This is the product of being bored while doing your job. That and I thought i'd show off my ditch puller a bit Enjoy!
nice!
Very nice Telescooper
Yeah i know guys kinda boring action pics, but that's all I have to do now a days. I decided to stray away from the more traditional way of pulling the shoulder. Plus its always fun to look at the people passing by in the work zone as they stare at you like something is wrong with this machine cocked at a weird angle.
chris where r u all working its cool to see you on here....i live in Kilmarnock and work for Eubanks, cool to see pics of stuff going on around here!
Hey man! I'm currently working up Westmorland County down Sandy Point pulling ditches & high shoulders for roads that are up for surface treatment for VDOT. I work Westmorland & Richmond county, my brother and his crew (doing the same thing) is working Lancaster & Northumberland. Its definitely not the most glamorous work in the industry but it most certainly keeps the food on the plate w/ the hourly work and amount of machines you have out working. What do you do for Eubanks? Take it easy man!
Right on Chris :notworthy I always like laying that stuff under the tranny then looking in my mirrors to be sure it's coming out right. That's a Beautiful G model you have there!!!!! Regards, Randy
Nice pics Chris, great advice Randy. Just curious Chris, do you bid/establish all your own contracts with the counties? I am looking into some county contracting, which is something totally new to me. I always worked for someone else and never got involved with that angle of things.
Unfortunately Randy I don't have any mirrors on my G, so I have to keep turning around constantly I've always been a real big fan of the H's and often have to wipe the drool from my chin after viewing your 14H and it in all the action it sees!! Wapiti - With VDOT, what they do is put out a bid on certain machinery for a period of 2 years w/ an optional 1 year extension. So they want prices on a backhoe for like 500 hours, grader for 1000 etc. etc. So you just name the price you want for that machine and multiply it times the number of hours and add them all up. That's your bid for those 3 years. We bid per residency, in a certain area of a group of counties they have a residency, which is the main office for that group of counties. They're are usually like 4 counties per residency. Last year we maintained 11 out of the 13 counties (3 residencies) in the District. But VDOT has gone down the crapper and is saying how they don't have any work or money lined up in the budget so its not looking to good for use the last part of this year and next. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the info, Chris! I am looking to venture out on my own and I have a lot to learn real quick as far as contracts, bidding, etc (and everything else, for that matter!). Thanks again, Larry
Nice photos Chris (and Randy). What are you guys using to pick up your windrows?
Thanks Jim! We use force feed loaders. Ive got a 95 Athey 712D w/ AC on my crew, while my brother has a 96 LeeBoy (2800 i think) w/ AC on his. Then 4 tandem dump trucks on each crew (8 total), then 2 broom tractors w/ a D3 & D4 size dozer in each pit. Me and my brother both run identical 12G graders. Good times, just have to keep the air filters clean when you don't have a rain for a while! Larry - not a problem!
I figured that's what you guys were using just didn't want to assume. OK, now I have a stupid question, but when you're cutting shoulders like this and pullin the windrow out into the road, do you leave the road side blade control in float and just work the right side control or do you still run both controls?
My take..if you leave it in float then you have no control of that side of the blade. Heavy material from your cut can actualy lift your blade on the float side. Best not to have it in float. No such thing as a stupid question..if there was I'd win an award. On edit...not used to seeing a grader without mirrors. Must be a pain in the butt.
Hey Chris,I was born and raised in Tazewell county in the southwest part of the state.Lived there till I was fourteen and my family moved out of state down south.Ya know where Tazewell-Bluefield is? Good lookin ole blade ya got. Gene
Float...Mirrors.. what are these things you speak of No float or mirrors here, basic stuff is just all we know. I see the spot for the Float on the IP but neither of our 12G's came w/ it. Basically, when you have a wide shoulder like that that's over 4-8 feet wide, if you want to do it in one pass w/out having the blade straight like at 8 & 2 and having the stuff bunch up real bad I articulate the machine so the blade is on more of an angle and I don't run over it w/ the rear tires. But what you basically do is put the blade down close, get the ditch side straight first which is at the very top of the shoulder (depending on how high the shoulder is) then put the blade side down until that little bit of play in the blade moves rather than the blade, then pull on :cool2 Then if you hear to much scraping from the asphault, just bump that side up a bit. Anything under 4 foot I just go out and get it by steering the machine or rotating the circle, still using the same "if you hear asphault scraping the blade, your down to far" method. Gene, i'm afraid thats about on the opposite end of the state from me. I had to google it to see exactly where it was! Gotta love VA!
To answer Jim's Question Jim I use a Paddlewheel. After pulling the joint out I straddle it with a paddlewheel and just idle along with the elevator slowly turning. When picking up these asphalt joints you have to do it at the right time/temperature of the day. Same with pulling the joint out with the grader, it's got to be the right time of day/temperature. To early in the morning/too cold and it beats the elevator too much, too late in the afternoon/too warm and it crumbles in to pieces. If I do it at just the right time of day there is NO labor involved, it can all be done with hydraulics!!!! I only take about 1/2 to 3/4 loads so as not to cause the machine to lean. If you get the load shifted just a tad, then one corner of the paddlewheel's cutting edge will start digging in to the finished grade. :Banghead Most of the time I do this myself, I've had too many muckers dig holes in the finished grade, which is a pain to fix especially when it's the last panel! Regards, Randy
beeautiful cut man