Just curious about if anyone's operating in confined spaces like myself. I rebuild back alleys and often are not even 14' wide. And then having to be to grade within 10mm. Makes interesting days sometime. I just finished rebuilding a turning lane with a swath 30m long and only 12 feet wide and a raised catch basin in the centre. Here's a video of me grading around a 90 degree corner "L" shaped alley. I'm pushing slag from the local steel mill, we use it as the subbase with a 4" layer of base gravel on top of it.
I'll bet you get tired of that back up alarm. Now imagine doing that job with a rack of levers and a clutch. You run out of arms and even creep is too fast. Not even possible with a straight frame. You must have a back up camera too. Thanks for posting. Good video.
Yeah the back up alarm is ridiculous, the guys on the ground wear ear plugs. Funny story, I have a full thing of levers, steering wheel, and luckily a power shift transmission. Thank god for articulation and yes that back up camera is a god send as well. I have done a few interesting lanes that a straight frame could have never done.
Might be worth looking into a white sound backup alarm. They are way less obnoxious. I was at a warehouse last week and the forklifts played ice cream truck music. That's pretty tight work for a fullsize grader.
Why not a skip?
A skip? What is that? I will talk to my employer about a white noise back up alarm. Yes it is right some times. Especially when there's a manhole involved to work around. This alley I'm working in right now gets down to 12 feet wide at the narrowest and this is an easy one. In a few coming up we have an H shaped lane. Power poles directly on the corners of the connecting alley. Very tight squeeze to articulate around.
Skip is good for the little in's n out's in parking lots and you could rough it in with a skip but timewise the way you got it in the grader was great
why don't you replace the backup alarm with a (White noise ) alarm ? it sounds like a duck getting stepped on. a lot of in town contracts are done at night and require them now .
Yeah the skip looks like a handy little land leveller with the ripper to loosen up the hard base lol. But ultimately I can get pretty much everything with the grader. Couldn't justify having one. Tomorrow I am going to finish a lane, just have to cut the edges by the sidewalks and dig out the catch basin. It was an easy lane, almost 14 feet wide the entire way, two high points, one manhole, and one catch basin. The shadows in the picture play tricks on your eyes, plus with where the sun is during the mornings and late afternoons the windows are more like mirrors if there's any kind of dust on them.
He has a rack of levers and a clutch, plus a steering wheel!!!!
Why not a dozer?
Dozer cant drive itself around the city without being floated, and the grader is much faster at completing the entire task, and can do things the dozer cannot.
Monday when i go back to work i'll get some pictures of the job i'm on now. Here's the location of the back alley from google maps. A tight H shaped alley. fences and power poles right at the corners. Another one i need to articulate 100% to make it around, while pushing material. With my rack and levers, steering wheel, and clutch haha The alley is between Royal Street, and Forget Street. You can go down into street view to see how tight it is. Plus to add onto it, theres two catch basins right at where the north/south part meets the east/west. https://www.google.ca/maps/place/50...5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d50.45612!4d-104.6503415
Looks like they are subdivding their back yards. How do you handle vehicles left in the right of way? Seems like you plan ahead before you get there.
Before we even go into the alley. We get the utilities shot and marked. Utility companies come in and lower the gas lines. When they do that we have to hand out letters to notify the home owners that the alley will be inaccessible for up to 6 weeks weather depending. A crew comes in and excavates the alley with a john Deere 755k track loader(my old position) and then I come in and fill with 4" of slag, and 4" of base gravel. I compact it call in a crew that rebuilds the manhole, and then a paving crew comes in after makes one pass down the centre. And then a final crew comes in and backfills and Ramps driveways. If there is a car ever in the way parked we either knock on doors and get it moved. Or call a Tow truck and hide their cars lol we use to be able to run plates and get the owners address. But it was abused and we aren't allowed to anymore
Gah I can't even use Photobucket to host my pictures
Uploading has gotten way easier here or use https://imgur.com/
Didn't realize we could upload on here
If you hit insert inline they will show up as big pictures instead thumbnails.
Just finishing the other T part of the alley right now, got sent home because of the rain yesterday. First rainfall over 1/10" since the beginning of June.
Don't know how well this is going to show up. But took this cool picture to show the lane a bit lol
Do the baloons wrapped around the light rack serve a purpose?
Hahaha no they don't, only for Crew morale that day. Just trying to have fun.
One picture is the slag in, and at the end of the day I had a little left to cover with base. The next morning filling the last bit with base I had an audience lol.
I find John Deere has a lot of blind spots. When I first started where I am now, I had come from a company that built highways. Then I was thrown into that kind of work. Tight spots, no grades, people judging you cause you're supposed to be a graderman. You pick up a lot of little tricks. After 20 years I use a Maulden grader for tight spots. Cost wise it's no contest. Faster hands down. I still have the 14 footer when I need it, but it comes down to the right tools for the job. Glad you enjoy your work. Keep it up.