jobs but we try to stay away from DOT work. Like you said every once in a while you get lucky and find a guy that is looking for dirt or trying to get rid of some.
It's been hectic around here trying to finish up several projects. Digging next to $250K worth of glass.. This is the project upthread where I tore out the brick entrance with the 304. They'll have just shy of $1M in this little project. Finishing up the chicken shack this week - fine grading, curb and paving.
No stress there It is hard to believe how much certain things cost. Unfortunately for you I bet you were not the majority of that $1 million dollars. Us dirt guys need the most expensive equipment and make the least.
Ain't that the truth, with the possible exception of truckers. The cost of a new truck and all the regulatory stuff relative to what can be charged for them may be worse than dirt workers. They are a necessary evil in our operation.
My part was in the .8% range of the project cost.. No doubt. Some GC's and most owners think we make a killing because our part of normal $1M small commercial project may run $75K-150 for the total contract amount. They don't realize we have $1M or more worth of equipment on the site, labor, fuel and materials that come out of that.
It is somewhat the same for mechanics, where I worked if you made $25.00 an hour they thought you were over paid. Loader operator gets paid almost the same and he doesn't even have to supply his own pen to fill out his time ticket and goes home as clean as when he left home. Will admit loader operator does require a bit of skill but mechanics are not exactly brain dead, well at least most!
Nice work there CM The job with the glass, I bet you didn't send the new operator for that one. Glad to hear you are busy. I am too, but it seems good reliable help is hard to find.
LOL Jerry, I did that one. It was more a favor to the super than a money maker. Yeah I was thinking of the "good deeds and punishment" saying as I was doing it.. Yeah good help is hard to find, I could use another operator and another dozer but I'm that comfortable with the local market at the moment.
I've been slacking in the picture taking but we're getting caught up, overwhelmed there for a few weeks. The problem I'm running into is everyone is pushing jobs to be completed due to the very cold and wet first of the year. This is the chicken shack. Got a call that said "We're ready for you to grade the parking lot, gotta get curbs in Monday." That call was the Thursday before. This is what the job looked like when we showed up. We've fought through it. First ran the primary power conduit, then adjusted manholes and set curb grate inlets and ran rain leaders. After that started the push to get the GC to clean up the site so we can grade it. The owners of the chain are personal friends and this is the second one we've done for them with more on the way. Sometimes you gotta take the bull by the horns as this one is behind and they need it open. As of today most of the curbing and drive through lane is in and we are fine grading the parking lot. It's been a struggle but it's amazing how motivated interior subs can be to get out of your way when you start pushing and wadding things up on the exterior of the building that have been sitting there for months. :cool2 We loaded a full 30 yard of crap that had accumulated around the site with another 30 3/4 loaded now. Exterior concrete should be winding up mid next week with the pavers coming in later in the week. I'll get some more pics of this site and the condo building, they're coming up with the basement walls now. Now don't even get me started on the Transylvanian stucco guys... I hate them, no really I hate them.:Banghead:guns
That is the worst part of a job, coming in when the building is getting close to finished. Trash everywhere and everyone is in the way and nobody cares about what you are doing. Are you putting down any kind of base?
LC in this area the pavers 9 times out of 10 put the base down. Currently I don't have a dedicated smooth drum roller. The CS533E is a combo with a shell kit but it's a PITA to take the shells off and put them back on for small jobs. I'm looking for a 48" smooth drum roller to add to the "fleet". I could use one for doing sub-base work and two of my friends called yesterday wanting to know if they could rent my 533 and if the pad foot shell was on it or not. I'm auction hunting.
Thanks for clearing that up. Interesting that the pavers put he base down. Around here the grading guy puts the base down and fine grades it. All the paver does is pave over whatever you say is fine graded.
Actually it's heading that way here LC. 20 years ago it was common for the paver to do the fine grading before the base went down, that has went away over the years. Last week at the chicken shack the paver asked me if I could put him some blue tops in so all his crew had to do was dump base and go. He said and I quote - "I don't want my guys wasting time setting grade". That has me thinking about buying a small dedicated smooth drum roller, setting grade is the tedious part dumping base and compacting it is the easy part might as well pick that scope of work up on the smaller projects.
Ok, so you do the subgrade and the pavers fine grade before they install the base or do you fine grade the subgrade? We roll our base with a single drum roller. If it is a parking lot we have a little smooth drum we use around the curb and so on. We have never needed a sheepsfoot roller but some areas inland they use them here and there.
We fine grade the sub grade. The sheep foot shell pretty much stays on the roller unless we have a lot of stone or sub base to prepare. It's been a year since we've had it off.
Well meet the new member of the family, Lucy. She's rottie mix, don't know what the other 1/2 is and don't care. Sweet as she can be, smart and very curious. Riding home from the foster family in the 350 this afternoon. Yeah the pictures are sideways but ya' get the full effect. When the weather gets cooler she'll be ready to walk across some freshly poured curb. She took to the 350 like a duck to water.
congrats on the new addition. good looking copilot
Ah man that's great. She is smiling and loving it. My rescue is .5 rottie too and the best dog I ever had/have. Enjoy a great 10 years or so together
Good to see you got a new family member. Mixed breeds are the best! We got a new pup just a few weeks ago. She's an Aussie mixed with who knows what. She spends most of her time stuck to my three year old boy like gorilla glue. He just got a new rope though and I caught him using the pup as a roping steer...so that may change.
Thank you! Thanks Fastdirt. We lost our other rottie mix Sugar last Sept. (she's scattered throughout this thread), she was with us for 14 years. It took a while before we were ready and then Lucy showed up. The face and the smile are infectious, won the wife and I over in about 15 mins at the foster home. JNB we thought about an Aussie as my friend has one and is a great dog, then Lucy came along. I prefer mix breeds and shelter/foster dogs. They need a home, are great dogs and there's always a home for pure breeds. Let us know how the "roping goes"..
Glad to see you have a buddy to go to work with you again. She looks real friendly and more than a little playful!
Thumbs Up! :drinkup
She's sweet as she can be, very playful and ..little. She's about 40 pounds at 11 months and can wiggle herself into all sorts of places. Right now we're getting her adjusted to her new home, when the weather cools off I'll be taking her to work with me often. Thanks!
I have found over he years one of the places a dog will wiggle into the deepest is your heart. Enjoy your dog a bunch!
A man and his dog ! A friendship and love so strong no words can explain it.....Congrats on the new girlfriend CM, she is great already....looks like you have your copilot for years to come ....
They sure do Dirty, it's a wonderful thing being able to share your life with a 4 legged friend. They show us humans what true love is. She loves to ride and watches everything going by. I can't wait until the weather cools so I can take her to work everyday. It's a wide open world out there with all sorts of things to experience, my copilot just doesn't know it yet. She'll find out.
Of course it has. The pavers have figured it out that if they don't fine grade, if it takes 30 ton more hot mix the dirt guy gets the blame.
Spec's call for +/- a tenth on dirt grade. A sub grade that's off uses more base not asphalt. If the paver accepts the sub grade then it's theirs.
I really like when the pavers come onto a job with no curb or catch basins in the paving area then say they have over runs. Not sure how you can have over runs when they have nothing they have to pave to.
Kinda hard to justify over run quantities in that situation.
I've been slacking on pics so here's a few of this weeks work. Back at the chicken shack laying some 36" ADS in the ROW. Prepping the ditch. There is a lot of ground water in this area. The french drain we installed back in Jan. and the sanitary sewer service for the store all drains to this ditch. The san sewer line is total stone backfill and it poured continuously as we prep'd the ditch. 6" of #57 stone bedding under the new pipe took care of the ground water, it ran on down stream. We installed a 60" manhole down stream from this first joint of 36" to tie the project storm into the city's storm drain. First stick of pipe into the new manhole. APCO is stringing new overhead wire for the store's power service in the background. 55' of 36" installed and bedded with #57 stone. When laying ADS this large you have to weigh down the first joint in order to not slide that section of pipe when belling it. That's why the dirt is mounded on the first joint. Fine grading the front parking lot. There's still more curb to go in Monday. The sewer line clean outs are sticking up, they'll be adjusted by the plumber to finish grade. Everyone has been on top of each on this job trying to get it finished, landscaper is installing trees and irrigation. Just yesterday we got the entire parking lot to ourselves to do our work. Did I say it's been frustrating? End of a very long, stressful week. I can smell the chicken cooking.
Those folks have some good chicken... Great pics...
Yeah they do Scott. This is the last brick store that will be built in the entire chain, the new stores will be bigger and a different design.
I was surprised to see that much groundwater on your pipe job. If your weather had drier lately, would it still be wet? The reason I ask is because no matter the weather, we get to a certain elevation and always have groundwater. It will be a little higher if it has been rainy though.
We've had a lot of rain over the last few weeks. There was no rain gauge on this job but there is one at the condo project a few miles away. They've logged in over 7" for July. LC this area stays wet year around. The FFE of the building is 652', the terrain around the area climbs into the 700's. The site is basically in a large valley surrounded by hills that are mostly rock. I was talking with the geo engineer about the site back when we started and had to install under drains to help dry up the site. He said this area is a natural drainage swale (a very large one) where alluvial soils had been deposited over many years. The water still finds it's way through the soil layers from the higher areas, making it's way towards the creeks. Geology fascinates me.
Thanks for the info. I was thinking along those lines. I guess when you have hills here are always low spots. I would have never thought you had such a variation in soils though. I just thought it would be rock or clay, that is how it was in Ky when I was growing up. I did smile when I read FFE 652. The garage slab I had on the lot I filled last week was at 7.5.
:thumbsup
A little 953 love at the cell phone store, grading the parking lot for sidewalk and curbs. Removing the existing curb for a tie in at the street. Back at the chicken shack, installing a dog house grate inlet. The picture is turned but that's a shot of the finished product. Life is all good when you can stick your nose out the rear window and just take everything in.
Very cool!
Thanks DD! Not as interesting of work as you get into but it keeps us busy and always doing something different. Lucy is settling in nicely.
Looks like the new pooch is getting along fine. Our new Aussie mix is outside playing with my boy right now...or running for her life!
Nice floors.
Lol JNB. I'm sure she can out run him if she wants. Thanks Aliate, it's the back porch I did it myself.
It has been a long time since I saw someone grading a parking lot with a trackloader. I sure do miss seeing it. DOT let you cut a hole in the pipe for a catch basin? I don't think they would let us do it around here(the roads around here are such tip top shape ). Looks like Lucy is enjoying herself at work and home!
LC it's a dog house manhole, some municipalities allow it. The pipe is extremely shallow with utilities running everywhere. Just completed 2 on the cell phone store. If we would've dug down and set a box, the hole would've been into the McDonald's parking lot on one side and into the Panda Express parking lot on the other. Tight little site. For this one after the hole was cut, we poured 8" of concrete on either side of the cut. 2 layers of brick and the frame set right on top of the pipe. Mud and concrete cone locking the frame in and it's stout. However this is all temporary improvements as the plan is to 4 lane that section of road in the near future. She is. Rescue dogs are the best.
CM, don't get me wrong, I think they are great. We did a few in the past just not on a DOT ROW. We did one in downtown Charleston a few years back and the city inspector wouldn't allow it.
Nah man I read ya'. This is a city street but ALDOT is a different story. If it would've been in ALDOT's ROW we would've had to site cast an inlet box and spent 3 times the money on some fancy grate inlet that wouldn't work as well.
You know as well as I do that most of the time simple works just fine but when you are dealing with a government agency and they are spending the developers money complicated and expensive is the only way to go
No doubt man. Once built a $125K sewer lift station for 27 lots, complete with Kholer 350 Chevy V8 generator that ran on natural gas. This one is no BS. Putting in a residential development in a little city and I questioned why we had to go with RCP when I've seen the city crews installing ADS on their projects and the city engineer said bluntly - "We can use ADS but you can't". What do ya' do?:beatsme
No point in fighting city hall! I love when the state will patch a piece of road. It is horrible and more often than not, as bad or worse than what as there before but they will not let a contractor get away with anything even close to their own work.
Great shots what can I say. Only thing missing is a little moisture and it'd be glorious.
Thanks FD. We got the water naturally - rained for Thursday and Friday of last week probably an inch total. Should rap this little store up this week. Chicken shack is done and we're headed back at the condo project. They have most of the basement walls poured and we'll start backfill later in the week. The condo project is a textbook big contractor project - the paper work we have to fill out before we go to work in the morning takes 30 mins - JSA's, subcontractor reports and equipment inspections on each piece of iron.
You are charging them for those hours I hope! That should be factored in to the job.
Absolutely, the job was priced factoring this in. This is one of those projects that if you get on site you have the opportunity to pick up T&M on a regular basis. The T&M covers the BS and then some.
Not much picture wise this week. Back at the condo project. Walking the excavator into the basement for some T&M column footing digging. Wall crew poured that wall earlier in the day. Masons are building one of two fire escape stairs. The west 1/2 of the foundation has been poured and partially waterproofed. We started backfilling that section Friday. Once we get the backfill on that section of wall up 7', the waterproofers will do the remaining section of wall. There is a #57 wedge from the outer edge of the footing on a 1/1 slope all the way to the top of the basement wall, 2K CY's of stone total.
CM Why so much rock? We usually see just a uniform layer from top to bottom, and usually only one foot thick, but sometimes two or three.
Jerry the rock around here comes in all different shapes and sizes. The central area of AL is where the Appalachian mountains meet the coastal plain and that creates interesting geological formations. This is the reason Birmingham was once called the "steel city". Sand, coal, limestone and iron ore were all available in close proximity to the furnaces. Side note - one has to be careful buying property in certain areas due to the "wildcat mines" that were prevalent at the turn of the 20th century. These mines were small shafts and never documented. It's not uncommon to encounter one in these areas. I don't know how deep this ledge is but it was 25' or so across the top and we dug it out to pad grade. It was pushed up at some time as there was dirt on both sides of the pinnacle. The funny part is on the east side of the rock there was red silty clay that becomes play doh when it get's wet. We had to undercut a section of the pad in that area and moisture condition it, the other section of the pad was rock. One really has to know the area in order to bid jobs. From time to time we'll have large out of state contractors come in and low bid a project only to leave with their tail tucked between their legs after the rock ate their lunch.
Picked up this Wacker Neuson trench roller on Iron Planet from our local Sunbelt Rentals. It's a 2010 with 432 hours, it's a little rough cosmetically but checks out mechanically. Before it went to auction, they installed two new eyeballs, a starter and a head gasket. Not bad for $2900. It was auctioned with only the narrow wheels however they had the original wide wheels for this machine, picked them up for $400 and they are barely used. It won't get used much but at $300 a day to rent one it won't take too many days to pay for it.
All the rain this week has really messed up our schedule. Took some time to catch up on some maintenance and service items - otherwise not much happened this week dirt wise. At the condo - placing 4" perf pipe and #57 stone backfill around the elevator pit. It's a very, very tight site. The masons are finishing up the two stair wells in the background.
Good find on the trench roller. For what you paid, it won't take long to pay for itself in rental fees. The rain skirted just above us and headed down your way. With all of the cracks in the clay (and now burn bans) around here we could have used some! Funny that a couple of months ago the dams were overflowing and we were flooding.
It's a shame you don't have a pin grapple quick coupler on your 321, back filling those walls in a tight area is a bit easier, when you can flip the bucket around. But hey, use what ya got.
Jim this wasn't bad at all, the elevator pit was only 12x12 or so. Op had it backfilled in 20 mins carrying the stone 50 yards from the pile. I had a 321C that had a QC and a hydraulic thumb. It was nice to have both but the weight it added to the stick was more trouble than both of them were worth. The thumb was a Cat PL and it was heavy. It made the tractor too tippy combined with a QC and 48" bucket. When I had a QC we hardly ever swapped buckets, just didn't need too for the work we were doing which was mostly grading and loading trucks, very little pipe work. However we did have continuous problems with small sharp rocks damaging the quick coupler lines going to the little cylinder, there is still a spare line on the service truck. The hydraulic thumb was nice when you needed it but most of our track hoe work is mostly moving dirt and ditching so a manual works fine for now and I was able to save a coin or two.
That was a good deal on the compactor. A couple cans of spray paint and a set of decals and it would look real nice. You can find some good deals on Iron Planet. I love hyd thumbs but if all we did was dirt work I would not have any on the machine. Nothing better than digging and loading with a machine that just has a bucket on it.
That's what 3 years of bottom fishing on Iron Planet nets. I bid the reserve and no one else bid on it.:beatsme Going to paint it and get some WN decals or for fun might stick a Cat sticker and a .33E decal on it just for conversation.:tong JNB we've somehow inherited your rain and it's soaking us. The condo job is one giant mud hole, I wish there were cracks in the red clay as we can make it wet if need be.
Good deal on the RT, but don't forget your handgun just in case you have to put it down. I have one with 1200 hours or so and it was a real nightmare. We sent it off to the repair shop for compacters and it has been doing much better. That is also a steal, I have seen them go at RB's for 5k or so. Even if you have a few problems it sure beats 35k for a new one. I think I am 50/50 on the excavators and thumbs. I will more than likely replace my 225 or 210 this year and the new one will have a hydraulic thumb with a 42" bucket. No coupler. Funny n the a.d.s, we never use it out here, only behind rock walls. All rigid pipe, D.R. 35. Glad to see things are moving along. CD
CD I figured if I can get a year or two out of it I'll be alright. The idea has crossed my mind to paint it up and throw it out on the market but I'll keep it and run it until it's scrap. The spec on the pipe called for SCH 40 PVC and the GC was able to get 4" ADS approved as an alternate. Worked better for me although they are supplying the materials and we are installing, less labor on my end. The pit was backfilled totally with #57's and the ditch to daylight will be as well, the stone will carry any water, I doubt the pipe will flow anything. When the time comes to add another excavator to the mix, I'm going to seriously consider a hydraulic thumb and then remove the manual one on the 321. After having two zero swings, I couldn't go back to a conventional.
Not a very exciting week in pictures. Back at the condo project. Placed the foundation drain on the main wall and a little #57's to keep it in place. We backfilled with stone up to 1' below the waterproofing and the waterproofers installed the remaining portion. Stone placed at foundation wall and the initial backfill is commencing. We're using the footing spoils first and then import chert fill to cap it off. A load of #57's is about to be dumped in the background. The footing spoils are wet and a mixed bag of the different soils on this project. We did a layer of footing spoils and then layer of this nice red chert as we brought the lifts up. It worked well and was tight underneath a loaded tri-axle. The waterproofers are finished and we are bringing the backfill on up. Now the trucks can turn in, dump and exit at the lower construction entrance - no need for flagging traffic now, I hate flagging traffic. The green 40 yard is ours, it's the remaining box for brush. We've got a few brush check dams still in place that we'll remove next week and then get that box out of there. Now if we can just get the mason's silos, block and Lull out of the way.:cool2
Spent today at the pit loading chert out. The red color comes from the iron ore in the chert. I like to load trucks from front to back. This is a large and interesting chert pit. On this side of the hill there is some of the best chert to be found in the area with very nasty clay layers between it, you have to pick and choose what you load. The material to the right in the picture is the nastier clay. On the other side of the hill is iron ore. There are brick structures on the other side that are still standing at the entrances to underground mines where they pulled the ore from the ground 100 years ago. Interesting place and a nice view. Lucy's first round at operating. She watched the bucket with intensity. Give me a couple of months and I'll have her loading trucks. The really aggravating part of the week. Super calls and says pavers knocked the ring off the storm sewer manhole and says "All you need is a little hot mud to fix it". Well this is what it looked like when we showed up. Super then proceeds to say we should've used concrete brick instead of clay brick to which I said - "Neither one would've held up to a paver smacking it". There was no further discussion, we reset the ring and lid and they finished the wear course. All in a days work.
I see Lucy is earning her keep. So the real question is...does she prefer ISO or SAE?
Backhoe pattern of course.
I still think the geology in your area is interesting. We seem to be a little better off than you. For the most part if the material in an area is good, it is good if not it is all bad. We do not see good side by side with bad stuff. We do have layers of either good or bad though. I prefer loading with the truck parallel to the cut swinging over the tailgate and swinging the length if the truck. Not always possible though.
Ha, ya gotta love that super, it's your fault the paving guy knocked it loose because you didn't use concrete brick, that's a good one, hysterical! Great pics and great work, I love checking out these kind of posts! I need to ask though, what is "chert"? And you can just pull in and load yourself or is this your land?
LC this area is a mixed bag of all sorts of material. We've got limestone, iron ore and coal amongst a lot of other materials all located in a rather small geographical area. It's the reason Birmingham was once the "Steel City" of the south. The raw materials were readily available in close proximity. I'm going to the pit in the morning and I'll try to get some pictures of the different materials. The road leading up the pit was built from the iron ore waste, my truck has a coating of reddish purple dust. It's funny how we all have our preferences on how we do things in this business. When I load chert I like the front to back method as all the larger rocks roll down to the bottom of the bed, less clean up at the top of the bed when loaded. What works for one might not work for the other as the trick is in the trade. Tags we run into this all the time. To be honest, it pisses me off to a degree. Just say the paver knocked it off, they are laying the seal coat and we're trying to get done - no big deal as I've screwed up all sorts of stuff. What pisses me off is the little addition of BTW - " you didn't do it right." Thanks for the kind comments. This is a good explanation of chert - http://geology.com/rocks/chert.shtml We have a couple of chert pits in the area and it's great stuff to work due to the rock content and the fact the rock breaks up under a compactor making a fill mix that can be like mixing #57 stone with clay. However it is very abrasive and will wear metal quickly. The best way to load it out of a pit is with a hoe. That way you're only wearing the bucket and teeth, not an undercarriage as well if you were using a track loader. I keep my loader out of the chert pits. This pit is a commercially run borrow pit that I haul out of from time to time. It's a you load and pay by the load pit. They also have a spoil and brush dump so it makes it convenient if you have an undercut and replace project - haul a load of crap in and take back a load of fill. Man I wish it was my place, there's a lot of dollars worth of fill on that mountain.
Lot's of good pics and jobs CM. Love seeing you steady at it and making it happen. I know you work your tail off and just show us the easy part but you have a lot on your plate to operate that business by yourself. Love the dog picture, now those are the days.
CM, what does it cost to buy a tandem dump truck load of fill from the pit?
My dog used to go where ever I was working. He loved the backhoe as he could look out the front and turn around and watch squirrels and other things out the open back window. They sure are great company!
FD I don't work 1/2 as hard as you do. There's a lot of planning and paperwork but at least my machines stay in one place for a while and I don't have to deal with idiots on 4 wheels on a regular basis. JB a load costs $25 per tri-axle load, we load. Back in '13 it was $15 per load. The job we are on now you have to have a hot permit to fart.. So the pit was the only place I have right now to introduce her to equipment. Dirty I don't know about putting her in the backhoe, she's so restless and curious she'd probably do laps inside the cab.
LC I took a few shots of the chert pit today. The separation between the good chert and the nasty clay can be seen where the purple ribbon runs through. Everything below this is not suitable for what we are doing. This bank was excavated by someone else, we're just loading from that position. Not the best picture but I put the tooth on the separation between the good chert and the clay. The seem of chert dies down rather quickly to the right and that's where we've been digging and loading from.
Hmmm, and here I was thinking that chert was some type of clay. Guess not. Lots of different materials all in one spot!
JNB it has clay layers between the rock. Sometimes there is more clay in the mix than rock and sometimes you get a nice small sized stone. The nasty clay layer in the pic above is all clay, no rock. It's the type of clay that gets real slippery and looses it's structure when wet. The purple layer between the chert and clay is trace iron ore.
Thanks for the pics CM. Makes you wonder how all those layers got mixed up the way they are. What would happen if the chert was mixed with the clay? Around her a certain amount of clay mixed in helps with getting compaction. I know if the layer of clay is real thick it would ruin the chert but what would a thin layer do? Not just anyone can go in that pit and know what they are digging. Your fill price is cheap compared to ours. We pay anywhere from $3.25 to $4.00 per yard.
LC as a kid we had an abandoned chert pit that we would find sea shells in, so at one time or another it was some body of water. It's sedimentary rock so the material changes from location to location. The chert rock layers do have a certain amount of clay running between them. A good mix is around 70% rock and 30% clay. In the pictures the yellow clay below the chert is just yellow, slick clay with no rock. It's really not good for anything. Is that price per CY you loading it or they loading at the pit?
Your geology definitely is interesting. It is hard to believe that there were oceans in places that are nowhere near water now. I guess the best comparison we have is shellsand. It is very coarse gray sand full of shells. 99% of the time if you find shellsand you find gumbo which is the gray version of your yellow clay. If you mix some gumbo into the shellsand the stuff will set up like concrete. The dirt pits around here they load you. I don't think there are any pits that you can load yourself. Bu the way, shellsand is $18 per yard at the pit.
LC I'm really intrigued by geology as we dirt movers come in contact with it in a daily basis. If I had the time I would go back to college and study the field. The shell sand sounds fascinating in the fact you mix it with the gumbo and it sets up like concrete. There must be a chemical reaction between the two when mixed that doesn't happen in it's natural state. Yeah I'm a nerd at heart. Some track loader action from today - It's a grainy picture, I guess I didn't let the iPhone adjust first. Dumping a load of chert and fill commencing on the south end of the building. Pushing #57's for backfill against the basement wall. The walls are 14' tall with a 7' wide footing. 4' of the the footing protrudes into the backfill zone from the outer face of the wall, 1' wide foundation wall with 2' of footing on the inside. Spec's called for a 1/1 stone wedge from the outer most edge of the footing to final grade, so there will be 18' of stone at the top of the backfill. Per the contract the GC is supplying stone and we are placing it, that's a **** ton of stone and I didn't want to have the bill for it.:cool2 Love running the 953, it's my favorite machine.
Ah...a little track loader love! How many hours on it?
Just shy of 5K hours JNB. Getting ready for an undercarriage, it's still the original except for the front let idler, replaced it with a reman a few weeks ago. The idler shaft broke, still trying to figure out how that happened. Our dealer has a core swap for a total idler assembly, $3K later we have a reman idler assembly complete with new track guides. I haven't gotten the core credit back yet on the current billing cycle in order to see what it will actually cost.
Two of my favorites right there.... a 953 and an LTL. Bet that LTL has earned a couple few million dollars in it's life time. Love a 953 too maybe the quickest track loader ever made. That's crazy backfilling with all that gravel. I always think to myself that when burying gravel it just creates underground water retention areas.
FD I think that LTL has crossed the 1M mile mark. 3406 mechanical with walking beams. It's a business friend's of mine, he also owns the lowboy that moves the 321. I agree on the stone in most instances but this building is located at the bottom of a rock hill. This is the same project we've had ground water issues. All I can say is that little 4" ADS foundation drain will be flowing. There are also multiple porches and patios on the front of the building, with solid stone backfill there won't be any settling.
Thanks for the 953 pics. Two things I do not get to see often, trackloaders and Ford dump trucks. That looks like a good sized load on there, more than 16 yards? As for the shellsand, the best explanation I can give you is the clay mixes with the sand which is angular and then sticks together locking it up. We have a job coming up with a parking lot that will get topped with 2 inches of shellsand and I will get some pics for you.
Maybe you should buy that mountain? A good source of your own material could be the backbone to your company.... as long as its strategically located.. and PS, I'd still love to be your stone supplier. And a sidenote, if you think your geology changes, you otta run a glacier or two across it, just to make things really interesting.
LC we're averaging 18 loose yards per load. Grandpa I wish I could buy it but there's two problems. One they don't want to sell it and two I don't have the money.:tong
Not much with this week being short and I also took off Tuesday. Back at the condo project running storm sewer. This line starts at a manhole that will be tied into a 60" CMP detention structure at a later date that runs almost the entire length of the building. We can't put the detention structure in due to construction equipment loading during the building phase. The spec's for the 60" CMP call for 3' of cover for construction loading (Lulls, man lifts) and we will only have 1' of cover, it's tight. The T250 will have to do the final grading over the CMP structure. There is another 15' of 18" RCP out of this manhole that will tie into the 60" CMP det. structure that runs parallel to the power line. The poles and lines are coming down, the electricity will be fed underground to the building. At least that will be out of the way. An 80' line of 18" RCP. It was tight coming by the corner of the building. We put a bucket of #57's on each joint laid so it doesn't move while belling it up. This line was steep, .78' per 8' joint. Spec's called for mudding each joint of pipe. We used gaskets in addition to the mudding. Spec's also called for stone backfill to the spring line. Due to the tight area we had to backfill with stone so far and then backfill will dirt. The dirt on this side of the project is very crappy but it's a landscape area. Placing the foundation drain and stone backfill to daylight.
I don't think you are going to have to worry about any sediment building up in that run of pipe. That is a lot of fall. It is a pain laying pipe that steep! Do you use a rock box with the 321?
At first I didn't want to grout the joints and tried to persuade the civil to allow fabric instead but it was a no-go. It wasn't that bad and we completed it quickly. With gaskets and mud this storm will be good for a long, long time. I haven't laid storm this steep in a while but it's no more difficult than running it level or at a very small %. I don't have a rock box but would like one. On this project space is so tight that a rock box wouldn't be of much benefit. We had to walk the 321 to the stockpile and then back down to bed the pipe. Have a residential street coming up with some deep storm that I would like to have a rock box for. Used rock boxes are hard to find and I'm too cheap to buy a new one.
CM, You know that you can rent those rock boxes? Not trying to plug a certain vendor, but it starts with United. We don't have a lot of use for them, but we did just use one for 4 months and it beats buying one.
I don't like to rent either.:tong Yeah United, Sunbelt and some other local rental companies rent them but when you factor in the rental rates vs the stone saved on small pipe jobs it doesn't pencil out for the projects I do. We use either the track hoe or a skid steer to shuttle the stone from a pile as it's not that long of a distance to the trench line on these small projects. The remnants of the stone pile get placed in the upper most level of the trench so there's not much wasted. Now I did find a brand new 5CY box in Indiana for $2700 with free shipping east of the Mississippi River, that's a pretty good deal if the price is correct.
Running the remaining 18" RCP on one storm line at the condo project. There is another line at the other end of the building we'll be doing later. Digging out for the end line yard inlet. It was around 12' deep. The benefits of a zero swing excavator. Part of the right track was under the office trailer. Just another day.
That makes me want a zero tail swing. We have never tried one but it sure would come in handy. How is the balance compared to a regular machine?
LC there isn't a huge difference that I can tell but I've got a lot of hours on 321's. Rented a 320EL a few weeks ago for the chert pit loading and I couldn't tell a difference in balance but I did have to keep an eye on the camera so I didn't swing that big ass into the wall. Yes it is slightly more tippy than a traditional hoe but the benefits outweigh the tail swing IMO, like every machine you run on a daily basis you learn to compensate for how it operates. The flip side is you get used to having no tail swing and have to remember there is a tail behind you when you jump on a conventional machine, like a rented Doosan 360 on a demo job... I've seen me forget there was a tail and hit the same tree twice, while loading a dump trailer. I can't believe I just told that..
The truth shall set you free...... :laugh
Right on JNB!:drinkup
And by that time the tree was thinking "operator my ***!" :tong I don't operate them so I have nothing to offer in that respect, but one thing about zero tail machines that boggles my mind is how and operator can still manage to beat up and scrub the paint off of the counterweight on one, and I see it all the time. I mean, what kind of a jack legged position are you getting yourself into if you scrub the paint off of a counterweight that stays inside the tracks? Beats me...but they do. And as a mechanic, a zero tail is an absolute pain to work on, 10 lbs of material stuffed into a 5 lb sack. Some repairs require counterweight removal, just can't get to it otherwise. But it is what it is, no sense crying in your milk over it. Zero tail machines shine in tight spaces, close quarter work, city street sewer/water line work, and work on roadways that have traffic while doing the work, don't have to worry about the arse of the machine swinging out in a traffic lane.
My Dad used to call that a "blivet" Willie, I have no idea where the expression came from (he was Canadian with Scottish background), but it may have had something to do with stuffing sausage. I apologize for sidetracking the thread, but it is nice when memories are conjured up of the person that I respect most in my life!
Hell, that's what I was thinking.:bash They are a pain to work on Willie. Took two guys and a good day just to change out the A/C blower motor under the seat.. However it's a necessary evil, we would've had to side dig the last joint of 18" RCP at 10-12' deep and that would've been a pain in the arse. On the flip side a zero swing will get one into trouble as well. You can get too comfortable not worrying about the swing and get your work to close to you. I've seen me do that too... :tong Absolutely no apologies necessary Oxbow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blivet We'll call that one the offical meaning. The ones on urban dictionary are much as described above although some are quite colorful. Great pics!
Man...this is like True Confession or sumpthin'. opcorn
I've broke a lot of stuff in my 25 years of operating...:cool2 Not even telling the pickup truck stories.
Don't get me started on the things that I have *** up. For many years I've stated that the thing that makes guys like us different than a laborer with a shovel in his hand, when we screw up...it costs a helluva lot more money. :yup
Worse would be hitting your own brand new '94 Ford pickup WITH the machine. Now THAT would be a great story. Especially if it happened right after you chewed the laborers arse for pulling a hose around a building corner and knocking down your transit.
You just had to bring that up, didn't you CM. Come to think of it, that would be a great thread; "Things I've seen myself do". It was a nice sunny day, and I had just done a full service on a Liebherr excavator (don't remember the number, but about an 85,000 pound machine). We were working on a canal for a hydro-electric plant, and I had parked my 1985 3500 GMC crew cab pickup well out of the way, up on the canal bank. I walked the excavator down into the canal, which was about 20' deep, and was working on getting the last 2 feet of basalt excavated from the bottom of the canal. Another fellow was running a 46A, cleaning up and working the material towards me, and I was pulling the rock that was still to high out. I was working close to one side of the canal and needed to move backwards, and wanted to see what I was walking on. I was too close to the bank to swing away from it without hitting the counterweight, so I raised the boom all the way up, stick out, to swing over the canal bank. I could just barely see over the bank, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a glint of shining chrome coming from the left front wheel of my pickup, right before the bucket struck the windshield above the steering column. As soon as I saw what was about to happen, I instinctively gave it full left swing and up on the boom in an attempt to miss it, but in doing so the right track slipped off of a rock, allowing the track to settle about 6" at the most, but this ended up in letting the bucket drop probably two feet at least, which produced a double-whammy effect on the poor old pickup, which resulted in pushing the steering column down until the steering wheel was touching the seat. It also struck hard enough to blow the bead off of the left front tire. After changing the tire, I did manage to drive it home, but had to strattle the steering wheel to do so. The bright side of the story is: had I not done that I would not have purchased my very first brand new diesel pickup, a 95 F-350 crew cab powerstroke, which I drove until it had 325,000 thousand miles on it. It was still good when I traded it in, and I often wish I had kept it around. Still, I believe I wished I hadn't seen me (or anyone else for that matter) do that.
Thanks for the info on the zero tailswings CM. I do think it would be worth a demo to see how how they are. Now that everyone has those big ol back ends it seems like a really good idea. Tearing up your own stuff is not as bad a someone else. I guess I was about 14 and I backed a backhoe into my brothers Jeep. No real good way to tell somebody that either
Ha! Good stuff guys. Oxbow I think that would make a great thread. HeavyEquipmentForums
:update
I've been slacking in the picture taking. Here are a few but not very interesting. Backfilling the end units which are slab on grade. R2 has already paid for itself if I had rented it daily.:thumbsup We had to dump the chert and then bucket it into the foundation with the '53. The T250 spread and R2 packed. We piled enough to make a ramp initially to get the skid and roller in, then filled our way out. Should be done with the last 1' or so tomorrow, weather permitting. The chert is from the same pit in the pics up thread. Steel erectors flying a column for the first floor deck. The elevator shaft is on the right and the two fire escape stairs on the left.
Your job seems to be really rolling along. Feels nice when you buy something and pay it off on one job:thumbsup
Yeah it does LC. The little bugger works well, I'm happy with it. I've got a 23 lot street extension coming up, mob'ing in this week. The crew and I will be glad to be off the condo job for a while.
Not much this week. Demob'd off the condo job, sent some iron to the shop and some to the new street extension. The 953 went to the dentist complete with new cutting edges between the shanks. 321 had a 500 hour service, a little welding to tighten the thumb up and much needed body work done... Did a little makeover on the trench roller - If you can't have fun every now and then at work, it's just a job.
I agree with that statement, I try to make everyday enjoyable and add some humor so it doesn't become a job. I feel quite lucky as I do a variety of things so almost everyday I enjoy doing a what ever I am doing and being able to say I did that!
That's the flip side benefit to the BS we have to deal with dirty4.:thumbsup Ya' gotta be nuts to do what we do. We take plans designed by people who really have no clue of how to put it together, then add the many variables that come with earthmoving, battle the weather and give the client a contract price. Who in the hell would do such a thing?:tong After the dust settles, I agree it's the simple since of satisfaction of "I did that" that keeps us going back for more.:Cowboy
Nice! I like the name you gave it.
Yes there is some BS, no matter what we do. Since it is a small farming town, no big projects going on like in many areas. Most of the jobs I do by the hour, and I try to be as fair as I can be. Some of the jobs I get because I work weekends or what ever it takes to get the job done. After tearing out the last corn crib I am sure going to be careful bidding the removal of concrete from one of them. Starting on tearing down 254' X 54' cattle confinement on Monday. Will be interesting, since most of it is slatted concrete floor, to work over, but no equipment on the slats. Then have to rebuild it, all.
Thanks. Thinking about putting C3PO on the 533E roller.
The best experience is bought and paid for - we always remember those. Sounds like a nice demo job, take some pics. How are you planning on tackling it?
You just summed up about 95% of everyone in the construction industry The paint job turned out good!
Thanks man, we had some fun with it.:wink2 I've put a lot of time in that little bugger, it's kinda like an auction hunting trophy.
Trench roller looks great CM.love it !
I second that. Good to see you are doing good this year. May it continue for a while before something fouls the economy again.
Thanks Pafarmer, it'll be a conversation piece once we get the Cat stickers on it. Thanks Jerry. This year has been good, stressful at times but good. What I'm seeing is the projects are coming online but the prices for the work are still below what they should be. We're in a strange time economically speaking. The demand is starting to come back but there are still bottom feeders sticking around giving stupid pricing.
A little from this week, burning some brush and stumps that have accumulated from the clearing jobs this year. I like to dig a pit 8' deep, 10-12' wide and 30 foot long or so. Take the dirt and mound it on the back side to deflect the heat back towards the fire. This material has had several months of drying so it didn't take much to burn it. Getting the pit going. The fire is hot, notice the little smoke coming from the burn. Reflecting the heat back into the fire is a major component of this set up and having nice dry material to burn. A cheap and easy fire poker to keep the vitals of the excavator's stick away from the heat.
Yep, they're out there, and bad economic times seems to really bring them out. It's times like that where your reputation comes into play, loyal customers who let jobs to you because they know they're getting their moneys worth, that's the part of the biz that the bottom feeders don't get a taste of.
No doubt Willie. The project we're about to start is a perfect example of that. Someone gave the owners a stupid price trying to get their foot in the door. Priced a 15' deep 60" storm structure at $1800 - materials and installation. I kindly pointed out that he couldn't even buy the structure for that..
CM, I was wondering if you could give me the name and number of the guy that was going to install that storm structure. We will sub all our storm sewer work to him
I wouldn't do that to ya' buddy.:tong
Thanks Don't feel bad, we have guys like that here too. I would guess they are everywhere
I completed a door for my best friends home as a gift for him and his wife. Took me three months solid working every evening on it. I installed it while he and his wife were away celebrating their 25 anniversary. I think it came out pretty good. Even when I'm out of the woods I'm not very far from the woods...They were blown away with it. It feels great to give a handmade gift to people you care allot about...they were talking about having something special to match the feel of their log home and the factory door that was there originally just didn't look right. Think I may have nailed the look they were after...
Pafarmer that is awesome. That is quite a gift!
Thank you. We have been best friends since we were very small children. He is the true friend and I feel very fortunate to Have been able to spend so many years together from hunting trips, fishing trips, family vacations, motorcycle racing, birth of out children, loss of love ones etc with never a cross word. It's the least I could do for him and his wife. I won't be doing another anytime soon or ever .:bash
PA that is one impressive door, a work of art.:thumbsup
Thanks CM. my grandfather was a master carpenter and craving wizard. I suck compared to his work but I know he would be proud of the doors. I did a gun stock for my oldest son last year for Christmas, took a brand new rifle and ruined it with this..this is a HEF site so I will stop with my crazing junk.....
pafarmer, that is very impressive /beautiful work. You have a talent that most of us do not.
That's amazing!
Started our little residential street extension project yesterday, 23 lots. The site was mass graded before the building bust of '08 and is part of a larger planned community, it has been sitting since. Took the T250 with a brush cat and cut the entire parcel in order to make it easier to lay it out and get around. Mob day, construction entrance installed. The first order of business is starting the 20' deep storm sewer line (30" RCP) that dumps off a steep slope at the cul de sac. Coordinated the surveyors to be on site so we could clear the ROW and set the hubs. We work a lot with this engineering company and know all the survey crews. We could've let them chop it out however they set up the gun and pointed us in the right direction. The slope has nasty regrowth of briars and saplings, we take care of the people we like. Did I say it was steep? The picture doesn't do it justice. Cutting and benching down to the flow line. Using the '53 to push the spoils into a stockpile. There are finished houses to the right on the lower street.
That's an interesting trailer you have there. Looks like a nice job
Thanks Sterff. The truck and trailer is not mine, it belongs to a friend that moves my equipment. We tend to stay in one place for periods of time so it's cheaper and easier to hire out the hauling. He needs some decking on the flip tail.
Love the 953 CM....great machines. It's great to see that you are busy and working. It's a great feeling to have work and good health...
Thanks PA. We've been blessed with work and being able to pick and choose who we work for. That in my opinion is the key to not only profitability but enjoying the job.
Benching down to the headwall. Had to double handle the dirt, which I don't like to do but there was no other option with the equipment we have. The track hoe shoveled the dirt up the hill and the '53 carted the dirt out. The deepest point of the line is 22' to invert. Tracking the headwall down the road. Taking it down the cut. HW set and mirafi fabric in front for the rip-rap. Shot from the bottom up.
I recognize that Alabama (sandy) dirt. Good spot for a crawler dumper.
Wish I would've had one my friend!:thumbsup
Yep, that particular job doesn't have enough margin to justify renting one, and they can be expensive machines for an individual to purchase, hard to justify the cost because they are such a niche machine, but when you run across a site that's in their wheel house they're invaluable. If you ever get on a big job that requires one and you can pencil it in the math I'll hook you up. And if it goes down I'll drive down their myself and kick it square in the arse! :drinkup
More great looking jobs, looks like some great dirt to work with, in your area. Having to handle dirt a couple times sucks, but sometimes has to be done. Even worse when you are a one man show, but keep telling myself it gives m a variety of machines to operate. The cattle shed came down much better than planned. Had to brace the walls as we wanted to save the back wall, and wanted the building to come down under control. 254' of building down and gone in 3 1/2 days, with very few problems. I was able to swing around if I hugged the cattle feed bunk, and push the loose stuff across the slatted floor. Then go back around and pull it off the slatted floor, and haul away. I rubbed the wall once and damaged the decal on the corner of the excavator, tracking backward carrying a chunk of the roof and got the back of the excavator away from the cattle bunk. I felt it as I was swinging the load, but it was to late. It will be a good place to put a decal over saying danger or oops.
Pictures????
I would love to have one Willie. They're a good size for the smaller dirt jobs that we do and the places there in, like this one. I haven't moved any real yardage in 7-8 years and we had 2 - 725's. How do the rubber tracks hold up? The only experience I have with rubber tracks is on a mini and CTL's. I would assume a good operator on one like any machine can get a lot of hours out of the tracks. I know you would - either kick it or me square in the arse!:tong
This wasn't too bad, I had two days of digging in the budget with the track hoe and loader. One can move some yardage pretty quick with this setup short distances. Good deal on your demo. Demo is rough on machines and your going to tear something up now and then - I've seen me do it. Just got around to fixing the dent in the 321 from the demo job 2 years ago. Beat the dent out and bondo'd it. Looks a lot better but I want to work on it some more next down time we have. I need to get some decal sets to freshen the machines up, anyone know of a good place other than the dealer?
oarwhat, I do have some pictures but lost the cable to my camera some where. I have more on my new phone and have not figured out if or how to put them on here. I can email them, as I did send them to myself. Every time I learn how to do a few things with my phone I have to get a new one and start all over, it seems.
Dirty I email them to my gmail account then save them to my computer in a picture file, then download to HEF.
Well, it's no different than any other rubber track machine, it has as much to do with the material that it's walking on than anything. Soils and sand, even muck, you'll get a fairly long life whereas rocky terrain gets a bit tough on them. And then there's the operator, one who pays attention to how and where he's driving the machine, as opposed to the jack leg moron operator that says "sure, I can run over that boulder that has as many facets as a ten carat diamond!" But it seems to work out in the overall scheme of things. And I take videos of the tracks of any rubber track machine before it leaves for rental, and mark all the nicks and spots with marking paint so it shows up on the vid. That way if a customer rips one in half he can't use the "it was like that when it was delivered" line. If they destroy a track...they're buying one, and on a CD110 that's like 9 G's. :yup
Thanks I got them to my gmail account already, will give it a try, thanks.
Thanks for posting CM. Interesting job as always. What percentage is the pipe coming up at?
LC is 10% and change, pretty steep. The inlet in the cul de sac is 16' deep.
16 foot cut is pretty deep. You going to slope it back or use a trench box?
We'll bench it down. I like to use benching especially if the pipe is going under an improved surface. A wide bench allows the big compactor to get into the trench and make homogenous fill lifts over the pipe. Same principle as keying in a fill to an existing slope. Personally I hate trench boxes. The average depth of the storm on this one is 10' or so. It's wide open with nothing else so benching works better for us.
I don't blame you. I fully agree, much easier to get good compaction on a big hole. Don't get me wrong, trench boxes have there place but like you said, if it is wide open slope it or bench it.
Plus I don't want to scratch the new paint job on R2 in a tight trench.
You don't have to use stone backfill in the roads? That's the reason we used trench boxes a lot. Basically anything that goes under a new road was 100% stone backfill. It's pretty standard for every municipality
You have to understand the soil (or lack thereof) of that part of the south 390eric, it's mostly a sand based soil, pretty much any trench you put in the ground requires sloping back the trench walls. I didn't some work near Hamilton Alabama, the NW part of the state, installing horizontal drains under a 4 lane highway with a drill rig back in the 90's. The pit we placed the drill rig in looked more like a 1000 lb bomb crater. Even then, when it came a late evening/night frog strangler thunder storm, the next morning my drill rig was buried over the top of the tracks from the material (soil) that would wash down in the pit from the storm. Ain't no such thing as digging a straight cut trench and placing a trench box in that part of the south, the soil just don't work that way down there.
The cattle confinement building tear down, and clean up. Had to about rub the cattle feed bunk to be able to swing around. then push across the slatted floor.
Had to lift the rake metal loose from the roof sheeting with a tooth on the bucket, as it was wanting to pull the end wall down. It was nice when we got away from the here the pit area was, as the metal had not rusted as bad and you could pick up a big piece. Just had to steer it through the poles over to the slatted floor to be pushed across. Then go back around to the other side and pull the rest of the way off the slatted floor. We saved the end walls and the back wall, as the posts were good, have to remove the metal and replace. Starting to rebuild now and if the weather will let us, get the trusses on this week
Depends on the spec. For this job it's either total stone or backfill with on site material and test. Obviously opting for the on site material. The pipe is on average 10' deep at the road crossings so it would cost a fortune to backfill with stone.
Good job dirty! We're you able to scrap most of the tin?
There was only 40' of tin worth scrapping, the rest was so rusted through from the manure acid in the air. It was like tissue paper. The tear down went quite well about three days or tear down. Got two trusses set today using the skid steer and my boom. Hope the rain holds off tomorrow and we can get a few on the other end as there is a dirt floor on both ends. Then will have the crane come set the rest over the pit, area.
Looking good CM! Don't want to derail the thread, but have you seen the new 325F Cat's?
40' of tin isn't worth scrapping unless the scrap yard is close or you have more at the shop. Good deal on the trusses, hope it goes smoothly. Raining here today and tomorrow. I saw one at Conex last year. It was either a 325 or 335F don't remember. For now I'll stick with a Tier III machine.
Rain!! We've got 4 loads of pipe and 2 loads of structures on the ground and I'm like a bird dog in a truck box wanting to get out and do what we do.
Thats no good!!! Its probably a lot warmer where you are, we are going to be out pretty much the rest of the week with all this rain the tropical storm sent our way (Central IL). Cool weather just doesn't dry the ground very fast. :beatsme On another note, isn't that what us dirt guys are always talking about? Weather and broken equipment? :tong
If it's not one it's the other.:bash We've got a window Wed through Friday to get some pipe in the ground, then we'll see what happens next week. Yeah, we're heading into the rainy season here. What gets me is the owners always want to start projects this time of the year or at the first of the year. I guess they're too busy enjoying or planning a summer vacation to get things rolling when the weather is optimum for moving dirt.:beatsme
The rains came before noon today, feels like it is blowing off an iceberg somewhere close. Just a drizzle of a rain, so will be muddy when it decides to quit. Yesterday I had a lot of braces to cut and finally with all the saw dust had a dry spot to stand. Then it the afternoon it dried out enough to not pickup on your shoes walking around the job site. I leveled up and filled any ruts this morning with the skid steer in hopes some of the water will run off. Oh well a couple weeks ago the dust was blowing due to high winds. Always something, for sure. Hope who ever opens the door on your cage jumps clear when you pop out, like any good bird dog does.
Luckily a wide open site, we started back up Thursday. Benching down. A little track loader love. These machines are handy as a shirt pocket if one knows how to get all they have to offer. Tracked the dirt out of the hole and onto the stockpile as the 321 proceeded with the pipe trench. We've obtained quite a stockpile of cut material. Fuzzy picture but it tells the story of the amount of material moved. Dig, bench, remove soil - rinse and repeat. 4 working days later. Our machines were too small for this production wise but the line is only 170' long, the rest of the storm averages 10' deep. As my signature says - "Take what you win, run what you brung".:Cowboy
Great pictures Cory, why not use a wheel loader instead of track? Don't you usually have a wheel loader on site anyway? I know you said this is what was available for this job at the time. But in a neutral situation which would you rather have?
Thanks Aliate. How are things going out west? Wheel loaders in this area are almost nonexistent on construction sites. One will see them on larger road and utility projects where they are used in a load and carry fashion crossing improved surfaces. I don't have one and don't have a need for one. Of course a wheel loader would have it's place in our operation but there's not enough work specifically suited to it to justify it's cost. I'd rather add another excavator. For instance this sandy silt material gets slippery when wet, with the amount of rain we get I wouldn't want to run anything with tires on that slope. The terrain in this part of Alabama is rolling hills with everything underfoot from rock to muck. We average 54 inches of rain per year in central AL (Seattle averages 38 inches for comparison), couple that with clay soils and it can get nasty quick.
Things are going good, recently bought a big tex dump trailer, thanks for asking. That's funny how different things are in different parts. Sometimes I forget how things were in NY. Here every job site has a wheel loader involved. They also use those asphalt zippers instead of saw cutting asphalt for all the tie ins. They also use stormwater detention vaults here, you could park your whole fleet inside them.
Congrats on the dump trailer!:drinkup What size did you get? I would like a small one just for carting around small stuff and sand or gravel when you need just a yard or two. Usually there is a reason for regional differences in the construction business. Soil types and terrain being a couple. Even here in AL, it's totally different from the north to the south end of the state. Birmingham and north, track loaders are very popular. Montgomery and south, not very popular. South of I-10 the wheel loader is king. This has to do with the soils, the farther south you go the sandier it gets. Those zippers are the ticket. If I were installing utilities in existing streets I would either have a zipper or a planer on a skid. Makes perfect sense - no labor to saw cut, no asphalt to haul off and the ground material can be used for backfill. There are a few around here that use them. Done a few storm tech underground retention systems but they're just the plastic barrels covered with stone. I've read articles about those large detention structures being built, the size is impressive. Here we still let it flow on through.
CM, will you be able to begin backfilling with the material rather than continuing your stockpile, or do you have to have the entire 170' exposed for inspection? Perhaps you must bed with stone before backfilling.
Hey Oxbow, that's the plan. We've got 64' in not including the JB and HW, I'd like to get 6-8 more joints installed and then backfill. That will get us out of the deepest section. We don't have to have this entire line exposed to get an inspection, it's set up for first of the week if it ever stops raining.. The spec's call for 6" of #57 bedding under the pipe, backfilling with dirt. Where the lines are in the roadway we'll backfill to the spring line with stone and then 8" lifts of onsite material with testing.
After posting that CM I began to think that access may be difficult until you are at the end, but I suppose benching in an access route makes more sense than double handling al of the material. It's kind of nice having plenty of room for a change eh?
Hey CM, nice looking run of pipe. Sure do like seeing that 953 doing what it does best. I definitely see why you would not use a wheel loader. The testing 8 inch lifts is a real pain. We can do a couple lifts then they will dig down to do another test but I am sure there is now way you are going to dig down by hand in your clay.
Got at 15LX, I would rather have a PJ but this dealer was close. The build quality isn't so great, but these dump trailers are so great. I use it a lot to haul my cable plow and conduit. It has a 10k payload but only 8k legal behind a 350. Just don't load the thing heavy in the rear..... at all....
Yes it is nice having some room to work in. We'll get 6-8 more joints laid and then cut a road around to start placing backfill as the line progresses. At that point it won't be as big of a concern keeping the benches with no men in the trench. Thanks LC. The testing won't be that bad as we're only testing what backfill is in the road way. The majority of the pipe is behind the curb or in an easement. Cool. That's the size trailer I would like, something I can pull behind my F350 too. Sounds like experience talking about loading it heavy in the rear..:cool2
My truck weighs about 10k as it sits, I had about one ton in the trailer, loaded all against the gate, and the trailer almost took my ass for a ride on the freeway. It did the death wobble, trailer brake controller and good trailer brakes saved me.
My 350 weighs in at the same as it sits. Went across the scales at a scrap yard and couldn't believe it weighed that much, scaled it again a few months later and same weight. Do you have the factory brake controller? I like mine.
Yeah its just an XL but has Bluetooth, upfitter switches, controller, 4x4 with locking diff and a few others things, really a great truck. How's yours holding up?
Mine is doing great, I love the 6.7. It's got 50K plus miles and I had new shocks put on last week, really upgraded the ride from the factory "ranchos". The only issue I have is the intermittent wipers, sometimes they come on by themselves when in the off position. The issue comes and goes. Haven't had time to take it to the dealer. Purchased the extended 5 year 100K B to B warranty when I bought the truck, haven't used it yet..
Mine does the same thing when I start the truck, wipers come on for a sec sometimes.
I had the same issue. TSB 15-0061, it will need a new multifunction switch (turn signal lever). It's part # BC3Z-13K359-BA. I had mine replaced at 35K miles. My wipers would not shut off on the lowest speed.
Thanks for the info Sterff. I've read of the issue on some Ford forums but never found the TSB. Now all I need is time to schedule it.
Have you looked in menu settings CM? They have a setting for a courtesy wipe, turn it off.
Unfortunately it's not that grandpa. The intermittent wiper function still comes on when the wiper is in the off position. Sometimes I can turn the wiper on high and back off and it turns off. Other times it keeps going. Hasn't happened in a couple of weeks but it'll resurface. It wasn't something that bothered me enough to take the time to take it in yet.
Agree, that if it happened once it'll happen again.
This week in pictures - Rained out Monday, Tuesday didn't start too well. Broke a track on the T250, pulled the T-bone right out. This was as far as I could get it out of the cut and of course landed in the mud when the belt finally broke. Picked it up with the 321 via chain and slid the new track in with the forks on a 420D. This happened at 9 AM, $1200 later we were back up and running before lunch. R2 earning it's keep compacting the backfill in the slope. Little b*****d hits hard for it's size. This part of the trench was narrow with steep access to bring fill material down. Today we filled enough to bring the 533 in for the remaing fill lifts. Pipe laying commencing in orchestra with backfilling. Finally got the point we could flip the spoils. This is why I like a track loader. It's been raining off and on, not enough to shut the job down but just enough to make it slick. A wheel loader would've been useless in this situation.
Today was tough. Rain was forecasted early in the day and all we needed to do was set the first structure and cut a 3.5' piece of 30" pipe. The Husky acted up after the first cut into the pipe. Cleaned the carb and re-assembled (damned ethanol), back in business despite the rain. The rain came and went but we got the structure installed. Getting to the structure required 3.5' of 30" pipe to make the connection. There was no way to finagle it into the structure and into the line once the structure was set. So we cut the pipe and shoved into the structure on high ground. Once the structure was set we slid the short section of pipe into the line. 26 tons of #57's for the next run.
I know the feeling. We had a Komatsu CD110 in an underground Limestone mine when it split a track half through. I pulled the track together and stitched track bars together with a chain and began slowly walking it out of the mine. About 50 feet from the mine entrance it came unglued. Oh well, service truck in the hole.
Looks good :thumbsup Had a track on our mini hoe do that this week too, unlike you we had to wait a couple of days for a track :Banghead How thick of lift can you pack with R2?
I remember the pics Willie, now that sucked. Luckily for us it wasn't too bad. I knew the track was shot so I just gave it hell and got as far as I could. Thanks movindirt. Our Bobcat dealer keeps aftermarket tracks in stock. It seems any other part is a 2-3 day wait. R2 with this material can pack 8"-1' in two passes. There are no compaction tests in this fill area due to being non-structural and in a storm easement. We'll start the next line thats in the street next week and there will be testing. We'll get a better gauge of what it can do then. On a side not Iron Planet has several up for auction next week from Sunbelt.
The pic with the hoe benched down and the 953 on the bank is great. It shows what a cut you had. The little roller sure has paid for it self On a different note I wish we could haul 26 tons on a tri-axle around here. Sorry to hear about the track but just as you would expect it would not break somewhere high and dry
CM, that little roller does a great job....one hell of a ditch you got there....WOW !
Yeah LC R2 has already paid for itself. It's going to need an overhaul or new engine in the future as it's hard to start when it's cooler and smokes a lot. A friend of mine has an engine for one and we both like to horse trade. With what I have in it I'm not opposed to putting some money into it. Machines never go down at a good time - it's either when you really need them, when you are in a cash flow crunch, behind schedule or any combination of the 3. It was deep PA, we're out of it now. Backfilling the deep trench of 30" RCP. The HW and JB we set earlier can be seen down slope. Random pic of laying the 30" in the deep cut. Backfilling Friday of the deep cut, a few more feet to go. The inlet with the Silt Saver on it is 16' deep with a drop midways up for the continuation of the 30" line. First time I've used Silt Savers for inlet protection, they're expensive but are supposed to be the ****.
You have no idea how much I would like to work in that dirt for a day . I don't blame you on the roller. You got a good deal so putting a little into it is still way better than buying a new one. If you used it 5 or 6 days a week it might be worth it but if it is not an everyday machine. I have seen the silt savers but never used them. I bet they work real good until somebody drives over one
Come on down buddy and I'll let you take your pick of machines. The dirt is very nice to work with but it has layers of nasty white/yellow clay that turns to mush when wet. The red sandy layer that runs 2-3' deep on top is a dream to grade. So far I see where the Silt Savers are worth the money, although they are about $375 a piece. Now that's steep but it solves erosion/filtration issues and fall protection for deep inlets. I sold the developers on the idea since we can re-use them for the following phases of the development. It was easy peasy to install them - slap the plastic frame down on the structure, cover it with the filtration fabric and fill the pockets that hold it down with #57's. It was 15 mins with two guys.
They probably make the SWPPP people at EPA all warm and fuzzy too, might be worth the price just for that! The soil looks like the moisture is close to optimum for compaction, it also looks like adding water to it and getting it to mix might be tricky. I suppose that you usually have problems with material that is too wet rather than too dry though. Looks like a fun job with nice soil and lots of room!
Thanks Oxbow, it's nice to be on a wide open site for a change. Yeah we rarely have to worry about material being too dry even in the dry season. Our rainy season has begun so we begin the 5 months of mud.
I got dibs on the 953 looks like we are back to talking geology. It is interesting that you have such thin layers of good and bad. We don't usually have several layers alternating between good and bad. More often than not we either have a bad top layer and sand down deeper or good material on top with gumbo down below. I looked at a job yesterday and the top was real bad black nasty clay. I am not sure what is down below that but I have a feeling the bad is pretty thick
It's yours LC.:thumbsup Our geology is interesting to say the least, it keeps you on your toes. On this project we have 6 different proctors for the material on-site. We have encountered at least 4 of the 6 if not all within 500' of trenching. The geotech and I have had to resort to the old fashioned way of compacting dirt - use your experience. If the feet are walking out of the fill lift, the probe gives good resistance, it passes the boot heal test and it's not pumping under the roller, we call it good.
So I'm taking a week off and left the 'states for Costa Rica. It's been a relaxing day, we went down to Quepos to have breakfast at the new marina. It's a beautiful marina with a great setting. It's one of the few marinas on the Pacific side of Central America with a boat lift big enough to dry dock the larger sport fishers and yachts. Snapped a pic of a Deere 210G working on the condo project next door.
Enjoy CM, you've earned it!
Enjoy the time off!
Let us know how things are in Costa Rica, it is a place I would like to visit one day myself.
Good for you! Are you going to fish? I hear its outstanding there.
Hey CM, Have a great time! I thought I was the only one who took pics of construction while on vacation
Thanks Guys! It's nice down here. I've spent a lot of time down here over the last 10 years. Wonderful place to visit. I can give you some info. Thanks dd, it's very relaxing slower pace to life down here. We're not fishing this time but the fishing is very good both in the estuaries and the Pacific. The season is just beginning for sport fish, as they are headed into the dry season. I've caught many sails, swords, dorado, pargo (snapper) and tuna before. Thanks LC. I can't help myself. The large companies down here have some very nice, new iron. Costa Rica is a very wealthy little country compared to the rest of Central America.
I've been slacking on pics over the last couple of weeks. Snagged a new 7 CY rock box off of Iron Planet. We'll put it to good use. Also picked up 2 MTiM hot water pressure washers from IP. Engines start, burners work, we'll see how the rest of the parts work later. Random storm sewer pic. The road is not graded yet. The spoil pile in the background is from the storm sewer line up to these inlets. So we all decided to have some fun on the job and put R2 in a box. Don't really know why that pic makes me laugh but it does. Hey guys, ummm let me out, no I'm serious.
This is an interesting thread l, I read the entire thing last night. I didn't see an intro section here so I guess i will do it here. I'm a licensed GC & Plumber located in Kansas City. I have a 2011 335 mini and a 2009 SV185 loader, both were purchased earlier this year. Anyway, I'm enjoying seeing pictures of all these jobs keep up the good work.
Thanks plumberkc and welcome to the Forums!:drinkup Thinking about getting my apprentice card and start working my way towards master. Alabama state law requires a master plumber to run water and sewer lines from the building to the ROW. Here is our New Member intro thread -
I like that idea.:thumbsup How much time would you have to invest in becoming licensed? What is the law exactly? Does the owner of the company have to be a master plumber himself or is it enough to have a master plumber on the payroll? If it's the latter, you just need to find yourself a master plumber who deeply regrets his career choice and wants to become a heavy equipment operator.
Joispoi only a master plumber can pull a plumbing permit which includes water and sewer lines from the building to the city connection. The master can be an employee, individual or company. Also anyone performing the work under supervision of a master has to have an apprentice or journeyman's card. Now it goes on in the business where masters pull permits for companies all the time but the caveat is the law requires the master to be on site while the work is going on and everyone in ditch has a card. Some things in life and business I'll ask for forgiveness instead of permission but this isn't one of them.:wink2 Time wise - 2 years of apprentice Examination 1 year journeyman Examination Master So roughly 3 years from start to finish.
Hi CM, That was a good score on the rock box and steam cleaners. I was thinking the rock box was used but obviously not. It is a little bit better shape than our used one we got . Job looks good. Looking forward to seeing pics of the road grading. Does it get curb?
Hey man, yeah the box was new. I was the only bid.:beatsme The road will get valley curb and a 6:2:1 pavement section. Sewer and water guys are coming in tomorrow to start that portion, we're padding the lots out while they run mainline. When they're done well run power crossings and grade for curb and paving.
How picky are your curb guys. The ones around here are so spoiled they don't even want to run the trimmer when they are laying so you gotta be dead on when you cut in.
Plus or minus a 10th is usual spec. Most slip form curb guys here have motor graders, after they set pins and string they fine grade it before the slip form machine comes in. Now the hand form guys on the small jobs are spoiled here too, they'll want you to add 1/2" if it's out. This one will be a little easier as I'm the construction manager as well as a contractor. I've put in a lot of road in the past acting as developer/contractor, residential street and lot work is my forte'. Probably use the same guys in this thread -
Good luck with that. Guys don't just fall into becoming Licensed Plumbers, it usually takes 5 years or more just to qualify to take the test. Many of the top service companies will pay anywhere from $70,000-$125,000 + Bonuses and Benefits and those guys don't even have to hold their masters card.
With that attitude, your application isn't going to be put on the top of the stack. ( I know what plumbers make. I just haven't mastered communicating irony online ).
I read the irony or rather sarcasm, I can be crafty with sarcasm at times too.:wink2 If I could make a $125K a year working for someone else I think I might just send my yellow iron to auction, then again no - it's in my blood to do my own thing.
Staying busy CM?
As busy as we can with all the rain we've been having but that's winter in the south.
A couple of shots of cleaning the road up after storm installation and roughing some lots in. The Silt Saver inlet protection are worth the money, more on that later. Pic from the cab of the '53. Cleaning the upper part of the road up, sanitary manholes have been staged. We're not doing the sanitary or water, a friend of mine is putting it in. Just a shot of a generic lot roughed in.
I hear ya man!!! December here had the second highest rainfall ever recorded. I think it was 13" for the month. I mean it's crazy. Excavating pools is a lot less affected than grading but still if it's pouring rain you stay home. When I was grader we called it "roll over rain".... wake up, look out the window,....roll back over and go to sleep. Good looking job pics. Got a little break from the rain it looks like.
Couldn't have described it better!:drinkup Winter in the south.. my liver yearns for spring.
Sanitary main line and laterals going in. We're not doing the san. sewer or water, just managing it. Backfilling the main line sanitary. It's not our scope to backfill the sanitary but we had rain coming (again! ) so we doubled down and helped them out. The backhoe is their's, a rental from Sunbelt. Plastic sheeting is covering the piles to keep them dry. R2 is earning it's keep so much I really don't know how we got by without him. #57's just went up at all the quarries to around $12 a ton before taxes across the scale, trucking in addition. We'll be using R2 more and more, I might buy another one at auction to have as a spare.:cool2 Now back to the Silt Savers . This is the first job I've used them on and they have performed excellent. Between Christmas and New Years we were getting hammered with rain in the Southeast. I arrived on the job one rainy day when we were forecasted to get a couple of inches and built a check dam in order to force the water barreling down the road into the inlets to be filtered before it leaves the site. Constructed this berm around 9 in the morning, this pic was taken around 1:30 that same day. The Silt Savers did their job. We did have one collapse upon itself at the inlet in the cul de sac due to the filter getting plugged with grass and pine needles from where we mowed the site prior to grading. It collapsed but due to the design it didn't fail in the sense it let mud get through. It was on top of a round manhole with a top that had a square hole, so it didn't fall into the manhole and saved us a tremendous amount of time and money not having to clean a 30" RCP line out. Yeah I know I sound like I'm plugging a product but these work. No other form of inlet protection would've survived the flow and we would've been in the creek with rubber boots, buckets and shovels cleaning the silt out without them.
plumberkc, I have master license in KC, MO also, but work mainly in the outlying areas. I find Johnson Co Kansas to be the most difficult of all the surrounding metro counties to pull permits from. They have a rule that will keep a master plb from pulling a permit if the test score you got on the ICC / block test is below 80%, this is where I took my test and passed 8yr ago, only to find out now I could not pull a permit from Johnson Co. They operate in their own little pedestal world. Where do you work mostly ?
It's not just the zoning/permit office, pretty much covers the whole county and anyone who lives there. One of the few JoCo guys i got along with in college said something close after six months this side of the county line, "We grew up in a bubble."
Hey CM, job is looking good. I do feel for you and the rain. Great looking material to work when dry but not so much when wet. The silt savers are pretty impressive. Getting the guys to come out with a vac truck isn't cheap so best off not letting the silt and mud in to begin with.
Ya' nailed it. The red decomposed sandstone is great to work with and can handle a little water. We also have what looks like white horse clay veins that horrible. The sandstone is very hard to dig, at 12' deep we almost had to get a hammer. This project has done well with the heavy rain. Being able to use the cul de sac as a temp. pond and then filtering it out has made the difference. I would've hated to try and stop the flow with just silt fencing.
Now for a personal project. My wife bought me this cool ass Argentine Parrilla grill for Christmas - http://grillsandcookers.com/products/campfire-braten-argentine So I need to make a structure to house such a fine piece of grilling equipment. The newest member of the family supervising the layout after demolition of the herb garden and other stuff in the way. Footings poured and wet setting some 4" CMU. As with any construction project, supervision is key. Block fill, which is just really wet Sakcrete. Stopping point for today. The next step is a concrete top poured on top of the blocks for wood storage. I'll form it out of 3/4" plywood for the bottom and 1x4's for the sides. Then lay up the rest of the structure. The parrilla grill will be set to the right with a fire box built on the left to burn the wood down to coals.
Yes I do not think you could have done what you did with silt fence. Using the cul de sac as a temporary retention pond was a great idea:idea. Your block laying is better than some of the guys I have seen here lately I am interested in how the grill turns out.
You know as well as I do we have to get creative with the amount of rain we get.:yup I'm no mason by any stretch but I know what you mean... I've been wanting to build one for a while. The next project after this is a brick pizza oven, thinking of adding on to this structure, ultimately making an outdoor kitchen and covering the whole space. I'll post some progress pics as it comes along.
To heck with the progress...I want to know when the inaugural cooking date is scheduled because I'm making a trip to The Ham! :drinkup
Give me a month or two buddy, you're invited.
So it's been raining, the sites a mess and we can't grade much - typical winter in the south. It's been raining steadily as it does here in winter so with cabin fever and all, I did what we all do and go see friends, it's cheaper than going to the gun store unless your friend wants to go to the gun store, then all bets are off.:cool2 So I go see a friend of mine in the business that is also a small time cattle guy with an abundance of hay rolls from the last hay season, some of them have been around too long and not fit for feed. We began talking about what we have going on, the lack of what we have going on and what little we could do to keep projects going and make a little money. That pretty much consumed my whole day yesterday. Well he has 30 or so rolls of hay that for various reasons have stayed outside too long and are basically worthless. During the conversation I stated I had a small slope on the project we're working on that needed to be hay mulched. Long story short, we come up with the idea to use his worthless rolls of hay on the slope and shake it out with the excavator. Idle minds right?:tong So this morning I loaded 5 wet, rotted rolls of hay on my skid trailer and set off to the project. It worked pretty well, not the prettiest but the hay was free. What I found out was you could shake the first 1/3 of the roll with the excavator like shaking it by hand and covered pretty well. As the roll got towards the center it was more tightly packed, so I just took the roll and placed it up hill and let it unroll. Worked decent. One of my operators taking a go at it. All I can say after the experiment is the slope is well mulched, we didn't have to put square bales through the blower and the hay was free.
A hydraulic thumb is a wonderful thing. :drinkup
Everytime a pickup a round bale like these, a snake falls out......sweet work CM.....nice to get a break with some free hay..
Yes they are, sometimes I wish I had one. PA no snakes here or at least I saw.
Would they have a model to replace my right one it's been a little weak and sore these day!
Pretty slick idea! A trip to the gun store would been pretty good also
Thanks, it worked out better than I though it would. Nothing much in the grading realm to do with all the rain so we gave it a shot.:idea A trip to the gun store is always good.
The rain has subsided some what so we were able to start two new jobs. The other guys are finishing installing the sanitary and then will begin water service, so we have a few weeks before we need to be back to install power crossings and grade for curbs. Mob'ing the 321 in for a building addition for the large GC we work for. The owner of the GC firm donated the $1M for this building expansion.:cool2 This project is small and simple. Clear a few trees and strip for the new building pad. Also broke ground another chicken shack. As luck would have it, this store is located next to the Taco Bell we did 2 or so years ago, pics of the project are up thread. I say as luck would have it because this is a 45 min ride (one way) from home. The D5, 533 and T250 is on this job. The 321 is on the building expansion, we'll move the 321 to this site to lay storm. Normal erosion control installation, silt fencing and straw wattles. I really like working in this town, the city guys are great to work with.:thumbsup
Got a call from a guy that was referred to me by one of the geotechnical engineers we work for and with. Normally a small residential job such as this is too small for us but I went to take a look and if nothing else give advice and some other contractors for reference. Typical 30 year old driveway that needs to be replaced or so it seems. The nefarious 55 gallon drums used for storm piping rears it's ugly head again. It's the second time in my career I've seen this. The failure point of the "drum pipe" and subsequent damage. The "drum pipe" runs adjacent to the drive up and under the drive to a yard inlet on the right side. The best I could tell the "pipe" turns in front of my truck to the right and goes ties into the yard inlet. I will probably pass on this as our work load is good for now and I shy away from residential projects for several reasons. However I'll work up a price and give my advice. The **** people half ass never ceases to amaze me.:cool2
Glad to see you're staying plenty busy! Gonna float in the 321 to fix the pipe under that driveway? :tong
Thanks, it's nice to be steady.:drinkup We need to float it in for a "321 renovation" to the house...from the way it looked from the outside .
I actually had a similar issues several years ago and found out I had taken the wrong test. I'm from Shawnee and mainly work in Johnson County. Feel free to send me a PM if you would like to talk on the phone for a few minutes.
Looks like that residential job is the perfect job to NOT GET INVOLVED IN That looks like nothing but headaches. One good thing about the chicken shack is you can walk to the Taco Bell for lunch. Are going to haul the trees off the clearing job?
My thoughts exactly LC.:yup In my experience, which affects my pricing, I'll be a lot higher than anyone else. In fact I'll make sure of it. The trees were just small willows. Hauled them off today, just 2 tri-axle loads.
Clearing the few willow trees for a building expansion. The addition will be on the right in the pic, 4,000 SF. 18" CL 3 RCP for the construction entrance that will be left in place. The road for construction access will serve double duty after the project so they can use it for parking and servicing the septic system that is located behind the building. Bedding with #57 stone. The topic of crushed stone sizes comes up on the Forum from time to time with different regions calling the same thing different terms. This is #24 stone we used for the construction access road. The next size bigger is surge stone and then rip-rap. This came from Vulcan Materials.
If they had been Mimosa trees you'd have had to dig deeper to uproot them. Looking forward to progress pics. :drinkup
Well this is the first time I've been tasked with making a ceremonial mound for an official groundbreaking. The red clay was wet, I did the best I could do. The 321 in the background with the gold painted shovels. The ground breaking was televised on the local news. This is a non-profit that does great work with children who have autism. Honored to be part of the project.:usa
God I hate Mimosa trees, no I really - really hate them. Luckily these willows had a somewhat shallow root system. We're done with our original contract but received a CO for some piping and inlet boxes to re-route the water. The original plans called for moving the swale over but the ground water is an issue in this area and would've caused problems for the building addition. Progress pics next week.
Agreed, damn things got a tap root that goes to Bejing China! :yup Kudos for doing the work on the non-profit project. :drinkup
Thats pretty cool! Did you get to run one of those fancy gold shovels and be on tv?
LOL, no that's above my pay grade. We're just lowly sub-contractors.
The parrilla project is coming along. Last weekend laid brick tile in the wood storage boxes and poured a header for the ash dump. Today. Grouted the brick tile and adjusted the header over the ash dump with the Husky 760, it was a little off. This little side project at home has been fun, work on it when you want to and make it what you want it to be. Our new little buddy has an keen interest in projects which include HD runs, stops at the gas station for beef jerky and the general project itself.
Looks good, your inbox is full btw
Better do a good job the "BOSS" is watching!!
Thanks buddy. Inbox is fixed, it stays full. LOL, she loves to be around the action sometimes too close. Truth be known the real "boss" was taking the picture.:tong
I feel for you, a supervisor"4 legged type" and the boss watching you It is lookin good, who knows you might be able to start a new business We did a ground breaking mound a few years ago, the guys we did it for were cheap and just painted the shovels gold.
Thats awesome man. My brother has special needs so grown up helping places like that, always nice to see others with similar values.
I'd go broke if I had to build one and make money.:tong These shovels were just cheap wood-handled shovels - painted gold. The kids are really enjoying watching the construction work. They ask all sorts of questions and we try to spend time with them during the day when they are in the playground. My superintendent brought it before we started that the noise or sudden change due to the construction may affect some of the children negatively, as they have varying levels of children with autism at the school. So far the kids have been nothing but excited.
We did a street reconstruct in front of a school for mentally challenged. Found out quick that we could only run the smooth drum roller after school hours. The vibrations triggered big issues with a few of them.
We didn't know what would or would not affect them negatively, so we discussed it before hand. We finished that job up for now, we'll back to final grade and install roof leaders. The kids enjoyed the excitement.
This pic was taken on the residential street job. Silt saver in the cul de sac imploded into the inlet due to extremely high flow. It did it's job and no mud left the site. Those are ice crystals on the rim of the inlet, it does get cold in Alabama sometimes. Yesterday I dug it out and replaced it with a new one as we have rain tomorrow. Borrowed a Deere 160 from the san. sewer contractor. Nice machine, fast but I didn't like the cab layout. The new rock box's first job on the special needs school. Received a change order for 160' of 30" HDPE and 2 pre-cast inlet boxes. Finished up the school job and mob'd in to the chicken shack.
At the chicken shack Friday, belling up some 15" HDPE. Side note - Dawn dishwashing soap watered down is a better lubricant than the little bucket of lube they supply with it. The pipe bells together easier and it's much cleaner for the ditch man. That lube tends to get all over everything. Junction box and curb inlet set with 15" HDPE.
CM, can you Tell me more about that silt saver ..Maybe we call it something different here in my part of the world but I'm struggling to wrap my head around exactly what that is or was..I am glad it worked....I can honestly say I have never seen anything quite like that picture. Why did you have to dig it out ? Too replace it or remove it all together ? Sorry that's a bunch of questions..
http://siltsaver.com/index.php
Jobs like this make all the nasty ones better. I love helping out a person that really needs it. Good on you.
No problem PA. It's an erosion control devise that Scott gave a link too. Basically it's an injection molded plastic frame with a filter cover. This is a pic of one (not mine) installed. Typical installation, again not my pic but it gives perspective. We've had some heavy rain down south, nothing else that I know of would've survived the flow of water and still do it's job. The reason I had to dig around the inlet was to make it accessible by hand to install another one, it was 2' deep of soupy silt. The plastic frame is easy to install, just put it on top of the structure then put the filter on and fill the pockets that anchor it with stone. No doubt Twisted, I'm a firm believer in giving locally.
Awesome work! Was the cab on the 160 smaller than what you were used to? Or just didnt like the overall design in general?
Is that Takeuchi back there a replacement for the T-250?
Size was good, what I didn't like was the layout. Ha! No that's the GC's rental. I think that was a TL 9?
Either a Tl8, 10 or 12. If it was a 9 that would be a interesting machine That silt saver is really nice, I imagine if that would have been silt fence up around that inlet someone would have had a lot of mud to shovel.
Ha!:tong I don't know the Tak designations, I just glanced at the side of the machine. I would bet it's an 8 then. I don't know of anything else that would've kept that heavy of a flow from going down the manhole. We just received a **** load of rain this afternoon, I'll check on the new one in the morning. I did put back in a few diversion berms to slow the water down and direct the water to the upper inlets.
At the special needs school, the poor dirt required compacted stone columns under the footings. Geopier was the sub that installed them. Pretty slick process. A 319 with Lodrill to drill the holes, skid with a special bucket to fill the holes with stone and a 316 with modified hammer to pound the stone into the hole. Basically the engineering behind it is the stone pounded into the hole makes multiple "bulbs" that strengthens the soil bearing pressure in that area under the footing. The depth of the drill hole determines the number of "bulbs". It was interesting to watch. There were 31 holes for a 4K SF addition.
That's pretty neat CM. never heard of that process prior to now....what determines the need to do this ?
Poor soil conditions, it's a cheaper and much quicker option than undercutting, poured piers or other deep foundations. They were in and out in a day.
Back at the Chicken Shack running some storm. We did the Taco Bell back in '13, there are some pics back up thread. 15" HDPE. This pipe is made by Southeastern Culvert in Georgia. I like working with it better than ADS as it's easier to bell up and in my opinion a stronger pipe. The bells are exposed for inspection. Backfilling and compacting a section of th e storm line. Wally World is in the background and that's Murphy Oil's dumpster enclosure. R2 is earning it's keep. Big brother and little sibling doubling up compacting the backfill. The Deere in the background is belongs to the city.
Good looking work as always CM. looks like you are slammed which is good but does get old after a while. I think the silt saver was a money saver for you since you didn't need to get a vac truck t
Thanks LC, the silt saver did it's duty. Now we are on the third one on this manhole with heavy rain predicted, if we have to replace it again it's still money well spent.
Rain for 3 days straight Monday to Wed. Only had 3 working days this week. Ran 100' of 15" HDPE storm line and set a curb inlet. The bells are exposed for inspection. Had a 15" X 10" Tee fabricated to run a stub for the buildings roof leaders. Original plans had it running to the curb inlet. The tee cost $150 which was much less than cutting a hole in the round structure and running another 20' of 10". We're running the roof leaders deep in order to be well below the other utilities to come later. The roof leaders run around the rear of the restaurant where all the electrical, communication, water and sewage also come out. Initial backfill over the pipe. Two lifts with R2 and then we put our 533 in the ditch. The city hasn't needed their Deere and it's not in the way.
nice work CM!
Thanks! We've had a couple of beautiful days with sun and wind so that's helped to dry things out. However we've got rain forecasted for much of next week. It's just winter in Alabama.
i'll take rain over the white stuff and cold any day!
The site looks good for that much rain. I think about 95% of the contractors around here have no clue how to get a job ready for bad weather. You have obviously figur d it out. Nice to see some real compaction going in a trench to:thumbsup
We spent Saturday before last backfilling what we could and getting ready for rain. You're right, I see too many jobs where the site contractor takes no effort to prepare a site to drain and it's mess from start to finish. A little time tracking in spoil piles and making sure water won't pond goes a long way in getting back to work quicker. The delivery driver for our pipe supplier brought out the Tee and said "I think ya'll are the only ones working today". We were his only delivery that day.:beatsme Spec was 98%, surprisingly we hit it without a tremendous amount of effort. I had my doubts but the heavy clay has an optimum of 17% moisture and dry density of 106 lbs/CF. It also helped that this wally world is in a valley between two hills so the wind cuts through and it gets constant sun throughout the day. We did have to process the fill throughout the backfill. Turned it several times with the hoe, breaking up the wet clods and letting the sun and wind hit them. On a side note - had 3 green as hell geotech's come out to pop tests. This is the same geotech company we dig test pits for and work a lot with - they send us the greenhorns as they know we'll be easy on them.
Your consideration of the weather shows. You can tell a good contractor by the condition of the site. Knowing your soils the way you do makes things much easier also. Doing things right and not trying to get one over on the testing guys is the way to go. If it is not ready you shouldn't call for testing. We were working on a job about 2 years ago and they were building a residential street next to us, they had the testing guy come out to do a proof roll and wound up pulling the dump truck with a Deere 750. Not sure how that passed
Not much interesting in the way of paying pics so I'll update the parrilla grill project. It's more interesting anyway. Form and rebar for the countertop. Cooking surface construction. Bricks are dry laid and I brushed sand between the joints. I'm not a concrete guy but I'm happy with the results. Ash dump installed. As of "beer-thirty" this afternoon.:tong
So do you cook on top or inside the boxes? Have a hard time picturing it. I have plans to build a big outdoor pizza oven at some point but who knows when. Looking good though. Be ready for spring grilling and beverages soon
The two chambers below are for wood storage and to break up an otherwise flat front. The far right chamber is the ash dump, I've got a cast iron door that will cover that hole. This will sit on top of the brick cooking surface on the right. The wood will burn down to coals on the left top side compartment. This is a rustic version but gives the concept. Phase two of this project is a pizza oven.:drinkup Right now the architect is working on a CO to add a roof/pergola over the grill, so the pizza oven project will be pushed back a couple of months as this is a "non-profit" job.
Pretty cool grill CM....nice job too.....Tell me do these type of grill offer some sort of an advantage over a regular gas type grill...
Nice. I get now. That will be really nice when it's done. You can get nice indirect heat or direct heat.
Thanks PA! This is the first one I've ever done, haven't cooked on one yet but natural wood coals gives the best flavor. The only advantage is flavor. Got a Weber hard lined natural gas grill setting next to it, nothing beats the convenience during the work week when you just need to toss something on the grill for dinner. The wood grill will be used on the weekends when I can take time to turn out a good piece of beef or chicken or pork or whatever comes along. That will be the learning curve 390eric, figuring out the right amount of coals and distance from the heat. The grill is adjustable so it'll take some good ol' trial and error, several pounds of beef and a few brews to figure it out One interesting thing about the design of these Argentine parrillas is the grill grates themselves. They are basically small angle iron with the wide part of the "V" facing upwards. This collects the fats from the meat as it grills and drains it off to the tray at the bottom. This allows high temp cooking without flareups. This is the company I got my grill from - http://grillsandcookers.com/products/campfire-braten-argentine
That design sounds nice. Flare ups can ruin a great meal. Looks like I might be adding another addition to the outdoor kitchen, whenever I build it that is.
This is a trial run as the wife and I are not at our "forever" home yet. Plan is to get the kinks worked out here and then build a complete outdoor kitchen with the lessons learned, at another location. Pizza oven is next, I think it'll be to the left of the fire box. I've been studying on the design of a pizza oven and it's quite complex to get the right draft out the chimney. There are styrofoam forms available that you pour a refractory concrete mix into but they're pricey - $1000- 1400 - for styrofoam... Probably give it a whirl with old school masonry from scratch first.
I have a few books on building pizza ovens. Have read a lot on them and I think that's the route I'm going too. Old school handmade brick laid And the forever home is my problem too, but I don't see myself moving anytime soon either So might as well practice like you are.
That sounds like a terrible situation. You have my complete sympathies. Let us know if you need a second opinion on some of your test runs
I know right?? I will be sure and photo log the "trial and error".:drinkup
Now for some money making pics back at the chicken shack. Installing roof leaders to catch the gutters on the building. A total of 4 gutter downspouts catch all the roof water at the rear of the building. We wanted to get in early and put them deep so the other utilities will go above and lessen the risk of damage later, been there and done that. 10" HDPE trunk line with 6" branches to catch the downspouts. We had to pull strings from the building hubs in order to have them in the correct location. The grease trap set's to the left of the leaders in the pic. All sewage, domestic water and electrical enter the rear of the building. HDPE fittings this small can be a little loose for my liking (especially the 6 to 10 reducer) so we concrete around them to give extra strength. Drive through side roof leader. The long string line is outside of brick. The two 90's are concreted in. 10" Tee with 6" reducer, concreted in. Backfilling the trench.
Cleaning up the footing and grease trap spoils. The rain leader stubs can be seen to the right of the Kubota. A little L9000 love from a local outfit I hired to haul away the spoils. That truck was nice, very nice for it's age. Gotta a lot of love for the Ford L's.:yup We hauled the spoils to the city's new ballpark where they needed fill for the next baseball fields. Win-win as it was just on the other side of Wally world. Stacking the footing crew on top of us but we coordinated. Storm manhole ring and lid set to grade. Back of curb off-sets in and our hubs to sub-grade set, painted green.
Looking good CM. Looks like R2D2 is making it happen and liking his new family. LOl
Hey CM, Great pics as always. Nice to see someone doing stuff right(concrete around the fittings). I am not impressed with the fit of small ADS myself. We have been moving away from using it pretty much altogether. SDR26 is not to much more expensive and you get a lot better joint, more labor to bevel though. I guess everything has its good and bad points.
I agree, we've used SDR26 before as well as the Contech white pipe, actually used that on the TB next door to this project. I wish we'd had a concrete truck on-site that we could've gotten 1/2 yard or so and encased the fittings, done that before when it was available. Since we installed the leaders before the building was built, we needed the "flexibility" of ADS for the up rights that connect to the downspouts. We pulled strings from the surveyors hubs but one can only get so close. The up rights won't be seen as they'll be cut off below ground with a downspout cap.
Now some grill pics. It's not done but it's "topped out" and I'm cooking on it tonight. Yard's a mess from the construction, hardscape and landscaping is coming next along with spring vegetable planting. This pic better explains the concept and design. Wood boxes below house pecan on the left and mesquite on the right. The ash dump door is on the far right. The wife and I picked up a cheap "roof" for it at HD today until we design a permanent structure. This is the heart and soul of a parrilla grill - the grates. The grill grates are designed to catch the fats off the meat and channel them to a collection trough. This allows high heat searing without flare-ups. This is a close up of the grill, the grease trough is on the right. The cables are attached to the grill in order to adjust the height above the coals. The wheel that pulls the grate up and down, with a cool wooden handle stop. All the great pics are compliments of my wife.
Great work CM! That came out fantastic ! I can smell the steak cooking from here....I hope you and your family share many good times around it....I made a fatal error, I showed my lovely bride and I will give you one guess on her first response.. Enjoy my friend....
It really did turn out great. I can see some brats cooking right!
Looking good CM! Glad to see things going well.
You do some very good looking work at home and on the job too! Enjoy the new grill!
Thank you PA. Sorry I got you in trouble... Thanks buddy. Sausage does very well on this grill and from what I've read about the style of cooking in Argentina it's a major ingredient. The Argentinians use their parrillas for large parties and get togethers, often cooking several lbs of meat at once. I did a trail run last night and it's not a grill to just fire up and cook a steak on. It takes quite a bit of lump charcoal to get it fired. It's going to take a steady supply of wood for large cooking events. Thanks Jerry. How have you been? I hope everything is well. There is a California version of this style cooking called a Santa Maria grill. There's a big fire box directly under the adjustable grate and you cook over the burning wood. Thank you Dirty. Spring is already here in AL so we're looking forward to a weather shift in the rain patterns and ramping up for a few big cook outs.
That grill looks pretty cool CM. Is the area to the left for coaling? Things drying out down there? We had a frog choker last night.
Thanks HVY! The area on the left is to burn the wood down to coals and you transfer them to the cooking grate. I've cooked on it several times and it's a learning curve getting enough wood burnt down to keep the grill hot. I love a challenge. It's been wet down here all winter, actually it's been a frog strangler for the last 4 months. We lost the two weeks of Christmas and New Years, it rain the entire time and that's no exaggeration. Spring is here so the weather patterns have broke, the rain doesn't hurt as much when it's in the 70's and sun for several days between rain.
This is the low hanging fruit I like to pick up on these small commercial jobs. It's very profitable because we're set up to trench it easily and the sparky's usually don't want it. Primary power which consists of 2- 5" SCH 40 conduits to the 3 phase transformer pad. Conduits going into the live pull box, I forgot how many thousands of volts is wired in that box but that's as close as we wanted to get.:cool2 Luckily this box had knock out's on the side, I have ran into ones where you have to come in from the bottom. Bedding the conduit with some #57's. Alabama Power doesn't require gravel bedding but it's just extra insurance, I don't want to come back. We had to get the line inspected by an engineer from APCO, the top of the conduit is to be 42" min. from the finished grade. He walked up to the trench, looked at the conduit and said "I wish everyone did it this way". That's the response we work for. He didn't even pull a tape, said we were good and cover it up. Primary conduits 90'd up into the transformer pad. The secondary conduits going to the building were already installed by the sparky. Now here's the part that'll make one scratch their head. We can run the primary service conduits to the transformer pad as it's considered the property of the power company. The secondary conduits we cannot run as it's considered "electrical" and one has to be a licensed electrician. No city inspection on the primary conduits just APCO. However the city does inspect secondary to the building. Don't make the rules just play the game by them. 1 - 1.5' of backfill over conduits and warning tape laid down. Had plenty of tape so made two runs.
Looks like another one of your jobs well done. Nice to have some dry dirt to work with after a long wet winter I bet.
Thank you Dirty. This site was all fill about 6' when they mass graded the wally world. It's a heavy clay but it has some sand and rock as well. Surprisingly it dried out quickly and we were able to to achieve compaction with some soil conditioning. That would be turning it over and over again during a sunny and windy day.
Back at the residential street project. Primary power crossings installed. We did this part of the power conduit in order to have control over the schedule. The power company's sub will install the rest of the conduit once curb and paving are done. Had to go under the 8" ductile water line. Getting the road back on grade after sanitary sewer and water installation. Ready for the slipform machine. Loaded a few loads of excess dirt out and used the final load to pre-roll the sub-grade to find any soft spots. We had a few that we cut out and fixed.
Great job again CM. how long from start to finish on the job ? I like that you used gravel to bed the conduit even though it was not required. I can never for the life of me figure out who make the rules up in these games...And Happy Easter to you and yours !
Me too PA.:beatsme Sometimes you run across over kill on the plans and specs, charge for it and waste the owners money. Other times ya' gotta go with knowledge that what they have spec'd isn't the best and go the extra mile. The power co. doesn't spec any stone bedding or backfill for their primary lines. The pipe is SCH 40 but it can still be crushed so we made sure it had good bedding as the backfill was wet heavy clay. Now the 4 conduits in the crossing for the res. job the county water man wanted the conduits 1' below the pipe and stone backfill where they crossed, that way if they have to dig for a repair they know there's something below. Makes sense. Put about 1' of #57's on top of the conduit and the rest dirt in lifts compacted by R2.
Looks good CM. It sounds like R2 has been a great investment.
It has been. Without it there would have been two options for backfilling the road crossing. One total stone which at $500 a load would've been $1K or cut it out wide enough to get the big roller in the ditch. Problem with option 2 was the water crossing casings had been installed to the left of the picture and would've made cutting it out wider a PIA. I'm watching the auctions for another one cheap just for a spare. Those poor little bastards do shake themselves to death.
Job looks good CM. How close do you have to get the subgrade for the curb guys?
PA on the chicken shack we were there for 3 weeks but lost a few days to rain. About a week for grading and haul off, 2 weeks for storm and conduit. Thanks LC. Actually this job is "design-build". These lots were mass graded back during the boom and have sat for 7 years. The existing topo was off by 1-2' high. So we've adjusted the manholes and inlets and put the road on grade by eye. The surveyors will stake the back of curb and then put the curb to flow. The sub-grade in the pics was put in the old fashioned way with an eye and the feel of the butt in the seat. Normally we try to get within a tenth for the curb guys if the plans are correct.
A couple of more from the street project. Rough grading towards the cup-de-sac. Sanitary sewer tie in to the lower street is being installed. Caught up with them. 1' riser installed on a single wing inlet to adjust the road grade. 1.5' riser on a single wing inlet. The "fleet" corralled at the end of the day.
Hi cm1995 I have followed your thread with great interest for a long while now. I remember you posting that you have done quite a few dollar general type stores. I have the opportunity to bid on a few up here in New Hampshire and I know that the geography is different between our two areas but is there anything in general you wish you knew going into the first one and was there anything you think you missed in the estimating portion that may have bit you afterwards. I really appreciate any help from you or anyone else with experience in this area.
Welcome to the Forums pellertierdigs!:drinkup Glad to have you. I haven't done a Dollar General brand store but I've done a Family Dollar and many small retail projects and they're basically all the same as far as pricing and execution goes, doesn't matter if it's a dollar store or a chicken shack the site work is all similar. This is the scope of work I price - Erosion control per plans - Silt fencing, construction entrance, inlet protection and any other erosion control device that's listed on the plan. However exclude maintenance of erosion control devices in your bid and make sure it's in the contract. You will not have control over other subs who may damage the erosion controls (think steel erectors and mason's with Lull's) so there is no way you can price maintenance and be competitive in your bid. Storm piping - Price all pipe, inlets, roof drains and tie ins. Normally the rule of thumb I go by is get a material price and double it - 1/2 for equipment and 1/2 for labor. Then add the spec'd backfill requirements and any tie in to existing storm system that may require coring or extra manual labor. On roof drains spell it out clearly in your scope that you will be stubbing up the pipe by the building, connecting to the gutters is to be BY OTHERS. Grading - Read the geo report and the bidding requirements. Price grading the site to the proposed grades with any import or export needed to attain the required grades. Exclude any undercutting of poor soils and import of engineered fill. Those two items should be priced separately as unit costs per CY and measured in the field if encountered and paid for separately as a change order. Make sure any change orders relating to unsuitable soils are agreed upon by the GC, owner and geotech of record in writing with quantities before you turn one spoonful of dirt. Remember you'll be grading a pad so the GC can get started on the building, then you'll have to come back to fine grade for the parking lot and backfill curbs once the parking lot is complete. Account for those mobilizations and grading the site twice, once for rough grade and one for fine grade. I don't include topsoil import or re-spread as this should be the landscapers scope. I've been burned by taking this before and the landscaper showed up expecting to have prepared beds ready to plant and lay sod on. Specifically state that you will backfill curbs with onsite material within 1/10th of a foot with no topsoil import or re-spread. Demolition - There is usually some form of demolition, be it large like taking down a structure or simple like removing existing curb or pavement for a tie in. Sometimes the demo plan is put together haphazardly so pay close attention to the plan and think ahead of what will need to be removed and the cost associated. As fars as missing anything in a bid, it happens all the time but it's little stuff that doesn't hurt to bad. We go the extra mile for the good GC's who have competent supervision and pay on time. I've done everything from unloading large range hoods to helping the super build the construction site sign and sorts of tasks in between. To me going the extra mile and helping the project to fruition goes a long way for your company image and repeat calls for the next project. Now I've been burned more than once helping out beyond our scope only for it to be quickly forgotten and the super throws you under the bus at the first chance. However it's a small market in the site world regardless of how big of a city you live in - word travels quickly. There are a couple of GC's I will not work for in my area. The term "BY OTHERS" is an important term to include in your bid and ultimately the scope of work listed in the contract with the GC. For instance this is what I specifically exclude in my bids and list "BY OTHERS" - Permitting of any kind - that's the owner or GC's responsibility. Your on the hook for your business and professional licenses and fees. Layout and engineering of any kind Hazardous waste removal, disposal, treatment, including an asbestos survey prior to demolishing an existing building. No topsoil import or re-spread as detailed above. No geotechincal exploration or testing of any kind. The normal arrangement for dollar stores is a developer buys the site and builds the building, that developer is who the GC is working for. Once the building is completed the developer sells the completed project back to the dollar store corporation or to an investor. Of course there are all different sorts of arrangements but this is the most common in my area. Best of luck, if you have anymore questions let'er rip.
A couple of mundane pictures from last week. Adding risers to the sanitary on the res. road job and compacting with R2. Backfilling the san. sewer tie in to the lower existing manhole. This line is between two lots within the easement, compaction was not critical although once the lift was in wide enough to accommodate the 953, we used the 533E to compact the remaining lifts. Now to something that still makes me scratch my head and make me realize I have no concept of how big money works. This is a bar/restaurant on an outparcel at a very prominent shopping mall in my area. The building is about 8-10 years old and we will be demo'ing it next week in order for a new chain steak house to be built. Now for the head scratching part - the bar moved two out parcels over into another building, we ate lunch there Friday.:beatsme The building is finished with very nice wood work that someone spent a nice chunk of change on. A few items will be salvaged but unfortunately most of this will go to the landfill as I don't have the time, labor nor place to store it. However we will salvage the structural steel columns and I-beams.
All work and no play makes for a dull life, ya' gotta have fun every now and then. We humans should emulate dogs.
I am looking forward to seeing some demo pics! Have they taken out the kitchen equipment? You said you are going to salvage the steel, are you planning on keeping it for yourself. The price of scrap is so bad here it is not worth the haul.
CM1995 the info you have provided is invaluable and will help so much in the bidding. The BY OTHERS in the quote makes so much sense and that was one item I wasn't sure on. In the bid packet it has line items to bid on where you put your price and one of the things that worried me is nothing is broken down and lumps different scopes of work into one line item such as fine grading and topsoil. I have always done the fine grading on other commercial projects but I rarely provide and spread the topsoil. The other thing that I haven't dealt with much is having the GC be so far from the site, Michigan in this case, and the engineer being from NY that they really are unavailable to ask any questions. For instance they stated that a one story building needs to be demoed and there is no building on site, I have know this property for years and have know the owner of the property for years and there has never been a building on site and the demo plan doesn't show a building but they swear it needs to come down. Again I really appreciate your wealth of knowledge and taking the time to reply. I'll will let you know how it goes. Hope the week is off to a great start.
LC most all of the kitchen equipment is gone except for a big flat top griddle that's probably 10-12' long. It's in rough shape so I haven't decided if we're going to salvage it or not. Scrap prices here for tin/iron is around $.06-07 a lb which is terrible but the haul to a scrap yard is the same as to a landfill. We're fortunate to have many end users in my area that separating the metal to a degree is profitable. No problem PD glad to be of help. We also fine grade commercial projects but the sticky part is the "supply topsoil and fine grade", that's where the scope gets blurred. Fine grading to a site guy is different than fine grading for a landscaper. One particular project I got roped into supplying topsoil and fine grading as work was slow and I needed the job. The out of state landscaper showed up in a pickup with 3 guys and expected to start throwing sod on the ground. After a little brouhaha with the landscaper, super and PM we worked it out but I told myself never again. The grizzled traveling super whom I am still in contact with later told me to never take importing topsoil and fine grading of topsoil as that should be the landscapers scope. It all boils down to a clear scope of work priced in the bid. I work for several out of state GC's on various projects, the demo job we are about to do is one. It can be a challenge and a profit at the same time. The chain stores be it fast food or retail in my area are normally built by a select few GC's that travel around and not the local GC's, of course it's different everywhere and there are many exceptions. One being the GC for the chicken shacks I've done, they are local but they travel all over the southeast as well. Long story short if you can be "their guy" locally, they will call you every time when a project comes up in your area.
Very nice looking work CM1995!
Couple of pics from this last weeks work. Demo of the bar/restaurant to make way for a new steak house. Opening a hole in the side of the building to get the T250 to gut the soft demo. T250 with industrial grapple made quick work of the booths. Pushing the interior debris out the hole we made. The patio area had a wooden fence built around it that made a great corral for the soft debris. Using the 321 to load the 40 yard roll-off and pick out the steel. Dining area done. We've ripped the finishes off the exterior wall in order to get a better idea of how it's framed, more on that technique in the next set of pictures. The water on the floor is from a hose we have inside to provide dust suppression. 40 yard full and the metal pile so far is in front of the 321.
Salvaged a few items, including the restroom doors. I thought they were neat, might make a nice design element in a future shop/office. Taking the bushes and landscaping out. Loading a very used, very greasy flat top in the metal can. We haven't busted the safe open yet.:cool2 This is how we strip the exterior walls down to studs. I like to use the tines on the industrial grapple to rip the wall finishes, insulation, wire and anything else out on the exterior walls. It all comes down easily. All that is left is the metal studs, sheathing and exterior finish- in this case brick. The structural frame is red iron so if you damage a few studs it's not an issue. If you place the 4 tines of the grapple in between the metal studs it all comes out easily. Kitchen demo'd. It still get's me when I do these types of jobs - there is nothing like tearing out a couple $100K worth of work in a day and 1/2 and putting it in 2 - 40 yard cans. This would easily be a $750K building we are tearing down only to re-build a $1M building in it's place. There is crazy money spent in the retail/restaurant segment of the market. I guess it's location, location, location...:beatsme
Guess you have to work like the guys on this forum that do the line boring work. Just shake your head at the wasted money and make sure the check clears when the job is done. If some of the "big money" people actually had brains people like you and others would be out of work!
Thanks for the pics CM. Looks like it would be a neat job. What would be do without skidsteers( a lot of hand work I guess). I assume you are taking out the slab as well?
I would have removed most of that wood work for you for free if you let me keep it! Would like to know what the workers who built the place would say to see you go at that place with the skid-steer. Heck they are laughing all the way to the bank while getting paid to build the next place! Same for the lumber yard that sold all that wood!
No doubt Kshansen. What I've been told through having discussions with the chain restaurant folks is they have all their processes and training set up for a certain building/kitchen layout and it's less expensive to demo and build a new building than retrofit and not have the model they are set up for. Seems like a waste to me but I'm a contractor not a restauranteur.:beatsme There is obviously a good profit margin in the chain restaurant business.:cool2 Yeah LC, the skid is a workhorse. It's probably the 2nd most utilized machine after a track hoe in my little fleet. We'll be taking it all down including the slab as the new building is shifting location and lowering 1' from this existing FFE. The good thing is the building has a nice red iron structure that we'll salvage for future use.
I don't think we could get by without the skid steer either. I think the excavators, loaders and then the skid steer are the top three machines for us. For 7 cents a pound if you have a place to store it, you can't go wrong saving the red iron. You never know what you might have to build.
LC I've been saving the structural iron from past demo jobs and have a decent collection of I-beams and columns so far, this project will just add to the collection. My thinking is use it to build a shop and/or a building for rental income in the future. Had the opportunity to pick up about 15K lbs of channel, angle iron and other assorted new structural steel that was left over from a new outdoor store built here a year ago. I'm not sure of the weight but it overloaded my 14k gooseneck and 350. My T250 is getting tired and it's up for replacement, not sure what I'm going to go with.
We save a little bit of stuff like tubing and and I beams from time to time. It comes in handy. Not sure if you have a decent Kubota dealer by you but they are good machines with a good price tag.
Bobcat vs Kubota. As with any machine, both have their strengths, both have the weakness, neither are a bad choice. Now all this is purely anecdotal, in no way am I saying this is definitive evidence as to purchase or avoid, just observations. We've had both in rental fleet, the newer Bobcat T590 and T750 as well as Kubota SVL90 and SVL90-2. The SVL90 was a good machine, gave very little trouble. Once the muffler cracked where the tailpipe exits the muffler and the hot exhaust cooked the wiring harness nearby, required replacement of the harness. Aside from that was a good machine, then a customer purchased it out from under me. That's when we picked up a -2. Far different animal with the latest Tier 4 DPF muffler and all the emission bells and whistles. That -2 is damn picky about fuel. I think it must have a 1 micron fuel filter on it. It's so picky that I installed a primary fuel filter in an easy spot to change just to extend the life of the fuel filter just a little bit. Then there's the DPF. The machine has to be running at a high rpm for the auto DPF to work properly. If you just putter around at low rpm it won't go into regen, then it derates the machine until you do a regen. The -2 just seems to have more quriks than the SVL90. And it's just preference, but myself, I don't like the cab door, but again, that's just me. The T590 at present doesn't use a DPF muffler, but it's still Tier 4. The T750 does have a DPF system, but I've never had problems with the regen on those machines. And I've been told the latest T750 machines are no longer DPF exhaust, rather they use the DEF fluid, I don't have experience with them. But overall, the 590's and 750's that we've had have been solid running machines, haven't had a lick of fuel filter problems with either. The cab doors are tricky, Bobcat changed the design, made the glass lower to give the operator a larger view, but in doing so it's real easy to break the glass from a rock flipping back from the bucket, I've had to replace a number of them. My choice between the two from a mechanics standpoint, still can't say. Again, they're both good machines. But if I have to make a choice, I guess I still put Bobcat just slightly ahead of Kubota in overall machine. JMHO.
Guess it would kill their system if the grill was to the left of the cooler instead of to the right ? Just sounds like they are trying to get everything set so when they replace workers with robots they don't have to reprogram them. They can waste thousands of dollars like this but it would kill them to pay a living wage! Better stop my thinking before I get band for getting too political!
But, the robot doesn't go on strike for $15 a hour or call in sick because they were out partying the night before.
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Willie thanks for the hands on intel, it means a lot coming from the rental market. We all know nothing parties like a rental.. I'm not in a hurry to replace my T250 but I know it's coming and I'm starting to plan for it. Bobcat dealer is ok, the Kubota dealer is more of a "recreational farmer" type establishment. Have a great relationship with the Cat dealer but I'm not totally sold on their CTL's either. Whatever the choice will be I'm not excited about buying a machine with all the new emissions BS on them. Kshansen I can't speak for their business models just what I've been told by asking questions. Sometimes remodeling can be more expensive than demo and re-build. This particular project is a ground lease at a very large shopping mall in the area. The building is around 10-15 years old so the building has probably been fully depreciated tax wise by the land owner. The location has a very high traffic count in an area of high household income which is a gem for a retail or restaurant site. All said and done, I get paid to produce what's on the plans. One thing I can say is if the general public knew how nasty some of the restaurants we tear down are, they wouldn't go out to eat again or be very picky in where they go.:cool2
Sounds like your local Kubota dealer likely won't have large stock of parts for the CTL, pretty much have to order everything. It's too early in the emissions game for me to say for sure, but thus far I'm seeing far less issues with engines that use DEF fluid opposed to those who have a DPF exhaust system. I've been told the newer T750 uses the DEF, don't know about the T590, but I wager it's coming. We have a Cat 299C in the fleet, haven't had it long enough to form a good opinion yet, time will tell.
I've heard the same Willie that DEF systems have less issues. Here's my philosophy, my Tier III equipment is still in good shape even with 4-5K hours on the clock. I'll run them until they are not economical which will buy some time while the manufactures work out the issues with the emissions junk. One consideration I've been thinking about with DEF is how to easily have it available on the job site. I don't see carrying around the plastic 1.5 gal jugs I buy for my F350 for several pieces of equipment. What kind of bulk DEF job site delivery systems are on the market other than towing a trailer or a big plastic tote? That's pretty much it but to be honest I haven't actually checked but by the size of their dealership but they can't be stocking too many parts on site considering all they sell. It's also the issue with the Bobcat dealer, they have a decent selection of parts but have to order anything basically not a service or wear item. I can get pretty much any part I need from Cat the next day if they don't have it in stock locally.
Yep, for you and I in the Southeast, parts come overnight from the Distribution Center in Atlanta. Occasionally a part may have to come from a different DC, like Pennsylvania, but by and large most parts are in Atlanta. Hard to be Cat in that respect.
This week in pictures. Demo job coming along. Taking brick off the facade. Progressing towards the front of the building. The soft demo, some exterior walls and roof removed to expose the structural steel. We took down the structural steel and will keep it for future use. It's a messy shot but it's demo. Steel sorted out for recycling. A pic to give an idea of how the building was constructed.
That was a good looking building to wreck. The money people spend makes me smile!
The rest of the week in pictures. The slipform contractors were booked way out and the res. street project is on a deadline. A friend of mine referred these concrete guys and I have to say I got lucky. They don't mess around and they get the job done. They hand formed and poured 1400' of 30" valley gutter in 3 days. That also includes the bottoms for 5 single wing inlets and 1 double wing inlet. The utility crew is making water taps for each lot. The sign of a well run crew is that there is no chaos. These guys showed up and went to forming. Concrete trucks show up and they go to pouring. Not one of the crew was in a rush, they did their job smoothly and next thing you know it's done. They just did what they do and they did it well.:drinkup We had rain forecasted for all 3 days we poured but got lucky and only had to cover 300' of freshly poured curb at the end of the first day. Forming went quick, I had to stay ahead of them fine tuning the grade. All work and no play makes for a boring existence. BBQ competition for a local charity on Saturday. Out of 14 teams I placed 1st in chicken. The rules required a 1/2 chicken for presentation only and 6 individual pieces for judging of taste and tenderness. The thighs are resting in the aluminum pan on the upper left quadrant of the smoker, the 1/2 chickens are still on the rack in the bottom middle and the other team member's ribs are finishing up on the racks. Our team also placed 1st in sauce.
Me too LC. I stopped asking questions a long time ago. We'll get some nice structural steel from this job. After this one I probably have enough to build a 60x100 shop or bigger, all I have to buy is the exterior skin and roofing.
Congrats on your first place in chicken. With the steel you have and being able to do the grading for a shop, it wouldn't cost much at all to have a real nice building.
Dang I'm hungry now....
Congrats on the 1st place BBQ prize CM. For a Southerner...that's like winning an Academy Award for the Hollywood types. :drinkup
Thanks LC. No current plans for a shop but I'm collecting the parts. LOL. My wife did her first brisket for competition and it came out damn good although it didn't place. We're waiting on the judging results and will tweak it from there. Thanks Willie, no doubt!:drinkup I've developed my process over several competitions and stick to it. Actually it's my second first place trophy for chicken.
You know CM, the way you cook, I'd prolly marry you...... if you looked cuter!!!
Sorry Gramps, you're not my type..:cool2
Moreover, even if you were his type (NOT), I can assure you he WOULD NOT move to Minne(frozen)sota...and we SURE AS HELL wouldn't allow you to move to the South. No way, no how! :avid
Back at the demo. Clearing the way to take down the two story section of the building. It wasn't actually a second story but rather a false parapet wall to give the facade the look of two stories. You could walk from the roof into the center of the 2 story. Construction consisted of 4 red iron columns with steel stud construction, came down easily. I like to leave the proceeding structural steel in place when taking down the next section in order to provide support. Once the next section is down, remove the structural steel 2 sections back. Clearing the non-structural metal studs as demo proceeds. The front of the building was a hodge podge of red iron skeleton with steel studs. After removing the brick, EFIS and steel studs, we decided to cut the columns and push the remaining steel frame over in order to cut it up on the ground vs. dismantling it in the air. It came down easily leaving 1" or so of each column uncut on the lay down side. It's imperative to have a secondary safety while cutting the columns. In this case it was the track hoe holding the channel for the front entry that was still solidly attached to the frame wall. A building was there and now it's gone.
Willie he would make a good daily fixture at the high top at the local Waffle House. Old geezer complaining about everything while he gets another cup of coffee.:tong
The footings for this building proved to be a challenge. Had to break down and rent a hammer for the last of the footings up front by the 3 phase transformer. The "poor man's" hammer wouldn't work. The footings were 3x8x8 and there were 3 of them. 416F with 140 hours on the clock. It was a stout hoe compared to my 13 year old 420DIT. Hammering concrete on a beautiful Saturday morning. Unloading the spoils of war at the shop with Ol' Blue. We salvaged the majority of the structural red iron. The GC had a Gehl tele handler on the site that we used to load the iron up with and I'll say this - I'll take my 18 year old Gradall over that machine any day of the week.:cool2
Is there going to be a HEF BBQ competition sometime and then gramps could sample it lol Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
That's not a bad idea..
CM, the cleanup on the demo turned out real nice. I hate seeing tons of broken up concrete laying everywhere. It has been years ago but I ran a Gradall forklift like yours and I also thought it was a good machine. Ran a Skytrac years later and was not impressed.
Thanks LC. The footings proved to be a bear but I got them all hammered down, ready to haul out tomorrow. Several times I've either thought about selling Ol' Blue or someone wanted to buy her but I just can't bring myself to part. It's worth more to me than the money I would get from selling it and definitively couldn't replace her for the same amount of money. She's a great yard machine to have around. Probably wouldn't take her out on a job as the OSHA man would probably have a field day..
Nice work on the footings! I think you missed my latest post on breaking concrete, only 23ft thick! sorry I haven't been around much, but looks like things are going well.
Thanks DD. I haven't been around much either, only had two days off in the last 16. Our rainy season is over and construction season has started. I did see your dam project - just damn. Good to hear from ya' and be safe.
We were back at the high priced condos last week. Installing a 120' long 60" CMP detention structure. Space was tight..:cool2 Digging between the 3 phase power transformer and finished building. Had roughly 6-8" on either side of the hoe. The electrical room for the building is on the right. The transformer is hot and so is the building. I forgot how many volts the sparky told us is going through the underground conduits but it's enough to get your attention. During the early stages of the project we discussed the depth the conduits needed to be in order to not conflict with the detention system. The conduit was installed roughly 10' below FF. To make matters even more interesting there were two ground cables coming out of the electrical room tied to ground rods. The footing extended 1' past the face of brick so we had to cover them and be very careful not to damage or snag them with the excavator. You might be asking - "Why did you wait to put it in?". The reason it wasn't put in during initial site prep. is the amount or lack of, cover over the pipe. For construction loading (lulls, man lifts) there needs to be 3' of cover over the pipe. Design grades call for 8-12" of final cover so we had to wait. The area will just be landscaped with no vehicular traffic. Loading the rock box with the '53.
General shot showing the back of the building. It has a parking garage underground with 2 floors of condos. This is a very high profile project where the base price of the units are $750 per SF.:cool2 There are 14 units total, all pre-sold. There are 2 - 2K SF plus units at a cool base price of $1.5 mil. 321 parked up at the end of the day with a standard section of 60" ready to be put in the ground. The entrance to the parking garage is to the left of the pipe. As my guys were installing the detention structure, I got the call - "Hey! We're ready to pave the parking lot and we need you here now!" at the chicken shack. So I load up the T250 and head north. This is what I have to deal with when I show up. Unfortunately this has become the "norm" with "phone call" super's who have no understanding of how a job should be run and just stack subs on top of each other. I graded the front parking lot where I could and then started to wad up the debris that wasn't moved by the time I was done. The GC's dumpster was very heavy when it left the site, just saying.:cool2
I hate working on them, but no tail swing excavators sure are handy.
They are very handy Willie, I probably won't own another conventional excavator. It does has it's trade-offs but it's worth it IMO. Basic service is not that bad except for the two fuel filters you have to take all the covers off to get too. Had to replace the A/C belts on it last year. That required a "poor man's service pit" - dig a hole and back the machine over it. The operation required 3 people, one in the hole, one on top and one to hand tools.
Looks like it was tight enough to warrant a side dump on the 953. I'm always surprised when CMP is spec'd. At least for the sizes i use on field entrances and such RCP is the same price and corrugated plastic is significantly cheaper.
That would've been very handy although the excavator just slid the rock box over so we didn't loose much stone.
I'm not gonna lie, i probably wouldn't have thought of that.
Conventional excavators are in their wheel house doing general dirt work and craning. But if you do sewer or drain lines the no tail swing rules. One of these days I'm going to convince him to rent a Komatsu rotating dumper from us.
HVY, I don't know why they spec'd CMP for this project as our acidic soils play hell on metal pipe..:beatsme This pipe has the aluminized coating that is supposed to resist corrosion but I've pulled too much rusted out CMP to believe it. I can't afford one.:tong
I love that first picture. Squeeze in the 321 and let it earn its keep. That last picture makes me wonder how some superintendents get their jobs. There are a couple different ways to handle that or to prevent it from becoming a recurring situation. The first is to handle his phone call in the same way that the phone company handles calls about problems with dsl service ( ....."Is the power supply plugged into the wall?" ....."Is your computer switched on?"...etc) : Is there anyone onsite currently working in that area? Has all debris been cleaned up? etc. You're basically doing the thinking part of his job at this point, but it might save you from mobbing to a job where you can do nothing. The other approach that I like is to tell your customers that in order to "better serve your customers" you're diversifying your services and are now offering site cleanup services limited to the areas of the site where you are working. State your terms for this slightly expensive but optional service on the initial contract. When you get that call to mob in, ask if they want the change order for extra services. Either they'll get organized, or they'll pay you to do the organizing for them.
Thanks for the pics CM. That is a neat looking project. The pipe job does not look like much fun. Wouldn't have been as bad if it were not for the power. Did they give you an o-ring to put on the pipe before you put the band on? We used some 72 inch pipe and they gave you an o-ring, still did not seal very good though. I think all building jobs are the same now. All the subs mess around so you can't get in and then all of a sudden the parking lot needs to be done and you are the one holding the whole job up. I know just how that dumpster got so heavy
Yeah LC we had rubber gaskets that went on each end section of pipe and like you said it still didn't seal up very well. This was the first large CMP pipe we've laid and I'm not impressed with the quality. Also skeptical of the performance over it's life span. Well when I showed up it just pissed me off. This project is a 45 min drive one-way from our normal working area so when I got there I just started pushing trash up without any concern to sort the dirt out. A tandem load of dirt went in the dumpster that probably contained 2 or 3 skid buckets of trash if picked up by hand. Not my problem..:yup You nailed it.
The 321 is a great machine, I wish I had two. Yeah I always ask those questions if I haven't been to the job in a while but white lies are the backbone of cell phone supers... The GC ended up paying extra tonnage at the landfill for the dirt in the dumpster.
Glad you said it first. I thought the stuff we laid was junk. Our was not corrugated, it was spun with a rib about every 8 inches. We had about 3 feet of cover over it in one area and another company drove a loader over a joint and fell through it. Not good! The guys that hauled it would come all hours of the day and night and if they got there and were weren't they would roll it off the truck and egg it. I know just what you did and have done very similar things with trash on a site. I pushed a whole bundle of Hardee board up against a building and pushed dirt over top of it after they would not moved after three days of asking. Number one rule, don't **** off the site guy
CMP is junk in my opinion LC as well. HDPE or concrete would be my choice if it were my project. I've removed many a LF of rusted out at the bottom CMP to install it on anything I would own. You got that right!:thumbsup
I have a tough time understanding why someone would feel the need to do business that way. I'd expect it from a salesman that's looking for a one time transaction, but from someone that has to work with you for the duration of a project ..... :beatsme
It happens here too, it's their way of combatting no shows but ends up a pissing match.
CM what did you run for a everyday hoe before your 321?
Welcome to the Forums Browning_270!:drinkup In the past I've had 2 -315CL's, 321CL and a 325DL, not all at once but during the 2000's. The great recession hit and I got rid of the last 315. Between the last 315 and the current 321DL, our 420 backhoe and rental filled in for hoe work. Out of all the hoes I've owned, I liked the 325DL the best.
A couple of pics from last week at the condo project. This is a double gutter inlet box, two curb grate inlets will set on top of this box. The box was heavy coming in at 8K lbs and located in a tight location. The building's sewer line is seen in the foreground, it's about a foot deep.:cool2 Obviously had to go under the building sewer main which wasn't tough. What was tough was making the out line fit in the box to the yard inlet. We had to saw and beat on the box with a sledge to get the angle right, not fun. A couple of joints of 18" RCP with mudded joints, per spec. R2 still earning it's keep compacting around the lower single curb grate inlet. He's got a hydraulic leak in the front drum we'll have to fix when we can get him back to the shop. Cleaning up and backfilling the lower line. Silt fence and caution tape installed around the inlet R2 was compacting.
Backfilling the 18" RCP line that ties into the CMP detention system we installed the week before. Don't let that pretty red clay fool you, when it's dry it's a great material to work with but when it's wet it goes to ****e. Spending a beautiful Saturday morning at the residential street project getting it wrapped up. Gas and underground power is installed, backfilling curbs and getting ready to grass. Yeah I know it looks like crap but this material is a silty sand that does not like to stay in place. Walked it in the D5 but with new pads it just tears the surface up. It's good enough to grass and begin pouring slabs.
That is a good looking pipe job CM. Did you set the box with the 321? I sure am glad we don't have to mud the pipe joints. I guess if you had ground water while you were laying it would be nearly impossible to mud them.
LC the civil spec'd mudded joints on both the inside and outside of the pipe, I've never had an engineer to spec that before. During the contract execution stage, I did send an RFI to the PM and told him I didn't employ anyone small enough to mud the inside of 18" RCP. Interesting side note on the tree in the pic above with the 321 next to the building. The funny looking tree in the background is a Ginko and estimated by the landscape architect to be 150-200 years old. We stayed far away from that tree..:cool2
That would suck some kinda bad trying to mud the inside of an 18 inch pipe. You would need a 10 year old kid laying down in a skateboard Don't blame you for staying away from that tree. I can hear it now"the site work guy damaged the roots and killed it". I had to look up Ginko trees. I found it interesting that they do well in city's with poor air quality.
LC I didn't know much about the Ginko either until this project. They are a very old tree species, been around a lot longer than civilization. Now for the frustratingly funny part of this project. There was a designated tree save area on the other end of the project to protect two large "oak" trees. All demolition had to be done by hand which included two driveways within the drip line and tree protection fencing. We show up on site to start work and it's apparent that one of the "oaks" designated by the landscape architect is in a fact a sweet gum. We perform the hand demo and put up the tree save fence. 2 months later lighting strikes the sweet gum and damn near splits it in half. GC has tree service come in and remove tree and grind stump. Now there was nothing on the plans other than a note to take care around the ginkgo tree.:beatsme Gotta love landscape architects. LOL, I was going to put in my RFI that due to the fact I don't employ children I can't meet the spec to mud the inside of an 18" pipe but I digressed and went the diplomatic route.
Now that's just damn funny! :falldownlaugh Similar thing happened here a few years ago, two large oak trees on a site were designated as "do not touch". Had a storm come through here with major micro-burst winds (knocked me out of power for 7 days), did a lot of damage in this area, and tore those two trees all to hell. Sometimes "acts of God" don't co-operate with mans best plans. Oh you should have, I would love to hear the rest of that story.
We all had a good laugh about it Willie. No telling how much the LA is charging for his design and oversight services and can't tell an oak from a sweet gum.:beatsme:cool2
I see that a bit when people pick out trees they want to keep out of the forrest. When you remove the forrest from around a tree they like to fall over when the full force of the wind hits them. Root system grow accoding to demand.
It is hard to believe some of the trees that they protect. More than once we have had a dead tree barricaded and the it is big deal if you ask if they want it down. Lightning striking the gum was pretty funny. I am surprised they did not have to get the city people to come out and look at it to make sure it actually struck.
Cory, how come you don't do you own sewer/water? And I love that 321, looks perfect for utility work.
Todd I think that had something to do with it. It was one of the tallest trees left standing on site other than one lone pine, so I guess it acted as a lightening rod. I figured you've seen the same lunacy LC. We all got a laugh out of it. Locally it's not so much about the existing trees as it is about the new landscaping. One city has a tree inspector who measures the calipers of new trees planted in order to make sure they meet the city's requirements. Aliate Alabama has a screwy law that states only a licensed plumber can run from the lateral/meter to the building for both sewer and water. Once the lateral or service line leaves the ROW only a plumber can do it. To answer the question I'm not set up to run main line sewer and water, I can do main line projects under $50K in value under my commercial license but my crew doesn't have the experience neither do I. The funny thing is the 4" or 6" sewer from the building to the lateral is the easy part.:beatsme However we stay busy enough with demo, grading and storm sewer. If I had the time I'd get my masters card but there's only so many hours in the week. The 321 is perfect for what we do from demo to running storm in tight tie ins.
CM do you need any license to run mainline sewer and water in your state. Understand you dont have the experience to do it, just curious about the license. In PA about any contractor that wants to do mainline can just can't hook it up to the buildings like you say. And that is only in certain counties. I always found it funny you need to be a master to hook up the laterals but nothing to run mainline and that is the most important part in my mind
That's pretty odd. Here you just need to be a registered sewer contractor, including a test, which I'm taking tomorrow. Theres a few guys around here that only do dirt, no utilities, and the established utility guys are either busy or retiring. So it seems like a ripe opportunity for someone who wants to specialize in utilities
Eric any mainline project over $50K in value, a company has to be licensed by the general contractors license board for sewer/water either as a sub working for a GC or as a GC. There is a separate state plumbing board that licenses plumbers. I know what you mean about it not making sense on the lateral. The lateral is the easy part.:beatsme I agree Aliate, there is money to be made in the utility market especially if you can install service laterals with the test you're taking. Fire service and vaults can be lucrative, you may want to take a look into that as well.
Ran into some of these kind of strange rules here in NY back when we built our house. Hired guy from another county to dig basement and install septic system. He put the hole through the foundation and slipped the cast iron pipe through and did the rest of the septic system. Inspector came out and had a fit saying a licenced plummer has to install that cast iron pipe. He was able to run everything outside the foundation but a short piece of cast iron through the block wall was a problem? Then when it came to the water pipes in the house, again said needed a licence plumber. Electric on the other hand anyone could run the 200 amp service and wire the whole house just needed to have it inspected at rough in and after it was finished. Guess the plumbers around here have more pull with politicians than the electricians!
Kshansen that's crazy that a licensed electrician isn't required to wire the house but a plumber has to stub in the poop line to the house. All poop needs to do is run down hill, electricity will kill ya'.
I passed my test today. I am now a licensed side sewer contractor in the city of Seattle. I got my u license last month for fire line. So I'm ready to go! Just need that 321 lol.
Congrats!:drinkup A 308 or 314 might be a better fit.
I know what you guys mean.. ALL they where concerned about was the depth of my electric line hole..?? go figure.. The inspector took a tape and measured from start to finish at the pole.. THEN.. a buddy hooked it up from the house to the pole?? no permit/ license NOTHIN.. CRAZY..
Installing a yard inlet at the entrance to the condo project, space was tight as always. 15" and 12" HDPE drain line in front of the building for area drains. This is a Nyoplast inline drain, there is a a PVC hub and metal grate that will set on top of the riser. Once finish grade is done, the riser will be cut and the grate installed. Crossing under the 2" copper domestic water service and 6" fire main.
Continuation of the tight site called the "condo project". Had to straddle the back of curb stakes in order to grade out an area to set the rear stakes. The picture is sideways but gives the perspective. Since there wasn't enough equipment on this site I called the rental store and they are bringing out a CTL, backhoe and another 320. Backfilling the west side of the building with the '53. There was a lot of very good topsoil on this site. Backfilling the retention system we installed at the rear of the building. View from the office from the small cubicle.
Looks like everyone including the painters brought their stuff out to play! Out of curiosity, do you run the tooth bucket on the Bobcat more often than not? I figure that in all those years before skids steers arrived on the scene, track loaders with tooth buckets did everything from hogging out material to finish grade. No reason a CTL can't do the same. Even laying stone there's usually a bucket position that backdrags smooth. I still may pickup a nice 4n1 for better street cleanup with less hand work.
LOL, yeah JNB the painters man lift has been in the way the whole time. I don't even have a smooth bucket, the tooth bucket is the only one we use for everything. In the past I've had smooth buckets but they just sat at the shop and collected rust. In the residential days we'd use one to clean up subdivision streets but that was about it. Our dirt/clay/rock here is so varied that a tooth bucket is mandatory. I learned how to run a skid as a teenager for my father grading and cleaning up around new home construction. He was cheap so we only had one bucket, a tooth bucket so I just learned how to make it work for everything.
I take 2 buckets to every job, a tooth and a smooth, the only time the smooth bucket gets used is if the street needs scraped off, other then that its tooth bucket all day long. If the teeth are flush with the bottom of the bucket it will leave a smooth surface, but if it is a bolt on tooth edge and the teeth stick down a extra inch then you might have a issue. Was that part about the ctl, backhoe and 320 sarcasm CM?
Yeah the teeth are flush on our tooth bucket and it also has a reversible cutting edge so on the odd occasion we have to scrape asphalt it works ok. Did you pick up on the sarcasm?:tong This site is getting smaller every day, I'm ready to call the lowboy and put this one in the history books.
I am going to lay storm pipe for you, no ground water The site does look a little tight but every day you are moving one step closer to the door. It will be interesting to see once the entire site is done. I like coming back to a job after it is all landscaped and see how it turns out.
Come on down LC, we run into groundwater during the winter but it's nice pipe laying weather. That's what makes our jobs satisfying - constructing or being a part of the construction of a project you can ride by for years later and have stories to tell.
Laying pipe here during the summer sucks whether it is wet or dry I guess everyone in the const. biz does that, I always look at stuff I have worked on and think about it being good or bad or something interesting happened on the job.
Did you guys get much rain from that tropical storm that was down in that area last week CM?
Not much movin, it rain pretty hard Sunday morning but that was it. Our sites were wet Monday morning and now they are as dry as a popcorn fart.
We've been busy and I've been slacking in updating this thread. So here we go. When you have a really good customer that pays well you do things for them one normally doesn't do for other clients. Sign installation for a new chicken shack, this will be #4 we've done for them. This is the largest site for a chicken shack we've done, a lot of storm pipe and import. We'll get into this one in the following month. Unfortunately it's a 1.5 hour drive one way from home base.. We are currently working on an Aussie steak house. This site is the same one we demo'd the building on up thread. Super asked if we would unload the light poles as they were coming in one afternoon. No problem, he's a good super and easy to work with so I said "Yeah no problem". This is what showed up. Light poles stacked almost at the head of a 50' van trailer. It wasn't that difficult. We laid each pole down and shot the rented lull into the van, strapped the pole and pulled it out. 5 total. The super owes us.:cool2 I can't express how handy a zero swing excavator is on these tight jobs. Digging down to the existing inlet box to make the tie in for the new 18" RCP. Existing CIP inlet box to be tied into. The box was 8" thick at the top, however the form blew out at the bottom which made that section 12" thick. A 3 hour tie in turned into 3/4 of a day... 18" RCP making its way to the first inlet box.
Finishing up the condo project, setting 60" pre-cast tops on the CMP detention system we installed in May. My supplier said these tops weighed 4K lbs each and I was worried the T250 wouldn't pick them but it did.:cool2 There were 2 60" tops on either end of the CMP detention system and one 48" top for the overflow baffle at the outflow. If the T250 wouldn't have picked the 60" tops I would've had to rent a 308 or 78 to pick and set. Nothing heavier could travel over the 60" CMP we installed. Taking care of a very good client with the Brushcat cutting about an acre behind his house for a walking trail. I normally don't do residential but this is obviously an exception. 2 hours later after a trip to the Bobcat store for a new pin, sledgehammer work, cussing and a lot of sweat - I was back in action.. Later on that afternoon cutting in the walking trail...cutting edge wore thin and pulled the bolts through the edge...
Well look what the Cat drug in. 2016 279D with hand foot controls and cold assed A/C...:cool2 The bucket got a new lip and bolts - back into action. Just demo'ing at the moment, so far I like it. Getting use to all the adjustable settings. Don't known at the moment whether it will become part of the "fleet" or not.
Hey CM, looks like you are as busy as we are. Sorry to hear about the hour and a half of travel time on the new job but you gotta keep your good customers happy. That tie in looked like a lot of fun. 6 inches is bad enough but 12 in a nightmare. I have often thought about a concrete chainsaw for jobs like that.
CM are the hand foot controls on that 279D just like standard bobcat controls? If so, how do you like that machine compared to a bobcat?
That's exactly what we were thinking as well. Husky makes a gas powered one and the power unit looks similar to a wood saw with HD air filter. They run $1500 or so, not too bad. Yes the controls are Bobcat pattern with stick steering and foot boom/bucket control but it's different. The first 5-10 mins of running it is weird and then one gets the hang of it. Only put 2.5 hours on it so far so not enough time yet to give a full report. So far I do like it. Getting used to all the operator settings like travel speed, bucket speed, etc. Oh yeah the A/C is ice cold.
That's good to know, I've got so used to standard bobcat controls that's all I've ever ran. I bet it is weird, especially if your used to bobcats lol. It'll def give bobcat some competition for all the standard control operating guys. I wasn't aware Cat was doing that until last night and kinda got a little excited after seeing your post. By the way, that's some nice looking work you guys do.
Thanks for the compliment Bobcatdaddy, we aren't the best but try to be. So far me and my guys have had a little time on it and everyone is liking it. The oscillating undercarriage is nice and makes a nice grading machine. Things we like - Oscillating undercarriage Suspension seat Cold A/C It has a heated seat but of course haven't used that yet... All the controls are easy to reach and within eyesight. Having joysticks instead of Bobcat levers for steering reduces arm movement and once you get use to it is nice The ability to tailor the drive speed and bucket speed to individual preferences. The two speed travel on the left hand joystick, it's easy to trigger back and forth when you need it Serviceability is better than Bobcat, easy access to daily checks Hydraulic cooling fan Things we don't like - The fisheye effect of looking through the lower portion of the door towards the bucket, it plays with your perception The cab is on the small side internally and doesn't have as much room as the T250 Both of those lists will grow, if I decide to keep it. I've been wanting to divorce Bobcat for some time due to many factors and this might be the right venue.
I really like the fact that Cat has done there controls that way, I'll def consider trying one out. Never really considered it until I read your post about the controls, because I'm so used to bobcat controls. I know that machine is a little less horse power than your T250, but does it seem comparable to it in regards to power? I wonder how that cat machine would compare to bobcat on reliability, sure seems from my experience bobcats have there fair share of problems. Although I will admit, 751, 753, and 763 are pretty solid machines.
The 279 is comparable to the T250 but the T250's extra HP is noticeable when digging into a pile. Cutting hard ground I haven't noticed a difference. My experience with Cat (the rest of our machines are all Cat except for a Gradall 534C) has been very good. I have a great relationship with the dealer that has went above and beyond in many instances. Up thread is a great example where they got Cat corp. to pay for a rental excavator for us while our 321 was waiting on duo cone seals. Another item is parts - cost and availability. If my Cat dealer doesn't have we can usually get it the next day - except for the duo cone seals on the 321 but they kept us running, going to bat to get a rental. Our local Bobcat dealer is outrageous on parts IMO. Some parts I can order from Atlanta, have them shipped and be cheaper. Long story, I want to have the same brand machines. It makes it simpler all the way around. Our Bobcat dealer doesn't have the parts inventory nor the service ability of Cat. The 743 and 843 Bobcat were rock solid machines, I cut my operating teeth on an 843 many moons ago. Quality and dependability have steadily went down IMO.
I feel ya on having the same equipment, and it for sure makes sense when they help you out like that. I agree on bobcat parts being high, I can't call bobcat without spending $500. My bobcat dealer isn't the friendliest and doesn't seem to wanna do any favors. I've talked with a salesman from local cat dealer lately and if the way he's treated me reflects the service side they're top notch he's very professional and treated me better than bobcat ever has and I haven't spent near as much money with them as bobcat. I'm probably not nearly as high caliber customer as a lot of theirs, but my money is same as theirs and if they don't appreciate it, another manufacturer will. Cat has a good looking machine. I've got a little 303c mini and really like it, actually wanting to upgrade sometime soon.
Hey CM, You ever used one of the Husky concrete chainsaws? We have a regular Husky concrete saw with a blown up motor and one regular chainsaw, everything else are Stihls.
CM, I feel your pain with the over thick inlet & manhole walls. Here in the NY/NJ Metro area that is very common, I suggest you invest in a 30 LB. sinker drill and some 1/2" drill steel 18" to 30" long and some carbide cross bits 3/4" to 1 1/2". We hang the drill horizontally with a rope from a 4" x 4" timber between the structure and the bank and drill a series of holes one bit diameter apart to out line the proposed opening and use a chipping gun to break the area between the holes.
No I haven't, just thought about one on that inlet and for future use. We've got a Husky rescue saw that's performed well and Stihl chainsaws. That's a good idea RBM, thanks for the advice. I'm filing that one in the "solution file". Normally we don't run across CIP inlet structures to tie into. They are either newer pre-cast or older brick, both of which are not hard to tie into. Sometimes we are placing a new structure in an existing line.
A little from this week on the steakhouse project. Running main line for area drains and roof leaders. 4" PVC to collect 2-2" PVC rain leaders. So me and my guys were talking about a plastic welder and whether it would work or not. So I headed to Harbor Freight and bought one along with a selection of hole saws. 2-1/2" hole saw and 10 minutes of plastic welding and we had a connection. Worked like a charm, as strong as a glued connection. What I like about it is there is more flexibility in making the connection instead of lining up fittings. SDR 35 yard inlet in a landscaped area. Hole saw and plastic welder was used again to tie into the 8" SDR 35. All in all I had $126 in the welder, rods and hole saw set. It paid for itself on this job and ready for the next.
This is what you get when residential sparky's trying to do commercial work run a grade rod in order to install secondary service to the building. The conduits were a tenth or so below sub grade. We had an area drain and roof drain for the dumpster pad coming out of the manhole crossing underneath the secondary, so we cut the conduits out of the way, ran our pipe and excavated the trench for the secondary. The electricians then lowered the conduit and we backfilled. Yeah, we're good guys sometimes.:cool2 Craning in R2 to compact the backfill for the area drain and electrical conduits. Backfilling roof drains and stockpiling the haul off. Summertime in Alabama - add 90% humidity to that temp. and who needs a sauna?
That's pretty cool using the plastic welder on the pipe fittings , I like it !:thumbsup Looks like you are keeping the rock box busy . Ponderosa Steakhouse ?
Thanks TD. The plastic welder worked out well. After the connection cooled, we tugged on it and it was solid. The rock box has paid for itself in rock saved and time laying pipe. It's a new prototype Outback, totally different from what the old ones look like.
I'm for sure going to look in on the plastic welder , made a nice clean connection not to mention saving cost of special fittings . Buy the way ............. Could you guys speed it up on the Outback Steak House job , I'm starving just thinking about it .
We're trying. If you could get the stucco guys pallets of insulation, faux rock and buckets of stucco out of the way we'd be done next week.:Banghead Dumping the rest of the roof insulation for the dumpster enclosure on top of it tomorrow to get it out of the way.
I like the plastic welding. That would come in handy so many times. You never have the exact fitting you need but with that you don't need it. That's strange I have never been in a job site where materials were in the way I feel you on the heat, hot here too with just a tick of humidity
Is this what your welding rig looks like CM ? http://www.harborfreight.com/plasti...r-motor-and-temperature-adjustment-96712.html Found the rods . http://www.harborfreight.com/50-piece-plastic-welding-rods-41602.html We have a little dilemma now on a 36" ADS culvert pipe , need to tee into it with a 20" vertical surface drain and also a 10 drain tile in t the side of the 20 " . My first thought was fabricating a steel saddle mount & bolt to the 36" plastic ADS pipe . They only want $ 1200.00 for the ADS tee fitting . I thought that was a little steep on price . Wonder if that welder would work on something like that ? Looks like this . yellow lines are the new road bed .
I only have 1 question bout the plastic welder.. does it meet code?? I have saw guys do this over the many years I have been in the plumbing business, it always seems like they want to insert the pipe into the host pipe so that it will catch debris & cause a clog verses being a smooth transition with a fitting!!
I have been to the ADS pipe mfg. here in olympia and they actually weld custom fittings together the same way... only with a bit bigger plastic welder Problem we ran into with making our own fittings was the inspectors.... if it wasn't 'factory built' with spec sheets and other bs they wouldn't approve it for use.
That's it TD. That one has an air motor built in to cool down the heat element. Let it run for 5-10 minutes after your done to cool the element down other wise it'll shorten the life. The only problem I see is keeping the 20" hole tight enough in order to not have a huge gap around the connection. With a connection that large I would get it welded up and probably pour a concrete collar around it for strength.
I like that idea the best ! We will be going with the ADS 24" vertical drain so we will be actually cutting a 28 " hole in the top of the 36 " culvert . My game plan is now semi attach the two pieces together with 6" long lag bolts & stabilize the top of the 24" with kicker boards . Then set 2' forms in the hole around the connection & dump in 4 yards of concrete with rebar . With it all encased in the concrete I cant see it going anywhere or leaking . If I take my time & do a nice job cutting & fitting not even sure that it's necessary to plastic weld ? Concrete plants have a 4 yard minimum any way so this is not only very cost effective but also stronger on the structural end . I love it when a plan comes together ! Sure appreciate the input & ideas CM :thumbsup
I'll bet that was an interesting tour through the pipe factory getting to see how it all get's built . Only have one inspector to satisfy on this job . He wants the job bullet proof for the least cost . Then they write us a check .
Wasn't really a tour... was just there picking up some pipe and started nosing around Very cool to see some of the ways they make stuff!!! All the more reason I like private jobs, however lately even the private jobs have city guys running around telling us what 'they' want to see... digging a 38inch sewer trench and their city code requires 10x20 road plates!!! so now you have to bring in a 300 size machine...
That plastic welding looks interesting, but I wonder if the inspectors buck about it because it doesn't allow for flexibility from settling. Forgive me for not being up to speed with pipe terms, but recently I saw a sewer crew doing municipal improvements here usid SDR pipe. When they connect the residential laterals they used a fitting that booted directly into the main. A hole saw cut a hole in the main and this weird shaped adapter was "popped" in the drilled hole. Strange looking adapter that was formed to fit in the hole that was cut in the main pipe. Wish I had a pic to demonstrate what it looked like.
Yair . . . . Same thing crossed my mind as mentioned by FSERVICE . . . I have had that hassle on boats i.e. Way around it would be to shape a stub of pipe to a neat fit on the host pipe, weld it in place, poke suitable hole saw down, do penetration and make connection with joining socket or the flared end of the pipe . . . gussets could be welded on the stub if there were any doubts about strength. Sure you are using a joiner but its cheaper than a "t" and to my mind simpler than cutting the main pipe. . . an expansion joint may be required in the lateral any way. Cheers
TD you may want to try spray foam to seal the connection, all you need is something to keep the concrete out of the joint till it sets.
Willie this may be what you saw - https://www.insertatee.com I used one once on 8" HDPE into 24" RCP. It worked good but was pricey - $220 just for the boot.:cool2
I do believe that's it CM, had no idea what they cost, just recall watching a sewer crew use them to install latterals, and when it popped in it was down right snug. Looked like a slick trick to me.
The one I used was awkward going from plastic HDPE to RCP but I think it would work very well for plastic on plastic.
A little side job and some 953C love. Moving the loader into the pit to haul out some fill for a new warehouse expansion. Those are limestone pinnacles to the right in the pick, common in some chert pits. Pushing up some fill to load while I was waiting on my trucks to show up. I passed the pit off shortly after this to one of my operators. The warehouse pad fill. Hauled some grey shot rock from the steakhouse project for bottom fill. 66 loads, roughly 1200 loose yards loaded in 20 yard tri-axles, hauled in 2 1/2 days. It was a short turn around for the trucks, they averaged 15 loads a day. My operator did a great job of not only keeping the trucks loaded but left a nice, neat pit for the next guy coming in. :thumbsup
I normally shy away from residential work but this is an addition for one of my biggest clients personal house. Nobody's getting into my sandbox.:cool2 The project involves removing an elevated patio and retainer wall in order for a 3 story addition to look over the new pool. The house was built in the '40's with 2 additions since then. Clearing the bushes and vines off the retainer wall to see what we are dealing with. Rented a 303.5 with 13 hours on the clock. Nice mini, quick and strong. The retainer wall was built of brick and CMU which wasn't poured, so it came down easily. The fill for the patio was mostly dirt with about a 1' of 8910 under the pavers. Stockpiling the dirt for backfill around the future pool. There was a storage room at the end of the patio with a suspended concrete roof. It came down easily with the mini. Interesting side note - See the greenish/blue inside the 12" CMU? That's from the slag aggregate which was a byproduct of the steel mills in the area. Since it was a waste material it was used by concrete plants as aggregate to make concrete and concrete block. We run across this quite often on old demos. I've pulled old footings out that look like jade in the center when broken up. Digging out the fill under the patio.
Nice work CM ! Best to keep the hand that feeds you happy....I do the same thing as needed, hard to say no when the big ASK comes a callin....those little 303.5 are nice .....I use one around my farm quite often...
Lookin good as always. That would be a nice couple days loading trucks out of a bank like that, almost a vacation You gotta keep your good customers happy for sure. Looks like it was a good bit of demo material as well as dirt being moved. Interesting about the slag in the cement. We had 3 still mills in our area but have never run across that.
Thanks PA. When it's a good client that has 2 new projects on the books and 1 more in the works, one takes care of them. I like the 303.5 for it's size and power but I don't have enough work for it to justify one, so for now one is just a phone a call away. Thanks LC. It's a fair amount of material on the residential job for compact equipment to move and narrow access from the backyard to the front where the 20 yard pan was. So far took out 3- 20's and should finish up with one more tomorrow. I've got a tandem coming in to haul some of the dirt away, it's nice material so we'll stockpile it at our dump. That dirt pit has decent material, not too rocky but has a lot of clay. The material there due to it's clay content doesn't do too well in the winter. We hauled out of there for an auto parts store upthread and had issues with compaction but it was during a very wet Januray. The interesting part of this pit is it has very thin, almost paper like, ribbons of coal running through it. I live in an interesting geological area.
Not fun loading a tandem with a skidsteer but sometimes it is what it is. We stockpile material that comes off of jobs as well. We are having a dirt crisis here so you can't afford to throw good material away. I wish I had a couple hundred acres with good fill, I would be in the dirt business. Interesting about the layers of coal. I grew up in KY so I would see veins of coal in the rock cuts along the highways but it was always in rock never in dirt. You do have a little bit of everything
Topsoil is in demand here, it's almost impossible to find. Have a another chicken shack coming up that has 3400 CY of cut coming out which I plan on taking to our dump to stockpile. Good material that'll be valuable in the future. The thin layers of coal are quite common in my area. It can vary from paper thin to rich seams in the local mines. I've ran across 2-6" seams that flow like a ribbon through a cut of soft sandstone to hard shale.
Pulled the trigger on the 279D. After running it for a while I really like the CTL. Other than being new and tight with great A/C (important this time of year), I am really impressed with the machine for grading. The oscillating undercarriage makes a big difference when fine grading, which is what we use a CTL mostly for. The foot/hand controls are nice, Cat did a good job. You can dial in the track speed and boom/bucket speed to meet your preferences. Serviceability is a big improvement over the T250, much easier to access. One thing I did not like the machine is it's a little tippy with a full load at max. lift height. It's not so tippy that you feel like it's going over just more than I want when loading a dump truck, which we don't do often with a CTL. I have a pair or rear counterweights in the deal and they should be here next week. If the counterweights change the way the machines grades then I'll leave them off and only put them on when loading trucks. 3 bolts on either side. I didn't take many pictures this week. Loading 8 loads of fill from the residential project. Access from backyard to driveway. It was tight and took a while to load a tandem but we got it done.
I guess if I was used to running a 953 to load tandems with I would think differently, but having loaded hundreds of tandems with a skid its funny to hear you guys say its a pain to load with one :tong Congrats on the purchase of the 279D CM! I'd like to run one of the hand foot machines sometime, I put some time on a 239D this spring, it seemed like the E/H controls had more resistance to them then regular pilots :beatsme I think the Cabs on the D series machines are the best there is out there, nice and quiet. What size bucket are you running on there?
I hear ya' movindirt - as my motto says "Take what you win, run what you brung". Most of the time we load trucks with the 321 or the 953, mostly with the 321 as it's faster and cheaper, no undercarriage to wear out. Thanks! A new CTL was on the business plan this year and we have several nice projects coming up, so the timing was right. I like the E/H controls once I got them dialed into my operating preference, which is fast. The cab is comfortable and I like the suspension seat. The ability to move the joysticks back and forth is nice as well. The machine was ordered with a heated seat as well so I'll get to use that about 2 times a year. Have I already said the A/C is kick ass? The 2 speed is a nice function as well. Left joystick trigger, it allows you to click it off while digging in a pile and then click it on when traversing a site. The machine also has high flow XPS which I don't need at the moment but it might come in handy sometime in the future. Since I didn't need it and they wanted to sell the machine, I whittled a bit on the price.
Congrats on the new skiddy CM! :drinkup
New machines are always nice! I like the sound of the adjustable controls I was finding myself cursing my S300 on a tight site the other day wishing the damn thing would slow down sometimes. I have to say I find it funny that LC and yourself both have dirt crisis you cant get top soil he cant get fill. Up here you cant get rid of the stuff fast enough guys are getting $350 a tandem load if they own trucks and have a spot to dump. And if you have a spot to dump you damn sure dont tell anyone else not even your dog. Maybe we need to get some trucks rolling down south loaded with clean fill.
'Preciate it Wille. Its the first new machine I've bought in 9 years. No DEF just a DPF so we'll see how it goes. There is a range of speeds you can dial in. I haven't went through the op manual yet to see what all it does. Topsoil here is a scarce commodity. During the depression of 09-13 there were no projects of any size going on that generated excess topsoil and during the last 7 years the stockpiles have been slowly dwindling. There's not enough coming out of the new dirt jobs to keep up with demand. Same here on a dump site, if you have one you better keep it secret. I've got one on the north of my working area that takes concrete, asphalt, dirt, etc. - no stumps or brush. I've got two on the south side with one that I take brush. These are all private.
An update on the steakhouse. Curb guys coming in Monday so we've fine graded the site. The front entrance is a hodgepodge of curb, sidewalk, ramps and concrete paving flush with asphalt paving. It's going to be interesting. The building is coming along nicely. The 279 doesn't have a code programed yet so just a Cat key to start. Hemmed up with the 321 to thwart someone who has a Cat key and just needs to "borrow" the skid for a minute. Surveyors staked the curb and we had to adjust a curb grate inlet, it was .17' high. Easy enough with a rescue saw and about 30 mins. For the ones that may not be familiar with this type of curb inlet, the "hood" at the rear is adjustable with two bolts to hold it in place in order to make slight adjustments to the top of the curb. The top of curb will be poured flush with the top of the hood. We don't grout the frame in place in order to make final adjustments when the curb is formed. Once the curb is formed the grate and hood are locked into place.
CM Congrats on the new 279. I am sure you will like it more and more the longer you have it. Glad to hear business is good for you.
Congrats on the 279. How does it compare in power to the T250? Did u keep the T250 for a spare or trade it? My T250 has been excellent so far and very dependable, will be hard for me to let it go.
Thanks Jerry, how are things on the West Coast? Planning on CONEX this year, you? We've put 50 hours on it so far and I'm liking the machine more and more. JB I kept the T250 as a secondary machine. Sometimes we need tow CTL's in different places, the T250 is mowing a project with a brush cat while the 279 is grading another. Basically I can work the T250 for 2-3 days a month and pay the 279's love note. Power wise they are very close with a small edge towards the T250 when digging into piles. I would say the Cat shines on everything else. The biggest difference is the UC and grading, I didn't know it would be that big of a difference. That's what we mostly use a skid for is fine grading sub grade for curb and paving.
I took delivery of a new 277D with a Level Best dual plane grade system. We love the machine. The air conditioner works excellent (the two days a year we need it) but the heated suspension seat will drive you right out on the coldest of days. On a negative note, the backup camera totally sucks. Congrats on your purchase CM!! Oh and a side note here, the replaced the hinges on the door because it would open too far and knock the rubber sealing gasket off it... something you might pay attention too.
The 279 doesn't have a code programed yet so just a Cat key to start. Hemmed up with the 321 to thwart someone who has a Cat key and just needs to "borrow" the skid for a minute. View attachment 156630 Looks like all they would have to do is drop the bucket and they could drive right off. I've installed GPS tracking hidden in my machines. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Cm, Nice machine. The security setup you have going might be better for keeping some one from backing into it or maybe more for looks than anything else, which I guess you know! Drop the bucket takes too much time.. how about raise and roll it down and then spin... How does the machine do under load can you stall it out?
Thanks Gramps. I've looked into those laser plane attachments, very interesting. I didn't get the backup camera as visibility is OK. I am getting the cover that replaces the step and keeps debris that rolls over the bucket out of the hydraulic quick tach. The A/C is great and is very important in the sauna we live in. Like I said - That's to thwart someone on the job from "Borrowing" it, if a thief wants it they'll get it regardless. That's what insurance is for. I have yet been able to stall it out.
You could raise and set the bucket on the tracks of the 321 and pull right up next to it. Then it would be much harder if not impossible to get it out. ; ) Oh, but that pesky cab door wont let you out. Carry on..
Hey CM. Congrats on the new machine. I hope it does a great job for you. The steakhouse is coming along pretty quick. Won't be long before that one is a memory.
Congrats on the new CAT iron CM....hope it makes a boatload of money for you....
Thanks guys! LC we should finish up next week for the most part other than backfilling curbs. The GC canned the landscaper so we'll probably pick up the irrigation sleeves. PA I hope it does too. Really a CTL is a necessity and not necessarily a "money maker" like a hoe or loader. Trying to save some hours and wear on the 5 and '53 when fine grading. A CTL works good to for loading a rock box and carrying small diameter pipe. Put a bid on another green auto parts store that has a nice building to demo. Pre-fab metal that's maybe 10 years old. If we get the job it'll be easy to take down and store.
If its saving time it's saving money....that's what my grand dad took me. Don't be afraid to invest on equipment that saves time...best of luck with it. The CAT CTL's are by bread and butter with all of the state and park work we get ......
Sidewalk and crosswalk for the steakhouse project. Cut back the sod and topsoil for the sidewalk and ramp. Removing curbing in a radius is always a PIA when you can't damage the asphalt. Brought the 321 in to remove the curb after a little more saw cutting. We did this early before the mall traffic picked up. One track of the 321 is on the dirt behind the curb and the other is on some 2x's in the street. This week's view from the office. Also had the Cat tech come out and program the security code into the 279, no worries now.
Congrats on the new CTL CM. Its for sure a sweet looking machine.
Thank you sir. I really like it.
Yup, not damaging the asphalt is a pain but you sure had plenty of muscle to get it out Glad to hear you like the 279.
No doubt. Didn't even try with the backhoe, bigger is usually better. Landed another Irish auto parts that has a nice pre-fab metal building to take down. It was a former national tire company building. Should be an easy demo with a 50 x 100 pre-fab metal frame. We'll salvage as much of the red iron as we can. Can anyone say "future shop"?
I would agree, about 90% of the time bigger is better:thumbsup 50 X 100 would be a nice size shop, sounds like you need to deconstruct than reconstruct at your place.
I suggest you get some used/scrap conveyor belting from one of the quarries in your area, works very well and lasts much longer than wood.
The wood was free and onsite.:tong Seriously speaking, we rarely have the situation where we have to put the hoe on a finished surface. Since this building is wood framed there is a lot of scrap 2x's around. Got my eye on a leftover 1/2 bundle of 1/2" plywood.:cool2
It's been busy finishing up the steakhouse, side jobs and starting another Irish parts store. Mobilized onto the site, the iron for this project. Existing building. We salvaged all the roll-up doors, overhead light fixtures, two 240V exhaust fans, electrical service panels and a water fountain. Gutting the interior soft demo. There was a partition wall in the service bay consisting of metal studs and plywood, the studs are piled up ready to shove out the rear 8x8 door so the excavator can load them into the metal box. The office/waiting area is behind the T250. The 279 does not get to do demo yet. Used the scissor lift to take down salvage items and unbolt the purlins from the structural steel, more on that in a moment. Office/waiting area gutted and shoved out the back door.
After stripping the steel stud and plywood wall off the inside, I used the 953 to push the brick to the outside. When we do jobs like this keep the trash on the inside and the brick on the outside. It makes sorting easier. Pushing more brick to the outside. The quick oil change next door is the same chain we've done work for in the past. Excavator stripping the brick off a portion that we left the inside walls intact due to cable X bracing on the columns. We wanted to leave that intact until we pulled the roof off. Ripping the parapet wall off around the building. Since we already unbolted all the purlins, we wanted any attachment the roof had to the main structure gone in order to pull it off to the rear. I used the 953 to remove the brick on the front as the 321 was removing the brick on the rear. Stuck the corner tooth in about 2' below the header and lifted up, the brick came down easily as there were very few brick ties. The light gauge metal studs used for the parapet wall were attached to the leading edge purlin, it came down easily.
Removing the side parapet wall around the office/waiting area. The plan was to unbolt all the roof purlins, remove the parapet walls and pull the roof off the back. The only snag was where the main roof I beams were bolted together, there was a small tab sticking up that caught each purlin as the roof was drug to the rear. I took the 953 and basically lifted each purlin over this section of the I beams and pushed the roof back as the 321 pulled. No pictures as once the operation commenced we didn't stop till the roof was on the ground. Arial view of the roof gone. It went off with a few hitches but we have the structural steel ready to take down and be re-built into a nice shop at a later date. That's me on the loader ripping the light gauge metal studs from around the columns on the front. The excavator is loading a 40 yard can of metal. End of the day yesterday, not bad for a day and a half of work.
Bonus ! ! !
I got a little lost on the roof removal process, but pretty cool selective demo. I'm assuming the roof is getting scraped? Also, did the t250 get new meats?
That was the main reason I wanted this job, the building structure. The T250 has the same kicks it's had for a while, they've held up well during two demos. The roof is getting scrapped. This job, as usual for a retail project, is a blow and go with a tight schedule. The roof structure would also be too labor intensive to remove the roof panels and insulation from the purlins in order to save them. I figured it would be cheaper to buy new instead of pay the labor to take the roof down and we didn't have the time frame either.
Looks like you are really moving on the demo especially since you are doing so much salvage. It is also nice to have a concrete slab to work off of. Pretty impressive for 1.5 days!
Good looking work as usual CM! How's your PSD holding up? Still happy with the truck?
The plumber didn't get the sewer plugged until 1:30 on Thursday, so we couldn't get into the meat and potatoes of it until after that. Soft demo came out easily and quickly, the exterior wall framing was all light gauge metal so it went fast. We'll start taking down the red iron tomorrow and loading out scrap. Probably get 2 40's of metal and only have 2 40's of trash. JNB the truck is holding up great, just clicked 67K miles. The only issues I've had are the intermittent wipers coming on by itself and the alarm. If I set the alarm with the fob it will set the alarm off usually within 15-20 mins. I figure it might be a battery that's getting low and dropping voltage. For now I just lock it the old fashioned way with the key. When I get it time I'm taking it to the dealership, I bought the extended warranty.
Looks good!
My 2012 had that going on as well. I'd turn the key and the wipers would make one wipe then park again, it did it every so often for about a month then stopped and hasn't done it since. I'm not sure what it's problem is. I'm about 10k miles behind you.
I'm not sure if your 2012 have the same thing as my 2013 but in the dash computer and settings you can go in and set the wipers to do weird things. Like whenever u first start it automatically give a swipe. Maybe whatever controls that is malfunctioning. I know mine does some goofy things sometimes. Nice work cm
Looks good CM! Will you be able to unbolt the upright red iron supports from the slab?
Thanks for the video CM. I got turned around in my head on that one. What's the eave height on the structural steel? Actually, since it's a flat roof that measurement will just confuse me again. What kind of usable height do you think you'll be able to get out it?
Thanks 90plow! Any interesting projects on your plate? Thanks! Yes, the columns had anchor bolts in the slab and not poured around like the last demo. We had to cut some of the bolts due to being rusted it wasn't that bad to get all of them. No problem, I thought it was a crappy video so I removed it but I'll post a link back if anyone else is interested. Actually the roof is sloped to the back. I didn't measure the eve height but it's around 14' at the front as the doors were 12' tall. The rear eve height is probably around 12'. It had a parapet wall that was level at the top so it looked like a flat roof. It's actually to short as it was built for an equipment shop. What I am planning on doing is pouring a 4' tall stem wall with pilasters where the columns sit in order to raise the structure. The 4' concrete wall will be almost indestructible in the shop area.
A couple of pics of starting to tear the slab out. The T250 is loading the remaining structural steel on my gooseneck. The slab was simple, maybe 4x4x2 footings for the columns and the slab was 5-3" thick. A little 953 love. Taking up the asphalt parking lot. We'll leave the dense grade base for onsite use. I hope the 953 pics show the versatility of a track loader for the ones not familiar with one. Processing the slab and piles of asphalt for load out. There was a building and now it's gone. Not bad for 4.5 days. There were 3 40's of metal to the recycler at $.06 per lb and 2 40's of trash. We'll have a couple of 40's of brush and will haul the concrete, brick and asphalt in off in dumps.
Amen to the track loader ! Would never want to be without one .
That's right! :drinkup If I was only allowed one machine to make a living with it would be a track loader. No not a skid steer or CTL, everyone has those.:cool2
Same thing, different words :bouncegri
Fully agree! My baby is at the Cat dealer getting cylinders repacked and and new undercarriage and sure did miss it this week. I had to smile when you said the slab was 3-5 inches thick The site looks a lot bigger now than when you started.
Looks like my '53 will be going in for some P&B's on the bucket and Z bar linkage when we finish this project up. Will probably repack the two lift cylinders as well. Not far from an undercarriage either but I've got time. I'm sure you've seen the same. A few commercial demo's I've done the slab has been as thin as 2.5", makes it easy and adds a little to the bottom line. The site is a little bigger than a normal green auto parts store, it's just shy of an acre. Next step is undercutting the building pad 3.5' . Initially we were going to haul that material out and bring in import. The onsite soil meets spec's at the sample pit but according to the soil borings the soil may change as the depth increases. Either way I'm covered in the contract to export all of it and import structural fill. I'm trying to save time and the owner some money if we can use onsite soil. We'll find out next week. The time savings will help my schedule as I have another chicken shack coming up the 1st of Sept. which is right around the corner.
Could be a hub store... they are a little bigger than average. Is there one already nearby?
Scott this one is a regular retail outlet. We did a hub store back in '13, pics of that project are back in the thread. That hub store is about 30 miles away from this one. Interesting you said that as there is not a hub store close to this location that I know of. I was told by the green management that a hub store services 7-8 retail stores, probably more work to come.
A little more from this week. I was between jobs and looking at new ones so I didn't get many progress pics. Last 40 of brush leaving the auto parts project. 3 total. The sign will be donated to the local Fire District.:usa The entrance also comes out but we'll do that at a later date. Site as is Friday afternoon. One small pile of dirty #57 stone for misc. use and a pile of brick, concrete and asphalt in the foreground to haul off Monday. The brush came from the slope behind the 953. We left all the dense grade base under the asphalt, the dirt in the pic is the old building envelope. The concrete structures on the right are on the adjacent piece of property, we didn't know they were there until we cleared out the overgrown elaeagnus, otherwise know as silverberry. Fueling up the prime mover. Got the 279 back from the dealer on Friday. They installed counterweights, a radio and changed out the cover over the hyd. quick tach. Also included a new bucket with smooth lip cutting edge. This winter we will build this bucket into a tooth bucket with reversible cutting edge like the one we currently run. This is the new cover over the hyd. quick tach. This will shed the rocks and debris that roll over the back of the bucket and end up getting packed around the cylinder. This is the old cover, as you can see it allows debris that rolls over the back of the bucket to get lodged around the quick tach cylinder. Cat should make the solid cover on the machine standard. Anyone purchasing a Cat SSL/MTL/CTL should put the solid cover in the deal.
Thanks for the pics, always fun to see the updates. I'm going to start a thread on here soon enough, picking up a Deere 35 next week. I know you love my jack and raise pics.
Thanks Aliate. Start a thread you do some interesting projects. I like a 35 sized machine, it's a good mix of power and compact size.
Hey CM. How many hours on the 53? What type of undercarriage do you have, SALT, RBT or system one. The reason I ask is because we had RBTs on ours and got 1600+ hours on it. The seals went out on some of the bushings and seperated from the rail. Not very happy with that for sure. That is the reason Cat stopped the RBTs(what I am told). We are going with SALT now. I sure hope they are better than what we had before. We did get a price from an aftermarket dealer that sells Berco and others and were $7000 cheaper. I hope the Cat stuff is worth it. Need to see some pics of the undercut part of job. Yes I have seen some variations in slabs. Like you said, anywhere from 2.5 to 6 inches in a 4 inch slab, thats what made me smile.
Just shy of 5100 on the clock, it has a SALT undercarriage. Replacing an UC at 1600 hours is horrible, I know that's something ya'll didn't expect. I'll be lucky if I get 6K out of this undercarriage which is still original, not bad in my book. The P&B's were turned around 3K hours, about 1/2 pins were dry and were replaced. When it's time to replace it I'll go with Cat parts as well, I think it's worth the money. Not looking forward to that repair cost though. What did a Cat SALT UC for your loader run?
18k. Wow 5100 on original that is awesome. Everything on ours was fine average about 55% worn except the problem with the bushings. Sure was unexpected. You really couldn't tell there was a problem until we were out of adjustment.
I am budgeting $15K for mine. We replaced one idler unit last year with a reman so that's knocks $2500 off. $18K is a hard pill to swallow when you didn't see it coming. That sucks.
How are you shoes? We are using ours again, they were 24% worn so they are good. It was hard to swallow, I think I gagged a little bit when I heard
My shoes are good, probably 50% still left on them. I'm budgeting about $15K for one idler assembly, all top and bottom rollers, sprocket segments, rails and R&R. Re-use the pads, track pads are something we will do. I know that feeling - the one with the pit deep down in the stomach.
I think your budget number is good. The thing that made it so bad was we had it inspected 100 hours ago and all was good. I guess if stuff like this didn't happen it wouldn't be construction.
Is Cat going to help you out any? I'd ask your PSR if you haven't already and see if corporate will help with the cost.
No deal on the Cat help. They said there is a4 year 4000 hour warranty on it and that's it. This is the second time we had an issue. The other time, Cat had a campaign and would replace for free but our PSR apparently missed that memo. I guess that was 15 or 16 years ago on D4hxl. I wish we still had that dozer.
That's about the distance to our hub... There's a super hub we get stuff from in Memphis 80miles away. They run a route daily. Kinda funny it's practically across the street from the 'Zone's world headquarters... More work is likely, they build/remodel/take over about 200 stores a year.
That sucks my friend. I've been told by the green brass that they would like to build next door to the zone if at all possible. Ruthless business I guess.:beatsme
This week from the auto parts store. Beginning the undercut of the building pad. 321 is loading out the last of the concrete, brick and asphalt from the demo. More undercutting. It's a heavy clay with chert, not bad material but not the best. Originally we were to undercut the building pad, haul it off and haul in fill. The existing material met project spec's so it's a dig and flip. Compacting a layer of the flip. The dirty pile of #57 stone was salvaged from under the previous building slab, we'll use it for mud control. The blue building in the background is a regional quick oil change, we've worked sites next to them a couple of times and also did a few projects for them. The old skid and the new one. Rain building, more on that later.
So how are you liking the little Cat?
Salvaged the dense grade base in the former parking lot behind the old building. No sense in letting it go to waste, we can use it later. Next section of building pad undercut. Chasing out the underground power conduit. The trench was filled with 8910 stone and was holding a fair amount of water. We filled the old trench line in with the recycled dense grade base. 279 is holding it's own. I really like this machine. Now for the rain. We lost 2.5 days this week to afternoon thunderstorms which are pretty common here in August in Alabama. So far it's set the schedule back 3 days and more rain is falling. Well I never would've thought the big little city I live in would have a project big enough to garner the attention of the big boys. Granite water truck in the parking lot of a local BBQ joint. They are re-constructing a major interchange in town.
I'm really liking it JNB. It's smooth, comfortable and the A/C will freeze you out - important this time of year. The air suspension seat is a nice addition. The oscillating U/C makes it a great fine grading machine. Cab is a little cramped compared to the T250 but everything else makes up for it.
Just curious, you got the dog tagging along with ya?
Ruthless indeed. Most of the corporate goons would sell their grandma to a pet store for more business. Great pics!
No unfortunately. It's been so hot that I don't want to leave the truck idling so much and she's a runner, not good around a busy 4 lane. Thanks Scott. All the chains/franchises we build are that way. If there is competition already located in an area, they want to be right next door.
Hey CM, sorry to see you fighting the rain like that. Not much can be done on a rainy day with that material. Just out of curiosity, are they doing density test or a proof roll on your lifts where you are flipping the pad?
Nuke test. This clay has a -1/+3 and optimum is 15%. When we get in the 16-17% range we hit compaction easily. The material coming out of the ground is in the 20-21% range. I think if we were just proof rolling the higher moisture would pass but the specs call for a nuke.
I was just wondering because of the different materials and if you were able to get an even mix that matches the proctor.
About that new Kitty Cat, I'm curious about the Tier 4 engine which I'm certain it must have. Does it use DEF or does it have a Diesel Particulate Filter, or for that matter neither?
The proctor is giving us some fits but we actually have two - one with a rock correction and one without. The rock correction adjusts the value of the density of the material entered into the nuke machine in order to take into account the rock fragments. The proctor is set on the washed fines and clay particles so when there is more rock in the lift it will test low compaction but the material is at density. I'm no geotech but that's what I've picked up over the years and I did stay in a Holiday Inn once. No DEF but it does have a DPF. It's 74 HP which puts it just below the DEF required threshold. Supposedly the DPF has a 3K hour service life then you swap it out with a reman. The dealer keeps reman (read cleaned) DPF's for a swap program. This is the first piece of equipment that has all the new emissions stuff on it. The only other engine that has a DPF and DEF is my pickup which I haven't had any issues with - (knocks on wood).
This Tier 4 stuff is new to me as well, that's why I asked the question. That's a nice program to have a DPF swap, that would keep downtime to a minimum. We haven't had our M series Bobcats long enough to know how they'll perform, my contact at local Bobcat dealer has told me they don't have much issues though, we'll see. The one that has given a problem is the Kubota SVL90-2. I've been told by the Kubota rep that it needs to be run at high throttle for the DPF system to perform properly, you can't putt around at half revs. I've already been called a number of times by rental customers with that machine telling me it's lost power and has a warning light on the console, to which I have to tell them "the DPF is constipated, it needs to take a ****, you gotta run that thing like a 2 stroke Detroit!" Keep us informed of how the system performs on your machine, that's info I'd like to know.
Will do Willie. I can tell when the machine goes into regen. There is the regen symbol on the throttle dial about 1/2 way on the high side (180 degree dial) so I just run it on that position which is around 2250 RPM. The automatic reversing fan is outstanding. You can here it come on and when it does it shoots a dust cloud out the radiator. Such a nice change from the :cussing stacked radiator/cooler nightmare on the T250.
As the auto parts store turns.. Got a break in the weather last week and got the undercutting of the pad done. Turned it over to the concrete guy Wed afternoon. Drying out the fill and digging some dry fill where the pervious concrete goes. There will be a 2' deep water storage area under that section of parking lot in front of the hoe. I'll go into more detail on that when we get to installing it next week. Filling in the rear part of the building pad. The process was using the front 1/2 of the pad as a drying deck to dry the wet clay out and then skim the dryer material into the next lift. A little more track loader love. The 953 doing one of many things it does best - turning and raking the wet material. The material looks dry and some of it is but the clumps of clay are high on moisture and need to be broken up. A track loader is basically a CTL on steroids. It just moves more dirt, has more power and burns more fuel than a CTL. Love this picture. Spread, let dry, rake, rinse and repeat. We just about wore this dirt out trying to get it to pass compaction in the lifts. Nuke testing the second to last lift on the back 1/2 of the pad. This clay is rough so we take a skid or dozer and make a smooth spot for the tech. If the nuke gauge has any voids underneath the bottom it will give you a bad compaction reading, so we clip off the pad foot indentions. You can tell by this pic that we beat that clay into submission, it took a while but we were victorious.
Since we turned the pad over the concrete guys on the auto parts store we had a change order at the steak house that involved removing all the existing landscaping outside the disturbance limits on the original demo plans. Most of it was just bushes but there were 3 small water oaks adjacent to the spaghetti garden that were also slated to come down, stump and all. Used the GC's rented lull and ratchet strapped the tree to the forks, cut it and carted it away. Went pretty quick and safe, two things I like in any operation. There were 3 in all. Trees and stumps gone, graded and curbs cleaned up. Using the lull to load up some of the trees on the side of the building. Used the 420DIT, T250 and the free lull for this project. 30 yard of brush in the background, we got all the trees and bushes in one 30. It needs some tightening up before it leaves. And now for todays project, painting my new garage door. We had to get a new garage door as the old one was basically torn apart by the opener and the fact it was 15 years old. The good thing is it didn't fall on the better 1/2's new car.:cool2 Temp was touching 100 with just about as much on the humidity scale. I hate painting but it's just a garage door right? Did I say I hate painting.:bash
Saving this one in my pic collection. Good looking work CM.
Thanks JNB. To be honest I impressed myself with that iPhone pic, sometimes I get lucky. If that was a brand new 953D it would be worthy of a Cat brochure.
My sentiments exactly! You do know that if you remove the "t" paint becomes a 4 letter word of apt description.
I don't mind painting, but my wife grew up with a painting and drywall contractor for a dad and happens to love it. If she has what she needs at the house to get the job done she'll do it while I'm at work. She also loves to mow the lawn, weed wack and brush hog...and she's 18 years my junior. Yeah, it's a tough life.
To each his own, I get that completely and have no issues. Myself...paint is a 4 letter word. But that's just me.
Some more very good looking work that you have done CM. We have been getting dumped on with rain all summer long. Just about every night, with a lot of 2"-5" down pours. Trying to get a partial basement replacement done, that has good old red clay. When it starts to dry when you track across it with my new mini it turns black. Must pull some of the color out of the new rubber tracks. I sure would like to see it that way soon as it has been two weeks of water sitting on top of the packed ground, soaked every night with more rain.
I couldn't agree more.:drinkup Lucky dog. My wife's dad was an engineer so yeah I take care of well pretty much all of it.:yup Thanks Dirty. We've been getting hammered with pop up showers that dump a lot of rain and then clear out. It can flood at one site and be dry as a bone 1/4 mile away. Last Wed. a storm popped up east of the parts store, you could see the black building. It literally skimmed right past the site, it rained a little but a couple of hundred yards east it was soaked. I remember August being dusty dry 20 years ago but the last 5 years August has become a very wet month.:beatsme Try this dirty it works every time - put some grass seed and hay out and need that grass to come up in order to get final retainage. It won't rain if you begged it too.
Hey CM, I agree great pic of the 53. I also agree about it being a big CTL. The only comparison you missed was the price of the undercarriage You can tell you beat that clay to death, doesn't look like a single spot got missed by the sheepsfoot. Is that a base coat on the asphalt, it is hard to tell from the pics?
I did a comparison somewhere here on HEF on the costs of a CTL U/C compared to a D5 and 953. Surprisingly the CTL was more expensive per hour to operate U/C wise than a 953 using my historical costs, others MMV. The difference is the 953 comes all at once other than pads and sprockets and a CTL is spread out more. Just the binder course is on the parking lot at the steakhouse. If the seal coat would've been on the CO would've doubled in price.
I must still have the nauseated feeling from the 963:throwup. I thought it was just binder. Nothing I hate worse than fresh paving and s lull on the job!
I hear ya, that's ridiculous what you guys went through. My 953 has just over 5K on original chains and top/bottom rollers. Replaced the left front idler assembly last year, several pad changes, sprocket segments and turned the P&B's. Dividing the costs of each machine by the hours is where I came up with cost comparison. Of course those are my numbers, we wear out tracks on a CTL in 500 hours or so but we deal with rock and demo projects. I thought about the metal UC on when I bought the 279 but we do still work on finished pavement and have to cross finished curbs and sidewalks. On another note it's been nice having two CTL's, the T250 is long been paid for so it's a great backup machine to pick the low hanging fruit that comes along. For instance it's going to mow a residential development next week, it'll make enough in 3 days to cover the payment of the 279, fuel, mobilization and operator labor. Not too bad.
We seem to be just the opposite of you on CTL vs track loader tracks. We have about 750 hours on the SVL95 and only had a bottom roller go out. Tracks look good and sprocket is great. We thought about steel tracks on the CTL and our KX-080 but figured it sure is nice to be able to ride on any surface you want. I hear ya on the backup machine. It really doesn't cost you anything to own it other than insurance and any possible repairs. Unless it is catastrophic it would not take long to make the repairs back either plus you have two machines for two jobs.
I suspect its the sand that's the difference, that and a ****** U/C on your 963 the last go around. The rock plays hell on our rubber tracks, metal pads stand the abuse better. Some of our rock is soft like the grey slate at the steakhouse project. Chert rock on the other hand is very sharp and abrasive and plays hell on metal and rubber alike. The current auto parts project is a mix of red clay and chert, not too bad wear wise as the rock content is low but bad for moisture due to the clay content which makes getting passing compaction tests more difficult with pop up showers. I price jobs depending on the soil makeup which makes reading the soil boring report a must. If it's an area known for abrasive chert the price per CY goes up as we'll wear GET and track pads more. If the soils report shows solid rock then the pricing goes into a unit rate for the rock encountered.
C M I like that idea, putting out grass seed would sure bring dry weather. Oh it will get done one of these days, just backs up everything farther and farther behind. Usually it is very dry and the grass is brown, this time of the year. This year people are mowing every 5-6 days, and it is quite often to tall already.
Or Dirty if you need rain just dig a hole that needs to stay dry!:tong Works every time.
I like all the ideas you have shared C M! Had a stroke of better luck yesterday, three miles north 3"-4" of rain. At my shop south of the job 1.6" of rain. Nothing at the job site and where I had to stock pile was dry. Was able to haul in enough sticky wet clay to back fill for now. The dirt was so sticky I looked like a cat with crap on it's foot, trying to get out of the skidsteer bucket into the dump truck.
A few things from this week. Got a call from the plumber that does all the new chicken shacks and takes care of the existing ones, really good guy. The call came in at 10:30 last Sunday morning. Water line leak which happened to be in the drive through at one of the chicken shacks. He got it repaired but it was 3' deep underneath the drive through lane, not good. So I changed my Monday morning plans to take care of the backfill, haul off the mud and get the drive through open. It wasn't a large enough hole to need a dump truck and all the trucks I know were already out by early Monday morning so I rented a 4CY dump trailer from HD up the road. After renting the dump trailer I head off to the landscape supply yard 1/2 mile down the road to get 3 CY's of #57's to fill the hole in. So I go in the office and tell the woman behind the counter that I need 3 yards of #57's and the owner sitting in a chair nearby says $120 with a straight face.:cool2 Whatever this is cost plus and they need to get the drive through open. I really liked the little dump trailer, I'll get one just for personal projects and when we need a little material on a job. Dumping the #57's in the hole. Had to shut the drive thru down for an hour. Now for the funny part. The manager put a sign on the menu board that said drive thru closed but counter inside is open. We had one woman who pulled up to the menu board and asked if they were closed.:beatsme Another one pulled up to the menu board behind the T250 and sat there for a couple of minutes and then pulled around, mind you we had cones around the work site. I guess she thought the T250 was taking too long to order.:tong These people live among us... Back at the auto parts store. We had to move an existing inlet box 1.5' back for the new parking lot. The adjusted curb inlet lines up with the front of the new dumpster pad in the background. Knocked the brick out around the existing RCP, cut the RCP and adjusted the box. Pretty simple stuff. A new run of 15" HDPE runs in front of the dumpster pad in the foreground. I have no idea why the engineer designed a 4' concrete stem wall for a dumpster pad that will be at grade once backfilled.:beatsme
Yard inlet installation by the dumpster pad at the auto parts store. The existing sanitary sewer line for the old building which will be tied on to for the new building runs under the proposed location for the yard inlet. Moved the yard inlet 1' towards the parking lot. Cleared it with the PM. The DGB is the bottom elevation of the new pre-cast yard inlet. Yard inlet set, getting ready to set the next curb inlet. We had to field engineer the flow lines for this short run of storm in a tight location, the footing for the dumpster pad extended into the flow line of the 15" HDPE between the curb inlets. It all runs down hill but not at design grade - all in a days work with pics, documentation and approval of the PM. Existing box with RCP and HDPE grouted in place. We'll pour an invert later. Outside shot of the existing box. Another coat of mud on the outside of the box was done today before backfilling. Grouted the RCP connection. On a side note we use the cut outs from the knock out box to fill the hole back in, the pieces are the ones at the top of the hole where the HDPE goes into the box. A little cutting with a rescue saw and it takes less brick and time. Salvaged enough DGB from the existing parking lot to backfill all of this storm pipe and boxes. Win on the budget side of this project.
That reminded me of a Youtube video I saw just this week. Some lady called in a radio talk show to complain about the highway department installing "Deer Crossing" signs in high traffic areas. She had hit deer a couple times just after passing one of those signs. She felt they should move the signs to maybe a school zone where the speed limits were slower!
I've seen that video and it's priceless. Working around the general public can show one how stupid our general population is, working in a a live traffic lane is akin to playing Russian Roulette.
I like that little dump trailer, I can see where that would be real handy to have. Thanks for the story about the drive up customers. It makes me feel better that there are stupid people everywhere Seems as though the owner could have saved a lot of money by letting you do the engineering work, you did most of it anyway. Not sure about the wall on the dumpster pad. The only thing that does is cost money:beatsme
I check IP each week for dump trailers, not many have went up for auction and none close. There'll be one come up. The best I can tell is the dumpster pad was designed from an inaccurate topo. Poor site surveys and topo's cost owners a lot of money, I've seen it time and time again.:beatsme As far as the stupid, there are many that walk and drive among us.
Are these the kind of people you speak of CM? Lol
Now that's priceless!:thumbsup
Hmmm...I don't see a problem. It's even double nutted for safety. :beatsme
I believe that picture and trailer connection takes the grand prize for ignorance...
Yep! and probably a "grade 2" 5/8 bolt in a 3/4 to 1 inch hole with cheap soft flat washers. I'd love to see what happens the first time he tries to make a fast stop with a load on the trailer!
Nice!
I got a kick out of that, but the sad part is, there are really people in this world who look at that and don't see anything wrong. What's even more disturbing is a lot of those people are probably full grown men.
Your not kidding! What part of Ky are you?
We also have this classic..:idea :Banghead:cool2
I don't see the problem
Im in central KY south of Lexington.
Lol, love seeing pictures like this.
Cool, I grew up in Lexington, actually Wilmore. Small world.
That is cool, I'm from garrard county which is county just south of nicholasville/wilmore area How come you left? If you don't mind me asking.
We left when I was in seventh grade and my dad got a job in SC so we moved. I love KY. I really miss it.
I love Ky as well, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. It looks like you got a good thing going in SC!
Yes that is why we are still here Nothing as pretty as the horse farms around Lexington and I miss the four seasons.
Those dump trailers are handy CM, I find they work good as a mobile stone box if you're working in a parking lot or road with a mini ex and can't reach over the gate of a tandem, throw 4 or 5 ton of rock in the trailer and scoop it out as you need it.
Love my dump trailer. I can't imagine not having one. Don't buy a big tex though. Big piece of garbage. Gets the job done though.
That's right movindirt, it could be very handy for the small jobs that come up although I would probably use it just as much for personal work. I need about a yard of pea gravel in my fire pit and I've got some junk I need to haul off.. I haven't been that impressed with the Big Tex trailers I've seen either Aliate. Although if one came up cheap enough (I'm an auction bottom feeder) I'd buy it.
Pictures from this week at the auto parts store. The front parking spaces will be pervious concrete with a rock storage chamber underneath with 6" per PVC to drain into an existing inlet. Excavating the stone storage area. To the right in the pic is where the old curb was we removed, the new curb will go back in the same place. Using the 279 to clip the bottom after the excavator dug it out. Filter fabric down, placing some #2 stone that makes up the water storage area underneath the pervious concrete. The design called for 2 runs of 6" perf PVC highway under drain. Pipe installed and covering with rock. A little track loader love finding it's way into the picture. Connection to the existing inlet. At the time this pic was taken we were waiting on 2 6" T's to connect the two runs together. Closer look at the connection to the existing inlet. One of the crew is cleaning out the existing inlet. We had to lower the grate about 6" to meet the new plans. Luckily there were 3 runs of brick on top of the lid so we knocked that off and re-set the grate. Once we installed the T's and tied the two 6" lines together, we used some recycled DGB from the old parking to to bed the pipe and bring the bottom up to grade. On a side note the Husky K760 has been a very good saw. In three years all we've replaced is the pull start assembly which was $60 at the local shop, not bad for 3 years of abuse errr I mean use.
Dumping a 25 ton load of #2's. The dump for the excess dirt was close to the quarry so it was take a load of dirt and get a load of rock type of operation. 279 finishing out the rock. The two 6" pipes behind the skid are clean-outs and the one at the far end is an inspection port. The location of the clean outs were per plan which didn't make sense to me being 1/2 the way of the run of pipe, I would've designed them to be at the end of the uphill run next to the inspection port. The design did not call for a two-way clean out either.:beatsme Overview of the front parking lot. The 321 is cutting to sub-grade in front of one of two "retaining curbs" - IE short retaining walls that also serve the purpose of a curb. There is around 1500 loose yards of export on this job including spoils from footings and underground utilities which we're getting paid to haul off. Passed two Abrams tanks on the interstate, they were probably heading to the Anniston Army Depot for a re-build.
CM some great looking pictures, of might fine looking work that you are doing. I sure enjoy seeing what you are working on, and the insight of hearing how you do the jobs, and how you would do it if it was left up to you. Thanks for taking time to share!
Thank you for the kind comments dirty4fun. I want to share my limited knowledge of what we do in the vast industry of heavy equipment on HEF, like our very knowledgable mechanic members share their knowledge of how to repair a machine. There is not another venue on the net that has the down in the trenches knowledge of the heavy equipment world like HEF. One of my favorite sayings is - "We get paid to install it, not design it".
That is an interesting underground retention system. We have never done one with just rock like that, they always have the upside down U style or we have used big pipe like 42". Interesting none the less. That is a good bit of sitework for a small store like that. I wonder why I always see the Cat ctl instead of the Bobcat in the pics I agree with Dirty, thanks for posting.
LC this is the first one I've put in but I've seen it spec'd before. Rather simple on design and installation. The system is supposed to let light water flow percolate into the ground with the perf PVC acting as drains for heavy flow. In reality the heavy clay/chert it's in won't let much if any water percolate, so it will act more as a detention system. I've never seen pervious concrete so that should be interesting. Bobcat is at the shop with a hydraulic leak somewhere in it's bowels, no timeline to dig into that engineering nightmare at the moment..
CM have you thought about getting an offset disk you could pull with the d5 for mixing a drying? Seems like you do undercut and flip pretty often. This video might interesting for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rbNznCBKI8
I have heavy, actually it's one of the items I regularly check for coming up for auction. It would've been overkill on this small project but the D5 is cheaper to run considering fuel and UC than the 953. A friend of mine in concrete business posted that video on FB a while back. Pervious concrete is very interesting and I think we'll start to see more of it as storm water regs only get tighter, which is fine by me.
They have done a few parking lots in my area with pervious concrete here recently, they were in tight areas that did not allow for a open retention basin, so they took the calculated rainfall they needed to store and put it underground. From what I remember they used 1" clean rock for backfill as it had the most water storage capacity (something like 1/3 of every cu. yd. of rock was open space) The ground in this area is really dense clay, IIRC they oversized it by quite a bit just so that it had room to store plenty since it will take a while for it to drain out. Its some pretty cool stuff, I would think it will hold up fine in your climate CM, not sure how it will do here where we get a lot of snowfall and freeze/thaw cycles... seems like that pervious concrete might start to break down after a while.
Good point movindirt about how the pervious would hold up in different climates. There will be a sign erected in front of these parking spaces noting to not pressure wash or use sand abrasives during snow events and to use caution during plowing snow. Since we only get a snow event down here every few years and it's gone in a day or so I don't think it'll be an issue.:tong Now the real question is how will all the oil and other fluids from the leaking cars affect the pervious? I would suspect not much and the gravel may filter some of the run off.:beatsme
my ? is what going to happen after a couple of years of landscapers blowing grass clipping's on in and leaves ,mulch ,general dirt and grime then it's all stopped up and won't drain any more. Then who pays to fix it and how.:beatsme
That's a good question Clint as this is the first I've seen of it my area. I'm along your thought lines, over time general dirt and fines would seem to clog up the "pores" but since I've never been around it we'll find out. Since the concrete itself is not in my contract all I need is for the water to flow once it goes through the concrete.
We have never did anything with pervious concrete but have used pervious asphalt on a path that went over the roots of a grand oak. We had to use crushed concrete under it as well so the water could get to the roots.
LC I would think pervious concrete and asphalt would work well in your area with the sandy soils. It's the opposite here with our heavy clay soils, pavements are designed to keep the water out of the sub-base as it will lead to failure. This particular parking lot has 2' of #2 stone on it so I doubt with light loading and that much stone stability will be a problem.
Went to a demo day at our local dealer for a fully integrated GPS D6N. This is a Cat corp. tour to show the machine. The lead engineer for this model D6N was there to answer questions. Sitech was there which is the technology company partnering with Cat for the electronics. They built a simple model with a pond and a short section of road. I'm currently in the bottom of the pond. It was a beautiful but very hot day. In the bottom of the proposed pond making a cut. I backed up to the edge of the pond put it in F lowered the blade and the machine took over the cut. I took my hand off the blade joystick and the tractor made the cut until it loaded the blade and then automatically lifted the blade and carried the material to the end of the cut like one would do in a slot dozing situation. This was the first time I have been on an integrated GPS machine. This D6N doesn't have masts for the receivers they're built into the machine with all the other sensors. This tractor also has the capability to run GPS masts as well as laser masts. The GPS receivers can be seen mounted on top of the cab in front of the A/C unit. I was very impressed with the machine but it's already one of my favorite dozers to run. The new models are more powerful than the '06 I had. The GPS and automation was impressive, there would be a small learning curve to get used to it but I see it's potential. However the tractor is pushing $320K as it sits so there's not one in the near future.:cool2 However this dozer would be ideal for large grading jobs such as residential subdivisions. It would cut the time to pad lots and grade roads to 1/3 of what it takes to do it with a laser and grade checker. I could see one machine such as this dedicated to fine grading with the rough cut/fill being done in conventional ways. What I did take away was this technology is it will not replace an experienced operator. Rather it's a powerful tool in the hands of an experienced operator to be more efficient and eliminate a grade checker on the final pass.
Finishing up the auto parts store. The local fire district wanted the sign so we saved until the end to take it down. The structure of the sign was a 10" thin walled steel pipe, encased in the footing. Cut the pipe except for a 2" tab on the left side of the pipe in the pic. Got it on the ground in one piece. The steak house is just about finished up. It's going to be a nice building. The wife and I should get two tickets to the soft opening.
I like 6ns myself. I have never been on a machine with GPS and I think I would have a hard time adjusting. Did the machine load the blade evenly and smooth or did it jam the blade down until it started to spin tracks then let up? Looks like the masons are rolling on the auto parts store and you will be back to finish up in no time! The Outback turned out nice and you should get a nice steak and lobster dinner on the house
The 6ns are nice machines. I Haven't been in a fully integrated gps machine yet. I'm young, just about to turn 30. I have run non gps machines, but the majority of my career I have been in or around them. I have seen the technology change and it's amazing what it can do and how far it has come. It's a handy money making tool what's it learned. I could show up to any job we had going on, get in the dozer ride around for a couple minutes and knew what was going on and needed done. It makes quick work with one person just running around and grading the site by himself without getting out of the machine. It's expensive but every company I know that went to says they love it and was worth the money
you had better get into GPS before your competition does . I can see where it would pay for it self very quick just in the time saved waiting on surveyors. how much is the dozer with out the gps.
Quick question for some ideas CM1995 I recently bought this house and think there used to be some bushes in this spot. Well this house doesn't have gutters yet,. This spot turns into a mini pond every rain we get. I have no intentions of planting anything there and would like to dig it out a bit and get some bags of ready mix and throw it in there . Should I try to tie it into the house slab and all existing concrete somehow? I am positive this whole neighborhood is built slap on top of this weird shale like rock infested rock hard red clay here with no concern for any kind of site prep before pouring any concrete. I have a dog that keeps digging next to the house that confirms this no sign of any sand or rock anywhere. Thanks for any help you can send me
You might consider digging it out a bit and adding colored pea gravel of a shade of your liking.
No doubt 390. I made a point to go to the demonstration just to be exposed to it as all I know about the issue has been read in trade magazines and online. It was well worth the 1/2 day to take "off" to demo it. That's what I was there. Clint my salesmen said the tractor as it sets is around $320K, $260K not integrated. Walkerv for cheap insurance I'd get some #3 rebar from HD or Lowes and drill holes into the existing concrete then tap the rebar in. Drill a couple of inches into the existing concrete and leave 6-8" sticking out for the new concrete. Since it's a very light foot traffic area that'd be overkill but that's what I would do just to be sure there are no future problems. #3 rebar is roughly 3/8" so you'll need a slightly larger concrete drill bit. Basically the dowels will help stop any differential settlement if the dirt under the new concrete settled any. If you really want to over kill get some PEJ ( pre molded expansion joint ) and put it between the old and new concrete. I wouldn't go that far for such small area. Check your grade before you pour and make sure the new concrete will drain away from the foundation. From the pic it looks like you have enough fall to pitch it towards where the sidewalk meets the driveway.
That was my first though Former Wrench but Walkerv said his dogs like to dig and if they are anything like my little excavator the rock wouldn't last long if she set her nose on it.
:thumbsup Thanks guys what kind of spacing on the rebar I kinda figured yall would say something. Like that I'm a mechanic not much on building stuff but can do it of I have too. My intention is to put a little table and chair set we have left over from our our other house that had a narrow porch so traffic is going to be real light there just want it solid and the water to quit pooling there. And. Yes the drive and existing side walk I should be able to tie into its existing slope and keep the water Going the rite way.
CM. Does that include a base station? If and when you you go to gps, make sure you work a good deal and try to get that base station and rover included with the dozer. Those mast less antennas look nice. Always forget about them, I snapped one off in a deep keyway once on the d8.
So glad to see someone say this. So often, people are quick to say GPS takes the talent away from an operator, while it may help a mediocre operator better, it can also show their flaws. I'm assuming you could still run the blade manually if you wanted to correctly?
A foot or so on spacing for the rebar dowels will be more than enough. 390 I'm not sure on that. The base machine is out of my price range. Jim you can toggle between manual and auto on the blade control. The best analogy I can think of is how GPS on our phones have made getting somewhere easier than using a paper map due to real time location. GPS on a tractor will make an experienced operator more efficient in the same way due to the information the system can provide in real time inside the cab. However garbage in is still garbage out.
Like the stories I have heard about people running off the road because they heard the GPS in the car say "Turn left Now!" and they did not look to see if there was a road there!
About once a month on the ag boards there is a new picture of somebody who smoked into a tree, well pump, high voltage power, or my personal favorite bullseye'd the center of a pivot.
Been there, seen that. Been on more than one project where someone forgot to connect the dots on the design end. End of the day it's a great tool to have, whether or not you use the "easy button", just being able to see the whole job in the cab, in real time, is great. I'm sure it wont be long till we start getting the newer fully integrated models like you tried. It will be nice not having to worry about taking off the antennas and stripping those stupid handles every night.
A pretty big company near me bought I think 3 or 4 of these recently but they do a lot of highway work but right now are using to help build a pizza shop
That's the first benefit I saw from it Jim, being able to see where you were grade wise and horizontally in real time. If the operator doesn't have the knowledge of how to build a project or what the finished product should be, the machine is not going to do it for them.:cool2 As far as the antennas go I would take them off this machine every night as well or devise some sort of locking mechanism. They are somewhat hidden but if a thief knows what they are he's going to steal them. Cat was sending that machine to a railroad spur under construction by a local contractor to run for a week to put it through it's paces. The project is a total GPS design.
CM, thanks for talking the time to share all of this. I sold my equipment last year and have been doing office work/project management for a maritime construction company for the last few months. I love being able to check in and see your earth work projects.
If it's anything like cab mount ag GPS there will be a way to padlock the antenna to the machine.
No problem Joispoi, I enjoying sharing what limited knowledge I have. I miss your project updates as it was interesting to see how things are done in different countries and different types of equipment. Best of luck on the new position.:drinkup HVY that's what I was thinking. If Cat didn't have some sort of security device it wouldn't be hard to fab one.
Lots of GPS around here. Everyone removes the receivers at night and packs them around in the tool truck. A friend of mine packs $200k worth of GPS gear in one of his tool boxes. The rovers are awesome, you can do calculate pile volumes by walking around on them and taking measurements.
Last week we started a small 3 lot commercial lot prep. Some clearing, some clean up of crap dumped over the years and spreading good fill that has been dumped there. It was a dust bowl with the fine silty topsoil and no rain for the last two weeks to speak of. On that note I am not asking for rain either, last year when I asked for it we got it all winter long... When we got to the fill stage we obviously needed water, so we got a hydrant meter from the water department. Anyone that has held a 3" fire hose for any amount of time knows it sucks and we had a lot of ground to cover with just a firehose. So what does any common sense engineer come up with? An industrial sized sprinkler of course. Worked pretty well. The "fleet" parked up at the end of the day. The red dirt came from a local middle school under construction and the brown dirt came from a subdivision a couple of miles away. As the crow flies the school site and the subdivision are 6 miles or so from each other which shows the variation in soils we encounter. The lighter brown pile of dirt behind the equipment was cut on site.
Friday a week ago as the wife and I were heading to Atlanta I placed a bid on Ironplanet for a 2" submersible pump and a 3" gas powered trash pump. The listing stated the gas engine was seized. Placed the minimum bid of $150 and won. The two pumps - the submersible looks brand new. When the listing said the engine was "seized" I highly doubted it as it's a Honda and they have low oil shutoff. Low and behold after taking the pump apart, the pump itself was just froze with rust. Took about 10 min with PB Blaster and a scraper to clean it up. Changed the oil, removed the carb bowl (which was spotless) and pulled the spark plug which looked new - pulled the cord and fired up the first time. Score! One can see where the impeller shaft was froze with rust to the pump manifold.
Nice score CM. Gotta love some PB Blaster for sure .
PB is the go to in my toolbox, that stuff will melt Styrofoam.:yup The pumps were at Sunbelt in Decatur, AL about an hour north of my location, easy drive to pick them up. I love to bottom feed auctions and walk home with a gem. Now that we have 2 - 3" gas powered pumps and 1 - 2" submersible - I hope I never need them again in my career. Usually the only time we need pumps is when it's near freezing on the temp gauge and need to pump out an excavation so we can try to make forward progress.:bash Alas I know they will be used in the future..
I use P B blaster for the tougher ones I like Acetone and ATF fluid mixed fifty fifty. It eats on rust pretty good, best I have found to loosen rust.
Looks like a good score CM I like shopping like that at the auctions as well. You can find some real gems hiding amongst the trash people are throwing out.
For some reason I missed you post last week. Great deal on the pumps, I did a little bottom feeding myself this week and will post pics when it arrives. I like the 321/sprinkler, I thought I was lazy Just kidding, dragging a fire hose around does suck some kinda bad. Looks like you are able to move right from job to the next, a sign of good planning and some good luck:thumbsup
Started a little job downtown that involved demo'ing curb/gutter, asphalt and installing some storm drainage for the renovation of a building into new offices that is over 100 years old. This area of downtown is under a major revival, there is $740M worth of work going. The apartment buildings in the background were just recently completed, the other side of the building overlooks the outfield at the new minor league baseball stadium. Rented a 308 due to having to set the 4x4 knockout boxes. One box is all the 308 wants but it will pick and set it. I like that size machine but when I add another excavator it will probably be a 314 size for a little more ass. Site was tight as all urban jobs go, luckily these two streets don't see too much traffic. One of two new inlets, this one will get a 38x38 grate on top. The roof leaders for the front of the building will also tie into this box through the small cut in the knockout on the other side. The paving averaged 14" thick with 4" of asphalt and 10-12" of concrete. The reason for the thick pavement is the poor soils in this part of the city. Nasty clay with all sorts of buried treasures from times gone past. We dug up old cross ties digging this inlet from the trolley system that criss crossed the city at the turn of the century. Loading out some storm sewer spoils, you can see the "quality" of the dirt. Loading out some asphalt and concrete. One of many new mid-rise buildings under construction in the area can be seen in the background. This building will be a new hotel.
It's always "fun" digging downtown, like a line from a movie "it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get". In addition to the high pressure gas main that goes on 2 sides of the building we're working on there is a cross country AT&T fiber line running across the street in addition to a Verizon and Windstream fiber line that ran through where we dug for the new storm line. I did learn something from the AT&T guy that located their line - If the orange fiber marker has a world symbol on it then it is cross country and stupidly expensive if you hit it. This particular fiber line runs from Miami to NYC. Sanitary sewer lateral for the building was laid right on top of the old 12" clay storm sewer we had to remove in order to install a new line. Found the sewer line and uncovered it. Since the old clay line was directly under it, we used a chipping hammer to break the clay pipe under and around the sewer line before digging it up. If you've ever worked around the old clay pipes all you have to do to break it is look at it. Connecting the new 12" A2000 plastic drain line to the existing storm manhole. There was a short section of 12" clay coming out of the old brick manhole so we got approval to leave that short section in and connect the A2000 to it instead of going into the old manhole. Used non-shrink grout to plug the gap. Now for the exciting part, 8" high pressure gas main hit - no we didn't do it.:cool2 Plumbers were digging in order to tap an 8" ductile iron water main for the building service and hit the line. I was standing on the corner when I heard the tooth puncture the plastic line, there is no other sound like that. In a split second it sounds like a 55 gallon beer can under pressure with an old school pop top being pulled. Needless to say it shut the job down. Police and fire responded before the gas company showed up and shut down all the streets coming in. Knowing the news crews were not far behind we decided it was best to go ahead and break for lunch. I have no desire to be interviewed and be on the 6 o'clock news. The gas blew dirt across the street into the parking garage for the apartments next door. BTW it did make the news.. Alagasco making the repair. I thought this was a cool shot. On the GC's backhoe shuttling #57's to backfill the storm line, Children's Hospital is in the foreground.
Hey CM, Neat job and something different and challenging for sure. We have the same deal in downtown Charleston up to 2 feet of asphalt and then anything and everything buried. When Charleston burned back in the day, they took all the garbage and filled marsh lands then built on top of it. I learned something about the fiber as well thanks for sharing.
While I was digging for one new gutter inlet we ran across a 12" ductile line that wasn't marked. I poked a hole in it with the 308 and water trickled out with a faint smell of natural gas. Upon the initial investigation it wasn't spewing water so no live water line, it wasn't spewing gas so it wasn't a live gas line and the water was clear and didn't smell like **** so it wasn't a sewer line. I called 811 and notified them that we hit an unmarked line and told the operator what I typed above and told her I think it's and abandoned line other than the **** part. Well the description didn't quite get transmitted to the emails sent out to the cross country fiber operators. The email sent was "an unmarked line has been hit and work is shut down", I later found out after I checked my emails. Line locator showed up around 11 AM and immediately said that was the old gas line and it's abandoned so no problem and we went to lunch. While we were at lunch there were a fleet of AT&T, Verizon and Windstream personnel that showed up thinking one of their lines were cut. Assistant super told us it was a circus for a while until they determined nothing of theirs was damaged. Never a dull moment. Very good to hear you guys didn't get hit as bad as it could've been from the storm.:thumbsup
Wow, I bet you are keeping your gear locked up tight in that neck of the woods. Take Care, CD
Fixed boom 7 ton's do a lot better at craning, but 13-14 ton would probably be better for most of your projects. Don't see 110's very often, very surprised a utility company would have one.
Good to hear from you CD. How are things in high country? This area of town isn't that bad. The GC had a locked site fence and all I had on the site of mine was the T250. I agree but we needed the swing boom to work around the power pole, fire vault, building canopy and all the other things in our way.:bash The 420 fills in for a 7 ton on most jobs with room. I am really liking the new 315FL.:naughty
Not much in terms of major construction this week. Finishing up some jobs and bidding others. Getting the auto parts store ready for a parking lot. View from the side of the building. The pervious concrete retention area of the parking lot. It took a beating after we installed it. BTW - I love the 279. We had to run sprinklers to get the moisture up for a proof roll as we are in a drought, no rain for 6 weeks which is tough for this part of the country. The landscape is powder dry and forest fires are a problem. Scored some building materials. 3/4 plyform from the concrete guy, 6 21' long heavy gauge steel studs and 1.5" foam insulation board. All destined for construction of a new shop.
You guys can't win, you are either to wet or to dry.I guess dry is better because you can always add water. Is that parking lot going to get curb?
We all had a laugh about it, too much in the beginning and not enough at the end. The parking lot is all concrete with an integrated 12" curb. 8" of #57's and 5" of 4K concrete with #4 rebar on 4' centers. They spec their parking lots heavy.
I guess they want it to last. I assume you are going to grade it and place the 57s?
No the stone is in the concrete contractors scope, we just give a certified sub-grade. We'll come back and backfill curbs and final grade.
Cool work CM!
I wish our concrete guys would do there own grading Won't be long and you will be out of there and onto the next one.
It looks so odd to see regular brown dirt instead of rock and muskeg.
We've got brown, red, yellow, grey and tan dirt and all sorts of rock, short of caliche or granite. The central Alabama area has some interesting ground. In the county I live in we have coal mines to the west and some of the best limestone chemical wise a few miles away towards the center of the county. The less desirable limestone is crushed and sold as construction rock and the higher quality limestone is turned into powdered lime and sent all over for uses from cement to toothpaste and makeup. It's added to chicken feed in order to make a tougher shell to survive transport to stores. From time to time we have out of state excavation contractors come in and be low bidder by a large margin on a big dirt job. They usually all leave with their tail tucked. Granite recently won a large interstate interchange project by a wide margin, the next bidder was $69 million higher. They'll probably be ok since it's mostly bridges and structures but time will tell.:cool2
Wow! 69 million is A big margin.
The last two sections of the Northeast Extension of the PA turnpike were both won by a margin of $50 million.. It's insane how much money gets left on the table sometimes.
We're both projects awarded to the same contractor? They're either leaving a lot of money on the table, or Missing a ton of stuff. If it's the latter, I'd say chances are good that's the last job they bid lol.
Time to update my thread. We've been doing several small jobs and finishing up others. Had another chicken shack that got put on hold after finding out there was no water service to the lot. The closest place to get water is in the middle of a 5 lane road 14' deep, then it has to cross under a service drive for the wally world. Needless to say that is no inexpensive undertaking. At the small job downtown. Re-built an existing brick curb inlet into a storm manhole then installed a new 4x4 knockout box for a very large curb grate inlet. There are two fiber optic lines, a water line and a high pressure gas main that criss cross this corner. When we were excavating for the new 4x4 knockout box, we came across the non-marked ductile iron line that I mentioned above. The result was the box got shifted 1'4" towards the building. The owner gained a foot of pavement and lost a 1' of landscaping, win-win. 12" A2000 was spec'd for the pipe. 6" ADS roof leaders going in. Backfilling the roof leaders with #57's, I though this was a cool pic. Roof leaders backfilled with stone and R2 earning it's keep once again.
Back to the commercial lot prep job. This job isn't pushing so we've been finishing up other jobs and doing small ones then filling in here. Clearing and cleaning up trash on the 4th lot. It's bone dry. We haven't had any rain in over a month. Filling on the 3rd and 4th lots. We have a hydrant meter to wet the fill down in order to get compaction. A little R&R on the Mississippi gulf coast. Beautiful view from our room. It's really a dogs life, we humans are just along for the ride.
Hey CM, The lot prep job looks like a good sized job. How much fill are you bringing in? What is the scope of work on it?
It's a nice size LC about 4 acres on 3 lots. We also have a building pad and parking area job across the street for another building owner. He liked our work so asked us if we would do it, sure. All the fill was on site. There is a gradual slope to the rear of the lots so there's plenty of borrow. It's a nice sandy material with soft rock that breaks up easily under the 533. Probably have 3-400 CY's of nice sandy topsoil stockpiled that we'll sell later.
Beautiful sunset....and with a pup along, what else could you ask for?:drinkup DB
We've been doing some small jobs to fill in time before other projects are ready. Moving some old van bodies used for storage at the lot prep job. The power lines are a lot farther away than it looks in the picture. We don't normally do residential work but this is a project for one of our very good commercial clients at his personal home. This is the same project up thread where we demo'd the old patio at the rear of the home. One could build a very nice home with what they are spending on this addition.:cool2 Backfilling around the pool. Fill was dry and space was tight. Wetting down the on site fill before compacting with R2. Rented a 303E for this project. Spreading 6-8" of 8910 or stone dust for the paver bed that will be the pool deck.
That's right DB! Mississippi and Alabama have a very short but very pretty coastline on the Gulf. She's a supervisor in training, keeping a watchful eye over the T250. And when she's not supervising she just wants to run and smell everything in a 5 mile radius.
Every time I see the trench packer I want one. I have been watching ironplanet and bid on a couple but they went for crazy money. I like the moving job on the van body, looks like something we would get ourselves into At least your four legged boss comes out in the field ours stays in the office checking on everything she can find to eat!
We've probably bid against each other on IP. I'm looking for another one at a good price as the little bastards do shake themselves to death and I would like to have another one as a spare. However R2 has been a great addition to "fleet". Probably the most profitable machine I have comparing purchase price and ownership costs to what it produces. Back to the van body, it's a "can you move that" sort of question - always up to a challenge.:usa I have to bribe the new supervisor with meat sticks from the gas station, it's only one a day when she's with me, a small price to pay in order to keep in good graces with the management.:drinkup
So the wife and I took off 11 days for a little R&R in Costa Rica for Thanksgiving to visit friends and family. It was rough waking up and having the first cup of coffee in the back yard.:cool2 My job for Thanksgiving was to smoke a turkey. Price Mart which is owned by Costco has a store in San Jose and they import US turkeys for the expats. I used natural charcoal and mango for the cooking, along with a lot of butter to make a tasty bird. My friends new to him 2012 Toyota Landcruiser, it's a fine machine. Straight 6CY Toyota diesel with 5sp. ARB suspension and lift kit. So sweet, I wish we could get them in the US. The Costa Rican Cat dealer is Matra, this is a satellite store close to where we stayed. That's a 420F2 without the emissions garbage we deal with here. There's a rental store sticker on the 420 and I was going to stop in and ask what the weekly rate was but we had beer to drink. Priorities right??:drinkup The excavator is a 318DL2 that looked brand new. I can only assume this model also lacks the emissions garbage we have to deal with as well.
A fairly new Cat 304 mini ex on a very, very well used lowboy, they could stand to invest in some wheel bearings for the trailer.:cool2 Not a chain to be seen... Needed some last minute Thanksgiving supplies so we do what everyone else does, head down to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood market. Yes this chain is owned by Wal-Mart. I thought this was interesting. Costa Rican versions of pervious pavement which is concrete blocks laid in a paver pattern filled with what looked to be #57 sized stone. From what I'm told when they built this "Wal-Mart" they filled the lot several feet and installed underground retention, quite cutting edge for CR.:cool2 One of the local excavation guy's yards. I'm always interested to see how others in our field perform the job and everything that goes along with owning and operating heavy equipment. The equipment wasn't new but appeared to be very well taken care of. Stopped off to have a beer with my friend Pio who owns this establishment. He's come a long way since I first met him. 10 years ago this site was a shack where they fixed tires and he had one worn out Mack tandem he hauled locally with.
The ride back to San Jose to catch a plane. This is a toll road owned by a Spanish consortium which connects the capital city of San Jose to the Pacific coast. They've had a lot of problems with landslides since completion of the road due to cutting the banks back to damn steep. A couple of Cat excavators taking the slopes down, one has a hammer. Poor pic quality, it was raining. JD 510 or 710 grading some base out for a turn lane to a new gas station. Costa Rican round about - organized chaos at best..
WOW! Looks like you're having a great time! Thanks for sharing the pics. Have a beer for me :drinkup DB
Thanks, Labparamour we did have a great time. CR is a great country to visit, might retire there one day..
Thanks for the update CM. I was wondering what happened to you. I'll be in Puerto Limon Costa Rica on the 16th on a cruise, along with Columbia, Panama, Honduras and Belize. Very much looking forward to it.
Still kicking around Waterdoc. That should be a great trip, enjoy! :drinkup I've never been to Limon or the Caribbean side, always stay on the Pacific side or up in the mountains. What I'm hearing from the expats I know is Columbia is the place to be. However it's the opposite in Columbia - the cities are safe and the rural areas aren't. Medellin has reinvented itself - http://fathomaway.com/guides/south-america/colombia/itineraries/medellin-colombia-travel-guide/
Cool pictures, but wow it has changed. I spent 4 months in Central America starting in January of 1972. It does not look like the Costa Rica I remember. At that time from San Jose to Panama was a 22 hour trip on the only road(dirt/mud) if all went well. We ate all you could eat lobster for 75 cents in U.S. funds for almost 30 days. I'm still not craving lobster but would like a return visit to the area.
Thanks for sharing the pictures wets my appetite even more to go there. I always have to look at what others have for machinery and how they take care of what they own, also.. I sure would like to see Costa Rica and Belize, well the countryside part never cared for cities, traffic and lots of people.
Glad you are back and that you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for sharing the pics as well. It is pretty interesting to see how things are done in other places. Glad to see I'm not the only one that takes pics of construction while on vacation.
CR has changed a lot in just the last 6 years Old Iron, I can only image in the last 40. I spent a lot of time there from 2009-11 and to go back now to smooth paved roads and being able to get pretty much anything you want, including American items is shocking. I know the road you speak of, the wife and I traveled the Pan American Highway from CR to Panama once. The border was a mess, had to bribe a Panamanian official to let my dog go through but that's a different story... :cool2 Also flew into Panama City and to to see the canal while the expansion was under construction. For us gear heads, the canal is a bucket list item. Lobster will cost you $20 bucks minimum now. I love to travel dirty and CR is a great country to visit. Great people who speak the queens Spanish, not the slang you here in Mexico, and some English, they never make fun of my attempt at the Spanish language. I was politely told one time that my pronunciation of "Happy Birthday" was less than satisfactory - basically I was saying have a "happy ********"... CR has a very high literacy rate due to excellent schools for Central America standards. Give it a shot for a trip, you won't be disappointed. Thanks LC. There's a local friend of mine that has a 330CME, D6R and assorted equipment. He keeps it top notch at a very tidy yard. Really neat guy who runs a top notch business. I can't help but take some equipment pics when I travel abroad. CR is a very wealthy little country by Central American standards and their economy is booming. New equipment and trucks all over the place.
looks and sounds like a great trip!
It was DD. Had a great time relaxing and catching up with old friends.
Not much going on with the break in the drought to a lot of rain. I hate call backs.. Had to go back to the auto parts store with 2 CTL buckets of topsoil and fill in behind two small retaining walls that settled. The walls had been backfilled since Sept. but heavy rains settled it on in. We didn't compact behind the walls since they were in a landscape area and very little room to get R2 behind them. Had to pull the sod up, take up the plastic edging, rake the river rock back and pull the weed fabric out of the way.. Finished product. Another small wall that settled a few inches behind it. Since the drought has broke, we were able to obtain a burn permit to burn the big pile of brush and trees we accumulated on the industrial lot prep project. Using the pit method of burning, it works pretty well to hold in the heat and create a hotter burn. Industrial sized fire poker.
With winter rains setting in we're building another welded on shank tooth bucket with reversible cutting edge. The other bucket we built this way has lasted 9 years and is still in good shape. Got this bucket when I bought the 279D. It's a standard Cat smooth lipped bucket with reversible cutting edge. It's built fairly well from the factory but it needs some beefing up to last. Prepping the bucket for welding. Those are old D5G cutting edges we just took off the 5. The smaller, scalloped metal is the cutting edges between the teeth on the 953. We don't scrap any good metal around the shop.:cool2 D5 cutting edge welded to the side and D5 end bit welded at the rear. No that is not my welding handiwork or it would look like a toddler stuck Play Dough on it. 953 cutting edge trimmed of the thin parts, more on where those go later. The D5 end bits have a factory cutting edge on both sides, obviously one side doesn't get worn so we turned the fresh edge towards the back of the bucket. This should aid in back dragging. Bottom reinforcing just about finished up. The 953 cutting edges are welded in the areas where the other bucket similar to this has shown wear and denting. This should help with that. The center of the other bucket took the worse beating/denting so we put full length D5 cutting edge across the bottom. We got our shanks and teeth from Cat today. Next step is trimming and welding the shanks to fit the profile of the bucket lip and cutting edge. This bucket is mostly used for fine grading pads and parking lots so the extra weight is a plus. We rarely load trucks with a CTL so the extra weight is not an issue for what we do. However the abrasive soils in our area wreak havoc on buckets and GET so the more meat the better. Currently there are two other projects that made it from the "concept department" to the "engineering department" - converting a Trail King TK14 into a dump trailer and welding fork pockets on our pan trailer to transport forks without having them on the deck. Since the "fabrication department" is currently swamped, those two projects will be put on hold until a later date. We gotta make money too.:tong Picked this up Friday off Ironplanet. One of the most frustrating things to do is having to adjust skid steer forks on a cold, wet day and the forks don't want to cooperate. Got this hydraulic set cheap...$800. Now it's just a road trip to Kentucky to pick them up.
Do the tines pivot/float too? That's how the forks on my tractors are and prefer it.
That I don't know. The standard Bobcat forks are rigid at the top and bottom, so are the ones for our 420DIT. Gradall forks float as well as the flip overs for the '53C.
Can't believe you got those girls for $800! I need a new set.
My thoughts as well. I keep hearing about these IP deals and I need to spend more time on that website and figure out how to use it properly.
They're already on a pallet, why not ship them? Got a road trip already planned?
He'll road trip to pick up those forks,,,, its about the time of the year he piles is pickup into a little old lady.....:lmao
The neighbor to my workplace had a lift with fork movers like that. We borrowed it a few times and it was nice indeed.
Grandpa must be getting restless up north.
I think you may be right!!! The short days and lack of light tend to bring the cantankerous out in me. So I like to:stirthepot this time of year.
I think I got a deal. Mark IP is an easy site to navigate. Road trips are more fun than waiting on a LTL. Scott I'm thinking it will come in handy unloading a truck of storm pipe and materials. Depending on the material it may be RCP, concrete structures/risers and palletized rings and covers all on one load. This time of year when I think of Gramps, this is the only image that comes to my mind :cool2
Maybe it's the operator on my end then. I always end up finding the same items 3 or 4 times and never anything that is in the category's I'm looking for.
Sorry for taking two months to reply. No, two different contractors. I think the first phase was 149 million and the second phase was 190 million.
Wow, those margins are 1/3 and 1/4 of the awarded price. That's crazy on that amount of money.
Yeah, big money indeed. On the first phase (the $149 mill), we were the fourth bidder at 199 I believe (this was 6 years ago so I could be off a few million in my numbers) Walsh was the winning bid. Myers won the second phase ($190Mill), and in that case I think Walsh was 2 or 3, at almost the same margin, if memory serves me correct. The second phase alone had 1 million yards of cut, 6 main line bridges, two overpasses, the interchange reconstruction, adding two ezpass lanes, and lots of sound walls and MSE walls over the 5 miles of project.
Walsh/ Archer Western was not allowed to bid on the I65/20 portion due to being penalized $2,000 a day on this one - http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/03/post_289.html The I22 interchange is open but not when the bids were let.
Ouch!
Time for an update :update Skid bucket finished up - It started out as a Cat smooth lipped bucket with reversible cutting edge. The shanks are Cat backhoe bucket shanks. The shanks had to be trimmed to fit the profile. End shank and tooth welded at the corner to keep from wearing the side of the bucket out. This time we welded a D ring in the center for an attachment point. From time to time we need to move trailers or hook a chain to pull something. I was worried it would clank around but it doesn't. The old bucket that was built 9 years ago using the same materials. This bucket has been through 3 CTL's during it's life. It's held up very well and other than some denting in the bottom where it wasn't reinforced, it has a lot of life left in it. It's being put on light duty along with the T250 as a backup. The pan trailer needed some maintenance and additions. The equalizer bar needed replacing on the passenger side suspension, some wiring up grades and re-packed the wheel bearings. Also added fork pockets to the side of the trailer to stow away the forks where they wouldn't need to be on the bed of the trailer. We had a couple of good demo jobs last year and scrap steel is abundant, so we made a trailer stand. It's much easier if you're working at a comfortable level.
That is a nice job on the bucket. Not sure you could tear that up if you tried. Scratch that, there are people that can tear up an anvil
Thanks LC. I've known a few that could do it as well.:cool2
You must know some of the operators we had at the quarry. Often said you could lock them butt necked in a padded cell with a bowling ball and come back five minutes later to find a pile of dust where the ball had been!
I know the type kshansen, in fact I've employed a few for a short time frame.. Had dump truck driver once that was given very specific instructions - we're going to haul from site A to site B that is five miles down the road. The dumping site B has plenty of area to dump what we are going to haul today, dump here and stack the loads out. The day goes on and I ride by site B to find that the former dump truck driver took it upon himself to get on the backhoe and push the loads.. Instead of following directions and returning for another load, he took it on himself to get on the backhoe and push the loads off - into the woods, between trees that had yet to be cleared. During the "operation" he was able to roll a rock over the top of the bucket with the loader raised and bash the hood on the 420. To this day the hood is still cracked and it still pisses me off...
The bucket turned out good CM! :thumbsup We put a D ring on our tooth bucket as well, comes in handy quite often and doesn't make too much noise.
Thanks movindirt! The D rings are very handy. So far we've put them on that bucket and two sets of forks. Handy as a shirt pocket.:thumbsup
Getting ready to do a little job in God's Country, otherwise know as Auburn University - Auburn, Alabama.
sounds like you know some of my customers also!! I have told 1 customer many times "his guys could break edges off of a ball bearings" He is good natured bout it & just shakes his head & says I know!! LOL
Excellent job on the bucket! Looks like a beautiful day in Auburn. DB
Thanks Lab. The first bucket held up so well I hope we get the same service out of it. It was a beautiful day, that job got pushed off until next week..
Good way to start a work week last week, in God's Country. Auburn Hotel and Conference Center front portico addition. Saw cutting the concrete for the new entrance and storm piping. Upon the initial site visit with GC and owner I asked about the 4 big "pots" and what was to become of them. We were told the owner would move them into storage. Well we know how that goes. The hydraulic forks came in handy. M Digging for the new storm sewer line for the new canopy roof drains. To say it was tight is an understatement.
Your not kidding about jot much room. Nice job though, you didn't even disturb the bushes.
Yeah but I did knock down a light pole with the 420D... Scooping gravel for backfill and wasn't watching the backhoe boom when backing up. To my defense, I was trying to not run over all the stuff that was in the way.
279 earning it's keep during the concrete demo. This is the way it went for trenching. Dig with the mini, load it in the 420 and dump into a 20 yard roll-off. Painfully slow but that was the only option. This dirt will probably be the most expensive dirt we move all year. 8x4 ductile Y with transition to 4" SCH 80 PVC. This piping is all for roof leaders for the new entrance canopy. The University wanted tracer wire on all pipe and they sent their GPS crew out to map the new piping before we covered it up. All new underground construction on campus is loaded into the master GPS model. 4" SCH 80 roof leader with clean out.
Next project for the same GC but this is for their international operations warehouse. Our scope is removing asphalt and base for the new office addition to the warehouse. 220x30' long. Brought in the bigger equipment and it's probably overkill but that's what we have. Take what you win and run what you brung.
It is amazing how things hide behind the hoe on a backhoe, I lost a jeep once . A tracer wire and gps, 2 years from now they still won't be able to tell you where it is.
I wonder if a sideshift hoe is any better for loader work
It happens to the best of us. In my defense the base plate was just about rusted into at least that makes me feel a little better. It was a small decorative light pole, I didn't even feel it although I heard the crash against the building. Luckily no one was walking on the sidewalk at the time and nothing was damaged on the building or light pole other than the base itself. Probably so. This project reaffirmed why we don't work out of town. This project was special being my alma mater and it was for the largest GC we work for. It was fun for a week and 1/2 but I don't care to do it again.
sch 80!!!! are they worried bout heat or what??? that seems like a bit much for a drain!!
Me and the GC's PM VE'd the pipe from 12" ductile to 12" SCH 80 PVC because they wanted to save some money. The backfill was total #57 stone so ADS pipe would've served the purpose for much less but I digress. Like a saying goes - "I don't get paid to design it, I get paid to put it in".
I see you have D5G. I own a Deere 450H and do the same kind of work. Looking for another dozer and one larger than the 450 seeing that if is too small most of the time. The dealer I would like to buy from has a D6M and a D5G for the same money just different years. Wonder whats your thoughts on 5G ? I have also looked at a D5M. Going to keep the 450 for the small stuff. Think maybe the 6 is going to be to big. I move my equipment with my own low boy so that's not a problem.
JMAC my D5G has been a good dozer, bought it new in 2004. It sips fuel and dependable. Only replaced the thermostat, alternator, blade bushings, park brake switch and had it calibrated during it's 5K hours. It is a little nose heavy without some weight on the rear end. A ripper or winch for counterweight would make it a better dozer. I haven't ran a D6M but did own a D6N. A D6N is probably my favorite tractor to run. Ours had a ripper with XL UC. I hauled it on my tag trailer but still required an over width permit due to the blade. All in all I really like the 5G. When we have a site that has some cut/fill I pair it with our 953, those two can move some dirt on a small site. I'll never get rid of the 5G, I imagine it becoming an antique, siting under a shed on the farm one day.
I really like Deere 700H/J's. They are comparable to a d6k and maybe a 5m, i don't know much about the baby hi-tracks.
Thank you for the answer. When you owned the D6N , that is a very nice machine, did you ever find that it was to large for a site project like on 40,000 sq ft of land with 10,000 square foot building being built.
No problem. A D6N is not too big for most of what you and I do, it just does it faster. Visibility on the 6N is great and I like the diff steering. There will always be instances where it's too big in tight parking lots making finish grade but it's the right size and power for initial site grading and most all fine grading. I like to have a CTL on site to assist the 5 when fine grading a parking lot to get into the tight radius's and other corners, it would be not different if I had a 6N. My preference for fine grading a parking lot is a 953 but that's my tractor of choice, my guys like the D5 for that work better. I'd like to have another 6N but the cost is prohibitive at this time and the 5 is paid for. The 5 paired with the 279 is an efficient fine grading team and the 5 with the 953 can hog some dirt on small sites.
CM would it be possible to get the part numbers for the shanks and teeth you used for this? We have a 299D and the tooth buckets aren't lasting but about a year for some reason don't know if we are just hard on them or what! one place they are wearing out is on the end corner where you put that tooth.
The shank or adapter as Cat calls it is Part # 4T-1204. The tooth is a J200. The shank will have to be trimmed to make the profile work. It's some time with the gas axe and welder but you'll be happy with the results. Don't forget to add some steel to the bottom of the bucket as well. We use old D5G cutting edges and 953 center cutting edges, the thickness works out. It works best to start with a new bucket. Just a plain Cat smooth lipped bucket with reversible cutting edge and go from there. Used the first one we built today, it's been handed down to our T250 and it's still a good bucket.
Thanks. Do you notice any difference with the thicker piece in between the teeth that it loads harder? My boss thinks that if I put an extra piece under the ledge of the bucket that it will load to hard I told him I need to put them in so it don't wear the bucket lip off. He thought hard surface would suffice but how it works is it won't get replaced when it wears off where as replaceable pieces would a lot faster.
We borrowed the design from our 953 bucket which as a shank and tooth on the outside edge of the bucket. It works well for the '53 so it'll work well for the CTL bucket. There is no hard loading, if anything the bucket loads and grades better due to the increased stiffness. Our T250 and 279D have no problem loading the bucket full. With the 279, the problem is loading it too much and the dirt rolling over the top of the bucket up the arms towards the door. The 279 thinks it has a larger bucket and wants to keep cutting.
Started a new auto repair facility this week. Small site and small lot but there is nothing like the smell of fresh turned dirt and diesel fuel. A little 953C love. Cleared the site and stripped the topsoil. Proof roll Monday morning weather permitting. Parked up at the end of the day Friday.
A little silt fence/erosion control technique for those interested. Silt fence per plan and inspected. I hate manual labor that's why I run machines. In order to prolong the silt fence's life we like to use a brush berm in front of the silt fence to catch the heavy flow of debris in a heavy rain. The brush will catch a lot of sediment and it can be cleaned out with the trackhoe and re-installed. The goal is to keep the silt off the fence and all the regulatory agencies happy. Fence installed and brush berm above. Pic from above the brush berm. There was a buried fiber optic line in the ROW. Stopped the fence short and used straw wattles for the last stretch. The inspector was OK with it. Yes there is trash all over the place, not the best area of town.
A few pics from the week. It rain Monday through Wednesday so the work week was Thursday through Saturday. Drying the fill out when the sun finally came out. Dirt Doc on the berm next to the auto parts store observing. View from above to show topography of the small lot. The green stakes represent the cut/fill line. Struck a deal with the adjacent lot owner to grade the next two lots in exchange for fill for this site. Win, win. View from the adjacent lot where we are borrowing fill. We are battling too much moisture in the borrow material and spending a lot of time drying it out before placing it so I put my best operator in the seat to see if we could increase production. I try to have fun at work every chance I get.
Back at the new auto repair facility stripping the next area of the borrow pit on the lot next door. Building pad almost complete at the end of the day Friday. We would've worked today but rain was scheduled early this morning and the weather man got it right.. Building pad to the left, parking lot to the right. The area to the left where the 279 and 321 are parked is where the pic of the 953 was taken above. Deepest fill was 8'. We have been battling rain and high moisture - just March in Alabama. Left a swale for rain water to drain in the parking lot. We'll fill that area Monday and get ready for storm pipe and the detention system. The "fleet" parked up at the end of the day. Yes I purposely cut the T250 out of the pic.
8' of fill sounds like fun. How are the adjustable forks working out and do the tines pivot?
It's been a fight with the rain but my guys battled it out. We should've been running storm by now and the concrete guys pouring the slab but we've had several inches of rain since this project started. Love the hydraulic forks, the tines are fixed to the frame. We'll start storm piping next week that includes a 36" CMP triple barrel detention system, the hyd. forks should come in handy. Most of the time we use a CTL as a support machine for pipe laying - bringing pipe and keeping the rock box loaded. It's much easier to hook and un-hook the hydraulic lines than it is to move the forks on a standard skid steer fork attachment, as we all know those can be a PIA to slide. On these small sites a CTL more maneuverable than our 420DIT. On larger sites we bring in the 420 as it just speeds the process up and it can move pre-cast inlets and manholes. The storm on this site is only 4 structures/inlets, 1 headwall and some ADS and RCP. We'll use the 321 to move the pre-cast structures and the 279 to move the pipe. Haven't seen the 36" CMP det. system yet, will probably use slings and the 321 to move it's components.
Thanks for the pics CM. Great to see the 953 doing what it does best. Getting the fill from next door worked out good. I wish we had some of your rain up here!
If I could send some your way I would LC. When I bid the job I priced trucking the fill in with the possibility of making a deal with the adjacent land owner. So there we were installing silt fence and a nice F350 pulled up towing a trailer with a generator on it. The lady driving the truck pulled into the parts store next door and walked up. She proceeded to ask me if we could clear some brush on the front of the next two lots so they could get real estate signs put up. The generator on the trailer was to run her sawzall and she was prepared to cut the brush herself, she's a spunky older lady I quickly became friends with - gotta respect that kind of "getter done" attitude. It didn't take long to work a deal as the next two lots needed to be cut down to be more marketable. Long story short we cut the brush with the brushcat on the T250 and in return got free fill. I love horse trading.
I wish you would send us some rain, we are some kinda dry! Hard getting rid of wood, we need some heavy rain to slow the loggers down and stop flooding the mills with wood. Worked out good on the fill. Sometimes you come across a deal like that and everyone is happy. You never know you might wind up with getting more work from the woman that owned the land next door.
LC I didn't know ya'll were that dry up there. Currently we're getting hammered, maybe that front will make it up your way. Very true. We've graded their two lots back out and cleaned up the brush. I want to leave them a nice site. 36" CMP detention system pipe came in one bundle with the 8", 18" and 24" HDPE inside the CMP - all strapped together.. At least it wasn't heavy just awkward. Moving the bundle to the lot next door, we'll pull it as we need it. Picked it with 2 - 20' straps and 2 - 20' chains. Put two small piles of dirt on either side of the bundle so when we cut the bands it didn't go everywhere like spaghetti. 4x4 knockout box for a yard inlet and 18" HDPE. This line runs behind the building to catch water from the slope. There is a dead end yard inlet on the other end. Personally I hate square knockout boxes, I prefer round structures with pre-cast/cored holes as they are much easier to install. No cutting and it's a smaller hole to grout up. Engineer spec'd knockout boxes. 24" headwall set Friday. We're waiting on our special order weir box, it should be here Tuesday. There is a short piece of 24" HDPE coming out of the weir box that controls the water from the CMP detention system.
No luck on the rain yet. We are something like 5 inches behind already this year. Talking about a small chance later this week but not holding my breath Whoever builds your boxes does a nice looking job. I am not a fan of knockouts either. We take a lot of time to get the hole just right and try to grout around the pipe. Takes a few more minutes to make the hole but is faster on seal up.
LC that's a Foley Products box. IMO they make the best structures and RCP. They have a casting yard in AL 20 miles away. Hanson used to have a casting yard locally but shut it down last year and consolidated it with another yard in north AL. I don't understand that business reasoning but it opened the door for Foley. The CMP and HDPE came from Southeastern Culvert in north GA. Sucks on the lack of rain. I don't know where we stand but when the rain finally did come it has come all at once.
We have two local outfits that build boxes as well as Hanson and Tindall. The one local company does some real nice work , the other builds junk. It is embarrassing to even have the boxes on the job. We don't use them but sometimes if we are subbing a job we get stuck using them because they are cheap. Seems like the quality of rcp has gone down hill over the past few years. Might be they are trying to keep up with demand. Any rain would be welcome here
Yeah we've got a local shade tree producer that creates pure garbage - literally. Used them on one auto parts store, one of the boxes had rags and plastic bags cast into the side. There are pics of those structures back thread. The risers were different sizes, horizontally not vertically which made a really **** poor structure.
Well if that company is the same one as the one I retired from I'm not sure thinking comes into play too often! Like when I was told that they could make more money by paying $1,000 for a hydraulic pump that I had located the identical one for $500, must be some of that "new math" I hear about.
kshansen ... Had a deal like that ... The kicker was at the end of the year, the vendor would return a discount based on the annual purchase. Don't know if it was 50% (as in your example) or if there were tiers or minimums involved.
LOL Kshansen, old math or new math it didn't make sense to me either. The yard they shut down was in a suburb of Birmingham with good access to interstates in a growing area. They consolidated that yard with a yard 30 miles north of the metro area. The yard they shut down made RCP, pre-cast manholes/structures and bridge beams.
We had a fairly productive week considering the site received 3-3/4" of rain in a 4 day period. Clipping the bottom of the excavation for the underground detention system. The det. system is in the parking lot. 279 cutting fine grade. This is the 1/2 way mark. The pipe length is 161' LF including the manifolds. One of many reasons why I like zero swings. 321 went in to bench the right side of the excavation down. Fabric down, subgrade approved and ready for a layer of #57 stone.
The third load of pipe arrived and we immediately seen an end section connecting to the manifold was backwards. Had to lay it out to get a pic for the office folks. South end of the det system manifold in place. Weir box set in the background. The weir box will detain the water within the system and allow it to release slowly. There is a 4" hole in the baffle inside the box, seen in the pick. There is also a 10" hole above the 4" and the baffle is 1.5' below the top of the structure to allow for large flows to pass through. The stub going towards the rock box is for the buildings roof drains. I'll give it to the CMP manufacturer. We notified them Wed. morning when the wrong piece of pipe arrived, they fab'd up a new piece and had it to us Thursday morning. The manhole in the left of the pic is for a curb inlet. Lunch time Thursday.
1 8" HDPE connection from the CMP det system to the weir box. A little 279D love - finishing out the grade on the final portion. Swinging in one of the last sections. 3:30 Friday. Park up, safe up and gather the tools - it's quitting time.
Hauled some junk to the county landfill today, spring cleaning and all. The county's new 836K compactor, it's a beast! Lucy in the back seat watching everything going on. On a side note the operator in the D65 has been pushing garbage at the landfill ever since I've been hauling stuff there over the last 20 years. He's one heck of a landfill dozer operator, just notice the clean unloading area in front of the working face.
That's quite the car wash on the other side of that lady's land, nice little business strip in that area. I've stayed in the Holiday Inn Express on the other side of 59 from where you're working.
95 small world eh? The parts store we did last year is about 15 mins north of the current site. There is another parts store bidding this week in the area. There is alot of work going on in Trussville which is fine by me other than the 1 hour or longer commute depending on traffic. I live south of the metro area, traffic is a bitch to put it nicely on 65 south of 459 all the way to Montgomery.
Actually, it's more like I'M the HEF whore, I GET AROUND! There is a NS line that runs from a little farther South then Trussville all the way up to Chattanooga and it pretty much follows 59. I worked that one for a couple of months, in fact a couple of years ago, that area got hit with a snow storm, virtually nothing in Birmingham, yet up in Gadsden we got 8 inches that night, interesting driving the next day. I haven't been there for a while now, but isn't that area always busy traffic wise? I know I always regretted driving around there in a truck.
There are worst things to be. The whole Birmingham metro traffic situation is a mess for such a small city. Currently Granite is re-constructing the 65, 59/20 interchange downtown. Here's a link to the project - http://5920bridge.com
For that det system, would HDPE pipe have been a better choice as far as long term lifespan of the pipe or? Is there anything special about the CMP that makes it better for that use or just cost?
Cost, CMP is cheaper. IMO HDPE is a much better choice as I've seen and removed too much CMP that has rust clean through on the bottom. I think HDPE was around $4K more for this system, money well worth it when you put a $60K parking lot on top of it.
Maybe it's because i don't buy anything in bulk, but last time i bothered to price 24" CMP it was closer to the price of RCP than HDPE. Was that enough acronyms?
I like acronyms, speeds up typing. The pricing difference is probably regional and the quantity. Company that supplied this system also makes HDPE at their plant in Georgia. Bidding another project with 2 barrels of 48" HDPE 150' long with manifold. CMP is $1700 cheaper than plastic.
I am in the process of installing 3 laterals of 60" and manifold. The original spec was a contech duromax system made out of CMP for around $120k in just pipe no structures. I requested the system to be specified in HDPE and the cost was 40,000$ less. The owner appreciated that I ended up with the dirty dirt removal and paving. The reason for such a large system is the contaminated soils. So pipe is solid pipe. Also installing a storm water treatment unit all under parking lot to treat the water before it goes into city storm. Very elaborate. My point is the HDPE was a lot cheaper than the CMP here.
On another note I did buy another dozer. Went with a Deere 650J. Picked it up last week and so far I am not secound guessing my purchase. Photo is the dealers listing.
Congrats on the dozer Jmac, I have run a 650 a few times and sure did like it, so much that a Deere will be considered in the mix on the next purchase Material pricing is a regional thing I guess. Southeastern Culvert is the one that supplied this CMP system and they also manufacture/supply HDPE. Contech priced this CMP system and was the same price but owners specifically wanted SEC. Both suppliers SEC and Contech were cheaper for CMP than HDPE. I am seeing a lot of CMP going into the ground in my area which just means a nice batch of job security right around the time I get ready to retire. They might get 20 years out of it if they are lucky. We have some very acidic soils, coupled with parking lot runoff, that will take it's toll on metal buried in the ground. Out of the sun light, plastic will virtually last forever buried in the ground.
Finishing up the storm on the auto repair project. 18" HDPE tied into the outlet control structure and 8" roof leader tied into the CMP detention system. The OCS has a weir wall in it to detain the water in the detention system with a 4" hole at the bottom and a 6" hole a foot and 1/2 or so above. I like how the precaster made the box. The weir wall is a separate piece that slides into grooves cast in the box. We took the weir wall out to make mudding the inside of the box easier, instead of having to stand on your head and mud the pipe. When we put the weir wall back in we'll be able to adjust the height a little for the invert so everything flows smoothly. Roof leader connection allowed the 8" HDPE to slide inside the metal stub. It was a tight fit so a mud collar is all that is needed. That and the fact there were no details for the connection. 18" RCP for a yard inlet located in the country ROW. I think this is the first project where we have had RCP, HDPE and CMP all on the same project. A side note - always, always read ever single small font note on every page of the plans. One note stated that any drainage structure located in the county ROW must be site cast. I didn't catch it, neither did my supplier and I priced it as a pre-cast knockout box. Now we have to form and pour a yard inlet. Win some, loose some. RCP connection to the detention system. RCP was a tight fit on the outside of the metal stub, also rubbed a mortar collar around the connection.
Just a little 953C love. If I only could have one machine to earn a living with it would be a track loader.
That's funny you say that. I have never owned one, I do see how it would be nice. I do have a wheel loader and have not seen a track loader ever in use. If I did own one I would be the only one around with one. Lol. I purchased a rt56 like your rt82 on auction time it came from Texas. We cleaned it up gave it a coat of paint and it is good to go. It was a rental machine (sunbelt) with 250 hrs on it and looked like it went thru a war. Everything works and I think it is going be great to use. We have 12 apartment buildings to back fill and compact and thought it will work for the out side so we can keep a large wacker plate on the inside to do both sides at the same time when we back fill. That is another tool I see no owns around me but your post about how much you like yours was one of the reason I decided to try one. You gotta keep an open mind because the way we always have done it does not mean it is always the best.
Before and after
The whole hood areas are filled in with bondo. Not perfect by any means but better than it was and won't hurt the first time they scratch it all up in the first hour of use.
JMAC for some reason the pics didn't post, try it again - I'd like to see your R2 renovation. We bondo'd our R2 as well as it also looked like it went through WW3. The little trench roller has been a great asset to the "fleet". Now I don't see how we got by without him. The time and money it saves in over excavation in order to get the big roller in the trench and stone backfill has more than paid for itself. I look at the weekly auctions on Iron Planet to see if any more are coming up. I figure we can get a couple of more years out of our current one but if I can pick up another one cheap under $3K, I would buy another one as a spare. I'm a track loader guy, grew up around them. They are capable of so much on a site. It can cut grade, clear and grub, tote materials and so much more. Basically a CTL on steroids.
I paid 3500$ for mine.
Trying it again.
Nice Jmac! Love the color scheme. $3500 is a deal for what the little machine can do. On the current project we used it to compact the initial non-crushed stone fill lift with on site material with R2 - saved a ton of money and met specs. I couldn't use my 533E due to weight. If I wouldn't have had R2 that would have been purchased stone at $625 per load. Would have taken 6 loads to get above the pipe and I would've still been nervous putting the big roller on it even then. We used R2 to bring all the backfill to final sub-grade over the det. system, it took a little longer but there was no way to damage the CMP. The super was so intrigued by it that he ran R2 for most of the backfill.
A real pleasure to see someone do a good pipe job. As always it is neat and clean. I like the connection between the metal and concrete pipe! Thanks for the trackloader love!
Thanks LC. The pipe isn't always the best but we do what we can to get it right. The 953C was a champ on this job, saved a ton on trucking and the distance was just in it's sweet spot to make production.
Site cast inlet box in the county ROW. County spec's, which are archaic at best but that's another story, which require any drainage structure in the ROW to be site cast. Why? It's like asking why the sky is blue... Anyway we're not concrete guys or carpenters but here's the progress pics. Bottom formed up and rebar tied. A rod buster would cringe as much as I would if he tried to cut finish grade with the 5. Like I said I'm no carpenter or concrete guy. One thing to remember when making the interior form for a box with 6" thick walls is there are TWO 6" walls. I caught it as soon as the inside form was let down in the hole.. Didn't take much to trim it down 6" and put it back. Too big inside form. Forms corrected along with poor man's wall ties and pig feet - tie wire through the forms with grade stakes or rebar to tighten them up. Worked well for such a short wall. GC had a pump on site to pour the footings. We could've used the pump to shoot the mud in but decided against it and shoveled the mud in from the track hoe bucket. Wasn't that difficult and we didn't blow the forms out. Finished product after stripping forms and rubbing the bug holes. Turned out OK for a bunch of dirt movers.
CM that box looks better than some I've seen come out of a manufacturer. That really is a stupid spec. I wonder what there thinking is behind it. Might be from back in the day of building boxes out of brick onsite. One day I'm coming down and move some dirt with your 53. It's been 6 or seven years since I've had the bucket on our 63.
You are welcome any time.
So LC we finally spread base for a parking lot. Parking lot is 6" and 5" concrete paving and the GC wanted us to spread and grade the base. GC supplied stone, we supplied equipment and labor. Easy, peasy the 279 shined. Electricians were still running conduit in the under slab. The grate inlet in the pic is part of the CMP detention system. Rented a Hamm smooth drum roller, I'm not giving a plug to the rental company - they didn't discount the rent. The roller was a rental so my evaluation needs to be based on that but let's say I was not impressed, wouldn't own one.
Another chicken shack, this will be the 4th for the same owners. Mobilized the traveling circus from the auto repair project last week. Taking some pines down. Unfortunately the big water oak is destined to come down. Stripping topsoil and stacking the trees and brush. Stripped approx. 1K CY of nice topsoil, it was 6"-1' deep. Processing the trees and brush for haul off. The site is low and wet and the pines were weak with fat rings due to growing fast and sucking up the water. They broke up easily.
Lot stripped, topsoil stocked behind loader. A combination of CL 2 silt fencing, rip-rap with #57 stone and brush for erosion control. The brush is in the highest flow channel and can be moved easily if we need to get back into the retention pond area. Brush, especially pine tops, make a great erosion control barrier. When it gets silted up, it's easily removed and replaced with a machine, no manual labor. There are two more rip-rap/#57 filter damns downstream to filter the water before it exits the site. There is some rock on the high side of the parking lot. We'll have to hammer that down below grade. The lower portion of the lot adjacent to the HWY is 3-4' of muck. We're going to geo-grid 3/4 of the site and place 3-5' of chert fill borrow and hammer rock on the other 1/4 of the site. I love Alabama geology. Lucy hanging out on the site enjoying a nice spring day. So what do you do when you had an inch of rain Sunday night and the site is too wet to work Monday? Take Lucy to the Cahaba River of course.
Looking Good CM. Don't think I've ever heard a single nice thing about hamm rollers.
a company doing a highway project near Raleigh its granite construction they have a few of those but other then that I haven't ever seen anyone local use one
Thanks hvy. Catwelder, Granite is doing an expensive "re-model" of the I-65/20/59 interchange in Birmingham, otherwise know as "malfunction junction". I have yet to see a Hamm roller on that project but they might have one tucked away somewhere.
Hey CM, thanks for the the update. I saw the Hamm in the pic and was going to ask how it was, to late question answered . Looks like if it is chicken or auto parts you are the guy. You confirmed my thoughts on the pine. Looked like fast growing trash trees. Strange to see that rock sticking up like that( for me anyway). Sight cleaned up real nice after stripping. Something relaxing about stripping grass and topsoil!
LOL LC yeah we do a lot of fast food and auto related business, it's what comes across the desk. I got an invitation to bid on an industrial expansion for a supplier to one of our large auto manufacturers which I am interested in pursuing. The pines were pulp wood at best and not enough for a full load, the only plus if we did send them to the mill is that they were heavy. That's my super on the dozer and I'm in the loader of course. There is something relaxing about stripping topsoil and grass - a combination of starting a new project, the smell of diesel and fresh turned dirt and making a showing at the end of the day. We can team up with him on the 5, me on the 53 and move dirt like a fine tuned V12 - you know when you get in that groove and get **** done, nothing like it.
Hopefully you will get the expansion job. How much dirt is there to move? I don't know what it's like by you but we can't give away pulp wood. Just finished a job and had to grind up10 to 15 loads. If it were not for export wood we would have been in bad shape with selling logs. Oh yeah gotta love tag teaming topsoil. Over the years we have had a few jobs where you get two dozers side by side and just push. Kinda mindless, nothing to think about but pushing and like you said at the end of the day it looks like you did something.
Haven't got the plans yet on the expansion. Should have them tomorrow. I don't deal in wood unless it's a big job then I bring a logger in or there are nice hardwoods enough to make a load and cover transport. I couldn't tell you what pine pulp is bringing across the scales. How's the grinding business? There are just a few around here local that grind wood waste on site. We can open burn with restrictions from Oct. to May so most large scale clearing is done during that time span. Smaller clearing jobs are usually hauled off to brush dumps or wood waste grinding yards. I know I've brought it up before but wood grinding is a business I'm interested in, however the cost of entry is high - your Peterson is a chunk of change.
The clearing and grinding has been real busy lately. The grinder has been steady moving from one place to another. Got it back to the mulch yard to do some regrind and mulch coloring this week. Gotta find some time to add some AR400 to the floor. I love clearing and grinding but it is expensive to get into(grinder wise). You already have everything else you need. I think the grinding business is like a puzzle with a lot of parts. A grinder operator has to be an operator, a mechanic, a truck dispatcher and all around problem solver. One thing we have going for us is a steady way to get rid of mulch and we do our own trucking. It kills you to depend on mills to take the mulch and outside truckers to haul it.
I don't go to the capital much but went the other day and saw one and it was down getting fixed so if that tells you anything. "remodel" yeah that's a strong word because they been remodeling for about 5 years now
The road weight restrictions went off here this morning. Now I can finally go play in the dirt too. This will be my 58th year. Gosh it goes by oh so fast!!!
So far Granite is clipping along on the I65/20/59 interchange here in Birmingham. Bridge piers are sprouting like weeds and pre-cast bridge beams are going in. It's a helluva job. Now get that crusher thawed out Grandpa and get to selling some crushed rock!
Only worked 2 days last week due to rain. This site is located in a valley with hills on both sides. The water runs through the rock at the rear of the lot and has no where to go except saturate the top 3 feet of existing ground. Met with the geotechnical engineer and came up with a plan to install some under drains around the building bad and parking lot to cut the underground water off. We've done this several times on similar sites. 42" wide trench, filter fabric, 6" sock pipe and 1.5' of #57 stone. It took 500 LF of pipe, 2 rolls of fabric and 100 tons of #57 stone (4 loads). The water in the pic is leaching out from underneath the road. The site dries up quickly due to it's sandy nature so it was easy to spot where the ground water is coming in at. Bottom drain installed in front of the building pad. This drain ended where the compactor was parked in the pic above. The process of installation went as such - Dig trench to grade in sections the hoe could still reach back to the fabric. Gentle use the hoe to unroll the fabric, lay pipe and bed with stone using the hoe. The rock box made this very efficient. Use the machine not your back. The drain moves on. Completed section ready to cover up.
You certainly run a tidy site, CM. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Have you ever run a 4 in 1 on your CTL? I'm curious how they perform in real applications. Over here you hardly ever see 953/963's or backhoe loaders without them, but CTL's of any colour are as common as rocking horse droppings.
Thank you ih100. We try to keep a clean and neat site. The current site in the pics above is sort of a mess but it's like working on a sponge. Worked 4 12's so far this week brining in structural fill, it's much better now. Years ago I demo'd a 4 n 1 on a Bobcat 853 I had and didn't like it because it was heavier than a regular bucket and when back dragging for final grading the clam wouldn't stay closed so it skipped across the ground. I have a tine and solid bottom grapple bucket for the CTL that we use when we need to tote debris or doing demolition. Everything else can be done with a standard tooth bucket in my experience, I haven't found I needed one. Now I would like to have a 4 n 1 for my 420DIT, wish I would've got one when I bought it.
I hired a 226 with a Cat 4 in 1 on it, it was quite a lightly built bucket and wouldn't stay closed at all. Just tipping it the bucket flopped open. I think that was more down to hirer abuse. Why don't you like the Hamm rollers? I've used the towed ones behind 953's and 63's, but that was over twenty years ago. They did the job at the time. I've seen traxcavators and some International machines with standard buckets, every 943/53/63 I 've ever operated on site has had a 4 in 1. Different ways of working. Here nowadays most building sites get flooded with excavators. There's a nearby commercial job that I've been watching progress on, three warehouse units on about three acres. Topsoil strip, reduced dig, roadway stoning, warehouse bases, all done with three 12-tonne Hyundai excavators, two 7-tonne front-tipping dumpers and a Cat roller. A 953 would have done 95 % of what 6 machines and 5 guys did, in about the same time. I suppose it was keeping people in work.
That's the same experience I had with a skid 4n1. As far as that Hamm goes it ran fine for 2 hours and then started throwing electrical fits not cranking, it was maybe a couple of years old and in good shape for a rental machine. Called the rental house and they walked us through getting it cranked and finally got it cranked. We just left it running until we finished compacting the base. And it had a Deutz, I had a bad experience with a Deutz and fuel pump solenoids in a Bobcat 863. I'll never own another one. Sounds like that warehouse job could've been easily handled with a 953, D5/6 and a compactor. I like to pair the 953 and 321 for clearing and the 953 and D5 for topsoil and earth moving. If I only could have one machine to make a living it would be a 953.
i've had nothing to do with Deutz in the last 25 years. The new ones are like the rest, too many cables and sensors. The old air cooled four and five cylinders that Cat fitted in the smaller 200 series excavators would leak oil all day, smoke like a locomotive, and never miss a beat. That's progress - not. With you on the 953's, good sized machine. It was a sad day when they discontinued the 943 and pushed those POS 939's with the rubber tip links. One came up four auction near me last year, ex local government machine with 2000 hours, went for £4000, whatever that was USD. someone got a bargain there, shame it wasn't me.
Somebody did get a good deal on that 939, I too would've bought it for that price - $5155, although I've never ran one and not familiar with them. What about the rubber tip links? The 943's were popular around here for residential work, they basically replaced the 955's and 941's in the '80's. I guess Cat figured the bigger CTL's are filling the void left by the 943 but they can't and they won't. Speed and rubber won't make up for weight and metal tracks. I have thought about going up to a 963 for the next loader for a little more ass and bigger bucket. Mobilization is not a problem as I hire it out to a friend who has a tri-axle Landoll, it's a sweet trailer. LC has a 963 but he hardly ever puts a bucket on it.
As the chicken shack turns. Started structural fill this week. 4th load at the entrance. The trucking company we are using has some nice tri-axles, two new KW's and this Star. The under drains dried the site up but the existing soils were still soft, very soft - the 279 would leave 2" tracks as it traveled. Had a meeting with the geo-engineer and owner, decided to use geo-grid across the entire site. Decided on an 18" thick bridge lift on top of the grid, static rolled with the compactor - no vibration as that would've brought the water up. Rolled out the grid far enough to get the initial 18" bridge lift and still be able to maneuver equipment around the site. The geo-grid cost around $6K, way cheaper than undercutting and importing more fill. I've used geo-grid many times before with good results. This site was a perfect candidate. Once the initial 18" bridge lift was spread we could back loaded tri-axles across it and dump without pumping. Advancing the second lift on the grid. Turned the vibrator on for the second lift with good results, no water came up. We had a few areas that were flexing under load after the bridge lift but they tightened up on the second lift. Firm believer in geo-grid.
The chert pit where we loaded the fill. The material is very hard and abrasive. Already went through a set of teeth on the hoe and almost wore out the teeth on the '53 cutting and pushing to the hoe. In 3 - 12 hour days and one 5 hour day we loaded, hauled and compacted 238 loads, not too shabby. We mob'd to the pit Monday, this pick was Friday. When we arrived there was barely a haul road in the middle, we moved a lot of dirt last week. Spent my time between the pit hogging dirt with the 53 to the hoe and the site. When I came off the top of the pit, I immediately saw the track in the dust of the haul road at the bottom of the hill. Those are tandem dump truck tracks in the right of the pic. Got down to the bottom of the hill where the slither track was, rummaged around the back seat to find my 410, then looked around to see if it was anywhere close before getting out to snap the pic. Not much to do when your working can to cain't out of town but have a few cold barley sodas on the second floor of the motel. Your's truly in chair, it was a long day.
Still looks pretty can to me, CM. Good stuff as always.
Ha! Thanks hvy. Cain't came around 6:30 PM after 60+ loads. Work hard and play hard, enjoy life along the way. There is nothing like having a groove moving dirt, trucks running smoothly and hitting compaction - it was a good week.
CM, wanted to say thanks, appreciate viewing this thread ( and LC's, all the continuing blogs), been lurking through for the past couple years with great interest! Never really considered using the grid beneath clay layers, always fabric between soils and grid beneath aggregates, might have to investigate this! -Josh
I would say you had a real good week. Lot of material moved and placed. I like geo grid as well but we rarely get to use it. Seems to me that our soil guys are somewhat scared and would prefer to undercut and place new fill on most jobs. That is Ok also $$. The dirt pit cleaned up real nice. Working out of town sucks when you can't work!
This site was a perfect candidate for geo-grid once the under drains were taking the bulk of the ground water. The existing soils are silty clays that have no strength when wet. This soil layer was 3-4' deep then hard clay. Due to having a fixed invert on the existing pipe at the lowest point of the lot, we would've had to pump the water from the undercut as it would be below the bottom of the under drains, not a viable solution and would've been a PITA for us. The grid performed well and saved the owners $25-30K in undercut and import - win/win. The fills range from 2.5' to over 5' in depth which allows enough structural fill for the geogrid to perform. I have used it with crushed stone and dirt with good results. The structural fill is chert which is a mixture of clay and rock. This chert also has a fair amount of sand which helps with compaction. Basically it's a sandy clay with gravel. It compacts very well, we use the 279's teeth to wipe an area smooth for the nuke tester because a shovel doesn't cut it. This is the 4th chicken shack we've done for these guys, my role is to VE in addition to being the site contractor. They don't shop my price and I give the most economical solutions to get the site developed. The difference between a project like this and a hard bid for a national chain is the owners listen to your suggestions, instead of the boiler plate - "do it like the plans show". Several times I've made suggestions on national chain sites that would save time and money only to ruffle the PM's or engineers feathers, I guess they thought I was trying to show them up. Oh well it's their money. LC I wonder if the soil guys are worried about how the georgid will perform with your sandy soils? The rock in our fill helps the grid perform as it should. Interesting question.
It is great to have a relationship like you do with the chicken folks. I know what you mean about the guys that want it by the plans whether it is good bad or ridiculous. We have a couple good customers that we help in the same way. Lots of times we would make more going by the plan but it seems kinda sleazy to take advantage like that. You have brought up a great point about the grid. It stands to reason that the sand would for lack of better words squish through the grid. Next time I get a soil guy I like I will ask him.
The chicken shack site has a very old, very nice water oak on the corner. Original plans called for it to be removed which would have been a damn shame. We put our heads together and played out several options to re-design the parking lot and monument sign location in order to save her. I redlined the site drawings at the local breakfast joint over a gravy biscuit and some ham and eggs. Presented it to the owners and they went with it. Lost 2 parking spaces and a landscape island but it was worth it to save such a beautiful tree. The fill is at the edge of the drip line and with so much ground water on this site it has a shot at making it. Parked up at the end of a good week. Chert fill 3' past the back of curb and topsoil roughed in for a future swale to carry water off the street, towards the the oak and across the front of the lot. The stake by the idler on the dozer is the high point of the break on this side of the parking lot. The T-posts with the caution tape is the end of under drain we installed across the front of the building pad. Left the end open to take the run off from the road. Shows the amount of fill brought in to bring the lot to grade.
Yeah I agree to pretty of a tree to take down for one or two parking spots. The site is really moving along and taking shape. Are you going to install curb now or wait until the building is underway?
I like your idea of saving the oak. Is that your fuel tank, if so how do you move it? Most guys around here run pickup truck tanks or have a fuel tank in a job trailer.
That's our fuel tank. It's a 550 gal. double walled with all the plates and certs. If it's a bigger job we'll bring out that tank instead of using the transfer tanks on the pickups. Usually it stays at the shop and we fill transfer tanks up out of it. We have a 90 gal tank on each pickup and a 100 gal on the service truck. If the tank is empty we'll move it with the hoe and a strap or the 279 with forks. Only try to move it when it's empty or less than 100 gals. Rented a 60' JLG boom lift and trimmed the lower hanging limbs in order to get a little visibility from the street. Didn't cut many just the lowest ones hanging towards the ground. Cleaned up nice, forgot to get a pic. Next two days are going to be soakers so we probably won't be back on site until Thursday.
I haven't updated the thread in a while, it's been busy. Laying some 18" HDPE at the chicken shack, backfilling with #57 stone. Always a challenge on the chicken shack sites. They go for the prime locations that have been passed over because of the challenges to develop. Perfect example here. 3/4 of the lot was water logged with poor soils and the rear 1/4 of the lot was limestone. Laying some 18" HDPE to catch an existing 15" RCP coming under the road from the building up hill. More on the rock to follow. This was one of two weep drains we installed to catch the ground water leaching out of the rock layers at the rear of the lot. This pic is after we hammered the rock layers down to 2' below finished grade and filled back in with #2 crushed limestone. There is quite a bit of groundwater that flows between the layers of limestone and comes out in this area. This is also the reason why the lower portion of the lot was saturated. The wick drain is tied back into the French drain we installed before any fill went in. The geo-grid can be seen in the pic.
Now for the rock. Rented a Kobelco 210 with Stanley hammer from NEF. I have to admit I was impressed by the Kobelco with 5K hours and a hammer hanging on the end of it. It seemed to have held up very well for a rental hammer machine. The slow going process of hammer, remove, hammer, repeat. We hammered the limestone down to rip-rap size pieces and used it for the outflow at the one headwall on site and along the ditch next to the street in the pic. Storm manhole tie in to the existing pipe at the upper end of the lot. Had to hammer some rock to get it in there.
Gratuitous rock excavation pic to show the site conditions. The pile of rock in the background came from the rear storm line. Rock, topsoil and ground water. The groundwater in the pic is the reason for the wick drain up thread. Rock hammered below grade and somewhat smoothed out. The plan was to hammer the rock 2' below finished grade, filter fabric, 1' of #2 stone for a drainage/separation layer and then chert fill to pavement sub grade. The #2 stone and fabric will be a capillary break between the chert fill and final pavement. The wick drain is 1' or so below the #2 stone layer so in theory any groundwater coming up will drain through the #2 layer to the French drain and exit the site. #2 stone spread on the filter fabric just before a good ol' southern rain storm dumped on the site. Another layer of filter fabric was rolled out on top of the #2 stone. Now, weather permitting we can place the final layer of chert fill and see this project in our rear view mirror.
Thought this was a neat pic of the hammered limestone. The circle was about the size of a 5 gallon bucket lid.
Looking good like always CM do you have to deal with rock you have to hammer out much?
With the amount of rain you've had lately I'm surprised you're getting anything done.
When we have solid rock on a small site like this a hammer is the cheapest option. On larger jobs in the past we've drilled and blasted but that was 1,000's of CY's of rock. We don't have to hammer that often.
No doubt. My backyard has become a mushroom farm.
I always love looking at your pictures. The way they look speaks volumes about the quality of your work. I live by the theory if it looks like you know what you're doing no worries if you know what you're doing.
Glad to see you back CM. I've missed the updates. That rock looks like a royal pain in the rear. The whole site looks like it was a pain. You must have ESP, you knew I was going to ask about the Kobelco. Been years since I have run one. As always I am impressed with your pipe work.
It's been a while since I updated my thread, it's been busy. New addition to the fleet and the company. Had the opportunity to bring on board someone who I have know for years that is very good at utility work. We have expanded into water and sewer, specifically underground fire service lines. 2014 F250 gas burner. I wanted to get a diesel but this truck will fit the bill for the time being. Outfitted it with a fuel tank and boxes I had from previous trucks. 279 has been a great CTL, I love it. Grading some camper parking pads on an infill job. Building a pad for a new private school. This is type of job I love - totally design build, no stakes, no plans. They are just starting out and using a modular building 28x76 to sit on this pad. End of work Friday, building pad roughed in. Those three machines with the right humans behind the controls can move a substantial amount of dirt. No GPS needed.
1200' of 20' wide driveway to access the new private school. This part was an old logging road we are widening. 600' or so will be new. I love my 953C! If I only had one machine to make a living with it would this one. Just some of the crap we deal with on commercial jobs. This yard inlet is the one up thread that we had to cast in place. When we left the site this inlet had silt fence around it and clearly marked. Mason's decided they needed access so they just covered it with sand and drove over it. This inlet goes into the CMP detention system we installed back in the thread. This picture could possibly be a thousand words or dollars if come punch out time the GC says " You need to clean the detention system in order to get your retainage." On a lighter note, Lucy AKA "The Goose" loaded up and ready to go supervise a job site.
Some nice looking projects & Cat equipment spread there CM1995!
Excellent work CM ! Got a few dirt / mud jobs waiting where I can leave the tape measure & transit at home , I love those jobs Lucy looks like she is doing great as a supervisor
Thanks TD! No doubt the jobs where "we can do what we do" without plans is what makes this profession fun. I am gravitating back towards those types of jobs as the local economy starts to rebound. I still like the hard and fast commercial jobs as the pay is better but ya' gotta have some R&R in the business world too. Interesting times, we'll see how it goes. Lucy has really developed her personality over the last year. She's a truck dog that likes her "Peeps" she gets to see on the job site and ride to lunch with. Friday the two hard grizzled war veterans both had chicken fingers stuffed away in their pocket to give to her when we got back in the truck. Salt of the earth those guys.
Nice to get an update. I'll be interested in seeing some of your utility work, specifically water lines. I'm always curious about how things are done in other places. What sort of watermain commissioning process do you have to go through?. Grab some pics of the processes when you can. Cheers.
Glad to see you doing well. Its about time you got in on some utility work! That 250 looks identical to my 350, I hate the 6.2 gas, Ill never buy another. They are simple and cheap to maintain but it looks like the 6.7's are winners, not like the 6.4 or 6.0. Mine averages 11mpg and is just plain lazy. I just put a transfer tank in mine and Im afraid to fill it up, its just annoying your foot is always in the floor to get the thing moving.
I agree Aliate. Wanted a 6.7 but needed a truck and this was the best one local available at the time. However it's a short term solution. The plan is for me to get a new truck and roll my 6.7 to my grading super. I would like to get into a 2 year rotation on pickups and get all F350's with 6.7's.
New addition to the "fleet" a Bomag MMP 8500 won on Iron Planet. Had to go to South Carolina to get it. Rental decals removed, a good washing and of course a full service including all fluids and filters. I like this machine, we're trying to come up with a name for it - Maybe R2D4? The 420DIT is getting a front cylinder re-packed. A fire service lead in project for the new utility crew. Put the 420DIT and T250 with this crew. This line was 8" ductile tying in where the city made the tap, set a valve and lateral. 175' of pipe and a stainless steel lead in to the existing building. R2D4 and the new to the "fleet" F250. This job was at a municipal airport, the runway is in the background. While the crew was there an Osprey landed from the Alabama Air National Guard, very neat aircraft. For the amateur geologists on HEF. This airport is located in Sylacauga, AL, known for it's marble mines. Marble mined here is on buildings in DC. The lesser quality marble is crushed and sold as aggregate. This is marble chips the GC was using under the concrete parking lot.
Hey Cm, great to see you got the new crew making money. Just curious but do you need to licensed to do fire lines in AL? It varies so much from area to another. I am with you on the right guys don't need GPS to move a lot of dirt. A day will come when us old farts that can use hubs and bluetops will be needed because GPS won't work on a certain site. That is neat about the marble. How does it hold up. Does it degrade with traffic?
CM, how do you like those trench rollers as opposed to a hoepac on the backhoe or say a hoepac on a 130 sized machine?
I swear i'm not a Star Wars nerd, but since it's a different model roller it should b a different R number. R3 would be the obvious choice, but anything from 3-9 works.
LC we don't need any special licenses for this portion of the work as we are a sub to the fire protection company. On the topic of GPS, I am not a naysayer of the technology and I think it's here to stay with great benefits to an engineered job but there is nothing like having a blank canvass to move dirt and create road in the woods with no plans, just see how the land lays and start moving dirt. That's what I enjoy and the reason I've always been drawn to moving earth. We were BS'ing about winning the last lottery at $700M or so and I was asked what would you do? My answer was I would buy 10K acres, some new iron and start at the front and work towards the back making roads, ponds and lakes along the way with no paper plans. I don't know how the marble gravel compares to limestone we normally use. The marble is specific to that one area, I haven't had the opportunity to use it.
Aliate I wouldn't know as there are no hoepacs in my area, I don't think I've ever seen one on a machine here. The trench rollers work great for our soils. We use them all the time not only for compacting trenches but for all sorts of small compaction projects. Great for basement and retainer walls, we've also use them on small jobs where it's not feasible to bring in the big roller. They don't tie up a larger machine like an attachment does but it also adds another engine to maintain. HA! I've got to do some research in the nerd world on the net to come up with a good number.
I love diesels and have one for my weekend toy, but unless I start towing heavy and a lot I'll never buy another for work. There is just to much BS on them now and they ain't a as dependable. Being a GM guy we has several 2500s with over 200k on them and they cost 10or 15k less to buy I haven't used a hoepac in 15 years now. Trench rollers are the way to go. I'll even widen a trench out while backfilling so we don't need a jumping jack for the small trenches. I love field engineering a job too. I have thought the same thing if I won the lottery.
As for lottery plans, I know where there is a 10,000 acre pasture with 1 fence around outside. Could spend a long time building road through that.
Thanks WaterDoc and I apologize for not responding sooner. One of the services we perform is being a subcontractor for a large fire protection company installing the underground portions from tap to in building riser. On a normal fire line and lead in once installation is complete we will test the line and lead in. Depending on the local municipality the building inspector and/or fire marshal will witness the test once the line is pumped up and under the required pressure. On certain University jobs there will be a university inspector, city inspector and fire marshal come out at inspect once under pressure. The fire services are separate from the domestic service so no chlorination or water samples are needed.
DB the "newsd" (new to us used truck) gas burner has been good so far, it does what it's intended to do and fit the budget for the time. However I prefer diesel as we do tow a lot pulling the smaller equipment around. So far my '13 with just shy of 90K miles has been great - knocks on wood several times. My philosophy is buy new and run to 200K miles if it's a good truck, anyone can get a lemon in any brand. When I bought my '13 the price difference between gas and diesel was around $6K, well worth the extra money when divided over 6 or more years of service at just $1K or less per year premium. At 200K miles a used diesel truck will still carry a $2K-3K premium over the same age and milage gas burner, if not more - as long as it's not a 6.0... Our 2001 F250 7.3 is still used every day with over 200K on the clock. In need of a new trans so we don't pull with it much. The '01 will become semi-retired when I purchase a new truck for me and hand my '13 down. On another note with the flooding in Houston I've read articles of how many vehicles were totaled to the tune of 250K or more. This will affect the new and used truck market in the Southeast as insurance claims are processed and Houston gets back on it's feet. Due to this I am considering going ahead and buying a '17 instead of waiting on the '18 Fords. Rumors from Ford is they will not start Job 1 production of the 2018 Superduty's until Nov. which means getting them on the dealers lot will be January at the earliest. This coupled with the demand for vehicles from the flood will drive prices up for new and used trucks. I hate buying the current year model new when the next year model is coming out soon but we need to upgrade pickups. At a cross roads.
It's been a while since I've updated, since adding another crew my PM and office duties also doubled. Finishing up the private school project. Topsoiling a slope and spread 1.5" crusher run for the modular classroom pad. Our 533E compactor is a nice machine, took the shell kit off to roll all the stone in. Clearing a slope for a mini-warehouse expansion. Interior demo job of CMU wall for a large GC we work for. This is their fab shop where they make all sorts of steel imbeds and piping for their large industrial and aviation projects. CMU wall was not poured, it came down easily once separated from the bar joists and other conduits/piping running through the wall. A little R&R. Saturday's game at my Alma Mater Auburn University agains Mississippi State. It was Military Appreciation day, the US Army Herald Trumpets made an appearance. It was fantastic.
How much work is it put that shell kit on and off?
Not too bad Mitch. 1/2 impact on the service truck and either the hoe or old Blue to lift them off and put them back on. Usually the bolts that attach the shell to the drum and each other are shot, depending on how on how long it's been since it was swapped.
Hey CM, Thanks for the update, what did you use to take the wall down?
Good ole manual labor using chipping hammers to break the wall down well below the bar joists. Then sawing sections on both sides of the wall and using the GC's Cat tele handler to push the wall over. The shorter portions were pushed over by the T250. The walls weren't filled so it wasn't tough to break the blocks out.
Well unfortunately for us manual labor is the only way to do some things. I would like to see god do that
Utility crew had a fire line tap for a new warehouse building for an automotive supplier. Existing 12" C900 line was in the asphalt in front of the truck scales. Had to hammer rock in the ditch line all the way across the road. Rented a 310J with hammer from United to break the rock. The T250 is still in service.. The dirt crew is working on an expansion of an existing mini-storage facility. This project involves clearing and re-grading an existing slope to 2:1, building pad and concrete flume. The concrete flume is in our scope of work. Usually I don't take concrete work but I've got a good sub to do it and it's a new client with future work. One erosion control trick we use - the dirt berm behind the silt fence is to divert water away from the existing building and into brush check dams and silt fence behind the 321. The cheap silt fence is for looks and to make the city happy.. The new building pad elevation is behind the berm. The mound of dirt between the new pad and slope is to be hauled out. We'll cut the bottom portion of the slope and finish the building pad while that dirt is hauled out.
Looks like you had some near perfect soil conditions. I don't see any rock. The slope looks a lot bigger now all the clearing debris is gone.
The slope wasn't too bad to grade but looks can be deceiving - there are chert rock bands that run through the slope. We had to change teeth on the hoe to cut through it, the D5 just skips over them. A video of how hard chert can be to excavate - The slope is not perfect but considering the ground conditions it's good enough to be behind a mini-storage building.
You're not kidding. That is some hard digging. Poor teeth☹️ From the pics I would have never, turned pretty darned good for sure. Hardest thing we deal with on teeth is concrete demo. Little over $700 for a set on the 160.
One of "those" jobs eh CM? Those are the normal conditions that we fight up here at this time of year in New England. The rains never seem to quit, you're rushing to beat the deep freeze, working in glop/peanut butter, your boots are 2 feet in diameter with muck all day...it ain't pretty by any means. Good for you, you're getting her done.
CM I hope your doing well I miss seeing your updates.
I'm still around. It's been hectic, the good type of hectic, for the last two months with 2 gas station projects going on at the same time. I've got pics and will post up some updates.
Enjoy the pictures do you hot tap your water and fire main tie ins. How are you liking the 321 we have two of them their nice the door is a little tight getting in their really stable on slopes with good power would tiger teeth work for that chert or wear out to quick for you
Jakebreak it depends on the tie in, who's it for and whether it's a private fire line or tapping a city main. Sometimes we can isolate and cut a T in or it's a hot tap. Love the 321 it's been a great hoe and it's paid for. We've tried tiger teeth before but they break off. We use penetrator plus and they seem to work the best for digging and average wear.
Cool same goes for us on doing tie ins it just depends I wish I had pictures of a job we did on the coast running storm and water up slopes that were pushing 2:1 for a flat lander it was a different but not bad just couldn’t get crazy with swinging
I use mostly the Penetration Plus teeth as well but have also used the twin and single points. In my opinion they seem to work best in fractured rock because the small points can get in the crevasses and lift out the chunks. That being said they do wear quicker than the others. As far as breaking goes I have only ever broken one tiger tooth. Since you used the term Penetration Plus I assume that you are using Cat teeth on your Cat hoe. Maybe you already know this but Cat teeth are guaranteed against breaking. My dealer gave me a brand new tooth when I showed him the broken one. Since I've not had a lot of teeth breaking, and I'm digging in severe applications (bed rock, shot rock, etc., and clays too), I think that Cat makes some great GET. Is it possible that your teeth and shanks are slightly undersized for use on a 321? Maybe bought your buckets used and/or held over from your previous machine/s? As it relates to "zero tails" I bought a Deere 245G this year and I have been very pleasantly surprised at how well it performs in my application. It's been remarkably stable on slopes (and I have a thumb and coupler mounted as well), can work better in areas that we normally have been using a 15tn machine, and the tool control system has been great for all the different attachments that we are using (crusher, hammer, and plate compactor).
DGODGR I am using Cat GET and the shanks aren't undersized, the bucket was shipped with the machine from the factory. I've used the Cat guarantee on GET more than once. As far as tiger teeth go, they just don't work well for our digging conditions.
Well it's been a while so I figured I'd post some pics of jobs over the last several months. It's been busy with a healthy variety of work. Small demo job at an existing shopping center for a new end cap. Didn't expect the asphalt to be this thick. Obviously hard to tell but it looks like the GAB was off grade and they brought it up with asphalt. That's an expensive filler..
Gas station scrape and re-build, we currently have 2 for the same company.. We didn't do the demo on this one but did the demo on the other one. Stormtech system installation, both new stations have them. Hole dug to grade, fabric down and 6" #57 stone layer going in. Chambers, manifolds and inlet structure set. 3 - 20K gallon tanks set. We obviously didn't set the tanks but we dug the hole. Also dug out and backfilled around the last two canopy footings that had to be formed and poured due to existing gravel backfill from the old tanks that were removed.
Small side job - repair a sanitary sewer MH prior to final seal coat in a new subdivision. Off-set flat top lid with concrete donut and new R&C. R&C with donut mortared in. We used tar strips on the joint between the existing manhole and the new top, as well as between the donut and the top. The inside was wiped with water plug. For safety and liability reasons we backfilled the hole at the end of the day with gravel and safe'd it up. The mortar on the cone was still wet so we came back the next morning and compacted the gravel around the MH, cleaned up and removed the traffic control.
What kind of shoring did you use for the gas station tanks for the hole it doesn't look to deep just curious if you guys use slide rail out there as always your work looks good
Jakebreak there was no shoring, not by our decision but from higher ups. We were hired to dig the hole and we sloped it the best we could. That situation will not happen again.
I can't believe how much mortar you put on that lol. Over here people think I'm over doing it when I put mortar under the riser instead of just wiping some on the outside!
Hey CM, you're lucky with only 5 inches -- we run into asphalt like this all the time doing warehouse work, usually it's in 2 or 3 layers.
It's the way we finish out a ring and cover on a flat top in the street, especially if it's sanitary. This city is also a very picky municipality to deal with so we went overboard a bit.
I hear ya' Ronsii but this was a parking lot next to a TJ Maxx.
@CM1995 How are things going? Got any pics for us?
Hvy we've been very busy work wise and I lost my mom on April 19th from a long battle with cancer. Currently we are finishing up a gas station, in the middle of a professional office building project and tearing down a bank for a new green auto store. Gas station tank hole - solid limestone. More on this project later when I have time to go through more pics and talk about the retainer wall behind the Kobelco. Both hammers are rentals, one from United and one from Cat. Got to love stupid scheduling... Canopy steel erected at the beginning of the job before the building slab was even poured. Squeezing the 336FL hammer underneath to beat some rock for a storm line. Professional office building project. 42" RCP very close to power pole servicing the credit union next door. The pole was 8' in the ground, at least that's what the power man said. GC had to get Alabama Power out with a derrick truck to hold the pole while we dug past, laid the pipe and backfilled. Went off without any problems.
Sorry to hear about your mom, CM. At least for me, busy helps with that kind of stuff.
Thank you Hvy. I am fortunate to have some great guys who work with me that have picked up my slack during the last couple of weeks and being busy does help. The future work load is looking well.
My condolence CM . That's a tough job to deal with loosing a loved one . Thoughts & prayers for you & family Cory . Keep up the good work Bro !
Sorry to hear about your mom I'm glad we don't have to deal with limestone a whole lot out here is it slow going when you hammer that stuff out I don't like squeezing by them power poles on a side note we had a guy years ago running back fill on a excavator next to a pole forgot it was there and swung into it on his blind side broke like a tooth pick and put quite a few people out of power oops as always the work looks good
Talking about Life & loss ..... I never was comfortable in a funeral home or a delivery room . Know what to do at a job site but this is out of my capability ...... Never did forget when the Doc asked me if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord on our new born child .... " Hell no Doc ! " That's why we hired you to do this job ...
Sorry to hear about your mom, CM. Work looks great as always!
CM Sorry about your mom. Lost ours a few years back. She was good, or at least seemed to be, right up to the last day. Our sister stopped by in the morning and only mentioned she felt a bit tired neighbor went in that after noon to check on her and she was gone. Only hope that when my time comes I can go like that. Back to the project, really have to wonder about someone who schedules a job where construction starts before grading is done wonder what other dumb things they will do. Put up sheet rock before running the wires in the walls?
I've got a building we've been working on that has sheetrock going up on the inside, and the roof isn't done. If it rains, there's water everywhere running down the stairwells. Never put anything past a general "superintendent".
Thank you TD, Jakebreak, Nedly and kshansen. It sucks but it's part of life. If ya'll still have your parents, give them a big ol' hug.
So we had two gas station projects at the beginning of this year. The picture below is the other one which had a substantial amount of cut and haul off. The site required a nice size retainer wall at the rear of the property, 33' at it's tallest. The owner decided on a soil nail wall and hired a company out of Colorado to install it. Our scope was excavation and haul off. The process involved us digging down a 5' shelf around the perimeter of the retainer wall then the wall crew drilled holes, grouted epoxy rebar, hung wire and the applied shotcrete. The process involved excavating 5' deep, soil nails, shotcrete and repeat to grade. It was an interesting as well as a PITA job but it paid well. Rented a 326FL for a few months for this job as the other hoe was tied up on the other gas station. It was a nice size job before we ran into limestone, then the scope grew a bit. Rented a 336FL with hammer for 4 months to break all the rock beneath the retainer wall, the gas tank hole, storm drains, building footings, Stormtech detention system and you get the idea.. Close up of the first "lift" of the soil nail wall. The black strips are drains that run behind the wall. So
cm that sounds like some serious rock to put a 336 on it i have never encountered limestone before but three months of hammering gets old till the check hits the bank
AZ our area has abundant limestone, quarries dot the landscape with the higher grade limestone being made into lime for all sorts of uses. The lesser grade limestone is crushed into aggregates. At one time on this job we had a 336FL and a Kobelco 300 both with hammers on the site. There is a pic down thread of both of them hammering the tank hole. I was able to get enough hammered limestone from this job to cover our new yard of approx. 3/4 acre 6" thick. Gotta make hay while the sun shines.
Along the way I found a new truck. 2018 F350 XLT long bed 6.7 4x4. It has the ultimate trailer tow camera system which is slick, remote start, center console with bucket seats, chrome package, gooseneck hitch, sliding rear window, nav and a bunch of other stuff. I've owned a lot of trucks Ford and GM in my career and I have to say this is the finest truck I've owned. Had to go to Tampa to find a truck with the specs I wanted at the price I wanted to pay. Worked out well, the better 1/2 and I got to spend two days at Universal Studios on the way home.
Gotta wear sunglasses to look at it. Real nice rig . Too nice to take off road at job sites
Thanks old man Raildude! The more I drive this truck the more I like it. Ford finally put comfort, convenience and performance in a package.
So this was my first bank heist. The 329FL on loan from the Cat dealer while we waited on our new hoe made quick work of the front entrance. We had cut the power and phone the previous day in order to disable the alarm. The aluminimum store from gave little resistance. The drive through lanes went down quickly as well, no cash in the vacuum canisters either.. In the lobby, working my way towards the safe where the money was supposed to be. Finally made my way to the vault.
We didn't need a combination, we had a Cat and some rigging. I knew the vault was pre-cast prior to bidding but never dealt with one. This pre-cast vault was simple in design, construction and de-construction. We got 2 coil bolts that fit the pre-fab panels.\ Fab'd up a jig from the steel that supported the drive thru canopy and some angle we had left over from another demo job. The clevis's are from a 60" CMP detention project. This is the last of the ceiling panels for the vault. We had a problem with the dumpster service so we called in a trailer dump to move some debris. This building was basically a big house - wood frame with brick veneer. There was a lot of trash and not much recycle. With the dump trailer we knocked out the debris haul fairly quickly. The debris was wood framing, drywall, OSB and drop in ceiling - nasty stuff to deal with but came out of the trailer fine after it was processed. We were able to get on 40 yard can of tin shred. I haven't picked up the ticket from the scrap yard to see how much it weighed.
Typical bank.... you can hit em' like a tornado and they still won't give you the money. Nice work CM, what's the vault door going to become?
Somebody could have had a world class gun safe for their new shop....... Then again, maybe you need it to store your own $$$$$ Looks good, glad you are busy, we've been pretty busy the last 2-3 weeks, but we usually get busy later than the dirt working guys.
Crane op the entire vault is for sale including the door. I have the combo and keys for the inner and outer door. Shipping could be a bitch though.
Oh- so I should buy a vault, that you have the keys and the combo for, that I could install in my shop...... Somehow, someway, I don't know how that would be secure storage for me. Then again, I really don't need secure storage for a piece of paper that says what I owe the banker.
I have one I took out of a bank years ago. It was all steel thought. Always thought someone with a couple of daughters would be interested in it when they started to bring around some of their dates. LOL
Crane op I'm too lazy to drive to MO to find out what you'd put in it plus you can change combo.
You should make safe room out of it in your house how’s that ford working for you that’s a good looking truck you will have to let me know how that 6.7 does I love my 7.3 can’t beat it
Jakebreak we currently have 2 - 6.7's, a 7.3 and a 6.2 gasser. The 6.7's have been great, the 2013 has 100K on it so far. I'll probably end up selling the door as it's the most valuable and use the panels to build a safe room.
Cool that's a good looking truck got a few buddies with the new ford diesel and their happy with it you staying busy back there
Jakebreak we're about as busy as the cat that ate Ex-Lax. I got two digging holes, one covering up and one hunting new ground. Seriously we are blessed to have as much work coming across the board. I am going after a few large jobs as well as our normal retail/restaurant jobs. Currently we have one green auto parts store, a red circle gas station and a medical office. Looking at a 50K sf warehouse addition, another green parts store, professional office cafeteria addition and few small jobs in between.
Somehow that gives me a warm feeling by seeing a bank being demolished.
Hey CM. This is the first time I’ve been on in a while. I wanted to tell you I am so sorry to hear about your Mom. Congrats on the new truck as well as the big workload. Nice to see you are busy!
Thanks LC, I appreciate it. Idle minds go to waste so it's good to be busy - it's been 10 years since I've seen this much economic activity.
I have been slacking in picture taking. By putting together two crews meant we needed another excavator. RPO'ing a 2018 325FL. Delivered it to the bank demo, the loaner machine is being picked in the background. It has the tool control circuit and plumbed for a QC. Opted for a manual thumb instead of hydraulic, as a manual can easily be removed when laying pipe. Might add a QC later and adjust the thumb tines to match. Pretty good deal the local Cat dealer is offering on a Rental Purchase Option. 6 months interest free with 100% going towards purchase price at the end of the 6 month term. Monthly rental is the same amount as renting one from the Rental Store. It's a no brainer if your work load is full. We drop the manual thumbs when we don't need them. A lot of times we are lifting heavy structures or reaching at distance laying pipe and the extra weight causes issues. Our profit is putting pipe in the ground, the demo and other things requiring a thumb are just part of the overall package. In order to keep the bosses from spreading out we use an old pin when the thumb is off. This is the 321DL.
Congrats on the new hoe. That is a good deal on the rpo! Would you do a pin grabber or wedge lock coupler? I prefer the wedge because it does not change the tip radius much but you can’t turn the bucket around and use it like a shovel.
Yeah it is a good deal, it's a little more interest over the note but gives you 6 months of flexibility up front so it's a trade off. I was talking to my salesman about the wedge lock coupler as I'm not that familiar with them. We've had a pin-grabber in the past and had problems with the hydraulic lines to the cylinder as little rocks would get in and rub holes in the line. It appears Cat sells loose "ears" to retrofit buckets to a wedge lock so I might investigate a little more on that option. What I'm interested in is a hammer. We had over $100K in hammer rental on the gas station job and coming across more rock on our projects. Of course a hammer wears on a machine but it wouldn't be dedicated to run it. We'll see.
I personally like the wedge lock. Like I said it does not change your tip radius like a pin grabber. We actually have three buckets from out Cats. We got a couple coupler brackets made so we could switch some of them to the Volvo’s. I think we have a 42 inch a ditch cleaning bucket and v bucket still with cat brackets. If you do get a hammer make sure it is not plumbed with quick couplers on the hyd lines. We had a coupler come apart on our 325 because of the hammering. You guys take care of your stuff so a hammer on it wouldn’t be that bad and like you said it would not be an everyday thing.
Cm good deal on the ex As for hammers of you run across rock you can't afford not to own one in my opinion but you wont survive here in the custom home world without one In my experience if you put the right hammer on a machine the wear is squat if you know what your doing and since I am giving my opinion the only brand of hammer to own or put on a machine you own is an npk
I've used Stucchi VEPHDL couplers on smaller excavators, they can handle the pulse shock of hammers without coming apart inside, but on that size excavator I prefer direct connections to the pipes. One thing you need to inquire CM, that new rig prolly has it, but make sure it has the valves to send the oil on the return aux line direct to tank, you don't want the return on a hammer to go back through the control valve and the oil cooler. Also, I don't know about that rig, but some brands offer return filters that are designed for hammer use, Cat may offer that on that machine. Oh, BTW, good to see you're kicking *** enough to bring a new rig in the fleet, rock on bro!
And be wary on mounting a hammer on a machine that has a thumb, mainly a thumb that has a full backing plate welded to the arm. That backing plate creates a reinforcement along that portion of the arm. But where it ends, slightly below mid arm, it will create a stress point in the arm when using a hammer and can cause cracks in the arm steel at that point. Of course this is all related to how the operator puts a load on the arm during breaker use, fore and aft. In rental units this is more of a problem, like sending the arm all the way out until the cylinder bottoms out and bang away. Grrrrrrrrrr
^^ I'm glad you mentioned that willie just something to keep in my mind when looking the machines over as I'd much rather catch a crack before it goes nuclear...
Thanks for the info Willie. This tractor does have the thumb backing plate welded to the stick. At the moment it's just a discussion, work is going in so many directions that creates a lot of "needs" on the equipment front. Here she is on a restaurant project in Birmingham.
Nice rig, and looks like dang good long undercarriage. And yes, just my experience, not research science, that I've noted machines that have backing plate for thumb welded to the arm does make a stress point when using a breaker. But again, I think that's all related to the operator as much as anything.
I forgot the 325 is a RTS now. I was expecting a 270 size machine. For some reason I thought the loaner was in the foreground of the last post. This is what happens when I HEF past my bed time.
The loaner was a 329. It was a nice tractor. I had a 325DL that was a 65K lb machine, it appears the 329FL took it's place. We really need a RTS machine for the work we do.
I'm not sure what I like best, the new pickup or the new 325. I really like both . Ditto on Willie's comment that business is good
I can see that Willie. The strongest part of the chain is the weakest link. I would have to say the truck.
We have a 95% shot at a 50K SF warehouse addition with a tentative start date of Aug. 1. The project is mainly dirt work with a fire line, hydrant and roof leaders. The project consists of: 2500 LF of silt fencing 3.5 acres of hydroseeding 4,000 CY of cut/fill, all fill coming from onsite and any excess wasted on site. 50,000 SF of fine grade sub-grade 50,000 SF of supply, place and grade 6" DGB stone under concrete 13,000 SF of supply, place and grade 6" DGB under concrete paving 750 LF of 15" to 12" HDPE roof leaders and connections 460LF of 8" DIP fire line Relocate 1 existing FH and install 1 new FH. We are obviously not going to manually blue top 50K sf so I went looking for options. Decided on a Cat BB124 box blade with auto laser set up to run on our 279D. I haven't order the blade or the laser system at the moment, waiting on a contract for the above project 1st. Local Cat dealer and Sitech quoted the entire system with a UL622 laser, installation and 1 day training for $30K. I thought that was a good deal. Basically we'll be able to grade the dirt sub-grade and DGB stone to 1/2" tolerance over 50K SF with one machine and operator. I figure this project will pay for the blade and we have the ability to grade flat, single slope and dual slope projects with precision. That blade will make grading a small 8K sf pad a piece O cake.
Do you guys use scrapers or blades in that part of the world. I just find it interesting how different things are from one region to the next I have only ever seen one track loader on a job here but everyone has a wheel loader along with grade tractors I only know of one skid steer set up but you find grade tractors everywhere
AZ there are scrapers around my area but not that many. Hoes and artic trucks are the choice due to the varying ground conditions in my area and my choice as well to move material. Go to the north or south part of the state and scrapers are more common as they have more "scraper dirt". We have track loaders running all over the place in the Southeast. Heavy amounts of rain and clay soils make it tough on a wheel loader. Birmingham AL on average receives more rain (total inches) than Seattle. It's not uncommon to get an inch of rain in an afternoon during the summer. By grade tractor I assume a skip loader? Which is what I call a loader backhoe without the backhoe and a box blade on back. If so, I don't think I have ever seen one working locally.
Yea skip loaders like a deere 210k or l I like your term "scraper dirt" it's like top soil we don't have any Everyone here in the commercial pad business does it with scrappers and blades but then we only get 12 inches of rain a year maybe and the only time you find sand is in the river bottom witch is dry most of the time
Huh, we average a couple more inches than Seattle as well. I would have thought it would at least be in the 50's. Lots of track loaders in my area for the same reasons. Sewer and storm water upgrades are about the only time I see mid-size wheel loader. There are getting to be quiet a few 1-1.5 yard wheel loaders kicking around. A few years ago i saw a wheel loader digging a basement in ID. It was completely alien to me.
Granite has a few on the I-65/I-20/I-59 interchange under construction, I drive through it almost daily during the week. I can see a wheel loader on a large utility or road job but for our operation it would be an underutilized piece of equipment. A CTL is a great tender for the pipe work we do. It can keep the rock box full and string out pipe depending on the size. We're on a site now that had 42" RCP, the T250 didn't want any of that pipe. If the job and/or the pipe is bigger our 420DIT tends the pipe crew. A rubber tire is a heck of a lot cheaper than a wheel loader and can dig a service when needed. Just my $.02 from what we do.
We do the same CM …. Why have the extra 500 pounds out there when your not using it . Don't take that long to rig & unrig it for the old cat's that have been doing this for awhile Sorry, middle aged cat's .. Now these young fellers would be looking around for the electric button or hydro lever in the cab to remove the thumb LOL ! Great idea using the pin to protect the bosses !
Nothing handier then a well handed backhoe Cm I see your point it's hard to justify equipment that's as expensive as wheel loaders that will sit more than used. For the same reason I have not bought a 14 ton ex it would be handy but it would sit more than it worked currently we are well developed into our backhoe market
No doubt Az we all have to look at our company's needs and do what makes money as that's why we do it. Markets vary as much as the equipment does. TD as you know it's not to hard to drop and re-hitch a manual thumb and the trade off is less weight and no hydraulic maintenance. When I do run a machine with a hydraulic thumb I use the hydraulics to set the thumb angle and use it like a stiff thumb.
A little R&R in a country that holds Nicaragua and Panama together otherwise know as Costa Rica. Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This is where the mountains meet the ocean. These round river rocks have been pushed into that hole by the waves. There is a small river that dumps out into the cove in the first pic. Those rocks travel from the top of the mountains down the river to the beach only to be pushed back up on land. Mother Nature is pretty damn impressive. Best Monday I've had in a long time.
Good to see a few pictures of Costa Rica, amazing how the rock are pushed back on shore. Mother Nature does do what she wants when she wants. Enjoy you time off from work is this close to where you lived for a while?
Hey CM, enjoy your time off but don’t get used to Monday’s like that
Wish I had a machine that would move material easy as mother nature . Enjoy the R&R CM !
Do you see very many 1960's / 70's American cars in Costa Rica ?
Dirty this was farther south towards Panama on the Pacific side than where I lived. You won't see any old cars TD, you won't see many new American cars either. Mostly diesel Toyotas, Nissans and Hyundai's. There are a few Ford 150's and Superduty's but not many full sized trucks at all. However you can still buy Toyota Landcruisers with the old inline 6 diesel. Most of the SUV's are all diesel as well.
And I was hoping you would run in to a nest of Chevy , Mopar & Fords down that way old buddy . Starting another project & looking for an old set of wheels to build it around .
I hear you on that one. I scored a nice set of '66 farm truck plates awhile back and I've been looking for a suitable truck to put them on. Like I need more projects.
Found you another project JNB https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/chevrolet/el-camino/2125386.html
Started a 55K SF warehouse addition this week. Our scope is erosion control including grassing, temp. access road, grading (of course), fire line with a new hydrant, stone under bldg slab, stone under new parking and roof leaders. This project is 20 mins from home and I am loving it. Pic of the access road leading to site and the site office trailer. #4 rock for the road with filter fabric underneath. Temporary HDPE roof drains to divert 1/2 of the 100K sf of roof water coming off the existing building away from the pad. We will try and salvage what we can from this temp pipe when we run the permanent ones for the new addition. 55,000 SF pad for the addition. We used two hired on-road tri-axles to move fill from the borrow area on the other side of the transmission lines. I had 1.3 weeks in the bid to move the 4K CY's of for the pad with two hired trucks. Our team completed it in 3 days. Blurry pic but I was on the 533 compacting chert. The old and the new. 325FL with less than 200 hrs coming down from the borrow area while the 321DL sitting just shy of 6K hrs gets a new fan belt. We also gave the old girl some fresh ELC as well. I like the sun reflection off the hyd. cylinder. The future in the construction industry is bright and I think it's just starting to rebound.
Keep up the good work CM ! I love the jobs that are close to home more I age .
I wager it took a little while to tie all those downspouts into that HDPE, but well worth it with our southern frog stranglers that can pop up on a moments notice and wipe out a fresh graded fill. Brilliant!
A little 953C love. Folks this is one of many things a real loader operator can do with a track loader. One of my super's getting to push dirt and just be an operator for a day. That area was graded only with that 953C. Those sheepsfoot marks in the ground are the work of yours truly. 279D slicking off the topsoil stripping pile. This topsoil will be re-spread around the addition. The grader attachment for the 279D came in today and the SITEC components are coming in next week. Soon we'll be able to grade to within 1/2". On a total aside - had to go to the closest Tractor Supply to get a filter base for the 500 gallon off-road tank we had delivered yesterday from our fuel jobber that had no filter. It was hard to resist the 5' + tall metal chickens outside - they were very close to being works of art. After a couple of pics and texts to the better 1/2, we decided to pass on the big assed metal chicken that would've stood like a T-Rex in our little back yard. Well that and the $149 "clearance" price tag had a lot to do with it.
Thanks TD. I've put over 6K miles on my new truck since March, so it's nice to be close to home. It was expensive with materials and labor but like you said this time of year we might get 1/2-1" of rain in an afternoon. Time is money for the client when they don't currently have enough warehouse to store what they are selling. The really cool thing about this project is it was design build and I was fortunate enough to be in on the design stage and give a little $.02 here and there as the working drawings were produced.
More than $.02 cents. Rather foresight guided by experience, something the customer doesn't have. Experience is priceless and you showed your worth by noticing all those downspouts along the route of what will be new fill under construction. Nice catch.
Even with 45 years under my belt as a civil engineer on the design / owner side, I don't claim to know the best way of constructing it. If it's something complicated or a bit different than the norm I have a couple contractors that are willing to give me their opinion . I also get to review driveway approach plans (in the highway ROW) and soil erosion plans (county wide) for our organization. Today's young engineers rely way too much on what the computer spits out. I saw a driveway profile with 4 - 20 foot vertical curves in about 125 feet. A straight line from the first point of curve to the last accomplished the same thing if the center-line was calculated and plotted and I know that's what the contractor was going to do. I have no idea what the purpose was. And that wasn't an isolated instance, I see it all the time. The client gets to pay for the foolishness. The good thing is any day can be my last day
Gone a bit quiet on here lately. I'm guessing things are busy at the moment, CM. Missing the updates, especially the 953 pictures.
Ih100 it's been busy, very blessed to have as much going on and in back log. Both crews are working steady. The 325FL is doing great, it is a very nice hoe. Added this attachment to the fleet on the warehouse expansion job. The blade is set up to grade automatically off a laser. Sitec Southeast set the system up on our 279D. 2 operators put down 1500 tons of dense grade base in 3 days graded to within 1/2" and compacted. The system works great.
So let's catch up. 321DL on a 2 story retail/office project with a little 953C love for ih100. We had the erosion control, demolition, storm sewer and grading. Finished this project up today except for coming back to backfill a few curbs. Our old 420DIT still earning her keep. Just goes to show if you take care of your equipment, it will take care of your company. Bought that backhoe new in 2003, 15 years of service and many more to come. This was this summer in Alabama - the A/C still works. This was another green auto parts store literally in my backyard - 5 min commute if the one traffic light between my house and the site is red. Some 953C love again. The loader graded this end of the pad on the warehouse expansion. Brought both crews together on this project as the scheduling just worked out. On the loader is one of my superintendent's. He enjoyed being able to just push dirt and keep the trucks turning for a couple of days. I'll say it again and it never gets old - If I only had ONE machine to make a living with it would be a track loader. Very small job we did for our best clients - the chicken shack owners. They were the ones that help springboard this company after the 2009 crash that consumed the last one. Project involved re-grading around the rear structure for positive drainage away from the building, piping gutters underground, misc conduits and grading a rear drive. Rented a 305.5 mini - we really liked that machine. If I had enough mini work to justify one, we'd have one.
Outstanding CM ! I really appreciate the jobs that are close to home .
Laying some 18" RCP in a subdivision. Nice little job close to home as well TD, this one is maybe 20 mins with traffic, 10 without. This 325FL is one fine trackhoe. I haven't been on it since we first got it back at the green auto parts project where we tore the bank down. It's surprisingly powerful and quiet. The C4.4 - 4 cylinder power plant is impressive for it's size. This tractor outperforms our 321DL with the C6.4 - 6 cylinder and uses less fuel. I wouldn't have believed that unless we run both daily. Overall shot this afternoon. The street goes on. Some
Glad you're staying busy- did you have much storm damage in your area, or did it stay east of you?
It was all south east of us. The Dothan area was hit pretty hard but not near as bad as PC and Mexico beach.
Ah, bless you for the 953 pic, CM. I think I woke you up...Good to see you're busy, I guessed that would be the case. Why do you prefer a GP to a multi-purpose bucket? (may have asked this before) The variety of work you do I'd have thought the versatility would outweigh capacity. I've probably used MP's about twice as much as GP buckets, and much prefer the advantages. I've never strained one either - yet!! Beautiful tidy work as always. Don't often see jobs (or machines) as clean as yours, no wonder the repeat work keeps coming in.
Thank you for the kind words ih. We are blessed to be busy with quality work at better prices than we've seen in the last 10 years. MP buckets are rare as hen's teeth in my area. There are 100's of track loaders running in my work area and I can't recall seeing one with a MP bucket. I'd give it a shot if they were more common but the GP does what we need it to do. Now on the next loader I will take a serious look at a hydraulic QC with bucket and forks. Our 420DIT has a QC and it's handy as a shirt pocket.
Must be a regional thing like trackloaders themselves, we only have a couple old ones with a normal bucket everything else including our ctl's has 4n1 buckets
The handful of track loaders with GP buckets around here are dedicated to the big pipe crews. I'd say less than 50% of CTL's have 4n1's and 80%+ of track loaders do.
I can't think of any track loaders around here As for mp buckets they are not that popular most that I see with some wear on them are bowed so they dont sit flat or close right because of that I have never been a fan but you dont know what you haven't used so maybe the jokes on me
Nice pics and nice work CM. Love that red Birmingham dirt! When I was operating a horizontal drill (past life) it was easy drilling on Hwy 31 in Vestavia Hills, not like a job I did in Hamilton, soil was sand and pea gravel along with some spots of clay, I'm convinced Satan placed that crap material in that area.
Thanks Willie - Birmingham "dirt" makes us money. We have a mixed bag of soil to deal with no doubt. AZ after touring your great State a few times I can see why - no need for one a wheel loader would be faster and much less expensive to operate. With the clay and rain we deal with in the Southeast tracks are a necessity. The only wheeled machines I have is a 420DIT backhoe and Gradual 534D6.
A current project - tear down a dilapidated waffle king to make way for another green auto parts store. Pic courtesy of our hired lowboy service - great guy but gotta give him a few pointers on pic taking. The results of a 321DL renovation on the old waffle king. Your results may vary but ours were pretty good.
Time to time when scheduling permits we take on side jobs like this one - clear for a geotechnical drill rig on a new warehouse project. The site is 70+acres and we cut probably 2500' of road in so the tracked drill rig could take samples. Bought this D5G new in 2004, still producing to this day. A little love and care goes a long way.
A little more 18" RCP CL III on a new housing project. As Digger would say - "Proudly spending today building the dilapidated housing of the 22nd century...." I can only imagine he would be proud of us. Single wing curb inlet in the works. Good ol' Alabama chert right here in the spoil piles. Abrasive as hell and tough to dig through. Side note - the #57 limestone bedding around the pipe came from a quarry that is literally just down the hill from this site.
It's been a while since I've updated this thread - a lot of life has happened in the last year both personal and business. Installing the StormTech system at the Irish auto parts store we tore the diner down for a few posts up. Pretty simple system we've done several of these, this is probably the smallest one. The isolator rows forward in the pic, there are 2 and the nyoplast structure we've nicknamed "gumbies". You old folks will get the reference. StormTech installed, inspected and backfilled. The outflow goes to a curb grate inlet in the entrance. Setting the lid with grate inlet. That 325FL is one fine machine to run.
Excellent work CM ! Was sure thinking of you guys after the recent storms & tornados that hit Alabama .
Thank you TD. Beauregard is just south of Auburn, AL located along I-85 near the AL/GA border. The city of Auburn is the home of Auburn University, my alma mater. Although the devastation and loss of life was horrific for Bearegard, I shudder to think how many lives would've been lost if the tornado's would've been just a few miles north.. The project I posted pics of above is about 1:15 HR north of Auburn on HWY 280 in Childersburg. Stay safe out there folks who are in tornado prone areas.
LOL ! I like the nickname .
I'm Gumby dammit!
A lot of folks have the impression tornado's are mostly a summer thing. Not so. Here down south, especially the most southern states, Alabama included, it actually begins at the end of winter, February and March are precarious months for sure. This is because cold snaps that sweep down from the north are still common during these months, but then one day a warm mass will sweep in from the gulf and meet up with that colder air that's in place. Before you can sneeze there's a "nader" on the ground, and a powerful one at that. The opposite will happen as well, we'll have a warm spell here and a cold front will sweep in from the north, get's a little crazy then as well.
Saturday's high is supposed to be 70 which is really warm for here this early in March. Warm winter days make me nervous.
"Comes in like a lion" has special meaning down here.
Scott ya'll be careful today, Arkansas is in the danger zone.
We got some rain and a bit of wind but nothing serious. We really needed the rain too. Got so dry I could almost walk on the lawn without sinking in.
So I spent some hard earned money on leveling The Silver Bullet and adding some 35 12.5 18's BFG K2's. It's been a long time since I've been able to spruce a truck up for just the fun of it.. The proportion of tire to truck came out exactly like I wanted it. The 50K SF warehouse expansion we did back in the summer and finished in the late fall. Grass is coming along nicely and we're close to pulling silt fence, closing out the NPDES permit and getting retainage. Front of the building towards the parking lot. Side view. I had our erosion control sub hit those bare spots last week.
Looks good!!!! Both the Silver Bullet and the warehouse.
Nice looking truck there!
Got lucky enough this week to be able to take a break from the phone, laptop, emails - (because the mail never stops Jerry, it just keeps coming and coming), excel spreadsheets, RFI's, RFP's, lien waivers, pay applications, contracts, estimates, schedule projections and all that other paper work BS. So I jumped in the 325FL and ripped out a few parking lot islands and some side walk for a new tire store going into an old golf ware store. That's not my S250 it's the interior demo contractor's. We're doing some horse trading on some remaining concrete slab haul off - he had about a load left he couldn't put in his two dumpsters due to weight and I had some bushes to get rid of that I didn't want to haul to my dump. So we traded horses - I put my bushes in his dumpster and I'll haul off his last load of concrete. The S250 helping clean up was a bonus. The retail construction market has been good to us whether it's a restaurant, clothing store, pharmacy or tire store. The location can be a pain sometimes logistics wise but the compensation is there. Right up in the middle of retail land.
Thank you Metalman! Thank you Ronsii! Guys it's been a long time since I had some extra $ to spend on sprucing up a truck beyond just putting a fuel tank and a tool box on it... It's nice.
Started this small 70x70 building pad for a metal building at a local CMU manufacturing plant about 5 mins away from our yard. The site is a former quarry that has been filled in over the years with overburden and concrete washout. There is an unknown depth of concrete washout where they will erecting the building. We were hired to hammer out 2-3' of concrete and haul in structural fill to give a minimum 3' cushion between the building footings/slab and the concrete. Rented a 200 Deere with Stanley hammer from UR. It is a nice unit and the Deere has held up well with 6K rental hours on the clock and a hammer hanging on it. Also on the job is our 325FL and 953C. We are disposing of the excavated concrete on site, so the 953 shines again. Actually we suggested to the plant manager we build out the rear of the building as it drops off down to the block staging area. We place a couple 100 CY's and pushed the pad out so they will be able to drive around the new building and have some storage area. I bid this job expecting hard concrete to hammer with the possibility of all sorts of boggers buried that we would have to remove. Luckily the concrete washout was very brittle and no boogers. I estimated a week of hammering and removal. These pics are 2 days of work and the crew is close to sub-grade. This one is a money maker. A friend of mine sent me this pic. This motorcycle is at the Barbers Motorsports Museum in Birmingham. This the largest collection of motorcycles in the world. Links if anyone is interested: https://www.barbermuseum.org/ https://barberracingevents.com/ Interesting custom build no doubt.
One of my childhood friends was there last fall and sent me a pic of the same bike.
https://www.motosolvang.com/
Back at the block plant - getting down to sub-grade on the back 1/2 of the pad. The engineer wanted a 3' separation of engineered fill between the building slab and the concrete washout. This was last Friday April 12th. A week later and around 1000 yards hauled in and they have a building pad. Brought the laser box blade in on the 279 and slicked the grade out. One man was able to grade over 5000 SF on grade to within 1/2" tolerance in 2 hours. It's one hell of a tool.. And this happened Tuesday. I was acting as a half-ass fill-in operator on a sewer project we are finishing up. Everything was going fine and we were getting a lot of trench backfilled and compacted when a track pin broke on our 321DLCR. I was running the 321.. Our Cat dealer went to bat for us and had a new link and pin pressed back in by noon Thursday - we didn't get them the track until Wed morning. We had it back up and running yesterday. Our PSR asked the track shop to expedite the repair as we have a "hot job" that needed be completed and the track shop foreman did such. More to the discussion that support from the dealer is more important than the brand.
Thought I would update the thread - So we have a new Duluth Trading company site work contract. Scope of work - erosion control, grading and storm sewer. The over all development was nothing but a mountain of rock that was shot and used as fill. We've found some goose eggs as we've laid RCP and grade for the upper parking lot. The buildings in the picture below are being built by the same GC but not in our contract. So I picked this up on Iron Planet a month or so ago, picked it up from Ritchie Bros yard in Newnan, GA which is day trip away for me. It's a military quadcon box that I've been wanting for a while for job site storage. Lucy AKA the "Goose" is ready to get back on the road.. I've been wanting one of these for an easily moveable job site storage solution. We don't have enough gear to warrant a 10' or 20' conex so the quadcon fit the bill. Here's a pic of it outfitted on a current job. Rebar welded in the back for rigging storage, gas powered air compressor, air operated grease keg, two water pumps (electric sump and gas powered), manhole blower and room for general storage of commonly used oils and consumables. We welded a piece of 6" channel across the "back" of the box so only one set of doors is operable. What I wanted was something big enough to take some items off the crew's pickup but easy enough to transport. The plan is to load it on the lowboy with the hoe and take it to the next job. Now I need to find another one on IP - one crew is jealous of the other.
The really neat thing about quadcons is they fit on trailers sideways. If you ever get a hooklift again, you could have all kinds of fun.
Nice lineup of Cat iron there CM!! Good to have a site box too. Now the trick will be to have the site guys keep it clean n organized!!
Exactly! It can fit on the neck of a Landoll and go with the trackhoe. Hvy i wish I would have bought another one at the same time - there were several in the auction but my tight wadness got the better of me. Oh well the next one that comes up.. Thanks Metalman. Actually they organized it the way they wanted it, I didn't have any input in it.
Look what the Cat drug in! Well he drug in two but the one with the tooth bucket is going to another home, a local landscaper. 2019 279D Highflow XPS 2 Speed A/C, air and heated seat Radio Advanced display with keypad and rearview camera Joystick control We will make another toothed bucket out of this smooth bucket as time allows. There are pics upthread of our other two buckets with welded shanks and replaceable cutting edge. The tooth buckets we've built have worked out really well. SITEC will be installing a wiring harness so this one can run our laser blade as well. The '08 T250 was ready for retirement but we didn't trade her in, rather she'll become a yard/spare machine.
I like it CM !
Looks good CM1995. Per your ideas with making a bucket with removable teeth I built one a couple years ago and the guys on our crew really like it. It has held up a lot better then a regular bucket. The next weak point is where the quick attach hooks up the top flat bar in the bucket where the skid loader hooks under can bend I am planning on reinforcing it when I get time
Heated seat? Heated seat? I thought you were in Alabama? Going to go north and push snow next winter? Just kidding, it looks like a super nice machine, and I've been watching the laser grade pictures, it sure looks like a time/ fuel saver. In addition to turning out a nice surface, ready to pave. Looks really nice.
Nice machine! How many hours on it? We have a few wheeled units (all Cat) but CTL is on my wish list!
Now that's purdy right there.
HA! Our other 279 has a heated seat and we haven't used it in the 3 years we've had it. Now we do have that once in a blue moon snow storm down here - I'll be ready! I guess it's part of a package the machine was ordered with. Actually this machine had a few more bells and whistles than we needed but it's what the dealer had. Ordering one would've taken months and we needed a replacement now. We've only used the laser blade for level pads so far. I would like to have a large lot where we could experiment with single and dual plane slope grading. I think it had 5 when it came off the lowboy yesterday. We really like the Cat CTL's, the only thing that needs some improvement is the size of the cab as it's a little on the small side.
Looks great! Hopefully it is designed better than my new case. Some dip did not design the AC air inlet with the right sized slots. The mice come right in and ruined the nice new cab smell. Ate through the cabin filter and pooped into the blower motor housing. Cant get rid of the smell. I would like to thank Case and New Holland for this BS... I guess I just did!
Well that sucks. We haven't had any issues out of the other 279D that's why I bought another one.
One of our current projects a chain tire store. The existing building housed a golf store and is approx. 14k SF. Another contractor performed the interior demolition included the multi-level slab where they had various elevations for putting greens. Our original scope of work is the normal erosion control, exterior demolition, grading, storm and wet utilities including an oil/water separator. Here's the "fun" part. Concrete sub poured back the 14K SF slab and most of it did NOT meet the flatness numbers in the spec's. Now here's the kicker - the concrete sub and the laser screen sub specifically excluded meeting the flatness numbers in their contract and the PM didn't catch it... The owner accepted a portion of the slab and refused about 7K SF which had to come out. We got the CO to remove the freshly poured 6" 4K PSI slab with wire and 1/2" rebar. The crew had to work around pit drains for the car lifts, stainless steel imbeds and a trench drain that ran the entire length of the service bay. I excluded any responsibility for the plumbing, drains, imbeds, electrical conduits and the trench drain. However the crew did a great job and not only left the floor drains in place but salvaged the imbeds and didn't damage the trench drain. The electrical conduits didn't fare as well but they were run on top of the gravel just under the vapor barrier. Typical retail job - trades on top of each other.. The masons were cool to work with and we moved their pallets of block around with the CTL because the forklift couldn't get in. My super going back over the trench drain. The drain has a few bumps and bruises but it was to be expected. The crew did a great job.
Nice work on the trench drain!!! everytime I get to demoing around on of those things in a building someone put a 2 foot skirt of concrete around and under the whole thing
Cm that's good job making things work I can relate to the level of BS involved tho lately its seems most jobs I have been have had major problems overlooked and covered up i got into with a sight super on a backfill because he said we left the sub grade to high when we cleaned up inside the kicker was there were still hubs from the pad company in the ground long story short they accepted a pad that was plus or minus 6 inches and everyone ignored it till the concrete company said they couldn't pour it
Another current job in a master planned commercial development for another retail store. Typical scope of work again - site demo, erosion control, grading and storm. No utilities on this one as we are not "approved" by the water and sewer system.. Lot's of rock on this job. The developer for the entire project brought in one of the state's larger road builders to shoot and grade the site. At one time they had a mining shovel and a couple of rigid frame trucks. Now we have to deal with the aftermath of shot rock. It wasn't too bad because all the large rock is classified as "unsuitable" so we will get a CO to haul it off site. 325FL earning it's keep. The building in the background is being built by the same GC but another site contractor has that job, actually a friend of mine. A few of the rocks we dug up laying the storm next to the rock box to show scale. This part of my working area is known for this type of geology. So this crew was short a warm body to run the 533 so they scraped the bottom of the barrel and there I was. Beautiful view but a ****** smell.. This crews equipment all line up on a Friday after a long productive week. The project is a retail store for a chain from way up north in Minnesota that has those funny commercials. First one in our area.
A little CO after the store wash finished to take out an existing curb cut, grade to drain and grass. Something that should've been part of the initial civil drawings but gets overlooked. Change orders make the world go around I guess.
Ronsii I would like to take credit however all the credit goes to that big fella in the orange and his crew. They did a jam up job!
A partial commercial demo in an expensive part of town. No room for the 321 or 325 so we had to rent a 305 for the demo and ultimately the grading portion of this project. I wanted a 308 sized hoe but there were none available with a thumb. The 305 handled it with stride, I would like to have a 305.5 one day if we had enough work for a small machine. Interesting pic from inside the part of the existing building that is staying. We had to take the end cap off the building and the GC is building a small addition back. Not much room to work. The power lines are what kept us from using our larger hoes. The building addition will be shorter than what was existing and new parking spaces and a sidewalk will come off the side street where the cones are located.
Same project above, excavation moving along nicely with the 305 and a 3' bucket loading tri-axles. There was a lot of topsoil and soft clay under the building. I was able to strike a deal with a dump truck friend of mine - he had a client that was willing to pay for dirt not far from this job so I gave him the dirt and he didn't charge trucking time. Win-win. He made money and we saved money which equals higher profit. Another pic of the excavation. The shoring holding up the existing roof system can be seen on the right side of the pic. End of the work day this last Wed. before the tropical rains set in until next week.. The column has to stay for now until the new I beam and columns are installed to support the existing roof and the new roof system for the addition. You can see how the new addition and parking are going to work. The existing footing in the back ground is about 7' away from the new exterior wall. There will be pull in parking spaces off the street with a 4' sidewalk between the parking spaces and the building wall.
Thanks JNB!
So the concrete guy / screeding guy that wrote out the flatness numbers expects how much repeat business? I think the GC's around here while they are competitors would spread the word and the concrete guy might as well find a new trade. I had a new one this week. As you know I'm an engineer for the county highway department. One of the guys who works for me reviews the new driveways for new commercial developments. So he brings me one to look at for a new retirement home. It's drawn by a 2 person engineering company about 100 miles north of us. Note we have a dozen firms locally that can do the same thing and know our specifications. So the drawing shows just an asphalt drive no curbs, looks like a residential drive. My guy talks to her and says it needs curb and gutter w/ gutter pan, has to be so wide etc etc. So she proceeds to send a one page single spaced email telling us basically, they don't need to build what we want and get this - she has no intention of complying with our standards. I laughed. I told him you can tell her I'm not impressed and no problem, she doesn't comply, they don't get a permit and if their contractor shows up and starts work, the sheriff gets called and they can pack up and leave or get a trespassing ticket. So he calls her. She apologizes for her email. When he said his boss just laughed, she wanted to know my qualifications and experience. So he proceeds to tell her I've been an engineer with the road commission 47 years LOL. The sad thing is just looking at her existing and proposed contour lines her walk grades and the ditch grades are not going to work. The township wants a 10 foot sidewalk, so she just drew it in, as in over the ditch in places. If we let it go, the site grading contractor is going to have a real problem and some serious re-engineering will have to occur. The proposed building is set into a hillside. By the time we get done having her revise the drive and ditch in the ROW I'll be surprised if the building doesn't get moved back into the hill and the finished floor elevation lowered. How about it CM1995, want to give a price on the plan as currently drawn?
You got me RDD. The best I can tell is the concrete sub landed the contract, excluded the flatness numbers and sub'd out the entire job. Supply and demand economics which I fully believe in does come with a caveat emptor clause. Honestly I can't believe the PM let the exclusion slide and gave them the contract. GC is from out of the state and the concrete sub is local. Lesson learned is always read your contract kids. If this is a national chain store - absolutely. If this project is for a local yokel then no way in hades. On a recent project of ours the engineers field layout crew (civil engineer + surveying company) had the top of curb grades off 3+' in the parking lot - not just once but several times. Luckily they had the storm structures correct horizontally so my crew was able to determine flow line and invert from the FFE and set the structures. I think the only reason why they had the structures correct horizontally is they had coordinates from the CAD file. I have civil engineer +survey company that I always suggest for all projects that I work on. As it goes on most national chain type jobs the civil engineering has been completed before I get the plans however the GC is free to use whomever they want for surveying and layout. If I can get my $.02 I always recommend my guys. It just makes the job so much easier and cheaper due to no redundant staking.
I got involved on a small building slab for a local contractor built on 6' tall sub walls on the side of a hill. During this past rainy winter. After fighting the rain, cold and compaction issues, pouring concrete at 10 am and it not getting hard enough to get on until 3 am later that night. With it raining again at 6 am. Finished the slab with knee boards and no machine during the night. Customer calls back at 7 pm the following night after he got off of work wanting the concrete perfectly smooth for his rolling table saws. He was not happy with a hand finish. I told him that I do not do "polished" concrete and that was another process. If he had let me know early maybe by 10 am I could have brought a machine but as fate would have it, the call came to late. The hand finish was as good as the last 30 building slabs we have done so it was normal to me. Ended up not getting paid what i was supposed to receive and now all my contracts and jobs include the finish paid for, every few jobs another paragraph must be added to my 12 page contract. It is a constant PIA dealing with issues that some customers can come up with and job issues. I wonder how many guys have had to pay a customer to work for them. A simple pine tree can be worth up to 6K if you go to court. If I ever hear some one tell me they always get there contractors paid, my ears and eyes perk up.. Watch out. Normal that job gets paid in advance. I still have not figured out how to hold a perfect square on these jobs that are built off of hill sides. We get real close but some times a 30' wide building slab turns out 29'11". Contract covers that too.
I know what you mean GI. When I was in homebuilding we had clauses in the sales contract named after prior customers. Now that I'm in the commercial market I have all sorts of exclusions that I add to the GC's subcontract. The biggest issue I have ran into in my commercial career is believe it or not - topsoil. Here's why - Most of the smaller retail jobs we do are brownfield sites meaning it's the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th use of the site so the natural topsoil has long been gone. On one auto parts store early in my new career I let the estimator talk me into supplying the topsoil for the landscape areas. Being green at the time I didn't think anything about it. Well the landscaper shows up from out of state with a pickup truck, hand tools and a wheel barrow and expects to start laying sod on our prep'd topsoil. After a lengthy conference call I agreed to fine grade it as good as we could with our CTL and go from there. Now I exclude importing topsoil and specifically quantify backfilling curbs with onsite material to within +/- .10th FT. Live and learn business style. The floor we took out was bad, real bad. You could not only feel the floor out of level 1/2" or more as you walked across but you could see it as well. Owner refused polishing to level it out. The concrete sub used troweling machines and had a laser screed! Just goes to show one can have the best equipment and without a competent operator behind the controls you get a crappy result. Garbage in = garbage out.
From time to time I'll clear for drill rigs or dig test pits for our local geotechnical firms. Today I went back to a site we cleared and dug test pits a few months ago with the 325. The dirt doc needed to get a small tracked drill rig back in order to compile a rock profile for the site. One crew finished up the in city demo and we've had a 305E on rent for 3 weeks so now we've got a free week. 3 weeks rent = a months rent. Cutting a bench in for two bore holes. This is the one of the reasons why we dig test pits and what not for the geotech. Shotcreet wall failure. We were recommended to the GC doing the soil nail remediation to clean the old shotcreet and rip-rap down to the segmented wall and haul off the debris. This project is part of an insurance claim. I put enough in it to make it worth our while if it comes to fruition. Our Cat Rental has a 320 long reach which we'll rent to scale the bank and load out with one of our hoes. The segmental block wall will be a challenge but it can be worked around with patience. Keeping it interesting - anybody can push and load dirt.
City demo wrapped up today until the concrete guy gets the new footing and wall poured. We'll have to come back and backfill with stone and grade the off street parking. The new 279D which has been labeled "02" in the background. Steel erectors removing some existing bar joists in order to install the new bearing columns and I-beam for the addition. We have excavated for the new retaining wall separating the upper and lower parking areas and a set of stairs connecting the two. This has been an interesting project no doubt.
Live for the challenge cm it's the only way to go in my opinion that said that shot crere wall looks like it will stretch a. Operator into a new comfort zone For what a laser screed costs you would think only the best operator would get to run them but it takes all kinds in this world
I've always lived dangerously by some folks standard AZ, no need to quit now - Nobody likes a quitter. The laser screed deal baffles me to this day - I don't see how he's going to stay in business producing garbage like that. I wasn't there during the pour so I don't know who it was.
CM, glad to see that you're keeping busy and still finding time to post. Love the pictures. The 305 is a great size of a machine. With the right combination of buckets, it's a great tool.
Thanks Joispoi! It's been a while good to hear from you. A 305 or 305.5 is a very versatile small machine. If I had enough work for one it would be nice to have one in the stable but for now renting when needed is the better financial choice.
Looking good!
So do we call it "oh two", "the second" or the "the duece"?
"O" - 2
An oil water separator install at a new tire store. Plumber stubbed 6" SCH 40 out of the building, we tie on there and run to the existing lateral. Going under the existing 6" DIP fire line. 279D "0" 2 with a bucket of #57's. Rental hammer in the background for the rock. The first crossing of the 2" copper domestic line and the 6" DIP fire line. We cut a Y in on the original lateral which can be seen in the background, the red fitting. The new 6" line was spec'd as SDR35.
It never ceases to amaze me the stupidity and overall lack of giving a #$%^ by some on the job. This is a hooded curb grate inlet we set and grouted to grade, then the curb guys poured to it. Obviously some jack wagon in a lull paid it no attention. It takes talent and some horsepower to move a curb and the grate over 6".. Oh well, we get paid to install it and get paid even more to fix it..
Looks like they busted the concrete curb as well. Brilliant!
Yeah they busted around 20' of curb on that section, it was a radius. In all there has been around 50' of newly poured curb that has been ran over, busted and broken. I guess it's a sign of the times with the lack of skilled labor and folks that give damn.
I've said for years that operators are like peanut butter, they come in smooth, crunchy, or extra crunchy. Just the way it is and has been for years.
I feel you cm I did a job last year and every single sewer, storm riser for di and clean out riser and water can riser was broke 3 or more times and I even flag poled them to began with and they still run them over even after I set the di boxes so we just charged all the trades to fix them every time since no one would fess up to it nice work looks good
Not to get too far OT but that reminded me of an operator at a sister quarry. I forget the exact problem with the 988 87A loader, I know it was a transmission problem, well they had me go there to help the dealer mechanic work on it. It was one of those with batteries under operators seat we had the batteries out an tied down on the platform so we could operate and still have access to top of transmission to hook up pressure gauges. Dealer mechanic asked the "normal operator" to run machine moving some stone while we road along and watched gauges. Well after a few minutes of that he had operator park the machine and after operator was out of ear shot he said to me "What is wrong with that guy?" He said he had never seen an operator attack a machine like that in all the years he'd been working on equipment.
Forklift operators only come in one flavor - extra crunchy..
I think you should revise your statement... Anyone and everyone that wanders onto the job site and hops on the forklift only come in one flavor - extra crunchy... I don't think there is a single piece of equipment that gets abused more on a job by people that have no business being anywhere near a forklift/telehandler....
Point taken Tags..I agree.
So we rented one of these little trucks for a local job where we needed to shift some shot rock and around 3K yards of dirt. The bed holds around 8 loose CY's and the truck could handle a bigger bed. If we had one there would be some heavy channel cheater boards around the top. All in all an impressive little artic. Plenty of power from the 4 cylinder Cummins. The cab was comfortable and the ride not to bad considering the seat is hanging over the front axle. This one has the rotating dumper which we didn't use but I could see where it would could come in as handy as a shirt pocket backfilling a trench in the street with stone or dumping backfill behind curbs. Dump cycle time is fast with an auto neutral kick out when you raise the bed. Hit the bed down and mash the accelerator and the truck takes off as the bed goes down. Pretty decent cycle times.
Dang that is a cute looking little dumper! The size of tires looks like it would almost walk on water! We had a little bit bigger artic at the quarry for a few months some years ago. I actually got to run it some hauling material while digging a catch basin and stocking some stone. Don't think I learned more than half of the little tricks it could do. The thing that did throw me off a bit was backing it up. See I was used to ridge frame truck like 769D Cats where you could look out the right rear view mirror and see right where the right rear was going. On the 795 all you would see is the side of the dump body and the rear axle was out of view! Here's the one I drove: And Just for a comparison here is a 769D sitting next to the 735:
What are the differences between a rigid frame vs articulating dump? What drives the choice between the two? The big mining trucks seem to be all rigid frame. So capacity doesn't seem to be the point. Tighter turning circle ? Or all wheel drive with rigid axles ?
Well I would say the conditions they work under and material they haul would be important points. Other than the PayHaulers I'm not recalling any all wheel drive ridged frame trucks and only had very brief acquaintance with those! The little time I spent playing with the 735 gave me the idea they would be good in rough unimproved conditions. I do know that the 769D in the second picture could be a challenge to keep from getting stuck in poor traction condition especial snow! I know there were times it could get stuck in snow I could have rode my sidecar through! Plus the sidecar was easier to push if it did get stuck!
I agree with more emphasis on the working conditions. Artics are better suited for rough, wet, muddy working conditions. Rigid frames are larger with higher tonnage capacity but need a nice hard smooth surface to get the most out of them. Artics for constructions sites and rigid frames for quarries as a rule of thumb, not always but most of the time. Every now and then on a large mass rock job I'll see rigid frame trucks being loaded by mining shovels. Actually the site the little Hydrema is on was a rock hill and they used rigid frames and a big Liebherr front shovel to move the shot rock. Artics will operate in some rough conditions but are limited capacity wise compared to the larger rigid frames. I got to operate the little Hydrema this afternoon, shifted around 40 loads of rock and dirt. The more I run it the more I like it but it does need a higher capacity bed.
I'd never seen a hydrema until last week. I took a picture of it because I though it was kind of a unique unit. Then I open up HEF, and I find out that they are everywhere. Cab model number sticker looked very "CAT" like to me, maybe that's by design. Cab looked like it had great visibility, and really good floatation with those big tires.
Craneop the paint color is darn near Cat yellow too. However that's about all the similarities as the inside dash and switches are very "European". My thoughts are Hydrema and Cat have some sort of sales and marketing agreement but who knows. Local Cat dealer obviously rents them and a sales dealer as well. I got to run it today as a "fill in" trying to get that job finished up. The little truck is impressive but the price tag to buy pushes it out of the making sense on paper calculations for our operation. Rental rate is $2800 a week plus all the fees which puts it around $3100 for a week which is close to hiring an on road truck at $85 per hr.
The worst part of that number is that the road truck brings a driver and buys his own fuel. They were using the hydrema on the project I was on, because of room and terrain difficulties on site. No room for a big artic, too steep for a standard road dump truck. The day I was there- they were tandem running back and forth with a old single axle dump with a 10-12' bed, and the old dump was making just as many trips, and hauling more each round, and would be a much cheaper machine. But I know in other spots on this site with the rainy conditions this spring, the hydrema was the only thing moving dirt away from the excavators.
Seems like for what your getting a loader will do the job and be more versatile
No doubt if it was just shifting dirt back and forth. We had about 500 CY's of shot rock that had to be placed on a bench off the side of the master development. An on road truck wouldn't have done it - I left that part out... The little truck worked well for what we needed and it went off rent today as we're headed to pick up our new to us L9000 tomorrow.
Hydrema also makes loader backhoe that's interesting.
As the Tire Store turns. Excavating the storm water detention system in the front parking lot. 30" cut from existing top of asphalt, not a big excavation. A friend and trucking owner had a place for the dirt to go close by so it was a win/win. The system is designed to have Mirafi non-woven fabric on the bottom and up the sides with a 6" layer of sand on the bottom, 1.5' of #4 crushed limestone with an 1" of #57 crushed limestone on top. The fabric doesn't wrap burrito style, the pervious concrete pours directly on top. In between the #24 stone layer there is a 4" HDPE perf. pipe that dumps into a 6" SDR 35 line that runs into an existing storm inlet. The idea behind the design is the parking lot water goes through the pervious concrete and fills up the sand/gravel layer, slowly leaching out through the 4" HDPE, then to a 6" SDR 35 and finally dumping into a storm inlet. Personally I don't like the idea as it will saturate the surround soil and possibly compromise the sub-base soils. The 4" HDPE is designed to be 21" off the bottom of the excavation which means 21" of water has to soak into the surrounding soil. We don't paid to design it, we get paid to put it in the ground.. Also on this job was a short run of 15" HDPE and a grate inlet. Here's the head scratching part - the existing inlet we tied into was a standard single wing inlet draining this part of the parking lot. The engineered removed that inlet top making a blind junction box and installed the new inlet 10' away. Yesterday we had a frog strangling afternoon shower that flooded the job. The guys did a good job mudding up the connection as it was still holding water today.
As the schedule would have it both crews were installing parking lot detention systems this week. The other crew is installing a standard StormTech system in the parking lot of an auto parts store, no not a green one this time..can't keep all your eggs in one basket. I forget the model number of these chambers but they are the small 18" tall ones, super easy to handle. These chambers will be backfilled with #4 stone 6" above the top of the chamber, wrapped in fabric, another 1' of stone and then backfilled with on-site dirt to final sub-grade. Easy peasy.
So is all this stormwater retention / channeling to storm sewer design all called for by your local building codes/ city codes? They don't do anything like that by us.
Crane Op it's required for permitting. The civil engineer has to calculate pre-development non-pervious area (IE natural ground) vs post development non-pervious area. Basically the roofs on these retail jobs pushes the need for these underground detention systems as these projects are typically on an acre with a 7-8K SF bldg. Add the parking and there's not much pervious surfaces left. Cities and Counties here have adopted strict regulations on run-off due to urban flooding caused by **** poor planning during the last 50 years of development. That and we get around 6' of rain a year.
Same regs here in our county in MI. The next round of State regs is going to get real interesting. Right now they say if the underdeveloped condition has 10 cfs runoff off rate, you can retain the excess and let it out at that rate.The state is now going to require if your site has 1000 cu feet of runoff in the undeveloped condition, that's all you can let run off in a rain event. If you have a total of 2000 cu feet, 1000 cu ft needs to be absorbed into the ground, evaporated etc. Sites with good coarse sand will be able to do that. Solid clay sites without good sand somewhere in the soil stratum will be undevelopable. Our county is probaly 25% sand, 25% solid clay and 50% a dukes mixture w/o good absorption. Only the municipal engineers paying attention are recognizing the impact on property owners. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum. I have a few things going for me. I can retire any time, I am neither a land owner or a land owner's engineer, and so far the regs don't apply to our county highway projects (see my first comment .) If it was up to these azz hats, we would all be living in tents in the woods or grass huts on the prairies. There would not be any heavy equipment for us to play with.
Wow that is going to get interesting RDD. Like any ridiculous government regulation it will either drive development away or raise the cost of goods sold. Owners are not just going to absorb that kind of cost without having to increase the sales price. The flip side is if they allow grandfathered property to stay as is existing buildings will be worth much more money - you may want to be a building owner before the regs kick in.
I forgot, any new site work on an existing developed site will eliminate any grandfathering. Right now a property owner can request a variance from the current regs. Most are granted if a documented attempt is made to reduce / retain the runoff. Our city engineer (I'm on the planning commission) has been sounding the warning for several years but to pretty much deaf ears. There will be vacant parcels that an owner won't be able to do anything except farm. That bring up another rediculous situation. The owner can farm, disc up the topsoil / clay to raw ground and plant corn. The runoff from the raw farm field is far greater and far quicker than a developed, engineered runoff system and that can happen every year.
Around here its detention tanks under ground big 12 foot diameter pipe with ends and they are tied into dry wells most any place cannot release water onto a street so it has to get contained So there are a lot of dry weels around here
Just curious AZ what is the average rainfall in your area? Here it's around 5' per year.
10 to 12 inches on a rare year its 14 but we can get 7 of those inches in January and February like this year and we have not hardly seen any where in the valley over an inch of accumulated since March Usually we toad drowners its half to three quarters inch in under 30 minutes the ground gets so dry it wont take water till it sucks in and opens up hence the dry wells
How much rain have you got this year CM? I'm at 69.77" since I installed this weather station last August and I know it missed a significant amount of blowing snow. Average year is somewhere around 44". This is what happened to the Wakarusa after 10.25" in 12 hours(Wednesday night/Thursday morning). 300' of bank slid into the river and made the flooding even worse. Took this picture Friday afternoon after the river had come down enough I was pretty sure the bridge wasn't going to float away.
Back at the Red auto parts store running sanitary sewer. It was a tight fit as the SS line ran between the entrance and the Storm Tech system we already installed and backfilled. Zero swing hoes earn their keep! We had enough room to bench the trench back so we didn't need a trench box. 6" high pressure gas line was close to the SS main as seen in the pic. Ran the 4" PVC with the standard slope laser and worked like a charm. Once inspection was passed backfilling the line so the concrete guys can pour the parking spaces the next day - nothing like rush, rush retail projects...
LoL, right across the street from "NAPA Know How". Good old Alabama red clay. And yes, zero tail swing excavators are amazing, but an absolute PITA for the wrench bender, 10 lbs of crap stuffed into a 5 lb sack. But, it is what it is.
They would be a lot easier to work on if the counterweights would load and unload themselves.
I seen an 870 that has the cylinder on the back just for that
On the SS cleanout risers, are you permitted to attach the vertical riser to the 'Wye and 45' (Comby sometimes) fittings with a rubber hub (ala Fernco)? Have found such a contrivance reduces chance of cracking said Wye due to backfilling loads.
HAH- you caught that Willie. We'll probably be building a green one down the street next year.. Zero's are a PITA to work on but there are some job sites we couldn't work on with a conventional. Bob the city wouldn't allow Fernco's. To lessen the chance of the wye cracking/breaking we drove #5 rebar a foot or so in the ground and gorilla taped it to the clean out. Also used solid #57 stone backfill all the way up. As the dirt backfill came up we kept the clean out plumb and backfilled around the CO with stone. Rinse and repeat.
This may be a dumb question since I don’t do commercial work or extensive utility line work like you do, but wouldn’t a trench box have saved you from doing the excess excavation, or is the box just a complete PIA?
Boxes suck for multiple reasons on jobs like that and they are expensive to rent It's not that much more work to bench a dig like that and it's not very time consuming with a 20 ton hoe it also makes it easier to compact in said lifts in a wide ditch than a narrow one
What he said. And there's no such thing as a stupid question if the question is inquisitive, those questions are how one learns things.
No doubt - no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers.. Tags, AZ pretty much summed it up. Trench boxes slow down production, if we can slope or bench we don't mess with pulling a box. Usually the deepest excavation is 10-12' max on these jobs. The majority of the time the wet utilities are 4-8' deep which is easy to slope or bench. Also as AZ mentioned it allows for better compaction since the lifts are wider as you come up, making the fill more cohesive across the lift. Normally we'll run a trench roller to bring the trench up to where we can fit a bigger sheepsfoot roller in, speeds up production. A 953 loader and 84" roller can backfill a lot of trench in a day.
You know the other problem I find with shoring is every superintendents an expert on it just ask them Benching is king if you have room for it but once you get passed 12 feet it gets a little wide and you can run out of real estate to put dirt especially if your digging tank holes or storm detention Cm I have never used a trench robot we use a hydralic vibe plate a wheel or build a road and roll it with a backhoe or loader it is surprising what you can get done in a day with just a backhoe on a 10 ft deep sewer line as long as you have a good guy on the hose
Thanks for the insight, I’ve never used a trench box before, nor done the depth or the amount of utility trenching that you do, that’s why I was curious
AZ we love our trench rollers. They are just so handy and can be used for all sorts of tasks. We use them for a lot more than compacting trenches. Sidewalk and concrete prep, parking lots, inside existing buildings, retainer walls, etc., etc.
Ya'll use a smooth drum version to roll the lawn? Sittin on the deck, drinkin' beer and roll the lawn with remote control.... Ed
Real handy to control the mole population
I've got an automatic lawnmower - the next door neighbor's kid. Runs off a $20 bill.
I've been slacking on taking job pics and posting. Here's a fire line we are currently installing. County spec back flow preventer in a pre-cast vault. It's a ridiculous spec as you can damn near stand up inside it. $14K for the vault on the truck, installation is extra. County main extension about 60LF of 6" CL 350 DIP. Dead man poured with threaded rod to the tee. The line is the county's to the tee, the valve and beyond is private. The county spec's the FDC to be outside the vault which doesn't make sense to me but it's their water system. If you ever have a problem with the FDC you have to dig it up. If the FDC is in the vault (like most of the water systems here spec) you can repair it inside the vault. Approx. 500' of 6" DIP to get to the single fire hydrant so the developer can get a building permit. Yep a boat load of money for a single fire hydrant. PITA trenching conditions - cable, internet and water lines criss crossing the 15' easement behind the strip shopping center.
Finally, some interesting pictures.
some of our soils are corrosive. we poly wrap all our DIP
We have some acidic soils here but it's not required by this water system to poly wrap the DIP. Personally I think C900 is a better pipe choice, however when you are located in a DIP manufacturing area - McWhane, ACIPCO and US Pipe all have pipe mills here, DIP is the spec of choice.
Got the ol' girl DOT'd and put to work on a little on-site job hauling brush. She's a great site truck - geared low with locking rears but slow as maple syrup in January on the HWY. Max speed 55 - loaded or unloaded. The rare residential project we do - friend of a friend and some horse trading. The homeowner owns a diesel mechanic shop. We had a free day so one crew fab'd up a rack to store skid attachments in order to free up some space on the yard. We used left over angle iron we collected from the Duluth Trading store we recently completed. We hauled damn near a full gooseneck load of angle of that job. Going to build one more to house a smooth bucket on top and trencher underneath. My assistant project manager's patience was wearing thin at the Verizon store while we were upgrading one of our super's phones.
So I get a call from the PM on the warehouse expansion job we did back up thread asking if I would go by and take a look at the splash strip that cracked - that's all the intel he gave me. The splash strip was not in our scope of work but the GC is located in Atlanta and I have a good relationship with the PM. The job is 15 mins away so no skin off my back to stop by. Here's what I found - Anyone care to guess what caused this failure?
Frost heave.... .......seriously though, settling around the buried leader pipe?
Frost heave in Birmingham Alabamastan...not likely. My guess is concrete expansion with no expansion joints. JMHO
... good one. Not it though - think the opposite.
Ding, ding we have a winner - chicken dinner! The crew put some PEJ when they poured it back. It might work and it might not - that splash strip is 500' long. The "repair" was pro-bono as it's a good client.
Yep, might work, might not, tough to outguess mother nature. But even that joint with PEJ board will let water ingress into the joint. Not really a big deal in Alabamastan as you only have what...two freezing nights per winter? Maybe a gap sealed with Butyl caulk would allow more compression and still seal water ingress. But hey, still have a floating concrete joint where the long strip of poured concrete meets the building wall. I can see that drip strip being an ongoing problem.
Seen similar on some long sidewalks around here, I would have doubled up the PEJ each side... and made sure the rebar holes were extra deep plus not bottom them out I remember a few years ago up here when interstate 5 had a 'hump' problem from the heat... some cars were getting air
That's a regular sidewalk occurrence around here in the summer especially after panels have been replaced
Yeah, I-59 in Northeast Alabama had that problem. I think they've done an overhaul of that stretch of road since, but damn it was insane. I did this video back in 2012 on I-59, and yes, my phone was mounted in a phone stand, that's how bumpy that concrete interstate highway was.
I have found some of that nonsense up near ft payne
I-59 sucks. I had to drive the L9000 dump I bought from the Ft. Payne exit all the way south of Birmingham - at 55 MPH.
Well it was time for some new socks and shoes for the 953. Cat house had a special 25% off on HD UC and discounted labor rates. That and we were on borrowed time as the master link pin was bouncing around the links like a pin ball. With winter coming I could see the master pin breaking in 1.5' of mud, on the side of a hill, on a Friday afternoon with 3" of rain coming over the weekend.. What's new: Track groups All bottom rollers 1 top roller, we changed one a couple of months ago Sprocket segments Resealed both track tensioners Track guides and misc. odds and ends Left idler was replace a few years ago and the right idler was replaced this year, those aren't new. I think the loader gained 3" in height - no joke. You can really see the difference up on the trailer. Shop mechanic said ours was one of the nicest 953C's he's seen come through the shop for it's age (2004). There was another 953C in the bay across from mine getting a new final drive. The loader was brought to the shop to check out the final drives. Mechanic said the left final drive oil was like sludge barely coming out the drain plug, right final drive was "dust" - mechanic's on words. Rebuild on their right final drive is in the $25K range plus R&R labor - Preventive maintenance is cheap folks!!
A little project one crew is currently doing for one of our chicken shack guys. Simple project of filling in a retention pond in a commercial development. Way back up thread (2011-12?) we filled in another retention pond and installed a short street on this same parcel. Mucking the pond out. 953C got to try it's new shoes out. The way we tackle these types of projects is start at one end of the pond building a damn and slowly progress the damn towards the outlet point, forcing any surface water out of the pond. This pond has two outlets. One can be seen behind the 325FL, this outlet was a stub of 15" RCP coming out of manhole that discharges downhill and out a headwall. A Faircloth Skimmer was attached to an 8" piece of HDPE grouted in the 15" RCP. The other outlet is an 18" headwall just out of frame to the left in the pic, that's where we're forcing the surface water to. The 15" RCP, 18" RCP and headwall will be removed and the holes in the manholes will be bricked up when the pond is filled.
Nice shots. What takes the place of the pond? A different structure? Ponds seem like a waste of space but water needs a place to go.
Well the man with the checkbook said fill it in. Seriously, these were settlement ponds for surface run off during the major construction phase of this commercial parcel. I'm not sure how many acres this development is but it has a Publix grocery store and several out parcels. The remaining parcels are heavily grassed so there is no need for the settling ponds. Scott a lot of what I do makes no sense to me since I don't have P.E. after my name. We'll construct a 4K SF building on a 3/4 acre lot and have to install a StormTech system or other underground detention system, then on other projects much larger there are no retention/detention ponds or systems. At this point in my career I've come to the conclusion that we get paid to put it in not design it.. Thanks for the compliments on the shots. That's the new iPhone with the 3 camera thingy.
A shirt I found and should have bought said it best. "I built it like you drew it."
Damn... is that the way you southerners spell it..... dam, I've been writin it wrong all mah life.
Well, you're from Minnesota so you get a pass. Dam is a structure that blocks and impounds something, like a river. Damn is when one doesn't understand the difference between dam and damn. Like...just damn.
Soooo, what part of Minnesota are YOU from?
Nah - I'm originally from North Dakota. My fingers gravitate towards the curse word spelling..
Sure some very nice looking work you are doing. Always enjoy seeing what you are up to. How do you like the new I Phone? I thought I was going to have to get a new phone a week ago. After tearing down two houses a garage and a block storage building. I had to break the basement walls down 2' below the new parking lot going over them. My phone was abnormally quiet, no spam calls even. The hydraulic hammer on the skid steer had shook me and the phone so much that the SIM card was no longer in place. One was a 10" concrete wall with gravel and lots of rebar. The other was an 8" concrete with limestone instead of gravel, much easier to break.
Thanks dirty. As far as the iPhone goes - it's a phone.. The phone I had before was an X and it did everything I need it to do. The 11 Pro has the 3 cameras and a few software/user shortcuts. One I really like is if I need to text a picture or a contact the latest text conversations come up that you can scroll through which is nice if you are on a group text. Other than that I haven't found any groundbreaking new features.
Well I do have PE behind my name and I get to review plans designed by folks with PE behind their name. There is some real lack of commonsense out there. Like 2 catch basins, 1 on each side of the driveway on the TOP of the hill. Sloped down to the street and sloped down into the property. Another one I checked the grade of the flow line of the 12 inch culvert pipe to the finished grade of the driveway. Ah, the top pf the the pipe is 9 inches above the finished grade. My solution since the drive sloped away from the road was fill the depression it was draining and let it sheet flow where it has always drained. Their solution was to increase the slope of the culvert to get it under the pavement. The manhole on the other side with a catch basin grate was then 7 feet deep and needed an outlet pipe. The CB would catch about 15 feet x 75 feet of runoff water from the road. I said NO!! No pipe, no MH . I saved their client about $3500 in pipe, $2500 in a structure and $1500 in concrete end sections. And CM1995 didn't get stuck trying to figure out how to bury the pipe for an engineer that won't go explain to the client why the contractor wants an extra.
I can only imagine some of the designs that come across your desk RDD. There is a particular engineering group here that has been around for ever that creates some screwed up drainage plans. Just goes to show what "reputation" and more importantly name recognition will get you. They love to run 300' of 18" RCP to the highest point on the project to serve one yard inlet. Here's an example from said engineering company - 4x4 yard inlet and 100' of 15" RCP run up the highest point on the job.
It's been while since I've posted. We had a busy end of the year close out and took off some time over the holidays - 2 weeks to be exact. Gave the guys the from the 23rd of Dec to Jan 1 off with pay. We all needed a break. Back to the grind. We have some pre-meditated downtime so we can bring some of the iron in to the yard and do some much needed maintenance. The 321DLCR got new rails and sprockets. Original Cat UC went 7,000 hrs before we started having pin failures. With it's age and hours I decided to go back with aftermarket since it was 1/2 the price of Cat. Plan on replacing this hoe this year if work load goes as expected and didn't see the value in going back with Cat. Ordered the rails, sprocket segments and hardware from TracksNteeth as they have a DC in Atlanta. Placed the order on a Monday and the LTL truck showed up the next day around lunch time. We'll see how they hold up. I was reading the other thread where the OP was having a devil of a time getting pads off the rails. Well we didn't have any real issues that the 1" Harbor Freight gun couldn't handle. There were a few bolts where the gas axe had to come out but only 1/2 dozen or so. Not bad for 9 years and 7,000 hours of use. So what's something creative to do with a set of wore out 321 chains and a set of well worn 953 chains other than giving them away to the scrap yard? That grey iron is just structural steel leftovers we've picked up from jobs over the years. I've got a boat load of I beams and angle iron.
So we got the newest 279 hooked up to run the auto grading blade. Sitec guy came out, installed the harness and got the machine set up. We already have the monitor, receivers and other hardware just needed the harness installed on this machine. BTW Sitec can be a little salty on pricing.. This is a better install than our older 279D. Now they have a new plate that secures both wiring harnesses - the machines standard and the grader blades. Sitec had to weld a separate bracket on our older one next to the factory plug.
Very generous of you to give the employees the paid time off for the holidays...…..I am sure they will reciprocate in other ways. On the excavator are the rollers & idlers all good yet? Nice to see your equipment maintained! I just purchased a Sitech hand held rover & that was a pricy one too. We have some inhouse development projects that we hope to justify it with...…. Like that blade attachment too!
Metalman we had a good year, the holidays lined up to take off and we finished up 4 big projects in Dec. It rarely lines up that way and we decided to make the best of it. The original rollers and idlers are still in good shape - those are the original pads as well. The blade is an ace in the hole for grading building pads and putting down stone. I hope to add a D5 with GPS this year and take the next leap.
I see you still got that old Gradall telehandler.
Wow willie59, you picked that up like someone who has left liquid on one a time or two. I had to go back and look for it.
LoL, yeah, I already knew he had a 534D, I spotted that Gradall blue in that first pic straightaway.
Ive seen people use them to hold up mailboxes. I assume one must tack weld each link. Would give your mailbox a little heavy equipment style! If you still had pads I've seen them used for low height retaining walls. I thought that they were pretty cool looking, especially after rusting a bit.
Willie I wouldn't sell her for anything. If my life depended on one engine starting that would be that little Cummins.
We were kicking around the idea of making a sign by the street for the yard. Use the chains in a "S" pattern, double rows and attaching a 18 or 24" concrete pipe on top. Then get some metal letters and spell the company name out.
I have seen them tack welded into circles and stacked up for a fire pit ring before.
Hang em' next to some 10-15 inch ductile and make hurricane/tornado wind chimes..
Weld them into a ridgid frame for your company sign. Like an oval with sprockets at the ends, Name between the sprockets. Sprockets not needed, use two truck rims (w/o tires). Mount the whole thing on a few boulders. Back light it, from the bottom (between boulders)
Thanks for the ideas fellas. I've got the sprocket "rings" from the 321 that I could put on either end of one chain and go from there. I like the boulder idea hosspuller, there are some nice red sandstone boulders off a condo job at our dump that would work nicely.
So we needed to take advantage of bonus depreciation (thanks to a ROBUST economy ) and our highest milage crew truck was a 2014 6.2 gasser had 200K on the odometer so it was time to replace it. Decided to give RAM a shot which still surprises myself as I've been a Ford guy for pretty much my entire working career. Anyway bought a 2019 RAM 3500. 6.7, Aisin trans, 4x4, Tradesman package. The truck came with a Northstar bed with 2 underbody tool boxes. Getting away from the iconic "white" work truck and moving towards silver as it's different and looks cleaner when it's dirty. We installed a 110 gal tank we already had just had to give it a fresh paint job. Also had the two top Weatherguard boxes in storage as well. Just a fresh coat of paint and those boxes were good to go. Used some simple turnbuckles from HD to secure their Orca cooler. Bought this UWS drawer toolbox back in 2014 and has been in service since. Acid washed it, ruffed it up with some 200 grit and painted it black. Looks good on the new flatbed and balances out the cooler on the other side.
Nice !!!!! I like it Always been a ford guy myself but after driving/using the dodges the boss has I'd switch in a minute given the chance!!!
That's a fancy looking truck even if it's a dodge lol In all seriousness good to see others are capitalizing on this market as well
Thanks Ronsii! We'll see how the RAM goes in the long haul. Many, many contractors in my area are running RAM 3500 flatbeds like this doing erosion control to heavy civil work. Both my supers are RAM fans. HA! I'm with ya', still can't believe I bought one. I am carefully and cautiously upgrading the main components of the 2 crews which each consist of a 320 size hoe, CTL, crew truck and trench roller. Currently have a 325FL with 1200 hrs with payment, 321DL with 7,000 hrs with no payment, 279D with very small balance owed, 279D bought new in 2019, 2013 F350 with no payment and 2019 RAM 3500 recently purchased. Trench rollers are both paid for and easily replaced through the auction houses so they are somewhat marginal. Our D5G, 953C, 533E and 420DIT are all support machines and paid for that bounce between crews when needed. Just had the Cat house replace all 6 injectors and run the overhead on the 953. These machines are more profitable repairing instead of replacing with new as they don't rack up the daily hours but you need them to be competitive in the market place. Next on the replacement schedule is a new 325 and a D5 with GPS.
Selective demolition of 60 year old building adjacent to a coffee shop in an area of the city that is being re-developed. Slab on grade building with masonry walls and bar joist roof. They topped the roof decking with lightweight concrete around 2-3" with a tar and gravel roof applied over the top. This building was in severe disrepair, hence the inside gut job. The stench from the building was permeating into the building next door. The same neighborhood non-profit owns both buildings. Cut a 14' wide hole in the back of the building in order to start the demo. The 60 year old CMU walls are not in the best of shape. The crew had to be very careful with the walls to remain. View once the hoe could get into the building and work. We'll get 3-30 yard boxes of scrap around 3 tons a piece, 2- 30 yard boxes to the landfill and 5-6 loads of inert material to our dump. Pic I took on the man lift. The new iPhone camera's are outstanding. There is a new "hip" coffee bar in the building next door, sharing the wall on the other side of the the 325. We have done several tricky demos next to existing occupied buildings before one being next to a Best Buy. Slow and methodical is the only way to perform these types of demo successfully. Picking the second tp last bar joist out of the roof system - the reverse of topping out.
Pics from a drone camera?
Genie 40' manlift. We needed a lift in order to get the guys safely up in the air to cut the imbed bolts off the bar joists that had them. It's just so much safer and easier to rent a man lift for demo jobs like this - no ladders or climbing over debris to cut things out of the way.
I like it. Dang good pics bro!
Tearing down buildings is enjoyable to me. Did a big cattle shed a few years ago and had to save the three outside walls. Tearing off the roof and roof eave metal, hooking it with one tooth. Lift it off and then up over another wall then back up 20' with 4-6" between the wall and the feed bunk. The last bucket full I rubbed a post and scratched the paint on the counter weight. Had a friend make a caution decal and covered it up, because it damaged the original decal. Enjoy seeing you work, always looks professionally done, I make a mess but like to leave things neat, like you.
Thanks! These new iPhone 3 camera phones are pretty darn impressive - it's not me it's the camera.
No, it ain't just the camera. You chose a time where the light was perfect, and that shot of the bucket and thumb about to pick that bar joist, very nice positioning for the shot, very nice. And yes, to hell with ladders and scaffolds, F that stuff, gimmie a 40 foot manlift on single story building sites, way better to work with. And if you need to go higher or farther out go with an 80 footer, pretty much any lift over 80 feet puts you working within an operation envelope and typically requires extending axles to increase footprint.
Willie I appreciate that. My wife tells me I have the eye to take a picture too but never think about it - just snap the pic when it looks good.
I think a lot of it is the IPhone.... Here's a pic I took and like CM's both in the same time frame... same subject matter.. more or less but mine wasn't taken on an IPhone see the difference!!!
The iPhone makes things look bigger
That's what she said! Badabump
A couple of Sat chores around home with the old 941. Push back some snow piles to make room for more at the end of the driveway & carry & level manure onto the vegetable garden in preparation for spring! For an old machine, it still runs great!
What's all that white stuff on the ground?
That'd be snow son. Want some?
Nope!
But what are the alloy wheels going to look like when the truck itself is dirty, hmmmm..?
Nige they are just simulators over steel wheels. Furthermore we have water, soap and a brush at the yard so they better keep'em clean.
Well we here in Alabama received 14+ inches of rain in Feb - just 9" more than average so it's been a little slow on the dirt moving front. Picked up 3 more quadcom boxes off Iron Planet in Columbus, GA from FT Benning. These 4x8 mini conex boxes make a great job site box. So we've re-configured the first one from back up thread and painted the rest. Also built a few racks for SS attachments. With a small yard space is a premium. This is the original box. Built some shelves to get stuff off the floor and more organized. A piece of #4 rebar in the back is for hanging rigging chains and slings. There is room for a gas powered air compressor and generator. Air hose reel mounted underneath a shelf. Grease reel mounted to the ceiling. We have an 80LB keg with a Mini-Fireball pump These are a work in progress but it's very nice to have air, grease, fluids and tool storage on the job. These small boxes are easily moved either on the lowboy with another piece of iron or behind a pickup. We've up fitted another one for crew #2 and they organized it a little different, I'll get picks of that one when I can. The other 2 boxes are just being used for storage at the moment.
Started a new project last week - partial demo and site work for a new dining hall and kitchen for our local 4H Center. The demo is a little messy but that's how it goes with a wood frame structure. The crew drug the stainless sinks and such out of the old kitchen to scrap. This partial demo involved some selective interior demo which we rarely do. Prior to demo the crew removed the interior walls 4' out from this gable end, saw cut the roof and cut the exterior walls. We did not want to put any stress or tension on the part of the building to be saved. The GC's crews put up the OSB on the open gable end and the red tape over the openings in an effort to keep some of the rain out. We saw cut and hammered out a strip in the slab since we didn't know if the slabs were doweled or not. Turns out there was a metal construction joint with dowels placed every 12' or so but nothing that caused an issue. This project is located out in the country on a lake I grew up on. Blue sky, open air and nobody to really mess with - the reason why we're able to work while the CV19 crisis is going on. Another project for the biggest GC we work for.
This weeks progress - Building demo completed and slab removed. Site demo involved removing some asphalt and a concrete dumpster pad. The L9000 earning her keep hauling concrete. They have an area onsite to dump concrete, cured asphalt and dirt that's an 8 minute turn around once loaded. Cutting the existing bank in order to get some good material to fill in the holes left from footings and underground utilities we removed. The entire little hill will be removed for the future parking lot. This site has approx. 3K CY's of export going to their onsite dump. The roller is on the old building pad soon to be new building pad for the addition. The building will be expanded back to where the 321 is loading the L9000 and then head right in the pic. Total SF of the addition is 12K. 279D 01 and 02, I think this is the first time for both of them to be on the same job.
Nice looking job, how's that pretty ford dump working out? I kinda shook my head at your preference for a allison, but I now have two different cranes that are automatics. I'm really liking both of them. I still like the stone stupid reliabilty of a manual eaton, but that allison is sure nice at a uphill stoplight.....
Thanks Crane Op. I'm a big fan of Allison transmissions for what we do - move dirt. We're not running across country or pulling 180K gross - not our market segment. The L9000 is underpowered with an L10 and under geared at 4sp's for a profitable highway truck but it's one hell of an onsite truck. I can put an operator that's not a truck driver but has equipment sense in it and make money. Had an '07 Mack Granite tri-axle with MP7 and Allison 6sp - now that truck was a hoss.
That's the same reason my grandpa has 3 forage trucks and 1 dump truck on the farm with Allisons's in them now. Anyone can drive them and be successful. We have guys that can't drive a 15 speed to save their life, but anyone can drive a forage truck with an allison in it and keep up just fine. We don't always have the same people available to drive when it's time to haul forage, but we have a fairly decent pool of people we can call on and can always find someone to drive the trucks with the allison's in them. Great work @CM1995 , I really enjoy following your thread here
A little update on the lake project. There was an area in the gravel parking lot that had some unsuitable soils the dirt doc had us cut out, haul to the on-site dump and replace with suitable. Laser grading the building pad before a spring rain came. The L9000 hauling a few loads this afternoon. Our 321DL with 7300 hours still runs like a top. Overall view of the building pad this afternoon. Concrete crew is coming in Monday to start footings. We landed the biggest project in our company's history last week with the same GC. Starting it Monday. It is a very high profile project full of challenges. It's going to be interesting to say the least.
I took video of laser grading the slab just before the rain picked up. Up to this point the rain wet the dust on top and created a nice bladeable material.
Weird, I saw a video of a guy laser grading with a Terex track skid steer, and from the looks of your video, you’re going way, way too slow and not trying to push nearly enough material in front of the machine…
I have a call into that guy to see if he can come train my operators but I haven't heard back yet.
He's probably too busy with all the other requests...
Started the big job today. Rented a brand new 330GC from the Cat house in addition to our 325FL. First order of business was tree clearing. Processing one of the large magnolias on site within the strikingly mediocre view of downtown.
Big enough job to buy that hoe?
No not that big. Actually a 330 is too big for the majority of our jobs, the 325 reduced swing machines work better for us. We'll have the 330 for 1-2 months during the demo and rough grading/haul out phase and send it back. This 330 just happened to have 24 hours on the clock when it came out. The Cat next gen excavators are very nice and this one is a base GC model.
We are a lot smaller scale company than you are however we’re slowly switching over to more site development and municipal type work. We’re doing a lot of work for a chain of gas stations in our area and I’ve turned bids in on multiple local proposed Dollar Generals with the GCs saying I’m throwing good numbers. A guy can really learn a lot by reading through your thread.
Thank you for the kind words Casefan. If you have any specific business questions just start a private conversation here on HEF. I might not know the answer but I can share what I know. DG's can be good projects. They are usually less than 1 AC, have some sort of demo and site utilities which can all be profitable. Most DG stores are not owned by DG but a developer that leases the store back to DG, so vet who you are working for before signing the contract - the owner/developer and the GC. Fast food joints are another profitable site work avenue. If you can perform the utilities it's more profitable than a DG due the grease traps, dumpster drains and sometimes fire water if it has to be sprinkled. Auto parts stores are good jobs as well. Most of the big chain stores are all corporate owned which is beneficial when it comes to change orders. They want the store open on time first - cost second. Basically if you can meet the schedule any change order is approved quickly within reason. That can be very profitable.
A couple of pics from the big job we are on. Friday was a good day. We hauled out 101 loads with 8 tri-axles running at one time. Could have been a little better because the first 40-50 loads were concrete demo and topsoil. They didn't get into dirt until after lunch. We're hauling to our dump that's around a 30-40 min turn around for 6 of the trucks and a longer turn around for the other 2 trucks going to another job that needs dirt, both of which are off our clock (win-win). We had 4 trucks until 1 PM when 2 more came on. Anyways made a fair dent of progress from Monday when the crew started taking down trees. The pile of concrete is the sidewalk that ran from the 325FL on the right down to the left corner of the building. The architects paint swatches can be seen behind the 325. Eventually the ramp and retainer wall on the left in addition to the dirt the hoes are sitting on is all going to be removed. The new grade will be approx. 3' higher than the existing asphalt in the pic by the arena. This is my best crew - the reason why they are on this job. There's just 2 of them, brothers and they've done this much in a week. They get the new machines, the newest truck and the best technology. We are very fortunate to have them as part of our team. Those 2 don't let any grass grow under their feet and take pride in their work, something one very rarely runs across. Not too shabby for a weeks worth of work.
A little update on the arena project. Had a decent week with 2 days of hauling during the spring rains. So far we have moved around 5K CY's in 3 days averaging 12 tri-axles per day. 10 trucks running to our dump and 2 trucks hauling to another project farther away, these 2 trucks are not on our clock they are just getting free dirt. I have another friend in the business that sending his two trucks Monday to get another 20 or so loads - win/win. End of work today Friday April 24th. The 330 has earned its keep. Another view that gives a little more perspective on how much dirt the crew moved in 3 days of hauling. The GC is still ramping up site and project management staff, getting their offices set up and what not. They don't have any of their carpenters on site yet just us, the interior demo guys, sparky's and plumbers so we needed to build a guardrail to protect the dumbasses that come outside for a smoke break. This is the GC's responsibility however having a 6' + drop off in our working area is not good for our risk exposure nor our schedule as we didn't want to wait for the GC to get carpenters out to construct it. The GC ordered the materials and the crew installed the guardrail - win/win and we gained a few brown nose points which is always a good thing to get up front on a large project. Exposing and capping irrigation pipes. We have sanitary and storm roof leader lines as well that penetrate the basement walls we will have to cut and demo as we excavate down to grade. We'll have to temporarily re-route the roof leaders as we encounter them which is going to be a PITA.
So my half assed role in this dirt moving operation is to be on our 953 at the receiving end of 350+ loads at our dump, well when I get to be out of the office pushing paper that is.. This was the end of work Wed 4/22. Had two loads of millings come in from a paving company we work with that I spread on the approach so the trucks could stay out the mud as much as possible. The trucks were sinking about 3-4" backing up to dump but the millings helped tighten that up more than I though it would. Still had to keep working with the loader to tighten the path up. This was the area where the black KW tri is dumping in the pic above the day before. Built a ramp out of the dirt coming in over the other loads of concrete and debris in order to create some space and not have to bounce around pushing concrete off all day. This is the same tree line in the pic above. This was around load 342-345, lost count last Wed. trying to get the dump weatherproofed for the rain event we had Thursday. I need to get a new wiper for the '53.
An update on our arena project. End of work today 5/2/20. 5 days of hauling with 8-10 trucks, appox. 700 loads this week +/-. The crew has done a fantastic job. Well we found out why the dirt in the corner to the right of the 330 above was so wet - 3 of the 4 DIP roof leaders coming out of the basement wall were either broke or not connected to anything we could find. This one had been broke for Lord knows how long.
The crew has moved a s$%& ton of dirt off the arena site and I've felt every load. There have been many threads about dump trucks, legal weight limits and axles on the forum which are all interesting to read to see how other parts of the US and other countries move the CY or CM of earth. Here are a few pics of the common tr-axles we hire on a regular basis to haul dirt, gravel and debris. This one is an older KW that a friend of mine owns. This configuration can legal gross around 85K on state and local roads here in Alabama. Another newer KW W500 tri-axle. We had up to 14 tri's running at one time. A nearly new KW T800 with OX Stampede bed and high lift tailgate. This is a nice tri-axle. If I were to ever buy another dump it would probably be this set up and if I ever do buy another dump truck somebody please send me to the looney bin as I have gone mad.
The ride to the Looney bin will be a short one for you after this job. As always sure have enjoyed seeing your jobs being done. Thanks for sharing them with us.
I wish this was how it worked here. Need a super 18 to get to 80K anymore. We will never get front discharge mixers either. They are starting to spec rear engine PTOs for mixers just to gain another foot or two of bridge length.
Thanks dirty. You are right the trip to the bin win be short after dealing with all these dump truck drivers.. So a highlift tailgate is out of the question if you want to haul 80K in Kansas? USA Redimix/Cemex has some concrete trucks around here with the rear lift axle, I think the lift lets them have a 10 yard drum but not sure. On the flip side Georgia does not recognize any lift axles on dump trucks so all they run are tandems or trailer dumps. If I am moving dirt on site I prefer tandems, they just work better than tri-axles.
Unless you go to quarter frame end dump. Dump trucks used to have a special exemption and all anyone had was tandems and tris, but those days are gone. Everything is quads and quints now along with a half dozen or so super 18s. There is a ready mix company down in witchita that can't bridge more than 7 yards with their front discharge trucks after the rule changes.
Awesome job. Are you guys using GPS? We purchased a system last year and it has been great. I do pay a model builder to build the model but it has proven to be worth the investment. Building a hotel currently and have moved over 21,000 yards to date by tri axle using our own trucks to off site dump site. I would love to hire out the trucking but find it hard to get trucks for hire when asking them to dump on remote muddy site. Import in not a problem on the for hire trucks but since I have our own we do it ourselves. This year all dump trucks with tag axles have to be steerable. About $10,000 each to make the DOT happy. Never ends. We worked through winter and closed down for the virus. Going back Monday can’t wait to get at it again. The tax funded work is essential and private was not, doesn’t sound fair and it wasn’t in my opinion.
Thanks Jmac. We're not using GPS at the moment but I am planning on demo'ing a D5K2 LGP with integrated GPS on the arena job. Probably going with Sitech for the hardware, software and model building - at least in the beginning. We'll be using an outside model builder as I do not have the patience nor time for AutoCAD... . What GPS brand/setup are you using and what model builder? PM me if you don't want to answer in the open forum. We are fortunate as far as for hire trucks go, we have plenty to choose from. There are several companies with 20+ trucks that we can pull from in addition to the brokers for the smaller guys. For us it's just easier to hire out the hauling, put up with the dumb ass's you get from time to time and sign them out at the end of the day. The reaction and overreaction by the government to this virus in my opinion is something that will be discussed and litigated for years to come in.
A couple of pics over the last week or so. Loading out the only tandem we had running with the tri's. Exposed an existing 6" terracotta sewer line that runs the long side of the arena that is above the proposed finished floor elevation. The 3 roof leaders in the pic pouring water were not attached to any more piping. They 90'd down outside the building into the dirt, it's why the dirt around the building was so saturated. I am amazed the waterproofing kept the water out of the lower level. We are waiting on a change order to remove the terra cotta line that is above finish floor. Finish floor elevation is the bottom of the grade rod in this pic. The head of security and tail wags showed up on the job to supervise - we received a passing grade on the work so far.
I bought a Trimble to include base, rover, tablet that included some things like tilt compensation from Sitech. Did not buy machine control yet, it would of be nice to have and is on the wish list but what I have now is awesome. Also we have three dozers, small, med, and large that we use for different steps so not sure what one I would put it on, it cost a lot more to set up a machine. Yes we have to walk around with rover but it is so much nicer than laser and tape measure. Sitech set me up with a good model builder he includes all the layers from cuts and fills,SWPP, utility, building, walks, parking lots, structures everything. No waiting on surveyors, we still have to put stakes in sometimes for things like curbs and structures. You can private message me and we can talk about it on the phone. I can give you model numbers etc. Another note is GC’s ask if you have it, lost some jobs in the past because we didn’t. Puts you in another bracket, sets you apart from guys that don’t. Charge for the layout work, someone has to get paid to do it.
Here we are using for very large cut with many elevation changes.
It's a shame that terracotta line couldn't be relocated 2 or 3 feet deeper. In all likelihood it would've outlived the building ..........
Actually Nige is against the current plumbing code to have terracotta under a building slab or so the plumber told us. We'll get the change order to remove it and the plumbers will replace it with ductile iron.
Today the H 130 GC hammer arrived fitted to our 325FL with a QC. It was a beautiful day to break in a new hammer.
Nice kit. Better plan on getting a rock screen on that cab windshield though. How are the hoses connected at the shut off valves on the stick, can't see that well in the pic.
Thanks Willie! It's been a long term plan on buying one. We have a 4x8 piece of plexiglass at the yard for a wind screen (used that term just for our friends across the pond ), haven't had the time to fit it up and didn't need it until today. Hammering at a distance for the moment - kinda like social distancing just more than 6 FT. The hoses have larger versions of the quick connects found on compact equipment. Swapped the hammer for the bucket today on a trial run. Had to tap both QC's with a hammer slightly to disconnect them and they disconnected easily.
Copy that. As for the hydraulic couplers, if the ones that you are using are a slightly larger version of standard flat face couplers, in my experience with hammers, you need to get rid of them. The pulses of a hammer will brinell the balls and grooves in the couplers, and they will also cause the couplers to come apart inside from the pules and shock of a hammer sending metal, not just fragments, but full size pieces of metal back to your machine. I've had this happen on smaller excavators with hammers, like Bobcat machine size excavators. I started using Stucchi VEP series couplers, never had another issue with hammer damage to couplers after making that change, and they will make and break with residual pressure. Only problem that I never came up with a good solution with using VEP couplers is, since they screw together, the vibrations of a hammer will cause them to un-screw. Simple fix is wrap Gorilla duct tape around the coupler once fitted to keep it from unscrewing, but I always wanted to come up with a better fix. But even with that quirk, the VEPHD couplers are far better than typical flat face couplers when using a breaker. > https://www.stucchiusa.com/products/threaded-flat-face-couplers/vephd-series/
Cm you hammering demo or rock
If the hoe can reach it with the hammer, it's still close enough to send shrapnel at the front window. At least with hard rock but not so much so if breaking concrete. It won't be so bad (dollar wise) if you lose a window on the CAT because they use straight glass. I use a 5,500# breaker on my Deere 245G and that curved glass is expensive, and not readily available in town. The (2) times I've had to order the glass it had to come out of Washington. It costs over $1,000 bucks to get both front windows (plus installation of the top glass). I've gone through many different window guards but have now settled on a Lexan type material. I ended up building a frame for both the upper and lower pieces. The plastic that I got also has a scratch resistant coating molded into it. It also cost me a $1,000 (cut, drilled, and shipped) but at least I'm now protecting the glass behind it. My Striker (the name that Toku hammers marketed in the US as) TNB 190 specs out a bit bigger than the Cat H130 shown in your pics. It's pretty cool to watch the 5.5" diameter tool ram it's way through rock!! I'm anxious to hear how the H130 works out for you. It sure looks sexy!
I started out with direct connection of hoses (no quick couplers) with my hammer and ho-pac. I am currently also running Stucchis and they tend to come loose on me as well. Unfortunately if you don't catch them soon enough it will ruin the internal o-rings (non repairable) which allows them to leak when not connected. I have also had them tighten on me as well (which creates other issues). I like your idea of the tape so I will give that a try. If I keep having issues I'll end up going back to not having quick couplers for the hydraulic hoses. Theoretically they are better due to reduced restriction (particularly on return) anyway. I also have a hammer for my little (12k#) Bobcat mini. While I have destroyed a couple hydro quick couplers (as you described) I've never had any metal cause contamination problems in the hydraulic system and I've got about 6k hours on that little 435 too. The Stucchis are definitely spendy (especially in the larger sizes) but they are the only ones that reportedly don't cause heat issues. I have a buddy who runs big hammers (7,500#- 12,000#) in CA and he says that even the Stucchis generate heat due to flow restriction. I wanted to try them despite his claims. I have not had any heating issues but I do experience the issues that I've mentioned above.
A few times when I was worried about shrapnel rock hitting nearby windowfronts in buildings I wrapped a thick rug around the hammer extending a couple inches below the moil.. just wrapped it around, put a cargo strap around the upper end of the rug an ratcheted it tight The only downside I noticed was I couldn't be too precise for tip placement... but it was a lot easier than putting plywood against all the storefronts and doors we had to leave access to... cut down on the dust too
Willie I'll see what brand fittings the Cat house put on there. Thanks for the info, I'm going to look into those Stucchi couplers. Can you buy them locally or mail order only? AZ we're hammering mostly concrete. There are two large retainer walls (20' tall, 80' long and 18" thick) and some smaller structures. The retainer walls are on drilled piers with a 2x3 pier cap footing. All we have to do is remove the pier cap and cut any exposed rebar. We'll be renting a concrete processor from The Rental Store for the bulk of the retainer wall. DGODR before we started opening businesses back up here my better 1/2 had the epiphany that plexiglass was soon to be a premium with all the cashier shields going up. Went to Costco and they had plexiglass between the urinals and sinks in the men's room for instance. Anyway we bought the last 4x8 sheet (I think 3/8") available at any of the 5 HD's in town. Just took delivery yesterday, the guys are fitting it up today for a temp guard. Where did you get the lexan with anti-scratch coating? The piece I have is regular plexiglass and I know it will eventually get scratched up enough to really **** me off trying to see through it. Ronsii I filed your rug on the hammer technique in the mental rolodex when I saw it in your thread.
Congratulations on the hammer, very nice. We have one on our 320B and we had to do away with the hydro couplers because of what the others have said. We thread the hoses on directly. We also pin the hammer to the stick no quick couplers because I was told that you can break the quick couplers. I think we have even bent one of the mounting pins a little over time. It is a pain and takes time to swap out bucket to hammer without a quick coupler though. Concrete is what we use it for, large footings mostly. Amazing how fast it works. Our front window is already plexi glass, lol
Thanks Jmac! What type of hammer is that? 95% of the time the machine will have a bucket and 5% hammering, so it's a cost I'm willing to accept, time is money. If I had another hoe to dedicate as a hammer machine that would be the best option but we don't. Our 321DL doesn't have aux. hydro's as that would be the machine to permanently hang a hammer on as it's coming up on "production retirement" and would make a great dedicated hammer hoe. Might have to look into what it would cost to add the lines. What I really like about the 325FL is the roller switch on the right hand joystick that operates the hammer circuit. If it's a thin piece of concrete you can just bump it and the hammer will hit it slightly a couple of times, helps keep from dry firing through the break.
Nige back to the terracotta pipe. The terracotta was in great shape and no buildup on the inside of the pipe - it looked like there was a never a turd floated down it. Now the ductile/cast iron laterals coming out of the building are a totally different story. All but one DI lateral coming out of the building was rusted, deteriorated and broke at the building. It's amazing there was any flow in the lines. I guess head pressure kept the turds pushed through. Couple of broken laterals - The only lateral that wasn't broken - we broke this one.
Stucchi sells through distributor network, you can probably contact them and find there's a distributor in your area, I'd be willing to bet there is. Myself, when I worked at ATCO, Blue Diamond Attachments was a Stucchi Distributor so I was able to order direct from Stucchi. One thing I'm seeing here is excavators with a thumb fitted while using a breaker. That's fine, but one thing I learned from experience (the hard way) was that you need to make certain that no part of the breaker mounting plate comes in contact with the weldment of that thumb bottom pivot. If it does you'll break pins and even snap the mounting flanges for the breaker. Just make sure no part of that hammer contacts that thumb mount before bucket cylinder has reached full extension.
Yeah, I remember talking about it in a thread once before and I think I even put up some pics.... but couldn't remember what thread it was in??? otherwise I would have linked it in the previous post.
I found the outfit on line. I'll look at receipts and get back to you. I think it will all scratch at some point. I paid the extra bit to see if it will last longer. Unfortunately dust will be your enemy. When making mounts be sure to push the guard far enough from the cab so that you can clean BOTH sides of it (and the OEM window too). The next worry is how to keep the Lexan from getting scratched while being stored and/or transported. Cardboard boxes is what I've found to be best so far.
SAR acrylic has been out there for some time, won't find it at box stores, have to source a distributor who deals in plastics. Any acrylic sheet, even Lexan, will work to shield a cab from breaker fragments, although Lexan is far better than straight acrylic because it's more shatter resistant. But any straight acrylic sheet will scratch, just in routine cleaning, wiping it with a cloth, which will obscure vision. That's where SAR sheets come in to play, the surface coating on SAR sheets give a hard (like glass) surface that resists scratching and marring when wiping them for cleaning. As for breakers, SAR changes little. The chips from a breaker will still produce damage, nothing gained there, impact from breaker chips will damage any vision screen including glass. Advantage for SAR sheets is reduced scratching from cleaning enviro dust, much better clear choice than ordinary acrylic sheet.
I've heard similar statements in the past. In my opinion the right couplers hold up well with breakers. I had no problems with my CAT pin-grabber (on CAT 315 with TNB 110 3,000# breaker). My 245G has a JRB pin-grabber and it's showing no signs of issues from hammer use. In a previous post mentioned my buddy in CA. As I said he runs 336, a 330 and a 345. They all have CAT pin-grabbers. He runs hammers, has a bucket crusher, a screening bucket, and even a grinder head, and he says the couplers hold up well to the abuse that even those larger machines dish out. The one thing to note is that all the coupler I have mentioned are wedge style pin-grabbers. They are always keeping positive tension so no slop is present. On the plus side...CM1995's coupler is a CAT wedge-lock style pin-grabber!
Ronsii I think it was in thread where you posted the concrete tear out and re-pour pics. It was in front of a store or other commercial building. We're trying to find the part numbers for the double threaded studs that attach to the excavator cab and the vandal guards attach to for mounting our piece of lexan. I saved a home A/C filter box that's wide enough for it to slide into just need another one for the top for storage. On this job we brought an extra mini-conex box for storage in addition to the job box. We'll keep the plexiglass in there. Cat was going to arc gouge the original thumb plate and move it down so it would work with the QC and bucket but no configuration would work so they are ordering a new set of longer times designed to work with a QC. New tines is a much better solution as I was not thrilled to put that much heat on the stick. No difference in price for me and we get new tines - it's all about the dealer ya'll. Willie I don't think the hammer or mounting bracket can hit our thumb with the QC, it might if it was direct pinned to the stick. The Cat mechanic had the same concern when I talked to him at their shop. This is not the first QC we've had but it is the first hammer we've owned. The only issue we've had with QC's in the past is the small hydro lines that go to the coupler, just need to keep a spare set of those on the truck as rocks destroy them. That's good to hear that your friend is running the same setup and not having problems. I figured worse case scenario we have to replace some of the wedges or cylinders from time to time which is a cost I'm willing to absorb for the convenience. Question - Does anyone know if you can track attachment hours on the monitor on a 325FL? We need to keep track of the hammer hour usage for service.
I found a pic on my computer we were breaking the main entrance slab to the offices on a warehouse 6' X 30' or so.... 6inch slab whith rebar and a thickened edge near the curb for the last foot and a half that I had to hand break to get depth for the repour. This was just a pretty thick floppy rug that weighed about 20 pounds... size is about 2-3 feet by 3-4 feet and I just used a ratchet strap around the top of the rug to hold it in place... worked like a treat
I hope that I'm not hijacking the thread CM but I was inspired to share. Here is a pic from a demo job last October. The structure was downtown and was an old brick building reported to me as originally built in the late 1800s. I was also told that it served as railroad shop building, brothel, restaurant, and lastly shop/storage for a hotel (seen in background and also built in the 1800s). I demoed all the wood roof and interior walls for export to the dump, then recycled the exterior brick, slab, and foundation into gravel and spread it out over the parking lot. The pick shows the 245G with the hammer and the 315CL with the crusher.
I like that idea Ronsil. I agree with you regarding the lack of precise placement of the tip but I hope you don't mind if I steal that idea and try that in the future.
Well..... I might be able to license the idea to you.... I remember the first time I had the idea...tried using cardboard - that lasted all of 10 minutes before it was ripped, falling off and worthless. Any kind of semi-flexible tough material should work as long as rebar doesn't hook into it an yank it off
a double wrap of rubber roofing works wonders
No worries share any project. I really enjoy seeing other folks work. How do you like the crusher bucket? How much concrete debris can it crush in an hour? On a side note I'm been thinking about starting an off-shoot company to crush concrete and re-sell it. Up until the last couple of years it wasn't economically feasible to recycled concrete as my area is rich in limestone and rock quarries are all over the place. However #57 washed stone at the quarries is creeping up to $15-17 a ton, then you have to haul it which puts it at $20- 25 a ton delivered for a 25 ton tri-axle load. The $$'s are starting to make sense in crushing concrete. I know the crusher bucket on an excavator is not going to produce enough per hour for re-sell in a recycling operation but if you can crush small amounts of demo debris on site for re-use that could be a money maker. What I am considering is jaw crusher feeding a 3 product screen. Our Cat dealer also sells Screenmachine and Irock dealer that also rents. Considering dipping my toe into crushing with a rental. The arena project was almost big enough to rent a jaw and crush the flatwork and asphalt but we would have still had to haul the material off, the schedule is tight and my dump is a 30-45 min round trip from the site. So it didn't make sense on this one.
Cm is your dump site yours and you control it Location is key to recycling or the ability to stockpile it it for your own use we have looked into it there are about 4 or 5 locations here that recycle concrete into ABC I have not seen any marketed recycled rock of any sort
Yes the dump is mine and I control it. The location is great in relation to our downtown area. The plan would be to set up a crushing operation at this site. What size is your ABC? Similar to crusher run or dense grade base? There is a demo company that is making three products - #57's, #24's and #8910. Basically 3/4", 1.5-2" and fines. You better call ahead to make sure they have any 57's and 24's since it usually leaves the belt and into a truck. They only take cash or credit cards - no credit accounts. They run $8 per ton for #57's last time I checked. The price of entry is steep at around $1M investment with a crusher and screen. Already have the excavators to feed it but probably would need a wheel loader to move produced material. Just an idea. Obviously the economic climate is not conducive for such an investment. Have to see what the economy does and get through the November elections.
Based on the condition of the ductile iron, would someone care to have another stab at why terracotta wouldn't do the turd removal job waaaay better than ductile iron..? Terracotta is slipperier inside than the slippiest thing you can imagine, and it stays that way for life. Re-route and run it outside the building maybe..? On the face of it would make more sense to replace the ductile iron with HDPE if terracotta is not acceptable, but I suppose that doesn't meet Codes either........
I agree Nige. Ductile iron is a poor choice for sewer lines IMO. However when there are 3 ductile iron rolling mills in the city $$ on a high political level has influence in spec's and codes.. McWane, ACIPCO and US Pipe all have mills here. PVC/HDPE is my choice for sewer lines. Terracotta was long gone before I came into the construction market. Side story - They built a new Taco Bell at a suburban strip mall a few years ago and within a year the ductile iron service lateral was completely deteriorated all the way to the manhole. We were having an inspection company camera a new line we had installed and they showed us the video they took. There was a thin layer of the what looked like the cement lining left, you could see the #57 stone bedding. Don't know if it was defective pipe or just Montezuma's revenge one gets from eating Taco Bell.
If you have the property and can rent the machines your about bullet proof you for testing the waters If I were in your shoes I would start with making material for my own use then go from there the biggest trick I find is quality of material you wont get a consistent material under 3 inch minus out of a jaw you need an impact crusher PM me if you want we looked hard at couldn't get the property nailed down had a lot of the math figured out
I would be looking to make 3 products like the competition is making as those 3 products are the most used around here. Fines for utility backfill, #57's for all sorts of uses and #24's for construction entrances and building roads in muck. The demo company is using a Sandvik - can't tell from the road if it's a jaw or impact. I've heard that Vulcan Materials is getting geared up to recycle concrete at their quarries around the city. We might go from not having much recycled concrete to having an abundance. Rental rates are around $20K a month for a crusher, I don't know what a screen is but figure it's less. Not being familiar with crushing rates I would want to have a stockpile of concrete on hand for testing the waters which is very doable. We have 3 large retainer walls to demo in addition to more flatwork on the arena job that might get stockpiled instead of used as fill. I've always wanted a landfill which is a lofty goal that probably will never happen however an inert recycling facility is something within reach. Thanks for the offer I'll send you a PM.
I have never seen recycled concrete for sale even though I do know of a guy taking it and crushing it. He has a huge stockpile, we have taken quite a few trucks to him and he charged us a tipping fee. Wonder if he can get a proctor and submittals approved. Wonder if the material is consistent enough? Structural fill compared to gravel maybe or crusher run type material. I want to purchase a top soil screen this year and start with that. Try to never through top soil away, just cost a lot to truck to a yard somewhere depending on were the job is located. I love the idea though, could be a great retirement venture.
I think we're on the same page jmac - not getting any younger. A topsoil screener is gold as well. There is a screened topsoil company here complete with their own tri-axles that provide screen topsoil for most of the commercial projects in the city. They get around $500-600 a load delivered in our metro area which is not too shabby. The problem with that for me is we hardly run across any topsoil of any quantity to do anything with other than re-spread behind curbs. Seriously doubt I could ever get any crushed concrete product to meet ALDOT specs which is the law of land in most project spec's. However structural fill, some pipe bedding, construction entrances and other "non-spec" uses are endless especially if you can be $100-200 a load cheaper than the quarry. My goal would be to produce a clean product with no wire or other debris which I've read is a challenge.
We try to use recycle concrete when ever we can: it's cheaper, it usually packs great!!! (1-1/2minus) or something like that, it does vary as to the composition and texture sometimes there lots of red brick in it , there is usually a good amount of plastic bits here and there depending on just what they're crushing... there will be lots of form spreader cones, gray pvc,NMB/UF insulation, etc... sometimes there's short lengths of rebar/mesh... all in all it' works good for structural fill even in wet areas if you go with >2 inch. We have also used some bigger 4-8 inch for entries and road bed... the catch is a lot of counties won't let you use it their reasoning is it lowers the ph of water so it's BAD!!!!! never mind that you are actually recycling something to save materials and give then a second life. Alos getting a consistent proctor number would probably be a challenge unless you had good control of just what you were feeding the crusher.
Slipperier than the slippiest? I laughed way to hard at this.
Thanks! The project in the picture had brick walls and that went through the crusher pretty fast. Crusher production can vary greatly with feed material, size, and desired product. The size crusher I have will only produce about 10 yd/hr. That's not much! In my opinion the design has serious drawbacks as there is NO crushing going on while one re-loads it, and the flywheels must re-spool up (to desired RPMs) with each scoop as well. If I were to do it again I would likely go with a larger crusher than the one I ended up buying. My crushing model works best when far away from any gravel pit. I did okay on the job in the picture but I did not achieve the desired margins. The recycle/reduced carbon footprint concept is also in alignment with our local political climate here. I'm not sure of I would agree 100% with this. While I would agree that quality will vary I think feed material has as much, or more, to do with gradation than crusher type. I would also say that an impact crusher is likely the best type of crusher for recycling but not for hard rock. Primary jaw into a cone and then a screen is what most pits do with hard rock that requires gradation. If you are looking at mobile crushers, and then dumping into a screen, the screening process should get you the product quality anyway. Having a closed system is always best to make gradation. If I were only "recycle crushing" I would likely want an impact crusher with a 3 deck screen and a closed circuit. There are many ways to skin a cat and the previously described set up has a weakness to it as well. The impact crusher type can have problems with rebar and the jaw will usually allow the bar to fall out the bottom. Rebar can also wreak havoc on belts. Depending upon a few things (feed material, feed size, feed operator, etc.-I feel like a broken record) I think one could reasonably expect +/- 1,000 tons a day so you may want to have a lot of crush-able material if you think you'll have a machine for a month. One might save some mobilization, set-up time, and rent if one were to employ an impact crusher with a 3-deck screen and closed circuit and see how things go. It might not be a bad idea to consult a mobile crushing outfit as well. Maybe hire them and learn from them at the same time. You also used the term "inert" above. Please keep in mind that the EPA, and especially OHSA, have a lot of issues with concrete dust (silica) and anytime you crush to sell you are opening yourself up to MSHA regulation as well. As I'm sure you can imagine one can possibly open a can of worms if one were to make this a full-time venture. You may be correct about spec. Even if you are able to meet specific gradation you must understand that aggregate made from recycled concrete will perform different then that of hard rock. It is more similar to sandstone and will likely break down to sand/dust if left as an exposed driving surface. Obviously all these hurdles can be overcome. It just becomes a matter of doing some serious homework to see if it's worth the headaches, and if so, does it have the right margins. BTW, I sourced the windshield guard from E-Plastics.
I do some work with a outfit that has a small pipe bursting machine and pulls HDPE thru 4-6" cast, clay and ductile. Other than the small lip at the joint every 40' it's just as slick as clay. Being able to replace lines under parking lots, buildings, etc is nice too. One of the larger contractors has a horizontal impactor with a single deck screen that they can either go closed circuit or produce oversize. They bring in a 3 deck screen if they have a lot to crush and/or room to stockpile.
DGODGR you bring up a good point - is concrete recycling covered under MSHA or OSHA? It appears from some quick research that MSHA covers minerals and products that are excavated from the ground and processed. However there is a jurisdictional change from MSHA to OSHA when a produced material goes into a manufactured product. Like a gypsum mine and drywall plant all on the same property. The mine is covered by MSHA and the drywall plant by OSHA. https://www.msha.gov/msha-and-osha-memorandum A concrete crushing operation would clearly not be a mining operation as it's defined on the MSHA/OSHA memorandum but it's still the government where reason and logic can be a scarce commodity. The context of the term "inert" I'm using pertains to how construction debris is classified by our state DEP. Concrete, brick, block, cured asphalt, rock, dirt, soil and land clearing debris is all classified as "inert" and not regulated - IE it has to go to a C&D landfill.
Another idea for consideration is to make your crushing operation a mobile setup. There's 2 companies around here that crush concrete at their own pits but are for hire and travel to other contractor's broken concrete yards and crush on site. If there's a large quantity of concrete to be recycled on some of our urban redevelopment projects, they move in crush the material and the GC then uses some if needed and sells the rest. A third company just crushes recycled asphalt for the asphalt plants
Msha doesnt regulate concrete recycling only osha now the epa has a field day with dust requirements especially in a desert a place full of dust and you cant have any dust I sat down with the state msha inspector to figure out where the line was msha claims they wont regulate crushing of recycling and if your on a job and crush rock to use on the job from the site and you dont export said material it's not under msha The margins are pretty good a 3 local grading companies all have crushing yards none of them are an actual inert landfill one them 2 of them are getting a premium cause of there location i know the owner of one pretty decent they make better money off of crushing recycle and a pad material stock pile than they do grading So to me it's a huge but to crack but it's one of those that devolpes synergy with your buissness it could even be a nessicary evil to be competitive like having a dump.sight you can control is kinda a pain but you can rule the surrounding area
The hammer is a Kent. Had to go look. I bought it used with the excavator. I think I was told it’s is a 9000lb does that sound correct? It hits very hard, no problem with concrete 24” thick.
Without a doubt RDD, the way I see it tracked versions for both crushers and screens are the only way to go since we also do site demo on a regular basis. Having the option of mob'ing in a crusher on a larger demo job changes the volume of debris to haul off whether it's used on site or not. Crushing for 3rd parties would be another revenue stream as well. That's the way I see the MSHA angle as well AZ. As far as dust we get about 5' of rain a year so we're fighting mud more often than dust. Jmac 9000LB is a big hammer. What size excavator is it on? The one we just got is 4500lb.
I doubt that it's a 9k# hammer. If I recall your carrier is a CAT 320B and that size machine (+/- 50k#) would be better suited to a 4,000# hammer. A 9k or 10k# hammer would be a better match for a 45 metric tn machine (like say a CAT 345) instead of a 20 metric tn machine (like your CAT 320).
That makes sense. It is on a 320B, so what ever size it is it has worked well so far. I will see if I can find any numbers on it. We have a small one for our mini so maybe that’s a 900lb hammer.
i could use you and that hammer in north Carolina right now and that 330
Ha! The mob would be expensive.
its already expensive simple job turned into a headache rather stay home then deal with the hammer
Hammering is awesome it basically becomes a license to print money
I hate it so much I have a jcb 220x on site with a hammer now first time having to deal with rock and I hate it
It's a matter of perspective I own all my hammers outright if I take care of them they take care of me First rule of hammering rock dont get in a hurry second rule charge by the hour third rule lean the job I have turned in bill that were 10 times the cost of what the dig was bid for all because of rock
well renting this machine and hammer and they are thinking about having us down there and bust rock on other parts of the property because we are there so the bill if we do that is gonna be high. I like the machine its comfortable since its fairly new but its a jcb and my past problems with them will keep me from buying one
That's why I bought one too. The arena job will pay for it and it will still be nearly new when we're done.
I am just sorry you bought a cat hammer lol But really I heard the new cats were much better than the previous generation I am curious hoe it holds up for you
It'll work out one way or the other.
As the arena project turns. This week the demo contractor for all the building and interior demo pulled out the exterior doors and pushed CMU and other demo debris out the openings to be hauled off. This Doosan is a 2018.... In addition to the overall abuse it's missing 3 track pads and pouring hydro fluid out the bucket cylinder. While the interior demo guys were pushing debris out the opening they busted the said terra-cotta line in the previous pics. So they "plugged it". Yep that's a cardboard plug placed on a Friday before a 3 day weekend with rain forecasted for all 3 days at 40-50% every day. There are two roof leaders that dump into that corner as well. We did our part to inform all parties that the sewer main had been broken after we plugged it. I guess they'll have to learn another lesson the hard way which is not surprising looking at the condition of that 2018 Doosan. The really funny part is they cut the terra-cotta flush with a rescue saw before placing the card board.
What's going to be the stupid tax on "repair" when the sewer is full of mud
Received a 324E with MP20 concrete processor Thursday for the wall demolition from the Rental Store. This is the first time using a processor and so far so good. The MP20 processor does great on the 8-10" walls but slows down on the 12-18" lower part of the retaining wall. The processor coupled with a hammer is fairly effective on the thicker retainer wall sections. This retainer wall sits on drilled piers so it doesn't have a cantilever footing. We have to go 2' below finished grade which is basically removed the pier cap footing. Overall view of the site demo and dirt moving over the last 1.5 months. Around 18K yards delivered to our dump. Pushed off and graded all those CY's with our 953C. Love a track loader. This is the lower section of the fill lift. The leading edge is 12-14' which allows for push off of the larger concrete demo coming from the arena job. Cover dirt is stockpiled to the left in the pic. I've always had a problem with not having enough cover dirt at our dump, now we won't have that issue for a while.
Cm that is a heck of job you took on and you seem like your doing it with minimal man power
No telling actually - no one knows exactly where that sewer line goes when it enters the building. The as-built's are older than I am and remember about as much as I do. I would wild ass guess flushing and vac'ing would start around $10K and go from there.. The crew on this job is 3 not including me - our best super, best hoe operator/mechanic and a green horn hired for this job to be a gofer. My job has been on the receiving end of the dump trucks in our 953C when needed. We run lean and mean like my signature - "Take what you win, run what you brung" (Credit to the Band - Southern Culture on the Skids, Dirt Track Date.)
Anyone think abut videoing the pipe to see what's upstream. Had a cobbled up storm sewer videoed a month or so ago. It was a surprise find on a trail project. Big auto parts factory next to the old RR grade, roof drain system 80% missing, cobbled up system supposed built by the plumbing contractor for a building additional. After we got the video and uncovered it enough to get elevation shots, I moved the trail over enough to not have to upgrade / modify it. I didn't want to saddle the trail authority with maintaining it later. As for the demo guys Dooson, why does their equipment look like they use them for battering rams? We have a big demo contractor here, his stuff all looks like that. There's no excuse for abusing equipment like that. His demo hauling trucks look the same way. I give his trucks wide berth. I can understand the trailer sides being beat up, but the running gear should look maintained. The tractors for the most part look like refugees from the junk yard.
RDD that is the upstream end of the sewer line where they cardboard blocked it. We removed the rest of the upstream pipe as part of it was to be removed and about 350' was above the finish floor elevation for the new addition. I think videoing the line at this point is a great idea but not in my scope of work. If I were the plumber or GC I would have a camera in it. Well the fact my super had to explain to their foreman running the Doosan loading out debris WHY he really needed to plug that line tells some of the story. He didn't understand why it needed to be plugged. Now their trucks look decent as well as their trailers. They brought in a JD 470G to load out the CMU and smaller debris that looked decent except for the bucket - the teeth had been missing so long the shanks were nubs.. The owner is wanting to sell his larger iron as he can't find operators for them. When he said that I was like "no sh*t Sherlock".
You want a valid reason why in my opinion companies are buying Chinese excavators that have marginal support at best is because its 30 to 40 percent cheaper over name brand and they cant get people to run them that care or the owner doesnt care so they never have resale value much above scrap anyway There is a demo company here runs only komatsu I would buy anything he wants to get rid of with 8 and 10000 hours on it there is a grading and underground contractor with nothing but lease deere equipment nothing over 4000 hours looks like it has 20000 hours and the repair Bill's paid to turn in a lease machine are ridiculous If you have minimum standards you get minimum operators cm has high standards I have high standards most on this forum have high standards so we get more out of guys or they go down the road if they even start The striking thing is when you figure out what it costs to employ to tier talent and its productivity verse no to low talent and the down time and repair cost and machine depreciation from abuse and less productivity it's a no brainers to run nice equipment and pay for top tier help
All the time your guys took to keep the clean out in good shape and it looks like it’s getting replaced
What I have experienced is once you let the equipment get beat it becomes more like junk and gets beat on even more. Dump trucks are the worst, I bitch everyday about what drivers do to them, garbage they leave in the cab, it’s a matter of respect in my opinion and some guys do not care, you don’t find out for a while either. Some scratches are going to happen or it came that way, very rarely do I buy something brand new but I have and that is even more depressing. The pay doesn’t necessarily mean good help, sometimes higher paid guys are just as bad.
AZ I guess this philosophy has worked for this demo contractor somewhat with equipment although he does have some name brand iron. We've had 4 of their "operators" including a foreman ask if we were hiring...that's says a lot about the demo company. Yeah JMAC the CO is getting replaced. The wall to the left of the CO comes out and in the same area a new set of escalators will be installed. Basically the area we have cut down and hauled off is the new main entrance for the arena. There will be a 3 story wall of glass and steel. People will enter the arena through a landscaped plaza through the glass curtain wall and take escalators or stairs up to the main concourse. Here's a pic of the inside where the said demo company is shoring up the pre-cast in order to cut and remove this area. This will be a 3 story club level with suites, lounge, etc. The sunlight on the right is where the exit doors used to be. Jmac that's why I repair and replace items on our iron when it breaks or wears out. Glass gets replaced, A/C gets fixed immediately, etc, etc. Couldn't agree more that equipment that is not in tip top shape regardless of age will go down quickly. Our equipment puts food on our tables and I remind that to my guys on a regular basis. Just like in the old days - you take care of a good mule.
Our other crew was lowering a fire line on our lake project. Foundations and building underground are starting to wrap up. The existing 4" PVC (actually it was well casing..) was from 1-4' to high with the new grades for the proposed parking lot. Luckily had a valve on the upper end to tie to and we added another valve on the lower side connecting back to the existing. No way we are testing anything other that what we put in. Went back with 4" C900. Coming off our new line there is a FH and a building lead in. 4" C900 on a warm day can be manipulated a little to follow a not so straight ditchline. Single piece 4" stainless steel lead in for the building addition. The footing rebar cage will placed over and the lead in will be poured monolithically in the footing.
Why stainless everything here is ductile and the wrap it for a lead in
This is the first time we've used an onsite concrete service and I have to say we will use them again. Locally owned and operated company that I have seen grow from one truck to several running all over the metro area. We had 4 kickers to pour at 1/3-1/2 yard a piece for the fire line and we had to get the line back in service the Friday before Memorial Day weekend so we decided to give them a shot. A short load of redimix runs $400-450 for a couple of yards with all the fees. They produced 4,000 PSI with calcium added for 4 kickers and the bill was $325 bucks - no brainer. We're never mixing bags or calling the plant for a short load as long as these guys are around. The operator can change design mix on the fly. Currently making 3,000 and need 5,000 - pulls a lever and boom. All the ingredients are dropped on a belt dry and mixed with water in the auger. The auger/shoot is all remote controlled where the operator can put as much as you want right where you want it within the chute's radius. Tee and valve for the hydrant.
The majority of the time we'll build a lead in out of ductile especially if it's 6" or larger. Since this is 4" it was a little cheaper and easier to go with a one piece SS riser. The plastic and duct tape is to keep the concrete from corroding the pipe - kinda a belt and suspenders thing.
I wish someone around here had a volumetric truck. Despite it not being my favorite, I've wound up doing lots of utility work lately and the number of ~1 yd pours that I've ordered from the redimix plant makes my head spin. I've even found myself in the situation where a volumetric truck could have poured flowable and sidewalk mix on the same trip (different holes).
That is this setups leg up in being able to change mixes on the fly. We're not a concrete company but we do need mud from time to time. This setup is slick.
did you finally buy a mini ? or other contractors
No. There are 2 303's on this site one is from the GC's internal rental fleet and the other from our local Cat house. However we did rent a 303.5 for the arena job to do some sensitive digging. Used it for a couple of days and sent it back. Still no justification for a mini, it's cheaper to rent.
you got that 321 and 328 for machines though are those your only excavators?
That's right, currently have a 321DLCR and 325FL - those are our only excavators. Also have a 420DIT backhoe that we don't use that much but still keep around.
if its paid for might as well keep it
There are certainly a lot of pit falls to avoid if using big hammers. Especially on hard rock. Once you get your poop together there is good money to be made. Though I can often get bored while running the hammer I would love to have more hammer jobs. Especially if I can run my other trackhoe to muck out or crush. I agree with you on the hourly deal. In my area the rock (and thus production) can vary greatly even over short distances. The worst case being rock that will not fracture. The kind that simply turns to powder under the tool and one must basically hammer every square inch (scaling) to have any progress. It takes for EVER, and I find it extremely boring. The first job for my hammer was to hammer 1,800 yards off of a cliff face for a foundation dig out. That one job more than paid for the hammer. Who is making Cat hammers now? At one point I thought that they were being made by Rammer. Upon recommendation of a friend (who started out running CAT hammers) I went with Toku for my 5,500# breaker. They are marketed here in the US as Striker. They are also selling them as Komatsu hammers. They used to be marketed in the US as BTI hammers. BTI had a great reputation until they were bought by a holding company which moved production to a lesser quality Korean company. I'm curious as to what you paid for that Cat Hammer CM. I know that when I was shopping a for a hammer back in '16, my local CAT dealer quoted me that hammer for $70k. They tried to market it as a "superior brand" thusly justifying the higher price. I didn't drink the cool-aid but maybe now they are a better tool than when made by Rammer. AzIron, what brand and size of hammers are you running? What brand carriers do you use? What type of rock do you run into down there in Cave Creek?
I personally have slobbering love affair with npk and particularly old npk at that 2 of my hammers ar as old as I am another is real close and then the last 1100 pounder that I bought is only about 4 years old and it's no were near as good as my h4xe We run 2 sizes at the moment 1100 pounds and 1500 pound 7x but I have not ran another 1500 pound hammer or really 2000 pounder that will keep up with either 7x they are hard hitting so I tell customers it's a 2000 pound hammer because when I tell them it's only 500 more pounds then the 4x they want to call someone that has a 2500 witch I get but there option is based from no experience hammer weight doesnt even account to maybe half of the equation for production We mainly run backhoes 416 and 310s for the smaller ones and a 446 for the bigger tho I did just acquire a 314 excavator so I have that for the 7xs now We used to have a kobelco 210 LC series 2 that was a wore out girl when we bought for like half of scrap it cost double what we paid for it to plumb it and the we hung a 10 x witch is 3500 or 4000 lbs I think we owned that machine for about 6 years and 2000 ish hours and i probably put at least 1200 of them on it never had to fix a thing on that machine we sold it right before in 08 before I got out of high school As far as rock you get a variety like granite and white granite blue granite both of witch will eat a point fast if your not paying attention then you get all varieties of cleach and last but not least you get malipi witch is pretty much straight lava all this rock comes in a variety of hard ness but my favorite is what we call baby powder rock cause you literally grind it to dust cause it dont break off in any pieces It can get boring but it pays by the hour it's a good challenge I have taken on quite a few rock jobs others have given up on it makes a challenge sometimes frustrating especially when you wipe out a point but I have never had a machine failure from hammers abusing equipment and at one time dad had 7 of them banging everyday
DG I think Cat makes them in house but not 100% sure. The hammer we bought is a 130 GC which is a gas fired hammer. It also has a hammer mounted auto-greaser for the hammer paste tubes. It was $69,000 for the hammer, hydraulic quick coupler and mounting including pins for the QC and hammer. The hammer was $56,000 QC $9,700 and the balance in sales tax. What I'm looking at next is a ripper for our 325.
I think NPK makes good hammers. I was also considering one of those when I bought my 5,500# hammer. I looked at your thread and one of the small hammers you had looked pretty old. Not judging by scratches/cosmetics but by the lower casting (where lower bushing would be housed). It almost looks like it is from the "Art-Deco" era. New hammers are expensive (see Cm's last post) and if you can keep that older hammer running well I see no reason to replace it. A new one won't bring you any more per hour. I almost bought a hammer for my 416. If I were still in CA I am sure I would be running one. Back when my '97 416C was new I was a bit fearful of what a hammer would do to my pride and joy. Funny thing is I was invited by CAT to go to Peoria and demo the prototype D model 420. While I was being debriefed (by the guy who was responsible for TLBs at CAT) I asked what CAT found to be the attachment that put the most stress on a backhoe. I thought (for sure) that he would say a hammer but he did not. He said that their research indicated that a compaction wheel was the most stressful. I moved to CO before I bought a hammer and ironically I had already been running a compaction wheel (on and off) for a few years. I started out with a 416B. The last TLB that I bought is a '97 416C. I bought both new and I still have the 416C. It has about 13,000 hours on it now. My girlfriend's brother owns a Kobelco 210. He is an owner/operator and I think he said that he has a bit over 10,000 hours in it. He claims that he has had no major issues with it and currently doesn't have any plans to replace it. Your thread showed your dad sitting in a Hitachi 210 with an Okada hammer on it and you did not mention either in your reply. Was that a rental? As I mentioned in my last post I have something similar in my neighborhood. The "b*****d rock" here is a mixture that the geotech guys call "sandy limestone". What point design do you usually run on your tools? Do you notice that one type works better than any other? I have been running chisel points on mine. It doesn't take long before they are "blunts". I just had one re-chiseld (cut to factory spec by a water-jet cutter) and am anxious to see how it does. I plan to use it tomorrow. Another irony is that the MFR recommends blunt tip for bedrock. I'm not sure if I agree-which is why I'm inquiring. A new tool for my hammer is only about $1,300 (for OEM). If we run the hammer long enough to wear out a tool I should have also generated enough revenue so that I won't worry about buying another. I bought the hammer and crusher to specialize in rock jobs (as they can be lucrative) so I don't shy away from them either.
you can always make yourself a ripper if you got he right stuff laying around the yard instead of buying one save a couple bucks
That sounds better than my quote as it did not include the coupler. I was also going to buy a 323 (which included a Q/C) at the same time so one would think I would have been offered a pretty sweet deal on the hammer. I did pay substantially less for the TNB 190 and it does have a slightly higher energy class rating. Oddly enough CAT states that the 130 has a tool diameter of -5.91" (I"m not sure why they put the "-" in front of the number. I doubt that it's so small that it would have a negative number!) and the TNB has a 5.5" diameter tool. It would make sense to me that the higher energy class hammer (the one that produces more energy) would have a larger diameter tool as it would require more energy to penetrate rock with a larger diameter tool...Wouldn't it? More on that below... My TNB 190 has a nitrogen bladder at the top (no accumulator) and generates the energy to move the piston at 70% rebound off of the bladder and 30% from hydraulic power. I think that this greatly reduces stresses to the carrier and operator. Toku also claims that there is only 2 moving parts in the hammer. I checked out the 130 on the 'net and it looks be a very different design than the original H series of hammers. It sounds like it has similar features to my hammer. I do feel that CAT has always been good at matching the correct tool to the correct carrier/application. Too bad we weren't closer. We could do a head-to-head comparison (Wouldn't that be cool!). It will likely be a while before you can comment on reliability, useful life, and COO but I would love to compare notes. Speaking of comparing hammers I am frustrated at the whole "energy class" matrix used by the MFRs. Have you ever noticed that all MFRs are a little bit different despite the weight of the tool/recommended carrier size being similar. I am not sure that there is a SAE standard for calculating this and I wish that there was. I have heard that it really boils down to the weight of piston and diameter of tool. I broached this subject a little bit above and it seems to be an ever-present topic whenever one is comparing hammers. As an example AzIron mentioned that he likes the NPK brand. NPK publicizes very high energy output when compared to similar sized hammers of other brands. Can anybody comment, or elaborate on this? CM, did you have any such discussion/consideration (out loud or in your own mind) when selecting the CAT hammer?....Or did you use other parameters when making your decision?
DG I went with the Cat hammer for several reasons - 1. I'm a Cat guy and have a great relationship with my dealer. 2. Wanted to add a QC. Our 325 already had the coupler lines we could have done it easily but it was part of the package. I have only had a Cat pin grabber coupler in the past and wanted to go with one again. 3. Cat Financial is offering 0% for 24 Months on attachments which is $2800 a month for the package. Going into the arena job I needed to watch my cash flow up front until we get into the first couple of billing cycles. Instead of renting a hammer and machine for $14K a month I get a new hammer for $2800 month. The arena job will pay for it in a couple of months. 4. The manual thumb bracket needed to be lowered on the stick to work with the bucket in a different position with the QC. Cat dealer has great welders that I trust to weld on my machine - this was included in the $69K quote. More on that below. 5. Warranty, see #1 above. If we have any problems with the setup then I have one number to call. More on that below. More from #4 - So the dealer gets the QC installed and even with lowering the manual thumb plate the bucket and thumb wouldn't work as designed. Salesman called me to discuss and the solution was to order new tines which are longer and designed to work with a QC. Now here's the boot - at no charge to me. Now for more on #5 ... Thursday while my super was running the hammer the hyd. circuit stayed in the ON position and would not turn off with the rocker switch on the joystick. Stopped the machine, turned it off and removed the hammer selection in the monitor just to see if it reset. It didn't. Let the machine sit for more than an hour and I tried it again. As soon as I turned the key the lines on the hammer pulsed - not good. Limped it to the parking lot for the mechanic that would soon be headed that way, under warranty of course. As I limped the tractor to the parking lot you could tell the aux. circuit was pushing oil as it was robbing power from everything else. Dealer service showed up last Friday and started breaking it apart. One of the valves is stuck in the on position on the aux valve block. This unit is not serviceable - remove and replace with a new one. The aux. valve is on the front of the pump. Specifically this one - Part number - Mechanic comes over to tell us they have one in Atlanta which normally would be in Birmingham the following morning if ordered by 7. However being a holiday weekend and we were leaving at lunch it turned into a we'll get it back running by Tuesday afternoon. Fair enough. 30 minutes later the mechanic comes over to tell us the bad news. Atlanta stocks the part normally but they are out and the closest ones are in Australia or Germany. I know the parts guy that made the mistake and he was sick over it. By Friday afternoon the parts guy had found a used one we could get by Tuesday but me and my PSR decided against that route on such a new machine. So they get the one from Germany coming and it will be here this Friday. Now at this point I have the service department, salesman and PSR all working on this but the problem is we have a hard shutdown with a 5 day window at the arena job to take a heavily reinforced 18" concrete wall down. The GC is shutting down the access to the lower arena level for obvious safety reasons so we had to produce and need a hammer in combination with the pulverizer to do it. Like I told my salesman and PSR in a not smart assed way - I wouldn't bought a hammer if I didn't need. So here's the bright spot and goes back to #1 above - At 5 PM on a Friday before a holiday weekend I call my salesman to explain what we have coming up and he tells me he'll get me a machine out there we can use until ours is fixed Stuff breaks it's the nature of heavy equipment it's how people handle it that matters. Thankfully I have one entity to look at to fix it - the dealer. The 325FL is under warranty and of course the new kit is so it's their's to make right. I shudder to think if I would put another hammer on it - the finger pointing would have cost me thousands. Now I am very worried about debris in the hydraulic system but I'm not going to borrow trouble at this point.
So I remember when our cat dealer dropped nok cause cat bought out Stanley hammers and badged them cat and man those things were only good for a paper weight they would hit at a million miles an hour but if you would stand next to it and feel it working and listen to the tone it didn't hit near as hard as npk I tell everyone I train to hammer most hammering is done by sound anyway I can tell with pretty good certainty across the job if an operator is making head way from the tone of the impact the sound becomes more evident in telling you your not hammering correctly as well As far as hammers stressing machines that's all operator related dad consulted for cat from the conception of b series thru the start of the e series when they quit listening about issues I have no idea how many stress test we did for cat with compaction wheels hammers and rippers. A ripper or ripper bucket will put about 3 times the stress on a boom and dipper than normal digging that's when we scrapped all our ripper buckets now what brought that on was the last run of bs and first run of cs had boom failures particularly the c did cat was using a new supplier so it took a while to sort it out but one machine we had went through 2 booms in one year and it was not because of the operator As far as cm buying a cat hammer his post is prime example my cat dealer wouldn't take care of me like that here they would stretch me out to get by until I unload a fleet of iron in there driveway Cat uses internal dampaners on there hammers that's the problem in comparison to npk the small hammers I have dont have any kind of dampener and the bigger one like 2500 lbs and up have external dampners the problem with internal dampners is they cushion the hit to reduce vibration it's not a solution I like you dont want to cushion the strike of the piston that does the work you want to insulate the hammer kick back from the machine witch is why you put external dampners on between the hammer and the holster DG if you want answers to the other questions move them to my thread I dont need to derail cm any mo red e than we have
That's the reason I divorced Bobcat and haven't looked back.
Nice job
While you had no idea that his was going t happen before you bought the tool I fully understand your line of thinking. For several years this type of support is what I came to expect (and received) from CAT. The funny thing about having such a great reputation is that it takes a long time to build but it doesn't take much to loose it. My local dealer hosed me with a pump replacement on my 315. The manager swore that they would make it up to me if they got the chance. The chance came and they let me down again. Shortly there-after they fouled up a thumb cylinder repair several times. I ended up missing out on a job because they didn't do theirs correctly. I know that this is vague and possibly one-sided. I would be happy to provide as much detail as you my want but it would be a long story so I am condensing it considerably. My salesman gave me a whole bunch of lip service about all this while I was shopping for my latest excavator. Of all the promises he made he came through on none of them. It took a long time for me to decide on a trackhoe because I was really hoping to get some resolution from CAT. It took so long that I got to go to ConExpo during the process. I actually talked to the guy responsible for excavators in North America at the CAT booth. I told him all about my latest experiences (the trouble I had with the 315 and how difficult it was to even get my salesman to return my calls regarding the possible purchase of a 323F) with Wagner Eqpt. I also explained to him that he would actually have to talk me back into even considering CAT in my purchasing process. Oddly enough I got a call from my salesman the next morning....the price for a new 323F went from $249k to $216k!! I almost bought the 323 but due to continued issues with the salesman I realized that he was just providing lip service and that I could expect the same disappointing level of support from them that I was already getting. So I called the salesman, told him as much, and went to Deere and bought a new 245G for $254K. That's right.......I willingly spent a lot more money on a Deere than I would have for the CAT just because I felt I had to try another brand to see if I could get the support that I was no longer getting from CAT. Based on my own experience and the examples you gave above, I fully understand your choice and I would suggest that you made the correct one. I hope that you get your issues resolved quickly.
Agreed.
I divorced Bobcat too! Does that make me a "two time loser"?
LOL - just means we have sucky dealers
Called my salesman this morning as we discussed on Friday afternoon. He told me they were working on taking an aux. valve off a new machine at another branch in South Alabama but he was still working on it and didn't know if was going to work out. I reiterated that we had a hard timeline starting on the 28th where we had to get a larger retainer wall down in 5 working days and was about to walk into a weekly schedule meeting needing to know that we'll have a machine Thursday morning. He assured me one way or the other we'll have a hammer come Thursday morning. Well I get a text at around 3 this afternoon from my salesman saying he has picked up the valve and bringing it back. I cannot ask for more than that. Equipment breaks down, all of it - it's the people backing it that make the difference no matter the brand.
That's pretty good service I am jealous I have had 3 sales men in 2 years at our cat dealer none of them really like me I wont buy there bs
AZ that sounds like my Bobcat dealer and I've known both salesmen for years including the owner. I will not even consider a Bobcat product. When you can order OEM Bobcat parts from a dealer in Atlanta, have them shipped 2 hours west and still be cheaper than local there's a problem. Our local Komatsu salesman has only come around once in the last 10 years - I don't even know his name. John Deere salesman has come around a few times over the last couple of years but I think he recently retired. It surprises me that we don't get called on more often from other dealers as most of our projects are projects located in high traffic areas around the city.
Personally I am quite peeved at our deere dealer right now I have a pretty good salesman but the one I had before him got is onto deere and they pushed him out because he didn't play politics and he scared the sales manager I never realized how much the relationship with the salesman helps your over all service The cat dealer has quite an attitude about themselves being better than everyone else it used to be true not anymore but you know it's my pleasure to be allowed to buy there equipment Komatsu dealer gets a new sales man every 9 months because no one stays they take good care of guys that buy a machine or 2 every year but not us small lesser contractors A friend is an owner operator looking at a new backhoe at a different brand than his current and the new sales guy he got tried to compare him to production numbers at one of the largest grading companies around. He kinda took it offensively cause that company doesnt have a backhoe operators that keeps up with my friend but you know the sales guy is the expert and went through a training class on equipment so he tells you what you need better than yourself I guess the relationship part of this industry has died cause when I was growing up everyone at the dealer knew me especially the sales staff our cat sales man was at a couple family function but today's guys most I would associate with outside work
Well said. I'm glad your CAT dealer is a "stand up" outfit. That kind of support makes a huge difference and it must feel good knowing that you made the right choice buying CAT. I still have a couple pieces of CAT iron so I still have a relationship with the local dealer. Despite the bad experiences I've had they are still the best dealership in my little town. Recently they made good on one of their mistakes. They ruined a cylinder (I had in there for rebuild) during disassembly. They gave me a brand new component for the price of the rebuild, and, they had it there the next day. It was the clam-shell bucket cylinder from my 416C. To quote you CM..."I can't ask for anything more than that". I have recently "un-divorced" them enough to buy a new 305.5 from them. They had the best price, best financing, and I liked how it worked compared to all the others I demoed (Volvo, Deere, Takeuchi, & Komatsu). Unfortunately they didn't get my paperwork done before I got the fear of COVID-19 in me so I sent it back to the dealer. We never quit working and it's actually starting to pick up as well. Maybe I'll call him back and see if he still has that machine....
Having worked at several franchised dealers, I might have a couple of things that might help understand the current troubles with those companies. The first thing that people don't realize is that all dealers now have three different money making enterprises. They are sales, parts and service. They are essentially run like three completely separate companies. Each little company loves nothing better that screwing over the other. The sales department has to pay service at a rate of ten percent less than street rate. Service gets the same deal from the parts department. Sales is always trying to claim that everything that goes wrong with a machine is a warranty problem. The sales force is mostly recent college graduates full of dreams of lots of money in commission sales, plenty of free trips on the company dollar wining and dining customers and a free rein on how they spent their time. The reality hits them on their first one or two commission checks that are a month or more late and the math doesn't work because there are the company owner spiffs that bleed off the money the rep is paid. A sales manager that is on the hook for making a budget set up by idiots and impossible to fulfill now starts putting pressure on the reps to over promise, and they don't have anything to work with. The over promise hits the service department who don't have enough wrenches so they start blaming the parts department for not having the parts as the reason they can't get out to fix a machine right away. Now the parts people also have issues as most have started with a broom in their hands cleaning the warehouse and putting new parts on the shelves. The guy answering the phone might have the best intensions for the customer but usually gets a lot of static from the service people in the shop. The part isn't where you said it would be, the part is wrong because you put in the wrong number and so on. All this is capped by a manufacturer who over promises the capabilities of their machine, tries to pump up the dealer sales department to push their iron over everyone else and generally tries to squeezed the dealer service people by setting the prices they will pay for warranty work which generally only cover the loaded rates for the wrenches and don't pay any incidentals like travel time, mileage and expenses. But then again the sales force wants their new machine customers to the warranty work done before any revenue customer gets taken care of. Now put a customer in the mix who only wants to go back to work as soon as possible. Everyone is always aggravated about something and you walk in the door thinking that all those people like you and want to help. In truth a customer is only seen as a rube who should get fleeced for as much as possible. I can't tell you how many times I've heard sales people brag about how they drove a company into going broke, or people in the service department laugh about how much was charged for an engine or hydraulic pump rebuild. When it all gets said and done, the only people who make out are the owners of the dealership. The only thing they look at is the bottom line at the end of each month. The advise I give to my clients is to understand what you are facing in the machine game and plan accordingly.
John that sounds like one of our name brand "compact equipment" dealers here - All the customer is to them is a $.
Back to the 325 issue. So my salesman dropped off the valve they took off a new machine yesterday and dropped it of at field service yesterday afternoon. Two F750 service trucks rolled up on the job this morning and by 12:10 PM the machine was back up and hammering. Can't ask for any better service than that. Also got an extra 5 gal bucket of 10WT to boot. I picked up a set of hydraulic filters today as we're going to change all the filters in 8-10 hrs just for good measure.
There is a logging company out here that everyone just loves to deal with. Every dealer bends over backwards for their business and I've never heard anything but good about them from the dealer wrenches. I've seen service managers make the big boys wait if it comes to it just to take care of this company. They have proven to me that nice gets things done. You strike me as one who also applies that approach to business.
I was taught you give your word and that is were the buck stops. Now I understand things break and no one is perfect so I try to catch flies with honey than salt I am not opposed to beating on the dealer when I need to get my point across but mostly I try to be courteous and polite but if I ran my buissness like the dealers do competition would put me right out of business
Good to see CM. That hammer should bust concrete without issue.
I'm not sure if honey or vinegar is the way to go. I agree wit AZ in most of what he said here. One is only as good as their word and one's true character is revealed in tough times. I will always be tactful and polite because I demand such respect and therefore would not offer others any less. Within that operating principle I will also hold folks accountable regarding their promises. Again, I will keep my word and I also expect others to do the same. As we all know things happen that are outside of one's control. Sometimes these things prevent us from keeping our promises. I have yet to meet an individual or a company that can walk on water but what one does to clean up after the mistakes/broken commitments is where the rubber meets the road.
I think one thing that really rubs me is what we pay for service with both cat and deere they failed at about half the jobs they have done in the last 2 years now on all occasions things were made right when all was set and done but when you schedule a machine for service or it blgoes down and they repair it and a few days later your back in the shop I then have my customers to take care of with no machine so then I rent one and since it's a machine I own outright they wont help with that so why am I paying 120 an hour for service if it's going to be best 2 outage three I should be paying 80 or 90
It's funny that you should mention that. When I had that issue with my 315 pump R&R (was quoted $8k but was asked to pay $14k after the fact with no calls prior to final bill) one of the reasons he gave me for the overage to the repair segment for removing the old and installing the new one was that he had a "young shop". I asked him what the "young shop" rate was. He said that there was no "young shop" rate. As we all know (but for a few exceptions) the best mechanics are in the service trucks. The shop has a foreman, and/or other more experienced mechanics to assist if needed. I explained this to him and also explained how I felt that the issue was his to worry about and not mine as I was paying top dollar for what CAT markets as "the best service and support so it's worth the extra cost" (and the fact that he gave me a quote!). Anyway, I think that this has become more common than less. Whether it is for the reasons that John C has pointed out, problems with the work ethic of the next generation, or because Mercury is in retrograde really is inconsequential. I still struggle with it and I am now tired of venting about it. I do, however, find it refreshing to hear about the level of service that CM is experiencing....It brings back good memories
This week we really used the multi-processor on the concrete retaining walls - this tool is awesome for lack of a better word! It will go through a 8-16" reinforced concrete wall as fast as it will cycle, which is pretty quick considering the force. The MP has the demo jaws with the rebar cutter. The walls are all clad with pre-cast panels that are easily removed once the imbed plates at the top of the wall are munched. The taller pre-cast panels required the 330 to hold them in place after the imbeds were cut until the panel was crunched down to a manageable size for the 324E to handle. Started this section of wall Tuesday of this week. This was 2 days later on Thursday around 1 PM. Once the wall got down below the shelf that held the pre-cast the wall becomes 24" thick which is too much for this processor. We had to use the hammer to pinnacle the top of the footing and then munch down - rinse and repeat. Our best superintendent, I wouldn't have taken this job without him being on board.
This wall has been on the schedule to take down over the last 3 weeks. In order to take it down we had to shut down access to the arena floor. Original schedule had 15 days to remove which was way too much. Project super asked how many days we needed in the schedule meeting and I said 5. Started this morning around 7:30. 330 having to hold the larger pre-cast panel in place while the processor worked it down. That was the last panel we took off today. The wall will demo to the man door however we'll have to build a plywood cover over that area in order to protect it. No BS - this was lunchtime today.. I like this processor so much that we might have one in the fleet one day if we run across another project with this much concrete demo.
how much do you charge an hour for the hammer if you don't mind me asking
Catwelder I don't know yet. The majority of our work is hard bid or a negotiated set price with unit pricing for overages such as rock, unsuitable soils, under drains, etc. I'm thinking in the $250-275 hr range but haven't nailed it down yet and don't know what my competition is charging hourly. The cost basis for this hammer was how much one costs to rent and how long I needed it on this job, basically the rental would've been more than the purchase price of the hammer.
welp im go with that and run with it so thank you for the input
I get 260 an hour here for a 2000lbs hammer if I was pushing a 4000lbs it would be close to 300 but that's our market
Don't you love it when your plans come together, and even more when things go much faster than you thought. Having a supervisor who you can work with makes a job much more enjoyable. I tore down a bunch of stuff for our local bank last year. Then the company that is charge of building the new, took over the supervisor's head is almost as big as his stomach. Everything went bad, most every sub finished the first part, and won't be coming back for the biggest part, mostly because of the supervisor. He came over to where I was working and started running his mouth, I told him he was in charge of the project on the other side of the street and needed to get over there. I had an agreement with the bank. That I would do the job, without the supervisor or not at all.
i went with 275 just because I don't wanna deal with but they agreed to the price so lucky me I get to send one of my guys to go hammer for a month
The last time I had a hammer rented by the hour was a 336FL with a H160, I charged it out at $350 HR and made good money even with the rental bill, labor and fuel. Ran it 35-40 billable hours a week for 3 months. Pics of that job are back in the thread somewhere. Catwelder what machine and size hammer are you running?
well the jcb had to go back because they dint agree to the contract till Monday and the dealer had it rented out to someone but im renting a Kobelco 350 with labounty hammer rated at 11000 over all to rent it for a month and all the fuel and for my guy its gonna put me closer to about 30k spent so ill make a decent amount after if nothing breaks or goes to hell
All your guys talk of hammering rock, I spotted this on a jobsite the other day. I think you guys aren't getting enough pressure on the hammer, looks like you still have tracks on the ground....
I got nothin'
It's called shake hammering the shake from dropping the whole machine on the ground hammers the operator Some mechanics going to have a good job working on drives I own all my hammers but I figure for my 2000lbs cost about 800 a day for a hammer and another for a machine so that's around 200 an hour just to look at it so add operator fuel and everything on top and that's my standard rate On my thread I had a 210 with a 4000lbs hammer got 325 an hour for it
The guy in crane operator's picture is a fantastic example of how to lose money with a breaker. I think you are underpriced at 275/hr with and 11k# hammer. I feel bad as it may be a missed opportunity. For that money maybe you should take the 350 back and get a 250-270 with a 5,000# breaker. Of course, that just my 2 cents worth (You can go ahead and mail me a check ).
eh it be fine mostly hopefully my math came out fine at 275 an hour I just want the job done as soon as possible first time bidding something like this so live and learn and hope to never work for this farm again
Some progress from this week on the arena job. Hammering out the last of the large footing for the tallest part of the retainer wall we processed down last week. The multi-processor and hammer working together to reduce the remaining footer down to a manageable size in order for the rented 330 to be able to pull it out. It's easier to process the concrete when the energy/force from the hammer or processor has a place to go for lack of a better term. When it's in the dirt the ground absorbs the shock instead of breaking the concrete. My role in this project is push paper and keep the dump pushed off in my spare time. We've hauled around 2K loads of dirt and debris in which all were pushed off with our trusty 953C. I've said it once and I'll say it again - if I had only one machine to make a living with it would be a track loader and I'm not talking CTL.. It helps pass the time at the dump when you have an assistant who is eager to learn the handiness of a 953C.
Some pics from the last couple of weeks - Part of our contract is to demo the top portion of an underground sump pump that drains the entire arena, exposition center, concert hall and associated hotels and restaurants in the complex. There are 3 parts to this pump station. The top room has a ceiling height from 12-14' tall to the middle slab. The lower slab and wet well are below the middle slab with a 12' ceiling height. There are two 70's era natural gas fired Cats that run the two pumps in the pump chamber room. Our scope is to remove the "roof" that was the prior sidewalk/ramp, walls and cut down the vents for the new "roof"/sidewalk to be constructed. It's an interesting part of this job to say the least. We hired Sunbelt Rentals shoring division to shore the "roof" up then saw cut the roof in sections and lift it out using a pipe pic through a core drilled hole. Neat and clean. After the roof is removed the walls will be processed down and track sawed to the new elevation. All the power and control cables for the existing floats and pumps had to be demo'd in order to remove the upper roof portion. The GC hired United pump division to install to 8" diesel powered pumps to bypass the wet well during construction. I forgot the brand pumps but they are powered by JD engines. Discharge lines to the curb inlet. That demo debris has since been cleaned up and hauled off, that's not the kind of jobsite we leave but the GC had UR scheduled so it was installed. The structure will be demolished down close to the grade the discharge hoses on on.
One for Tradesman and Craneop. The foundation crew arrived on site this week and started drilling caissons. They are using a Link Belt crawler crane to swing in the casing sections and rebar cages. We were exposing a fiber optic and 6" high pressure gas main over the existing box culvert that we are going to replace a 64' section of and this rolled out of the bucket, almost unscathed. There is a little corrosion around the seams but not bad for being buried for at least 30 years. Who remembers pop tops? The UR guys had a lube skid made by LubeMate in one of their trucks that caught my eye. Self contained with 2 product tanks and 1 used oil with reels for each tank. Might be an option for our service needs instead of the lube trailer in the other thread I started.
Couple of pics from the lake job. Framers have started and our crew was finishing out the cut for the parking lot. The foundation drains were in our scope of work for the lake project. The first portion being installed. 4" sock pipe and #57 stone, no filter fabric was spec'd.. So one of the crews were at the yard working on a stand for our new hammer. They heard whining and whimpering coming from the yard next door underneath the Gator parked by the fence. This little guy either snuck into the yard or was left on purpose, we don't know. The yard next door belongs to a large concrete formwork contractor and the yard guys had already left. Being the old soft grizzled construction guys this crew is this was about 5 minutes later after hearing the cries.. Since then the little guy has gotten a flea and tick bath, collar, leash and a new home. Good pup, smart with a good disposition. He found them and wouldn't take no for an answer. They said he drank two bottles of water and ate a whole left over sausage biscuit. They named him Dipstick because he's all light brown with a black tip on his tail.
Dipstick looks young, with big paws in the photo. He might grow into a large dog. I wouldn't be surprised to be German Shepard size as he has the ears.
We think he is 3-4 months old. His cojones haven't dropped yet. By the size of his paws he'll probably be 90-100 LBS full grown.
Sounds like a good dog to guard your equipment yard
Dipstick is going to have a better life than that - one of the guys took him home, they have 2 other dogs and live in the country.
“Stepped on a pop top Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home”. That is one sweet lil pup! Glad you guys found him a good home
My wife just read this and asked if anyone had checked dipstick for a chip ? She thinks he's a purebred
Not that I know of. What breed do you think he is?
after much looking through all her Id books kay was not able to come up with a breed but she is sure he is not sheppard and still thinks he`s not a mix. as for me idk . a competent vet could likely tell for sure
On the subject of chips... I highly recommend that you chip your animals. They can't talk and tell someone, they're lost. Chip also proves ownership. Chipping is easy to DIY and if you register the chip for a year, the registry keeps the info on file there after. One only needs to renew if the info (address, phone number, etc.) changes. Then when ever I take the dog to the Vet, I ask them to verify the chip is working and placement. (chip can migrate in body)
My 4 legged companion has a chip, one of the first thing the better 1/2 did when we adopted her.
An update on the arena project. Rented a 349FL for a the 10x8 box culvert replacement part of this project. Our contract includes demo'ing and replacing 64' LF of the existing cast in place box culvert. The existing culvert is around 100 years old and has a brick floor. 349FL being delivered. Unloading the first box culvert. The segments weigh in at 31K lbs each so we had to remove the bucket to lift them. Now before we removed the bucket and lifted only with the lifting eye, I called my salesman to double check that we could lift with that lifting eye. He checked with Cat and said that is what it is designed for. We were worried it might pull the guts out of the bucket cylinder but that's the way it's designed. 349 digging an elevator pit. Project super asked if we would dig it so the foundation guys could drill the foundation piers. It wasn't in our contract but it was short work for a 349 with 3.5 CY bucket. For some reason I always like to see the history that excavations can show us. This was the elevator pit. We excavated down to the existing gravel layer during mass ex. I can only assume this was a crane pad/construction access when they originally built the arena. The black layer below with red specs appeared to be old buildings that were burned/demolished and left in place. The black layer below the brown clay was foundry sand. Never know what you will run into when digging in the 'Ham.
I think that's a little over kill for an elevator pit I bet it was less than 10 scoops
How did the 349 do with the box culvert sections? We’ve actually landed a job breaching the dam on a 27 acre lake and the plans are suppose to call for 8x10 box culverts and I’m wondering if a 100,000 pound hoe will do it or if we need to just set up an appointment for a crane. We’ve never had experience with any sort of box culvert and I don’t wanna bite off more than I can chew.
Yeah it's a big pit. There are two service elevators and a retainer wall between the main floor and the arena area. GC asked if we would dig the entire section out so the foundation crews could get their drill rigs in. I think there are 5 drilled piers in that area.
Our 8x10's weigh in at 31K lbs each and it's all the 349 wants with no bucket. Our site is flat as well. The 349 does fine setting a box in the hole, it's more of a height issue. We had to get our rigging as short as possible in order to lower the pick point as much as possible. If you have to carry the culverts across uneven land or up and down slopes you will want a bigger machine or hire out a crane. We have done smaller 8x6 box culverts before for parking lot detention but nothing this large. To be honest it wouldn't hurt my feelings if this is our last. If we could have gotten 2 piece boxes (top and bottom) that would've been a lot better. However our local pre-caster doesn't offer them and freight is too high to get them from out of state.
Who thought 8x10 31K LB box culverts would be so much fun... The top was saw cut and removed. The 349 cleaning out the bottom so Penhall can set up their track saw to cut the walls. Yep that's 2 fiber optic lines and a 6" medium pressure gas main right on top of the tie in point. Flying a 305.5 rental in to the culvert to clean out the hammered concrete and other debris that has built up over the years in order to prep for our PIP connection. Putting the first box in place. The first box had a flat face, no tongue or groove so we could drill and epoxy #5 rebar dowels for the PIP connection with the existing culvert. It was a pain in the damn ass to get that box that close to the gas line and fiber around the shoring cross braces. Had to break rigging and put two cables on one side and two on the other. Fun stuff. The connection was spec'd to be 12" but we ended up with 14" - I think the world will survive.
I thought my job was a pain in the ass but you take the cake this month
Spec's call for a minimum of 6" of #57 stone underneath the boxes. The existing soil is limestone with yellow fat clay veins. The fat clay is soft as hell and the limestone is hard as hell. We had to hammer some of the limestone knobs down to sub-grade. The trench box shifted with the soft soils on the left side. It's been a struggle to keep it somewhat level and clear the new boxes. Box #2 in the ground and we were getting ready for box #3 on Tuesday around 1:30 when a typical Alabama July pop-up thunderstorm showed it's cursed face. Lost a 1/2 day's production and getting 2 boxes in the ground. Flying a box in to the hole. Tractor trailer dump load on #8910 backfill material being delivered. These guys know how to sling aggregates.
Next week I will have a set of 4 wire rope loops and tea cups rated for over 31K lbs total for sale at scrap prices as I never want to use them again. This has been one of the most challenging projects of my career. I can't say enough about our guys and how they rise to the challenge - whatever it is. 7 of the 11 boxes are in the ground and we should finish up next week including the next PIP connection. I'm ready to get back to 18" RCP 4' deep and a few curb grate inlets.
I would be nervous about getting bored to go back to the normal non hair tearing work Embracing the challenge can be hell but it's good to hear you have guys that rally for there leader it's an awesome dynamic and it's not easy to develop
I agree to an extent. This kind of job keeps you on your toes and enlightens why you got into the industry to begin with. However when age starts to creep up, you look towards the more low hanging fruit that is just as profitable where one can execute with less effort and risk. Time will tell. I never say never..
Hat's off to ya CM, you do some damn good work even if it's outside of your wheelhouse, my dad used to be the same way, take you're experience and tackle a new challenge and knock it out of the park in the process.
CM I have never done anything close to that, but I do agree with the getting older pick the lower hanging fruit. Since I turned 71 in June I pick and choose but still enjoy a challenge. I can't wait to go to work in the morning and depending on what the job is still try to put in 10 -12 hour days. Why because I just plain enjoy working!
Can't take all the credit Willie, all I did was estimate the job the best I could and put a number on it. It takes a crew to pull it off.
Dirty it's why we do what we do. I couldn't imagine taking another career path or heaven help me a desk job.
That's the thing CM, by you taking on this job, and working with your crew, they are learning new things that will advance them, doing things they wouldn't dream of doing on their own. Same thing happened with me, working with Dad, lead me in ways that separated me from him all because he taught me to use my head, ended up being a heavy equipment mechanic, nothing I trained for, just followed my passion and used my head to learn it. You're doing work with your crew that you don't even realize even if they stay with you. You're making memories of work done for some of your guys, and some may move their own lives from that experience all from your leadership. Carry on my friend.
I guy I worked for when I was 21 told me: "If a customer asks, never say we can't do it. The correct answer is, of course I can fix that, what is it?" I have lived by that my whole life.
What working with Dad taught me, don't be afraid to take on new things...if...those things are within your mental ability to noodle them out. That's what you've done. You have the training, you have the experience, you're just expanding both. And trust me, with leadership like that, you're men will follow and learn the same lesson. Carry on my friend.
Forgot to give credit to Craneop for rigging advice. The first couple of boxes we were doubling our 4 leg chain sling through the wire rope loops for the tea cups. He suggested we use 1" shackles for the connection in order to save wear on the wire rope. His advice was taken and expounded on. The 349 just didn't like handing the boxes on flat ground with the end of the stick that high so we bypassed the 4 leg chain and shackled the wire ropes directly to the 4 leg chain ring. Amazing how much difference a couple of feet made on handling. This was the original rigging on the first day we unloaded a box. After Craneop's advice and tweaking. This set up allowed the 349 to carry a box with ease across the site.
Box #9 of 11 going into the hole. Overall we 66+ LF of culvert to remove and replace. 10 - 6' box sections, 1 - 4' section and 2 - 1' PIP connections. Lowering #9 into the hole. Pushing #9 into place with the 325FL as the 349 holds it up. The molds for these boxes were not the same. Some boxes had an 11" thick floor and some others had a 10-10 1/2" thick floor. It made for "interesting" tongue and groove mating with some foul words along the way. Fun stuff..
Box #11 the 4 footer rigged up and going to the hole. We had to dowel #5's on 1' centers on the new box and existing culvert. The end boxes were flat faced, no tongue or groove. #11 going into the hole. Going, going.. Gone! I have some slightly used wire rope loops and tea cups for sale in addition to a Grade 120 4 chain sling rated for 34K lbs plus.
Upstream connection to the existing culvert saw cut and ready for #5 dowels. On a side note, bought a Milwaukee M18 1" SDS hammer drill for this project. It will drill 12 - 3/4" holes 6" deep in 100 year old plus concrete on one battery, not too shabby IMO. Had to run 2 - 3" mud pumps at times to keep the upstream water at bay. Built a plywood dam to back the water up for the 3" pumps. Tapcon'd the 2x4's to the side of the existing culvert. Silt fence fabric and sand bags helped seal the upstream side of the dam somewhat with sand bags on the down stream side for support. Used 2- 2" submersible pumps downstream of the dam to keep the hole dry. Worked pretty well. The culvert had a brick floor that was hard as hell. The bricks were harder to hammer than the 14-16" thick concrete walls. Caught this pick of #57 bedding stone being sprinkled from the excavator bucket. Thought it was a cool shot. 2 weeks ago we poured the connection for the first box. Today the last box went in. It's been a challenging and rewarding part of this project. I never say never but if this was our last 8x10 box culvert project it wouldn't hurt my feelings.
This is one of the bricks from the floor of the existing culvert. Graves Brick company was founded by William Graves a real estate developer that started a brick company to supply brick for his speculative buildings in 1901. Graves later won the contract to supply bricks to the City of Birmingham which led to starting Graves-Mathews paving company. The companies were merged before they closed in 1920. I love old stuff like this and the history that goes along with it. Fortunate enough to get several of these old bricks along with other manufacturers whole out of the demo debris. The Graves brick had two different stamps - one stamped in the brick and one a relief out if that makes sense. I've got to clean up the ones with the relief out, when I get them cleaned up I'll post a pic. A little therapy on the 953C pushing the spoils and concrete demo from the culvert demo at the dump. I always "volunteer" myself for dump duty. I've collected a few intact bricks at the dump as they come in on the loads.
CM, what a accomplishment that one you will remember the rest of your life and tell story’s about it 20 years from now. Nice to have photos of the work when the memory dims. We have yet to take on something that large and from your comments I know if asked some day I can’t get enough money for it lol. Really appreciate you sharing it with us like everyone else.
Oh and as far as dump site duty goes, I have been doing the same thing, been doing it on your current project since January 1. It is nice to just get away from the job site to the peace and quite of the dozer running if that makes sense. Then the cell phone rings always, unfortunately.
Thanks Jmac. This project is the largest dollar contract we've ever taken on. Almost our entire 2019 contract volume. A little back story on how it came to be. Received an invitation to bid on the project from the largest GC we work for in late Feb of this year. Joked with my wife and business partner - " We won't get it but I think I'm going to bid it". Famous last words... So I started digging into the estimate and getting material prices. This project had 22K CY's of export and our dump is a 30-45 min round trip from the site including loading time, depending on traffic which gave us a leg up on the competition. Bid day to the GC gets here which is a week or so before actual bid date and the estimator starts calling me. I get nervous as I know what this could mean.. Estimator in one of the many phone calls we had asks me if I've given my number to the other 2 GC's, which I reply - "No. I wouldn't bid this type of job with any other GC than you guys. We have a relationship that I don't have with the other 2 GC's. Those guys would gobble up and spit out a little sub like me". The phone went silent on the other end for a minute...at that point I got really nervous, I knew my number was the lowest and actually had a shot at getting the job. "What did I leave out?" is the only thing going through my mind. Now this happens in the middle of March and CV19 is upon us. The bid invitations for our normal small retail and restaurant projects dropped off like car off a cliff - silent. The job is bid on March 18th to the owner. A week later my GC is awarded the project. I get a call from the senior PM prior to a letter of intent, which was a vetting call. Although we have done many smaller projects with this GC, they work in a different division and didn't know us. It was the typical "can you do it and do you want it" type conversation, I guess I passed. Received our letter of intent, the Wife and I decided to jump in after much deliberation as we didn't know what the future work load would look like and this job is a government job with guaranteed funding. We needed to keep our crews busy and revenue coming in. Signed the contract in late March and they wanted us to start the first week of April, a full month ahead of the contract schedule. Mob'd in early April and the rest is documented up thread.
CM, I have been there myself. I think our businesses are pretty close in what we do. Here in NY the government work that large is scary because of the rate pay we have to abide by like laborers starting at around $56 an hour and every one else above that. So the labor can catch up to you if you have any unforeseen problems. If you think back you always had to take the next leap in size and faith every time it’s scary, certainly has been for me. Up until now I haven’t had any business ending screw ups but not done yet. It’s like going to the casino and putting it on black. Always think I must be to low, I track the jobs daily as to expenses, money owed etc so hopefully at least a can tell early on if I am in trouble. I takes a big set to take the next leap out of your comfort zone but how do you grow if you don’t. I have dump trucks and they give me a lot of heart break. Last week alone broke an axle on one and power divider on another. Tires like every day. Lol I really enjoy your thread.
Agreed. That's one thing about this forum that I like so much, like minded equipment people can get together and talk shop whether it be operators, small business owners, big business managers or mechanics helping another fix their machine. There isn't a lot of places where we can all talk shop. Jmac I don't know if it's a big set, ignorance or sheer will - or a combination of all three. Gave up on on owning our own trucks last company go around in the 2000's. I've found it's cheaper to hire them for the day and sign them out at the end of the day. No payroll, no payroll taxes, fuel taxes, tires, maintenance, etc - just an hourly ticket for the day. Build the price into the job with markup, if I get the job I get it, if I don't I don't. Haven't missed a meal yet. Appreciate that Jmac.
Spot on CM, leave trucks to the truck contractors. With our current emission laws, trucks are no longer trucks, no, they're insatiable money pits with no end to expense, let someone else deal with that overhead.
I agree with you guys on trucking but take the job I am on now. We have been on it for six months and exported around 25,000 yards to a dump site a couple miles away. Every day since the beginning we had 1 to 4 trucks running either hauling off or hauling back in. Conservatively we have had 120 days of trucking with at least two trucks running. Trucks for hire are $90 an hour so $720 a day times two, that’s $1440 a day times 120 = $172,000. That’s a budget busters for sure. Also I have at least one sometimes two trucks running most days during summer hauling asphalt for hire at the same $90 an hour rate. I also can’t find trucks for hire because they are always running asphalt for the plants. Upstate New York puts lots of asphalt down every year because of the salt and plowing they use every winter. Trucks are by far my biggest expense and my biggest head ache but owning my own I think is still cheaper in the end. I am always looking for a better way though.
Agreed Jmac it all depends on your business model. Trucks just don't fit into mine. Tags and insurance is so expensive then add in O&O costs and you have to keep your trucks running all the time. I prefer to hire them out. BTW - the going rate here for tri-axles is $85-90 an hr. The projects we do vary widely on import or export. I prefer export jobs as it's easier to get rid of dirt especially the smaller the city/town is. Someone is always looking for dirt. We did an Autozone in a small but developing city last year. Project had several hundred yards of export. Guy that owns the drag strip on the edge of town who is also a city councilman came by the job and asked if he could have all the dirt we had to get rid of and he had his on truck to boot. Needless to say we made a contact and a friend on that job. If I were to run my own trucks I would do them like you Jmac have several and hire them out running asphalt or aggregates when they weren't on my jobs. If a company has DOT DBE status they can keep all their trucks busy all the time on State road projects here. That's how the big road builders hit their DBE participation percentage.
I'm guessing you are hauling some of that hot sticky black stuff from a plant over on 12B in Oriskany Falls? Or is it from the plant on 155/Kingdom Rd. in Jordanville?
Kshansen, Small world, I am guessing your one of my neighbors from upstate. We are hauling out of Barrett this week. Nice to have neighbors on this site. We have hauled out of the plant your talking about though, I really like the people that work there.
What a small world..
if someone wants to do some math. consider 6.5 miles of 10 inch sanitary sewer placed avg. 34' below existing grade with a 36' manhole every 250 yards then control filled back to orig. grade` trees planted and disturbed soil seeded.
No thanks... I know I would be high bid on that job.
An update from the Arena project. Finished up the 10x8 box culvert. Thought this was a neat shot. Upstream cast in place connections. Spec's called for #5 dowel's epoxied into the precast units and the existing culvert on 1' centers. 4K PSI concrete for the filler. My guys smoothed the connection out with mortar to make a final smooth transition. Turned out nice. Right side. Left Side. Used a mixture of Quickcrete stucco mix and hydro cement.
So we were excavating for the new loading dock and dug up some old foundations. Poured concrete walls with smooth reinforcement bar which means it dates back to the early 1900's or older, before what we know as rebar was available. The loading dock wall will come off the existing entrance on the right. The concrete wall will have a large opening cut in it to access the new loading dock. The existing box culvert that we repaired down stream runs right through this area. The Silt Saver in the right of the picture is an existing 8" DIP rain leader that goes down into the top of the culvert. We are using the rain leader as a temp. drain. There is some new storm pipe going in the loading dock to drain this area. Hit the walls with our hammer and snatched them out with the 349. Pretty easy work. We think this was a small foundry of some sort during the height of the "Steel City's" heyday. This was a sunken area that had concrete steps on one side and a pipe on the other end.
This jewel we dug up is the reason why we think it was some sort of foundry or other manufacturing facility. It appears to be either a small furnace or small heat exchanger. The bottom had some fire brick still attached to it. So at one time this was the bottom. This was another door we dug up that wasn't part of the chunk of iron above. Anyone know what this was used for?
Firetube boiler .... Door was a fire tube inspection door over the pressure vessel. By the size ... likely from the boiler you dug up. Fire box on the bottom. Fuel fed through the door. Coal ?? The hot gases would flow from the back through half the tubes. Make a U turn at the door and exit through the top half of the tubes up the stack. Kewanee boiler ... https://kewanee-history.com/kewanee-history/kewanees-history/
Interesting. Googled the name onsite and landed on that page. Didn't know if the door was part of what we dug up or part of a boiler that was demo'd when the building was torn down. So it appears the boiler's bottom was the open part and it was set in on fire brick. Maybe the single door was below the boiler to clean the ashes out? The little door might have a name on it but it's too rusted to tell. Probably ran on either coal or coke as the area is rich with coal and there is still a coke oven in operation.
Pretty interesting company, Sad to see they closed down. Looks like they were early to go from riveted to welded boilers. Lots of interesting and big machines when you look at the pics. page.
Interesting side note on this project is a room on the arena floor level where various artists and performers have left their mark in a tiny cinder block room under the bleachers. Lotta history in there..
The Disney On Ice one made me laugh.
Me too when I saw it amongst the likes of The Crue, Greatful Dead, Billy Joel, Kiss and the rest. I guess they felt important.
Started a side job this week demo'ing two metal buildings less than block down the street in midtown from project we did for the same GC and same owner a year ago. 2 pre-fab metal buildings one around 7K SF in the back and one around 6K SF fronting the street. The 6K fronting the street had about 1/2 of the SF built out with office space. The front facade was CMU and brick which came down easily. Rented the same 324E with multiprocessor with steel cutting jaws instead of the concrete demo jaws. I will own one of these multiprocessors one day with concrete and steel cutting jaws. Business is good and all our other hoes are busy so we had to rent a 316FL to sort, stack and load out debris. Wanted a 320FL but all they had was a 316. Nice machine but when you're used to a larger machine it feels weak. Pic from the rear of the property after removing the back building. This is my old '13 F350 passed down to one of my supers. 160K miles and still going strong. We got 6 - 30 yard cans of packed metal out of this job to the scrap yard.
Up the street on the right in the pic is the project we did last year for the same GC and Owner. The building with the ramp. Last year - The power pole with the transformer in the right of the pic is in the parking lot of the pic above.
Your work is stunningly beautiful as usual, typical of a pro doing what they do. And yeah, there's a big difference between a 160 class and 200 class excavators.
You know it's a rental when the counter weight is all scratched up and the side is smashed
Yeah I feel sorry for that little 316FL - it's in that shape with only 700 hours on the meter..
Maybe contact the historical society and see if they want the piece you dug up..? This is the door you have. Photo is of a different type of boiler but the location will be much the same.
Those boilers were built 30 miles from where I live. Lots of them still being used in large buildings in the area.
As the arena turns... So the drilled pier contractor hit an existing storm line 3 times while drilling caissons. The first time the foundation contractor hit the 30" line they poured up to the flow line and stopped. The second time they hit the pipe was close to the CMU wall and they stopped. After they hit the line the second time we were asked by the GC to uncover the existing 30" storm line from the building to the pump station in order to figure out the extent of damage. We potholed the line in a few places and then had a big on-site white hat meeting with folks wearing shiny shoes - ya'll know that type of meeting. Luckily this time around we weren't the focus of it. During the meeting I asked the drilled pier super about the last caisson they poured that was in a direct line along the existing 30" from the building to the pump station if they run into anything unusual - He replied no. 5 minutes later he spoke up and said "Well we did dump some extra mud in that hole". I asked how much? He said - "It called for 7 CY's and we dumped 16 CY's". I turned around and told the PM - your storm line is full concrete. The third caisson that filled the line can be seen in the bottom of the pic below - straight inline. So we were awarded a nice CO to replace filled line. 1970's quality workmanship right here. 30" RCP cut on a 45 and not even grouted. This is where the 30" line that drains the entire arena complex dumps into a pump station with 2 Cat powered 8" pumps that dumps into the box culvert we replaced up thread. The gap in that 45 was the way they installed it. The concrete filled pipe looked like a corn dog. Site access was tight to say the least. Yeah we knew the dangers of hammering that close to that deep of a trench but there wasn't another way. There is a fiber optic line underneath the track frame closest to the ditch and a 6" med pressure gas main running under the center of the 325. The hammer purchase has earned it's cost. Good talent is priceless ya'll.
The repair required 2-60" manhole bases we had cored in the field as the lead time was 2 weeks and the project schedule didn't allow it. Since it was a CO the $5K cost to core holes was covered. First two MH's set coming out of the pump station. Setting the second manhole. I thought this was a neat pic. Pulling trench boxes sucks and it sucks even more when you have no room and your closest neighbor is a fiber optic line and a gas line. 14' deep to flow line. Space was tight as the schedule was. Our guys rose to the challenge and got the project back on track. This was the tie in point from the new line to the existing. Since this line drains the entire project there was a trailer mounted pump in the trench box for when it rained.
More pics of the tie in. The GC rented a 320 Next Gen excavator for a week and they only used it for 2 days so they let us use the last 3 days to help speed the project along. The Next Gen Cat's are pretty damn nice. Tie into the existing line. The caisson that caused all the problems is behind the road plate next to the trench box. Of course the distance from our last full stick of 30" RCP to the existing line would end up being 9'... So we spliced 2 - 4.5 sections of pipe together and poured a concrete collar around them. No we didn't leave the pallet in the ditch..
As always excellent work.
Thanks Weldor. We have a good team that knows what they are doing.
18" DIP discharge line from the pump station to the box culvert we replaced back up thread. We received a CO to encase the existing pipe with 4500 PSI concrete 1' minimum around the pipe. Spec's didn't call to dowel into the box culvert or the pump station but it need to be. This is the first time we have used Stay Form the metal mesh stay in place forming panels. Worked like a charm and we didn't have to wreck forms. 4" gas line that feeds the natural gas powered Cat's in the pump station is sleeved with some 8" ADS we had on site. Poured out.
That's top notch problem solving right there Now I would love to see the pier guys face when he gets the back charge for filling it full of mud
Impressive
Don't bet on it. He'll be somebody's BIL no doubt.
Thanks AZ. Well as it turns out the caisson company won't owe a dime. According to the GC they have an iron clad contract that indemnifies them from anything they hit underground - I need to hire their lawyer... This company is local and really the only game in town unless you go with a big national outfit such as Long or Keller. There is not that much to drilling piers except the cost of entry which with money cheap these days as big a barrier as it was.
Cassions are a good business till down hole problems eat your lunch I have seen a few bad days do to soil conditions not being so friendly
awesome work cm that is a tight area i feel the pain on working in tight areas we have been working like that for 7 months on the coast in rock that has to be jack hammered it sucks
That Stay Form product is a worthy method indeed, has "saved" jobs many times for us. Sometimes we put a horizontal 2x4 "rail" and hang from the rail in order to establish and control elevation (not directed at your job in photo 'cause we have done that same thing just like that but this is what we have done when we have to say set a column which requires a template and anchor bolts etc). Other things we have tried: Allthread can be utilized as a tension restraint, sometimes slip a PVC pipe over the allthread or utilize a big washer out of some stiff sheet metal and a companion nut for a line up device to hold it apart "just so" until the concrete arrives (no need to worry about the bridge 2x4 falling into the pour under the concrete pump hose); if just tension being desired a length of tie wire say twice as long plus as the forms' width then twine/twist the wire into a two ply strand using a battery powered variable speed drill, then one can just loop the strands around a pin from a pencil rod or 3/8" rebar scrap or sometimes just a 16D nail which the wire can pass through the wood via a small drilled hole. Ergo hold the wood like a whaler and the wood will "back up" the stayform. Easy to strip too. This Stayform will hold 3 sack sand slurry if the slurry has some small amount of pea gravel. Say for underpinning where there is not a trench wall or pit to hold the underpin material. We have added a lot of air to the concrete for slurry cause it reduces the shrink cause we then dont add as much water. The slurry need to be only stronger than the soil is the premise for the Big Air content (like 20%). Needless to Say: Good job in tough conditions (running a breaker in a trench etc etc) going after a mess.
Thanks for the compliments Bob. My guys who are not concrete men formed and poured that. I gave some pointers on how to set it up but they took the ball and ran with it. Really like the stayform. It's expensive but one makes it up on the labor of not stripping forms. It was the first time we used it after seeing the concrete guys use it for pier caps. They set theirs up like you described with a 2x4 frame around the top to set level and anchor bolt templates. We could've just poured the entire trench full of concrete and called it a day but that wasn't the way it needed to be done with the gas line to the pump room, box culvert and wet well being so close in proximity. Also we had to cut a corner out out of one of the culvert sections to get the 45 bend in. I wanted to make sure the encasement concrete also re-poured the section we cut out, hence the dowels. Concrete spec was 4500 PSI, 4-6" slump with 3-5% air. No admixtures. Side note on the 45 degree bend on the discharge line. If both Cat pumps kick on at the same time the engineers were concerned that the discharge water would deteriorate the opposite wall of the box culvert if ran straight into the culvert. The 45 bend allows several more feet of distance for the water to dissipate it's force.
Back at the Arena project. This is the area where we dug up the boiler up thread. Former foundations of some sort of manufacturing facility. It appears they demo'd the buildings into the basement and covered it up. Foundation wall for the former factory. We're running a storm line form the existing box culvert we replaced a section of down thread and down stream. Our hammer has earned it's keep. All excavation to sub-grade is unclassified however anything below sub-grade is not so it's a change order. 18" RCP coming out of the box culvert to the back flow vault by the ladder. Storm sewer vault with duck bill one way check valve behind the DI gate valve.
So the engineer designed 18" RCP transitioning to 18" DIP transitioning to 16" DIP on the inflow side of the back vault then transitioning back to 18" DIP then 18" RCP. Hey I don't get paid to design it - we install which is drawn. 18" RCP coming out of the existing box culvert. The engineer spec'd a MarMac coupling for the connection from 18" DIP to 18" RCP. It's basically an ice and water shield type of material with ratchet straps to bind it tight. There is extra ice and water shield type of material to wrap back over the ratchet straps. Full view of the MarMac coupling and transition fitting from 16" DIP to 18" DIP. This is problably the screwiest thing I have been paid to install in my career.
How did you make the connection from the RCP to the iron? Oops, you posted the answer while I posted the question
This is what the engineer spec'd. https://marmac.com/product/dissimilar-pipe-couplers-reinforced-rubberized-mastic-bands/
CM1995 to engineer...."turn around" Why? So I can slap you in the back of the head! ***? Ed
Now you posted a clarification to your answer while I posted an acknowledgement of your answer! I am not going to post anymore in this thread for 10 minutes to let it settle, or we could go on all night.
Ed I decided a long time ago to just put in the ground what the engineer designed to spec without argument and get paid for it. Sometimes we get paid again to remove said design - it pays the bills.
It's all good Mitch. With what's going on in this world right now going back and forth about dissimilar couplings for RCP to DIP is a welcome discussion in my book.
Ok, times up! Yep, our disjointed conversation about pipe joints is a lot more pleasant than most of what's on the internet right now. I went back and added the word "pipe" to avoid getting into a whole other conversation.
Overview of of the storm back flow vault and 60" storm manhole. The 18" RCP running back to the bottom left of the pic is for the trench drain at the loading dock. Another view of the 18" RCP going towards the trench drain at the loading dock. Pic from inside the arena towards the new additon. This week we demo'd the existing sign base in front of the arena. 36" 1/2" metal tubes filled with 2 h-beams on either side filled with concrete. It took all week to hammer and excavate out to 3' below finish grade.
Hmmm - I can see where the Butt Jointed DIP going to the RCP was a element of discussion. Thank you for mentioning that butt jointed connection method with that wrap product - was a much appreciated mention. I looked at an example video and watched them tighten those straps and what with the fiber reinforcing .... seems like quite a respectable solution. Takes "ice and water shield" to a new level indeed. The adhesive will likely dramatically improve its grip while being 'pressured' by those straps. [I use the word pressure such as in 'pressure sensitive adhesive'] I have seen many instances where valves are down sized from the pipe size and have inquired - there always is an answer which usually involves some hydraulic issue: such as headloss, velocity, scouring, etc etc.
Looks like an interesting job! Nice equipment you have there CM1995!
Well that's the screwy part Bob - not only did we downsize from 18" RCP to 16" DIP there was a rubber one way check valve behind the gate valve. One of these - https://www.procoproducts.com/product-category/check-valve-manufacturers/ Not only did they choke the pipe down on a storm line but what happens when the valve gets plugged up with dip bottles, potato chip bags, etc? Since this is located in the loading dock and "star" tour bus area there is no telling what sort of debris will make it into the trench 60' long trench drain and 3 grate inlets that feed this check valve. Well here's a learning lesson that we already knew to do but just didn't do it... The vault was 14' deep with a bottom middle riser and top. We had very detailed shop drawings that I checked prior to casting which checked out on the money. So the crew sets the box, riser and top. Specs called for Conseal and water plug on the joints and black mastic rolled on the outside for "waterproofing." A final grade check on the top of the vault shows it's sitting .17' or 2" too high. The crew goes to check the flow line - within .02' which was a relief. Well it turns out the riser was .17' too tall. Get on the horn with my supplier and they casted a new one which the crew swapped out. If this vault had been out in the parking lot we might have been able to make the grade work. However this vault is 6-8' from the loading dock edge that has a 1/4" per FT slope away from the building. The edge of the dock would've been lower than the top of the vault. Moral - even though you have good detailed shop drawings always check what's been delivered first.
Thanks Metalman. The 308 in the pics above is from the GC's internal rental fleet although I would like to have an excavator that size.
We had hurricane turned tropical storm Zeta came through our area knocking down trees and turning off power to 2M people. The wife and were without power from 2 AM Wed to 7:30 PM last Thursday. Luckily it was mild temps. Our Honda generator powered all 3 refrigerators, chest freezer and lights. A lot of our Alabama Power crews were already down on the coast repairing damage from the last hurricane so crews were stretched thin. Last Tuesday I was headed to our other project on the lake where there were a lot of trees down and came across a line crew from New Brunswick all the way down in Alabama stringing wires back up. We thank them for coming down and hope that had a safe trip home.
I figured that "arret" was for the cajuns!
That means "arrest" in cajun - something they know well.
Got a little side job on the project where we demo'd the 2 metal buildings upthread and used the processor with the steel shears on. When we removed the slabs of the old buildings we knew we would be back undercutting the site for the new building. Nice no nasty grey blue Alabama expansive clay. The brown dirt above the black layer was fill placed many, many years ago. You can make pottery with this stuff. Undercutting the building pad and loading out tri-axles. Silver Bullet in the background with Lucy in the back seat. The building next door is one of those places where people pay to be locked in a room and then try to figure out how to get out - I don't get it. . And their building is sitting on the same ****. Nasty, nasty, nasty. All of this material went to our dump. I pushed it off with our 953 and it was like pudding sliding off the edge.
The "Fix" was undercut from 4' to 7', place a 1-2' layer of #4 stone compacted into the soft clay and bridge over with some very nice sandy clay. This was some very nice blade dirt. Never knowing what the weather will bring us we only wanted to open up sections of the pad at a time. Basically undercut, place stone, roll stone in then place 18" bridge lift of red dirt.
How do you get that crap out of a dump truck looks like mess waiting to happen
The Auburn War Wagon that's well known on game day in God's Country - AKA Auburn, Alabama home to Auburn University - complete with Capitan America no doubt. As the arena turns. Steel is almost complete and we're prep'ing the sub-grade for the slab on grade. It's a tight fit.
AZ the crap actually came out of the trucks pretty clean as it stuck together. It probably helped that the tri-axles all had OX round dump bodies.
Man trucks around here smell damp dirt and get your shovel out price of living in a desert
The worst is hauling in the winter with out a heated box. Spray the box down with calcium chloride helps but its always a disaster. Last winter we did a rehabilitation so the dirt had to go to a special dump that had a big line up. Every load was rock solid by the time you got in and had to be dug out with excavator.
Wow. Don that's something we never have to worry about down here. Sometimes a pre-loaded truck load of washed #57's or 8910 will freeze over the top but it's just a crust, everything underneath isn't frozen so it comes out like normal. Once I did have our 321 frozen to the ground so hard that we couldn't get it to move.
We park the Deere 550G on heavy oak planks starting in the late fall because of this. We usually don't touch the dozer on the farm all fall and we get a lot of rain. Dozer would settle down and freeze in tight if we didn't park it in the planks. We usually run it a fair amount mid to late winter doing fence row clearing type work so the planks allow us to go get it when we are ready for it.
It only happened once... I don't think it's been that cold since..
But you have to worry about snakes. I can deal with a little cold and not have critters that try to kill you. Ya this time of the year sucks cause its cold at night and warmer in the day. Gotta dig out tracks and everything else every night and park on some planks of wood. Seen guys leave vibrating plates over night then lift then by the lifting hook in the morning and destroy the mounts.
Ahh the no shoulders aren't that big of a worry - they are more scared of humans than well most humans are scared of them. Now spiders and other creepy crawly things are something to watch out for.
We have a lot of red clay in some areas, others sand. Seems to be no rime nor reason as to where you are going to find it. Where I grew up a mile from town the clay was 25' deep in some areas. Hit some of that when coring out for a street, the city was suppling the dump trucks to haul it away. The one driver was always wanting just a little more, but only a 1/4 of a bucket full. I finally packed it with the bucket after the last dump, he had to shovel off a lot of the load. After that even I just wanted him to move ahead he was gone. It is that time of the year where you spend a lot of time cleaning tracks and making sure that they aren't frozen down in the morning. You kind of wonder if you are making any money with all the time you spend trying to clean up equipment so that it doesn't freeze down.
As the arena turns. Excavating the upper area of the loading dock where the performers buses and media trucks will be housed. The lower area on the other side of the retaining wall being formed is the freight loading dock. 18" RCP through the loading dock retaining wall to catch the basin for the trench drain in the truck well. Pre-cast 2x3 structure for the basin of the trench drain. It had to be field adjusted. The new Milwaukee concrete blades work like a champ ya'll! I highly recommend them.
Had to take our 325 inside the new addition to hammer out some old foundations in the escalator pit. The old footings were buried 3-4' below the building slab sub-grade. 20 minutes of hammering and 20 minutes of wiggling back out the red iron structure. More old foundations in the loading dock area. The original builders of the arena demo'd the old structures 1' or so below finished grade and left them in place. This was some sort of concrete trough. Once again we found another boiler and a metal tank. The boiler was riveted together, probably turn of the 20th century or a little older.
What blade did you use? How much did you cut with it? I need to cut up some concrete floor in the middle of a restaurant kitchen. Not much maybe 6' total cutting.
Gray Hydraulic Clay, ICKY!! Gets the least bit of water swells like a balloon here, ground will actually rise ad fall with water table infiltration in spots. White Fire clay is found north of here in multiple counties, purity is good enough are shipping to 'China' for porcelain production and by the BARGE load down to Jefferson City MO where is transferred to rail cars. Trucking company locally went to full liners on their equipment to stop the sticking issues.
Just joking around oarwhat - I was referring to the Milwaukee sawzall on the pre-cast box. Think the guys used it to cut some rebar out of the way. On the topic of concrete blades we just order from our local construction supply house. Couldn't tell you the brand. Funny you say that DM. Literally just up the street we did another project with the same GC as this job for the same owner. Its the white building with the grey trim in the upper right hand corner of this pic. The tenant on the end of that building is a high brow potter. The GC had to install a massive power service in order to supply enough juice for the electric kilns. Don't ask me why they didn't go with nat gas. She sends her place settings all over the world for fancy 5 star restaurants. We thought about taking a bucket or two up and see if she could make a couple of bowls or plates for the owner as a peace offering for the change order we sent them for the undercutting..
Damn stuff, seems solid until move on or over it, gets very plastic damned near to flows.
For the demo saws I've been told the Ameri cut blades are quite good. A buddy does a ton of concrete work and swears by them.
dumb question . are these blades used in a sawzall
No pete I was just joking around with the sawzall in the pic.
did`nt think so
Durn ... It's like being told there is no Santa Claus ... Have some concrete to cut. Have a Sawzall ... but no Demo Saw
How’s that 325 treating you these days?
damn I wanted to see that work
The 325 has earned its keep over the last several months - (knocks on wood ) since the issue with the auxillary valve. It's moved a couple thousand CY's and hammered a couple 100 CY's of old concrete foundations on the arena job. Just turned 2K hours a week or so ago.
Topping out beam for the arena project. View from the new upper club level. My 350 and 279 are in the foreground. View of the new entrance. The glazing contractor is installing the mulls on the structural steel and have been in our way with 80' boom lifts while we've been trying to install a portion of the storm sewer. Our 325 is in the lower right of the pic.
Nice pictures...........looks like quite a project. What city is the build in?
Metalman this project is located in the Magic City - AKA Birmingham, Alabama - my hometown where I was born and raised.
Looks like a good project.
Just nicely run in then..... It made me think of the 994K I put together at the end of August. That hit 2k hours at the end of last month.
Nige that's why I like being a site work contractor. It's like being an excavator, demolition man, plumber, concrete mason, landscaper and carpenter all in a days work. Always something new. TBH I'd jump off the high wall if I had to work in a mine day in and day out doing and looking at the same thing every day, month and year.
As the arena project turns. 24" core drill though the 14" thick concrete wall of the wet well at the pump station for an 18" RCP install. This is the pump station that has 2 Cat nat gas engines running 8" pumps. The new electrical power and control wires for the pump station floats and Cats in the grey conduit. As usual space was at a premium. Core complete. 18" RCP installed, grouted and stone backfill. Now this is something I have never seen in my career and far as I know is not even available to purchase. A 15" RCP 45 degree fitting. It's a well done pre-cast unit.
Someday those concrete 3D printers the Marines keep playing with are gonna make stuff like this easy.
18" RCP from the wet well to an overflow in the loading dock parking lot. This is how to lay pipe and make money. Crew didn't get started laying pipe out of the manhole until 9 AM due to other trades on the site. Regardless they put 19 - 8' sticks of 18" RCP in the ground with every joint grouted by 5 PM. This pic was taken around 2:30 in the afternoon. I'll put this 3 man crew against any 3 man crew in a pipe laying competition. View from the manhole towards the loading dock and the retaining wall the 18" goes through into the loading dock.
At least can bench out slot not require slip frame wall shoring and all the added OSHA Trench safety requirements.
DM we get so much more production when we can bench a trench instead of using boxes. When a job comes up that requires a box the price per FT goes up substantially. We got with the GC's field engineer and concrete crew to make us a box out for the 18" RCP overflow for the loading dock. Saved us the time and expense of calling the sawing company out to cut a hole. The line and green dots are our alignment shots - hit pretty damn close to center. We're not concrete guys but can cobble forms together every once in a while.
Nice work CM! We have a similar laser (GL422N) I really like it. Right on with that pipe alignment!!
Space is always a premium on projects like this. The glaziers have 3 man lifts and the steel erectors have 2 on site. Various pre-fab structural steel is scattered across the site... The curtain wall will be all glass. Glaziers are installing all the mullions with the 2 lifts on the right. Thought this was a neat pic - lowering R2D2 behind the retainer wall to compact some backfill.
MM55 I really don't know how we laid storm pipe in the past without it. We also have a Topcon in the pipe laser that cost 2.5 times what a GL does but we can lay storm faster on alignment with the GL. Now when it comes to sanitary it's a different story.
The 18" RCP through the retainer wall turned out alright. The first round of mudding the gaps, the crew will rub the blockout one more time with some portland and sand to clean it up a bit. Finished up the lake project. Looking back up the new parking lot. This work was done by our second crew who is really good at finish work. The dumpster pad roof should withstand a F5 tornado. 6x6 tube steel with 4x6 ceiling joists holding up a tin roof... Headwall for the 18" RCP installed in the parking lot a couple of months ago. Nice shot of the finish work the crew did - ready to lay sod.
Around on the front of the building cleaning up and final grading with the 321DL. This section of the building with the porch is the new main dining room. We had to work the transition from the building down the slope and still keep an access road to the other side of the building. The access road being built. The 2013 F350 we bought new still making money. Put a transmission in her over the holidays at 180K miles for just over $6k - it's got another 200K miles on it.
As the arena sorta turns - So JLG showed up and wanted to shoot a prime time man lift TV commercial... . I really think they could've fit another one in there. One of the JLG's went rouge as actors and actresses are known to do. Just missed the 2- 4" exhausts from the nat gas Cat engines powering the pumps for the pump station that drains the entire project. This is the pump station we cut the top off of. It would've been a very, very expensive fix.. This was the glaziers lift. Instead of driving it down the street, removing a few fence panels and driving it in they decided to drive around the pump station between the parking meters, gas meter (live) and the exhaust. Brought one of those fancy rotator wreckers out with the axle behind the cab like one would see on those Canadian trucks. No JLG didn't shoot a commercial - just another day on a congested city jobsite.
Pic of the front of the addition as the glass is going up. This area is where the sat trucks and performer's buses will be parked. There are very poor soils in the loading dock area that we had to undercut. As the schedule goes we had to start the UC before the concrete guys were finished with the retaining walls. 1.5-2' of UC, place surge rock and top off with DGB. First load of surge rock about to be spread out with the trusty D5G. Loading dock finished, watered and nuke tested. The danger tape is to remind the other trades with lulls and manlifts that if they damage the subgrade it will cost them dearly.
I find it very interesting what different areas use to to accomplish the same task. The truck with the second steer behind the cab we call a twelve wheeler. Most can carry about 20 ton in the box what do you guys use to accomplish the same task? A ten wheeler here can carry around 15 ton.
Don our regular tri-axle dumps, which are a heavy tandems with a lift axles set forward of the tandems, can legally haul 25 tons on local and state roads but not the Interstate highways. This is a typical tri-axle here - KW with big Cummins and either an 8LL or Allison auto. OX Hardox bed with highlift gate. Good for 25 tons legally.
Undercutting the upper loading dock area that will be parking for the touring buses and sat trucks. The glass curtain wall is wrapping up so maybe we can a few of those man lifts out of here. 2004 D5G XL still cutting the grade. At 17 years old it's getting close to a break on it's auto insurance. 325FL with 48" bucket stockpiling the undercut for load out.
That stuff smells from way over here We look at stuff like that and make a little pinch the nose sign.
HA! We make the $ sign.
Give the track tensioners on the D5 a couple of pumps some time when you have the grease gun out will ya....
Think the idler seal is going out. We've been pumping it up every few days but it slowly leaks back down but no visible sign of grease. Haven't had time to break the track and investigate.
Upper bus parking undercut complete, tested by dirt docs and turned over to the concrete crew. The concrete crew prep'ing the lower loading dock for concrete. Access road to the arena level to rough grade. Our crew re-used the DGB under the existing asphalt for the access road in order to keep the mud down. It's a 1" minus crusher run, really good material. Pile of existing crusher run the crew used on the access road. It takes good operators to take up DGB and keep it that clean. Retainer wall foundation drain we installed over sparky's conduit for the big Cat generator in the upper loading dock. Put a 6" PVC sleeve through the wall before they poured it. Finish grade is the red chalk line on the wall.
Don't be surprised if it's idler bearings
Here to make Bridge Law, the 3 axle I have been running can only go 19T, the quads can up that to 22t and bump 24 if not on main highways.
Very well could be. The idlers are original 2004 vintage with around 6K on the clock IIRC. It's time for a new dozer and let the 5 be a secondary machine. DM I've seen a couple of those quads around here over the last few years however no trucking outfit I know of runs them. Why would they when they can legally gross 25T on a tri-axle like the one in the first pic. Scale ticket for some rock Vulcan hauled the job a couple of weeks ago. 25.88 Ton payload
Bridge law as to weight dispersal Cannot load the tri here to 25t can only license to 66 and weighs 27
To get 25 ton on a truck here your going to run 4 drop axels weather its 4 pushers or 3 pushers and a tag axel makes for a long dump truck with 4 pushers the tag axel as a strong arm is handy but more expensive and has a taller bed rail so it's hard to load with anything but a loader
Washington you'd need a strongarm too.
So you guys have different weights that you can haul on highways and side roads?
It all depends on what state you are in. Interstate highway is federal (which has its own regs), state and county roads are under separate entities. Some states go by the federal rules, some states are more restrictive than the federal rules, some are less.
Correct - what Crane Op said. Alabama has some generous weight limits on county and state roads. Now don't get caught with the load on the scale ticket on the Interstate.
Az follows fed rules
Started a new project last week during the 2 spats of bad weather that the most recent spat spawned tornados that ripped through our county yesterday. It has rained 6 out of the last 10 working days. This project is located about 1/4 mile north of where an F3 passed over US HWY 280 yesterday. Not my picture. Our job site is across the highway from this intersection, to the left of this pic. That tornado destroyed many, many houses in a subdivision right in front of it. Brought the T250 out of semi-retirement to run the trencher as this job has 600' of silt fence. Used the 279D to carry T-posts, mash them into the ground and string wire while the T250 trenched away. Work smarter not harder - we hate manual labor. Construction entrance down, silt fence installed and city inspection passed. Now we just need the rain and severe weather to subside but it's March in Alabama and it's just getting started.
Is the silt fencing material attached to the wire, or is that a three part system of posts, wire, then fabric?
Colson it is a 3 part system - T posts, wire and fabric hooked to the wire with hog rings. On a side note bought a Solsbee's tooth bucket for our T250. It's actually on the 279 in the pick above as it's normal bucket was at the shop for some welding. Paid $1250 + tax for the bucket and for the money it's a damn nice bucket. It's fabricated well, we'll see how it hold up. The T250 is our spare machine we use around the yard and when needed. Liked the bucket and the price so much I asked the dealer how much was a set of forks - $675 + tax. Sold. The forks are fabricated very well and seem sturdy, we'll find out as that set of forks is going into the field and we're retiring the Bobcat set that crew has. Now the 250 has bucket and set of forks. Link to Solsbee's page - https://solesbees.com/skid-steer-pallet-fork
cm how are you liking the 325 we just bought a new 325 GC and it has to much electronic stuff on it but it has 2d grade control which will be handy. you staying busy we are slammed for the next 4 years here we also just bought a 336f with 400 hrs on it with a trimble system for a job coming up and a new 950m loader it will be interesting to see how all this def stuff holds up on the equipment. the work looks awesome
Thanks Jakebreak. The 325 has been great. It's an F model not the current next gen. so it doesn't have any of the grade features. I would love to have a 325 next gen but we're very sensitive to debt after being hammered during the Great Recession. Our current backlog is 6-8 months so not strong enough to justify a $300K investment at the moment. What type of project do ya'll have coming up for the 336F?
336 can probably burn enough DEF you want to make sure there is a filter on the vent line. The combines we ran when I was a custom harvester could pull enough vacuum to suck dust up 10-12' of vent line. Put one of those little inline fuel filters on the vent lines and no more problems with dust contamination.
Solid tip to know. Our combine isn't new enough to have DEF yet, but 2 of our 8 series Deers do
we have a 4 year project starting out on the desert at a navy base its mostly plumbing but we have a year to do the site work we have 22,000 feet of water main to put in from 16"-6" a bunch of deep sewer and storm and we have 2 huge underground storage tanks i think are about 20,000 gallons each maybe bigger those tanks are going to be about 25' deep 100' long and 30' wide if i remember the dimensions of how big the hole is going to be that's per hole it should be a fun project glad to hear your busy that is only one project we keep bidding work plus we have to start phasing out some of our older equipment that wont be compliant in two years
Thanks for the tip I will have to check that out and have our mechanic put one in
that base must be for the boys that sail wind wagons
As the arena turns. 15" A2000 PVC pipe. It's a decent plastic pipe to work with but it's brittle. PVC inline drains for the future concrete pedestrian area that will be in this location. This whole site has been filled in over the last 150 years with all sorts of "treasures" left by the preceding construction projects. You can see the remnants of an old CMU wall in front of the inline drain. I saved the large sandstone rock on the right side of the pic when it made it to the dump, those rocks are worth a dollar or two for retainer walls. 15" A2000 tie in to a manhole the crew set on top of the new box culverts we replaced last summer. The new pedestrian plaza has alternating patterns of colored concrete so we had to be sure the little grate inlet wasn't between the two different colors. We got together with the GC's field engineers to locate the exact location and provide offsets. The plans showed this grate inlet not even centered in 4 different concrete colors. We adjusted the location so the GI ended up being in the middle of the same colored concrete square. Now if this little GI survives the lulls and manlifts is a whole 'nuther story..
Moved the rock box from the arena to our little retail project close to where the tornado tore a path through a week and 1/2 ago. There were some small pines on site that we cleared and grubbed. We hauled them to our dump. I don't like dumping brush in it but at $50 a load to dump elsewhere I'd rather save the $300. Stripping and stocking topsoil. There was about 6" of topsoil the original grading contractor spread back over this lot. Probably had an abundance and needed to get rid of it - something I've seen us do before. Topsoil, topsoil everywhere.
LOL! I worked a landfill closure and covering project. We mined 90,000 yards off this farm field on the river bottom, average cut was 3'. I loaded it with a 988B at 215 8 axle dump and pups a day.
Tying in a 15" RCP storm line into an existing double wing inlet on a project we started a couple of weeks ago. This is the toughest labor wise part of this job as it involves shovel work which we all hate. Another pic at a different angle that shows the extent of shovel work to get to the inlet box. Backfill going in. Ordered 1" minus scrap rock from a local quarry that came out close to a dense grade base type stone at $2 less per ton than #57's. It's actually good rock with a fair amount of fines, perfect for a road crossing. Even put the GC's super to work.
Engineer spec'd a Contech Cascade Separator storm water quality unit on one of our current projects. Basically it's a pre-cast storm manhole with a 4' sump in the bottom and a fiberglass baffle that circulates the storm water in order to settle any debris and trash before it exists the structure. This type structure requires regular maintenance to remove the accumulated debris. First one we've installed. It installs like any other pre-cast structure except it's taller. Normally this would be two pieces we would set separately, note the steel band bolting the two together. The fiberglass baffle spans both sections of pre-cast, hence the metal strapping connecting them together. Cascade Separator installed. There are two 15" RCP lines that will go out of this structure to drain the parking lot. The curb grate inlet is set backwards.. Your's truly being laborer in the hard hat on a Friday afternoon unloading inlet structures ahead of an Alabama spring storm. These are the first round knock out boxes we've used. Interested to see how they work out compared to square knock outs. Lucy telling me she's ready to hit the road - It's Friday pop!.
Pic of the above pipe tie in. Dug under the valley curb and slid the pipe in. Plans showed the curb being saw cut and replaced but it was easier to dig under it and leave it in place.
Back at the arena project. Inside shot of the future sky boxes. The boxes will have their own enclosed area with mini-bar and seating out in the arena. The new addition on the sky box level. The plywood on the floor covers the gap between the existing building and the addition. There will be a stainless steel cover over the gap which acts as an expansion joint between the two structures. The original structure is all pre-cast concrete and the addition is a steel frame with composite deck so the two will expand and contract at different rates. This has been one hell of a project for us. We are the smallest sub on the entire job yet we've met every milestone on the schedule. This job landed on my desk to bid last year and I told my wife and business partner that we won't get it but we're going to bid it. Covid hit like a freight train in March 2020 and we beat out one of the largest site contractors in the area for the job, I found that out after we started the job. Signed the contract late March '20 and started in April. Our scrappy little bunch demo'd the site and moved 20K yards of dirt so efficiently that we finished a month ahead of schedule during a very wet spring/early summer. Proud of our guys is an understatement. April 2020 April 2021 We're getting down to the end of our part of this project. Have a change order for some inline drains and 6" PVC in pedestrian area and fine grade for the plaza out front of the arena in the pic above. Other than some loose ends we are getting close to seeing this one in the rear view mirror. It's been one hell of a project. This project took our comfort zone, crumpled it up, set it on fire and threw it out the window. We not only performed work we've never done before but did it on time, on budget and without one injury. The sky has become the limit.
Back at the arena. 10" DIP roof leader tie into the existing 30" RCP about 12' deep. Crew opened this up Monday morning. This was before lunch on Monday - 10" DIP waterplugged into existing storm line. This crew doesn't mess around. 10" DIP from the 30 RCP backfilled with #57 stone and 90'd into the building roof leader. The 10" coming out of the building is the roof emergency overflow. BTW we have nothing to do with the ladder holding up the 6" sanitary lateral coming out of the building - that one is owned by the trade that goes by hot on the left, cold on the right, **** runs down hill, payday is on Friday and the boss is an *******. Other crew laying some 15" RCP on a small retail project. This line is 198', they started yesterday out of the water quality control unit up thread. Damn fine production for 2 days. We have rain coming in tomorrow so I got the opportunity to be out of the office and run some iron. It's invigorating, much better than computer screens and blueprints that makes up much of my day. 321DL with 7,800 hours digging trench and our little Bomag with 1100 hours (which is alot of hours for a trench roller) still showing up to work and earning their keep.
I hope it's not a lot of hours. I just noticed that mine has about 1,000 hours today. I works great, seems like it has a lot of life left in her (I sure hope it does), but I think there is some sort of parasitic draw because it has a dead battery frequently. I don't spend much time with it and I can't tell if there's an issue or if it's just my guys forgetting to switch off the battery cut-off when it's time to go home. Does yours have a similar issue?
Yes ours does the same. Our Bomag was having ghost issues of cranking, idling for a minute and dying. Then it would crank, idle up and not move. Replaced the battery 2 weeks ago and it runs like it supposed to except for yesterday I left it idling for 15-20 mins to charge the remote battery. Went to move it, idled the engine up and it wouldn't go forward or reverse yet it would move side to side. Shut it off, re-started it and it ran fine the rest of the day. These little machines just shake themselves to death and all the electronics on them doesn't help the situation. Hate to say it but they are throw away machines IMO. Bought both of our trench rollers, one Wacker and one Bomag both used out of rental fleets. The Wacker came from Sunbelt and the Bomag came from Neff before they were bought out by United. Both little packers have earned more than they cost, so anything more is a bonus.
Congrats on the successful arena project! Thats gotta be a good feeling and confidence booster for you and your guys..with your hoe starting to get some hours on it, what do you see yourself looking to upgrade to in the future? Curious because we do similar type of work, just on a little smaller scale
Mine will sometimes turn off during warm up. I believe the code it gives is for low oil pressure. This is an intermittent issue. The Bomags have a very annoying proximity sensor. Mine will act the way you described when standing too close to machine with remote. I've had my Wacker RT820 since 2004. It's had it's fair share of issues but is till going strong. The Bomags seem like good machines. I would think better than the Wacker so I hope it will last for years. Time will tell. I bought my RT (used) from a wacker dealer. I also bought my Bomag from a rental outfit (United) at the same time that I bought my 66" single drum roller.
Thanks Browning, there is nothing like taking on a challenge and being successful to build confidence in yourself and your organization. Answering your question we have two mainline (at least for us) hoes - a 2018 325FL with 1800 HRs and a 2011 321DLCR with 7800 HRs on it. Our plan is buy a new 325 for the senior crew, pass the '18 325FL down to the 2nd crew and keep the 321DL as a spare. The 321 is still a good hoe with a lot of life left on it in semi-retirement and it will save us in rental fees when we have to rent a 30-50K hoe which is several times a year. On average we spend $10-20K a year renting 30-50K size hoes.
Our Bomag hits harder than the Wacker and I like the fact the Bomag doesn't have the eyeball sensors. Also you can jump start the Bomag with no issues but you can fry the electronics jump starting a Wacker. Now I dislike the Bomag because Bomag is so protective with parts and parts diagrams. I can get online and find any part for our Wacker easily, order the part and have it shipped to the yard, not so much for Bomag. So it's a toss up which one I prefer the most. When they are working I love the Bomag, when they are broken I love the Wacker. FWIW our Cat Rental store went to all Bomag (they're also a Bomag dealer) because they had less issues than Wacker.
Ive never ran a zero tail swing machine before, but what is the main downside to them vs say a 320 or 323 in your opinion? Obviously you work in tight quarters a lot, but if a guy ran a 325 clearing trees, loading trucks, demo, etc is there a big drawback to them?
Zero swings feel just a hair light in the rear and not enough to change anything But a 320 has room to crawl in to work on most repair procedures on my 314 start with removing the counter weight cause there's is about 8 extra inches in the engine compartment and I have never seen a zero swing that was easy to work on
That separator structure looks hefty, at least you are not down there marrying up the first joint in the hole that way. I've never been around a remote trench roller like that. These things seem regional in nature. I used to point the old school double rollers down a good trench grade and let them go, but nothing with a remote like that.
My 245G has great balance...a lot better than I expected. I often run a 5500# breaker on it (weighs 5,000#) and that's a bigger hammer than what might be recommended for a 20tn hoe (i.e. a 320 or 323) and it handles it no problem. I also run a 48" wide, 1.25 yard bucket (and our soils are not light) which it also handles well. The zero tails have the boom mounted farther back into the superstructure (which also helps to give it a tighter radius on the front), and they generally are heavier than comparable conventional hoes which both serve to counter the lack of counterbalance leverage. As an example, a Cat 323 (as it is commonly set up for my area) will weigh about 56k# and my Deere 245G (which is comparable to a Cat 325) weighs about 60k#. I love working the machine as I don't have to worry about my *** hitting things when I swing. Coming from a Cat 315 I feel that I can do way more work in even tighter areas than the 315 could. I think AZ hit the nail on the head when he talked about service headaches. My 245G only has about 1,800 hours on it so we haven't had to do any significant repairs yet. It is a pain to do normal services when compared to a conventional tail machine. The dealer had to R&R the turbo under warranty a while back. I didn't look to hard from my perspective (which was at a fair distance ). The other draw back is the cab. Most of them have smaller cabs and/or cab entry than a conventional hoe (though the Cat 325 next gen claims the same cab as the conventional). My 245G definitely has a smaller cab than a 210 but I don't find it difficult to live with (accept the seat is not as comfortable as my 315 seat). There is no room for a lunch box or water jug in the 245. On that note there is no room for anything on the 245 for anything (i.e. tools, spare teeth, grease gun, etc.). On my 315 I have a box under the step that has wrenches, spare teeth and keepers, a 2# hammer, a grease gun, etc.) and I have other areas to keep an extra gallon of oil, anti-freeze, and a couple of lifting straps.
Thanks DGODGR for that breakdown! Il stop hijacking now lol
The big drawback on the C model zero swings was the cab as it was much smaller than the 320C’s. The D series cab is much better, the F is very roomy and the new 325’s appear to be slightly bigger than an F. I love these machines. I’d buy a 335 if we needed a larger machine. We won’t be buying a conventional in this size class or smaller. The 321DL has over 7,800 hrs on it without a major repair. Services aren’t as easy as a conventional but not that bad either, very small price to pay for no ass swing.
Sky we wouldn’t know how to lay pipe without a trench roller. We’ve even built pads with them. Easy to transport and have a surprisingly hard hit. They are one of our most profitable pieces of equipment.
I put it into Google and got a Sunbelt rentals link, put in my zip code and the closest one is over 150 miles away from me! Like I said they're regional LOL. Just like the crawler loaders they don't appear in the Northwest very much. I suppose there's times when a crawler loader is going to be bogged down where you're at, and I bet that length of time is much longer here in the soggy Northwest. The same probably goes for your little trench roller. Too gooey for it to go, and material that will just sustain a very light tap from a hoe pack that's tracks half full of mud. In other words welcome to my world
It seems that plate compactors rule the roost in trench work out here. Most of the mini and midi excavators I look at that are doing utility work have quick couplers with at least two buckets and a plate compactor. I've never seen a trench roller or even heard of someone around here talking about them. I bet that if a few showed up and proved their worth in our soils, they would catch on pretty quick.
The other thing is hardly anybody specs the concrete pipe that he's putting in. Everything out west seems to be plastic. More trench boxes and less wide open trenches. That's just an observation. I seriously cannot recall the last time we did a commercial job that was concrete pipe unless it was really big stuff like 3'-8'
Both CM and I average higher rainfall than Seattle. Not sure about CM's area, but we get over a third of our rainfall between April and July 1st.
So that doesn't explain it but there's certainly a missing link here there's just no crawler loaders around. I owned a little 350b Johnny 41 years ago, but I have run a 977 on a job in the 80's and that's it. I was using a brush rake with no top clamp, Raking up roots out of a golf course job.
I'm pretty sure it's the same reason you guys don't have trench rollers. Clay and lots of it.
In the Puget Sound area it is mostly sand and gravel until you get down the glacial till. Lots of places get plenty more rain that here. It's just that ours starts in October or November and usually doesn't quit until the end of March or middle of April. Then the weekend showers happen until the Fourth of July. It's usually dry then until October of November and then start over. Sunny days here happen occasionally, in short spurts enough to get hopes up and then it crushes you with three weeks of gray.
I live in a temperate rain forest... . Our "dry" months are from Sept to Oct. Last year we had a very wet spring and early summer. This year we actually have had a Spring - we were wearing light jackets this week. I can't remember the last time I needed a jacket towards the end of April.
As the Arena turns. This is a change order to add some Nyoplast inline drains with pedestrian grates and 8" A2000 PVC pipe for the remodeled rear entrance. Needed to rent a mini for this part of the job and wanted a 303.5 or 305 but all they had was a 306 in the pic above. Nice little next Gen hoe. It weighs in around 15K lbs which puts in a b*****d weight class IMO. It's too heavy to pull behind a SRW truck and a 14K trailer and not as big as a 308. Oh well it performed well and my guys liked it. The existing roof leader piping is 6" concrete pipe, something from a bygone era. We had to get creative to tie 8" A2000 PVC to 50 year old 6" concrete pipe. Yeah you read that right tying an 8" line into a downstream 6" line - we don't get paid to design it however we do get paid to install per plans. Had to use a mission coupling designed for a transition from clay to PVC to tie into the concrete pipe. It worked with some persuasion is all I have to say about that. Bell end of the existing 6" concrete pipe, they did a good job of mudding up the joint. 8x6 PVC tee and 6" concrete pipe. 8 to 6 tie in. The concrete pipe looks bigger but it's just an optical collusion, the OD's are different diameters. See the pic above.
Nyoplast inline drains this size are not that aggravating to set like the larger diameter basins. We call them Gumby's for obvious reasons, you younger guys won't get that reference. That 306 is a fuel sipper. Ran it on eco mode and only burned a 1/4 tank trenching in two days. Inline drains installed inline. . The GC brought one of their road plates over to bridge the newly installed pipe as this is rear entrance is a main access point for the finish trades on the main level so there is a tremendous amount of Lull traffic - hence the traffic drums. Regardless of trying to fool proof it we'll get a CO to repair at least 2 of the 6 drains. Slicking up the grade with a little trench roller action.
Why rent a 306 and not just use your backhoe
The 420 is currently disassembled for an A/C line repair on our yard. We've been blessed with a mild winter rain wise and a backlog of work so maintenance on our older stuff has taken a back seat. It's cheaper to rent and get the job done at the moment.
On our other job laying a little 15" RCP. I haven't been in the seat of a hoe laying pipe in a while, although I was a little rusty it's like riding a bicycle. The 321DLCR with 7800+ hours still making money. This was the week of PVC pipe and Nyoplast drains. There were 2 Nyoplast basins for the roof leaders on this strip center. 8" SCH 40 for the collector pipe. We were able to go over the sanitary sewer main line and laterals the plumbers installed earlier in the week. Moved the 306 to this job to finish out the weeks rental. 8" roof leader next to a 4" sanitary lateral. Backfilling the ditch at end of work today. The white line is the edge of the building slab. The little Bomag doing what it does best.
CM how do they pour the building slabs down there, is there any frost/heaving issues in your region?
Our imaginary frost line for design purposes is 1'. So any monolithic slab on grade for a building has to have at least 1' of the outside turn down buried. Take a slab house tract home for example, the outside edge of the slab will be 18" thick 1' bury and 6" from ground to wood which is also code to keep the termites out. Our sidewalks are only 4" thick and usually poured right on the ground. Heavy duty concrete paving like a dumpster pad will be 6" of concrete and 6" of gravel as a capillary break. We fight water building structures more than any other force of nature. I'll try to remember to take some pics of the footings going in on the job above.
Thats kinda what i was thinking they would prly do, we have poured some slabs up here (IL) like that for sheds and small garages
The most frost we ever get might be 1/2" to an inch and then it's gone the next day.
You mean ground can freeze lol
I know right?!!
At least when its frozen you dont have mud.
I'm Gumby Dammit! Eddie Murphy is an awesome comedian.
As the area turns. Look what the Cat drug in. 2021 D3 LGP pretty much fully loaded. We got it Monday to demo all week. Our other dozer is a 2004 D5G which this model replaces as Cat redone their dozer lineup. 17 years of innovation is impressive. The rear view camera is a nice touch which kept me from backing over the general super's go buggy. This D3 replaces the previous D5K model which preceded our D5G. Now our D5G is an XL and the D3 is an LGP but the size difference is notable. This job all started on that corner outside the blue fence panels 1 year and 1 month ago when we met with the general super to discuss the job. I'll be honest I was scared ******** when we won this project but we put our nose down, did our job the way we do it and never gave up. The real bonus is we've made a lifetime friend with the general super, there's just something special about this job that's hard to put into words. Finishing out the final grade with a new dozer at that very corner a year later.
cat really messed with the scale of things.
Glad that the out come was so good on such a big project. Has to make you wonder when you get the bid on something that large what did I miss, or were the other bidders just trying to make to much on the job. Since I am a one old man show no way would I bid a big job. About 2/3 of my jobs are the former customer calls asks me to just do the job. Small town, knowing a lot of people over the years helps, and I don't have to waste time trying to bid the work. Makes for a variety of work which isn't as profitable sometimes, but always profitable! Even on bid jobs I usually point out things to the customers that they need to have done before anyone can do the job. A lot of building demo jobs they don't realize that to get the natural gas unhooked is two to four months wait after they have received their money. The others never mention that, to me it's about trying to help people, which in turn makes me feel good. Just like when I finish a job, I am proud of how it looks and what I have done, pride in workmanship is important to me!
Dirty it's like the project that was just bid under the interstate bridges in the background. It's a 34 acre park complete with skate park, roller rinks, amphitheater, out door class rooms, art displays, climbing walls, etc, etc. We bid that job with one of the 3 GC's bidding, the GC building the arena was not bidding. I bid high as it had 108 nyoplast gumbies and a couple 100,000 SF of fine grading. The job went for $34,000,000 with a difference of just $200,000 between low bid and second lowest...that's tight. The GC we bid with was #2..
Although the size difference looks substantial the weight difference is only a couple thousand pounds. At first I didn't like the new numbering system but it does make sense. At one time Cat had 3 different D6's - D6K, D6N and D6T which were all very different tractors. This 3 is balanced enough as it is where we don't need any counterweight.
I never understood why Caterpillar makes each new series larger.
Weight is the determining factor on model designations. Cat has been installing more sheet metal to give the perception that the new machine is bigger, stronger, heavier and implying that it is more productive. CM hit the nail square when he said it is only a couple thousand pounds different that his older unit. It is probably only marginally if any more productive. All the manufacturers have been playing the name games since the nineteen sixties. A D8L became a D9. A 330 Cat excavator became a 336 and the same can be said for all the rest of the equipment builders.
Also has to do with all the emissions BS. You need more room for the DEF tank, DPF ect. so the tractor gets a little wider. Cat has made daily checks and routine maintenance much more accessible on this tractor compared to the G model. Check engine and air filter standing on the ground. Oil filter is right next to engine dipstick. The G you have to be a contortionist to blow out the air filter even checking the oil is awkward.
We bid a job one time. Low bid $1.0 M, 2nd $1.25 M. I asked the low bid flat out, what did you miss? He said nothing, then asked if the 2nd had ever worked with us before. I said "no". He says there's your answer. We know it's gong to be a messy job with some extras that will show up. (We knew it too) I didn't have to put in any contingency money because I know you will fair on negotiating the extra. Some guys feel good if the low bid is way below their estimate. I take pride in being right in the middle
The 2nd lowest GC was tore up about loosing it over that small of amount compared to the job's size. They lost the job by .58%. We hardly ever do hard bid government jobs as most of our jobs are bid but negotiated at the same time. I tell estimators all the time "I am confident you can find someone cheaper than us" when they say they have a lower price from someone else. The GC's we work with all the time know we don't rely on CO's to make a profit, I bid the job at a price that will build the job. Of course unforeseen's come up on jobs all the time but we're fair when dealing with it. My father gave me some great advice a long time ago - " I've never lost money on a job I didn't get."
I've seen the change order kings. It is a crappy way to do business IMO.
A pic showing the progress on the addition. This week the crew worked from the storefront glass out towards the intersection fine grading for the hardscape sub. Another shot of the new dozer finishing out the plaza grading. We weren't able to work our way out of this job without finding one last buried treasure. The white line in front the 3 is an old sandstone foundation for some building long gone. The previous crews poured the sidewalk right over the top of them. Digging the sandstone blocks out. They were approx. 1.5' thick and 3' wide. I'll sort these stones out at the dump and push them aside for a future project.
Back with our other crew on the strip shopping center. This new building will house a Dunkin, 5 Guys, local artsy shop and a couple of TBT retail bays. Giving some well deserved love to our 321DLCR. 2011 model we bought in 2014 that now has just shy of 7900 hours on the clock. Cranks everyday and goes to work. Probably one of the best hoes we've ever owned. 8" SCH 40 PVC roof leader for the building going under the plumbers 6" PVC sanitary and grease lines. Plumbers got in ahead of us so we had to work around them. No problem. Another gumby. There were 2 on this job. 8" PVC fittings are expensive and hard to get at the moment. A 22.5 MJ fitting with transition gaskets works just fine - actually MJ fittings are cheaper and easier to work with than glued PVC. The Old Guard lined up at the end of a busy week. The dozer and roller are 17 years old, the hoe is 10 years old. Well made machines taken care of will continue to perform and make you money. Equipment is an investment so take care of it.
That equipment looks awesome for the age and hours
The L9000 tandem still earning it's keep. It paid for itself on the first job and is great site truck. Pitifully slow on the HWY with it's L10 and 4sp Alison trans but great moving dirt on site. Our little 17 year old D5GXL still earning it's keep as well. Filling in an area of the parking lot on a shopping center we are working on. 18" RCP going to the last inlet in the parking lot. Due to all the issues everyone is having in the supply chain we couldn't wait for custom cast structures so we went with round knock out boxes. It's the first time we've used them and they are a little difficult to deal with when it comes to making the angles work. One would think a round structure with 3 knock out sides would be a piece of cake but actually it's a little harder not having the 4 side of a square box. We had to cut out the center between the two knock outs to make the angles work. We'll fill the gap between the pipe and structure in with concrete block and water plug. Our best crew started this line at 2 PM in Friday starting with cutting a hole in the structure. 5:30 PM and ready to go home. The pic doesn't show all the pipe - they laid 12 joints of 18" RCP for a total of 96' in 3.5 HRS. Skilled labor ain't cheap and cheap labor ain't skilled.
I am an unabashed Cat guy because their equipment just works. 17 year old D5GXL I've been running on our little shopping center job. Parking up Friday afternoon while the crew wraps up laying storm pipe in the pics above. The D5 has just shy of 6K hours on and it's first cylinder is coming due to be re-sealed. It's been a great little dozer. Along with the mature equipment such as the D5G we've added a youngster as seen upthread. Our D3 was floated to a new project for a nationwide coffee company out of Seattle. Our 279D is bringing in the backup. The new coffee shop is going in the parking lot of a large Ford dealer in our area. We'll be constructing a new entrance, demo'ing the parking lot and light poles and hauling out around 120 loads to a quarry across the Interstate. Smaller job for this crew but it pays the bills. Our 325FL is being fitting up with the Cat field trial auto hydro connect quick coupler and this will be the first job it's used on. We've got a few light pole bases, site sign and vehicle stand foundation to hammer so we'll see how it works out.
A little R&R on a beautiful Alabama Saturday afternoon with unseasonably cool temps in the 70's. Wife's stepfather is a pilot and belongs to an association that cares for a very well restored DC-3. They fly around the southeast and show off the airplane at various air shows. This time it was in our neck of the woods. Beautiful day for an air show. A fully restored B-17 from Texas. Lucy had a great time as well. Not too many times a canine is allowed on the runway.
This seems to be their current expansion plan. They've built 3 in underused parking lot around town in the last year.
HVY this is the 5th one I've priced and the first one we've got. Most of these stores in my area are developer owned shells leased out not corporate owned. This is a corporate store and surprisingly the first one we've done. The GC is a small local outfit that is preferred by the company for their impeccable build out finish skills. Usually the developer stores go with the cheapest bid for the shell but my GC always gets the build out due to their quality of work. I hope this is a trend in corporate owned stores.
One of our crews started up the coffee shop in the Ford dealers parking lot this week. 325FL fitted up with the field trial quick coupler. Hired Penhall to for the saw cutting as it was more than our little walk behind saw could handle efficiently. So far nothing has been said about having a RAM on a Ford dealers lot . Since this project is in a parking lot in front of a Ford dealer I figured a gratuitous pic of my truck was fitting . With the current prices on trucks both new and used I'm thinking about putting it on consignment with the dealer and driving the '14 gas burner at the yard.
Pulling the asphalt up and separating the dense grade base for re-use as pipe bedding. The former pylon foundation - AKA the big assed sign base. Hammering the BASB in the pic above. The field trial quick coupler is working as designed, it's so nice to be able to change from bucket to hammer in a couple of minutes including wiping the asphalt dust off the QC hydraulic connections. Side note on bidding jobs like this for those interested. I'll estimate the total asphalt and base to be removed from standard spec's and the geo-tech report. In this case the parking lot averaged 6:2:1 in the boring report meaning 6" of stone, 2" of binder and 1" of wear course. For the bid purposes I priced 4" of asphalt for fluctuations in grade and 6" of stone base. The crew will pull the asphalt for haul off and blade up the stone base for re-use as pipe bedding and backfill, if there is any left over we'll spread it over the future parking lot for mud control during construction. A little time spent can save $$ on a project. For example that is at least 50 tons of clean DGB which would cost $1200 if delivered to the job.
So far so good on the new QC.
Those integrated couplers are slick. Now you just need a Graptor bucket. On a related note, has anyone figured out where Cat is sourcing their couplers and tiltrotators from? I'd be pleasantly surprised if they are building their own.
Going by the color of the built in 3 jaw grabber, the design, and a couple other little things I'm guessing their tilt rotator systems are from Rototilt.
The coffee shop coming along nicely. Crew stripped and hauled off all the asphalt paving, curbing and light pole bases. They scraped up the 825B IE dense grade base for re-use as storm pipe bedding. We have a fair amount of 18", 15" and 8" HDPE pipe to put in the ground. The cut on the high side of the lot was 5' or so with a fill of 3' at the deepest on the front. The existing soils were deemed plastic clay by the dirt docs - more on that to follow. So we had to undercut another 1' below subgrade on a cut site... We don't make the decisions just get paid to execute them. The trucking company we use on a regular basis also has a dirt pit with some of the nicest red sandy clay borrow material that is an absolute dream to work with. They deliver to the job on a per load price which makes estimating easier. 1' of imported structural fill on the building pad. All the pink stakes are the offsets where the drive through window bumps outside the main building. Blading some of that fine material around the drive through lane with the new D3. Great little dozer.
Be glad you haven't had problems with your Cat machines. Reading about the 150 grader makes you weary of purchasing a new Cat machine. When you bid a job, are there usually provisions in the contract if extra work or materials are required? Saving money on gravel for pipe bedding is sure a bonus.
We've also been back at the arena finishing up some odds and ends. This odd was coming back on T&M to re-grade the front plaza after the sparky's installed UG conduit and light pole bases. Re-grading costs more than first grading. This is the second half of the plaza that we graded a month or so ago and had within a .10th of a foot. We'll be back once sparky catches up. T&M... Well finally broke down and bought a mini. We have enough small utility on the books to warrant a purchase. 2018 305ECR with 1100 hrs on the clock. Cat lease return bought through our dealer. Nice machine mechanical wise although it has some rough sheet metal. It was a significant savings over buying new.
Dave I'm not worried about our Cat machines, IMO they are the best on the market. Every brand has issues and problems it's how the dealer handles them that makes the difference. Our dealer happens to be a damn good one. This thread is full of examples of how our Cat dealer went the extra mile for our little company. Any project that I bid has a provision for unforeseen conditions which mostly involve unsuitable soils or rock. This Starbucks had a provision in the contract documents to price undercutting the building pad and parking lot 1' and bring in suitable engineered fill. This was an easy line item to calculate, so it was an adder in the bid.
Cat does generally have really good machines but lately have heard of new machines having issues, mostly emissions related. The gravel pit near me has gone back to some Volvo machines and had no issues where as the Cat wheel loaders and rock trucks have had lots of issues needing a tech to come out. They will stick with Cat for dozers and excavators. I think they generally trade equipment when the warranty runs out. Must be nice to have money!
Hey, like that D3!! Is that an LGP unit?? In the one pic the pads look extra wide. Nice work CM1995!!
MM it's an LGP. The future plan is to outfit with fully auto GPS and the LGP makes a great fine grade dozer.
I'd love to have that L9000 bed on mine, I have the slanted gate and it is less handy to dig out of. One time I dug for the plumbers on a Cat shop, and had to tape over the John Deere on the boom and back of the excavator LOL!
I don't know the brand as the ID plate has long been gone. We refab'd the top ears on the tailgate hinge but other than that it's just been used. The floor has a layer welded over the original layer but it works.
I've done that, plated the bottom of a truck bed. Ours is getting hammered bad, I may do that or some little scab patches and blacksmithing. The straight gate problem I could address with a plug on each side and extend the bed hinge plates back. That would solve the "too short " problem somewhat, as I get sand/gravel on the gate every time from the larger loaders.
CAT built an axle plant in the area. Dirt Contractor had to use CAT equipment. No other brand allowed on site if CAT had a similar unit.
My boss said " are you providing me an excavator for free?" Crickets. 'tape over the John Deere logos!' Done!
I like to purposely bring other brands to dealers/proving grounds/whatever for my own enjoyment. Want the logo taped over? Better supply the tape and tape application minion cause that's an extra service not on the invoice lol.
I've worked for five different dealers over my career and never heard or saw anything about the type of equipment a contractor used on a build project. The jobs were bid. Low bidder won despite the make of equipment they used. Money talks!
It was the new (2008?) Cat shop up in Monroe and my boss said do it. That was also the nastiest clay I've been on in a long time. The building is on grade beams that I tunneled under, and used 2x6s to keep from getting hung up in the top bar sticking out of the grade beams. We spent half a day cleaning up the excavator to haul it away.
I was working for them in that time frame. I have a feeling that some snoot probably stuck their nose in maybe. In that time frame we had plenty of contractors working in Tukwila on the yards in the back that used all manner of iron to get the job done. I'm pretty sure the corporate people wouldn't have cared unless some mucky muck from Caterpillar came around. All the corporate people cared about is money and who gets credit for something for the owner to hear about.
Back at the arena upgrading the existing 4" domestic water service to a 6" from the meter to 5' outside the building where the plumbing contractor will take it into the building and tie into the new distribution system. 18" header curb we had to go under. I see no reason here in the south to spec a curb that is that deep. 6" CL350 pipe, the vault on the left is for the sprinkler system. This line ended 5' outside the building so we had to pour a dead man to rod the test cap. SS all thread bents to anchor back to the cap. Used the same on-site concrete company we used last year to pour the connection on the box culvert at this same arena. Used the same design mix. Deadman poured, pipe bedded with stone and detector tape installed. I have no explanation why they constructed a 6" wide and 2.5' deep header curb at the edge of the sidewalk - 70's engineering.. 100 PSI street pressure overnight without a drop.
So it wont move when you hit it with a snow plow?
What's a snow plow?
New project at a local private school. 2- 5" primary power conduits from a riser pole to a new transclosure for the electricians on the job. Pretty simple and decent money when you have a good crew. Conduits installed, inspected by APCO and being backfilled. First time using recycled concrete for backfill material. This RC came from a local quarry we use regularly. This material was $13.50 a ton delivered compared to $18.00 a ton for 825B or dense grade base. This RC had to be plant washout as it had no wire or other debris in it. Perfect gradation for trench backfill. 305 has been earning its keep. When we wrap the first phase of this project up it will go back to the Cat House to get a manual QC and hydraulic thumb fitted. Also getting an 18" bucket for smaller trenches.
Jealous of that 35 right now, been trying to buy one for a month and cant find the right deal. Got quoted 53k for a 2k hr tak with a thumb.....☹. Good looking workmanship as always!
Thanks A81! 1100 hrs on the clock when we bought it, out the door price of $53K with a new manual QC, new hydro thumb, used 24" bucket and new 18" bucket with new bushings in the stick. Not a great deal but a good one. We have to use it for 1 week a month to pay for it in 4 years comparing it to rental rates. So far we've used it 3 weeks since we bought it on paying jobs with 2 weeks to go on the current job so it can sit at the yard for a month or two or three. I got tired of renting.
Me too, I'm looking for a mini too right now even though dirt isn't my main thing we do enough with our pipe work it's not uncommon to rent a month or two at a time sometimes more and it's gotten annoying. Of course the market sucks right now and I'm also picky about used stuff since I'm ultimately the one the has to get elbow deep in it when it fucks up.
It is the machine us northern idiots use to test the strength of our curbs. The windshield in a 544j can tell you that the curbs are pretty strong.
Did it in an old 966A with a slanted back windshield. Leaned forward to see If I cleared the curb hit the throttle and WHAM. Saw stars for a couple minutes.
I did similar with an 853 Bobcat with a smooth bucket cleaning up a residential street. Just the binder was down on the road so the 1.5" wear course had not been laid yet. I found that manhole cover sticking up wide open with that smooth bucket. Saw stars just like Wiley Coyote did in the cartoons.
One of my guys broke the rear view mirror in my machine with his hard hat. Lucky he still had it on!
I broke the steering column in a deere tractor when i caught a blower on a sewer that heaved up. Chest was sore fir a long time. My friend smashed the windshield out with his face on the 544. Have broken cutting edges on heaved up sewers. Its when it heats up then re freezes thats its really bad. Things you have gone over all winter are now sticking out of the ground a bit and covered in a layer of snow so you cant see them. My body hurts thinking about it.
Ouch. I bought a new Deere 35g in January with two buckets, thumb, cab, long arm for $53k out the door.
That’s what a new 303.5 runs here which is the same size as a 35. I wanted a larger 305 but didn’t want to spend $75k.
This is a sanitary sewer line and 1,000 gal grease trap for the private school we also ran the primary conduits on last week. 6" existing PVC gravity line, cut in a wye right before it goes into the lift station. 4" SCH 40 PVC rounding the corner of the building towards the grease trap. The wiggle in the line was straightened out before it was backfilled. The WYE stub before the clean out is for a future storm shelter lift station line. Grease trap set, vent tied into the building and main line backfilled backfilled. The WYE in the pic is for a future food truck setup in the parking lot. We don't get paid to design it - just install it. #57 stone bedding for the pipe and GT, recycled concrete for backfill around both. One of the R&C's for the GT set to grade and wiped with water plug.
We've delt with worse plumbing on interceptors lol. Sch 40 or sdr pipe?
SCH 40
Nice, everyone around here uses the lightest SDR they can get or even sometimes that real thin drainage crap from like HD. We fixed an interceptor a while back where they came in with the drainage and made the inlet and outlet tees with it too, the pump guys finally busted the outlet off, and of course the outlet side was tucked tight too a concert retaining wall lol
Of course! it wouldn't be any other way would it? The normal spec here is either SCH 40, SDR 35 or ductile for sanitary. 4" is either SCH 40 or ductile, 6" and above is usually SDR 35 or ductile.
Here I usually see building side as sch 40 a few might do abs up to 4 inch then it's all pvc but the civil side for sanitary is almost always sdr 35 I have only seen ductile a few places for sanitary and it's only one city that allows it
When I was a kid we did a lot of stuff in sewer coated DI, I tightened a lot of mega lugs and soaped a lot of gaskets lol.
Lol, we gave em the option of me turning the boys loose on their wall/loading dock thing with a ring saw and a mini or my plan B. We had one of our pump companies come in before the restaurant opened drained it, then we fabbed up two 4" 316ss tank bukhead fittings and sealed them to the insides of the interceptor with Sika and SS epoxy anchors. Not perfect but even I didn't like the idea of tearing into a 4' wall and slab then having to put it all back lol.
The reason the muni's and engineers here spec DI is because we have 3 ductile iron casting plants in the metro area. ACIPCO, US Pipe and McWane all have plants here so the money gets around. Personally I think DI is a terrible choice for sanitary sewer. SCH 40 for 4" and SDR 35 for 6" and larger is a better choice with the proper bedding and trench backfill.
I agree with you CM. Ductile is a pain. I have no idea what they use it as much as they do. They will bury 16 inch ductile in the marsh around here instead of C900 which will never corrode from the salt but what do I know.
Lol I forgot about their plants down there, that'll do it. I don't mind using DI in certain applications, high hydraulic surge, need joint deflection or even moment with the ball/socket joints. We do try and avoid the small sizes tho cause of the higher cost and availability.
ACIPCO and McWane are both founded and headquartered here so it even goes a little deeper into the business fabric.
We've been slammed and short on help - it seems like no one want's to work anymore but that's another story. 4" fireline for a private school in preparation of the demo and rebuild of their main dining hall. The art building's fire service line came out of the basement of the dining haul and needed to be re-routed prior to demo'ing the existing dining hall. This was my project since we are short handed. Dug the main 6" fire line up with our new to us 305 and then hit rock. Rented a Next Gen 308 with hammer to break out the limestone pinnacles in the ditch line. Pic gives a good perspective of the size difference between a 305 and 308. The whole campus is low swampy area underlain by solid limestone. The limestone basically rolls up and down with nasty yellow clay filled in between. No need for a saw cut as all this asphalt will be removed for the new build. Lead in inside the storage area of the art building. As my luck would have it not only was there a 2" plastic gas main to go under that was sitting on a solid pinnacle of limestone. Dug around it without a ditchman and hammered on. Ugly assed ditch but the 4" ductile fit and the whole area will be reconstructed. Did I mention the 3 force main lines and gravity sewer that had to stay operational? All in a days work.
Display and rear view camera on the rented 308. It was nice to say the least.
Glad you were able to swoop in and save the day (labor shortage and all) I would think that the lack of decent labor (maybe even any labor) would have been posted in this forum ad-nauseum by now. I know that I have been experiencing this for years now. I actually just hired a new young man last week. I am hopeful that he will work out well. I am also a bit surprised that you were able to get through that limestone with such a small hammer. The limestone that we encounter will often tell my 5,500# breaker "No thank you" (to put it in the far more polite "PG" version) when I try to persuade it to move. I recognize a tube of hammer paste on the floor of the mini in the last pic! That's what I've been using in my hammers and I find not only that it is very pricey, but also not readily available at my local dealer either. I also find the environmental warning label (individual chemical warning pamphlet adhered to the outside of each tube) a small annoyance when trying to install the tube into the grease gun. I am glad that the label/pamphlet is there though... because I was planning to dump whole tubes into lakes and streams until I read that the warning labeled instructed me not to (insert sarcastic emoji here)! The dealer often struggles to sell me an entire 10-pac even when I order it in advance of need. To be fair, I am likely the only customer who uses it-save for maybe the dealer rental fleet. Still, you would think that a dealer that serves a large portion of the Rocky Mountain West region (probably 10-15 stores, plus Mongolia!) would have enough of a demand for hammer paste that they would keep more on hand. I've been looking to buy a new 325 next gen and it has a 10" monitor in the cab. Has all sorts of features, including 360 deg. overhead view. Pretty nice feature though most monitors seem to be hard to view due to dust and glare (in my experience anyway).
That looked like a tough little job. Between the rock and existing utilities, what a pain!
DG the little hammer on the 308 performed very well for it's size. As far as limestone goes we have an abundance of it in Central AL with too many quarries to count making everything from aggregate to calcium for all sorts of products including food. I don't understand all the chemistry but there is a local haul that the dump truck companies run on a daily basis taking one type of stone from a Vulcan that Carmuse needs chemically to produce a certain calcium and then the same dumps take a load back to Vulcan to sale as aggregate. Big business I guess. Our big hammer has the auto greaser on the hammer and we use the screw on tubes of Cat hammer paste. Haven't had an issue with getting any. This was a rental so they put 3 regular tubes in the cab. The Next Gen Cat's are really nice. So far I've rented a 330 and 308 with also running a 320. All new versions are much better than the older ones. Next hoe might be a 335. LC it was. Luckily the limestone in these lower areas where the campus is rolls in knobs with yellow or red clay filled in between. These knobs can be knocked off by using the hammer in not exactly the way the books says too but can be done. We have a 12' pre-fab fiberglass sewer lift station to install for the new dining facility which will require our big hammer and some time. It should be interesting and frustrating all at the same time. We'll see. This was pre-construction work in advance of the main dining hall construction. The grease trap and sewer line for the temp dining hall up thread was also part of this advance work. The estimated cost of the new dining hall is $8-10M which means it'll be $12-14 before it's over with.
The Perkins engine plant is near me, and a guy I know who does similar contracting to CM got on their list of preferred contractors. One condition was he had to use Cat equipment, and if Cat didn’t make it, it had to have a Perkins engine. Another outfit turned up with a Komatsu 210 with a tree shear, it got turned back at the gate. JCB have a similar policy. They had a fire at the Rochester factory and at the time the only demo shear in the UK high enough to do the job was mounted on a Cat high-reach. It was only allowed on site after every Cat logo was taped over, which only drew attention to the job.
I understand it - a brand is a brand and it's just business. However when it comes to SEC rivalries I would never let even one University of Alabama sticker on ANY of our trucks, equipment, tools, coolers, etc, etc... That'd be a fireable offense.
Looking forward to seeing the lift station and how you guys do it. We did one a few years ago but we didn’t have rock we had water and had to WellPoint it. We had to fill it with water then pour concrete around it to keep it from floating. It’s still there and working as it should.
LC this one will not only be in solid rock but also a flood plain - best of both worlds... It requires a flood plain lid with raised vents and a concrete ant-float collar around the bottom. All we will do is set the basin and plumb the outflow. The school is using their pump service company to move the existing pumps and controls over. I wanted nothing to do with moving used pumps and panels then be responsible for it all running.
It's been a while since I've updated the the thread. Travel plaza project we are doing the building and canopy drains on in addition to other misc items. Owner contracted site work directly. Main trunk line on the diesel canopy. The big Cat's in the background are the owners site work contractors iron. Owner supplied oil water separator we installed. Concrete sand backfill and cast on site dead men for hold downs. Along the way we also won the state Cattlemen's Association ribeye steak sandwich competition. Next year we host the competition in our county. Looking forward to it.
The arena project we started back in March 2020 is wrapping up and it's quite impressive. Hard to believe we moved that much earth and demo'd that much concrete in this spot. Back in April 2020 View of the new entrance. Outside view of new entrance.
Started a demo project at a local private school. Demolishing the existing dining hall and building a new larger dining facility. A little stick time on our 321DL with over 7K hours still earning. I don't get to operate often so it was nice to tear some **** up. 321DL and 325FL parked up at the end of a dusty day. Fueling up at the end of a long day. Just thought this was a neat pic due to the perspective.
Can relate, was just driving the haul off truck for concrete and brick materials from the foundation of a structure north of Case MO, was one of Jimmie Hoffa's old playgrounds, he owned close to 500 acres along Hwy B between Pendleton and Case MO in Warren County, his Daughter and SIL the Crancer's owned it after the seven year death call of JH, where they kept it for some time until sold it off to seven investors, last one to buy the remaining investors out is the Owner of Lux Row Distilling of KY. He has bought up nearly all of the old JH Estate and some of the Southern Comfort owned property adjoining his. On a Plot Map showing ownership, several properties are noted as US GOV'T, the homes there used by FBI to watch the Hoffa and other Teamster Boss owned playground properties in the same area.
End of the day, it was a good day for demo. Our guys showing off their "clean sweep".
As always........nice looking work there CM1995! Is that a newish silver powerstoke I see in the background in a couple of pics? 250 or 350? Separator tanks........are they steel?
Kinda of weird as to Hoffa's place, most of the structures were Modular(IE Double Wides) yet they put in foundation work as these photos to support them. The stairs are not footer wall construct but monolithic blocks of unreinforced concrete. And NO, there were no bones in them as the guy on the ex busted them into smaller chunks.. Last photo is the entry that was rebuilt to what it looked like years ago as had decayed intensely. Slabs were all 4-6" pours, no mesh, some rerod here and there, for some reason trenches ender the slabs were not soil refilled and compacted but flowed in with concrete to depths up to 2 feet.
You need a second? Then one of the best highlights from 2019, last time UAT played at Auburn. Shivers is one of my favorites. We were at this game on the other end of the field and I thought the helmet was a fumbled ball.
Thanks MT. That's my truck it's '18 F350 CC LWB 6.7 with around 65K on the clock. Have a 2022 F350 on order if it ever gets built. I can get almost what I paid for the '18 new so it makes sense to trade up. The oil/water separator is metal with all sorts of internal baffles with a rattle can aluminized coating. Inlet and outlet is 4". All this tank is catching is the trench drain down stream of the diesel island. The trench drain will catch any spills or rain water wash across the fuel islands. The discharge goes into the detention pond and then leaves the site. Never set one before but it's just construction and they had directions.
DM did the double wides have a full basement? Looks like it in the first pic. You can tell when concrete was cheap while demo'ing a structure because they used a lot of it. Though out the years of demo projects we've ran across all sorts of strange construction. There was a project up thread where demo'd a lawyers office that had several different floors - carpet on concrete, terrazzo under the concrete, red quarry tile under the terrazzo on concrete then dirt and finally asphalt.
Not full basement, full dimension footer then the sub structure wall for a garage and covered patio. In the 70's when he owned this concrete was less than $20/yard. for 6-7 sack mix. Structure had screw in Utility pole style anchors with 5/8" cable tied to them and to under frames, 3/8" link chains and turnbuckles for final attachments. Caretaker of last 55 years stated all of the 'Cabins' were that way, and they had some Serious Parties out here, spent thousands just on booze delivered by trucks from Chicago. He started as a groundsman mowing and trimming trees at first moving up to full caretaker, was given a house to live in and had been paid better than anyone else in the county to just be there to watch the place.
So we finally dipped our toe into the crushing world. Rented a SMI Compact 50TJ from our Cat dealer. The 50TJ is small coming in around 26K lbs so it doesn't have a finger screen deck or fines conveyor. The solid deck does vibrate and is adjustable on how much it vibrates/feeds the jaw. The jaw can take 18x28 sized material per the brochure but we found 12x12 pieces worked better.
Video of the first round of crushing brick and concrete. This video was taken 2 days later when we had enough concrete, block and brick to run the crusher for 6 hours. We crushed around 250 tons judging the crush piles in 6 hours so not bad but not the 50 tons per hour SMI states but it was our first go around. So far the little machine works well for it's size. The crushing layout. 325FL loading from a somewhat raised stance but needed to be higher to be able to see how the deck was feeding the jaw. We had a couple of clogs on top of the jaw from brick and concrete chunks going in just right to create a jam at the top which required manual extraction. 279D 02 moved the crushed material to a stockpile by the site fence and carried what metal the magnet threw out.
What was the maximum size you were producing with that little rig? Looks like about a 3" down product?
Did the noise from the jaw give you a fuzzy feeling CM? Ha ha, if it did you are now hooked.
MM the little jaw is set the lowest it'll go in the video and it makes a 3" minus with block, brick and concrete. The "brick" on the facade of the building was concrete brick so it crushed a little better than the clay brick. The clay brick created bigger pieces. All in all it's not a bad mix for general backfill material. The faculty at the school are very impressed we brought forth a recycling plan to re-use the material on site and cut down on truck traffic on campus. Win-Win.
Umm yeah... is that a bad thing? I've great insurance if I need to go see a saw bones..
I believe that is the most compact little crushing plant I have ever seen. Just hook up a little Screen Machine with a couple of conveyors and you could make several products at the same time.
SMI Compact also has a small screen to go with this model. Little screen - https://www.smicompact.com/equipment/90ts/ This job didn't warrant screening as we're using it for backfill and need the size gradation. Cat rental guy said this little crusher is not made by SMI rather a European company. This 50TJ is thirsty, it'll burn 30 gallons in a 6 hr crushing period.
I think SMI rebrands Red Rhino for their compact machines. Bison 120 looks nice for that size range, but same dealer issue as Powerscreen.
Thanks HVY looks like the Red Rhino 7000 series is the same machine. https://redrhinocrushers.co.uk/portfolio/7000-plus-series/ The larger EvoQuip Bison 280 comes in around 61K lbs and a 24x36 jaw which makes it a very attractive smaller crusher for what we do. The 50TJ may be too light for our needs but still trying it out so we'll see.
Pretty cool! It looks to be very similar to the Rebel. I sure like the weight and size for the ease of transport. Maybe you could sneak a few yards of rocks in there just too see how it reacts to that type of feed? I'm sure the school loved the "feel good" aspect of recycling. Everyone does until they hear the noise and the dust starts drifting around . The Bison 24 x 36 is (pretty much) the same jaw size as the Powerscreen PT330 I am renting but the PS weighs in at 75k#. I think I'd prefer the additional weight if crushing hard rock. If mostly crushing concrete I don't think it will be as important. I'd be interested in what your experience of the Bison is if you try that one out.
Thanks DG. There will be some limestone from prior trenching that's already sized to go the jaw so we'll see how it handles it. Surprisingly enough the jaw was very quiet and the water hose dust suppression worked good enough to keep the dust down. We're crushing more concrete and brick today, I'll get another video or 2. Like to try a Powerscreen or Evoquip one day as well.
Have some hours down with a rebel it didn't help machine was neglected but there is a lot of crap going on in a very confined space I personally dont like the belt feeder on machines for recycling that was always a headache Biggest issue was keeping the screen running and the belts square cause the discharge belt frames are a little wonky and get tweaked easy
Thanks for the feedback on the Rebel. I was concerned about the belt feed prior to the crushing chamber myself. Even if crushing rock (no rebar, etc.) I don't like the idea.
Cough, cough Just so everyone knows- Alabama 24- Auburn 22
Would you like a glass of water to help with swallowing that pill?
Just be careful to not drop them iron head balls into that crusher, gonna really work the jaws with those things. I've done 3" iron slag with them, and that was a workout, not sure how they would like an iron head.
He's young enough to be able to throw a new toggle plate in that crusher by hand Willie. The last week of crushing this season we run a single bitted axe through our cone. The liners were getting thin and that axe poked a hole right through the mantle. Soooooo, we shut down a week early..
Hi CM. Once you decide it’s time to get a crusher, make sure you look at the maintenance side if things. I have had more than one person (mechanics) tell me those small European manufactured crusher are super reliant on electrical and sensors and being very compact which is great makes them a nightmare to work on.
Well, that's one way to get off a week early, throw a piece of iron in the works and say screw it, let's go home!
Heck, that knot head from Alabamastan is just as likely to toss that toggle plate on the parilla grille and use it to grill fish or something. One thing I do know about crushers, like I've always said, if it shakes or reciprocates it's gonna break its own damn self, better do daily inspection and prepare to do some repair work, don't matter who makes it.
I didn't realize you guys were such bammers...congrats?
LC after running that little crusher it's not for us as it's too small for any real production. It's good for small demo jobs and cramped spaces but plugs the jaw too easily. All in all the crusher rental, equipment and labor to crush the debris was a wash $$ wise VS hauling the debris and re-using the crushed material on site. All in all it was a successful first run at it.
I'm not a bammer- I just know someone who's a auburn fan, and I'm a naturally contrary person. That was quite a game though, I have no idea how alabama won it, because they certainly didn't deserve to. Barely beating a unranked team should drop bama in the rankings, but evidently different rules apply to bama, because they didn't drop at all. I'm sure after 4OT's you had to about be worn out.
I'm not really a fan either! I was just trying to stir the pot a bit!!
I've been slacking on the picture taking the last couple of months. Work is going great with a couple of interesting projects on the board coming up this year. Best pic I've taken in a while - Lucy chilling at the equipment yard. The steps to the office Lucy is lying on are some pre-cast panels we salvaged from the Arena project. The office is one of those portable buildings we horse traded with a business partner we own property with. The better 1/2's X5 is seen as a reflection in the glass. Life is Good.
Started a new remodel job for an eating disorder clinic in a former travel agency with tight access. Our scope is grading, excavating the cut back for a retainer wall, some storm sewer and fine grading for paving. Couldn't get the lowboy through the gate and the tight turn so the 321DL had to be walked in. Beautiful winter day in Alabama. GC had a cheaper quote for the clearing and grubbing. Young kid that didn't have enough experience to be hard bidding a job like this. I had a quote from our tree guy for $17.5K to cut all the trees in the clearing limits and haul the debris away. We would then grub the stumps and have him come back in a grapple truck to haul stumps away for an additional $10K. A new kid on the block bid $8K for all of it... . He rented a 308 from the Cat House and had it on site for 2 weeks in addition to his Bobcat and 2 men for 2 weeks. Not going in to all the numbers but he lost his ass as he should have, good learning experience. Of course the scope required for the job is not complete as the kid cut his losses and left the site. There are several trees left in the clearing limits along with stumps and a couple of trees by the building that will require a bucket truck to take down. We will have to do the final grubbing before we strip topsoil which we will charge for. New parking area where we will finish the clearing and grubbing with an additional charge to the GC. Kid left the stump holes open which will fill up with water and cause another CO for unsuitable soils when this area is filled. Hard to see but there is a pink flag marking the clearing limits on the right of the pic, everything in front of that down to the other pink flag on the tree to the left has to go. Went through and marked all the trees with spray paint that still needed to be removed for the GC to see. Lowest bid is not always the lowest cost. Storm sewer delivered and ready to be installed next week depending on weather.
Back at the private school installing a 10" HDPE roof leader trunk line. Tying into the existing grate inlet. 10" 45's were delayed getting to the job so we had a 10" WYE and plug on the yard that we used as a 45. More expensive if we had to purchase but it's from a prior job and already paid for so we used it in order for production to go on. #57 bedding and recycled hardcore from the building demo as backfill above the springline. This roof leader is in landscape so compaction isn't an issue. Backfill with warning tape. Cold, wet day in Central AL but the crew pushed on and made production. Love these guys.
8 grand? I've done service calls for more then that recently lol
GC shares some of the onus for the kid's CF and should share some of the hurt in fixing the mess. If his bid was that far off the others. When I am letting contracts for work, I always asked the low bidder what he was forgetting or over looked.. I was never comfortable taking the lowest bid. Of course I wasn't doing gov't work. I've been told a school bus contract for $millions can be lost for a minor amount like a few hundred $. Low bidder rules... (And that's why school buses are built so cheap i.e.. minimum to spec.)
The GC is paying us to clean up the remaining. Totally agree on low bid contract choice as the low bid is not always the cheapest cost. I'll be charging to take the remaining trees down, GC will need to hire a tree service to take the ones close to the building down and it's unknown how much we'll be undercutting with all those stump holes collecting rainwater. GC actually called me to ask if I would be mad if he took the clearing portion away and told me the # the kid gave him. We both laughed and decided to let him have it as we are slammed and I was going to sub most of it out anyway. I told the GC we can complete whatever he doesn't. To be honest I figured it was a learning experience for both of them. Forgot to mention the kid put a tree on the building...
Here is a pic of one of the walls I placed on our new building. Nice to not hafting to rent a crane.
Removing trees and stumps with a 308? Yeah, right! I've been in your area, you ain't got pine trees everywhere, you got hardwood and you got clay, good luck with a 308. Like Dirty Harry once said, "a man has to know his limitations".
On gov't. and other big jobs they usually have a good idea what it will cost. My former neighbor bid a demo job with another outfit (needed for bonding) for around 465K and it got ugly and ended up in court. There was a big falling out of the 2 parties.The judge's ruling was on the internet and when the bids were opened, neighbor was asked if he wanted to revise his bid as it was quite a bit lower than the next lowest bid. I was working for the neighbor and it took a long time to finally get paid. Neighbor was trying to make extra money selling salvage from the building. Pulling the copper wires out and florescent lights. His wife was handling the salvage and what a mistake. I had to go down in the hole among broken concrete and rebar to cut some pipes and was lowered down in a hoe bucket. It was a lot safer than trying to walk amongst the rubble. His wife was yelling at me not to ride in the bucket and that really pi$$ed me off. I don't think a person could crawl into a basement full of concrete debris with rebar sticking out in any kind of safe way. The hoe put me in a much safer location. Bad part was the pipe had a plastic coating inside and caused slag to drip down the back of my neck. Not fun!
It was a good lesson for the kid as the job wasn't big enough to hurt financially but big enough to teach an expensive lesson. Working for free sucks, working and paying money to complete the job sucks more..
I'm curious how much a $ lesson the "Kid" got. Since the job wasn't complete, did the GC pay anything ? Otherwise two weeks rental of 308 and two guys is a big hit $ wise. Maybe not in the scheme of gov't land clearing. But for someone just starting out...
he probably got an earful supported by the simple facts, plus putting a tree on a building? If he does not get it now it will be worse for him next time.
Lot's of blame has to go to the GC. Anyone with a sense of the job should have questioned the bid and what equipment would be used to accomplish it. On a big job I wonder if a GC could have withheld money because a contractor deserted a job or charge the contractor what it cost for someone else to complete the job? I think that's what bonding is for?
We run into that low bid nonsense all the time in clearing. We had a guy clearing for 3k per acre including grinding. He started with decent equipment then it started going down hill. He went under last 4th of July owing every equipment company in town. I’m sure there will be another popping up.
Its perfectly acceptable for the gc to not pay the guy if he didn't finish that's breach of contract I am sure he collected something up front or he really is foolish I have seen a sub get taken to court to pay out what they got back charged for someone else to finish
happened on an apartment job our company plumbed. The dirt guys got 6 weeks behind and another outfit came in to finish it, and they have to pay the second company to do the work they could not. It all went downhill when they made some big mistakes and mis-steps that cost a lot of money and time. Lack of experience.
I'll find out for sure but the GC will pay the kid his full amount - known the guy for years. This is a very small job overall and the clearing is just a portion of it. The GC is more of an "owner-builder" type but does build for other people and entities, this project being one. No 30 page contract with the "if you don't finish your contract you are responsible to pay if we hire someone else" language we usually see. This is a proposal and a handshake kind of job. Hope the kid learned a good enough lesson that the next commercial bid job that comes his way gives him a little chill down his spine. To be honest I liked the kid as he seemed hard working and very respectful. Had a whole diatribe worked up to brow beat him a little about underpricing the market and hurting established contractors and such but decided not to use it the day he put a tree on the building. Kid did ask if he could use our 321 to dig a large stump out... everyone knows what the answer was. Insurance, liability and it wouldn't be as good of a learning lesson. Now all our big GC's we do our bulk of work with have the "you will pay if you don't finish" clauses but that's Big Boy Construction.
3k an acre with grinding is crazy low. I don't why people want to work for free. A local project was 11 acres and it supposedly went at 7k an acre with grinding. Heavily wooded. I thought that it was reasonable money but still wondered how profitable it was considering the amount of iron the guy had on site. No doubt he came out ahead but I wasn't thinking 'hey I should go buy a million dollar grinder and get in the game' profitable. I don't know all the particulars, but I would be wary of a GC that let a kid hang himself like that. If I understand correctly the kid had a bid at 30% of an established sub....the GC had to know the the best case here was the kid paid to do the work. I'm all for giving somebody a shot, but there is a line. Again I don't know the particulars.
Just read #2097; hate to hear that if the kid seemed respectful and hard working. Having rental equipment makes it that much worse but the kid could have really showed something if he would have stuck it out and finished the job.
My guess is poor kids going to get paid and will about cover his losses and will learn from it because everyone else involved saw it coming and let him crash and burn Hope he realizes that how many people are keeping him from getting run over that seems to be rare these days everyone I know including myself has had a job like that great experience it will about make your pride hide under the table tho
My thoughts as well but I'm from the old school "baptism by fire" crowd. If you're going to be dumb ya' gotta be tough and work harder.
Update on the "clearing kid" The tree he put on the building poked a couple of holes in the shingles and roof decking. Problem is the 3 dimensional shingles are 20 years old and possibly not made anymore and impossible to match. Where the tree landed is on the front of the building where every new patient arrives. Long story short it looks like the kids insurance company will be footing the bill for a new roof to the tune of $50-70K. We'll see how all that works out. Storm structures delivered, second string mob'd in - D5G and 321DL with one starter - 279D 02. Moved the D5G with the L9000 and tag as it's too tight for the towing service's lowboy to get in. Can't reiterate online how slowwww that truck is on the HWY. . Great off road though.
So our Bomag trench roller has some sort of electrical gremlin between the remote and machine that 2 different rental houses that are Bomag dealers can't seem to diagnose and fix. The little Bomag has earned its intial purchase price over the years and made our company money along the way. Looking for a replacement and we've had better luck with Wacker as far as trench rollers go as parts are more readily available compared to Bomag. Wacker remotes can be rebuilt by a company out of NC where Bomag remotes have to go to a dealer. Picked this Wacker up on IP a couple of weeks ago. 2016 with 300 or so hours on it for $7,700 total with all fees. Ordered Wacker yellow paint and a new decal set to get rid of the Sunbelt green and logos - last thing we want is anyone on the job site thinking this is still a rental unit. Pretty straight unit for a rental with 2 new lenses and one new eye. The 2016's were the first year Wacker added the top remote receiver to help cover the gaps in the remote to machine communication. Lucy approved the purchase. The only issue so far is nicks in the steering cylinder. We'll take it off and send it to a local shop to have some a new chrome rod welded on and cylinder re-packed.
L 10 cummins in a ford truck about as powerful as a 3208 or a dt 466 the worst part about those motors is they are indestructible so you never upgrade in a reasonable time so it's always slow As for the roof 20 bucks says GL policy deductible is half the job price
No doubt! The old girl is one hell of a site truck though. Double locking rears on walking beam. Kicked around the idea of re-powering with 13L Detroit and 4560 Allison - that would make a nice ride although we'd have to spend some $$ on upgrading the A/C and interior. $20 says the roof issue ends up in a lawsuit..
In all seriousness that kid will never forget that job now I hope he is able to recover from the loss and then the claim Will they hold his money till its resolved You dont want to repower it they cant baja an l10 across site like they could a 13 liter the chassis would start to complain as it twist to pieces
GC is holding holding his money till it's resolved. Kid got some money up front but don't know how much. The real lesson is for his insurance company as they should vet who they write policies for. Unfortunately insurance companies do not vet their customers like they should and we professional contractors pay for that in our premiums. Re-powering the ol' girl is a pipe dream - not worth the time or money but fun to think about from time to time.
I would bet his insurance pays out a minimal amount and then drops him.
John that's a bet I'd take. We've had insurance companies drop us after accidents that were not our fault per the police report.
And there is the poster child of going into buissness to makes lots of money and not having the depth of knowledge and the financial were withal to be successful There are a few guys I know here kinda same style they more or less price work a little above wage they never really understood pricing for risk to capital project investment material seems to always save there bacon but they draw there credit line a lot I assume they will not survive if interest goes up
Big ideas and dreams with limited experience is tough, we've all ben through it and have the scars to prove. Baptism by fire is the best way to learn in my experience. The tough survive.
He better be one tough cookie to fight that hard for 8 grand
There's a reason we say we started with nothing and still have most of that left lol He'll learn
I didn't think you even had plates for the Ford. Trench roller will look good with some new paint and decals. I regret not trying harder on the couple that I bid on. My problem/salvation with most auction stuff is I don't need it, I just want it and bid accordingly.
The plates aren't that bad for it but the insurance is pricey. We keep it road legal to move it from site to site and the occasional short move of our smaller stuff. The Wacker yellow came in Thursday and the new decal set came in Friday so she'll get a make over in the next week or so. Some stuff I bid in the off chance of getting it real cheap. Decided to get rid of the Bomag and we need 2 trench rollers in order to keep 1 running on the job. UR has some 2016's for sale in the $14-15K range local and within 1 day driving distance so I had figured up to $8-9K was the auction budget plus transport. The auction was extended several times and I guess I wore the other guy out. Does anyone need or want a mechanics special Bomag trench roller cheap? I'll load.
whats cheap ?
I think you did good on the trench roller. Machine looks good and only 300 hrs. I’d say you did real good.
PM sent. Thanks LC. Been watching for one to come up not too far away and this was the one. It came from the Anderson Sunbelt Rentals.
Especially with some of the sillyness I've witnessed at auctions lately: P45 forks with bent tine $1030/new price $1037 PA30 auger drive $3650/new price $2850 used augers that went for $650 each/new $400-600 That was all stuff the local deere store had in stock or nearby.
Kicking around the idea to go to Orlando in Feb for the big auctions and hit the parks, basically a vacation the better 1/2 and I can write off. Never been to a big RB auction before.
Do it! It is a big one. I recall my former boss used to go to that one. And I used to purchase equipment decals from Associated Graphix out of Ohio. He set up a mobile decal printing trailer and every Feb he'd shut down the shop in Ohio and travel to Orlando and set up shop at the auctions printing decals from his trailer shop. Perfect win win for him, write off expenses to Orlando, still generate sales, and mini vacation to sunny Fla in Feb. Brilliant!
RB has some big auctions here (Nisku). They don't mess around. If you want something you better bid because they don't give you much chance to think about it if you're not sure. Common to have 3 rings going at the same time. Not good if you're looking at multiple items for sale at the same time. As far as the roof damage, could the insurance company be questioning the GC's hiring the kid for so much less than established contractors were bidding? It wasn't even close. Just thinking the GC has to share a bunch of the responsibility.
No they can't do that but they can prorate the roof because it is near the end of its life expectancy
re: the roof; I'm curious how close the trees were when you bid job? Is the building that was punctured the one way off in the background in post #2102? I know you said you priced it for a tree guy to fell the trees....was that only because you were too busy or did you think it was unsafe to fell them with your excavator regardless? Were you going to dig the stumps, even the ones close to the building, after they were felled? I've had some that I was worried about a root popping the foundation if I pushed it they were so close. I ask because it can be tempting to do too much with an excavator clearing imo. Especially when the customer waits until everything is built and then decides they want that big monster they were 'saving' down. I had a similar situation this weekend....it wasn't real bad, but all I could think about was this kid landing it through the roof. Had my confidence rattled, that's for sure.
I was wondering about pro-rating the roof since it is 20 years old. The GC likely learned a valuable lesson too.
I priced the job with a tree guy using his all terrain rubber tracked lift to take the trees closest to the building down from the top. Wasn't worried about the stumps as the trees weren't that close to the building and it's a poured foundation, no cmu. Since the job required several trees to come top down and the overall site was rather small it made sense to sub the entire project out. All the brush had to be hauled out and the job was too small for a grinder so a grapple truck is the most efficient means of disposal. The trees that close and specifically the one that hit the build should've been taken down from the top as there was also the 3 phase overhead power the tree missed by 4-5'. Long story short the 308 couldn't handle the tree and we wouldn't have attempted to take that tree down with our 321. The tree that hit the building needed to come down top down.
I learned on an old L9000 and it was so slow it was almost unsafe on the road lol..reliable as all get out tho and great to learn on
Big trucking aint fast. If you are in a rush take a car. We have a 8.3 that gets 16 ton loaded into it daily and all it does is make money. In the c13 i drive might get 1 or 2 loads more in a day then the 8.3 but i use twice as much fuel and more tires and brakes. In a dump truck application i am sure those little engine trucks make more money.
Mon and Tuesday were perfect this week with highs in the 50's and blue sky then rain on Wed, tornados with rain on Thurs and freezing temps with drizzle on Friday - just a normal winter week in the South. We were able to get a little something done on clinic job despite the weather this week. Area 1 grubbed and stripped of topsoil and the wall staked out. Side note - we filled up a 30 yard with roots and tree debris from area 1 the kid left. Hooded grate inlet basin set with 18" RCP and headwall installed. The wall contractor will build the segmented wall in front of the inlet and around the 18" RCP. We had to install first as there is no way to install this HGIB after a segmented wall with grid and stone is constructed. The new segmented wall ends at the orange stake to the right of the 279. The wall will meet the cross tie wall at that point and that small portion of tie wall will be demo'd for the new parking lot. The segmented wall will be approx. 2' in front of HGI structure. Plans actually called for 9' of 18" pipe. RCP comes in 8' links so laying an 8' joint then 1' piece is not feasible. Since we had to order 16' of pipe to make 9', we just installed the entire 16' and will backfill with all the excess topsoil we stripped. This is a natural area so it didn't matter where the head wall was place as long as the water runs downhill. The remaining part of the first wall in Area 1. Our scope included cutting the wall back for the grid length embedment and stockpiling the dirt. The cut back was 9' at the longest lengths of grid so the entire wall is cut 9' from face of wall. Ordered CL 1 rip rap which is melon size rocks but we got CL 1 to CL 3 which goes up to wheel barrow sized rocks and fines. Quarry was running low so we got what we could get which was the clean up of the old CL 1 thru 3 piles. This will be used as scour protection at the two headwalls so it's no big deal. 50 TN's total, 2 loads.
You have to just love the engineer that calls for 9 feet of concrete pipe. For Pete's sake use commercially available lengths. Or at least a 4 foot piece. But one foot???
I'll bite as well, whats cheap?
These "seasoned" engineers who are supposed to check what these kids are drawing just aren't doing their job either. I guess it's just the signs of the times. . Usually we'll value engineer items like this when they come across depending on the project, GC and owner. However there are some projects and owners where your told to "put it in like the plans" in which we do. Many of those times we get a CO to fix it. HA! PM sent.
OMG!! I thought maybe I just was expecting too much! I have an infrastructure plan (utilities and road prism) for a short section of new road to access about (8) new houses. The details don't match, one page indicates one size of pipe, and another page indicates the same pipe as a different size (and there are more than one of these conflicts). Details are called out that are not included in the plan set, no manhole heights, no details for main line tap/connections (not even an AWWA, or ASTM reference), and even conflicting pipe materials. My list of errors is probably not even complete. I've had to call the engineering firm (3) times so far. The plan shows initial for who drew them, and another set of initials for who checked them (mind you these are college educated engineers, with P.E. stamps that they are so damn proud of, who are paid to think about all this and put it on a plan set so others can actually build it correctly), and some dumbass dirt jockey is the one who catches the omissions and errors? What was the name of that Dion Sanders segment on one of those TV NFL shows called?....."COME ON MAN!!" (?) certainly comes to mind right now. It's pretty frustrating to live in a world where it is not PC to expect others to simply just do their jobs. Take some pride in your work people! I guess this is where someone calls me a dinosaur for having such high expectations. If I did my work that way I fear that I wouldn't get paid (let alone how embarrassed I would be, and bored to death doing something that I had no real investment in the way that it turned out). I think that the weight of this dinosaur just crushed the soap box that I was standing on so now I will shut up!
I rarely get plans worth the paper they get printed on. My favorite jobs are ones we design/build in house, I say **** show a lot less lol.
My favorite is when you get halfway dugout and they realize there using the wrong set of plans
Idiots are a prolific species within the human race, many even come with a college degree.
and when it all gets drawn on a computer....they can screw sooooo much more in an 8 hour day than was ever possible with a pencil and t-square. Ed
Back when I started 50 years ago drawing with a pencil and paper, you could think about what you were drawing. Now days it just click and snap points as fast as you can. No time taken to think about what their doing.
Speaking of pencils ..............
Another teaching moment today. One of our Asst PM's comes and says he and another Asst PM have been looking for the regional factor for our county for Pavement Design. He's says they have looking and finally had to ask me. I grab the manual on the corner of my desk, the well worn copy and do a quick skim, Nothing, that's odd so I go back to the beginning. The explanation paragraph starts on Page 3 and ends on Page 4. They are both good employees but lacking in the background knowledge. That's what happens when the boss lets 1 guy do all the pavement design for years and others don't take the initiative. I'm planning on retiring this summer. I really don't know who will answer the questions. I'm sharing all the info I can. Several employees have pleaded with me to not retire
Retire, but keep yourself on a retainer as a consultant. couple of days a month or something, keeps you out of mischief and a nice bit of spendo each month for no responsibility because you would only be consulting.
Second the "semi-retire" with consulting gig when you want to RD. That's something I am looking for in 10-15 years. I might not be the sharpest pencil in the box but think I could be of some value VE'ing plans for owners.
The Wacker trench roller bought at auction turned out nice with a new coat of yellow paint, some decals and a new gas cylinder on the operating station lid. Decided to not paint the grey part just the yellow. A new one is $35K +/- and we're into this one for less than $10K. It has the Kohler diesel instead of the Kubota however we've had great service out of the Lambardini/Kohler in our older Wacker trench roller.
If its on fire, I'm supposed to grab the extinguisher?
I priced some 24" HDPE today....that's an expensive pvc pipe holder you got there! Then again, these days that's lot of money in pvc that needs to be protected from the sun....so they get you either way, lol. The trench roller looks great btw.
Started another chicken shack this week. This is our 4th one. 325FL and Next Gen D3 mob'd in. The topsoil was thick and wet. We hauled out approx. 35 loads of it. We are really liking the Next Gen D3 dozer. Graded out the new school dining hall (back in the thread) using just the standard grade assist and came in within +/- .10th of subgrade, impressive. This will be one of the first drive-thru only chicken shacks in the franchise. The 2 stakes are the rear of the building. Cutting the double drive through lane out. The cut is exaggerated on the left hand side as we've stockpiled some of the nasty topsoil for curb backfill. However there will be a retaining wall started in front of the bucket on the 325 continuing around the drive through lane. The pink painted stake is a 3' back of curb offset. My role in this muck shifting operation - push 30+ loads off at our dump this afternoon. Don't know what it is about it but I really enjoy pushing a dump off. Concrete, asphalt, stumps, brush, dirt - whatever I'll take it all. . The challenge is keeping a hard, clean dumping surface for the trucks regardless of the material coming in. A little 953C love on a beautiful Friday in March in the great state of Alabama. Our '53 has been semi-retired to the dump for the last 2 years and she still fires right up when needed.
LOL. The fire extinguisher is to check the box on the daily equipment inspection report on those big jobs that pay pretty well. .
That's an 18" piece of HDPE we cut a couple of feet off the end of for our last coffee shop project in the second pic. The 24" HDPE in the first pic was part of a StormTech detention system we installed a while back, the electrical conduit inside was from a tire store we did back in 2019. We tend to collect the extras on the job that would otherwise go in the dumpster. All the other pipe is cut pieces except for the 8" HDPE which were temp roof leaders on the arena job and a piece of 12" A2000 that's split on the end. It's all expensed to a job and paid for so we keep it on the yard for personal projects or when we need a small piece for a project. Thanks! I think the new Wacker will serve us well. It has the third eye on top for better remote detection and help eliminate the blinds spots on our older one.
Do you save all the top soil for later use? Is the dump site owned by you? How do you get away with dumping everything there and not having the environment after you? We haul everything back to our yard but since we are a farm we can get away with muck more then normal guys can. Brush and anything wood gets burnt, cement gets stock piled then broke down smaller and hauled away on rain days and asphalt gets used for all the roads on the farm. You just bury it all?
The roller looks practically new! It's always fantastic when you can get a good deal on something and it doesn't take much to make it look/feel like new! It's also good to upgrade to the newer units since it is getting harder to get many of the parts for the older units. As it relates to the Whacker RT series, I always felt that the older 820s compacted better than the newer ones. What is your experience?...Do you notice a difference?
BTW, That F series 325 looks good too! I wish that CAT would have stayed with the old logos (like those you have on the F). I think that the logos on my Next Gen 325 look like they are better suited for a bubble gum machine or maybe a video game
Don I thought about stockpiling the topsoil for later use but it has a lot of heavy clay in it so it got pushed off. This topsoil wouldn't have been marketable as "topsoil" the only use would be fill in non-structural areas. Probably stockpile some of the better structural dirt for use on future jobs. In Alabama soil, rock, concrete, cured asphalt, unpainted brick and block, stumps and brush are not classified as a waste that needs to be landfilled. Try not to haul much brush into our dump as it will eventually rot. The occasional tree, bushes or stump on a job gets hauled in but if we have a lot of brush we'll either get 40 yard roll-offs or hire a grapple truck. We can only burn in certain counties from Oct to May every year which is a state law. Most of the cities we work in ban burning year around. Wish I could burn it!
Thanks! I'm happy with how it turned out. Personally I think the Bomag's hit harder than the Wackers but the Bomags are so hard to get parts for. We are getting rid of the Bomag as it has a phantom gremlin in the communication between remote and machine that no one can seem to diagnose nor repair. Wacker parts on the other hand are a few clicks away on the 'net and I've already downloaded the entire parts manual direct from Wacker. There is a guy in Wake Forest that repairs trench roller remotes (used him a couple of times) but cannot work on Bomag remotes as their software is proprietary or some BS. So if it takes a couple of more passes with a Wacker so be it. Never owned one of the 820's so I can't compare.
Spring break road closure for sewer and primary power installation at the private school. Got tired of renting smaller hammers and Cat has 0% for 24 months on attachments so I bought a B6 hammer for our 305. If Cat is offering "free money" I'll take it - yes we all know it's not free but the sales price of $9K and change doesn't change if you buy outright or finance so take the offer - $375 a month. Little hammer hits hard. We are trenching for our 6" SDR 26 sanitary line and the electricians primary power which is 2 - 5" conduits plus some com lines. Busting some limestone pinnacles that are common in this area. Sparky's primary conduits run to the 3 phase transformer pad, inspected and backfilled with 8910 crushed limestone. End of the day last Friday and end of spring break. 6" sanitary and primary electric installed, inspected and backfilled. The road is back open.
2 grease traps we installed a couple of months ago. Tying in the regular waste and grease outlets. Both were spec'd as 4" then changing to 6". 6" SDR 26 installed with 6" clean out and 4" clean out outside the grease trap. Overkill on the CO's but might come in useful over the dining halls life. Backfilled with 8910 crushed limestone. Overall of the grease trap area and the 3 phase transformer pad. It was a little tight with the footings and future foundation walls but just another days work. Pre-fab fiberglass sanitary sewer lift station basin delivered surprisingly ahead of schedule 2 weeks before its delivery date. We will install the basin in June when the school is out for summer vacation. At the same time we will be re-grading the existing road and filling 2-3' to final grade. Doesn't look like $9K does it?
Mob'd into a new retail project for a national paint store. 2 buildings one being the paint store and the other a speculative building. As the world turns this lot is adjacent to the strip center we finished up around the first of the year. It's leased up with a DD, Jersey Mikes, Five Guys, Mr Eye and a high dollar outdoor kitchen store. Interesting side note for us is the DD and the outdoor kitchen store was built out by a local GC we work for that builds all the chicken shacks. The GC that built the shell building is also another GC we work for on a regular basis. Cutting in a construction entrance, a load of #24's ready for spreading. Since it was Thursday I had to scratch the ground and officially start the job as we do not start jobs on Friday - never. 325FL with 48" on the stick. Here's where retail construction makes you scratch your head. This sidewalk, curbing, landscaping and paving will be removed by us for the new project. The LOD (limits of disturbance) is the stakes with the white ribbon, everything to the right of the stakes is to be removed. Get paid to put it in and then get paid to take it out. Works for us.
The only profession I have had is building things - houses, roads, stores, warehouses, etc and it has been a very fulfilling career that I have no regrets for or wish I would've chosen another avenue to make a living. Today was one of those days that kind of wraps it all together. We started a new retail project today right behind one we completed recently as the posts above show. This was the adjacent project during the rough framing stage about a year ago. Notice the first rough opening in the exterior wall to the right of the red iron column. Then a little later on in the schedule. The Cat mini and Genie is in front of the same opening. Parking lot subgrade was pure ***** and we battled through but that's not part of this story. Fast forward to today. Lucy and I were on the receiving end on mob day, unloading our 325 and D3 as they came in from the chicken shack project. D3 coming in on a Landoll. Landoll's rock ya'll! Now to wrap the day up - as Lucy and I were waiting on the lowboy Lucy and I decided to tour the adjacent project we finished up recently. As fate would have it the new DD we built the pad for, graded the drive thru lane for and mucked the parking lot out for is open for business. Life is short, enjoy what you do and take the time to enjoy it.
Some more great looking workmanship proud of what you do, CM. As you should be, but to many don't seem too!
Nice Pics there CM! Like that new B6 too! I purchased a new B6S late last fall & have it fitted on my 289D. Haven't used on any jobs yet (tried it out on some concrete chunks only at the yard here) as up here we have a long cold winter up here but hope to use it this spring/summer.
Thanks dirty. It takes a team effort we all want to do the best work regardless of what it is. Unfortunately I agree that some contractors lack the craftsmanship. So far the little B6 hits pretty hard. We have a couple of site demo jobs perfectly suited for a mini with hammer so I pulled the trigger on buying one. Renting one enough that it made sense to purchase plus we don't have to either pay for delivery/pickup or go to the rental store to pick it up.
In my experience, Wacker parts for the older units are getting hard to find.....and are fairly expensive. Do you mind sharing the link/s that you use for your source/s? So far I've been able to source Bomag parts at a local eqpt. dealer who sells/supports Bomags. Another nuance I seem to notice about these walk-behinds is that (in my opinion) the Bomags work better compacting soils and the Wacker (at least the older units) seem to compact aggregates (3/4" ABC in particular) better. Have you noticed this as well? I've also used that repair service for my Wacker remotes. Unfortunately, he last time he installed a joystick that has a glitch in it. The machine will stop if one pushes too far forward on the stick I agree! I've heard that their purchase price reflects that as well!! I use a transport service when I need to haul either of my larger excavators as they weigh too much for me to legal on public roads. The service that I use has a couple of these Landoll Haul-Alls. The ability to slide the axle forward, effectively shortening the wheelbase, is very handy for getting in and out of tight places! I usually use the term "lowbed" when referring to eqpt. trailers but I wonder if these are technically lowbeds, or not. The deck is higher than other lowbeds as the deck is above the back axles. I also notice that they feel more tippy (I feel the trailer leaning/tilting to the side) when spinning the boom around to set on the deck after I crawl on the trailer. Are these things "lowbeds" or "deck-overs"?
Here's a link to the owners and parts manuals - https://shop.wackerneuson.com/eparts/#/en/ Wacker does a good job IMO with their parts diagrams, easier than SIS... . Have your SN handy and it helps speed up the process of finding your iteration of machine. I just find the part number then do a search of the part number to find a seller. I've ordered from many different places including fleabay and Amazon. The Bomags do hit harder than the Wackers but if we can't keep the Bomag running and have a hard time tracking down parts it doesn't matter. Just run the Wacker over it another time. The term here is lowboys regardless the trailer - deck over, Landoll or detach. I'll call them whatever the driver wants as long as he shows up when we call. One towing service has a tri-axle Landoll we'll move our 320's on, they won't move the hoes on the tandem axle's.
My service only has tandem axle units. I wonder if he might be a bit "overloaded" as my big hoes weigh 60k & 64k respectively.
Seems like I've seen tandem axles with inside duals so there are basicly wheels the width of the trailer. Maybe I'm mistaken?
I have only seen those on Murray and Cozad Trailers. I think that they called those "16 tire expandos" because the width could also expand. I'm not sure if this is the case but I think that they may only be legal in Ca (that the only place that I have seen them). I'm not sure if the additional tires will assist on the bridge gap equation.
16 tires are legal in most of the southwest when they expand to 10 foot there legal for 60 thousand they only get I think 52 at 8 foot width They got popular because California didn't recognize 3 axels not sure if that still true but they do have less tire scrub than triple axels and Murray and cozads are awesome for excavators and dozers but they suck for small iron
Friday the crew moved all the old RCP over the adjoining lot and started stripping the lot of topsoil. The topsoil on the adjacent project we completed earlier was as thick as 1' in some places. Luckily the topsoil on this lot is averaging 4-6". The old RCP is in the back ground behind the silt fence. There is a little clearing for a retainer wall in the slope. A little R&R over the weekend, A-Day on the plains. It was frigid cold for an April in AL especially in the shade. Better 1/2 was miserable so we left at "half time". More importantly we were able to spend the weekend with friends and enjoy some mighty fine ribeye steak tacos at our tailgate on Saturday. One of our tailgate group is a food broker so we can get any type of protein at no cost. Last year we stopped by and picked up a case of skirt steak. So for A-day we opted for ribeyes as they are easy and forgiving to cook on a large scale plus they are delicious. Being able to socialize with all the friends we've made over the decades is the primary reason we enjoy Auburn so much - the sporting event is always secondary. Sorry no pic of the tailgate - too busy eating.
I'm kind of amazed at how these bigger jobs get accomplished. How do you know where to start? Does an engineer figure it out and it's in the bid spec?
Learn to read plans with varying information that may not even be useful and probably lacks any organization to the plans then bid in detail to what's on the plan When you get awarded the job send an rfi for every thing that's missing and stand by with change orders with any luck the gc qont understand your scope of work anyway and couldn't tell you if you have done it right or wrong
It's pretty simple actually. Some civil drawings are better than others just depends on the engineers. Typical plans consist of: Title sheet - lists all parties involved in the project usually with utility company contacts. Survey/existing conditions and topo Site Demolition - shows all existing improvements to be removed. Erosion control - can be primary, secondary and final Site Layout - shows all proposed buildings, pavements, etc Grading plan - shows all existing and proposed grades to finished surfaces Drainage plan - sometimes combined on grading sheet, shows all storm drainage pipes and structures. Utility plan - shows all utilities required Off site work - any DOT and ROW work for turn lanes or road widening Detail sheets - typical details from silt fence to back flow preventers Larger jobs will also have a spec book that goes along with the plans. Scopes of work are usually defined by the plans pages above, that's how I structure my bids so the page numbers can be referenced in the bid.
Thanks for that. I figured there were pretty good plans. That's why they usually have a good idea how much the project should cost or a range the bids should be in.
Do you have any further updates on the job where the tree fell on the building and the shingles had to be replaced?
The only update I have is the retaining wall guys are supposed to start this week, which is about 3 months behind schedule. As their luck would have it it's the same week we need our 533 compactor on the retail job we started last week. It's just how this stuff goes - the roller sat there for 2 months waiting on the wall crew. Our other jobs didn't require our big packer and the chicken shack was a cut job. At this point they will have to build the wall and backfill what they can with stone as we'll be tied up for the next two weeks. I have not heard the final say so on the roof but next time I talk to the GC I'll ask him.
Sometimes we contractors have to not only build the job but design it as well. This is the grading and drainage plan for the paint store in the pics we're clearing up thread. The red arrow is a triple grate inlet on top of a round manhole structure. Obviously there is no way to make work without some sort of cast in place structure which is labor intensive and we don't like to form and pour concrete.. So my pipe supplier came up with a custom pre-cast option. The only other option was to pour a bottom and brick it in place which was not an attractive option labor wise. The 11' inside and 6" walls will accommodate the three EJ frames and grates with 2 metal filler strips between the frames. Shop drawing for the custom vault. Another lesson on checking shop drawings closely. I was so concerned on the length and width I didn't notice they had 2 holes in the box like it was an inline inlet. No big deal as we'll brick and mud one up before we pour the invert but it sucks to miss something you should've caught. We have purchased a couple of vaults from Bartow over the years and the quality has always been top notch. The inlet box was produced ahead of schedule which is unordinary in todays long lead times. Since it was ready we went ahead and took delivery even though it will be 2-3 weeks before it's installed. Good thing we can bill for materials on site. The miss on the shop drawing - 2 holes in the box. 325FL leaving on the lowboy headed to our borrow stockpile.
Hauling out the last of the clearing debris at the paint store. Site getting cleaned up after the rain we had mid-week. Despite 3/4" rain mid-week the crew hauled out all the clearing debris, stripped all the topsoil, proof rolled the site with a passing grade and cut back the area for the modular retaining wall. All the material in the area of the retaining wall is topsoil with a lot organics. I bid the job assuming this was suitable material for structural fill as there was no geo-tech report. This area figured around 700 CY's of cut. One of three test pits for the dirt doc. Good stuff for landscape areas but a no go for building support. Weather permitting we'll start hauling in structural fill to build the 2 building pads on Monday. About 1,400 CY's will be needed to bring the site to sub-grade. Figured hauling in 700 CY's of structural fill and using the 700 on site. Working out a CO with the GC and owner for the addition 700 yards of structural fill we'll need to haul from off site.
Well as the world turns we are back at one of the sites we built almost 10 years ago. This was a small street extension at a strip center with a regional grocery store. All we did was the fill in a retention pond (pics back on page 3 of the thread) and put in a short section of street with 2 curb inlets. Stripping the stockpile being used as fill. The dump truck and trailer is siting in the area of the road we built. D5G earning it's keep once again. This pic was taken in 2012. Fast forward to 2022. Moved the 325 back in Friday along with 279D 01 with brushcat to mow the grass. We'll be using this stockpile of fill to build the pad for the paint store. This site is about 6-8 miles south of paint store site. The street we put in 10 years ago today. End of the street with the remnants of the original spoil pile I was stripping with the D5 in the first pic. One of the many reasons construction is such a satisfying career for myself and millions more. Nothing like riding by somewhere and saying "I helped build that!".
So a week has passed and we hauled 72 loads out of the stockpile this week. It was a short week since Monday was a dry up day from the rains we had Sunday. Tuesday, Wed and Thursday we had two trucks and today we only had one to finish up. Fortunately the site dries quickly - hauling out wed. The stockpile was wet so we had to peel, stack, dry then rinse and repeat. Tuesday the power co showed up to pull in the 3 phase for the new Mexican restaurant being built in the development and proceeded to drive through pretty much every mud hole we had our trucks avoiding. This site is owned by one of our old school customers, the handshake kinda guy you can trust. Not many of those types left. We've mowed this project for many years. Slowly it's getting smaller as they sell off the parcels. Brought the brushcat down and put on 279D 01 to clean up the parcel as we hauled out. Some jackass has been dumping landscaping debris on the lot so the 325 is piling it behind a topsoil pile on site. Hopefully out of site, out of mind and it rots. I hate people that dump crap on other peoples property. The brushcat does a decent job on grass. The 279D spins it to fast on regular flow so you have to set the RPM's on the auxiliary flow, lock it in and start mowing.
The stockpile was wet so we had to peel, stack, dry then rinse and repeat. What do you mean by this and why? This is the stockpile from excavation on site? Why not just haul it out wet?
This stockpile is being used as structural fill on another site. The moisture was too high in the stockpile to achieve density and compaction on the fill job so we had to dry it out at the loading end and the fill end. It's a common practice for us here in the semi-tropic belt to have to dry out dirt in order to achieve compaction spec.
Structural fill eh. What is that used for? To fill in inside a foundation or something. Build up around a building? What is considered structural fill and is it easy to get? I have never built up anything structural with dirt around here its packing sand or gravel. This is a interesting concept to me.
I absolutely love seeing the different ways jobs are accomplished in different areas. Many of the ways you guys do a job i find crazy but then i remember there is no cold or ice there. It is very interesting.
Don structural fill here is usually any natural occurring "dirt" defined by the project spec book to have a specific density (lb/cf), liquid limit and plastic limit. Here is a typical spec from a 4 story apartment project we are bidding: We use dirt as structural fill 99.9% of the time here as sand or gravel is prohibitively expensive for fill unless one is filling a confined space, foundation walls, ect. The material we are using on this site had a PCF of 108 and optimum moisture of 16%. I don't know the PL or LL but the geotech approved it.
Even areas within a particular state can be different. Eastern TN is completely different soils from western TN. The soils on the TN side of the Smokey Mountains is completely different than the NC side. Where CM is located in Alabama has soil, but in counties farther south and to the west of him is more sand and pea gravel so building methods and soil specs would be totally different. And yeah, it's a bit different here in the south, we do get cold and freezing weather where I'm located, but no hard freezing. The water line and sewer line for my home is barely a foot underground.
On the fill side of this project, building a pad for a national paint manufacturer, the one that covers the world or something like that. Typical tri-axle dump we contract on a regular basis. This type truck is legal on state and county roads with a 25 ton payload. Dirt doc getting ready to pop a test. First time we've seen a non-nuke test gauge. Not quite sure how it works but we received passing grades. Company mascot and cheerleader - AKA - "The Goose" enjoying herself on the jobsite. She really enjoys just being one of the guys on the site.
No doubt Wille. Central AL has some very diverse soil conditions. I seem to recall you drilled into the side of Shades Mountain (not really a mountain for you folks out west ) for some under drains on HWY 31 in Vestavia one time during your career.
Yep, back when I was young and bullet proof, drilled and installed horizontal drains at a slide where highway 31 crosses the ridge between Homewood and Vestavia Hills. Also drilled and installed drains on US 78 in Hamilton, soil was sand and pea gravel there which required digging a very large and wide pit to place the drill rig, even with that, more than once, when thunderstorms blew in overnight I'd come in the next morning to find my rig buried to the top of the tracks in sand. That material was hell to drill and install drains.
CM, Is that the original paint on the counterweight of your 321d? If not, did you rattle can it with Cat paint or do something else? What about when you talk about pulling dents and doing bondo work....I think you've mentioned you use rattle can from Cat. Any tricks or just mask and spray? I have a couple cans but haven't used them yet. Need to do some touch up work on my 321 and the entire counterweight could use new paint and decal. It doesn't look near as good as yours. And the 'A' in Cat has a big gouge in it (bought it that way). Thanks for any advice you can give.
Savman it's not the original paint. When we bought the 321 in '14 the dealer touched up the paint with rattle cans and put on a new Cat sticker. Over the years we've touched up the normal scrapes and scratches with a rattle can of Cat paint. The only real tricks I know in performing a rattle can makeover is do a thorough cleaning first followed by sanding the area using heavier grit for larger scratches and finishing out with a finer grit. When you've sanded enough for a smooth paint job clean the area with mineral spirits to get rid of any last trash. We'll mask off doors or other areas of different color or decals we don't want over spray on. Otherwise just feather the rattle can out. It takes practice to not have any runs. What I like to do is take my finger off the nozzle right before you get to the area you are painting but carry on through to fade the paint, if that makes sense. As far as your Cat sticker if you want it to look nice just bite the bullet and order one from Cat. For small nicks and gashes in the sticker we've touched them up with a small artists paint brush and Cat paint. We've done that on the decal on our 321.
Thx for the pointers; If I can ever get a break in my schedule touching up my 321 is high up on the list.
I used to drive up & down Hwy 78 to work every day back in the dim & distant past. Not as far as Hamilton though, I used to hang a right at Eldridge on to AL-13 towards Natural Bridge.
My mothers family was from Hamilton. The patch of land where the house she was born in is currently under a stretch of I-22.
Dang Nige, if you've been through that part of Alabamastan then you truly have been all over the world!
Back at the first prototype drive-thru only Chicken Shack installing the storm drains. All the main pipe is 18" corrugated HDPE with pre-cast 48" round inlets. There are 2 grate inlet structures (GI's) in the natural area, 4 hooded curb grate inlets (HGI's) and 1 swapping an existing HGI to a GI. And there was a dog house manhole to tie into the main developments storm sewer system's 18" side line. We'll pour concrete on either side of the existing RCP up to the crown and then cut a hole in the existing pipe just south of the bell. This is where the Husky "dustless" cutoff saw will come in handy. Backfilling an 18" pipe to an end line HGI. There will be a segmented retainer wall in front of the pipe where the proposed curb will go on top. We don't get paid to design it - just put it in.. Doghouse manhole tie in to existing top shot. The proposed retaining wall will be to the right, towards the silt fence. One of the 2 GI's in the landscape area. There is an HGI in front of the roller for the two lane drive thru.
One of the grate inlets with pipes mudded and backfilled. The frame and grate is just set on top to cover the hole, we'll adjust to grade with brick and mud later. The new to us trench roller let us down, it stopped pulling in reverse on the front drum. Lifted it up in the air with the hoe and there is a clicking sound on the front drums when putting it in reverse. It still vibrates and goes forward so hopefully not a hydraulic issue. From the schematics it might be a shaft or key, we'll find out. Brought the oldest Waker up to complete the job. Hauled some excess fill from the Chicken Shack to an older job since the wall guys finally showed up. 8 loads total all walked in thin lifts with 279D-02. This is the project where the "clearing" guy put a tree on the building. As far as I know that is still not worked out. That's the boring part, the most important part is Lucy got to see her buddy Rip.
Ordered a '22 F350 back in October and it finally came in last week, just shy of an 8 month wait time. All I can say is it this truck is the finest HD pickup I have ever owned.
The one thing that sticks in my mind from all those years ago was rocking up to the 4-way stop in Eldridge at the intersection of Hwy78 & AL13 one morning on the way to work to find the KKK out there with their collection buckets.......!! That was an interesting conversation, you should've been there.
Well what year was that Nige... Isn't that the second time you've posted that in this thread?
Gee maybe they are getting close to building mine, I ordered one in November last year also. I had to cancel the gooseneck hitch because they said it would not be made this year if I wanted one it's an F350 long bed.
Do you have a production date and a window sticker yet? My production date was bumped 4 times, original build week was 2/28 and final week was 4/4. Window sticker was available to view on 4/1 Truck went into production on 4/4 Modules populated on 4/6 Truck was built and shipped on 4/15 Arrived at the dealer on 4/28 This truck has all the so called "restraints" - 5th wheel hitch Moonroof Spray in liner Wheel well liners When we took delivery the salesman said he was surprised the truck had the massaging seats as Ford is starting to ship trucks without them. These seats were the main reason I talked the boss into a new truck.. From what I can tell from another Ford forum, once your truck is built they are shipping faster to the midwest than the south. What's your build Dirty?
Putting the new truck to work - the new next to my favorite machine at our dump. Got the new truck set up. Used the old RDS L tank but had to buy a new tool box in order to have at least a little bed space. Aquired another UWS drawer toolbox which I forgot how much I like them. Ratchet wrenches in the bottom drawer, pliers in second, screw drivers in third drawer, sockets in 4th and allen wrenches in the top drawer. Drop the tailgate and easy access. Really liking this truck, Ford has a home run with their 6.7 and 10 sp trans. Wife and I have a camping trip this weekend and looking forward to hitching our TT to this beast and hitting the road.
Your truck is awesome
@CM1995 no plans to put GPS on the grader box?
Not at the moment. Might add it later.
Never enough time for some R&R so take it when you can. First pull with the new truck. Hooked up at the yard ready to head out on a 2 hour 1 way trip to an ACE campground on the Tombigbee river the wife and I really enjoy. The truck exceeded my expectations. The 6.7 mated to the 10sp trans is a joy to drive. Backed in a set up. This campground is also owned and maintained by the ACE so it is a top notch facility with concrete pads on every site which are surprisingly level. Life is good ya'll - enjoy it every chance you get!
congrats on a well-deserved break.
Thanks Sky. We're staying through Monday for 3 nights total. If we have cell coverage I can fake a 1/2 day of playing hooky from work.
We are cat-sitting till Monday, and next weekend I will be putting my sister's well back together and hauling home the long lumber and any other treasures from the family homestead. After that we are open for camping all summer. My wife can work a day from the RV if we have that cell coverage you mentioned.
From last week - At the drive thru only chicken shack finished up storm except for inverts as the on-site concrete company we use were not taking any orders last week. Fine grading the parking lot. This site had 6" concrete paving on dirt sub-grade (not what I would do), .75' light duty asphalt and 1' HD asphalt. The picture is taken from the proposed building pad, the 305 is in the dumpster pad. One of 4 hooded curb grate inlets. The concrete curb will pour up against the cast iron hood in the back. These are inexpensive and efficient curb inlets. One of 2 - 24x24 grate inlets in the landscape and patio area. Although this chicken shack is a drive thru only there is an outside dining area. The outdoor patio is roughly in the area where the pile of #57 stone is. This wally world outparcel was once an apartment complex. We found the remnants of a past 8" cmu basement wall in the HD section of the parking lot. Scratched the blocks down a few inches below sub grade and let it ride.
No sense looking for trouble.
From the chicken shack last week. At the rear of the property there was a tremendous amount of ground water where the double drive through wraps around to the serving window. We couldn't determine if it was a natural spring or a leak in a water main in the road above the property, either way it's quicker and cheaper to manage the water. It wasn't perched groundwater as it ran continuously. Solution was to install a sheet drain along the rear curb line to capture the water and put it in a curb inlet in the drive through lane. Trenching along the rear curb line. The pink stake is a 3' curb offset. Water was already rolling in. The sheet drain consists of filter fabric lining the trench, washed #57 stone and 4" perf HDPE pipe. We actually used the rectangular bundles of 4" pipe you can get at the big box stores now. The bundles are easier to handle and transport. The 4" perf pipe T's off and goes into a curb grate inlet on the right in the pic. Finished sheet drain topped off with #57's to grade on the right and a curb inlet on the left we tied the drain into. The drive thru lanes are 6" thick concrete poured on dirt. We left it all on sub-grade but we all know the other trades will destroy it before it's time to be poured.
There is a small segmented block retaining wall to be built on the slope around the back of the drive through lane in the back of the pic. Since there is a lot of ground water we stubbed up the end of the 4" perf so the wall guys can tie their 4" wall drain into the sheet drain. Should take care of all the groundwater at the rear of the property.
Looking good. Are you still happy with your 305.5 purchase decision? I'm referring to the overall decision - like size, cab vs no cab, options etc.. Essentially, if you had it to do over would you change anything? My PC-78 is great....but....Mobilization is a huge PITA; lack of boom swing really hampers it in some tight situations; lack of quick coupler is an expensive annoyance. I've been considering another mini, that is right until I look what they are going for, and wanted to know how you felt about yours.
No regrets on the mini purchase. It's a 305E with a manual QC so almost a 305.5 reach wise. The 305 has become so handy I bought a hammer for it. It's the perfect size as far as reach and power go for small jobs with the benefit of moving behind our pickups. Love to have a 78 sized machine but it's hard to mob like you said. We've found a balance with our 2 50K hoes and the mini. The only beef I have with the mini is the dented sheet metal on the flip up side hood. Eventually we'll replace it in order to bring it line with the rest of our iron cosmetically wise.
Speaking of the 305 we are back at the paint store project next to the strip mall we finished up earlier. Nothing like the retail world - get paid to install it and then get paid to tear it out. Paint store project involves taking out the existing cul-de-sac and re-routing the 18" storm line we installed last year. New curb, sidewalk and landscaping all have to go in addition to the existing cul-de-sac paving and curbing. The HC ramp, sidewalk and new curbing come out as well. 18" RCP line we installed prior that will be tied into here and removed down stream. Since we are having a tough time getting RCP at the moment we will gingerly remove what we previously installed for possible re-use later. There will be a new yard inlet installed this location. Irrigation will be capped and the gas line is live. First heavy pull with the new truck, it performed very well. Guessing the 279 and trailer are around 13-14K. Trailer has a 15K GVWR rating and the pickup is has a 11.5K GVW, combined this is a Class A CDL rig.
Just a thought, how many sub contractors would have the foresight to stub a 4" underdrain for the above ground retaining wall sub to tie in their drains? Speaking from experience, and had to use curse words and ruffle feathers doing so, how many times have I heard and fought against "I'm just doing what's in the specs", situations "on the ground" be damned.
Yup. Smart move for sure, not his first rodeo. Didn't cost anything, really. 10' of pipe and a fitting. Big thing is it keeps others from screwing up his work and getting blamed for issues down the road. Trust no others on a job. Ed
Could have tested the water for chlorine to see if it was a water line leak.
Willie we try to offer solutions on projects and sometimes we are the ones that ruffle the feathers of the GC or engineer for even suggesting them. We're told the flip side - "build it like it's designed!". This project however is for a GC we work for regularly and the owners of the chicken shack are personal friends of ours so we just do things like the pipe stub and tell them about it afterwards. They are always very appreciative of any suggestions that will make the project better. The first chicken shack we built 10 years ago still looks as good as the day it opened. Agree Ed it didn't cost anymore and since this was a CO we made a little money on it. Now if the wall guys actually tie to the stub is another question..
Sure could have but it wouldn't have changed anything. This gets back to the quicker part. If it was a leaking water main in the road above the chicken shack would be on its first 5 year makeover before the water board fixed the leak. The "metro area water board" is a quasi governmental corporation that answers to no one and supply's most of the areas water. They are know for corruption, graft and waste. Our only choice was to manage the water and move on, regardless of the source.
The restaurant and retail world is a strange place business wise. Received a request for budget pricing to demo this small strip building within a larger big box development. The mall owner is going to enter into a ground lease with a national steak joint for a new building on this site. The landlords responsibility is to remove the existing building and parking lot, provide a certified building pad, grade and pave the proposed parking lot and bring utilities to within 5' of the proposed building. The front entrance for the proposed restaurant is roughly between the State Farm and H&R Block signs. This is a nice building with a brick facade on 3 sides on CMU backup walls. The end cap apparently had a business with a drive thru at one time. This is a good demo job. Our beneficial fill lot is not far for all the non-regulated materials - asphalt, concrete, brick and block. The roof structure is steel bar joists with metal decking and the interior partition walls are metal studs which will all go to the shredder to be made into new ductile iron pipe. Very little will actually go to the landfill. With the age of the building I would wager the main services from the meter to the panels are copper wire, big wire. If so that will be a nice little bonus. The building is in good shape, I don't understand how all the $$ works on deals like this but it's our job to price and perform what our customers ask. We'll see if the project actually comes to fruition. During the year I budget price a lot of projects for our good clients that never happen however by doing so it keeps us in front of them for the projects that do go.
We had a stadium that had that happen a few years ago.
Local chicken joint building was built about 8 years ago, had a major renovation 3 years ago. Will be totally demo'd this summer with a new building replacing it. Same chicken joint. Apparently, the chain owns the building ala McDonald's. Traffic flow is a major problem. With the covid, lots more drive through business. New building will address the traffic flow. I'll bet tax implications have some bearing. Instead of 30 years of depreciation, they get a complete draw down in one swoop. Just a guess.
A little R&R on the highest point in Alabama in the Talladega National Forest not far from the famed NASCAR track. Wife and I have been here a couple of times but first time to visit High Falls Fall. 3 waterfalls in a rock valley. Pretty neat. The upper fall. One of many rock formations along the trail up the valley. Lucy really enjoyed climbing through the rocks in the creek bed. Middle fall.
Same happening here with that national chicken chain. They've torn down and rebuilt stores that were less than 10 years old to put in a smaller building with double drive thru's. The guys that own the competing chicken shack chain we work for told me the big chain has so much money they can afford to tear down and rebuild existing stores to make them more efficient - IE double drive thru's, kitchen layout and walk out drive thru doors. Chicken is big business.
Speaking of chicken it's been a busy week looking at upcoming projects. This is a future chicken shack located off I-20. It's an old restaurant of some sort, long gone. It's a very flat site covered in asphalt and a relatively small concrete slab that housed the prior restaurant. Bonus for the property is the existing pylon sign they can recover and use for the new chicken shack. New travel plaza just opened across the street. These two mafia blocks will be taken back to our yard - don't know what we might use them for but I want'em.
The concrete blocks are useful in many ways ... especially if they're free. I use ONE block as a Loader backstop for my horse manure pit. I paid $25 for it 10 years ago .. I hear they're $75 to $100 currently.
At the moment there is a lot of activity in the retail and restaurant world in our area. Another project coming up in the next couple of weeks. Turning a burger joint into another coffee house. Building and the majority of the parking lot stays intact. Dumpster enclosure and existing drive-thru to be removed. That's our scope of work on this project. The majority of the drive thru lane demos in order to facilitate the new double drive thru concept that is all the rage with fast food joints nowadays.
Couple of pics from the paint store project from this week. 60" junction box set that has 4 lines coming into it including the existing outlet pipe. This 48" junction box ties into the 18" RCP outlet pipe of the strip center we did last year. The gas line is live, the irrigation was capped. Junction box tying to existing and a yard inlet for the new landscape area. The grade in this area obviously gets cut down to drain. First time we've set a triple v-grate inlet. This is the box we had pre-cast otherwise it would have had to been built out of brick or block. Not sold on it but it's set to design grade.
HP as far as I know there is no redi-mix companies around here that pour them. They would make a great 4'-6' tall gravity retaining wall cheap if I could find 20-30 of them. The house the wife and I eventually plan on building has a 5' drop off on the lower basement drive towards a creek they would work great on since it can't be seen from the house or anywhere else for that matter. Scored 2 jersey barriers on the paint store project.
Around here all the concrete outfits make them.. They don't advertise, so one has to ask. It's a great deal for them... sell the same product twice. Any left over mix brought back to the yard is dumped into the molds. Maybe the concrete jobs around you are mostly multi-loads. Then the trucks come back completely empty. Lots of home construction going on here. A recent patio at my house would have sent back half a yard, but, I had truck dump it into the backhoe bucket. I spread it on a path. Just dumped and back dragged it sorta smooth.
We have a couple of the big redi-mix companies Sherman/Lehigh, Kirkpatrick/National Cement and Cemex along with a couple of large regional companies. I'm sure one of them make them but it's very rare to see new mafia blocks around here. What has been catching on is the volumetric trucks. 10 years ago there wasn't a company doing such in this area now there are at least 3 companies. Called the outfit we normally use a couple of weeks ago that is running 4-5 trucks and the recording on the office phone said "We are not taking any additional orders at this time.." Business must be good. Really like the volumetric trucks for the concrete we pour which is consist of inverts, pipe encasement and kickers. Only pay for what you get which ends up being a little cheaper than a 3 CY short load of redi-mix that will run at least $500. Up to 3 CY on a on-site truck will run $450-475 which is still cheaper than mixing Quickcrete.
How far away is sand? If they have to truck sand a long ways, it's probably cheaper to recover the sand than sell blocks.
The closest sand is about 1.5 hrs by loaded truck south in Montgomery. However most trailer dumps haul crushed limestone down and bring sand back so it's not a one way trip. They very well might be reclaiming the sand in the wash as all the plants have recyclers by law.
Meanwhile back at the future paint store. This is an ADS Barracuda storm water quality unit. The pre-cast is a standard 48" manhole with a big plastic funnel and some aluminum fins below that separate and settle out trash and solids in the storm water from the parking lot. Shop drawing of the unit. Almost 12' tall total including the 6" thick base. The entire unit weighs in around 15k but came in 4 pieces so it was easy to handle Backfilling the structure. This is where the remote trench rollers really shine. Once the roller is in the hole you play "ring around the rosy" with the excavator placing fill until you reach the top or in this case the flow line for inlet and outlet pipes. Backfill up to the flow lines and pipe installed. The 2" gas line is live but will be re-routed at a later date. The gas line serves the strip center we graded last year. This is a better shot of the plastic funnel on the inlet side and the baffle for the outlet side. All in all this structure was $10.5K with tax on the flatbed delivered...might need to get into the water quality control business..
Mob'd back to the private school dining hall to finish up the final grading and install the remaining utilities in our scope. The existing road is getting raised around 2.5-3' from existing grade. We are using the spoils from footings, foundations and under slab utilities, it's going to be close to what we need to get to sub-grade. Main road in front of the new dining hall. For all the fuss on the architectural side of this project the siding looks like a typical metal warehouse building. Oh well, we don't get paid to design it. New dumpster enclosure built like a brick **** house complete with HD structural metal roof. The 3-phase transformed pad is inside the metal frames on the right in the foreground. Pic of the inside of the main dining hall. When it's complete it will be impressive.
My wife and I know where we were when the Kingdome went down. We were over the Seneca street exit ramp at 1400' MSL, towing a 20x50 KZOK billboard. The boss and his wife had a sister station billboard in tow and were right ahead of us. They had made a 2 mile restricted airspace for the implosion, and we were orbiting around that with the banners, along with the competition's two planes and signs. We thought what a great day to bring the wives along, who are usually on the ground setting up signs for us. It was a mistake. There were at least a dozen looky-loo's in spam cans(cessnas) and pipers, circling around there with us. It was nerve wracking as all get out, since us banner tow rigs are flying at ~50-55MPH and the looky-loos are doing a solid 115 and weaving around us like we were pylons. I had my hand on the release lever and was prepared to sell that billboard to whoever ran into it.
cm I wish our travels would take us by so I could see your projects. We won't get south of Nashville though.
Sky we're around 4 hr's south of Nashvegas if the traffic on I-65 isn't jacked up. Anytime ya'll happen to be close hit me up, we'd be glad to have you.
there will be more time in retirement for that.
around here we would not flay that CB hole open and bench it like that on most jobs, they would set it with a box in a minimal excavation and then hoe-pack it in. Different paths to the same end.
With our heavy clay soil it's much faster to bench it, set the structure and backfill then use a box. The trench roller makes short work of backfill. Those pics were one day of work. Unloaded the structure off the flatbed at 7 AM, dug the hole and had the base set by lunch. Remaining backfill and 15" pipe installed by 4 PM. The next morning the crew mudded the pipes, set the top and finished backfill. If it wasn't so damn hot we'd finished in one day. We can have a hole cut and benched like that in the time it takes to unload the box, put it together and set it in the hole. Well the boxes we rent anyway. I think TPR which has now merged with NTS has the corrugated manhole shields but we've never used one.
we are so much closer to the glaciers up here, we have glacial till and nothing like that clay except in small pockets. It's either really hard digging, like smoke a set of tiger teeth in one shift, or it is loose running sandy rocky stuff that would have a hole that looked like a bomb crater. No benches only a long slide to the bottom. Looking on that detail, I'd get a 10'x10' by 8' high structure box delivered in one piece, no assembly required. I'd flay the top back so the 8' would do it, go a foot out the bottom and come back with a foot of pea gravel and set the base, pull the box, and backfill and hoe pack that base in. Then we'd set the working section and start laying the pipe out.
That's what I figured up your way - a lot of granular soils. You would have an acre sized hole to go 12' deep. Interesting side note on this project is I'm pretty sure this is material we cut off the top of a hill side in the mid 2000's for a town home project about a mile away. That project had 30' cuts to subgrade. Had a 325 and 321 loading tri-axles as fast as the the trucks could come and go. I put out the word the dirt and the loading were free, we'd have 30-40 trucks lined up every morning at the gate. That dirt went all over this area. Great cherty clay that compacts easily and handles water very well. Some of the heaviest dirt I've moved at 128 PCF.
about costs of structures: on the post about my flying mini in that thread, I set two of these at $2600 list price! https://striemco.com/products/cb-50-g/ Once I pulled the grate off, I could handle it by myself in the hole, or really easy with two people. It has grab handles built in everywhere. I could have used a standard type 30 with frame and grate for probably 500 each. Design by others They outlet to a same sized oil sand separator. https://striemco.com/products/os-50/
We need to get into the plastic basin business! That ADS water quality unit was just over $10k delivered with tax. The unit we set in the strip mall next door was $14K delivered w/ tax. The 4H project we did a year or two ago the plumbing engineer spec'd a plastic grease trap to the tune of $14K delivered. . A regular 1500 gallon precast is just shy of $3K delivered. We could save owners so much money if we could have input in the design/specification writing stage of the project.
That ADS water quality unit looks impressive but what happens when it's full? It will just be a normal basin. I mean do you think it will ever be emptied?
LOL - I doubt it will ever be cleaned unless the city hires an inspector. Then the city would have to make it part of the permitting system tied to the owner that was recorded on the property deed like an easement. I like the units and what they do in order to keep trash and other debris out of the storm system though. Cleaning would be easy with a typical sewer/vacuum truck.
I was on the "O" deck of the Smith Tower with wife as guests of a "demolition party." Free drinks, free food and what a view. We watched the pedestrians flee the dust cloud just like in the movies fleeing a movie monster. We probably noticed you flying around. It was weird seeing a building that I helped build go down in a cloud of dust.
This week we received our Trimble GPS system supplied thru SiTech Southeast. Standard start up package with base station, rover, data collector and machine control. Learning a lot about this system and surprisingly it is rather intuitive. The data collector runs off an Android system and we are all Apple but so far it's not an issue. Base station set up over a surveyor supplied control point during our first training session at the private school. There are multiple control points around the dining hall that made it easy to set the job up. Receivers installed on our D3 along with all the cables and monitor. This dozer came "grade ready" so most of the harnesses and sensors are factory installed. That is the reason we decided on a new dozer instead of trying to retrofit our D5G. Unfortunately we couldn't get the low profile receivers Trimble offers for this tractor due to supply chain constraints and need to implement the technology for this job and future ones. The low profile system is more integrated. The plan is in the future to put a system on our 325FL, swap these receivers to the trackhoe and install the compact system on the dozer. The D3 is not a clearing machine so all we have really have to worry about is low branches and other obstructions while moving on a lowboy. The system and business end breaks down like this: 1 - Purchase price - around $100K installed with training and support 2 - 3D job model produced by SiTech for the typical jobs we do runs $700-$1500 per job which is very reasonable. 3 - A basic laborer that will show up everyday and just hold a grade rod or pull a tape costs our company $45-50K a year total labor burden. The end result is we can pay for this with 2 years of a laborers salary which coincides with the 2 year 0% financing that Trimble is currently offering. The $$ numbers are for my local area with going rate pay scales and cost of living. Other areas of the country vary wildly so one has to do their own proforma on the financial benefits of the system. So far I think it will be a game changer for us and we haven't uploaded the first model yet.
Some progress on a short week at the private school. We are taking tomorrow off in addition to the 4th to celebrate Our Great Country's freedom. It will be a well deserved 4 day vacation. Finishing up the roof leaders for the dining hall. 10" HDPE trunk line with 6" HDPE leaders to the building. Trunk line installed, partially backfilled and warning tape installed. APCO is pulling wire for the 3 phase transformer thru the conduits we trenched for the electricians back a few months ago. Part of our scope at the school involves installing a 2" copper domestic water service for the building. We have a master plumber we work with on a regular basis that installs the site utilities that end up in our scope of work. 8910 backfill with warning tape. The building has water, another critical path schedule item completed in our scope. Nothing like making those red bars go away in the schedule meeting, the ones in the commercial world know what I'm talking about. 2" DW service had to go under the 10" roof leader trunk line.
You do some interesting and good looking work. I had to dig for a new commercial service 3 four inch PCV pipes last week. Had two gas lines and a fiber optic to go under, plus cut the street. I helped pull the 2500' of wire this week with the electricians old pole truck that has a reel on the side to pull with. Last pull the rope broke just after they wires came out of the conduit, so was able to get them pulled without starting all over.
At 0% you can't afford to not get the tremble lol
Thanks D4. We don't install much electrical conduit as the sparky's usually do it but sometimes like on this school job we'll dig for them on a T&M basis. One of the reasons we don't is your experience with the broke rope. No doubt. It's true 0%, they priced the system before they asked how we were going to pay for it. Either that or it's built into the price whether you pay cash or finance, either way take advantage of it as the price is the same.
that stuff is sweet. I have worked near it and around it, but never got the chance to try out the GPS stuff. I will make my exit from the business without going there, which is odd for a computer geek. It's all old school and I am from the time of things like swedes and pea guns and folding scales. Setting a transit over the manhole and shooting in the first stick of sewer in to get started with the pipe laser.
We're still waiting on our model for this job, apparently there was a break down in communication..anyway. So on demo day the tech set up the base station, rover and localized the system over 3 surveyor controls points on site. Wrapped up the first part of training before lunch and the SiTech guys left as we didn't have a model for further training. We broke the system down and took a lunch break. The heat index has been steadily in the 105-110 range for the last couple of weeks so we didn't go to eat rather buy the A/C. We got back to the job and decided we'd test ourselves on setting it all back up. Set up the base station and rover then proceeded to localize again. We were able get the rover within tolerances of the satellites which was ranging 4-5 hundredths, well within our normal spec of +/- .10'. From there we were able to take the rover and immediately start checking grades, of course there was no reference horizontally since we didn't have a model but we checked FFE of the dining hall and other know elevations, the points were within 4-5 hundredths. Immediately I realized this is a game changer and didn't second guess the investment. If we can do it, anyone can.
You were within 4-5 hundredths in the vertical? That seems really good. Have been talking to a TopCon rep and that's what he claims it will do, but he's a salesman....so. I'd be curious to see how accurate it is in the horizontal.
Surprised ourselves on vertical. The range was 4-5 hundredths on the sat over the surveyor control points. In reality the control points might be off.. Regardless it's close enough at that for what we do. Considering my iPhone GPS is pretty darn close I expect the horizontal to be even tighter but we'll see.
A little sanitary sewer work at the private school installing the fiberglass wet well, tying in the 6" SDR 35 gravity line from the new dining hall and connecting the outlets to the existing 2" force main. The wet well is located in a flood plain and required a concrete anchor around the lower base. 3 CY of 3K psi regular mix. The ductile iron line is an abandoned water line. Used the 325FL as ballast until the mud cured. 6" gravity line to the wet well and 1.5" PVC outlets. There are two outlets on this type well with 2 main pumps and 1 spare. The school in an effort to save money is using the existing pumps they had their service company remove from the old wet well. Fine with us I wanted nothing to do with R&R old sewage pumps then trying to make them work. Sounded like a great way for us to buy the school new pumps without being able to bill for them. The 2" gate valve is the outlet line going back to the existing 2" force main. The outlets on the well are 1.5" so we had to step up and down from 1.5" to 2" in order to tie it inline. The top of the well is set 6" above flood line. It looks high but we will fill in around it and ease the grade back to existing. The 1.5" PVC line on the right comes in from an equestrian facility and maintenance building and originally went into the old dining hall's wet well. Previously we re-routed that line to go into the art school's wet well located next door to the project. We installed 2 - 2" gate valves in order to re-route the flow on this line until this well is operational and also allow the school to valve off lines for maintenance.
We used one of these Spears PVC tapping saddles to tie into the 2" existing force main. There are no check valves on the main line so we had to make a hot tap. After a little research on the 'net I found this. http://www.spears.com/last_printed_price_schedules/SDL-1-0910_0910_web.pdf Installation was easy. We mocked up the install and measured the depth of the cutter just in case. There is a stop on the shaft but wanted a belt and suspenders approach when dealing with **** water. Word of advise - installed the saddle around the existing 2" line to the torque specs in the manual. Used a hand powered ratchet to cut the hole for the tap and it started leaking out the bottom - oh ****! Finished the tap and backed the cutter back out and it quit leaking. We figured the pressure on the cutter making the tap pulled the saddle off just enough for a drip and then sealed back up after. Whatever it was it didn't leak for over a hour after install. We were able to re-use the existing 1.5" line that went from the equestrian and maintenance building to the old dining hall's wet well. Flushed the line well before tying it in.
Last weekend the Wife and I went to Charleston SC in order to celebrate her birthday. Charleston is a fantastic town and I highly recommend a trip there, it was our first visit. Wonderful people, outstanding architecture, robust history and mouth watering food. We had a blast. One of many row houses. Some of these date back to the 1700's. Love that garage door! Awesome front door. These can be found around the old streets. They are not a bollard or something to tie your horse to in the old days rather a post to tie your boat too. Charleston was built on fill placed over the years in the harbor so ocean front property was a moving target it appears. Not quite sure on this one but I found it interesting. I like how they not only matched the door below to the porch slope above but matched the transom as well.
The largest general contractor we work for has a hotel project on the waterfront in Charleston. The PM on this project is one we worked with several years ago building a high end low rise condo project back in 2015. Couple of pics of the houses and gardens
Mob'd a 279D and our 305E to the BK that's about to become a Starbucks. Loving my new truck. A little squat on the back end but it should be for the weight, around 15K mini, hammer and trailer. Hammering some curbing and 6" concrete in the drive-thru. Tore the sections out with the 305 and carried them to be processed with the 279D with grapple bucket. The little hammer hits surprisingly hard for its size. If you can get the concrete slabs and curb on a flat hard surface like this they will break very easily as the expanding force doesn't have the dirt backfill to absorb it. Concrete is great under compression and terrible under tension. This was taped to the cooler inside the old BK. I don't know who Mrs. Paige is but I like her.
So we received our first 3D model from Sitech and went "online" last Thursday. It was not without its frustrations though. Setting up the base station and localizing the rover over the 3 control points was easy and loading the model into the data collector had a few hiccups but went fairly easy. Loading the machine file proved a little more difficult. Got this error message a couple of times. The problem was the normal Sitech trainer from our area was out due to his wife having a new baby so we were phoning it in literally with another tech that was on an airfield paving job at FT Benning in GA. So we were calling and texting back and forth until he told me we had to create the machine file in the data collector first, then load in the machine. So after several trial and error hours we had the TSC5 data collector and D3 up and running. This is a game changer. D3 cutting side walks at the private school dining hall. The dozer is too wide to cut the sidewalks on auto since the blade is wider that the walk so the sides of the blade want to dip or raise to catch the grade. This is where it still takes a real operator to cut grade, the system just eliminates the grade checker since you have an electronic one in the cab. The dining hall is progressing somewhat. Interior rough in's are finishing up and drywall is going up. The siding for the outside isn't even in the country yet and when it does get here it has to acclimate like HW flooring for 2 weeks inside the building before they install it which is going to take 3 months. There is a mock up of the proposed siding and it looks like old cement pallets..whatever we don't get paid to design it.
Small World....I had Adam on my site Thursday doing my training. He had to run to Ft Benning first thing in the am to finish something with the paving, so he didn't get to my site until 11ish...so I only got a half day. He got several calls, so if it was this past thurs (28th?) you were the guy he was talking too. Crazy. I only bought a base and rover as I don't have a dozer yet....yet. But I'm super impressed with the capabilities so far. Went with the Panasonic touch screen as I wanted the larger screen and the TSC7 was a good bit more money and my salesman and I came to the conclusion I wouldn't need the additional capability any time soon. My training went super smooth. I had watched several videos on SiteWorks and tried to prepare as much as I had time for, so I could get all my questions out there while I had a trainer on site. Then after using the rover a couple days I have been practicing SiteWorks at home with new Work Orders just to get a feel for everything. CoGo functions especially because there are lots of icons and it helped to just play around with them in a sandbox so to speak. If I could lay my hands on an ARO D3 I would have it + machine control tomorrow...as it stands I have a BOLO out for a machine. At first I wasn't going to go with TBC......but after doing lots of research and talking with another small operator like myself I am going to get it soon. A fair amount of the work I do doesn't have plans, or if it doesn it's only a 2d .pdf, so I want the capability to make a topo and then build my own design and then build a model that I can load into a machine/rover and rock and roll. That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes. Some of the simpler stuff I do could actually be built in Siteworks but it would really limit me and it's pretty clunky for stuff like that (so far as I can tell from my practice)....it would work for something super simple, or in a pinch in the field. Otherwise using TBC in the air-conditioner looks like it's going to be a better fit.
I'd be curious to hear what you think about the automatics on your dozer. I've never ran one, but my hope is that it not only allows a less experienced operator take over what I would normally do, but it would even speed up a seasoned operator with less passes, and of course eliminate the grade checker.
It is indeed a small world. The pic of the file error above was taken Thursday at 9:40 our time so just before 11 eastern. I texted that pic to him and had a couple phone calls afterwards. Had to be on the phone with him while he was doing your training. Adam came by the private school early Friday morning to go over any questions we had. Once we had the D3 up and running we were off to the races. It's super simple to use. We bought the D3 a little earlier than we needed it in spring of '21 because the dealer had one and we gambled on not being able to get one when we wanted to pull the trigger on the Trimble system. The answer is yes. Now it still requires an operator to get a quality finished product but eliminating a grade checker is the best aspect of the technology. Mr Trimble shows up to work every day, doesn't have an old lady calling him 20 times a day and never has car trouble. . Couple of things we've figured out so far - A fixed base station will be quicker and easier for our jobs as we stay in one place for a couple weeks at a time. We will starting a large parking lot project downtown in the next couple of weeks and he's going to come out to help us set up a fixed post for our base station and localize it. It shouldn't be difficult. I think we are going to use a metal post since we have many LF of 4" pipe at the yard we can cut and plant on site. My guys are good at metal fab so we'll make our own base plate. The base station chews through batteries as you probably know. Going to pick up a small gel battery and solar trickle tender for the base station. With the factory supplied 12V gator clips it makes it simple. We are getting pricing for TBC. Owner and wife wants to build our own models. At $1500 a pop on average it won't take too long to pay for it and the fact we are not beholden to someone else's timeframe. Looks like the construction module is $4-6K upfront with yearly maintenance fees. She already does our estimates with Insight and builds 3D models but it appears the Insight models are not going to integrate easily with Trimble's software. We are new to this and at our age learning something new can be frustrating however this has been somewhat painless process and we're all in from the office to the field. Question - If you do your own designs how are you localizing the base and rover in the field? Do you control points or set your own?
Hi CM wish I knew you were in Charleston. You could have gotten the 5 cent tour of operation. Glad you enjoyed the trip anyway.
Man I thought about it but we were in and out so quick every minute was taken. Next visit when we can take more time I'll hit you up. The big B'day trip is a 10 cruise in Alaska at the end of August hence the short trip to Charleston. I was wondering if any of the many clearing jobs along I-26 was one of yours.
Sounds good. Anytime your up this way let me know. The cruise to Alaska sounds nice. No that’s not us on I26. I haven’t been up there so I’m not sure who it is.
We went to Charleston in 07, thank you for the pictures.
There were several sites in North Charleston in addition to the center clearing along I-26 that went for many miles. You're welcome Sky. It's a fantastic city very similar to New Orleans in age, architecture and food scene but without the stench of Bourbon Street.
Winding down a little extended weekend in Demopolis along the TennTom/Black Warrior river lake system. Campsite #49 is one of our favorites as it's right on the river. This is probably met-coal going down to Thyssenkrupp's steel plant in Mobile or other destinations. Below the lock the ACE has a nice park you can drive down to. Sailboat waiting to go up river. The little fella in the lock ready to head up river to the next one. Wife and I love this spot. It's only a 2hr drive from home and a world away from work.
what campground? that looks nice. We were in Savannah the weekend before Charleston. It is a different world for us.
Foscue Creek in Demopolis, AL. It's on the west side of the state basically in the middle of nowhere. It's our favorite campground. The website doesn't do it justice. https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232569 Wife and I will be out in your neck of the woods the latter part of August for our cruise. Staying in Seattle the night before and after we return. We are really looking forward to it.
Very good. I won't be back in country till the 29th or we could have a cold beverage. Maybe on your return?
re: own models localizing base and rover.....the short answer is I'm not sure, but I know it's possible. I could tell you my understanding of how it's supposed to work but that would probably just muddy the waters. I just got it Thursday but I had done a fair amount of research so I didn't have many Siteworks questions and was able to get the 15 minute answer from Adam on how he'd do it. Also I spent some time talking with a guy I think out of Madison County (with SiTech) and he knew exactly what I wanted to do and had done it himself several times. He even did his own house down to digging the footings via GPS without any surveyor control or engineered plans. His name is Jeremy Black and I'll dm you his contact info. Real good guy. He can walk you through the workflow from TBC to moving dirt. I will say check with him and make sure you're pricing all the TBC modules necessary to do that type of work. I priced a package that included takeoff capabilities as I don't have any estimating software whatsoever. It was a fair amount more than what you were quoted. My quote reads TBC Site Construction package, so who knows the differences in our quotes. I want total control of my stack and have one less person's schedule to work around. Essentially same as you; plus I'll be using it for takeoffs. We went with a fixed base on this job as we'll be here a few weeks; just used a PT 4x4 post.....simply ran out of time to fab up a pole. I am actually going to fab a few of them so I can leave them on-site for when I have to come back and finish grade. Like you, I'll be using scrap, so cost is negligible.
We return to Seattle on Sept 2nd and fly out the next day. Staying at a hotel close to Pike's Market the wife reserved. If our schedules match up let's get together. Where are you going Sky?
Very interesting. Eventually we plan on building a new house and I'd love to dial it in with GPS. Thanks for the contact.
The UK for 20 days. We are based out of our friend's home in Crewe, south of Manchester. We will be doing a day rental of a narrow boat on the Shropshire canal early in the trip. https://www.canaljunction.com/hire_boats/shropshire_union.htm Then we will spend a few nights south-ish near the Iron Bridge That is the same canal system we are doing the day hire. Then we'll head to North Yorkshire. We've been to see them before and got some time in Wales and Scotland on that trip.
Nice! Sounds like a great time!
Well there is a first time for everything and yesterday I had a truck stolen. 2018 F350 that we hired an auto broker to advertise and sell. Friday morning received a call that we had an offer that I was willing to accept - awesome right? So better 1/2 takes title along with extra key downtown to the broker since the buyer was coming in the early afternoon to look at the truck and seal the deal. She also went by a new project we will be starting a couple of blocks away so it was a 2 in 1 trip, something we try to do now a days with fuel prices. I get a call around 4 PM Friday afternoon saying they brought the truck from the lot across the street to the showroom to let it cool down for the purchaser that was coming to pick it up. As the truck was sitting in front of their building somebody jumped in a took off. So far nothing from the police. To be honest I hope the truck is in Mexico by now never to be seen again as it will be an easier insurance claim than a joy ride with damage. Can't make this **** up.
Well the world keeps spinning regardless of thieves and this is our next larger sized project. Historic machine/fab shop downtown that is being turned into office and flex space. Building part of the project. Our scope of the total project is tearing out the existing concrete paving in front of the project in addition to the curbing and grass. Second part is a parking lot across the alley. One of the old original brick alleys that were built around the turn of the century. I am assuming these bricks were made by the Graves Company that made the same ones on the arena project we completed last year. We'll try to salvage as many as we can. The parking lot is the largest part of this project. The lot will be the tree'd area on the other side of the fence. We'll remove the brick alley as well to the building. Section of alley we'll be removing. All the non-regulated material will go to our dump where we can separate the intact bricks.
That's awesome!
Sorry to hear about the truck. Most likely it will never be seen again. That is a cool project you have coming up. I would think you could quite easily sell the salvaged brick. That’s a big deal around here. People love buying stuff like that.
Thanks LC. It's my old truck thankfully not the new one. Now it's just negotiation on value with the insurance companies. Like we need something else to deal with.. Wife and I have a more selfish reason to save the bricks as we are eventually going to build a new house and plan on using them in the build. We have other salvaged items collected over the years that we plan on incorporating as well.
I hear you on the insurance. What a pain. They like taking your money but not giving it back. Cool deal on the bricks. We do the same thing. We save all kinds of stuff.
Mob'd out of the private school job last Friday and started a "side job" on Tuesday before we mob next week to the larger project downtown I posted pics of upthread. This project involves creating an access road to the rear of the eating disorder clinic we started months ago. GC has to install an exterior metal fire escape, shore up the building corner and get kitchen equipment into the lower kitchen in the basement. This road will provide access for all those scopes. The access road has to cross the end of the slue in their private lake. The only real option other than mucking everything out and going back with something the size of #4's was place and mash CL 2 rip-rap until the rocks didn't sink anymore. We have done this several times for low and soft road crossings. Works well. You don't have to beat the rocks in with the bucket just place them then mash them down with the weight of the machine. When a section will lift the front of the hoe off the ground move over rinse and repeat. Pitching and catching with 500-700 lb rocks. We staged the rip-rap up top due to access and had to tote a bucket full at a time down. This is our local class 2 rip-rap. Overall we used 4 loads or approx. 100 TNS.
Shot from the other side of the building. 24" HDPE pipe installed and fill being placed. We borrowed some fill from an area on the other side that didn't have any large trees as it was the quickest and easiest location. For the record that is poison oak on the tree in the left of the pic. Poison oak has been very bad this year. Exercising the old girl. 2011 321DL with over 8K on the clock that still shows when you need her. Digging from the borrow pit and placing with the 279D. R2 #2 compacting the fill.
Almost finished product as of this afternoon. Monday we'll spread a load of #4's on it and walk it in with the 321 then move on downtown. Going to miss this project in the woods close to home when we have to deal with the city and all the BS that comes along with that. We had a nice stockpile of topsoil we stripped for the retainer wall that needed to go somewhere and this was the spot. Used it to fill in the borrow pit on the right after we put the brush and stumps from clearing. My role today was hoe operator and truck driver - I'm tired. Inflow side. The rip-rap is dirty as it rained a 1/2" on Thursday. Outfall into the pond. They have spent $15K with a local pond specialist to stock the lake with shad, bream and bass. If you focus in on the pic you can see the shad in the safety from the bass in the newly place rip-rap. GC told us they have to fish 250 LBs of bass out of the pond in order to get the balance right. A country boys dream right there - being told to fish.
Loading some topsoil into the ol' L9000 on a beautiful Alabama August afternoon. It was hot as hell as normal but a nice blue sky none the less. Topsoil stockpile from the retainer wall and future parking area from a couple of months ago. Replaced the logs the novice clearing guy left as erosion control in addition to the straw wattles we initially installed. Entrance off the private drive for the access road. Routed the road around the old dogwood tree in order to save it. I think it turned out nice.
Mob'd into our downtown project this week. Should be an interesting project. D3 behind the fence. Unfortunately the temp fencing just keeps the honest people out, the other's well that's what insurance is for I guess. It's been raining off and on all week, typical August in AL but we were able to get some clearing and demo work done. Moved the 325FL and 321DL in as there are long concrete stem walls that run the entire length of the future parking lot probably from a foundry or rolling mill from the turn of the last century. So far the walls have broken out easily but when they don't the 325 will hammer and 321 will clear debris. Processed brush, trees, stumps and other debris staged for haul out. The trees here had massive sprawling root bases, you could snatch one out and pull roots from 20' away. East end of the new parking lot. Stripping the "topsoil" for re-spread later and piling it up outside the proposed curb line. With the cost of diesel we will not have a fuel tank on the job although it warrants one. We'll carry fuel from the yard as needed, fueling up the 321 out of my tank.
On another note - They found my truck.. Thieves must've been spooked as they left it on a RR track after attempting to remove the DPF filter. Apparently the bastards knew what they were doing as they only cut the soft hoses and were in the process of removing the rest. As life has it the only damage other than the DPF filter was a broken tailgate camera and an alignment due to the tow trucks recovery from the tracks. Auto broker ended up sealing the deal with the original purchaser. I hate thieves - they should be shot.
Salvage rough sawn beams from the downtown project. I bet those are worth a pretty penny as the building was built in the early 1900's. The old and the new. $1M condos across the street from the project.
Glad you got your truck back. So do you have to lock your fuel tanks on the equipment also?
Thanks CraneOp. We feared the worse when they said they found it. Last thing I wanted was a damaged truck to deal with however this time it worked out. Yeah we have locks on all our fuel and hydro caps. It's mostly Cat locks but keeps the honest out. On the flip side of locked fuel caps we leave all the doors and panels unlocked. Reason is the crack heads and tweakers will break the glass to see if there's anything of value inside. If you leave the door open they'll rummage through and move on. If they want the battery they are going to get it so no reason to have a broken door as well. The word we live in right? Fortunately they have no idea of the cost of the GPS equipment on the dozer. Even if the GPS hardware is stolen each part has a serial number and basically useless on the Trimble system stolen from what I'm told. Getting the trees and brush cleared for the parking lot removed any cover they would have had at the rear of the building.
I had somebody break the window in my p'up and steal my bag phone. I drove 5 hrs home from Charlotte, NC in a freezing rain with no drivers window, paid $110 for a used window and spent a frustrating 4 hrs installing it. The deductible to replace the phone was $20. My father walked in the shop and listened to me cuss a few minutes, then said: "If you had just left the doors unlocked like I do, you'd just be out $20." My spreader trucks have Trimble GPS units in them, we pull the main units out and take them home frequently, leaving the antennas and peripherals in the trucks. Not knowing what they are worth won't keep a crackhead from selling them to a pawn shop for $20, then the pawn shop will put them on ebay.
Mitch you father is a smart man. Had the receivers on our D3 bolted down to the roof brackets. If they get stolen we'll report it to Topcon and they'll be useless when they try to use them.
I asked Mike specifically about GPS antennas being stolen and he said a common thing that happens is contractors set their base pole on the entrance to a site (he said it's more of a problem on larger sites) so they can set the antenna up when they arrive and break it down when they leave. Crackheads ride by and see the battery hooked to the GPS and steal it; figure while they're there might as well take the antenna too as it looks expensive. He says it happens more than you think. Of course not as much of a problem on smaller sites. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen to me, but I guess that's what I pay insurance for.
put the control point deep in the site to solve that.
The access road turned out great. That would have been a fun job to work on. I feel for you on the new job. Got million dollar condos in the front and crack heads in the back. We did a clearing job and when they were putting in Const. Entrances they stole batteries out of everything they could. When we moved in we would park the excavators with the battery compartment swung up against trees so they could get into the compartment. Pretty sad we gotta do stuff like that but not much you can do.
Project coming up downtown we are going to build a metal post out of 1.5" angle and bolt it the concrete flume by the RR tracks. Weld the same angle to the bottom and red-head the post in for the base station. It'll be away from the building and the morons on manlifts and telehandlers. LC we've had projects like that before where we parked the battery doors up against the dumpsters. One site out in the country back in 2014 they stole the batteries out of a 321, 533 and D5 including cutting the cables. Only found out after the fact from the sheriff deputy the area was well known as the meth cooking hot spot between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
CM- Got my first Trimble base and rover in 2007. Started with Carlson Takeoff the same time to build models. Still have the original base and rover, have upgraded tablets and added another base and rover since. Have full control on 2 dozers and can set up indicate only on the pan. Use the bases daily on every project. I'm fortunate to have a young tech that started with me as a college intern that is really good with the models and converting files. Anymore its getting easier to get the DWG's from engineers to simplify the process. We use 2" pipe with a piece of 5'8's all thread welded to it for our permanent bases. Can thread receiver directly to it. My old base we carry a 12V battery with. The new one will run all day on a charge. The rover receiver's can use the batteries pretty hard depending on what your doing. Been lucky on the vandalism side with the receiver's. They don't always get removed depending on the jobsite (machine mounted ones). We have always used Carlson for model building. We have to run everything thru Trimble Business Center to get to the machine controls and rovers. Even have a Leica setup on the little dozer and like the interface with the controller a little better. Its a little work to get the radios to talk to each other, but once you get the hang of the technology its not bad. If you have questions just reach out.
Thanks for the info Brad, I appreciate it! We are looking at TBC for integration purposes at the moment. Usually we can get the CAD files from the civil so we're planning on learning the process of model building ourselves. Fortunately a good friend of ours is a survey chief and model builder for a large excavation company in N AL that can help us when we run into a snag. Currently using Insight for take-offs and 3D estimating models. They say it converts to Trimble but we have no researched that yet but is the first avenue before purchasing TBC. Interesting our new base will not run all day on a single battery, it will go through 2 in 6-8 hours. We have a small 12v battery hooked to it. The rover is good for 6-8 hours but not the base. The next machine to "make smart" will probably be our. 325FL or a new 325 Next Gen.
I'd be real interested hear how a GPS excavator works out for your operation. Would need to keep the faithful 321D for clearing as it's my understanding even the Next Gen's have IMU's externally mounted. Would get expensive quick if you start wiping them off I would imagine. Now I don't do much clearing but you can bet the day after I sign a purchase order, or worse the day after 70k worth of doodads are installed, I'd land a clearing job I couldn't turn down.
All this talk about crack heads stealing expensive stuff. I used to work for a large, unionized, dry utility contractor in the Los Angeles area. One day, I was working on the new Lynnwood (this is very close to Watts/South Central) jail project (this was probably 30 years ago so not new anymore) and had somebody steal my munch box from the gang truck while we were working only a few feet away. I went hungry that day but I also figured that anyone who felt compelled to steel my lunchbox probably needed it ore than I did.
CM- TBC will convert files from pretty much anything as long as there's elevated line work. Not to get to deep in the tech side of it but you can work around about anything with a decent takeoff software. I am actually running a 12 year old version of TBC (back when the base version was free). My SITECH dealer tells me to just roll with it as we are only using it to transfer files. We have been getting a lot of push from the Case dealer to try a 3d excavator (Leica from the factory). We have a 2d setup from Trimble that we used on a mini and 200 sized machine. I'm not totally sold that it will be that great with our pipework. We do a lot of street rehab projects and are always working around utilities. Production isn't always high and they seem to prefer the rovers for this anyhow with structures, valves, etc. Just need to get my head around the justification, I know it will pay but I'll also have to put it on 3 machines once everyone likes it!
I can see it being a huge benefit for a trackhoe for us as the hoe is as much of an excavation machine as pipe layer. Being able to cut to rough grade with the hoe without a grade man would be a real benefit as it would free up the dozer for other tasks. As far as clearing goes I wouldn't worry about them we are pretty good to our equipment even in clearing and demo situations. I am by far the roughest operator in our company.. Brad if you don't mind me asking what are you using for take-off and model building? If I could find an older version of TBC to just transfer files I'd run with it. We have become pretty proficient with Insight for 3D models. The $10K for TBC to make models and transfer files is a little salty on top of $100K worth of hardware.
So the wife and I returned home yesterday from a 9 day Alaskan cruise out of Seattle. It was a bucket list trip for us and it more than met our expectations. We both had big birthdays this year so we decided to roll up both into one trip. Took the Norwegian Spirit which is one of the oldest and smallest boats in the fleet however it was completed remodeled in 2020. It's a nice small boat with great staff. We stayed at the Marriott on Alaskan way right across from pier 66 where the ship docks. While better 1/2 was nesting in our room I was able to catch our luggage being loaded onto the boat. The luggage racks come out of the terminal and then lowered into an opening on the boat below the dock height. This operator is damn good. I don't know what this was but they unloaded it from the ship and had another swap on a flatbed trailer they re-loaded. The tricky part was the spreader bar was basically up against the ship. The "rack" for lack of a better term was tapered so it would roll out of the ship. When they put the new one in they hooked winches to either side to pull in. There was a flatbed truck not in the picture waiting with one of the racks with the black shrink wrapped packages on and a a set of the white canisters hanging on the side of the ship. Didn't know what the canisters were till I googled it and they are inflatable life boats. Don't know what the black shrink wrap packages were but the dock forklift wouldn't lift it. When they got it on the ground they used chain hoists on the spreader bar to turn it "face" down on the dock. Beautiful Seattle skyline in the background. It was painful watching the steering wheel holders come and go bringing goods to the ship. One of many that couldn't back up, I just had to stop watching...
First stop was Sitka Alaska after 1.5 days at sea. Norwegian's "new" port is a little ways out from the city. The weather was very nice that day. Wife and I bid on an upgraded suite and got it. The boat was at 50% capacity so we knew we had a decent chance at a great discount. The room was one deck below the bridge and two rooms back. I could lean out the balcony and see the captain on the bridge when we were docking. Coming into Sitka. Snapped a couple of pics of a road widening job in Sitka. First shot caught my eye as they are using the same rover as we just purchased. I really like this little knock out box. The ones we can get are 4x4 and about all a 308 wants to handle.
Took a whale watching trip while in Sitka and we saw hump backs, sea otters and sea lions. It never got old watching the whales. What I didn't realize about sea otters is how far they travel out into the ocean. This island was out in the bay. Juvenile sea lions taking a rest on a buoy. Our boat woke this one up when we went by. Beautiful pic that didn't look real in person. There is a bald eagle family nest on the island. If you look close you can see one parent and the off-spring on the rocks. The juvenile eagle is all brownish black.
Nice pics, glad you had a good time. We'll have to catch up next time We had a great time on our Alaska cruise.
Thanks Sky. How was your trip over the pond?
Fabulous. I got in a whole lot of train stuff, a narrowboat day trip, lots of card playing with friends.
Awesome! Wife and I really enjoyed Seattle for the short time we were there. Had 1 day before and after the cruise. Explored Pikes Market, road out to fisherman's bay for dinner and had lunch in Belltown. Next time if our schedules align I'd love to meet up.
Headed up Tracy Arm to see a glacier. The first "iceberg" I've ever seen. The glacial silt colors the water this interesting blue-green hue. Far away pic of this glacier, it was as close as the ship could get I guess. Captain rotated our ship 360 so everyone on board could have a view. Another smaller ship next to us. Helps put the magnitude of the landscape into perspective.
I went back and found my Tracy Arm pictures a couple of panoramics and a color enhanced shot of the glacier.
Outstanding pics Sky! What a spectacular place it is.
Wife would like to do a smaller AK cruise but then squirms at all the reports of sickness on board the boats. No win situation.
I am using Carlson Takeoff for models and takeoff quantities. What files can Insight export? My old version of TBC can import quite a few file types and make the surface needed.
Just remind wife that all you ever hear is bad news. We've never had a problem on a cruise.
Alaska is a marvelous place to cruise around that's for sure. Going back again next summer.
Hey, I'm the guy in NC who repairs the Wacker remotes as well as Rammax remotes. If have any remote issues, give me a call. I can help you figure out the cause. I can also repair any transmitter/remote on those Wacker trench rollers RT820, RT82SC, and RT82SC2 and SC3. Regards, Eric @ Carolina Electronics. Wake Forest, NC 919-570-9600
Welcome! I've talked to you on the phone a time or two.
Thanks !
I haven't been on in quite some time, but decided to check in and read this. We have quite a bit of difference in the use of GPS than most of you, as almost all we do is stream restoration. We do not have to do any take-offs as the designers provide us with a surface, and our RFPs include quantities for most items. Some are tremendously complex including pictures and orientation of logs used in wood structures, riffle, glide, and pool grading, and floodplain grading. Some include just simple linework and surfaces. We often require different layers for each component as there gets to be too much information on one screen, primarily linework. With the help of our Sitech representative we have been able to learn how to import files in xml, csv for control points, and dwg. We use TBC to export to GCS 900, and it is good to be able to export layers individually as necessary. We have CB 460 on a D6T, 345D, and 320D. A couple of months ago we purchased a next Gen 330 which comes with 2D capabilities and purchased the 3D portion from Trimble. It cost $7500 to unlock the computer in the 330 in order to be able to use 3D. I believe Trimble offers an "Advanced" version for better function of the automatic capabilities, but I understand that is an additional $8,000, and we really don't use the automatic features much anyway. Seems we are getting to the point where despite buying the machine, one doesn't necessarily own all of its capabilities. I imagine soon everything will be on a yearly subscription basis. The Next Gen machines are electric over hydraulic rather than pilot controls, and I hated it at first as the feel of the controls wasn't nearly as nice as our older machines, but we are getting used to them and they can be adjusted. One thing that the rover and TBC has been very beneficial for is being able to do pre and post construction surveys, and to be able to produce earthwork reports comparing the two surfaces. On one project that we bid on there was a requirement to hire a licensed surveyor to perform pre and post surveys to establish a quantity of material moved, as that cost line item was an actual quantity. There was approximately 110,000 cubic yards of mine tailings to move in order to restore a floodplain. We bid that item including the surveyor' cost, which was about $25,000, and included drone flights but he could only assure accuracy to within .3' as the tailings had come out of a dredge and were not at all uniform. In an alternate proposal included in our proposal we suggested that we would flat top the tailings, shoot the cut area with our rover, and then shoot it again once we had completed construction, and then provide the data to the engineer as well as our Sitech Rep to calculate the volume of tailings moved. They Project Manager accepted our alternative calculating that even if our data was off in our favor by 5% or so the savings in not having to hire a licensed surveyor would be a push. We prepared our own earthwork report via TBC (very easy to do) and came out within 100 cubic yards of what the engineer calculated using our data. I am not smart enough to know exactly why there was any difference, but I believe it had to do with trimming triangles on the surface edges. The Next Gen is pretty impressive as the screen in the machine shows shading in between lines, and really helps to see what we are building beyond the reach of the boom. The download process is different as the calibration file is integrated into TBC and then exported from there, whereas with the CB460 we are able to add a cfg file independently on the jump drive. The Next Gen also contains the ability to add files/designs directly to the machine from the office, though I don't see us using that feature. As I am sure many of you have learned, the old free TBC versions did not require the licensing to complete most of the tasks that we use. I bought a lower level of license for our newer version (under duress), but still have the older version just in case. I bet you will find that after becoming comfortable with the new technology there is no way you would ever go back, but swallowing the initial cost is less than palatable!
I completely agree with you here. We just experienced this ourselves in a different industry(agriculture), but same concept. We have a John Deere S670 combine, and purchased a used 608FC corn head this year. The new head came with row sense, little sensors that detect the row of corn and automatically steer the combine to stay on the row. We bought the combine used. We bought the head used. Both combine and head already had all of the necessary hardware and software installed for this feature to work, but to actually use it, we had to purchase a $3,000 license from Deere. Frustrated to say the least as we already spent a $80,000 on the new head. We didn't buy it because of the row sense, what we were after was a folding 8 row head with integrated stalk choppers. This head happened to have row sense too. I just feel like its extortion some days.
I take it that the software needed to be in your machine and was not part of the head? Was that something that could have been considered in the price of the head to start with?
The activations are in the display/ computer., not the attachments. JD software licences ususally stay with the original purchaser. I can move them from display to another display. sometimes they are in a display for sale. The more activations in it the more money it will sell for. In Colsons case he now owns the rowsense licence, in the future he can move it to a different display if he wants.
Software was there. Rights to use software not included. Sales rep showed up at the field, typed in a license number and access to that page granted and away we went. Just a couple minutes from when he got in the cab to when we were using the feature.
So this is trying to go like the car makers who want to license features and then shut them off sometime in the future. This is different that right to repair. My question though is was there a discount on the price of the head because of the lack of a license?
The license fee issue is coming to everything, I had to replace a PC Printer, bought a HP, LOCKED IN as to use of THEIR Cartridges and supplies, machine even tells them when low on ink. Tried replacing with store bought HP Cartridges, printer would not work as is on a Per Sheet of Use agreement that was part of the purchase. Once is used up will go away and I will try someone else's brand or buy a refurb Other Brand.
SHOULD I go look at a car/truck/tractor/electronics device and that little tidbit cross the salesman's/sales manager's lips or be listed in a brochure, I will close my day with that manufacturer and leave. I purchase the ENTIRE Package without any special addenda to 'Turn On a Feature' or not worth MY Money.
I ask the question because it is a value consideration. What is included in a listed price for any kind of machinery or attachment. Now we have to worry about options on attachments as well as the machine? Is that something that will be part of the ad or is it something that you just have to know? Will any salesforce have to disclose that when talking to a customer.
You know it has to be a Add or Deduct as to the sale, offered for a price or inclusive to gain sale. Would believe would have to be disclosed or as client found a CANNOT ACCESS screen on controls hell would be unleashed.
I don't know that. I have seen lots of stuff sold used and relevant information has been withheld by the sales rep saying I didn't know anything about it. All sales are as is, where is and final.
Should become a Question asked?
To be fair, I was made fully aware of having to pay for this prior to the sale, and it was included in the sale.
Our deal was weird. It was a verbal agreement my grandpa had with the dealership this past spring to trade our head and purchase this new head. He may have known about that caveat prior, but he passed away in July and we didn't receive the new header until late October. Given our relationship with local dealer, I doubt it was them being shady. Probably something that slipped through the cracks given the circumstances at our farm this year.
It sounds like something (an option) that should have been mentioned. If it wasn't you should at least get a discount on it, maybe 1/2 price?
Thank you for taking the time to share that info. We're looking 1st quarter at TBC, it appears we are going to grow into the need to produce our own models and have more control over the data for our jobs.
What have you been up to CM1995? I hope you and your family are doing well. I miss reading and seeing the updates on your projects
Just working Peej in this topsy turvy world of construction. Fam is all good thank you for asking, hope you and yours are well too.
Well let's update our projects. Finished up the dining hall at the private school well at least our part. Landscape architects... concrete guys had a blast. Architect actually had coordinates for each of those corners. No expense spared! Sidewalk back to the town hall building. I forget how many OAC meetings were held over this sidewalk, the good thing is we were not required to be there. Inside turned out nice.
that's lovely. Nice to be a part of a project like that one.
Couple of pics of the paint store finish up. Nothing like the sparky digging through your 15" HDPE storm drain line, not telling anyone and using a piece of metal building skin to cover the gapping hole in the top. The "repair" is on the spoil pile. If the GC didn't hire us to dig a spare conduit line to the transformer we would've never found it. **** likes this really pisses me off as all they had to do was tell someone. I sent a hefty back charge to the GC. Friend of mine did the concrete slab and parking lot. They do good work. The round grate inlet is the 14' deep or so water quality unit we installed prior. Retainer wall and rear parking turned out well. There is no comment for this other than the roof leaders were an add on requested by the GC. Typical 8" HDPE pipe that we stub up cut pieces to be trimmed down upon gutter installation. We couldn't get the stub ups any closer as the footing protruded out that far and we don't hammer on footings. Like I said no comment...
yikes! Explain "14' deep water quality unit"
I think I posted pics upthread but if I didn't here they are. The water quality unit is a Cascade Separator by Contech which is basically a trash and sediment filter. This unit was roughly 14' deep to the bottom of the sump. Flow lines in and out were 3' deep or so. Basically it's a 48" round precast structure with a plastic weir to funnel the incoming water down and filter any trash out. The sediment falls to the bottom of the sump and where it needs to be vacuumed out on a periodic basis. The plastic baffle can be seen in this pic. 15" HP HDPE pipe in and out. The in pipe is on the left so the baffle inside the structure directs the flow down. The opening in the plastic baffle is 12-14" IIRC so most small debris and all sediment falls into the sump. The gas line was live.
got it, so just the baffle for water quality.
Yes that and the sump for all the sediment that will probably never be removed.
Its ridiculous the amount of money spent to do things that will never be maintained all I can say is I am glad to perform it
No doubt. We've constructed some asinine things over the years, my motto is "We don't get paid to design it".
Yep! but you get paid to install it then paid again to remove it when something needs fixing, right?
Back at the parking lot downtown. Cut down to subgrade and ready for a proof roll. Loaded tri-axle with lift axle up as spec's call for loaded tandem. A little extra weight never hurt anybody. 80% of the parking lot was fine however the southeast corner was not so good. Dirt doc said cut a foot out, lay down bi-axle geogrid then 6" of #4's topped off with ALDOT 825B (DGB). Area cut out and geo-grid installed. Couple loads of 4's ready to go down. Weather cooperated that day.
4's down. I didn't get many pics after the 825B went down. Everything tightened up nicely. 325FL slinging some base. Wanted to keep the 85K tri-axles off the lift and also keep equipment movement IE twisting and turning to a minimum so placed the 4's and 825B with the 325F and spread with 279D in smooth long pushes.
Have you proof rolled it again? I have become a believer in the geogrid....were you able go direct to Tensar? we used triax on super horrible conditions with 6" 34's, 6" 57s for a drain layer (encapsulated top and bottom with fabric), and 12" GAB. Passed proof roll on first pass. Asphalt has been down over a year with no issues. Dirt doc said it was worst subgrade he'd ever seen in 25 years in the biz.
No we didn't proof roll it again since the dirt doc didn't want to, long story. The owner is getting hammered with CO's on the building to the tune of $1M over budget so the parking lot is taking a back seat for now. There will be another 6" of 825B the paver will place before 2" of binder and 1" seal. Geogrid, 1.5' of rock and 3" of asphalt will be fine for a lightly loaded car parking lot, no heavy truck traffic. We did exactly what the engineer said with documentation so it's their parking lot if it fails. We used a Haynes geo equivalent in lieu of Tensar. There is a local Haynes distributorship and our salesman had really good pricing per roll compared to Tensar. They also carry all sorts of geo fabrics, grids and erosion control items. Geogrid is great material.
Parking lot project also had an underground detention system with a bioswale down the center. Basically the parking lot drains to the middle where the bioswale runs almost the entire center length. 8" HDPE pipe runs the length of the swale with Nyoplast drain basins. 10" HDPE runs from the swale to the detention system. A sidewalk breaks the bioswale in the center. Grading sheet showing swale, piping and detention system in addition to the existing and proposed grades. The underground detention system was originally spec'd with a modular system that resembled plastic milk crates assembled on site. The system is very labor intensive, I received a quote from the manufacturer for $14,000 to fabricate the modules on site and install. I proposed an alternate plastic barrel type system similar to StormTech called Cultech. Basically it's the same system as Stormtech just cheaper. Cutting the hole out for the detention system. Used the cut from the detention system to fill out part of the parking lot. I got the roller...I always get the roller.. Excavation complete. Back to the difference between the milk crate type modules spec'd that required $14K worth of labor to install and the alternate I suggested. 3 guys installed all the chambers in 1/2 day including the manifolds and 2 10" HDPE tie ins. Typical chamber system. Woven fabric on the manifold row to prevent the incoming water from scouring the #4 stone. For the manifold row the chambers have one solid end. The side holes had to be cut out, we used a Milwaukee oscillating tool which worked great. There are smaller chambers that connect the manifold row together. The rows are not as straight as they could be but some of the chambers were deformed, at least that's what we're going with.
More on the Cultech system. Manifold row on the upper side. 10" HDPE coming into the chambers on the bottom right of the pic. On side note we find it's easier to install these plastic chambers when you screw the lips together on the preceding chamber. We use 1.5" drywall screws. 10" HDPE side connection from lower bioswale. Guys hit the invert spot on. Spec allowed #4's for fill. 325FL placing the first backfill. Before anyone gets carried away with full on backfilling the rows need to be scotched. Here was the tricky part. The north side of the system restricted access to place backfill due to the silt and site fencing. So we reached as far as we could with the 325 and dumped 4's. Then we carefully pushed the 4's with a 279D making sure to cast the last part of the bucket forward to scotch the last two chambers on the right in the pic ahead of the fill lift if that makes sense. It worked as the chambers didn't shift but it was a slow go.
Each chamber has a cutout for a clean out or inspection port. This design called for one on the upper intake and one on the lower out flow. The clean outs consist of a 6" Inserta Tee into the chamber, mission coupling to 6" SDR 35 pipe with Nyoplast fittings for a cast iron cover. Went together easy. Lower/outfall clean out and pre-cast structures. 15" HP HDPE pipe left the detention system into a manhole and then to the over flow structure which is a 4x4 yard inlet. Specs called to cut the 3 sides of the yard inlet down which made it look goofy but it's what the engineer called for. 15" HDPE into the outflow/yard inlet then 8" HDPE out of the yard inlet to discharge. The 4" HDPE pipe is the underdrain tied into the 6" drainage layer below the chambers. This is installed in order to completely "dry" the system out after a rain event. Outflow button up and keeping with the reduce, re-use, recycle theme we busted up some onsite concrete that didn't have any metal in it for rip-rap. No sense in having a truck bring in 2-3 CY. The yard inlet is not as goofy looking after backfill.
Great work, updates, and writeups
Back at the BK to SB renovation. This was something we haven't seen in QSR construction - the drive thru lane was poured even with the inside finish floor. The original designers spec'd a 6" curb above the drive thru lane that was even with the FF with fake stone stacked above. Needless to say that created a direct funnel of rainwater into the wall cavity. There was extensive rebuilding of the exterior walls. SB has one type of drive thru serving window unit and said unit would not work since the existing drive thru was level with the FF. So we were tasked with moving the existing grate inlet to the other side of the drive thru lane in order to lower the existing drive thru 6" to get it below the existing FF. That's a lot of background for a rather simple job. Removed existing poured in place top with 24x24 frame in grate intact which we used later. Saw cut enough of the existing inlet in order to insert a piece of 15" A2000 PVC and grout it in the existing RCP. Since it was so shallow we poured a concrete bottom and built a new CMU and brick inlet box. Not the prettiest but turned out ok. Recycled existing top in place ready for new curb and gutter.
Once again Oxbow thank you for posting this, very valuable information. Wife and I are headed to Vegas for Conexpo Tues and our main goal for the show is dialing in data prep, modeling and machine control with a field trip into autonomous machine control. Gotta figure a way around the lack of skilled labor one way or the other. For us the ability to push models to the field in real time will be very advantageous as our jobs often have change orders either initiated by the field conditions or the design team. No doubt the cost of entry is steep however what this technology is capable of is very impressive and if you don't have it you will be left behind in the commercial market if your competition has it and you don't.
Back at the downtown parking lot project. Storm and detention installed. 6" cap of structural fill being placed and compacted to subgrade. Conditions were a little wet however the fill held up well under the 85K tri-axles. Progressing the fill along the railroad tracks. This was the first project where GPS really shined and made us all believers. It did help it was a perfect project with no obstructions and wide open grades. The structural fill hauled in is some of the best in the area. Very sandy with a little clay that blades and compacts easily.
Back at the new concept drive-thru only Chicken Shack. Loading out electrical underground, footing, plumbing and grease trap spoils. I don't know where the other subs dug this much material out of on such a small site. Doesn't matter to us as it's all T&M to haul it off, just makes one wonder sometimes. The 3' bucket for the our 305 really shined on this part. There was no room to move a bigger hoe so we did it with the mini. Company perro numero dos Dipstick standing guard over the carnage. Front parking lot facing wally world junior getting back close to grade. Curb and gutter formed up and ready to pour. Concrete crew was out of Atlanta and I wasn't impressed. Our super had to point out to them the belly they had in the forms half way between the hooded grate inlet and the other HGI in front of the 279D. They fixed it before pouring. Drive thru where the two ordering lanes come back to one. The curb on the left next to the bank is where we had to install the underdrain back up thread. It has rained down here so much this year, more than usual. So tired of the mud.
I figured this might be a good place to ask if a dump truck can pack wet/moist mostly clay with a little sand almost as much as a pull type pad foot compactor? It's for my 1/4 mile oval track. I can cultivate and even rototill the top few inches and have the grader for leveling but can't afford a packer. Just need to pack it so it doesn't produce potholes and chunks coming off. The county has a packer they will rent cheap but it's a problem if I have to go get it and then take it back. I thought maybe with the right moisture the tandem wheels would pack it relatively evenly.
Well WD most specs and geotechs here require a loaded tandem dump truck proof roll a site before any engineered fill is placed. A friend of mine who is also a geo-engineer would rather have a tandem do a proof roll compaction test instead of a nuke gage because in his words - "A tandem doesn't lie". A fully loaded tandem dump is a great compactor especially for clay when the moisture content is at or right at optimum. The problem with using a tandem as a compactor is efficiency compared to an 84" wide roller that covers more SF in a pass. However you are not building pads everyday you just need your track fixed. So if you have a tandem at your disposal, load it up and get to rolling, I wouldn't rent a roller. Hell it doesn't have to be a tandem dump, a single axle dump or water truck works just a good only thing is you have to make a few more passes. Another option is a trench roller. We have 2 of them (need 2 in order to have 1 working when you need it.. ) and use them all the time. What a trench roller would allow you to do is get in tight transitions. I picked up the last one for around $5K IIRC at auction. The poor man's way of determining optimum moisture in soil is grab a handful and squeeze it into a ball. Open your hand leaving the soil ball in your palm. If soil sticks to your fingers it's too wet, if it crumbles and falls apart it's too dry if it makes a ball and stays it's shape then it's close to optimum moisture.
I feel that one. December-February is normally the driest part of the year for me. I'm sitting on 6" YTD. Which is approaching 400% of normal rainfall. About the only time there hasn't been mud is when the ground is frozen.
So far, we have yet to experience an entire day without snow since spring began!
Thanks for that. Sorry I just got notice that someone responded to my question. I have a dump truck and a single axle water truck with a 2000 gallon tank. I thought the tandem would pack more evenly than a single axle. It doesn't necessarily have to be packed rock hard just evenly packed to hold the moisture in without developing pot holes. I think the truck might do a good job empty while leaving the track a little tacky. For bike races could scarily the surface which might work for cars as well. Lots of tracks have the cars with wide tires pack the track but I think it makes it easier for the track to deteriorate. A pad foot or sheep's foot is used to create depressions in the ground which will hold water. If I can open up the ground deep enough to get the water several inches down I'm hoping to pack the surface to hold the moisture in and it can slowly work its way up to control dust. Just don't want chunks and holes to form.
A padfoot roller is used in heavy clay soils to beat it into submission. The feet knead the soil like kneading bread dough. A smooth drum is used in granular soils and to seal off soil. Our 533E is a smooth drum with a padfoot shell and I think the last time the drum was off was in 2018. Sounds like you need to experiment with the moisture content in the soil and the weight of the truck to determine the best plan of action for your track.
Project we started back in Feb. 6 AC industrial lot with a 12k SF building on the lower 3 +/- acre portion which is the lower portion of the property bound by a drainage swale on the lowest property line. We have had more rain the first 3 months of this year that I can remember. Did I tell ya'll we're grading the lowest part of the property? Punch in clearing day. Clearing limits marked with blue and pink ribbon for reference. Usually clearing limits are a strict delineation but on this job just a guideline since it's all the same owner and they will develop the other 3 acres in the future. 2nd gen SYP covers most of the site with some hardwoods in the mix. Unfortunately not enough marketable pine to bring a logger in. Put the 325FL and 321DL to work. We knew going into this job that it was a wet site with soft soils at the wrong time of the year. More to come on that. Wisteria had taken over the lower acre of the site where the retention pond will be located. The soil was so soft we used the wisteria as a mud mat to reach all the trees to clear towards the new housing project. Lucy received a new vest just for this job - safety first!
Damn that's a pile of wisteria! That stuff is like a rope that thinks it's a cable.
First order of business was to build the retention pond at the lowest point of the job where all the water flows to - mission accepted. If you're going to be dumb, ya' gotta be tough. Sawed up some 8-12" dia trees to use as mud mats to get in and out of the pond. Those logs are and will be left in place for the next generation or robots to find. First time we have a set an OCS (outlet control structure) like this with no bottom. 18" inlet, 18" outlet and 6" hole for a Faircloth skimmer. Engineer designed this structure to sit on a #57 stone bed which also serves as a filter. We don't get paid to design - just install.. Luckily we found an 8x8 or so concrete slab buried who knows how long ago we used as a raft under the structure then filled 2' of stone on top of. It worked. Pic of OCS before install. Soil was so soft we had to use a roll of non-woven fabric we had at the shop and a 1' or so of #57's to get it set. Wisteria once again being put to some sort of good use as a brush check dam. OCS, 18" RCP and headwall installed for the detention pond. This was some of the hardest pipe we've laid in a while. Had to fabric the entire run and damn near used a 25 tons of #57 stone.
I don't understand what the Faircloth skimmer is supposed to do in this case. The inlet brings in the water, the outlet takes the water away. Doesn't seem like the skimmer will do much of anything. The OCS might catch some sediment until the next gully washer scours the OCS clean, out the outlet. Is there anything to slow the water out the outlet?
How did you get that much stone and rip rap through that soup?
We need to see progressive posts on this job. It looks like nightmares I've had.
No doubt! That stuff is 10 times worse than kudzu. We found the best way to tackle it was just cut 1' below grade and take the roots and all. Used the wisteria as mud mats for the excavator path. The topsoil and silty soup was 5-6 deep before any hard ground was found so undercut and replace was not in the budget for a pond that will never hold water. More on that in my reply to Hosspuller. Basically just kept stuffing wisteria in the muck and driving over it until the excavator could stand up. This area is where the outside wall of the pond will be. This was one of those old school get it done projects. The owner could've spend $100-150K to undercut and replace the muck in pond but why? Wisteria road - same pic as above. Look close at the excavator tracks and you can see vines smushed up on either side This is how we got the 57's and rip-rap down there. Good ol' trusty rock box. Couldn't load it all the way but it floated OK across the muck.
HP me neither, it's a head scratcher for sure. The rip-rap check dam is really the only thing holding any water back. I think the engineer missed a note on the plans to plug the 18" orifice temporarily until the site and pond is stabilized. That would hold water in the pond and let the skimmer do it's job during a rain event. Water would still exit through the 57's in the bottom of the structure but storm flow wouldn't pass through. The skimmer is onsite and we will end up installing it just for looks.
I hear ya'. More to come. We finished up the 12K building pad yesterday.
Back at the mudpit. Shot of the headwall set, fabric out and 1-2' of 57's. It was fun pulling the fabric over the muck since you could only stand on the edges and place it like a bed sheet. Muck, muck and more muck. 321DL with 8K hours still earning. No DPF, no DEF. I'll rebuild this machine as needed and the youngsters can fight over it at my estate sale. Pond roughed in. The logs and wisteria we used as mats were all mashed and left in place. Grouting the outlet structure and pond overflow cut out. The galvanized trash rack is in front of the 279 ready to be red-headed in on top of the OCS.
Once the pond was roughed in we started clearing the rest of the lot. Most was very tall, thin pine second growth which was easy to take down and aggravating to clean up. Lower part of the property cleared and the drainage swale being roughed in to the retention pond. Muck, muck and more muck. Rinse and repeat. Pic towards the north on the lower side of the lot. Building pad stripped of the 1-2' of topsoil and silt sub-soil. Edge of the parking lot towards the retention pond. Again 1-2' of topsoil and silt strip to get down to something that's 1/2 way decent material to fill on. Brush pile in the foreground.
This pic is out of sequence time wise but shows the north end of the project. Rented an air burner from a local road building contractor. The trees were so wet being in this soggy bottom when you squeezed them between the bucket and thumb water would shoot out the ends. Made a fun time burning.. Pine straw rolls from HD soaked in diesel fuel work pretty well. Building pad and parking lot stripping. 325FL processing the brush for burning. We had to break the brush up, turn it and flip it in order to get some drying from the few days of sunshine we had.
How well did the air curtain burner work? How deep was the pit (below grade) and how much debris was left after using it?
It worked well after the fire was hot. This one was of the smaller Concept products units. Owned an Airburner T400 in the mid 2000's that I think is a better burner but this one fit the bill. Back in 2014 I rented a McPherson burner from the guys down in Tifton. Those units work well except the manifold doesn't fold out it requires a trackhoe to take it off and attach. Pit was 10' wide and 6" (each side) less than the length of the manifold. We were trying to go 10 deep but hit ground water (shocker!). Pit ended up being 8' deep or so and we stacked our largest logs in the bottom then lit the fire on top of those. Had to do that several times after some large rains that soaked the pit. This units manifold sits up off the ground so you have to make a berm around the pit for proper airflow. The berm serves 3 purposes - proper airflow, diverts ground water around the pit and somewhat for safety. So with the berm we were close to the desired 10' depth. There is no real debris left other than ash and some charcoal. If the wood would've been dry there would've been very little ash and nothing else. We were very mindful of smoke and didn't start burning until after 7:45 and stopped around 3:30. Had a burn permit from the city FD and luckily we didn't get any complaints.
Took the leap and got TBC...I was reluctant to buy it (actually had a trial); man was I wrong there. Got a chance to do a job on short notice. All I had to work from was a 2d .pdf of the shape of the proposed parking lot and 'we want it here'; there were some constraints as well (more on that later). Monday I called my salesman and my tech support guy at SiTech; explained what I wanted to do. (had previously discussed some of this when I bought my base/rover) They assured me I could do what I wanted. Went out a took a topo and located some of the major features (aforementioned contraints; mostly related to fire protection; also EOP, future building expansion, dicthes, trees, etc.) Set up my first TBC training session for Wed and Thurs afternoon. Job figured to a little over 1500 yards cut and 200 and change fill. Cut the first blade of grass Saturday am. Loaded with the 321d; cut grade, pushed off, and bladed haul road with my D3; had a tandem and single axle dump truck. Dirt was moved, cut and fill, by Sunday afternoon. Could have poured curb Monday, but I had no idea we would be ready that fast and had my finishers on standby for mid week. Layed out all curb including radius points with my rover. Got them in there Wed; out on Thurs. Little over 600 feet. Had to lower two irrigation and an electrical line on this little parking lot connection. After curb was in I cut sub grade and finsihed backfilling by lunch on Friday. Also did additional work on Tuesday repair a prior contractors mess in the back b/c they were so impressed with our quality and speed. So 7 days from start to finish. Could have put the base in (we put in enough to safe parking connection and create entrance to larger lot) if that was in my scope; but alas it wasn't and we got 8" over the weekend. Job held up, but could have been perfect. Could have been done in 5 days if I knew we could do it that fast.
Finished pics I do a fair amount of work like this. After I got the topo and features loaded into TBC we couldn't build the parking lot exactly like they wanted. Had to move a parking space from one side to the other to shift the entrance up the hill some to get in between the fire hydrant and meters/valve. No engineer to consult and wait on; few clicks of the mouse and I had it modified in TBC. No guesswork on site.....I'm not sure if I would have caught it right off the bat had I been doing things the old way. This way, I caught everything before we even cut a blade of grass. And I don't even know what I am doing; lol. Also decided to tweak the grades a little after rough grade. Did it on my own Sunday night and had my trainer look over it Monday. Pushed the changes to my machine Monday a.m. and bam it was reality. Didn't have radius points so stumbled through how to add circles to each radius at 5 am Wed morning; got on-site, pused my new points to my file, used Cogo functions on my data collector to find the center of each circle and 10 minutes later I had my radius points staked. I'm sure there's a better way, but I did it on my own and didn't even have to wait for anybody to pick up the phone. I control my schedule. I will never go back to the old way. TBC is a learning curve, and I have a long way to go but for me it's worth every penny. I hate....I mean absolutely hate waiting on other people. No surveyor, no model builder needed.
One more thing I'll add; It rained Friday before we started and rained (like hell) Saturday after we finished. I don't have to tell you CM, but it's been about working in windows to get jobs done with this weather we've had. I was blading grass off when we started and had to pull a couple trucks Sat am; but it was all worth it to start and finish the job in a weather window. You know how something can drag on once it rains and you have to wait for everything to clear up. I didn't do it myself, everyone did their part; including my customer and my employees/subs; but man it sure made it easier to have as much as possible under my control.
Nice work Savman! Talked to Mike last week about outfitting a 325 next gen and he told me you jumped into TBC. From the looks of it you took the ball and ran with it!
Back in the swamp. 3/4 of the pond finishing up. Emergency overflow poured and outlet structure installed with galvanized trash rack. Shot of the upper portion of the pond. This was one of the most difficult retention ponds we've ever done due to the poor soils and record rain amounts. Closer shot of the outlet structure. Rip-rap check is doing it's job for the most part. This pond maintains 3-6" water in the bottom due to all the ground water flowing into it. Threw a little grass seed around for temp cover. The hydroseed truck is coming next week to spray everything. Outlet headwall. The brush check dam will stay in place.
Muck disposal area pic taken from the edge of the retention pond. The 321 and 533 are parked on the edge of the future parking lot. Where they are parked is 3-4 of structural fill and right behind is 3-4 of pudding. Pic back towards the pond across the muck disposal area. D3 earning its keep. That little dozer is quite impressive for its size and what it can do. Building pad to subgrade. The inspector showed as she always does to give it a once over..
This is some of the weird phone calls I get from some of the GC's we've worked for years with. Monday morning 6:45 I get these pics and ask if I can meet them on site to give any ideas on how to tackle it. After rearranging a typical Monday morning schedule I was able to be on site at 10:00 AM. Problem - Last Saturday we experienced several inches of rain over a 24 hour period. This building is downtown and over 100 years old. The roof has a break in it where 30% of the roof drains to the front and 70% drains to the rear. Apparently the front scuppers and gutters were clogged up and it was just too much water for the roof structure to hold it. The roof is SYP 2x8's resting on large metal truss girders supported by brick pilasters in the structural clay side walls. The water was just too heavy for the connection of the roof to the front wall. What kept the wall from completely collapsing is a C-channel the GC added a couple a years ago on the inside of the wall. Apparently from the staining on the rubber roof membrane the gutters have been slowly clogging up for a while. Now here is the head scratcher - it also blew the rear wall out. The rear wall was built of structural clay blocks with brick facade like the rest of the building however the roof system stayed intact being held in place by the rubber roof. The mortar between the clay blocks was very deteriorated. Best thing we can figure is when the front section of the roof collapsed it sent a wave across the roof being wood framed and blew the back wall out. Kicker is the GC installed the new glass store front and roll up door a couple of years ago. I guess that's what insurance is for. The rest of the building appeared to be good shape. The GC is going to get a structural engineer to go over the remaining building and come up with a repair plan. We will have no work on this project as the front wall needs to come down manually with guys on a lift parked in the street. The rear needs to be shored up and the wall re-built. This was one of those relationship calls that doesn't pay that day but is an investment in the future.
Never underestimate the power and weight of water. Clogged drains and scuppers can do serious damage on flat roof structures. On a side note, I spotted a sign for US Hwy 11, runs right through my town as well.
US HWY 11 is also 1st Ave N in the 'ham.
Before the advent of interstate highways, US Hwy 11 was for points south, Chattanooga and beyond. Only other route south was US 411 which was more directly to Atlanta. To hit the east coast routes required crossing the mountains first.
Back to the retention pond from hell, what grass seed did you use that sprouted and grew that quickly at that head wall?
LOL - something I bought at HD on the way to the job. Whatever was cheapest. Hydroseeder is coming tomorrow and they'll spray an ALDOT summer mix.
We are big dog people in our company and have the fortunate opportunity to bring them with us to work on most of our jobs. This now not so little fella showed up whining as a pup next door from our equipment yard on the concrete forming company's lot. One of our guys took him home and the rest is history. Fast forward a year and Dipstick has turned into quite the gentleman. Lucy knows her serial numbers which has made her a favorite at the Cat parts counter. I think the biggest disappointment in her life was when she found out that she could not order an actual cat, at the Cat house.
Wrapping up the wet job spraying the muck disposal area. A little hydro-seeding from our erosion control sub. Nice T800 6x6. Shot back towards the entrance with swale grassed. Retention pond finished up the best we could. Not the best as far as finish work but considering there is pudding in and around 70% of it - not too bad. The water is all ground water coming in from above and below the pond. Upper swale. All the wet areas are ground water leaching in. Clear water currently runs in the bottom of the ditch. My best guess is it might dry up in Sept/Oct.
This crossing was "design build". 43' of 18" CL III RCP for access across the drainage swale. We had 2 joints left over from the ret. pond due to our supplier sending more than needed and picked up 3 more joints of previously used pipe plus a cut at our storage yard. Turned out nice and gives the owner access to the other 1/2 of their property. Crossing looking back towards the building pad. Overall shot of the muck area towards the pond. Don't mind the thumb.. Ground water in the borrow pit area.
Sorry, I'm old school, nothing politically or socially correct about me. With that said, nothing would make a parts guys day more than having both a pretty woman and a dog sitting on the opposite side of his counter.
Willie a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
True that, I've always said "men are pigs, no exceptions". And you most certainly found your acorn.
Nice work. Good looking job!
Thanks Oxbow! We're not the biggest, we're not the cheapest however we strive to do the best work.
Haven't posted in my thread in a while so let's catch up. We just starting using a new time keeping app that also has daily reports where the guys can take pics of the jobs and it logs them into specific projects automatically. We'll see how it goes. So far I really like the ease of use. A little fork modification. We obtained these long forks from a project that were left over and the GC didn't know who they belonged to or who rented them. Told us he was either going to put them in the dumpster or we could have them. Since they would fit a skid steer fork frame - We'll take them please - thank you. We have 3 CTL fork carriages with one being the hydraulic type that slides in and out. Took one of the manual ones and installed the longer forks for carrying pipe. Have a job coming up with a fair amount of 15" and 18" RCP both round and elliptical that these forks will be the ticket for. We have a small drive-thru only coffee shop coming up in the next couple of weeks on a recently developed commercial parcel. A very old and very well respected full service site work company in the area put in the street, utilities and turn out. This company is known for quality work, the kind of company you want to be. Anyway snapped a pic of their pipe forks for their 963. I think I'm going to remodel the current pair of bucket forks for our 953 and remake them in this fashion. The forks are tall enough so you can see the tines while loading pipe. You can't see the tines on the forks we have. The wood bumper is a nice touch to keep from chipping the bell or spigot of the pipe. Like I said the guys are 1st class just look at the condition of their 963. That's a black hood '63 which makes it older than my 2004 953.
Back at the remodel project downtown. Steel jockeys have the first part of the roof rebuilt. Nothing like a project in the city with the room to move about and stretch your legs. T&M to haul off 40-50 loads of footing and misc concrete demo debris generated from the building. GC found multiple floors within the building which resulted in deeper excavations by the engineer to achieve bearing capacity for the interior column footings and grade beams. This generated a lot of muck and various hardcore debris. This is about a 3rd of the original pile. Fortunately for us we had plenty of access to load the tri-axles out. Spoils and debris cleaned up with access road back on grade. All of this was T&M outside our contract. More on that later.
Some updates on our projects. Finished up the parking repair for now. The lulls are relentless though so we'll be back for another change order..
Catch up on the warehouse project. Slab poured. 12,000 GSF with 5 roll-up doors and 5,000 SF of office, 2500 SF on 2 levels. We don't do concrete especially slabs however I thought this was a slick trick. Down here we don't have to worry about frost and our joke of a frost line IBC wise is 12" which it never freezes that much. The concrete guys dug a footing, set their slab edge footings, tied rebar and set anchor bolts then poured the footing leaving a rough surface and dowels to tie the slab into. In order to keep their drive pins for the slab edge forms from forever being part of the build they used short pieces of thin PVC for sleeves. They kicked the edge forms like normal to keep them straight. Thought is was pretty slick, hadn't seen that before.
Hydroseed did OK. With all the rain we fought at the beginning of this project as soon as the seed went down the rain stopped.. The green is the much disposal area we wasted all that crap in. It's finally starting to set up enough you can run a 279 across it. The infamous "pond". The one almost whooped us for sure. Last winter fighting the rain. Outlet structure and outflow piping. A couple of weeks ago. Had a 2" rain in 2 hours that washed around the outlet structure so we had to add some rip-rap to the back side. Don't know what we did before we finally bought a mini (305E).
The warehouse project is for a friend of mine that owns a foundation repair business. We have been waiting on 3 jobs to permit so since we were slow installed the primary power and data conduits from the future pole to be set by APCO to the future 3 phase transformer pad. 2 - 5" conduits is APCO spec. One is for the cable and the other is a spare. Predetermined location for the new pole. APCO engineer was real precise pinpointing the location. He retrieved a white stake out of the back of his white Explorer walked over and stuck in the ground then wrapped some APCO WORK SAFE tape around it. The guys moved it 4' towards the project since the stake was directly over the city's 10" water main.. FWIW if you are ever installing primary power conduits and data in the same ditch it is good practice to have at least 18" of separation between the two conduits. If not the electrical static can interfere with the data lines. Not sure if it affects fiber which most data around here is now but it's just good practice IMO. Covered, 2" data installed and warning tape.
that's what I get to do on the new place. Primary power is at 42" and once I get 18" of cover on it I can run my water etc in the same trench.
I personally wouldn't want to put my water and electric in the same trench, but that's just me. Have to tear one up to get at the other.
Not really a thing. The primary power is laid in next to another big main, in their conduit. In my experience the conduit never has a problem. If the wire goes to crap they can and would just pull it in again. I might scratch it into a bench on my side of the trench as I backfill theirs, that is easy enough.
Normally here in new subdivision road install the power will be on one side of the road with water and gas on the other side with respective laterals servicing all the lots. Power stub on one side of the lot, water lateral on the other and gas in the middle. Now individual services from ROW to the house is anyone's guess.
There is a big power main on the street ROW that runs next to the property line. The power company wants me to dig right next to their existing main conduit, 500' back to a new pedestal site for the house. I'll backfill and ribbon it @24" down and then put whatever I want on top. The water service and any CATV will be coming down that trench from the same location. I'll toss a spare in there for what-have-ya and a second water line. Cheap insurance with the ground open.
A little add on at the warehouse project. The ditch as designed make a choke point at the entrance for tractor trailers coming and going. They also need more employee parking as the rear of the building is for loading and unloading. 208 LF of 18" CL III RCP with 2 yard inlets. Used round knock-out pre-cast structures since we didn't have time to wait on custom and they are about the same the price. The tops are all standard and a stock item. Pipe installed back to the cross-over we installed a couple of weeks ago and the middle yard inlet. Finally found some good dirt on this job on the front parcel. Pipe supplier goofed and sent an extra 32' (4 joints) of pipe. Owner wanted to keep it and add it to the other end of the crossover to pipe more of the ditch. Eventually we'll pipe it to the detention pond.
Lower 32' of pipe partially backfilled. This area will be brought up to grade when the final parking lot is clipped. There is also a packaged sewer lift station that will be installed between the pipe and the pipe of dirt in the background. Looking back up the line. End of the line yard inlet. Rip-rapped. 279D 01 had a bottom roller go out so 02 was brought from the shop. $320 later it was back into service. Side note - Cat replacement part was cheaper with the 25% discount than the aftermarket ones online. Original Cat price was $420 and the ones I was looking at online ran from $330 to over $400 plus shipping. Even with the discount is was a no brainer. Parts guy called us and said "I need to sell something!". Foreman told him we needed a bottom roller but $420 was too much. Parts guy - "Let see what I can do." Like magic a discount. There is a ton of water that comes down that ditch from the other side of highway. Fiberglass base for the 3 phase transformer set with primary and secondary conduits stubbed up.
Finished shot at the front entrance. Gained truck access in addition to an additional 25-30 parks.
Interesting project we mob'd into last week. A small tool and equipment rental addition to one of the big box home stores. The building addition is around 4K SF so it's small and not much to get the pad prep'd however there is a 36" RCP storm line and 3 inlets to demo and reroute with 36" HDPE. We don't know yet if the pipe has settled, collapsed or it was just poor backfill techniques that led to the settlement in the parking lot. The settlement is on top of the pipe and interestingly enough almost uniform across the failure. This inlet demos and we tie back into the existing line about where the white arrow points to the stop bar. The tool rental addition will start at the front of the building and go approx 1/2 down. I haven't seen modern day RCP collapse so our best guess is poor backfill around the pipe. The intriguing part is how uniform the settlement is. Looking down the line. Some of the settlement is 12-18". This inlet demos and we are supposed to tie in 10-12' behind it. The settlement continues on past the proposed tie in so there may be a change order in the future. We'll just have to see what's under there.
John Griffin posted up the work he did for us on this project last week. Took down 6 oaks in 3 islands and did an excellent job. Trees, Trees, and More Trees I get manure from a dairy and mix it with my wood chips. Let it breakdown for a summer and have nice, rich compost to amend my garden with every fall. The logs (any species) gets hauled back to my house and processed for firewood. I don't cut trees daily, more like couple jobs a month. Just... HeavyEquipmentForums I'll post a few pics although they are redundant. Before After This project is for a GC out of Atlanta we've done several jobs for over the last 10 years. One was a DC for the same store chain that involved rip-rapping a very large ditch. 1,100 LF IIRC. Damn this was 10 years ago this October. The guy on the left in the pic above was the same super we had on the 100K SF warehouse addition back in 2018 for the same GC. Great super, knows his stuff and great to work with. Best advice I can give the young ones coming into the business is work smart, work hard and develop relationships with your clients. Strive to be "Pleasant to work with" - That was one of the best compliments we ever received from a super on the Arena job we did back in 2020.
Back at the little warehouse project - Third party storm water firm for the city did their contractual monthly inspection and sited the owner for not having the skimmer in the pond. No $$ violation just a write up. Now this is the same firm that approved the drawings for the pond including the outlet structure. OK no big deal let's put the $2K skimmer in the pond like the drawings called for. This was the bottomless part of the pond so we stopped by HD to pick up a sheet of 7/16 OSB to rip down for something to walk on. Like to spend our hard earned $$ at places that in turn put food on our table. 6" Faircloth skimmer installed. The OSB was sacrificial and will forever be part of the pond. The skimmer comes pre-assembled so we glued the 6" PVC extension on the skimmer, installed the black flex hose and remaining 6" PVC on the overflow dam then lowered it into place with the 305. The metal fittings on the flex hose are threaded so we will be able to re-use the skimmer on other projects in the future. Pulled the rip-rap back, installed the 6" PVC into the OCS and put the check dam back in. Sprinkled some DGB on site to fill the voids in the riprap as that's really all the erosion control in this pond. Now remember the same third party engineer that approved the drawings is the same firm doing the storm water inspections that wanted the skimmer installed since it was on the approved drawings. Anyone see any issues? The OCS is installed exactly as drawn and approved.
Update from this week on the tool rental addition in Huntsville. After John and his crew removed the 6 oaks our crew came in to saw cut then remove the curbs and asphalt. We stockpiled the island dirt to go back into the new islands. Asphalt and island curb gone. Used a local contact to find a trucking outfit. 18 loads in a day with 1 truck, pretty quick turn around. Saw cut trench for the electric car charging stations which there are rumblings of the location will be moved. Cleaned up at the end of the day. Hired a new kid and put him on 279D 02 to stockpile the island dirt. He hasn't had much time on a CTL so I think he did a pretty good job.
I know nothing about skimmers, nor how they're supposed to look, but it looks upside down to me. One of these comes in handy at times.
OxBow never ran a long reach but I'd like to give it a shot one day if a project comes along to pay the rental and make a little change. Man ya'll have some beautiful country out there! Always enjoyed the travels out there throughout the years. The skimmer is installed correctly as the 2" PVC sticking up is the "vent". Hint - the 6" PVC square around the top is supposed to float on the surface and the bottom section is supposed to let the storm water slowly leave the pond. This requires at least a 3' deep water level in the pond to function properly.
Is it just dumb me or is that a big open hole in the side of the OCS? Is that normal?
I was thinking the water level is too low
Yes Sir Willie. The engineers spec'd an 18" hole in the OCS and a 6" skimmer. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but that water is never going to get high enough with only a riprap check in front for the skimmer to function properly. Yes. The way they have it designed the water level will never be high enough. If the engineers would've asked for our $.02, we'd suggested to temporarily brick up the 18" opening until the site and pond was stabilized then remove the brick and skimmer, then let gravity and nature take its course. However we get paid to install it like the drawings no matter how much money it wastes.
The very definition of "educated idiots"!
I swear, the more I look at that pic the more I'm totally impressed by that level of stupidity. Let's noodle this through. A skimmer is used to prevent oil/debris floating on the surface of the pond from to escape via the outlet. This requires an amount of water in the pond for that to happen, but that amount of water can never happen because there's an 18" hole in the side of the OCS that will never allow water level in the pond to rise high enough for the skimmer to operate. But hey, looks like you're all set for the next hurricane when it rolls through with the OCS and spillway, skimmer won't matter then.
They are kind of an acquired taste, and need to be used a little different than a standard hoe. One of my guys grew up on one and we let him do most of the long reach work. He has the knack for it.
Niche machine. Not designed for digging, rather, for moving material with a little bucket with a long *** reach.
Pretty much sums it up my friend.
Well we have the purchase agreement on the desk to sign for this beauty. Planning on signing and sending in Monday. Deal includes a manual thumb, full auto Trimble GPS and a third medium pressure line. We are going to use the QC off our 325FL and keep the 30" and 48" buckets. I want to keep the buckets as they are in great shape and the K series teeth are now available aftermarket. The third medium pressure line is for the addition of a processor or rotating grapple in the future. It's cheaper to add anything you think you might need in the initial purchase since for one it's new and second the pricing is better as the dealer wants to make a sale. 2023 325 Next Gen. This will be our 2nd full auto GPS machine.
Trading the F towards it?
Yeah, it's the only way to afford it. Still have the 321DL with over 8K hours on it as a spare, I'll never get rid of that machine.
36 and 48, those are big buckets, even for a 250 class. I suppose the 36 could be used for trenching on a 250, but that 48, that's for mass excavator loading trucks from a pile. Just my guess though.
Reduced tail swing machines are getting pretty fat in the posterior. 325 is 28 metric tons these days. I'm not sure if it's from tonnage creep or it's the old 328 were renumbered.
That's great on the new machine. Its hard ($$$) constantly upgrading, but its the only way forward.
Willie we've been running those 2 buckets on the 325FL for 4 years. The 48" is a perfect size for loading trucks and general excavating. And I had a brain fart on the 36" as it's actually a 30" that we do use for trenching and demo work. A 30" bucket with side cutters leaves roughly a 36" trench which most of the pipe we install is 24" and smaller. There is a capacity difference on buckets relative to machine size. A 48" bucket for a 336 can have more CY capacity than the 48" for a 325. The new machine came with a 48" which we will not be buying.
Yeah it's an expensive leap of faith for sure. Never thought I would be into such technology on the job site but it really has changed how we do things. Unfortunately it comes with a high initial cost however it pays for itself 2 fold. For example our initial base station, rover and full auto on our D3 was $110K which was financed for 2 years with just under a $5K payment per month - ouch. However the 2 years prior to purchasing the system we went through so many laborers I couldn't remember 1/2 of them when the W2's went out last year. It's just hard to find people who are dependable and show up for work. Our metro area is around 3% unemployment rate, it's tough. A laborer that has the ability to show up every day, capacity to walk and breath at the same time costs around $50K a year total labor burden including onboarding, PPE and training. We have eliminated the need for a human to hold a grade rod, pull a string, set a blue top or read a tape on 90% of our jobs with GPS. So the tech pays for itself rather quickly. The difference in tech between our current 325FL and this Next Gen 325 is like a flip phone compared to the latest iPhone. This machine has the ability to go full auto on the last pass of a ditch to a perfect sub-grade then spread bedding to it's desired depth. It should take most of the work off a pipe layer and save over excavation and bedding over runs. That right there is going to save thousands in one year. Full auto GPS on a 325 Next Gen is around $65K with the latest receivers. That doesn't not include a base station and rover which we already have. Fairly reasonable for what it can do IMO. The next step for us is getting more into the office side of things building models, adjusting models and pushing data to and from the field. Trimble Business Center is expensive and complicated software for an old dog like myself to learn but we can do it. Never thought I would say it in my lifetime much less in my working career but we'll have autonomous machines one day and it will be sooner than I ever imagined.
50k a year in wages seem exceedingly low. There's always differences in areas and job type but the 2 guys I just put on and 1 has zero experience will make 72k a year each.
Different areas and different cost of living.
Cost of living in Kansas is probably lower than most states.
Sweet looking machine. I guess you haven't taken delivery yet? I wonder how it will do on fuel and power compared to the 325f? Another thing I have wondered...if you look at the specs of a 323 vs 325; they're listed as having the same hp....but the 323 has a 7.1 vs a 4.4 in the 325.....no way they are burning the same fuel...right? I'm due for an upgrade myself and I've toyed with the idea of a 323 and I'll still have the 321 for tight spots.....idk One thing that stood out to me, is you've said the 325f is stronger and burns less fuel than the 321; I wonder if the nextgen will be even more fuel efficient.
Thanks. Dealer has to order the med pressure parts and install which will take a couple of weeks. We're expecting the next gen to be better on fuel than the F but who knows. As long as it's comparable it's fine with me. Interesting thing is the cooling fans are all electric and one thing I really like is the ability to check the engine oil at ground level on the passenger side. No more climbing up and down, something to think about when you get older. After having reduced swing machines for so long we're not interested in a conventional tail for our production hoes. If we had a dedicated pit machine or one feeding a crusher sure but not for what we do on a day to day basis.
Well when I retired in 2015 if I had worked a straight 40 work week for 52 weeks I would have made just under $53,000.00. That's after working for the company since 1968!
The one and only time I've been to Kansas was 35 years ago as a kid in the back seat of an '88 Ford Bronco so I have no idea of your local conditions. However I do know our labor market well after being in business for over 25 years. We start our laborers out at $20 an hour which is a little over the average rate here. https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=construction+laborer&l=Birmingham%2C+AL&radius=50&vjk=1ae841bd211b900e A quick search appears that $20 is a similar going rate in your area as well for construction laborers but like I said don't know if that's low, high or what - https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=construction+laborer&l=Hays%2C+KS&radius=50&pp=gQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCSrXQwADAAABAAA&vjk=a27b75f9f3d0e462 $20 an hour comes to around $42K in regular time with vacation pay. Add WC, GL and tax overhead it roughly comes to $50K for conversations sake. Now our new employees will be eligible for health insurance, matching retirement savings and PTO after the probation period which adds to their labor burden.
Yeah, that ground check dipstick is a nice feature, except on our 330 the tube is so flat that oil collects in it. Even after wiping it off and re-checking it picks up oil from the tube and doesn't show the actual oil level. One feature that is programmable that we really like is the auto shutdown. We often need to get out and discuss things, which sometimes leads to a 15 minute trip along the job. It's nice to have the machine shut down after 3 minutes, and you can put a 30 minute delay on the GPS shutting down so you don't have to re-boot that when starting again.
Thanks for that intel OxBow. We'll have to verify the oil dipstick on the new 325 to see if it has the same issue. Kinda bummed if it does. Really like the auto shutdown feature on the newer machines. Idle time is a killer on the emissions system and the value of the machine. Like you (and I've done it too) we have to stop to discuss something or take a delivery and forget the machine has been idling for 15-20 mins. Can you program it per operator profile or is it one setting? For instance when we are laying pipe the tractor might idle for 5-10 mins while the pipe layer is adjusting a manhole or checking grade and we don't want the machine to shut down. Just wondering if you could have operator profile Bob excavating and profile Bob pipe laying with different shut down times.
U set shut down time in machine setting and not op profile.
Gotcha. Well that's something Cat should offer in the programming.
Overtime is the difference. My guys are making $20 /hr as well but we work around 60 a week. Construction guys around here typically get overtime depending on the company.
Yes sir, a 30" bucket with side cutters, that's an excellent trenching bucket on a 250 class, even with the occasional iron heads (we'll not use the local term) that you run across.
You can turn it on and off easily though, as well as adjust the time to shutdown.
I keep it at 3 minutes for 9 months of the year on the mini, but for the cold 3 I turn it off and manage it. 3 minutes is not a sufficient warm up IMO. It would be nice if they had a programmable cancel button for those chilly mornings.
Is it an optical illusion, or is the emergency over flow lower than the top of the outlet control structure? I have a 48" Extreme duty CAT bucket on my 325 NG. It has a 1.56 yd capacity (YAY!) and is very stout! The machine handles it well, and it is our primary bucket. I also bought a 24" for trenching. I have a 30" trenching bucket for the Deere 245G (along with a 48" bucket as primary for that machine as well) and I thought having a 24" would be good to have in the fleet as well. My opinion may change someday, but so far, I wish I would have gotten another 30", or maybe even 36", instead of the 24". I can swap buckets between the Cat and the Deere so I won't be spending any money to change that anytime soon. I work on residential lots with lots of trees, and other possible obstructions, and having a zero tail (Deere 245G), and the Cat 325NG (hangs over about 9") are key for us. I can get those big machines where my little 315CL would struggle to work efficiently, and the biiger machines are much better in the hard rock excavation that we do. The other tghing that you get with the zero/reduced tail machine is that it is alsi tighter on the front side as well. Meaning that the boom and bucket can be brought in closer to the machine center as well. My Cat 325 NextGen scaled in at 65,000# with long undercarriage, extra heavy counter weight (weighs 18k#), and the 48" extreme duty bucket. I had the delivery driver go across scales before and after delivery, the day I took possession. It probably weighs even more now that it has had about 900 hours of dust added to it (LOL). I used lack of decent labor force as rationale for buying my 325NG as well. I've still never used the "Auto Grade" feature, but we do use our 2D system with laser catch. BTW, the laser catch does not come standard. It costs extra. I found that to be a bit silly when paying $275k for machine that CAT markets as being standard with a 2D system. I didn't see the "third" group (for tilt/rotate, or "grapple" to quote you) that you mentioned in your post with the photo. I see the ones that run down the front of the dipper (under the bucket ram), but on my 325, those are used for the bucket coupler. I'll see of I can find a photo showing this. I love not having to climb the machine to check fluids as well. Good job Cat! One can also check hydraulic oil (same compartment as engine oil dipstick), and anti-freeze (same compartment as the battery disconnect) from the ground. You still have to climb it to fuel it though. The climb is better than my Deere 245G though. My engine oil dip stick does not collect oil in it so I have no issues checking the level. I woud think that one could easily do a field modification (bend it up slightly) to take care of this. At least one could on the 325NG, but I'm not familiar with the 330NG. I hope that your machine doesn't have excessive blow-by OxBow. Machine auto-shut down is a feature that I like, but I have found some negatives as well. The machine will shut itself off after it goes through the "warm up cycle". I usually go start other machines, or go do paper work, set up laser, etc., while it goes through the warm up. If I get back to the machine after it has turned itself off, it often wants you to put it through the warm up cycle all over again. For sure, one has the option to cancel that request, but then I wonder if I may be harming the machuine by running it before it reaches operating temp (Which is what I was told by the Cat training rep who gave us the intro to the machine when it was delivered). I find this to be annoying. Furthermore, I do a lot of attachment swaps (hammer, crusher, ho-pac) and the machine will often shut down during the swap. I also find this a little bit annoying. First world problems for sure (LOL). OH!...My shut off timer is not operator specific, it's set for the machine regardless of which operator signs in. On edit: My Deere 245G also has auto-shut off but, for some reason, it won't shut down from first start up. Maybe it "knows" not to during warm up?
Above is your machine. Below is mine. If you zoom in to mine you will see that it has the same lines as yours does. On mine, the lines on the front of the stick are used to operate the coupler. Speaking of couplers, I'm glad to hear that you will be keeping the one from the F model. I have still not had any failures on my OEM coupler (although it would not operate when new and had to be taken apart twice by CAT dealer to get it working), it still makes a loud "pop", or "bang" when you open it. I don't like this! I'm excited to see you making the move to the NG! It will be nice to have someone else (here on HEF) who has one and may be a resource. I would be interested in conversation about what may have changed since I bought (12/21), including price,options, etc. I will PM.
The spillway is .75' above the OCS. This is not the way I would design a detention pond but then again we don't get paid to design just install. This one is coming with full auto Trimble GPS. Actually waiting on the newest receivers for the machine. Full auto has worked so well on our D3 that it was just a matter of time to get the system on a 325. This machine doesn't have the 3rd line installed yet. Dealer ordered all the parts this week. I think the kit comes with new joysticks with extra tool buttons but I'm not sure. Basically the 3rd medium pressure line is the rotate function for a grapple or multi-processor. When a job comes up to warrant a multi-processor I'm buying one. Wanted to have the machine ready for one and the best and cheapest time to do that is when you're negotiating the purchase and the machine is nice, new and clean. Our machines look to the be the same. Yours is plumbed a little different for the hydraulic thumb which we will not have. Small lines down the stick will run our coupler. Are those Stucchi quick couplers? If so how have they held up? The third line will look something like this - took this at Conexpo in March. This was a 330 or 336 IIRC. I really saw no reason to buy a new QC and since the K series teeth can be bought aftermarket we're paying 1/2 the price to put new dentures on the buckets so I didn't want the new Cat tooth style. Machine without GPS was $277K with no QC or bucket however that includes a manual thumb at $7K and the medium pressure line which was a $15K dealer installed option. So the machine with bare stick was around $255K for comparison. In 2018 our 325FL was $212K IIRC. Once we get it I'd like to chat about the 2. I'll have to pull rank and get some seat time though.
I haven't been on HEF much since it went through it's last remodel. I'd have to say that I don't see how to quote parts of a post separately (i.e. replying to individual paragraphs, sentences, or photos) like we used to be able to. I hope that someone can show me how as I am going to only reply to certain comments within CM's last post, and don't want to re-post the whole thing to do so. CM1995: This one is coming with full auto Trimble GPS. Actually waiting on the newest receivers for the machine. Full auto has worked so well on our D3 that it was just a matter of time to get the system on a 325. Me: I hope that it works well for you. As I'm sure you know, those systems have been around for dozers for quite some time now, and as far as machine control goes, only have to deal with the up and down of the blade. Furthermore, the excavators have a lot more moving axes, so I would imagine it would be much harder to make the system work well. I may have pulled the trigger but my jobs are in very remote locations (can't relly on cell reception) and there are lots of trees and mountains to interfere with satellite reception too. CM1995: Are those Stucchi quick couplers? If so, how have they held up? Me: Yes, those are Stucchi couplers. As you may recall from another thread, I have had a lot of issues with them. The ones in the last photo are "-17" size (Stucchi reference for 1"), and I had a lot of them fail. So far, it seems that a lot of my issues might be due to the fact that the machine is equipped with a thumb, and routing the auxiliary hoses, from the end of the hard line, to the attachment is difficult because of how wide the thumb is, and the location of the end of the hard line relevant to the dog bone link. In th epast I have resorted to using 90's between the attachment side of the Stucchi, and the hydraulic hose of the attachment. After several conversations with Stucchi, they felt as though it boiled down to (2) possible issues. First, that the angle fitting was so close to the Stucchi coupler, that the turbulence it caused was cutting the seals in it. Next, they thought it might be because the GPM was above what the -17's were rated for (by only a GPM or two). This was only true for the crusher, not for the hammer, or ho-pac, and I only observed seal failures while using the hammer and ho-pac (Odd!). Ultimately, I removed the dipper hardlines on both the 325 and the 245G. On the 325 we installed shorter hoses, and on the Deere we found shorter Deere hardlines. I had a local hydraulic shop quote me to build new, shorter hard lines for the 325 but they were way to expensive ($2,700 IIRC). My CAT delaer installed the hoses at no charge (and let me keep the original hardlines too!). Thank you Wagner Equipment!!! Now that I have more distance to get around the thumb, we have eliminated the 90's. I also upsized the couplers to "-21" (Stucchi jargine for 1-1/4"). This was a substantial investment. It also required that I re-mount the dipper lines farther away from the dipper to make room for the larger diameter of the coupler. So far, I have not yet had any failures since taking both of those measures. We didn't get this completed until spring so the jury is still out as we haven't even had a full season on them since we made the changes. I will, however, say that we didn't space the lines farther out from the dipper on the Deere yet and, while the -21's do fit, they are a PIA to swap out because my fingers don't fit between the coupler and the dipper. This makes them hard to put on and take off since there is a fair amount of threads to cover. CM1995: Machine without GPS was $277K with no QC or bucket however that includes a manual thumb at $7K and the medium pressure line which was a $15K dealer installed option. So the machine with bare stick was around $255K for comparison. In 2018 our 325FL was $212K IIRC. Me: As I recall it, my 325 purchase included the 18k# counterweight, hydraulic thumb, hydraulic bucket coupler, 24" and 48" severe duty CAT buckets, the laser catch (machine mounted receiver), auxiliary lines, high ambient cooling package, (3) foot pedals (traditional two, and a single F&R pedal as well). I purchased in December of '21, in S/W CO, for $274K. I bought my Deere 245G (similarly equipped but w/o any of the 2D machine control, e-fence, scales, etc.) for $254k in 2017. In comparison, the 325 is more comfortable, has MUCH more room in the cab, has A/C that actually will keep the cab cool (which is nice), but also the super structure has more room which makes it easier to service, and also allows one to carry tools, teeth, and even fluids if you want. It also is the machine of choice if the digging gets hard. On the other hand, the 245G is a true "zero tail". Having a zero tail is great! "If the tracks fit, the tail won't hit" (when on flat ground anyway). The Deere is smoother, faster, and is much easier to modulate. I think that Deere/Hitachi really had the hydraulics sorted out well. Of course, the 245 is still hydraulic pilot control. Even still, the Deere is smoother than any CAT pilot controlled I've run as well. CM1995 (I'm paraphrasing): I kept the buckets from the F machine because I can get K style teeth in the aftermarket at half the price. Me: No sense in buying buckets unless one can realize an expense overiding benefit. I have had good luck with my K style teeth. I have lost many J style but I have never had a K style tooth fall off. When I have mentioned this to others in the past, I have had many complain about loosing K style teeth. I went with the CAT Advansys teeth for my 325. I liked the idea of the quarter turn retention system. I have not yet lost, or broken a tooth. To that end, I have always had CAT teeth perform very well. This only happened to me once, but I did break a CAT tiger tooth. When I went to replace it, CAT gave me a new for free under warranty. It was explained to me that CAT teeth are warranted against breaking. Regardless, I have penetration plus teeth and they are the original teeth that were delivered with the machine. Now, I only have 900 hours on the machine so far, but the teeth have gone that long as well. Mind you, I am working in solid rock, shot rock, crushed rock, with boulders, etc. (only a small amount of dirt), and they have gone 900 hours so far. I did buy a set recently to have on hand when the originals are done. The (6) teeth required for my 48" bucket were expensive. IIRC they were $125 each. Still, at .75 per hour (I assume that they will likely make it to 1,000 hrs), in the worst conditions possible, I think that's a value. I would assume that they may go to 1,300, or 1,400 hours if only going through dirt. I would love to hear about aftermarket success stories. What is your experience with teeth? Do you know how many hours your getting, and/or cost per hour (You seem like the kind of person who would)? From your thread, it seems like you are mostly in dirt with occasional rock. Is that how you would describe it? SAVMAN: I wonder how it will do on fuel and power compared to the 325f? Another thing I have wondered...if you look at the specs of a 323 vs 325; they're listed as having the same hp....but the 323 has a 7.1 vs a 4.4 in the 325.....no way they are burning the same fuel...right? I'm due for an upgrade myself and I've toyed with the idea of a 323 and I'll still have the 321 for tight spots.....idk One thing that stood out to me, is you've said the 325f is stronger and burns less fuel than the 321; I wonder if the nextgen will be even more fuel efficient. Me: In my experience, 6 cylinders will burn more fuel than 4. I have an '03 CAT 315c with a 6 cylinder Mitsubishi engine. When I bought the machine new, the 6 banger was one of the benefits in my mind (all the other competitors, save for Volvo) had 4 cyl engines). The 315c (tier 2 @ 110 hp) burns about 40 gallons if digging a full day. By comparison, my 2017 Deere 245G has a 4 cylinder Isuzu engine (tier 4 @ 159 hp) burns the same 40 gallons if digging a full day. I haven't looked that closely at fuel consumption on the CAT 325. I think it would be about the same as the Deere but my impression is that it might consume a bit more. This makes sense if the CAT is rated at 172 hp vs Deere's 159 hp. I thought that I had heard (maybe from my sales rep) that CAT was putting Fiat 4 cylinder engines in the F model 325's. Can anyone verify that? Is that still true with the NG 325's? Please don't report back with "It says CAT right on the motor, so it must be made by CAT"! Cat has been putting their name on Perkins, Mitsubishi, Kubota, etc., etc, for decades. I have heard nothing but good things about the Izusu 4cyl, but nothing about Fiat's. I certainly don't feel warm and fuzzy with the idea of a Fiat engine in my 325. That's probably due to what I saw growing up. Fiat cars were not very reliable, so I have observed that I don't have much faith in the brand.
Wow - we have never gotten 900 hours on a set of teeth, the most we have ever gotten has been around 250. Had a project back in 2004-6 that was some of the most abrasive chert I've ever dug in. No BS we had to swap the teeth around every other day to wear evenly and replace weekly. Had a 315CL and rented 325CL for several months making an over 30' cut for a town home development. Bought a new D6N in the later part of that project and wore the grousers out in 5-600 hrs doing the final grading. That's how abrasive this stuff is. This material was also some of the heaviest material we've ever moved weighing in around 128 PCF. You could dump it out, spread it 12" thick and roll over it a couple of times with a 953C and achieve 95% compaction. Great material but it came with a price. As I've said before where I am located is very diverse geologically which brings us a mixed bag when putting a bucket in the ground. The reason the steel industry sprung up in Birmingham was its central location to limestone, coal, iron ore and sand all within a short distance.. That being said our soil conditions range from chert and clay to limestone and sandstone. More than once a large grading outfit from out of state comes in and grabs a big project only to leave with their tail dragging. Brad Cole out of GA came in for a 1M SF DC several years ago where the site was probably the worst chert we have to dig in, I haven't seen them back since. Eutaw out of MS was low bid on a large local high school in the same chert seam that ate their lunch. They originally brought in tractor pull pans which we locals that new the site laughed so hard it hurt. A large road building outfit out of Montgomery was awarded another 1M SF DC pad next to the Brad Cole project. My local Cat dealer is in the same industrial park so I road by when they were starting up to see them offloading their 627's and push Cats. I literally LOL'd in the truck. Went back through a week or so later and the 627's were gone and they were assembling a huge Liebherr mining shovel and some Cat rock trucks. Rambled through all of that to say the tooth wear depends on the material we are digging in, which changes from site to site quite drastically. So I don't really have a general cost per HR as it constantly changes. We also do a fair amount of asphalt and concrete demo which wears the teeth differently. What I've found out is the grey and blue rock in the coal beds are soft and not very abrasive. We have a red chert that's naturally fractured that makes a fantastic road base as it also has ribbons of sandy clay. The nastiest stuff we have is a whitish pink chert. The 2 projects above were this white/pink chert. It's incredibly abrasive.
What is chert? Is it a layer of super compressed sea shells?
Sort of our chert here is quartz with sandy clay seams in it. I have found sea shells and even geodes over the years. There is also an abundance of limestone in this area. There are several cement kilns however the calcium carbonate coming out of the lime kilns is used in everything from chicken feed to make the shells harder to toothpaste. We were building a town home project where the 3 story units backed up to a hill with a basement wall in the back and then a 10' retainer wall beyond that for a small back yard. Ran into a seam of white sand in the chert about 3' deep along the footing bottom. This sand looked like the white sand one would see down on the Gulf Coast. One and only time I have ever ran into that. Some of the better chert is a rusty orange and it's naturally fractured when dug from a pit into pieces the size of your hand down to fines. Some of the not so great chert has more red fat clay seams than rock and sand which makes it difficult to deal with in winter. The highly abrasive chert is the whitish/pink variety. This variety has more quartz content. Some of the rocks have visible clear quartz crystals.
We call chert here flint. Quartz base, is like hard layers of glass and erosive on steels. Seen a large solid piece puncture a aged loader bucket.
DF to quote a reply just hit the + Quote button on any post you want to include and it shows up in the reply box at the bottom of the page. You can edit text in the quoted post as well like I did on yours above. As far as I know the C4.4, which is in a lot of Cat equipment is a Mitsubishi variant although might be wrong on that. The engine has been trouble free unlike the DEF sensors and EGR valve. I do know the little 3.3 liter in our 279D's are Kubotas.
Got it. I was able to delete the part that wasn't germane to my reply. Thanks! Now, What if I want to reply to different comments, individually, that are contained in the same post? Will I have to +Quote (Multi quote) the same post, and delete the parts that I'm not replying to, for each comment within that post? Sorry if I'm off topic. Feel free to refer me to the correct thread to make this inquiry.
No worries. The easiest thing to do is click the 3 dots to the right of the pic icon in the reply box. Then the " drops down and click it. That will put whatever you type in a quote. It will look like this with no user name on the quote
Select/highlight the text block you want to quote and a context menu will pop up at the end of the text block with Quote and Reply. Quote will add the selected text to your reply. Reply will add the the selected text to your reply and take you to the bottom of the page and put the cursor in the text box.
Awesome! Thanks guys.
As the sand box turns - Ran into 3 issues on the big orange home improvement store. First being the existing storm line was not 36" rather 18", how the surveyors missed that is beyond me as the inlets are accessible. Local contact took all the RCP. Second being an 8" fire loop the surveyors also missed that runs parallel to the existing storm line we removed. Problem is the 8" fire line is right in the flow line of the end of proposed storm line right in front of the 325. Old storm line trench backfilled on the left and live 8" fire line on the right spot painted blue. Third issue is the poor soil conditions under the proposed footing. The new footing is just to the left of the existing storm line we removed in the pic above. Since the live 8" fire main was so close we had to backfill as we removed the existing 18" RCP. The trench kept falling in and ground water was around 5'. Still waiting on the dirt docs to come up with a solution on the undercut under the footing. So we removed the last inlet, installed the new one and buttoned the site up. Not the way we like to leave a site but it was the best we could do considering the circumstances.
Fortunately we had a small retail coffee project (not the green kind) that just got permitted when the issues came up at the home improvement store project. So we moved on to it. 321, 279D 01, D3 and 533 were available so they were mobilized to the site. It's nice to have spare equipment to spread across jobs. Small, very small (875 SF building) drive thru only coffee project close to home and not far from 2 projects we completed several years ago. Both are upthread buried somewhere in the pages. New commercial development with several national chains in the mix. Not our commie in the pic but ya'll know that. Day 1 clean up and rough cut of the site after getting GPS localized. Hotel being built next door. Lunch if you like roast beef is just next door. Tiny building pad to grade and blading out the parking lot.
A little R&R on the Black Warrior River in one our favorite campgrounds on one of our favorite spots. If you want one of the few spots on the river they have to be reserved 6 months in advance when the reservation banks open online. We've had a lot of rain just like the rest of the East Coast so the river is not at full pool but pretty high. This brings logs and debris down which the egrets catch a free ride to fish on. Pretty cool to watch. It never, ever gets old watching the tugs pushing the barges up and down the river. If you wave at the boat the captain he'll hit the air horn and we all feel like 10 years old again for just a second - or two.
Back at the tiny coffee shop. Storm drain going in. Mainline line is 18" CL III RCP from the detention pond to a yard inlet, junction box with roof leader branch and on to a double wing curb inlet in the front drivethru. 18" RCP outflow into the pond. A slope paved headwall will be poured around the pipe. Personally I hate them and would rather set a pre-cast headwall but it's what the engineer designed. We'll sub this out to a concrete company a friend of mine has. Yard inlet outside of the drive thru curb. There are 2 flumes from the side and rear parking lots that dump into this yard inlet. 325 FL is still up in north AL at the home store project so we pulled the 321DLCR out of retirement once again and like always she shined. Love this machine. More 18" RCP from the yard inlet to the junction box where the line turns in order to run to the double wing inlet at the end of the line. View attachment 290982 Soil conditions changed on the last run of the line from a brown silt clay to a very hard gray/black clay. Bought a brand new set of penetrator plus knock offs for this project. View attachment 290983
Continuing on with the storm install. End of the line double wing inlet. This line and inlet were so shallow we had to lower the inlet .4' in order to get .33' or 4" thick worth of concrete on the throat. 8" A2000 PVC roof leader main line from the junction box to the rear of the building branching off to two individual 4" roof leaders. 8x4 tee the 8 to 4 bushing to break the main line down to the two 4". Had surveyors set building corners in order to line of the stubs. Hubs are to outside of siding and super wanted 1.5-2" off the building. Yes sir.
Wrapped up for now, we'll come back to put the parking lot to final grade and backfill curbs. Double wing inlet with Silt Saver and a check dam made from some extra #2 stone in order to keep the wash off the silt fence and out of the Arby's parking lot. Roof leaders at the rear of the building backfilled and cleaned up. Junction box backfilled and graded around. We like to leave the parking lot on grade when we leave even though it's hammered by the other trades during construction.
@CM1995 did you purchase the knockoff penetrator teeth locally or online? Thanks!
Locally at (ironically) our Komatsu dealer. Don't know the brand off hand but I'll find out and let you know. We've been buying the J series teeth from them for our 953C for several years and they were well especially for the price.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I think a different style tooth would really help in this hard clay I’m in now.
Back to our downtown project to backfill the curbs for the parking lot before the pavers come in. It's best to backfill the curbs prior to final DGB and binder placement so the curbs don't break. Curb line adjacent to the RR tracks. One of the 4 islands. They used a slipform machine for the long runs and it's still some of the crappiest curbs I've seen in a while. Hand formed sections were worse. . Access road to for the RR to their tracks. We've been waiting for a report from the geotechs to tell us what to do with it. Know what will work but it's not our lane to suggest, that's what the engineers get paid to design and we get paid to install. As usual the curbs guys took longer than their time on the schedule and we played chase around. I hate that ****.
Lunch if you like roast beef is just next door. You think that grey stuff they put in their sandwiches is beef? Joe H
No idea - haven't ate there in years and have no future plans to.
You're way more polite than me, I would have sent at least a couple of fingers of dirt right up to their forms just to let them know "hey, you're holding me up". LoL
So our 20th anniversary is this year so the better 1/2 and I decided to go to the British Virgins Islands for a few days, specifically Virgin Gorda via the US Virgin Islands. This trip involved trains (ATL airport), planes, boats and automobiles all in the same day. Flew from ATL to the US Virgin Islands then took a speed boat to Tortola BVI in order to go through customs then on to Virgin Gorda. Total trip on the boat was 1 HR 45 min. It was awesome. Headed out of Vessup Bay St Thomas US Virgin Islands. Headed towards St John and Tortolla. Pulling up at British customs on Tortolla. Captain Marvin took care of all the immigration and customs paper work and we did not have to leave the boat. Which was good since there was a cooler nicely stocked with barley soda's and plenty of ice. Pulling into Virgin Gorda. There was a "yacht" anchored in the cove adjacent to the resort. More on that ship later.
This is one of the nicest beach resorts we have ever stayed. Pulling up to the dock on the first day. This is the main dining pavilion. Thatched roof with a massive timber frame. These structures survived hurricane Irma. Pretty impressive engineering involved in creating and building this pavilion. Hard to imagine the moment forces all in balance not only to keep it standing but withstand a hurricane that destroyed so many other buildings on the island. Wife snapped a pic of one of the 25 sea turtles that call the bay home. We snorkeled with a small one the same bay. Pretty damn cool.
Took an afternoon boat trip to snorkel at The Baths. There are pockets of private beaches around the island. It's like a scene out of 007's Dr No. Wife and I spent an afternoon at this beach. Snorkeled around the rocks which was amazing and enjoyed the beach to ourselves. The sand is course various stages of crushed sea shells. I'm used to the sugar sand beaches of Alabama and the Central Gulf Coast.
The ship, yacht, boat whatever you want to call it was impressive. Heard 3 different stories of who the owner was. The two stories on the island were a Russian billionaire owned it and another a Saudi Prince. Friend of mine that was down a month before heard a New Zealand aluminum magnate bought it from the Russian. Who knows. Anchored next to the resort we were at. It pulled anchor a few days before we left then we found it anchored outside Tortolla near the British customs. It has it's own helicopter.. nuts!
I've been through the same customs process at that port of entry as well. We came from St John, and had to stop at customs to then proceed to the RMS Rhone. If you scuba dive, I'd highly recommend diving it. Since it's in the carribean, the water has almost no turbidity (you can see a long way). The dive is 80 or 100', IIRC. As you begin your decent down the mouring line, you can see the whole debris field (like a bird's eye view). The farthe rdown you go, the more details the wreck reveals. It gets pretty real when you get to the bottom and see silverware, and shoes, etc.. It's a steal hull and much of it remains and one can even swim through it. I did the dive with no exposure suit (even though it' that deep). Another blessing when diving in the carribean is warm water. Give it a shot if you have time and are certified. It's worth it!
I checked with my local Cat dealer, just to verify my recollection. The only teeth that I have purchased for the 325Ng are the (6) that I currently have in the garage (waiting to be installed when the others finally wear out). The machine now has about 950 hours on it. To be fair, they are not all "bucket" hours. In addition to the 48" bucket (which sees the most use), I have a 24" bucket, a hammer, and a crusher bucket. I doubt if I have 20 hours on the crusher bucket, and similar with the 24" bucket. I probably have +/-200 hours on the hammer (mounted to that machine anyway). Even if I assume a conservative 700 hours of use for the 48" bucket, I'm certainly impressed by the tooth life, especially since we work with so much rock.
Thats awesome! Wife and I are not divers but we did enjoy the snorkeling. The water down there is so clear it's amazing. Were the US Customs and Immigration officers on St John Cruz Bay rude as hell to you? They treated us so badly but what are you going to do...
Dropping the 325FL off at the dealer tomorrow to have QC taken off and installed on the 325. Then Sitech is going to measure up our 2 buckets on the machine. Should have the new 325 set up next week.
My then wife (divorced for about 10 yrs now) and I got certified on our first trip to the USVI. We signed up with a school down there, prior to the trip, and they sent us all the book work, and study material. We did that part at home, and when we arrived in the USVI we took the written test, and then did the practical testing there (OMG!!..the female half of the couple who owned the dive shop was possibly the most beautiful creature I've ever seen!. Tall, blond, tan, an athletic build, and as nice and [ersonable as the day is long. She was Dutch, and married a very average American guy.). The testing took about a 1/2 day during our time there. The second half of the day we were diving. I recommend it over snorkeling. You get to see a lot more, and can spend much more time under the water in places most can't really reach with a snorkel. The experience is not what I thought it would be. I think it's much more like flying than swimming. I don't recall going through customs when we returned. Maybe because were only in the BVI for a few hours, we didn't have to go through US customs? Maybe I just don't recall. Sorry that you had a bad experience with that part. The part that I didn't really like was the ground transportation. If you don't rent a car (renting a car is difficult when you are island hopping), one must rely on taxis (at least when I was last there -pre UBER). I always felt as though I was being taken advantage of. I have yet to spend time on an actual island in the BVI. I would like to and will likely do so next time I'm down that way. I've heard that it's much cleaner and prettier than the USVI. I've stayed on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. St. John being the nicest, St. Thomas is a lot like being in a big US city with very high humidity, and an ocean view, and on St. Croix I observed a lot of poverty (and great big refinery as well). That's good that the machine is getting "pre- delivered". Not much longer and you can start wearing out the seat (and teeth ). While they are measuring things, have them measure the breaker as well. You may not be using your hammer the way that I do, but knowing the depth of the tool can be very handy if breaking to a specific grade (like for a building pad). I know that the point will wear, and change the accuracy (bucket teeth do as well), but a good operator can "out think" the system by going a bit below indicated grade when the tool is not as long as when it was measured. Of course, you could always re-measure each morning that you will be using it, but I don't know anyone who does this, even for the bucket. That being said, I'd recommend having them train you how to do it so you aren't dependent upon CAT to perform this every time.
@DGODGR I like that analogy, I have used the same analogy to friends of mine, I was very lucky some 27 years ago while traveling around Australia I was gifted the opportunity to have a day on a dive boat to the barrier reef, part of this was a buddy dive with a qualified instructor, it was without doubt one of the most amazing experiences of my life. the size of some of the fish, and the vibrant colours of everything...wow When we got back in the boat, the instructor looked at me and said that I was the reason he loved doing his job, he then said I should of drowned, the smile on face was that big the whole time, water should of been rushing past the respirator. It's an experience I would recommend anyone to do if you get the chance.
I would like to give diving a try but I doubt the better 1/2 would. From what I saw from the surface can only imagine what deeper depths look like. Had to go through British and US customs as we did stay on Virgin Gorda. As far as ground transport goes wife had a private car (van) set up to take us from the St Thomas airport to the dock which was a 30-40 min drive to other side of the island. IIRC it was around $100, not cheap but she was waiting for us at baggage claim. We only went off resort on Virgin Gorda twice and took a private car negotiated through the hotel to take and pick up. Coco Maya on Virgin Gorda is a great beachside bar and restaurant serving island inspired tapas dishes. This was marinated chicken thighs with a tomato and cucumber salsa.
Good idea on the hammer - thanks for the advice! Our Sitech guys are pretty accessible and helpful when we need them. They do provide good service after the sale. Haven't used the hammer in a while but we have phase 2 of our downtown project scheduled for the end of Sept.
We set are hoepac up on gps too for pitrun backfill of trench’s works well
Dropped the small bucket off today for it be measured up. SiTech has not started installation on the new 325 however dealer has fitted up our QC and 48" bucket. And no the bucket is not touching the cab as it was the first thing I inspected. It's close, very close but not touching. Otherwise they would be ordering a new front panel.
I ran a 235 that could touch itself when I worked for Tucci. That was a PITA. That sigtech stuff sounds really cool. This is as close as I will get to it
I saw that Yacht in King's Wharf Bermuda last summer. We got the owned by a Russian Vodka magnate story about it.
I wonder what the real story is? It's one hell of a ship!
It's been a minute since I've updated this thread. Finishing up the coffee shop. We put the parking lot on subgrade the first time around and surprisingly the other trades didn't totally destroy it so we didn't have to come back in between initial grading and curb install. Usually there are 3 mobs - 1 for initial grading, 1 for putting the parking and walks on subgrade and 1 for backfilling curbs/final grade. Grading out the rear parking lot and backfilling curbs. For some reason the concrete guys used topsoil to bridge over the curbs so we had to clean that up as well.. The roof leaders we ran prior to the slab being poured worked out great. Painted pink stubbed up beside rear of the building. Some guys can break an anvil with a rubber hammer. This sidewalk was recently poured on the other side of the entrance and somehow they ran over the corner with a small articulating boom lift.
Started another Irish auto parts store. This is #5 IIRC. Pretty easy straight forward projects. Most are around 1 AC in size with a 6-7K SF building depending on prototype. Mob in day. We'll burn a day moving equipment in and localizing GPS. I like to have all the control points installed by the surveyor several days prior to starting in case there are issues. Sub'ing out all of our erosion control now so that gets installed before we mob in as well. Interesting auto parts competition side note - there is another national chain store being built across the street. These guys love to be side by side. This was a fill site with roughly 55 tri-axle loads of import in order to build the pad. Local guy has a chert pit, trackhoes and trucks for a one stop import fill shop. Great guy to work with that we'll do business with in the future. He has a couple of nice KW T800 tri's with OX high lift bodies. Both autos. This chert was more sandy than clayey but great material to work with. Building the pad. Proof rolling the cut area of the parking lot with a loaded tri. This truck is somewhere in the 85K range which is legal in AL on state and local roads, no Interstate though. Building pad built and front parking lot graded.
The front edge of the parking lot extended out further than the existing fill. In order to tie the fill lifts together and reduce differential settlement the new fill needs to be "keyed in" which means notching the existing fill, compacting then placing new fill. We cut the key in with our 305 mini as it wasn't that much and no need to bring a bigger hoe in. Compacting and placing fill. Typical nuke gauge test. We'll back drag a smooth spot with a dozer or CTL. The nuke gauge can give a false reading if there are voids underneath it like cups in the lift from a sheepsfoot. First time we've seen this app on the techs phone. Nuke gauge sends the results to the techs phone. Pretty cool.
Might as well finish up the auto parts store while we're at it. Building erected, curb poured and time to fine grade the parking lot. Of course there are Lulls (or a Skytrack in this situation) in the way, they are always in the way.. Front slope by the highway we step filled prior. Did the best we could with the proximity to the road. We don't get paid to design. Rear of building graded out and curbs around the dumpster pad backfilled. No storm pipe on this job. The entire parking lot drains out this swale at the rear since no run off is allowed to flow onto a state HWY. Competing auto parts store is behind and started first. Once again we don't get paid to design.
Side note of what a small commercial site contractor has to deal with - all the other trades that leave their **** laying around for someone else to clean up. This is what we had when we show up to backfill curbs and final grade. Concrete sub left their 2x10 forms and other garbage. It's typical. That's where the thumb on the 305 comes in handy. Just grab the 2x10 and put it on the parking lot for the GC to handle since they hired them. Another pile of trash left. Before - And after-
Nothing has changed in the last 30 since I worked construction, every school, grocery store job we did there was always piles of trash left from the other subs, we cleaned and I suppose it all got charged back.
The GC does not provide a dumpster? Around Seattle, there are usually 3 or more classifications; trash, wood, cardboard are the basics. The multiple classifications are to save on dump fees. Usually, the cardboard savings goes for an end of job party. On a half million sq feet, that goes for one hell of a party.
That's probably the thing I hated most about working in the building trades, every job site is a **** hole of debris that you have to work around. Don't miss working around that not even a little bit. And it's very unusual now days to find a lot drainage that goes right back to the street, seems most everything short of building a house requires a drainage pond.
When they put up my pole shed they left a lot of garbage but also a good stack of new lumber, 2x4's, 2x6's and 2x8's some 16'. I figure there's at least $500 worth probably more.
Yeah they all do. This young green super pulled his dumpster with no return since the parking lot was being poured. He had room in the back but he'll remember to keep a dumpster next time after he has to clean all that up. If this store had an entrance on the state highway ALDOT would have required substantial detention. The entire parking lot would be full of underground chambers. This store had access off a road installed by the city in order to attract businesses like this so the civil could pretty much design what they wanted and save a ton of money.
The amount of usable material that is wasted right now tells you how good times are right now
Yeah they all do. This young green super pulled his dumpster with no return since the parking lot was being poured. He had room in the back but he'll remember to keep a dumpster next time after he has to clean all that up. If this store had an entrance on the state highway ALDOT would have required substantial detention. The entire parking lot would be full of underground chambers. This store had access off a road installed by the city in order to attract businesses like this so the civil could pretty much design what they wanted and save a ton of money.
Maybe I missed it but did you take delivery of the new excavator yet?
Not yet. Salesman ordered the wrong thumb. He was supposed to order one for the 30" bucket instead of the 48". Thumb came in last week and they installed it. In addition we are having Sitech shorten the receiver poles on the rear of the machine. The one's they installed are to high IMO and concerned with 2-3K hours of shaking from operation/tracking affecting the receivers lifespan. The new poles will be slightly above the cab. Sitech will have to re-measure and calibrate the machine to the shorter poles on the rear. 48 and 30" buckets both have to be there for the calibration. Fitted both our 321DL and now traded 325FL with a piece of pipe on the lower thumb pin boss in order to keep the ears from spreading from rocks and other debris while the thumb is off the machine. Going to have the dealer install the same on this one. 321DL thumb's pin boss, there is a grease fitting on the back side.
Well, you probably paid for it since it's your new shed......
I had a set price and it was left over. I was surprised they left so much. Here's kind of a pic. of it. There's more under the siding too.
Nice new hoe cm you will love that 325 we bought one bout 2 years ago I enjoy running it have t had any issues with ours except for the def header going out on it at about 1200 hrs the tech told us they just go out it sucks when your trying to load it over the back of the low bed and it decides to derate on you half way trying to climb over the back I hope we get the Trimble system installed in the future
A little R&R - Wife, 2 college buddies and I went to San Fran to see Auburn play Cal in Berkley. San Fran was better than I expected and that's all I say about that. View from our hotel room was beautiful. Old hotel but it was nice and staff were great. We had pretty good seats in Cal Memorial stadium. Pretty damn cool halftime show with drones making different caricatures. Guess this was a dig at Stanford. Pre-game party at the Northern California Auburn club. We are everywhere.
Wrap up of northern cali - Self driving car. We saw several of these. Glad we don't have the same fuel taxes in AL. Monday before we left for the east coast we traveled to wine country with a stop at Muir Woods. Just can't get away from the yellow iron and back up beepers even on a vacation. The guy in the seat of the 315 couldn't hit the ground with the bucket. It was funny at first and then so frustrating to watch.
Have never seen where it costs more to buy gas with a debit or credit card and $.16 is a fair amount.
Every truck stop on interstate is about 5¢ more with a card
Interesting the different receiver posts used by Sitech - yours are no doubt a bit newer. The receivers themselves are quite a bit smaller than ours, but ours are programmed for the updated and increased number of satellites.
Supposedly the receivers SiTech installed on our tractor are the latest and greatest that just came out. They swapped the poles out Friday but I didn't get pics. Tech was having an issue talking to the machine ECM so they have some more work to do.
Receivers such as the tremble have around 11 antennas and use several ground based location services, without the ground based they are not very accurate. The ones my friend uses for seismic are accurate like to 1" or something, gps alone is in feet still I believe.
We use a base station for corrections and site calibration. With ample satellites accuracy is good to .02' usually.
Yep same here. Our jobs are small 1-2 acres so 5 control points set by a surveyor dials our models in pretty tight.
That's with ground based receivers, it's in the documentation
Back at the commercial remodel downtown. Grading out the rear parking lot for the building. The curb and asphalt binder are down for large parking lot we completed earlier in the year is on the right of the pic. Makes for a great storage and parking area. A little of the old steel work mixed with new inside the building. This will be a mixed use building with 2 restaurants, offices and apartments. Had to remove some old RR tracks. Scrap yard would not take the rails without a letter from the railroad so we just sent them to the dump. The rails are so old who would we get a letter from? Not worth the time. This project also involves removing most of the city street and re-pouring it with concrete. Tearing out the old.
You should have kept those and drug them back to your yard. Don't you have a shop building laying around in pieces yet that you want to build? Put those in the concrete floor for all that tracked yellow iron to move in and out on, sparing your new concrete. . I've seen it used for forklift and truck barrier also. And seen it cut up in 2' long pieces to make a beating anvil. But I'm a hoarder.
Would have but the rail was corroded pretty bad and we have hoarded so much steel from demo jobs we didn't want anymore in the way at the yard. We have a complete red iron frame from Pep Boys demo from back in '16 still stacked up at the yard. What we do have for a future shop floor is some 12" x 3/4" flat plate 14' long or so with angle welded down the center on one side. These were left overs from a strip shopping center job the GC wanted to get rid of. They would make great slab inbeds for tracked equipment. Remodel project above is going to have some interesting left over steel (new) that we're angling for so we'll see what's left. Yeah we're hoarders too.
Breaking down the concrete paving with the mini hammer. Tore the concrete out easily with the 321DL so with the chunks loose it made easy work with the little hammer. 1/2 the street demo'd and somewhat rough graded out. Demo continued down 1st ave south. It was a mixture of concrete and brick pavers. The $1M lofts are the white ones on the right in pic. Salvaged the oversized brick pavers and hauled them to our dump. Had the driver dump them out of the way and when we get time I'll go through them for re-use. Or more than likely the kudzu will over take the 2 piles and we'll forget they were ever there. Hoarding is a disease right CraneOP?
Did the scrap yard think you stole the rails for drug money?
Just their policy across the board.
How do you know he didn't? He just went for the weekend to San Fransisco- who knows what kind of habits or diseases he may have come home with? He probably at minimum needs a good disinfectant spray down.
For the record that was back in Sept - pretty sure the wife and I both got the covid though. Hit her pretty hard but all I had was some congestion. Come to think of it both times we've went to the west coast she got covid. Either time for a new wife or not go back to the west coast. Prolly cheaper to not go back to the west coast..
Good they have a blanket policy. Every scrap yard should have one. A few years ago a whole bunch of bronze plaques were stolen from benches here and the guy was so stupid he took them to a local scrap yard after the story about them was broadcast on the news. The scrap yard stalled the guy until police arrived. Catalytic converter theft is the big issue now. A scrap yard was linked to thefts of hundreds of them.
Good luck finding a scrapyard that'll take any railroad stuff.. Ed
You get to digging around in downtown streets there's no telling what you'll dig up. As for the pavers, and you prolly know this, there's a demand for "aged" building materials in a downtown area, problem is marketing those materials for sale to potential buyers, how to get the word out there that you have them.
Maybe you just need west coast and gulf coast versions? Some areas have rental models available. Mine is more of a all terrain version, pretty good in all areas. There are bolt on accessories, but I don't think that increases reliability. You're probably just stuck in your current model. Learn to work within its limitations.
Willie we have 3 tri-axle loads of late 1800 early 1900's bricks as well. They are all wood mold hand stamped oversize paver bricks. Just need the time and labor to separate.
Sliced up for anvil pieces is about the best use for old railroad rail. The really best use would be your own little railroad!
Rail is round on top and anvil heads should be flat so that needs to be addressed if you make an anvil
Always wanted my own RR! These were so corroded from being buried over the years they weren't good for much of anything except scrap.
If The Ham is anything like K-Town, there's labor ready places that has south of the boarder transplants ready for daily work, hire a group of them and tell them to have at it cleaning those bricks, put them on flats and sell those things.
I bet those rails would have worked to display some cars, like stationary cabooses that people set up for b&bs.
Upside down is flat. I have a piece with a hole cut in the web that works excellent for shaping horseshoes.
Delivery day! We are currently working on the downtown remodel job but didn't want to send a new machine up there since there's not alot of grade work left. The 321 is there to wrap up the misc concrete demo so we had it delivered to our yard. Nothing like a new machine and a nice day to boot. The shorter GPS poles look and will function much better than the previous ones. The new receivers are much more compact than the ones on our D3. Looking forward to putting this hoe to work!
Always interesting to see what jobs you guys are up to. thats a pretty nice looking excavater, I am sure it will be a great addition to your fleet.
Those no tail swing rigs are flat out awesome for a contractor that does the type of work you do. Yeah, more of a bi-itch for the mechanic, but hey, it's a worthy trade off.
That's sure a lot of hoses heading up the boom.
Nice early Christmas gift!
Luckily we haven't had to go deep into one yet. Don't know how much of a PITA it is to remove the rear counterweight. You ever have to do that on a 50-60K machine?
The large one is the hammer circuit and the smaller one is medium pressure for running a processor or rotating grapple. Added the med pressure line at the dealer as part of the deal. Currently do not have an attachment that requires it but the cheapest time to add it is when the tractor is brand new and work it into the deal.
Probably a return straight to the tank in that bundle too.
IIRC from the 325FL the return hydraulic line(s) on the stick go straight to the tank. Reasoning being if a hydraulic attachment grenades itself the debris goes into the tank instead of back through the system. Not 100% sure on that though.
the thumb circuit is two way, the hoe pack and hammer get a return line. It was a kit I had put on the 120 when I fitted the hoe pack to it.
Very smart having all the aux. hook ups done in the beginning because you never know what attachments you might want in the future. I'd imagine it saves a ton of money and even more frustration than having to add them later. When I got my skid steer the dealer offered me a self leveling valve for $500 because it was a take off from another machine the buyer didn't want. Yes, I'll take it! I think I saved about $250 over having it installed as an option. I can't understand why someone wouldn't want it?? There's an adjustment you can turn to disable it but I've never touched it or had a reason to. It's especially nice to not have to worry about dumping a load of dirt in your lap when loading tandem trucks.
Just some of the BS we have to deal with from other trades that don't give a damn about others work. Orange home improvement store rental tool addition in North AL. We installed 18" HDPE storm pipe and 4 grate inlets. Concrete sub and masonry sub managed to not just bump 2 grates but knock them completely off the structure. This one wasn't too bad as it just busted the grout ring around the frame. This one however not only busted the grout ring around the frame but knocked the CMU leveling bricks as well. Total rebuild from the structure top up at this point. One inlet reset to grade with CMU cap blocks and grout base. The frame and grate will set on top and be grouted in as well. Frame grouted and outside mudded in. Once it cured the grate was dropped in. On side note if anyone is interested the black fabric between the frame and grate is normal silt fence or geo-fabric we had left over from the footing undercut. The fabric is a cheap and effective erosion control measure for grate inlets. Just cut a piece, wrap the grate and drop it in.
no respect at all. I have danced through some sites and always aware of the frame and grates, having set many over the years. I bumped one many years ago and got out to bar it back in line (it was loose), and bent over and dropped my phone out of my shirt pocket into about 6" of clean water at the bottom. I was able to snag it with my rake and pull the battery and dry it out. The good old days
Better than a sanitary MH.
I've popped the counterweight off of 160 and 200 class machines. Thankfully, the ones I've done were pretty much designed for easy removal, just need the proper lifting eyes in the threaded holes in the counterweight. And it sure does open up the arse end of those things, don't help much with stuff that's crammed in the middle though.
Is the bucket on the new machine used? Looks dirty compared to the new machine.
Yes. We kept both buckets off the 325FL and the quick coupler. The main reason for keeping the buckets are they have the K series Cat teeth which are no longer under patent and can be bought aftermarket at 1/3- 1/2 the cost of OEM. The QC was in great shape so no reason to buy it again as well.
Quite a few years I accidently backed the skid steer into a plastic drain line sticking up in the sand I was spreading prior to concrete. It might have been a good thing I bumped it because it didn't crack or anything. It just pulled right out of the tee fitting like it wasn't even glued. What a pain if it leaked after the floor was poured. I wonder how many other lines weren't glued properly??
the other day the electricians had a riser pulled out like it had not been glued. I wondered if I bumped it when I was backfilling, but they said it was an oddball stick of conduit that was skinny, like it got stretched in the extruder. No amount of glue was going to make it secure, LOL.
That's a nice looking excavator. I bet that zero swing really helps in a tight spot. Is the GPS/ laser system the same/ compatible with all your other rigs? I bet that efficiency is the name of the game in those chain building jobs. Less fuel, less time, less skilled people, fewer passes over the site. We've actually been going the other way- I send 2 guys more and more even with the smaller cranes. Mostly because of visibility conditions, and liability/ lack of skills on the customer's part.
Congratulations CM! I hope you really enjoy it. I gather this is your first machine with Earthworks, and until now you have used the CB460? It's a bit of a learning curve, but the new system does have a lot of advantages. We had connection problems between the receivers and machine ecm, but I beleive they have it figured out now with the latest software update.
Thank you! This is our first GPS excavator. We are running Earthworks on our D3 next gen. Funny you should say the problem with the receivers talking to the ECM. SiTech had the same issue when they installed the shorter receiver poles. Luckily the machine was still at the dealer so they worked it out.
Thanks Craneop. Hope it serves us well and makes some money. Yes this excavator will use our base station and rover we already have and (thankfully) will be paid off in June along with the GPS hardware on the D3. Currently we are having 3rd parties build our machine models and for the price and efficiency we'll probably continue that. For a typical chicken shack or auto parts store the model runs $1,000 - 1,500. I include it as a general condition along with layout . It's a wash for the GC as they would spend $2-3K with a surveyor staking the job out traditionally. The same model works for both machines. Efficiency is the name of the game. I can take 2 highly skilled operators with GPS and do the work of 4 men using a laser and survey hubs - and do it quicker. No grade checker holding a grade rod in the heat and dust or the cold and mud. Just ride in the seat with the A/C and radio on and let the machine do the tedious fine grading work. Next machine up is a 279D3 with smart blade and full auto GPS. We will be able to use that machine to fine grade parking lots for curb instead of mob'ing in the D3 which will save time and money. This is a 299 set up with a smart blade and gps poles at our dealer. That's the setup I would like on a 279. Don't want a 299 as it uses DEF, the 279's are below the HP requirement and don't use DEF. I think we can retrofit our '19 279D to operate a smart blade but not sure. We've bit off enough at the moment now it needs to earn it's keep.
We don't use it often, but the 2D capabilities built into the excavator can be handy for a quick job where you don't set up the base. You might also be able to take advantage of the bucket weighing option for loading trucks. It will track how much material (by material class) was loaded into each truck and run a tally. You do have to push the correct button at the correct time, but like anything else, once you use it a bit it would become habit. I suspect you could take advantage of this on any job that you have excess/disposal material. We didn't think we would ever use the automatics or over-dig protection, but find them pretty usefull at times.
If I could get simple slope I'd be chuffed.
That's a sleeper feature I think will really be profitable over the years for us. The majority of our jobs either have import or export. We can legally gross 25 tons on a tri-axle (non-interstate). Always want to get the most bang for our buck with hired trucks but don't want to overload them either. Being able to log the tons per truck and tally the total tons loaded at the end of the day is going to be valuable data. Over dig protection is another money saver for us I think. With #57 crushed rock running almost $30 per TN delivered every TN of rock saved adds up quick. Normal spec is 6" bedding under HDPE pipe and RCP. A couple of inches deeper over a thousand feet of pipe is a lot of rock.
Having a way to tell how much is loaded on a truck would be a great advantage. I'll forget if I put 6 or 7 buckets on when hauling multiple loads but knowing what the combined weight is would tell you if you could put another bucket or partial bucket on. Would be really useful at the end and could eliminate an extra load or 2.
CM how you liking your 325? We have a new 323 and its definitely a different feel than the deere hoe im used to. We ordered it with a factory progressive link thumb and 48” bucket with hyd coupler. I feel like the thumb is too much, it feels like it could use more counterweight. I think il get used to it, lots to like about it compared to our 160
Well we haven't put it in the dirt yet. Took delivery last year for tax purposes, the project it is intended to debut on got the permitting green light today and we're rapping up a remodel project downtown our 321 has been working on. So it's been sitting at our yard waiting like a hunting dog in a kennel to hit the ground. Had a 321CLCR we bought new with QC and progressive link thumb and it was too much weight out on the stick IMO as well. We were running a 48 and 36" bucket IIRC on that machine. With a loaded 48" bucket it was quite tippy and needed more counterweight. Clearing and thumb work with the smaller bucket was very nice though and the 321 handled it pretty well. Our 325FL with QC and manual thumb handles the 48 and 30" buckets great as well as our hammer, although it can get tippy with the hammer extended out. Didn't go with a progressive link on the 325FL nor the new 325 as they are heavy with a QC (as discussed) and get in the way of pipe laying which is one our top profit centers. We just don't perform enough structural demo or clearing to offset the cons of a progressive link thumb for us.
Yeah, it actually digs without having to use the bucket curl exclusively. No offense to you Deere guys, but it's the truth.
I have both a CAT 325 next gen (+/- 1,000 hrs), and a Deere 245G (+/- 3500 hrs). My 325 has a 48" severe duty bucket (1.6 cu. yd), quick coupler, and a progressive link thumb. The 245G is also usually run with a 48" bucket (only 1.2 cu. yds.), and also has a quick coupler and progressive link thumb. I run a hydraulic breaker (weighs 5,500#), and also a crusher bucket (weighs 6,000#) so we have a lot of weight out there at times. I ordered the 325 with the extra heavy counterweight (it weighs 18,000#) with keeping things as stable as possible in mind (more ***= less tip). In my opinion the 325 handles everything just fine. It probably handles the heavy attachments better than the Deere 245G, as it relates to how "tippy" the machine is. The 245 is definitely less stable when the heavy attachments are mounted, but the CAT has that extra heavy counterweight, and, as a whole, is 5,000# heavier than the Deere (Deere is 60k#, and the CAT is 65k#). Regardless of which machine one runs those heavy attachments on, one must be careful when they are extended. Still, the CAT is more stable. The Cat feels slower, and heavier than the Deere. The Cat feels stronger when the digging gets tough. The Deere is much more agile, and precise. It makes the Cat feel clunky. The 245G hydraulics are amazingly smooth and precise. Super easy to blend. I think that the electric over hydraulic, on the CAT, has a way to go before it can match the precision of the old style hydraulic over hydraulic of the Deere. As it relates to the "bucket curl" comment, I am under the impression that the Deere (and of course Hitachi) are designed to be a "stick priority". The CAT (and most all other main stream brands) are "boom and bucket priority". In my real world experience, this means that the Deere is great for digging that is not particularly tough, and the CAT is better at the tough digging. This is all seat of the pants evidence, not scientific. Lets take truck loading from a loose sock pile for an example. Even though I think that the Deere is better (performance only -not counting e-fence, scales, or auto grade, etc.) than the CAT (becasue it is quicker and more precise), the CAT probably makes up for it with capacity (1.6 yd vs. 1.2 yd). If you factor in the electronics (scales in this application), the CAT is likely a better choice if trying to get max legal payload in each truck. From an operators standpoint, I prefer to operate the Deere (and I'm more of a "CAT guy") because of how much more smooth, precise, and quick it is. I think that the CAT is much more comfortable (cab has much more room in it, AC actually keeps up when things get hot outside, seat is way more comfortable, better camera, and screen, and there are retractable window shades), and having grade control (so far I use indicate only, not the auto dig feature) is a game changer. From an ownership standpoint, I think that the CAT is still a bit better built. The gap has closed but I still think it's a bit better. The Deere is a true "zero tail" and the Cat tail sticks over the tracks about 9". Despite the fat tail, the CAT has much more room in the superstructure. There is more room to work on things, one can actualy store things in there (like tools and teeth, etc.), more room in the cab, and it's much easier to climb up on it to do things. Another fantastic thing about the CAT, ironically, is that you don't have to climb up on the CAT. It has it's daily checks accessible from ground level.
great write up
I agree that was great info DGODGR, thanks for taking the time to share that. CM what have you guys been working on as of late? Do you guys get any kind of seasonal weather delays down there in the winter to speak of? We have been lucky up here in Illinois till now. Its currently below zero temps with over a foot of snow on the ground. We have been putting in water main in a new subdivision project, we are a week from being done if the weather would have held up. We have a large snow removal contract for when winter sets in, but id rather stay in the dirt.
Great, informative write up DGODGR!
We get a lot of rain and cold (30-40's) weather which isn't conducive to moving dirt but we work when we can. I try to line up "winter" projects that have a lot of site demo and storm which are less H2O sensitive. Although as we all know that's difficult to line up the projects you want, when you want them. Commercial owners push their projects regardless of the time of year. For some reason the big corp outfits love to start projects here in Jan and Feb. Not too bad for us as that timing usually ends up requiring an undercut and replace CO.
We do demo from time to time and this project came across the desk to take down a little 2 story structure that was in bad shape along with some concrete and asphalt paving in order to make way for a new 4K SF shared office building. Nice little job, one of those in and outs that was 10-12 blocks away from our larger project downtown that's wrapping up. Moved the 321 from there to this job on the way back to the yard for some service. Typical 80+ year old structure that hasn't been looked after in the last 30 years or so. Block walls on the bottom and wood framed upper with asbestos siding. It had an interesting rear structure with several "sinks" made out of 4" CMU that looked like some sort of outdoor kitchen. More on what we found out that was used for later. Homeless folks had taken over during the years of abandonment with some taggers along the way. Inside the lower level. The lot is on a nice high traffic corner that appears to have had a gas station on it at one time.
Asbestos removed (by others) and ready to get down to business. There are two lots owned by the same entity. The one we are working on is zoned commercial and the other lot is residential with an ancient magnolia tree that will be saved. I'd estimate the diameter around 12' - 3' off the ground. Making progress. Today a guy came walking up asking if he could take pictures in which we are always skeptical for good reasons. He told us he was part owner of the dive shop a couple of buildings over then proceeded to tells us this building was the original location of one of the oldest dive shops in the US. At first we were like "yeah sure buddy" as we get to interact with all sorts of folks when we're tearing down old buildings. Sure enough he was right. Bill Tant started Southern Skin Divers in this building 70 years ago. Since then the shop moved a couple of buildings over and this building went into disrepair. According to the gentleman wanting to take pictures Bill rented the space below for the dive shop and lived in the apartment above. There was a barber shop attached on the right that he eventually expanded into. The interesting "outdoor kitchen" at the rear of the building served as an air tank filling station where he would fill tanks for free one day a week for customers who wore a Southern Skin Divers t-shirt. Pretty slick marketing campaign. Apparently the CMU "sinks" were filled with water and had something to do with the tank refilling. Here's a link to the history - https://bhamnow.com/2022/06/17/meet-southern-skin-divers-supply/ The guy on the left in the first pick in the linked article is the one that asked to take the pictures. As with all aspects of life things come and go. It's not often we get such an in depth history of a building we are tearing down. As of this afternoon. The last 2 CMU walls were collapsed and we'll haul it all out Monday.
No underground fuel tanks? The sinks for filling scuba tanks was probably to cool the tanks when filling. Filling high pressure cylinders creates heat and it has to be monitored so the cylinders don't get over pressurized. You have compensate for the pressure when the cylinders cool off.
Not sure WD. I have no experience with scuba but the sinks were big enough to probably fit 2 air tanks in and them be completely submerged.
Could have been used to check for leaks or hydrotest them and re-certify them. Much safer under water.
The water bath prevents a pressure drop after the contents cool down. It's impossible to fully fill a tank without it.
Without the water bath you could overfill the tanks. A water bath would make filling faster and easier because there's not as much temperature change. Just like tires they always say cold tire pressure.
Finishing up the little dive shop demo and site prep for the new office building. Last 30 yard load of soft demo leaving the site. Pad grading for the new building. Retained old magnolia tree. Pad turned out nice. We used what was onsite to build it which was mix of red clay, blast furnace slag and crushed limestone. The mixture actually works pretty damn good and packs tight. Recycling what's in place I guess.
Nice clean site CM!
GC for the above project is a young guy that we've taken a liking to, kindred spirits in a sense. He sent me this today. A pic from 1938 of the gas station that was located on the front of the lot. The only thing left of the gas station was the sign and some concrete paving when we arrived on site. When we left all that was remaining was the pole sign and the magnolia. Time for this little corner to turn the page to the next chapter.
That's pretty cool. A little nostalgia of times past.
I was gonna say that Magnolia is an old tree, and from the 1938 pic it looks to be 15 to 20 years old then in growth. And that furnace slag, that stuff is the Sh, umm, stuff. If you can get it in 3/4" it works better than limestone for driveways and lots, it's (literally) "tough as iron" durable and doesn't produce the fines (dust) of limestone from traffic.
Thanks Oxbow. Makes what we do interesting and be a little part of history along the way.
Not sure if that's the same magnolia but I think it could be Willie. Back in the '80's when US Steel Fairfield was in full swing 3/4 furnace slag was used for all sorts of building projects. Made a great retainer wall backfill since it was lightweight and drained water well.
Finished up the big box tool rental store back in Dec that John Griffin and crew removed the existing trees for us. The new islands where JG took care of the old trees. Electric charging stations. At first I thought it was for the electric car fad but it's actually there to charge the electric manlifts.
Well, considering that Magnolia aren't fast growing trees, judging by the size of the trunk of that tree in your modern pic, that tree has been growing for years, many years, so I'd be surprised if it weren't the same tree shown in your vintage pic.
Willie that magnolia is in surprisingly good health. IIRC it only had one or two dead limbs, the rest of the tree is healthy. Here's a better pic of the tree to show it's size. It's the largest magnolia I have ever seen.
I recently got rid of all my snow removal contracts.....and absolutely LOVE not being married to the POSSIBILITY of snow.
It's always cool to know the history of things. I'm certainly fascinated by it. Extra cool that you got to see the old photos. I'm glad that you were able to leave the tree. It's obviously old if it is a 12' diameter at 3' off the ground. Where I work, we push over 40-60' Ponderosas and I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of it. Especially when I consider how many years it took for it to get that tall. Maybe I'm becoming more of a "tree hugger" as I age Thanks for sharing CM.
Yeah I guess I'm getting softer with age. Although it does depend on the tree. It could be a 5' around sweetgum and I'd take it down with a delight.
Well, like long needle pine, sweetgum grows like weeds down south.
At least with pine you can either make lumber or paper. Sweetgum doesn't even make decent firewood.
Finally got the new 325 to a jobsite. Addition with a new loading dock for a biomedical lab. We finally got a job close to the yard, it's about 15-20 mins away. Mob'd in Monday. The 65' foot manlift is a rental from the Cat house since there are several trees to take down and no way to do it except from top down. Topped the short pines then pulled them over. The first official work this machine has done. This pic shows how close the trees were to the existing building. The guys had to take down each tree limb by limb and trunk by trunk in 3-4' pieces. Tedious work but at least the brush didn't require additional processing to fit in the truck. The pine to the left of the manlift had a huge poison oak vine attached to it. Even if poison oak is dormant the oils can still mess a fella up. Ol' big boy behind the 325 was taken down as well. Once the pines were topped out the 325 made easy work of the rest. Taking down the poison oaked pine.
Sweet! This is the first electric over hydraulic machine for you isn't it? We didn't like the feel of our 330 at first but have become accustomed to it. There are a tremendous number of adjustments that can be made to the feel and hydraulic priorities.
Neat pic from the manlift showing the overall area. It's a tight site with a lot going on. To the left of the WM compactor is the 2 existing loading docks. This facility gets 10-15 deliveries a day from Sprinter vans to UPS short tractors. That and we have to extend a 6" DIP sanitary sewer lateral from the left of the pic, across the loading dock area then run parallel to the compactor to the new addition. Fun stuff. Pines down, processed and ready to haul out Monday morning.
Wrapping up our downtown remodel and parking lot project we started back in '22. Parking lot finishing up and the only thing we had left to do was put the cast iron dome grates on the Nyoplast inlets. New 5 story wood framed apartment project on the other side of the bridge. They started after this project and just now dried in. Now for the funny part. Landscape PM came up and told us they only had 6 loads of topsoil figured for the parking lot and our grades were off in the "island" which took 6 loads of topsoil to fill in. We informed PM that it wasn't a typical landscape island, it was a bio-swale that requires a special planting mix. His reply - what? It's on the drawings... and the city inspector has to sign off on it. Love it when another trade we work around comes up and without even asking a question tells us we made a mistake. In this situation it could end up being an expensive mistake. So basically now the entire parking lot drains into 2 - 10" HDPE pipes to the UG detention system. The green nyoplast basins with dome grates are designed for overflow not everyday rain fall.
Back at the lab project. Our erosion control sub was busy down in south AL and there wasn't much silt fence to put up so we did it ourselves. Typical wire backed silt fence with t-posts. Pic back in Sept when we were bidding the job. We salvaged the 3 picnic tables. Going to put one up at our yard and the guys are taking the other 2 home. One for them and one for their mom's backyard. Same area above - Tree and stump debris hauled off along with the CMU brick pavers and faux stone decorative walls in the break area. Rubbing the paint off the recently painted and refurbished 48" bucket.
Project specs called for 2' of undercut from the ground surface then import structural fill to sub-grade. The existing soils were a very loose sandy clay with organics. What probably happened was the excess cut on the site was pushed out in this area and not compacted since it was a landscape area. That's what we would have done. 2' UC by the building. The new addition will match the FFE at the man door. The new building addition will be in the foreground with a new dumpster enclosure and loading dock on the left in the pic. Main hoe operator trying out the payload feature on the 325. Not normal having this dry of dirt in Feb/March. End of the day Thursday.
So, they filled in part of the swale with their 6 loads of topsoil and then buried the rest of your subgrade with fill dirt? Could you post the bioswale detail drawing so I can figure out what it's supposed to look like?
So our scope of work was the Nyoplast yard inlets, 10" ADS N12, 6" perf underdrain, filter fabric, 6" washed stone (#57's) and 2" choking stone (#8910). Basically a big assed french drain the entire length of the swale. The soil media, pine straw and plants are designed to retain and filter the runoff which were not in our scope and should have been installed by said landscaper. What happened was the landscaper just filled it up with unscreen topsoil to to the 607 pavement and 606.5 yard inlet elevation which eliminated the soil media, pine straw and ponding depth. Essentially making the entire parking lot sheet drain to the 4 Nyoplast inlets which have one 10" HDPE pipe going to the UG detention system.
Good deal on cervesas that day?
It was more of a PBR type of crew.
OOKKKAY ill ask whats PBR ? professional bull riders is what poped up when I searched it . When i first read it I thought maybe its a bunch of kids and its PB&J.
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Need me to come down and scratch the counterweight on a retaining wall? Spare you the agony of the first scratch....
Too late. It's a tight turn out of there and the lowboy caught a tree limb giving a nice scratch down the side. Operator was 4 shades of pissed off. Tomorrow's a rain day so he's going to china freight to buy a buffer and some rubbing compound. It's not to bare metal so it might buff out.
Received around 1" of rain this morning so we wrapped up the parking lot downtown with the bioswale.. As talked about up thread this is nothing like the design called for. The drain basins with the metal domes are supposed to be 6" above finished grade. The seal coat is not on the asphalt yet so the ribbon curb is holding water back and yeah that's another homeless hilton in the background. 4" PVC clean outs at the end of the 6" perforated under drain - 4 EA, 2 in each swale. This will probably be needed to flush the underdrains out. The CO will probably never be used but it's there per the plans.
Back at the lab project. Crew stripped the entire area 2' below existing ground per the geotech report and hauled it all off. We didn't have a truck available so the geotech had us use the bucket penetration test to see how the subgrade held up. Basically take the 325's bucket and raise the tracks off the ground around a foot. If only the teeth sink in and the machine raises up, the ground is good to fill on. I forget the actual PSF this indicates. Placing imported structural fill. This material came from a friend of mine's place not far from our equipment yard. Really nice sandy red dirt that is great to work with handles water pretty well. The site is so small and the lab was worried about vibrations from our 84" padfoot so we just used the two trench rollers to compact the fill. By some miracle unbeknownst to be we were able to keep both trench rollers going at the same time and finished the job. You have to keep the lifts thinner obviously but we hit compaction specs.
As we are filling an area we always like to get the loaded trucks up on the fill lift not only to help with compaction but perform an unofficial proof roll each time. This will tell us how the fill is really being compacted as the nuke box can lie from time to time with bad data. A loaded 85K lb tri-axle rolling over a lift is like spandex and innocent children - none of them lie. Dirt tech observing. Pad finished out. Side note on this project. We had a GPS model built early on so we would have it ready when we started. GC had their surveyor come out to set us 5 control points, pretty standard procedure. Well not this time. The surveyor the GC hired could not calibrate the original surveyors control points - some were out 3-4 tenths horizontally and even worse 3-4 vertically. Hired surveyor worked on it for 2-3 days and quit. After talking to him he said he was basically so busy with good paying work that he didn't want to be drug into a mess created by someone else and be liable. Can't argue with that. So we had to resort to old school methods or rather the GC did. Our contracts state we need 5 control points provided by a licensed surveyor paid by the GC for our layout. Since the GC couldn't provide that we pushed it back on the GC to perform all layout. Yeah it turned into a cluster...oh well.
Interesting and unfortunate. One thing different with Earthworks than GCS900 is that the calibration file must be imported into the site and published to the project library, and then to the machine. I understand that it can be exported to the machine remotely, but we haven't tried that and just use a jump drive. With GCS900 we could have the design loaded and then just import the calibration file on site directly from our data collector. I now need to bring my laptop and go through Trimble Business Center. Are you handling this the same way, or do you have a better method?
Nice looking work CM, and I agree; a loaded dump truck will find a bad spot. The nuke gauges are nice and way faster than the old cone and sand method if the proctor is good (probably dating myself there) especially for help with moisture content, but if you know your dirt you can pretty well tell where you're at from the way it lays out.
Same way. We hire out the model building and they send us a VCL file that we'll load up in the data collector, localize the site then load on the machine. We are kicking around the idea of getting a TBC subscription but we don't do much design build work. 99% of what we do has design drawings so it's easier to send off the CAD file and control point file to the model builder and let them do it. It averages $1,000 per job for a 1-2 acre sized commercial job. It's the time it takes to learn TBC. Currently we use Insite for quantity take-off and estimating models which my wife does exclusively. Insite does everything we need on the bidding side and the model builders are reasonable enough that it works for us at the moment. However on a larger job with a lot of change orders it would be nice to make those changes in the model and send it to the machine.
Hauling for a Paving company for road fill, they checked compaction was fine until we started rolling thru, worked up moisture and Loess Soil went to Muck, were Pissed Off BAD as had to dig out and backfill Rock.
The only caveat to running the trucks on the fill is when it gets to pumping. Some material can't take the continuous massaging like that. It heals up over the weekend but it is a bad look to the customer when it is going on, so I watch for that action. We see that here with overoptimum moisture most of the year.
We don't have that problem very often. Usually if a loaded tri is pumping the fill the compaction is off or the subgrade materials are soft. Any material that pumps under a loaded tri is undercut and replaced with structural fill. Standard spec here in most geo-reports. A good structural fill here will be a clayey sand with rock fragments less than 4" and having a weight between 110 - 120 pcf. Once had a town home project with 30K yards of export that was chert that was 128 pcf. Heaviest material other than rock we've dealt with. That material could be dumped out of a truck, spread 8" think with a 953 and achieve 98% compaction. I hear ya on the over optimum moisture as we get the same amount of rain as you guys get around 4.5' a year.
Compaction here has always been a Issue, Loess is fine dry, add any moisture value the grains slip across each other, similarly for conventional Clays, biggest concerns around here are Blue or Gray Hydraulic Clays, those tend to be pretty deep yet once exposed become a Nightmare as those swell with added moisture and contract as drastically dried. Soils here above bedrock can be as deep as several tens of feet to only inches. Always a concern for Black Stick in bottoms areas that grows a magnetic property, sticks to Any and Every thing comes in contact with, horrible to work around from just moist.
Nice to see the 325 finally on the job and earning it's keep. Be careful when playing with the trees. As I'm sure you have noticed, there are lots of fragile electrical wires, and connectors on the boom and stick. My 325 went into a machine fault Monday. Turns out that I had broken one of those fancy connectors. I haven't played on the trees for quite some time now, but Monday was the day that the connector decided to disconnect itself. Turns out that the machine does not offer a lot of grade assistance when it doesn't know what degree of rotation that the bucket is. She still moves a lot of dirt though! My 48" bucket moves 1.6 yards per cycle, and that still impresses me!!
The lab project required a 6" DIP sanitary sewer service for the new addition that the engineers could not find an avenue to tie back into the main building sewer - overhead with a pump or underground. So the plans called for a new line outside the building, tying into the main lateral leaving the building. The proposed line runs through both drive lanes to the parking deck below, up a landscape area and thru the loading dock apron where at least 6-8 delivery trucks a day varying from Fedex step vans to LTL's. Fun stuff. Since this line is running through all that fun stuff described above we rented 7 - 5x8 road plates to leap frog over the open trench until it was backfilled. Fortunately we know the local inspector and he's a very reasonable guy. Had to get 3 different visual inspections on the line before backfill and he was very accommodating. Hammering the asphalt at the tie in location on the existing main. It was easy to determine where the main left the building as there were two clean outs, one right inside the parking garage and one in the service drive. Tie in area exposed and first leg of the trench. When we exposed the main it turned out the original engineer spec'd service weight cast iron for the sewer main for some unknown reason. This is one of many reasons to always be careful around existing utilities and hand excavate when close. The existing main is cracked and leaking. The GC had a video company come out and camera the line. Apparently the line has a sag from the clean out just inside the parking garage to the point of the break in the pic above. Due to state law we can install sanitary sewer 6" and larger with stamped drawings up to 5' of the building with a master plumber license. Since this repair could possibly run well within 5' of the building and probably into it, the plumber will make the repair and we'll be there to put a WYE in at the same time. First 2 joints of 6" DIP installed. Left the first joint unbackfilled for the tie in to be performed later. Pipe threaded under the conduits for the light pole in the island. Bedding the pipe with #57 stone and backfilling with ALDOT 825B which is a dense graded base.
I’ve never been involved in any commercial construction so I find all of this very interesting. You guys clearly keep a clean and tidy site!
Made it across the lower parking/drive lanes and found a 4" PVC pipe that wasn't marked by the GPR guys. GC had the work area radar'd and marked which turned out to be pretty accurate except for this pipe. An unknown 30 year old PVC is no match to a 305 with 24" bucket. Turns out the 4" PVC is some sort of underdrain we didn't find the end to. Anywho we repaired in kind and carried on. First MJ clean out with Zurn HD adjustable clean out cover installed. The CO covers are nice but expensive at $275 a piece. View from the loading dock back through the landscape area. Better pic of the parking garage and proximity to the lateral tie in. Favor for the GC. For some reason the original contractor extended the footing 5-6' past the building. The new footing and stem wall for the new addition ties back into this corner. Saw cutters cut almost all the way through but had an inch or two to go. Cutters asked us if we would hammer it out. GC hired them but we also use the same company for our saw cutting so it was sort of a dual favor. In exchange for hammering the footing, the saw cutters made a few curb cuts for us with their hydro powered hand saw. Win-win, it's what I like about this business.
Thank you! Commercial jobs like this pay well but there are always eyes watching everything you do. A tight, clean jobsite makes the GC and more importantly the owner happy on jobs like this. The contract documents pretty much spell out what is expected and we charge accordingly in our bid. On a typical commercial project 20-30% of the contract value is paperwork including but not limited to: bidding documents, contract negotiating, submittals, schedule meetings, pay apps and lien waivers. The paper work side is the easy part, completing the project is the real work.
Trenching across the loading dock. Side view of the existing material. The black seam is low quality coal and the grey is a really nasty clay, the kind of clay one can make pots with. I really don't know how the concrete held up so well over the years with this stuff as the sub-base. 6" MJ wye with MJ clean out. We used MJ-MJ adapters for the 2 - 45's for the clean out since there wasn't enough room to use a sleeve or short piece of pipe. First time we used them and they worked very well. Turned the corner in the loading dock headed towards the new addition. Trench plated.
Yeah, I've drilled that nasty clay in the Hamilton Alabama area. Soil was mostly sand and pea gravel with pockets of that clay. Going through it was no problem, but once you're through and get back into sand/gravel you'd lose return water circulation back out of the hole. That clay is slick when wet, but once you lost return water lubricating the hole, friction would dry the clay and that crap would lock up a drill rod. Working with that material was a PITA.
That clay is worth money for pond lining etc, and costs money everywhere else.
For sure, that Alabama gray clay would do well lining a pond, and can assure you no water would leak through.
we covered a landfill with a red variety many years ago. The only trucks that did well hauling it in had bed liners and vibrators, and they still spent time shoveling it out at the end fo the day.
Hauled the crap for a paycheck, day in day out, liner only gave clay something else to stick to or work under!! Red clay, Potters clay, #1 &2 clay for additive materials once kiln cooked. Much of what we hauled went to Cement producers or to Christy Minerals High Hill MO. All the commercial work reminds me of the never ended trench and repair at the Nuke. Site was always kept level and free of mounds, 1" steel plate used and kept in racks in a warehouse to cover trenches for drive overs or walkways. MILES of Buried Conduits, piping, cable runs, some for construction structures and abandoned in place.
That pipe sure seems like overkill for a basic sewer line. Any reason why it was used?
It is IMO. We sent an RFI in early on to see if the line could be SDR35, SCH 40 or similar in order to save the owner money instead of ductile since the only thing this line services is a wash down area with trench drains. Engineer said they needed to use ductile since the wash water was 170 degrees and it needed time to "cool down" hence the ductile. Sounded like the pulled it out of their arse but we don't get paid to design, we get paid to install and ductile pays more.
Engas’ be Enga’s Near, enagnears!!
The clay continued towards the loading dock. Finally ran out of it 5-6 feet in front of the 20 yard. Fortunately it didn't rain until after we got the line inspected and backfilled. Even with road plates covering the hole the weak clay didn't stand up to the truck traffic. This crack started small the day the trench was opened and kept widening until we were able to backfill the trench. GC will have it saw cut and we'll remove it as a courtesy.
Elastic non compactable clay
Yep. I am really surprised the concrete has held up that well with all the truck traffic over the years. Best we could do was backfill with DGB and move on.
Do you run into situations where a product like Tensar geo-grid is used, and if so what are your impressions of it? Other than it is very expensive.
Oxbow I love the stuff. We are fortunate here there are a couple of places in the southeast that make it or an equivalent. We've used thousands of square yards of the grid from building segmented block walls to ground reinforcement. Where it really shines in improving poor subsoil conditions is combining it with surge rock. Surge rock here is sizes just below CL 1 rip-rap which is anywhere from baseball size to a small watermelon. This was a chicken shack back in 2015 where we used bi-axial grid and surge stone to bridge over some nasty alluvium material. Geotech spec'd it and we installed it. This was the entrance and side parking lot. Part of the building pad is also on top of part of the grid and stone. Had an auto parts store back in 2015 or '16 where we had to put a Stormtech system in the front parking lot. This project is somewhere back thread. We dug down to the bottom of the system where you would normally put the fabric down and 6" of #57 stone however the existing ground was like pudding. It was alluvium and it was wet. Nasty excavation Test pit for the dirt doc. Pudding. Dirt doc spec'd bi-axial grid and 3' of CL 1 rip-rap IIRC. The subsoil was so bad you could not walk across it without getting your feet stuck. If you look close in the pick you can see a 7/16 2x8 rip of OSB under the grid. We had to lay those out to walk on in order to roll the grid out. Even with just one man on the 2x8 piece of OSB it would start sinking in. Worked great and we installed the system. Placed the first lift of rip-rap with the 321 and once we had a foot or so over the grid we used a Bobcat T250 to bring in the rest of it.
Pretty amazing being able to build on that! This is the only time that we have used it. This hillside road was not originally constructed correctly with compaction from the bottom up, but rather just pioneered into the hill. This ground developed new springs after constructed and portions of the road slumped down. This was in 2014 I believe. We excavated about three feet of the road out through this section, laid the grid material, then compacted the excavated material back in. Today this road is paved and the repair is holding, so I assume the product worked well.
Here is another section of that same road in which after construction a spring lubricated the material and it slumped down onto the roadway. This photo shows where the hillside had sheared. We benched up onto it from below. The hoe was sitting on the bench when the entire bench began slipping. We finally started the top of the slope high enough to bring it down milder, and it has held since then. There were a couple of nice sized rocks in there too!
We used that one time. Much lighter than carrying woven fabric around. Kept getting my fingers caught in the hole when rolling out. Ouch.
That's a pretty impressive shear failure. That red clay looks like some we have here.
No doubt. The cut ends of the grid will snag anything and everything. Always good to have some big rocks to secure the end of the grid when unrolling it. Sucks when it rolls back up on you as you're rolling the roll out.
Indeed, that was a first for me.
You call it "pudding", I call it "toad poo". Either way you call it, you are building "floaters" if you don't do deep foundation practices. I've been working on several houses that fit those descriptions lately. Hammering rock one day....Laying geogrid and rock for floating houses the next! That stuff seems to work well, for the most part. Despite how well it works, I hate working with it. It's difficult to cut (I have found that industrial shears seem to work best, but is time consuming. What do you guys use?). I always seem to come away with my arms looking like I was fighting a feral cat (Like when I go dirt bike riding in Arizona, but without all the fun). That being said, I have used it between 24" thick layers of stone (bottom was 9" rip rap below 1" screened -you might know it as #57s) with another geogrid layer over top of the screened rock (but 500x this time), for a driveway within the CDOT ROW. Even with 4' of structural fill, the layers of geogrid, and another foot of 3/4" ABC on top, we still saw pumping. That was installed in spring, after a very wet winter, on a mountain highway at about 9,000 feet elevation. There was still a lot of mountain left above us, and an electric trench, and phone line trench, serving as conduits delivering water, in copious amounts, right into the work area. Quite beautiful, but a pain none the less (photos attached)! We used to have Tynsar 140 here but now our supplier has been bought out by Ferguson Water Works so they have another equivalent product.
I see you also used fabric between the 57's and DGB. We use quite a bit of fabric, probably rolled out more fabric than geogrid over the years. Used to buy all our pipe and supplies from Ferguson years ago but my salesmen left and we went with him. He's the type salesman that if he tells me he's changing company's I just tell him to get me a credit app for the new one.
TBC is a steep learning curve. Given the type of work you describe it's better just to let someone else handle it; especially at that price. Having said that: Change orders...no problem, can have it back in a matter of hours; I do a lot of design build...priceless for that, especially when doing a lot of 'hey what's it going to cost to do xyz, and we don't have an accurate topo (or one at all)' And as you say: on bigger jobs somethings always changing...and I hate to wait on people.
Must be a full moon or something savman. Talked to Mike today about coming out to orient the guys on the 325 on a project in North AL next week and discussed a yearly subscription of TBC. How are things down in South GA?
Wet! All is well; we have a full load of (mostly) good paying work. I purchased a 315ng with a SteelWrist tiltrotator and have full auto GPS on it; used it for the first time Wed and man it was great. Didn't acutally use the autos (long story) although they are supposed to work with the tiltrotator as well. Be sure to ask Mike about it; the install gave everyone at SiTech and Trimble a lot of heartburn. Me too.
I forget how much the subscription option was....I just entered year 2, but I opted for the physical hasp key. I don't get updates but the software is fairly mature imo, and I don't use near it's full capability as it is. I think I break even year 3? Not sure; my guess is the subscription has escalated like everything else, so I like the fact I am locked in. My hope is that by the time my TBC is deprecated, all my GPS stuff is buggy and my tractors are all worn out; and then it's time to buy a boat and just go fishing...lol. I will say a lot of the benefit of owning TBC isn't as easily quantifiable as pay X amount for models. Aside from the speed and flexibility, I am to the point now where several of my customers know my capabiilities and will pay me to go 'figure it out' to get projects (or potential projects) out of a hole so to speak. Or I have had them call me when a project is going to be really technically tight, or super flat, or something changed or whatever hairy problem they have and they know I have the equipment and capability and everything is negotiated. I have a few that will get on the phone and I will share my screen remotely and we will go over a few different scenarios in real time and find the best solution. Upside is I have a steady stream of work; downside is I always jokingly say, they must give the all the easy work to someone else! Last thing I'll mention on the issue is I have the base/rover, d3 gps, 315 gps, and a SPS930 robotic total station, and d3 UTS machine control; so I'm always using TBC now.
My Cat dealer is having a demo day with one of those, probably just going through the motions but I will check it out if I am not busy. I've done without tilt buckets for a long time.
IIRC we were quoted $3700 a year which is reasonable and comes with all the updates as they come out. LOL - You may be getting all the hard stuff because you can do it. Talked to the SteelWrist guys at Conexpo and was impressed with the quality of the unit. They were a little salty on the price for one for our 305E.
I'm not sold on those yet. They are building a new school nearby and they had a steelwrist JD50 in their lineup. It does a lot of "dust control"
Doesn't look like they've been kind on that mini. Wonder why the tracks are on backwards?
LOL. I won't stop to ask them.
I love commercial work. Sometimes it makes no sense at all but the money is good. At the lab project - So we removed the trees and other site improvements, undercut the building area 2' per geo report, proof rolled it which passed then filled up to subgrade with structural fill. All observed and inspected by the dirt doc. Concrete crew comes in and starts digging footings only to find topsoil, roots and other not so good for a new building stuff under the footings 5-6' below subgrade. Can almost see the 2-3' of red structural fill we hauled in and compacted on the center section of dirt left standing. Structural plans called for the BOF (bottom of footing) to be 6'8" BFF (below finish floor) in the main building area and 8'-8" in the loading dock area that basically hangs off the edge of the slope.
After some engineering deliberation the dirt docs came up with a plan to excavate 3/4 of the building pad 4' below BOF and fill back with structural fill. So we got paid to haul in structural fill, place and compact and now we are being pad to cut it all out, haul it back to the pit and bring in new fill. Called the guy that owns the pit and is also a friend of mine and asked - "You wanna get paid to take the dirt back you sold to us last week?". We mob'd the 321 back in since there is a nasty tree that put the first scratch on the 325 when it left. Had to go down another 3' in the loading dock area for a total of 11' BBF due to topsoil, roots and loose soil under the footing. When they built the building they just pushed everything left over into this area as it was just landscape and not structural. The black seam is a thin bed of coal. The dirt we hauled out was a nice sandy topsoil. My friend who has the dirt pit took it all and plans on re-selling to homeowners as the material is excellent "yard" dirt. I hauled 3 loads in our dump trailer to my house to fill in a low area.
Filling it back in. The fill we are bringing in is some of the best dirt we have in the area and is quite the joy to work with. 2' or so of fill placed, compacted and tested. Had to use a 279D and a trench roller to place and compact the fill due to space constraints and the lab didn't want a large vibratory roller that close to the building. They were worried it would vibrate their machines inside. Slow going but it went in without a hitch. Brought the structural fill out as far as we could. Nuke testing. Not our total station, it's the concrete guys. Since the GC could not get us valid control points we didn't use our model so they threw in a few points for the UC. Even with a nuke gauge it's always good practice to proof roll it with a loaded truck. Loaded tri-axle pushing around 85,000 lbs. It doesn't lie.
Every Goe report I have ever read (that cost a good bit of money) ends the same way."This Report does not guarantee the actual soils condition and is not responsible for any discrepancies" Often the report will show problems with the sight and I have to wonder if the PE even bothered to look at it?
We had this happen twice. First time all the footings and piers were installed. Then they decide the entire building needs 4' of fill removed. Got paid but a real pain in the butt. Second one the Geo report shows no problems. We strip the building area . We then find black dirt under the top layer of fill. I say it's topsoil and not noted on report. GC wants us to remove and replace at our expense. WE say no way not on report. Dirt guy comes out and takes a look. He says it's ok to build on it . I think he approved it to save him the expense of removal. Sure seemed like topsoil to me.
It's as if the engineer types have never done anything in their life, ever. What about a design that simply states: Remove native material 2' below footings and 2' below the rest of the site. Import structural fill. Order of operation: Make the first cut to 2' minus. Lay out the footings. Overex 2' deep and at least 18" wide for formwork. This makes the fill stack oversized too for the footings. "It's a thing of beauty, Billy" That is what common sense would dictate, and pretty much where you are arriving at after a bunch of spinning wheels and wasted time. Sheesh!
Stopped by the local Cat house and found one of the new Cat CTL's. Good to see that Cat has added dust shields and another grease fitting to the rear UC oscillating pin. We cut some 4" steel pipe and welded our own shields on our 279's as we couldn't keep grease in the pin. I really like the extra grease fitting and the new tie down bracket. 304 with hydraulic coupler. Our 305E has a manual pin grabber which isn't a total PITA but it can be if you're swapping between bucket and hammer a couple of times a day. Hard to see from the pic but it's in there - somewhere.
yes It would be easier to parse out with a hoe pack and the stick, separated to see all that monkey motion.
What in the actual *****. Sorry to be a nitpicker, but as a guy that has had to clean undercarriages for going on 35 years, that fitting is in about as stupid of a place as the grease fitting to lube the ends of the hard bar on smaller, older Case dozers like my 1150G. Why in the hell do I want to be trying to chop around that thing with a shovel? Sorry, not sorry. Just plain stupid IMO.
If you absolutely need that fitting, then it needs a skinny piece of channel iron running the whole length of that pin boss area, and the fitting facing out, at the end.
At least a protective C collar welded on the tube around the zerk.
Well we've ran 279D's for 8 years now and very little if anything builds up in that area of the UC on what we normally run in. Mud will get caked behind the sprocket from time to time and the best way to get it out is a pressure washer. We hardly ever have to shovel out the UC on the CTL's. Although we haven't had any issues with ours I like the addition of the fitting to help push grease around the pin. The dust shields should have been standard on Cat's CTL's from the get go.
Obviously you never move one in the mud lol.
From time to time.. They shake themselves so much the mud doesn't stay in that location very long at least in our working conditions. If the machine is buried up in mud it's too wet to work on the majority of our jobs in the first place. 9 times out of 10 trying to work when it's too wet just causes more work to restore than just letting it dry. YMMV.
Loaded up our first model a week ago in the 325 on a project we are starting in North AL in the rocket city. All I can say is I am impressed. This is a game changer no doubt.
Back at the lab project installing the roof leaders. We supplied the 8" PVC sleeves and the concrete guys installed them in the forms. Glued a 6" coupling on the end of the stub going through the wall since the outside forms still needed to be left in place until the slab is poured. The slab is an integral part of the structure since it pours into the wall reinforcement locking the main slab into the outside retainer walls. 6" SCH 40 PVC. No comment on the safety aspect. Roof leader by the chillers. Again no comment on the safety or lack there of. The trusty hammer that slides around in the back of my truck came into play once again as 6" PVC in confined spaces needs persuasion sometimes to fit together.
Started a new job in North AL in John G's neck of the woods. A commercial subdivision that includes a new national chain tire store, small strip center and a parcel TBT. Our scope is the access road, decel lane and some DOT work in median. Sanitary sewer was installed by another contractor prior to us arriving onsite. Crew cut out the topsoil and brought the rear portion of the road to grade. Right portion of the road failed the proof roll due to fat clays that plague the site in various areas. Geotech required a 1' undercut, woven geotextile fabric, 1' of #24's choked down with #57's. Fabric down, #24's and choking the 24's down with #57's. Placing on site cut. This material is a sandy lean clay with 19.3% optimum moisture which is on the high side of moisture for most soils we deal with.
I have the hydraulic pin grabber on my 305 and wouldn't have a mini without it; I have 4 buckets and a hammer so we are constantly swapping buckets. Also the occasional near max capacity lift it is nice as well. 48" smooth grading bucket is my favorite. The hydraulic was on back order so my machine came with the manual quick coupler. It wasn't the worst design I've ever used, but it was pretty middling. And it broke after a few weeks of use. Although my next mini may have a tiltrotator.
Used mine for the first time a few weeks ago and it was great. I know the feeling.
There is so much more capability with the excavator software and a model with detailed line work than what's on a dozer. It can lock onto the curb, set whatever offset behind back of curb required and cut sub-grade throughout the entire subdivision for example. The basic 2D stuff on the 325 is pretty handy also. Just being able to bench elevations or cut a flat slope to drain is handy as a shirt pocket.
An update on our North AL street project. The onsite material we were able to use ended up kicking our behinds due to moisture. I thought we were going to wear the dirt out before we got it to finally pass compaction. Thought more than once about cutting out the entire fill lift and start importing from our borrow pit but we had already invested 2 days in spreading, drying, compacting then scarifying, drying and compacting this lift again we held steady. That and the fact each load from the pit is $325 per load. We'll have $80K worth of import fill on this job total. Trying the L9000 loaded with wet topsoil to force the fill lift into compaction. The material held the truck up well but was still over moisture at 23%+. Optimum was 19.3% so we're allowed 2% over. Undercutting the next section of street. 1' UC, fabric, 1' of #24 stone choked down with #57's. Imported fill from the borrow pit has more sand in the clay and is much easier to work than the more clayey onsite material. The white specs in the red clay are sandstone fragments. These fragments break up easily under the D3 and roller adding more sand to the fill and helping with compaction. This was back in May and peak cicada outbreak. It was really bad in North AL and the sound was deafening. I don't know if it was the hum of the engine at full throttle or the vibration of the drum or a combination but they loved the 533E. They would dive bomb the roller as it went up and down the fill lift.
Spreading the import fill around the turn. Even the bank dug pit material was wet. The brown dirt for the tire store building pad on the left came from a pit close to where our camper is. Our pit is located south across the TN river. All sorts of dirt up here. Fighting moisture with the borrow material. You can see it sticking to the drum and the feet are not walking out of the lift. Over in @Columbo 's house building thread we discussed a similar method of building a septic field with spec sand and onsite material. Basically build what you need with the expensive stuff (imported fill) and build the rest with cheap stuff (what you have onsite). In this case we overbuilt the edge of the road with imported fill and went back with the 325 and cut it back to within 3' behind the curb. The cut out imported fill was used for further road fill. The backfill is a combination of sanitary sewer spoils, topsoil strip and undercut. Could not have reclaimed this extra import fill if we didn't have a GPS model in the 325 to show where the future curb will be. Can't say enough about this technology.
Appears to be mixed rad shale and clays, her they use that as the Central fill for Pond embankments, but ONLY when really Dry as compaction is a nightmare.
A little storm sewer work. The storm sewer was extremely shallow. Basically we filled the lot in order to create enough elevation and fall for the storm sewer and detention pond. The flow line runs along the existing contours. Structure and pipe salesman said the inlets were too short for precast and would have to be poured in place or bricked - no thanks. He was right to a degree however where there is a will there is a way. After calculating the inverts, pipe OD and the gutter lip invert it was possible to use 24" and 30" bases and core them. The 18 and 24" pipe ended up in the very top lip of the manhole base but it fit. 24" RCP in a 30" base. 18" RCP in a 24" base. 5 cores in all. Cutting crew showed up at 8 AM and left at 1 PM. $2400 bill for 5 holes, not a bad business to be in. A little trick to coring these short manholes. The manhole bases are not tall enough to mount the core drill so we ordered a 2' riser to set on top of the bases in order to have something to mount the core drill to. Only one core got into the riser the other 4 cores passed beneath. We'll use this for one of our own projects since it is no longer "new".
No shale just a sandy clay from the borrow pit. There are different seams in the pit where the sand to clay ratio varies quite a bit. The material with the sandstone chunks obviously is the better material. Pic of the borrow pit. A bit of white sandstone on the right.
Now for some fun - A large grading, paving, quarry contractor with headquarters in TN is doing the new tire store on this parcel. The detention pond was in their scope of work which we are tying into with the storm drains posted above. This is the outflow from the detention pond outlet control structure. Notice anything?
Is the concrete pipe backwards? Isn't the bell supposed to be facing uphill for the uphill pipe to slide into it? I've only ever done 6" belled pipe for irrigation so I'm not really sure how the concrete pipe is supposed to be installed.
Yes Sir! I couldn't believe it when I took the picture. This was installed by a "pipe crew" for the large aforementioned not named company in posts above. Should've seen how much #57 stone they wasted but then they do own a quarry... SMDH
If I was the architect of that job I would lose my freaking mind!
Do your soil techs have to run several proctors for the variaty of materials in the pit?
Yes. On this project there were 3 proctors - 1 for the onsite and 2 for the pit. The second proctor for the pit increased the moisture by 1% and helped us out somewhat.
Single wing curb inlet complete. It was tight fitting the 18" RCP into the structure but it worked. The inside lip on the structure can be knocked off to fine tune the gutter throat if needed.
I know it's automatically cast in, but I love the step. LoL
LOL! The wife said the same! Might have to get an Umpa Lumpa in there one day.
Yep, even have the short stuff covered. Call it good and move along.
Back at the North AL job. Stripping the topsoil for the decel lane and right out lane in the DOT ROW. We left a couple of feet of topsoil on the shoulder until the fill was brought up to subgrade, then we removed the topsoil and installed a DGB safety wedge. The pavement building up is 1' thick. Topsoil strip and stocked for re-spread and proof rolled. Inspector and geotech. Ready for fill. Had to extend a 3x4 box culvert 9 LF in the taper of the decel lane. Sub'd out the concrete forming and pouring but we did the prep. The existing culvert is about 1/2 full of silt, sediment and trash. Box culvert extension. Specs called for the existing wing walls to stay in place and I understand the reasoning as they do add some structural support. The curb on top had to be removed as it would have been within 1' of subgrade.
Decel lane fill installed. Installing the DGB safety wedge. The ol' L9000 was handy as a shirt pocket on this job from moving topsoil and cut onsite to being a mobile rock box for this DGB. Box culvert backfilled and diversion ditch re-graded per the plans. Not much room to do anything else. Now here was one of those 50/50 situations. After we backfilled the box culvert and was cutting the final taper of the decel lane we found these PT timbers about 6" below the surface. There is a fiber line that apparently runs 3' or so off the edge of pavement per the line locators marks. It was apparently directionally drilled in as it went underneath the existing box culvert. We carefully excavated over the top of the existing culvert and 1' below the invert of existing as well and did not find it. When we found these we were concerned about how deep they may be and the possibility that the DD crew drilled through them and pulled the fiber through. Wiggled them with the 305 and they were pretty loose so we easily worked them out without incident since they would have to be 6-8' deep or so to be below the culvert. Once the timbers were out our suspicions were confirmed. The DD crew did in fact drill through the 2 timbers but the best we can guess is hit the existing box culvert, pulled back and went deeper. It would have been a bad day if that box culvert wouldn't have been there and we just went rip roaring through. Sent just a touch of chill down our spine
The DOT portion of this job also involves removing an existing cross over and removing a portion of another cross over, 20' or so of pipe and installing a slope paved headwall. She ain't fast, she ain't all that strong but she'll crank and run. Tough ol' girl our L9000 is. Removing the asphalt cross over. We were able to close the turn lane for access and not have to close a travel lane. Done. I'll have our erosion control sub install sod on the disturbed areas per spec.
Your concrete sub did a fantastic job on extending that box culvert, nice job. And that's cool seeing the holes in the timbers done by the DD crew. Directional drills typically use a "shoe" type cutter head, works well in soils and will even drill through wood, tree roots and such. So yeah, I can see a shoe cutting that hole. But if they hit the existing concrete box culvert, shoe cutter heads don't do well with formation rock, sedimentary rock, or reinforced concrete. If that's what happened, drilled through the timbers then hit the culvert, I can totally see them doing a back up and regroup direction going a bit deeper to miss that culvert.
Thanks - kudos to the sub crew that formed and poured the culvert. That's what we figured and thanks for backing that up with experience. Still thinking about how bad that would've been if the culvert wasn't there.
I once did a direction drilling job in the Northern Kentucky area on the south side of the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The project involved install traffic sign boards on the interstate highway, which required installing 4" conduit under and across the highway, sometimes 4 lane, sometimes 6 lane including grass median, shoulder lanes and slopes adjacent to shoulder lanes, pretty much 80 to 100+ ft with directional drill. Project was let to a company that used typical DD equipment. Didn't take long that went south. The geology of that area is sedimentary formation shale, limestone, shale, limestone, on and on. Sediment formation by definition is pretty much flat horizontal. Typical shoe bits would not work in that material. That's when they called us. Our horizontal rigs were not typical DD machines, had way more arse as we typically had to drill rock to install horizontal drains, our area of expertise. So we adapted out machine to use the bendy DD drill rod, had to be careful while drilling as our rig could twist that rod into a spaghetti noodle quickly, don't ask how I know that. But the formation, we used a special DD drill head, carbide buttons on the head to cut the rock. But the problem, once you got down to an elevation to bore under the interstate highway, the bit would settle into the softer shale of the formation and carry on. But to spit out the other side meant you need to shoot upward, into and through the limestone layer, that was a PITA and took much patience to get the bit to chew into and bust through the limestone.
Sounds like my area of expertise - slide drilling. I spent most of a decade drilling horizontal wells in the O&G sector. We used downhole mud motors with PDC bits (faster cutting) for our work. A hard seam at 10,000'TVD can be a booger to bust through when the geologist says you have to come up a foot or two. We generally drilled in the firmer, more competent formations near the oil rich shale. A shale strike (accidently drilling into shale) could be the kiss of death for downhole tooling as the shale would slough in around the drill string and pack off the hole. I've sat on a rig for a month straight while a fishing crew is trying to get us freed up, or retrieving what we lost downhole when we did get free. You know it's a bad day when you gotta call the boss and tell them you just lost $500,000 worth of tooling at 15,000 ft.
Cm I might have missed it, what station are you running that with?
Trimble base station. Standard Cat/SiTech/Trimble
So, I am assuming that you can load a file into the machine panel that comes from a site designer? To make in the field measurements and stakeouts based on as built items do you have a tablet with CAD or how do you modify your site plans?
We are still learning the system so I know about 10% of what it will do. Basically we have a 3rd party model builder in Atlanta that builds all our machine models. Right now it's cheaper and easier for us to sub it out. For example a typical QSR like a Zaxby's is around $1-1,500 for the model which is very reasonable. Once the model is loaded and localized the data collector makes a machine control file and you're off to the races. Our D3 is set up for auto so when you get to the last couple tenths the machine cuts the grade. All the curbs, gutters, sidewalks, buildings, dumpster pads, etc are in the model with a finish grade elevation. You can take the D3 anywhere within the site and see where the grade is so basically it becomes a 25K data collector. Any real changes have to be made in TBC (Trimble Business Center) and sent back out to the field. Our data collector can log points in the field for as-builts, calculate stockpiles, topo surfaces and collect data anywhere inside the model that is loaded. If we have the coordinates for a point within our model we can create a work order within the job on the data collector, load them in and lay them out in the field. Perfect example is the job posted above. We've installed the road and now there is a proposed building on lot 3 across from the tire store. I have requested the coordinates from the engineer for the outside 4 corners of the building so we can locate those in the field and build a rough pad. We can see all the grade. We have a large amphitheater project coming up where we will be installing 1.5' of DGB in the seating bowl. Currently our model builder is wrapping the machine model up and we should begin work on this in a week or 2. The total bowl area is 60K SF shaped like a bowl so it's a complicated model. Oxbow knows more than I do by a mile and they do more design build with the system.
I didn't drill near the depth they do in O&G, deepest I've bored horizontal is 525 ft. But yeah, I've stuck a rod or two. Shale and clay, once you lose circulation through it it starts drying out and gets sticky, it'll lock a drill rod down tighter than Scrooge's penny purse.
The other part of the DOT work removing a part of another cross over, 2 - 8' joints of 15" RCP, a short piece of 15" and a flared end section. Ol' L9000 still earning her keep. Demo and grading done. Next step is to pour the slope paved headwall.
One of the two developers that own this project is one we have worked with for years and owns many chicken shacks, the majority we did the site work for. He purchase one of the commercial lots from the partnership and wanted us to fill it to pad grade while we are there. The cheapest time to do construction work is today, especially when the crew is already on site, has a proctor for the borrow pit and trucks available. Same guy that hauled all the dirt in did this as well. He has 3 nice Pete tri-axles and great drivers. Filling the lot. The building pad had to come up around 3-3.5' at the rear and less than 1' in the front. About 1' below building slab sub-grade. This was the Wed before the 4th with rain predicted over the 4 day weekend so we prep'd accordingly. Yours truly with the tech. I am the less fat one on the left. Some advice for folks who are new to dirt work that requires compaction testing. Sometimes the testing company will send out the greenest green horns right out of college that only know what the book tells them. In the pic below the dirt was on the high side of moisture but holding up 85K+ tri-axles with no pumping nor deflection. Took the D3 to clean a spot off for the nuke gauge. This test resulted in 98%+ which met specs. If the tech would have placed the nuke gauge over one of the splits or over a sheepsfoot it could have given a false reading resulting a lower compaction % since the voids will register lower density on the gauge. Basically a nuke gauge sends an "x-ray" for simplicity from one side of the gauge to the probe and records how fast it travels. The tech inputs the data on the material such as weight (PCF) and optimum moisture then the gauge records the rest. The faster the ray travels, the less dense the dirt is. If the dirt is holding up a loaded dump truck with no pumping or deflection and the nuke gauge says it's not compacted something is usually wrong on the gauge side. It could be the incorrect info about the dirt into the nuke, a gauge that needs to be calibrated or the tech. We have experience all three. A loaded dump truck is like drunks, children and spandex - none of them lie. Hope this helps for the newcomers in the dirt business. A good tech can make or break a dirt job.
Next project up - Amphitheater project for a nationwide concert promoter. The mass grade portion and deep storm was a different bid package and performed by others. Our contract is the final build out that includes some structural fill for the rear seating, final storm drainage, roof leaders and other misc items. Normally not much scope wise but this is a large project so it's a nice job for us. Stage wall forming. The seating bowl starts to the right of the forms where the sparky's are digging out for conduit with the kommie mini. Retainer wall behind the main stage. The performers bus parking is to the left where the conex boxes are. The footings are for the main columns that will hold the roof over the stage up. Seating bowl. In our contract we are to put down 1.5' of compacted DGB throughout the lower, middle and upper bowl seating. As usual we'll also be tasked to clean up the mess from other trades such as the pump truck dump on the right in the pic and get paid for it. The seating bowl extends towards the brick building in the background. We'll have to fill the rear of the bowl approximately 12' to a retainer wall yet to be built will be. From there the remaining seats will be on structural steel with restrooms and other space below.
Ok, this one, you for sure have to go back after the project is finished and give us a shot of the results.
You've sure got some red clay. I have a little bit but nothing like that.
Will do Willie. Haven't even mob'd in yet, that's next week. Should be an interesting project.
Red clay, gray clay, sand, pea gravel, iron deposits, fire ants, Alabama soil is a mixed bag that mother nature had fun mixing up.
You forgot sandstone, limestone, chert, coal, yellow horse clay and this red silty clay we fought moisture on the entire time on this project. There was 2" of dust on the haul road in and the borrow pit was hitting the high end of moisture. I was warned by a geo engineer friend of mine in Central AL where we do most of our projects about the soils in North AL and he was right. Would not want to attempt a project up there in the winter/rainy months.
I'm trying to make a swale so my driveway doesn't get flooded but the grader is too heavy and just makes ruts. I used the track loader to push the sod and dirt around and was able to clean it up some with the skid steer but still frustrating when it's kind of squishy and you can't use the best machine for the job.
I can't imagine working with the kind of moisture and wet weather you have there in the southeast. Here in Arizona, most of the time we deal with mud its only because someone got over zealous with the water truck. But we sure get to eat some serious dust.
Keith this is how much rain we received in one day last week.
Mob'd into the amphitheater job last week. View down to the stage from seating area 3. This is the area we will be filling from the fire extinguisher back approx. from 0 to 9'. From there is a retainer wall and seating area 4 what will be structural steel and composite concrete deck. Ol' L9000 just keeps earning her keep. We are using the footing, structural excavation and utility spoils as fill on level 3. Value engineering that was worked out during pre-con - GC doesn't have to pay us to haul the spoils off and we don't have to pay to bring soil in. Win-win. The D3 is a future rock star! About center stage. Hauled in around 1200 TN of dense graded base this week. The entire seating bowl will have 1.5' of DGB then 6" of #57 (3/4 washed) stone under the 6" of concrete. Overkill at it's finest IMO. End of the day view towards the stage with 1400 TNS brought to the site in 2.5 days.
Snapshot of the level 3 area we are filling and the area 4 seating that will be structural steel with composite concrete/steel deck. Detail of the fill, 1.5' of DGB, .5' of 57's, .5' of concrete surface and the retainer wall.
Here's a cross section of the seating bowl from the stage to the rear retainer wall where the elevated seating starts. As above our part is placing and compacting 1.5' of DGB from the face of the stage to the rear retainer wall. This pic is where the Back of Boxes to the Back of Isle will be located. The D3 is where the front of L2 seats goes back to the retainer wall. No way I would have bid this job without GPS.
Just imagine the extra time and expense to build that with stakes and hubs. Looking good! Fun looking project.
Gives me chills just thinking about all the blue tops... Thanks - it's an interesting project no doubt.
Concrete guys finished up in the bowl and "removed" their spoils along with what the electrician dug up. Sub-grade -2' from finish for the most part We cut out about 8 loads of dirt to get back to the subgrade that was completed by the mass grade contractor. We did this work pro bono as it didn't take 3-4 hours with the D3 and 279, just something one does on a contract/project this big. Our benefit was 8 loads of structural fill we will not have to import for the upper bowl seating area and it's a quick move.
There were two conduit wads coming out of the stage wall going into the seating bowl for all sorts of things from the sound mixing booth to the stair way lights. Top of footing is basically subgrade with the conduits coming out a couple of inches above. Asked one of the assistant super's to see if sparky could come down and tell us a little about his conduits and how deep they were since we had to cut around .7' or close to 9" where they all exit the stage. Sparky comes down and I ask him if he would take his mini and expose the conduits out far enough so we could remove the concrete guy and his left over spoils, eventually getting to subgrade. He agreed and did this. Cool. I asked him how deep the conduits were out in front of the 279's bucket and he assured me they were at least 1.5' (18") deep then farther out 2' Whelp here they were - with another .4' to cut to subgrade. Simple fix on his part and we didn't cut anymore out.
That's quite the conduit locator system. Is that a expensive accessory from the CAT factory?
Once we removed the other trades spoils and proof rolled the bottom bowl for the geotech it of course failed. Nothing was done to keep the surface graded to drain or trenches backfilled with 6.5" of rain in a week. Anyways since we had to wait on the bottom bowl subgrade to dry out aided along with some selective undercut, the 30 loads of DGB coming in that day was stockpiled on the first sloped section of seating. Lower bowl was finally approved for stone so it was an easy blow out pushing the stockpile down hill towards the stage. One of the Vulcan trucks hauling in. Don't see many Sterlings running this nice around here. Bowl graded out.
Standard on ALL Cat equipment and super easy for even the greenest operator to master.
Pushing out some DGB in 100 degree temps. To the right is the fill lift for the last slab on grade seating in the upper portion of the bowl before it transitions to elevated concrete deck on steel. My role is usually fill in - running the roller.
Wrapping up the lab project we started the first of the year. Pervious paving in the existing parking lot consisting of 1' of excavation from the asphalt surface to dirt sub-grade. Our scope of work includes saw cutting the asphalt, removing the asphalt, base and subgrade to -1'. Pretty simple work We were busy between the amphitheater project and finishing up the north AL commercial project so I reached out to a good friend of mine to see if he could help us out. This is the same long time friend in the start of this thread where we excavated the existing warehouse for a new freezer. Of course he did a jam up job. The world goes round and round. They found an irrigation wiring box buried under the asphalt in the base. One never knows what you'll run into doing commercial remodel work. This is one of those jobs where we get paid good money to do not so smart things. Engineer designed these two areas for pervious pavement due to the addition on the other side of the building. Since they are adding non-pervious surfaces IE the roof on the addition they had to increase storm water runoff elsewhere. Somehow this abomination was the answer - cut out 2 sections of the parking lot, install fabric, #57 stone and porous asphalt with no under drains to get the water out. Here in Central AL we get around 5.5- 6' of rain a year, basically a semi-tropical environment. Both of the pervious pavement areas have no way of getting rid of the excess rain water that will filter through the pavement. Used one of my favorite sayings when my friend asked what the hell are we doing - "We get paid good money to do some stupid **** sometimes". He laughed and went to work.
Back at the amphitheater. Concrete guys are forming the level 3 wall where the seating bowl transitions from slab on grade to steel and concrete deck. Once they pour and strip the wall we'll continue with backfill and DGB for the slab on grade seating. Our scope includes a 4" perf pipe and stone backfill against the wall for drainage. Lower bowl where we installed DGB last week. Plumbers installing the final surface drains. It's a good practice as a PM to visit all your jobs going on whether one of your crews are working there or not. This is one example. We have a 12" storm pipe that has to pass through this wall on top of the footing into the inlet on the other side covered with a Silt Saver (green dome). The electricians took the easy route since they never look at the civil drawings to coordinate their conduit routes. Sent pics to the GC as notification of the conflict. The storm line will exit through the wall on top of the footing below the orange x on the wall right where those conduits are located.
Finishing up the project in North AL. Paving sub came in and put down first layer of DGB and poured curbs. Main road towards the entrance to the development. We had a little slack time from the amphitheater project so we came in and backfilled the curbs in prep for the final lift of base and asphalt. It's good practice to have the curbs backfilled before the final layers of base and asphalt are applied. Keeps the rollers from pushing the curbs out and damaging them. 279D 02 came home as well. This inlet is about as shallow as one can be with 18" RCP. Made it work with not much room to spare. This is the inlet upthread with the single step. Side note - we broke up the curb removed from the side street and hammered it down for rip-rap around the yard inlet - Reduce, re-use, recycle right? There is an 8"x8" hole cut in the base of the yard inlet for temporary drainage. Eventually as this lot is developed with storm drainage, this yard inlet will become a curb inlet. Until then the rear of the lot serves as a temp. det pond.
As it goes other trades that have a rental account and no understanding of final grading mess things up for us site guys. Primary power conduit install from the pole to the pad. Dig the ditch and just do whatever with spoils even if you dig through a drainage ditch. Another day, another fix. Didn't take long to get the ditch back in shape. Turn lane and shoulder graded out, seeded and hay matted. Re-graded ditch sodded. Erosion control sub did a great job. We outta here.
We've been very busy on the current amphitheater and wrapping up 2 other projects and I haven't had time to post updates. However look what the Cat drug in to the job today - 2024 Cat 305 fully loaded, no GPS and don't plan on adding it. Hydro QC, angle blade, counterweight and hydro thumb. The A/C is super nice coming from an open cab 305E. Also have a plate compactor coming from Texas for it and the 305E.
Very nice there CM 1995. I bought a new 304 about 2 yrs ago with the angle blade, thumb & external hydraulics......oh AC too which I really like as well! I can see your 305 is somewhat bigger than the 304 of mine! They have a surprising amount of power for such little fellers!! Whats the HP on the 305? If I recall correctly the 304 is about 47 HP.
Thanks M55! The 305 is 45 HP same as the 304. The difference between the 2 is reach, dig depth and weight. Got to run it for a couple of minutes today and I am impressed. More stable and powerful than our 2018 305ECR. The stability part I think mostly has to do with the angle blade arms being longer than the straight blade arms on the '18 305. Looked at the 304's but they were just a little small for what we do. From time to time we need to install small manholes, risers and tops in places the 325 won't fit. Also use the mini to load tri-axles in tight spaces, not fun or fast but sometimes it's the only option. We need to extra capacity and reach respectively.
Sweet!
Are steel tracks available for the smaller mini-ex's. or is it just nice being able to drive on finished surfaces? Also wondering if rubber tracks last longer or about the same assuming they aren't run on rocks and stumps, etc. that could damage them?
WD Cat offers steel tracks. IIRC you can get regular steel tracks and steel tracks with rubber pads. Either way steel is not ideal for what we do. First it adds extra weight, second we have to cross finished asphalt and concrete surfaces regularly so the rubber tracks fit our work better than steel. Our mini's don't see heavy clearing or demo work that's what the 50K lb hoes are for. 2500 HRS on what appears to be the OEM (Bridgestone) tracks on our 305E with a lot of life left on them for reference. If I can get 2K hours out of a set in our working conditions I'm good with that.
Wrapping up the North Alabama job. Concrete sub forming up the sidewalk, the little ASV is their rental. This inlet is about as shallow as you can get. Erosion control sub came in this week and sprayed the remaining bare ground after the sidewalk was poured and backfilled. Hydroseeding makes a mess. The over spray on the sidewalk, curb and asphalt isn't a big deal it'll wash away. No way to spray over the sidewalk without getting some on it. The new and the old. The strip of standing grass was shot a month or so ago. And some truck driver managed to drive over the curb on a straight of way... The lot we filled for a future building. When the final drawings are completed for this lot the swale between the curb and pad will be filled, probably for off street parking.
Back at the amphitheater. Picked up a change order for foundation drains behind the main stage, across the seating bowl and down the sides. Now at center stage - Cat 325 Next Gen! There are entrance/exit ramps on either side of the stage to the lowest portion of the seating bowl. The foundation drains snake around the inside and across where the pipe is tied into a storm manhole. Tight is an understatement. Finished product behind the stage. Concrete guys were responsible for the remaining #57 stone backfill. The large footing in the background with the conduits sticking up is for one of the main columns for the stage. Think big steel.
Another portion of the CO above was installing a 4" perf HDPE sock pipe wrapped in filter fabric for a wick drain between the premium seating suites and the lower bowl. The PVC sticking up is for drains in the upper concourse walkway. Tie'ing the drain into the drain that runs up the side of the seating bowl. Lower seating section poured.
That hydro-seeding is a mess. They did some hydro-seeding here on the slopes along a freeway and it looks like it was precision placed in comparison. I recently saw what looked like rolls of material laid out that looked like hydro-seeding. I don't know if there is such a thing as rolls of grass seed and fertilizer? Why did someone drive on it after it was applied? Looks like a pretty short stick on the 325, is it the std. size or short because the coupler adds length?
Yup, that hydro seed job looks like it was done by a blind guy with a bad seeing eye dog.. Ed
Standard 9'-6" stick. The pic is taken on a wide angle.
The pic. makes it look short and pretty busy with the thumb and all the aux. lines.
Taken with the 1.5 setting on my iPhone. I like to take pics at that setting as it captures more of the scenery but distorts some things up close.
Retainer wall at the rear of the seating bowl where the slab on grade transitions to steel with composite concrete deck. Helping the waterproofers attach the drainage sheet to the concrete wall. Our scope of work is install a 4" perforated HDPE sock pipe and a #57 drainage stone wedge along with the fill to grade. Sometimes we'll jump in and help other subs in order to move our scope of work along. Placing #57 stone with the 325. As the drainage membrane is installed we'll place the stone then the dirt fill - rinse and repeat until we reach the top of the wall. End of a long day. The forms on the left in the pic are for the "delay" towers to hang the speakers to broadcast the show to the rear seats.
Is it possible to construct the dirt fill in lifts ahead of the #57 stone to create a form so to speak and contain the stone? I bet you guys use vertical offsets in your machine control far more than you would have imagined. I know we do.
We use both methods - bring the fill lift up then gravel and the way above. The dirt we are using is footing spoils stockpiled on site so we can move dirt very quickly if the compaction tests are hitting right. The stone is dumped on the fill lift since the finished subgrade is sloped and we don't want to dump it outside the bowl and track it in. The site is very congested. The GC is paying for the rock and Vulcan is supplying it so we are at both their schedules for deliveries. Yes- we use vertical and horizontal offsets all the time. Actually ran into an issue with this model for this project. The seating bowl finish grade includes all sorts of little concrete walls, steps, suites, etc. so instead of making our model to finish grade the modeler built it to subgrade. We usually choose finish grade. There is 1.5' of dense grade base on subgrade then 6" of #57 stone and then concrete. Everything worked great until we got to the last isle between L1 and L2 seating. For some reason the civil designed the subgrade with a back slope going up hill and what ends up being about 4' of DGB fill from subgrade to the #57 stone drainage layer. Not a great pic but it shows the detail. The problem in the machine control model is the dozer wants to jump up about 2.5' and the dark dashed line which is subgrade. Pushing down from the slope above the model keeps the dozer and 1.5' above subgrade all the way to the back of isle which is isn't right. So the surveyors are coming out Monday and giving us the finish elevation at the top of the steps and we'll have to do it the old fashioned way. Stiill learning about grading models and we never seen this coming. Live and learn.
Really interesting project. I suspect you try to work with and help all the subs, even if it costs you a bit, because the GC appreciates the value added by hiring you, and I know you do what we do: Go over and over what has to happen first, then next, etc. Sometimes there are too many variables to be able to map it out precisely, and you have to rely on faith in your experience and expertise to react correctly and quickly when the time arrises. This stuff used to keep me awake nights trying to stay ahead of it. Be it old age or weariness, it all seems to fall into place now. It keeps things interesting! Knowing when things are off and not having blind trust in the technology is easier when you learned using grade rods and eye levels. Combine that with being able to figure out why the machine is doing what it is doing helps as well. I don't know how many times I have forgotten to key to the correct side of the dozer or excavator bucket, or toggle overdig protection. Sometimes I just have to stop and pull out the plans to wrap my brain around what is happening. In general our stuff is not nearly as technical as your work either.
Well said my friend. Not much to add as it's spot on! Figure I've got 10 - maybe 15 years left before I hang this rat race up and retire to somewhere in South America. We're the older knowledgeable ones on the job now and those are some big shoes to fill mentoring the generations coming up. I was fortunate enough to have some very knowledgable, very big personalities as mentors growing up that not only taught me the construction trades but how to interact with others on the job. At the end of the day running a business is about people, the task at hand is always secondary to that. The stories I could tell about the mentors back in the '80's.
As the amphitheater turns. Being the lowest operator on the totem pole I get the wheel of the trusty L9000 shuttling fill from the spoil pile to the fill lift on the upper bowl. The retainer wall in the foreground is where the slab on grade seating goes to steel frame and composite deck. Restrooms and concessions will be underneath. To be honest I really enjoy driving the big nosed ol' girl. View from on top of the retainer wall in the pic below showing the column footings for the space underneath the elevated seats. Old hospital soon to be apartments in the background. Had the opportunity to get a little seat time in the 325. Might have 4-5 hours tops in the seat but I really like this machine. Backfilling the wall with #57 stone. Stage in the foreground. Electrical conduit bank that comes up through the seating bowl thru the retainer wall. Like Oxbow said this is one of those times to coordinate with other trades. The Sparky's on this job are easy to work with and accommodating so we return the same. We brought the dirt fill up to grade, then the DGB and let them make their tie ins.
That's a big box on your L9000. I'm guessing you can't heap it much higher than the sides?
Legally - no. Off road we'll load it till it rolls off the sides. Used the onboard scales on the 325 and we loaded 60K lbs on it. She's built like a brick **** house with double frame and Hendrikson walking suspension.
We have an LA8000 tri-axle that gets treated like that. I move about 100 yards of bedding sand with it every week from our sand reclamation area to the storage points around the farm. I can usually do it in 7, heaped loads
With only a L10 and 4 sp auto it doesn't move that much weight quickly.
Ours has the 7.8l Ford Diesel at 240hp with a 5 spd Allison. It doesn't do anything quickly either.
Bless yore heart!
That's good to know. I've got a low sided box but heap it pretty full. My L9000 has heavy specs. too with a double frame, twin steering boxes and Hendrickson walking beams. It has an M11 310 HP with a 9 speed. I was curious how much overweight it could handle. If I fill the box too much towards the front the hoist struggles on the final stage. It helps a lot if the material is drier and not sticky. It's nice to know it's not going break if it's a little over loaded.
The wet red and yellow clay on this job is heavy and our hoist struggles when it's really wet and spilling off the sides. When I bought the truck (municipal rig) the city had just put a new cylinder on it but it still struggles.
Upper bowl fill topped out with DGB, electricians conduit bank backfilled and the delay towers installed. Not really sure the purpose of the delay towers but I think they'll have speakers mounted for the folks in the cheap seats. The little Bomag is a rental from UR. Not really impressed. Structural steel for the elevated seating being installed. The bar joists on the beams are for the ceiling of the restrooms and building underneath. More I-beams will be hung for the concrete composite seating deck above. View from the backside of the seating bowl. Erection crew is hanging all the steel with forklifts on this section. Concession stands coming along. We'll start installing the Nyoplast inline drains in the concrete plaza from the seating bowl to these concessions stands next week.
I just recently learned that someone in the south saying "Bless Your Heart" doesn't really mean what we in the west think it should!
Impressive CM! Is your vibratory roller down, or just busy elsewhere?
You almost ruined my laptop with an adult beverage spray with that comment. So I'll break down the "Bless Your Heart" meaning for the folks not familiar with the term in other areas of the country. The term can mean any of the following 3 - 1 - Man that sucks, I feel for you. See response to Colson and his L8000 2 - You're a dumbass 3 - Or f'off Now #3 is often interchanged with "How nice". If a southerner ever says to you "how nice" they really mean f'off.
Thanks! The 533 is still plugging along 20 years later but we had dirt fill going in that needed a sheepsfoot to meet compaction. Put in the bid a smooth drum roller so the guys didn't have the swap the shell back and forth on the 533 to compact the DGB.
So, I know enough about that saying that I wasn't sure which way you were going with it earlier. The rig hands I worked with only used it as option 3.
I wouldn't have thought an L8000 would be available as a tri-axle. Was an axle/drop axle added? I could have used a vibratory roller today. I was fixing one of the jumps on my MX track but the clay was a little too wet. I was packing with a skid steer and it was squishing out too much. Might be able to pack it and smooth it better tomorrow after it dries a bit. Clay has to be the right consistency to pack properly. It is better to be a little wet than too dry though. Best is when it's moist and crumbly. It was like wet modeling clay today.
I have a front mounted pump and was wondering if there's a way to turn the relief valve up a bit. I'd still rather take a smaller load than have to play around trying to get it to dump or worse, have to go get the backhoe to pull it out. Trying to lower the box when it has a partial load is too scary because I can't slow down how fast it dumps. It uses a solenoid valve so it's either on or off. Interestingly the lifting speed seems pretty constant no matter what RPM so I just leave it at idle when dumping. Thinking there might be a priority valve or something since it is a former plow truck with several hyd. functions that have since been disconnected. I'm glad I was able to wire a switch for the hoist direct to the battery with a fuse. The wires and electronics in the center console between the seats is mind boggling! Hoist used to be very intermittent and frustrating as heck. Now it works flawlessly. I think I made the right decision to get a dump truck instead of a dump trailer. Less money, carries more and is more maneuverable. If I had to go on the road a dump trailer would have been better. Insurance outside the city limits would be astronomical for a dump truck that gets used occasionally.
LOL. It was meant as a solid #1.
I think when people say "what ever" it means f'off too. That's what I should have said to the so called fabricator that said you can teach anybody to weld.
Patience is a virtue when it comes to farming.
How’s it hanging CM? Been busy?
Yeah we've been busy. The amphitheater job has been a royal PITA. Trying to get it wrapped up for other projects starting in March and April. So far 2025 is starting out pretty good "work on the books" side of things.
A little of the PITA part Muddy mess from Thanksgiving until well today. Stage steel being erected.
A little of the finishing up part. Getting closer to getting the hell out of here. Installing some HDPE and an inline drain. There was close to a mile of 18, 15, 12, 8 and 6 inch pipe with 52 inline drains on this project for all the concrete plaza areas. The new 305 is a great machine. Loading out mud and debris. Amphitheater is in the flight path of the airport so there is constant traffic overhead. A little RnR thrown in watching my now #1 ranked Tigers take on Purdue in a preseason game at the very same arena we worked on back in 2020-21. Wife snagged great seats.
Now the "getting better" part. Wrapping up fine grading in the north concourse and prep'ing for the concrete guys. Cutting the main entrance stairs in. EOB Friday Feb. 14. Some of our iron parked up - the JCB is not ours.
I wonder why they wouldnt lay out their control joints on that slab to catch the side of the steel tube supports that they poured around if they were going to go by that close to them? Looks like it will just crack right on over to them
That's easy. It looks better when they're straight, would take way longer to cut up to the beam from each way than just blow right by .....
I hate walking and operating in mud and muck all day.
Yep it probably will crack at every column. Several head scratchers on this project. The joints aren't cut they are wet tooled.
***. Then why don't they line them up? Is placement determined by the engineer or contractor?
Don't know and to be brutally honest don't care. Just ready to be done.
CM does it get cold enough at night where you have to clean tracks at the end of the day? That can really add to the suck factor when your over a job and dont wanna even be there lol
No. I think the 325 was frozen to the ground one time this year. 279's once or twice. Not enough to immobilize them. Just raise the front off the ground and slowly rotate the tracks. Rain/mix for tonight and a couple of days in the high teens at night, 30's during the day. Don't expect anything from it.
So we have a small townhome project that consists of 28 lots with a hammerhead turn around and detention pond. We've been tied up at the amphitheater job so I sub'ed a portion out to a friend of mine that includes the main road, detention pond and outlet structure. We'll pick up the remaining storm drainage and lot fill approx. 5K yard of import. This morning my friend called to inform that their D3 Next Gen had been stolen. We have our 321 on site but the thieves apparently didn't want it, easier to move a D3 I guess. Come to find out they never had a 4 digit code installed, just a Cat key and a battery disconnect to fire it up... They called Cat to see if they could track it down but the thieves must've disabled that out of the gate. Tough lesson to learn. Any of our iron that has the ability to use a 4 digit code has one. We even go as far as wiping the touch screens down at the end of the day so there are no smudges, dirt, oil on the numbers used for the code. Just a friendly PSA.
***** thieves. Nothing worse, and they can all rot in hell. Is there any kind of insurance for theft? I've been told no, I just have a hard time believing that a machine that new can disappear.
Couple of pics of the townhome project. The aforementioned stolen D3. Detention Pond Entrance Little Hyundai zero swing wasn't there when the D3 was stolen. Our 321 in the background.
Our Inland Marine policy covers theft among other things. In fact our policy is up for renewal and I have to go through and update our equipment values. That little D3 is probably already in a container heading to Central or South America right now.
As the concert venue turns. Main entrance stairs rough cut in. GPS machine control came in extremely handy on this part. Cut the flats with the D3 and the stair treads with the 325. Obviously not finished. This heavy red clay is a PITA to cut and fine grade. You gotta rough it in high then beat it back to grade with a compactor. Main stage. We have a CO for a 12" HDPE drain line following down the wall next to the blue C900 fire line and tie'ing into an inlet in front of the building on the left. The reason why that area next to the wall is not backfilled yet. Alot of work left to go for concerts this summer. OK so now for the "you had one job" on the design teams part. The "world" wants to blame the trades for screw ups like this but in reality it is all on the design teams shoulders. What's wrong? It's been fixed since the pic was taken.
There's a light in the way of a downspout?
From an earlier post: Amphitheater is in the flight path of the airport so there is constant traffic overhead. Who idiot decided to build this under the flight path & when the customers complain they couldn't hear the show who gives their money back? Joe H
Yep. Architects PM didn't overlay the architectural elevations with the electrical drawings to see where the exterior lights were going. Fixed now, sparky moved the light over. Got me. When the large passenger and military planes fly over one can hear them over the construction noise but they are still high enough not to be deafening. I doubt the planes will drowned out whatever hip-hop country music performer is on the stage with the size of the speakers planned.
An update on the amphitheater. One of two 85's on the stage blowing some sort of black acoustic on the interior. The black acoustic material is the plastic wrapped bales on the pallet. They mix it with water and spray it on. BrandSafeway is the subcontractor, didn't know they did this. View out the front of 279D 02 Seats are being installed in the bowl. North plaza behind the seating bowl. Concrete areas being poured and artificial turf areas prep'd.
Picked up a small set of chain slings and swivel hooks for the 305's. Works great for manhole R&C's as well as setting 48" pre-cast tops in tight places. Demo'ing old curb in preparation for new concrete curb and sidewalk. Top Golf nets in the background left. Some of this curb is granite that's around 6" thick and variable lengths from 6-9' placed in the early 1900's. We carefully demo'd the granite curbs in order to save them for future uses. These pieces of granite would make a great garden bench or if cut in 1/2 and polished a cool counter top with the chiseled edges. Have 2 loads of them at the dump so far. In the pic above the small retainer wall on the right in the pic was made from standing these granite curbs on end. Pretty neat. Loading a piece of granite curb. Apparently we have either rabbits or other some sort of varmint that has made a home under an old cast in place inlet box at the dump that's been used a dump truck fence. Lucy always goes to it and snorts underneath.
CO for the east bowl drainage mentioned up thread. Used a 12" dissimilar coupling to transition from 12" PVC to 12" corrugated HDPE. Tied it into a manhole in front of the building next to the stage. Had to next to the PVC fire line along the bowl wall then over it back to the manhole. Tip - if you need some deflection with corrugated HDPE you can get some in a bell connection, fitting and with a snap coupling.
That chain sling is nice! They're a bit pricey, but worth it rather than scabbing something together with just chains. We have purchsed slings for handling super sacks (bulk bags) as well as eco blocks (mafia blocks). This one for the blocks is nice because of the adjustable length. Our setup for the super sacks we had made with cable:
Don't have a set of the adjustable ones but have pondered on buying a set of the same color as yours. Bet they are super handy.
Ox are you having any luck, looks like seine fishing
I was thinking about your project. I don't know how you are able to forecast and bid how long you will be on a project like that. I can see being able to figure what can only be done after other contractors perform their tasks, but it seems that you need to be there during a lot of that and end up at the mercy of their performance. Perhaps you are on a T&M basis for leaving equipment on the job while waiting. I'm also curious how the general contractor deals with liquidated damages on a project of that scale, and with the subs. Lots of administrative time involved in managing this for you no doubt. I'm not asking for answers CM, just sharing random observations.
Ha. Skunked so far!
Good questions Oxbow. My bid numbers for a CY of dirt moved or a LF of pipe installed reflects the issues that these projects bring. If you saw my LF price for say 15" HDPE pipe per LF installed one would say - "Damn I'll do it for that". However the price needs to be that high for all the delays and issues that come with these projects. It's still gambling though and sometimes it takes more time than allotted as all projects go. This is where change orders come in. We don't take advantage pricing wise but price them profitably to make up for lost time elsewhere. It's common in commercial work. LD's are passed down through the contract from Owner to GC to subs. Technically we would share in any LD's if it were proved it was our fault which goes back to the first question. 95% of any delays we encounter can be attributed to others - GC, other trades and engineers so daily reports are important. We have never been assessed liquidated damages. There is a hefty administrative price component in the commercial work we due to all the submittals, RFI's, meetings, etc that are required. I look at it as another profit center and it's not hard work.
You can say that again I swear we have meetings so gc admin can justify there job and when you add it all up it gets expensive I still am not convinced the condensed schedules save the client any money at the end of the job cause the CO from everyone tripping over eachother is ridiculous On another note tho these data centers will spend millions to get a building 2 months sooner and exceleration CO border on the ridiculous but in the end the fee still doesn't seem worth the brain damage
X2. It doesn't save any money and brings quality down.
As the amphitheater turns. Forgot about an early on ASI where the archies/eninheros added a 6" roof leader for the walkway that goes from the "star suites" to the main stage. Concrete guys were scheduled to pour this area so we hopped on it. The building is U shaped with a courtyard in the middle with a zig-zag mix of concrete and synthetic turf with an outdoor fireplace. The little chicken feet symbols are the syn turf and the triangles are concrete. Sucks to be the concrete guy on this one. Hardscape plan - Civil plan showing the 6" roof leader. BLDG 1 is the stage - Synthetic turf guys had to install an underdrain under all the turf areas that consists of a ditch lined with filter fabric, 4" perf ADS pipe and filled with #57 stone. The plans instruct them to tie into the storm sewer with no further instructions. Well come to find out the syn turf guys don't really understand storm drainage. The tied their 4" line into our 8" line right at the 90. In the background you can see where the hole saw got into the 8" 90. Sealed with spray foam - "Maybe it's OK?". No amigo it's not OK.
Concrete poured where we tied the east bowl drain to the storm manhole next to the blue C900 fire line upthread. The 12" PVC came out of the wall at the base of the slab. Stairs yet to be formed. There was a bust in the design grades between the bowl wall and the planter wall on the other side. Anyway not my problem. Our 12" storm line turned left in front of the slab the lift is sitting on. Flatwork complete. We tied into the manhole on the right in the pic where the control joints intersect. Pic of the same area roughly a month ago.
This week started grading the loading dock/tour bus area for concrete paving. 6" DGB and 6" concrete. A little light on spec but I don't have those letters behind my name to design things. Dumpster enclosure on the right. Ol' L9000 earning her keep again on a proofroll. We had to undercut and replace an area roughly 85x35 and a few soft ditches. Wonder who's ditch failed the proofroll? Ol' 9000 finds all the short cuts on trench backfill and compaction Geo-tech observing. Blowing some DGB out with the D3. Rolled in.
Hey, if it works it ain't stupid, but I do declare, I think you're the only person I've ever known that uses a Louisville cab Ford as a pneumatic roller. LoL
Poured out today. Dumpster pad/enclosure and parking lot. Along the far curb line there are RV hookups for the tour buses - power, water and sewer. View from the stage out - Couldn't resist. Our neighbors newer little kommie dozer in it's natural habitat under the service truck crane..
As the amphitheater turns - Proceeding with the loading dock area DGB and concrete pour. Had to undercut a soft spot and with no time in the schedule GC said fill it with rock. Dirt Doc was on hand to "guide the UC" and document. Nothing like a wide open jobsite to blow and go in order to get some production. Nothing like a tight time line in addition to a tight space. I hate boom lifts. Covering some ground with DGB. GC had surveyors check our grade. 6" of concrete is .5' Also had to achieve 100% on the DGB which fortunately wasn't that difficult since the material was coming in wet enough to achieve it. Grade was achieved with the D3 running auto GPS - fantastic technology.
Loading out spoils from all the other trades along with misc debris. Amazing how much dirt is generated from trenching and footings on a job. We have a per load price to get rid of it. It's lucrative. We didn't have the time to grade this area of the service yard (see post above) so the GC said fill it with rock, so we did. Seats going in the bowl on a beautiful Alabama March afternoon. Weather has been pretty darn perfect. Mid 70's with low humidity, we don't get that here often. One of my guys made the local news broadcast. They set up right in front of their truck.
Fast paced project. Last Friday completing the upper bowl drain tie in. This Friday setting inline drains. Last week running 15" HDPE. Tomorrow they are pouring.
If your up my way and need a place to haul off the spoils, let me know. I don't want any trash but I'd take loads of misc dirt, rock, etc for fill at my place. Very wide easy access driveway since we drive our cranes in and out.
10-4. We had 20-30 loads that came out of the HD job you did for us. If it's deep enough asphalt and concrete makes great fill. GC we did that job for texted me a couple of weeks ago saying there is another project coming our way. No idea where but if it's up your way I'll reach out. This material we hauled off had a little trash - wood forms, stego wrap and banding in addition to the usual concrete washout. The biggest problem was it's just wet heavy clay.
Lol. Willie believe it or not, it's actually in the spec book. Once an area is either cut to subgrade or stripped of topsoil/debris/ect and ready for fill the surface is to be rolled with a loaded tandem dump truck so the dirt doc can observe any pumping or other deflection. Areas pumping to be remediated per the dirt docs direction. Usually use the 533 for compaction but when the sheep foot shell is on we'll use the ol 9000 to seal a site up. Works great. For what I paid for her, she's made more money than any piece of equipment I've ever bought. In this situation the site package was performed by another contractor and our contract was fine grading. So once we put the parking lot back to subgrade we proofrolled it. Usually if the subgrade fails it's our problem to fix. Not this time though since we didn't do the subgrade. Our normal problem on a cut site specifically is the other trades that have trenching (plumber, sparky, utilites) will trench across the site, "haul off" their spoils and spread at least 1/2 of their trench spoils out. Then we come back to fine grade the site and have their spoils to deal with which gets expensive if it has to go on a truck and leave. For this project that problem was not an issue. We have no haul or haul in since the site was supposed to be to "subgrade". So we get paid a unit price to haul it all off.
Yeah concrete and asphalt would be fine. Some wood would be ok too. We can always throw it in our burn pit. I just dont want a bunch of construction trash. Stuff like a few piece of banding material isnt an issue. I probably have room for around 100 triaxle loads. Maybe a bit more if I pull some of the dirt back, fill, and put it back on top. I have a cat steel track loader that lives at the shop so it's easy to dump in a good spot and I can just push it where I want.
10-4.
Well, for sure, if there's a soft spot in the subgrade a loaded tandem dump truck will find it.
Just like yoga pants, drunks and children - a loaded tandem dump doesn't lie. A dirt doc worth his salt will prefer a loaded tandem over the nuke gauge. The nuke will lie - garbage in, garbage out.
The best part about the nukes for me is learning what the moisture is and what they think optimum should be. I've been fooled before.
And that will cause brain melt down for a civil engineer right out of an institution of higher learning.
On the subject, I remember compaction tests being done by digging out a cone shaped hole, filling the hole with sand to determine the volume, baking the material to get the moisture out of it, and then I think they would add moisture and pound it x number of times, add more, pound, and keep repeating til it broke and went over optimum. I probably didn't describe that well, but it was accurate. The nukes are much faster. They may still do a similar process to determine the proctor, I'm not sure.
Sounds like an Atterburg Limits test that determines optimum moisture, plasticity, etc. https://www.geoengineer.org/education/laboratory-testing/atterberg-limits Nukes are definitively faster but also have their own issues. They send these kids out in the field with a gauge and it they have the wrong proctor they do not have the knowledge or foresight to question a failing compaction % even when the material is obviously compacted and not even flexing under a loaded truck. The nuke, like any equipment is only as good as the operator.
There are still a few things that I have to remind myself in regard to compaction: You can get 100% compaction with anything, including cow manure (it won't hold up your 10 wheeler though!). When doing an airport runway in the 80s we had to meet compaction standards of 104%. My feable mind thought that 100% was as much of a given material as could be squeezed into a certain area. Also on that same job we struggled once we got over 100% to get to 104%. The tests kept coming back as slightly low on moisture, but you would have to work to drive a nail in the stuff. Absolutely no deflection. Finally the boss got pissed and we took the dozer in and ripped the crap out of that first test section, watered it until the water truck could barely move, and then kept working it until it set up. Once we did that we didn't have too much trouble, and we knew what was needed from then on. It sure pays to test early if you are in unfamiliar material to get if figured out.
100% You got that right! We work in many different types of material due to the geography of central AL. Basically it's where the Appalachian mountain range ends and where the Gulf used to be. One can find sea shells in some of the sedimentary rock. As kids we'd played archeologists in a closed chert pit finding all sorts of shells and other things. The soils that give us fits are the silty clays with little rock or sand. These materials can range from light brown to dark red and all are very moisture sensitive. Too little and it's talcum powder and too much and it's pancake batter. We have a red sandy material that is an absolute dream to work with. Usually this material is the first 4-6' over the coal seams before hitting rock. Not uncommon to run through small seams of coal when excavating these type soils. Great material but you find rock rather quickly in these areas. Chert is a wonderful material to work with especially when it's wet. Basically it's a quartz type fractured rock with sand and clay seams. It's very heavy and extremely abrasive. We worn out a set of track pads on a D6N in 500 hrs. Had to rotate the teeth on the excavators regularly to even the wear out and put a set on them each week. The heaviest material we've ever moved was chert off a town home project. It was 129 PCF. You could dump it out of the truck, smooth it out with the 953 and achieve 95% without a compactor. In this same seam of chert we found neat geodes and even a large seam of white beach sand about 30' deep. One of the strangest things we've dug up, the sand looked like it was hauled in from the beach and buried. The clay in the chert is red/orange however not a bit of the sand was stained. Weird stuff underground.
That's cool! I guess there are some pretty substantial cost ramifications to working in chert, maybe even try to use other methods than dozers. Track pads in 500 hours leads to a pretty significant cost per hour. We have a lot of river cobble in the valleys which is typically very forgiving with too much water. Then we get a sandy loam, black sand, clay, and eventually basalt. One side of a small mountain range can be a lot different than the other as fas as clay content. Everywhere seems to have some degree of volcanic ash mixed it where it is above where the rivers have run throughout history. The mention of sea shells is interesting. We find them up rather high above valley bottoms at times. My assumption is remnants of the historic Lake Bonneville. A snapshot of the past for sure.
We used the 6 just for fine grading. The excavators did the bulk excavation. Also rented an 8 to rip and prep for the excavators This was a project I was developing for myself so cost per hour had to be weighed against the interest clock. Turned out to be a lucrative project. That's wild about the volcanic ash.
When Yellowstone blew a good share of the west got a substantial covering of ash. There is a display at one of the places in the park that compares amount of ash from Mt. St. Helens, which I witnessed, to that of Yellowstone. I don't remember for sure, but as I recall Mt. St Helens was like the equivalent of one brick of a flatbed loaded with pallets of bricks. We're waiting for the next eruption, where we will sit on the porch with a stiff drink and watch the end of the world as we know it!
Side note - The area I live in at the turn of the 20th century was strewn with wildcat mines dug by hand to mine the coal and iron ore for the steel mills in Birmingham. Our old downtown dates back to the mid 1800's and had a short line RR to move the ore and coal to the mills. There were also several coke ovens as well. US Steel still owns most of the large tracts of land and is slowly developing it. USS donated the land for the new high school and developed a mixed use parcel where our new city hall is being built. We actually have a project coming up in this development next month that entails a small amphitheater type park. One of the larger civil contractors just finished up a small residential subdivision I drove through today. Surprised to see 2 wildcat mines just outside the edge of the lot that had not been remediated. Appears they have collapsed over time though. Just thought it was interesting.
The black silty clays here are no fun all. Moisture scale goes moon dust>chunky peanut butter>bottomless pit. The first few feet of black clay up in hills is highly expansive on top of the other problems. I wish we had chert or even the hard river rock deposits like @Oxbow has. I still remember driving by an unirrigated field corner on my first day in Mud Lake and looking down and down some more before realizing the whole 8 acre patch was a gravel pit.
I have to wonder about the area near our house. Many places with the remains of stone fences. Some of them go through wooded areas that now have grown up. At some time I'm guessing they would have been the edges of someone's fields. Just a couple days back I was walking behind our property as there is no snow and the weeds have not sprung up yet. At sometime in the distant past this area must have had some major geological activity. At an area where the "ground level" must be 15 to 20 feet above our back yard there are large chunks of I'm assuming limestone (as the quarry just up the road where I worked is limestone) many of them would be too big to move with a 988H loader, but they are sitting on top of the ground and covered with moss. I have a feeling that much of the dirt for our yard was at one time on top of those blocks of stone!
K that could be castoffs from glaciers
It's been years since I have been in Yellowstone Park and I was trying to remember the name of the place that had information on the geologic activity in the park. I'm pretty sure this was it: Canyon Visitor Education Center - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Canyon Visitor Education Center www.nps.gov It is a shame, living only a couple hours from the park, that we do not go there more often. It's the tourist thing I suppose, but it really is an interesting place. For those that haven't been, I would recommend it despite the numbers of people (often asian tour groups) that think they are in a petting zoo with the bison and bears.
Dont tellum any different
Must have been through here a couple years before I started work at the quarry! Although there have been a few winters that I might have thought we were going to see a glacier or two! I might see if I can get some pictures before the weeds and leaves come out on the trees. I can recall my first wife had talked to one of the old-timers around here that claimed there were caves some where not far from us that were used as part of the "Under Ground Railroad" in the early 1800's to help move people over to the next town a few miles from us. I do know that about 40 years ago when the quarry just down the road had a problem with one part of the pit flooding in the spring the solution was to drill a hole in one of the low points of the pit to let the water drain out!
Aaaand, just like that what pops up on my browser! Lol In the event anyone is curious. MSN
So let me tell you how they are listening to you.....
Danged if I know, but I do know that if I'm snooping around machinery trader my wife all of a sudden gets adds for equipment, and I'm busted!
Shhhhhhhh Alexa is listening and your phone and your smart tv and all this other fn crap. Area lost internet and cell phone Sunday morning and didnt get it back till Monday night, picked out a good book and started reading.
@CM1995 I was talking to one of my friends about Stutsman's 963 with Oilquick and he sent me this pic of one of their 963C's with what I assume is indicate-only GPS. He said it was more my speed. He's probably right.
Cool. The 63 has dual receivers so it could be more than indicate only. Interesting that both the excavator and loader are GPS equipped yet they still have a laser set up to what I assume they are using to the lay the pipe for the overflow. We do the same and still use a laser to lay pipe.
What kind of excavator is that? It looks like a Cat Next Gen (It looks a lot like my 325), but I don't recognize the boom/dipper configuration. Both of those machines look like they have GPS receivers. I would think that an indicate only system would be 2d, and have a lazer catch (a lazer receiver, that detects the beam emitted by the lazer) instead of those GPS receivers.
The excavator has a variable angle boom. It's a factory option up to the 326. Cat might build a 335 in the US with one if you ask really nice. I know way more about agriculture GPS than I do construction, and even less about GPS on track loaders, but I thought to have 3D indicate on a dozer or a loader it takes 2 receivers. I guess the fact the receivers are cab mounted means the loader has to have position sensors, but even then doesn't automatic require valving the GPS can control?
Time to update some progress - A little RCP storm pipe on the amphitheater job. Short run of 18" RCP and a 48" pre-cast basin for a single wing curb inlet. The new line is designed to tie into an existing brick inlet box that is who knows how old. Guys got creative with the bell they cut off the stick entering the box and used it as a stub. The brick box was too narrow for the OD of the pipe so the guys notched it. Needless to say I was impressed by that. Gas line was just to the right of the box. Old 305E earning it's keep. The second RCP line on this project. Approx. 150' of 18" squish/elliptical RCP. Had to use elliptical in order to get under the AT&T fiber duct bank that is live. The elliptical pipe is heavier than round RCP however the new 305 handled it well. For reference our 279D's only wanted one stick on the forks, 2 sticks would make it tippy. AT&T duct bank with concrete "encasement" which consisted of 4-5 2" PVC conduits in the bottom of the ditch they dug with around 8-10" of concrete poured over. Needless to say this was a PITA and our laborers earned their keep. AT&T man was very helpful and stayed with us while uncovering the duct bank. Crew even got an atta' boy for their work from the AT&T man. Found an old service in the pic above we guess was natural gas. Not 100% sure it was dead at the main so had to work around it. We did know there was an 8" high pressure gas main and we found in the good way with some shovel work. Had to raise the flow line of the 18" RCP .15' to go over it. If you hit that yellow line it'll sound like a jet engine.. We wanted to set the 48" pre-cast curb inlet then go 90 degrees towards the amphitheater then set a junction box in order to switch from squish to normal RCP and get away from all the utilities. Unfortunately the site sign footing for the north entrance would conflict with this storm line so we had to stick to the plans.
Progress pics from the overall project. Stage - Service yard - Loading dock behind the stage. This is where the 18 wheelers will unload all the bands gear. Switchback ramp to the left in the pic along with the "artists" patio area mentioned up thread. Concrete guys did a good job on the zig-zag layout in the artist patio. Side note there will be some well known artists that will hang out here. Luke Brian, Jason Isabell, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Jason Aldean, Toto, Men at Work and Def Leppard to name the first season.
A few more update pics - North Plaza finishing up with concrete flatwork, artificial turf, reclaimed granite curb benches and plantings. Main stage. Some of the last spoils haul off. We loaded this out on hired tri-axles to our dump. Cradle to grave spoil disposal. Thick, heavy, wet red clay however the 20+ year old 953C was up to the job. We've hauled off around 300 loads on this project. Dump push off with the 953 is my quiet time. Leave the phone in the truck, fire up the '53, listen to the radio and enjoy the reason why we got into this profession to begin with - move some dirt. It's strangely therapeutic.
Is that a Husqvarna concrete saw in one of the previous pictures? How do you like it? I don't need a saw all that often but occasionally need to cut some asphalt or concrete and it would be nice not to have to rent, so I'm thinking about picking up a used one.
Yeah that's a Husky. We've had better reliability out of the Husky's over the Stihl as far as rescue saws go. Ironically we've had better luck out of the Stihl chainsaws than the Husky's. FWIW I would buy a new one. Usually the used ones are for sale of a reason.
Question: Do you or the engineers shoot all pipe and boxes with your rover to create an accurate as-built? Pretty time consuming, but if you/they ever have to go back in it sure would be nice to have precise locations on everything. One of the larger companies in our area does that with all their underground projects. They have compiled quite a database over the years. I'm not sure how they reconcile control points and coordinate systems between engineers.
Usually the pipe and boxes are set per the plan so for as-builts we'll note any changes from plan on a PDF. Curb inlets pretty much have to go where the plan shows or it's a re-design. Yard inlets in landscape areas and flat grate inlets in parking areas can be wiggled some if need be. On that 48" round box upthread the back of curb needs to line up with the edge of the box for a poured n place single wing inlet. 95% of the time it's just a flow line elevation change so we just shoot it with the rover and label it on a PDF. Not real high tech but it works. As far as control points go we have the surveyor of record, which 75% of the time also has in house surveying, set at least 5 points. On this job we are using the same control as the engineer/surveyor.
A little R&R side trip to San Antonio for the NCAA mens final 4 tourney. Booked an Air BnB within walking distance of the stadium. First time in San Antonio and we had a great time. Beautiful city with wonderful people. We will go back again. We had great seats for the first game of Auburn v Florida. Unfortunately my Tigers didn't win. We arrived Friday and left the next Tuesday so we had time to explore the city. The River Walk area is a touristy but a very interesting area for the construction mind with the canals and how the streets and walks interact with the canal. One hell of a vision to create this. Night time is really beautiful. Wife has family in Kerrville north of San Antonio so they drove down to take us to the airport on Tuesday with a stop for lunch at the historic Pearl brewing company area they have turned into a mixed use area with apartments, stores and eateries. Had a nice lunch before heading to the airport and noticed this bench. I love to repurpose things from the demo jobs we do. Assuming this was some sort of structural column or beam they turned into a park bench.
What they built to keep the river walk from flooding is wild.
when I worked on the Cowlitz Falls project in the 90's, we encountered a vein of yellow pumice the size and almost the color of Captain Crunch cereal. It was all over near the river and we learned that it came from an earlier St' Helens eruption, not Mt. Rainier. It did float. if you shoveled some out for a footpath it stayed clean. Closer to St. Helens it gets bigger and bigger and is hand-sized.
Started a new project this week as the amphitheater winds down. City park in a new mixed used development that is also home to my little towns new city hall. This job is super nice as it's literally 10 mins from home. Project is located within a very large planned development. There is a walking trail that connects various neighborhoods to the high school and intermediate school so there is a lot of foot and bike traffic right next to the project. Placed some portable fence panels along the concrete walking path to be demo'd then silt fence with caution tape on top followed by orange fencing. CYA The concrete side walk comes out and a new one will be poured. Our scope includes erosion control, site demo, grading and storm sewer. New city hall in the background under construction. This park project will anchor the new mixed-used development Personally I can't stand cyclists that bike on a main road that is full of traffic causing vehicles to back up. It's dangerous for the cyclists and the motorists. There are miles of quiet subdivisions they can bike until they're content. Getting a little therapy with the 305E. I'm the B Team - I get all the old equipment to work with.
As the amphitheater turns - We had existing sidewalk, curb and gutter demo on 2 of the streets that surround the site. Also had the grading for both. The entire service/loading yard is concrete with 6" compacted DGB. In an effort to save time for both the project and our schedule we made a deal to spread and compact the DGB in the service yard for the concrete in exchange for them grading the curbs and walks. Have to admit we came out smelling like a rose on the deal however we have invested in the tech via GPS to make it easy. The concrete guys would've had to use blue tops, lasers and strings. Something we handled fairly easily. With that being said we were still tasked via T+M with hauling off the spoils generated from the sidewalk and curb grading. Concrete guys got aggressive cutting out for the curb and pulled some large chunks of asphalt out. No real worries as the city is milling and repaving the entire seat. Same view after we hauled off the debris - 27 triaxle loads all loaded with a 305 and 3' bucket. Painstaking to say the least but didn't have a larger hoe on site. This pic is after we backfilled the curb -4" below curb/sidewalk and the landscaper installed topsoil. Loving the new 305 BTW. View back towards the service/loading yard. Landscaper was bringing in some nice sandy topsoil Main entrance to the north. Landscape design called for re-using the granite curbs that are all over the city as a focal point. They cut them in 3' sections or so then stood them up on their ends. I think it looks pretty cool. Have 5 loads of these curbs ranging from 3' long to 10' including some curved ones at our dump. The effort it took to chisel the curved pieces out is phenomenal. We just don't see that level of craftsmanship now a days. I'll take a pic when I get them all sorted out with a mini ex.
Random pics around the project - Water works replacing a main line on 25th. The curb inlet we installed up thread is on the left with the Silt Saver on top of it. Curb and sidewalk backfill along the service yard back towards the entrance to the VIP parking. Fencing installed through a double wing inlet. Posts were installed before the throat was poured - Maybe it's OK? Hospital across the street is being demolished to make way for a new mixed used project with apartments, retail, office and restaurants. Side note - I had my lasik surgery performed in that building many moons ago. Irony I guess - or I'm just getting old..
Back at the park project. Stripping the topsoil with the D3. So far the topsoil has been thick ranging in the 1'-3' deep range. The topsoil was stockpiled here during mass grading so it's not naturally deposited. View back towards the walking trail tunnel under the road. There are 2- 15" HDPE storm lines with inline drains at the end. One of the two to catch the valley gutter around the other tunnel for the walking trail. Second 15" HDPE drain line to drain the area in front of the 2nd pedestrian tunnel. Really loving the new 305.
Storm sewer at the park project. We had to remove an existing grate inlet then remove enough 24" HDPE pipe in order to set the a new manhole for the line extension. The reason for removing the inlet and part of the existing line was to lower the invert for the next 2 proposed curb inlets. Crew removed the existing grate inlet and top which turned out to be really easy since the previous contractor barely grouted the 24" HDPE pipe and didn't even pour an invert. The existing pipe popped right out. As a VE (value engineered) option it was presented to the owner and engineer that we could re-use this base as the starting point of the new 24" RCP storm line since it was in good shape. No sense in landfilling it and buying a new one. Cut a hole on the opposite side and began the 24" RCP extension. Used manhole installed. Our crew properly grouted both pipes and poured an invert. 24" RCP End of the line. The reason for the over excavation on the right of the structure was due to the operator finding a big footing from a previous structure. Look at the line 1/2 up the second bench, that's a layer of asphalt. This area has been a couple of things over the year.
We use the GPS on the 325 to dig the trench but still lay pipe with a laser for better accuracy. Typical set up with dual slope laser in the starting manhole. If we have the room like we have on this project it's so much easier and faster to open cut deep pipe runs then backfill and compact instead of pulling boxes. The backfill goes in quick and the 533 compacts easily. The little plate tamp on the new 305 has been handier than a shirt pocket and easily paying for itself. Originally bought it for this - backfilling around structures with spoils instead of crushed stone or having to use an unreliable trench roller. New city hall under construction in the background.
Little plate tamp at work.
We bought a plate tamper for our CX80 last year and it’s worth its weight in gold. Here in PA, any trench that’s under an improved surface (concrete, asphalt) is spec’d to be backfilled with 100% stone. So naturally we try to keep those trenches as narrow as we can. Our tamper is 24” wide which helps as opposed to a trench roller at 30”-32” wide.
proper moisture content makes/breaks production, quality of compaction.
It's up to the muni or engineer's spec here. If it's a trench through an improved surface 100% stone backfill but if it's a proposed improved surface it varies. We have had good success with the bench method even on shallower trenches. I like being able to compact a larger area on top of the trench with the 84" roller to bench the fill in like keying into an existing slope with new fill. 100%. Although I am sure you've been on a job where the nuke gauge was lying. Recent project we were on had a very heavy clay with some rock in it. We were running fill in 8" lifts and an overloaded tandem dump wasn't leaving a crease in it even while turning so we thought it was good. Dirt doc gave a thumbs down and said it's too dry. So we scarified and added water a couple of times before we hit optimum moisture. Well the same loaded tandem was pumping the compacted lift and leaving 2-3" ruts. Talked the Dirt Doc and he called the engineer. Engineer from the office of course said "Nope that's the correct proctor go with it." And we did. The seasoned Dirt Doc's will forgo the gauge when they know it's lying and use a loaded truck since a loaded truck is like yoga pants, drunks and small children - it's doesn't lie.
Mostly cut and a little fill at the park project. The L9000 shined once again moving around 3500 CY's on site. No staking all GPS. We had to demo some 24" HDPE pipe to install the new 24" RCP. There wasn't enough silt fence and 24" pipe demo debris to get a 20 yard and it was too far to the dump to take it in the 9000 so I hitched up to the dump trailer and headed to the landfill. Who knew the landfill had treats! Life is good even on a trip to the dump.
Getting ready to start a scrape and rebuild of a popular chicken sandwich joint. GC asked if we could pothole some existing utilities (8" water and 4" gas) to see if the lines are going to interfere with the proposed storm lines. Contacted Badger Daylighting for the job. 4 holes in 2 locations along the city street. First time using them and they did a great job. Pete tri-drive hydrovac. PITA to get turned around with city traffic. One of two locations. The surge rock that was a 1' deep made the process painfully slow and tedious with temps in the high 90's and humidity in the same range. First hole we found the 4" gas, 8" water and electrical conduit that appears to be site lighting. The conduit doesn't matter as it will be ripped out with all the other site improvements. First hole covered and safe'd up so the surveyors can come to shoot grade and location. Once they are done getting the data we'll fill the holes in.
Second hole by the entrance. Found the gas, water and an unidentified 4" ductile/cast iron line that is not on the as-built's. Always a challenge. Hole safe'd up.
Went to a demo day put on by our local Cat dealer. They had: D5 with Cat factory installed full auto GPS 815 with Trimble indicate and Cat compaction control 265 with a grader blade running Trimble GPS on one side and a sonic tracer on the other 303 mini with an AMI RODRADAR bucket 323 with full auto GPS 730 haul truck A mid sized wheel loader didn't get the number D3 with Topcon setup CS12 autonomous compactor (what we went to see) 303 mini with AMI RODRADAR bucket. They set up a demo with a pit filled with sand and several PVC pipes ran through. The operator slid the bucket over the top and the bucket produced an image inside the machine of what's underground and the depth from surface. Sensors on the bottom of the bucket set in Hardox. Didn't get a pic of the tablet inside the machine but the demonstrator pointed out the last image which is the 4 PVC stub up that was filled with water. It gave off a different image from the other 2 indicating it was a water filled pipe. RODRADAR Live Dig Radar® Bucket - AMI Attachments® Take the guesswork out of locating utilities with the all-new Live Dig Radar® bucket — the first-ever ground penetrating radar system that’s integrated directly into an excavator bucket. www.amiattachments.com This pic was taken after a pop up afternoon storm that drenched the site. Got to run a 265 equipped with GPS on the left and sonic tracer on the right. This machine setup (265 with blade) would be valuable to us fine grading a parking lot after the curbing has been installed. Usually we'll put a parking lot to subgrade then the curb guy comes in, pours all the curb and we come back to put everything back on grade after the curb guy messes it up. 99 times out of 100 the curb guy does not install the curb per the plan (which is another complaint/bitch/discussion) so we usually have to re-grade the subgrade so the asphalt contractor doesn't go over on quantities and that turns into another issue. The sonic tracer on one side of the blade is there to chase the profile of the as-built curb and left GPS side grades per the model we already have and previously graded to. Wanted to take a spin in the D5 and 815 but it was getting late in the afternoon and we had an hour drive thru rush hour back home. This is what we went to see - Cat CS 12 autonomous roller. Sitech Bluelight technology. Basically you drive the machine around the designated site setting the boundaries then program how many passes you want inside that boundary and the offset per pass. Turn it on and let it go. There is a remote control tablet for the compactor that would either be with a super in a truck or the cab with the dozer operator. I see this tech being used on a fill lift where the dozer operator is spreading the fill out then engaging the auto compactor behind. Roll the desired passes to achieve compaction then turn itself off. There are cameras front and back for detecting anything in it's path that wasn't there before like a dumbass meandering across the site and stop the machine sending a warning and picture to the tablet. My Sitech salesman said there is a auto plant under construction in South Carolina that is using this technology on 10 compactors. They are building a several 100K SF pad where the specs call for 2" lifts. During the day the contractor is hauling and spreading fill across the pad and at night they deploy 10 autonomous compactors to compact the lift all controlled by one guy in a pickup. Rinse and repeat the next day. The price to set up this CS12 is roughly $20K for the hardware and a $20K per year subscription which includes regular updates. If it eliminates 1 person off the payroll that's a slam dunk.
Just saw State Dot mowing the hills on the overpasses with a remote controlled Mini Skid. Pulled over to talk to him and he explained, once he’s mapped all the overpasses with a 5 or 6 to 1 slope and any other areas that can’t get mowed with normal equipment, all he has to do is unload it and press go, while he sits in his truck, drinking coffee. Lol
Autonomous equipment for repetitive tasks such as rollers, haul trucks and mowers like you said HH are the way things are going to be done in the not so distant future. Soon the guy in the truck watching one mower will be watching several mowers. Then the guy will be watching them from screens in and office. Then AI will replace the guy monitoring. Fascinating and scare as hell all at the same time.
In the UK we have a BBC tv show called race across the world, the premises of this is to get from place A to place B normally 1000's of miles away without any mobile phones or access to the internet and only having the price of the airfare to do the same journey, they go in teams of two against each other normally 5 teams. anyway I'm going away from the point I was going to make. in the most recent afore mentioned TV show they had to go from Huanghuacheng, China to Kanyakumari, India, on the way you can stop to work to earn more money, one couple stopped at a salt making flat, they tread the area with bare feet to get the moisture out, when they asked the Indian owner why he doesn't have a machine to this his reply was quite stark and simple " then what would people do to earn money " and that has always been in the back of mind while the 1st world is atomising everything to make it " easier and cheaper" what are we going to do to keep people employed and earning money to live with??
Sounds like the Amazing Race we have here in the US. Wife and I have been watching the show for years and once thought of competing. Back in the mid 90's I spent some time in Kenya. Of course back then there was very little heavy equipment and I asked one of my friends living there why don't they at least have a backhoe for trenching and such. The response was - If someone had a machine it would be destroyed overnight because the machine would be taking away their jobs. Here in the 1st world the tech is coming at a faster rate than I would have ever imagined. Nothing we individuals can do to stop it so we better learn how live and work with it. As far as replacing jobs - What happened to the horse carriage makers when the auto came out?
A little fill in job trenching for comm conduit, primary and secondary power for a local high school football field expansion that includes a new field house, jumbotron and other hardscape upgrades. Our role is rented equipment with operator. This is for a local MEP contractor we do sub work for from time to time and also work side by side on some projects. 800' of primary power trench that includes 2 - 5" and 2 -3". Starting at new pole set by APCO. Lotta underground that was sorta marked... Pre-cast pull box excavation at mile marker 290' or so. No that is not our step ladder in the ditch - sparkies. Secondary trench with a comm conduit running from press box side to the new field house. There is a another secondary and comm conduit on the other side coming out of the new field house going to new jumbotron on the opposite side of the field. No we did not do the saw cutting.. "New" 305 has 500 hours on it now and we haven't had it a year yet. Earning it's keep EOBD
Wow! Way out of my skill set. We just ‘hog’ out pay dirt… lol!
When tenths of a foot matter the tech shines however there is nothing like bulking cut and fill. Getting in the groove with the excavator, trucks, dozer and rollers - once you get the mojo going it's hard to stop it - just one more load.
Like picking a booger! lol
Mob'd some equipment to our new scrape and rebuild job. Quick serve joint known for chicken. Leaving our yard with the last load this morning. It's nice to be able to get the D3 and 533 on one load. Local towing service owns the rigs and I get them to move all our equipment. That Landoll is one sweet trailer to load and off load from. Moved the 321 first then the 325. 321 will be doing the building demo for obvious reasons. Last load dropped off right before lunch. Didn't need the dozer or roller yet just wanted to move them all at one time. We'll bring in the small iron and storage boxes. No fuel tank on site for this one, we'll carry fuel in our slip tanks. Gas company on site killing the 2 gas services. One was 2".
Thats interesting on the price. There is an aftermarket company making a full autonomy kit for Ag Tractors. Its $60K for the GPS cameras and interfacing gear. They hadn't figured out the yearly subscription price. At the field demo they ran last summer it was interesting to see it out and running. This system operated a little different from what you described, it would run off the GPS boundary set up based off of field maps. You could also set up different zones in the field, so if it was wet, it would stay out of those areas. I would still have trouble trusting that it wouldn't get stuck, and send an error message to my phone. They are able to detect stationary objects in the field, and work around what ever they are. And if someone or thing moves towards the machine, it comes to a stop, and stays stopped until the operator tells it to keep going. They are also working on autonomy for road travel. I think there Idea is that a lead tractor would head to the field with an operator, and the autonomous one would follow along. With out knowing what equipment in installed on the packer the price seems more reasonable than what they are charging for ag equipment.
How SiTech described it to me is the roller is fitted with simple GPS antennas and a camera forward and rear. An operator drives the area boundary and logs in the work area. The operator then sets how many passes and the offset on each pass. Hit the go button and when it's done it parks itself. The operator has a tablet that controls the machine. If anyone or anything comes in the area the machine stops and the camera sends a picture to the operator. The "lead and follow" technique is where I think this tech will shine. Have an experienced operator lead the autonomous machines. They said this technology is basically the same as the driverless taxis like Waymo just adapted to equipment. If you think about it the roller application is more simple than programming a driverless taxi to drive through crowded city streets. Saw the Waymo driverless taxis a couple of years ago in San Fransisco. Didn't ride in one though.
Finally getting rid of the heavy red clay spoils from the amphitheater job. Had a couple of loads off to the side that I haven't pushed off yet and the piles were still soaking wet. Nasty heavy red clay. Had to get the edge cleared for all the asphalt, concrete and misc debris coming in from our current quick serve restaurant scrape and rebuild project. The dump and the old 953 is therapy - just something about it I really enjoy.
Scooping up wet clay is where a track loader shines.
As the scrape and rebuild goes - Lucy had the opportunity to make a last minute walk thru before the carnage began. Let the demo begin - Obviously the 321 is the primary machine. TPO roofing is alot tougher than one would think. Knocked out the red iron columns holding up the LVL beam and the TPO still held the 2x roof up. Working towards the main entrance. One of the last stores with a covid factory... errr playground. Surprising amount of red iron and LVL's in this building. More on that later. BTW - That playground equipment is pretty damn tough. Ran over it with the 321 and couldn't crush some of the pieces.
That playground equipment is tough. A little messier than I would like but the red iron I beams were a PITA to get out. Couldn't break the welds or the bolted connections so had to break it loose and drag it all out in one piece. Finally ripped the red iron I beams and columns out. We gas axed them into pieces long enough to fit in a 30 yard can. Decent amount of tin shred, aluminum and stainless. Not enough to warrant separating so it all went in the 30 yard. Loading out some of the asphalt parking lot. 2 - 30's full of metal ready to be picked up. Had 6 - 30 yard cans of scrap total.
A weekend RnR getaway to God's Country aka Auburn, Al. Toomers Corner. Samford Hall. Auburn has a fairly new culinary and hospitality school that includes Alabama's only 5 star hotel and several restaurants housed in one building with a roof top bar called Walt'z on the Roof. All the servers, chefs, bartenders and staff are college students. The Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center | Auburn University The Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center at Auburn University stands to prepare graduates for an array of careers within the broad hospitality industry with immersive, hands-on learning opportunities, while also providing exceptional service to patrons visiting the facility’s... ranecenter.auburn.edu Wife and I celebrated our 21 year anniversary at 1856. 5 course dinner that was fantastic. There is a roof top bar called Waltz on the Roof. Pretty neat feature they offer on their signature margarita is a custom printed photo in the lemongrass foam. You can upload a picture and they'll print if for an extra $1. I opted for the complimentary signature. Impressive none the less for college students. Pic taken from the roof.
Congrats on the anniversary!
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Asphalt, curbing and landscaping removal. Apparently this site was a renovation instead of a new build. Removed some of the existing light pole bases to find this. Looks like they put a sono tube over an existing pole base and poured on top. Had to bring the big hammer in to break it apart. The green concrete usually means an older mix that used blast furnace slag which was a byproduct of the USS steel mill in Fairfield. Future operator in training. 17 years old and a natural. One of our guy's son. I've know him since he was born.
Thanks!
Since the chicken joint scrape and rebuild started I inherited the high school stadium trenching job to finish up. Gotta admit it's kinda fun having your own project again. So I pulled rank and kept the new 305 with cab and A/C - it's July in Alabama afterall. The older 305E went to the scrape and rebuild where it hammered misc concrete demo debris. Not putting a hammer on the new machine.. Loving this machine. Best mini I've owned and ran. Breaking off the 2" data line to the softball field pressbox. Secondary power trench consisting of 2 -3" and 1 -2" data conduit. Made it to the batting cages then Badger is going to hydro-excavate the remaining 20' or so due to unknown buried lines. Site contractor already installed a 15" HDPE and 30" HDPE storm drain this conduit run had go under. I was able to punch under the 15" but ran out of geometry on the 30". Felt sorry for the electricians punching under that 30" in the heat. Did what I could around the 30" pipe. Dug a foot or so below on invert on either side to help the shovel work go somewhat easier.
Usually try and buy a new attachment when we have a job that it can be useful and most importantly paid for on. Bought the big H130 hammer for a large arena project. Bought the little B8 hammer for a downtown reno project and bought the hoe pack for an amphitheater project. All 3 of those purchases have paid off 3 fold or more. The little hoe pack is a very nice little attachment that I see getting a lot use. Bought it for the amphitheater project and it paid for itself on that project in reduced stone backfill alone. Packing the secondary trench from the transformer to the softball press box. Learned a trick to release the pressure on any attachment on these minis. Before you unhook the plate tamp turn the machine off then turn it back on and let the screen come up. Lower the armrest lock and move the joysticks in a circular motion. You'll see the hydro lines slightly move releasing any pressure. Turn the machine back off and unhook the lines. This releases the pressure on the machine and the attachment making it easier when you need to hook it back up. Next attachment is a new sweeper. Our Bobcat sweeper is old, used, tired and well a Bobcat brand. Just need a job with enough sweeping to justify buying a new one. Cat Financial usually runs a 24 month 0% deal on attachments which makes it easy to acquire small gear when you need it.
Had a punch list item on a commercial subdivision we did last year up in North AL. City engineer didn't like the "steep" grade around the poles and utility cabinets once we installed the curb, asphalt and sidewalk complete with handicap ramp to know where. Hydroseeder did their job on some grass no doubt. During the walkthrough with city engineer I almost blurted out - "The damn utility cabinets have been there for years at that grade along the existing street with no problem" - however the right shoulder Angle stepped in and overruled the left shoulder devil. So our engineer contacted Comcast and they determined the box closest to the HC ramp was dead and could be removed so the surrounding area could be lowered. Easy work. Now that the old cabinet has been removed Comcast can relocate the working box to this area. I'll have to come back and remove the old one then lower that grade to the city engineers liking. The 200 pair phone cable in the pic is an old line we removed when installing the street entrance. Left it there until all this tom foolery is over with then I'll cut it off flush with the ground. This project is a 2 hour drive north from our normal working area. So I loaded up Lucy aka The Goose and we headed north with the 305 in tow. We always stop off at a rest area on I-65 in Cullman for a stretch and pee brake for both of us. Always interesting to see what's in the truck parking lot. This time it was a mini-goose in a Pete. Looked like a Corgi with black and tan markings.
Did you color code the hyd. lines or is that from the factory? Great idea. Looks like they're labeled too.
That's factory. Pretty good idea.
The factory thinking about the mechanics that have to repair their machines... what a novel concept!
They weren't its for the installer on the line
“My Sitech salesman said there is a auto plant under construction in South Carolina that is using this technology on 10 compactors. They are building a several 100K SF pad where the specs call for 2" lifts. During the day the contractor is hauling and spreading fill across the pad and at night they deploy 10 autonomous compactors to compact the lift all controlled by one guy in a pickup. Rinse and repeat the next day.” My kid lived near there and took this picture last March. The place is HUGE! It’s crazy to think of 2” lifts over the entire area!
Still makes it a good feature for the customer.
Nice use of property there with the GD solar scam.
Cool! Sitech guy didn't say where so that could be it.
That appears to be the building. Could have solar panels on the roof.
Sometimes in the site work business one has to take care of the PITA items that come along with the business. This time it was a city engineer. Engineer + government worker = Project we completed in North AL almost a year ago. City engineer didn't like the "slope" around the existing utility cabinets and in order to release the developers bond required them to lower the area and reinstall the cabinets. During our final walk through I almost blurted out - "It's the same slope on the existing street that hasn't been a problem for over 30 years" but I held my tongue. Fast forward to our engineer finally getting the telcom engineer to tell him the cabinet closest to the sidewalk is old and not in service so we can remove the cabinet, lower the grade then they will swap the working cabinet to this area. Then we can lower the grade where the working cabinet was located. Total BS. Anyway area cleared of any underground. Apparently these cabinets on on the ground and the cable comes down the pole, through the box and back up the pole. Cabinet on the right is the old one. One on the left is the operational one. Defunct cabinet removal. The 2" conduit on the pole came down the pole and swept into the box. The 200 pair phone line laying on the ground is an old one we cut back when we put the street in. The 3' bucket with cutting edge welded on the 2 outer teeth came in very handy for stuff like this since I had to track the cut material up the street and spread behind the curb.
Back at the high school stadium power conduit. Heading around the batting cages towards the final destination riser pole. Sparkies had Badger come out and hydrovac the last portion of the ditch due to unknown conduits. Good thing they did since there was a wad of them. Trench backfilled and warning tape installed 2' down or so around the batting cages. Really loving the new 305. Pushing 500 hrs on it and not even a year old yet.
Back at the chicken shack rebuild. Demo completed except for some misc asphalt parking and curb we are leaving in until the majority of the hauling is completed. Easier to keep the trucks on asphalt to reduce tracking on the public street. Usually how this goes is we demo the building, footings, curb, asphalt, etc down to dirt then proof roll the existing grade before any cut or fill is performed. This time was no different. The new building shifted to the south in order to incorporate the new double drive thru which placed the new building pad in old landscape and parking areas. Loaded tri-axle with lift axle up grossing around 85k. Dirt Doc gave a big ol' thumbs down. Dirt doc said cut 2' in the front part of the pad and 1' in the rear. Normal spec is to take the UC 5' outside of the building area. Since this building has several bump outs we took the outermost points and went 5' outside from there to make the box. Sketch of the area. 1' and 2' UC performed with another proof roll. The rear of the pad failed, the front passed. Front portion of the store.
Pro-tip. Just for documentation reasons later on down the line if the GC or owner questions a change order we always try to get a pic of the dirt doc for a time and date stamp. The pics go into the daily report for documentation. Rear of the building pad that failed. 1st attempt was to cut 1.5' out in a test strip 10' wide across the width of the pad, fill in 9" lifts and proof roll again. D3 making the cut. Filling and packing the test strip.
The 10' test strip passed so the dirt doc proceeded with the remainder of the UC next to it. Width of the pad 16.5' wide and 3.75' deep. Dirt doc was happy. Filling in the last of the UC. Dirt Doc observing.
UC passed the proof roll so on with filling the pad to subgrade. Plans called for 6" stone and 4" concrete so .83 below FFE. Always get the fun fill in jobs on the machine that has no A/C... Great material coming out of the storm water detention system cut. Final proof roll at subgrade = passed. Our 533E roller is a smooth drum with a shell kit however it's a PITA to remove the shell. Since this is a small pad we used a 279D to slick it off after the proof roll. Makes it look nice and smooth with no sheeps foot holes to catch water. This mocking bird has a major issue with Lucy being on the job. During the day I'll walk her around the site and this damn bird will dive bomb both her and I both. This bird will land on the fence 5-6' away from me and give me a talking down. Here it is on my toolbox with Lucy inside the truck. The drivers side rear window is down so Lucy can watch the jobsite and this bird flew around my truck squawking for over 20 mins. Wildlife is wild.
The storm water detention system is located in the rear parking lot behind a defunct drug store chain building. The system is designed to back up water in a major rain event otherwise it will never hold any water. System consists of 7 runs of 48" HDPE pipe 150' long each with 7 inspection ports and an 18" HDPE manifold that dumps into a curb inlet. The pipe invert out of this curb inlet is lower than the inlet to the detention system. Don't get paid to design it - we get paid to install it. South end of the system where we dug the dirt for the pad UC. Cutting out the north end of the system. 279 in the bottom keeping the crumbs pushed up to the 325. I'm on the ol' 321DL loading trucks fresh back from the shop with a new A/C compressor, dryer and overhead ran. Ol' girl runs like a top and I enjoy running it. Rented a 926 wheel loader for a week to shuttle the stone bedding and backfill for the 48" pipe barrels that make the bulk of the system. Rental Store sent us a brand new one with 6 hours on the clock. 6" of #57 stone bedding spread in the bottom of the system. Didn't get time to run the 926 much today but it's a very nice machine. First wheel loader I've ever ran. We'll put it through the paces next week.
Less than 1/2 of the 48" pipe delivered for the detention system last Wed. Filling in on truck loading duty with the 321. Concrete guys showed up to start the footings. Last load of the week. Taking some of the good red structural fill to our dump to be stockpiled for future projects. All the pipe has been delivered except for the damn 48" split couplings that we need to install the fabricated end caps on the 48" pipe for the starting run. Can't install **** without those split couplings.
Is the system supposed to back flow into the 48" pipe during high rain rate events and then drain through the flat 24" back to the grate inlet? Wouldn't it have to back up the 18" line too before the detention system starts filling? How much gravel backfill is the 48" pipe getting?
Yes that's the engineers intent. There is an OCS (outlet control structure) right before the WQU (water quality unit) that has a weir wall that backs the water up through the system during a large rain event. 24" pipe comes in and 18" pipe goes to the WQU. The WQU is an ADS Barracuda. We have installed a couple of these along with the Contech versions. The intent of this structure is to clean the stormwater leaving the site. Floatables and grit dump into the bowl where the floatables cannot make it back around the fins to exit and the grit settles on the bottom. These structures have to be inspected yearly by a certified stormwater inspector for trash and silt accumulation. If it's full it has to be vac'd out and documented. As more of these are required on new construction it would make a nice side business inspecting and cleaning them out. It's 16' deep so we'll have to rent a shoring box. 200 TNS for the bedding layer and around 900 TNS for pipe backfill.
Sounds like a good place for rats to live.
Always a optimist? It could be frogs.
Ha! It'd be hard for either to get out once they got in.
As the detention system turns - First run of 7 - 48" barrels with solid end caps. Brought the rock box that the 926 can fill up for the 325 to place. Rinse and repeat. Side note - GPS on the D3 sped this operation up tremendously since each run had to be regraded before setting. What would've taken 30-45 mins with a skid or dozer and laser took 10 mins then back to setting pipe. 150' of chamber length total X7 rows. Impressed with the 926. Not sure one has a place in our operation yet but it was very handy for this project.
140' of the 150' of chamber required. First time laying 48" HDPE so we were concerned somewhat about how it would bell up since some of the smaller diameters of HDPE can be cantankerous sometimes. Surprisingly it went to Home relatively easy with some brute force from the 325. End of the line. Spec called for inspection ports on each barrel. Fabricated 48" tees with a 15" inspection port. Each port will get a Nyoplast adapter, cast iron cover and concrete collar since this is in a parking lot. Went to our dump this afternoon to push off all the dirt we've been hauling in over the last couple of weeks. Hauled some topsoil, misc scrap dirt and some good red dirt in. The truck drivers did a decent job of keeping them separated. Now we have a decent stockpile of "topsoil" and also added around 30% to our pile of red dirt. Piling up and tracking in the red dirt pile with the ol' trusty 953C. My favorite machine to run. Been getting the typical mid/late summer pop up thunderstorms this week. Today was no different. Rain shower that stopped right in front of my truck at the dump. Not a drop on the face of the dump where I was pushing with the 953. Unfortunately I left the tool box open and my tool wrap of ratchet wrenches on the tailgate that got soaked. Yeah that's a **** load of kudzu. Normally hated down south however it works great as erosion control at the dump.
Crazy how the rain stopped like that! Up here is Japanese Knotweed. Tough stuff to eradicate once it gets a foothold. Very stalky, like bamboo. I had a small patch on my property near the road, RM43 herbicide seems to have knocked it out.
I had a similar experience the first time I installed 48". I thought it was much easier to work with than the smaller pipe. I use Murphy's oil soap to lubricate the seals.
No doubt - I think Mother Nature was just messin' with me today with the rain.
We used the pipe dope ADS usually sends with an order that worked like a charm albeit with some brute hydraulic force.
244/324 size loaders get a lot of use around here on smaller pipe jobs. 1100 tons of rock in a couple days would be asking a bit much of one, but for smaller stuff they are great.
I'd like to try out a 920 next time.
Setting a curb inlet at the chicken store. 18" HDPE line to the detention system previously installed. Rain was predicted so the crew anchored the pipe with dirt above the #57 stone haunching. We have to get the pipe inspected by the city the next day so didn't want to risk the pipe floating out. Bells uncovered for the inspector. Detention pond installed upthread. We had to get a couple of 48" split couplings from ADS in Perry Georgia to finish up the manifold with the 48x15" tees. Connecting the detention system to the outlet inlet. Engineer spec'd a 24" pipe coming out of the curb inlet to the 15" detention system outlet. I don't have those letters after my name so no clue why they designed that. The pipe exiting this inlet is 18"... We don't design - we install per plan and charge accordingly.
Finished up the PITA punchlist item moving the cable boxes on the project we completed in North AL. Comcast relocated the old box that was demo'd. Cutting down where the old box was located with the 305E and 3' bucket with smooth edge. Completed. The developer which is a good client of ours can get his cash bond back from the city now. Hopefully..
Just my opinion, and nothing to do with as it's not your choice, but I think it was better where the old box was located. Where it's located now, if a drunk or phone distracted driver leaves the road they gonna smoke that box.
No doubt. However government is going to government.
LMAO, that they do, and with no clue, do so well.
Back at the chicken store. For some absurd reason the engineers spec'd ALDOT type B inlets instead of the normal hooded curb grate inlets which are cast iron frames with a grate and curb hood. The DOT spec calls for 1'-10" of cast in place riser over the top of the pre-cast inlet box. As one can imagine this created a multitude of issues from shrinking the depth of the pre-cast structures to the PITA part of forming and pouring these in place. Engaged our concrete sub to form and pour these inlets. Formed up - We had to layout the riser so the grate would sit in the flow line of the gutter. Didn't help several of the grates were in curb radius's. Prior to pouring - $1000 grate plus an $800 frame - galvanized of course. $1800 for just the frame and grate, I am in the wrong business. A lot of times we'll pick up the irrigation sleeves on a project. Easy to do and very profitable since they usually consist of 4" PVC, 2' deep ran from curb to curb. There were 8 sleeves on this project.
Butterbean brought us some 30" RCP. Unloading on a beautifully scorching hot Alabama afternoon. 30" installed. Laying pipe, loading dirt, hauling out - making the construction world go round. Folks love their chicken and we're doing our part. Special pre-cast junction box from a Georgia pre-caster. We've used Bartow more than once for funky one-off precast structures. Good company.
Winery here at port spec'd 4'x 150' run of stainless floor grates, I wonder what those cost.
No telling. Trench drains in general are stupid expensive for some reason - stainless grates 4'x150', I'd guess $100-150K just for the material. On this project 7 runs of 48" plastic pipe 150' long with the manifold was $158K for just the material delivered - it's just ******* plastic. Excavation, install, stone and backfill extra.
A galvanized drain grate? Ok, I guess, so it won't rust and fail like a cast iron drain grate will in say...3000 years!
Plans called for an outlet control structure with a weir plate, ADS Barracuda water quality unit and a manhole to route it out the main outflow. Barracuda and outlet manhole installed. The Barracuda was 16' tall and 72" in diameter. Out going manhole, Barracuda and outlet control structure installed. For some reason the engineers spec'd a Type B curb inlet between the OCS and a manhole in the drive way that dumps into the OCS. Would have been much easier and cheaper to drop a grate in the 72" manhole in the drive thru. Oh well we don't get paid to design... The epitome of 10 lbs of **** in a 5 lb bag. Crew did a great job.
When I worked irrigation fab--one of my projects was to build two 36"x12' galvanized structures. With a 24" culvert starter bell at bottom with a 24" scew top gate that went to the top inside. Then on the opposite side two 15" PVC starter bells side by side 8' up from bottom. Oddest structure I ever built, welded tight, could have no pin holes. For BOR. Bottoms had a 6" thick concreate floor with rebar welded to sides.
Somebody's ripping who ever pays off. The grate just looks like flat bar welded in a square and the grate has a couple pieces of angle and flat bar. Unless galvanizing costs more than fabbing, it should have cost no more than half what they charged. They could have been stainless for less than $1800.
Should spend some time on a Federal highways project, the one here is insane at best for special construction materials and practices.
You may not understand how this works. Engineers spec a specific item for a project and in this situation an ALDOT Type B frame and grate was spec'd for all the curb inlets. There are only a couple of fab shops that make said grate to ALDOT spec and they set the price. Of course these few fab shops are also the only ones ALDOT certified to make said grates so they set the price. However it's no issue for us since we priced them into the bid with a mark-up.
What was the purpose? Some kind of intake or outlet control?
Apparently I need to get Aldot certified. We have a fab shop just outside of Huntsville. I've been trying to figure out how to pay for upgrading my cnc plasma table to a hi def version....
Start by hiring one of those lobbyists down in Montgomery.
It's the same as if something has to meet military specs. The shops that are licensed have free reign to charge ridiculous amounts. A $30 shovel becomes a $130 shovel because it meets some military spec. made up by an engineer to justify his job. It's the same shovel but with a certification. I don't think it's a stretch that there's some butt kissing for a shop to be an approved vendor. Any fab shop could make the grates to the same standards and they would be just as good or better. Union shops claiming they do better work than non union is another ridiculous claim. They both get inspected the same and have to meet the exact same standards.
At the Nuke was that Magic “N” stamp, Pedigree certified.
Catch basins for irrigation supply from a major water way to a smaller canal system that fed adjacent property owners. Done under Bureau of Reclamation. I had to build fish screens for intakes also.
A friend worked on some 400 ton cokers for Suncor that the piping was nuclear spec. No repairs allowed on X-rays. If there was even a minor flaw the entire weld had to be cut out and redone. There was a big protest from environmentalist's at the shop that built them, Dacro Industries. It's the same shop that built the 820 tonne vessel that was longer than a football field and transported in one piece. Heaviest load ever in Alberta. Over 900 tires between the trucks and trailers that carried it.
A Section 179 tax deduction FY 2025 2026 RAM 3500. The lay down rear seats will be very handy for all sorts of sensitive items like GPS and such. Neat little cooler/storage box on either side in the rear row. I know what my guys will be storing in it. Truck is a Longhorn with Level 2 Equipment package. Pretty neat feature is when you turn the left or right turn signal on it activates a camera that shows your blind side. Going to keep the 2019 3500 and let it go into semi-retirement as a service truck. With the lube skid the guys built a little while ago it should come in very handy.
Very nice!
Nice unit there CM.....they don't come cheap do they!!?? Treat her well!!
No they don't. Ridiculous how much trucks have increased in cost. On the flip side a comparable spec'd Ford 350 would've been $10-15K more. RAM is the best value on the market IMO. This truck is for my main guy that has been with us for a little over 20 years. After many plain Jane white trucks over the years with vinyl seats and no amenities, he's earned a nice ride. It's a good way to provide a benefit and a write off at the same time. Was able to find the truck he wanted with everything on it he wanted on the lot.
Nice! We have a 2015 dually with a flat deck, I have been really impressed (surprised) with the exhaust brake. Must be even better on the newer ones. This is the main reason we got rid of our 2005..(no holdback on hills)... Ours was a service truck for a logging company out of Prince George and was used hard; but really well maintained, not quite as pretty as your new one (lol!) Currently at 385,000km.
That's a very nice gesture to bestow for a valued employee & I'm sure it is much appreciated!! I have a picture of a new acquisition (back in June 25) as well, if you don't feel I'm hijacking your page? I been thinking of posting it, for a while now, but haven't done it yet....
We like pics. of new toys and other things.
Yes We DO!!
Welcome to the darkside? I've driven both flavors of the new 10 speed trucks and the amount of braking power the Cummins can generate from the VGT is unmatched. I haven't driven a Ram with the ZF 8 speed yet, but the AISIN has treated me well.
Ha! This is our second RAM. First one is a 2019 with the Aisin trans that has been a great truck. Hope this one is as good of a truck as the first one. This truck has a lot of options we didn't know it had. For instance at night if you are running the fog lights and turning the opposite fog light will turn off and the light in the turning direction focuses to the turn.
Since I'm one of the worst for thread hijacking in this corner of the 'net - it's only fitting. We'd love to see it!
I'd be so sidetracked dicking with the camera choices I'd wreck!
you bought...a dodge?
2nd one..! To be honest I'm still not 100% on it but the first one has been a great truck. Still a FORD guy though!
The first two at at the dealer before it was shipped, then one with my grandson looking her over! The paint is now wore off of the blade, but TBH this year was somewhat slower than some!
Nice! Have you hit your head on the sweeps yet?
Oh yeah!!....at least twice!! learning to duck now! Look at who was inspecting the machine, when I pulled up on the job the other day!!
Managed to get to move an aged HiTrac 6 open station at the clay pit. Single lever blade control seemed awkward at first then almost natural feeling a few minutes later.
That's a beauty! Congrats! I had an '06 D6R WT set up just like that. Loved that tractor. Looking at adding a 4 in '26. So what's the dozers primary role?
If it was an old high track, perhaps it was an "H"? Didn't they have two steer levers on the LH side? Even the H was quite an improvement over the 6D!
I'm semi retired, but do some clearing work for farmers & also grading projects as they come along. I'm just a one man operation & opted for the service agreement & extended warranty from Cat, to pretty well eliminate any hands on maintenance or service work, (just greasing & air filters etc) because of my age. The warranty & service agreement can be transferred when I completely retire, likely in 2-3 yrs if all goes well health wise. I just like to keep busy!
Think you made a good choice. The warranty and service agreements are becoming more valuable IMO especially with all the tech that's on these new machines. Hope it treats you well!
That's a nice size machine, some good looking rippers as well!
Only had only a few minutes on it but could have gotten used to it. Not certain what series it was.
Must be nice to have a brand new expensive toy to play with. Service agreements seem a little pricey at first but can save thousands in the long run.
I agree about the service agreements. They add an element of predictability, cost wise. My local sales rep already has his antenna up for potential buyers, 2-3 yrs down the road, when I pull the pin.
Happy New Year @CM1995 !
It's been a minute since I've updated the thread. Back in Dec at the chikin sammich project. Running a double barrel line of 18" RCP across the road to tie into an existing inlet. Starting at the existing inlet. Had to tear out the existing one and rebuild it with a new type Y top. Double barrel 18" RCP from the chicken shop and a single 18" run over to a new curb inlet. Solid 1.5" crusher run or DGB backfill on the pipe due to the shallowness of the pipe. Lucy had a great holiday break down on the MS gulf coast - finally made it!
Sorry I missed this Colson! Happy belated New Year!
A high day spa project in a well to do part of town. Brand new apartment complex across the street. Expecting rock on the site so we brought the 325 and the 321 as well as the D3, 279D 02 and the ol' trusty 533 roller. Erosion control installed - silt fence and floating turbidity barrier in the pond. This project is within the watershed for one of the metro's drinking water basins so there is a ton of scrutiny on run-off and such. Prior yellow barriers still floating in space...I guess it's not hurting anything. Cutting out the crawlspace for the day spa. Weird design of a crawl space with a steel pan concrete floor then wood framing. Rock was confirmed on the 24" RCP storm line that crossed the parking lot. Rock wasn't that hard and hammered out fairly easily.
Alabama has weird laws on what's plumbing and what's utilities. For instance our commercial license allows us to run mainline 12" sanitary sewer in the street with 4-6" laterals off the main line all day long. However we cannot run a 4" lateral from the ROW to the structure, residential or commercial and tie into the building - it has to be a master plumber. Water is the same. We can run an 18" DI main for miles under our commercial license however we can't run any domestic water from the ROW to the building thats 4" or less in diameter. So the the majority of projects we do the utilities are handled by the plumber - ROW to building. On this project the owner wanted us to dig and let the plumber install. Fine by me it's extra work. We did the saw cutting, demo and trenching for the domestic water and irrigation taps. Water lines backfilled. Sewer tap was deep and 4" ductile iron. Backfilled with 8910 which is basically 3/8" stone dust. The little vibratory tamp on the 305 shined. RPZ's installed by the plumbers.
We use turbidity curtains that are 5' tall with floats in the top and a chain sewn in the bottom. I believe our supplier will make them in different lengths and height. Are yours similar? They work well in static water!
As usual, nice looking equipment & good clean work there CM!
These are type 1 barriers I bought from Hanes Geo. They have a distribution warehouse locally. Turbidity Barriers Turbidity barriers from Hanes Geo restrict sedimentation created by construction operations adjacent to bodies of water. hanesgeo.com We installed a 24" RCP line across the property to catch runoff from the remaining acreage and tied into an existing manhole. Existing manhole and 42" RCP dumped into the pond. The head wall was underwater. The pond has a Faircloth skimmer on the outlet side as well. Belt and suspenders approach to keeping any silt from leaving the master site.
Thanks! The guys take pride in their work and their equipment.
We have Circle K here as well
ever pull and dip out of a stone box? even pulling stone box, i found out i had about a 30% loss once it hit the ground at delivery....picking it up, placing it in the box, dipping out for placing with the excavator. not to be picky, but looks like a lot of bedding material got left on the ground between the excavator teeth in the pic. might be something i look at because any aggregate here is expensive.
We use stone boxes on pipe jobs but I think it's more to keep the stone clean than anything else. We make our own aggregate so they don't seem concerned about waste. I mean don't go crazy but any stone left over after a job is never hauled back to the stockpile it's just wasted on site, unless it's a couple tandem loads, even then it might be put aside for a private job
Didn't bring the rock box back since this was another CO of many on this project but I like to use it when the job is big enough. Agree on the waste even when using a rock box. Used the box on this job and dumped each load of #57's in the same spot so we only lost one bottom. We followed behind the sanitary sewer contractor after they re-aligned the main SS trunk across the street. Most of that #57 is what they left, actually the pile to the right of the 325 was theirs left over. We backfilled the RCP with DGB. Yeah stone is expensive here as well even though we are in the land of limestone - go figure. DGB delivered is $28-32 per TN. #57's are another $5 per ton.
Wasn't many years ago you could get a tandem dump load of 57 limestone for $400 to $500. Pushing now $750? Just damn.
Yeah it's gotten ridiculous. #57's delivered, 25 ton load is pushing $700-900+ depending on where it's at.
Well, it ain't the stone. Like you said, we here in the Southeast have an abundance of limestone, we damn sure do here in East Tennessee.
Going joke used to be when the estimators would get a job in Nashville you would get the compressors and air tracs to the job first for blowing the dust off the rock and then blowing a trench
Couple of jobs bidding both scrape and rebuilds transforming the land use of each parcel. First is a bank building demo for a new quickie oil change. Basic 1980's drab building - They removed the upper part of the site sign and left the base. Usually these signs have significant footings and it's something to take into account when bidding. Noticed this little split system. If we get the job that unit is going with us.
Second project we're bidding. This one is a head scratcher. Pretty nice PEMB building in good shape that was a pet supply store compete with the wash stations in the back. Tearing this one down for a new quick serve chicken finger joint that's new to the area. Current vacant pet store - Side shot. Everything goes - building, dumpster enclosure, parking lot, etc. Even the retainer wall that's was ****** built and leaning.. The retail real estate world never ceases to amaze me with the amount of money that is spent building structures then tearing a perfectly good building down only to build another. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth since we make our living doing this but it's a head scratcher for sure.
We are evolving into such a wasteful society. What some third world folks wouldn't give to have perfectly fine buildings like these........... good luck with the projects if you get them CM.
No doubt M55. We do try to recycle the scrap iron and ferrous metals to the extent practical. The concrete, asphalt, unpainted brick and block and dirt goes to our inert dump. I keep saying I'm going to start crushing this concrete, brick, block and asphalt one day..
It might pay to invest in a crusher with a magnet at your dump site.
We are currently working at a private land holding in which I think there are 7 owners. It was purchased for duck hunting and fishing. The amount of money they spend for recreation is mind boggling to me, yet they are really conservative on improvement/infrastructure maintenance spending that does not enhance hunting, and to a lesser degree fishing. The owners are all very wealthy people, and the way they look at spending is quite the opposite of how I look at it. Maybe there are lessons that I should be learning?
Tax write off? I try to think like a wealthy person but my balance sheet gets in the way!
The cost of entry is just so high for a decent machine. Can rent a medium sized jaw crusher for $20-25K a month. Been toying around with the idea of getting enough material stockpiled then rent a crusher to go through it. At $30 per ton across the scales at the quarries it starts to make cents'.
Speaking of the dump - got to run the D5G a little while this week pushing off. Sent it to the shop for speed calibration that resulted in some new speed sensors and replaced a hard hydro line. The 953C has been on dump duty for several years so had the D5 picked up from the shop and swapped it for the D5 at the dump. Brought the 953 to shop for some love and care where we found the pivot shaft was leaking..joy. Gotta adjust the tracks - a little too tight. Other than that the little 22 year old tractor still runs like a top. First dozer I ever bought. A/C blows cold, radio works - what else could an operator ask for?
What? You got 16 speakers across the back dash with a little bobbing dog watching everybody pass?
LOL. 2 speakers and she wants to drive.
She needs a seat belt first. I've seen a lot of perfectly fine buildings get torn down and I wish they could be moved to my property if they're just going to be destroyed anyway. . Such a waste! Was a big busy Canadian Tire store that closed out of the blue and sat empty for a couple years after a rental place used if briefly. It was torn down and guess what replaced it... A new Canadian Tire store. Makes no sense at all!
Can keep mine out of anything under motion. Dozer, excavator, forklift, tractor, ect. If I’m operating, it requires a K-9 copilot.
The commercial build- tear down - rebuild cycle is beyond my comprehension. There's an area near me that was built up in the 80s that is currently going through the cycle. One building after another on that strip has gone vacant, been torn down, and something new is being put in. I laugh about your proposed bank demo for a quick lube, because that just happened there. Another that just finished was tearing down an old, long vacant Bennigans restaurant for a closed on Sunday chicken shack. I drove past there last weekend and I see they demod the building next to the new chicken shack already and prepping for something else. In about a mile stretch, there are now 4 car washes and 4 different oil change places there, but no car repair shops.
My dog goes in everything but the skid steer and that’s only because I don’t like her sitting on a metal plate.
The bank to quickie oil change is 2 blocks up from the chicken shack we just wrapped up. Very similar to what you subscribe. The area was the "it" place to be in the early 80's and has slowly deteriorated over the years. Several new buildings have been built over the last 3-4 years one being a new YMCA complex. Projects in this area work well for us bidding wise as it's a 45 min turn around to our dump. Would wage we have 1K CY of clean fill stockpiled from the chicken shack. It's not good enough for structural fill but it's clean and not topsoil. Who knows we may be able to get paid on both ends someday. If not I'll push it over the edge and keep going if we need the space.
Movie theater here is closing. Big empty building. Not good for much else Remember watching the iron workers wrestling on the beams while I was doing the parking lot
We had a movie theatre close here many many years ago. It was repurposed into a furniture store for many years and is now an apartment building. Major interior renovations each time from changing from the sloped floor of the theatre for the furniture store to adding 2 floors inside the building to make it a 3 story apartment building. It would be a good place to live I guess. Right in the heart of downtown. d.d.
There is a large mall here at one time was the largest one in Alabama, may still be don't know. Anyway the Sears as well as few other large retailers have closed leaving 3 story buildings abandoned. The mall is not dead as there is a Costco and multiple outparcel's of various establishments. The old Sears and other department stores would make great apartments and/or office space. They are all attached to a multi-story parking deck and with the 11-12' between the floor plates there is plenty of room to run the MEP needed for residential or any kind of office. Various plans have been put forth but nothing has gained any traction.
We have the same rules here, I can lay pipe but can't pull permits or make connections same for power. We have a few plumbers that let us "work" under their license, we cover the permit and throw them some extra. And they know we will be there for them when they need us. I don't do enough plumbing to want to do this but they have a 8 hour class, like a prep course for the master plumber exam. When you take the test it is open book and you can take the book from the class where they basically highlight everything that is going to be on the exam. No apprenticeship or job site hour requirement,you just test out. Some of our fancy cities will want a referral from other know plumbers on their list if you are not already known to get on their list
We can lay conduits and install light standards. Can't touch wire. Plumbing is wide open. Those pictures I has posted before Christmas. The lady had a sewer backup. The city exposed their part and that wasn't the problem. They left us some pipe and a back flow preventer even dropped of a load of stone We replaced the old taracotta pipe right to the foundation and since we were there we replaced the old copper with plastic or pex I don't know what it's called but it's blue and comes in a roll. Im not a plumber I don't even do pipe work. Guy on the hoe had the tools, I worked the hole cause it was Friday before Christmas and no one was around. Even privately I can and do all my own plumbing and electrical. I did have to pull a favor to change my panel. I had to pull the meter. Power company will do it, but they won't install without an electrician verifying he did the work. I got a seal from a friend and pulled the meter myself. I had everything ready yanked the meter, unhooked the triplex yanked the old, hung the new one. Hooked up the triplex popped the meter back in before any nosey neighbors noticed. Actually my neighbor got me the seal.
For the master plumber test here it's apprentice, journeyman then you can take the test. I'm good with gravity pipe but horrible with the pressure side. If it's your personal residence you can pull permits and do all the work yourself. Of course it has to be to code.
That is what I thought about here, the community college has a program, I called and told them my back ground and he said oh you don't need this course you need to call this number and talk to this guy. It was the same guy lol
Here in New Mexico to owner builder your house there's test required to get an electrical permit. The inspector who my wife knew told me no way you'll ever pass it. Closed book and grounding and bonding trick questions. No one passes it. Joe H
Only thing I need permits for is to make sure they up my property tax
I wonder if a electrician could pass it, I think their licensing test is open book. I may be wrong
Yes, Inspector told me the test is open book for electricians. Joe H
It is but the questions are kinda use what you have in the book to solve this or build this. It's not just the book says this true or false
But the information is there if you know where to look. The NEC is as exciting as IRS publications. Joe H
When I did my welding apprenticeship the written tests were multiple choice but the answers were pretty close a lot of times and you had to pick the best one. What helped me a lot was taking welding in high school with a good instructor. I didn't study at home but maybe should have a little. I got 92% so that was OK.
CM did you check to see how big and well built the vault was?
No I wasn't able to get in. Due to the vintage of the building I assumed a cast in place vault and priced it accordingly. Last bank we demo'd was a pre-fab vault however the slab underneath was substantial. Ended up this project is on a lease lot and the landlord is going to take the building down. All we will have is the building slab to remove. Bid the job last Friday so we'll see how it goes.
Back in the 70s I think it was they built a bank "prefab" out in the country outside a wide spot in the road called Woodstock GA. hadn't been there long when they broke in and tied a chain around the safe jerked it out thru the bank and dragged it down the road cops finally caught um by following the drag marks. Then they tore it down and started over with a poured reinforced vault a few years later it was broke into again this time they tried to blow it they scattered that bank everywhere only thing still standing was the vault and they built the bank back around that vault. Many years later they tore it all down and they spent some time getting that vault into pieces they could manage to haul it off to the landfill or wherever it went
Here's the bank project we did back in '18. The vault was prefab. We took it down and one of my guys set it back up as a gun safe on their property.
Nice
A close friend of mine's parents built a million dollar house on a lake some 20 years ago. His dad had a custom gun vault made in his basement during the construction for his collection. Poured walls, precast concrete lid, vault door brought in from somewhere. That vault room is bigger than the living room in the house I built 10 years ago. His entire collection and related equipment is stored there along with a super fancy reloading station. It's really nice, though very claustrophobic to be in with no windows and only the vault door to get out.
My former neighbour demo'd an old bank. Someone wanted the door for their basement. I heard they broke the stairs trying to get it in the basement. Neighbour just loaded the door and wasn't involved in installing it.
A friend of mine broke his stairs trying to get a wood burning furnace in his basement, he has moved it 3 times since and had to beef up the stairs of every house after that
2 acre site we recently graded out 2/3 of the 2 acres for a future building pad. Same client which is a good friend of mine that we did the adjacent site for back in '23. This 2 acres front the main road and will be home to 2 10K SF office/warehouse buildings for rent with the owner taking some space for their own business. The lot we prep'd back in '23 to the left in the pic with a 10K SF building on it. Used most of the iron on this one other than some of the small stuff. Brought the 953 off dump duty for this one. It was a track loader type of job. Wrapped up.
A little demo and grading job for the largest GC we work for. Pretty simple job to remove the sidewalks, curb and paving in front of the existing building. This is for a private college that is turning this old warehouse into a recreational building with basketball and pickle ball courts and other multi-use spaces. Brought both 305's and a 279. The 305E ran the hammer and the new 305 ran a bucket. Our 2 larger hoes were busy on the pad job above so rented a 160 Link Belt to load the tri-axles out and catch a CO to demo the concrete stairs and excavate down to the lower level. The CO for the stair removal and excavation. Loading out the tri's. We had 2 trucks running one day and finished up with 1 the next day. Much faster and productive than trying the painstaking task of loading a 20 CY tri-axle dump with a mini. I didn't run the 160 but my operator liked it.
Trying out this Blue Diamond cutter that a friend of mine wants to sell. Much needed 953C love in the background. The cutter did a pretty darn good job mulching pines on our new project. The little pines average around 4-6" and the cutter mulched them up pretty well. Wanted to try a cutter rather than the normal clear and grubb method with an excavator, loader or dozer. Wanted to mulch as much as we could then strip it with the topsoil so we didn't have a huge pile of woody/soil debris we would have to haul off.
Looks like that brush cutter chewed up stuff pretty well.
If you're serious about a mower, you will be much happier with a Bradco GroundShark. I've posted it before, 4 blades instead of 3, carbide tips under the rotor, best of all it has a flip-up chain shield so you don't kill anyone within 100 yards when cutting.
Performed better than I expected. If we cleared this with a hoe or a track loader we'd have a pile of debris to deal with. The cutter just mulched it.
How is the 953 pivot leak holding up?
Nice work again there CM!
This one has 4 blades on a square - a blade on each point. Does well for what we need and it's cheap. It does need a chain in front though.
So far so good. The guys add oil to it and there is not a "dripping" leak yet. The other day I got a number for an independent mechanic that left the Cat house to go out on his own and is supposed to be very good. Going to ring him up and see if he is interested in doing the repair. One of our 279's just hit 3K hours and is in need of a DPF swap as well. He may get 2 jobs.
Thanks MM! All I did on this one was tote some topsoil and dirt with the 953 and burn some brush with the 321. I only get to run the old stuff..
Some of their cutters do have deflector chains on the front and rear. IIRC, on that particular model, it's designed to push against small sapling trees with the push bar, bend them over a bit and cut through them with the cutter, chains would interfere with this. Either way, just for safety, it's best to not having anyone near an operating brush cutter.
Would a grader have been a benefit on that job or your laser grader on the CTL?
Grader would be perfect there. But its one of those machines that's a big expense to have sitting in the yard if you don't use it everyday. The sportsplex we have been doing. They have been putting the gravel on the parking lot with the D4 and the GPS, and it's pretty much perfect. We do road work so a production size grader is justified. A company that would do more projects with a dozer, gps machine control and your golden.
Nope. The D3 running the standard 2D handled the job quickly and much faster than the grader box for our 279's. ^^This. We have no need for a grader when a GPS/2D dozer handles what we do fine. Would it be awesome to have a grade - hell yeah but if I had one then I'd put GPS on it then have a $250K+ (for a small machine) piece of equipment that would get 10-15% utilization. Doesn't make sense. The guys were able to find 3 of the old control points on site so we were able to run GPS. We didn't have a model for this project but they were able to set elevations.
I've often heard guys talk about having a D8. You can for a lot of work with one but it's a lot of money to be sitting in the yard when you don't have work for it
I thought the wider blade on a grader would make the job faster. Maybe could hire out a grader for a few hours.
Have you considered building a set of removable wings for pushing out gravel? I was sure it'd be super easy to find an Eberhard D3 with wings pushing out rock, but here I am half an hour later with a picture from Stutsman. I did find without even looking for it, a 963 with a pushbox leveling road base. Just in case you need some extra motivation for a shiny new 953 with grade control.
Definitely faster. But a big investment. When we had our 730 Champion, they looked at grade control. Not a gps or laser, just slope control. The sales man said the grader was too loose, and it was the kind of slop that couldn't be shimmed away. The sports plex project. He is putting gravel on, and on grade faster with the dozer than I ever could with the grader by the seat of my pants and eye. Rental is an option but not sure what the rate down there would be for machine and operator. I know a lot of large parking lots or roads we pave for someone else, usually they put the material as close as they can, and then we fine grade it before it's paved.
Why would I hire someone else when I have a D3 sitting there?
Just thought a grader with a wider blade and faster travel speed would do the job faster. GPS and 2D on the D3 would make it faster.
Everyone tries to run a blade like its a dozer and they definitely are not. If your laying material with belly dumps or scraper then a blade is the answer If your rough cutting and mucking material on a small site were you can push faster than you can pick it up and carry it a dozer is your tool especially one that can do finish work it covers more than one base Blades are a handy tool but you have to have something around to move material out of there way or they are not efficient
I am much smaller outfit like way smaller than CM1995 and I struggle with needs vs wants and things sitting around, by necessity and budget (of course) I tend to make things work, will"enter piece of equipment here" work better/faster sure but what I am going to do with it the rest of the time. I know a guy that had a cat grader blade set up with GPS, when he got a small dozer he took everything off the grader blade and put it on the dozer. He said at the moment he wasn't going to reoutfit the blade until he absolutely had to
We haven't used the laser box blade for the 279's since we bought a D3 with GPS. No real need for it now for what we do. Anyone interested in it?
Erosion control going in on our new project. This is about a 4 acre site that is the future home for small 1,500 SF office/warehouse rental spaces. Silt fence sub installed around 800 LF of wire backed. Putting in some brush berms on the lowest part of the site. This area was designed to have double rows of wire backed silt fencing. Hired a new guy that can run a track loader so we put him on the '53. Lucy found some really thick chunks of asphalt hiding on the slope hidden by the little pines.
Good work Lucy!
Stopped by the Cat House today to pic up a part for the 321DL. Gotta ride around the yard and absorb all the shiny yellow iron right? Thought this pic is a good representation of the new Cat dozer numbering. From left to right - D3, D4, D5 and D6. All 4 tractors are LGP which makes a nice size comparison. Considerable size difference from a D3 and D4. Our D3 has one more payment and it's ours so thinking about the next new dozer being a D4. All the 4's, 5's and 6's had factory GPS. 2 of the 3's had GPS.
Life goals!!
I have never ran a cat dozer, any brand really, the exhaust stack right in the middle looks like it would be annoying having that thing in your sight path all day long
Actually, it never seems to be a problem as you’re always looking at the cut on the left and the right. Only used to try and see over the blade, when learning to run one. After a while, you can feel the cut through the engine.
Focus on Path not machine parts. Ag Tractor exhaust was out of the hoods forever. Similar to wife whining turn on wipers when not bothering me as do not focus on droplets on WS, just surroundings.
What HH and DM said. You're not looking over the hood while blading. What you want in a dozer is a clear line to the edge of the blade on both sides.
It really blocks the view when you're trying to enjoy the scenery though
You should be watching your blade..
The D4 size is a great machine. Nimble enough for tight areas and large enough to handle large pads.
Those morons with the flashing beads & squirrel tails hanging from their rear view mirror are dangerous and they don't know it. Joe H
No comprende. Joe H
Back at office-warehouse project. Grading building D+E which is roughly 19,000 SF. Ran into some rock on the south side of the building pad which runs through the job southward probably through BLDG B+C's building pad as well. We have a per CY rock removal price so no skin off our back. Get the geotech to quantify in the field, they write a report and we remove it then bill for the cubic yardage. There is some interesting rock in this area. This ridge is the trailing end of the Appalachian Mountains that end approx. 10 miles southwest of this project. Some of the hammered rock. Thought the veins were pretty neat. Not really sure how that formed many years ago. The best we can tell is the darker outside ring has iron in it - if it's not a low grade iron ore. North and west of this site there are hundreds of old abandoned iron ore mines from the early 1900's steel mill days. Unloading an 18" ALDOT special end section. The project called for cast in place sloped paved headwalls which are a pain in the ass and require a sub since we don't pour concrete. I submitted a pre-cast alternate and the civil approve it. Much better option however they are a PITA to unload, move and place since they only have 2 lifting eyes in the back and 2 holes in the front where you can put a rod through to lift evenly but still awkward - not as awkward as CIP though.
ALDOT flared end section set, short piece of 18" HDPE then first manhole. This is the main outfall for the entire project. Plans call for grouted rip-rap in front of the end section for scour protection - hate that ****. Spec's called for a specific "anti-seep" collar which I shall not name. There is absolutely nothing to this contraption. It comes in pieces in a small cardboard box and consists of a sheet of rubber with 4 white pine strapping boards and some clips for the corner. Installation is is pretty straight forward. Cut a hole smaller than pipe and slide over pipe. The ridiculous part is just one of these is $275. I am in the wrong business... Installed "product". I think it's really going to make a difference on this project.
OMG that is the Anti Seep. Are correct, WRONG business!!
Ain’t gonna do a damn thing. Where do these engineers come from?
Around here when build a pond with a steel discharge use a Steel Thrust Plate similar to that, on B&S Concrete usually construct a similar Thrust or Slip Block wall around the pipe buried in the levee.
On my catch basin, I put going into my pond, I used 30 or so bags of concrete. Just stacked them into a levee and then slung rip rap over it to cover it. Definitely not the right way to do it but was better than buying a cast piece and looks better. Driveway was 3’ over the 12” double corrugated and 3’ away and didn’t want any washouts.
Not in my opinion but I don't have those capital letters after my name...
IMO opinion concrete is the best however the biggest PITA. However these are much easier to install and met spec.
Building the slope on the office-warehouse project. Rented a Bell B30 from a local dealer/rental house. If I were in the market to buy an artic it wouldn't be a Bell. It's not a bad truck it's just the Mercedes engine and the goofy electronics. It was perfect for this job = (cheapest rental rate) Anyway building the slope out next to the adjacent property. This elevation is around 20' from the property line in a 40'+ slope build. D3 spreading fill running GPS. This was a rare occasion the guys let me run a machine on the job and it just happens to be my ol' favorite - 953C. I was tasked to clean up some brush piles used for temp. erosion control (we've been getting a **** ton of rain) and cutting the benches back into the existing slope in order to tie the new lifts in. When one is adding to an existing slope, be it a natural or previously built slope, you have to key the new fill layers in with benches cut into the existing slope otherwise the new fill can slip between the 2 surfaces. Love my 953. She's 22 years old and still runs strong. Might even do a certified rebuild on her one day.
Backfilling around the columns at the college project. Previously we had to remove the existing stairs and dig down for the concrete column construction for the new front entrance. Backfilling with the excavated material from the same area along with some footing spoils from the column foundations. Pretty good reddish brown sandy material that handles moisture well which is a good thing with all the rain we've been getting. Oldest 305 and newest 279D performing this task along with the oldest trench roller. - take what you win, run what you brung.
Went to the Cat house to get a bearing for hydro cylinder end on the D5G. Gaggle of 775's headed somewhere. Doubt they are for dealer stock. They had a very nice 335. Factory GPS - no towers. This baby can be had for $380K with factory GPS, QC and 2 buckets. I've checked..
Just the hydraulics on the boom look complicated.
Backfilling around the columns at the college project. Looks like a lot of time and money to get something ugly. Joe H
Just a aux. hydraulic circuit, QC line and standard lines for the boom/stick/bucket. Our 325 has another line - 2nd aux. for multi-function attachments like a rotating grapple.
Don't get paid to design it - get paid to build what the plans show.
Back at the college. Stopped by to check on progress and when they'll need us back to some fine grading for flatwork and curb backfill. Lifts, lifts and more lifts - always in the way. Concrete guys poured the upper stairs. Did a fine job IMO. Forming up the stairs the crew filled in last week.
Found some rock on the office/warehouse job. Rock removal/excavation is always excluded in our contracts then added back in as a unit cost per CY depending on how much is encountered. Standard procedure for the jobs we do is uncover the rock and get either the geotech, GC rep or owners rep to certify the quantity. Once the change order is approved we commence removing the rock. Uncovering the rock veins. The is a main drive and parking area between two of the buildings. On a total side note we finally found us an independent wrench to work on our out of warranty iron. Former certified Cat mechanic that worked for our dealer. He has a nice KW service truck to make field calls, is very knowledgable and very reasonable on pricing. Found a keeper! His service truck in the background. Had an issue with our 533 compactor, 321 and 953 this week - all electrical related. He sent a bill this evening and we'll pay him Monday. In this area there is around 650 CY of rock removal to sub-grade. There will be more rock removal for the 18" storm line that runs the center of this drive/parking area. The cool part is we use our GPS rover to measure the quantities in the field and can show where the rock is in relation to the overall site. This is the rock in the heavy duty paving section - the drive lanes. You can see the parking spaces in front of the two buildings and the landscape islands in the middle.
So easy to get before and after documentation and quantities. This is one of the things I love about this technology. We got it for machine control and discovered so many benefits like this that we didn't know we needed.
Same here.
Glad your independent is working out. The iron doesn't feed you or your guys if it isn't running.
I have a rock clause, I charge $150/hour plus the daily rental rate for what ever it takes to get to my depth. I don't feel if it pays enough but I charge rent for the things I own(hammers for the skid and mini, generator and the hand Jack Hammer. It always put me behind schedule and it doesn't equate to the amount of money digging by the foot.
X2 - same here. So many benefits with the tech we have now. No telling what's in store for the future. Uploaded a set of plans for a fast food joint today in GPT to test it out to see if it could do a detailed civil take off and within seconds it gave us a detailed list of - Pipe - lengths, sizes and types Structures - type, size and depths from inverts to finish grade Finish surfaces - curb, concrete, asphalt - both heavy duty and light duty This would have taken a good estimator with a program at least 20-30 mins on the quick side to do the same takeoff. AI did this task in seconds.. Of course it all needs to be double checked however the plans are to scale with all the data clearly stated on each PDF stage. Time will tell. It's a brave new world. I don't understand a fraction of it nor sure I'm ready for it but it's coming regardless.
Thanks - We've been looking for a while with a few that were busts. This guy may be the one. Gotta run all the newer iron and the older iron on occasion to make it all work. We aren't mechanics, we move dirt and lay pipe for a living so a dependable wrench is a must have.
That's impressive! We turned in a proposal today for a project in which we have to provide a technical as well as business proposal, and past performance/references. There is a fair bit of writing involved, but we try really hard to keep it as short and concise as possible. I would hate to be on the other end having to read all this stuff from all the contractors that are bidding. Anyway, my wife was not pleased with the wording of a particular paragraph despite having written it several different ways - it was just awkward. She tried chatGP (I think) to see what it would come up with, and it was better. I think it is pretty easy to tell if an entire document is written using AI, but it sure has its place. I guess I need to get on the band wagon and out of the dark ages and learn to take advantage as well.
No doubt it's another tool in the box. It still needs double checked by someone competent. On a recent project we did a special order manhole was apparently missed by AI, the estimator, the estimator's supervisor, the PM, and the Super. Somehow nobody caught it before the utility crew showed up... The project plans were clear, to scale, and all necessary data was plainly visible...
Without a doubt it still needs to be checked by a human. Like anything computer wise - garbage in = garbage out. Still a very useful tool.
Filling the large slope out on the office/warehouse project. Cutting in the last bench. The Bell 30 has been a good truck for a rental. Still don't like all the buttons on the main joystick - just too complicated. Looking back towards the road way.
Finishing out the slope with topsoil that was stripped and stocked at the beginning of the job. The crew moved around 8K CY onto this slope. The fill material is obviously rocky so we'll have some cleanup to do with a mini-ex around the headwall. Some of the previously hammer rock was placed at the toe of the slope. Spec's called for grouted rip-rap so that's what we did. I think the natural rock looks much better than the limestone rip-rap.
Nice quality work as always CM, and thanks for sharing! Nice dirt job there.
Thanks! We'll be transitioning to the storm water portion of the project next. Couple of ponds and several 100 feet of 18" HDPE with some curb inlets. All the building pads are to subgrade however the owners swapped PEMB manufacturers so the concrete guys are waiting on new structural drawings in addition to the utility guys coming in to run water, sewer and fire service. The job is about to get congested which works out OK for us as we need to leave for a week or so to finish up our day spa project.
Last few commercial job I have done(power& communication) I have been the only one on site or away from the action, it has been great!
Finally wrapped up the lube skid build and the re-purposing of the '19 3500 from a crew truck into it's semi-retirement being a service truck and spare. Fit's in there pretty well. This was all my guys design and build. Repainted an L-tank we had on the yard and cobble an air compressor together using an old Dewalt gas compressor engine and tanks. The compressor puked its self years ago. Was able to salvage the Honda engine and tanks. Bought a belt driven compressor from china freight, fab'd it together and it works very well. I posted that build back up thread IIRC. Mounted the shop built compressor on a stand that straddles the L-tank. We had the oil pump, reel and metered gun from a previous service truck. Ordered a Goodyear of makes pump for the hydro tank and bought a reel from Northern Tool. NT has a higher quality product than CF and is still reasonably priced. They designed it to be user friendly because they are the ones who will be using it.
Had to fill in and do some fine grading at the college for some concrete flatwork. An afternoon worth of work max. We've been having intermittent issues with 279D 02's A/C fan blowing fuses. Not all the time just every now and then. Chocked it up to a loose wire or raw wire somewhere however it's been running fine for the last 2 months. Of course Murphy rears his ugly ass head and sho' nuff today the fan quit working. Tried a few fuses after running the machine around but no go. Tried running it for 20 minutes or so and that's all it took to feel like I was breathing warm soup. We are currently under a heat warning with 100 degree temps and high 90's on the humidity. I'm too old for this ****. Cat is running 0% for 60 on CTL's.... Scratch that thought... we are on the newly found wrenches list.
I had the same experience 2 years ago in a 299D3. Grading dusty rock... No way to get a good cross flow going in those cabs and it doesn't really matter anyway when the humidity is so high you have to use a can to dip a hole so you can breathe...
That was today.
I will never own a machine with out a/c after having it. You can order the ventilated seat in the new cat, and don't forget the key fob so you don't have to put in a code just saying
Just paid off the D3 and all the older iron goes on medical leave.. Can't get ahead. Did not know they offered ventilated seats in the CTL's.
I love that ventilated seat! The cab of the Next Gen CTLs is a major upgrade from the 2xxD series. Tell me more about the key fob please. Waiting on the screen to light up so I can enter the code gets old...
I can't remember how much it was $650 maybe. .you get (2). .Pg 7 bottom right https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/CM20231009-fb152-632d1?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=701az00000kljraqau_paving_an_2026_ucom_feb26_goog_ps_701az00000ximdtqak&utm_content=701az00000kljraqau_paving_an_2026_ucom_feb26_goog_ps_701az00000ximdtqak_text&utm_term=ucom&gclid=Cj0KCQjwr4jSBhCSARIsAOX1E-JuKBbK4k41KWnqaRtjUecioqEwCF5Bo0MyY5RerNIDWI3UC_j8m-caAhSsEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAAoNabEMdVB_3Nd9WxkoWlt9Qm7Gww&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23952345514&emit=1
Interesting. Thanks.
They sure do, when I was looking at the 255 the price with the upgrades it was cheaper to order from the factory than it was to buy a stock unit and have the service guys install them. Only problem was the factor is about 6 months out. I will see if I can find the build sheet when I get home from work but I really only added a few things
Interesting the ventilated seats can be installed at the dealer. Right now our dealer has CTL's and mini's overflowing both their local yards here. Great time to buy a 255 - they probably have 35-40 of them.
My dealer wasn't ordering them with the ventilated seat at the time,(not sure if they are now or not) I assume to keep cost down on the stock machines and we can add it after the fact. But it was cheaper to have it ordered with since parts is marking the seat up and service is charging to install it. I forgot about the 3 point safety belt. I have tried wearing the lap belt, friend told he feels like it really keeps me snug in the seat. My experience with it that I forget I have it on when I try to get out, I am sure I would get used to it but I never wear the seat belt because it doesn't keep my face off the glass if I run in to something (like a man hole when plowing snow)
company my son is buying into, just bought a new 360 komatsu couple years ago. took some convincing, but convinced his older partner to gps it. where they're at, they have lots of sand, no rock. bedding material "3/4" rock" has to come 80 plus miles. their operators if needed 6" undercut for bedding...were always going 8-10" over just to make sure in case engineer measured. his partner comes in office with stack of receipts, throws them on son's desk. tells him they needed to have the rest of the machines gps'd...their rock costs were down over 40% on the last 2 jobs. they love it.
It really is a no-brainer once you see the savings but the initial cost scares people away so much, there is also the increased productivity.
Not to mention the cost of removing the extra if it has to be disposed of off site. Joe H
No doubt. Today the guys were finishing out two retention ponds at the office/warehouse project. Normally this would require a **** load of stakes at the toe and top to grade the slope which would be all in the way of grading the slope and top of dam since the top is only wide enough for the 325 to go across. Easy - peasy with GPS in the trackhoe. Just walk around the edge of the pond pulling the bottom flat to the toe, then pull the slope. Tasks like this used to be a huge PITA but now it's easily done.
I remember hours of jumping out and moving my own stakes and looking across the slope between stations, or having a guy doing it. even having the hoe hog it and a light dozer with GPS putting the shine on is nice. Leave just enough meat to hang in there.
The kid cutting pads at the job I am gets in and out of the machine at least 10x a day to check with the grade rod and the laser. If I was so far behind because of the survey guys I would cut him some bench marks with the mini.
when i was in grade school, and my older brothers were handling pipe laying...it was my job to move/set up the batterboards for putting in sewer main. after a few f ups, i learned to check my math 3, 4 times. that habit has stuck with me. how i wish they had pocket calculators back then.
As the office/warehouse project turns. Found several rock veins running through the middle of the project on a drive lane between two of the buildings. Around 600 CY of rock to be removed to bring the drive lane to subgrade. Don't like to run a hammer on the 325 with GPS (yes I know) however the 321 doesn't have aux. hydros nor the flow for the hammer. Weighed the options and figured if we need to replace a sensor or two it's still way cheaper than renting a 320 for a month. Cut the main entrance out today along with the turn in to the middle drive with all the rock. Had to pull up the #24 stone for the construction entrance, cut to subgrade then place it back down before the rain that's coming Sunday and Monday per the weatherman. We've put the majority of the interior roads/drive lanes to subgrade with exception to the rock. Concrete crew with 18 men (supposedly) and the utility crew is coming in Monday so all this nice pretty subgrade will be destroyed. No skin off our back - we'll get paid to put it back to this state. GC and following subs want everything to subgrade so we give it to them. Job is bid putting surfaces on subgrade one time, further re-work to get back to this state is T+M.
Friend of ours broke out on his own and bought a lowboy. 2005 Pete glider with C15 Cat, 18 spd pulling a new Kaylen triple axle slide trailer. Moved the 953 over to the dump site which is a friend of a friends place that is filling in their back yard for more room. Trailer is brand new however we weren't the first to scratch the deck paint - he took a 320 to Jackson, MS earlier in the week. Beautiful truck Loader on top of the hill with Lucy in the truck supervising. We have 2 tri-axles making 2 loads per hour. Load of the hammer rock. Had to build out the outside slope with good material so we can get the trucks to the rear yard. I love doing **** like this. Gets back to the reason why we love to move dirt - no plans, no PM, no engineer - just a blank canvass to create something from.
Sitech sells covers for those sensors, I only have the cover on the dog bone, that was "recommended/included" but a separate line item, after seeing what they were I am glad I didn't add the others, they are very easy to fabricate and they charged me $165.00 for about $5.00 worth of metal. You probably already know this but didn't mention it so I will add for any else that might be reading but not commenting, I am told the biggest concern with doing demo with a machine that is equipped with grade controls is things get loose and makes it harder to get gnats ass. If/hen you get the sensors replaced you might go ahead and have them do another measure up(I think it was $500.00 for that).
Not worried about damage from operation more from vibration/shock. This operator is top notch and the 325 is his baby - no one else runs it. Figured a 320 with a QC rents for $7,700 per month plus mob and all the fees so I rolled the dice. May be fine and may come back to bite in the arse.
Unless your going to spend hundreds of hours hammering I doubt you will have that problem i have seen some smart grade machines with a good 1500 hours of hammer time not have an issue
Thank you for the info! Sometimes the dice pays off.
I know one guy who put 3D Trimble and a fully automatic coupler on a 35 ton machine specifically to hammer and dig rock to grade. Last time I talked to him, he hadn't had any abnormal issues compared to his 25 ton machine with the same GPS.
Good info. Thanks for sharing! I didn't think it would affect anything since it's just a couple of days of running the hammer. Side note - had a local outfit look at adding aux. hydros and a QC to our 321 to run the hammer. QC no issue however the 321's pump doesn't put out enough GPM to run this hammer.
Your 321 won't like a 5000lbs hammer anyway you feel it gets a light ass and your 325 has a fair bit more weight wich will engage the rock a lot more piston rebound is a big part of hammer technique Its been well studied what hammers will do to a machine and its not nearly as stressful as using a ripper bucket in rock i would imagine tech components hold up to abuse in the same fashion the rest of the machine does I have machines with thousands of hours of hammer time there is not much to note we ran a test machine in rock with a ripper bucket and after like 500 hrs that thing was showing the abuse even in the electrical
In my experience, the thing one has to be careful about with hydraulic breakers on an excavator is the hydraulic couplers. Standard flat face couplers don't like the hydraulic pulse impact. It will do 2 things, 1) brinell the steel balls of the coupler eventually making it near impossible to make or break the coupler connection if it 2) doesn't do worse, which I've seen, that hydraulic pulse makes the innards of the flat face coupler come unglued inside sending metal fragments into the system. Not a good thing. My best remedy was using Stucchi VEPHD couplers, they're connect under pressure connectors and breakers don't harm them a bit. The downside, the VEPHD couplers have threads that screw them together, unlike flat face that snaps together and secured by the balls. Using the Stucchi VEPHD, the vibration of the breaker would make the "screw loose". That's when I starting using a single wrap of Gorilla duct tape around the coupler and a radiator hose clamp to bite down on it and prevent the coupler from screwing loose. Yeah, I know, more to do. But one thing I know about hydraulic breakers is that they break $--t including themselves and the machine.
Stucchi started making VEPHDL couplers with a locking pin to mitigate the vibration issue. I only know about them because I saw a set in person at the hydraulic shop last year.
Sweet!!!
Yea i was always to cheap to put quick couplers on the bigger hammers The 1100lbs ones on the backhoe have them but that's to make it easy and for small work where you might swap once or twice With the bigger machines we always just used jic fittings and and had 2 machines there or planned out to swap once a day Stucchi is expensive and I am a cheap ass
The 321 is about 8K lbs lighter than the 325. I think it would handle it but it doesn't matter at this point since it doesn't have aux. hydros and not going to get them. What Willie said.. Yes flat face couplers will come apart on a hoe and hammer this size. We have QC's on the 305's to run a hammer and plate tamp. No issues with those so far but it's a little hammer. Yeah those Stucchi's are expensive. The 325 has threaded couplers we take on and off. Sucks when the hammers been running due to being hot but is tried and true and won't come apart like QC's will.
On the bigger excavators, 200 class and up, it's really better to direct connect, JIC or whatever, as opposed to quick couplers. But when I was still in the bizz we had rental customers that requested quick couplers as they would be frequently swapping bucket and breaker. Whatever skippy, here ya go, that's why I used the Stucchi couplers. As for the 5K breaker on your 210, never did that, always fitted them to a 250 or bigger. I say go for it, I'm curious how that works out.
Main pond with OCS roughed in. Part of this main pond is in cut and part in the fill slope the crew built last month. The OCS has an 8" opening for regular function of water detention however the specs required a Faircloth skimmer until the site is stabilized. Guys took a piece of plywood then ran the 2" PVC outflow through it with Ferncos on either side of the plywood then Tapcon'd them to the structure. Normally we'd grouted that pipe in the 8" hole and have to bust all that out later. Now 4 screws and it's removed. We were able to get our erosion control sub to hydroseed the slope and pond right before a 1" rain. It's been a ridiculously wet summer. The ponds will need to be touched up grade wise due to the small erosion rills however the goal is to get some grass established and re-grass the areas as needed upon completion. Started storm line B coming out of the main pond. The starting invert of this line is basically the bottom of the pond. The crew had to push a dam up in order to keep the water out of the ditch line. Rock, rock and more rock.
Solid rock on storm line B - After 3 days of rock hammering the crew got the first grate inlet in - Another 65' to go to the end line hooded curb grate inlet. Un-covered the rock so we can measure the cubic yardage. Rock is a unit price CO so it's imperative to quantify it then get it approved by the GC so we can get paid. This is not the normal rock formations we run into. The layers run on a slant where some of the rock is easily fractured and some just makes dust under the 130 GC hammer. Then you run into a hard clay between them all.
On a side note finally broke down and bought a new trench roller - A Bomag 8500. Our 2 Wackers have been great but getting a little long in the tooth and not reliable. Would've bought another Wacker however the lack of a local dealership nixed that idea. I've been looking for new one for a while. Even at Conexpo last March I asked the Wacker guys who is my local dealer? The only reply I got was "I don't know but "Joe" should know but he's not here". Local Bomag dealer has been wanting our business so we went local with support.
Wife and I went to Biloxi, MS for her B'day. Got a nice room at the Beau Rivage with a corner view of the Gulf of America. Interesting project where the feeder road from I-10 goes into the Gulf. Some sort of beach restoration where they are dredging and pumping sand up to restore the beach. They had 3 D6N LGP's, a 330 and a 924/930 wheel loader spreading the sand out. This pic was taken on Thursday afternoon. They worked all weekend and I was mesmerized as this was such a foreign way of moving dirt. This was their result the following Monday morning when we left. They worked straight through the weekend.
Nice Bomag, looks like it has split drums that you can remove the outer drums and use it in a more narrow trench. As for the soil. Here in East TN, mostly dirt including clay, limestone, some sandstone depending on where you are, and a few other geo mixed bag. But you guys, where you are, it could be sand, it could be pea gravel, it could be gray clay or red clay, it could be chert, or limestone, or quartz, even marble, and you guys even have iron rock! I know, I've had to drill holes in it with a drill rig. Grrrrrrrr
We are right smack dab in the middle where the Appalachian Mountains meet the Gulf plains. Many moons ago there would have been sea and mountains - now we get to dig through it. Several large dirt moving outfits come in from neighboring states and underbid the local guys on a large project only to leave with their tails dragging.
We just finished renting this Husqvarna. It worked well but it was frustrating that while you could run over someone, but it would stop if the operator got within 10 feet or so.
And that's a fact Jack. If you don't know central Alabamastan geology, then don't try to play the role of the big dog, just stay on the porch.
One of the problems one our newest Wacker has is it will not stop when you want it to. Some internal gremlin we don't have the time to chase out. It has hit structures and walls before - thankfully with no damage to either but still not good. This one is going on the auction block. The oldest Wacker is the most reliable and I'll keep it as a spare. It has some weird electrical gremlin that sometimes makes you have to cycle through the starting process many times before it cranks. What I like about the Bomag is everything is controlled on the remote. Start, stop, idle - everything. It has auto idle down when it stops for so many seconds. One can run the Bomag sitting in the excavator cab if the conditions allow it. Use the hoe to backfill the ditch then crank the roller up and pack it. IIRC Wacker makes the roller for Husky? All the trench rollers I have owned/ran till stop within 10' of the one holding the remote however it will run over something in it's way.
10 years ago Brad Cole Construction from ATL won the bid for a new distribution center for Hibbetts sporting goods at our local airport. Nice sized job around 1M sf of building. Rumor has it they ran into white chert on one end and bottomless swamp on the other. They have since been bought out however once that job was done I didn't see a Brad Cole truck back in central Alabama. Same with Eutaw Construction out of MS won the site package for a large high school underbidding all the large local outfits by 100K's. They show up with tractors and pan scrapers - for white chert... After ripping a bottom or two out of the tractor scrapers they sent those back home and went with hoes and artics which is the only way to move white chert. Even then this stuff is so abrasive it will eat teeth, cutting edges and tracks. Once they completed the HS project I haven't seen a Eutaw truck in central AL either.. We did a project with white chert in it back in the mid 2000's. Bought a brand new D6N and wore the pads out in 500 hours - no joke. We'd go through a set of teeth on a 325 in 2-3 days. Had to rotate them daily for even wear.
I ran into some weird geologic conditions last year: 2-3" "topsoil" that was half dirt half limestone chips 2-3' orange clay with no rock at all 1-1.5' shelf of captured limestone more orange clay, didn't dig deep enough to find the next layer The weirdest part was how variable the limestone was. With a 6 ton I could in 10' go from pulling slabs of rock out with the bucket, to hammering for 10 minutes for 2 linear feet of trench, to peeling layers of rock out with the bucket, and back to hammering. The almost as weird part was the rock was only in the lower contours. The 300' on top of the hill was easy digging. I called multiple rental places trying to find a rock wheel trencher, but no dice. I know somebody has one, because I see it laying fiber ducts occasionally. Got 1500' of 2" IPS water line put in, but it wasn't fun.
It was the first time we've dug in this type of material even though we've worked all around the area for over 20 years. To the north it's red and white chert, then sandy red dirt with grey and blue rock. To the south is more orange chert then sandy flat ground along the river. Going back west gets into the limestone quarries. As Willie said - we have mixed bag buried underground.
This is full remote too.
Got it. Full remote is so much better. Our 2 Wackers have the start/stop and high/low throttle in the console on the machine. Didn't realize how annoying it was until there was a better option.
I believe we can at least partially blame the glaciers for that. You know, those glaciers that formed the valleys and Appalachian mountains from New York to Northern Ga, Alabama became the sewer plant for all the crap those glaciers carried south.
Ha, I have never heard it put quite that way!
It's all them damn Yankees !
we always liked having 2 excavators. one digging, one compacting. either vibe plate or packwheel. that way we could stay immediately behind the pipelaying.
We use a trench roller and either a hoe, track loader or CTL to backfill the trench. Using a CTL and trench roller allows us to put a lessor operator on the backfill while the pipe laying goes on. Depends on whether the pipe has to be inspected or not.
Speaking of rain and how much we have had this summer - Friday afternoon. Crew finally had to stop hammering since the pond filled up and backed water into the ditch since the pipe is relatively flat at .25%. They could work up until water filled the trench since it's solid rock. However when you can't see the bottom it's time to throw in the towel. The pond has a Faircloth Skimmer which was doing it's job to filter the muddy water before letting it go into the OCS however it was just overwhelmed at this point. Pic from Monday of last week showing the rain over last weekend. The skimmer is the floating PVC contraption.
Looks slipperier than you know what!
Surprisingly not. The 325 is sitting on solid rock and most of this material is very sandy with rock fragments. Now 6 miles down the road where we built the metal building pad back in April is slicker than owl ****. It's red clay.
I get those nasty jobs right before I have to go work somewhere on or near asphalt where you can't track mud. I like to sneak a little extra in somewhere to pay me to wash my machines. Call me greedy
If you have to wash your machine then that is a cost of doing business and should be accounted for. That's not being greedy that's being business savvy.
We are required to wash before going on to almost all new jobs, in an attempt to reduce the spread of noxious weeds and certain snails/mussels that they do not want transported to another stream/river. 8 hours labor per machine is not taking advantage of the situation, especially when you have to get every bit of soil out of the track frames and grousers. I used to consider that overhead as we would wash equipment when it came back to the yard anyway, but anymore we add it into the mobilization cost.
The way I price a job out is if it's in the spec's then it's a line item. It's really the only way to account for job cost. I would do the same. We charge for GPS models and layout. It is a line item on our bid. Mobilization is a separate item. One large contractor we work for there is a line item for the extra GL insurance endorsements they require that all the other GC's we work for do not require. They have no issue with it. Cost of doing business IMO. I think where so many businesses fail is they don't track their costs - both direct and indirect. My philosophy is to itemize as much of your expenses into the direct cost for the job as it gives a clearer profitability window.
Not sure what thread we were talking tenths and tape measures (maybe one of the gps or grade controls)or if you guys had a hot deal thread. But anyway I have a few of these in the 33' but they has a significant price drop on the 25' so grabbed a few (limit 3) and wanted to share. https://a.co/d/0czVtgLJ
I give, what's a bother inch? Google don't know. Joe H
No clue on a Bother inch. HD used to sell a 25' tape in tenths I don't know if they still do. One way to confuse the **** out of a carpenter is hand him a tape with tenths on it. We have a few tapes with tenths around but really don't use them anymore with GPS and the rover. Used to use them all the time transferring grade from hubs to subgrade - ugghh that sucked!
No idea but it matches up with my Stanley tape measures, there are at least a few of the komelon tape measures that say that. I will email them and see if I can get a answer
I keep a 6' folding rule in tenths along with a Kuker Ranken sight level in my truck. Really handy for quick site estimates but doesn't get used nearly as often as it did years ago. I definitely remember transferring hubs and laying out sites with measuring tapes and math but don't miss that at all. GPS is expensive upfront but saves money in so many areas we weren't expecting...
No doubt! Now I want a Cat smart blade and a new 265 outfitted with GPS. Its the $185K price tag that's the hurdle..
I agree. We usually have to submit proposals using the bid sheet provided. Some agencies frown upon not following instructions, so we have to insert costs into the categories provided. In that circumstance I will provide an additional document to our proposals that qualifies what costs are included in each category. There are often a lot of lump sum categories that include Mobilization, Temporary Erosion Control, Construction Survey and Staking, etc. Some of the projects have the entire job as one Lump Sum, which is problematic when dealing with any changes. On one previous phase of the project that we are now on I qualified my mobilization costs and got called out on bid proposal preparation time. We often wind up with 40 hours or more to put a large (for us) proposal together. I stated that the cost is real, and despite language that states we cannot bill for proposal costs (meaning in my mind that if we are unsuccessful in getting a project that they are not liable for our proposal cost), if we are awarded the project that that cost has to be included somewhere, and I may as well put it right out there for the evaluation staff to see.
We're running a 285 with a GB124 set up with UTS and GPS. Most of our grading is done with UTS. It's been a great combo so far. Our concrete crews don't have anything to whine about any more so they've had to focus on tightening up their controls. Lol ... And management has been really happy with the ROI so far. It's been a moneymaker for us. Large projects we rough it in with the dozer running GPS and fine grade with the GB124. Smaller projects we no longer use the dozer at all.
Very similar here Oxbow. A typical bid/proposal I put together contains the following - Mobilization GPS model and layout Erosion control Demo - site and/or building Grading Storm drainage Detention pond/system Any specific items like a allowance for undercutting and the like The last page lists all the inclusions and exclusions. The latests exclusion is "No tree removal or clearing and grubbing included unless specifically noted on the civil drawings". Like all the other exclusions this was added due to being bit on our current project. The above line items are lump sum with line items. Each line item doesn't have a separate cost. This is for a quickie oil change place we just priced with a basement. Now the spreadsheets that feed into this have multiple line items and that is where I try to account for the most detail costs as possible. Those sheets flow into the proposal pages. These sheets are schizophrenic but it's like my trucks tool box - looks like a complete mess but I know where everything is..LOL I've built these sheets over the years adding and subtracting items. It works well for the small commercial jobs we do. Wife does all the quantity take off with Insite Software. She taught herself how to use it and is pretty damn good with it. With Insite and these sheets we can spit a proposal like this out in a 1/2 day start to finish if we have to. However I prefer to put it together over a few days so we have enough time to throughly go over the plans and specs.
Great feedback thanks for sharing. That's what I see that machine being able to do. What I would like to do is be able to go back a QSR or the quickie oil change to fine grade the parking lot and only take a CTL and blade - no need to move the D3 back in. Got a chuckle out of the concrete guys whining. Just this week on the warehouse job we are working on the concrete guy came up to my super and asked him "Why am I doing your job?". Super was like what?? Concrete guy was referring to his guys having to hammer rock in the footing. Super laughed and said "My contract is to sub-grade. " Then proceeded to tell the concrete guy the GC didn't want to pay our rate for hammering rock with the 325 - you must've been cheaper! For the life of me I cannot understand why the GC, concrete sub, paving sub and landscaper think the site contractor is their concierge.
I've never done any work on the scale you do, CM, so could you explain a bit on your last post? For what bit I have done, the excavation guy was responsible for getting the footing pads ready for the concrete guys so they showed up, set forms and poured (strictly residential housing). I guess I don't get why they had to go deeper than you did in the prep phase? Also, footings in my region are minimum depth of 42", so there's a fair bit of excavation required to get there anyways
Our projects are a lot less dependent on materials than yours. Here is a typical bid sheet: Then I do all my calculations on other sheets that feed this one, similar to what you described. Most of the time we spend on proposals is meeting their requirements for providing past performance projects, references, and a technical proposal which is how we plan to perform the project including a schedule/Gantt chart. Each projects seems to ask for this information to be provided in a specific format, and my wife goes to the extreme to make sure that all fonts match, etc. We can't just copy and paste from previous proposals for the most part. The cost proposal portion usually can be done in a day or so. Almost all of our projects have evaluation criteria spelled out in the RFP, which stipulates how various parts of the proposal are weighted. Cost usually amounts to somewhere between 50% and 70% of the basis of award.
Absolutely. On this job and all the projects in this area the site contractor is responsible for getting the building pad down to or up to sub-grade which is the dirt grade before stone and concrete. Sub-grade would be the red line on this wall section. Any excavation below that line for footings would be the responsibility of the foundation contractor. Depending on how the contract reads all the excavation is unclassified meaning the contractor excavates all the material regardless of type or in this situation rock excavation is a change order price per the CY. On this job rock was paid by the CY. So we took the pad down to sub-grade removing all the rock above the red line. The concrete sub is responsible for what's beneath the red line. GC wanted to save money so I assume the concrete guy is doing it cheaper. This is a good pic of building D and E. The pad is to sub-grade. We hammered rock on the farthest pad. You can see the batter boards for the corner of BLDG E. The Kubota is sitting inside the building on the sub-grade.
Here the concrete guys get all high and mighty when it comes to digging their own, we cut them tight, if you dig them then we will have to charge you back for all the extra concrete we use. I just smile and walk away, then watch them running a laser with a guy in the hole ( who never seems to have the rod level) but it's beeping by God lol
Our work is mostly commercial/institutional/light industrial where 80% of the time the bottom dollar is the driver. Some of my competition gives a one page bid with a lump sum which works for them I guess however I want to be more detailed. If awarded a project the contract states that we have went over the plans and spec's and have included everything in the contract documents to complete our scope of work. There is also a Schedule A that lists specific contract requirements and scopes of work. This is the part of the contract I spend the most time on. Schedule A is where they'll sneak in things like "we are responsible for all spoils onsite" meaning we have to haul off other trades spoils - um no. Or topsoil import which I refuse to do. 20% of the time it is a relationship and as long as we are competitive we'll get the job. We have one of these 20%'ers coming up. A new retail project coming up from a client of ours we did the job for in North AL a couple of years ago. This project involves a new access road and 4-5 parcels containing a daycare, quickie oil change, coffee shop and taco shop. All these brands are the national types. I haven't received the plans yet to see if we are doing the entire project or just the access road and pads. Depends on if the lots will be sold or leased. Should be a nice project that pushes through the rest of the year depending on whether we are doing all the site work for the buildings or just the road and pads. X2 on the wife making sure everything on the proposal looks nice and centered and proper fonts.
Beep, beep - bueno. Last week the concrete guy was using the rented JD 310 backhoe as a rock hammer - poor machine, all the while having a rented 308 with hammer on it sitting right by. Maybe it's OK?
You forgot the masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and anybody else with anything to dig, backfill, or carry. After all, you're already on site with machinery and labor. How could you not WANT to do it for them???
It's in your contract! UMM nope - See Schedule A...
Same here. They'll dig the footings because they can do it cheaper then ask us to haul away the spoils... On the beeping, didn't you know that if it's beeping high the fastest and most efficient way to get it to grade is to lean the rod? And if it's beeping low you set it on your boot. If you use too much concrete it was the grading contractors screw up, if you come in under estimate it's because you kept your grade tight. Just some tips I've learned from concrete guys over the years...
Ah, the old rod on the boot and lifting your toes kinda grade. Make sure you order a few extra yards of concrete though. Lol
Usually the GC asks for a CY number to haul the other trades spoils off - footing, plumber, sparky, etc. I'll give them a per load price since we hire all our trucks out. Maybe it's OK - strikes again!! We have a terrible time with the curb guys not going by the grade stakes and making the curb whatever they want. I think they don't know how to read tenths.. We'll grade to asphalt sub-grade which is at a minimum 3" below the bottom of the curb depending on asphalt build up so if the paver hasn't put the base down the curb guys have to fill that void with stone. Although we are starting to price the base on select projects. In our area the paver has always placed the base. Before GPS it was a fight all the time on who was right. Now we'll bring the rover over and suddenly the GC can work with the curb that's at the wrong grade.
I find differing regional trade practices very interesting. For years we supplied and placed the base to +/- 0.1' then the pavers would final trim. Now we often do everything but the asphalt. If the pavers want to back charge for overages on asphalt we can always topo their grade and compare it to our subbase as-built so there's less room for scalping a few extra thousands by either party.
i think it is chinglish for both.
It just makes sense for the site guy to place the base, let the curb guy come in then we backfill curbs and trim the base out for the pavers. Just not something common here. Friend of mine hand pours curb, gutter and civil concrete so I try to get him on the jobs we are working on so it just goes smoother. The retail development we have coming up I would like get the sub-grade proof-rolled and signed off by the geo+inspector then immediately put 3" of base on the road just to protect the sub-grade. Curb man comes through working on base and when finished we top the base out with another 3" and grade out the crown for the paver. Makes sense to me and it's another profit center for us on the same job.
You mean korelish ;-)
Plumbers and build erectors were our biggest problem We did mostly metal buildings. We'd cut the building to subgrade. Install the stone rough, excavate the footers and backfill. The plumbers would come in and then our stone grade was always 2" low at their excavations. We tried and solve the issue by fine grading the stone before the plumbers. Nope same deal . Would never give us extra stone . So we added to future pricing Plumbers also wanted to hang the roof drainage pipe on the foundation walls before excavating. It was impossible to backfill properly. Constant battle. The erectors left some much garbage we constantly had to clean it up. We back charged but never got paid. Not showing up till it was cleaned up fixed this issue.
Colson in your world concrete is formed up from the bottom typically footings get formed and structural fill is done by site guys cause its a massive amount of dirt In the southern US with out frost lines fottings can be dug neat in the ground with the top of footing being 6 inches below top of dirt In az on standard commercial strip buildings that are single story you dig a maximum of 36 inches below finish floor because you don't need more grading guys leave a building pad at sub grade witch is usually 8 to 10 inches below finish floor depending on floor thickness The concrete sub has to do there own excavation for foundations in this type of work I have made a great deal of money digging for concrete outfits most grading contractors don't touch that work its niche and tedious compared to civil underground and site grading
No we have frost lines. Frost line here is 1' and grade has to be a minimum of 6" below FFE so the minimum depth of a footing for residential and light commercial is 18" including floor slab since most light slabs are poured monolithically. The warehouse project we are on I think the footings are 24" deep with a 6" slab so 3' from FFE. The column footings for the rec center project were 4.67' below FFE. Concrete guys dug, poured and backfilled those. It was in their contract which is standard here. Most commercial slabs are 4/4 or 4/6 - stone/concrete. On small jobs the concrete sub places the stone on larger jobs we've places it. I have zero desire to dig excavations for structural concrete.
My experience with pavers has always been consistent. They always try and screw me, to the point I bought a coring set up and especially if it’s a new crew, will take core samples of the base layer. If I could tell you how many times 3” of base turned out to be 1”, 2” or whatever, then the “extra mini pack“ they had to bring it up to grade, I’d run out of fingers and toes. I probably have 25 paving companies around me and unfortunately, the most expensive ones are the most honest. Since I finally found a paving crew, I finally trust, my coring drill and bits have been sitting in a box for 5 years, every couple of months, I open it up and spray some protectant over the cores. Might sell it at some point. Maybe put the sale price to a GPS set up.