Hi All, I saw a thread or two in other areas that are a showcase of the projects you have but I hadn't seen one in this section... I'm curious to know both what projects you've done, and what get's your BHL's use most. I'll post a few pictures below and I'll have to update some as well. My biggest use is knocking over dead trees and dragging them back to a pile or two and digging holes in the pond to build the big dirt pile seen in one of the pictures or creek to fill in holes from removed stumps. It's really incredible how much labor can be saved with these machines. 50-100 foot trees are no match and work that would take days by hand is done in a couple hours. Then filling in holes or ruts, again, would be backbreaking, but is make fun by the ol' Backhoe Loader. I think the order goes (though it's probably pretty apparent): Pond digging for a hill I built for the Fiance in a picture to come; Stump removal. That stump was really in there and is bigger than it looks. I had to dig about 6 feet deep and maybe 15 feet wide to get it out; Bridge work over the creek, if you haven't tried it leave some bags of Quikrete or whatever just laying around outside for a bit and they turn into pretty decent giant bricks, these were leftover from the previous owner of the house: Digging out some of the creek to fill in for that big stump. What's yours doing?
Part 2. Tree dragging and The Hill, which is now covered in river rocks and plants! That gray spot is my lady, and she doesn't really look like that.
Nice tank hammertime! Here's the hill now! The plan was to make the hill tall enough to block the view of the neighbors across the way (behind where this picture is taken from) but it was determined that would make the hill probably 10-15 feet tall and to be able to either cut grass on it, or landscape it, it'd needed to be probably 50 feet wide, and that wasn't conducive to our plans. Instead, she started planting stuff on it to hopefully grow and give us the same effect and it's about 5-6 feet tall and 20-25 feet wide.
Who is underneath it ??
Ha! I didn't think fast enough, not even a past dog!
Making dinner
There we go! That's the response I've been waiting for!
Renting a backhoe for jobs is okay... if you have a major project. But having the hoe just waiting to help out on the farm is priceless. Today, while setting a post, I found a bunch of roots in the way. The choice was digging, hacking & cussing. A better choice was fire up the hoe and tear out the offending roots, then dig the post hole. A 5 minute hoe job that saved hours of hard struggle. Only possible since the machine was already at hand.
beat me to it! LOL
My hoes don't have wheels like yours... But they does a handy job of grading and spreading The base was pretty hard clay with some soft areas mixed it. The 36 came in handy for trimming the fine points you just can't get with the cx60( aka jiggles) The CX60 is a bit big for starting in a corner, good thing it has a rear camera This is how far a couple loads of 1/4 went.
Judging by the sheer number of threads in this section of HEF, most of them are broken down....!!
Mine is new to me and I got it for a great price but it is sitting waiting on me to do all the PM and repairs. I am not restoring it but repacking all the cylinders, fixing the brakes, replacing some fogged or cracked windows and making everything work. I am going to build a house and need to clear land. I rather do all the work on it now rather than wait for things to fail while I am trying to use it.
Nice work. I have a CX60 on rent while my Taki gets some new pins. Not a bad machine. More powerful than I was anticipating, good lifting capacity. I have been using to pull concrete so no a lot of fine work, but the more time I spend in it, the more I like it. Other than the odd location of the dozer blade lever and the two speed switch being on monitor, that seems odd to me for some reason.
Yeh, I asked about them programing the speed to one of the buttons on the sticks and the dealer said probably could... but nothing ever came of it... And yes the blade lever back so far gives me pains after a several hours of precision grading as for lifting caps... it's tippy as heck IMHO and ours does have the added counterweight. It does seem fairly powerful but at the same time limited... if you know what I mean... seams like there is more power there but it won't let you have it??? And I hear another undercarriage roller or two going out they already changed out a few plus one of the top ones that were going out before the 300 hour mark!!! it now has over 800 hours. I nick named it jitters/jiggles cause it doesn't take much if you're trying to fine grade or for that matter any kind of fine movement and off it goes!!! I don't think I've ever used a machine that had this much wiggle/wobble in the rotec before... almost like they left the main bolt that holds the house down loose by a quarter inch!!! Then on friday doing that grading not even working it hard I got this error popping up and dinging at me: outside air temps were around 65F with a bit of drizzle, you could smell something to do with the exhaust about 5 minutes before this thing lit up so I gave it a break and left it on 30% idle for 5 minutes and still errored so I let it sit another 10 minutes at min. idle then killed it cause it was still lit up. And like all the previous errors that pop up if you go into the menus to find out any more there is never anything listed... it's all A OK!!! Overall it's an ok machine for demo and moving stuff but I wouldn't have dropped 80k on it...
This is what took me from appreciating what one of these machines can do to spending more than I did on a new car for one. I still struggle when I think of spending 25k on a backhoe that gets used only occasionally but then I really, really like how easy it makes all kinds of jobs around the house and yard. Got a 100 foot tall tree that needs to come down and be cleaned up? Backhoe! An old stump getting in the way? Backhoe! Need to plow some snow? Backhoe! Want to make a giant pile of dirt somewhere? You guessed it, backhoe! Projects that I would have never started or considered are now possible, often times easy, and fun!
I didn't have much picture taking time today, until I blew a dump cylinder hose. $35 later and we were back in business Naturally, I had to remove 2 hoses to get to the bad hose on the loader spool. Douched my hoe in oil pretty good too. I was stripping top soil and clay off a strip of sand I needed for around my barn when i got shut down. I'll try to remember to post more pics tomorrow
LOL I thought the first picture was going to say 'Digging in the rain' but I see it wasn't rain
Reminded me of something I said once. We (wife & I) were building a rock wall. Rocks were roughly six feet long, two feet deep and 12-18 inches tall. Needed the backhoe to move/lift, adjust. Also needed someone with some 'oomph' to try to guide the rocks (boulders).... so I grabbed the shovel and was doing the 'oomph' work, wife was manning the controls. I told someone about this situation later on (my wife is NOT the kind of gal you'd find on construction equipment).... none the less...somewhere in my story, I slid the line out that because she did such a good job at it, she was the best hoe'er around......
I'm curious to know how you pronounce that? Ha!
There is the "hoe" and the "hoe'er"
Had a female operator friend who ran loaders ,she took a crane course and became a crane operator. Next time I saw her I asked her if she was still running loaders,she said no I’m running cranes . I said oh so your a hooker . She didn’t think that was funny at all.
Was going to say that mine is in the hospital, but it would be more accurate to say that she is undergoing major surgery on the battlefield by an untrained medic who is consulting the experts (and anyone else who cares to chime in) via an internet forum.
I'm forced to be the safety guy and ask if you've got that loader bucket solidly propped/chocked up somehow? Also, that's sad, it looks like your buddy there is missing a front end!
Pretty funny to me
Yeah, it is propped up. And yes, it is a sad looking hoe, right now.
He has angle irons zipped to the cylinders.
My 410 is in pieces awaiting winter before I'll have the time to get back at it, looking similar to that Ford hoe.. My 790D on the other hand has been earning it's keep doing odd jobs around the homestead, a couple guys pulled in this morning wondering if I'd rent it out for a light duty government job up the road they're bidding on, so she may be getting a paying job soon!
I see it now! I saw what looked like zip ties on the cylinders but didn't see the angle iron on there. Thanks for being safe!
What are you putting on top of the clay and how deep is it?
Not sure how deep the clay is I think some of it was fill from the previous owners because of the mixed patches of softer material in various areas... anyways I rolled it pretty good after cutting just to even things out then put 6+ inches of 1/4 minus on with some good moisture content and rolled the dickens out if it from there the owners wanted ~2.5 inches of fine sand on it they're going to mix shredded nike into.... it's a horse thing
Here is the sand going in.
Welp, a tree got the better of me and my hoe today, and I learned a valuable lesson about letting my kids sit on my lap. I've got a tree that is probably about 70 feet tall and probably 3 feet or so across at the trunk. It's been dead for years but is apparently still tough enough to lift my backhoe into the sky and when the bucket slipped we fell probably a foot or so to the ground. My son was on my lap with his feet on the window sill pushing him back but we both got tossed about a little. We're both OK and the hoe seems good but it was sketchy for a minute. I'll be busting out the chainsaw for this one...
Wow!!!, you got lucky there aighead. Our hoe was burn'in up a storm earlier... unfortunately the stupid phone decided I didn't need those pics So here is one I just took. We made a 3-4 foot deep pit about 60 feet long x 10-12 and filled it up... then kept fillin'
I am just curious. Have my own horse pad thing going on. Some of the base will not pack it is some what like the sand but a different color. Pad is just sand on clay. What is 1/4 minus?
Quarter minus is like 5/8ths minus but smaller in fact it looks like coarse sand but with some big chunks in it... it packs pretty good with the right moisture content. Usually we'd use 5/8 or 1-1/4 as a base but so many of these 'horse people' know what's best they end up thinning the top footing(sand) down to an unmanageable 2-3 inches which of course the hooves dig right through... and then they complain about all the big rocks showing up in the sand gonna make their horses go lame!!! So... in comes the quarter minus (hard to tell it from sand) get it... what they don't understand is if you keep the sand wet enough you can use a good 6+ inches of it and not have problems at all... We actually have a decent sized arena here for the quarter horses and such all you got to do is run the water wagon on it before riding or turn on some sprinklers for a couple hours first if it's too dry. The arena here is also a clay(more or less) base just put a good charge of sand on it and it works good for all sorts of stuff It had six riders on it last week the day I was working on the KW.
There are some of those type people in my family. The out door pad has become a little disfunctional. I have some equipment for the farm but not really an operator for that type of work. Just curious about the material. Thanks for the reply!
I built a woodshed pole barn and did some trench work Friday and Saturday. Ran a 100 amp service to it (because i could) and then dug up my insulated hot water lines for my boiler so I could move them about 10 ft over. Would have been a PITA without the hoe digging through the clay. I dug up the inside the barn portion by hand though
Wow, some close quarters there, well done! My buddy is wanting to borrow mine so he can do some similar work...
Two of the horses in my pic were at the NFR rodeo in vegas, one of them placed very good too
Well, like a dummy, my enclosed rops is now semi-enclosed. Trying knock over a tree bit my bucket side window in the ass. The tree was sticking a bit and I was likely just a foot or so too far away, I pushed on the tree, it swayed back while losing some high branches, and smashed my window out... Glass inside my shirt, down my pants all over the cab etc... That was dumb and I'm mad at myself.
This can be a very dangerous occupation. It is quick to punish you should you make a mistake. Look at your task make a safe plan and move forward. Like a cop, going home everyday with all of our limbs, digits, sight and hearing intact, as well as not frying or punching holes in our epidermis's is pretty much our most important task of the day. Glad you weren't injured In the words of Sgt. Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues "Let's be careful out there!"
Been there - done that sad to say. Had tractors and scrapers moving dirt and this one tree limb was hanging out over the spreading area. Was just going to knock the limb down and carry it away - not realizing the tree was hollow! About an inch of good tree all the way around but not sturdy enough to stand with a bucket on the limb. Broke two glasses.... very mad at me but grateful that was all. Took a chainsaw to get the tree off the hoe. Trying to do better. That was a couple of years ago but still very fresh.
After a near miss or 2 sometimes you just have step back and think of a safer plan of attack. You only get so many chances before something goes horribly wrong. Tree's especially are unpredictable.
Yeah, this one turned out more elastic and tall than I kind of expected. You sure never know, I'd knocked one over about a minute earlier that came down perfectly and as expected... Tough. Will be buying some plexiglass in a bit. And likely closing the window when I go knock more stuff down.
There's a reason forestry machines have huge STEEL grills around the cab. If I recall the old stripping shovels had something like 5" thick bulletproof glass for the windshields.
If you do put plexiglass or lexan in there make sure you never clean it without hosing it off first then be real careful to use soft cleaning stuff on it... or you won't be able to see through it in not time at all.... we've done it for a few things and it don't take much to scratch the crap out of em' in no time.. and then when the sun hits it you really can't see though it
I tried plexiglass and Lexan. Never again. I think a fly walking across it will scratch it. If the window is flat, safety glass is a good alternative.
Well, I finally finished the major surgery on mine. It is currently resting, but the little woman has quite a few projects lined up for it in the near future.
I finished my barn project. Had to open the hole bigger to give me some room to work down there. Then spray foam the lines and let cure for 24 hours. I used the bobcat to backfill. Easier to see when working close the barn.
Thanks for the tips on plexiglass. That's what I'll use for the time being but mostly for weather protection while the hoe sits. I've had it open every time I've used the machine, so visibility won't be as much an issue. Oh yeah, learning lessons the hard way... I cut my neighbors cable line while digging stumps. I thought I was in a good spot but I wasn't. I'll be calling before I dig and attempting to figure out a way to more permanently mark the spots than the little flags I'm likely to mow over.
Photos from several different angles helps with locations of underground stuff.
Yeah, I'm thinking that along with printing a satellite shot or from a drone and I can be fairly positive of staying at least 5-10 feet away.
The can help.... however unless you have some really good reference points in the pics then they can be very misleading... We did some utility intercepts for a neighbor a while back and he had all kinds of photos all printed out in 8.5x11 glossy color... the works!!! He had before and after pics of trenches, conduits, pipes,etc.... so we dug based off where his pics showed.... dug for 3 hours and finally found some 1 inch poly??? at 4 feet down... we had holes in several places down 4 plus feet digging carefully some by hand when ever he though we were getting close.... so after all this wasted time thinking the guy knew where stuff was I finallyconvinced the boss I'd run home get my locate gear and hook on his power and trace it to the pump house and outbuildings.... 15 minutes later I had painted lines 10 feet from where he was sure the stuff was.... 8 minutes after that we found the pipes A straight down view like aighead is thinking would be way better than regular pics.
That sounds like a drag!
Working for neighbors can be
Speaking of working for neighbors, my hoe's latest project has been digging a trash hole for a neighbor down the way. I dug a hole about 15 feet across and 15-17 feet deep in about 2 hours, pretty incredible! He's paying for fuel and I've convinced him to pay me in a handful of boulders I dug out as I got into it! I'm not thrilled about the way I had to pile dirt around the trash this guy had as I'm currently in the process of moving one of my piles to access one of his piles but it should all work out, I think. This was my first dig-it-as-deep-as-you-can project and I'm happy with how it went.
Aighead… Watch out for haz-waste. If you touch it, you could be on the hook with the EPA. And you don't want to be any where near the Feds or the State folks. (States can have more restrictive regulations than Federal regulations... ie California) see here https://www.epa.gov/hw/summary-requirements-hazardous-waste-land-disposal-restrictions-program My town has a well water contamination problem from farmers pesticide dumps. It was on their own property until it wasn't.
Thanks hosspuller! This is mostly pallets and cardboard, from fruits and vegetables, that he'll be burning prior to burying, but this is great info to have, I appreciate it!
I got a small little buisness nothing to big. I do septics, water lines, drop well pumps or pull them out, I also do ALOT of demos which are fun. I just do alot odds and ends really , I hate when people always wanting me to dig up trees lol. Where those campers are used to be a lot of nothing but trees, I built a mini 4 camper r.v park with full water,septic, electric hook up.
Not sure why it posted all the same pictures like that sorry guys
Nice pics Gregory watch out on your pitless tool, I had made one using some chinese pipe from the big box store and about the second use right after I dropped a pump in the pipe broke right at the threads a half inch out of the pitless!!! fortunately we always use a good safety rope as that could have been bad
Those pictures are lovely even if doubled up, Gregory!
My hoe is itching to hit the back field, would you do it? The pictures aren't great but what you are looking at is a bridge over the creek in my back yard. The creek is maybe 6-8 feet wide right there. Often times it's dry but sometimes there is a lot of opportunity for washout of the whole thing. We have yet to get a big rain where a washout was possible, or likely, so it hasn't been put to a real test, likely until next spring... When we moved in to the house the bridge only had one 12" cement pipe allowing water to move from one side to the other, and there were frequent washouts which made it tough to get the mower over it or any other kind of vehicle. I've since dug the whole thing up and added 2 more 16" PVC pipes about a foot lower than the cement one. We then covered that with dirt and rocks, and we had a pile of concrete bags that had been exposed to the rain that we laid out over the top, as seen in the first picture below, then covered that with more dirt and rocks, then compacted it pretty well. The second picture is a poor cross section but mostly representative of the construction and yeah there are pipes hiding behind the rocks there, we have had enough of a washout to move things around a bit. The pipes are probably 2-3 feet under the surface, with the cement one being shallower. My concern is driving a 7 ton backhoe over it and squashing any of the pipe. We have had a full size pickup truck over it with no issue, but not the backhoe. With my boulder hunting project the field will be my most likely chance to find good rocks while not disturbing the land too much, at least in ways I care about. So, would you drive over the bridge in a piece of heavy equipment? If it collapses are there more disasters that I'm not thinking of that I may not be able to hoe out of?
With two feet of cover your PVC pipes assuming schedule 40 or better will support the backhoe. It's important to bed the pipes all around. Any voids weaken the load bearing of the pipe.
Is schedule 40 the rating of the pipe? My guess is it isn't that but I'm not sure. Thanks for the input! I think it's packed in very well, it's rained a lot and been driven over and packed down a lot...
PVC pipe comes in different schedules (meaning wall thicknesses), the most common being Schedule 40, 80 and 120. Schedule 40, used for general household above-ground sewer and vent lines, has thinner walls, while Schedule 120 has the thickest walls of the three schedules . Usually printed on the pipe. May be abbreviated like "Sch 40" or "sch 80"
Oh, cool, thanks! This stuff is pretty thin. Like thinner than what is in the wall... We'll see. I may try it and keep my buckets and stabilizers low.
Schedule 35 is a lot thinner than 40 and is more prevalent in drainage uses... it comes in white, green,blue.... for the bigger sizes and maybe even more colors that we don't use there is also a thinner pipe called 2729 it's cheap! people use the 3,4, and 6 inch around for footing drains etc.... but you got to be careful installing it cause it'll break if you look at it sideways Also there is the black ADS pipe(corrugated stuff) used a lot for road crossings and stuff like that.
Mine drilled a hole, well sort of, my digger but where I work their hoe. Mine is a 590 super m series 2, this one is a series 3.
I was putting my new thumb to the make or break test last Tuesday. The hoe was extended all the way out. Easily picked the tree up with the engine speed at idle. It was an ash tree with no rot in it.
Looks like it worked....
If I do anything with the rear hydraulics at idle and the cylinder hits the end of its stoke the engine will stall. It needs to be a little higher than idle. Is this normal or do I need an adjustment?
Highway ghost, I agree... I don't do any work at idle. I'm up around 2k if I'm trying to do stuff...? That thumb looks like it works really well! I'd love to do that on mine. Does it have hydraulics or it it static? And that ash looks very familiar, I've got a lot of those!
Drilled 20 feet for a "well" to lower water table around a digestor.
It is a stationary thumb Aighead. I sure wish it was hydraulic tho. It always is in the way of digging when the boom is extended very far out. It isn't difficult to remove the link in it and fold it up tho. Just a nuisance.
Turning a Douglas fir into firewood. Most of the Douglas fir on my property are dying from some kind of infestation. Hydraulic thumb be mighty handy!
Haven't used my machine enough to really trust it yet. I probably won't be eating my lunch sitting in the shade under a fully loaded front bucket. (That's a joke, for the safety patrol) It still has a LOT of issues, but runs and works well.
I've found a lot of use turning logs into firewood in a similarish situation, it's really nice to get logs off the ground to cut them up with the chainsaw! Not having to worry about cutting into the dirt or flip logs and that stuff makes it so much easier and faster!
I have a hydraulic wood splitter, but lifting big heavy rounds up onto it by hand takes most of the fun out of the project. Lifting them with the hoe will be much nicer on my old geezerly back.
I'm assuming you don't have the kind of splitter that stands up? That makes that part much easier, but it is still a lot of work. Every time I work on firewood I gain more respect for both the old timers who didn't have hydraulics and the guys who swing axes. I'm neither of those guys...
Yeah, I have the type that can stand vertically, but I still have to wrestle the blocks to it, and it is a real pain in the back stooping over to use the splitter in that position. Some of the larger blocks probably weigh close to 300 pounds. Especially the green hardwood. I generally process about 8-10 cords per year.
OK, you are splitting way bigger pieces than I am! I'm wrestling pieces that may be 50-75 lbs and they feel plenty heavy!
That thumb was a big help today, even though we (the little woman and I) weren't working with really big blocks. It can't be seen in the photos, but there is a stand on the far side of the splitter that I place the blocks on. And yeah, it's much easier cutting the blocks off of the log when it is suspended off of the ground.
Yup, never imagined that you were setting them somewhere then shoving them, too cool!
Mine is awaiting a few repairs. Needs the hose from oil cooler to trans replaced, steering cylinder repacked, and crowd cylinder repacked. I have dug a few stumps with it over the last few years though.
Wait, what? You pulled all those trees? Holy crap!
Had 5 acreas clear cut. I pulled all the stumps and smoothed out the land. Holy crap indeed. Still not finished.
We pulled some trees this morning...
What is the plan for the land? Why take all the trees out? Ronsii- How does that sized excavator work out? Looking at that picture I'm guessing it's a step or two up from the real small ones? You know the weight? Does it have sufficient power for digging well? I assume so, but I don't know. My buddy wants to borrow my backhoe to dig a few water line trenches and maybe remove a large stump. Do you know if it would compare (or exceed) what a backhoe could do? I was trying to help him decide if maybe a small excavator rental may be more useful for him..
That's a 36 size.... it's actually a bit heavier with the extra stuff I put on it and if we bring 4 buckets and a breaker it's close to 9k trailer weight. That little machine has done lots of work!!! you can work at 6-8 feet down with it - it will dig deeper but isn't very practical using it for that... we use it for septic systems(not setting concrete tanks) it will set type 1 CB's though and has set hundreds of em' has also dug thousands of feet of storm trench for up to 20 inch pipe although most of our works is around 6 inch piping. It can also move eco blocks around... barely you got to keep em' tight against the blade but you can push them around easy enough will also push/pull steel plates around up to 8x20's you 'can' load a dump truck with it... and have many times from pavement level but also works great from on top the pile
Thanks, sounds like it would definitely handle what he's looking to do. We'll see. I don't mind loaning him my hoe, but if he could it for the same price as transporting mine to his house it may change his mind a bit. He'll likely have to think about the jobs he really wants done around the house and how that may alter the equipment he wants to use. Thanks again!
Sometimes you are better to just go do it for them than let other people use you stuff. Stumping and or around water anyway.
The original plan was for a small pasture. As it turned out we changed direction and replanted sparsely with trees. It was a 40 year old stand of pines that was getting some canker on a few and 1/2 of the area was getting infested with sweetgums so I couldn't effectively get in to mow it. In hindsight I might should have just cut out the sweetgums and bad trees. It's given me something to do in my retirement and will be a much more attractive piece of property.
After years of lending stuff out and more often than not it comes back broken, I got a little smarter. My rule is to never lend anything unless they already own one. My reasoning.... If they already own one, they likely don't need mine. If they do need mine then they know how to use it and are less likely to break it. I've found it's cheaper and less time to just go do the work for them than it is to fix stuff when it comes back!
I learn many years ago never to loan out tools or equipment that you don't want coming back broken or damaged. I loan stuff to my father or brother. Anyone else who asks I tell them no. I have a good buddy who I loan stuff to but I go with it. I had one too many so called friends bring stuff back and say. "it doesn't work", "it broke". Of course it is not their fault. Nobody ever repaired or replaced it. I made my living early in life working on cars. Same thing in the shop. I kept a clipboard. You borrowed a tool twice, third time was "you borowed it twice. Time to buy one".
I have one friend who's a mechanic I would let borrow anything I have. He's run tractors and stuff in the past and I show him the controls once and he remembers. He also knows to listen for strange noises and watch the gauges. I know he would fix anything that broke and has repaired other stuff for me that I would be lost. He makes it look easy. I'm leery about anyone else. I've had people that are normally good operators cost me a lot of money in repairs because it seems their brains just shut off.
I just tell them, sorry I don't have any insurance on my machine or what it may damage.
I had the same plan of going out with the machine and doing a fair amount of the running it. My buddy is trustworthy as far as this sort of thing goes and knows well how it could go bad. Thanks for the input fellas!
Here's a few things I've done with my JD 310j recently.
That's a serious rock, I love it!
Landscaping my gravel pit when I was done with it. About 50' to the bottom Finished Looks much different now.
No resent photos but some of the fir trees I planted survived and are doing well and I've made the pond larger.
Put in a septic system and dug out for a house pad. Wish I had a bigger excavator for some of this stuff.
Is that an international dump truck? If so what model and motor?
4300, DT 466 Chris
Do you tow with it? How do you like it? I have a 4700 with t444e, it's a dog hauling and towing, a rocket empty.
Actually Chris mines a 4700 as well my memory failed me. It's certainly not a rocket on any hills when loaded but runs very well and been trouble free.Getting up in years now so seldom in a hurry ). Your pics. look so much like some of my past jobs I thought for a min some body posted my pics. Bigger excavators are nice provide you have enough work to justify them.
This is not an ideal time to be digging next to water mains and around workers. Hope I'm not over doing the pics. I really enjoy seeing others pics. and was hoping by posting a few it would encourage others to do the same. Thank you for looking .
Pics. are always good.
No pictures -- it didn't happen !!
I agree, more pictures the better! I'm fascinated with what everyone is doing! Chris, that pad is so smooth! Billrog, that water leak doesn't look good, but neither does the weather!
That s what I been doing today.....
It is N. Holland. Right?
Also me/ That s how we clean the mess, when heavy traffic or narrow street..... https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC-VUJZ57TrUYTD8lyu9Qu1g/videos/upload?filter=[]&sort={ "columnType"%3A"date"%2C"sortOrder"%3A"DESCENDING"%7D
If that's directed at me, then yes, NH LB75B.
Your hoe arm looks new man..
Brand new I ve run it up to 6500h had no issues, I think that Cat is the best machine that ppl have ever created. It had everything needed in it even beyond.
All original as best I know. My grandpa bought it used about 20 years ago and overhauled the engine. I bought it from him almost 6 years ago. We've replaced one hydraulic cylinder, and repacked a couple others. Also put in a new main hydraulic pump.
Well, my neighbor (who I dug the trash hole for, for those following along) stopped me this past saturday as I was pulling out of the driveway (that he was blocking!) and told me about a lady friend of his who had a horse get into some rat poison. He asked if my tractor was running and if I wanted to bury a horse. I didn't really but I did it. I ended up heading to her house a couple miles away later that afternoon. She turned out to be a very sweet 70 year old Australian lady (unexpected on the west side of Dayton, Ohio) with probably 50 different animals on her 8 acres, from sheep, to goats, to horses, to emu. The horse, a pony really, had died in a stall in a small fenced in area, so I pulled it out with my hoe and a strap, then dragged it over to where she wanted it buried. Spent probably an hour and a half digging a hole, then not-very-gracefully moving a horse into it... Interesting experience, but not as nightmarish as I kind of expected. Also, not that I ever want any, but little sheep are very cute and it was interesting to see all the animals come check out their fallen buddy. Also, if you are following along, I mentioned, a while ago, a bridge to my back field. I ventured over the bridge and everything went fine. It has since had a bit of collapse and I probably won't try again until I dig the whole thing up and put some legit (read: expensive) drain pipe in. I'll likely end up widening the whole bridge considerably and allowing more water flow. I may ask for some construction advice at some point.
Once I had to uncover an unidentified man burrial, he was in a plastic bag, and only by accident I didn t tear him appart. Wet clay, no one knows how deep it was. When I finished I kindly asked to erease my phone number and never call me again.
I can only imagine. I remember as a kid, my granddad would call the glue factory (not sure if that's what it really was), but they would take away dead animals. I remember standing their watching this guy wrap a cable around this cows leg that had been dead for days. He started winching this cow up the ramp into the truck when the leg snapped off. It wasn't as traumatizing as I would think, but I still remember that incident to this day. The things you experience on a farm. I can't imagine that
Here's my new to me 310SE I just bought couple of weeks ago. It made the 8 mile drive home. I'm now changing out all the fluids. Had to get a new rod made for the stabilizer as it was bent. Repacked the cylinder. Fixing a few things on it, but have several projects to do with it this summer. This was the day I brought it home. Dad followed me and I snapped a couple of pictures back at my place of us toying around with it.
Honcho, that's bonkers! I don't think I would have said yes to that kind of favor... I was nervous enough for the horse. boone, I was genuinely worried that I'd rip a hoof off, gladly I think the horse had dies within a day or so, so it was still in pretty good shape, ya know, for being dead. Also, your new ride is perty! Good job!
You know one well served client gives you two more. That was the reason I took the job. And they didn t say what was that they call me for. They expalened it to me when I was already there. There were folks that were looking for there reletive that got lost. And without backhoe help it would take them a day work. And no one was sure that it is right burrial, they messed with numbers .
I like John Deere, it is powerful stuff.Only back tires are kinda irregular wide and small. I guess 24inch 520,
I know what you mean. Seems it would be harder if the owner is around and attached the animal. Good job getting the job done. It's probably not as stout as your Cat, but it's plenty strong. It's got a 36" bucket on it and has no problem getting a bite...of course the easy with wet ground around here as much rain as we've been having. Funny you mention tires. My fronts are at the tire shop now and I may be replacing the rears as one has a slow leak.
Slow leak is nothing serious.Use tire puncture repair kit. I have had so big damages that I had to put in 3 or 4 pieces at once, to stop it. It is only dangerous if you move fast on a road,
Renter has had a couple cows die this winter, still not certain as to the why but vet has tissue samples. Anyway they use the old fashioned method the move them, Bale Spear on loader. Not pretty but effective as well good coyote bait.
Bale spear!!! we usually put a sling or two around legs or somewhere it won't slip off... Always tell the owner 'You do NOT want to see this... it ain't pretty... it's just the way it is.' I've been around enough animal owners when the vet comes in to do his thing... and messes it up and then you get to see the owner burst into tears and start wailing.... it is always best if you just tell them to go in the house and don't watch!
Not my hoe but one of the neighbors down the road a piece has an old 580D... runs real good barely a tinge of smoke! , we're getting some bank run from him. He put a good jag in the trailer! barely made it out of his pit with the truck in 2WD
I had a date with an old hoe today. I have been asking for a long time but she has been milking me. Need some batteries. The rack was stuck shut off. Need some packing. Need a hose. Need some packing five different times. Need a hose. Will not eat that fuel anymore. All the important parts are still tight. Said she needs some new shoes and a seat. Then we can go dancing again.
Addition for Tinkerer. Thanks for your help if directly to me or other people.
She looks like she still gets the job done!!! and she stands up nice and tall just needs some makeup and she'll be the best hoe in town. Was gonna ask what the hole was for... but then I spotted a piece of pipe..... putting in a drain for something... room inside the shed... then I saw the crete bags..... curiouser and curiouser...
Tenwheeler wants to make sure his pipe don't get away!
Yeh, he saw that thread about the 'seep collar' and figured it was better with crete instead of steel
Loading some caliche for roads on the ranch. Got this JD 310 SG a couple of months ago and it works better than the 931 Cat I had for loading.
Do you have to rip that stuff first or will the front bucket cut it?
rip and pile with this
My hoe helped the neighbor widen his driveway and make a big ol' mess (we both got stuck in what turned out to be pretty soft ground where the dumping pile was). He paid me with one of a bunch of real beefy concrete parking blocks that should be beautiful to drag grade with. My removal of material ended up being pretty bumpy (but much better than his skid steer) but he ended up chaining up a parking block and dragged it back and forth a bunch and it worked really well. I'm excited to do the same in my yard where I've rutted it all up.
Ooooooooo, pretty fresh paint always makes things run better!!!
This morning I buried my neighbor's dog. Irish Wolf Hound?? Huge dog shaped like a Great Dane, but with the scraggly stiff grey hair. Healthy last night, dead this morning.
Bloat. Large dogs have a high risk of it and they can die quickly from it. Their stomache fills with gas and causes it to roll and pinch off the openings, then they can't burp the gas out. I lost my Bernese Mountain dog 4 years ago to bloat. Her spleen twisted with her stomache and she passed away very quickly, right as I got her on the Vets table.
I hope she didn't suffer. I'm an absolute crybaby when it comes to animal suffering. I can easily do disposal of someone else's pet. It's too late to prevent suffering. The preamble to digging a grave is tough! Can't stand animal suffering.
God bless a backhoe... We've lived in this house for right around 4 years now and the bushes below have been annoying just as long. I don't know why we've ignored them for so long but a few days ago the wife and I discussed their removal. Yesterday was the day. With a job that, by hand, would've likely taken hours, I yanked these bushes out and deposited them in the burn pile in about 10 minutes. The opened up view of the pond is lovely and it makes the front of the house look nicer and the porch bigger (I think). We'll likely toss some boxwoods or something in their place and not let them grow so big.
We did the same some 10 years back. It's time again!
Getting operated on during the winter months!
How serious is surgery?
580 Super Series 2 is receiving new pins/bushings for the hoe. swing cylinder reseal. New front tires, and if money allows new rear tires. I was an automotive technician for 10 years, it has been fun to work on it, and learned new things... My body isn't use to so much manual labor LOL
Boy, do I understand that ‘manual labor’ statement! sounds like you have it going on. Good luck.
fortunately we don't use it in the winter, gives us plenty of time to go through it. Got it last year, and really just want to know everything is good to go. I'll be hauling it back to our property once it warms up and drys up a bit.
I love a back hoe however my wife used a 6.0 F250 for about 20 bushes similar to that. I was napping in my recliner. When I walked out there was a pile of bushes in the front yard. She and my son tried out the front tow hooks and 4WD. Then I got the Honey: Can you haul all of those off?
When I lived in my old house, in a fairly dense urban neighborhood, I was just sitting around when suddenly I heard the most terrible noise... I ran outside and looked around the corner and watch the 2 door down neighbor just white smoking his tires, attempting to pull his bushes out, the same way. I assume he did not have 4 wheel drive and it was a lot of back it up and give it a running start. He eventually did get them, but probably woke the entire neighborhood while he was at it. The backhoe made it a very smooth operation.
Hey guys. My Hoe is out of surgery, and no longer has Hydraulic leaks...… I guess the surgeon(me), did an alright job. Moved some dirt around with it yesterday. weather is starting to get nice here in MI.
pictures?
Tenwheeler, i'll get what I took in the am and post!
Good morning, day late dollar short. Here it is when I did the cylinder reseal. We also put new hoe bushings/pins in but I don't have any pictures of that. I should find some pictures from the summer.
Hello all new member here. I spent a few hours of my Good Friday pulling a decent sized ash stump with my case 580c. After some pawing at the base of it to knock as much dirt off as I could I was finally able to pull it from the hole I dug.
Welcome to the forum.
Welcome to HEF !
I've been tearing up some skinny pines to make room for an equipment shed. My land was previously logged. They left behind the crap trees and didn't replant it. Now I have 10 year old spindly pine trees intermixed with huge ones. Took down one of the big ones today. The JD 310SG does a lot better job than my old Ford 4500 - funny how a 35 year advancement in technology is like that. It's one of the best things to come out of getting hit by a drunk driver. Has a 4-in-1 bucket with flip over forks. Wish I had taken the seller up on his offer to swap them out for the detachable ones. Thought I'd use them a bit more than I am.
Nice dig @Mr580backhoe! I've added a drag to mine! The neighbor paid me off, after scraping some dirt for him, with a massive parking block. I added a couple eye bolts to it and am now "grading" a little better than I previously could. Filling in ruts is life!
My forks are the drive up to connection. That'd be just fine if I was the only one who uses them. My oldest son also uses them. We often search 5 properties, 4 acres to find them. They don't get used every day. I would really love to have a quick attach system. I can't see the forks from the seat, the bucket is in the way. Without a spotter I get out of the cab several times to figure out where I am.
I have a hard time with my small hyster to see the forks if I'm picking at 3-4feet(truck height) usually have to stand up in the seat or lean my head 3 feet over the side! First job of the day for the little hoe was spreading out some dirt
I'm less profound than Martin Luther King. I try to have attainable goals. I have a dream! I want a smooth driveway, I want the perfect land plane. I can produce a correct rough shape, but finish is a challenge. I've studied John D Rockefeller JR's designs for carriage roads. My firm belief of perfect private road is 16' wide traveled portion. If everybody cooperates, drive with two tires in the high center, outboard tires on the edge of traveled surface. No rut will ever form. A well built road will be well drained, it will have coarse stone for 10" under the surface to control weather delivered rain water. Above that, enough finer stone to grade, without uprooting rock. JD Jr wanted a 6" crown in his roads. He provided a template workers could use to hand form the road crown. My dream is a drag 15 feet long with three longitudinal straight members, 16' wide with several crowned cutting edges knocking off the humps, filling the pockets. Weight would vary, depending what pulls the drag. I think it'd work. Thirty years ago I first went to Mount Washington. I was fascinated in their road maintenance. Many thousands of the worst drivers in the world travel this road daily. It might be among the steepest in the world, It might be among the narrowest two lane in the world. Their road material was crushed 1/2", and I believe it included reclaimed asphalt as a component. Their drags used several times a day were push brooms. Memory is not precise, these were 6 rows of push brooms bolted to a drag frame in the appropriate crown shape. There were no potholes, no washboards.
Quite the story @Willie B ! I wish everything was as nice as a road or driveway. My ruts are in my yard in places I'd rather they weren't... I bet heavy stuff brushes would work pretty well!
Today, My backhoe broke.The front loader bucket tilt cylinder hose started leaking so I got Napa to make me some new hoses and after a couple hours it was back to running.
Not saying heavy brushes are the answer for most of us on a private road. Those roads were being maintained by full time crew, while heavy traffic. I'm thinking either Wooden railroad ties, or steel I beam with hard surface weld sprayed on. Something long enough to not drop into every hole, and knock off the humps.
My "old hoe" has been worked for several seasons now.... prepping a home site. What used to look like this.... now looks like this..... This is the last bit of my "road thru the woods".... up to the top of a ridge that looks due south. Here it is....( the view) The bit of 'green grass' to the left was the only open area on the 22+ acres..... old 'night' pasture. The rest was wooded. Had some selective logging done and the area to the right was clear cut. Paid a guy to make short work of the stumps... and I have been moving dirt since. The view up hill... in pic 2 above... was cleared by me and the machine ( thought the house was goin down on the flat).
Beautiful T-town! If you ever want to want to ship some of those rocks to me let me know!
My road thru the woods needed to drop down a steep grade so I traversed the grade..... dropping down the side hill on bucket at a time..... You cab see the culvert pipe with the rock around it on the right....middle pic This next one is from below... Notice the double trunk trees on the left...Two seasons later... and this is the finished product Then onto the flats..... and out to the road...
That hill looks sketchy!
Some ditching to keep the road dry.... Lined the ditch with 30 year fabric and rip rap on top.. if not the ditches would grow over. This is that culvert pipe from a few pics back..... Aighead.........You can have this one...... but you gotta come get it... check my hat
The hill does look a bit steep..... will need to haul a camper up it at some point. That might be the first bit to get paved. Triaxles hauling 20+ tons had no issue on it though. Good ski hill in the snow though!!
Man, I would love to! That's a good sized one! If you were in NW PA I'd be very tempted but I've driven across that state enough times to know better! It actually looks comparable to one that came out of the hole my pond now occupies as seen in my profile pic, though from a distance it doesn't look nearly as big.
I'm pulling some up that breaking off the shelf into workable shapes.... Another couple of of rows will make up this retaining wall below the house site. Pulling a stump.....and magically curled it into the hoe bucket on the 1st try..... then did a wheely pulling out. Forgot the ballast in the front bucket... was able to drop and pick up with the front. .... Last falls work is going "up in smoke"...
Forgot the pic..... punched the wrong button ....and a quick pad with some leftover modified..... on the future site of the pole barn.... so we can park the camper and go camping....
My hoe sat idle today. #1 son had the obsessions I had 30 years ago. He had to own a low budget hoe. His as of today, a Case 580B. It needs tires, several cylinders resealed. All new filters & oils. Loader bucket needs a cut apart & rebuild, hoe hum, been there done that. It has a new seat!
I'm sure it goes back to childhood memories I spent countless hours chasing my grandpa around the farm and learning about equipment. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to buy one of everything. I got the hoe (my grandpa's old 310A), a bobcat and a dump truck. Now for a dozer, excavator, farm tractor, etc etc
Haha. I can relate!
I just got done doing a pad for my new shop. Dug out all the topsoil and replaced it with clay.
Good looking mess @Andy1845c
Yeah, Mrs B reminds me often how many toys.
When the BIG dozer was making short work of my couple of acres of stumps a few seasons back, he 'popped' a boulder out of the ground and asked me what I wanted him to do with it.... I looked around and said stick it over there, off to the side. Well, that side became the driveway site,..... and now this is front and center. Hat for scale. We have named this one.... "Wilson"..... and yes, he has a living hairpiece. Might have to grab some burnt branch from the brush pile and 'paint some eyes....?? The bottom will be dressed with a mulched bed at some point in the future, but for now this is it.
...stick it over there...! That's a big one! Man, so many good rocks! I love the idea of putting a face on it! Are you going to leave it where it is or do you need to move it for the driveway? I'm potentially kind of serious, now, about if you ever want to get rid of rocks... I can't imagine, with as much space as you have, that you mind them, but I could use just about every rock in your pictures. Let me know if you want to sell them for cheap or something and I'd have to do some math to determine how worth it it would be, but your rocks are beautiful!
My father never had access to a big machine. He grew up in an era when you moved it by hand, or lived with it. Although he ran a D7 for a few years, it was 30 miles away, belonged to someone not receptive to loaning. In 1952 even transporting a D7 was not simple. He'd dig under it mid section, enough room for a nice fire. 5 or 6 hours it'd be in pieces small enough for a man to lift. If it isn't in the way, it becomes a loading dock, or south facing, it'd be a perfect place to start the posies.
I put in the driveway with the rock in mind.... swings right by it. Had to dance around a few others too. Lucky so far in that none have stopped anything yet. These two have found a home. The one on the right can be pushed.... but the other can only be moved by pulling on the sides and 'walking' it back and forth. That one was buried in the driveway to the barnsite ( where my camper is) Truthfully..I wouldn't want to even try to load these on a trailer..?? I'd hate to show you what I have already dumped over the sidehill off the driveway. These are here 'cause I can't move them too easy.
Speaking of my old backhoe, I busted out the ol 310A after 6 months of winter hibernation. A quick check of everything, a good greasing and out the back 40 to dig up a rock. Since I forgot my chains, and the rock is too big for me to just scoop up, it got scooted off to the nearest rock pile. It now rests on top of the pile that is between those trees.
Bravo!! Backhoe 1 Boulder .05 ...... Had to give the rock some points for puttin up the good fight.
My wife came out to watch me dig it out. She was mildly disappointed that I spent more time greasing the backhoe than I did digging out the rock.
Tell her it was a grave you opened up.
What amazes me is that a 2 ft piece of rock, sticking 6 inches above grade turns into a couple of tons real quick.
Dug a ditch about 600ft long around trees to get water that would flood my property for months away. Pick up trees and drop them in our garden over the 8’ fence to make raised beds. Pick up chicken coup and move it to burn pit. Drove a few miles away to a friends house to help him get a dump truck unstuck. Then spread the Millings the truck was dropping off. Dug up some trees and transplanted them. Still need to rebuild my barn, and finish my pond. Uses are pretty amazing.
Does that smell like barbecue chicken....??
Folks what kinda rocks are in the area you live. In my living area there are mostly argolite, n sand stone. Argolite is very hard to brake, more easier to dismantle the hill.
Ehh more like barbaque chicken feces. Basically run far far away :O I got no rocks... jealous of all the huge boulders I would gladly take for my pond! I actually picked up 6 trailer loads last year and man that was a pain. Hauling those things is no joke! 2 trips 1:30 mins away. 6 trailers full, and I still could use way more. I suppose I wouldn’t have dug a pond if my yard was full of boulders though.
Mighty, that's my use as well. I have a neighbor property that is likely about 15 acres and it was just overgrowth, for the past 2 weeks they've been ripping out all the growth and trees and exposed a barn and a house back there. The family and I trespassed a bit to explore and found a lot of good stones and the old barn has enormous beams in it that'd I'd love to have. Well, yesterday I stopped by to see what the chances are of me harvesting stuff from the property since they plan to farm it. The guy I talked to, running a bulldozer, has to ask the boss. We'll see. I could use as many basketball to vw beetle sized rocks as I can imagine...
Digging up stumps for a house site! Seat fixed and ready to roll!
Looks like your trees are just starting to leaf out..... ours have popped in the last week. Your site is too clean
Just got done washing and waxing my backhoe-LOL so I decided to use it to spread some needed gravel on the driveway.
I have to change it to what is your hoe NOT doing! Over 2 months, all I have to do is on hold with this mud! About a month ago I tried to do some work and wound up to the body in mud. I wanted to get my pad ready for a garage and put in some swales, none of which are happening...a couple pics of my mud. The ruts my machine made Here I was trying to move a couple of rocks (this is when I realized I was not going to be using my tractor any time soon) And one of my access road...These were all taken today (5/8/2020)
I hear you! Our forecast in Missouri says rain for the next 2 weeks starting Monday!! I hope the weatherman is a little off?
NEVER let anyone say you CANT stick a backhoe! Got stuck and blew a line underneath so lost hydraulics. View attachment 217064 View attachment 217065 View attachment 217067 [/QUOTE] ! View attachment 217066
Digging a 48" minimum depth electric service line Over 1300 feet long!
View attachment 217074 ! View attachment 217066 [/QUOTE] Oh boy! Now you need to rent a boring machine to get to the broken hydraulic line!! OH!
I Got it Winched out with a Suburban tied off to my dump truck lol It was sketchy
Well look folks kinda business, a freind of mine lives in a plane area, in a winter time he asks a permission from a farmer to dig on his land. If he finds a place where there are much rock. Tha is easy to dig out and transport, he rents this peace of land. S collect all the rocks he can dig outa there and sell them. mostly ppl buy to decorate their houses. In my area there are so many boulders that it is hard to make a business out that, every one might just get it for free on a river shore, I d found coupla big boulders n a river, made pic of them and then looked for ppl that might get interested in it. But those were big and flat peaces of stone to make a table in a garden. just put it on a other boulder, .
This is a pic of a coworker who got stuck. I couldn t figure out how could he got so far on that peace of iron, I hardly could get near him to pull him out with hidraulic...
Swetz..... Always good to see "the land" at it's wettest before you go too hog wild moving dirt. I have been lucky up on the mountain top.... some long days grading hillsides and moving dirt. I had to deal with a couple of spots.... and went in during the dry time and put in some drainage help. One section I had to cut a swale thru the woods to open up some pitch for the ditch. Hopefully you have a place down grade to send all that water.....
@Swetz , that looks like a lot of my yard, unfortunately, and it's yard that is more or less yard, not a project... I've found that I'd be wise to start creating a path around the edge of the property so I don't rut everything even more... The ruts may be the death of me. @RHuddleston that is good and stuck! I've got a spot like that next to the creek that looks good and dry until I drove and started digging around it. Then I was stuck and sitting on the body, I spent at least an hour trying to wiggle and hoe my way out. It too was sketchy without a winch of some variety. No fun! It is exciting to get out a good stuck spot though.
Getting stuck like that is justification to buy a dozer to compliment your backhoe!
T-town, I have a grand plan for swales to give the water a place to flow. I do have the elevation change to get rid of the water too. I just got the full size backhoe that is strong enough to dig this rocky soil....maybe it will dry up this summer, and I can get to work! aighead, Waaay too late for me on the ruts...LOL It is funny tho, a month of dry and the same mud is dust
My hoe helped pick up a tree stump from a tree I knocked over, with the hoe but left about 8 feet from the break to the roots. I plopped that stump and its 8 foot section into the edge of the pond 2 days ago and now it's working! There's a turtle hanging out on it! You can see what is the top of the log that the turtle is on, then the roots are sticking out of the water on the left. Too cool!
Spent the morning murdering grass and smooyhing out the shop parking lot before it gets stupid hot. Tractor worked ok to level but i need a farm tractor to make use of my 3 point landplane that i have..
A good friend inherited hundreds of acres of beautiful farm land in the Metawee Valley of VT. Farmland is worth as much as Mexican currency these days, but building lots with spectacular views, frontage on a very rare waterfall, are perhaps a bit more desirable. I think 27 acres. Case 580K & new thumb, Dresser TD7G, Seth & I have spent two days building a road, installing culverts, removing hundreds or thousands of trees (depending your definition of tree), rooting out hundreds of rocks, rearranging rocks to an artistic place, turning drainage to where it won't be offensive. The weather is HOT! Neither machine is equipped with AC.
Aighead do you breed frogs? Isn t it great to breed frogs so as to feed snakes, to collect snake poison.
@Honcho , I wish I was! There are what I assume thousands of little peeper frogs, hundreds of bulldogs, and a bunch of toads out here. I was mowing past yesterday and saw like 10 of the little peepers jumping out of the way at one point.
Working at the neighbors, doing some landscaping clean-up and junk. Yesterday was puling a stump and while I was focused it seemed like smoke was coming from a spot that wasn't the exhaust... Kept on trucking for a bit, not thinking much of it, then it seemed to continue. Hopped off to see hydraulic oil pouring out of somewhere right under my seat under the cab. There is a poorly positioned hose under there that appears to have gotten rubbed open by the driveshaft. At least I'm hoping it's that or else I have may have a much bigger problem. Not sure how much fluid I lost, but got it home and parked. Hopefully I can get the hose off and check it tonight or tomorrow. That being said, anyone have good methods for keeping any hydraulic hoses up away from moving parts? Just a big hose clamp good enough? I think in this instance it was supposed to be held up by a couple steel tabs that would just fold over each other to keep that up.
I forgot the pictures, but I've got my hoe pimped out at the moment. My brother in law needed a good hoe to lay some pipe as he wasn't up for doing it manually. She even gushed once during the job. Kidding aside, he's converting from propane to natural gas and needed to dig a couple hundred feet of trench for a water line at 4 ft down. Then backfill a couple feet with sand and leave trench open for gas line guys that are coming over today to install the nat gas line to his barn. He called me about an hour into the job and told me a hose is leaking in the boom. I ended up replacing both lines for the bucket curl.
Always something with old machines!! Hoes seem to be the least attended!!
I took this as meaning large chrome wheels, tires, and fuzzy dice hanging from the sun visor.
Don't forget the velour fabric covering everything
I have made quite a few loop clamps from 1/8" steel straps for both steel and rubber hydraulic lines.
No issues with scraping hose open with the straps, @Tinkerer ? I'll have to find something to tie it down to. Boy am I hoping it's just a hose too! I think I have some leakers somewhere along my boom as well, or need to reseal some cylinders... Sounds like it'd be good winter work, if I had a heated barn and way better tools than I have.
As long as the hose cannot move in the strap I never had a problem. There were quite few of those straps on my hoe and tractor that were on it when it was new.
You can always put some of the nylon hose protector sleeve on the new hose like a lot of new machines come with. Large zip ties can also be used to keep hose from rubbing. After a while the hose seems to keep the shape it's been held in. I replaced a steel case drain line on my skid steer with a rubber hose and used a zip tie to hold it up so it wouldn't rub on the belly pan. Next time I had the belly pan off the hose took the shape it was held in. Dealer wanted $187 for the 1/4" steel line with a T on it. I think the hose and a T cost me about $40.
Strapped down strapped on Hoe, Hmmm just thinkin!!
I use 3" long chunks of pex water line ( 1.25" ID ) split lengthwise to pad whatever sort of attaching device. Guess not everyone has that hanging around but most plumbers will have piles of short lengths.
Correct you are. Case 580K Phase 3 - She is starting to show her age. Replaced 40' culvert at the road. Total brake failure Got the brakes replaced. (expensive and three days labor) I got every bit of life from them. One side came out in pieces. Finished reforming the ditches and build a catch basin using old foundation stone. Will try to get some pictures of finished product. Ordered gravel and was doing final road prep when the shuttle failed. I started a thread on that with little response. I guess it was another good year with this backhoe. Need to get the shuttle malfunction rectified so i can get back to whatever needs doing around here.
I was going to say Laundry and dishes .
I don't know of a good thread to go with this one, but I know there are knowledgeable people looking here occasionally... Anyone have a good method for removing the nut circled in red on the below? The green outlined hose is the main output of the hydraulic tank, I'm trying to avoid removing that so I can also avoid siphoning all the hydraulic oil out of the tank. My guess is that's the way it'll end up going but uhg! There is only about an inch and a half to move the handle of the wrench I have but really not even that. When I'm on the nut I can move maybe 1/2" to try to loosen it. I'm also using a dumb adjustable wrench but I wasn't sure of the right size... It's amazing how much big tools cost. Oh yeah! The nut is a big one! Well over an inch and close or over an inch and a half So, what's my best bet? Drain the oil? (at least down to the bottom of the outlet?) Get the right sized wrench?
My old case has been on light duty most of the summer while i built my new to me dump truck. It finally got some exercise about a week ago when I decided to switch the power going to the house from over head to under ground. 80ft trench at 24inches deep was no problem until i came across a nice rock. Struggled a bit but i got it
Aighead i ran into a similar situation with my backhoe when changing a few lines I happen to have multiple wrenchs the same size so i took a cheep china brand wrench and cut it down to a size that would work to get the line off. I broke the line free with a full size wrench first.
A crowfoot wrench MIGHT work. You are correct, you need tools you never needed before, and they are EXPENSIVE. All of the difficult fittings are in a terribly cramped place.
Have you changed your fluid lately? Might be a good excuse to do it now and remove the hose. If you have, don't feel bad about draining it. I feel like I've refilled my tank about three times since I got my machine tackling hydraulic issues.
Put a shop vac on the tank filler to give yourself time to cap the fitting after the hose is removed.
Make yourself a "suck-bucket". Search on this site for directions and use.
Aighead, Here is a set of 60 degree offset wrenches. Not sure of your size but these are big, and only $50. Google 20% off at Harbor Freight and you can get them for a bit less. https://www.harborfreight.com/sae-j...ent=&msclkid=d9a3535163021ae15e810c22b3c41d79
Wear good gloves when using cheap Chinese tools. When it breaks or the jaws spread while you are pulling on it you can mess up your hand. Cheap tools usually cause you to buy the most expensive ones after you get let down by the junk. Just my 2 cents.
With hyd's. it's very common to have to modify tools. First figure out the size of wrench you need, then see if a little grinding will be enough to get it to work. Might even have to cut a wrench shorter and give it a sharp wrap with a hammer to loosen the fitting. Import wrenches are good for hyd's. if they have to be modified. Sometimes though you have to remove other lines to get at the fitting you need to loosen.
Aighead, I would recommend something like this to find out the size of the nut. It really isnt an investment at less than $2.00, but it is useful for non-precision measuring. https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-utility-caliper-63664.html edgephoto is correct, when you pay $50 for a set of wrenches that would cost at least $500 from snap-on, something had to give...that something is quality. But, for the task at hand, these should work if there is one of the correct size in the set. In my experience, hydraulic fittings are not that hard to break loose. The one you pictured seems to be wet with oil, so should be less of a chore to remove once broken loose.
There are some excellent tips in Cat's hose installation guide. Everyone should be able to learn something from this.
Mine just left for work and better be making dinner when i ge.............oh wait............
Thanks guys! I didn't realize that HF had giant wrenches like that, and at that price I could break them a few times (and very well may!) and still be ahead. It sounds like draining will probably be the answer and to respond to someone, unfortunately yes, I've changed it recently... I gotta do what I've gotta do. Does a shop vac really work to hold back all that fluid @Tinkerer ? That's a good call!
It depends on the hp of the shop vac and how clean the filter is.
@Junkyard has a video posted somewhere of using a shop vac on a tank fill spout while changing a hose on side of tank. Worked pretty darn slick from the video. Changed hose without draining the tank or making a giant mess.
I've used import wrenches on hyd's. and never had any issues with bending or breaking. If you can loosen the fitting without removing the other hose is worth a try. A shop vac does work as long as there isn't a huge drain plug or something removed. In order for oil to run out, air needs to vent. Ever see how long a jerry can takes to empty if you leave the vent cap on? Oil is thicker than gas too.
As for the HF wrenches, I would buy that set without a second thought if I had an application for them. I have a buddy that earns a living with HF tools as a mechanic. He has mostly the Pittsburg line for wrenches, ratchets, sockets, etc. His 2 cents was that they're every bit as good as a major name brand for basic hand tools. He does own some snap on, but it's minimal. Most recently, I've bought Sunex brand tools off Amazon for some specialty items like crows foot flare wrenches and stubby, large size wrenches, also a set of 1/2" drive, Cr-mo impact sockets. I'm only fixing my own equipment so I cant justify buying major name brand tools. So far, the Sunex tools have done everything I needed in recent repairs. I also have some cheap Taiwanese made wrenches in a roll that I use when I need to make a custom wrench, bend it, shorten it, etc. Like $25 for a 15 piece set. They've also worked well for getting at hard to reach hydraulic lines.
colson04, Sunex has been around for a while. I have a close relationship with a man that owns a tool distributor (called eppy's). He has told me multiple times over the years that Sunex is a bargain as they are inexpensive and high quality, and lifetime warranty. They are made in Taiwan, which he tells me produces higher quality tools than mainland China. I really do not like to buy foreign, but I recently purchased a set of 1" drive impacts that are sunex. They have worked great so far. EDIT: This is the set I bought: https://www.tooldiscounter.com/prod...5693?msclkid=df07a8d3789410b45105f7a7d418b1d9 This is the closest Snap-on set I could find: https://shop.snapon.com/product/Dee...-Drive-Deep-Impact-Socket-Set-(7-8-2")/519SIM $1635.00 is a lot of beer, and that doesn't include the tax. Also, I do not make a living with my tools anymore, so it is so much harder to go the extra for the top of the line. I have a box full of Snap-on (boxes too) from when I did make a living with them...they will have to sell them when I die .
Snap-On is good stuff but way overpriced. I made my living for over 20 years as an auto tech. I have lots of Snap-On hand tools. Their air and electric tools are not very good. The attraction to Snap-On, Mac, Matco and Cornwall is they come to you regularly and let you pay over time with zero interest. I can tell you Snap-On sockets and wrenches will not round off a nut like some of the cheaper stuff will. For home use I have tons of Craftsman. Most of my Craftsman stuff was bought back in the '80s when it was still made here. Now that I have a Cat backhoe I have needed to buy some bigger sockets, a 3/4 drive ratchet and big wrenches. Ebay is where I have been finding stuff. Got a bunch of Snap-On 3/4 drive sockets in the sizes I need for pretty good deals. So what if the chrome is beat or they have slight rust on them. Wrenches you can find on there too. I picked up a second set of big wrenches one at a time that are Craftsman made in USA for about what Harbor Fright charges. I almost broke my hand once years ago when a 1/2" drive ratchet failed. Never again will I use junk tools.
I'm planning on heading out to HF this evening to see if they have any in stock, as the website isn't being forthcoming about that. Thank you all for the advice on these! edit- @Swetz , I just spit out my drink at the price of both of those! Wow! I'm also a bit scared of bad tools, my most recent issue was a well rated adapter for a impact wrench, I think a 1/2 to 3/4 or vise versa, I don't remember, with which to remove lug nuts on the car. Upon my second wheel the adapter just blew apart... Grr. They were exceedingly cheap but others seemed to do ok with them.
So we went to HF and picked up the Jumbo wrench set @Swetz posted. I had my son carry them around the store because he needs toughened up a bit. We got to the very back corner of the store when he was carrying the box vertically, so of course they all dumped out the bottom and made huge noise as they crashed to the floor! Also, jimoney, they are huge! I'll head out and try them this evening to see if I'll need to dump any fluid. I'm really hoping the offset helps.
Well, it's amazing what the proper tool can do! Thanks @Swetz for the jumbo wrench suggestion! It took me longer to figure out it was inch and a half than it did for me to turn the nut! Hose removed without draining any fluid! Oh and zero threat of tool breakage, just had to get the right grip on it a d it turned no problem. I have no idea what I was grabbing that wouldn't budge with the adjustable wrench... Wahoo!
That is great news...Now crack a beer!!
I have used an A/C vacuum pump to hold the hyd fluid in the tank on a Case loader as I changed out the 2" diameter pump suction line at the BOTTOM of said tank. I modified the tank fill cap to accept the vac pump hose fitting, and did not dally, but it worked VERY WELL.
That's exactly what happened @Swetz ! I may have cracked one before too!
aighead...LOL
Mine got the boot was seeking other contractors
Set a jib crane today with the machine. The backhoe is a handy tool.
Fred, That is one sweet crane. Looks like someone will have a sweet garage soon!
Looks as might even be a Named Brand!!
2002 Honda Ranchers sometimes get stuck in gear. Usually rocking them will free it but that wasn't happening so I had to get serious. It worked
@Tyler d4c I know the feeling! @Fred from MO the neighbor just put a smaller one of those up, looks pretty handy. I helped by pushing his dozer back under the carport. Also, that thumb looks quite handy in that application! I pulled a stump at the other neighbor's. I really start need to looking into what to charge people for this kind of work. As I was heading to pull the stump 2 more neighbors stopped by to ask for help (for pay). I could conceivably pay the backhoe off and make some duckets... And it's decent work. I don't know if I like the maintenance part so much but the hoeing is fun and I don't think I'm too bad at it. So far I tend to get paid in too little money, beer, and rocks. I always ask for the rocks I dig up. @Pixie you gotta love picking up a vehicle to get it unstuck!
Oh yeah, as I was fixing the hose I dropped a jumbo wrench on my face!
At least $75/hr. Some guys here will say $100. Call some local excavators and fish for rates from them to get an idea.
aighead, I wish you lived near me...I would let you haul rocks full time, and I am just clearing an area for a garage. I think we have more rocks than dirt!
@colson04 Really? I'm giving people great deals then... Is it safe to assume that's a flat rate regardless of the job and it tends to cover the bills? @Swetz boo, I wish I did too! You'd be fun to crack a beer with and I'd love to take your rocks! I'm not sure when it becomes economical to send a dump truck to various parts of the country...
Usually just a hourly rate
aighead; Do you have insurance on your machine ? In my area the natural gas company (NiCor) charges not only to repair a broken gas line but they calculate how much gas was lost and charge for it to.
I don't @Tinkerer but upon discussing this with the wife she mentioned making sure I got some form of insurance. She works for the government of a nearby city, in the engineering department, so she knows what's up.
When I worked on a Cat backhoe it had sucha smelly hydraulic oil that there was no way not to smell if your windows are open.
Have you seen any thing like this.?
very helpful when work on wet clay .
Rock harvesters working our shallow rivers use something as that, strains the mud and organic stuff out.
Gotcha
Never seen anything like that before
Might work for me. I'd like to pick rocks off the surface, leave all the dirt I can. I wonder if that bucket is built to prevent sticking of clay, or to let the fines out while clearing rocks away. Somebody else posted a chain inside the bucket rig to prevent sticky soil from lodging in the bucket. As I remember, someone had applied for a patent unsuccessfully.
Yes. I worked on a pipeline in 1968, all the buckets on a Cleveland trencher had chains like that. Worked very well in wet clay.
Mud wont get stuck, and when you turn backet off chains fall in releasin backet. But they got to be a little longer
I've never seen it with an open bottom like that, pretty cool! Would be handy for harvesting rocks too!
To utilize the fill material on my land, which I needed for a driveway, I stripped the topsoil off and stockpiled it. That was several seasons back..... now it was time to deal with covering my re-contoured land. The topsoil contained lots of fist sized rocks and some bigger. Tried once to spread then rake.... too much hands on! A local equip rental had a screener on their lot, but once I needed to use it they had gotten rid of it. So I took some logs I had cut down the street to a neighbor and used for the first time his bandsaw mill. Made some planks that I will use for footer boards on the house and fashioned this rock screen after somethin I saw on "the spacebook" Works like a charm Cleaned up a 'ton' of dirt..... I guess 7-10 triaxle loads? Then I 'planted' some rocks..... actually several were already 'growing' there and I just added a couple. This pile of soil was from the dozer I hired to clear stumps. He pushed it all into a large pile, I picked through removing large rocks and stumps and piled what was left. Here is what screened from that that. This and a couple of other piles of screenings are going up the top of the hill for fill
Wow! Well done @T-town I like your screener and your giant rocks! Did you do any testing on the angle of the screener? I assume there is a fine line between getting dirt to all fall through versus getting the rocks to slide down out of the way... I may have to try something like this sometime. Also, as per usual, I'm wicked jealous of the rock you have around.
I think my next project is pretty easy and straight forward... Let me know what you guys think and what pitfalls I may come across. I have a gravel driveway, as seen below, but on the right side of the gravel (where the yellow highlighted area starts) it goes to grass and quickly drops off about a foot and a half. My plan is to fill in the yellow outlined area with dirt, then gravel on top, to raise and widen the gravel area. I'm well aware of erosion and the like but am I going to run into trouble with this? I'm using dirt from the bottom of my mostly dried up pond right now, there is some clay content to it, but I don't know if I should expect this all to wash away? I don't have a good picture from ground level to show right now. I've seen similar ideas at some of my neighbors but they've filled in with larger rocks first or chunks of concrete then filled in with dirt and gravel. Ideally, I don't want to buy fill when I have free dirt all over. Wasting my time or on an ok path?
T-town, I saw your first pic and said there is no way this guy is working in NEPA. Then I saw the rest...that's more like it . The first pile of fist size rocks are considered topsoil in my neck of the woods...LOL. All kidding aside, I plan to build a screener someday. I will prolly use rebar or some other thick steel with the rocks I have. To aighead's point, is there an angle that you found that is a sweet spot? I haven't done my research yet cuz I am just not that far along, but if you found an angle that is best, please share.
That topsoil screener idea looks awesome. I have a 15 acre heavily wooded piece of land I plan to build a house on. In CT we have lots of rocks. I will need to screen the soil to put back for my yard. I can use the rocks for fill.
One of the worst things I did when building my house was not screening the topsoil before spreading it out for final grade. I have nice soil, but it is rock haven here. I ended up renting a Harley rake and spent 2 days running around, windrowing rocks and scooping them up. Afterwards, I still spent another day hand raking the finished lawn areas. Building or renting a screener would be have been money well spent up front for the time savings later.
I won't swear by the finished product but I went for 45 on the angle...... nailed a cleat on the underside and used it to pick up and move. Worked real well. I will say that I had to scrape a lot of 'growth' off the piles, and that cost me some dirt. The chain link does not like weeds n roots. The rest, thankfully had dried out from the dry end of summer begin of fall... and that made a lot of difference in how much did not screen thru. The dirt from those piles unloaded into piles like a 'sugarloaf' One stash still had a bit of moisture in the bottom and there I had some material not break down and screen thru. I did approach this screen from the high side..... so some of the dumps were tough to feather. One of my loader cylinders did not like this job at all..... oh well... somethin else to do. I very well could run that till again and get some more usable soil.... but using it for fill it could use the 'fines'. And I think I have enough good stuff to lay down a top dressing. My bare soil was growing wild grasses this summer. But my god...... the rocks are everywhere....
I found there was no tolerance for horizontal screen members. My soil is all rock. I attempt to separate the "fines" (4" & smaller) from the rock. In my world the small stuff ends on top, big stone serves as base. I buy the final surface from a processor. I built my screen from discarded shelving. I'll get a picture tomorrow if it isn't raining. Mine is 5" x2" channel placed parallel 5" space between. They are at 12:12 pitch, or 45 degree. Mine is 2' above grade, then each is 9' long. It is an absolute success at salvaging small material before rock is disposed of. I even screen "topsoil". I was the recipient of 1000 cubic yards of "Sewer Brook Dredging". In the early 1960's the sewer brook that drained the Village of Danby was abandoned. 50 years later, cellars in the village were backing up with rainwater. Everyone knew the obvious reason, a low bid contractor replaced the domestic water system, uprooting the old drain system. Nonetheless, the brook had to be dredged to eliminate the less obvious. The first several loads were so soupy they created a pond. as more were dumped, they formed a dam. Soon dry, I had a pile with more rock than I had expected. It might be half 5" rock. My homemade screen works well. I have to manually remove rocks wedged between members occasionally, but it removes everything bigger than 5" With topsoil I rake across a hole. Rock gets dumped into the hole, soil stays on top. There is only a bit of stone to haul away.
T-town, Thanks for the info. Willie B, Thanks for the info too. Can't wait to see some pics. Looks like 2 votes for 45 degrees. I have not started planning yet but in a year or 2 I will prolly be ready to build.
Swetz, Was wondering how your making out up there with your pad prep..... That 45 degree number came from somewhere...... I think the u tube channel of the guy that made one. I don't have any metal stock laying around that I could use, though I would think that would be the way to go material wise. For the roll of chain link and some thru bolts, and a new bandsaw blade I have little over 100$ into it.
T-town, that is great$$. The pad, um, Not good. Lets just change the title to what r u doin to your hoe . After the mud subsided, it was beautiful and I was able to cut a bunch of trees ~30. Then I figured I would dig the stumps out and move some of the rocks, and all hell broke loose. The short of the story is that when I started to work my machine (purchased in 3/2020), the cylinders started leaking, one at a time. So, at this point, 7 cylinders have been repacked, and just got the kits for the remaining 4 cylinders. When I take them apart, the gland cup seal is disintegrated. I have a feeling the 15+ years of sitting in a garage must have dried them out. Doesn't look good for the pad until after the mud next year at this point. But I am hoping to get the cylinders all done and at least dig the stumps from the trees I already cut out (fingers crossed as I sit here and it is raining).
Ouch @Swetz ! I didn't realize your cylinders were going that poorly!
Sorry to hear that Swetz..... I have a couple now that are weaping pretty bad..... but i look at as the same as Jeeps.... a rust preventative system! Seriously...I just finished that screening job....and have some more fill to move and only a couple more stumps before the season is done. 'Course I think I've been at this prep a bit longer than you I'll pop those cylinders off for the seal job during the ski season... till then a half gallon of hyd oil each day of running does the trick. Should be on track to pour footers in June. Have to bring in power....and get my lot perked for a septic permit. Here's hoping the price of lumber creeps back to normal sometime soon......
Swetz; It could be the hydraulic oil that is causing the seal failures. I would be suspicious of it. A complete flush might something to consider.
I just picked up some OSB 1/2. Cost nearly $34 each. Not to long ago it was around $7. Not the best time to build a house.
T-town, I hear you in the lumber. What you can find on the shelf is crazy high price. I paid $30 for a 1/2" sheet of cdx plywood the other day. My cylinders don't weep when the let go. It is just the cup seal that crumbles. Tinkerer, The tractor only has ~740 hours on it. When I got it I changed the hydraulic oil. Now doing all the cylinders I have put in another12 to 15 gallons of oil in.
Umet Yesil, I have a feeling it is related to the 15 years the machine spent in a garage without operating. The piston seals look brand new. It is just the u-cup seal on the gland that crumbles. A couple of examples (front loader bucket and crowd cylinder).
On going cleanup of some property I had trees cut on. Replanting a little less dense so I can keep it mowed around them in the future.
That looks like something other than compatible oil was mixed in the system and ate the seals.
Layin pipe. Above ground in this case.
Digging stumps and loading them on my stone, I mean stump sled.
NH575E, Others think it was a compatibility issue as well. I honestly have no way to know. With the low hours, and original hydraulic filter that was still on it, I would guess it was never changed...that said, who knows what was added. If this is the case, the only part that was attacked was the one seal (piston rod seal), all others look like new. My hope is that by changing the oil, then kinda doing it again as I do the cylinders, if it is an oil issue, it is over. I cannot see myself putting more than 3 to 4000 hours on this machine in the years I own it. I would be ok with not having to do the cylinders again (fingers crossed). Good to see a pic of your machine back in action after the crowd cylinder fiasco!
Nice view @805DirtDog !
Is that a water pipe? I guess when pipe is above the land it won t get damaged by earth move.
wonderful
it’s HDPE water pipe we are using for drainage.
Mine spent the morning clearing a beaver dam from a big culvert. Culvert is 9 feet tall, maybe 12' wide 70' long. Water does much of the work. We use two backhoes one at each end of the culvert. A drag made of square tube with four branches sticking out gets pulled back & forth through. Eventually a big enough hole is torn in the dam, it lets go. Probably 40 acres of water is behind it. Something close to 8,000,000 cubic feet of water passes through in an hour or so.
that sounds like a fun one
Finally put the Big Banana to work! I was digging stumps all day Thursday and Friday. The one in the pic was so heavy, even after I cleaned the dirt and cut the tree off, that it lifted the rear wheels off the ground. I am not thinking there is a power issue . I just drug it to be safe. I know some of you guys will appreciate my rocks! Beautiful weekend in North East PA! Cut down about all the trees I will have to remove for my garage. Now I have to cut the wood and finish digging the stumps fingers crossed for another couple weekends like this, this fall!
Mine just asked me what’s for dinner after I’ve busted my ass working all day .....oh wait....
It is sort of fun. 40 years ago using dynamite was exponentially more fun, and far more thorough. Placing dynamite in the beaver house was far more effective. They didn't rebuild for a year or two. I wonder if they don't like the smell of beaver fragments.
If they somehow accidentally get shot in their pond and left there, the colony will move out. I didn't do it, but it was my beaver.
Hey man when you need to move smthi really heavy dont lift it. I push it wi front backet
Honcho, I hear you! I had no idea this 34" diameter had that much weight. When the back wheels came off the ground, I let her down and pushed her off into the woods.
Good work @Swetz ! And yes to the rocks! @Willie B Beavers man! It's a shame we can't train beavers to damn up where we want them to. I think they are very interesting animals but seemingly make things a big pain in the butt pretty often.
My hoe and I went to the neighbors house again to attempt to help clear up his giant pile-of-trash-back-yard. I actually moved some chipped asphalt to part of his driveway and I must say that while it's pretty easy to work with I'm getting much better at dumping a pile and flattening it out. Maybe I'll remember a picture next time I'm over there. I also dragged a bunch of old wood and barn parts away from a barn, then shoved them into the burning hole I dug last year or whenever that was, with his little bulldozer. That little thing is kind of a drag to drive but once I got going with it it does some pretty decent work, and is much less prone to nails in tires.
I once dug a maple stump on the front lawn of the office at SMOKEY HOUSE CENTER. Backhoe was a 1974 John Deere 410. I began thinking it was a pine I remembered having been cut 30 years earlier. I thought I could tear it apart. It proved to be Maple & it was NOT rotted! Hours later, I had dug a 15 foot diameter hole 9' deep. Stump was so heavy I couldn't lift it. It collapsed into the hole, where I covered it. I expect it'll eventually rot away, but it has been 20 years since I did it, no depression in the lawn yet.
I've run into a few stumps now where the resulting hole, to get it loose, seems much bigger than it should be. Amazing how strong some roots can be!
The tree/stump in my pic was also maple...lotta maple in the area. I bought a 12" bucket just for stumping. The price was rite, and it works well. As others on here have discussed, I don't think I would want to trench with it, but works well for stumping. The roots do not seem to give it that much difficulty...it is the rocks, or boulders mixed into the roots that are the pain.
Would almost rather put a Root Tooth on instead of a bucket, cut them not so much dig them out to loosen. This is on a Mini Ex
I don't have a root ripper. I use a 12" bucket on the Case. With a thumb, it's the best rig for rocks & stumps. Mostly a tree here grows in rock. It is less a matter of ripping roots, than moving the rocks to get to the root. Yours looks like it might work.
I've been burning debris on and under a monster sweetgum stump all week. I finally ran out of stuff to feed for now and let it smolder out. About half the stump is still there. When I dug it out I had to push it to where it sits. To push it I had to get the loader bucket under one side and wrap a chain around the other side to the bucket hooks. Only then could I get enough lift to push it. My machine wouldn't pick it up from either end. Now I can pick one side up with my little tractor.
Like Swetz had said.... the last couple weeks in NE PA have been magnificent for 'working the land' I have been trying to raise the elevation on our future house site with some nice local fill. This was needed since the site is on a ridge crest and I'm trying to not have to blast or knock the shelf rock we are on. Finally, am at a good rough elevation. You can see the 'void' left for the crawl space.... Hoe is parked on one of the 'terraces' on the front side slope....... which looks due south, Down the hill toward the future 'barn' site we had the time to spread some topsoil and start the 'front yard' Getting the perc test done on the property this week....... those I had to dig by hand!
Nice job T-town! Now those rocks in the 3rd pic are what I am used to...aighead will stop by to drool on them...LOL
Thanks Swetz.... they are coming in handy on the hardscape.... Was able to find this little guy...... persistence?
I'm seeing lots of hard work there T-town. Looking good! I see you have a screener off in the distance. I built one a couple of months ago. Comes in handy. I wouldn't have any idea how to deal with those rocks. Roots are bad enough.
Is that a Gas Gas trials bike in the background? Had a demo one at my track a few weeks ago. The seat is kind of a moot point.
Don't know, is a borrowed photo.
@T-town @Swetz is right! Both great work and great rocks! They are a bit jaggedy but I wouldn't turn them down! I was going to comment on your neat ramp down the way too, but @NH575E beat me to it with giving away what it really is. Anyway, your spot looks really nice!
We are famous for our 'rocks' round here...... Lots of 'bluestone' quarried in these parts.( north and west of this spot) On my ridge.... a bit less 'stratified' but still some stackable ones. A lot of rock is gettin tossed over a bank. ( sorry Aighead!) The pic shows several piles of screened topsoil that came thru that homemade unit. And I will have a bit more use for it going forward. Also a couple of piles of "sand" for lining the utility ditches that have yet to be dug. The green grass to the left in that pic was the only open space on the property.... the rest was wooded. Logged(clear cut) stumps pushed out( paid a dozer) and a serious regrading to gain fill for use in driveway building and homesite grading. All done with the hoe... and plenty of time.
If you and @Swetz were in NW PA I'd be asking if I could bring a truck over... If you guys are ever itching to get rid of some rocks I may look into the cost to do it anyway. I'm not sure at what point it would be cost prohibitive to do so, but I'd be willing to look.
Aighead..... you are welcome to 'em!! Probably sooner than later on my end...... won;t leave em sittin 'round too long. Fuel prices being low???? who knows. What would you have to 'pay' for boulders your way... would be the place to start with that decision. I could send you pics of a pile of "roundy moundy's" that I have sittin that will have to go somewhere. My old hoe should be able to load them though a chain sling could help which I don't have.
In 1987 Mrs. B & I bought a building lot on the Atlantic Ocean in Quoddy Village Maine. Now this place is what Webster was talking about defining remote. These people have to mail their tax returns in March! Soon after we bought, another couple bought a big house across the road from us. Their house needed a new foundation. They went out and bought a new F350 diesel because he found a place he could get all the stone he wanted free in Rode Island. I had no words for that. Seriously, you want rock, moss, no moss, every level of weathered, from 1" to 10' come get them. If you have topsoil to trade we have a deal.
Last time I was looking we were at around 50-75 bucks for maybe a two foot squareish rock. I have no idea what that weighs or the type of truck it would take to move many of them... I'm guessing, to NE PA a minimum of an 8 hour drive, each way, call it 550 miles (probably closer to 10 hours), maybe a 100-200 bucks in fuel each way, but I also don't know what kinda mpg a truck like that would get. I wonder about a u-ship-it style operation? @Willie B some mossy rocks would be great! As a kid I went camping at some park relatively local, but I don't remember where, that had huge mossy boulders to slide down and very interesting crevices to walk through and it was really cool. It'd be kickass to have a mossy boulder slide into the pond!
Guess you'd have to go a bit futher to get some of Willie's moss rocks...??!! No idea on weight of typical rocks. The flatbeds heading out of our town with loads seem to go with skid steer bucket sized rocks. I know the state clamps down on securing the 'rock' loads..... as they should. I would think the uship guys would want to know a weight before they agreed to the load? With me...... a truck/trailer could get into, and out of my prop. Couple miles off I 81 just north of the I81 - I80 interchange
My rock weighs between 185 & 190 LBS per cubic foot. Odd shaped rocks are hard to calculate cubic feet. Mostly, I take cube dimensions, divide by 2. A rock 8' x 4' x 3': 8x4=32 32x3=96 96/2=48 48 x 185=8880 LBS. I'd say another way, place a rock in a square cornered tank of water. Take it out, measure the displaced water. A dump truck load of rock weighs 2500LBS per cubic yard. My little truck can legally carry 5-1/2 cubic yards of odd shaped rocks. Some day I'll test that theory on a scale. Never heard of securing a dump truck full of rock. Here you get a ticket if you have something (sand) and wind will blow it away, they want a tarp over it.
While I imagine I'll never really get up the gumption to make these trips it's certainly an interesting idea, and we never know, maybe I'll get bored someday!
Those rocks look invasive. I wouldn't want my neighbor planting them.
Lets look at it another way...If you plant some prime rocks, fertilize 2x a year, and water them just right, maybe you could open a rock quarry in a couple of years...I think that is what happened near my place. https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...!3d41.4644667!4d-75.408732!14m1!1BCgIgARICCAI
Dang it @Swetz I looked at the aerial view and I see some boulders, from space, I'd like from that joint! Y'all got a ton of trees up that way too!
Ford f750 with a 10900 lb capacity, no CDL needed, for a week, rentable for $1300. I'm assuming they wouldn't be happy with the mileage I'd add as well... And that's probably not that many rocks, really. I could conceivably take 4 trips in a week but good God would I be beat! Locally, it looks like I'd pay about $1300 per that sized truck of "Ohio Granite" Or a semi-full, though I imagine that is much harder to load and secure so not likely really this price:
I would think 5 tons would be used up real quick....shame though. Look what I 'found ' today... Somebody must have watered them and they started growing...... and with moss!!
Well one of my hoes was undercutting some less than desirable material underneath a future building pad.
Wait, hold on...plural, man you are lucky to have more than 1....LOL That is some nasty stuff!
Mine tried to do what it couldn't do. I burned a boulder recently to reduce its size. Got it on the wall. Next rock I thought I could push if I couldn't lift. I misjudged it. Yes I can lift it, but moving after lifting proved unfeasible! Sad thing, I noticed a slice in a front tire, probably 1991 vintage first thing this morning. Wondered how much longer it had. Now I know. Tube lost air, wouldn't hold more.
Lets talk about how lucky. You can have every !@#$%^&*()_+one! My dream is to live in a level meadow, no rocks, no trees, no floods, ideally no neighbors.
Dang WillieB.....that looks like my backyard in Maine!
The rest of 2 acres once looked like this. This is a temporary terrace to build the wall. It'll be removed 6' lower once complete. The yellow building is vacant except two weeks a year. It has been owned by 4 generations. They now live out of state.
Boo to the tire @Willie B !
Oh well, they were living on borrowed time. No big deal to replace the tires, I knew when I bought the tractor it needed them. They were factored into what I offered for the tractor. I often consider machines like this. This one has 3500 hours. The bucket has been abused, but not worn out, the loader floor is rusted, but not worn at all. Tires haven't been worn out, they are just old. What did the machine do to rack up so many hours? I met my friend, (the king of idling) on the road yesterday. I noticed a lot of black smoke from his road tractor, I thought it bad, then I realized the smoke was coming from the Caterpillar grader he was hauling. It was running at full throttle. They have an International TD7E Crawler tractor on its third set of chains. The clock reads over 30,000 hours. They start a machine early morning if they think they might use it. If the day doesn't go as planned, it sits there running. It's common for them to find a machine running, forgotten for a day or more. Even I, use a backhoe for a welding bench. Something in the bucket, or chained to the rear bucket, I use it to turn, or position it for convenient position. It stacks up hours!
Willie, you need a 'pet rock' to put in the backhoe bucket and offset some of the weight ! Stick it out farther for more traction Then again, you could go at it the other way and chain the biggies to the hoe and have the weight over the big tires. I have to admit to trying lots of things and more than once, just dragging the darn things.
This time dragging was not an option. That'd be too easy. The lady who owns the neighboring property is a nasty old lady of 90? years. She has threatened my life, accused me of unspeakable crimes I wouldn't know how to commit. She is little problem to me, she lives in Michigan, hasn't been here in years. She has several family members living near. They report to her. Good rock fences make good neighbors. I can build a wall, I can't cross onto neighbor property to build it.
Today I moved the (I hope) last of the giant boulders. I'm building a wall along the property line. I can pull heavier rocks than I can push. Usually, I move a backhoe to where I can pull a very big rock. The Case 580K is a mid sized machine I've had it 14 or so years, it lifts less than the more recent John Deere 410C. The thumb on the 580K makes it exponentially more useful, but moving BIG rock is always going to involve the 410C. Today I placed three monsters on the wall. Two were too big for even the 410C, I had to shed some weight with fire. I have consumed my supply of trash wood. I hated to resort to more fire. Two rocks I had broken just small enough to coax into place, (roughly 8000 LBS) I'd drag twice as heavy. This building a wall from one side is for the birds!
Pardon my ignorance. How do you shed weight on a rock with fire?
Fire causes the rock to shear as water within the stone boils and it breaks. One stone becomes many. Basically Spalling but on a larger scale.
Yeah, Best way I've found is an oil burner like you'd find in a BIG oil furnace. At moment the biggest one I have around is 20000 BTU. I have used a big weed burner torch, but I have to keep switching tanks because they frost up & won't evaporate. Most often it is done with a wood fire. Sometimes I get lucky, It breaks in half, most times it comes off in 6" thick flakes. I started on one maybe 8' long 4' wide 3' thick Late in the day last Sunday. The wood I had was stove wood left outside too long. Getting a fire going with this wet, moldy wood is a slow process. It just started to burn when the sky opened up, and it rained hard. I had piled 1-1/2 cubic yards of wood on it arranged to fall into the fire as the bottom wood burned away. It did burn nearly all the wood despite the rain, but was less effective than I hoped. It broke off maybe 600 LBS. Mid week I found time to hand load another bucket full of wood. It'd been pushed into a heap mixed with gravel & had to be hand loaded to separate. It was pretty bad wood. Thursday just before dark I got it going. It burned slowly, (crap wood) but broke off another several hundred pounds Lightened it just enough to chain it up & drag/ waggle it in place under the wall. This portion of wall was there in the devastation of Hurricane Irene in 2011. It diverted 6' of rushing water past the house & garage. The sugar house at back of the property didn't fare as well. FEMA estimate was $118500. damage. If the next one proves bigger, I might want the wall to turn the corner. It also affords some privacy.
That stone fence is awesome. I'm working on a stump fence but it won't be near as aesthetic or long lasting as your stones.
This is my latest little cleared spot. The area behind has had time to get overgrown and is fairly thick with large pine stumps, logs, and wood debris. I just use the loader bucket to push my way in until I find a stump then turn around, dig it out, and start all over again. In the past I had to level as good as I could with the backhoe's loader then disc harrow and drag a landscape rake over and over and over. I just bought a 6' PTO tiller for my small tractor that digs out roots pretty well and has some leveling effect so I can finish drag it.
I like a stump fence & they do last a very long time.
We went to Costa Rica last year and was fascinated at their fences... They have a stretch of trees in more or less a straight line, they then cut the tops off so only about 5 feet is sticking up, and they staple fence to it. No post hole digging! https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Costa Ric...c.ca/files/2013/02/Coppicing-2_Costa-Rica.jpg
In this part of the world, it would take 15 - 20 years to grow a fence. But I will be opportunistic and staple to a tree that happens to line up with my fence.
Yeah, & they tend to be too far apart. Right here I see piles of small stones small enough to lift. If one were to dismantle the pile they would see that there is a hollow core. Impossible to drive a fence post, near impossible to dig deep enough to set a fence post, Usually they dug a foot, then piled stone to support a fence. As decades & centuries passed, nobody kept a horse, fewer kept a cow. Fences became property boundaries, not animal containment. Don't need wire, just a stone fence to show the neighbors where to stop.
I have a row of Murray Cypress planted about 6ft apart for a future privacy fence.
On my property, they used stone walls to keep the livestock corralled. I literally have miles of stone walls on my property. Stones were in the way, and free, and will outlast any other fence type I guess....lot of work though...this was over 100 years ago, I would bet hydraulics didn't help them build the walls .
I'll say these people were NOT afraid of work.
I think of the settlers. I'm a hundred miles as crow flies from the Atlantic Ocean. While New England was being settled, Indians dominated the area I live. Then there was the unpleasantry between New York claiming governance & Governor Benning Wentworth in New Hampshire selling Vermont. In the years other New England states were becoming well established & civilized, VT was struggling. Those who bought "Proprietor's Lots" were investors. They paid a tiny sum for each 160, or 100 acre lot. They had no way to know if it was in a swamp, middle of a lake, or top of a mountain. Ultimately, these Proprietors sold their lots to settlers, who typically gambled as to what they were buying. Many settlers paid for land they knew only its size. Most was difficult, if not impossible to homestead. In Mount Tabor's case, there was a 1 time tax of $5.oo for each landowner to buy Right Of Way for the new, not yet built railroad. Mount Tabor had 7 miles of railroad to buy. Railroad was along the extreme Western edge of the town, hard against the Village of the next town, Danby. Most Mount Tabor residents were on the wrong side of a mountain range to benefit from a railroad. Summer, it took all day to reach a train, winter, it was impossible! Many of the residents failed to pay their tax. I never knew if it was inability to pay, or refusal to pay. Many farms were taken by the town government for non payment of tax. By the Civil war, the practice of taking every able bodied man same day further decimated the town. Somewhere near 1865, the Town of Mount Tabor sold 21000 acres of seized land to the richest kid in Danby for $1100. Roughly $00.19 per acre. Thus ended Mount Tabor's existence as a populated town. Theoretically left 4000 acres in resident's ownership. Still, the farms are evident! Stone walls abound. Cellar holes with fireplaces are still there.
They were afraid of starving. Joe H
You needed dirt..... free of trees and rocks.... and water. The rest you grew and raised and butchered. A gentleman who grew up in the area round our land, and who has been passed on for some 15 years or so now, talked about remembering his "old timers" pulling stumps with a team of oxen. I'm sure that along with spring plowing every year ( once you got to that point) was also rock picking time. When you work the soil those things seem to float their way towards the surface. You grow corn and rocks !!...... eat the corn, feed your horses and throw the rocks to the side of the field..... or build some of the most beautiful 'dry' walls you've ever seen.
I know CR well, my father retired there and the wife and I lived there for a stint. Kilometers and kilometers of living fence posts. The farmers will chop the off shoots for future fence posts - just stick them in the ground and let them go. It's amazing how fertile that volcanic soil is. There will be "generational" fence rows as the farmers will weave the newer shoots into the fence rows amongst the older growth. What part of the country did you visit?
@CM1995 We were right in the middle, Canaan ( Specifically here: https://goo.gl/maps/CN49hMhRMbrnrnej8 )? It looked like this a lot! Just east of San Isidro, I think. We also hung out for the day in Dominical n the beach, those waves are serious, I'm much more used to Atlantic Ocean and consider myself a strong swimmer but got my butt handed to me there. I wasn't sure what to expect when we went, then it wasn't what I was expecting at all. It was beautiful and a great trip but I had a fair amount of culture shock (not speaking really a lick of Spanish), and we were much farther away from interesting things than I would have liked. If I did it again I'd stay in a more touristy area for a week, then go back to a place like we went to the first time, out in the middle of nowhere, when we are a little more accustomed to the ways. The people were all lovely and forgiving of my English and terrible Spanish speaking attempts, the little town we were near was neat, with a cheese shop, butterfly house, nice little bakery, and restaurant, it was all just a bit too adventurous for me and my wife. Converting money was always interesting, grocery shopping was nuts, the driving was insane... You name it I was kind of overwhelmed by it!
Packing trash in a semi-trailer, got no pictures, I will take some, it's kinda gross.
My first girlfriend was named Haas. That was 46 years ago. She is now a gorgeous 62 year old blonde married to a great guy doctor. She has spent a lot of his money looking as good as she did at 16.
Taking advantage of the continuing fall weather ...... have many of 'these' to deal with over time. On top of a ridge.... smaller trees than other places, mostly oak( reds). A fews of these are sprinkled through the woodlot and are a hickory. My goodness..... what a mass of roots!! this one was 'bout 14'' or so wide. I've learned a new way ( for me) to bring these down. At first I was dropping them with a saw, leaving 3-4 ft and picking out the stump. Lots of digging and moving round and resetting. Now, with any small or medium size..... I'm just using the hoe. Digging roots on the "uphill" side and then reaching up and pushing over. The tree brings the root ball right out with it. These forks (clampons) help to no end with this job too...
Well, today it's taking a well deserved rest. Wednesday, it was dragging this: HeavyEquipmentForums
33 years ago I bought a Power Wagon. It is equipped with two winches. I learned that a safer way to bring down a tree involved an extension ladder. A tree trunk is a heck of a big lever. Most trees I take down I want the stump out too. I now use backhoe for most trees. I've done up to 4' diameter this way by digging roots first. Some of the stumps are too heavy to lift.
The Power Wagon.
Those things are SOOO COOL!
The picture is pretty old. #2 son is now a married homeowner of 27 years. I'd guess him to be 14 or 15 in the picture.
Been spending so much time taking trees down...... figured I needed to put some back. .... a couple two 'trees'..... These were left over seedlings from the local county Conservation District ( soil guys) that I took home some 6-7 years ago. Bounced around several pots ... finally 'heeled' them into some soil on the property two years ago. About a dozen.... Norway Spruce. Figured fall is for planting, and we are getting some rain tomorrow.... so the time was right as they say. They are getting a bit large for the hoe bucket. Have to get the rest put in someplace soon. There are not many native evergreens on this section of mountain.... Penn's woods was a (white) pine forest a long time ago. They cut them all down.... clearcut the whole state almost. Oaks took over after that.
T-town, you have done well with your seedlings. It looks great. Trees are a little like kids, where ever you plant them, they are going to try to grow. My wife would get seedlings around Arbor Day that we (she) would scatter out on the place. One year she had a cypress left over and asked where to plant it. Recent rain had made everything very wet so we planted it a couple hundred feet from the house (temporarily). It’s now close to 50’ tall and over 24” on the stump. Pretty sure it’s found a home! So now, the mower has to keep the knees ground down but it’s a great tree. Have the cypress balls to deal with but so far they are tolerable. I probably prefer oaks and hardwoods but we need all kinds. Congratulations on being able and smart enough to transplant your good looking Spruce.
Thanks Bootheal These were 'Arbor Day' seedlings too. Each spring the Conservation District has a plant sale by preorder. All kinds of native species of trees and shrubs. They also get a ton of these spruce seedlings and those are given out to all the elementary students in our district ( retired science teacher). My guys ( high school) would gladly get out of classes to go down to the local fire house to place individual seedlings into plastic sandwich bags with some dirt, and those are taken to the schools to hand out. I'm on the lookout for some Larch,,,,,, or Tamarack...... one of two 'evergreens' that drop all their needles each fall. I think 'Bald Cypress is the other. Have some seeds that I collected.... not sure if that will work next spring or not.
When you run out of bald cypress seed, I would be very willing to resupply your stash.
Wife has been wanting some trees that change color in the fall. Looks like the Bald Cypress will grow without being in a swamp so I just ordered 25 seeds online. They only charged $3 for the seeds and $3.50 first class shipping.
T-town, looking good. You are inspiring me. I have been talking about getting an evergreen tree or 2, to put in my front lawn. My neighbor has tons of them around his house, and they are huge. I just want a couple, and not near my house like he has. BTW, I see the water/mud in the pic. The standing water/mud has once again stopped me from my work on the garage/shop pad. I am hoping once it gets cold, I will get back to work...course digging stumps will be difficult then.
Yeah Swetz, .... a bit of water around this past weekend from the days before. Gettin a bunch today that will shut things down for awhile. The water in the pic is puddled in a future planting bed....and I stirred it up a bit grabbing some top soil for the tree. the spruce will anchor the backside of a planting.... the front of which borders the driveway. This bed contains the 'rocks' that were too big for me to move so they dictated the location of the driveway. Want to add a sugar maple to the bed... trees at back corners. That's the plan anyway. Then some shrubs. Have to check with "Tim" the 'shrubber' about some of those selections. Weed fabric and mulch on the whole 'island'. Hope to get back at a boulder retaining wall this week if it drys up fast enough. I must say that with all the dirt I have moved so far, the water runoff management has worked. And the neat thing is I started at the 'low end' of things and worked my way uphill. All by eye on the slope. Just watched the water when it rained Have only used a laser level on the very top (house site) and to get the barn pad at a good elevation. Total about 2 acres of work. I did not get a Soil/Erosion permit though.... luckily I am off the road and 'out of site' as they say. Of course I have one heck of riparian buffer goin on so no soil leaving this site.... even without the silt fence. The site does dry out pretty quick as a result of not having water sit anywhere. I could go up tomorrow and get some trees down, but one my saws is in the shop so I will give it some more time. And Bootheel..... the seeds I have are from a Larch....
Collecting rocks for retaining wall on new build. I wish I had a thumb. Been using straps to lift with backhoe and then put in UTV for transport. The big ones get pushed down the hill! Too wet these days to safely finish so will wait till 2021!
Look at those rocks with nice flat sides ! I'm envious ! Around here it's like trying to build something out of beach balls.
I have a strategy for retaining walls with beach balls. No, they can't be vertical.
Are you going to tell ? Aighead is looking for Any big rocks...I'm always hunting for ones with just a slighty flat side or two.
Sure! People beg me to tell less! For retaining walls sort your boulders. A base row of the biggest vaguely round ones starts your wall. Fill to level behind these with whatever you got. If it is stone providing drainage, no drain tile is needed. If you will fill behind with something that doesn't facilitate drainage, place a 4" drain behind. Next layer is next size smaller boulders, placed behind the tallest point of the first row. Again, fill behind these, but there may be gaps between these will need rubble stone to fill between. You could go pretty high if you keep the center of base of each row behind top point of lower row. These retaining walls do fail eventually in ground freezing territory if you don't drain them. Those that last longest are nothing but drainage encouraging stone several feet behind. Fence style stone walls are only a matter of not too vertical on either side. Put them where they fit.
Today, my hoe is leaking! Both hoes are in sick bay. The JD 410C equipped with Stanadyne injection pump is in "flex ring" failure. It is for the moment on standby only duty. The Case 580K I've had 14 years has had a Case dealer repack of the boom cylinder several years ago, took to spewing oil today. Last round, it was an out of the machine, haul it to the dealer repair. I've had two of these machines, each has had a boom cylinder issue before. First had a dent in the cylinder we believe was a bullet. It ruined the tube, and the piston. Repair was sort of a big deal. If I remember correctly, this one was a nightmare getting the gland out, the thread is fine & long, it had been treated with red Loctite! Shouldn't be as bad this time.
Boo to sick hoes!
Hi everyone, i wanted to send out season greetings to all and show off my cat hoe. It is helping me lift up the roof trusses on my polebarn/shop.
mine moved snow two days.
get the chain saw
Don't I wish !!!
I've been pretty happy with the 36" Titan Weld On Thumb. Not as convenient as a hydraulic unit but I have learned to work with it extended so I never have to fold it to the stored position. It took practice but I can even dig stumps without stowing it now.
JAKES, love those tires on your Cat.
Jakes is it 428F, or what. I guess a Cat has most beautiful boom
My hoe has mouth full of scrap steel waiting to dump it soon as I go get a manure spreader someone is tossing to put it in. Picked up two 3rd members from some Eaton axles, a 9 speed transmission that is destroyed and some scrap from the ramps it broke loading up when I picked her up. Next is time to fix the mud hole I created loading up said metal in someones yard then taking her on road trip home where she belongs.
Mine's taken up gardening. There's a Case 580C under there... Things grow so fast here!
They are great on the gravel roads. The brand is IRT. It is a 420E it with a Wain-Roy swing coupler also a Central Forge thumb.
I'm particularly interested in those tires. Last round of buying backhoe tires I looked into them, they were hundreds more than conventional R4 tread. They look to me like they wouldn't sink as deep into a lawn, and with tire chains they'd put more chain onto the ground.
I must correct myself: the tires are BKT brand and are 12 ply.yes Willie it seems like you have more contact to the ground. Also this hoe came from your neck of the woods it was from the hwy dept. of Springfield,Vt.
Well due to Covid-19 that ain't happening now. Some nay sayer, Covid-19 denier, conspiracy theorist has Covid-19 with his wife and they are in their 70's. Thankfully I called before showing, one is doing fine the other one might kick the bucket. Such as it is moving on with mine and scratching it off my list. Guess I will lay tarp down dump it on it, bundle it up and tie a rope around it.
Waiting for enough snow my snowblower can’t handle!
My father worked for The Town Of Danby after World War 2. The road crew had a Caterpillar D6 at the time. Equipped with a massive V plow, it'd go through EVERYTHING. But with the V plow, it couldn't push directly through very deep snow. Much of it ended under the tracks, or pushed out in front of the belly. Pushing to one side at a time was necessary. For that purpose, the plow was only 5-1/2 feet wide. Blood street was a level road across a sidehill. Stone walls were 10' above the road on one side, 4' above on the other side. The town road crew was working the 10' deep drifts of powder, when they heard banging. Shutting down to hear, Asil Ricketts came into view in his Model A converted to a truck. He was driving on the top of the stone wall 10' above the road. The storm this week, Danby hired a very large crawler to plow "the west side"
Me and my hoe went to the neighbors to help out again yesterday... Turns out the help was more in the realm of chainsawing than hoeing. He paid me in some big pieces of Maple tree he'd recently had taken down. That said, we spent about half an hour trying to chain up two decent sized logs, so I could drag them back to my house. He's like 84 years old, slow moving, hardly understandable, and always wants help with something, but he's a good fella and seems to know some stuff and he works harder than I do. Well, after wrestling these logs around and getting them home, I proceeded to buy some clamp on forks. I've heard of a lot of the complaints of use for these type of things with a loader bucket but for a couple hundred bucks even the occasional usage to pick up some stuff like this is worth it. I'm also working on a project to build a wood drying kiln and forks will help load that too, though I assume there'll be a learning curve.
aighead, I have herd the complaints here, and agree with most, but, the set I have for my compact tractor have really bailed me out, and therefore were worthwhile. My problem with them is that I cannot see the forks for the bucket. I nearly ripped the rails off my front porch with them before I realized where they were (shhh don't tell the wife ). So, if you realize upfront that you did not purchase a forklift, you will prolly be fine, just don't overload them. I have herd the stories of them bending the bucket bottom. The ones on my compact tractor have plates welded to each side to spread the weight and keep them straight. I am always all in to help an old timer that wants too but his body says no. I teach waaay to many young people that have the body to, but no desire to...kinda a shame!
Those clamp on tube forks are not a good fit for a full size hoe. You need the solid type that hook onto a bar on top of the bucket. I tried a set that claimed a 4000 lb capacity that bent the first time I used them. I was able to straighten and weld them so I can use them on my small tractor.
NH575E has brought up a good point about the forks fitting a full size tractor bucket. I hope the ones that you purchased are wide enough to fit over the cutting edge on your tractor. The ones I have for my compact tractor will not physically fit over the cutting edge, so they cannot be used. I think the ones I have were rated for 4000# as well. My compact tractor only lifts ~900#, so I don't think I can bend them. If I was able to get them on my ful size tractor, I bet I could bend them in a min! That 675E has some power!
Welp, I guess we'll see. The ones I bought theoretically have holes in the top that you can jam some 2x4s to at least give some visual... Hopefully they fit over the cutting edge. I don't really need them for anything too crazy but lifting a log could be very handy.
The ones I bought fit over the edge fine and even had a cross beam stabilizer to connect the two forks together. I think I caught one on a root getting under a log and folded one down. They may work as intended to a point if you are careful. I used 2" ratchet straps to go around the bottom and over the top of the bucket to achieve the rated lift capacity but it was short lived. Even on my little tractor with the stabilizer bar they seem to want to shift crooked. If you are going to use forks then try to get REAL forks. Mine were a waist of money. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Zoiks @NH575E ! That appears to be the same kind I got... Even if I end up learning a hard lesson 200 bucks isn't that expensive of one... I like your ratchet strap solution! And now that I see your pictures it's more clear to me how they would shift around. I wonder, if, assuming I don't hate them or break them, if there's a solution to hold them in place a little better. I can see how those clamps may just provide a pivoting spot for them.
The forks are designed to have straps or chain like I had it. There are hook holes in the bottom underneath and the tops of the extensions on top. You hook into the bottom holes and wrap it around to the top and cinch it down. I think without that it said they were rated for 1500 lbs. I have used them on my tractor that has a 1200 lb lift capacity without causing any further damage. I had some flat bar under the clamp pads Maybe weld some flat plate under where mine bent and move the stabilizer further out from the bucket? Or some angle out a foot or so on the bottom corners? It's just going to find the next weakest spot if you hang it on something.
Mine are simple. Anybody with a simple welder could copy. They are built of rectangular tubing with a bit of reinforcing added at the base of each L shaped member. At top is a piece of DOM tubing. Passing through is a rod. Three hooks are welded at top of bucket to grab the rod. I grab the forks without moving from the driver's seat. I did once borrow a set of the clamp to bucket lip style. I couldn't keep them pointed forward.
How are we gonna copy them without pics? CMON MAN show us the stuff!
@Willie B I was initially planning to go that route but I don't trust my little welder (not to mention my skill level) to make a sufficient weld for those hooks. I'd rather your style of flip down forks with the bar, but having something trumped waiting around to find a welder, and bar, and forks. Long term this will likely be my solution too. God knows my wife likes more things sitting in the yard!
Mine are commercially built. I don't know by whom. If building yours, I believe you'd be best off with 1/8" 7018. This does NOT require a big welder. I once borrowed the clamp on style. I was NOT happy with them!
You saying the forks themselves are 1/8" 7018? I'm more concerned with the hooks and probably a plate to weld to the loader bucket and hooks to. My little 120v welder won't weld the hooks on well enough would it?
aighead, This is how I keep my forks straight. Even with the bar between them that NH575E has in his pics did not stop mine from pivoting. The properly positioned plate seems to do the job to keep them straight. I have attached a link to the style I would purchase for a full size tractor. They are a bit spendy, but come with the hooks that are welded to your bucket. https://www.everythingattachments.c...m#:~:text= Item Number , 7 3 more rows
Pretty sure he is referring to a rod type and size for a buzz box type welder. I'm sure you've seen my thread on my weld on thumb but just to bring it back to life you can weld almost anything if you prepare and make multiple passes when needed. I welded this on with a 100 amp 120 volt mig welder back in 2016 and it is holding fine. It may not be professional or pretty looking but it is plenty strong and functional. I don't like to advocate for this company but for the saving they sometimes offer I'm not opposed to buying from them. Past experience has taught me to pay with paypal or buy through eBay for protection when dealing with them. This is their 4000 lb rated solid forks with a 72" wide rod and hooks for $772. https://www.palletforks.com/skid-st...x48-inch-over-the-bucket-fork-kit/141920.html
No, to fabricate the forks. I'd want more than 120 volt machine.
@Swetz and @NH575E Yup, you guys both posted the more expensive version that I'd really like but can't justify the expense of yet. Swetz, thanks for the pictures and description, that appears to be a decent fix for those sliding around! Maybe not fool-proof but better. NH575E, I think about your post and thumb pretty frequently, it's another thing I'd like eventually. It certainly looks like it'd make moving logs on or off piles or whatever a lot easier. I just have a little Lincoln MIG welder, similar to what you used? @Willie B Got it. Long term the bar and fold down forks are the solution I'll choose.
Harbor freight has a cheap stick welder I have been using that works real nice. Not much of a duty cycle on it, but burns 7018 real hot for a nice weld. I have done small stuff like chain grabs and D loops. https://www.harborfreight.com/stick-225-inverter-welder-with-electrode-holder-64978.html
Thanks for the tip! I may have to try it!
The thumb has come in handy with this years wood harvest. No more bending over or rolling logs. Best part is I tought my son to use the chainsaw. WaAY better now.
My Hoe is assisting with the backfill and compaction of a new side sewer.
Our fitters work without protection sheild. Sometimes they work 2-3 meter deep. I m affraid for them/.
The rule of thumb is 4' (1.3 meters). The actual rules are complicated, but deeper, you need shoring, or terrace back the bank. I willingly waste time digging back the sides of the ditch. I don't want anybody getting hurt.
Well I plan on going home everyday. This service was 12' deep and the sandy soil started falling in at about the 6' mark. Shoring is cheap insurance as long as it's used properly and everyone gets to go home at the end of the day. Qualified pipelayers are hard to come by now days so I find myself doing most of our pipe work within right of ways or runs that will be tested.
My hoe buried another horse yesterday.
Hopefully it wasn't one of yours...you sometimes get attached to them damn hayburners as you do a good dog.....dated a chick once with horses and they kinda grow on ya.....
Nope, wasn't mine. I buried one for this same lady, down the road from me, who said "yeah, all those horses out there are over 20 years old" as I gave her my phone number... I think horse life is a bit longer than 20 years but it sounds like she's expecting more any time now.
I knew a girl, had a 29 year old mare. Everybody thought she was dying one night. She gave birth. I'm not sure how much longer she lived after that.
First under table job this year. A guy came up to me and asked for help, right when I was going back to garage. I called to mechanic and told im my tire is flat and I d be late.
My 80 is in the shop for bushings, and wiring repair. The 160 is working at our trash transfer station.
give us some pics, of your breadwinner.
Action shot of the 160 doing its thang 6 days a week 8-12 hours a day. It replaced a 110 that had 14k hours. The 160 has almost 5k hrs, and the only thing that needs fixed is the 2 stage speed control. Weve only had this for a couple months now. Fingers crossed.
This thread has gone stale! My hoe has done a few things lately. First was pulling this rusty ol' beast out of the woods. The ground was real sloppy, wet and I got luck that I didn't get stuck in the trees, as every time I moved the hoe wanted to slide downhill. Next, it was mailbox post replacement day yesterday. I yanked the old post out, it was a garbagey metal pole one I put up last year and it was no good. Then I went to dig some more hole, because I'm too lazy to dig it by hand, and I got very lucky. I was digging toward the road, basically from my driveway, and had my daughter out there giving hole depths and keeping an eye out for wires or cables or whatever. I'd take a scoop and have her check the hole, I can see the phone line box about 3 feet further away then the back edge of my hole, so I assume we are in the clear. On my last scoop she says "I see wires!" Uh oh! I hop down to find that yes the hole is deep enough and yup, there's a half inch around cable, only about 6" from the edge of the road, that I didn't break but did touch at some point. Not sure how I didn't yank it completely out but I didn't! Woo! New mailbox post looks much better!
\ A lot of years ago now, my first ever time getting paid to dig, I had called Dig Safe. Supposedly, they marked everything at risk. Very first scoop 2" deep just taking the sod off, I hit a 25 pair phone cable.
Oh man! Terrible luck on that one!
What’s the brand of your baler??? Looks somewhat like an IH but not everything. Then, what are you going to do with it??? Kinda looks like it was in it’s final resting place.
I have been trying remove trees that will be too close to the future house.... and to widen the driveway "back-around" area... workin toward a final grade on that parking area. Taking what is the top of a ridge from this: To final.... via this 'mess'... The stump in the pic had some rot..... made for a precarious take down. I had tried to budge it the day before and all seemed solid. Noticed the problem when we went to cut it....... ended up with a notch and then I used the hoe and pushed it over with the breakage you can see. Nice to have the machine and not have to be close by on that one. Behind the hoe is material that I scraped off the top.... taking with it all the multiflora rose with it, along with a ton of rock..... that all gets used for fill. Woods are starting to get green.....
A lot of the trees I'm taking down are standing dead oaks that succumbed to a bad gypsy moth infestation 5 years back. Here's a couple... You can see the multiflora in the foreground..... pain in the a** stuff This one will need to come down on its own....!!
@Bootheal it was not my baler. It was a neighbors, and yeah very much a final resting place until I yanked it out to go to the scrapyard. He's got a tractor back there he wants me to get too, I think it has trees growing through it.
Mine is currently sitting parked with a busted hydraulic hose. Every time I extend the bucket, pssssshhhh goes the hydraulic fluid. lucky me
My hoe buried another horse last night... 3rd one for the same old lady neighbor.
No pictures, but I had a rough day with my old hoe yesterday. First she didn't want to cold start. My fault, should have plugged it in at 6am when I was walking the puppy. Got machine running, loaded and hauled to jobsite. Go to unload and it won't start again and is cranking really slow. About this time I realized that I completely forgot to check the fuel level. Sure enough, it's really low and I just sucked air into the line. Chain it down, head to station and fuel it up. No crank, batteries drawn down too far. My fault again. Head home and put it on the charger while I run other errands and get lunch. Come back, bleed fuel system and she fires right up. Leave it running while hauling to jobsite (10 minutes away). Unload, get to work removing massive cottonwood stump (38"). Ten minutes in, I break a root free that immediately whips back towards machine and snaps off the hydraulic lines to my left outrigger. Bam, done for the day. Now its 13:45, and I have to take my daughter to a doctor appt at 1500. Go to truck to get my tool bag only to realize I left it at home after using it over the weekend. Head home for wrenches. Go back to jobsite. Realize I have to remove 4 other lines to get to the 2 lines I need. Make an awful mess. I get my lines off and barely make it in time to pickup my daughter and get her to her appointment. We get done at 5pm and all the local hose shops are closed up for the day. I'm very well aware that I caused a lot of my own grief yesterday. **** poor planning will lead to **** poor results every time. Today is another day. I'll get a couple hoses made, machine repaired, and back in the dirt before the end of the day. I'll post pics when I get back to digging.
Very good description of the way my projects go! Last week was every day and it has bled over into this week. I need a break.
Is it the seven P’s or eight P’s? I can’t remember.
**** Poor Prior Planning Promotes **** Poor Performance So it’s eight and it’s so true. Glad you brought this up. I need to work on my 8 P’s.
Didn’t realize this site would fix your spelling ****. That’s pretty cool. I had seen it in posts before, just thought that was the way it was written.
That's my style too @colson04 and @Bootheal it's amazing to ever get anything done with the amount of forgetting to do things I can do.
Depends on which hoe you are talking about, running a brothel over here at this rate one is sitting on the trailer headed home to meet the other one. Guess we can get ready for a hoe down
LOL!!
Just rebuilt the hydro pump and relief valve. Putting it though it's paces again now that it's back to life!
There you go casey518...... if you can't pick it up, walk it on home!
Scuffed that rock pretty bad. Some city boy will object to having it on his wall.
A bunch of feathers & wedges will take that rock down to carry size. It's amazing what the old tools could do
Haha yes. Left side, right side, left side, right side. Yes I have a special bucket lined with pillows for the rocks I'll sell to those folks.
I did buy a set. And a hammer drill. We shall see!
Whoa! Pretty nice little rock you've got there @casey518 ! I'd be glad to take it off your hands for a few bucks, if you can get it down here. There are a few spots where I can see the top of rocks in my yard... I know at least one about half the size of a VW Beetle came out of the pond, so I assume there are others. I'd love to see one like Casey's but I don't know what I'd do with it and I certainly wouldn't want to break it apart.
I always said you can tell a Vermonter from an immigrant (from another state). Vermonters spend their money & time clearing rocks away, (Often building stone walls cause it's too expensive to truck them away). Flatlanders might have a rock free yard, they pay to have random boulders hauled in.
Aighead, I knew you would be drooling when you saw that rock I just recently watched a you tube video where a guy used Dexpan Expansive Demolition Grout...got it home depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dexpan-...ERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-204378643-_-204378788-_-N Anyhow, it worked. I was impressed and may have to use it some time with some of the rocks on my property. This is just an example I found on the internet of a rock this stuff broke...cool for sure!
Yea I may try to split it with the wedges as my machine can barely move it. If they don't work I'll help them out with some expanding product.
You buy a bigger machine and then find bigger rocks. That's how life works.
LOL...Then you have to work more hours to pay for it, so then you use it less cuz you are out of time
Exactly. That’s a vicious cycle!
I live in Connecticut. Rocks are pretty much a crop here. They seem to grow overnight. We have a little soil in between the rocks. Lots of stone walls.
Fire, no drilling needed.
Today I'm digging a walkout basement.
Hose repair:
Stump removal:
Wow! You cleaned that pig good! She looks good enough to marry! My first paid job, in mud, early December, in snow. I moved the tractor too much, It squished the ground around the ditch up from the weight of the tractor. There wasn't enough dirt to fill the ditch. There was a stump, I remembered the day the tree was cut 30 years earlier. I knew in my mind it had been a pine. A pine stump 30 years rotted I could scrape away. This one proved to be maple. The unnatural shape of soil surrounding the stump would yield precious topsoil I needed. I got approval & set to work digging it out. By the time it was dug, it was 10' diameter, 9' deep hole. I couldn't lift it, I tipped it over & buried it. Learned some lessons that day.
The home owner asked if was burying an elephant after he saw the size of the hole. Tap roots were horrible o. These 2 stumps
That big rock photo is like porn to aighead
Hahaha! Nice to know everyone appreciates my rock love. When I buried the horse Monday afternoon I managed to dig up a few decent rocks, but only basketball or slightly larger sized, and pushed them off to the side of the pile. After I'd filled everything in, in the back of a big field, I put the rocks in the loader and asked the caretaker of the property if he thought the horse owner minded paying me in these couple rocks, instead of the hundred bucks I'd charged her last time. He looked at me weird and said "rocks? You want to be paid in rocks? I'm sure she'd be happy to pay you in rocks..." I said "Yeah, I'll take just about any and as many rocks like this that I can find!" He kept looking at me weird while I explained I was saving up to use them for landscaping in and around the pond. Then he kind of teased me because he's my back yard neighbor and he knows the pond doesn't hold water... While I should do it I'd probably be sad to see the cost of digging a 10 foot deep hole to get a couple rocks out of... I guess if I'm already digging the hole it's fine but going on boulder hunts in my yard is probably costing me more than just going down to the quarry and buying a few truckloads.
..... but....??? what is the cost of NOT digging the hole..????? that's the real question... what do some people pay for all that therapy they go to????. Those psychologists should get a couple of machines, have some space.... and let their patients have at it!! ... and they would get to keep any rocks they wanted....
Ha! While I agree I also worry about my machine breaking and not knowing how to or currently having the money to fix it! There is certainly some therapy in digging a nice hole.
Making a drainage for a new house.
Yes sir
Me and you @aighead are going to go round and round the rock on who wants the rocks the most. Don't have any of the quality people are posting pictures of but I sure am collecting some nice siltstone ones here. Got my crush washers in for the injectors along with new stud to hold said injectors in with new nut since PO decided to put a course thread nut on fine threaded stud. Hope my hoe doesn't get all hot and bothered with the new nuts and studs, fine threaded ones at that.
Uhg and sigh @casey518 , ok.... I'll still take them off your hands, if you need me too, even though it's now in a million pieces... Actually, those flat pieces look pretty cool but also very sharp! Flat ones like that would make a lovely bottom layer of the pond. @Spud_Monkey Now you are finding them too? And here i am digging 10 foot deep holes to find two small ones... I do have a few that are peaking up from the grass, my daughter likes to dig them up and find out if they are big enough for the backhoe or not. She dug one up that ended up only as big as maybe a grapefruit.
aighead; You will find it hard to believe that many times I have buried granite boulders to get rid of them. The average size is about as big as a wheelbarrow. Unbelievably heavy !
Searching for rock is so foreign to me. Vermont is a place glaciers went to die. Home is a river valley where river changed its course many times. Soil is rock, nothing else. I have lawn because I trucked topsoil & barn yard cleanings in. I have other land a few miles away. Soil there is sand, very fine sand. There are some rocks, but nothing to compare. Beneath the sand is ledge, so drainage is a problem in spots. The rock I'm lifting is enough to lift rear wheels off the ground. The machine weighs 17400 LBS.
Getting a bit of a make over. That is the Tac out of a International 1486, the cable connection is threaded so I hope I can make it work.
Nice set of gauges ya got there
Got a set of 585s yesterday. Pretty excited to try them out.
@XSKIER Those are nice! You should be able to drive straight up a wall now! Will those be harder or easier on the ground?
The hope is that they are easier on the road, and great in snow. I have 3 sites to use the 310, 5 miles in between each. I don't really plan on using it in the mud, so that shouldn't be an issue.
That's just mean, your gonna make the poor little rock hugger cry
Them look like some pretty bad *** sneakers man, do you plan to still hang some kind of iron jewelry on em for the dreaded ice? Otherwise I think your gonna still be dealing with a 4WD hockey puck.....
An R4 tread is made to self clean. Mud is forced to the side going forward. In reverse they are mud collectors. When I back up with R4 tread, I haven't near as much traction. Yours are a little of both. I'd be curious how they perform in mud & snow.
Getting a new boom and bucket, way less slop, greaseable pins, bigger bucket and bigger rams than previous one. When there is two lines busted this is only way to attach it, cause in order to get the lines off is to stretch the boom out which it has to be attached to do so.
WAIT... make that 4 busted now, okay I'm just replacing all the lines I am not dicking around with this anymore.
discounthydraulichose.com if you have a bunch to replace. Pretty cheap and fast if you can wait a couple days.
Thanks, they seem to have more customization ends and different R nomenclatures for tight radius ones I have unlike surpluscenter.com who just has generic ones and Nappy Auto Parts wants three times as much for them. No rush here.
Continuing to take down trees.... roots and all on most. One I had to cut down and dig out the stump.... here she is on the 'new' burn pile.. and a balance act.... Not much of a root ball on these.... the standing dead oaks.
Looking good T-town! I was finally dry as of Wednesday evening...then the wicked storms last night, and I am right back to mud and water just coming right up thru the ground I bought a chipper that runs on a tractor PTO, for all the trees that I have all over the place...only problem is, they cannot get them due to covid (just like tractors), so I must wait till august. Some companies are waiting list with no guaranteed delivery time.
Sorry to hear 'bout your wetness..... A typical mid-atlantic ( from my youth) Memorial weekend coming up.... camping in the cold and rain.!! Most of the trees I'm dealing with are a foot or smaller dia. and lots of dead wood. And I have the space to just make a burn pile.... like this which leaves me with this... ...... funny how there's lots of rocks in the ashes left over after the burn.. "maybe the rocks choked the trees and kilt 'em ??"
Been working both of my tractors on the quest for more mow able ground. Pulling vines and digging stumps with the hoe then using my John Deere with it's grapple to make burn piles.
Planting tomatoes
Mrs.B made me. Long weekend of more rain than not, we went camping. After a weekend like this past, (20 years ago) I insisted on buying a trailer. She'd probably be OK in a tent still. With a camper it wasn't unpleasant, but sunny would have been nice.
Willie B..... We also spent many years in a tent.... love camping, but not getting wet. So, we would always go spur of the moment so to speak after getting a "reliable" weather forecast.... Decided to get "off the ground"...... which led us right past the pop-ups to a trailer. High and dry is good on a weekend like the one just gone by. And not to mention the bathroom 4 steps from the bedroom!! Yes, the weekend was wet.... and chilly.... but we had some fun and relaxation.
@casey518 Man, that's a clean machine! I have one kind of like that but looks a bit more used. Hmm... Camping... I used to like camping? (adding the "?" due to now that I look back on it maybe I never liked camping) I like nature a lot but the camping, the tent setup, the hard, pokey ground, the constant zipping of things, and not having a handy bathroom have made me really dislike it. My in-laws like to go once a year or so and I try hard not to be miserable but I am, every time. I don't think I'm a sissy or anything, so it's not some city-boy stuff, it's just not fun. I can dig sitting around the campfire and all that but the tent life isn't for me. I've trailer camped at the lake with my dad, in the past, and it's better, but only marginally. Maybe I don't like camping, I kind of wish I did.
I don't like camping either. My wife bragged up how great tent camping was when we were dating. The first time we tent camped, the forecast low was 45 degrees. It dropped to 25 that night and we froze. Later on, she convinced me to tent camp during our week long honeymoon road trip. We were in Flagstaff, AZ and the wind blew so darn hard that the tent bounced off my face all night long. Its been 10 years, I haven't been in a tent since. I'm no city slicker by any stretch, but I'm not willing to give up a good night's sleep. Maybe a good camper would change that for me, but I'm not betting on it.
Casey, it is a toy backhoe. ha ha.
Camping in my childhood was in a camp. We (Dad & I) spent every other weekend at Griffith Lake. Then there were three privately owned rustic camps on Federal land. Life lease holders. Sam McLellan, a wonderful man didn't much use his camp, he let us use it. It was a 3, 5, or 2.5 mile uphill hike to get there. Everybody walked in except frequent users at another camp, two brothers in their fifties had a Tote Goat. Dad joked about "Two Polacks, three cases of beer, axe, lantern two pound of lard, bushel of potatoes, on a Tote Goat heading for the Lake" Mrs. B thought camping was in a tent. I'm the wimp. I don't care for sleeping wet & cold.
Well, to be quite honest, I never went camping with my hoe , but I have done my fair share of camping all over the world. I have camped in England, Holland, France, Austria, and many more. Probably my favorite camping spot is in the Canadian out back. I have fond memories from my youth of being a Boy Scout an traveling to Canada for a 10-day wilderness trip. When I say wilderness, I mean they boat you and your supplies out and you have no way to leave the island unless you use the supplied canoes. As an adult, I was a Boy Scout leader for 20+ years, and was able to take the boys, mine and the Troop back to the same place in Canada that I went to as a Scout, years before. I quickly found that when camping, the ground is not your friend. I purchased an oversize cot that is very similar to those issued by the military (except bigger), and put a self inflating mattress in it. Over time, I added one of those closed cell cheapy pads made to use when sleeping on the ground, and I had a bed that was as comfortable as my bed at home. I regularly camped with the Scouts 12 months out of the year. I have camped outside, on my cot, without my tent in well below 0 weather. I have even woken up on a cold February morning with inches of snow on top of my sleeping bag in below 0 weather....Gee, thinking back, it would have been nice to have had my hoe with me .
Just flip the loader bucket over so you could tuck in under it? Build a fire right up next to the bucket to warm the whole thing? Yeah... That sounds ok!
LOL,yea it does!
There were a fair amount of 'tenters' in the cold and wet state park this past weekend...... tarps strung all over the place. There would be lots of possibilities for 'tarp hanging' if one had a hoe around the campsite.
Cleaning up after my dog.
You must have one BIG dog...LOL
Heavy rains this spring.
@T-town So many different dirty ways that comment can be taken! @casey518 While looking at dog poop is gross I love the idea of your hoe pictures!
Those look like 2 ton turds from dinosaurs.
Until the hydraulics settle. Thank you, no. I'll sleep in the rain before I sleep under a loader bucket.
Yessir. Im in upstate ny and its been a while since iv seen it rain as long and heavy as it did last night. Was going to dig today but i think It will all turn to mud so ill wait a bit.
My dog wants to be the only dog. My son's big elderly Yellow Lab spends half her life here. Quigley is obsessed with carrying Bailey's bowl away. I'll believe her thinking is if we can't feed Bailey she won't come back. Anyway, Bailey's bowl is our rain gauge. There were three inches in it this morning. Not a cylinder, actual rain was a bit less.
We must have missed the "rain front".... some wetness but not like you folks. I worked the dirt today no troubles.... Now we will have our first string of 90's..... quite the jolt from last wkd to this. I'd prefer it cool myself.
It was 95 here today and humid. I hate this weather. I like the colder stuff like we had last weekend, 45 degrees. I worked outside today, too much to do. Got dehydrated I think. I ended up weak and with a headache. I did eat a pile of watermelon and was drinking but I was sweating like mad.
Some sitework for my house. Whenever I can afford to build it!
@Willie B I meant with the loader bucket down and touching the ground, but I didn't really think about how to get under there! @casey518 those rocks are beautiful!
Not me, I am back to the water coming out of the ground like it was doing in the early spring
Wow Swetz..... sorry to hear that.... I was dodging a few showers today ( bankers hours ) but I am moving some dirt.... well, more rocks than dirt. When it does rain 1 day of drying and i'm able to work where I need to. I do have some 'wetter' ground on the 'bottom' of the property... and once I had the driveway across it I don't have to deal with that wetness. It is the headwaters of a swamp thats called Bear Swamp.... that is 1/4 mile down from me. My sitework is 50ft and more higher in elevation. Hoping you dry up soon.... I'm sure your itchin to get at it.
Getting ready to replace every single line. Not playing the games of blow a line wait two weeks to replace it then blow a line next month and repeat. Just replace them all and be done with it for awhile.
it looks awesome. it is a long time work, man. I m lucky, it takes me two hours to order and get it made. A guy runs a spare part shop and he has all kinda pipes, lines n fittings. $20 is the cost of an medium size line . is that a case.
Went to the local pull Friday night. Over the years I've seen several catch fire, blow a side panel off, lose a front tire or exhaust stack. This is the first time I saw one lose a rear wheel while pulling. The tractor hunched down to one side and came to a dead stop. The tire never missed a beat and kept on going at at probably 20 mph toward the rinky dink fence. Luckily it veered right, hit the sign and no one got turned into a pancake. Someone's 310 to the rescue
Mine had less glamorous duty this weekend. Deck was 28 years old, nasty deteriorated. It has always been a few inches lower than the threshold. Stairs off the side unnecessary. They were rotted, soggy & moldy. Mrs B. had a last minute idea: a rock garden. No flowers yet. Does Ellie count? Don't know exact weight of rocks. Three spanned 18' actually touching. Backhoe weighs 17400 with my ample frame in the seat. Backhoe bucket had boulder in it, & I kept swinging it left or right to keep rear wheels on the ground. Front tires labeled NOT MORE THAN 50 PSIG. I had 70 in them. Note stabilizers. It was not feeling stable!
Is that grating in your new deck ? Fiberglass or steel ? I want to replace about a third of an old deck with fiberglass grates so snow ( possibly from new steel roof...) will go thru.
I've never seen fiberglass grating. This is galvanized steel. It has made me very popular. Last winter we shoveled it once. 40" snowfall, we shoveled away 22" of snow.
That is quite a testament to the strength of a front axle !
Man, @Willie B that looks great! And it's nice to see those big ol' rocks getting used! We had a big storm this past Friday night and it seemingly opened up the view to a few rocks in the creek I didn't know I had. Sadly, they'll both fit in the backhoe bucket, maybe at once, but some free rock is better than no free rock!
That's impressive lifting. Weight of the machine and the rock on the front tires and axle. Doesn't look like Ellie was too stressed. She found her nice cool spot.
The weekend project ran into this morning. Mrs. B has time off school being out, so pressure is brought to get her set up to work. I got her outfitted with a loader etc. and set about loading the truck for the new project we start today. Mrs B. started shouting. Quigley: Had found a way to squeeze under the deck, crawled to the tightest corner where there was no space & was trapped. She cried in terror, then eventually went silent. We imagined all sorts of things including she choked to death. Out came the Sawzall & new deck got a hole. The dog is fine.
Oh no! Boo to chopping up the new deck! My neighbor just bought the fanciest a-frame dog house I've ever seen. It is built on a pretty beefy pallet and I watch one of his dogs climb under there all the time. I, initially, made the assumption it was stuck until somehow it popped right back out.
Gave my hoe a douche today, starting to get some cream up there on the taco
Getting their moneys worth from those filters.
She is saved.
Sorry @Willie B but I just laughed pretty hard at your dog's head sticking out from there. I'm glad she's ok!
oil change in the front axle and hubs this past weekend. This is a bit of the oil i drained out. Yikes. one of the hub seals leaks too.
Dug a 100' ditch over the weekend. Rescued a tri-axle dump truck from the mud yesterday. He was delivering 25 tons of 5" minus to stabilize an area of soft muck and got a little too close. The 100' ditch should keep water from the area in the future.
After 18 months, a lot of repairs and a lot of $$$ (but still within my estimated budget, more by luck than planning I think...) my cheap 580C is no longer as cheap as it was (but that was part of the plan - I have plenty of time to put into it, which means I can do the repairs myself very affordably) but is finally earning its keep on the farm... Grading the car park, moving trees, sorting out drainage, removing stumps, and carrying heavy stuff around. And doing it all without pouring oil everywhere from every part of the machine! Fixed a lot of cylinders, replaced a fair few hoses, rebuilt the starter (starts almost instantly now - nice), tightened up the worst of the worn pins and bushings... Outstanding work includes overhauling the shuttle (it's great in reverse - not so much forwards) and doing something (!) about the brakes, but other than that it's working well. Plenty of power and a lot of fun... No idea how I managed all these years without it. And I couldn't have done it without all the expert advice gleaned from this forum over the years... Thank you very much to everyone... There's so much for info on here if you search for it. I've not had to ask any questions - they've all been already answered in great detail. Thanks a lot, guys... Looking forward to fixing the rest of the machine up!
Looks like a lovely jungle to play in @Tubroos ! Good work on fixing up your machine!
Sometimes a little too much! Like yesterday... The farm was full of police for most of the day because the village shop had been robbed by armed bandits, and the bandits were hiding in the bush just behind my place... Their getaway motorcycle broke down and so they had to make their escape on foot... Caught two of the four, I'm told. Way too much excitement too close to home! But ordinarily it's a beautiful place to live... So rewarding having the machine working now... It's been an adventure... Wish I'd taken more photos of some of the fun!
@Shimmy1 How big is that pond and how big is the hoe you are using (or what's the reach)? I've got a small pond in the front yard, it's about 100' x 50' or so and I'd like to dig it deeper, to 15' or so. I can't do it with my backhoe unless I could pump it dry for, likely, months, so I'll be looking to rent an excavator for a day or two to do the major depth digging and ideally some better side grading. I have no idea what size hoe to be looking for. I'll probably need to stay on the dry edges and be able to reach out 25-30 feet and down to depth. Is that possible? My hoe was over at the neighbors filling a drainage ditch. They also had family over that got a kick out of operating the hoe for a bit. It's fun to show people how everything works, and they were both older than me so they listened and had good control to go slow when I told them to, but it's also infuriating to see it go that slow, when I'd rather be beer deep in a beer at home. Luckily, they both only ran it for about 20 minutes each, then left me to it.
If beer intrigues you, stay completely away from cider. Cider (store bought) is not cider. Juice from apples gets fortified with sugar. Every successful cidermaker stunts yeast, then introduces a proven yeast. Timing, fussiness, most important; cleanliness will produce a substance that'll make you forget beer.
Love me some Dicken Cider
When I was in Ireland a couple of years ago, Cider is what everyone was drinking in the pubs. I was shocked...to me it was Kilian's or Guinness. Fact, they sell more bud light in Ireland than either of those "Irish" beers. Anyhow, it is not just cider. It is cider with berries in it, and it is very good. I tried, but could not find this brand in the USA. I have had others, but this was better.
I see purchased cider alcohol ranges from 5% BV to 8%. It is always sweet with carbonization. My home made has always fortified with sugar of some variety. Typically, I average 12%. Mine is dry & still, more of a dry white wine than fruit soda.
This was a new pond. It ended up about 60 x 120. I'm using a Cat 323 long reach. 55' of reach and a 3/4 yd bucket. It can move some dirt....more than I thought it would do in a day.
What are the rollers on the bottom of the boom for?
That is the locking bar to tie the stick and boom together for transport.
I thought it might be something for transport.
Welp, I buried my first cow yesterday. Today was cleaning up around the yard a bit and feeding a fire slash squashing a couple firepits down.
My rear finish mower had a blade break yesterday while I was cutting the field in front of the house. The bolts holding the blade on are S.T.U.C.K. and I didn't really like the idea of laying on my back with a 500 pound mower hovering over me while I tried to fight them off. Pulled the backhoe out, chained up the mower, flipped it in the driveway and now I have full access to the underside without risk of it falling "up" on me!! As a side comment, I had to pull a grinder out with a diamond blade and CUT each of the six bolts off. The nuts simply stripped when I tried to remove them. I've never had an issue like that before. Hoe is in driveway waiting for me to get bolts to finish job and then will flip mower back over and probably carry mower back to where I store it. (tractor is now in other use)
Left hand thread??
Stripped as in round off or as in the threads came off? If they rounded off you need better tools. I find Craftsman, no matter the age, Husky and other consumer grade tools will round off bolts and nuts fairly easy. The professional tools such as Snap, Mac, and Matco will not round them off. I like Kroil as a penetrating oil. The stuff is excellent and has freed up some pretty rusty hardware for me. If they are breaking off you will need to drill them out. The so called EZ-Outs don't do anything for stuck threads. They only work of a bolt is broken but not because it is stuck. Best to use a drip press. Grind them flat, center punch them and start with a small drill and work up. Sometimes you can drill just big enough to peel the threads of the bolt out of the hole. If this happens you can use a tap to clean up the threads. Obviously, you need to drill in the center for this to happen. Otherwise you just install a Heli-Coil or similar thread insert.
Rounded them off. At least the ones I fought hard. I changed tactics before I fought all of them. Tools were Snapon sockets and combo wrench's. Used two penetrating oils (PB blaster and some other brand). Had a 4 foot cheater bar going at one time. Had some vice grips on them (with cheater bar) and I got ONE bolt off that way. I finally realized I could probably just grind/cut them off much faster so I just parked all the tools and pulled out the grinder. Took about 45 minutes to cut them all off. Probably worked on the first bolt for an hour itself. These are bolts with nuts and they simply pass through the "bar" on the mower and the blade (two bolts per blade) Once I cut the head off I was able to tap them through the hole and cleaned it up. So I didn't have to worry about drilling nor an easy out. They are 1/2" grade 5 and I'm not really setup to drill something that size. Holiday is keeping me from getting replacement bolts....well that and when I went to Home Depot, they didn't have what I needed, they only had half the bolts and some of the washers. I'd been happy if these would have sheared, it would have made it easier/faster than grinding.
Here's the little buggers I'm fighting and what caused my issues. (I'm glad there are two bolts!!!) Had a new set in my tool drawer so decided to yank them all and put new ones on.
A few hard hits on the bolt heads with a 2lb hammer will make them stretch slightly. That method has never failed me. NO 12 point wrenches either. 6 point only.
Agreed on 6 point
Got my Case going after it had sat for 2 years. Batteries were dead, fuel leaked out blah, blah. I have home sawn lumber in this tent and a bunch of windows I got at the dump. Had a bad winter in 2019. The stack closest to the opening was pinned. Hoe took care of that and I got a couple hundred feet of nice dry oak dragged home. Next trip, there's several hundred feet of pine that I need to make trim for the house I'm fixing.
I have been spending some time finishing a terrace on what will be the front lawn area of the house. Two retaining walls that cover close to 100' each, using rock excavated on site, as has been covered earlier in this thread.... Anyway, the top wall is nearing completion and here are some pics in progress. First... The rocks I had to work with are laid out.... lots of moving 'em around and pulling the remainder down the grade. No thumb... Laying up the wall and clearing ground above at the same time... And, as of today... I'm running low on wall rocks.... since I'm not breaking into any new ground...... but only 20 more feet to go. Also running low on backfill. Have to buy a few loads @ 230 for a heavy loaded triaxle..... trying to scrape as much as I can from my ground buts its time consuming to get it.
Nice rocks ! Love the flat sides. Don't see that around here much.
Beautiful @T-town ! How are you placing them so well? Straps or just getting them scooted around? When I start placing rocks for my pond I'm not sure how it'll go... Looks like you've got it figured out!
Thanks Pixie..... I'm finding all shapes... but yes, the 'shelf' rock peels away into big ones with typically 2 flats. Thanks Aighead.... the placing?? well... with the first ( or lower) wall, I was using the front bucket alot... and just coming up perpendicular to the wall and feathering the rock out of the bucket. Then reset and use the hoe for final placement. As my supply of larger rocks dwindled, I dropped the rocks on the uphill side and used to hoe to 'slide them into their spot. Lay the stone, shim where needed and backfill with modified about a foot and fill material past that. My fill responds ( packs) well to a loaded bucket drive over the material to pack it. This is an early pic I found...... early wall construction ( just lower wall) can be seen in the background as well as excavated material on the hill. Just a small patch of grass goin up the hill on the left marks a 'skid road' used for many years to access the land. All else from the culvert up was wooded. The house footprint will start just over the top of that pile... 'bout 30 feet back. Just enough to get a cement truck around the front and left side of the foundation-to-be
Looking good T-town! I guess it is fair to say you could not live happily with out that hoe
Thanks @T-town . It looks great! I've got a feeling I'll be doing much more strapping, lifting, setting, and unstrapping, but I guess we'll see how it goes.
Thanks Swetz... your right about that old hoe!!. Just hope to get some more trouble free hours out of her.... fingers crossed. Have you been able to get some work done up your way?? We have had some wet days ( nights) of late. Too hot to take down more trees. I've got some top soil to screen once I fix my 'grizzly'... but that needs to dry up a bit. Hey aighead..... was thinking about you the other day..... I have a stash down the hill in the woods where I plopped a bunch of "roundy moundys".... all a bucket or less in size.... the ferns have grown up amongst them. Told you I'd I have them for you if you ever get by this way!!
You are the man! Don't know if I ever will make it up that way, especially with a vehicle that'll handle a bunch of rocks, but I really appreciate the sentiment! If I do make it that direction I'd like to stop for a frosty beverage with you and Swetz! We'll put 3 rocks in the trunk of my Civic! And it'll be mad!
Not in the last week, but in the last month, yes, lots. I dug out the culvert, couple hundred feet. I put stone around the culvert pipe. Cut a bunch of trees up. Note the pic of the tree covered in poison ivy...Knock on wood, using the Hoe Clamp, I have not gotten it. Stacked the trunk for firewood, and piled the branches to be chipped. Pulled out countless stumps...Lovin the Hoe Clamp! I have a 2006 Dodge dully with a Cummins. The oil pan rusted thru. Major job to do, have to raise the engine to get the pan out. Notice my previous patch job with JB Weld (held for a year).So, I have laying on my back, while my hoe watched...LOL .
I am always ready for a frosty beverage...come on over! I have rocks for you too!
Hate how those things appear to be an afterthought to auto engineers ..... they should make them take things apart.... like dropping an oil pan.... before they graduate. I just did some prettying up of a culvert during a wet morning... Glad to hear your making progress..... boy... I sure could put those thumbs to use!! Me and ivy never did get along... too many times in my youth. You'd think I would have figured out what it looked like. .... and yes, 'frosty' is so good this time of year. I'm never far away from some "sweet a*s" tea. Lol..... thinking of a civic going down I-80 with a couple rocks in the back..
Gives new meaning to having a frosty beverage on the rocks.
Yea, it looks like we can fit 3 nice ones in there...gonna have to bungee the trunk lid tho
Agreed! What gets me is that there are 1950s era vehicles around and you can bet their oil pans didn't rot out...anything to save a buck in making a vehicle! I also changed my trans cooler lines because the engine has to be raised to get them out too. They were totally rotted out. On one, the crimp fitting on the rubber section disintegrated...total junk .
LOL!!
Not sure just what it says.... but I don't mind wrenching on this JD.... but I've grown tired of it when it comes to vehicles..... I guess I had my fill over the years trying to keep mine and my kids vehicles road ready. And the dam tight spaces you have to work in...the old hands are showing the wear. But.... when I think of the money I'd have to spend to get a shop to do it??...... makes me ill. ... and the idea of having to raise an engine to pull/replace a cooler line???? pitiful is all I can think of. I guess they thought they would outlive the vehicle.
Boy, both of those culverts look great! How much water do you guys get running through there? I have the creek across the back yard that had a culvert that looked like that for about a year but a lot has washed away on me... Unfortunately, for this purpose, the size of that trunk above, would be sweet. I've got the 2 door Civic, with the smaller trunk, so it may be 2 rocks in the trunk and 2 in the backseat and one in the front seat!
Here is a pic of 2 of the 3 trans lines I replaced. The 3rd, I did about 2 weeks ago and tossed it. You can get a sense of how long the one is that required me to lift the engine, and remove the fuel lines that feed the engine. If this thing went straight back it wouldn't have been a problem, but that would be too easy, right
In the spring, it is rolling! Right now, not so much. My problem on my property is that I have a gently slope down hill. I am close to the top of the hill, but not quite there. So, in the spring, when we have the melt, I get bombed with water. The water actually comes up out of the ground. The previous owner never gave it a good path...I am slowly trying to fix that. The pic below is water coming out of the ground right by my house.
The old timers always picked land that HAD water coming out of the ground for sure... I'm on a ridgetop ( secondary) below me is the low point and then across the way, my in laws house. Built on a spot where the original plot owners had their "farmette". On that property are two springs.... on of which was used for those old time purposes... drinking water and milk storage,,, The drilled well next to their house has water running out the top of the casing most springs..... they had to install drain tile to get the water downhill past the house. My 'land rearrangement' has two drainage swales...two carry runoff under the driveway and the culverts are 18"...... the one in the pic is 12" and in a heavy downpour has less than 1/4 in it at any point I've seen it. House I lived in in the Poconos ( Bartonsville) had a spring in the basement!! ...... wall stone laid for the foundation.... and the basement had a poured floor, under/ thru which the water drained out. It had a damed up open cistern covered with a sheet of tin, in the far corner, out of which it drew the water for the house.
Trust me, I am thankful that water is plentiful. The opposite would really suck! My property is part of, what was, a large family farm. It had cows, and plenty of water for them including a stream that never dries out in the summer. My neighbor's house is what was the farm house. It has stacked stone as a foundation as well. I was amazed when I saw how they did it, but it makes sense...they had little money, but all the free rock they could move. His yard has a well that is about 20 feet deep that they prolly stored perishables in, in the summer. We often don't give enough credit to those that came before us. They were very smart when it came to survival and getting by! Today, we panic if we loose power for an hour; they never had power .
My culverts, again, failed yesterday. It looks like we got several inches of rain in a few hours and I wasn't paying attention but then I got my lazy butt up off the couch to find my creek overflowing again. This causes a few ponds in the backyard and the "bridge" I've got, to the back field, was essentially all under water. I've got 3 pipes running under the bridge and they apparently just don't come close to the capacity needed. I've also swiped dirt from in and around the creek creating a few deep spots where water will tend to sit, so that may or may not cause problems too...
aighead, Looks like, once it dries up, you better get your trusty hoe out!!!
Well mine finished breakfast and headed to wo...... oh wait...
The question is...did the hoe make your breakfast before....
For 20 years now. I can't remember her name but she seems nice.
What ever you do, don't let that hoe slip away....Names are over rated...LOL
Aighead, I found the solution...come up and visit t-town and me, then we take a round-trip up north to BCW's place and get a couple of 5 gallon buckets full of pebbles. When you get them home, you will be the envy of the neighborhood when they see your rocks
I resemble that remark as I are an engineer. And it really frosts me to see idiotic designs such as needing to pull an engine to fix and oil pan. As my girlfriend got to know me and hear me cussing about bad designs she realized that "nothing has been designed right until I have redesigned it!" I've worked with newly graduated "engineers" that had to be told the difference between philips and straight screwdrivers! So it is no wonder somethings are designed with so little regards for the actual application and user. Yes, engineering curriculums should have much more real world hands on emphasis on practical knowledge. All too often anymore there seem to be more and more educated stupid people. And they vote!! Great hardscaping and wall work. You obviously have a good eye for envisioning the plan and great talent for executing it! Like yours my property is on a sedimentary rock hill top and I'm amazed at how wet some areas can be/remain.
Thanks BCW... we wanted the view.... and with that comes the elevation and the proximity to the front slope/ driveway. Had the rocks !! ( sorry Aighead) just needed the fill and my time. It will be mostly planting beds when its ever done... I've seen situations in the field ( electrical construction) where the engineer who designed the set up did not know it would be next to impossible to do "that way"... which the involves 3 or 4 more people and then a change order and some more time. We have a big P & G paper product plant just down the road..... their new hires( graduates) spend quite a bit of time ( years) "working the lines" next to the non-college folks. But their stuff is so processed based, unique material handling, in house designs... some of which they can't tell you about.. And Swetz...... I love road trips!!
Like aighead, my world is deficient in an essential commodity. My home is rock only. I have a lawn because I removed thousands of monsters & millions of football sized rocks, then hauled in every morsel of organic containing dirt I could acquire. On two acres I have 1/3 acre of lush lawn. In 1987 we bought from my father in law 16 acres 4 miles away. It has ledge covered with a thin layer of soil. Soil is sandy except for 2 acres with a 40' deep sand deposit. In this sand a cubic yard would yield a cubic foot of small stones. I have moved hundreds of loads each way between these properties, but there is so much I can do. My latest plan is to excavate 200' of road bed at "The Land" 6' deep. I'll put drain at bottom wrapped in landscape cloth, then enough crushed stone to cover the pipe. The rest will be filled with rock 6" thru 18" from home. Then topped with 1-3/4" drainage stone to drive on. The spoils dug out will be mixed with 50 cubic yards of compost to make top soil & enlarge the lawn. As project time is limited to time others aren't making demands on my time, I may not live that long.
Wow Willie.... thats a lot of work to get some dirt! I'm now more thankful Tell you what, Aighead comes east and we load up a trunkfull of Pa's finest ..... then head up to Vermont..dump the load, pick a bag of your baby rocks... then head back west to BCW's for a bag of his.... south to Pa for some trunk sized... leaving room for some iced beverages 'on the rocks'..... sound like a plan??
I like that plan...count me in. I will take care of the beverages that are on the rocks
Ran into another monster while excavating. This one was too big for the hoe. FIRE IN THE HOLE!
Too big for Aighead's civic I think...?? maybe on a dolly and he can tow it back?
A familiar sight. You'll need more wood.
Well my hoe has been sitting while I do little tractor work. Pulled a finish mower for 5 hours on Monday and spent 6 hours yesterday grappling piles of vines and running the brush mower. Today I had to go to town and pick up a new washer and dryer so spent the afternoon swapping those out. Maybe tomorrow I can get back to the property cleanup. That mess you see behind the tractor is what happens when you drag your ass about cleaning up after a clear cut. I had that property clear cut in 2016. I figured I would have it in grass by 2018. LOL.
I guess you were lucky to find them in stock! Round here, not to easy, unless you don't mind varying brands and quality. I have been bush hogging round here trying to reclaim the grass from the woods. I just love that grapple bucket on your tractor!
Strap it to the roof? On a layer of bubble wrap so paint isn't scratched of course...
Now that's a rock! Will the fire crack it?
It will break it to sizes you can lift, but you need quite a fire or time. One rock I was able to lift, Another I couldn't until I broke it.
We went to Badcock furniture of all places. Whilst I was shopping I looked at the specifications at Home Depot and it stood out that they have a no return policy on appliances. That and not knowing if they had the units in stock in the warehouse was a double deal killer for me. Badcock said they allowed a 10 day return and had the units in their warehouse. New GE washer and dryer with bells and whistles and they even beat HD's price. Ordered on Saturday and picked up at the store on Wednesday. I have enjoyed the grapple. It's an MTL brand RK5 model. They are built in Georgia. I paid $1200 for it delivered and it showed up in my driveway 3 days later. That was in January 2019. Not sure how they are coping with supply shortages now.
NH575E, Good to hear that a local guy is able to provide you with the washer/dryer! Did not know about home depo's no return policy, but I too bought my last washer/dryer from the local guy. I went to the MTL site and looked at the grapple. I liked all but the powder coat paint. To me, no matter how well an item is prepped, the powder coat paint will eventually start to peel. Especially at the sharp corners. BTW, they are sold out...LOL what is new. Supposed to take delivery of a chipper that I ordered several months ago...they were unavailable too . I also ordered a set of blades for my 3 point finish mower 2 months ago. They did not come in so I called the dealer. He called the manufacturer. They said end of September...guess I don't need new blades for this season
casey518, We are going to need after pics of that rock!!
Swetz, I buy my mower blades and parts off eBay. eBay frowns on listings that are out of stock and if a dealer gets too many they will close their account. I have a 6' Agmate and discovered the 71" Caroni blades will fit it. Got a set shipped last September for less than Agri Supply listed them. They are a tad longer but I was able to clearance the shield underneath with a hammer so they worked. Got a super clean cut and they still look like the day I put them on. Look at this guys store for finish mower parts. https://www.ebay.com/str/brooksagparts?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
NH575E, Thanks for the ebay link. His prices look good, and his feedback is awesome! I honestly had no idea that these blades were going to be backordered or I would have gone elsewhere. Messicks has them in stock. I think I purchased an odd ball size mower (Woods RDC54). I do not see aftermarket ones listed, but do see them for the same series that are larger. When I get the new ones, I plan to swap them out and sharpen the old ones...going forward, I should have a spare set so I can just zap the old ones off and put the new (re-sharpened) ones back on. The ones currently on the mower are working but when I let the grass get a little long, they are not cutting cleanly. I am not stranded, just wanted a nice new set for the summer...looks like I will have a new set for next summer now
@Willie B if was feasible I'd gladly trade about as much dirt as you need for some of your rocks. It's a shame that I'm pretty sure we'd be in the 5 digit dollar range just getting started on transportation... @casey518 That's a nice one! From here that looks to be about the size of the biggest one I have that you can potentially see in my profile picture, across the pond. It may be quite a bit bigger but I can't determine the scale other than to say, yup, that's a big one! I laughed pretty hard to think of strapping it to the roof!
yea it will. i was going for round two today but my wood will not burn hot right now everything is well soaked. soo much rain lately
My hoe is getting a couple new bushings and a couple new hoses on the steering cylinders.
My steering is sloppy. Problem is the pin holes in my steering knuckles are egg shaped by an 1/8" I replaced the bucket bushings when I got my machine. One of them was broken into pieces somehow.
Actually transportation cost is a few miles. I got topsoil, and sand. At home I have rock
@Willie B I was saying I'd trade you as much dirt as you could want but the drive, for me, is a bit cost prohibitive.
I read the subject line on this and it truly made me laugh. Thanks I needed that this morning!
Wait till you read some of the posts...you will be smiling, if not outright laughing for weeks to come .
Definitely a lot of untapped potential - both mechanical and mental! let’s plan for a great day!
Well, my world, in Dayton, has proven to be a tough work week and so far today is much better! Glad to have provided a laugh @scfinc !
Never mind the hoes. You guys with rocks will appreciate this photo.
It's been slow backhoeing for me for the past few weeks, mostly due to saturated ground, but I got out a bit this weekend to unplant and replant a tree and rebuild (or recover) my bridge a bit. I found a rock! It's fairly satisfying (in my yard at least, I know others strongly disagree) to feel the thunk of something solid when digging. This time I was digging in what we call the Moon Pool, which is just a section of the creek right before the bridge, as I was pulling mud for bridge reconstruction, when I felt it. I went and poked around and got this one. Not huge but decent enough, certainly, to add to the collection!
OMG, I had all good intentions of working my hoe hard this summer....Not happening! Every week we get rain. I still have the springtime spring in my front yard. It stopped flowing for less than a week so far this summer. The culvert work I talked about in post 579 is getting a good test, and has eliminated part of my swamp problems. It just doesn't want to dry up long enough for me to finish my work. So, what's my hoe doing....waiting, waiting for the ground to dry up...LOL
I forgot to take a picture. Mine is a weld positioner. I'm not fond of welding standing on my head, or laying under to weld. I have a 5 x 4 3/4 plate with stops one side to build generator tables. With forks it is a weld table I can conveniently raise or lower to work at a comfortable height. These get buried 4' deep. I set a generator on it.
Why so tall Willie?
It'll be buried 4' deep.
I saw that you were burying it but didn't understand... For snow reasons?
Yes. I live near the bottom of Otter Creek Valley. I'm on the west face of the Green Mountain Range. Typically, I have a foot of snow on the ground. Many of my customers are at higher elevations, and East of the Greens. Near all of our weather comes from the West. Storms, or water heavy air is pushed up as it blows over the mountains. At higher altitude it can't carry the water. This one goes to a place 6' of snow isn't unusual. A couple feet of height usually prevents the generator from being smothered. If it can get started it'll melt snow away. The height also helps with rain splash.
Hmm... I'd learn that lesson the hard way! Thanks for the explanation!
It also rains there big. I learned that lesson today. 3:55 PM could have finished that stage. Two ground rods to go, one glue joint in PVC conduit. Jesuses swimming pool sprung a leak! About 2" of rain hit in an hour. We were wet anyway, tried to work in it, but when thunder followed lightning 1/4 second later, we quit.
North East PA got the same storm...I was driving my truck home from Lowes. OMG, I could not go faster that 30MPH on the highway, and no one was pushing to pass me, as they usually are . In my case, it wasn't a pool, it was an outright river on the highway, and yes, the thunder & Lightning was intense!! There goes my dirt work for another week .
The local weather folks said 19 of the last 27 days have had measurable rain..... and yes that line of rain came thru my neck of the woods too. I feel for you Swetz.. I went up to the property this AM.... dumb me left some some tools sitting out for a few days and I needed to deal with that.. .. ..but when I got up there things were dry enough for me to get some work in....The soil down a foot is pretty dry.. The water must be running off before it gets a chance to seep in???.
I don’t use mine often, but LOVE my unit.
I hear ya, but we were talking backhoes.........
Spent the day continuing a clearing project..... This area is 12-20 inches deep in rocky top soil/ plant growth. mostly rock! A 10 x 25' area produced the pile in the foreground.. Carrying a dead tree to the burn pile...... "sidesaddle" Just a question of finding the balance point...... when you don't have that opposing 'digit'..
And Aighead.... I did not forget you..... Ferns on the rocks !! Can not remember the woodlot being so 'lush'..... lots of growth goin on...
Hmmmmm, I wonder why!!!
That hoe going to need dentures with how worn down those teeth are, guess doesn't have to worry about those teeth biting down on anything it shouldn't or scraping when working it, it's gumming it.
This is kinda gross but I let out an audible groan when I saw those rocks @T-town .
This is we have been upto
Our next town is Danby. The derogatory name for its people is Dambodian. That hoe looks like a Dambodian beauty queen.
I was wondering when someone would notice..... I left my old bucket on while I work on this section... too many rocks. I have ripped it open a couple times now, and it has not had any teeth on her for longer than I care to admit... When I first got the machine and started the project I could not seem to keep them on... kept fallin off. Tried new "clips" but that did not work.... so I took off what was left and went from there. To date trhat bucket had dug a lot of dirt.... more than it's share of rocks.... and still busts roots. I do have two "new" used buckets ( 12 and 18) waiting their turn..... complete with teeth!! They will go on when its time to dig my electric trench and my footers...... till then we will be "gumming it"..... by the way my loader bucket is not the sharpest tool in the shed either.
I would be using those rocks to build my house or something, rocks here are just clay/silt stone or scoria, not worth building with.
@rickw Nice! Is that all backhoe work? Very smooth!
Back to work tomorrow
Honcho; You had a like from me for as long as it took to look at xnxx.com. Then I removed it (the like). Sorry, porn of any kind is toooo disgusting for me.
Guess I should invest in some form of Hoe to get back into the Fun Crowd!!
XNXX was a pretty good clue what the site was about though.
Now that is the truth!
There is a forum, where ppl chat mostly politics, weather, all kinda things .
You'll need the Kenworth.
Got some things done today and the last couple weeks.... Finished ( sort of) the 2nd retaining wall and cleared the hillside a bit. Still some dead trees to get out.. Before and after photos Today I finished "cleaning" boulders on my lower wall. so I could finally finish off the drainage swale along the bottom of it. My method of building the walls is more slide into place than drop... since I'm thumb-less... and due to that a lot of bedding material gets pushed out.. Then I feathered in some 'fist' sized rock I have a pile of....
Here's the view from up top Also.... had to 'pop' out a live tree....hate to loose a live one but it had to give way. Load up a front bucket for ballast and then pick up and off to the burn pile.
Sold my hoe yesterday. I was supposed to deliver it to the new owner today, but a 30 year old service on a home built by a low bid builder chose today to melt down like Chernobyl. Tomorrow's another day. I'm shopping for an upgrade.
What do you have in mind to replace it ?
@T-town that looks beautiful!
T-town, I am jealous!! After the 8 1/2" inches of rain, it has rained several more times, and is supposed to be a good rain today. The only work the hoe can do is to make emergency swales in front of the house . I am starting to feel for my poor sump pump...during the big rain it was going off every 30 seconds...that has calmed down to about 15 min now. Your machine is a real beast! I love it! It looks like it really loves the grunt work.
Newer, not new. I want pilot controls, auxiliary hydraulics, extend a hoe. I'll add a thumb, so male extend a hoe is bad. Case 580M or N, John Deere 310, I'd entertain a 410 size but want to stay under my trailer's capacity.
What kind of truck and trailer do you use Willie? Do you transport it them a lot?
Thanks guys.... Yeah Swetz... my 'old hoe' has been moving some dirt!.... not to mention trees and rocks and boulders.... . I hope she hangs in there.... knock on wood! I'm amazed at how well this ground is handling the wetness this year... I know your having issues with the water ..... I will have to dig a 450' trench for my electric service...and I'm concerned with the time it will be open waiting for the power co. I think I will have to continue it out to daylight to keep water out of it? ( at least I have that option) But all the running water lets me get a good rough grade on the areas I have cleared off without having to get any instruments out and set up. I've got to look on the "bright side of life"...... Ended up putting a finer screen on my homemade "grizzly" over the top of the chain-link... and ran a bunch of my stash of topsoil thru it... ended up with soil I can feather an inch or so down and drag it it level. Lets me stretch the dirt out.... the chain link let 3+inch rocks thru..... then I have to hand pick rock out of the dirt... that wasn't goin to fly. On a fairly level area that I had finished graded... I spread the grass seed first, then put down the top soil... now mother nature will do her thing! BUT.... it does look dry thru the holiday weekend..!!! and into next week. Some of that wonderful air from our northern neighbors will be in our neck of the woods.... which is always a good thing!
great work
Why not just throw conduit in it and burry it right away? I cannot imagine using direct burial with all the rocks. It really seams that your water is well under control...I plan to be that way too. The previous owner was a knucklehead and none of the sloping is correct. Hence, why I have so much trouble. If we ever get a dry spell, I want to get to where you are. But, since I purchased my hoe last year, it has been raining every since. Looking on the bright side, the hoe is ready when the good lord decides that it should be dry for a spell...not the case when I purchased it, if you remember I had to redo all the cylinders...done and ready! The grizzly is on my list to build in the future. We have some excellent soil, but all the rocks makes it tough to work with. The grizzly would fix the problem, and at the same time, grow the rock pile for aighead . Right now I am saving my money for an excavator, and don't want to part with it for the steel to build the grizzly...it is raining too much to build it anyhow, and it wouldn't work with mud to process...LOL
My service will be pole voltage that whole run... to a pad mounted transformer.. then 20' to my meter mounted on a covered rack near where the barn will go. A 150' run from there to the housesite, and a 2nd split service ready to feed the pole barn when it gets built. They ( power co.) are running direct burial cable.... I dig the trench and lay a bed of sand... the cable is laid, then I put in another foot of sand.... though the power co guy said if my fill is clean we could get away from the sand. Conduit from the transformer to the meter. ( 20' or so) Its crazy how this ground is..... rocks to no end on the surface in spots... then subsoil that is as clean as you'd want.... then a few rocks, and before you know your on shelf. Not sure how much of that underlying rock I'll meet digging a 3' deep ditch.
T-Town are you using the same screener as you show in post 284? Are you still happy with it if so? I'm contemplating building a copy of it but ended up wanting to go with metal instead. I thought of using some pallet racking materials to rig into a screener but the one place I talked to wants 1200 bucks for the supplies. It'd be beefy but I'm hard pressed to part with that much money. I can get supplies for a wooden one and some other needed junk delivered for reasonable money. What is the finer screen you've used? I'm sure your rocks would be more serious than 80-90% of mine, so if it's the same one I'd feel better about the sturdiness of a wood build. @Willie B did you ever post a picture of your screener? Inquiring minds want to know!
You know, now that you mention it, I remember you saying that. I remember thinking it was great that you will have primary voltage just about to your house, and your own pad mount transformer. You shouldn't have low voltage problems with that configuration. Are they going to charge service fees monthly for 2 services, or only one? What power company in your area, PPL?
Its only one service ( technically).... but I have not questioned him on that service charge. The 1 meter box will be 400A ( a 320 ?) and then split to 2 200A 'lines'....... my knowledge of the set up is limited to say the least. Dad was a union electrician and had his own firm for awhile.... and he was my 'goto' guy when it came to this stuff. Sadly, I don't have his ear any longer.... .... but I have a couple more 'guys' to consult with. ... and yes PP&L.... I'm on Penelec ( First Energy) grid up here in Wyoming county. PP&L has to 'see' the trench and they will be putting in cable till the meter. I will run the 120 lines later, when I get the house in the ground. This set-up gets me power ( to run a temp line up the hill for building) and the ability to park the camper close by now..... or in the 6 -8 weeks after the 'rac'k inspection to schedule the pp&l work. Hoping to get that in this fall yet. Aighead.... Yeah... thats it. My chain link has sagged... and that caused hang ups. If I had an extra hand when I slapped it together I might have been able to stretch the chainlink tighter. A mechanical shaker would fix that... cause thats what I have to do depending on how dry the material is. Get off machine, grab my 2x4 sitting beside and poke away from underneath.... dirt bath time! I went to TSC and picked up welded wire 1"x1".... but the rolls are only 2' wide... so I had to wire 4 sheets together.... PIA.... laid that over the top of the chain link. I raised up the back posts to get a steeper angle.... and that helps keep the screen clear but I get more waste that way. I did run the tailings twice.... sorta like double distilled I have had to beefup my connections... added some "L" brackets.... but for what I have into it I can't complain...... specially for what they want for screened topsoil 'round here.
Well, that's encouraging, thanks!
Truck is GMC 1990 former fire truck, 3208 Caterpillar 10.4 liter turbo V8 Allison transmission & approx. 4.90 to 1 ratio. Trailer is 2006 Cam Superline 23000 GVWR. I don't tow often, but I do tow occasionally. I'm currently in a dilemma over backhoe, or mini EX. I need the loader, so buying & transporting two machines for small jobs doesn't feel logical to me. Hood open, Seth is putting new front turn signal lights. Gotta deliver the 410C Yes, we delivered the hoe. 5 hour round trip. First long run the truck has had since I bought it. All went well.
I like to put in ten feet of conduit at a time. Dig 15 or so feet. Place conduit in bottom of trench. Use a cap, or bucket to keep it clean. Bed the conduit in "sand" (1 inch or less). Fill ten feet of ditch, move on. This also gives opportunity to rake the stones off the top soil. 450 Feet is a long *** ditch, do compensate for voltage loss in both conduit & cable size.
Willie B, That 450 ft will be high voltage line..... at the end of that 450 we will have them set the transformer.... That 450 is the shortest route to get power onto the property.... if I came up the driveway ( all on my land) it would be well over 1500' I am building in a township that requires everything to be inspected..... I would assume the inspector would want to see ditch depth..?? even on the later runs that I would put in ( in conduit) As far as your upcoming purchase.... skid steer loader not large enough bucket?... to go with the mini ex?...... ......BTW ... nice set-up for your towing.
Here, high or low voltage goes in schedule 40 conduit bedded in 6" below, 6" above +4" tall conduit 16" sand. It gets cold, so I want 36" of soil above conduit. 46" ditch depth. Here, services are inspected by power company, not electrical inspectors. I never wait for inspection, I bury as I go. Cable is pulled in after covering per NEC.
Track loader would be my choice. Having loader plus mini excavator is twice the cost & twice as much hauling. As is, I have land 4 miles from home, I can be there in 15 minutes. An excavator or skid loader need to be trailered. Hill at "the land" is too steep for truck with trailer. I have to unload & walk it in 1/2 mile. Backhoe makes sense for my needs.
The meter base that I will put in, and the disconnects that are part of that set-up have to have an inspection sticker on it before the power co. will energize it. They are laying the high volt line... and setting the transformer.... and feeding the meter thru conduit that I lay down ( along with sweeps and slip risers) Also a pole at the start of the run... have to cross a driveway overhead then drop underground.
Hey Willie, I was looking at a similar triple axle trailer… it has 18’ flat deck and 4’ tail. Not sure if that will be long enough for a backhoe. Do you happen to know how long yours is? I’d like room to rest the loader and backhoe on the deck.
It's across the road at the moment. I'll measure. I think 18 + 4. 410C is a BIG backhoe. I have to place the loader bucket past the deck to rest the hoe bucket fully curled on a plank laid across just forward of the rear channel on the frame. This puts considerable weight on the hitch which is fine with me. The Case 580K fit entirely on the deck. Most manufacturers recommend transporting with the hoe latched in the up position. This would (I fear) make it taller than the 13'6" legal limit. The crossing into New Hampshire I would have chosen yesterday is under 13'. As it was I went miles out of the way to avoid the low height.
Trailer is 18' horizontal planks + 5' beaver tail. Picture is new to me Case 580 Super N. Front bucket is on the deck shoved against the bolster. Other picture is of back bucket lowered onto trailer. This tractor is a foot narrower than John Deere 410C & at least a foot shorter. Actual scale weight of 410C with 200+LBS of me in the seat was 17400 LBS. Published specs of 580 Super N ranges from 17200 to 19000. I'll know better when I weigh it.
Wow! You've really got to squeeze that thing on there Willie! Also that Case is a pretty nice looking machine!
It fits a lot easier than the JD410C did. I feel like the trailer is 8'6" wide & the JD overhangs both sides of the bolster. Had to hang it over the bolster nearly a foot. Published specs make it as heavy as the 410C, but it doesn't feel as heavy behind the truck. Might be I could trailer it with the boom latched up. I'll be close to the legal height of 13' 6". Don't want to knock down any power lines.
The first time I drove mine onto a trailer it felt like I was on the inside quarters of the tires. I wasn't but if felt like the slightest wrong move would have me over the edge. I also pulled a wheelie, so that wasn't terribly comforting either! The last time I drove a couple miles, to bury the cow, I actually stopped at a few power lines and creeped under them to make sure I'd fit! The lines all look much lower than I think they are but it would suck real bad to snag one.
Old trailer was short ramps. They were steep! That, & the rails were 2" above the cross bars. If tractor tires were narrow as in Farmall M, ramp width was correctly adjusted all was fine. A wide tire, or a steel track was a frightening experience. Worst of all was one attempt to load a skidsteer front first. Found myself staring at the sky. Only way I loaded it was backward, bucket on the ground.
Wow nice 580!
Went through checking lubricants. Late in the day a light came on. Manual says something electronic flashed a fault. Oh Boy! My fears of recent Diesel equipment have come true! It still works, maybe I need to remove the bulb from the warning light. This thing yells at me for everything, even if my seat isn't latched. Tractor won't move if my seat isn't latched forward. I used to avoid latching to drive down the highway watching for texters.
Ew! I don't like the sound of that Willie! Just Friday I was moving some crap around for a neighbor, in his mine field of junk, I don't think I could have done it if my seat couldn't rotate some to hold the brakes and look where I was going. I was at about 1/3rd turned to make sure I didn't run over nails or the random who-knows-what.
Alright, it sounds like my hoe needs a new injector... I've looked through my manuals where it doesn't make really any mention of it, but it looks like a common enough problem. I think I know where to find and remove the injectors but I'm not positive to how diagnose which one is bad. Should I replace them all for fun? I saw, on utube, guys cracking loose the fuel inlet and fire the machine up, would the bad injector not not bubble out upon doing that? Is there a better, free way to check them?
Injection pump re-builders in my area will test injectors for free.
if you have an IR thermometer you can check exhaust temps at each cylinder. If one injector is not firing you will see a difference in temp.
edgephoto! Good call!
An injection shop will check the spray pattern along with the pop test. The spray pattern makes a big difference in performance if it isn't up to spec.
Thanks tinkerer! You think more highly of my skills than I do!
I know this point has been made a few times but I still want to earnestly ask (though with a bit of hyperbole)... How many hundreds of thousands of times must I "practice" at greasing my backhoe before it's not infuriating? I swear, every time I'm like "oh, I've got the right stuff, a great Milwaukee cordless grease gun, plenty of grease and paper towels, the machine is sitting such that I can reach everything..." and every time it ends up making me bonkers! I'm not positive my couplers are in good shape. I was using a lock-n-lube coupler that was great but then it started not sealing up well, so it'd just ooze around the zerk, so I swapped it out for the conventional kind, which worked for a bit, then went back to oozing around the zerks. Are my couplers just bad at this point? I don't think the zerks are all frozen... I know the lock-n-lube comes with a rebuild kit but I'd misplaced it until yesterday... I try to stay on top of greasing things but man is it discouraging.
If you haven't already, try replacing a couple of the zerks.
Before the first time I greased mine I bought a box of fittings and 3 boxes of plastic caps. Somehow the caps get lost so I recently bought a 100 bag of those. Every now and then the grease job goes without any drama but not often.
Unfortunately, Tinkerer, the ones that were giving me problems I did replace the zerks, though it seems it may be a good idea to go buy about 100 of them and replace them all. The ones I changed did not have frozen grease in them, I jammed a nail successfully into their holes with no problems. I need to buy some more of the plastic caps. I like that I take a walk around the machine to uncap, then I recap as I go around greasing, and it helps to not forget any. Your last sentence, NH575E, is discouraging.
I make a number of trips on US Route 7 (50 MPH speed limits, two lanes plus break down lanes each side) Break down lanes are not wide enough many places. I stay in my lane with all flashing lights until vehicles coming up behind me slow, then I move over for them. Much more common, they speed up to pass. Many only give me inches of clearance. I drive with my seat swiveled 90 degrees. Don't know what I'd do to avoid a rear collision, but I want to know. I have a friend got hit from behind on a snowy Christmas morning, driving a Ford 655A backhoe. It was a tractor trailer owned by the power company. Trailer was fully loaded with reels of cable. The driver is the same person who pumped 1100 gallons of heating fuel into a septic system 30 years earlier. His excuse that morning, He'd driven 20 hours straight on the run for cable. A magic trick I found is a tree branch with green flopping leaves sticking past left rear of machine. Something about those floppy leaves, drivers give me a wider birth! Off season, a 6' long piece of the 6" wide warning tape works wonders flapping from left stabilizer. All the flashing lights in the world only seems to make them go faster. Something flapping gets their attention. Probably still won't help if a driver is texting.
In some cases you can remove the fitting & root around with a fine stiff wire to clear a blockage of hardened grease. Other times it's necessary to block up the offending component & remove the pin to clear the blockage. I've spent a lifetime seeking the perfect grease gun & coupler. None are perfect. I have several manual guns. A Craftsman air powered one I haven't touched in years, & a Milwaukee cordless. Lock & lube is best coupler, but it doesn't fit everywhere. I once had a $35. coupler that worked great, but getting it off was a two hand task.
Park your backhoe out in the hot sun, Make sure the joint you are greasing is in the direct sunlight and not supporting the weight of the machine. Let it get good and hot. Now try to grease it. Another tip: On my FEL, if I raise it up just a tad, all fittings take grease. If it's hard against the ground, 2 will not.
I so wish I had been born under different circumstances. If I could afford new machines I wouldn't see fittings that won't take grease. Grease regularly, it won't be a problem. In my case, I've only once owned a machine new enough I didn't have to clear channels. As it turns out, there is a different failure in newer machines. We'll get it figured out, but it won't be simple. I now wish I was clearing grease channels! Good way to look over a machine you are considering buying; "May I grease it?"
Yeah, right now the only trouble I had, other than my grease gun losing prime (and that's just learning curve for me I think) was the zerk at the base of the boom tower, right underneath the bracket/lock thing that holds the boom up for transport. That one sucks to get to because I have to push the lock thing down to have a clear, straight shot onto the zerk. I couldn't get it, so I spent the time changing the zerk out (and cleaning the mess of a hole) only to continue not getting grease in there. I think I just need to get the coupler on there better. There was another that was giving me trouble but I think I finally got that one. It's frustrating when all things have to go well all at the same time, now I'm covered in grease because I'm not smart enough to throw on some coveralls, and I was supposed to be somewhere. Oh well. It'll get better.
Maybe a 90 degree grease fitting? The Milwaukee cordless grease gun evacuates air with the press of a button. Other guns, you need to work with two guns. Fill with grease, do your best to clean the threads where the tube screws to the head, bleed air best you can & let it sit. Meanwhile, use a different gun. Alternate guns so they have time to self bleed air out. I've had machines with challenging fittings & have fashioned adapters. A Case backhoe needed a 18" extension to grease the front axle. A 15" piece of 1/8" NPT black pipe with grease coupler on one end, threaded coupling & grease fitting on the other solved that problem. Perhaps yours could use a 90 degree street elbow with coupler & grease fitting. Greasing machines is not for the faint of heart.
Not a bad idea Willie. The grease gun thing was certainly my issue, I was just already frustrated and I go into every greasing asking "how's it going to go wrong this time?" which probably isn't the best way. It's nice to hear that others struggle with it too. It definitely makes me feel like I'm less of an idiot when it really seems like it should be pretty straight forward and easy.
Have not tried it out yet! The grease hose coupler goes into the knurled end. Zerk on the right angle.
Bootheal, I have purchased 2 of those. Not sure on the brand but cam in the exact same package. My problem was that the knurled end would pop off all the time and make a mess. My fix was to dedicate a grease gun to the 90 degree part of that setup by taking it apart and attaching the 90 degree to the end of a flexible hose. It now works. I use it to grease the wheels on a finish cut mower. I have no idea why they wouldn't have put an angled fitting on, but they are press in so without reengineering this was my best solution, and it does work.
What's the life span of a new coupler? Like how long before you rebuild it or buy a new one? Like 10 times or 100 times?
I have some standard couplers that are well over 10 years old...mind you, I was not greasing a full size backhoe back then, but have been toing auto work and maintaining my NH TC33D, which has a loader and backhoe. The lock and lube that I have is only a couple of years old. It works good on most of the fittings, but has its limitations as well. There are other brands of locking grease couplers...hell, even harbor freight has one these days. Not that I tried it, but saw it one the shelf one day.
My first was Alemite, likely built in the 1930s. It was my father's, I still have it, but was tempted by guns I could fill with a tube of grease. Probably got my first new to me in 1974. I've had dozens since. Never one as nice as the Alemite.
This past Sunday my neighbor wanted to move his old bulldozer from under a carport to his garage. I offered help. We had to sneak it past a jib crane, out onto the driveway where it then had to be moved about 10-12 feet south. It doesn't run, yet. We ended up chaining around some leaf springs on the left side and I'd yank with the backhoe, basically turning the dozer about 3 feet or so to miss the crane base. Then we moved it out of the carport while still attempting to angle it in from of the garage door. I ended up shoving it sideways several times by pushing either on the bucket or the track near the back of the machine until it was just right, then used the hoe bucket to rotate the tracks back until I had enough room in front of it to just push on the bucket. All it all, while a tight fit and stressful, it worked out great and now he can work on it through the winter.
Come on! All us Virginia Lee Burton fans want to know more about the crawler. Mrs. B blames my obsession with machines on this author. Pictures are nice. Each block is between 750 & 800 LB. Boat with chains is 1300. Tractor pulls limit hitch height, I find crawler wants to hitch very low, put more track on the sand.
I don't know much about it, unfortunately. It's bigish, but not huge, heavy but I can still move it with a backhoe, and old. I think he said it's an International/Cat, but I could be very wrong. This is what it looks like when you can see it, though there's some stuff in the way:
I can't say. Looks like IH to me, but not enough view for me to say.
What a great idea! The look on the guy's face will be all ya need to know.
Well, for better or worse, I called a local backhoe servicing joint to get some seals replaced on my boom and stick cylinders. I'm guessing I can do it myself but I'm not positive I want to. The barn is looking like it won't go up until early 2022, so I won't have a great place to do the work and I don't know if I'm capable. I'd like them to give the whole machine a once over also, but have no idea what it will cost for any of this stuff. They've also got to come pick it up, which I'm sure is also expensive.
I've done them, each gets a little easier than the one before. As I see it, you have three choices: Professional rebuild, take the cylinder off, take it to a hydraulic rebuilder. Most skilled option, they do it every day. Send the whole machine. Do it yourself still on the tractor. If doing it yourself, no value in taking it off the tractor, you have a holding fixture. Those I have personally done, toughest part have been gland removal & piston bolt. Pros use a hydraulic fixture to loosen. I have gone to the extreme of 10' long homemade wrench, two men on it. Others talk of a "spud wrench", usually an 18" homemade wrench you hit with a 10 LB sledge hammer. If you can find a pro with enough time, I'd favor that.
Yeah, I think if my barn was up and I had a decent bench in there where I could work on them without too much of a time crunch I'd be inclined to try it myself, and I'm sure I'll have the opportunity eventually. I assume an additional couple hundred bucks in tools and the time and energy searching around for the correct seals and all that. It probably pays to get someone that knows what they are doing for this round.
I did a number of Case cylinder repack using a homemade gland wrench, A piece of 3/4 thick flat stock was cut to shape with an acetylene torch & grinder. Very precise measurement, I drilled pin holes. The pins were Hard black bolts from McMaster-Carr. Handle was 4' long 1-1/2" round pin stock. Worst one ever was a boom cylinder on a 580K. We had to heat the gland with a propane torch. As it unthreaded enough to see, we discovered red Loctite on it. That one was probably a 4" long fine thread, about a hundred revolutions! It was a 10' length of 3" rigid conduit over the "wrench" as a cheater. I prefer to do them outdoors on the tractor using lots of wood for blocking.
This past year has been 'on the wet' side..... but I have been able to get some land prep work done. I have been trying to finish screening some top soil I have stashed.... and move it to some staging areas on the " yard to be". I also screened out the remnants of the last couple of burn piles.... and mixed it all up with the fresh 3/4 screened top soil. The result looks too good to use as is.... so I am thinking of mixing it with some sand to 'stretch' it. I have been clearing some 'woods' to (1) open up some space... and (2) get at the fill underneath... and I move that into position up on the ridge... I had a chance last year to pick up a small dump truck... an old International..... but passed on it. The whole time I'm running a bucket load of material up the hill I'm thinking maybe I should have...??? But it realy turns into time ( hours)..... not too much wear and tear on the 'old hoe'...
Last week I set two forms for what will be a 'rack' that holds the service meter... and some associated switches... Today I pulled the forms and backfilled.... The rest of the week looks wet.... maybe will get some trees down on the 'turkey mound to be'..... But will leave you with a beautiful Pennsylvania sky...
Your project is really coming along T-town! Your dirt looks great and your driveway is really starting to shape up! It actually looks like a driveway now! I hear you on that dump truck. Doing some work for the neighbor I moved probably 60 loader loads of dirt about 400 feet over bumpy ground to their backyard. Tedious! I have another neighbor with a dump truck I strongly considered asking to rent. It makes an easy job quite the chore.
At the moment, nothing. Had to replace 2 hoses on boom cylinder (major pain in @ss) then found pinhole in hard line to dipper. Repaired that and on reinstallation found pinhole in elbow on end. Awaiting a new pair of elbows. The old wife's tale is true, when you work on anything you will break the things that it connects to or is near by. GRRRRR
You had to do it...I have not been able to get to my place in the last month and a half, due to illness in my family, and I am dyeing to be up there...kinda homesick Thanks for the great pics, T-town!!
Sorry Swetz..... Was thinking of you as I wrote it up.... hope all is better on your health end... Lots of water falling from the sky today.... maybe more so over your way. Leaves are peaked in our area... though the color this year has been muted a bit... should be great over @ your spot. I'll be parked for a few days after this. Some 'wood' to haul to the burn pile which doesn't tear up too much dirt... plus I seemed to have lost my alt. capabilities.. on the battery charger now. Might need to replace the cheap china made alt I put on a few seasons back??
My old Wain-Roy was earning his keep today, clearing a lot for a house I'm building. Besides that, Ive been digging up and pushing over trees in my driveway. I still have a lot of work to do on it but it's a work horse.
Hey Ben, Thanks for sharing! You inspired me to google the wain-roy backhoe. Found this neat video:
Can you imagine being the first farmer in the 'hood having a backhoe?!
I bet everybody would want to be your friend..
Getting Stuck....well, not quite stuck, but nearly. I was able to get a couple days of work in, and decided that I would try pulling stumps. I have been wanting to do this all year but it rained so much I have a swamp. I need to make some swales, and I was pulling the stumps in the area that I will make one of the swales. As I worked deeper in, I sunk deeper in the mud, to the point that I was sitting on my hydraulic tank on one side, and the fuel tank on the other. This is when I gave up! Getting out was quite the chore! I don't like to subject my machine to this, but I waited all year for this and I know the snow will fly any day now, so I wont be able to touch it again till the spring melt dries up . Did get a nice pile of stumps pulled. Moved some boulders and downed trees too. Lost 2 bucket teeth too . I wasn't about to wallow around in the mud trying to find them, no way...I ordered 5 new...LOL This is my road...LOL
Any progress is movement in the right direction... even it costs a few teeth. Yes... it continues to be a damp fall in NE Pa. We did have about 1 full dry week just past.... and was able to get some dirt 'moved'. I have fill ( subsoil) on the property... it's just not in the right spot! So, after removing the growth.. and a bit of topsoil... I've been peeling of a foot or so and using it at the sand mound site. At the sand mound site... I have to set a 5 ft tall dosing tank... in ground that has bedrock at 2 ft. down. So, the need for fill is apparent. This is the first couple of feet..
The week before I had been trying to get my electric service ready to go..... not so fast! Put up the 'rack' With the transformer pad off to the right.... only to be told the pad mounted transformers are 30 weeks out...!!! are you crazy?!? are you all just throwing no's of weeks around like candy?? could not locate an approved meter base... up and down and across the country.. of course, not being "T-town Electric" I'm at the end of a long line at the counter. Did hook up with an electric contractor and presto.... had the meter base in 2 days. Anyway... don't get me started I'll leave you'all with me and my shadow at the end of a long productive day.. ....and a side view of the meter rack...it will get a 'roof' on it to finish it off. Its in view from the house so I wanted it to look OK...
WTH? A meter pedestal is two 12' 6x6 PT Yellow Pine buried 6 feet deep. Between them is deck boards as needed to correct height for meter to center at 5' above grade. These are only done where no permanent building is available to mount it on.
Oh, best excavation season approaches. Frozen ground a few inches deep is best. No mud, no difficulty backfilling. Drive all over the lawn without messing up sod.
Willie, the buried line voltage wire will come onto the property.. and would have run right by the future barn site to travel another 150 ft to the home site. I could not see running cable I have to buy in two directions in the same ( next to) trench... so my solution was to run to point just past the barn site... set the meter, (320A) then split the service at the rack ( 2 200A disconnects) along with a 100A "temp" panel there at the rack. That will give a source of power to get the building started. And at that point the poco will not need to visit me again. Then ... when the house gets up, I'll run that line up the hill... and when the barn gets finished it will be another run back 100ft or so. ......and I didn't want to put in a rack that reminded me of a trailer park and I have a hard time wrapping my head around burying wood in the ground... even if it is pressure treated. the backside will have a nice boulder rolled in there to be the centerpoint of some hardscape!... maybe a bluebird box or two...
...LOL BTW...Where is the generator going to be placed?? I just purchased a portable generator (7KW), but expect to get a 20KW when I live there. My power is off several times a year up there (NEPA). I am not upset about the teeth. When I purchased my machine, the teeth were in good shape, except for the one that was missing. I went to the New Holland dealer and ordered 2 teeth, pins, and the locking rings. I put the tooth on and kept the "spare". Anyhow, I dug it out the other day to get the NH part number, and I see the NH #, but also see a number on the casting. I looked up the number and came up with "Cat Style J200 Bucket Teeth". So, I called H&L Tooth Company. They told me this was the correct tooth. I also asked if they had a U.S.A. made replacement, and he told me that no one is making this tooth in the US any more . I continued to look but did not find one (the NH tooth is China too). So I was able to order 5 teeth, pins, and locks for much less than the NH price . I also ordered a bunch more pins and retainers, just in case...LOL
...teeth are nice!! I had been using the 2 ft bucket that came with my unit ( which would not hold teeth) with nothing but shanks for so long I was amazed when I put on a new(er) bucket with fresh teeth!! ??what was it bill murray said?? "if your gonna eat steak, get some new teeth" [Groundhog Day] Generator lol We have been lucky right here where I 'm at now.... but since the Ash borer killed all the ash trees, ( and there are some big ash trees out there ) there are a lot that are coming down whenever the wind blows hard. Some folks are out quite regularly. I'm seriously considering putting that coin into some solar/wind combo. Trying to weigh the options. But I will have propane at the house for firing up the radiant floor heat/cooking/fireplace so fueling the generator would not be an issue. I can't recall a day up on that ridge where the wind was not blowing..( and night ! ). The property is lined up due south.... so a solar array on the ground would also be a simple add-on. Would not want to put them on a roof when we have the ground space. With both it come down to batteries.... and who knows where that will be in a couple of years. But I really like the idea of spinning that electric meter the "other way". Just hope that somebody on this side of the ocean makes the collectors.
My place is like that too. AGREED!!! They do have some new awesome batteries. My brother has an off-grid place in the mtns. of North Carolina. He just got some new nickel iron??, and loves them...way more capacity and no sulfuric acid gas.
1U3202 is a good Caterpillar number and my local dealer has plenty in stock at $23.94 each
...yes they do... lots of folks working on that one issue... and lots of potential $$ out there that's fueling the research... The solar tech seems pretty cut and dry.... though material research is upgrading that But the wind blowing at night is a "good thing". I would assume more upkeep with a wind turbine though... as compared to a solar array.
Wind turbines have some issues... Noise and "flicker" at utility size. There is a you tube video of a house suffering from turbine flicker. Sucks to be them...
When I purchased my PA property, I looked into wind, because I feel that I have good conditions. There is also a commercial array on the top of a nearby mountain (if they work for them, they would work for me, no). Anyhow, the cost was so much more, that at the time I decided that if I ever decided to do something, it would probably solar. I have the space, and bang for the buck was so much more. With the good batteries, inconsistent generation associated with solar is less of a problem. I do have the land, so that is not a problem.
Thanks edgephoto, good to know! I purchased them from here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/273615260637?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Came to ~$18 with the pin and retainer, but it is good to know they are available at a cat dealer too, in a pinch.
My work is out there on the fringe of alternative energy. Strange rules in VT make it difficult for licensed electricians to install solar, but we are often enlisted to connect to utility power. I've dealt with a number of off grid installs, they are inevitably do it yourselfers wanting technical advice. I've been involved right up to the cost per kilowatt equation with off grid hydro. Worked on a Generac Eco Gen generator recently. Guy said over the phone he is off grid hydro, with generator back up. When I saw his hydro rig, I concluded he was really off grid generator, with battery storage. When the failed part in his early, sort of inverter generator cost over $3000. he decided to go grid power. He then pestered me by phone several days, wanting me to bless his direct burial plans, as shallow as 6" deep. I would NOT approve that, he went do it yourself. We wired the facility for a start up wind power manufacturer. I feel wind is an excellent choice for those with the right site. Only a few people have that.
Swetz, I hear you on the cost.... just thinkin it would be nice to take advantage of that wind for more than flying a kite or blowin the fall leaves onto the neighbors property... those vertical axis blade designs look intriguing
I like wind a lot. It has to be designed by someone who knows what they are doing. In 1979, one of those non profit 5000 acre experiments, the results of a billionaire estate had an off grid log cabin they built. The director lived there. He was carrying auto batteries to recharge. They bought a kit wind turbine. It came with an erector set three legged tower 20 feet tall. Generator was actually a generator, old technology. Blades were flat, maybe 5' long. It was advertised as producing 200 watts. A newly graduated female civil engineer was assigned to lead a crew of five high school students to put it together. It was built on a side hill. She stacked 2x4s under two downhill tower legs, no guy wires. It fell over first night, smashing the blade assembly. They had an older handyman, he intervened. He set two channel iron pieces in concrete. Between them, he would put a power pole. Guy wires would support the 35 foot tall pole. A teenager on the tractor was pulling the pole upright, got concerned they hadn't yet attached the guy wires to the ground. Near vertical, he pushed the clutch. Pole with generator assembly crashed to the ground, damaging it again. When new parts arrived, the engineer asked my father what she should use as a ground conductor. Dad asked what the manufacturer specified. She answered #4, but that seemed too big, "couldn't we use something else?" She ordered from the local farm store/building materials store 35' of 4/0. It, of course prooved too short. Finally assembled, it wouldn't produce power. I used a battery to flash the field, (energize the permanent magnets to begin the generation cycle). It still wouldn't charge the battery. I tested the new 250 LB battery, found it to be dead, and no balls in the hydrometer would float. I declared the battery DOA. On my way home, I remembered seeing four empty bottles of distilled water. It then clicked, the battery had been shipped dry, they filled it with water, not acid. They dumped the water, but only drained about two gallons. It never did work. They replaced the new battery. Eventually, it worked. When windy, it produced the promised 200 watts. November came. A heavy wet 3" deep snow, they plowed the driveway, tearing up the cable 3" deep under the driveway. Within a few years the whole thing was taken down. It was replaced with battery storage/generator power.
Man, what a story Willie!
LOL...Was thinking the same...just cant make this poop up
...but invention/knowledge is finding all the ways not to do it.. right ??
Trouble is, under the format nobody learns anything. I confirmed what I already knew; You can't fix stupid. We have worked for two of these very similar organizations. At the other, Seth replays a fictional conversation he claims to be similar to one he overheard. The Director was Tom, I believe the only employee there capable of thinking. Over the radio we hear: "Uh, Tom, this is Suzan. Wondering what you'd like us to do this afternoon? I know you asked us to split wood. The tractor seems to have rolled down the hill backward. It crashed through the horse pasture fence. It seems to have killed your prize draft horse. It's now upside down in the brook, on fire. Just wondering if you have a second choice we could do this afternoon, or do we have another tractor?
Getin some dental work.. Just wanted to report that I installed 2 new teeth for the 2 teeth that were missing. The teeth, pins and locks I got from H&L (on Ebay) worked perfectly, and arrived quickly. I am sure I will not be purchasing these from the New Holland dealer in the future, as these are an affordable option. As a note, I also purchased an additional set of pins and locks from industrial supply (also on ebay), and they look a little on the cheesy side. I do understand the pin is not designed to take the load, but the quality of the H&L looked better...If I ever need more, H&L will be where I get them.
.... and were you able to get some diggin done to "test" the new teeth??
No way!!! can you say swamp! It is so wet! I focused on cutting and splitting wood near my house where I am not in a foot of water...LOL Looks like Friday it may snow, but that is all I see for the next 11 days...fingers crossed that it dries up a bit. I have some vacation, and would love to get some more stumps ripped out, but do not want to trash my machine in the process!
Maybe the colder temps will firm things up for ya.... Though to a point only... I remember in my youth, in Delaware no less, had to dig a 2 ft deep trench... maybe 30 ft.. by hand now. The soil there , for lack of a better term, is sand. Anyway, the ground was froze a foot down and we had to get a jack hammer to bust thru it. That was a lot like work!! I spent the day Sat and Sun doing some cipherin' .... Used a transit and two marked boundary lines to lay out a center line for the house... and to use as a reference line for the sand mound design plan that I have to submit. Need to have the contours from the house to the mound area. I had my better half up on the hill holding a rod and hanging on to a tape to help lay out a 10ft square grid.... 180 ft length by about 100 in width. two benchmarks ( the primary on the ridge top and a secondary below) and 3 movements of the tripod to cover the elevation change. That land surveying course I picked up in college starting to pay off! Next 2 days have some tree cutting penciled in. The hoe is my 'knock a tree down then cut it' machine. Not to mention the protection a cab gives. The neighbor had a dead limb fall and hit him in the head.... laid him up for a few weeks....don't know why he had no hard hat on?? I wear one..... in the cab too!( well it has has muffs on it)
T-town, sounds like you are really chipping away at your to do list!! My problem is that the previous owner did not take any time to do water management. So, the water now does not have a clear path and just soaks everything turning into the slickest, deepest mud I have ever experienced in my life. I had a good week or 2 of dry this year and dug a good sized culvert. In that area, it quickly dries up. Unfortunately, where my garage is going has not yet been pitched and no culverts are installed. When I lost my teeth a couple of weeks ago, I was attempting to pull the stumps in an area that I wanted to put in a culvert. It was so wet that I quit when my machine was damn near stuck. The good news is that even if I was ready for my garage now, the prices are so high that I would put it off anyhow...said another way...there really isn't a rush, which is good too.
Uhg, high prices indeed! I just got my financing worked out for buying a barn and the price for the barn and installation has increased over $6k over the past month. I can't tell whether it's smarter to buy it now or wait a few more weeks.
I would think the barn season kinda dies off in the winter...not sure, but it makes sense to me. Something tells me things are going to continue to increase in price for the next 3 years...I hope I am wrong though!! I may wind up doing some of my garage work in order to attempt to save some $. Stuff like insulation, floor, and wiring. Not sure what I will save in the end tho.
As I have stated before, my driveway travels thru some pretty wet stuff near the paved road. When I dug the swales for that I was digging some pretty muddy stuff, pretty pungent too. It would not be, as my perc test guy said, "good looking dirt". I used bucket after bucket of broken weathered rock to lay down a 2+ft base thru that area. The swales did the trick.. the road bed has stayed stable, and has taken the weight of quite a few triaxle loads going up and down the drive. $$... always a concern. But 1/2 osb sheathing is @ 17$ in Lowes just the other day. And I was seriously gonna pay 30 last spring, ( went to 60$) but decided not to just because of no guarantee of supply.... man what was I thinking? Like you, I don;t have to build this instant. I am wondering if I bought osb now.... and kept it dry.... would it 'take the time' until spring OK, or does it need to be used 'fresh'? The 3/4 t&g subfloor stuff was over 100$, now down to 50$.... I'm trying to do it all ( the house/barn) myself.... 'with a little help from my friends' ..... the only thing I need to 'sub' out is laying up the block wall foundation ( unvented crawl space)..... and I have yet to get bids on that. You gotta figure the labor cost would be equal to if not more than material these days..??
LOL...I got into a 1 1/2' deep puddle last weekend, with my atv...needless to say it splashed up over my feet, and I was not wearing the correct footwear (my fault...crocs...LOL). Anyhow, god did it stink. Had to go home and get those stinky clothes off...LOL. I actually considered building my garage on a traditionally foundation, with traditional stud framing, because I feel I could do it all myself. I just think that would add a bunch to the cost, so even with me doing the labor I don't think I would save over a pole building. I just don't feel like I know enough to do a pole building myself. Yes, lumber is back down to almost normal prices...thank god! I am told that the steel for the pole building is still crazy tho. I would agree labor is high these days. Companies are having to pay much more to get people that actually show up. Even the Mc Donald's at my exit on 84 has a sign we are hiring...$17.00 an hour. Last year the same sign said $10.00.
I bought these from a CAT dealer. Was just under a $100 for all four with pins and locks. They are 5+ years old now and holding up great. I have also seen them on eBay. If you have stumps and roots to dig you can't beat em.
My barn plan is to drop 15" tubes for foundation.... anchor bolts tying rough cut hemlock 8x8's for the main posts and 6x6's for outer bay posts. Gonna get some steel plates to connect it all putting it up one sq. 'block' at a time. Getting the first block started and square/plum should be the trickiest. The overall design is a "Monitor" style.... with a high central bay and a bay on each side. Built on a post and beam style layout. If I'm able to mill the timber on site I should have plenty of 1x planks for siding.... if I end up buying the rough cut posts and beams prob go with metal siding...... ,,,,, buts thats a ways off!
...!! wow... those look lethal
After re-quoting my barn yesterday and seeing that the install price went up 5k, by itself, I reconsidered building it myself. I'm not positive I'm capable and I'm certain it would take me months, when they can do it in a few days. I guess I'm likely paying for that convenience. For those curious for the spend (or their own cost savings), I'm looking at a local supplier ( diypolebarns.com ) for my barn. They ship everywhere east of the Rockies and have contracts with crews that'll build it for you. I'll try to get the specs as close as I can remember: 40'x48'x16' (the height seems to be the $$ killer, but I'd like to park the backhoe easily), with qty. 2 12'x14' sliding doors (I'd like to have roll-ups but the expense is prohibitive right now, around 4k vs around 1700, not to mention I'm hearing you can't find one available), 1 normal man door, vented and overhung eaves and gables, with a low grade condensation barrier on the ceiling, post protectors to keep the framing dry in the postholes, 26 gauge roof, 29 gauge two-toned (wainscoting) walls, a ridge vent, and skylight wall panels on one side. They are asking, today, 33,194 for materials and 14,771 to build it (with them supplying the concrete for the postholes). For a grand total of just under the low, low price of $48k. Looks like I could save a couple grand here or there (dropping it to a 14' tall building seems to be the fastest way), maybe framing in the man door also? I could conceivably save the almost 15 grand, buy a tractor and a post hole digger and do the rest myself. My FIL has a cherry picker he may let me borrow, but again, that's lots of weekends full of work I'm not positive I know how to do. What do you think I am, @Spud_Monkey ? Ha! There are some other things I'll eventually get to if I get it built, like insulation (I'd guess sprayed would be easiest and best) and I can add some windows myself, if I ever wanted. Possible using some space for another workshop, depending on how much stuff I can jam in there. It'd be nice to have a concrete slab but that's got to be another 10-15k. I'm thinking gravel alone will be in the 4k range... T-town- I don't know if it's the same question but I've got exposed OSB on my workshop that has been on for about a year and a half that still takes screws well. It's under just a bit of overhang from the roof but still gets some rain on it with, seemingly, no major issues. I'd think that as long as you could cover it well it'd be fine (but take that with a grain of salt). I'm trying to figure out how to cover my big shop doors (qty 4 4'x8' sheets of osb), so, decoratively, they look nice and I haven't come up with anything yet, heck, I just painted them last Wednesday. I also need to take them off and redo the header they're attached to so I haven't been too upset that they aren't done. NH575E- those teeth are nuts!
I did the center height on mine at 14' and I can drive right in. 15' is where they would have required me to have a crane for construction. I couldn't have had roll up doors at that height but sliding doors would probably work. I didn't get any doors but might add later. This is a Carolina Carports barn.
Got a little stumping in today.
My hoe, assuming it fires up properly in the semi-cold, will be moving some of my old logs, this evening, around for the guy who keeps bees on my property to get some firewood out of it. It'd be a lovely day for a thumb...
NH575E, Looks like that thumb is doing its job! My god, that soil is so red!
Where's all your rocks?? never heard of dirt without rocks!
No rocks here thank goodness. We're on the FL/GA line so after I get a few inches deep it's good ol Georgia red clay. It's actually a sand/clay mix so not as gooey when wet as pure clay. Thumb is tha shiznits!
aighead, I went through sluggish starting until last year. I cleaned and tighten connections. I even replaced the starter. New 2/0 cables and a good single battery fixed it.
LOL...was thinking the same!
Latest backhoe may be a problem. Warning label says DO NOT USE ETHER. No block heater, no glow plugs, doesn't even have exposed air cleaner to blow a heat gun down. Time will tell.
Yeah, a block heater is on my list if I can ever find someone to do some work on her. I guess, really, I should start investigating how to do this stuff myself.
When you stop by for the boulders I could give ya a couple "big wrenches" !!!
Fist size rocks we call it 4 - 7 inch rubble
Today I dug a ditch for new supply service to my grandfather's usta was house. Meanwhile, the caretaker was in a snit & ran into my parked van. That hasn't yet been resolved. I may have to dig another hole to put him in.
Boo Willie!
The sign for the driveway.... "We don't call 911..... we have 10 acres and a backhoe"
In 1942 my grandfather died unexpectedly. Within a couple weeks, my father got his draft notice. No hope of saving the farm, He sold fast to a rich kid (of embarrassing pedigree) (His last name was his mother's maiden name). Still he was rich, & was the sole heir to a wealthy family. He paid 40% of the value of the farm in cash. A few months later, a lovely family of rich extremist liberals bought it from him at a 400% profit. Three generations of my family have had casual friendly infrequent contact with three generations of "Summer people." I won't give a name, you can Google three generations, all are luminaires. The present owner most predominant. She thinks her caretaker is a wonderful man. I know his history, I don't.
Getting cold! My machine didnt come with a "drivers side" door. Made a new one out of lexan. Used the passenger side as a template, then heated and bent in the opposite direction. Came out better than i had hoped!
Stumping! With everything working on the 310c, I managed to get some more quality time clearing an access path to have fill delivered. This is from a 100-110' Oak that I landed earlier this spring (I think I am burning some of this now). About 18-24" down and immediately below the stump is a large flat ledge....this is the Granite State. Nature finds a way! Over 9' wide in some areas, just a solid mass of networked roots. Just a couple more to go now....
That is very nice. In an earlier thread I whined about my two Case backhoes. Neither had a drivers side door. First one I bought without a door. It seems it is a telltale evidence of a young driver. Second 580K was nice when I bought it. Paint was fading, but without a scratch. One day I was preparing my income tax. My youngest son had opted to work on wood. I had piled the wood in rounds near the building I wanted it stored in. Zack isn't one to do it Dad's way. He split the wood, then shuttled it 200 feet in the loader bucket to a whole different building from the one I asked him to. We have basic safety rules: No passengers! Do not move the machine with doors open! Park the @#$%^ %^^&* truck in its space, not hanging 8' out into the road! Zack broke all the rules. He had a water head, (my age) standing on the tractor step while he was driving. Because of the presence of said water head, he couldn't close the door. He had used the dump truck earlier in the day to take one bag of trash to the transfer station, & finds it IMPOSSIBLE to park all the way into the parking space. The utterly predictable happened. He motored in the highest gear possible, to the building I did not want him to put the wood. He had a 60 year old water head standing on the step. He couldn't close the door. He hadn't parked the dump truck out of the way. From inside the house it sounded like a bomb! Glass was everywhere! The water head was bewildered, but unharmed. Zack offered to run over the door to see if it would reverse the damage. Seth (other son) & I spent a day. We cut the door in half, made pie cuts in the reinforcing channels inside the door. Once everything was straightened, & welded back together, welds ground smooth, it fit the hole. Over $500. in glass & parts we hit a stall. The door remained unfinished until it was time to sell the machine. The buyer made it a part of his offer that the door must be finished. It had had a rust hole at the bottom of the door skin. Couldn't find a patch panel. Seth made one. I spent several hours welding it in. I'm very proud of the results! No filler was needed. Four coats, ready for glass. The flawless door really stands out on the faded tractor.
Casey that door looks great! MarcNH, that's quite the stump! My hoe went over to the neighbors to help move some composty dirt and made an approved BIG mess of their yard. They only have a path or two that can be take to their back yard and it was wetter than I expected but after about 8 loader full trips I'd managed to make a couple incredible mud puddles. About 3/4 of the way through the job I was fishtailing around in the mud puddle. Oh yeah, my injector seemed to have fixed itself for the day too. I fired her up Saturday morning and let her warm up for about 10 minutes and other than things being a bit cold and slow to move around she sounded pretty good. After a bit of running around she still sounded pretty good. As I pulled into the driveway upon my return my neighbor commented that it sounded like a whole different machine and it wasn't missing like normal... Weird.
..about time these things pitched in and ' fixed themselves'....
If we are real lucky, they will start greasing themselves too!!
Dug further into the hill side today. Got alot of dirt to move now. Heat is working good tho.
It's the middle of December..??!! where's your snow pack? where's your frost line??
I am enjoying not plowing snow...LOL...course, the ground is not firming up so I can work either. That is ok, I guess, cuz the wife has me working like a dog getting ready for the holidays.
MUD! I can't send photos with my phone, I need a geek. Dug a ditch (150 feet) to the 220 year old farmhouse where my father grew up about two weeks ago. I dug 46" deep in dry conditions in 5? hours. Waited, next day rain. Eventually, laid two runs of conduit in four loads of "winter sand" (1/4" crushed) It has rained, or snowed since. Saturday was 2" of rain. Moved four 7 ton truckloads of boulders. Yesterday I moved an 8000 LB single, wouldn't want to move a bigger one with the loader. Like a big potato in the truck. I wouldn't chain a load of stones, but this one gave concern if it should roll around, might kill someone. I spent half hour rigging the chains & six binders. By Sunday afternoon I couldn't leave the machines any longer. The ground is the consistency of cow manure as it leaves her butt. Levelling it out is a matter of puddling with the back of the bucket. Anywhere there is a puddle, I drag soup to fill it. Of course, when I lift the bucket a 3" thick slab of earth comes with it. Not easy to leave it smooth. It's kind of nice, I'm at least two inches taller walking across it.
Ditto on the mud, tho not as bad here. We are in for a string of dry days... maybe get some work done this week. Talked with a mason yesterday... waiting to get a per/block price for laying up my crawl space/ foundation. Talked with a friend out of state to get an idea what they are getting down his way... about 4$ per. Any of you have an idea what folks are gettin in your necks of the woods?
I'm very interested to hear what they say about that too T-town. What kind of block are you talking and is it suitable for foundation? I've got a buddy who just bought a crapload of cinder blocks (with the holes in them), I'll report back with costs from the Dayton, Ohio area. Again, cinder block style, with the holes, he paid 1.27 each or 700 bucks for 500 of them. As mentioned on the Building a building thread, I've invited my mother to build a house on my property. We had a discussion about some logistics of getting things, like concrete, 500 feet off the driveway. I've moved a pretty fair amount of concrete with the loader on the backhoe but housing foundation may be too much for something like that. Then I thought of concrete blocks, but I'm unaware of the sturdiness of that, or even if it's permissible/permitable. I'm guessing a gravel driveway back to the building spot may happen before any kind of construction happens anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter.
Concrete blocks.... normal 8 x 16...would not use 'cinder' blocks for home foundation. .. and the cost I mentioned was the labor to "lay" the block.... which is a skill I never attempted to learn. Though I supplied 'mud' to a crew a 3 one day, and it was all I could do to keep up... with a mixer. Always nice to watch a mason ply their trade..... or anyone with a trowel that knows how to use it. And yes to the access part of the building project...have several seasons under the belt to install the hardscape/ diveway etc. I layed out the fill to establish access around the perimeter of the excavation for the cement/ block/ drywall/ roof truss deliveries etc.
I feel the word "cinder" block is used where it shouldn't be. The last building of cinder blocks I know of was built in 1960. They have a darker color, can be scored with a sheetrock knife, and cut with a carbide blade on a power hand saw. I can screw into them with a drywall screw. Concrete blocks are a great deal stronger. I favor not using concrete blocks for anything exposed to frost. Certainly not where plastic earth will push on one side. 100% of block cellars fail.
Not sure what you mean by "fail" Willie... crack? leak? Cinder blocks are made using slag material for the "aggregate" I thought.... which made them much lighter but more permeable to water. I grew up in a house with a block cellar,,,, never an issue with water... but was not a deep frost state.
Cinder block, I have limited experience with. I'll say they are not as strong as concrete blocks. Concrete blocks are just a little bit stronger than the mortar that holds them together. Where earth is on one side of a concrete block wall, space on the other, as in a cellar, speaking for Vermont where seasonal frozen ground, they crack or buckle. Where heavy soil presses on one side, they leak. I've seen a great many block wall cellars replaced.
Standing on the corner Twelfth Street and Vine.
Yeah, Willie, cinder blocks are just my generic name for them that isn't likely correct. If it's not readily apparent I rarely know what I'm talking about!
A cop friend of mine suggested that I always wear some sort of eye protection when driving. I took his advice, and it saved my sight when a freak wind storm broken, tree branch took out my windshield when I was driving.
Got the t-shirt for that. Son had to cut the tree off the cab so I could get out!
I am impressed. How did you heat that and know when to stop?
Put batteries in the old 680 today. Loosened all the drain plugs a bit. Drained about a quart of water out of the manual gear box. It has always done that but does not seem possible with a canopy. A little coolant out of the oil pan " Oh no ". Shuttle and diff were good but where did all the diff oil go? Would spin over but not crank. Hand primer was hard but no fuel from injection lines on pump. Removed side cover from injection pump. Found rack stuck. Worked on it with brake cleaner and penetrating oil. Used kid cloves and tapped on it. Pried on it back and forth. Got it moving. That took a while. Put it together, bleed the lines and fired her up. Runs great and the day is done.
Oh yeah, a few weeks back I closed the door on my hoe and the little press button, with keyhole, that you push to unlatch the door, popped off. It looks like there was a small piece of plastic in there somewhere that broke and there is a square shaft on the far end of the button that looks like it should stick out some but I don't really know where/how. Now I have to remember the button thing and the spring when I go out to the hoe and hope they don't fall out of my pocket after that. Anyone know a good source for things like a door handle for a 2004 NH Lb75b?
My passenger door button was missing and I found one of those plastic push pin retainers that fit the hole. I don't have any need to lock it so that worked out for me.
Plastic push pin retainer? I'm not picturing what that means... I don't care about the lock either, never thought about locking it until it popped out when I noticed it had a lock!
Typical NH...There are two different handles depending on yr/sn. The first is obsolete. The second is in stock at messicks. A little spendy, but that is normal. What did you pay for the handle you got NH575E, and where did you get it?
Hmm... I wonder if that'd work. I haven't looked super closely but mine looks like a whole assembly, there's like some blocky thing that I figured I'd have to replace. Thanks Swetz!
My door handle and push button was still in place. It was just missing the lock part and that sounds like aighead's description. I just looked in my parts bin and found a plastic panel retainer that fit in the hole. I could push it before but it hurt my thumb to do it.
aighead, Is #2 below what you need? NH575E, I love your fix .
clamped the lexan to a saw horse at the bend line. I used a heat gun, making passes across the bend line until the plastic would bend. used the other door to match the angle of bend.
Really nice work!
Swetz, that picture will help, thanks! I assumed I need that whole assembly in your picture, not just #2, I'll try to remember to get a decent picture of it.
Aighead, I just realized that you have an LB series. Dont know why it was in my head that you had a 575E. Anyhow, here is the pic for the LB. This is from Messick's site. Looks like the same part numbers for the door lock.
Thanks Swetz, you rock. At 176 bucks I may just continue using what I have or try to swap locks with the passenger side... I guess I need to keep Messicks in mind and hunt around there. Thanks again!
Well.... into the 3rd week of December, and still able to get some work done! When any opening in the forest canopy happens 'round here a host of 'Black Birch' seedlings sprout and quickly fill up the lighted space. I have numerous groups of these 'round the property and have cleared several out. Today I got into another..... and it's something how the air fills with wintergreen as I rip out the saplings. Kinda nice mixed with some diesel Makes me want to stop and have a 'birch beer'! newly cleared section..... but mainly I need to get at the fill underneath. Not a big section cleared but I figured at this time of year any amount is getting ahead of next spring. But I did park the machine in its normal winter cover for the first time this season.... so now it can snow
T-town, I have black birch here as well. Iv cleared a bunch.. When I cut them in the summer the stumps weep a pink slime that the flies and ants love.
Holy ****! I went to move my pile of logs today. Bent one of my clamp on forks in the process, I've got to figure out a better solution for that, though it's all moved for now, so the barn has a place to go. Then I was scraping off some of the dirt and grass and I went to dump it in a hole I've got. First trip and dump went fine, second trip and dump went fine, then I went parallel to the hole to flatten the pile. Big mistake. This spot is right on the edge of the creek, it stays pretty wet, for days after a rain and it's been raining the past few days. Since my dumps were good I felt like I could straddle the hole and flatten it out with no problem. I was extremely wrong. The hole is about as long as the backhoe and I was starting at the far end so I was straddling the whole thing. I back up about a foot and start spinning. Uh oh. Then I start digging and burying myself. I've gotten stuck here at least twice, once with the rental hoe before I bought my own, and another with mine. I thought I'd learned my lesson. I did not. Pardon my French but mother effer this one was sketchy! After I screwed around backing and forwarding I find I'm sitting on my belly with lots of mud on both side of the front axle and front wheels 3/4 buried. I use the hoe to try to pull myself out but I'm just scooping, as the ground is too wet. Luckily I just bought a 2nd harbor freight chain, 2 of the same ones rated at 4000 pounds. I hooked the first chain around a tree, and connected the 2nd chain around the hoe, hoping I could use the tree to pull myself out. Pop! Goes the chain, completely broken. I hook it up again and try to be a bit smarter about it. Pop! Chain breaks again, like it wasn't even there. Fudge! I turn her off and get out and look at things. I smoke a cigarette and almost cry. I figure she lives there now. Next, I put my big boy pants on, strap on the seat belt and try again. Through a combination of sinking the loader side into the mud enough to raise the front tires out of their hole, using the stabilizers to raise the back wheels out of their hole, and the hoe, I wiggled my back tires up on solidish ground. Then I stretched the hoe out as far as I could and it felt like it grabbed some but not enough to get out. I spun around facing forward and tried driving out while pulling myself with the hoe and having the loader kind of flat, keeping the front wheels up. As I did that I was pulling out but also scooping a big load of dirt, which actually helped because now I was doing a wheelie and the front tires were no longer stuck. With the hoe extended out the weight was over the back tires on solid ground and I got out. Like 2 hours later. Neither picture does this justice. I was pretty scared but maybe I learned a lesson.
Glad you got it free. I stuck mine once early on. I learned my lesson on driving over a dug hole that hadn't been packed. I felt like it was going to turn over. I was lucky the surrounding ground was solid enough to lift the back with the hoe and move it over to packed land. Now I pack, fill, pack, fill, pack fill with the backhoe bucket. After I get it filled level I will drag the loader bucket over it with the weight of the machine on it a few times before putting wheels on it. Even then it will sink in when I back the rear wheels over it the first few times. I go through the whole process every time I dig a stump out so I don't forget and drive over a hole that wasn't packed.
@aighead I have been using https://fastmachineryinsurance.com.au/ since I purchased grader but I was thinking I was paying a bit much and was looking to start shopping around. Can anyone recommend any insurance you've tried? or Is it best to go with a broker?
Today, my hoe went for an adventure. The task was a 50' long 46" deep ditch, ending in a rectangular hole for a generator stand, a 4 hour job for the backhoe. The job was 65 miles from home. We loaded, pre tripped yesterday. Ready to go, Seth asked if there was enough fuel in the truck. I had recently fueled it. I didn't tally the trips it had made since, 7 round trips 10 miles hauling in crushed stone, 4 round trips 20 miles hauling away boulders, 2 round trips 8 miles hauling away bigger boulders. Should have stopped 3 miles from home where it was effortless to get to a pump. Seth driving, went past dozens of easy diesel stations, waited for the worst. A 60 year old facility, diesel only on one side of the pumps, my truck could only fuel going the other direction. He caused a traffic jam in the station parking lot as Subarus, Priuses, Range Rovers, & Mercedes SUVs squeezed around him blocking all movement on their way to ski areas. Half hour later, we were again on our way without the needed fuel. He had been to our destination twice before. There are two roads to get there. One is suitable for ATVs. He chose that road, despite discussing that it was NOT suitable for this truck empty towing this trailer. Intersection was difficult & dangerous 160 degree turn, backing to the right with trailer into highway speed traffic, near impossible. He finally backed the other way, and headed toward home. Several minutes later, I went to investigate. He's relieving himself at a turn out. Back on the road, we discover the 6.5 mile mountain correct road is hard packed snow, no sand. I made the executive decision to park the truck & trailer, drive the backhoe 6.5 miles each way. Excavation went at least as well as expected. On the way home, he pulled along side the same cramped convenience store as before. He had lost air! 2 hours later we had it figured out a tiny sensor tube from air dryer sends signal to compressor regulator, had frozen. When you are broken down beside the road, traffic speeds up. Triangles do not help! Flares do not help! This is an example of terror! Two phone calls, and a very good friend miles away called his sister's former boyfriend, we had alcohol to squirt into the compressor intake. Then, the fuel need became again important. The most impossible parking lot even civil engineers couldn't devise. 10 seconds from the pump, A walrus in a RAV4 scooted in & blocked our way. After she filled her tank, she went after the scratch off tickets! We squeezed around her & her car to where the hose would reach. The pig f78king pump had a broken zero. My ZIP code wouldn't key in. Seth disappeared, came back with two cups of coffee, handed me one, climbed in the running truck, & drove away. Half frozen, I amazed myself with my quickness. I managed to pull the nozzle from the truck, still spewing. I tell you now my lungs are very good. I shouted louder than a diesel engine. Aside from 1/2 gallon of diesel all over the side of the truck, & the filling area, no harm done. It's been a long day. I hope we don't have another soon.
....But.... you DID make it home !! take today and tomorrow off
My son/helper called this morning to offer to work Sunday instead of today. I worked 20 years alone & I made do. Truth is, I'm getting older & too often it gets dark before I'm tools picked up when I work alone. He works tomorrow, something he's done since a teenager, some believe he is the best ski tuner in VT. His brother once rivaled him for the honor, then he moved to NY. Seth grumbles: "Who does he think taught him to tune?!!" I respond: "Who do you think taught you?" I won't make him work Sunday, I'm supposed to be charitable at Christmas time.
Quite the adventure Willie! Makes my getting stuck seem dumb!
I don't have many adventures. My baby hoe is sitting in storage. As I pulled the battery out yesterday I yelled at the well hidden rodents, 'sum's-a-beaches'. They were leaving presents on what's left of my seat, . I hate mice & rodents. Maybe my noise scared a few out of the building, doubtful. Bringing the battery back to the shop to maintain / charge it over winter.
Wishful thinking for sure I really worry about them to. Hate that my machine is stuck outside in their playhouse !
Since I sold the Allis I have had need for a machine again, sad to say I am just locked in on the KW too far to just go buy one. Rentals here are HIGH per hour/Day/Week where if keep a month should just buy one. Our electrical service is 1000A, larger pole mount Xfmr with a single meter but three connection ports for 4/4/2 triplex. Currently have the Shop and House attached with a disconnect below the meter for using a Generator Connection at the Third ports. Can only get 50A supply but at that can cycle Heat or AC, Well, run refrigerators and freezers while still manage a few lights. I was 'different' for local installers, as to conduiting all our supply runs to house shop even at the barn rather than just Direct Bury. Current boss recommended I rent one of his machines for awhile when not needed, so far needs at company outweigh any renting to me. Really like the 410Deeres he has.
Farms are supposed to have a central distribution point. Nothing in code requiring conduit underground & if I were working where the ground doesn't freeze, I might consider direct burial. I refuse to do it in VT because a direct buried cable will eventually fail, usually in winter under 5' of frozen ground. My own house, I confess was powered when I had too little money to build it. Only choice was direct burial. Buried it 7' deep in the same trench with the water line, bedded in sand, 41 years so far. As for backhoe, I might consider renting an excavator. I don't choose to own an excavator because of transportation. I can drive a backhoe 20 plus MPH. I have land 3 miles away. Moving an excavator means loading & chaining. It's a two hour commitment to move with a trailer round trip. Then the hill at the land is too steep to tow the heavily loaded trailer. Still would have to walk the excavator 1/2 mile. Another issue with mini excavators is no way to level the house. I've almost never dug anything on level ground. A hoe will level itself to some degree. I also do not like that tracks, even rubber, destroy sod. I can drive all over a lawn on a backhoe.
Thanks Willie, I opted to conduit all the way into house and shop for my own reasoning, do have some loose stone that frost and moisture tend to boil up where bedded in sand is still a requirement regardless, local REA did not have a requirement (State or Local) to localize the metering just is easier to install here as a single meter and transformer. ~200' run to workshop, ~150' to house. Can see renting a excavator but again the cost to a repeated month or months use I would get seriously closer to buying a unit than just renting. BILs farm is 65 miles south of me, easier to haul any machine than to road.
NEC, most states adopt, or amend before adoption. Agricultural code is most stringent, most commonly violated. Central distribution point, required for ag, convenient elsewhere. Conduit below grade is always optional, & always a good idea.
Mine is resting now. I'm feeling pretty accomplished at the moment. Did the 1000 hour service on my JD 310SG. Probably no big deal to the pros out there, but I'm a veterinarian. This is my R&R device. Some people listen to classical music; I clear out brush. Never worked on anything like this before. My normal fluid changes are measured in quarts and liters, not gallons. My filters use wrenches fit on the end of a 3/8" ratchet. Laying on the ground using all my strength to twist off a $70 hydraulic filter the size of an 80mm mortar is a new experience. Took me a couple of afternoons because the mornings were too cold, but I got everything done - engine oil, transmission, hydraulic reservoir, both axles, and the front hubs. Luckily my neighbor has a grading business and the huge catch pans and giant filter wrenches to go with it.
That's funny. Now you can go back to playing Dr. Poe.
Picking up AFTER the backhoe.
Love that grapple!!
Grapple is the shiznits! Have to be careful with this light ass tractor. I have a 1200 lb ballast on the rear so I can pick up 1200 lbs on the front. Was working on a slant in the back this morning and puckered a little.
X2 on the grapple !! ....of course part of my "free workout" is getting out of the cab and hand loading the limbs/twigs/brush... the stuff I just spent time prepping to size with the chainsaw... ... ....then I climb back aboard, grab a swig of sweet ice tea... and off to the burn pile.... which I will not approach with a load to dump while its burning... but thats just a personal thing. A good friend and colleague ( RIP) was responsible for pushing thru the construction of a 'new' baseball field at our HS some 25 years ago.... and to get the admin to bite on funding the project he somehow got the Army Corp to do some of the earthmoving..... he happened to know where they kept the key to one rather large dozer... and he decided to help out by 'turning over' the burn pile they had lit 2 days before... and.... yup... you guessed it... stalled the unit on the pile and could not get it going..... quickly called the local FD ( 1/2 block away) and they got it wet down before major catastrophe. It would be just my luck to stall a machine on/in a burn pile so I pile.... then light it off.
Not so huge a loss, not stolen. My friend was encouraging a very big burn pile with a JD 350C. It had been a marsh tractor with extremely wide tracks, then was refitted with standard tracks. The combination almost worked, until it lost a track in a burn pile.
My hoe just got forked... No, really . I even gave her a can of NH grey @ like $15.00 a can. Had to open up the mounting brackets a tad tho. This setup had a 2 1/4" bar and all I could fine were 2" and smaller. So, I took them to my bandsaw , then smoothed out with a carbide burr. All said and done, I am into them about $200. I really do not like that I cannot see the forks, however, I like less the prospect of having to unload pavers by hand and then carrying them only to unload again. So, these should do the trick. The Craigslist guy that I bought them from, used them to move pavers around for his landscaping company.
Some story T-town....If I ever do the burn thing, be sure your story will be top of mind!
Swetz, I guess it's time for a front facing camera. Some of the ideas I have read are the use of a cordless tool battery adapter and magnetic mount on a wireless camera. A good one with monitor will cost almost as much as your forks. That's a hellofabuy on the forks. T-Town, I never gave a thought of my machine stalling in the fire. I don't suspect I could break the habit of feeding the fire with the tractor though. It makes the task so much easier. I recon I best keep a close eye on my little fuel filter.
Great job Swetz !! Those should work fine for ya.... ...my clamp-ons do a job but they are a pain.... and all my weight is on the bucket edge and my curl cylinder rod ends are stressed.
That sure would work, but your right, would cost a bit. I may look into it in the future tho. It may be helpful for when I am hitching to a trailer too, when not being used with the forks.
Been using something like this for a backup camera in our old snow plow truck. https://www.walmart.com/ip/HD-Digit...rs-SUVs-Pickups-Vans-C/865427198?athbdg=L1700 they work pretty good. You have to make sure it's for forward facing so they're not reversed. stuck mine on the bumper with some magnets.
Awesome info,nova481. NH575E actually said that, but I don't know enough about these cameras to know, but it makes perfect sense. With that in mind, it wouldn't work for both a forward camera and a backup camera...darn, wanted to kill 2 birds with one stone.
I just bought a backup camera that had an option to cut a wire for forward facing. You could just put a switch on the wire to reverse it. Some have the option built into the monitor. I won't recommend the one I bought because it has a super wide angle.
Those look great Swetz, and a good price. I've come very close to throwing a grand away for the Titan, since my clamp-ons are already bent up. You'll have to let us know how you like them. What about something like those pylons they use in the road sometimes? Or something like the long flag poles you see on recumbent bikes. I wonder if you could get something that could be mounted vertically in the ends of your forks that would fold back towards the operator when they engage a pallet... Camera seems easier.
More good info, thanks! I was looking at Titan as well as some others, and when these came along, it was an easy decision. I love my Craigslist finds...cannot seem to get Marketplace to work for me tho?? It is like I am invisible. No one responds when I tell them I want to buy something?? I also have the bolt-on set for my small tractor. They work, but not for pallets of pavers! Still cannot see them either. For now, the quick fix is to only use them when I have another set of eyes to guide me. If that doesn't work out too well, I will look into a camera as NH575E suggested. I was very anxious to get the mounts welded on, just in case I need them, however, I really do not see any need in the near future (at least till spring). I may even revisit the mounts that I welded on. I may gusset them, but for now I have them on, and if needed I could use them.
I know what you mean about marketplace. Flake city. I have recently purchased a boat and a cultivator off it. The boat guy was super flakey and liar extraordinare. I did get a decent deal on both. I also bought a 6 ft box blade with the rippers for 200 bucks off Craigslist last Sunday. I can't believe I got that deal. Even more surprising I got both implements to fit my cat 1 quick hitch with minor adjustments.
I've got to go look! Those look to be mine! The hooks I had on my last Case were OK. This machine wants to have the bucket face down on the ground to use the backhoe, so I'm thinking three receivers, I can pin the hooks in. Do you happen to know who built your forks?
LOL, I hope not...long ride to VT . I read the instructions online for several brands. All wanted them mounted close to the lip on the front bucket. 2 things stopped me from doing that. 1. I have a lifting hook in the middle of the bucket, and close meant removing. 2. the upper lip is set back from the bottom lip, and to be level the the bucket would have to be nearly dumping. I settled on where they are at. I would like to see some pics if you do come up with the receivers, and it works. Would surly allow the bucket to plant face down...Might be hard to install tho??
I don't think hard. My bucket has square tube horizontal along the top edge. Set them on, weld. The hooks might take a bit of torch work.
Worked in a light drizzle today..... some winter?? Had to make a "right turn" on that electric service.... Did not realize that by feeding the meter from underground, I was limiting the location my load side runs to the adjacent panels/disconnects. The utility will not allow any cables to be crossed ( line/load)..... so my initial install had to be taken apart.. My load runs would have 180'd around the bottom of the meter base and then split left and right to top feed the panels. My underground conduit runs from this 'rack' are set so the orientation of the panels could not be changed.... So this is what I came up with.. Bottom right corner of the meter box is the only place I can run from. front ( business side) back.. the conduit bodies dang near bankrupted me Shame to have to not use all that space on the topside of the meter box. Have to drop in the 4" run underground to the future pad transformer..... which is a short run( 2 sections) thank goodness ... and run the cable between the boxes.( 4/0 Al)
Clearing more brush. Blew the hose to the lift side of the boom. Had to run to the next county to get one made at closing time. Gave the guy a $30 tip for waiting for me and working a few minutes late.
Gotta love those blown hoses. I have been replacing mine one at a time as they fail. My machine is old, and so are all of the hoses (at least the ones I've yet to replace). I really need to replace all of the ones where they come out of the control valves, as a couple of them are leaking a little already.
I'm fighting the same fight. The rear hoe controls have some seeping hoses, and I think the valve block might be seeping between sections too. I need to pull it apart, get new hoses made, and possibly re-seal the valve body. I'm not too keen on tearing it all apart just yet though.
Andy, (an extra son, no genetic relation) had seen his grandfather's backhoe years earlier. He had a sentimental attachment to it. He bought it after his grandfather died. It proved to be rough beyond what he thought. The swing tower was destroyed! Worn past the bushings, it all dropped down & deformed the bottom of the swing tower. We welded massive amounts of TIG to build it up to where it could be machined. Andy taught himself to line bore it, built his own rig. We spent several hundred in parts, motor & drive line to revive a big old lathe I had bought years earlier, to make his parts. He had dabbled in lathe work in high school. A complete set of new hoses cost near the value of the Ford 4500. He's got more invested than he should, but has a functional backhoe.
You guys have been doing stuff! Nice! If only it was stuff that wasn't kind of a pain in the butt...
Exactly what I was thinking as I looked at your pics. The good news is once you get over the initial ouch, you will forget when it all works correctly, and, the utility gives it their blessing .
Blown hoses...You know, I have worked on equipment (mostly aerial lifts and diggers for a utility company...some backhoes too) for over 35 years, and never saw the number of hoses blow that are being discussed here. In fact, I built a log splitter 25 years ago that was made from the hoses that were stripped from a aerial lift (bucket truck) before we scrapped it. So, these hoses were about 20 years old 25 years ago, and have never had one blow. To me, this is interesting. On my full size backhoe that is a little over 20 years old, a hose suddenly just started leaking as the tractor was running (wouldn't say blown as it was just dripping). I replaced it ASAP. On my smaller tractor with a loader, one day I started it and raised the front bucket, and I noticed that oil was leaking out through the rubber, mid-length on the hose. I made up a hose, and went back to install. After I installed the hose, as I was testing, another hose on the same side of the loader began to do the same. Off to make another hose. The point of this is that I cannot wrap my hands around what is making these hoses leak. One could reason that perhaps it is the motion that the hoses go through on a backhoe vs an aerial lift or digger, but the hoses I have replaced did not fail where they bend under use...hmmm! Prolly thinking too hard on this...LOL I have been purchasing the flat face O-ring fittings a little at a time for the various ends on my full size backhoe. It is 20 years old now, so I figure I will blow one from time to time.
I'm not a fan of entering the side of any box exposed to weather without a waterproof fitting. I use a Myers style hub, or find another way. Plenty of very competent electricians will argue it doesn't matter if the cut is low on the box. I ALWAYS prefer to enter the bottom.
My hoe had a lot of very worn looking hoses and still has a few. The place I was having make them was using a different brand foreign made hose every time I went. One that went to the crowd cylinder and was right on top failed in 3 years and looked as bad as some of my oldest hoses. I don't remember brand but it was made in Italy. That was a turning point for me. I now have all my hoses made with Gates hose and fittings. The hose that failed in 3 years was subjected to direct sunlight at the highest point but still. I had it wrapped with cover on top of switching brands. I don't think country of origin has everything do do with hoses failing. My grapple has Made in USA Parker hoses on it and the covers are all cracking. We should probably be putting covers on all our hoses to protect them from UV. I had the company I stopped using make all new hoses for the loader on my John Deere. They used Balpac Balflex Shark Skin hose on it. I don't remember the country of origin for those but they look to be holding up great. Somewhere along the way I bought a whole flat face oring assortment. Not sure why because they give me orings with my hoses and the orings themselves never fail.
Definitely a concern with this set up... Thats one of the main reasons this will get a covering ( roof) over the top,,, in addition to the visual value. Do inspectors have an issue with a bit of sealant being used after the fact? .... and a Happy, Healthy New Year to you all..!
I guess it is preasure that makes them leak. I noticed whenever I dig in a hard mainland area , I have a leak, or I work in a hurry on clay. Or Rocks. Happy new year man.
Moving clay today. It is cold, but the heater is working well. I have to turn it off sometimes when the sun is beating on the cab. This temp was just before I started moving the snow from the other day.
Moving more dirt today.
Well done !! I'm amazed you're able to get anything done. I see south of you was getting dumped on by the lake affect.... are you all too far north to get that?? I've camped in the summer up that way a few times... Coles' creek is one.... that valley is a great looking part of the country for sure. Is that your typical soil for the region? Any rocks?? I would think your top is frozen now... no trouble getting through ?
Thank you. Yes. Most of the Lake Effect stays South of us. Coles Creek is nice. So is Jacques Cartier State Park. Plenty of rock. But this use to be a farm many years ago. So many rocks collected and into rows and old fence lines. And a decent amount of topsoil, then clay underneath in a lot of it. I have quite a few large boulders all over property. Some areas have small stone. A few with some flat rock underneath. Top is just now frozen about 2-3 inches. This hoe has no problem with that. I’m trying to get as much done before we get a significant snowfall. Then I’ll be done until a good dry spell after the spring thaw. Hoping I can get a couple more weeks in though. Been fortunate so far.
Love the look of that old CAT! Haven't been working mine much lately. Got it all greased and ordered some isolators for the engine and trans mounts today. Factory mounts were available here and there but nobody had 4 of them. Always looking to save a nickle I bought some by size from McMaster Carr.
Thank you. So do I. And so far, so good. It’s a real workhorse!
Maintenance till spring: installed hinged side windows, fixed steering leak, and then go over all fluids/filters till the ground unthaws. Then it'll be time to dig the stumps out of the house site.
Nice work!
I can't post pictures, my phone is fighting with my computer. I have 8 experts eat at my table, all agree, something is wrong. Today we ventured to one of those jobs where the propane people refuse to cooperate. We had a husband customer panicked about not having a generator, with a wife who has declared it ugly. Wife appears once each day to proclaim our work ugly. The sweetest giant St. Bernard dog ever steps out each day to inject 2 LBS of feces into the mud we wallow in this year. Surprisingly, they are somewhat similar to the family I have. Unpleasant women: "Did you ever meet my mother?" Angry men: "No worse than 50 % of my past customers." Plumbers & gas plumbers still live in the same place in my heart. Today, we also had an 80 year old neighbor generously giving advice how to unload a backhoe. Thank God he was available! I'd have had to go home without his advice. Turns out, it'd be better if we drove in instead of backing in. We should have unloaded on top of his split rail fence, & instead of winter sand, I needed a bigger truck.
Ah "Unpleasant Women", most unpleasantry to come to mind is 300+ pounds of Raw Woman in Spandex Tights waddling across a Room, the thought Two Racoons in a Burlap Feed Sack wrestling for control came to mind.
You digress. This one tiny, 110 Lbs, pretty, blond, 55 years old. Just HATES generators. Has no problem with 4 central air conditioners surrounding her house, but she's deeply offended by a generator hiding in the brush 80 feet away. I think she & her husband should have worked this out first. I myself have been married a very long time, I thank Mrs. B for not being this lady.
Never understood the female aspect of inanimate objects being acceptable or not based on a look. Not much difference a Box AC or a Box Generac. Then the advantage, the AC, among other equipment will not run in a power outage without the Generac.
Working/skidding out the old dead trees for firewood and using the thumb to keep from bending over with the chainsaw to cut the logs. Best invention around for wood cutting-the backhoe. Now I still wonder about those splitters that fit on the hoe end?
I'm a failure at finding again, but You tube has a clip about a guy removed his bucket, built a very simple splitter. He demonstrates, It works perfectly. He splits large rounds down to where they are twice the desired size, then splits last time over the trailer. Pretty impressive I say!
Hey Willie B...a little help from a friend
This website also provides information about hydraulic pump parts https://shop.denama.ir/product-tag/hydraulic-pump-parts
I'd like to get one of those titan thumbs for my TLB. There's a guy with a YouTube channel called mantime who shows how to install and use one. Pretty cool.
I am, it seems, shut down now for the cold season. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to navigate the driveway hills with no effort. We had a couple of inches a week back or so followed by a good coating of ice.... so much that the 'yard' has expansion cracks like a pond gets. Made for some tricky walking up until this week with enough of a thaw to unglaze that stuff. Anyway, no plowing gets done on my future drive during the winter due to no need to access the property. And my BIL's next door so I can walk onto the site. We are supposed to get a plowable dump Sun night. But..... I was able to finish my electric service project.... and called an inspector to get that complete for the power company and the guy came out that day.... within a couple hours! Now I will "get on the list" for the pad transformer and should be good to get energized in the early spring..... whenever I can get the trench opened up without causing too much of a mess.
Oh. I need one of those.
Speaking of firewood. Had a big alder come down in a snow storm that we had a couple of weeks ago, that also took out a couple of doug fir poles. A good start to next winter's firewood supply.
Thank you, that's the one. A friend rigged a normal wood splitter to a backhoe. it works...sort of, but kind of cumbersome. This thing looks like a better system. The geometry tells me it lacks the 15000 LBS of push my 3 point splitter has.
Nice work!
Pretty slow process when you are the backhoe operator, splitter operator, wood loader, and wood stacker. It would probably go 3 times as fast with two people. I ended up wasting so much time switching from one task to another that my splitter ran out of gas before I got the pickup fully loaded. Had to throw in a picture of my wood cutting partner. He's not much help, but he's a great supervisor.
My retired neighbor/friend pulled the batteries out of my CAT 426 and left them on my front porch for me today. She didn’t want to start even with heater plugged in for over four hours. I brought them in when I got home from work for a bit and put them on the charger one at a time. Seems the batteries didn’t like the -12 F and strong wind overnight. Why I didn’t park it in the barn last night is beyond me. I could of had it out of the wind and a tender on the batteries. Lesson learned. Luckily that work that was going to be worked on today can be done whenever. It will be there when I get to it.
Just make sure the batteries aren't frozen when you charge them.
My hoe is inanimate! I hoped to get firewood from the shed, move some generators, move driveway sand to the garage before snow tonight. Yesterday, I started it. The engine has a grid heater in the intake. After a few seconds of that, it started instantly. I let it warm up at 1000 RPM, & moved some other vehicles. Ten minutes later an alarm was going off. The Stop sign displayed on the instrument panel. A symbol with a crankcase, above a wedge, an arrow down the ramp. I've searched service & operator's manuals, can't find that symbol. Seth thinks Too low RPM. Today there are 13 codes. Hydraulic filter blocked. Unknown Error Water sensor check failed. This part has been ordered since September. Fuel Metering unit; #1 injector pressure too high. Another Fuel Metering. Oil pressure sensor fault. Not to be confused with low oil pressure. Fuel sending unit, Also back ordered since September. Water in fuel, See above failed water sensor. Charge pressure switch closed, no frequency input to trax connector. Others old faults related to shift problems now seemingly resolved. This is a 2014 Case 580 Super N. It's pre DEF. I've had four other older backhoes over the years, nothing this complicated!
Ugh. This backhoe usually starts and runs no problem. Even when it’s colder. But I left it out in that wind. I think that wind was bad news for those batteries. They were on the side the wind was coming from. After charging them one at a time last night my retired neighbor/friend put them in this morning and it started. (I had to work this weekend.) Started hard as it was -13 overnight. But I left it plugged in overnight too. He said the starting aid really helped. A quick hit of that switch inside next to the key has helped a couple times. I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32? Or you get it warmed up even warmer than that by other means.
How would I know if they were frozen or not when everything is that cold? - teens Not being sarcastic. Trying to learn.
A charged, or partially charged battery will not freeze in cold. A discharged, or dead battery might freeze. Frozen batteries might get puffy. Or open the vents to see if liquid is frozen. I think I had never heard there was hazard in charging a frozen battery. I thought it just wouldn't take charge. Yes, 50% of trouble calls with standby generators involve a frozen battery. When they are too old, they won't take charge. Sometimes the battery charger in the machine fails. Another sometimes, the starter is damaged. Not an absolute, but a new battery every four years certainly statistically improves charger & starter life. I'll watch this thread to learn more.
"I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32?" I can't yet say. Temp here peaked at 14 degrees. I bought a block heater for it but haven't yet installed it. Meanwhile I put two 500 watt magnetic heaters on the oil pan. After a couple hours it started, ran fine, only the usual alarms; engine service overdue (only today have I learned to reset after service). Each time I move the tractor fuel level sensor alarms, and each time seat isn't latched full forward or reverse. Emergency brake seems ALWAYS in alarm. It either wants to be on or off. I'm very accustomed to alarms. I think of it like a nagging wife. All those alarms, a back up alarm, and a heater fan on high makes nearly the same noise. I wear ear plugs.
Wow. Time to figure some of dat **** out.
Man, if you lived close to me, I would offer to straight trade you for my 1980ish Ford 555. All of your alarm issues would be gone. I am a mighty generous fellow that way.
These alarms go on until corrected. Fuel sensor & filter water sensor are failed parts. I ordered new parts in September, they have been back ordered since. There was a problem with shifting into first gear. It now shifts reliably, I had the dealer clear the code months ago, but they came up again. It seems I haul the machine 140 miles round trip, or pay a mobile mechanic travel time to clear codes, then they flash again, or others. This machine clearly was intended for a full time factory trained, factory tooled mechanic.
I think of that. I had a 1988 Case 580K, and a 1991 John Deere 410C. Good machines, both. I had in mind I was getting more power, fewer repairs, better features. What I got was a thousand electronic gremlins nobody can fix.
Easiest way to see if they are frozen is remove the caps and look into the cells. A frozen battery won't take a charge and I have seen more than one explode. Wind chill has nothing to do with actual temperature. It is a fake number. Just what the temp. "feels" like on your skin. Wind will cause heat to transfer faster but the temp is the same with or without wind. If your batteries are 4 or 5 years old they are at the end of their life. Also if a standard, not a deep cycle, lead acid battery ever goes below 10 volts it will never again hold 100% of it's capacity. It will almost surely fail prematurely too. The cold does two things to make cranking difficult, first is a cold battery has less capacity than a warm one, and your engine has increased friction. Both these thing contribute to a slow crank.
Thank you for info. Appreciate it. These two batteries were able to get it started in the very cold temperatures yesterday morning. They are large, Caterpillar batteries with 09/19 on them.(Not sure who makes them for Caterpillar) So 3 years and 4 months. Don’t know when actually bought and put in machine. It still cranked hard, but I had left the machine plugged in overnight. Neighbor did hit it quick with the starting aid switch and said it probably wouldn’t have started without it. I’m going to go plug it in now and let it warm up a few hours. Lots of snow coming down that will need cleaning up. Luckily for me I’m off today and tomorrow.
Charging a frozen battery is outright dangerous... My boss tells me to go outside and jump start a truck. I go out with the pickup truck and a startall (well before the modern day jump packs, this thing is a engine driven high amp charging unit to charge and jump start diesel engines). I put the cables on the truck, of course after removing the drivers step. She no start! So, I leave the startall on the truck for about 10 min. I come back out, climb in the cab, and turn the key...only to be welcomed to the sound of a great explosion. I saw plastic flying out from the side of the truck...You guessed it, unbeknownst to be, the battery was frozen, and wasn't happy about being charged, and let me know! Well, after cleaning my skivvies, I was unhurt because the battery was in a location that was kinda under the truck, so no acid or plastic hit me. 2 batteries later, the truck fired up. Winter time and dead batteries = frozen!
You can also get battery warming blankets. They help with getting full CCA out of them in really cold weather.
Many OE car manufacturers actually put a blanket around the battery from the factory. Not electrical, most times. Problem is many "mechanics" take them off when they change the battery, and toss them.
I can't "like" a post when you almost blow yourself up. That's scary.
This can happen frozen or not when you fast charge a battery and create a spark over it. Most likely one of the cable connections arced and set off the fumes. Had one blow in my face years ago in the middle of summer. It was caused by an old battery charger that had a volt meter in it. Meter caused a spark when I disconnected the cables. Needless to say the volt meter got disconnected after that. I have never before or since seen a battery charger with an analog volt meter. Amp meter yes. Volt meter might be okay as long as it was switched off before connecting or disconnecting. This stupid thing read voltage as soon as the cable was connected.
She is working great. Snow duty!….. Power plus weight is always impressive.
I have also seen a battery blow up from overcharge...This one goes back to the good ole days when the regulator was not computer controlled. They were a separate part of the system, and failed often, although they were not expensive to replace. In this case the regulator failed and was overcharging the vehicle. I will never forget the odder that the battery made, like rotten eggs. This was like 40 years ago too. In the case of the frozen battery, I was not overcharging the battery. As I was told, sometimes the battery plates touch when the battery freezes making a dead short, causing the creation of gas, when the batteries are charged.
Forecast for this week calls for several days of -20s. AccuWeather says Friday may be low of -30.
Pretty nice view from that job
Wow! Beautiful Keith!
Sweet !! Million $$ view for sure. Has me wondering.... ..where do these folks get their water?? ... is this a residential build site?
This job was on city water and sewer. I did another job in Sedona last year near Bear Mountain which was out in the forest and they had a well. We are on a well here in cottonwood and its about 300' deep. And yes that was a custom home. Land up there is really pricey!!!
This was the jobsite where I had my first real job once I got my backhoe and started my LLC. That was 2 years ago I was 16 then. It ended up being a pretty fun job, I did the site work and helped the owner builder frame it. I learned a lot.
Learning a lot is always great... and is typically a load of fun too! It's nice to see a young man, such as yourself, in business for themselves. Stay safe ..
Nice machine there Keith! Happy for you. I use to own a 2009 Deere 310J with a cab with heat and a/c. I got a bunch of work done with it in about 400 hours or so and sold it for almost what I had into it. Lost a few hundred bucks I guess. But they are very nice machines.
I spent 3 hours in the CAT 426 this morning. 3-1/2 yesterday. We must have received 14-15” of snow with that storm. Cleaned everything up, pushing banks back, scraping driveways down best I could. Good shape now. We are expecting 2-4” more tomorrow. So I figured I might as well get things ready for the next big one. Hopefully it won’t come along at all! I wish my backhoe was working with dirt instead of this.
That sounds pretty nice. If mine had the cab and an extendahoe I would have kept it. I was doing a lot of footings, trenching, septics, concrete prep, and brush clearing for new residential construction out here so I opted for the Mini and CTL in the end. That was a 2007 310J 6600 hrs when I bought it in Feb 2020 for $17,600. I then sold it with 6980 hrs this most recent summer for $30,000!! But I had taken it to the dealer to get aux hydraulics plumbed for $5800. How are you liking the 426?
So far, so good. Cab with heat. Extend-a-hoe. HeavyEquipmentForums Nice for winter work up here. Blew one hydraulic line on it. Replaced it. Good to go. Many of the hydraulic lines have been replaced. But, I’ve only owned it for a few weeks, so we will see.
Frozen batteries come from batteries that aren't charge enough, as voltage drops in a battery the temperature it freezes at increases. A battery fully discharged can freeze at 32 degrees, a battery at 20% depth of discharge can handle down to 40 below zero C/F before freezing.
The dozer batteries were manufactured just over 6 years ago Placed in service almost 6 years ago. They live in hot or cold as the weather brings. It hadn't been started in two months. It turned over a bit, but didn't start. I charged them on two different chargers, then tested. Neither was delivering its rated CCA. One is 100 under, the other is 150 under. Neither was frozen, both took charge. I don't know if I've ever actually charged a frozen battery. Lots of times I've attempted to charge a dead battery, without success. I can't say I've heard of one exploding because it was frozen, though, I've never tried over a 10 amp rate.
I never heard of frozen batteries exploding either in that manner, seen them crack open from being frozen. Technically you should start off with .10C to .15C which is tenth of it's rated AH based on 20hr rating, the starting off is called the bulk phase which max based on the formula I gave is bulked in, next is absorb phase in which the amps drop down to absorb amperage/voltage, then towards the last 10 percent it goes into float which is around the 10 amps or less depending size of the battery since lead has a lot of resistance of what it will take. In my opinion the battery was getting a high charge causing it to start off gassing hydrogen sulfide, a spark was created and someone ended up schitting their pants.
I have heard a frozen battery explode that way. I was a kid and have not always lived in the sunny south. While at my best friends house we heard the explosion and ran, toward it. There were jumper cables on some old farm junk and his dad was in bad shape. Arms waving, to his face and then away struggling. Man working with him grabbed him by the arm. They ran through the snow like Donner and Blitzen ( Thunder and Lighting ) to a water spicket with the underground cut off valve. They were both all in the water for awhile. Then they went half speed to the house. Pops ended up OK. We went and looked at he battery. Most of the top was gone and the inside was a block of ice. Never take battery safety for granted.
I never knew what went wrong. I had a two battery in parallel system on a camper. I was putting a new floor in it. First opening in spring. I brought the batteries up from the cellar probably 60 degrees F. Put them on the trailer that has its own charging system. I normally charge batteries one at a time with a battery charger, better control of charge rate. This time I didn't. Probably 14 hours later, I happened to be walking past, one popped. Made a Hell of a loud noise, but the whole battery didn't explode. It was misshapen from pressure, I never did find the three hole cap, might be some distance away.
It was -23 this morning. I plugged the 426 heater in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours before attempting to start. I also put a slow charge on the batteries overnight. This charger goes into maintaining mode once it gets them to full charge. About two hours before starting I also covered it with a large tarp I left in a double layer. And plugged in a small, standing electric radiator type heater under the tarp. By the time I tried to start it the temperature was just below zero. Success! It started hard, but it started. I moved some snow I wanted gone from an area I wanted to access without having to fight snow that is 14” deep. Tomorrow I am going to bring the tarp all the way to the ground by going to a single layer. It’s a big tarp. I think I can wrap it better that way and try starting it earlier. It’s suppose to be -23 to -29 at 6AM depending on what forecast I am looking at.
gasifier , You folks are way tougher than I am. How do you keep animals from freezing to death?
The wife has a heat lamp in with the chickens. I’m sure that’s “good” for our electric bill. The horses have thick coats that come in for winter. Doesn’t seem to bother them much, they hang closer together too, but it still has to be cold. This morning…
Gas, do you have a plug to warm fuel. Or you simply use winter type of fuel, do you add anything to a fuel tank. When it is too cold here we put a warm lamp into a tank, or pour some gas in to make it thinner.
No plug for fuel. Just plug in heater for coolant. I haven’t done anything yet. But was the diesel ever thick pouring into tank yesterday! I have heard that they do switch to a “winter blend” at the stations here though. I’m not sure what they do to it. Maybe what your talking about? Thinning?
In winter weather the fuel you use in summer will gel & in extreme cold it'll form wax gobs. The traditional prevention is cut it with kerosene. Kerosene is expensive & engines have less power on it. There are other additives that also do the job. Also, ice crystals can be a problem, clog the filter. Additives help with that also.
All this talk of warming engines reminds me of my teenage days. My first motorcycle was a Triumph 650 Bonneville. One time in winter my car wouldn't start so I needed to ride the bike to work. It had 50wt oil in it and wouldn't kick over. I started a couple of charcoal briquettes in a pan and slid it underneath the bike to warm up the oil. Worked like a charm.
What a beautiful bike they were, those were the day's my friend.
It can be hard having parents that lived through the depression sometimes. Dad said he is taking my tire to town and have a boot put in it. A buddy of mine was arguing with his dad. We were at the hardware store and 1/4 flat washers were 1 1/2 cents each. You questioned that. YES THEY ARE 1 1/2 CENTS EACH. There is no way! That is more than a penny. YES THEY ARE A PENNY AND A HALF EACH. Well I will not pay that. I will go home and drill holes in pennies before I pay that for a 1/4 inch flat washer. OK BUT THEY ARE 1 AND 1/2 CENTS EACH. We went home and you made me clamp pennies in the vice and drill holes in them. " I did not " ! Oh yes you did. I remember that very well!
My hoe, last night, was moving more rocks. The path from the end of my driveway to where the barn is going is now frozen rutted mud. I've never experienced something so bumpy! I stayed in 1st gear, with the brakes on a fair amount, due to how crazy bumpy everything is. A lot of the mud, by the gravel pile, is very smooth and slippery, so it's been tough digging into the pile with the loader.
Dad would save old nails, straighten them & reuse them. "The day may come you'll need a nail & can't afford it." I'd argue, "If I can't afford a nail, I can't afford the board." I do have a tire on a tractor with loader looks about that bad. It hasn't gone flat yet, & about all the tractor does is split wood these days. It looks like a recap? ribs are separating from the casing. Been that way 25 years. Valve stem rubber separated from the steel center about 15 years ago. I grabbed a roll of electrical tape, it hasn't lost a pound of air since. Ten years ago, the cheap "new" rears it came with in 1987 when I bought it were cracked. Tube squeezed out through the crack, I bought liners from Gemplers, about $100. They sufficed until we did a two tractor upgrade last year. New tires went on newest tractor, tires with torn tread where a city boy's girlfriend acquired the tractor in a real estate deal. He didn't know about three point hitch sway chains. Those tires went on the old tractor, good enough to split wood.
My 426 is going to sit another day. Charged the two batteries and when I pulled them out to do so I found a couple of connection issues. Fixed those and it is up and running. At the real job for a couple of 12s, so hopefully I’ll get to play again soon.
Too cold, didn't have time to take pictures of my chore this morning. I had a 300 gallon boiler tank I picked up 3 years ago for a project that isn't going to happen. So, I listed it and ended up with a serious buyer from out of state. Tank weighs 1500 pounds +/-, so I can't use the bobcat to handle and load on buyers trailer. We scheduled for this morning for transaction. I pulled batteries out of backhoe, brought them inside heated shop and charged then up. This morning, I ran out 60 ft of electrical cord to the block heater and plugged it in about 8am. At 9am, I drive my truck with the charged batteries over to it, install batteries (6 volt in series). Block still feels cold, coolant lines are warm, tube heater is cooking. It was about 5deg last night, an hour wasn't enough. Go find a can of ether before attempting. Give air filter a spritz, crank and nothing. Click click click. Voltage meter shows batteries down to 5 volts now. Hook up truck to starter and then we were able to jump it. Let it warm up, plow snow with bobcat to make a trail. Move backhoe next to tank, get it hooked up and hoisted. Now in stuck. Tank took too much weight off rear tires and they're just spinning on the snow. Dig out chains and chain up one tire, buyer is here and watching. Lock rear diff, and successfully get tank loaded without and issues. Get done and park it and notice a small coolant drip under backhoe. Not sure where that's coming from, but now I have something else to resolve, on top of getting new batteries and replacing a funky looking battery cable.
Glad that worked out for you. Hope you got a good price for it. Sounds like $750 worth of work just to load it.
Plowing some snow today. Backhoe worked good and no issues..lol..8 do need to start covering up the front grill..my battery was completly covered in snow that had blow in..still started no problem tho .
Erecting a flagpole!
Should of strapped it to the backhoe bucket instead, a lot more easier to maneuver into the hole. I did my poles on my pole barn this way 20' long.
No, way too fragile for that. 35' pole .125" wall thickness that only weighs 100 lbs bends very easy. Have to handle it very carefully. This isn't like installing iron pipe. Also the diameter is 5" and the pipe ID was 5.75. Only way to install that flagpole with a backhoe properly was the way I did it.
Turned out pretty nice.
I was hoping you would share a pic of old glory doing her thing...TY
Spent 4 hours ripping out sweetgums this afternoon. Now to cut them up and grapple to burn piles. Ran the AC the whole time and hoe remained steady on temp.
I'll be lucky to even think about using AC before June... We had 37°F and sunshine on Wednesday and it felt glorious. We've had a cold, bitter wind ever since and got another 4" snow yesterday morning. Supposed to get down to 6°F tomorrow. Then temps are all over the chart for next week. My hoe is sitting under a blanket of snow and ice at the moment, needing new batteries and a coolant leak sorted out.
Air plane tire is great. Thimble full of coolant from pan after a few weeks instead of years is not good.
LOL. I broke a sweat vacuuming my truck today in jeans and a T-shirt in the driveway - mid 60's high. However we do have a chance of snow tonight... winter in the South.
JL what ball park is that?
We had 45 degrees at home in South Western Vermont yesterday. Drove from here to Saranac Lake NY yesterday. There it was 23 degrees with gusts to 30 MPH. One DID want plenty of winter clothes to spend time outdoors.
North East PA was similar in respect to the wind. I just did inside projects. I have a million outside projects ready to go when it gets nice .
A small spot in the road, Remlap AL. Home of the Southeastern HS Mustangs.
That's Palmer spelled backwards. . We did the O'Reilly Auto in Pinson and the Zaxby's in Oneonta. I've been through Remlap several times.
Cool, we could meet up in Oneonta for lunch some time. 2 Amigos is some pretty good Mexican. You live near here?
We live in Shelby County and work all over the B'ham area. If we're going to have lunch in Oneonta I gotta go to Charlie B's for the chocolate cake. Closest thing to Grandmas!
We can do that too, I know the owner.
My Loader Backhoe has been mostly sitting over the last few weeks. Been cold out. Besides digging up my septic tank for a pump out the other day. Ran great and made the job soooo much easier!
You dug out your septic tank with the backhoe for pumping? I let the pump guys open mine. Takes them 10 minutes to locate and open the access hatch.
Just dug up the top. My hatch is covered with a sheet of steel over a wooden box. About 18-24” of dirt over it. Takes me about 10 minutes. Find steel, move rest of dirt off it. Flip steel cover off. Hook chain on steel handle in concrete and lift it up with hoe.
When you can't find a processor for your steer, you do it yourself. And use the hoe for the heavy lifting. This guy has been on a waiting list at 4 different processors for over 6 months. He isn't gaining anymore, and my freezer is almost bare. He was well cared for over the last 18 months, and he'll take care of our family for the next 12-18 months.
Well done Colson! What's all that white stuff??
Do you cut it? I've never done a beef, but venison & pork, any number of times. I'm not so into all the fancy cuts. Steak is steak, roasts are roasts, tenderloin is easy, the rest is stew beef or Hamburg. I have friends with a great venison system: They take ten deer a year from their farm. Quarter the deer, freeze it. End of season the frozen quarters are bandsawn into 1" cross section cookies, and rewrapped. When it's time to cook it is partially thawed & bone & fat are cut away. Even if it is to be hamburger, it grinds nicer with some frost in it.
Yes, I will do final processing and packaging as well. This is the first beef I have done. I have done several pigs, chickens, and deer so it's not a completely new skill. As for cuts, I like to break down into fairly large pieces and freeze. Lots of roasts/burger, good steaks, brisket. We dont generally eat a lot of steak, but we go through the roasts and burger quite fast. Thank you. The white stuff just wont go away and they're calling for more of it at the end of the week again.
My grandfather was a butcher, my dad, on two different stages of life cut meat. They were absolute that beef HAD to hang in a cold place a week. Grandfather was born 1878. He was 40 by the time he enjoyed refrigeration, he lived on a farm on the outskirts of a village, rented space in the basement of the "hotel" for his meat market. The village got electricity 1917. His home 1/2 mile away didn't get a power line until 1938 under Roosevelt's "RURAL ELECTRIFICATION" program.
That looks like quite the slab of beef @colson04 , good stuff! I'd love to have a quarter cow in the freezer.
How 'bout a pic of a deer hangin from the Deere... A fellow educator... RIP.... an 'old school' kinda guy.. shot his doe and being the frugal guy he was, hung it in a tree to butcher himself as was his custom. But that Dec was warm and he was concerned about the temp. He brought the meat into the school shop on a sunday and proceeded to use the wood shop band saw.... which quickly gummed up and broke.... so he picked up his meat and went home... forgetting to 'clean up'. When the wood shop teacher got into work that monday... he was greeted by a site that shop teachers have nightmares about. Blood and tissue everywhere... We still smile when that story gets re-told..... but that was "Coach"....
I always carved my deer up in pieces small enough to fit in coolers. I would leave the drain open and just keep topping up the ice for a couple of weeks. Took all the gamey taste out. Been a long time since I hunted so now it's what ever they sell at the market.
Although the thread title is "What's Your Hoe Doing " I thought this was interesting ! This isn't a backhoe accident, but a loader operation that went wrong when amateurs do stupid things. If there is a notch in the tree it wasn't cut correctly.
Wow, someone went for a wild ride!
Photo shopped. I call BS.
That's the strongest barber shop chair I ever seen a tree do. I use to use a bandsaw to my deer now I just fillet it. Kind of like rabbits, I use to chop back legs off, nah just get meat off the bone and when time to cook or eat you aren't fighting them and gives me more room in the freezer.
@Tinkerer if that's real it's nuts!
I've known two people killed when a big tree barber chaired. In both cases they were ash trees 36" diameter breast high. In both cases they were on steep mountain sides. That tree grew on flat ground, it is a little tree. The stump is old, black already. The box cut wrong side of the tree. The tree is little & it broke in a strange place for a barber chair. I'm not buying it. Not enough energy to hoist the tractor.
I've always heard ash & oak trees lean to receive more sun. I doubt trees think it through. I think sun produces growth on the side of the tree it shines more. More growth equals more weight. The tree leans to the heavy side. Certain trees split easily, I think ash & oak.
I'm with Willie on this..... that stump and log ( 1st 10') don't seem to match.... looks odd to my eye. And whats got that loader by the snout does not seem to be the correct length for the "chair"
This guy thinks its real and has some more pictures and video of it.
Now I see, where all those bisons disappeared. How much is it for pound folks.
Playing in the snow . She's stuck.
Yikes !! No frost in the ground ??
It's almost 50°F outside. The snow is a lot deeper and the sidehill I'm on is a lot steeper than the picture shows. My front end is hung up and the back end wants to slide to the right and go down the hill. I shut it down, will wait until my dad is available to help me get it free. I'll use the bobcat to plow out a path and the hook a chain and give her a tug.
Yuck Colson!
Did you try moving it over with the hoe? The only time I stuck mine I had to use the hoe to pick it up and move it over.
Yeah, I tried that and kept sliding to the downhill side where there is nowhere to go. It drops off quick to the right side of machine and goes down to a pond. Everytime I would pick the back end up with the hoe, the machine would instantly slide. I gave up and parked it. I can wait till it freezes and probably drive it out of there.
That was my issue last time I got stuck too, but it doesn't look quite as bad as yours colson. I was next to the creek where it stays wet and every time I got close to out the big tires would just slide back into the ruts or closer to falling in the creek (which is only a foot or so deep), no fun.
you probably already tried it, but pushing it with the bucket tilt can get you out in reverse little by little. Even reaching out at the same time and pulling with the hoe?
More tractor work that didn't involve the hoe. I wanted something smaller than my full size backhoe to pull small trees or posts. I considered buying one of the side puller options but didn't have enough need to justify it. I made this adapter for my grapple so I can pull small trees with my small tractor. It is just constructed of pieces of 3" channel iron and bolted to one of the grapple clamps. I didn't know how much if any interference it might have on normal grapple use so I made it removable. Pay no attention to the ugly welds. I'm a gorilla welder on a good day and I made no attempt to make this thing pretty.
seems to work like a charm!
9” last night 18” tonight
Looks like you have it under control!
That's a good pile of snow!
Plowed the 9” with the skid. Left some areas for later. 18+ is a bit much for the little tractor. (Skid) Cleaned things up a bit tonight with another 3”. Some places I can’t stack any higher. Going to have to spend a couple hrs over the weekend with the bucket trying to make bigger piles. Is there a thread “How much have you shoveled this year “
What's the update on the mud monster ate the backhoe situation? I think I saw this on one of those Creature Double Feature things when I was a kid, along with Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra.
Still sitting out back. I've been working out of town this week so I haven't had time to think about it. I'll head out back tomorrow and dig it out first thing while everything is still frozen.
I have two sons, I have extras who came as friends of my sons, never completely left. I have land, spots are prone to muddy conditions based on time of year. One day, years back, Mrs. B wanted to take a walk. I had something I wanted to look at at "the Land". We drove three miles to it, but didn't want to rut the road up, so we walked in instead of driving. There were fresh tracks R4 tread. I thought it curious, but we have adjoining property whos owners share the road. As we approached I could hear a diesel engine. Then I could hear voices. Sure enough, There was my pickup door handle deep in mud. #1 son & an extra son were hoisting the entire rear of the truck with the backhoe & dragging it back 5 feet at a time. They'd move the hoe & lift again. A year or more later, they were into mud bogging. A spot I've considered putting a pond seems to have an underground water source. They were always rooting around in it. Andy (extra son) wanted to borrow the backhoe. His extremely lifted F250 was 4' deep in the slop. I dug a trench all around three sides of him, then lifted it uphill to extract it.
Just need bleachers and a concession stand. Could possibly quit your job and and only work three days a week.
Got my backhoe out of the mud this morning. The snow melted down over the week and everything was froze pretty solid this morning. I used my bucket and stabilizers to make sure my tires were all free and kicked my back end over a tread width or so. Locked in the diff lock and drove right out. Here's a couple pics that show the sidehill better. It dropped off 8 feet or so over 60ft and gets steeper once you get off the tillable field.
I have 4wd in my hoe butt I still mill the diff lock i have in my tractor. I leave it in 4x4 all the time on account of my steeper terrain. I wish i had the lock. It saves the wear & tear on the 4wd parts.
Can you explain? I've not yet used the diff lock. I know that you use it to keep the wheel without traction from spinning, but how does it save wear and tear on the 4wd parts?
Hard to imagine you don't have one. Get out your operator's manual. Most manuals tell you to not engage it when you are already stuck. I'm careful to engage, then gently apply power each direction before making it do its job. Every hoe I've ever operated had a foot pedal near the seat base. My current hoe has a button on the loader control to engage it.
The differential lock is usually a switch on the floor you press with your foot. It locks the rear differential together so that both rear wheels are doing the same speed and can not slip independently of the other. In adverse conditions where one wheel begins to slip causing inability to continue movement, locking the differential can be the difference between being stuck, or continuing on with your work. Learning to use it effectively is essential on a 2wd tractor if you want to be productive in most conditions. It is not as essential on a 4wd unit as the front end is helping maintain traction and momentum in same conditions as a diff lock would be used. That said, if you find yourself spinning one back wheel and not the other with 4wd engaged, locking the rear diff will make a difference. I use it every spring doing tillage work in our 4wd tractors, especially pulling up hills. It helps keep the tractor pulling straight and maintain traction. I also use it a lot on my 2wd backhoe. On my Deere 310A, it is a mechanically engaged switch, depressed by your left heel. To keep it engaged, you keep pressing on it. Starting in the 80s or 90s, most manufacturers switched to electrically controlled differential locks. The ag tractors on the farm have a small diff lock electrical switch on the floor near the center of the column that you just tap with your toe. This locks the rear differential together and keeps it locked until you depress a brake peddle.
Also, if it's not obvious, you don't want to try turning much with the diff lock engaged as turning will slow down your back wheels independently. If your diff lock is engaged while turning you'll be fighting the turn and screeching your tires like nuts. Every once in a while I'll flip it on on my little mower tractor and forget and it doesn't feel right when turning, then I remember.
Nope. I I know the newer jcbs are equipped with an lsd. Not sure about the older ones like mine. I'm going to look into it. But I like a good manual diff lock.
Remember though, as soon as you call in a steering brake the dif lock disconnects.
LSD seems like it'd be pretty handy if it worked properly. My car, now, has some babysitters like this and when I first got the car and didn't understand what the LSD did and the traction control I felt like a superstar ripping through corners, then I learned that the car was making corners easier for me.
Yeah, there were people advocating for LSD way back in the 1070's too. Lol
I drove two wheel drive vans working new home construction in Vermont 30 years. I HATED limited slip differentials, but loathed locker differentials. Mostly you slip going uphill. In most cases, a driveway has pitch up/down, but also to the side. A standard differential spins only one rear tire. The other preserves its traction to keep you on the road. Without a locking differential, I'd put chains on in the middle of the driveway where it was plowed. With a locker, I had to shovel snow half hour to get to one rear wheel. It'd every time swing the tail of the truck into the snow bank. In a tractor it is very different. A manual locker is a very useful tool. I'm undecided about value in an automatic limited slip.
Willie, that's a good point. The babysitters on my car made it almost impossible to get out of my driveway on our last snow and I'd forgotten that I can turn them off. With them on the tires would slip and the babysitters you limit that slippage so the car wouldn't do more than about 1500 rpm through the unplowed driveway, when really it needed to have a fair amount of slip so I could move the snow with my tires. I made it out but it was much more of a struggle than if I'd remembered to let the car gain some speed and really move through.
Yeah, my current van is four wheel drive converted. It began 2 WD & has stabilitrack & some other gadget, along with locking differential. I'm always in 4x4 when the road is slippery, so I don't mind the locking differential with it, but sometimes I notice I'm not moving. Front wheel(s) spinning, rear offering no assistance. I have to turn off both the traction control devices to continue up the hill. Then I am truly four wheel drive.
Anyone have a long-ish term review of the Titan Over-the-bucket Forks ? I've seen them mentioned a bunch and I need to replace the clamp-ons with something decent. I managed to bend the crap out of a clamp-on when it got jammed into the dirt while trying to move some logs. I'd really rather a set of forks, significantly more expensive, that didn't do that. I'll likely try to find a camera to see them as well. If Titan isn't the way to go what are more options for more robust? I like the kind that are attached to the bar that I can just drive into. I don't think I'll get as lucky as I think Swetz was above...
I bought mine with a backhoe. I don't know the brand. Mine has a 2" rod, & it is bent. Verticals are 4" square tube. Forks are 4" X 2" channel. One is bent slightly. I can't tell much from the photo, but I feel a full sized machine like yours wants bigger.
I got these from Titan and like them. https://www.palletforks.com/skid-st...allet-forks-6000-lb-capacity/COFHD-GROUP.html And they are built plenty tough enough, but the design of my bucket means I have to set them up just right. If I would have had the time, money, and welding capabilities, all of which were short when I got mine. I would of gone with the setup your looking at. I have no issues with mine from a manufacturing/quality standpoint, easily lifts 4,000 pounds when I have them set up right.
LOL, true story...this weekend I wanted to use my tractor and the forks were previously left on it. So, and because it is usually easy to remove them, I drive over to an out of the way place to take them off. As I go to roll the bucket forward, it wont go. Turns out that the auto leveling system is frozen (the rod in the tube was frozen as it was 15 degrees wed. night). So, I say, the heck with it and leave them on, and go to work with the backhoe. Somehow the rod partially unhooked and came out. I tried to get it back on, without luck. I went back to working with the hoe. When I spun around, I see that somehow I had bent this 2 1/4" rod. By this time the sun had warmed up the auto leveling tube and defrosted it. So I took them off, and have a job for another day of getting them straight again...NOTE TO SELF...don't leave the forks on the machine, dummy!
Man, that's tough to hear all the way 'round! Willie- I think these are solid "L" shaped forks which seem, to me, to be much more robust than the channeled or square tube. I used to operate real forklifts and have never seen one bend but I'd never used one in the same manner I would a loader with forks on it. Black_Cirrus- I have the 4k lb. version of those and in one day, lifting logs, I'd bent the crap out of the thick parts. I tried wailing away on it with a BFH and I couldn't get them to bend back, like at all. I did it by accidentally digging into the ground with it, so it's totally my fault but it made me unhappy. Swetz- Boo to bending the rod. That's the part I would've thought would be crazy tough and no problem... Now, I'm not sure what to think. I don't want to spend 1000 bucks, after spending the couple hundred on the clamp-ons, if they are going to also get bent up. Next option is to buy a skid steer with forks, and that ain't happening!
Aighead, I wouldn't be afraid of a pair of over the bucket forks. My problem was an anomaly, and is repairable. They will lift fine I think. I agree that real forks are the best. The only time I have seen a forklift fork bend is when the operator was lifting with only one...lota hydraulics for one fork!
Welp, I took the plunge and ordered the Titan over-the-bucket forks. So far I've got the brackets and the forks but no bar yet, and they sent 4 boxes of brackets rather than just one. I've emailed them to tell them about the mistake but they haven't replied, so I guess I'll call and see what's up with the bar and if they want their brackets back. The setup, so far, looks good and beefy and the forks are heavy!
I had similar experiences with them on 3 out of 5 orders. Every order that went wrong had to get charged back to them. They just flat don't seem to care about fixing issues. I hear some people get through and get a positive resolution. I hope that happens in your case. Their packing and shipping department is a big problem. If they could get things packed and shipped accurately you wouldn't need to contact customer service.
Good to hear...I am sure they will sort it out. I understand good workers are in short supply and many places are having order problems
[QUOTE="Swetz, post: 1033585] I understand good workers are in short supply and many places are having order problems [/QUOTE] From my experience this has always been the norm with pallet forks dot com.
Yep, their tracking is a wreck as well. When I ordered I waited a week or so then proceeded get many tracking emails. What I didn't realize it that the order was split into (theoretically) the brackets, the forks (maybe x2), and the bar. When I looked at the emails more closely I saw individual tracking numbers that associated to each individual thing but I don't think the tracking number matched up with the item, in all cases, and then they sent 3 extra boxes of the brackets. I don't mind sending something back, other than they are pretty heavy!
Apparently the bar part of the forks got lost in the mail, so they are sending another tomorrow. And they aren't worried about getting the 12 extra brackets back, so it was a buy 4 get 12 free deal! If anyone needs one (or some) let me know, you can probably have them for the low, low cost of shipping, which won't be low, because again, they are heavy!
That's funny. The first thing I bought from them was a 10 pack of bucket teeth that would have fit in a shoe box. They sent them all laying loose with all the pins loose in a 36x36 box full of peanuts. All of the pins were the wrong size for the teeth. Multiple calls and emails later got no response. I finally had the charge reversed. They didn't respond to those folks either. Finally, three months later they emailed me and wanted to send the right pins. I told them I no longer needed them because I bought everything from a CAT dealer. They actually ponied up for the return shipping and I sent them back.
Glad to hear they are taking care of you!
Opened up 400' of trench.... awaiting a power pole to stick at one end and some wire to throw in the bottom. Then we can cover it back up. It will be useful to get power on site.
OMG, T-town, your dirt looks dry. Not too many rocks compared to mine either. It is great to hear that you are making progress! Also, that your machine is still healthy...that would be a loooot of digging by hand ...LOL
Hey Swetz.... Yeah.... dry dirt is good...good thing about being up on a ridge. And a big AMEN on the machine hanging in there! Next up is digging footers. The area in the pic is the one area of the prop that had been used for pasture a century ago. I've pulled a lot of that fill for use on the property...and thankfully the trench had to go thru that part. Easy digging for sure. But as the trench follows the bottom tree line and turns left I hit shelf 2 ft down... so I guess a "regrade" is in order in the spot.... at least I don't have to buy the fill. Are you able to get anything done yet this spring?
Well, about 3 weeks ago, I got 2 days of good work in. The nights were in the teens and the days beautiful. I dug and pulled out about 20 stumps. Cut down a couple of trees. One of which was the largest that I had to remove, and was a triple. Was glad to get that one down without issue! I was also able to dig a swale across the mud flats...LOL...Although not prefect, I am hoping a lot of water will drain so I dry out sooner this spring. Last weekend, it was flowing well. That made me happy. We are still real wet tho! And, looks like we will have a fair bit of rain in the near future too. I have not hit solid rock anywhere I have dug thus far, but have found some whoppers. My biggest need will be fill dirt in order to level the pad for the shop. If my property was near my house in NJ, I could get 1000s of yards delivered for free. Up in PA, whole nother story. They want a couple hundred dollars a load. I may dig a hole on my property this summer for fill, if it ever dries out this year.
I was going to mention the same rock-free-ness of that dirt!
Nice work T-town! You would be in trouble with that trench where I'm at. We've had 12 inches of rain over the last 2 weeks.
I am lucky to have that much reachable fill material on site. Spent the afternoon today 'scratching' the top foot and a half of that rockless fill material from my 'stash' area... then scooping up loads, hauling it a hundred yards and dumping, spreading and packing the dirt to reach the grade depth needed( 3') for the trench in 2 key spots. Was supposed to get wet but it held off and I scrambled to get that job done. looking wet the next few days. Glad to hear you progressing Swetz.... big step getting that water to flow. All that water down your way 575 should keep the fires at bay no??
Agreed...hopefully it is enough to dry it up in that area.
Cool. I have to dig a power ditch too. Are you running 3 wire power from a transformer at the roadside?
My formula: 46" deep in your latitude. Take a potato hook (hand rake with 5 long tines), rake the ditch bottom. No sharp rocks bigger than 1". If rough, add 6" of sand. place schedule 40 conduit in the bottom, I make a sweep from schedule 80 that goes from horizontal at bottom of the ditch. In extremely difficult pulls I'll use Rigid galvanize at each end. In every case, schedule 40 is only horizontal in ditch bottom. Vermont standard is 6" of 1" or less soil below & above conduit, (remember conduit is 3-4" diameter) might have 16' of sand. I prefer to place conduit 10' at a time, then cover. My formula has worked 100% successfully more than 50 years. I brag that I've never replaced a failed underground I installed. I have replaced hundreds of underground supplies installed by others. It upsets me that people try to cheap out on underground power lines. NO WAY IN HELL IS IT CHEAPER TO DO IT TWICE!!!
From the road they ( power co) are bringing their line voltage line thru the trench 500' onto our property to a pad transformer. They are using direct burial cable for that. Then out of the transformer, thru a short run of 4" to the meter base and a couple of disconnect panels that will split the service into two directions.... one to feed the future house, the other to the future barn. Power co spec on the trench is 36" deep. Min. of 12" 'bedding sand' above..... 3" sand below if the soil is rocky. Hey Willie.....what do you do with rock. I would imagine you run into it quite a bit.... do you bust it up to get to your depth?
I spent the day out with the neighbor, freezing our butts off, while he welded on the brackets for the forks! It is done! I didn't get any pictures yet. Seems like they'll work beautifully. Now I just need to figure out how to see the ends. I need to go add it to the Did something dumb thread, but I also, upon driving back to the barn, was too focused on the front with the forks and proceeded to break my cable internet line, yet again. Grr! I'm thinking I should put the modem and router in the shed and forget about it otherwise.
We look forward to the pics. Or run the cable underground .
Got a deal on some crepe myrtle trees yesterday. Spent the afternoon planting. Great not having to dig 5 big holes by hand even when you have a great SIL on hand to help.
I was standing in the spot where I broke the cable, cussing loudly, when it struck me that I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by buying 10-16 feet of black iron pipe to run the cable line through. I'm pretty sure I could run that over a billion times and it'd bury itself. I'll try to get some pictures tonight. Anyone happy with a camera system that doesn't cost a billion dollars, so they can see the forks (I remember this question going around but I don't remember if anyone got anything)? I'm thinking of attempting rig up a spare tablet to the top of the bucket and turn on the camera so I can see through there, but I'm not sure a 7" tablet is big enough, or if I can figure out a way to do it where it won't fall off. Or if even the tablet I have works anymore...
I just bought this one , we'll see how it goes in a few days when I get it hooked up.
When I clicked on (this one), it came up on Amazon as the one I bought 2 years ago for our old GMC snow plow truck rear view camera. It works pretty well. I think you had to cut the white wire for it to work forward facing.
I hope so but for 50 bucks it's worth a shot.
I'm an electrical dummy, and I'm mostly afraid of messing things up... That said, supposedly this camera can hook into any 11v-24v line and be powered through that. I'm thinking of splicing it into one of the head or tail lights, if I can find the wiring to it but is that as simple as it is? Find the wire going into the button, peeling some insulation and twisting the camera wire around it and taping it up? Is there a better option? There's a cigarette lighter option as well, but I can't remember if there's one of those on the hoe or not.
The fuse block on your tractor must have fuse positions for accessories. Ideally, you want to choose key on power. If it doesn't, go to the battery positive (+) & add a fuse holder there. Ground, get wherever convenient on the frame, or sheet metal. Be very thorough connecting to ground. You need a bolted connection with a nut on the backside. Shine away paint & grease. Use Noalox, or dielectric grease to protect from oxidation. I'm not clear whether you'll need a switch, or if it is provided in your equipment.
I'll be following you & your level of success. I use forks most often to move generators. They come in very fragile crates intended for forks. A fork misplaced would damage one. In fact younger son did go too deep with the forks & buggered the front panel on a second generator. I've long wanted a camera. We usually use a spotter for delicate fork work. Even bucket work, skid steer loaders are great because you can see the cutting edge of the bucket from the seat.
Me and mine are going to take a few days off and hea.................oh wait
Dig out rocks. I often make the point you can't dig 2' deep with 3' rocks. Ledge is another matter. There are several solutions. Galvanized rigid conduit only requires 6" of cover. PVC conduit gets 2" of concrete cover. In a few cases, a trench through ledge with a 14" diamond saw wide enough for the conduit, often takes two stages to get deep enough, then pour concrete over it. Mostly, we look for a way to avoid all that, even if we have to go overhead.
I can't remember what tractor you have aighead. I have a back up camera and a dash cam on little tractor. Both are connected to a key on source so they start when I crank it up.
Thanks for the info.... I'm dealing with 'ledge', we call it 'shelf'... the top of the bedrock. Although our rock is not the same as that 'hard' stuff you all live on. One could use a 'hammer' and pick away at it if you had the tool. Only a couple of decent sized boulders in the whole run. And with not having the equipment to bust or cut thru the rock, my simplest solution was to grab some fill and re-contour the area in question. Not sure if I could have had them run their direct burial cable thru the rigid pipe only at that location..(couple 2-3 sticks would cover it) and then direct bury ( no pipe ) thru the rest?? Treating the conduit as if it was a 'culvert'... open at each end.
You can cut the taillight wires, and splice in your camera wires Three comments. I felt the same way when I bought mine. I made the leap when my go-to contractor who handled large animal passings got tied up, leaving me with a decomposing body in my back yard. I vowed I would never rely upon anyone else again, and splurged. The purchase was a lot, between the unit, transport, maintenance, repairs and upgrades. I too felt like it would sit for months, and rarely get used. Once it arrived though, I found that I used it almost every other day. Carry the trash down to the street. Plow snow. Scrape up mud from the animal area. Lift anything that is heavy. Dig up the gardens. Move manure. Dig out rocks. Lift the corner of the run in shed to fix the concrete block foundation. Put pressure on trees so that they fell in the right direction away from wires. Haul and spread gravel that weighed too much to shovel. When I went looking, I wanted a stripper. I said to myself, "who needs a cab, heat, AC, quick attack buckets, four wheel drive, ride control, a radio." The one I found came with all that stuff, and I thank the lord, daily, that my hoe came so equipped. Digging on a hot day, AC is amazing. Quick connect great for switching between bucket, forklift forks, snow plows, etc. Enclosed, heated cab in the winter. God send. Nice radio. Great to listen to Rush Limbaugh while doing work. Finally, I was talking to a therapist friend, and mentioned that I felt really guilty about spending so much on a "toy". She told me that I wasn't looking at it correctly. She asked if I was enjoying the experience of buying and owning it? I nodded. She asked me how the learning curve was? I told her beyond steep. I knew nothing about owning a backhoe, operating a backhoe, maintaining a backhoe, or fixing a backhoe. I told her I knew nothing about hydraulics, diesel, and working with stuff that dwarfed the usual cars I worked on, and considering that the unit was large enough and powerful enough to kill me, I had to learn fast. She explained that research suggested that the key to healthy aging, and good brain health as we got older was regularly immersing yourself into situations that were completely over your head. Situations that demanded learning new skills, new understanding and new talents. She went on to say that these challenges plumbed new neural pathways in the brain, and that kept aging bodies and minds healthy and functional. "You didn't buy a backhoe. You bought a health insurance policy. And unlike Blue Cross, this one is fun!" My two cents.
I agree. Running directly from the fuse block is the best way to proceed. Make sure you fuse your connection as well. If you can't get to the fuse block, or find an open position on the block, you can use one of these splice connectors that snap over the tractor wire, or actually cut the wires, add yours, and crimp them together Tape and waterproof. This is much klugier than going to the main fuse block. Wrapping a wire around a skinned back wire is asking for trouble soon after your work completes.
Any ideas how to mount a camera on a backhoe so you can see the cutting edge? Even with a forklift frame and forks, it's sometimes still difficult to figure out where the forks are or even where the bucket is in relatiion to the ground or what's in front.
Is this person contemplating becoming a politician?? She has all the marks of a good politician, the way the purchase was spun around...LOL
If you have to tap into a wire a T-Tap is definitely the easiest. Make sure and coat the connections with some petroleum jelly or dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. https://www.amazon.com/MCIGICM-Conn...f=sr_1_4?keywords=t-tap&qid=1648574252&sr=8-4 I saw one where the guy used a wireless camera on a magnet with a cordless tool battery. Most of these little cameras have a wide voltage range. Usually anything from 6 to 24 volts. I imagine it all added up to a few bucks.
She did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinski. And it all depends on what the definition of “is” is.
Beautifully said emmett! I was considering the mount for the camera that should show up any second now. It has a frame that would normally attach to a license plate. My thought was to drill a hole into the nearest brackets, for the forks, then mount the camera on a small piece of wood or metal plate and run some wing nut screws into either end, so I can position it, then tighten it down. I'm thinking that'll give me the option to angle it up or down however I want. Thanks for the suggestions on how to hook the camera in, gang. NH575E I have an NH lby5b.
Not sure if the LB is the same as my 575E but my fuse panel shows F1A or F1B should be switched. I don't know if there is room under the panel cover but fuse taps work good for adding accessories if there is. Make sure the tap matches the fuse size before ordering. https://www.amazon.com/JABINCO-Circ...r_1_6?keywords=fuse+tap&qid=1648591119&sr=8-6
Spent most of the day with my girl. We took down dead trees and pushed up limbs in pastures. It is several years overdue. My bride said do not forget to dig up the two bushings in front of the house. We started there as would hate for that to not get done. Then it started running like crap starving for fuel. This machine has not been used much for a lot of years. While struggling with it I wonder if it is possible for them to suck air past the piston in the supply pump? Moved the hand primer, it is off an MP7 or 8, to the other side that did not help. Looking to hear we did a great job. Learned we dug up the wrong 2 bushes. Such is life.
I think I'll have the little woman read this before we go preview a heavy equipment auction this weekend. I've got my eye on an old Cat 14E.
Tenwheeler, digging up the wrong bushes sucks!
Uh, here's a bad photo of the brackets, I've since ground down the bracket edges, as they were quite sharp, and drilled a couple holes (may be in the picture but they are small), and painted everything. I'll get a better picture one of these days. I'm hoping to get the camera going this weekend. My ride does appear to have a cigarette lighter port (12v, presumably) so I'll try that first and I can see some potential trouble for wire routing but we'll see how that goes. I'm coming up with what feels like a reasonably solid plan for a camera mount, hopefully it works out. I'll get some pictures of that too.
The lighter port on mine is hot all the time. Not sure it will matter for your purpose.
Yes, thanks for that note NH! There is a switch on the lighter plug attached to the camera and a note in the instructions that it'll eat your battery if you don't use it. I'm not positive I'll risk trusting the switch as much as just unplugging it. Oh yeah, what's my hoe doing? When I went to grab a few birch logs a neighbor was getting rid of my bottom drivers side door step cracked and broke! I stepped down onto it and it gave way! Luckily, it broke just under the bolt and the little corner stayed put, so I took it off, bent things back into shape and welded it back together. My little 110v mig welder to the rescue and it did fine. (the brackets were welded with a beefy stick welder, that turned all that metal into soup nothing very quickly!)
I guess my lighter port doesn't work because I got nothing from it. However, I opened the dashboard and connected to the hazards/back lights and it worked great! This picture is with the plastic protective film over the lens still so it'll only be better now. Not often do I have a project that goes fairly seemlessly but this was one of them. I got the electronics hooked up, ran the cable on the outside of the machine, which may prove to be a bad idea, time will tell, and got the mount set up without any major issues. I ended up just using some oak on which to mount the camera and since the camera had a little swivel built in I tightened the wood mount up pretty good. It'll be interesting to see how much things move around when I start bouncing around the yard. I can already see a couple upgrades right off the bat. Rather than screw the mount in I'll likely weld little mount holders onto the fork brackets with something to clamp it in place, so I can just pull the clamps, then pull the camera, because it's placement will undoubtedly be right in the way upon getting a full bucket load of rocks that spill over. Also I need a way to mark where the forks are level to the ground. My bucket level indicator should make that manageable. Maybe two wire ties that line up when the forks are flat. If anyone has better ideas let me know. I'd also like to run the cable internally but I don't know how feasible that is, right now I just have it running along the lift arms, but I'm pleased there is no movement of cable. I wired tied the cable there loosely so if it needed to move it could but after full range of motion it seemed like any slack I gave it was plenty, maybe too much, and I can tight the wire ties up and take out the slack. All in all I'm thrilled, but I haven't actually used the camera for the forks yet, so I may have some problems I'm unaware of. Wee!
Did some testing. Still forgot fittings required for a pressure gauge. The clear hoses lead me to check the pump. Cleaned all that trash out and up. Running good now. The correct bushes were dug up with some supervision. The last four bushes were put in the burn pile. We already dug up a 26' flat bed load of them and took them to work. Augered the holes and set them in potting soil. Water them about every 4 days in in does not rain. If those turn green they will be Lazarus bushes.
I don't like to criticize ugly welds, mine fall short of perfect. WTH? My kid when he was first grade did nicer. I'll guess a Chinese 120 volt welder? I apologize, none of my business. Some backhoes are meant to upside down the bucket when in backhoe digging mode. I'm not sure about yours. I haven't done it yet on my current hoe, but I plan three trailer hitch receivers on the top of the bucket so I only put the hooks in when using forks.
Heh. The welds were done by my neighbor and while a bit ugly I think they'll hold, and since I don't know much about welding I'm still appreciative. And no, the welder is a big, beefy one. I don't remember the sticks being used 60something. As I watched the welding it seemed as though it was penetrating (cutting) through the top of the bucket, but also seems sturdy. I don't know if the cold and semi-crazy wind had an effect.
I made it through my first real use of the forklift attachment. I moved a few decent sized birch logs... Around 8 foot long by a foot and a half in diameter, maybe? 2 big stump chunks, probably 2-3' diameter. Then I moved 2 20'x24" culvert pipes (one at a time). A few notes: I'll say the camera worked great but there are a few issues. I should have bought the 5" screen model. I think the model I have is a 4.2" screen and I have to look pretty hard at it. The camera quality is great and it's easy to see the forklift tips, but still not easy to see when they are level with the ground. I tried one black zip tie and one white one, attaching them on the bucket level indicator thing, but that didn't really work as well as I'd hoped, I guess maybe it got me close. Maybe a small spirit level within view of the camera? I had zero issues with my little mount and I let all the wood slide down pretty hard, onto the forks, as I tilted back. No noticeable movement on the mount or the camera swivel. I can see how easily it'd be to break that little mount though, so brackets to quickly slide that on or off will be pretty valuable. On the forks... The forks themselves seem beefy and nice. I added a strip of tire to each where the forks hit the cutting edge of the bucket, to hopefully keep from damaging either. The bar is tricky for me and maybe y'all have some suggestions. Upon attempting to load up the logs, on uneven ground, where I was coming in off the edge of the road to pick the logs that were down maybe 6" as I tried to slide the forks under the log it was common for the bar to slide toward the hoe cab and out of the brackets. This was a bit infuriating because while it's nice to install the forks by just driving up to them, it seems silly if I still have to get out every time I use them to get the bar back in place. Also, the 2" thick solid bar does indeed bend some. I had one of the forks maybe 6" in from the middle bracket, with a log on it and I could see some deformation. I think it went back to straight after I dropped the log but I was surprised to see any bend at all (maybe I shouldn't be), I moved the fork back out to right next to the bracket. I'll definitely need a solution for keeping that bar in the brackets. I'm not sure what that would be and it could be useful to have the bar slide out and keep me from bending the forks but I don't know... The bar has a collar on one end to keep it from sliding out of the brackets but nothing on the other end so it slid out frequently. There's a hole there for a cotter pin or something but maybe I'm missing something else, I'll have to investigate. I think for moving pallets (haven't tried but it seems like it'd be ok) and for the culvert pipe it's great. For moving random stuff in the yard it's yet to be determined and I probably need much more practice. They do seem substantially better than the clamp-on forks.
aighead, Both ends should have a locking device. Mine has a cotter pin with a flat washer on each end. As for a lock, one could make a hinge that could close off the slot, but that kinda defeats the ease of install associated with these over the bucket forks. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I talked about bending my bar (which is 2 1/8"). This happened when part of the bar unhooked and hot caught as I was using the hoe. Mine were on cuz the bucket leveling was frozen and I couldn't dump the forks off, but wanted to work. Anyhow, it seems they were only designed to move a pallet, then take them off. For that they work great. For the other tasks you have, I would think about making up a piece of 3/4" cut so it could be pivoted to hold the bar captive...gonna need one at each end at least.
Ah-ha! A simple, big, fat washer! That makes sense, thank you! I was thinking about, basically, what you are saying about 3/4" pivot to hold the bar in, I'm glad to hear you think that'd work too. I'm fine getting on or off the machine to lock that bar in place the one time since it seems like every other time I'm hopping off to shove it back on otherwise. I'll have to consider how to attach said lock.
This is what I envision, one at each end, on the inside of the outer bracket. You could bolt or pin this on as needed. Sorry for the crappy drawing. I do not have any good software to make it look good. Willie...My welds are crappy too. Made with a Lincoln 120V machine at wide open throttle, 3 passes. I have thought about a reinforcement to tee in on the back side, but for now, they are working so I am going to leave them alone.
That looks good and simple enough, thanks Swetz! Dang, you did that with 120v? Hmm... Seems like mine is likely more capable than I thought.
Welded my thumb on with a Lincoln SP100. Takes the full force of the bucket cylinder and hasn't budged in 6 years. I too was chastised for my welding tools and abilities.
This is encouraging! My neighbor is reasonably happy to help but it's nice to do things on my own and not have to disturb him.
I don't see your forks. When lifted off the ground your fork vertical member should touch both top & bottom of the bucket. Are the hooks mounted too far forward, so the upright doesn't touch top of bucket? When using them, always have the cutting edge touching the back of the upright. I do raise the bucket & roll it out so the tips of forks aren't touching the ground & are hanging free. This makes it easier to adjust width.
No need for a lock if hooks are positioned correctly, the bar can't move back if the bucket is in correct position.
I'll have to look and verify Willie, I'm fairly positive the hooks are positioned correctly and they'd work fine for jobs where I could just slide the forks into something but if there is much resistance, like getting under a log on the ground the bar pops right out. Part of that may also be that I don't have the right side washer, like Swetz points out, that extra slop may be enough to let the bar loose.
In what sense can it pop out? Once you hook up to the bar, curl the bucket up so the forks are near level, they can't pop out the top of bucket prevents the bar from moving rearward. Only way it can pop out is if you aren't pushing the cutting edge against the fork.
Now I see what you are saying and when you say it that way that is probably what's happening, between that and the forks rubbing the ground. So, there's a log on the ground, it's curved enough that I can get under it with the forks but to do so I lower the forks with the tips pointed down a bit. Once there's some resistance the bar gets pushed out, rather than slip under the log. Like I'm prying the forks under the log but with only enough force to move the bar.
Offer the bucket to the fork. Tilt the bucket until both top & bottom of bucket touch the upright of the fork. The hook is shaped diameter of the rod, simple J shape. Hook fits perpendicular to the upright member of the fork. With this arrangement, place your tack welds. There is a lot of steel in the top strut across your bucket. You likely don't have enough welder to burn through. Your hooks are likely 1" thick. Use 1/8, or 3/32 7018 rods. As big as the welder can run. You need a lot more heat than the welds visible in your camera mount. Run a three, or four bead filet. As you are welding three or four hooks, weld a stick on each side of a hook, then move to another hook. Big beefy welds will pull! Try to balance. What was done inboard side of left hook was a weave. Weave is a technique to keep vertical weld from sagging. No value in a flat weld. Weaving flat wastes desperately needed heat. Concentrate heat for best penetration & best fusion. You are able to make it flat. A bead weld at base, followed by as many beads as your welder needs to cover will provide strength. No intentional manipulation, 120 amps, 1/8 7018, or 7018AC (if needed). You want it HOT. All weld joint is to be ground clean.
If your hooks are properly placed, your job is to keep the cutting edge touching the forks. You can't push otherwise. No way the hook can disengage if the bucket edge is touching.
Your forks will remain against the cutting edge of your bucket until the bucket is tipped down so far that center of gravity swings them away. Until then they should not be able to dislodge from hooks. You need to push the tips of your forks under the logs, you still need to use the cutting edge to push them. If hooks are in proper place & cutting edge is touching the fork attachment, they are NOT hopping out of the hooks.
I think this is where I got your point Willie... Tilt the bucket until both top & bottom of bucket touch the upright of the fork. The hook is shaped diameter of the rod, simple J shape. Hook fits perpendicular to the upright member of the fork. With this arrangement, place your tack welds. Bottom line is that aighead and I both welded the brackets too far forward. When I did mine, I pulled up a couple of installation instructions from different manufacturers and neither mentioned that the bracket needs to be welded such that the forks need to contact both the bottom and top when properly installed. The above stated, I really do not intend to use my forks for anything but to move pallets, so for me it is not an issue. Aighead, you are at a crossroads...make that lock we talked about, or cut the brackets off and reweld them. I know which route I would take. I went through 2 full spools of flux core @ about $30 each, welding them on. Plus the electric, and a half a day to clean and prep. Oh, and a can of expensive NH grey paint when I was done. If I ever do it, I know I have the scrap to make up the brackets...no welding and 4 bolts. Granted, a little cutting, but I have a metal bandsaw, so no biggie. Thank you Willie for clearing this up!
Add a spacer block to the back of the fork uprights at height of top of bucket.
That is doable as well, aighead...and you can try out the welder
I'll have to get out and look at things. When we set up the weld we set the bucket down so the forks were flat. I didn't really pay attention to if they were touching the top and bottom of the bucket. We then tacked it all in place, installed the bar and the forks and things looked ok, but I wasn't specifically looking for the touch Willie mentions, then we welded from there. Looking at the placement of Swetz's hooks I'm guessing we welded in a similar spot.
It's kinda late for this install now but I just remembered how I connected my last couple of dash cameras. I can tell you every detail of my life in the 60s-70s but I'll be damned if I can remember what I did yesterday. Short term memory is gone. Anyway, a REAL EASY way to connect low current accessories to blade fuses is to strip the wire insulation back a couple inches, twist the wire tight, pull a fuse, wrap the wire around one of the blades, and stick the fuse back in. Which blade doesn't matter if the component wiring has an inline fuse. Otherwise you would want to check for power with the fuse out and wrap it around the leg that is fused rather than the supply side that has power.
Same here!! It really scares me!!
If you are looking to tap into the fuse box for power use a proper connector. Wrapping a wire around a fuse and jamming it into your fuse box is a good way to cause yourself headaches down the road. The contact will spread and can cause intermittent connections. As my dad taught me "right tool for the job". https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/e...duct-profiles/bus-ele-pp-10290-add-a-fuse.pdf You can buy these at most parts stores. You don't damage your current fuse box and you add a fused circuit to connect an accessory. Just make sure the added load will not cause too much current to flow. A camera draw very little so you should be good no matter where you pick to tap in.
NOTE that I specified this method for low current applications. I coat the wire and fuse blade with petroleum jelly to prevent corrosion. I have some that have worked reliably for several years connected this way. This method is way better than using the wire tap devices that clamp onto a wire and break the insulation. I have used the add a fuse devices and they work well where you have room for them. I recommended that type earlier in the discussion. I also suggested the wire tap type connectors but they are not my favorite.
Well, I finally got out to look at how the hooks are attached and how the forks hit and Willie and Swetz were exactly right. The top of the forks are out away from the top of the bucket like Swetz's picture. I'll probably try the block at the top of the fork trick and see how that goes. Also, the forks and camera worked beautifully to pick up the pallet of drainage pipe I've got and the stack of 25 2x8x16's. Very pleased!
Guys with line trucks showed up this morning!!...... it was all I could do to try and keep up. Direct burial cable in the trench to start, then 1 ft+ of bedding sand. Was running two loaders... mine and a small one from next door. Layed a 1 1/2 HDPE pipe next with some more sand and a caution tape. Finish covering up the trench trying to finish before the rain front comin thru. System is energized and I'll get juice to a couple receptacles soon.
My in-laws bought some furniture for their home near ours. It was too bulky and heavy for 1 guy to carry to the 2nd level. I improvised
What in the world, Long0? Looks like it worked but I've never seen such an extension?
Nice.... my mind is trying to figure how I could use the front bucket to raise some trusses up in the air 12' or so.......
Is your crane manufactured?
Cat manufactured jib boom. I’ll get pics of the nameplate in a couple days. Overall lift was a bit more than 12’ as I had to go over the handrail of the deck. No bucket, direct connection to the IT hookup
Found this picture when I bought it in December
There are quite a few for sale on the internet. They can be seen here.
Great view at the mountains.
I paid a couple hundred(s) for it. Putting an addition on the house this year so I can now lift walls much easier plus roof joists.
What’s my hoe doing? Finally something other than sitting there waiting for me to finish the repairs!
LOL, and stealing all your money!!
Ain’t that the truth Swetz.
Mine, over the weekend moved a big dead log into the fire pile and helped move the fire pile around so it all burnt down. One down (the small one) 2 big ones to go.
Buried a horse on my property for a friend of my daughter. They were moving the old horse and it had a heart attack and died in the trailer.
Bummer NH, I know how that goes...
Turned over the compost pile, loaded some into a customer's truck, and loaded 9 bags in the bucket to move to another customer's car. Found that the lock ring on the pin holding the front bucket safety fell out. The ring was gone, but I luckily found the two washers and the pin. Put in a key ring ring, but need to find a stainless one before this one rusts. Getting much better at operating the joysticks, but am still having trouble dealing with pressure differences between one cylinder moving, vs multiple cylinders moving. Everything is going smoothly with movements in multiple directions, until I stop one of the directions, and the increased pressure jerks the backhoe arm. I have to learn to back off on all movements when I back off on one.
****. Bad news. Horses are family, so when they pass, it's terrible for all concerned.
I'm surprised to hear that. Early John Deere hoes were revered for smooth operation. Maybe yours is new enough it has a different system. I had a 410 (1974). It was remarkably smooth. The closed center hydraulics had a variable volume pump maintained a given amount of pressure at a wide range of volumes as needed. Some other systems are open center. Any valve upstream in the 7 section backhoe valve being actuated steals oil from any further downstream. Valve spools have feathering grooves to allow some flow past. It takes practice to back off a valve in anticipation of that surge when you end a function upstream. Some models of Case backhoes had flow restrictors to limit the speed of boom swing. Might be something you'd like on yours.
Briefly, I had a Case 580K with foot swing. I knocked a hole in a new wall just built when the swing jumped too far too fast. I converted that one to joystick control, kept it 14 years. I never did like the unpredictability of swing. Other functions were manageable.
I used a clamp on bucket fork, a 4x4, a wheel barrow rim and 2 stabilizer straps to use a winch to lift mine. On my massey. Worked great to lift 20 or so of these. I can find more detailed pics if you like
Pulling my homemade wooden leveling drag. I tilled this field and the grass clumps have been kicking my ass. I finally gave up on trying to rake them all out and built this wooden drag out of 6x6x8 PT lumber. It has leveled out the dirt better than my metal drag or anything else I tried. I will leave the rest of the grass clumps laying on top.
Thanks for the idea. I’m going to be doing this in a couple months after the pond is finished!
Made it with 2x6x8 PT lumber and tie plates. Cut 8 " off the front at a 22.5* angle and flipped the end. Put tie plates on top and bottom. I offset the plates to keep the screws from contacting in the middle. Used #8x1.5 inch screws. A little over 70 bucks not counting the D rings.
Great idea!! At today's lumber prices that should cost just over $1500.
This was 2 days ago at Lowes. I guess prices came down some. Boards were 10 bucks and change apiece.
Finally put the over the top forks to work. Had a pallet of concrete blocks and concrete mix that weighed ~2550# in the bed of my truck. The forks lifted it no problem, although I could feel the back end of the tractor get a bit lighter as I lifted. I am not sure what a standard pallet of pavers is, but that is prolly the heaviest thing I will lift. My body was very thankful that it didn't have to unload the pallet and wheel barrow, then restack by hand .
About how fast did you pull this? I see it works similar in function as a land plane does. I tried dragging a 6ft section of 6x6 when I leveled my lawn and it didnt work worth a damn. It wasnt heavy enough and just wanted to bounce over anything slightly hard. Loose soil and correct moisture content makes a difference when trying to level ground.
I bought a full skid of redi-mix last year, about 3300 pounds. The forklift had no issues loading it at the store, but my bobcat wanted no part of it. I had to split the pallet down to 1200 pound loads by hand to get it off my truck.
I did the same thing, for footers for a deck, however, I did not have the forks at the time. I had to unload the pallet, move the bags, then unload them again. Makes for a lot of extra work, and I feel like it was the hottest day of the year when I did it...LOL.
I have had good results pulling 2 field drags in tandem to prep new lawns (my own). I pulled them with a zero turn mower. Most times with the tines laid nearly flat. Depends on how hard the soil is. Sometimes I had to lay a couple of flat rocks on one of them. If the clods of dirt aren't tooo bad a section of chain link fence works good to. I prefer the drags tho. It was so darn hot out a couple of years ago that I hired a landscaper that had a Harley Rake on his Bobcat skid steer. Truly amazing how nice they work ! He hyro-seeded it afterwards. $$$$$$
I didn't look at the tach but I ran about mid throttle in 2nd gear. Cruise control would have been nice. This ground had been tilled, dragged, raked, and tilled again so it was soft. I had swept 4 loader buckets full of grass clumps out and they were still surfacing. I have a metal drag I made from tube and angle with a hog panel wired to the bottom that usually works. For some reason it was bunching up the grass clumps and dredging ruts.
Hi everyone Just wanted to chime in with my latest hoe experience. My hoe spends most of its time being fixed or attempted to being fixed by me, gives me something to do. The latest repair is one of the boom cylinders is leaking and when I unscrewed the gland and pulled out the rod nothing was attached to it. The piston and bolt were all the way at the other end. Could have been like that for years. So I screwed the gland back on without the rod and pumped it up with an air compressor until it gonged. Then I unscrewed the gland and put a cardboard box over the end to catch the piston, applied air, and boom I made a cannon, it went right through the box and about 50 feet away. Nice surprise. BTW, I’m still running it with the check ball valve out of the fuel return line. If it blows up, it blows up. Ron
!!!!
Got in a few hours of hoe time yesterday. It will take days of grappling, burning, and grading to finish the clean up. This one just plucked off the surface. Got to love the easy ones.
My hoe neglected to go to the neighbor's house to "help" move some gravel yesterday. I guess maybe tonight.
The titan thumb! Loving mine.
Welcome to HEF ,Nizagin !
I'm trying to understand your thumb. It looks like it pivots on the lower end of the extendable dipper. The brace seems to attach to the female upper section. I'm no expert in geometry, I'm confused.
You see it right Willie. He loses the extenda-hoe function when the thumb brace is pined to the extenda-hoe. But he can use it a little to change the angle of the tine. At least that is how I see it.
Yes. I used the shorter storage bracket for the thumb pivot because the longer bracket would not fit there near the bucket pivot. And put the longer bracket on the main dipper. Yes if you actuate the extender the thumb will move, although I don't use it that way alot. The only pain is that to put it in the storage position I have to have the extender in just the right spot for the pin to line up. I have a write up on it in the titan thumb thread.
When mine was manual, Ioften took the the tine and brace off the boom entirely. It really wasn't that difficult to do. When remounting it I used a concrete form stake to temporarily hold it in position. Then I manipulated it in one hole in order to line up the holes to get the big pins in.
I haven't stowed my thumb in years but I set it up with the bucket closed against it. Cept for pin wear I could simply pull the pin at the boom, close the bucket, and it was pretty close to lined up to stow. It has a fair amount of wear in the pins now. I may have to address that some day because it doesn't always line up with the thumb teeth in between the two center bucket teeth any more.
She's limping around this afternoon. Was ferrying some dirt in the loader when the sidewall gave out. Or was pinched idk. Ordered a Carlisle Trac Chief to replace it. Good tire? Crap? Let me know if you have them and if that's good or bad. I think it's a 14 ply.
Let us know if the tire is good. I will need tires in a couple of years myself. Gonna let em rip for now tho. Prolly change them when they fail, like you are doing.
14 ply sounds like forestry rated. Should hold up well but stiff. What is the sidewall rated? Cost?
I'm not sure. It just says reinforced/ HD sidewall. Hopefully I can get them on haha. It's a 14-17.5 and was $310 shipped to my door.
I will suggest some longer pins and some DOM to hold the pins from ripping out through the holes.
310 for the tire sounds about right. I think I posted my tire cost, with mounting, somewhere above, if I recall it was in the 350 range, but done within an hour or so of it going flat on me.
Well rubber is a petroleum product, and we all know how thats going!
Success! Not as difficult as I thought. Tire is beefy. I think if I were mounting it on my truck it wouldn't even need air! Says up to 80psi for 8500lb load rating! I have no plans to air it up that high but I didn't realize they were rated for that kind of pressure.
Great to hear! Sounds like it will be around for a while.
Did you mount it yourself? If so, manually, or do you have a tire machine? I mounted some new 10.5x16.5 skid steer tires in 2021 and they were horribly stiff and difficult to work with. I had access to an automotive tire machine and it struggled. I'm sure a HD tire machine would have been a better route, but I used what was available (and free )
Yea manually. I used like a 40" tire spoon I have. Little bites when working the new bead on.
Ahh. I only have a 24" spoon, I didn't even want to attempt them manually.
I attempted putting a tiny little tire on a wagon I have and struggled with it, you guys are tough! Uh, I was unable to do it.
Many wheels have different a difference on the rims. Quite often one of the rims have a wider flange as opposed to the other side of the wheel. Always mount the tire on the narrow side if it has one.
You should get some 50 plus inch spoons, makes life easier for all tires. Here is a 38 inch wheel I did myself.
Now I have an 8ply tire on one side and a 14 on the other.
Got a link to where you bought them? I learned a trick on small lawnmower size tires. To mount I clamp the hub in a vise, lube the beads good, clamp a pair of vise grips on the lip, and spin the tire onto the wheel. It was amazingly easy.
That will never work. Not only will it pull severely to one side going down the road, but you will have 8 turns to full lock in one direction, and 14 turns to full lock in the other.
Ha. I was more concerned that the older, more experienced 8ply would develope an inferiority complex working alongside the newer 16ply, despite having proved its integrity over many productive years.
....."Back in the Saddle again..... Out where a Friend is a ......." Well, we decided to make hay while the sun was shining and sold our house of 20 years... in anticipation of moving into our "retirement ranch"...... which I have yet to start! I thought ( incorrectly) that I would loose my email account thru our phone Co..... yes, we still had a land line... So I opened a new email and went to change that on this forum.... and to finalize that process the system needed to send a confirmation email.... easy right? That took some doing on the part of the powers that be.... BUT..... it's all good now! ...turns out I get to keep the old email address anyway... go figure. Now that I have all my (most) belongings in a 40' shipping container... sitting on site I can get to the house. Step 1..... footer. This is the 'old hoe' down in the 'crawl space' pit. While digging the power trench I plucked a nice one..... its going to a short retaining wall The only casualty of the day was my drink cup...
Congratulations T-Town, well done! And sweet rock, how are you moving it? Will it scoot?
Hey T-town, man you are dry. great to see that you are getting work done. I went down to my shop pad and immediately sunk in the mud, and switched gears. I spent the weekend in another spot on my property that was a bit drier, cutting trees and chipping branches, Just waiting now for the poison ivy to flare up as it was on all of the trees. God it was hot tho!!
Son & Daughter in law gave the missus a couple lilac bushes for Mother's day. I had plenty of pressing work to do at the computer (billing), but my boss said the bushes needed planting. It turned into a real project, removed 5 not healthy fruit trees. Stumps were surprisingly big. I had a load of manufactured topsoil (fine sand mixed with composted cow manure) I filled the empty holes with. The stuff was insanely gooey! Every shovel full I had to pry to break suction. Everything else here is well drained. I wonder what happens now? Will I walk across a well drained lawn & sink in the mud where these trees were removed?
Thanks aighead... The pic was where I was positioning the rock, then just push. Used the hoe bucket to get into final spot. Those flat ones push real easy. Yeah Swetz... the top of my ridge stays dry..... but the wet parts of the property are for sure still wet..... what are we??? 3 inches above year to date? But my house site straddles the "great divide"..... its all downhill from there as they say.
Oh yeah.... I picked a good day ( 2) to start shoveling dirt again. That's what happened to the drink cup... would shovel a bit, then sit and drink.... shovel a bit more. Forgot I set the cup on top of the front tire.... on the side of the hoe that was in a bit of shade where I was seeking some respite. But... had to be done. I had loose soil in the footer trenches that I did not want to get wet which would turn it to *****. Glad you were able to cut some poison ivy..... man did I get that stuff bad as a kid..... I guess it took me awhile to figure out what it looked like. Story went .... my Uncle, as young man, volunteered to 'weed' the church perimeter fence... in the small town of Marydel.... some of which is in Maryland and some of which is in Delaware. All day working in summer heat..... unknowingly pulling poison ivy with every handful. Apparently had quite the case.... all over the face, hands....bad news.
At the beginning of the day of individuals owning video cameras, a lumber dealer had a major customer go bankrupt. Lumber dealer ended up instead of payment, owning a whole meadow full of worn out construction machinery. One of his employees would spend his Sundays starting machines up & working them a bit. He had a video camera & he, his wife & kids would have great fun filming their escapades. End of day, he couldn't find his expensive camera. It proved to be under a bulldozer track.
Well I know the look of poison ivy, and have since I was a kid and got it bad! Even the baby maker had poison ivy!! These days I wear leather gloves and only use them for that task. I have a special wash called tecnu that I use every break (which was often last weekend cuz of the heat). Fingers are still crossed it does not rear its ugly head. My son once got it all over his face. That is bad too when you are in a customer service job...people think you are a leper or something. If you remember my story, I did my Stihl chainsaw in with the tire on my tractor ...LOVED that saw! Willie B, I had no clue where you were going with that one...LOL
PRO TIP: don't set stuff on a tire.
I was not gonna bring it up.... but.... 6th grade.... had to wrap it up in toilet paper to wick the secretions.... was not a fun time. But hey.... your out in the woods/fields most of the day.... your gonna "see a man about a horse" at some point. How was I to know I had ivy all over those hands?? That was the last time 'cause I figured out what it looked like.... been staying away from it ever since. The early times they gave me cortisone shots to try and deal with it. ... and I did remember about your saw but I didn't want to beat a horse when he's down...??? sumpin like that
I have a close friend that works for Cat at the proving grounds. One of his coworkers was pulling data from a test mule (wheel loader wired with many sensors and a data logging computer) and the left rear tire was just at the right height for his laptop to sit and be easily viewed while waiting for data to transfer. Transfer completes, he unhooked laptop, wound up cables and went to put them in his car. Hears the loader rev up and take off. He quickly turns around to see the operator taking off with the loader and his tough book smashed pancake flat, laying on the ground. Operator said he saw the cable was gone and engineer was at his car, thought everything was good to go.
+1 for the Technu. My wife gets poison ivy pretty easily as well, and we've used that pretty successfully. She also gets a craft soap, that I think has Jewelweed in it that is incredible. I had something popping up on my arm after moving some big birch logs, and I lathered up with some of that, which also has some gritty stuff in it, and it dried out the poison ivy really well.
The oil in poison ivy needs hours to react with skin. No, you don't need to touch the plant, just transfer from something that touched the plant. You can react to tools used the year before. Petting the dog after it romps through the stuff is a common source. Any soap is effective when you wash thoroughly immediately after exposure. Best soaps are oil & grease cutting types. I like Dawn dish detergent. If you've ever got into a repair project where you got greasy or oily & had to scrub forever to get clean, poison ivy oil is less visible, but equally tough to wash away. Secondary transfer from clothing is a big problem, even after a typical laundry cycle it can remain.
Yep, we have poison oak around here, but it has the same oil as poison ivy. I currently have a rash on my legs from when my cat jumped in my lap while I was wearing shorts a few days ago. I get that stuff about as badly as anyone I know of.
I have had few urgent care visits too many after my encounters with it. Tis a gratuitous obscenity of the natural world!
I believe sensitivity to poison ivy varies with people. I've never had it, but I'm careful & wash thoroughly if I believe I may have been exposed. Here, we also have Nettle, reaction is instant to nettle but never as severe.
My mom claims she used to run around in it without ever having trouble. I thought I was the same until I got some big, nasty blisters a few years ago, scars are still there.
Well, I got her out today... Neighbor and I have been discussing some dead ash trees on the property line for a couple years now. We made the plan to get out this weekend and work on it. These were probably in the neighborhood of 40-50 feet tall and standing dead for years. I was a bit nervous since ash like to rot halfway up and become very dangerous to fell. The big one is probably almost 3 feet across at the bottom and it'd taken several different cuts just to make the wedge, with our 20" bars. We looked at it, came up with a plan to land them in his yard, using the hoe to keep them from falling towards my house, with lots more stuff in the way. I told him I was going to give the tree a tap to see what branches up top would fall, but upon doing that we noticed the whole thing was like a loose tooth in the ground, so let's try pushing it over. Fortunately for all involved that worked like a charm! For both trees! He suggested rather than me taking it all to one of my fire piles that we just make one out in the middle of his yard, which was a much closer trip. Between me, in the backhoe, him in a skidsteer, and my wife and kids we got these 2 big trees down and piled up in about 2 hours. Good bless heavy equipment. Also, I'll make some noise on the forks thread but I added some wood blocks to the top of my forks and worked ridiculously well. Thanks @Willie B ! Now I just need to put them on better!
I get very nervous at long time dead trees. A live tree, I position the backhoe the right distance from the tree & set the stabilizers & bucket. Back bucket, I slam the trunk HARD once or twice to see if anything falls out of the tree. Then, I bang it 2/3 of the highest reach I can stretch, mine 15' above ground. Set the teeth in the trunk deep enough they won't slip. Boom up, dipper bent some, push. This might not work first try, might need a few repetitions. If the tree is too big, you might need to rip some roots out first. I've taken down 3' diameter trees this way. A tree trunk is a BIG lever, once you get it started gravity also helps you out. It's a technique not absolutely safe, but I've personally known 5 men killed cutting a tree with a chainsaw, & one more will never fully recover. I don't know of anybody killed pushing one down from inside a ROPS enclosed cab.
Yeah, that's the technique I used, and it fell about 12 feet up so I felt better than cutting it. The 2nd one popped out roots and all. I'm fine with the tall stump, for the first one, it won't shed branches.
Well, Only got about 5 poison ivy bumps on my right elbow...I pulled so many vines off the trees that I cut down, I was sure I was gonna get it bad. Washed about 5 times with Technu tho. Well, finished cleaning up the rest of the tree tops yesterday. The chipper is sweet. It is Woodland Mills. So the hoe is not left out...she pulled some stumps out too
Be very careful when poison ivy is burning in a fire. Inhaling the smoke can be very a nasty experience. I have a daughter that is so sensitive to it that she has had to get cortisone shots.
Swetz- How's the quality on the WM chipper? I looked semi-hard at their sawmills. Reviews were good but it appears to be all Chinese made stuff. I know some Chinese made stuff is ok and at the price break over some of the other options it'd be hard to justify thousands of dollars more for a theoretically equivalent mill. Not that I plan to buy a mill anytime soon.
Swetz is that a receiver on the top of your loader bucket there? Is it low enough to push around a trailer?
Tinkerer, The large wood will be fire wood. The small stuff (up to about 4"), I chipped. Either way, I had to remove the poison ivy from the trees so I didn't breathe it either as smoke, or dust from chipping. Of course, the poison ivy was all the way up to the top of all the trees ...lotta work to remove, but the best course of action, as you pointed out.
I modified the bucket when the tractor was brand new. I purchased a receiver tube and welded it in, and added another piece of steel on the back end. As Mike Morgan from YouTube would say...it is as handy as a pocket on a shirt . I love it!! I use it to lift anything the tractor can move. I use it to move my trailers around without having to hitch up the truck. I have even moved camping trailers that were in the woods and a truck could not get to them to hook up. I once even put a 35ft. camper on a site that had a tree about 2 feet in front of the tongue. The tractor is a 2000 and the bucket has not bent from this modification in all those years. Remember, this is a compact utility tractor. I really don't know it it would be visible enough to use on a full size TLB.
Aighead, The Woodland Mills is awesome. Yes, it is Chinese . When I was looking for a 3-point chipper, I looked at many different brands. The difference in price is astounding. One would think that is the USA vs China price, but not necessarily. I also found one major player that advertises made in the USA, but is only assembled of China parts, yet it was much more $ than the WM. Many of the parts are common USA parts, like the bearings, all of the hydraulic components for the feed. When I purchased the unit, I ordered a maintenance kit with it. This has an additional set of blades in it. Many reviewers said that they are good quality and will not need to be sharpened for years, however, I figured, why not get them now just in case they become unavailable in the future, like many China made items do. For me, a casual user, this id prolly a lifetime supply. Woodland Mills is actually a Canadian company. They told me that one Chinese company has producing the chippers to their design since they began production. All of the WM product comes in to one depot in New York, and is trucked from there. When I purchased, it was delivered to my place in PA for free, with lift gate service. I don't think trucking or lift gate service is free in theses days. I purchased mine just in the beginning of the pandemic and had to wait ~3 months for delivery. They told me upfront that it would not be sooner. The down side is that I had to pay in full upon order. In todays world that seems to be getting more common. I watched many YouTube videos and read many reviews. All gave them the thumbs up. I personally couldn't be happier. As far as the saw mills, I have seen many YouTube videos of these too. As with the chipper, the users were very happy with the units. One of the channels I subscribe to; Sawing With Sandy, has purchased a second WM saw mill. He really likes them. On another channel that I watch, the guy borrowed one to make siding for his chicken coup. He liked it too.
Thanks for the info Swetz! Everything I've seen also makes them sound pretty good. I'm glad to hear you are happy with it!
Oh of course. I was thinkin for my little red Massey. For moving my trailer around.
That would work perfect!...Sweet tractor by the way!
One more pic. I tried to take a pic of the 2 holes I drilled at the bottom of the tube, but the sun was all wrong. If you look at the shadows tho, you can see them...LOL I took the pintle hitch out for the pics, but I honestly leave it in all the time unless it gets in the way, which isn't often. You could also recess the tube back a bit further to make it flush with the bucket, but I personally like mine where it is.
This day work sight . Contractors damaged sewage water pipe, had to open it to make a place for sarcophagus.
Where in Russia Honcho? That's beautiful! While I understand Russia is a massive country I didn't expect something that looked like that! That could be Tennessee...
We (me) don't EVER see the vertical stabilizers. Ours are all bat wing stabilizers. Yours are 6 feet apart. Mine are 10 feet. I wonder why one country uses pretty much exclusively, one style, the rest of the world uses the other. New Holland is a minor share of the market here, my friends would own nothing else. They buy every Ford, or New Holland machine that comes to the used market. They used Ford Trucks, now Sterling, I think Sterling is now out of production. Everything possible, Ford!! Ford construction equipment has become New Holland. They bought a NH excavator 2 years old. A new compact track loader; NH.
Vertical stabilisers let you to work close to the wall, and stand streight ahead. sideway stabils are more steady n safe. but not compact, and universal.
Aighead, I live in the south of Russia, the Black sea side , city of Tuapse. It is native name of two rivers, one is white n clean, other muddy. they meet right at our city. Caucasian ridge of mountains starts here, those hill s are they. City is sea port, and partly summer reasort. The sea port works on oil, coal, fertilisers, metal n grain. Most population of the city works there, I dont , once I got proposal to work on a hydraulic crane loader, but I didn t agree, rules there are too strict, one got to ask a permission to go to pee three times before he is let out -- joke. But very close to truth. Ppl rat on each other there, wage is great, and some 30 years ago dockers were best paid population. Now not, though they still get good money. I value mental freedom and peace of mind more than big money.
My hoe was pushing trees, before laying down on the job. I couldn't reach the kill switch, it smoked badly from the exhaust then died out. I righted with my truck, then tried to start it. It's acting like a hydrostatic lock. It will crank through one cyl. then the starter motor stalls. Going to see if it fixes itself overnight, or is that too risky ? Just crack the injectors before doing anything ? I hope I didn't bend a rod. Thoughts please.
Oil filled a cylinder. Cylinder comes to compression stroke, can't compress. Open the cylinder top up crankcase oil & turn it over.
Air filter was full of oil, as was the number one cylinder. I couldn't get the injector to budge... cracked the high pressure fuel line and the return fuel nut, but for the life of me couldn't get the injector loose. Ended up sticking a screwdriver between the rocker arm and the valve stem and cranking it. I know I got lucky, not sure if the valves are an interference fit. Anyhow it runs again, now.
Been busy excavating for footers... finished the forms yesterday and will get the rebar done this weekend. Just need to get the forms inspected and then I can schedule the cement. Moving forward.... with lowering lumber prices!!
Nice. That will be easy to figure your mud. I have a question- The pins spaced around are for horizontal form stability? You will add your verticals after the pour? Around here, they do not allow steel to pass from the soil into the concrete
Used 1/2" Al rod to mark the corner point. The soil ( rock/ bedrock) kept me from driving the rod so I had to use the forms to 'locate' those points. Those vertical points also allowed me to square the layout. I figure to pour around, then saw off flush, the masons will then have a start point. Hope the inspector is OK with it.... The verticals get added as we pour..... and I will make "H" braces to straddle the forms and support those and brace the forms. My numbers show 25' of form = 1 yd of concrete.
Forward motion is good!! .
....That way you can see where your going..
Unless it is raining so hard you cant see...LOL
It appears that yesterdays wet offerings went 'around' my place for the most part... go figure! Here's hoping you've been able to get some work done ...
I need your luck. I would guess we got about 1.5" of rain...Every time I dry up, rain comes. Been using my CUT New holland backhoe to work on my basement entrance way. It too is pure mud today, but I am working it. I think the forks on the bucket saved my back this week between the concrete blocks and the 32 bags of concrete mix!!
Y'all can send some of that rain my way. Been 100 plus and bone dry down here.
Put 4 hours straight on my machine this morning. 105* heat index, dusty conditions, and AC running full blast. Temp gauge never got over the halfway mark. I think it's safe to say my radiator clean out I did last fall is a success. This area all looked like the cluster to the right before I started. Only displaced out one rat and one bunny.
That is great to hear...not that it was hot, that you were cool and the hoe was doin ok too!!
On the down side the hoe has two new leaks. RF inside of wheel is wet with oil. Haven't looked enough to know if it's from the diff or hub. Either way I already know my right upper ball joint doesn't want to come out because I already tried to replace it. Pretty sure it's going to be a bugger to fix. Hard line for the crowd at the base of the boom developed a pin hole and started spraying oil. I will have to pull that, clean it up, and weld it. Lines are listed at $550 each and showing backorder. Shouldn't be a big deal to fix that. I had to weld one of my stabilizer tubes when I first got it and that is still holding.
Finished the access road through the woods on my farm. Cleared 250 yards of timber without a thumb or a grapple. Dragged big logs with log chains and slings. Cut a lot into sections small enough to fit my bucket. I think I worked harder than my TLB. Dug a 30 yard channel to reroute one creek into another. The new 24” high-capacity bucket is a big improvement over the 18” but I can definitely tell a difference with the boom at 90 degrees.
You would feel a lot better after a day like that if you backhoe had a thumb on it.
I guarantee it but the price with tax and delivery for a no-weld thumb from USA Attachments is $2300. This winter I may try to make one or possibly modify a weld-on model. I did have a set of pallet forks given to me yesterday. I just have to get the attachment hooks for the bucket.
I bought a set off of eBay for around $60. Here is the link, but many others available on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/283993292005
Thanks Swetz, just what I need!
It would be quite easy to convert a weld-on thumb to a bolt on one. Some grade 8 all thread and a couple of 5/8 " or heavier plates. In the picture is just one of the thumbs Palletforks offers. The base plate would need to be wide enough for the mounting bolts to to go past the dipper arm with a tight fit. A minimum of three rods, preferably four wold bolt to the other plate. https://www.palletforks.com/tractor...mb-58-inch-steel-plate-attachment/122994.html
@Bote , if shipping is cheaper than buying outright let me know, if you pay for the shipping I'll send you an extra set I have... I don't remember the weight and I don't think we own a scale. I'll see if the box is labeled with a weight.
Those might fit in a USPS flat rate box.
Or two... Not a bad idea! Man, the usps would lose their shirt on that gamble!
Thanks Aighead. I checked the round bar and it's 2" in diameter and there were three hooks on the backhoe. I figure most of these are similar in construction. If yours are like this, PM me and I'll send you the $ to ship.
Yeah man! You saying there were 3 hooks on the backhoe these came off of? I keep forgetting to check the box for weight, though the bar is the same size. I'll send you a note.
Been working in the wild, frogs and snakes are my friends.
That is pretty Honcho but it looks real sketchy to work under! Also, can you send me some of those rocks?
Burst a swing cylinder hose while digging Saturday and she bled all over the ground. Hoses on order. I thought if I just dont hit the swing lever I could still drive it out of there, but she still seems to hemorrhage whenever pump is running.
Boo casey! I spent like 4 hours on Monday learning that I need to clean the grease off my hoe more often and I'm apparently only half way through that lesson. I was going to finish learning yesterday but, man, it's hot up in these parts, I stayed inside. By "learn" I mean wiping excess grease off with paper towels and getting the zirks cleaned up and junk. I think I've been over greasing but under frequency, I should grease less, more often, and wipe the beast down occasionally. What a miserable job. I'm considering trying to knock the big grease chunks off with a pressure washer but the only good spot for doing that is right in the middle of the driveway, I'd rather not have giant grease boogers all over, though it is gravel so maybe I could just mix it up, I don't know.
I saw where someone else stated, using a pressure washer to remove built up grease deposits will only result in covering the entire machine with grease splotches!!! I can give an amen to that - been there, done that. Wiping as you grease is probably the better option but that increases the greasing time more than double. Takes the better part of a paper roll and close trash can. I tend to over grease as well…. It’s difficult not to.
Hot water pressure washer is best. You can use Super Clean first. Grease fittings are important to clean, don't want to pump grit into the joints. The exposed fittings are easy, those recessed can be slow to clean out. A screwdriver to dig the bulk of greasy dirt, then fold the paper towel 4 layers & screwdriver again. Everybody's gun is different, most joints I do 5 pulses gun set on high pressure, low volume is plenty.
I was a roll and a half of paper towels deep when I gave up. I've found that gloves help, though the grease wipes off my hands more easily, so I can touch things like my glasses, it's nice to just rip the gloves off and have cleanish hands underneath.
I have a box of gloves. Remembering to put them on is another problem all it’s own!
I worked with hydraulic oil every day for years. My employer supplied nitril gloves, but I found that I sweat in them so profusely that my fingers would slip around inside the gloves and I did not have the ability to grab properly. So, I would start the job with the gloves on, and not 20 min later, I would be ripping them off cuz I couldn't stand it any more. That said, I do try to wear them when greasing the hoe, but sometimes I don't even make it thru till I cant stand it, and off they come.
My sons have the perfect answer. Dad greases too often, no grease needed for the next 1000 hours. I get a bit militant when I see them heading for the backhoe. My rule: If you are going to use it, grease it. I've owned five OLD hoes thus far into life. Most hadn't been greased regularly. ALL until now, I've replaced bushings. It isn't fun. It is VERY expensive. My present hoe is freshest I've owned, 2000 hours, & no evidence the hoe was used at all. The hoe is tight, I aim to keep it tight.
POP!
Well, surprised the overspray didn’t hold it in lol.
I'll give my machine a good cleaning every month or so during the summer. For the grease fittings I have the following ritual: 1. I use these plastic scrapers from Amazon to get the excess grease off. 2. spray diesel on the fittings 3. blow the fittings with compressed air. The scrapers have a flat end for removing grease blobs and a pointed end for cleaning recessed fittings. They are five bucks for a four-pack. https://a.co/d/gwOznE6
I like those Bote. I was using one of those 5 in 1 scrapers then ruined a spatula from the kitchen but those look like they'd be much better with the tight spaces. Oh yeah, after tightening up some zerks I've managed to lose my ratchet! Maybe it's still on the hoe, I didn't feel like walking back out to check several times...
I went to my buddies house on the other side of the valley Sunday. He had a narrow 1 truck driveway. Spent around 5 hours there making it so he can now park 6 trucks. He’s roughly 1,000’ above the valley floor.
Awful nice view for working on a Sunday.
Beautiful Long0!
One can never have enough level land.
Agreed!!
Beautiful country LongO!
Looks a steep slope like my property. Only he has way better views!
Watched a CTL work in places too soft for her big butt. Afterward, she did a great job of clearing snags and testing the new road built up by the CTL.
Dug up a double stump. White pine. When I put her in drive I popped a little wheelie! Lost the shuttle function briefly today but luckily it was just a blown fuse
Yeah, I've got annoyed with myself for not having foresight to pick up a couple boulders before picking up a stump. Wheelies aren't all that much fun.
I did have a bucket full when I picked this up...so no wheelie. One of 4 pulled..cut down last year ... and the 'big dig' that will be my crawl space ( more of a stoop space!) has a nice footer and 2000 block stacked waiting for the masons.... The fella that dropped those had a deft hand when it came to setting them.... all with a hoist that hung from a cable pulley. Lots of motion there! We will be building the sand mound in the next week.....( another 1st for me) ... getting the material delivered and staged.... the inspector needs to stop by and have a peek before I "chisel" the top 6 inches prior to spreading the sand. Spreading about 100 yds of sand ( special sand mind you !) then some 2b on top... the pipe, and more 2b, and topped with a foot of fill. I'm not sure how the machine will do with the 'reach' across the site. They do not want you on the downhill side of the mound with the machine at all. Might be some hand work for me.....
Lots of progress T-town! Good stuff!
T-town, Wow, looking awesome! Thanks for the update!
Thanks guys... Swetz.. I hope things have been dry enough for you to make some progress at your place..
Little job; The one room school in my town of 200 people was expanded to two rooms just before I started first grade. Now it's the Town Clerk's office. The handicap ramp was old, so we ripped it out. That exposed the building sills, they were rotten. Concrete steps were under the rotted out handicap ramp. They had to be removed. I guessed how deep they might go into the ground, I was off by a foot. I estimated it at 7000 lbs, they proved to weigh 10500. I could have moved 7000, 10500 I lifted, but couldn't move. I moved them 20 feet, but couldn't drive with them. Ended up getting an employee from the local paving company with a Cat 966 to haul them away. I bet they will make the crusher grunt!
I am, thank you. I have almost all the stumps removed from the pad now. I should finish them in the next week. I have also been working on drainage for my house. Ran a 4" pipe and built a dry dam with a catch basin and a 4" riser. Hoping it stays dry so I can finish with my swales to get rid of all of the water. Oh, bought some 15" double wall culvert pipe too.
If the price of that plastic is anything like what they want for conduit.... holy crap! Glad to hear things are dry enough to move forward at your place. I will be picking up 400' of 4" perimeter drain in the next week or so. They want 100+ at the box stores... few dollars less at some local supply houses.... but if I drive a couple hours its 60... go figure! At least the price of a stud is back to reasonable.
I really enjoy seeing what you guys do with your 'hoes. I bought mine oct of 2019 thinking "next fall I can start cutting trees and stumping for our house and leeching field". Well COVID hit and everything got screwed up plus I ended up fixing my backhoe more than originally planned. I decided to fix it right so I can have it for years. When the weather is above 90 I can't work on it. I am not built for the heat. I am not aiming for next Spring to have her fixed and moved to my land. With all the life changes that COVID brought we are not sure we can even build now. At the least I will clear the land for a house, put in a driveway and do as much as I can to prepare the property for a house. At the worst I can sell the land and turn a profit. I can't wait to start digging. I have never used a backhoe before so this will be a learning curve for me. My neighbor is an operator for a local home builder. He uses a Cat and I have a Cat. He offered to help out by running my machine. Keep posting, you guys inspire me!
I too was a "rookie" operator.... but no better place to become somewhat proficient than your own 'dirt'!! I was just thinking today, as I was moving yet another load of fill to my sand mound berm.... how lucky I felt to be doing what I was doing....sitting solo on the property... smiling .... priceless!! Have fun.... and stay safe..... good thing about old age is the slowing down.. gives ya time to ponder the situation
I was one of those teenagers could run anything. Both my sons surpass me on my best day. I had occasionally had a fraction of a day I would have opportunity to run excavator, or backhoe, I just loved it! Several times, I rented an excavator. About 22 years ago I bought my own backhoe. Like most used old machine purchases, it had problems. After diagnosing the problem, it took forever for parts to arrive. I needed a backhoe, so I bought another, This was functional but not loved. I found another in very nice condition, close sibling to the previous. This I kept 15 years. My son's friend is no mechanic. He bought a backhoe to do his own site work on construction projects. He was disillusioned after two years, wanted to sell. I bought his also. I didn't need two, I sold both, added some more money, bought a low hour machine a model still in production. You'll either quickly learn to run it, or find it isn't for you.
It has been awhile, but I think I found proof.... rocks DO grow here in PA. !! Finally pulled one with roots still attached. That explains it Got started on the sand mound.... Ended up a bit shy on the sand... so more coming, Will get the dosing tank set this week.... run some pipe and get the next inspection. If OK then I can cover and seed.
You said sand mound. My mind went a different direction. When I was a young man building my house there was a neighbor kid, sort of a cast off. He was one who didn't know who his father was, his mother didn't know. His grandparents were virtually dysfunctional, (alcohol). His great grandmother was dealing with her lunatic daughter, but was best he had in lieu of parents. He lived several months of each year with her next door to me. He was 8 when I was 23 & he followed me around whenever I was there. He's all grown up now, runs his own excavation business. He has a wife & two adult daughters. He was hired by a trust fund old man to build what I call Mount Crumpet. The homeowner lived in an impressive place, several beautifully landscaped ponds, a beautiful 1800 house restored in the best way money could buy. Picturesque barns, & a guest house much nicer than my home. Still he had no distant view, except the very peak of Stratton ski area. My friend was hired to build a mountain. It was to be tall enough to see over the uncooperative neighbor's trees with views of Stratton. The thing must have been 40 feet high. Plan was to have an entertainment area at the top big enough to bring invited guests for an evening of entertaining, they would see the distant evening activity on the ski area. Dormant in summer, it is still a meeting place for the wealthy to gather year round. When I last saw it, it was at height, but the top level area was barely big enough for the loader. It still needed many thousands of cubic yards of earth to expand the space at top.
..wow.... and was he hauling in ALL that fill ? or getting it 'on site'.... I'll bet over half the hours I have added to this "old hoe" have been moving material around a bucket at a time. When I cut my footer ditches I could see how much material I added to the top of this ridge I'm straddling.... 2 foot here, 3 1/2 foot there.... and I thought that was a lot. At least my view was good from the get go.... not Stratton mind you but pretty good non the less.
Built a pond, that provided some material, but most was trucked in. Hard to say how much was trucked, many thousands of yards.
.... wow again... well.... when money is no object.... there you go.
I've lost touch with the property owner. His house had a generator I didn't install 2' from his bedroom. He wanted a generator for the guest house, insisted it had to be 100 yards from the building, couldn't accept that all that ditch etc. would cost. I'll check in to see if the mountain is finished. Last day I was there was the day of the solar eclipse.
My hoe is getting prepared to start the final stage of my pond build August 18! within a week after I’m hoping it’s holding back water!! 3.5 years in the making and it will soon be finished!!!!!!!
Welp, digging the drainage trench around the barn last night and go to scoop up a bucket full of dirt and out sprays a fine mist of hydraulic fluid. I guess my worn out bucket hose has finally run through the extendahoe area one too many times. Any of you guys with New Holland extendahoes want to take a picture of the routing for the hoses going to the bucket? Mine, theoretically, lays down inside the space between the extendahoe arm and the not extending arm. There are two little tabs that appear to be for guiding the hoses back down into that space but I'm not positive. I've got a hard line the comes off the cylinder a couple feet to keep that pathway going but mine looks like it's all bent up (not creased) and not held tight to cylinder like I think maybe it should be? The hoses running in that track have a rubber sleeve over them but the one that got cut that sleeve is pretty much shot. I'd like to find something comparable or beefier.
I am away this week, so attempting to upload some pics on my phone...hope it works! Let me know if this is what you need. I will be back at the tractor Sunday and could get what you need.
Thanks Swetz, I think your first and 2nd picture show me what I'm looking for, my issue is on the hose on the left in those pictures. I'll have to take a few good pictures myself to compare. Your hard line is in much better shape and strapped much more nicely to the cylinder than mine, I think I've got mine stuck in some tree branches or something several times. I should be more able to straighten that out upon removing the hose, so I'm not so scared of it. Also your little tabs that I presume are for guiding the hose back into that channel are more angled out than mine, that has likely contributed to the tear. I'm very busy this weekend and I think the hose shop will only be open early tomorrow, when I can't get to it, so it'll likely be mid next week before I can do anything. We'll see. Thanks again man!
Got a 'dosing' tank placed in the hole this last week... .... and maybe some of you might have some experience with the various ways by which one connects pipe to these precast tanks. The inlet /outlet holes ( to be) look like this.... ... a close up of the casting imprint? .....inside wall of the tank appears smooth. I guess its a simple 4" knockout. Or do I hole saw a 2"+ opening for the pipe and then grout the 'cone'??.... as one would for the 4" pipe ( the grouting) Not sure yet if there's a 'connection boot' that I'm gonna need...... the inlet from my yet to installed septic tank will be 4"..... the outlet from the dosing tank to the 'sand mound" is 2"..... so maybe they make a reducing boot?? thanks for any insight into the area of precast.
Can you guys help explain what I should expect upon removal of the hose that pivots the hoe bucket? It's similar to the the one Swetz is showing above, on the left in the first 2 pictures, and it appears to be the hose that curls the bucket in. So I'll lose the curling ability, and theoretically I want the cylinder to be on the empty side of the hose, right? Like the shaft shouldn't be seen because it's in the cylinder? Meaning the bucket is uncurled? I'm thinking I won't lose a ton of hydraulic fluid either way but I don't want to do something dumb either... Is there a better solution than the plastic sleeve hoses are wrapped in, for when they travel into and out of the channel for the extendahoe? Am I missing something that may get me hurt? This seems like it should be a straight forward hose to remove but I'd hate to be wrong.
If the bucket is on the ground and curled all the way in or out you shouldn't lose much oil. With the engine off, move the control lever back n forth to relieve any pressure in the hoses. Most any hydraulic cylinder repair shop should have rolls of protective sheathing for hose.
You rock Tinkerer, thank you.
What Tinkerer said! Some examples of hose protection: https://www.discounthydraulichose.com/hose-protection.html?msclkid=f65848370b1c1aa065b32ac4e99ace1d
Is there value in the steel protectors? That spot, with the extendahoe, sees a lot of action. I also don't know, maybe that hose has lasted the 20 years it's been on there... Hoo! Nevermind, at those prices! 20 foot for 730 bucks!
The steel protectors that look like steel springs are excellent for hose protection. A properly fitting one needs to be slid on the hose before both fittings are crimped on.
When I was working on bucket trucks for an electric utility, we used the spiral type to protect the hoses on units with extension booms, with good results. I must confess that it is a PITA to take the time to install it tho. I am sure the metal would afford better protection, but, as Tinkerer said, needs to be on prior to crimping the fittings. I have also seen some guys on youtube using old fire hose for protection...just tie wrapped the ends.
I used plain old cloth wrap on my JD loader and it is holding up fine. On that one I have 4 hoses running through a common wrap where it articulates against the loader frame. On one of my NH hoses the guy at the shop gave me a used spiral plastic wrap. I think it would be superior to the other types but both are working fine.
Where space is tight not many choices. If room, Greenfield, (electrical metallic flexible tubing).
I'm hoping to get the hose off this weekend or maybe tomorrow night and I'll see what options the hose store has. My guess is it'll be more of the plastic like what was on there. If I could get metal wrapping for less than a hundred bucks I'll consider it. Thanks gang!
New question! Anyone have any pictures or drawings of their hoe buckets with a welded on or somehow attached flat plate that would temporarily delete the bucket teeth? It seems pretty simple but I've got the tendency to do things wrong the first time or six and I'd rather avoid that. Also, is there a suggested thickness for the flat plate? I have some flat pieces of metal that I could conceivably weld together to make a plate thicker, as right now they are maybe 1/8" thick, if that...
The fire hose type protection works really well and is pretty inexpensive to put on. Ask the place making the hose what they offer for protection. That said, find out how much your hose is going to cost. Most of the hoses on my backhoe are under $100 to replace from my local hose shop. If I get 10 years from a $100 hose, and it didnt have protection before, I'm probably not putting protection on it when replaced. As long as you don't have some oddball fitting, and the hose isn't super long, it probably isn't going to cost a lot to replace. Call around the various hydraulic shops in Dayton and see if they'll ball park a price over the phone, I doubt they'll give a firm quote without seeing hose in person though. Don't go to an equipment dealership, they mark up hydraulic hoses horribly. I use a place called BJ Hydraulics. They're a family owned shop in the middle of nowhere, but they're about 5 minutes from my house. The deere dealer is 20 minutes away. Deere charges almost double for the same hose as BJ does. I don't go to Deere for hoses. The Bobcat dealer is farther away, but equally expensive.
The easiest place I've found (and really one of the only places I've found) is the Parker Store down the way. I made a trek after my first hose breakage to 3 different places who appeared to make or repair hoses and after one pointed me to another that pointed me to another I eventually was pointed to a Parker store about 20 miles up the road and then I found one (on an oil search I believe) that is only a few miles from the house. Yeah, a hundred bucks is about right.
The Parker hose that came on my grapple was cracking on the cover in just two years. It hasn't gotten worse or broken at 4 years. I prefer Gates which I have made at a local CarQuest. Just saying. Reuse the plastic off the old hose if it looks good. If it's the spiral type it should be easy to clean with a rag and brake clean. The red can CRC brand doesn't damage plastic.
I'll have to investigate CarQuest, I can't think of any around here but that doesn't mean they don't exist, thank you! The plastic on that hose is hosed, when I've tangled with the trees too much it got all jenked up and now looks like a pushed down sock.
I got the hose replaced. They seemed to only have a Kevlar protection sleeve where I went. In the process and after looking at Swetz's pictures I found that my hard line, the metal one running from about halfway down the cylinder was all out of whack, after diving into some trees to rip them down. After I bit of studying I realized I needed to loosen the hard line and swivel it around a bit, tucking the top of it and the soft line connection kind of up over the top of the joint where the dipper meets the boom (I think I'm saying that right), which led to that soft line (the replaced one with Kevlar) falling into the channel just right. Woop. I think I have to modification to do to the other side with the tabs that I suppose are there to guide the hoses into that channel for the extendahoe part? When I tried to bend the one out a bit to catch the hose on it's way down that tab is about to snap off. I guess I should weld that up, though I may have to crack some of those fitting a bit to move that around too. Can I weld right next to a hydraulic hose (with plastic wrapped around it) or should I put some kind of shield between the tab and the hose?
I'd g I'd get it out of harms way. Pictures.
Wrapped with plastic ? ------ No. Not worth taking a chance. I use steel flat stock or a piece of sheet metal for a shield if I'm welding next a hose.
I use old auto tags.
I have a soldering kit that I made up. In it there is a section of old gutter that I cut open, and a piece of steel that came from one of those old crossbuck white storm doors ( I know some of you remember them ). I use these as heat shields when torching. Something similar would work for welding.
I have a bunch of 1/8" thick steel plates that will be perfect for the shielding needed. I wander if there'd be any value in cutting a new tab from these sheets to weld up in the original's place... I'll try to get some pictures tonight.
Here this should save you a few bucks with some strong zip ties your hoses should last long time of not rubbing through and save you few bucks to buy some good bourbon. If you have a chainsaw it works as a sheath on them too. https://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_str=fire+hose
This is my new routing, going back to the old routing. Way better at least on the left hose. That metal line was sticking way far out to the left so I feel much better about it's position now. My phone has a terrible signal, so I can't get a picture of the right side tab right now. View attachment 266692
A few steps forward...... and a few back... The masons finished their work.. While they were working on that, I took the time to build the sand mound septic.. and that turned out great. The day we had 4 yds of concrete coming (8/30) to grout cores, the truck pulls up, right on time, I chat for a moment with the driver.... walk around the back of the truck and notice liquid pouring out of the business end of the unit. Hydraulic hose popped a leak.... figures! While he calls his folks... we get some hoseclamps and old bits of hose... and get him enough of a patch to spin his load. Hour and a half later.... he says we will pour. I'm on the wall manning the chute with a shovel... two others grabbing rebar... setting anchor bolts. 80% of way finished I guess I just stepped onto air... no yell ( according to my mates) down hard (7 courses) onto broken, rocky ground. No loss of conscientiousness.... not too much pain ( adrenaline?) .... but a trip in an ambulance, several scans and some pain meds later and I'm due for a C6-C7 fracture stabilization the next day...... the two buds DID finish the pour.....!! So not so much a step back.... rather a step sideways into the rest area for awhile. Doing well considering. My son and I grouted the last holes this weekend using bags and a jug of water... I handled the water.. . Outside surface is 'tarred'... perimeter drain is in and backfilled with 2b stone.... my brother-in-law from next door has been operating the 'old hoe'. So, should be ready for the "wood" part in the next week. Lots to do before it gets (stays) cold.
The septic 'sand' mound.. Sorry Aighead...... had to use some of those boulders around the dosing tank..... saved me quite a bit of fill...
Yikes! Do what the doctor tells you to, and don't push it. We ain't the badass 30 year old we once were.
Looks great T-town! Heal up well and quick, that injury sounds no good!
T-town...OMG, sorry to hear of your fall, but glad you are ok, and that you are making good progress! No worries, Aighead, I can still help you out with a FULL load for the car Neither are the 30 year olds, least not the ones I have seen .
I wish fellas! My wife did mention the pond project a few weeks ago (for which I'm using the rocks) so while I don't really have the money saved up to really work on the pond her desire to do something with it makes it more likely to happen. I just want somewhere to swim.
Thanks for the good thoughts guys.... Lucky for me the "pain in the neck" is very minimal.... compared to others I've heard of. The doctors "orders" are pretty much 'standard' release orders. Cervical collar for 6 weeks, but I don't have to wear it sleeping....well if my sleep night does not do any damage I can't see me hurting it while on site. I tend to move quite a bit as a side/stomach sleeper. Can ride in a car but not drive.... I guess the turning to see is the issue..... well I have a pivoting seat in the hoe.!! so that takes care of that. Lots of 'friends and family' waiting in the wings for the call to raise walls......we will 'get er done'
We started running our sill plate/seal the other day.... I got to crank on the anchor bolts. My call to the well drillers became fruitful.... due to their 'other' sites being a bit too damp at the moment. A few hours over two days.... 500 ft of hole later... and we have 5 gpm. Will have to trench about 25 ft for 'em to get the line into the house space and should get that done in the coming week. Looking forward to getting the backfill started as we have two garage spaces that need some interior compaction/floor drain install. Lucky for me my "home health care gal" was willing to jump in for the cause....as we had gotten a bit sloppy with our infamous 'grout' job! Sill needs to sit level for some reason Told her we always said for better or...banging concrete.
I went out to push/pull the neighbors dozer around a bit again yesterday and my hoe had the e-brake lock up on her. I relocated the hoe for a better angle, pulled the e-brake and when I went to move again it wouldn't disengage. Was fine the time before. The neighbor started messing with it, we tried pulling the big pivot pin but didn't have much luck. Ended up he pulled the whole assembly out and shot some wd40 on the rachet-y part and got it to let loose. Took maybe an hour of what should have been about a half hour job...
Not sure whats better..... too many brakes... that sometimes keep you from doing what you want... or mine, where you have to 'plan well ahead' to stop when using the pedal... Glad to hear you get 'er 'loosed'
Had the same problem, and fixed it with WD-40 too . I was able to move, but smelled burning brakes. That is what alerted me.
I use my e-brake frequently it was clear that something was jammed up in there. My e-brake warning alarm works well too. My brake was stuck enough that the machine would not move. I'll have to look in there a little better to see if I can tell what got stuck. It looks like the whole mechanism is pretty simple.
LOL , Mine too!!! The reverse buzzer did as well until I unplugged it .
Yup! That was a nice, quiet day at the aighead compound!
Foundation all inspected and began backfill... 1st order was to get the porch 'hole' filled. Did not want a swimming pool.. Lowered the plate compacter into the space (4'deep) using the hoe and chain, then as I added fill my BIL ran the compacter. ...and worked our way to full.. Backfilled around the walls.... ..... and graded the area.... mostly by back-dragging with a bucket load. Pulled that off without making contact with the blocks!! And started laying floor joists..... Subflloor gets delivered this week and if "Ian" jogs east south of us we should get that buttoned up this weekend. Speaking of the sky..... saw what looked like a comet this past Sat.... just after dusk... though it was moving slowly across the sky.... thought maybe a plane with its landing light on... weird... found out today it was a rocket out of Florida making its way.
Also, dug the trench for the water line from the well casing.
Real wood too...WOW Lookin real good. How is the neck doing?
10-4 on the wood! Have never worked with the newer stuff.... so I stick to my comfort zone. The doctor was a bit surprised to hear of my ""therapy" work.... but said no lifting over 30 lbs. so I can move studs!! I'm pretty lucky with the 'pain'.... none except some back/neck muscle pain as the hours go by...but that is getting better as far as stamina. Heat pads work wonders!! Working with a "Miami collar" (??) on.... kind of a 'pain' but the alternative was not pretty. My wife was driving me and the fuel cans to get some off road.... deer came running and she slammed the brakes.... which work real well... and I realized why I should have been wearing that belt.
Wait, Where are you building? My nephew is visiting Orlando and caught a glimpse of the space-x falcon 9 rocket right after launch.
Not only real wood but real beefy! What are those posts 8x8 or bigger? Whoa! Also, neat to seeing the rocket! I always hope to see something like that but I never have. Keep an eye out for Elon's string of internet satellites too!
6x6's with 3 2x12's for a "beam".... 2x10 joists spanning 10 ft..... on that 'wing'. The main living area is 26'wide so 14's there. ....all on 16"centers.... as will be the roof trusses. Well guys came today and ran the pipe into the house from the pitless adapter.(?) along with #10 wire. So I am able to complete the backfill in all but the garage drain out the back of the structure. Yeah...rockets white glare.... would have been nice to have some heads up on that.... didn't hear a thing. Maybe one of 'those' payloads??? Anyway.... we are in NE PA.... did see one take off from Wallops Island one year... Up here in Pa... .......looked like a bright star rising up then turning and changing trajectory... The local weather folks are always right on top of flyovers by the space station.....but nothing on this. I remember driving one night and this yellow light thing kinda hovering... moving slow...looked like we were coming right up on it...... trying to drive and look at the same time.... .......one of those candle powered hot air balloons.....first time I ever saw one... had me goin for a moment though...
Put my titan thumb to good use last weekend.
Whoa! Nice!
Gotta love using natures building blocks.....!! and I'm sure you've got plenty to use from those 'hills'.
Finally decided to take our old Dogwood tree down. It was a magnificent tree in it's day but after having the woods behind it clear cut it got sicker every year. I guess I need a more sun tolerant tree to plant in it's place. Stump comes up easy with the tree attached.
It's sad to see any tree go! How'd you and @ianjoub make it through the storms?
Nothing here by me, state trashed 3 hours south of me.
I talked to family in Dunellon and they said it was like a bad storm at their place. Put the lawn furniture in the barn and stayed inside.
Well, I'm getting pretty good at moving my neighbors project dozer to line up with his car port. He's struggling with the steering clutches, one is apparently stuck, but he's been messing with it. He'll drive out into the yard trying to unstick the clutch, then he can't line up tot he carport just right so I give it a shove. Last time we spun it completely around, this time I just needed to push the front end over a foot or two.
We had no effects here. We are in a drought!
Took a small dia maple out of my BIL's driveway 2 weeks ago. Cut it into a couple of pieces and hauled it to the burn pile. Looked at it 2 days ago and darned if the leaves didn't still do their fall 'thing' even when cut down.... ...they were green when I cut it catch the fall before it leaves
Found out that no thumb is no problem for taking stumps to the burn pile.
Waiting out the rain today.... Last few days spent framing walls on the 'deck'... A few more to frame tomorrow, and I still need to "clamp up" the forks and stage some trusses. Have the use of a 'pole tuck' this weekend.... and have a few friends and family coming to supply the muscle to 'raise' some walls and trusses. The weather is going to cooperate!!
That's why Deere put teeth on their dipper right? Always thought that was cool. Yeea I don't set up my thumb to move one or two stumps, but a whole pile...
Nice Ttown, what style home are you building?
Yessss!
Its a ranch.... a "grow old in place" house
My hoe, which is covered by a tarp, has become the new home to a feral cat. He or She (not sure what pronoun it wants to be called) is not too friendly and hisses a lot. Maybe it will keep the mice from chewing up stuff.
I'm hoping @Swetz and @T-town are getting the same dry weather we've got to work on your spots, particularly Swetz, since it sounds like he's always wet. We've been bone dry for weeks and weeks now.
It's not been a 'wet' fall @ my place.... but did have rain now and then... more so than summer. We had a "big" weekend here... great weather and lots of folks.... 'rasin' walls haulin trusses.. the result..... we only completed the main center room.... opposing wings have a lower pitch and mostly common trusses so should be a bit easier... I am exhausted though... but a "good tired"...... ... do have to get the roof sheathing on asap starting that tomorrow.... and that reminds me.. to check the forecast
Some closer up from the inside...
Dug 200' of 2' deep ditch. Specification was 6" below, 6' above of fine sand. I went to the sand pit needing 14 yards of sand. After I had hauled 2 loads (12 yards) & loaded a third, I allowed myself some therapeutic activity on this spectacular afternoon. I dug out a 36" stump. Digging stumps is against my principals. Pulling, or pushing whole trees is more my thing. Mostly, I push them down. Tree trunk serves as a big lever. It works very well. Todays had been cut down 18" above ground. Staggeringly deep roots! I was all the way around a 7' diameter root ball with a 2' bucket, I'll say 15" diameter hole, 10' deep before this stump began to wiggle. I had left my phone in the truck, I'll get pictures.
We had a month long drought here in N. Fl. Got 3/4" a couple of days ago and 30% chance tomorrow. I did get my little burn pile burnt today. Hoping for some cool, damp weather so I can take down a dead oak.
I have been moving dirt for the pad of the shop every weekend lately. I am off this thursday and friday and hope to move more. I am hoping to have all the dirt in place prior to the deep freeze.
... other than a chance of a shower today.....( none yet!) the rest of the week /weekend looks dry...!!! move some dirt
Holy crap t-town! Beautiful! I hope that big opening is lots of windows! Willie it's amazing how big a hole becomes digging out the stumps, I agree with knocking them over, I've left all my "stumps" 8+ feet high at this point and will rock them out sometime. Nh575, I've been wanting to burn some here too but it's been a long time since we've had any rain. They called for a storm over the weekend but that didn't happen (light drizzle for maybe half hour) and lots of wind. Swetz that's good to hear, I was sad hearing about how wet it's been for you in the past, nice you are getting some stuff done. Looks like weather here will be cool this week but warmish again (low 70s) next week. I'll take it.
...saw some pics on the tele showing the historically low Mississippi..... yup.... some nice glass..
Yup, my pond and creek are a lowest levels in the 6 years I've been here.
And they want to divert part of the Mississippi to California for their needs
Dug up a yellowjacket nest Sunday. Had all the glass open. They tore me up! I jumped down and ran like a ........well I ran faster and further than I had in a long time! The yellowjackets were swarming all over my backhoe, and in my hasty exit I had left it running. I made a "yellowjacket suit" with welding gloves, boots, a sandblasting hood and lots of duck tape. My wife watched from a safe distance as I walked into the swarm, closed the glass, and drove the backhoe out of the danger zone. I took some benedryl and ibuprofin, killed the yellowjackets that were in the cab and worked for a couple hours before calling it a day.
We were given a cast iron bathtub.... and realized that I heeded to get that 'inside' the house before it was 'buttoned up'.
While I had the use of a "pole truck" to help set the largest trusses.... we still have to deal with the smaller ones. Here is what we came up with... ...and in action...
I've been busy this weekend leveling out the barn! Drainage is in, grade could use a bit more work but I'm getting a lot closer. Wahoo! I only bent up one of the door slides, not sure how I'll fix that yet but I buried it then I think I hooked onto it with a tooth.
probably involve a big hammer??
You can see the bend in my picture, I tried readjusting the track with both the backhoe and prying on it with a shovel and a rock... It's about 1/3" maybe more lower than the first section of track. There's definitely a hitch but I can open and close the door. The amount of gravel I'm going to need for the inside isn't ideal.
Nice use of the clamp on forks t-town.
Might want a new thread. I've coveted a toothless bucket forever. I don't have a wrist, won't likely get one. Case 580 Super N, I can't find a 30" bucket. I think I'd prefer a 24", I'd dig with it sometimes. Too wide seems wrong to dig. Narrowest I've found offered is 36" wide. I'm considering making my own. I'm not aware any one near me able to make the curve in the bottom of the bucket. I might make several flat pieces welded together to make a curve of sorts. What do you think?
When I got my hoe it had a flat piece of 1/2" welded to the nubs. I cut it off, dressed the nubs, and installed tiger teeth for digging stumps. Could you just make a removable flat bar to tack onto your teeth?
I really like the flat piece. Seems like that'd be very handy but I'm not smart enough to make it removeable if I added one.
Did that. My bucket uses 5 teeth. Outboard two are angled outward. No way to remove them if I welded to all 5 teeth. So I welded using the new Millermatic 255 in spray mode, to three worn teeth. Random piece of town snowplow edge, I thought it'd be brittle. I preheated to 600 degree F. Thursday I filled a 200' gas line ditch 1200 cubic feet of very rocky material. I'm very pleased with the performance even with a crude makeshift device. I can remove it & put other teeth on, but I'd really like a real clean up bucket. I've rebuilt a number of buckets, I believe I can build one from scratch. Making the rolled back of the bucket exceeds my capacity.
Nice! I did something similar with my little massey. 4x4 boom, winch, wheel barrow rim and straps to stabilize.
T-town, Looking great...Love the bucket boom!! Are you working thru this rain? Casy518, Like the fancy winch too!
Hey Swetz... .... the wetness puts a damper on progress...trying to get the gables framed and roof sheathing on. Got a 4 day run till next wetness so we'll see if we can 'get er done' The 'boom' works OK.... I needed to be able to take it off without much effort so we can use the forks to lift sheathing up to roof height. Hope your able to make progress thru the wets.... ...and I concur about Casey518's winch
Funny you mention the wets...Last weekend I had a good Friday, Sat, Sunday of dirt moving planned. Well, as luck would have it, 2 hours into the Friday, a hose blew. I was driving the tractor with a full bucket of dirt and boom, wasnt even operating the hydraulics! Well, it turned out to be one of the feeds right off the pump. I was able to get it off rather quickly, albeit laying in a puddle of oil. I was lucky enough to have the 2 fittings that I needed, and quickly made up a hose. Then for the install . I fought with getting the fittings started for an additional 6 hours. One had to be put on with a wrench all the way, ad a 64th of a turn at a time. The good news is that oil washes off...at least after several scrubbings...LOL and the tractor was up and running again. Saturday was a marathon of dirt moving . Sunday tapered down as it was back to NJ . Not sure how it looks now, but I will not be there this weekend. Hopefully next weekend I will be able to get back at it....winter will be here in a flash! I really want the dirt all done prior to the winter freeze
6 hours of tryin to wrench a single hose...?? they should make the 'corp design team' come out and do the job!!...... sometimes its tough tryin to do what you have to get done... I feel for ya It was a showery rain mon and yesterday but the band of wet was narrow.... north and south axis. Not sure how much came down your way.... but it looks like the band set up over you?? Liquid amount was not much though... Wind blowin in dry air today.... and will be dry thru sun..... bit 'o rain monday..?? long range looks dry and above norm temps into next weekend..... so no snow on the horizon .... but you can't take long range to the bank Here's hopin you move a bunch of dirt....
Yea, would have been easy with the floor out, but that would have been a big chore too! I will drink to that, but add, here's hopping you get your house dried in before the winter arrives!!
I finally cut a split in the floor mat in front of the shifter. Made it easier to get in and out and it lays back in place just fine
So, what exactly do you have to take out in order to get the floor out...rubber mat, seat, AC unit? How many pieces of steel are there in the floor?
Actually I have only removed the access panel to the solenoids which may not help with the pump hoses. Getting any deeper would involve pulling the seat, AC, and heat unit. Disconnecting the hoses from the expansion valve is near about as much trouble as you went through with the hydraulic hose. It is right over the rear differential housing and TIGHT! Not to mention pulling the hoses off the heater control valve.
Wow, thanks for the pics! one word...nightmare! After the shop is complete, I may pull the floor and replace all of the hoses on the underside. Until then my fingers are crossed that no more blow out....they are getting old! Also had to replace a loader hose last weekend on the TC33D CUT. It is the same vintage as the 675E, so it makes sense that they are failing too.
You might want help lifting the seat in and out.
Swetz, "I fought with getting the fittings started for an additional 6 hours. One had to be put on with a wrench all the way, ad a 64th of a turn at a time." Haha, we've all been there. Flopping the wrench every minute turn to alternate the head angle. Fun stuff
I had that minimal wrench movement last weekend replacing power steering hoses on the tractor, took about 2 hours to get the hoses off, and a bit less to get them back on. What a drag! 6 hours is rough.
And, don't forget, laying on the ground that is saturated in the oil the pump, pumped out .
Still sore from the position I had to lay in order to reach the fittings!
some folks pay big dollars at swank spas for the 'oil saturation" treatment.... I see it as a byproduct of my "rust prevention system" working...... and bad timing too...
LOL...I feel so much better now knowing that folks actually pay Well, I shouldn't be rusting any time soon The tractor either...LOL
I've mentioned my old timer neighbor down the way and his wreck/trashpit of a yard that I've helped out with on occasion. Yesterday, I got home and was having a beer in the garage when I hear some creeping down the gravel driveway. Yup, it's N, who dropped off a load of cinder blocks a week or two ago, which was quite nice. This time he asked for some help cleaning up around his trash/burn pile. I guess someone pays him to take away old food, be it fruits and vegetables, I saw some breadsticks last night, kind of anything, and he had about 3 trailer loads. I asked if someone was paying him to take this stuff and he said yeah, and I said it ain't enough. Regardless, I went back and attempted to help clean up the mess around his burning hole for a few hours. I think my hoe now smells like rotting produce and garbage. I don't mind helping this guy occasionally. However, he's like 85, thinks he's 45, and he can't do much for himself. He's got a hard time getting around at all but keeps taking these jobs which are much too much work for him. He's got a couple other guys around that will help with some of it but it's never with any semblance of pride in their work and his property, unfortunately, kind of lends itself to that lack of pride. It's hard to keep things tidy when there's junk all over. I told him I don't know how much more help like this I've got. I also told him he's got to stop with the produce trashing. He agreed. He knows he's getting old and he's actually cleaned up his property quite a bit, but it's not stopping him from still acquiring more stuff and taking on more work he can't keep up with. His adult kids are around to some extent but it doesn't seem like they want much to do with the property either. You can see his mess, from space (though this picture seems like winter time, normally grass and weeds are way up over all the stuff).
aighead, Sounds like your neighbor is one disgruntled neighbor away from having the EPA all over him. Not sure I would want to live close to a private landfill, much less help out and encourage it.
I'm not disagreeing with you NH but I don't know how much EPA issue there really is, it's mostly food waste. There are a fair amount of machine implements and the like also. Unfortunately, it kind of seems like this is the way it goes for a lot of stuff around here, though the ratio of "bad" houses to good ones keeps decreasing for the better.
Dug 100 more feet of drainage trench on the uphill side of our building lot. I teed into the other hundred feet I dug last fall. Hopefully this helps to shorten our mud season up there. Dug the trench mith my massey and woods 7500 hoe. Dumping the spoil in the big jcb bucket as I went.
Well done Casey, that looks great! (I'm biting my tongue about your beautiful rocks!)
LOL...First thing I was thinking when I saw them so nicely lined up, was that you were gonna love em . Looking good casey!!
Haha! Yup! Looking at them and thinking of my pile... I think I may have just under half the quantity seen in that picture, and they are all buried in some weeds at this point. Casey- do you have a good method for moving them into that nice arrangement? Brute force or do you have a thumb on something? I plan on using forks as possible, and likely straps and hoe bucket to get fine placement down. Maybe a spud bar, if needed.
Since this comment doesn't really belong anywhere and is kind of nonsense anyway... It seems as if you have a Case 580 your 'hoe is throwing belts! What are the chances of the top three posts asking about fan belt replacement on a 580? Weird.
Yea I have the titan 36" thumb. The install is in the titan thumb thread. But yea just plopped then in there in the general orientation I wanted and then nudged them around with the bucket teeth. I backfield and compacted a bit behind the courses as I went. Might do one more course.
Right on, thanks. When pond building time comes I may have to finally look into a thumb. I'm sure it'd be handy for a lot of other stuff, but I'm broke!
Not thinking you are alone there!!!
Yup, and the barn floor is ready for my final layers of gravel, I'm guessing another 3k or so there. Eek!
Make a choker cable. Mine is made for logging & is probably heavier than you need.
I think I've got and misplaced something like that when I was pulling shrubs out of a guy's yard. I'll have to find it.
What do you pay$$ for a 'typical' 20-22 ton triaxle load your way??
I've never bought a triaxle load. My truck carries 14000 legally. Depending on stone variety, I pay $6.00 -9.00 per ton. My haul is about 5 miles one way. Average seems to be $65. per load' I haul.
I just paid 450 for the crusher mix. Cash that is. Otherwise it was a little more. I got a quote on a half load and was only slightly cheaper. So I got a whole.
Stone here is calcium carbonate. A few quarries have other stone. State paving projects specify harder stone. Therefore hard stone is extra expensive. Calcium Carbonate is soft, so I choose a larger stone size. For road, I choose 1-3/4" drainage stone. Water passes freely through it if used as a raised above the native soil road. No risk of potholes.
I don't remember exactly. Looking back through my notes it appears that I pay way more for gravel than a lot of you guys. Delivered and at the end of last year I got 66 tons of big gravel (#2) for about 20 bucks per ton, then for like a crushed limestone (#57) was about 25 bucks per ton. So, 100 tons was about 2500 bucks, delivered. I don't know how much I could bring that price down if I went and picked it up with my FIL's dump truck but I suspect it would be a lot of trips.
I had a Live Oak die on me this year. It had large brittle limbs falling out so I was concerned about getting under it with the cab. Neighbors had a tree service working next door with a lift bucket so I paid them to cut it down. They ended up not using the bucket and just cut and pushed it over. Yesterday I dug out the stump. I have mentioned several time that I did without stowing my manual thumb. Here is how I position to begin. This is a large stump and I did have to reposition the tractor a couple of times but I don't think that would have changed with the thumb stowed. After I got it loose I had to roll it over in the hole and poke enough dirt out of the roots before I could pick it up. The tiger teeth work great for that and tearing roots. This was as high as the hoe would lift it. It just barely cleared so I could drop it outside the hole. The boom lift capacity is 2440lbs at ground level and the dipper lift is 5890 lbs at 10 ft above. I had to chain it in the bucket and crawl in first gear to haul to where I dumped it.
I carry 7 tons, (5 yards) legally. That's about 1/3 what a triaxle dump truck can move. As it's 5 miles one way, I enjoy the convenience of going to get it myself in my truck. I sometimes feel I'd be better with a bigger truck.
Yeah, I don't know the capacity of FIL's truck. I'm pretty sure he'd let me use it but I'd have to do some math on how many trips it would take and the fuel involved and all that junk. If he'd just leave the truck at my house for a month or two maybe it'd solve the problem...
I pay 420 cash for a tri axle load for 3/4”and 350 for 1 1/2” Going to do some right now and will have to order at least another load or 2.
It sucks paying for the trucking but the alternative is buying a small dump truck, registering it, fueling it, and then taking several trips for every triaxle delivery you would have gotten. Depending on how close you are to a pit, it could mean a days worth of ferrying material for every 20 ton load you would have had delivered. Idk I guess it depends on how much you need, and if you have other uses for your own dump truck.
Small dump doesn't make sense unless you use it for other purposes. Mine isn't big or small. It's big enough to tow the backhoe on a trailer. I use it to move many other commodities. No, it doesn't purely make economic sense. The freedom to use it at a moments notice is nice. Mine is just big enough to require CDL, & I and both sons got CDL before oppressive laws took effect. Cost was never my reason. I ask a trucker to bring me a load, I might wait a month. I can haul three loads before 10:00 AM.
We are fortunate on the delivery part. Usually, they come out same day of a call. My wife usually arranges the deliveries and she said they sound excited every time she calls, for the work, but maybe they don't have a lot of ladies calling them too... My neighbor has offered to sell me his rusted out, beat up dump truck, and my father in law offered to give me one from like the 1950s. It'd be nice to have one but I said no to both. I could definitely use a truck for some stuff but I'd like it to be daily driver-y enough that I could use it whenever without working too much on it and I don't think that would happen. I'm a fan of having big things delivered but it would be nice to be able to grab things on a whim, especially when I see neat things on the curb for trash day.
It is crazy what they have done in this regard...I wonder why nobody wants to get a CDL today?? I too have one. I pay for the physical every 2 years, just to keep the license going. Have not driven a CDL truck in years, but if need be, I could put food on the table by doing it. Not with the fuel prices going thru the roof. My Dodge 3500 has only made 3 trips to my place in PA this year. The last was 2 weeks ago. It cost me $160 to fill up with diesel when I got back, and that was at a cheapie Raceway.
Yeah, that's true Swetz, mostly I'd just want it to run when I needed it to. I went on a fuel run last weekend, four 5 gallon gas cans: 82 bucks, four 5 gallon diesel cans: 114 bucks, two 5 gallon kerosene: 63 bucks... Nuts. $259 for 50 gallons of fuels, avg. 5.18 per gallon. I hate it.
Nice work. Do you have a stump graveyard like me? I don't know what else to do with them. Someday I'll cover them all with dirt.
Burn them. When I can, I remove dirt, cut them up and burn in my outdoor wood boiler. Or remove dirt, stockpile and burn as brush pile
I line stumps up along the back property line to dry out. After a few years I burn them. I recently burned all but this one.
I have burnt a lot of stumps and I never needed to let a stump dry out. I lay them on the burn pile with the roots up. The biggest ones were oak, 3 and 4 feet in diameter.
I've got a fair amount of stumps in one of my piles, it will not burn up, but it's mostly just random yard waste around it so the heat doesn't get up there enough. I've heard, if you can reflect some heat back on it that works really well. Just a piece of corrugated roofing or something set just on the other side of the heat is supposed to work but I haven't tried it.
Technically we're not allowed to burn stumps here. Got me by the short ones as to why. I burn smaller ones but not big ones because my lot is steep and wooded and I'm not always around to keep an eye on a burning pile of stumps all day.
I need a whole lot of wood waste to get a stump to burn. Stumps are wood, so if you can cut them up, they'll burn fine. They have too much air between to conform to the laws of physics. If burning whole trees, get a big fire burning, then offer the stumps on top. I usually don't. "the land" is 16.5 acres of two meadows of only moderate pitch. Sort of terraced, with a steep forested hill between. I just push them off the highest hill. I've got quite a level area where I've pushed enough dirt to cover the stumps. Some day they'll rot away & organic matter will cover the forest floor, but not in my lifetime.
Usually put stumps in my gun backstops and cover with a little dirt.
I burned some fresh stumps that took a week or longer. After letting some dry out they would burn in a day or two. I burned this whole row in about 3 days earlier this year.
We've had a fair amount of blown down trees on my street over the past week or so. Typically, someone gets to them to at least unblock the road, but this time all the big chunks were left right on the road edge and there are several places where 2 cars cannot pass each other because the road is too narrow. I went out last night and pushed all those fender scratchers back into the woods. Also, the wife, in preparation for Thanksgiving, started a cardboard fire in one of our piles. Man, it went up fast. It was mostly small stuff less than a couple inches around and part of my old lumber organizer (2x4s), and also one good sized log (10ish feet long, 2' in diameter) and another chunk off that log. The backhoe is a marvel at shoving that pile together once the fire is started! Go out and spend about 7 minutes to shove all the wood back over the hot parts and it's all cleaned up. That leads me to a question that I feel @Tinkerer may know the answer to... How long before a decent fire melts my hydraulic lines as I push stuff around? I try not to let the hoe hang out over the fire for more than a couple seconds at a time, but I assume if a hose gets melted (if that's possible) it gets exciting pretty quickly. A fine mist of hydraulic oil over a fire seems like it would go fast.
.... bad spot to stall...?? But I know what you mean about condensing the pile..
My recent wood pile....some builder is leaving them all over the place
I always try to keep the exposure to a few seconds. The hoses won't melt. But the outer rubber wrapper will get damaged quite easily. I have burnt quite a few junk hoses over the years and noticed it takes a couple of minutes before they start to burn. Before burning them, I salvage the ends of them and make caps and plugs out of them by welding the barbs shut. I cut the crimp sleeves off of them with a 4 inch angle grinder.
I use my hoe and my CUT to feed fires. I don't hover over the fire and haven't noticed any damage from it. My machines haven't had any shutting off problem since I fixed the fuel issues. I guess that is a risk though. I do have a fire extinguisher mounted on my CUT and I have spares. I think I will put one in the hoe while I'm thinking about it. I worked on the local roads with my CUT day before yesterday. They weren't that bad but lined with pine straw and leaves so a blade wouldn't work well. I used my landscape rake to clear the debris and smooth the dirt.
First thing I did was put a fire extinguisher in the hoe. Hydraulic fluid will literally explode, especially with a fine mist. That said I’ve used excavators and backhoes over fires for years. Just don’t dally over flames. Actually stopped a runaway one time with a co2 extinguisher.
Good call on the extinguisher reminder. It won't be today but I'll have to remember to pick one up. Which class, anyone know? I assume the water filled is not what I want. Thanks for the notes for hanging over the fire. I wouldn't leave it in the shoving position, or over the fire for more than maybe 5 seconds or so. Maybe 10-15 seconds for a position, shove, raise up and out of the way? As I sit in my office chair and count while charading operating the backhoe that seems like a long time.
Class B for grease n oil.
Auto Zone sells an ABC with a metal bracket. Not sure what they cost now but I bought several for 25 bucks.
That's a great idea for old hose ends!
This was my hoe today.
Same job this past week:
Clearing out the barn. I don't remember if there is a dedicated forklift ING thread but it appears we've discussed it a fair amount here... So, I've got the over the loader forks (not clamp ons) that I had some trouble with because the hooks are too far forward. The tip was given to add something to the loader side of the forks where they go through the bar, so they stay tight to the top of the loader bucket. For the short term I just zip tied a couple 2x4s to it and it's worked great, needs a bit of adjustment but the zip ties aren't the permanent solution anyway, so for now it works great! The real reason for this post is I think I showed my camera setup for the forks and it was initially set up up on top of the loader bucket between the hooks. That left some room for improvement, as it was still difficult to see where the forks were in relation to the pallet (or whatever) I'm trying to pick up. I had a brainstorm and bought a magnetic camera mount that I've place inside the bucket and it is amazing! Granted, I'm going slow because the screen is still small and I'm getting used to things but this solution seems to be right on. I also need to remember to take the camera out of the bucket while I'm not lifting but whatever it is sweet! I even managed to stick a pallet inside the shed, off center and used the fork tip to push the pallet in square!
Nice. When I bought my hoe it had a camera mounted on the front but it didn't work. I assume for the forks. I never bothered with it. But there is a rod on the side of the loader for the "return to dig" function. I was thinking of setting that up somehow to control the bucket angle when using forks. Always a challenge but I'm getting pretty good at guessing.
I tried using the bucket leveling rod as a guide post for when my forks were level, I put some zip ties at a spot and clipped them so, theoretically, they'd line up just right when the zip tie was touching the static piece. It wasn't a great solution but while it gave me a guess at what was level it wasn't good enough. This camera setup, at least a couple hours into it, is great for not being able to see the forks from the seat. It may be nice to get a 2nd camera for above, like from the top of the bucket, because on a low stack of stuff, like those shelves, I still had no idea where they were compared to the shed. I had to tilt way back to see the front of the pile.
Pretty clever!
Took advantage of some dry days to spread some "modified" on the "driveway to be". Modified is the goto stuff for base material round here,,, 1 1/2" minus with lots of fines. The only exterior framing I have left are the garage trusses...and a bit of sheathing... Had a crew come in the day before Thanksgiving and shingled what we had done to that point... Windows and doors are on site so with some more weather luck we have her buttoned up soon!
Set about 10 trusses today.... enough to sheath the 2 valleys and tape the seams. Does a good job of keeping the water out.
Man! Great progress T-town!
Aighead, Thanks for the pic of the camera in the bucket. I may need this too. I have destroyed several pallets cuz I didnt hit them correctly, cuz I cannot see them. T-town, Are you putting this whole house up with family, or are there carpenters doing it? Sure is going fast!! Looking good too!
The camera in the bucket!! what a idea... thanks aighead... Hey Swetz... know what you mean about 'that blind spot'.... The house is goin up with mostly family... some friends up on weekends. Paid masons for the foundation walls and paid a roofer 200/sq to install my shingles. All the rest will cost me food/beverage. We had a 'big' crew for rasin up walls... but since its just me... and my brother-in-law for a morning shift. The weather has helped us get along... and I'm hoping that continues. Had some wetness on my 'great room' floor this AM..... thought WTH ??? brand new roof??? Even put in a call to the roofer.... left message. I had put some 'dry' material on the floor to get an idea of any drips... went back in a hour later... no drips... ?? Then saw some snow on window opening...??? inside.. behind tyvek... looked up at my gable soffit ( still open) and saw blown snow on the "ladders". Felt much better about the shingle job then.... top of this hill has some wind!
Thanks guys, I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of the camera in the bucket before but it does seem to work real well. I, too, have wrecked every pallet I've tried getting with the forks prior to now, even with a helper. The helper part is tough because it's hard to tell your helper to tell you what you know you need to know in your head, and assume they know what you need to know too... I was moving a different pallet of those same shelves (from the picture above) into the garage and my wife was my helper. I didn't think to tell her exactly how the forks needed to be to do what we were aiming to do, so I made a wreck of the pallet and knocked all the shelves off too, so we had to move them manually, yuck. T-town- that's an incredible amount of work to be doing family style, I love it! How's your neck?
Same at my location, especially in the last month. Well, you are really moving along for a volunteer workforce. Lookin sweet!
Thanks guys...now that there's no more wet ( shingles!!) getting into the crawl space I'm trying to "blow dry" that space. The neck bones are fusing up well the doc says....I credit the milk I still drink.. Though I did a bit of a fall getting off scaffold and face planted.... but other than some skin.. none the worse for wear. My dear wife is now thinking no more heights for me...?? we'll see
What's my hoe doing? Evidently, not starting in the cold weather! We only got a couple inches of snow last Friday but the big field across the way made for a good opportunity to provide some thick drifts of snow on my road. I got several calls asking to help unstick people. I eventually threw the torpedo heater on it for 20 minutes or so but that was likely after I'd tried starting it cold too much and running down the batteries. Still didn't start. I was hoping to get out and at least clear the drifts so people would stop getting stuck. Plow finally came around, 4 days later, last night. I plan to go throw the battery tenders on everything in the barn tonight.
sorry to hear that.. always a challenge. How cold was it? It's been ridiculously cold in some areas iv heard. Does your machine have glow plugs? A good strong battery is key to run plugs and have strong starting rpms needed for the cold start. I made up a solar charger out of an old panel I had and a cheap charge controller. It just stays right on the machine.
Hair dryer, or heat gun down the air intake helps. Most diesels have a cord to run a heater in the engine. Radiant propane heater situated to focus on the engine block. Be sure your diesel fuel is cut with some kerosene. Use a diesel treatment to prevent gelling. If you get any gelling, or water in fuel, it'll plug the fuel filter with wax or ice crystals. If you find it necessary to use starting fluid, use it very sparingly. Typical injector timing is 20 degrees Before Top Dead Center. Increased volatility of ether will cause that fuel charge to ignite too fast! It'll try to push the piston down before it reaches TDC.
Aighead don't you have a block/coolant heater on that machine? Dayton ain't exactly Miami.
He might be in Dayton, but he's only an hour away from Miami (University)!
I haven't even tried to start my ol 310A. It's been bitter cold, but the Bobcat, lawn tractor and quad have done everything I have needed so far so I'm letting the old girl rest. I do have a fresh battery for it, and its parked within 50ft of an electrical outlet if I do need to plug it in. I switched it over from series 6 volt batteries to a single group 31 this year. Hasn't changed crank speed, but it sure has reduced the cost of replacing the battery. I never got very good life from the 6 volt batteries, and at $300+ to replace them, I had enough. A single group 31 that cost me $140 is getting the job done now.
Willie- I do have some diesel treatment, do I need the kerosene too, does that just make it fire up a bit more easily? Good one Colson! Casey- it got very cold, wind chill was -30s, in the barn the temp was likely low 10s but I'm not sure. I too have a solar charger but I swiped it to toss on the mower when it was being a butt. I've got a few trickle chargers sitting around that I trust more than the solar, though the solar one has been plugged into the backhoe until just a few days ago. Stinky- I've considered it but haven't put one on yet. Seems like it'd be a very worthy investment right now. Especially, since I've given my phone number out to too many neighbors...
Diesel forms gobs of jelly when cold. When it gets very cold, those gobs of jelly don't soften enough to pass through the fuel filter even when it warms. Kerosene lowers the temperature at which it gels. The additive helps reduce gelling too. Most of us use both. For an on road vehicle used daily, the fuel dealer adds kerosene. For off road, you likely won't use fuel fast enough, summer fuel will be consumed in winter. Compression ignition makes the air hot by compressing the heat in a large space into a small space. Same amount of heat, but concentrated. Cold weather, compressing it still won't attain ignition temperature. Some modern diesels, my Case for example have grid heaters in the intake. These heat the air in the intake. The same can be accomplished with a hair dryer, or heat gun blowing hot air into the intake.
Case 580K was stubborn in very cold weather. The building I stored it in was cold & had no electricity. I could run the Bobcat to make electricity, plug it in for both block heater & battery charger. If I was patient, it'd start. If I was impatient, I'd give a tiny squirt of high quality starting fluid.
aighead, When I was a young buck my first motorcycle was a Triumph Bonneville with kick start only. One cold winter day my car wouldn't start so I needed to ride the bike to work. Kick starting a motorcycle with 50 weight oil in the cold wasn't going to happen either. I started a couple of cubes of charcoal in a metal pan and slid it under the bike for a while. Kicked right over and off I went into the freezing cold. Might consider doing this under the old backhoe engine?
T-town, Great job on all the building! Do you cut windows in after or do you not want many windows?
My FIL mentioned doing that as well, NH575E. I expected the torpedo heater to do it but maybe I wasn't patient enough. I've got a couple weeks until it gets cold again, it looks like. Maybe I can find a thread on how to install a block heater between now and then.
Torpedo heaters the heat is too spread out I've found and too hot if you put it too close to what you want to heat up. Too many hoses and belts and wires that could melt. The solution is to throw a tarp over the engine compartment to contain the heat. Just make sure the tarp isn't near the hot end of the heater. If the tarp is open on 1 side is OK. Put the heater there. Heat goes up so as long as it's contained around the engine the heat will warm the engine.
OK, thanks. I had the business end of the heater basically right next to the fuel tank blowing more or less right at the oil pan. The heat was getting to it but I didn't have the other side tarped like I should have. I've got some canvas welding blankets that would have been useful. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention glow plugs. As I understand it, and maybe I'm wrong, if I turn and hold my key about 3/4 of the way to ignition there is a glow plug light on the dash that lights up. I held that there for many minutes to no avail. I don't know if it works or likely everything was just too cold to do anything.
Torpedo isn't going to do much good unless you make a tent of some sort in this cold snap, and I would let it percolate for more than 20 mins. A block heater is a BRILLIANT option in northern climates, how many threads have been posted here about this subject? Willies suggestion about hair dryer/ heat gun in the intake may work in a pinch, but do the right thing little buckaroo, otherwise your needy neighbors are gonna be **** outa luck this winter. Dave beat me to the heater advice, if you've got glowplugs DO NOT use ether, bad stuff will happen. Glow plugs can go tits up over time, try to locate them and check with a test light to make sure you are energizing the plugs if you have them, if not remedy that issue. If you have power to the glow plugs , remove and test individual plugs. My little Massey has glow plugs and even in subzero temps an extended warm up cycle that little three banger catches almost immediately along with a bunch of smoke, but that's good smoke when it's freezing outside.
Welding blanket would be perfect. I put a huge tarp over my track loader to thaw out the tracks with a kerosene Torpedo heater. I got stuck in kind of a peat moss bog and the sprocket area was packed with the wet goop. The gravel pit said they could bring a D5 but couldn't get there for a couple days. In the mean time the weather dropped to about -20C. Everything was frozen solid! It was a struggle for the D5M to pull it out because it was digging through the couple inches of frost into the loamy soil. I used the backhoe to pick the machine up and he was able to get me out of the hole I was in. Took about 8 hours to finally get both tracks to turn so I could drive it out of there. It's good the Cat was a torque converter trans. I could gradually apply a little more power. Direct drive I think something would have broke trying to apply power to the tracks.
The reasons a diesel won't run in cold weather: Air is cold, compression ignition doesn't achieve ignition temperature. Batterie(s) don't deliver enough power in cold weather to crank fast enough. Too much resistance in the many exchanges of current flow, therefore starter doesn't receive adequate voltage. Gelled fuel won't pass through filter or injectors. Ice crystals plug fuel filter. The answer is warmth. My father came from the Korean Conflict an aircraft mechanic. His older brother Ralph was better known as Buster. They went to work for a logging company, owned two Caterpillar D7 dozers, one quite old, the other very new. Buster wasn't allowed near the new machine. My father treated the new one like a Rolls Royce. Uncle Buster told of throwing a few armloads of firewood & a gallon of diesel fuel under the oil pan. A rag soaked in gasoline supplied ignition. 15 minutes, a badly smoked up tractor was warming up!
Aside from doing the warm up stuff that needs to be done, set the throttle at mid to high idle and then start cranking. This provides the extra fuel needed to get the engine to light off when cold. This was a tip shared by @thepumpguysc in a thread a while ago and works very well. My standard practice for starting my Bobcat or backhoe is to use pre-heat (block heater or glow plugs), bump throttle up to mid or high position, and then crank. It made a world of difference in starting the 310a when cold. Enough so that I don't touch the ether. Once running, set throttle at whatever rpm you like for your warm up period.
FWIW which isn't much. My T/L/B has a tank style block heater on it and the heater is plugged into a duplex outlet in my storage. I have the duplex outlet connected to a coil operated switch that is rated for 80 amps. The coil for that switch is controlled by a wifi switch that is next to it in the shed. The reason I did that, is I can now turn the block heater on and off with my iPhone from wherever I may be when I think I need the block warmed up. I couldn't use the wifi switch to control the heater directly because it is only rated for 10 amps.
That's beyond my technical abilities but using your phone to turn your block heater on is brilliant.
Thanks guys! I'm scared of ether after hearing that machines get used to it. The only time I've ever used it was when I was instructed to by a neighbor with his little, beat up bulldozer, which I don't think would ever start without it, but it did seem to work. I've got a fresh can of it in the garage but I hope to never get it out. Colson- I was wondering about throttle position. I did do a bit of experimenting this time where I'd try cranking her, got nothing, then added some throttle when I tried again. Tinkerer- I like the idea of a phone controlled block heater. I don't understand what the coil operated switch is though, and 80 amps? Is 80 what you've got running to it? That seems like a lot!
Oh yeah, I have a new question and I'm wondering if anyone has tried it with their backhoe loader or a normal loader... I was thinking about plowing snow, and using the loader is effective but can it be made better on the cheap? I then thought about turning the loader into a poor man's bulldozer. I've got the extra bar, that was double sent to me for the over-the-bucket forks, sitting here. I thought about a sheet of plywood, probably 3/4", reinforced with some 2x4 attached to the back and set at an angle, could be strapped to that bar and made so it covered the entire opening of the loader bucket with which to then push snow/dirt/sand whatever? So, essentially, closing off the loader. I feel like that'd work. It may make some grading jobs easier too? Anyone seen or tried something like that? Is that dumb? Am I missing something?
I plow snow with the loader bucket. not at all a problem. My only complaint is when the ground isn't frozen it seems one corner of the bucket is always digging in. Cutting edge is parallel to the rear axle. Most of my neighborhood driveways are not flat. one corner of the bucket is inches above the ground while the other is scalping. Snow pushers use a slot 4 or 5 inches wide the bucket's cutting edge rides in. Gravity allows the snow pusher to compensate for this. Usually snow pushers are somewhat wider than the bucket. Tires aren't packing down the snow you pushed last pass.
The magnetic coil operated switch is rated to handle 80 amps. I have a 20 amp supply circuit going to it. The tank heater is 1500 watts. That is beyond the WIFI switch's capacity. The two switches and duplex outlet are really quite easy to install and inter-connect the wiring. The WIFI switch was my biggest challenge. I learned the hard way that the screen time, on my phone was not set to be on long enough for the switch to program to it. Increasing the screen time on , in the phone settings solved the issue. I use those same style of switches to control my shop lights, bench lights and burglar alarm. I have a bad habit of forgetting to turn off the lights when I leave. The phone app shows if the switches are on or off. The wifi switches have rockers on them and can be turned on and off like a conventional switch. The image is of the 80 amp switch I used.
. We 'wraped' the house in one fell swoop.... the windows are there.... just covered for now. Finally got above freezing yesterday. Planning to set a few of those windows soon. My 310b does NOT like the cold... but have not had the need to attempt a 'fire up'. But she is out in the cold..no place to put her up for the long nite just yet.... I'm workin on the place for me and the Mrs. 1st !
Smart Man!!! LOL
I use a Wi-Fi controlled outlet for my case 580 SE on the side of my garage for the last 2 years as I put a 9.6” plow on it. It draws 7.5 amps and will warm it up enough to start in 45 minutes to an hour. So before I get ready to go out I just turn it on in my phone app. I did the same for my garage heat so I can turn it on and set temp at anytime. Very convenient.
Ether in small amounts is not harmful. Millions of engines came with ether injection systems. Make sure you have fuel and never use with glow plugs or intake heaters. Only use a very short burst. Some engines it says to give additional short bursts until the engine is running smooth.
Welp, my 'hoe was plowing snow yesterday! We got a quick several inches and the temperature wasn't too bad out, so I fired her up and plowed the "neighborhood" and a few neighbor's driveways, rather than wait for the township to come out and do it. It did a fine job except for when I couldn't really tell where the edge of the road was and I started to slip off into the ditch. I don't like that feeling. I think I will try to make my poor man's plow as mentioned at the top of this page. I was moving tons of snow but it would end up just shoving out both sides of the bucket. That meant I had to take several trips to clear the big chunks out of the road. I think if I had a flatter front, like a real snow plow it would help mitigate that a bit, especially if I can figure out a good angle on it.
I bought a Curtis 8’ plow for 100 bucks and made C mounts so it hooks up right to the bucket and added a circuit for the power angle. I do have a Y chain on bottom to hook bucket in with a chain binder. First year when angled the rear tires would run over the banks, especially on a corner. Last fall I added wings with a slight angle so now the plow measures 9’6 Works great, total cost was 400 without labor but man it pushes snow. On full angle I get great banks which helps as my driveway is 770’. Getting ready to go out and plow now. Lol Might post pics when it not all covered with snow lol.
Yeah, I'd love to see pictures. With the price of a sheet of plywood and the 2x6 I'd attach (which I have around) it'd be close to a 100 dollar project right there. The roads I'm doing are basically a lane and a half or just over, so as long as I could clear that I don't mind running over snow, I just would like to be able to push from the middle of the blade and have it move to the correct side. I ended up pushing a pile of snow and letting it build up in the middle, then using that bulge to move snow off to the sides, so basically filling the bucket, which then acted as a plow blade. I think there is room for improvement.
I built a plow mount for a farm tractor where the plow blade replaced the bucket. I found that floating the loader caused it to push down on the Fisher plow blade. It stumbled on every bump or pebble. When I decided to try a 9' Meyers plow on a Case 4 X 4 backhoe I rigged the pivot points of the plow as low as possible, they were below the bucket. I could lock the loader with the pivot pins for the plow 5" above the ground & it pushed snow well, though I couldn't angle the blade much, or it pushed the front of the backhoe to the side. The whole rig was ungainly & too long to maneuver. A number of years I've been plowing with only the backhoe bucket. It works well, but for two problems. It requires a lot of passes to clean an area & there is always one corner of the bucket digging in when earth isn't frozen.
Bulldozer operators use a technique called slot dozing. If you want to move everything in an area down to a given depth, you figure what you can push in a pass. Back up enough to fill the blade in a run, push a full blade over the drop. Back up farther in the same slot, push that blade full. Repeat the process until you have a slot full length of the push & deep as the blade is tall. Move over & repeat that process in a slot parallel to the first leaving a ridge between. Make as many parallel slots as you have room. Then move the ridge between. It's a more efficient way to move material. More efficient than that is a snow pusher, or box plow. 10 or 12 feet wide for your backhoe, it makes the most of your machine. Truth is balance of a backhoe makes it less than perfect as a snow plow. Less than perfect but nearer perfect than a shovel.
Much more perfect than shoveling! I'll go to relatively amazing lengths to avoid picking up a shovel.
Wille not sure what I am doing but unless I put a very severe down angle I can’t put enough down pressure to float front wheels. What I did was copy a set of bolt on forks and added V plates and hold down rods. I do wish I hadn’t spent much time on them as the chain binder really locks it into bucket and takes a minute to take off. I do wish I had got a 9’ plow but they want good money for them so the first year I used it as is and this fall I added 8” wings and angled slightly so I can use it as a snow pusher or angle and make banks. I also welded a 2” pipe across the bottom of the cutting edge and seems to be lasting well. I added a circuit in the bucket hydraulics so I split the 2 during winter. Now I’m thinking of adding a grapple to help with the trees. Lol While it’s not as fast as a plow truck, it’s more agile and has way more power and I can really build the banks. I also put in a pressure relief block and have them set at 1250psi but may have to bump it up as the banks freeze. Overall I’m quite happy with it as it makes me use the backhoe more during the winter and have to keep it running. I did crown my driveway with it last fall after turning up the PR valves and it worked awesome. Being a Curtis plow like a Meyers it trips the whole blade not sure if this is why it works so well.
My plow that I replaced the bucket with was fisher (edge trip only) & it was on an International 385, pretty light on the front. I was plowing gravel driveways & it seemed to stumble on every pebble. I think of a pole vaulter. Stubbing stopped forward motion at the loader boom pins. Tire chained rears kept going throwing the tractor into a wheelie. I set a Myers 9' up on a Case 580K. That I used the push frame mounted under the bucket. Used the bucket curl & a hoist chain to raise the plow blade. It worked well & if I were plowing a road it'd be fine. If I angled the blade much It'd push the front wheels sideways. It was just too long & ungainly with an extra five feet out front & a backhoe out back.
Man, top notch job Harley! Looks great! If I build something it will be much more low rent.
I picked up a shovel the other day to transplant a tree. About 4 stabs into the ground and my knees began to hurt. I went back to the barn and got the HOE. It made a big ol mess but dug the tree out and the hole to put it in with little to no effort. I used the loader on my little tractor to suspend the tree in the new hole so I didn't bend the tap root. Still had to do SOME shoveling to get the dirt in around the roots and pack with a grubbing hoe.
I've dug, with a shovel, very little since having the backhoe. The wife doesn't mind shoveling and kids deserve some hard work and I'm fine with that.
We are having a bit of snow here..... but before that weather came through we were able to finish the house..... from the dripedge up !! below that there's still a bit to do... Sheathed the garage.... and called the roofer... he came 2 days later! A couple guys... 1/2 day.. 14 square of shingles and we are good to go. Now.... work on the soffit when the weather allows... and inside anytime! Figured I would wait for the soffit/fascia work to be done before I installed windows.... sometimes I get the drops...would hate to see a hammer or whatever bounce into a window. Drain/vent lines to be roughed in... electric to rough in.... and then a call for inspection. I need to pick up a space heater..... getting a bit chilly inside at times and I'm not too good at working with gloves on the hands....... something run off a propane tank??
Looking great...thanks for the pics. That hoe is surly earning its keep!! Well that worked out perfect! A kerosene heater (salamander) would work great, until the windows go in. After, one of those propane indoor heaters would be a spot to go and get warmed up, while working.
Really coming along T-town! Good stuff!
Thanks guys..... looks like tractor supply has a possibility or two... am thinking a fan forced unit..." torpedo" style ( Oh.. just looked up that salamander style)... same Anyway....Mother nature dealt with her earlier spit of the white stuff by raining on it, and did a good job of clearing the driveways..so I did not have to "get out the shovel"
Good to hear...I am heading up tonight and was wondering if I was going to be able to get in the driveway.
Yea, that is what I was referring to. Not so good tho once you are sealed up! Might get light headed
We are @ 1400ft or so....had some on the ground from a couple days ago plus the 1 or 2 yesterday..... nothing on the ground here today..... some across the way at 1800 to 2000. \I think you might be ok....
I honestly never looked until this post. Says 1450'
I've used both types of torpedo heaters, kerosene fired and propane fired. The kerosene/diesel ones are great and have high BTU capability, but their emissions require a drafty space so you don't get CO poisoning. They also tend to puff a touch of black smoke on flame up/flame out. I own a propane torpedo heater now. It works quite well, is very portable, and doesn't have the emissions problems of Diesel or Kerosene. My kerosene heater was 225,000 BTU. My propane one is only 65,000 BTU. You notice the difference quick when trying to heat a drafty space.
I figured that would be the case given the BTUs.... the trade off I guess. Mostly needed as a warm up spot..rather than trying to warm the whole space.
Colson04 said it much better than I. I didn't know that the propane torpedo heaters were safe indoors. If power is an issue, the propane heater like I posted can work without power...really didn't think to ask if you have the power connected yet.
The little grill tank top mounted mr. heater propane heaters are insane hot if you are just trying to have a small space warmed up. The tanks get a bit spendy as they'll run through in about 15 hours... but they put off good, hot heat pretty much immediately and are easy to start and stop.
I do have temp power inside.... will have more capacity soon.( as long as I can trench that line up the hill 170') Picked up a 60k btu floor unit... like the stability vs the tank top style.
I'm willing to bet that either propane or oil worksite heaters will come with safety instructions to not use in an enclosed space. Truth is both convert oxygen to CO & CO2. Without enough ventilation, you get asphyxiated. All that said, propane heaters are more complete burners. Less residue pollutes the air compared to oil burners. I've used both, but in a different way. Propane heaters are usually radiant. I can aim a heater at my body, it makes me feel less cold even though the space I'm in is 10 degrees F. Oil fired torpedo heaters are air heaters. No need to aim them at you & you'd find it unpleasant to aim it at yourself. I had a 205,000 BTU oil heater. It didn't last very long. It would heat an uninsulated house. I always turned it off after half hour because it stunk!!!! I would use it along with a 140,000 BTU wood furnace to warm the garage before a day of working there. I couldn't tolerate the odor of it all day. Day I bought it was near zero. We were working on a new 2000 square foot house with no heat at all. They did have a wood heating system rated 80,000 BTU. The wood available was mostly snow & it had been living only weeks before. First hour in the house was coaxing wood to burn at all. The oil heater wasn't bad with all the eaves open, plenty of ventilation.
They also put out a lot of moisture, not something you want in new construction. Joe H
Winter seems to be here one day... gone the next.... then back for a bit! With there being no depth to any frozen moisture in the ground.... I ran my "feeder" electric line up to the build. About 250' of 2 1/2" conduit. I was opening the trench in an uphill direction.... and the sloppiness of the ground caused me to start to slip when moving uphill..... the ground I was trenching thru had been purposely left 'unfinished'... so, I had to lock the rear, pull out, and reposition on the perpendicular. Finished the run... covered with bedding sand and screened fill..... also have a a communication conduit and a 3/4 water line added in. Pics show the trench with conduit and bedding sand..... then covered with a warning tape near the top. Only a rough surface grade on the upslope..... round the house we did an 'almost' final grade. On the house shot the trench was center pic, straight into the house crawl space.
Other pics... . The trench came straight ( a relative term ) up the hill, under the cones in the pic and with 2 45's made a left turn and into the house ( prev pics) The outside work is done for now...soffit supports and bird boxes finished while it was warm! I am starting to run drain/waste lines inside. Once they are in the electric rough-in. I still need to bust thru the rear foundation with the sewer line... and get my septic tank delivered and dig a hole for that....so I still need the 'old girl' to give me some more hours.
You put a water line in the same trench as electrical? They won’t let us do that around here.
She will pull thru! Looking great! I was about to PM you and ask how you were making out. This has been an awesome winter for your work. Mostly not cold, and no huge piles of snow to create spring mud season. Thanks for the update!
Here are a few pics of what my 480e has been doing lately: Demoing old house Clearing for a new road Trenching More to come...
Sweet! Thanks for sharing!!
As long as you maintain a listed distance between the two. My conduit is covered with at least 12" of bedding sand.. then I ran the two other lines. 1 1/4" and a 3/4" black poly. The larger line is for any possible comm lines..... cable/phone..... and the smaller is so I can get some seasonal water down the hill... i.e. garden etc, That would need to be drained ( gravity) come winter. I figured since the trench was open I should put them in. Yes indeed..... bad for the ski areas.... but that should be expected in the Mid Atlantic... We might be getting some white stuff this week but its been a great winter to get things done..... though that wasn't my original timeline. High school spring sports begin practice in a week so warmer days ahead!
Recent job I did with the mini hoe: Spring development and water box for cattle:
River tables & all manner of similar tables have become very fashionable. My neighbor had part of a big tree come down on top of his house, did many thousands of dollars damage. He had the rest of the tree taken down. My son wants to try milling flats from this. Note the backhoe fully extended to counter balance. Tractor weighs about 17,000. couldn't keep the back wheels on the ground. I have an Alaskan Sawmill, but it won't expand this far. Going to try a new homemade device where we go in from each side with a 48" bar. No chance it'll come anywhere near flat. Final flat will be with a router jig just before potting it all in epoxy.
Willie B, how do you like that 580 Super N? If I ever upgrade to a newer hoe thats a model I’ve been considering. Another pic (sorry crappy cell phone pic) Setting a 5’x30’ culvert
I've had two 580K, a John Deere 410, and a 410C before this. This model is the smoothest operating & the most powerful I've had in every sense. This has pilot controls, pattern changer, ride control, extend a hoe. I love it! Only complaint is auxiliary hydraulics aren't on this one. It looks to be several thousand dollars to add them. It does have a hammer circuit, dealer says that's no help. I want a thumb.
You guys are doing good stuff! All your rocks, grr! My hoe just pushed a fire pile around a bit yesterday, but she also started like she hadn't just sat for over a month, wee! I didn't tear up the yard either, which I expected to.
Mine started really hard yesterday morning but the block heater was only on for 45 minutes. Wasn’t planning on using it but got enough snow I needed it.
All the diesels I've owned had either block heaters I had to plug in or ether injection systems. This one has a grid heater in the intake manifold. In only seconds it makes enough heat to start right up.
Dang, more stuff I've never heard of... Grid heater? How hard are they to install and will they work on any backhoe? Namely mine? They don't seem expensive.
Kinda like a toaster grid on steroids. The Cummins engine in the doge trucks have used them for a long time. When you turn on the key, it heats up the grid, then you crank and draw the heated air into the engine. This helps with the spontaneous combustion event in a cold engine (also helps emissions down on a cold engine by cycling this grid when the engine is running after just being started). Here is an example of an aftermarket grid heater that can be plumbed into the intake. https://www.glacierdieselpower.com/...e-universal-grid-heater.html?ref=category:185 The grid looks like this...As you can imagine, they really take some amps to operate. The above stated, you really do not need one of these on your machine, most probably. If it is now starting well, it would be a waste of ~$500.
I've never added one to an older engine. If someone offers one for your application they wouldn't be complicated to install. I bought my first diesel in 1987. Since then I've used a heat gun or hair dryer in the air intake to warm the incoming air. It works well until down below 0 degrees F.
My John Deere tractors have these instead of glow plugs. My 4310 has to be activated manually with the key. My old 855 had a temperature sensor and timer that turned it on automatic if it senses the temp was under 60f.
500 bucks? My initial (know-nothing) search was showing them for 100 bucks or less. That was not defining them as a for a backhoe or anything though... I thought it sounded handier than plugging in a block heater and worrying about that.
That was a kit. The element itself is cheaper. Again, not necessary on your machine in my opinion...Save your money for the loader edge .
Installed dual 80mm launchers. But my bucket is all floppy now. Oh well.
Ooh! I went out a couple days ago to do a poor repair on my washed out bridge, a few scoops of gravel and mud from each side of the bridge yielded me one nice big rock that was hiding in the muck. I think I'd felt it when digging in there previously but it popped right out this time!
Sweet!!
Might need some assistance removing that Small Boulder.
Had one here too recently. Joe H
There are not too many things out there that would make a D11 seem inadequate.
Explosives!!
"Hey maverick, haul in the dyneymite"
Tried to drive into my garage... .... really taking advantage of some dry days and some 'new' modified ( just crushed) to backfill my garage to prep for a pour job. Finished the 'hot tub' garage prep.. All the hoe did was stick a load(s) thru the door and dump a pile.... I got a 'free' work out with a shovel and a 'barrow' !!
Also put in all our windows.... Next up....... sewer drain line trench and septic tank excavate/install At the same time we are pulling wires... and running water lines.... interior drains are done
Crawlspace?
Yes...... more like a "hump" space. I wear a hard hat down there 'cause of my noggin.
Been in some of those up around Fulton Mo. too much hydraulic clay to set a basement.
Swetz- My reply to that was an out loud "Oh S#!t!" I was so please with just the little guy that came out of my creek. T-town- Continued great progress! Well done!
LOL...I thought you would like that one
T-town, Looking great! Def. had a great winter to be working on a house...so far spring too...fingers crossed it stays that way!!
I'm on a ridge top.... original elevations had bedrock 1 1/2 ft down. I did NOT want blast anything.... so I went the other direction and raised the grade on the house footprint. Most of the fill came 'in house'.... I just had to transport from there to there.... one bucket at a time. Lots of built homes 'round here do have a full basement. Precast walls..... that 'float' on 2b stone...???. Anyway.... did not need that much space..... a ranch has "twice the foundation and twice the roof"..... guess that would mean twice the basement too. The crawl space is 4'min.... enough room to get around and install/run what needs to be. After we are done with the build, the only time I should need to "go down" there is if the wind starts to do something crazy.. ... while gluing pipe my wife asked "How do you know if the 'seams' are tight... is there a way to test it?" I told her if it was contract job it would be pressure tested..... for this.. we will find out soon enough! ...it's our nickel the whole way Swetz, .. Things should be drying up over your way?? We are in our spring "red flag" fire warnings... but thankfully our fires are brush/leave fires.... no 'crown' explosions here.... but always a concern. Gotta love the 'rock' pics!! Get you a big truck aighead.... one load and all the rock you might ever need.
That rock looks awesome, fellas. What was that Granith, Argolith. ?
I was working in the forest today, making a road for the passage of equipment, the rain prevented me from finishing.It was fun
I bent my outriggers unloading mine without raising them. I also broke the exhaust off at the manifold connection. Stupid is as stupid does I suppose. Looks like I have some more work to do. Other than it worked great to load some heavy items at an estate cleanup.
As Diesel Creek on youtube would say, you must pay the stupid tax...LOL
Well, the spring in the front yard is still running, but it is much drier here than most spring times. Went down to the pad where the shop will be to see, and water is still flowing. hopefully it will dry up in the next month...I want to get this thing ready for a shop this year!!
Boo ftc!
Federal Trade Commission?
Flat thunder channel! Ha!
If stays running dig into it as deep as dare, fill with 2-4” clean creek rock, cut a trench from that rock filled hole fill that with similar creek rock to a well defined downhill delivery point. Put a soil barrier over top of the rock and back fill the spoil soil. Spring diverted thru a French Drain.
Haha I forgot he says that! I am in debt on this one. Those weren't the only mishaps on the job. It all started with forgetting to pin the B&W turnover ball hitch. Now added to pre-departure inspection..... Checking the hitch pin.
But you have that SWEET Chrysler/Mitsu engine...and it runs . Crane is sweet too!!
Was moving some dirt yesterday and had a tube go down on left front. Thought I had trouble with brakes as it was pulling to the left. Didn‘t notice till I picked up a big bucket and whomp whump. Ran it back to the garage and got nice black marks on my recently sealed driveway. Lol Can‘t get a tube till Monday.
Nice work T-town ! But, those 90° elbows you have connecting the laterals to the mainline should have been 45°'s. A state plumbing inspector red tagged a job I was on until I redid them.
I moved some gravel and some big downed trees yesterday. My son did a bit of the driving and operating, he did pretty well for his first big time out. One trip to the log pile I started smelling something terrible, then looked over and the driver's side back tire had smoke coming from it. Helps to release the e-brake.
The 2" line in the foreground...?.... it 90 s down into a wye /45 combo on its back.... the one to the rear has the same setup but on its side. Now i'm no plumber .... but I did stay at Holiday Inn once... I thought I had that set up right..... anyway we are about to see in a few weeks!?
I recently saw an excavator with a big flat grading plate on it instead of a bucket. Has anyone tried a similar attachment on a backhoe bucket? I'd be interested in something that would just clamp on but maybe I'm missing good reasons that it wouldn't work.
You're looking for a land plane. Most are a 3pt attachment that go on the back of a tractor (which you have...). Other varieties mount in front of the machine, usually a skid steer. I could see a large one being modified to fit on front of a loader bucket, but if I had a tractor with 3pt hitch, I wouldn't reinvent what already exists. For $1200-$2500, you can get a 3pt mount land plane, drag it with your tractor and have a very capable implement.
Those land planes are quite expensive, I just tack welded a 4’ piece of old cut edge on the teeth shanks and did my drainage grading with it using the stabilizer for tilt. Ground it off after, might be able to figure a way to clamp. Only took 10 min to put on and 10 to take off.
Was on several big demo sites when I drove roll-off, saw many times excavator operators kept their favorite 20 ft hunk of I beam around to use as giant material squeegee for site-scaping.
Thanks guys! Yeah, I've got the blade for the tractor and it does well, I was just very surprised with the precision and cleanliness of the plate they were using on the excavator. See below for close to what I saw, though I think the one I saw was about half the size. It looked to me like an instant very clean finish, better than I can do with the blade. I'm sure the operator was quite experienced in running it too, so that likely helps. An old straight edge off of something may do what I'm thinking, I'll have to look harder at my scrap pile. I've heard folks swear by the I-beam, my FIL has offered me at least one, but I made my own out of a real beefy concrete parking block, which I have several of, and wasn't as happy with the results as I expected. I'm sure a lot of it is my lack of practice with any of it. I only use stuff when I have a project so it's tough to practice and get better. Thanks again for your input guys!
Here's what we have on our 305 mini. 3' tooth bucket with an old cutting edge welded to the end teeth. These teeth have side pins so all we have to do is knock out the 2 pins, remove the edge and install 2 regular teeth for tough digging. This bucket with a cutting edge is handier than a shirt pocket.
Mine has a simple quick change bucket. I've found a tooth bucket is best to dig, but backfilling just works best without teeth. I have a piece of cutting edge welded to the teeth, but it isn't quite what I want. I bought over a month ago a toothless 36" bucket, but it was sold as a weld on cutting edge 1" thick, 10" wide. It arrived as a bolt on. The fixed edge is only 3/4", 8" wide. I didn't want to bugger the bucket up, ordered the bolt on edge to reinforce it. I hope to try it out this weekend.
That land plane device is not going to work real well with a backhoe, except near level ground. Without a wrist it'll be one end in the air. You can tilt the tractor some, but only so much.
I agree. We have a manual QC on the 305 with a 24" and 18" buckets. We only take the smooth edge off the 3' if we have to load trucks with the mini.
When I got my hoe it had a smooth blade welded to the tooth nubs. I had a heck of a time cutting it off. Burnt up my 35 year old Craftsman grinder and a HF grinder before buying a new Dewalt. Last year I had an area I wanted to smooth out some and built myself a drag from lumber. I tilled the area up with my JD 4310 tractor and my 6 ft tiller. I had to use a lawn sweeper to get all the tilled up grass out so the dirt could be worked. The drag consists of 4 2x6s. I tied them together with galvanized tie plates and screws. I had to put the plates on both sides to make it secure. I screwed a couple D rings on to pull it with. About $70 worth of lumber and hardware. Worked like a charm on loose dirt.
That looks good NH! I'd like to cover relatively small areas, so maybe I'll try to fab something up. I forgot to look at the scrap pile yesterday. I ended up getting busy drinking a gin and tonic while watching my kid cut the grass.
I just now tried out my 36" toothless bucket first time. I went around the neighborhood pulling dirt the snow plows pushed up back where it needs to be. A thousand times better than with a toothed bucket, much nicer than a welded piece of cutting edge across the teeth of a digging bucket. I am a convert! I wish I had a wrist, but I can change the tilt of the backhoe somewhat to match the tilt of a lawn. To celebrate a happy purchase, I poured a Jim Beam. I like a bit of ice, even though it is stored in the freezer.
Did a little rock pickin' today, getting used to the new-to-me machine, aka "the Beast, " as my wife now calls it. And fixing little things here and there. Nothing major yet as the my property is still too wet. I need to start digging trenches to help drain a lot of this water for next spring.
Willie how does it differ from the cutting edge welded?
Prom night baby! My son, junior in high school, has prom tonight. Maybe you've read of his adventures in driving? First time he went out driving (unlicensed) we get pulled over by the cops. Two hours after he got his real license we get pulled over by the cops. Now, prom night. He's coming to my house, from theater rehearsal, to pick up his suit. He's driving a 2007 dodge caliber. It's junk but fine for a kid, at least up until about an hour ago when I get a phone call. He says "dad I'm in the middle of the turn onto Dayton-Farmersville (from Rt 4 a busy 2 lane road) and my axle isn't attached to my transmission, at least that's what the guy that stopped said" I told him to make sure he was standing in a safe spot and he said that the guy said he'd need a tow truck. I have a backhoe, so off I go. It's probably about 3/4 of a mile down the way so, luckily, he was close. I arrive to find he couldn't have got to a better spot in this intersection, it's a big intersection and his car is mostly on the Dayton-Farmersville part so traffic can actually move everywhere without much trouble. There was another guy that pulled up as I was pulling up (then the cops showed up too) and he helped lookout and hook up chains (thanks good Samaritan!) and I dragged her back home. He got very lucky, he was likely doing over 50mph seconds earlier and travels on the highway pretty frequently. I'm assuming this much rust is not conducive to fixing the problem and that I'm now on the hunt for a new(er) car.
Sounds like you got lucky in where his car decided to let loose. Backhoes sure come in handy
I'm not sure how to answer. For me, digging the ditch is a small fraction of the job. Average 200 foot ditch 46" deep (how I bury conduit) is pretty quick, 3 hours to dig. Most often I am digging across lawn. I could do a crude job of back filling pretty quick. This would leave about an 8 foot wide swath of ripped up lawn. Filling with a toothed bucket inevitably tears up some sod. If I can remove the spoils from the sod without damage I have a 4' wide area to repair. Those familiar with woodworking understand using the back of a big chisel or slick to extend a plane. The same works with backfilling. A good backfill bucket forms a plane with the flat of the sod. Set a wide toothless bucket on the plane of lawn, as you draw it to you keep one corner of the cutting edge visible, not digging, riding just above sod. It is easier to scrape dirt off without tearing up sod. I tried welding a piece of cutting edge to the teeth. The geometry of the teeth makes it not work to plane the bottom of the bucket on the sod. Also, a narrow bucket makes it difficult to keep a corner exposed in my sight line. Wider bucket with a flat bottom makes it easier to pick up the spoils, leaving enough sod to rejuvenate itself. In past one man can dig & refill 200 feet of ditch in a day. Restoring the lawn is a 2 day job for two men. I hope to reduce the total job to two days, not three. If a welded edge is best you can do, it's a better backfill system than a toothed bucket. So far, I believe the wide toothless flat bottom bucket will save time cleaning up.
I've told the story a few times of Miss N. who became the present Mrs. B. I bought her an Audi 100 LS in 1980. I'll shorten the story a few paragraphs, she fell through the floor. I welded a new floor in the car, she drove it another year before I found her a better car. We survived those days of poverty. Now we are lower middle class, slightly less destitute.
Thanks for the description Willie, that makes a lot of sense! Ha! I had similar concerns for my old 1977 Ramcharger that I should have never gotten rid of, there was smore hole than floor in a lot of spots!
Yeah, that's what I thought too. It was my ex-wife's car that she gave to the kids thinking it would last their high school careers. I was talking to her yesterday and she got all offended when she said she was surprised that it broke and I told her it was a piece of crap to begin with. It had also been sitting for several years, which didn't help. The look of it tells me that most of it is rotted away and not worth saving.
I had an 88 Ramcharger in high school. 172hp in front of a 3 speed auto that would SLAM! When you put it in gear. Gutless on the highway but alot of fun on the trails. Fond memories of that tank.
Well my unit got some attention this week. It shut off while my wife was driving, found a bad fuse contact melted fuse and corrosion on a relay. Easy enough. But the excitement is I finally got my titan thumb bracket welded on. I have some figuring to do to get a power thumb but it's a vast improvement over nothing. I may shorten the thumb a couple inches as it can hit the boom. The wife enjoyed stacking rocks. Soon we will be making more rock retaining walls.
When you get that figgured report back. I have one too and how to get the hydraulics going is a complete mystery. Instructions consisted of nothing. Zero. Joe H
BC; you need to fabricate another mounting bracket and place it further up dipper. That will enable you to retract the thumb completely up and away from the bucket when it is retracted. I created a thread a while ago that goes into detail on how to plumb into a stabilizer circuit to operate the a thumb. I used a mechanical diverter valve. But, an electric one could be used also. I would advise anyone that uses a Titan brand thumb to reinforce the pin holes in it. The stell it is made from is to soft to withstand the erosion the caused by the forces it is subjected to. My first thumb had the holes elongated so badly that I removed and scraped it. It had very few hours on it. This is a link to the thread !
Yea it's just low carbon steel. For occasional use really. I built this wall with the titan and holes are already slightly elongated and teeth mashed over. But it still works. Pretty good for $250 delivered tho.
I read several other posts here including yours Tink. I have the other bracket that came with the thumb kit and a longer cylinder to get more stroke so it's a real thumb. but I'm out of funds for a bit. Life has been $$ lately. I'm going to spend a little bit on steel and reinforce what I have. Then I have to adapt the 1/2" lines to the approx 1" hammer lines already in the boom ( this might happen sooner if I can get past the budget keeper. After that it's deciding out what to do for controls I want a foot pedal but that's another level of extra complex...
I totally understand about having money available for your project. Keep us posted on your progress. Especially as to how you get that hammer plumbing to operate a two way hydraulic cylinder.
Well this isn't going well. I barely got to use the thumb, my wife used it about a day resetting a rock wall and the bracket is pretty much trashed. I'm pondering my options but here are pics. One pin bent but I'm not surprised by that.. My theory is I had to mount the bracket pretty high on the dipper to clear the bucket at full curl. But that means the thumb pivot is being pulled away from the stick during holding because most items are held at the bucket teeth.
That is the same kind of damage I had on the first thumb I installed. I used grade 8 bolts on the thumb I am using now. I also did extensive reinforcement of all the pin holes. I described what I did along with pictures in a thread I posted a while ago.
Bad case of Chinesium? All that space between the bracket is a poor design because all of that is unsupported, look how much distance is between the eye on that cross bar and the bracket itself. Perhaps add some "donuts" to the inside of that bracket?
Yea Chinesium and the load point is the thinnest area of metal. If the pin was close to the bucket the load would be into the bracket instead of out of it. I had planned to beef up stuff but needed to get some work done while I was off my day job. Back to work tomorrow, so not much time to mess with it for awhile.
Newer than mine Case 580 Super N offer a Case brand thumb. It pivots on the second pin where bucket links pivot. I believe this is 2.25" diameter, & the steel is very meaty. You can start new with a beefier design, or cut off those ears & replace with heavier. I would torch cut new ears & add .010" oversize DOM tubing as bushings. Leave the DOM full length, (12"?) until very carefully aligned & welded in place. After cooled, cut away the center of the 12" length to leave two 1" long pivot bores. There is a chance the two bores won't be perfectly aligned & will need some die grinding, or reaming for pin alignment after welding.
Trying to move a very big boulder with a Case 580SL. I've moved it about 150' so far on 3 tries. It's pretty hilly and uneven land. Almost tipped over sideways once and I had to lower and dump it. The 2 other times it just fell foreward out of the bucket. I need to move it about another 1000' or so. The first few hundred feet are bad but after that it's fairly level ground. I've given up for now but am thinking of a couple different ways to go about it on the next attempts.
When I am trying to move a boulder that is heavier than the capacity of my machine, I usually just get the bucket under it and lift to the point I feel the machine can handle, then put it first and pull foward. I used to try to lift, but once the back wheels are off the ground, traction is limited, and it is sketchy. Using the method I described, you avoid all of this...The boulder gets safely moved.
Load the backhoe bucket with as much ballast as you can and keep the front bucket as low as possible. Maybe extend the stabilizers close to the ground if you have room
I would chain the rock into the bucket, then pull it.
I moved a heavier rock last year and did fill the backhoe bucket and had to extend the backhoe in order to keep the back wheels on the ground. But that was all on more level ground. The uneven ground is the issue now. I've got it almost out of the forest and onto a trail. There's one big hill that I need to go down. I'm planning on backing down the trail and try to turn around and go forward at some point when there's enough room to do it. The rock is so tall and top heavy that I seem to need to raise the bucket up a ways on order to keep it from falling out. Dragging the rock with a chain seems like it would work but I'd hate to tear up the trail too much because it's at the bottom of a hill and tends to wash out in ares without vegetation. I'm guessing I would need to drag it 400'-500'. It might end up being the best and safest option. I'll attach a couple pictures of the rock I moved last year. I used a bail spear on it which helped but I bent up the frame of it quite a bit so I don't use it for rocks anymore.
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Can you get under it and flip it to roll it down the hill?
Battery hammer drill & feathers & wedges. Not a lot of fun but better than tearing up your equipment. Joe H
If anything is going to bow your bucket that's it. I've moved rocks I couldn't pick up by flipping them over. Can you drag it or flip it with the backhoe? Moving those huge rocks can't be good for the machine.
Stick the boom straight out behind you. Even with a rock in the hoe bucket. Would serve as a counter weight and lower you cog. Just an ideer. Iv seen people drive withe the stabilizers just inches above the ground in case she tips.
Always 4wd too. In 2wd if the back comes up, you have no brakes! I'd roll it down any big hills tho. Not worth risking your life.
I use a chain to help keep the big ones in the bucket.
If your land is flat roll it. Otherwise, drag it . Not likely you can drag it with one hoe, but a snatch block & cable you can use two. If you don't need a large boulder, break it with fire. An oil burner from an old furnace, or a wood fire will break it into smaller pieces.
What would you do if you did not have a machine? You could not pick it up. You would roll it. If your machine can't pick it up, then use the machine to roll it.
Is "Ashless Hydraulic Oil AW 46 Zinc Free - 5 Gallon Pail (18L - 4.75 GAL)" acceptable to use in my hoe? I don't know what Ashless is? They are out of the same stuff I put in last time. It's the same brand, Sinopec, L-HM 46. Can I mix the normal and ashless without causing any issues? Thanks!
Let me first say that I am no oil expert...there are some on here, and hopefully they will chime in. I looked up the oil that you spelled out above. It does not claim to be a tractor oil. This is important because your NH has wet brakes (when you are adding to the differential), which require specific additives. I use the Tractor Supply Premium in all reservoirs. My smaller tractor has a common reservoir for the hydraulics and differential. Using the Tractor Supply in everything just keeps it simple for me. Personally, I would get the Tractor Supply oil. I cannot imagine that the sinopec is much cheaper, especially when it is on sale at Tractor Supply. Sinopec Product description Sinopec L-HV Low Temperature Antiwear Hydraulic Oil is a line of premium quality antiwear lubricants blended using selected and highly refined highquality mineral oils, combined with a multifunctional additive system and available in a wide viscosity range from ISO Grade 15 to 100. This line of oils, with high viscosity index and low pour point characteristics, has been designed to meet the requirements of moderate- to high-pressure hydraulic systems operating outdoors in cold regions, or where there is a wide variation in ambient temperature. Tractor Supply Premium Tractor Fluid is a premium, multi-purpose lubricant formulated from select base stocks and an advanced additive system. It is engineered for use in a variety of farm equipment, off highway machinery, industrial tractors, final drives, power take-off units, wet brakes , power steering units and hydraulic systems. It provides the unique combination of ultimate equipment protection and the convenience of using one fluid in place of two or more fluids while maintaining optimum equipment performance and component durability.
Around here, it’s hard to find the Tractor Supply Premium but if you can find it, it’s still cheaper than everything else. Though still higher than pre-Covid.
Thanks guys. You talking about this: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-premium-tractor-hydraulic-fluid-5-gal-t806391 It's the same price as the Sinopec I'm looking at and I'm likely to be able to find it locally rather than have it delivered. This one is ISO 46 like the Sinopec I previously used, and cheaper! Never mind, not for use with wet brakes. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-premium-hydraulic-oil-iso-46-5-gal-t806325
No, I get the universal, which is harder to find but it’s good for wet brakes. It also conforms to Case TCH so I use it in my Tranny. Also can use in my hydrostatic Kubota. Also says good for Case Hytrans
Yes, that is it. I got a couple of pails $10.00 off about a month ago. They go on sale every month or 2.
I had the same problem about a year ago. Now it is back in stock locally. Whenever it is on sale, I pick up a couple of pails so I never have run out.
Doug whenever I have to move an exreamly heavy boulder or peice of iron. I don t lift it with front Bucket, I push it all the way. Especially at an even terraine. There is no need for that, SCF- and your backhoe will thank you too.
Thanks Swetz and Harley! It looks readily available here, I'll try it out if you guys are using it successfully!
Ashless means it won't clog up your Diesel Particulate Filter.
It's more important to know if it's compatible with the existing oil.
At that stage of home building where 20 things are "in play" at once. Dug the trench for the septic line, and the pit for the tank. After pulling a couple of decent size boulders out of the hole I hit shelf..... 6 inches shy of where I needed to be. I do not have much elevation to play with on this run, so I 'm going with a low profile tank. Should get the tank this week. Got the garage(s) poured last week.... along with the porch and pads for A/C units and the propane tank. Added an extra yard to the order the morning of the pour..... and had less than a half yd left....
Pics... ..
Rough in inspec went fine..... now stapling batts..... in the 90+ time of the year.. Should start hanging 'rock' soon!
That finish on the porch slab looks great! The old man that provided my education in concrete was fond of saying "the cheapest yard of concrete you will ever buy is the one you send back".
Looking Good!! Was just thinking about your work, and the heat, and the rain. Thanks for the update!
I used the other storage bracket as the pivot. But I welded a tube between the ears to make it a little more robust.
I wanted to do something like that but needed to use it before I had time to get pipe. I might get some pipe or tube and cobble together a repair. Won't have time to really get into it for awhile. I'm hoping before then I have time to hit the buy scrap metal by the pound place.
Thanks......Your right on that... We "paid" to have several things done on this 'build'....the mason I hooked up with has been one of them ( shingle job the other). The fella did a great job on the block work, and his price on the garage(s)/ porch was unbeatable by a ton. Finishing a pour is an art that I have not even attempted to develop...and my hats off to the members of that 'profession'. .... I did set the forms ..and I did the little slabs... so I did get my hands dirty. 18 yards...... @148$ just to give a heads up on cost in this neck of the woods.
Heat has been bearable.... and the rain has to messing with you more than me?? Have some 'repair' work to do, to keep movin water off the driveway. Its one of those things that are low on the 'have to get to' list. But I did get a couple loads of 'modified' and added a bit. While I was attending to one little section..... a sudden smell..??thought it was fuel?? then a bit of a cloud... and busted hose! my 'signature ' on the diveway then remove 5 things just to get at the fitting.. ..but all is well now.....for now Heading out tomorrow to dig a 'hole' for a pad transformer on my neighbors prop. I owe him big time for the help he has given me on the build.... and it should be a simple dig.... plus he's a great human being!
Glad to hear you got the old girl fixed up!! Old iron loves to keep us old guys covered in hydraulic oil...
I think it also works as a tick repellent.... as I have yet to find any on me ! Tough on the bedsheets though
LOL As for ticks, I do not get them by the house where the grass is cut, but where I am building the pad for my shop, when I get out of the machine, even for a min, they are on me!
Dug a transformer hole.... and pulled a couple stumps for good measure. His daughter will be building a house on this upper pasture.. and they need to get power... the ridge in the foreground is where our spot is.... though not visible from here.... with Nescopeck Mt in the background. The hole.. ..and the septic line out of my house...pitch set and 'bedded'. The tank is going to be a bit... they will cast it this week.
Nice work, clean hole.
I said that very thing to an 18 year old dancer in Pasco county a few nights ago
For real, that hole looks great!
Sometimes I do the digging for power lines, other times if an excavation contractor is already on site they dig. Most operators are reasonably good, give me a ditch I can work with, others, not so much! One was a bargain excavation contractor showed up with an ancient P&H machine in VERY poor condition. I've never known if operator or machine fault, ditch was anywhere from 1-1/2 feet deep to 4', width varied 3' to 6'. He left 3' diameter rocks in the ditch. Each scoop of spoils seemed utterly random as to where he dumped it. I spoke to the owner, he got another contractor to clean up the mess & backfill. No, not every operator is as meticulous.
That sounds more like me! I'm still practicing!
Septic tank came Friday.... The 'hole' before the tank.. ... and with the tank.. Spent this morning running effluent pipe to my dosing tank. .
All connected now... ..the 'in' and the 'out'. . Have to have the 'lines' inspected... then the big cover up. Also wanted to get a couple of the 'polylok' extensions for the access. I seemed to have miscalculated the height of my final grade a bit..... that'll happen
Thanks for the update T-town!
Well, my hoe is back in action. Moved all the cylinders around a bit but now at higher rpm I have a whine? Is it possible, after sitting for several months, it just needs to get its oil moving? I had it running for maybe half hour, so probably not long enough to really even warm it up...
Is the whine in the engine or the hydraulics? You drained the hydraulic tank and had cylinders out, might just have some air left and causing some whine in the hydraulics.
aighead, Help me remember, was it out of service for repair, or just sitting? We need this answered too.
The whine was in the engine, started maybe around 700 rpm, and increased in volume as I revved up. It down for 3-4 months of no use, getting cylinders rebuilt then re-installed. I'm thinking that model NH lb75b doesn't have a turbo on it but maybe it does?
Oh boy! It feels real good, man. I just gave her her first workout for several months. Moved about 15-20 yards of dirt into the barn and knocked over a big dead ash tree stump, then pushed it to the fire pile. Nothing like doing an incredible amount of work in an hour. The hole where the stump came out is already filled in! Woo! I didn't realize how much I missed hoeing! Oh yeah, the whine is gone!
Life is GREAT aighead!!
I love it when a plan comes together!
I wish the weather would cooperate. Last week I finally got to do some real work clearing out an existing drainage ditch and extending it to a township drainage run-off. Got the extension half way done - about another thirty feet to go - and we had heavy rains for a couple of days. Can't go back to finish the extension because there's too much water -- go figure. Couple more days yet. Anxious to use the Beast for the very reason I got it in the first place.
Out of the 20 or so on the site, the one we don't care about letting trainees wreck is just getting hot and has to be idled back for a while. Mostly operator thinking he has to run wide open I think. In this 103-107 degree heat, it ain't cutting it. No AC either. Hate that for the op. He's miserable. Had a bout of blowing off rad hoses, but that seems to have stopped when they finally replaced the rad cap. Or so I am told. We don't dig with it, just load grinders and shredders with green waste and trees.
Was pushing up some bushes and dug a hole to discard some concrete in. Blew an Air Conditioner hose! None of my window latches work so they are all zip tied shut. It gets HOT in a hurry in a glass cab at 107 heat index. I bet it hit 120 easy. No way I was going to leave a hole uncovered so I toughed it through and finished up.
Is it a hose that a local shop can make, or is it a NH only type AC hose?
I had all my hoses made custom so I know it can be made. It was too hot to investigate so I just parked it in the barn. I was just relieved it wasn't a blown hydraulic hose.
Nothing visually obvious. I will have to connect the gauges and pressurize it with nitrogen sometime to find the leak. Hopefully the little bit I have left in the tank will be enough so I don't have to get a refill.
Make sure you purchase lots of 134a. It is going to shoot up through the roof in 2024. Government has mandated a 40% decrease in manufacture in 2024. In my area, Advance Auto has already shot up to $25 a can. I picked up a bunch at Walmart the other day for $10 each. A couple of years ago I picked it up for $5 a can and thought that was crazy. On another note...The government is currently contimplating restricting the sale of the little homeowner cans for the new 1234YF. This is the refridigerant currently factory filled in most production cars. If you have one of these cars, you may consider purchasing some of this. NOTE: it aint cheap!
Someday I may investigate why mine doesnt hold a charge. When I purchased it, the seller told me it didnt work. I charged it, it worked beautifully. Not long afterwords it went flat, and has been for years now. You are lucky to have a shop that can make up the hoses for you. Hard to find a shop that will do that in my area
My whole system is generic except the cab controls are factory. I found a new set of those on eBay. I bought a factory style expansion valve also. The compressor was missing and the mount looks like something somebody welded together in their back yard. Bruce at Alma Tractor found me a NOS mount for $800. I used what was on the tractor and shimmed it to get it as straight as I could. I used a generic Sanyo compressor. I broke the mounting ear off the first one by not having the funky mount shimmed good enough. Buying a second compressor off the auction site was still way cheaper than buying anything from NH. It has an idler off a Mustang. I pulled the evaporator and heater box out from under the seat and cleaned it all up. It has a thermostat from and old Ford vehicle of some type. Get the picture? When I first renovated the AC I had leaks I couldn't find. My old expensive leak detector came back from a loan not working. I bought one of the cheap ones off eBay and it seems to work way better than my "professional" unit ever did. Turned out the long hoses running to the expansion valve were seeping through the sides. I ended up replacing ALL the hoses. I re-routed the long hoses to be a shorter path and easier to install when I had them made. Anything to do at the expansion valve is a certified pain in the ass. Larger hands may not fit in that area at all. My skinny hands got severely beat up working on it. It remained leak free until yesterday. I expect this leak to be the result of a careless operator. I was backing up through vegetation I hadn't pushed down. The driveshaft had weeds wrapped all around it. There were signs of something being dragged along the ground but I didn't find it when I followed the trench and it isn't hanging under the tractor. My driveshaft is all shiny and polished now. As far as I can see nothing is pulled loose or cut. I hope it didn't crack a fitting at the expansion valve. In hindsight I should have jumped out as soon as I heard the hissing sound to see where it was coming from but I didn't.
..."so I got that going for me..... which is good "
I just pressurized the system and found the leak under the tractor along with a broken end of a hose. I didn't see the other end so I looked out where the hissing started and found about 5 foot of AC hose on the ground. I will have to pull the homemade grill to locate the other end. I should be able to splice in a piece of hose, evacuate, and recharge. I will try to tuck it up better than it was. Looks like it got cut by the emergency brake and the loose end got caught in the rotating mass. I guess it could have ripped out something more critical.
Air conditioning? In a backhoe? Sounds delightful! I think mine had A/C at one point in it's life but if it works now it's like a mouse breath. The heat is about the same. The blower seems just strong enough to blow some dust and leaf debris or something out of the vents but not much more. If I had infinite resources or knowledge I'd worry about it but for now I just don't work when it's too hot and the machine doesn't start when it's too cold, so that problem also solves itself.
LOL!! I am with you aighead, I just will not work when it is too hot. My heat works great, so that is not an issue. Perhaps someday I will look into what is leaking, but for now, I open the windows and throw on the fan and go to work. That said, if I lived in the climate that NH575E lives in, it would be one of my top priorities.
Mine has weak AC. I rarely find time on a hot day to use the hoe. Heat is nice 10 months of the year.
Yeah, if I was hoeing in Florida I think I'd be more worried about A/C. Hopefully, this weekend, I can finish adding dirt to the barn floor (I've got to stop sometime! Though it seems like I could still add yards and yards) then start blading it out flat, to then add geotextile, then gravel. It'd be lovely if I could have a layer of gravel on this weekend but we'll see.
Picked up some hose and splices. It snatched the drier out of the clamp and pulled it down to the oil cooler before the hose gave way. Doesn't look like it damaged the cooler. We'll see if it pulls and holds a vacuum.
Got the AC fixed. I just spliced in a 7' section of hose using brass hose barbs and clamps. The hose I bought was smaller OD so I was able to use fuel injection style band clamps on it. The hose on the tractor was larger so I wrapped about 3 rounds of electrical tape on that to protect from the screw clamp slots. It held the vacuum fine. Hope it holds the pressure. It's blowing colder than ever. I moved on from that project to a 7' finish mower I have been rebuilding for the little tractor. I have about 30 minutes work left on that but at 100 degrees outside I didn't have another 30 minutes left in me. In between I put the grapple on the little tractor and cut and moved a downed limb to the burn pile.
I didn't think to take a picture but I think my barn floor is as built up and flat as I have the patience for. I filled in some more spots and drove the tractor with blade around for a couple hours. It looks comparatively great. I'm pleased with the results but I'm sure some of you guys would probably do a lot better using much less energy than I did. I didn't get any gravel in over the weekend I'd forgotten that I had other chores to do as well. My little mower keeps breaking deck belts, so the kids can't use it to mow, which means I'm on the tractor. We've got great weather for several days so I should be able to accomplish some stuff. Woop!
Well, I think I made yet another mistake... I filled the barn with sand, in an effort to even out some of the dirt I'd put down, thinking it'd be good fill. It was not. It's like snow that doesn't melt, it just shoves around and ruts everywhere. I started adding big gravel last night hoping that it would give some bite to the floor to level things out and it's helped but I'll need to add much more gravel. Luckily, the pile of around 20-25 tons of big gravel that is sitting in the driveway is proving to be much more than I thought and it's going a long way. Live and learn, huh?
When I had my barn built I ordered a load of sand to level the area. It was pretty squishy and difficult to work with. The supplier listed it as a good filler with the best compaction of any other fill they sold. I covered the sand with a huge tarp and added 4 inches of crushed brick. It has remained stable but moisture seeps in and doesn't evaporate out well. I keep thinking I will poke holes around the inside so moisture can seep into the sand. It has got better on it's own for some reason so I'm reluctant to try the hole punching now. It has 28 anchors that punched through the tarp. The good is the tarp and crushed brick made the surface stable.
My hoe only has heat. But whenever I turn it on I get showered with leaves, seed husks, dust, and mouse droppings. So I usually just throw on a hoodie.
@NH575E I considered going out and watering the sand in so it sinks to the bottom a bit. I planned similarly, sand, then geotextile on top, then gravel. I'm not sure how it'll go now, sand mixed with big gravel, then spread about as thin as I can make it, I guess. When I try to blade it flat the front wheels of the tractor get no purchase and slide/plow sideways creating new ruts in the mix. Not ideal.
Do you have mineral sand with aggregate on the surface? Could you rake it flat? Put Portland cement on it & rototill it in 6" deep. I sprinkled it after mixing it up. Not quite smooth enough to sweep well with a broom, but hard enough to not rut. If it were out in the open where you could drive on the whole surface, you could just add 1-3/4" stone to pack down into the sand & firm things up. Might approximate the result with a power tamper.
I considered adding some cement... "not enough to rut" would be lovely. I've put almost all the #2 gravel that I have in there and it's still squishy and not great. It seems I have about an hour and a half of moving gravel in me before I can't take it any more. I tried flattening with tractor and blade and it went just as poorly. It's OK I guess, but also thick and squishy. #57 gravel is next. I'm tired of the back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. For what it's worth I've only done about 3 days of back and forth.
...not all sand is created equal....!! you just happened to get the "squishy" stuff maybe?? Sorry to hear of your dilemma.
iv had had a lot of what they call "bank run sand" delivered here. It appears to have a bit of clay in it I think as welll as small stones. It packs down nice, But not as solid as #2 mix. But I used some as a base to level out my barn floor before #2mix before i eventually poured a floor. We can get "screened" sand here too. It seems closer to beach sand and does not pack down. If you continue to be unhappy with it id say Either 1) mosten and run a compactor in layers with as much crusher run as you can get in there or 2)pull a bunch out and put down a thicker layer of crusher run mix.
Doing my final preparation before tarping it I had to use a piece of plywood to stand on and level with a garden rake. Each time I drove either tractor over it created ruts. I was able to get it close by back dragging with my little tractor. With the crushed brick on top the rutting problem was not bad and I could rake it out pretty easy until it got better packed. My deal with condensation wouldn't have happened if the building was designed with larger eaves. Water comes off the roof too close to the edge of the building and seeps in through the gravel layer. Then with the tarp between the sand and crushed brick it sits in there and evaporates up in the barn. I have considered adding panels under the roof panels, gutters, or a gravel drain perimeter but haven't gone past thinking about it. In the meantime it has subsided some on it's own so I guess the edges are getting packed better or something.
Well, I spent a fair amount of time out there this weekend. Got all the bigger gravel down and as flat as I had patience for, then started with about 3/4 of the smaller #57 gravel. That appears to have helped immensely. I now have a much less fluid top layer and that smaller stuff mixing in seems to be working to stiffen everything up a bit. Yeeha!
Way too small to make the difference. A firm floor is multiple sizes of stone. You have too much fine stuff. 2" stone is now needed. Best would be to till in a layer of 2" then tamp it with a rented tamper, If that seems too big a job, spread it on evenly & tamp with the machine.
No, there's 2"+ mixed in with the sand, probably 6"+ deep, that I'm putting the small stuff on top of. The "3/4" was in reference to my pile of about 20 tons or so, I've made it through most of my pile. That was after 20ish tons of the bigger #2 or 2"+.
@aighead You need water and a compactor to get that sand to firm up. I've been down that road before. It took lots of watering and then running a compactor over it to tighten it up. This was #2 fill sand (bank run sand put through a screener to remove all gravel). When first dumped, you couldn't drive a wheeled machine through it. A tracked skid steer leveled it out in 6-8" lifts. Then it was watered thoroughly and compacted. After that, we could drive the loaded dump truck over it to place the next lift. The geotextile fabric would be very helpful in your situation to keep the gravel from disappearing in the sand over time. If you don't have a compactor of some kind, go rent one. They're cheap to rent and will make a huge difference in getting the results you need. Warning- they are boring to run, but a necessary part of the job.
Trying to transplant some trees. I planted some sand pines along my property line close enough they would grow together for a privacy barrier several years ago. I had one spot I had to offset the row to keep and oak tree. The oak died last year and deer and other events had killed some of the trees in the offset row. Hurricane Idalia saturated the ground and blew some of the trees that weren't part of the original row over. I had planted 20 Arborvitaes in the void but some of those were dyeing. I decided to pull the Arborvitaes and try to fill the original row in with like trees. The project is fighting me. First I had charging system problems I had to fix and then I was having trouble getting the trees to hang suspended in the hole straight so I could fill in around the roots. These trees are over 10 feet tall. I finally gave up and covered the two I had dug out with wet dirt to keep them alive for now. Tomorrow is another day.
Just bought a Coll i Matic 420 hydraulic hose crimper with the table all the dies and the Eaton fittings cabinet for 3k so will soon be ordering 1/4” hose to 1 1/4” hose and make a little cash on the side and practice on my Case 580SE as pretty much every hose has steel showing and put POR paint on them. I‘m not much into replacing hoses until they blow but sick of paying 53$ for a 3/8” hose 23” long for a Kubota loader hose the other day. Sanel’s raised their prices about 5 months ago and their hours never seem to work for me.
Aren't you sick of buying way too expensive hydraulic fluid?
I am. I dream about replacing every single hose on my machine, but since that would cost too dang much I just replace them as I go and every once in a while I spot the problem before puking fluid everywhere.
That’s why I picked this up. I can redo all my hoses and do a little side work. Very few options around here for hoses and all the Sanels or Napa’s raised their prices. I have been buying hydr fluid from TS and they went up 25% during Covid and do not expect them to come down. Have to drive 30 minutes just to go to the one TS that has oil in stock.
Pretty much every hose on my Case 580SE needs to be replaced and figured the cost at least 5k. Now I need to figure out which hose to stock.
I know a hose place who is dirt cheap. He makes all kinds of hoses. He has like 12" hose and can crimp ends, he does fire hose, sewer hose, water hose and hydraulic. For example on my Cat 426 I had him make 6 hoses on my boom. 4 were about 3 feet and 2 were about 5 feet. Aeroquip hose. Cost me $125 cash. I handed him $150 and said buy yourself lunch or a 30 pack for the crew.
I’ve thought about going this route myself. My hangup isn’t the crimping equipment or even the various sizes of hose, but the staggering variety of fittings I’d need to keep to cover all my equipment. Looks like you have some selection of fittings there, do you just buy as needed?
Well, starting out I will try and get a variety of fittings, except maybe the flat faced Cat with oring. The bins already have a bunch of fittings I have never seen and likely will never use. There is a bunch of 37degree Jic’s from 1/4” to 1/2” which are very common along with NPT 45, 90 and straight. Lots of flat faced Bobcat fittings. Just gonna try and get a lititle stock of everything thing up to 3/4”. Might buy a small amount of 1” but kinda Leary as that is not common for homeowners. Will start with small amounts of hose to make sure they work with the Eaton Wheterhead fittings as not sure what is what. I can buy Vevor 4000 psi hose at a reasonable cost. Going to try and make hoses for most homeowners whom own machines and sick of going to TS and bastardize a NPT hose with 20 dollar fittings to get it to work. Wiring it today.
My New Holland doesn't have anything but flat face o-ring fittings on it. They all step up in fitting size which makes the fittings more expensive. I.E. a #8 hose will step up to a #10 fitting. I am fortunate to have a Carquest about 15 miles from me that makes hoses using Gates hose and fittings. For years I went to a shop in the opposite direction that seemed to use a different brand of foreign made hose every time I went. After having a couple of the replaced hoses fail at 3 years old I switched to the shop using Gates. Prices are a little higher but they are more convenient to me and none of those have failed after replacement.
I wouldn't use Vevor hose. See what Ryco hose costs. They have several different hoses available but don't know if it works with other fittings. That will be the most important issue, if the hose matches the fittings.
Congrats on the score! I found that once I purchased my setup, blown hoses were a non-issue, if you have the correct fittings in stock. You will find that the fittings are the most expensive part of any hose. I have no experience with Vevor hydraulic hose, but they truly do not have a good reputation with other items. That said, as stated above, the fittings are the killer, and cannot be reused if the hose blows in a year or 2. I can tell you that I have had great luck with the Bailflex hose sold by universal hose and fitting. They also have good quality aftermarket hose ends that are reasonable. Two Wire Hose _ www.universalhoseandfittings.com If you do go the Vevor route, please keep us posted on the quality and longevity.
Been missing a large piece of my cutting edge for a while. Put my new metal detector to use and found it underground! Cutting edge was all cracked.
That looks like an example of either poorly made alloy or improper heat treating. It could have been caused when punching the holes if the plate wasn't held down properly when punching and also retracting the punch. To break a piece out of the backside is pretty odd.
Goodness, what a mess...Looks like there were previous welds as well. If nothing else, you found out that the metal detector really works
I'll be interested to see if the repair holds up. Material is prone to failure if preheat & post heat aren't correct. I have never successfully welded a bolt on cutting edge, but have numerous times had success with weld on edges. When welded on edges get worn, usually on the corners, I put grouser stock to freshen up the edge. On grouser stock I cut it into three pieces & weld from the middle of each piece. It'll gap a surprising amount end to end. Done it with 7018, & Messer 80T AC+ on DC EP never cracked again.
Since my 'unpaid volunteer' assistant is out of town visiting kids, I took the time to screen some fill. This stuff came from next door and has some good topsoil mixed with it.... but also lots of broken shale/rocks. I should be able to feather some of my stashed topsoil on top and have some good final material for grass. My homemade 'grizzly' has seen better days, but still works.... though it is not 'hands free'. Have to use a 2x to shake the screen. The front gable on the 'great room' is covered... ......will be hanging sheetrock this weekend.
T-town, Thanks for the update! Looking real good! Those windows will really make your great room. Screen is kinda sad, but must have served well judging from the wear. I want to build one someday too, as I have a lot of good soil filled with rocks. I think I will have to use some heavy steel tho, cuz the rocks are large, and I fear would destroy a wood screen. I was actually able to haul a good amount of dirt last weekend, but with the rain forcast, I dont know if I will get to do any more before the snow flies.
Pulling out some more sweetgums, pines, and vines. Turning one mess into another to clean up.
yeah.... sat for quite awhile.. and I did move it couple weeks back to this spot... but since she started to 'come apart at the seams'. But I have other priorities at the moment. Glad to hear you got some material moved!! Not too H2O much fell here today ..... we'll see 'bout overnight/Sunday. There will be dry days ahead.... gotta be... I have to be in this house before winter! The front windows are the same built-in J channel as the other sliders.. but are cased with PVC trim ( 3/4). Bought it by the sheet and ripped it to what ever width I happen to need. That 'bottom' piece ended up wider than originally thought due to the fact that I would have had to thrown away a lot of 'not cheap' plastic on the 'stone' facade if I brought it up to the window bottoms.
Today was a wood day. Oldest son shares the wood, younger son doesn't want to be left out. Three of us cut 600 cubic feet into 18" long rounds & hauled it 3.5 miles home. We are debating what that will tally in cords by the time dry & piled. I'll let you know. Late day the brothers went off in search of pine cones as ordered by daughter in law. I engaged in one of my favorite pastimes; pushing trees. I had a 30" Diameter Breast High White Pine, broke off in a storm last spring. It being a "pasture pine" it wasn't very valuable. I hate stumps left behind. Ripped out some roots & pushed it over. Normally trees are heavy & I push far past vertical, they tip over. This one weighed a lot less than its root ball. Took a lot more than usual to push it over.
Our old hoe still pulling hoely duty. 2011 321DLCR with 8K on the clock wrapping up a project downtown. Little hoe working the power lines as well.
I really do not like sweet gum trees...My next door neighbor, and my neighbor on the other corner have them. I am lucky enough to be picking up the spiked balls by the garbage can full. I am always worried my wife will step on one and go for a ride.
I gotcha with the priorities. Never enough time! It was a surprise to me, that it was dry enough. I did have to slop through mud when going back and forth, but I moved the whole pile that my son previously dug out with my new to me, excavator. He did hit a spring tho, and I now have a new pond n my property. As far as this storm, central NJ got it preaty good, wind and rain. In fact, I lost my cable last night. It is back up this morning tho. If I had to guess, a tree fell on it. How is the inside coming along? Judging from the outside, you look like you could make it by winter. Is your heating system installed yet? Gotta keep the wife warm!!
My new mini pond! My new to me mini excavator
Thumbs up on the 'new' unit.... those come in handy! As for the pond.... I'll bring a rod and some brew! Inside.... we are covering walls/ceilings. The cathedral(s) are getting a whitewashed pine tongue and groove.... a little splurge there, but I did not look forward to drywall install/finish on those ceilings. Just finished hanging the utility room.... so now I get the feed end of my plumbing hooked up, finish with the well materials... hook up the water heater ( hybrid heat pump unit) and ...not the least, install a wall mounted propane fired boiler and the various circ pump(s) and control valves for the radiant heat system. ...all while hanging drywall... As soon as I get a room with a minisplit finish mudded the heat pumps will provide some heating.... as long as we don't slip into some 'Siberian plunge' too soon. I'm thinking turkey weekend???
Speaking of Turkeys - saw this yesterday while me and my pup were out riding the dirt roads in a wilderness reserve. Nice sized gobbler left that track. Almost as big as my hand and I have big hands.
Color me green with envy!
Was picking my daughter and SIL up from a kayaking, camping trip today and saw several including this one that almost got hit.
Wow! You guys are getting tons done! Good job! This weekend I decided against pushing trees (dead/dying honey locust) and ended up trying to extend my driveway width a bit, near the garage, now that my gravel piles are dissipating, should work and we're going to surround that part with big rocks to avoid driving too far into the yard. Then I went out, after the bee guy came out to the field, to finally get to work on the bridge over the creek that hasn't had any water this year. I've got a pretty good trench cut for the two 2'x20' culvert pipes I've got, but T-town's rock screener has now reminded me that I wanted to have that available for this bridge job, as I'm finding tons of good rocks from the creek. We are picking out the best ones we see but the rest will go back into covering the culvert pipes. My rock screener will continue to wait until later, I guess. It's covered with a bunch of lumber that needs to go back into the barn anyway. The creek trench The pile from the dig The pile and the pipes
And you said you didnt have any rocks
We've got some rocks but the bigger-than-a-breadbasket ones aren't in huge supply. This is also, likely, the rockiest part of the yard and the majority of good rocks in the big pile were put in the ground when we built the bridge the last time.
Burying a new power supply wire to my well
Planning for winter, when not plowing snow, I'm going to go through the hoe, starting at the bucket, and replace pins and bushings. Bought a solid machine, she's just at that point.
Do yourself a big favor & find a dewar & a source for liquid nitrogen. If not that, get dry ice. I've lost track of the numbers, liquid nitrogen is twice as cold (half as warm) as dry ice. A bushing that needs to be pressed in or hammered in with dry ice will slip in freely with liquid nitrogen.
Also, @Nick G , if you haven't thought of it yet, figure out a way to mark that power line! I haven't been smart enough to remember this a couple times now but I always wish I would! I need to print out a satellite shot of my house/yard and start drawing lines where there are utilities, then tattoo that onto the insides of my eyelids.
My wiggely old Case went for a foliage tour today. Foliage isn't very good this year as we've had excessive rain all summer but I'm sure it liked getting some air in it's hair. ( There is moss growing on it ! )
I sure hope it appreciated the foliage tour. Mine travelled a few tours from Western VT to Plainfield NH, it always was happier & less leaky after.
I'm guessing your wallet did not feel the same way
Oh, it hurts to pay a good shop to take on a task, but there are projects where the right tools in the hands of a skilled mechanic is money well spent.
One of the last, 'must do' jobs for the season ( any more is gravy ) was trenching for the propane line. The start.. trench open... bedded and 'marked' final.... So... we have 'enough' of a "final rough grade" finished to 1. Shed water and 2. get us ok'd for occupancy. Some more siding to hang.... gutters coming soon.... and hanging drywall inside. And garage doors a couple weeks out..... which gives me some extra time to finish hanging 'rock' in there. "Lot's" to do.....
I don't get propane. Been there, done that. I went all electric in 93 when I had our house built. Now I have a backup diesel generator that runs everything with a little load management. Has saved a ton of money over what I use to spend with propane.
This is a regular job for my backhoe. Moving firewood to the log splitter.
Well, in your climate, perhaps propane isnt necessary, however, where it is cold, electric will brake you. The choices are oil, electric, or propane. I have heated my house in pa with electric when my furnace was down. One month was more $$ than a tank of oil, that last way more than a month. There are some excellent and super efficient heat pumps out there, but they dont seem to be useful in the extreme temperatures we have in pa.
I haven't used my heat pump in years. For one thing my unit leaks refrigerant in heat pump mode. What I discovered when I switched to just using heat strips it runs less because it heats faster so the system cycles instead of running non stop. Once the house warms up it retains the heat pretty well. Maybe it's different in cold country. My old LP system still wouldn't run without electricity so it didn't heat during a power outage. In winter the LP bill would exceed the electric bill so I was paying both instead of just one. With all electric the electricity goes up in winter and summer but doesn't ever equal what the two different bills use to cost me.
I have discovered mini split systems. They are amazingly cheap to run (and buy).
Our build is all electric... as in heat pump water heater, 'lectric range, dryer.. and 72K btu's worth of minisplits. Hope to capture some of those photons on site in the near future. The propane will fire a wall boiler for the radiant system that will be used in the coldest time of year. Push came to shove I could burn wood outside and feed the radiant system that way. Did not want to tie ourselves to single distributor so we are buying a 500 gal above ground tank.
One more job before the rain..... I was gifted a surplus step from my BIL next door, and we used it for a single front step needed on our porch entry. the spot... Put 10 bags of concrete in the 'hole' and leveled with wedge rocks. ...no more stepping on blocks to walk onto the porch... And the step I got was 'stamped'.... top and edge....though I banged it up a bit...
Nice!
I am with you on your propane comment but electric for heat, no way. Cost per BTU is lowest with Natural Gas, then Oil is a close second. Third is propane and not far behind is electric. Electric heat pumps are a game changer and can be cheaper to operate than NG or oil. Propane is attractive because the equipment is much cheaper than oil.
Hey T-town, U going to keep the hoe when the build is complete?
Natural gas is certainly easy...No tank, no filling, and pay only for what you use per month. Only problm with natural gas is that it is not available...imagine that, in a state where a lot of the gas supply comes from.
Right now, she is sitting on the couch knitti..............oh wait..........
I live rural so gas has never been an option for me. I would love to switch away from oil to gain the extra space in my basement where the tank sits but no way I am going to use propane for two reasons. First and foremost is cost per but and second is propane is heavier than air so it much more dangerous than natural gas, which is lighter than air. Anyway, in the sticks there is not a lot of choices and if you like cooking with gas vs. electric than propane is your answer
lots of additions to that list of things to get done.. after we are in. Need to semi clear some trees to open up that western sky a bit.... lots of rough patches to try to do something with... so I won't be giving up the beast anytime soon!..... of course, I have been putting some hours on her the last 10 years and she is showing her age .... but a shot of 'go gas' and she still fires up. Hope that continues. We were living on the 'edge' of gasland.... lots of activity the last 20 years or so but most leaving the area via the pipes. Some of it liquefied in semi's being hauled to the coast and onto 'bubble' ships for foreign ports. Some being used in quick start power plants. P&G has a paper products plant that drilled into the shale, uses the gas to fire turbines to produce electric to run the plant, sell excess power back to the grid and sell excess gas too. The gas tapped in western PA has the liquids in it.... ethane, propane, etc. The propane price round here had been stable for the most part.... with some upward creep the last year or two... of course they all hold their prices close to their chest like they're playin cards... $ 2.20 I saw.... has been higher... and who sells it to you makes a difference. Methane ( nat gas) is close by to where I'm at.. but so is muni water and sewer... and we won't be seeing that anytime soon if ever.
Good!! Close by me too, but will never come up my road. Just too far for 4 customers, if they all even want it. Everyone on my block has oil heat. my neighbors all have a propane tank for stoves, etc. One runs a backup generator on propane too.
When I got married, I bought a house withelectric stove. I grew up with gas, so I had a hard time. Told the wife that she may come home one day and find it in the back yard...LOL Fast foward 37 years, I am still cooking on electric, and am not sure I would go back at this point.
I live in a rural area as well. There is a residential NG line 2 miles east of me, and 2 miles west of me serving the area, though I will never see NG at my place. I contacted Consumers Energy about hooking up when I built my place. The engineer called me back that afternoon said not going to happen. Both of the shortest routes to my place from their lines cross wetlands/swamp areas. He said there was not enough customers in our stretch to ever recoup the cost of running a line to us. So, electric, oil, propane, or wood. Propane fluctuates horribly between time of year and supplier. Electric is cost prohibitive during a harsh winter. Nobody puts oil furnaces in new builds. I use an outdoor wood boiler to run a radiant infloor heat system in my house.
25 years ago they had zero concern about burying a 30" gas line in wetlands. Made a major, permanent mess of the drainage on my land ( that I didn't own at the time) It only goes to industrial users even though they are in a small city.
I'm New to Everything Big Stuff. I purchased a Case 530ck 1964 at Auction for $4500. Same age as me. The Engine is Tough, commands attention, Rebuilt and painted. All hydraulic lines have not a lot of rubber left. most don't leak. Lines are a beast to get off. Even with PBblaster and torch. One line I hooked chain to wrench and tractor, had girl hold wrench while I used both hands with a dead blow hammer to bust it. This is some Serious ****!
You think lines are bad? Wait till you get to a cylinder. It is definitely a learning curve, but you can persevere.
Hitting the flats on the nuts with a 2lb hammer will do wonders for getting fittings loose.
I have something smart arse to say but I'll let that just lie there.
A pneumatic chisel with a flat point will do wonders with those old and frozen fittings
After a sharp braking, the brake disc broke, while I reached the garage, I also scratched the slots, tomorrow I will rub and restore. Fortunately, I have spare disks and will not stand for a long time. A little earlier I had to replace the high-pressure fuel pump, a crack in the housing cost me $ 800. I took a Chinese duplicate, the original took a long time to wait. Before that, I changed two nozzles for myself, for comparison, I took Bosch from different countries of production, China and Turkey have been working for a long time and without complaints. And I repaired another one with sprayers. Winter is coming I hope nothing will fail me .
just do not hit the nut directly, do it through the spacer piece of metal
Good advice
Yeah, I have a short Hydra-Leveling cyl. leaking pretty bad. I'm learning nothing comes easy with these machines and constantly have to think outside the box.
VERNO. When you repair the cylinder . The nut that fixes the piston inside the cylinder must be tightened with the necessary force and it is on the thread retainer or lock . If it relaxes during operation and the piston starts to hang out in the cylinder, it will scratch the cylinder walls and all the metal chips will go into the hydraulics system. And even when this nut breaks off inside the cylinder, the equipment that it moves falls down instantly. Be careful with that.
Thank You! Mine says 500 Torque in service manual, I read somewhere to also use medium loctite for added insurance.
When I do the ram bolt, I use red locktite and make sure threads are clean, in and out and heat up rod threads with a map gas torch. Then when somewhat hot, I run the bolt in with my HF XL Hurricane impact making sure I put oil in it, which increases FT pounds I believe. I wait for compressor to kick back on and make sure to have an indicator on the socket to hammer it home again at highest PSI and see if socket stops moving, while sliding it back and forth on flats. I occasionally check with 8 ft cheater bar but never seems to go further.
Clearing more trees. Pulled a medium sized pine down on the cab yesterday. Got lucky. It just deflected off the corner and fell to the side. Didn't even break the lights.
I've had 100% success pushing trees with a backhoe. I am careful to only push living trees. If very large, I rip out some of the roots first. I did have a mishap in 2016 with a bulldozer. I did stupid & pushed a dead white pine 2 feet diameter breast high. Top was gone from a storm years earlier, not a single branch. It took a bit more push than expected & the whipping 50 feet up caused the top 4 feet of trunk to snap off. It landed on the hood & smashed my air cleaner. Lesson learned!
Yeah I always try to push first. If it doesn't want to come up I pull some roots to one side which is what I was doing when this one decide to give way and fall on top of me.
It’s going to be warm enough here today to get the Case moving and warm up hyrdraulics and grease everything, just hate to do it before a rain but may not get another chance for a while. Looked at garage and trying to figure out a storage are on side with a shed type roof. Just can’t wrap my head around the roofline with 2 knee walls on each gable end. Actually looked for pics and ideas yesterday and found nothing like what I’m thinking.
I'm in the same boat for storage, for now I bought a 20X30 super heavy duty tarp from Harbor Freight for $85 and a few ratchet straps for my 530CK
This is my Carolina Carports barn I ordered in May 2020. I have been very pleased with the construction and end product. I ordered it with 14' side walls on the center section and 9' on the outside walls. At 15' they make you have a crane on site. I did the site prep and leveling then laid down a 4" layer of crushed brick for the floor. It is 30 feet deep. Center is 18' wide and the sides are 12'.
That is Very Nice! How did they anchor it to the ground or did they have to?
Why not use a chainsaw first? Chainsaws compliment heavy equipment very well.
I have a repurposed boat shed for the backhoe. Increased the side height from 5 feet to 9 feet, with new metal. Anchored it with 5 per side 4 foot rebar driven with the last 6 inch bent over. Heated with oxy/acc then bent.
Makes it difficult to get the stump out if you were meaning to cut near the base.
It has 27 screw type anchors and about 18 rebar anchors. Supposed to be Florida certified for 170 mph winds.
Cut it as high as you like, anything to help keep the top from busting out and killing ya. With a backhoe, you can push pretty high. Maybe requiring some cutting from a front bucket work space. The fella I replied to was using a dozer and most likely was only pushing at 3-9' high. Leaving a stump that high is pretty easy.
WOW WOW! Highest wind here was 68 mph. Neighbor's trampoline flew and put a 3' round hole in my 10X12 alum. shed. Told me he wasn't paying me a F'n dime because it was an act of God. I told him God would have been smart enuf to anchor it down....
Yeah, on that tree a chainsaw would be a good choice, didn't have one handy. I usually prefer to push them over, it removes the stump. Up to a 20" tree, I just push with the hoe. I don't trust the process with a dead tree. Dead trees are DANGEROUS! They can break, or limbs big enough to kill can fall. Those get a chain as high as I can get standing in a loader & pull them down with dozer or Power Wagon winch. If I don't care if the stump remains chainsaw is used, often I want the stump out & a healthy tree trunk makes a Hell of a lever to pry it out.
That argument doesn't apply for neglect. If a storm blows an otherwise healthy tree over from a neighbor it applies. IF the tree was diseased and the neighbor knows about it before the storm they are liable. Or so I'm told.
Plus all the weight of the tree top pulling on it once you get it leaning a little helps a lot. If you cut it off 10' high you lose the gravity assist.
2004 580 M series 1. Sitting in the barn waiting for her next assignment or a detailed cab off paint job. Which ever comes first. Great machine made like they used to be..
Drilling holes, stump remover after 3 years, might as well be water. Read a story on a forum, could have even been here, many beers since then. Dug out stump, dug deeper, buried it, 20 years later no depression in ground. I think I'd shovel in air pockets before filling for added insurance
BTW, my town calls me a Master Gardener, do 20 gal. of chopped peppers off 7 plants and 1-2 lb. Romas. Need help, just ask. You helped me.
My first paid excavation, I offered to also remove a very old stump also. I had been confident I remembered it having been cut down about 1970. In my long term memory, it was a pine tree. I was sure 30 years of rotting it'd be effortless to scrape the top off it. WRONG! I ended up digging all the way around it 8' deep. When it finally came loose, I wasn't able to lift it out of the hole. I left it there, but now 3' lower than it had been. I promised to add topsoil if it settled. That's 20 odd years ago & it hasn't settled yet. Wood underground seems to last forever. On the mountain a beaver dam took out a culvert when it failed. The road washout was maybe 18 feet deep. The remains of a wooden culvert were exposed 15' below grade. It is at least 120 years old.
In FL, as the tree crosses the property line, it becomes yours. Therefore it is YOUR tree that hit your house, not the neighbors.
There's an exception... A clear hazard like a dead tree is the responsibility of the property owner. I got a neighbor (in Georgia) to remove a dead tree threatening my house with a letter informing him, copied to my insurance company. As I understood the situation, after paying my claim, my insurance company would go after the neighbor for compensation... using my letter as proof he was aware of the hazard.
Had to dig a hole to bury my MIL's old horse.... and of course we just had 3 inches of rain, ( hey ! coulda bin snow!)...and the lower field was a no go. Anyway.... a sloppy dig.... gonna have to bring in some more material. She took good care of 'Jackson'... herself being 86 no less.... but I would guess no more horses for her.. My old Deere had been sitting ( outside) for awhile.... and being a Deere she needed some help to fire up... but fire she did. On the house front...... we got 70% painted ( interior) and the heat is on! ( the mini's). Hot water..... and I got what my wonderful wife asked for ( her birthday) and working toilet!! So, just in the nick of time, we have shut down the camper which has been our house for the last 9 months... and our shacking up in the 'big house' with the cat who has been calling it his home for 3 months. Freeze-up in the camper was just a matter of time.... and are saying goodbye and good riddance to our porta-john. Sparse furniture... and on an air mattress.... BUT.... the kitchen counters went in today... ...and so now I just roll out of bed and get to work. Guest wing is 1 1/2 coats of mud from primer and paint. Flooring is due in this week... after that we can hang a few doors..... then some finish work! I can't tell you all how lucky I am to have the lady I have next to me on this adventure..... truly blessed on that front.... ....Wishing you all safe digging, and have a Great Christmas...
Bite your tongue...LOL woulda been a bunch!!
Nice T-Town! Good for you and Merry Christmas in your new house! It sounds like 90% of backhoe work is either knocking over trees or burying livestock.
Sorry Swetz...... I really jinxed you back in the fall when I talked about some dry weather ..... I think we've had 90% wet weekends since??..... oh well.. maybe that will translate into a dry spring for ya to get that digging done next season?? Think you may be right on that Aighead....... and next year for me will be a lot of 'yard' work..... should have a few nice burn piles when all said and done. I did use the 'ol girl' to move a heavy chest out of storage and into the garage. and we can leave you with one snowy day a few back...
No worries! My fingers are crossed that 2024 will be the year my shop is up. I plan to retire in the next 4 to 6 months. At that point I will be in PA most of the time. I am confident that once I get the water under control, I will be fine. Getting the water under control while it is all mud is not very possible.
Congrats on retiring. I highly recommend it but try to enjoy some time recreating. After I retired I thought I was going to have to get another job so I could get some rest. I have been slowing down a bit lately but still not getting enough time relaxing and projects are building up again.
I feel your angst with the water. I've bitched about it here before. I bought The Beast in April of this year for the very purpose of trenching to help drain off some of the water. I haven't even been able to get out on the property for fear of sinking in up to the axles... Sounds so familiar. Sometimes I do miss getting up at 6:00AM and driving 60 or so miles into work everyday......like NEVER.
Thanks NH575E! I will not miss sitting at a computer 10 hours a day! That, and the fact that the bean counters have devised a way to have a spreadsheet for everything...even tracking spreadsheets . Recently my boss became visibly enraged when I told her that I do not need a spreadsheet to know what I need to do...yea, not gonna miss it. The new world of technical training is for the computer geeks, not those that can do, and I am glad I am not just starting out because I wouldnt make it!
I use to enjoy that stuff. 25 years ago I was managing a stockroom and vehicle fleet for a University Science Dept. My boss also wanted all that info documented and sent me to a two day class on Excel. I came back and built a spreadsheet for the vehicle fleet using macros that made my job so easy a caveman could manage it. All I had to do was enter amounts from receipts one time and it moved and calculated everything to the different sheets with a final calculation of cost per mile. I had fun learning how to do it and my boss ate it up. I ended up being called upon to help her and our accountant every time they hit a snag using the program. I finally moved to their machine shop where I got to design and fabricate research equipment and tools. My last 15 years of work was a joy up until the end. Things got to be a hassle with regulations and crap in my final year working so I retired out at 65. My original plan was to work till 70 but I haven't missed any meals.
Excel is incredible but I don't blame anyone for not liking it or wanting to learn it.
Please do not misunderstand what I said. I have been using Excel for about 20 years. Have built some handy spreadsheets to track my students thru their apprentiship, while honoring the time portion of the union contract. Also use it for my college students. I dont have to figure a thing, as the formulias that I put in calculate their final grades based on the %ages that I assign...all good stuff! What is a total waste of time is creating a spreadsheet that we have a meeting to update every other week for 2 hours, when first of all, I could care less what others do, and second of all, I know what I need to do. Yea, our spreadsheet has a little bar that highlights based on %age complete...WASTE OF TIME....Ok, I am done ranting...LOL
I used Quatro-Pro in the late 80s-early 90s to track trucking expense. I was SO excited that I could have a sheet for the quarter and then complile the year on another sheet. It made for effortless end-of-year work for tax preparation!
Back in the early days of interwebbing when Al Gore and I invented the internet, one of the things i had to do was build the initial keyword search spreadsheets Ford vehicles -- thousands of search words and phrases. Although it was interesting learning, I also learned to dislike it a lot.
Sucks all that Training really don't help with b*****d broken down tractors. Maybe it Does! Re-sell, here you go 1 sheet. Me, here you go, my bulging folder!
So, I have this q-tip tree near the end of my driveway. It's really just a big wind lever and I looked at it a couple days ago when it was gusting to 50+ mph. We also park our cars pretty well in line with where it would blow over. I hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to the lean until it got windy, but in order to not take my son's car out, I decided it was time to take her down, it was leaning nearly 20 feet out at the top, towards the house and our parking spots. I'd rather not take down live trees but this one had seen better days without any of the lower branches. It was maybe 60-70 feet tall. As per usual, it's incredible what a backhoe can do and the speed at which it can do it. I pulled up to it, reached out, found the angle I was at wouldn't fell it really where I wanted, so I changed spots and gave a shove. 30 seconds later the tree is almost exactly where I wanted and not on top of any cars. I hopped out of the hoe, grabbed the saw and about 20 minutes later had chunks that I could drag back to the fire pile. I spent about an hour or hooking up the straps and dragging limbs and trunks, now it's about cleaned up and I've got a glass of bourbon by my side. As per usual, the hoe saved some dangerous/timely felling work that could have been done entirely with the chainsaw, but who knows where it would fall and with pushing it over the roots popped up with it too, along with some honeysuckle and other garbage trees that surrounded it. It may sound silly but I give the hoe a nice pat on the *** every time I use her, and marvel at the work she can do. God bless a backhoe.
Bravo! I showed this to my wife -- who, BTW, was not a big fan of of the backhoe purchase -- to give her an idea of the capabilities of these machines. So thank you for posting.
After I got done with the house, I was gonna sell the backhoe and keep the Kubota but made sure to set up backhoe with plow for snow, soooo now WE can’t get rid of it. Or so I told the wife. lol
And not just for digging! My dwarf peach trees are getting too tall, needs pruning, ladder isn't safe but bucket is! Backhoe has a 14' reach, will save me from pounding in 15-18 steel posts for my tomato and pepper cages every year. Have a 10x10 shed I need to move, I'll put pipes under it to slide easier. My patio is badly cracked and needs taken out. Need more gravel in driveway. No more carrying shingles up the ladder, just throw them in the bucket. The possibilities are endless.
Yup! Keep in mind, as well, with this and about any other tree we have, in Dayton, Ohio, we managed to clean up that entire tree (minus a few branches that can be moved easily by hand or child) in about an hour. I strap as much of the downed tree together that I can and move the whole thing to either the future firewood or burn piles. Even if you were to buck up the whole thing and toss chunks into the bucket the time savings is incredible. I'll drag 30-40 foot long pieces of trunk or log wherever it needs to go. My wife is a workhorse and has a few big projects she's taken on, the backhoe has saved her tons of time and energy. If you haven't gone through this whole thread there are a lot of good uses for the Swiss Army Knife of heavy equipment. She came up with an idea for a landscaped hill in the front yard to block some view of the neighbors, it's been a few years, I need to post a newer photo of it.
Here you go Aighead. New Holland Backhoe Hydraulic Oil Cooler -- 85805957 Shop the New Holland Backhoe Hydraulic Oil Cooler for enhanced performance. Fits various models. Keep your backhoe running smoothly with this high-quality cooler. www.brokentractor.com
More stuff I'll never install! And cross posting, I'm so confused! (not really)
LOL
Still piddling with this 5 acres I had clear cut 7 years ago. Today was a breakthrough where I think I dug out the final stump and I can now see the back from the front through the volunteer regrowth. Most of these trees are infected with Fusiform Rust so I will eventually get most of them down too. Every time I work with the backhoe or tractor I get one of these little birds that gets right under me hoping for a free grub. They score every now and then and so far I haven't hit one while digging.
My neighbor used to have chickens that were on my property more than theirs. Anyhow, when I would dig with any of my machines they would come running. I would assume they were getting something good the way they high tailed it over to my dig site. I didnt mind, but at times they made it tough to dig...I am sure they were thinking I was a pain with that bucket causing them to run away. They came rite back tho...persistant little buggers...LOL
I am in FL and have never heard of that. What is it? Is it just in long leaf pine? Ok, did my own googling: "Loblolly and slash pines are the most affected tree species. Longleaf is fairly resistant; shortleaf is highly resistant. Oak isthe alternate host." AFC - Fusiform Rust www.forestry.alabama.gov
Yeah. These are Loblolly.
Looking nice NH! We are working on a similar project to see the back of the property from the house. My property is kind of split at the creek where it was forested with honeysuckle. My wife has been clearing a lot of it out so we can see the back tree line, making the "yard" look a lot bigger. Also, that pile was hoed together with all the scrub that was cleared from the other side and is awaiting a good fire. You can kind of see how grown up this area was before.
Oh yeah, it was a little dark out when I took the picture and it's winter time but here's the hill now! Compared to the 2nd post of this thread, pretty cool and it's working!
It does look good. Well done.
JD standing by to feed the pile as needed. We are allowed piles up to 8 feet without a permit so I just stick with that. Permits aren't that hard to get but the last time I called I got tired of answering all the questions.
For fire? I understand, but that's bullsh!t. You could have a burning man style fire there and be fine.
Last week I was thinking how nice the air suspension seat was. Sunday I drove the hoe 8 miles, some of it on very rough potholed road. I was smugly enjoying my air ride seat, fine tuning it so my ample body didn't bottom it out or bounce to the limit of travel. Monday afternoon I brought it home, same thing. Yesterday evening it wouldn't pump up It was fully bottomed. Pump made the usual noise, but no inflation.
Too much bouncing and you killed it.
Actually I was gonna say...Your "ample body" did it in...LOL
On Sunday we went out to work a bit more on that area I mentioned above. The story goes that there used to be a guy that lived in a bus back in this area, probably at least 25-30 years ago. I'm not sure if it was him or just a dumping ground for the previous owners but we've found a fair amount of metal waste- chain link fence, fence posts (both metal and wood), railroad ties, and other assorted crap, so it was time to get in there, remove the honeysuckle stumps, and dig a hole to toss all this junk into. My first hole was not big enough so I dug another attached to it. We tossed all the junk in there then realized that the downed tree was covering even more, so I'll repeat the removes stump, dig a quite large hole and toss junk into it. I'll probably have to extract that tree first, and it's a biggie! It's also kind of floating, so I'm not positive how it'll come out.
Well, I kinda screwed the post up... You can see the tree that is floating there, in the last picture you can see how it's pointing up towards the sky and it's probably 15 or so feet up out there.
Hey Aighead....things look pretty dry there?? Good to see your getting some things done! We are just losing the snowpack here. Have not had any frost depth to speak of all season.... but we are too wet to work anything just yet... unless you wanted to make a mud mess
Same situation here in the thumb. Today is s'posed to be in the 60s...it's February for gosh sakes..
Found something for the hoe to do while keeping out of the mud! I recently built a generator for my someday to be built pole barn I was surfing Facebook Marketplace and found an OLD trailer that fit the bill exactly to be the carrier. When I got it home (on top of my other trailer) I noticed the suspension was badly worn. I never intend this trailer to be on the road, but given my luck it would fall apart at the worst time, so I purchased new parts. They are actually very inexpensive. Shipping was $20 tho Anyhow, the hoe was used to flip the trailer over to aid in the work Repair was quick and easy Hoe got to flip it back over again...Good like new! See, no mud
Nice find on da spacebook..... and did you get that up here in PA?
Actually found it up in north jersey. Picked it up on my way to the PA house. It is really stout. I am pleased with it. Gonna clean it up and paint it in the coming months.
It's an odd build. The channel isn't mounted the strongest way which would be vertical. If the outside frame is vertical channel would add a lot of strength though.
I would take my engine degreaser nozzle and a gallon of phosphoric acid to that thing.
Agreed. There is an angle iron frame in addition to the channel and flat stock. The generator assembly is ~1500 pounds, as a guess.
I intend to do it up. Was also thinking woolwax over it when done. I gotta tell you tho, this trailer is, guessing, 60s-70s vintage, and all that is there is surface rust. On the other hand, my 2006 ram 3500 has a hole rotted thru the frame....hmmm! The top side paint is completely covered in mold. No rust, again. Gonna sweeten that up too. The reason I purchased it is because it is narrow, exactly what I need. To buy just 2 custom narrow axles would have cost much more than I paid.
T-town- It's been a little squishy here but not too bad. We've only (until about 2 hours ago) had a little rain and snow. I should have waited another day or two to let the bridge dry out. I fear it is breaking apart already, I can feel the back of the backhoe lean a fair amount into a rut when going across the bridge and I don't like it. I didn't find any water in the hole I dug at all, even though it's only maybe 20 feet from the creek. I guess that little slope drains pretty well. It's almost all dirt too, only a few potato sized rocks, and one volleyball sized one, boo! I really need to talk myself into finishing my rock screener, so I can start harvesting rocks for yet another bridge rebuild. I wanted to do it (more) right this time but I wasn't getting it done and we wanted access to the back field... I think I may need to divert the creek somehow for the next time. To do it right I'll probably have to widen it substantially to get some bigger rocks in there and like invest in some gabion baskets like I should have done this time.
Swetz, What kind of generator did you buy that needs a trailer that stout? Seems overkill for 1500 lbs. My MEP803A diesel generator is 1100lbs dry but I just have it on patio pads behind the garage.
I agree, it is overkill. What I liked about it is that it is narrow, and balanced to the point it will stay flat without a jack because of the tandem axles. I built this generator from scratch....prolly overbuilt too I used a Perkins 3 cylinder diesel. The actual generator is a Stamford SOL1-P41. It is a single phase unit. Welded up a frame and wired up the engine and generator head, and added a fuel tank. Works nice. My first build so may not be done perfect...think prototype...LOL
Out getting the trash can from the curb yesterday I was almost in the magic hour, making for a much nicer shot of the hill, albeit the other side.
My hoe rescued a shed from the neighboring property, where a house was being demolished.
So you stole it?
Hahaha Yoink!
No, I asked first. Was an old neighbor of mine that sold the property to a church next door. The church didn't maintain the house well and the basement filled with water and mold got everywhere, walls started buckling. They decided to just tear it down instead of fixing it. Once I found out, I asked the guy in charge of the property if I could have it and he said "Sure, otherwise it's just going to go in the dumpster."
Good you saved it. Just needs a bit of an addition so your hoe can fit in it.
I figured I'd put my baby John Deere tractor in there. Along with the kids' dirt bike, bicycles and a few other odds and ends. Will clear out some *much* needed space in my detached garage. Still need to get something for the hoe; leaning toward a new outbuilding maybe this summer or fall.
Deep hole yesterday, for more junk.
You got dirt on it? Better go clean that thing up!
Yeah, I filled it back in but I need to take the tractor back there and blade everything down.
I was digging out some stumps with the 555D yesterday and in the middle of a medium sized mulberry stump got a pretty decent oil leak on the dipper cylinder, pretty sure it's the end gland, only leaks when under retract pressure. Stops when fully extended under pressure. Looked up seal kits and man, there are a bunch of different ones listed for a 555D. Do you just need to pull it apart first to see what bore size and groove diameters and widths you've got? Crazy.
This is a fear with any leak. Trying to figure out which kit is needed sounds terrible.
Yeah, even Messick's doesn't have anything that really points me in the right direction. Guess I'm just going to pull the cylinder and take it apart, take some measurements.
Call Chris at CEA Services. He looked up and sold me a properly fitting seal kit when the dealer couldn't get me the correct one.
You can try calling them with your model and serial number to see if they can decipher it. Don't be surprised if they say you have to replace the piston and gland. If you have a hydraulic shop in the area you can possibly take the piston and gland to them and get the seals matched up.
After looking a little more closely, it looks like there are two different glands/pistons with differing seals. The earlier version and the "updated" version with larger seals. I'll try giving both of those places a ring and see what they say.
Messicks is showing the cylinder below. As we have found with the E series, New holland wants you to upgrade the cylinder. I say try not to. If CEA and Messicks cannot help, I would see if you could purchase locally. If they will not sell you the seals, I would pull the rod out and offer to have them repack it, and you put it back together. That is a hefty cylinder, no need to take the whole thing out, unless you cannot get it appart.
I figured it'd be easier to work on if I just pull it out and get it to a comfortable working height, especially as I've had a few back surgeries. I'll probably be doing this a couple hours at a time due to limitations arising from that. I parked on a hill and extended the hoe out behind the machine to get the dipper cylinder low and near horizontal, then bit the bucket down into the dirt to hold everything in place. I think I can use the loader on my little tractor to lift it out. I did call a local hydraulic shop and they wanted $500ish to R&R the seals if I bring the cylinder in. Rather do it myself for that much.
This is how I set up to rebuild the crowd on my 575E.
When I did mine, I dug a hole and put the bucket at the bottom. Was much lower and almost parrell with the ground. With a bad back, I would find a young strapping buck, if possible, to help crack the gland nut lo0se! I agree. Better to do it yourself. My point was that if you cannot find the correct kit, instead of purchasing the updated gland and piston, as well as the $330 dollar seal kit, it would probably be cheaper to have them do it. Trust me, New Holland didnt update the gland because the old one was crap, they did it to be able to bring all cylinders to the point that they would take the same kit....better for them, not so good for us!!
LOL NH575E, we were typing the same thing at the same time
Didn't even think of that. Thanks for the idea, fellas.
I can confirm that one and the boom cylinder are not too much fun to move around. It would have been smart to dig a hole.
As far as the gland nut, I think I'm going to make myself a "slug" spanner. One of the perks of having your own machine shop, right there... haha
Willie59's peening method will eliminate the need for a "slug type spanner" ! It is described in detail here---> HeavyEquipmentForums
Gosh darn it. Went ahead and dug the pit out. Wouldn't you know it my first scoop after getting about 2 feet down was solid clay. Had fun getting that out of the bucket!
I will trade you rocks for clay
I'll trade you both just normal dirt for rocks and clay! I feel the weight per area will likely be a bit off though, and I'd have to go back and buy dirt to fill in the holes I'd make, or lower the level of my back field.
Depends on the size of the rocks... At least they fall out of the GD bucket! This particular clay was nasty; packed in tight and moist but very dense. Had to take it out with a pick and hammer a little bit at a time. After that packed in nightmare I went a little slower and more carefully and had less trouble. Tried donking the bucket down against a stump several times prior to that, didn't do squat.
If I dug a hole that deep it would be called a "well."
Hell, I have water randomly bubbling up out of the ground...Just my luck, it is not oil
"First thing ya know ole SWETZ a millionaire..."
If I were on the other side of the creek my hole would have been a well also. I was on the upper part of the yard and surprised, even with the rain we've been getting, how dry it was. Most places I get about 5 feet down and water starts seeping in. I should install a well for free(ish) water.
I could dig 75 feet to reach wet. Neighbors down the road have a nightmare with wet basements. Six homes at the same elevation have growing trouble with cellar water. Some have filled their cellars with gravel. They now have wet crawl spaces. One just this winter spent ? $20,000 to cut holes (against my advice) in the cellar floor, install a basket with two big pumps. These pumps moved ?50,000 gallons a day to the lawn, where it pooled, forming a small lake shared on the lawns of him & his neighbor, then swamping the next house, a derelict dump. It then ran across the town paved road flooding a corner of yet another lawn. He asked: "Now what do I do?" I wasn't able to convince him to turn off the new pumps. Only option is a drain. Adjacent neighbor was all in favor if he could use the drain. The next dump was unable to get to his car without a raft was in favor. The pipe is inside the Town Road Right Of Way. The Town Clerk was up in arms Nobody approached him for a permit. They drained it into a stream runs parallel to the town road, which empties into Otter Creek. I pointed out to the Town Clerk that it was NOT his decision. Despite the fact he could obstruct a necessary drain indefinately, because the Town has no such permit system in place, It was ultimately the decision of the Select Men. All Select Men were in favor, but couldn't give a permit, no permit system is in place. As for draining into a stream: All waterways & bodies of water belong to the State of Vermont, even those entirely in the boundaries of the National Forest. Been a number of court cases where the Federals lost. Feds prohibited snowmobiles on lakes within the National Forest. State of Vermont won that battle, so the Feds prohibited snowmobiles on dry land surrounding the lake.
Ack. If it ain't one thing... And that being clay means it will probably stay there until it evaporates. Oughta just fill it and dig another.
New pond day eKretz!
Well, my hoe decided, yesterday, that it no longer wants to start. The past few times I've used her there have been a time or two where I turn the key, the dash lights up properly, and nothing happens. I'd then mess with the direction shifter to make sure she was in neutral, then it'd fire up, so I'm assuming something has gone wonky in there? This time was the same deal, I turned the key, lights on dashboard light up properly (seemingly), key is turned farther and nothing but a faint click I think in the engine area, and a bunch of changing from forward to neutral to reverse and back to neutral, while attempting to turn the key more. Could it be a dirty connection in the forward/reverse stalk? Could it be a solenoid sticking somewhere? Could a starter be out on it? Help me Rhonda!
Sorry to ask the obvious, but I'm assuming all the battery cables are good?
Track down a schematic. It'll save time diagnosing. There are two systems at work here. One is high current. Electrons leave the battery, pass through a series of cables, connections, & devices. Each cable has termination of some sort, might be crimped on, might be mecanical connection. Then each termination interfaces with another. Some cry for help! I had a call Sunday morning; "My generator didn't come on, my sump pump won't run!" I drove down in steady rain, found he had pushed every button at random, fouled up the "brain of the generator. Removed cowling to find a tennis ball sized gob of blue oxidation on the positive battery terminal. Installer of a six year old generator had dropped the ball. A smear of nearly any grease on the battery terminal would have prevented the failure. That fix was easy to diagnose, it jumped out at me.
Well, mine just finished breakfast and is leaving for work in a...................oh wait
The battery cables were good a couple days ago. I guess with the slow roll of this happening, where it took a try or two, then took a couple tries, then won't turn on at all, maybe something isn't right with them. I should have a schematic in one of my books, now if I understand the schematic may be a different story. I don't know why I feel like it's in the directional gear shift but that's my initial guess. I've never cracked that open but it seems like, if I can get to the connections there it should be easy to determine if that's the problem. It feels like it's a safety circuit just not engaging. When it's hit during the past could times it fires right up, doesn't feel sluggish or wrong, but it's just some switch no getting pressed or unpressed enough that would do it, I think.
Just some food for thought.
Absolutely use the flowchart, they're very helpful. In conjunction with a schematic, you can pinpoint the cause of just about any problem.
As per usual Swetz comes in with something helpful, regardless of whether it fixes my problem or not. Thanks man! I guess I should also mention that the clicking I hear is just one faint click, upon turning the key full on. Not a click-click-click-click-click etc. I hear it again when I release and retry full key turning.
Here is what my workflow would be: Check for voltage out on the fat wire from the solenoid to the starter first. If that has power, you have either a dead starter or big internal engine problems. If nothing there, check the signal wire going into the solenoid and see if it's getting voltage there. If nothing there, check the switch. If that's good, check interrupt switches. If those are good, check for a short somewhere or bad connections at positive or ground connection points. By the sound of things, you *may* need a solenoid or starter replaced. That click you hear makes it sound like the switch is working and trying to send power out to the solenoid via relay (click) but it's not going from there to the starter. But definitely follow the workflow. The interrupt or neutral switch being the issue would likely mean you got no click at all.
I need to bone up on my volt meter skills. I don't really know anything about that junk but it's probably about time I learn... Thanks for the suggestions guys.
4 voltage measurements and you will know where your problem is. 1. Measure battery voltage when you try to crank 2. Measure for voltage at the small wire on the starter solenoid when you attempt to crank. 3. Measure voltage drop of positive cable 4. Measure voltage drop of negative cable If you don't know how to do a voltage drop test on your starter, Google it. There are some good videos that explain it. One of those 4 tests will tell you where to go with your diagnosis.
Good to visually check all the high current connections first. Sometimes they look different. 12 volts is not enough electrical pressure to get through a high resistance connection. A bad connection doesn't fail suddenly. It creates heat while functioning for a time before failure. Check the whole circuit visually. It is a complete circuit, from one battery terminal to the other. A voltmeter is very helpful. With a helper check voltage at the starter. While they are trying to start it, do you have over 12 volts? Starter problem. about 12 volts? Might have engine stuck. Under 12 volts? Revisit the connections in the circuit. A voltmeter across each connection will show where it failed. A likely fail point is the solenoid.
If current not flowing through the solenoid, its contacts might be bad, or the control circuit might be the problem. The click you hear I expect is the solenoid actuating. I'll guess it is getting a complete circuit through the magnet. Pretty common a weak battery is enough to engage the solenoid magnet, but not enough cranking amps in the battery to rotate the starter.
Or you could just stick a junk screwdriver across the big post to the small post on the starter solenoid, with the key on and start it. Lol
Figured this would be a good place as any for this picture:
The snow was gone, it was 50 degrees, I went to change a few hoses out and then...
The next thing you know it will all be mud
It already is, we got a little over a foot other side of the state as well, only snow left is where pushed with bucket. Plowed more snow in march than most of january and february combined.
Took the opportunity while the soil is moist to widen, re-grade and top my drive. Widened with a downhill pass with the backhoe. Then hooked up the box blade the cut a ditch and re-grade/retop with some fresh crusher.
Interesting link on the 3pt. hitch. What model Massey is that?
Its a 1045
Where is it made and what engine? It's not one of the classic **'s.
No I believe It was made in Japan by Hinomoto under the Massey name, It has a Toyosha 2.0L 35hp 3 cyl diesel. I hope it never breaks cause parts come dear if at all! Been a good machine though. Put it through hell and she never gives me crap. Now that I have the jcb though I'm a little easier on her. Hope she doesnt go getting soft on me!
I always find it amazing what a small tractor can do. My New Holland (Shibura) been through a bunch, and has never let me down!
Looks like a box blade would do me nicely... The driveway looks great!
X2 on the driveway!! Great job Casey.....
Casey 518 - you pulled that stump out with the Massey? I have a Ford 2120 and can’t get my 555D safely in the area to pull some stumps. Did you dig around that stump first?
Lots of digging. I have a Woods backhoe attachment for it. When that was my only machine i would dig as much as i could, then cut the remaining roots and wrap a strap around it and pull them out. Just took more time. Still way better than a shovel!
I hand dug about 20 stumps out one weekend at my first house. Mostly poplar. Anything from a 3" stump to a 22" diameter stump. It was very physical work and I am thankful it was in fairly sandy ground. I pulled the stumps, hand loaded them onto a trailer, hand unloaded the trailer, shoveled soil onto the trailer, shoveled it off the trailer into the stump holes, hand raked it, seeded it, rolled it, etc. One spring weekends work. That fall I bought my first Bobcat. Another year after I bought my backhoe. A few years later, I bought a dump trailer. I don't hand dig stumps anymore.
The thread says... "What's your hoe doing?" Well guess what folks, after almost 16 months of sitting in my driveway at my home in the town that I live instead of being out at the property 15 minutes away, it is back out there!!!! Now I can finally get something down out there instead of saying, 'well I would like to do that but....'
Great @cosmaar! Mine still sits with whatever the non-starting issue is. I keep finding other things to do than diagnose its trouble.
Amen to that. Part of the reason it sat so long at the house. I went to finish up the last thing and see a puddle of oil under the tire where the hub seal decided to go out. Then once I get to the property yesterday the neutral cut off switch for the bucket didn’t work. Does the fixing ever end! Haha
Don't cry aighead. I had a boulder too big to drag with the backhoe. In past I've rigged a number of snatch blocks & winched them with the Power Wagon. This one got reduced. As you see, roughly 6'. It had a seam developed along the crystal boundary. All the swirly marks are from laying in a stream & pebbles swirling around it centuries. Sometimes a rock like this will break with perfect flat faces. I started the fire 4:30 pm went in for supper & last put wood on about 7:30 pm. Biggest piece is 1/3 the original size. Took about 1 cubic yard of odd shaped chunks of mixed hardwood.
After the Titan thumb last year, I've been looking at other thumbs. Found one I could afford and made the 150 mile each way drive. 2 custom bushing/spacers welded to the bucket and I have a Kubota thumb on a Volvo. A fixed brace built by a kind neighbor, in the Titan bracket till I can figure out and afford hydraulics. I got the Kubota cylinder in the deal also.
Manure. Only dairy farmer still producing milk in Danby does an annual cleaning of the barn yard. I got 4 10 yard loads. A mix of dirt, manure & wet hay. I let it rot down a year & it makes a great top dressing for the lawn, or mix with sand to use as topsoil. Farmer has only a primative Allis-Chalmers backhoe, maybe 1968, to load. I'm not sure why he does it, his hoe is fully extended to the rear as he loads. It swings randomly with tilt or centrifugal force. I see that as very treacherous! A wreck waiting to happen. Tires are bald & 2 wheel drive. Seat is bad, only broken rusty sheet metal, he stands up most of the time. It takes time for him to load. I took my hoe. I got all four gears working again, damn! that shift mechanism is complicated! A lot of vertical in the 5 mile trip, took 19 minutes up. Return trip about 9 minutes.
I'd like a good pile of composted manure... My buddy has horses and I always forget a container to take when I go over there. We've used it on a few things around the yard and Holy crap does it make things grow well. My hoe still sits. I haven't messed with it all for a couple months now. I do have the battery tender on it, so that shouldn't be an issue. Oh yeah, I added power to the barn! Very simple and temporary but there's now an outlet in there, woop!
Think you should get it running. All the old equipment you see around, it ran at one point and developed a problem or people just forgot about it. The longer it stays not running, the harder it is to get running and the faster it dies. YMMV
Yeah, you are right, I've got work for it anyway...
Pushing down trees Then moving them around
Mine is sitting in the shed and looks at me funny, cos' I haven't finished the rebuild.
Mine is chilling out behind the barn, waiting for me to have time to do some work with it. I haven't used it much since I got the Bobcat running again. And then spring hit and I've been in the fields.
Casey, how about some pics of that boom/crane on your bucket ? Joe H
Mine is sitting outside waiting for things to dry up. It's outside because I didn't want to track mud into the shop. I tilted the front bucket down because it's packed with mud from backsliding the soup off the driveway. I hate the rain but maybe it will soften the hardened mud some. I'm pretty sure I'll have to use the pressure washer and a prybar to get the concrete like dried mud off. Don't need to work it into the bucket pins.
I spoke too soon. I ended up using it today to drag a broken truck out of the weeds this afternoon. I didn't even think about taking pictures to share. My brother popped by and we just got the job done.
You always think about the pictures 10 minutes after it's done.
I had mine buried in about 2 1/2 feet of mud today. 90 minutes later I got it out….. what a waste of time that was.
You need to teach @jimmynoshow your techniques for getting out of the mud. Where you able to pull yourself out with the hoe?
90 minutes seems about right.
The mud on the front end was almost even with the top of the tires. I have mud clear up through the bottom foot pegs on the hydraulic and fuel tanks. The hoe wouldn’t pull me out, even with it in 4wd with the transmission engaged. I was able to lift it up high enough with the outriggers to get a couple pieces of wood under the rear. I then lifted the front up with the bucket and was able to get some under the front tires. Tried again and didn’t work. My last ditch effort was putting a bunch of wood under the front bucket as it was also 2+ feet under mud when I was trying to use that. Luckily when i got the wood under the bucket, it gave me enough height to break the seal of the front end. By using the hoe again and engaging the transmission I was able to finally pull myself out. I’ve been stuck a lot over the last 5 years but that was up there with some of the worst. I honestly thought my next call was to my tow truck friend using his wrecker.
Good job on getting it out. I don't bother firing up the hoe when it's wet out. Between the clay and hills at my place, it just becomes a giant skating rink for my 2wd hoe.
Get a track loader with a hoe weighing over 10 tons stuck if you really want an adventure in getting unstuck. I'm talking when the hoe can't pull you out and the tracks are full of mud. Even worse when the mud in the tracks and around the sprockets is frozen stiff. All a D5M could do to get it out but I had to lift the back end with the hoe. Then had to put a tarp over the machine and use a torpedo heater for about 9 hours to thaw the mud out.
She may be older damn sweet too bad somebody got rough with her rear end
Worst I've seen was a FUBAR house site on a steep mountain side. Owner was prone to doing stupid stuff. They dug a hole big enough for the foundation with no attempt to cut the ground behind the house. As construction progressed, mud accumulated behind & rose above the concrete foundation. No money in the budget to fix it right, so the builder borrowed a John Deere 350 dozer with winch, put the homeowner in the seat. In no time he was burried well above the top of the tracks in thick mud. They dug until they got to the winch & hooked to a giant Maple tree. It just stalled the winch. They dug by hand many hours to free the dozer. This was years ago. Last I knew mud had found its way around the house to the cellar windows on the end walls. It broke the glass & oozed into the cellar.
What is it with people that don’t understand the concept of gravity? I always want to be on the high side cause the low side gets all the crap. When I built my house, it’s 20 yards below the peak, I put 2 loads of rip rap around the outside perimeter of the build site before we started, cost me 800 bucks. Cheap insurance.
A proper cellar hole on a steep hillside isn't real deep. Uphill side of a building needs some bit of flat behind the foundation. Ideally there should be extensive drainage installed. I would NOT want my home on a steep hillside, if I did it'd include a swail somewhere above to flow off surface water to the side, a curtain drain below ground uphill from the foundation, & footing drains. This one was a hole in the ground 8' Deep on the uphill side. From the downhill side, there were steps downhill from the basement floor. In my opinion, not a good site. Several blunders were made in digging it. A lot of material could have been pulled down to make the ground surrounding the house more nearly level.
It was finally the day for me to attempt to get back on the hoe-rse. I went out tried the key a time or two, to no success. I cracked open the battery compartment and found 12v, I cracked open the hood on the sides and couldn't exactly tell where the starter was, so back up to the house for a flashlight, that funnily also didn't tell me where the starter was. Looked around at some stuff and wiped a bit of grease off a few things. Next, I hopped in the cab, made sure I was in neutral, and through the modern miracle of not doing anything, she fired right up. I drove up to the garage to add a can of diesel, almost shut her down to grease up the hoe side a bit, but decided against it. Went out and moved some logs around and condensed the fire piles a bit, drove her back into the barn and shut her down. Now she won't start again... Weird stuff. I didn't open the dashboard to look at wiring and I'm not sure how to get into the f/n/r stalk to see if something is fishy in there. Everything behaved the same pre-start as it did when it started, then again when it didn't start. I'm now wondering if there is a short in the ignition when turning to go... At least I got a little done and was pleased with its running after a few months of not running.
I'd check the neutral safety switch. If you moved the shifter a bit the 1st time and it started makes the most sense if you couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
There'd only be one in the F/N/R, right? I don't recall ever having to be in neutral on the moving speed shifter.
You can stab at it willy nilly, but a good mechanic is a real time saver. Another time saver is a schematic diagram. Use the diagram to follow the electrons. Your starter has a high current circuit. Probably electrons go to the frame from the battery, pass through every bolted section between the battery & the starter frame. From the starter, current likely flows back to the battery along a heavy cable. Might be a switch or two. Solenoid might be a part of the starter, or a separate relay. Solenoid is a switch controlled by an electromagnet. Your problem might be in this high current circuit. It needs very low resistance connections ALL the way round trip. 12 volts is not enough electrical pressure to push past any high resistance connections. Current might reach 400 amps in this circuit. Other fail is low current. To start, you need 12 volts passing through the magnetic coil in the solenoid relay. You need a helper & a lot of caution to be sure nothing rips your hands off. Follow with a bright incandescent test light first at the solenoid. If no power there, work your way back to where you do have voltage. Could be a bad connection in wiring, or inside any of the switches. Might be a fail inside solenoid, ignition switch, or the starter itself.
My New Holland only has a inhibitor switch on the F-N-R switch. I almost never take it out of second gear.
Thanks guys. Yeah, NH575E, that's what I thought and do to. I didn't think moving it out of speed gear made a difference.
Finally got around to digging up a few more pine trees. Now to cut them up and grapple the pieces to a burn pile then start again.
I bet they burn pretty nicely!
Man, nh575E, that dirt is DRY.
I need to get out there and work it before the rain comes but I probably won't.
Mine was a post hole digger earlier this week. Some jerk snapped off my 4"x 4" mailbox post. Got 'er done.
Seems filling in a backhoe hole would be a lot more work than using a manual post hole digger. I have used the hoe for planting some bushes and have decided a shovel is more practical.
That depends on how old you are and how tired you feel. Everytime I look at my shovels hanging and I sense anxiety.
Good luck getting a post set 3 feet deep (and in concrete) out with the post hole digger, I'll take a hard pass on that one. And yeah, after a few back surgeries, I'm pretty choosy of the times I actually handle a shovel at all any more. I popped the old one out with the hoe, did a little surgical work with the shovel and plopped a cardboard tube in the hole. Backfilled around it and packed it down. Bit of gravel in the bottom, then concrete in the tube around the post.
Ahhh yeah. Concreted posts are a different story. The only post I use concrete on are gate posts.
Did a little post backhoe cleanup this morning. Not sure if pics will load. This site is almost not functional at all.
Glad you said that...I was thinking it was on my end. Doesn't want to load. When you posted the first pics, it loaded, then I went to comment and no images. Now they are back.
I'm having loading issues as well as a Cloud Flare verification screen almost every time... I assume the forum spammers are going crazy and messing things up.
A few always seem to ruin it for the many! Shame!
It's frustrating when you type something and go to post it but there's a problem and it won't post. You go out of that page and come back and half you post is missing when it finally does go through.
Leaking, again! Well, I moved my machine for the first time since the winter a couple of weeks ago, and noticed a good amount of oil on the ground. So, I slid under her and found the loader bank was actively dripping. Cleaned it all up, and it looked as though the leaks were from the fittings attached to the loader valve. This machine, NH675E, is equipped with ORFS fittings. I figured, and hoped, that perhaps the 25 year old o-rings may have gotten hardened, so I set out to remove the lines from the valve and change the o-rings. I am sure glad that I purchased a o-ring kit that is specifically made for these fittings. A pic looking up at the bank from under the tractor. I love how they routed the suction hose for the pump right under the bank. A shot of the o-rings that came out, minus the ones I dropped in the stones and never recovered. All were hard, but the 2 front ones were damaged. Not sure why, I did not remove these lines, and it never leaked before. The o-ring kit that bailed me out. Been using the hoe to move dirt for the last week, and not a drop under her.
I bought that same kit! Definitely handy. I have a few leaks to chase also. When I finally get roundtuit.
In the name of your continuing ability to work, Swetz, I won't ask about your weather. It's been pretty dry here.
Well, I am now semi-retired, so I have been at my PA property for about 3 weeks now. Last week was a good one. I was able to move dirt the entire week. Then Friday came, and it has been raining on and off since. For example, yesterday alone I pumped about 3' of water from the hole where I am getting the dirt. I think I am shut down for a bit now. The good news is that I feel as though I am about 80% done moving dirt . Hopefully we will have another dry spell and I will get all of the dirt moved. I really want a shop this year. I hate having the machines out in the weather, and more importantly, I hate laying in stones to fix them! My final day of employment is July 5th...I cannot wait!!
Been retired 7 and a half years. Finally started slowing down. For a while I thought I might have to get another job so I could get some rest.
Mrs. B retired as of last week. I'm terrified! I still work & she NEEDS to have something going on. Big trip last weekend, two sons, two daughters in law, two granddaughters went to camp near Storyland. I opted to herd dogs instead. Today she finished cleaning her classroom, then picked up a grandaughter. Tomorrow & Wednesday shes on grandma duty. Thursday she has no hard commitments, Hell will break loose.
Congrats to the Mrs.!!
Does this mean you're going to give her the keys to the backhoe?
He better hide those AND the guns!
No chance! This is the easiest machine ever to run. She says it is too big. One machine ago I pressured her to help me prune trees. I'd be in the bucket, she'd position me. She promptly backed into the gravel screen, buggered a crowd cylinder rod. Not that she can't, she won't. She regularly uses the IH 385 Utility with loader. It is the most cantankerous manual transmission! Years she puttered around using the hydrostatic lawn tractor with trailer, did fine going forward, couldn't back up. She insisted a wagon would answer her prayers, broke the tung off first try.
Thank you! 40 years in this school, two in another, & a year of substuting. She has had enough.
That is a long time. Did she finally graduate?
I only made it 32 yrs.... but "Touching the future" does have it rewards.. Congrats to your partner in life!
No diploma. I did kid her, 30 years ago she switched from second grade to first. I kidded her she couldn't handle the advanced level math.
Another teacher newly retired said: "The greatest incentive to a teaching career is summer."
I made it 3 months shy of 37 years, at this employer. I always said that I did not want to be working when I was 60. Worked 2 jobs my whole life in order to make this happen. Then I decided I wanted to buy an excavator, so I am over 60 and working 2 jobs still...LOL. But I do own an excavator . I own it free and clear, so time to retire! Somehow, I feel the desire to own more equipment is like gold fever, LOL.
Yep, looking for a skid steer now, though I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, except make a mess. lol
My neighbor has a late model bobcat CTL, and it isnt even the largest one. Had some retaining wall blocks on a pallet. Each pallet is 4K#. He lifts them on to the trailer no problem. At my end, i use the NH675E TLB, with forks on the bucket to unload them. I can lift them, but cannot steer the damn thing..LOL In other words, these machines are quite capable for their size!
2004 Case 580M. Just buried a dead calf 15 minutes ago.
Can't seem to open the pictures. Friends have an Amish shed with a farm stand & other stuff to sell. Wind caught it & upside down 100 feet away. Seth, me & her parents with my 580 Super N righted it, & put it on a foundation.
man, my hoe just wants to leak! I just resealed the connections to the loader bank, and I have verified it is currently dry . So I was using the loader to move dirt about 2 days ago, and look back and notice the bucket is wet with hydraulic oil . Turns out the bucket curl steel tube has rubbed thru, I guess from the boom moving while I am driving the machine. Because of the extend a hoe, there is a curl of hose that kinda lays on these lines. Anyhow, the tube is in stock at Messicks, so I figure it is a common problem. It aint cheap tho! $391.00 plus shipping . I decided to give repairing it a whirl. All I have at my PA house is a 120V flux core welder. I did my magic best I could, and no leaks...whoo hoo! It did pull it a bit but fit perfectly. I wrapped the hoses that lay on the steel tubes with pipe insulation and electric tape. I do not think it will rub thru again soon. The other steel is also worn, just not that bad, so I wrapped the hose on that side too. Oh, and I painted it with galvanize paint too. Pressure tested it at max system pressure for a while, then reinstalled the tube, and now the machine is back in service .
don't they all !! Glad to hear you got 'er fixed up.... but apparently your using her too much ..... very glad to hear your moving lots of fill for that shop pad !!
Looks good to me. I tried brazing one but it continued to spray a fine mist under a load. I found one at the junkyard for a $100. I welded one end of a stabilizer line with my mig years ago that is still holding.
T-town, Yes, it is great that I am moving a good volume of dirt, and getting closer to done . The recent rains have me shut down now tho . Good thing I tracked in all the dirt prior to the rain or I would have mud for months! NH575E, I first checked to make sure that the tube was still available (I was actually shocked it was in stock). When I struck the first arc, it immediately burned thru the thin spot. But I played the tack and wire wheel game till I had some metal built up. At that point I was able to run a bead then let it cool...repeat. I did flap wheel it a bit when I was done but decided not to overdo it, and left the tube thick in the damaged area. Initially, I soap tested with air. When that passed, I put it back on the machine with 1 end capped and bottomed the curl function. Repeated for a half hour till it wasn't leaking just a tiny bit. On your machine, was it the steel tube for the bucket cylinder that was leaking? I did notice that the other one is rubbed as well, but not as thin as of yet. Messicks has both in stock! Incredibly spendy tho. In my earlier days of working on equipment, we used to make up the steel lines like nothing out of long lengths of steel (I think 20'). We had the tool to swedge the ends and all. Been looking, and don't see anyone offering that service today.
The tube I replaced was for the head end of the crowd cylinder. The one next to it is also worn a little but not through. All of the locating straps were missing on the bottom of my boom and the rivet nuts were gone. I ordered the isolators and straps, and replaced the hex base rivet nuts. It seems every time I have to take a line off or loose I am replacing those again. Last time I think I got a better swedge on them so maybe they will stay put. I did find a local shop that was willing to try to duplicate the line but after finding a good used replacement 50 miles away that was a no brainer. My stabilizer hard line broke right at the connection behind the ORFS flange. I am surprised I was able to mig it and even more surprised it has held up. That happened early on in my learning faze and I am careful not to get too close to the stabilizer with the bucket now.
It's finally dry enough around here now too. I got out to start gathering wood for winter and of course, the tall grasses are up to my eyebrows in some spots. I didn't give it much thought at first, but ... The grass got all wrapped around the drive shaft really thick. Took about an hour to clean it all out. The last image is what's left and I'm wondering if it's going to be a problem if I leave it. I'm afraid I might have to disconnect it to really clean it all out. I was picking at it with a small pick, but it takes forever. What do think? Wait till it dries out, then pick it or just ignore it. Thanks. R
Man, I’d be pulling that yoke and get it out while it will still hold together. Ruined too many seals in tall grass like that. Seal may already be junk. Coming from a farming environment, that’s bad.
My hoe still isn't starting worth a doink. I took the side dashboard off and messed with the ignition wiring a bit, nothing looks wrong or out of place. Now I'm stuck with how to look at the f/n/r wiring. It feels like the problem is there, though I still need to check fuses. But, I can't figure out how to get the cover (circled in blue) off from around the directional stalk. There's a hex nut deep in there (circled in red) that may loosen the whole thing? There are also holes on the opposite side but they don't seem to have screws buried in there. This is maddening but I'm too ignorant in too many ways! Oh, when I turn the key to in sometimes I get a beep and sometimes I don't. I didn't change the r3 relay but it looked OK, from my dumb perspective. Also wondering if my ignition is crapping out. Seems like an easy replacement, perhaps.
Rumblecloud, I'da never thunk that'd be a problem but I can see why it is! Boo!
I will follow your advice. Thank you for your response. I forgot what hoe you have but I think it's similar to mine. I've looked at that area before and I thought that just removing the shell that wraps the steering column just below the steering wheel would give more access to the shuttle shift and turn signal switches so you can actually see what's going on. Looks like there are only a couple of phillips screws.
You have a GPS in your backhoe?! Do you take it on road trips? Sorry I don't have anything useful to contribute...
Rumblecloud I have wrapped my shaft up in grass a couple of times. So far I got away with pulling the grass out and just watching for leaks. Early in my learning days I pulled the hydraulic suction hose in two. That was a costly messy fix in wood debris that caused the damage. The last stupid I pulled resulted in my rerouted AC hose wrapping around the driveshaft. I spliced in a 5ft section of that and tied it up better. I THINK I have smartened up enough to clear my way into the rough and not drive into it.
Thanks NH. Being a newcomer I tend to think these things are indestructible -- WRONG. They are not tanks. I'll attribute it to the learning curve. I got it all cleaned out today and went out for practice. Didn't notice anything unusual so we'll see. Thanks for your thoughts. BTW name is Randy or just RC. Take care,
RC- I have an lb75b (supposedly, the engine suggests differently). The spot with the screws (last picture above) doesn't feel like it actually has any screws in it, and I'd prefer to not hit it with my purse and crack the housing, if I can. Maybe I need to get some compressed air in there, the holes were filled with dirt somehow, but I felt like I reamed them out enough to feel any screw heads.. mater- that's pretty funny! It's actually a backup camera monitor for when I'm using forks on the loader bucket. I have the camera on a magnetic monopod that I stick to the loader bucket, so I can see where the forks are.
Aighead, Check the fuse first! If that is not it, then continue on. Below it the cover. Looks like 2 screws and some tabs and it is off.
Thanks Swetz. Ahh, so maybe under the top of the boot? I didn't monkey around up in there... I looked through my service manual a bit, first thing yesterday morning, I'll have to dig in there some more to understand which fuse it could be. I'm only seeing the K3 relay that seems associated, is there a way to test a relay or do I just buy a new one?
Swap the relay with K4? Don't know about the LB model but mine also has a starter relay on the firewall on the right side. Not easy to see or get to. It's a plain ol bosch type relay.
Thanks NH I'll give that a shot.
^^^^ Why do you feel it’s in the stalk or a neutral safety? My first thought and avenue would be in the starting circuit. The starter solenoid or the relay and then the ignition switch, unless I got a relay click while intermittently moving the FNR lever.
Decided to put a new seat in the old girl, that was recommended by another member here. Was the best 120 bucks I’ve spent so far. Had to fab up a couple of cross braces for bolting to the base. Very easy to do and now I have suspension finally. When I bought it, if you tried to trip the seat to run the hoe, it collapsed to the floor and evidently the internal spring is shot, so for the meantime I put in this split clamp, that worked for the swivel but no suspension. Picking that seat up off the floor while holding that lever sucked big time. Great deal.
LOL...I did the exact same thing on an office chair that had a failed air cylinder. Not more bounce but was not sitting on the floor by the afternoon
I guess I'm thinking in the stalk or neutral safety because it's just the likely incorrect feeling I have. The only thing I did, last time it started, was mess around with the f/n/r a bit, and turned the key a bunch of times, then, when it fired it took off just like normal. Maybe I'm mistaken but it didn't feel like a starter issue but now I'm thinking it could be an ignition issue, maybe the key turn doesn't make contact with something in there. The intermittent solid beeping when turning the key makes me lean that way too... Sometime it beeps (one long beep until I turn the key farther) sometimes it does not. I don't recall what was "Normal" or why the beep even beeps. I guess it's more of a sustained screech.
My cab is ( can be) quite dusty..... and my ignition switch has come to rely on squirt or 2 of CRC elec cleaner from time to time...... ??? of course, like me, its getting old! worth a try??
Sure Beats the alternative!!
T-town, thank you! I actually thought of that at some point yesterday and immediately forgot that I thought of it. I just ordered some, so it'll be harder to forget about now. Good call and certainly worth a shot.
I know when I need a squirt when I turn the key and..... nothing.. Back and forth a couple of times 'brings it back to life'..... like you had said. My ign switch is prob. on its way to replacement land... but I only use it on my prop... and I only shut 'er down when she's parked. Yeah Swetz.... the alternative.... maybe I could use a shot of CRC?? some of my circuits need cleaning
I just squirt it right in the keyhole, correct? Flush it out style, or just squirt squirt?
In the keyhole....yes. I'd go on the easy side if it was me.
If it's CRC electrical cleaner, don't be afraid to flush. We used that stuff on sensor cables on the drilling rigs. Our process was high volume spray to flush cable ends of dirt, debris, oil, and water. Then wait a minute while holding the cable end as the CRC is alcohol based and evaporates incredibly fast. Then make our connection. The high volume spray makes sure the dirt and debris got flushed out of the cable ends and carried away. I'm not talking an entire can, but enough to visually see the connection was sparkly clean and residue had been forced out. For your ignition switch @aighead , I'd give it a spray until you see some come back out the key hole. Then be patient and let it dry out before trying the key. Depending on how dirty your ignition switch is, a spritz might not be enough to displace all of it out of the contacting areas inside the switch. The cleaner is also supposed to be safe to use around plastics so it won't hurt your cowl around the switch. I guess if you're really concerned, you could disconnect the positive from your battery first, and then flush your ignition switch. Let it dry, and then reconnect power and try the switch. I've used it more than once to flush a laptop of coffee(and creamer) that got dumped on the keyboard. I did it three different times to the same computer and never had a failure on the computer. That coffee got everywhere inside the laptop. When it happened, I pulled the power cord and removable battery as fast as I could to remove power, then dismantled laptop to get at the sensitive bits inside. Poured off excess liquid, grabbed the CRC Electrical Contact Cleaner and douched the inside to flush out the sticky coffee. Let everything dry thoroughly using a fan, blow dryer, etc to help it evaporate, assembled and good to go.
Thanks Colson, duly noted, douche it! I work with a fair amount of electronics and the amount of them we dunk in water to wash off, or even stick in dishwashers, that come out working fine is crazy. I'll be frustrated but exceedingly happy if this works, and it won't surprise me one bit... Next, I'll continue to worry when it'll not start next time. The backhoe isn't nearly as easy to drag home as the mower or tractor, if things go poorly... Thanks again guys!
Do you have a schematic diagram of the machine?
I've got the big service manual, with lots drawings I don't understand, if that's what you mean?
Have you tried turning the key to run and jumping off starter solenoid? Very easy test, to see if you’re getting power to the starter from key. When mine was acting up in the winter and I didn’t want to freeze my ass off fixing it, I just kept my right engine panel off and would turn the key to run and stick a broken screwdriver across the big red wire and the smaller wires.
I haven't but the caveat to that was that I just learned where the starter is supposed to be yesterday. My loader bucket is down and I don't have great lighting in the barn so I didn't see where it was hidden, but I think I know now. I've also only seen that trick once, in person, on a car, so I'm a little nervous to try it. I'll have to look in and see if I can figure it out. Everything, with me, is the first time I've done something and I tend to do things wrong on my first couple of tries. I'm usually OK with that but the backhoe is big and expensive to fix, unlike woodworking, where I can usually just try again, for more or less free.
There should be a series of schematic diagrams of the wiring harness. With them, you can follow the system, maybe avoid tearing apart the difficult stuff.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, lol. Just turn the key to run and stick a crappy screwdriver from the big red wire to the small wires. It will either start or it won’t. My bet is it starts.
Starter solenoid (relay) might be mounted on the starter, or remotely. If you can get it to start once, get the loader up. Should be a prop there to prevent it settling.
Thanks guys, I didn't get the chance to hose out the ignition last night but I should be able to get it tonight, and try the screwdriver trick if that doesn't go. Getting the loader bucket up and propping it is a great idea, I wish I'da thought of that when it started a few weeks ago.
If you do the screw driver trick, make darn sure the transmission is in neutral. I can't stress this enough. Many, many farmers have unintentionally killed themselves jumping the starter terminals with a screwdriver on a tractor left in gear and ran themselves over. So many in fact, there was a law suit and John Deere had to retrofit a black plastic cover to put over the ends of the starter and install them on people's tractors to prevent farmers from doing this. I watched my grandpa almost run himself over with an old Deere a few years back. He wasn't jumping the terminals, he just wanted to start the tractor from the ground. He shook the gear shift, thought it was neutral and bumped the key. That damn tractor started instantly and started to move when he flung his hand over and knocked it out of gear. We were both shocked. We never tried that again without making darn sure it was in neutral.
Thanks Colson, I wish I could double like this one. That's another part that makes me nervous. Since it feels like a f/n/r safety issue I'm not positive of it's neutrality, though I can put it in neutral gear too. I made some noise above, I think, about luckily not running myself over when finding the throttle linkage in the engine compartment. I got lucky. Also, if I'm in Neutral speed gear I don't need to worry about it too much but I'd hate to run through the side of my new barn. Not sure if there is a good way to chock the tires on a backhoe?
If that's the case, a set (or even two sets) of those hard rubber wheel chocks is a real good (and not very expensive) investment. They will hold a backhoe at idle just fine.
Good to know eKretz, thank you.
I have had to jump.my backhoe with a screwdriver. I just put the FNR lever in N, and the gear shifter into Neutral. With the bucket in the ground, the backhoe isn't likely to go anywhere unless you're on a steep incline (which I doubt in your barn). A cheap wheel chock is a chunk of 6x6 post, or equivalent size in anything firm. Even a chunk of firewood will work to chock a tire. I've used a 6-8" rock before in a pinch to chock a tire.
I certainly have any of that, but putting speed gear in neutral should make me worry less. This evening I've commenced the douching, I'm gonna go out here in a few minutes and see what happens.
Welp, the spray was not effective. I didn't try the screwdriver yet...
Standard starter solenoid. Yellow = main battery power Blue = from key switch start Red = starter line Jump yellow - blue for key problems (small sparks possible) Jump yellow - red for solenoid problems (big spark, welding screwdriver to posts..... ) Do not Jump yellow - red.
Excellent illustration, thanks Marcus! This actually helps my feeble mind quite a bit!
HEH.... if there was the formating on here. the "Do not" would be in flashing red / yellow!!!
Got around to "fixing" up my rock screen.... and have 6 loads of material to work with. Lots of rock mixed in with some good fill. I need it to work the final grade around our house. The loose rock is being used to form a parking pad on the lower end of our driveway. Our postal carrier said first off she would not try to get up our drive if snow covered.. so I suggested an alternate 'drop off'. I'll put up a box on stilts so she can place pkg's there. View of my "screen plant"..
Man! Looks beautiful t-town! The house looks great and your terraces look incredible! You've just inspired me, with the terraces. I have a very small slope coming down from the hill we made up in left center of this picture, we plan to build a "creek" bed down from that hill that will run into the pond, once it's dug out and sealed up. I'd like to make some potentially wet terraces on that slope, may look really neat. I still need to get my hoe going but I've been thinking about finishing up my screener, finally... It's starting to grow into the yard behind the barn...
looks like a plan Aighead.... My terraces need a top dessing of soil... the green in the pic is from the wild grasses... close inspection would show the need for more soil... and the recent rain... ( sorry Swetz) has made for some green flush. All kinds of work to do with the 'yard'. First off is to bury the downspout lines..... then final grade. Patios are in the plan.... ....and we are not done inside yet.... trim work and such. But I'm holding those for rainy days. The important room is mostly finished.... !!
Kicka$$ Is it cold right now? We've talked about getting a hot tub for a while and I wasn't that into it until someone suggested cold water (or like air temp) in there. Y'all are incredible, you, @Swetz , @skyking1 , Columbo, @Spud_Monkey and I'm sure I'm missing many more (sorry!), not to mention all the folks here that have built their own stuff but didn't document it, for us to see. Really good stuff.
Tub is HOT..... room is cold ....... we open the doors and let the outside in. Love a hot shower.... even in the summer.... must be gettin thin skinned??? next thing you know I'll be movin south...... NOT !! " not that there's anything wrong with that.....". but yeah.... a big ditto on the 'members' here... pretty much my only appearance out in cyber land to date. .... I do learn a lot a songs on da Youz tube though..... beats the heck outa playin a record over and over and over......
I second that!! Really has shaped up T-town!! I am with you in never leaving PA, for the south! For me, it is nice down south in the winter, but just too hot to work outside in the summer...again for me. When I was a kid I spent many a summers in Texas, on a farm, working. As an adult, I just cannot deal with the heat. I was able to move dirt 2 days last week despite the rain . I am hoping to move some more tomorrow before the next round of rain. I was away in Lima Ohio Wednesday thru Saturday (sorry, aighead, I didn't bring you any rocks ) I woke up at the hotel yesterday morning at 5 to a fire alarm. They let us back in at 5:30. Showered packed and said the heck with this...then the alarm went off again. this time, the fire trucks came. Yes, there was a fire, the first time the alarm went off. I was glad I had showered and packed, cuz I was able to just leave. Others in our party wound up going back later in the day. Anyhow, we went to class, and got on the road about lunch time. In the afternoon, we get a call from 2 other guys in our party that the trans just blew in their truck.....so, back into Ohio we drive (~45 miles west from where we were). Now we put 4 grown men, and their luggage in my ford focus, and off we go....She was NOT happy, but carried on. Here is the kicker: I won a pallet of hydraulic cylinders in a raffle while at the training in Ohio. They were also in the back of my Focus wagon. LOL, talk about an unhappy car!! The focus delivered tho, and we arrived at my PA house at like 9:30 last nite. For me, the story ends. For the other 3 men, not so much! They then piled into a single cab truck for another 3 hour ride .
Wow.... funny how routine trips can become not so routine in a hurry. And... hey what a door prize!! Pulling the hills of PA in a Focus loaded to the gills.... wow adventure for sure. If you came across 80 to 81 you went right by me..... Glad to hear your getting some dirt moved.
I did indeed.
Dang it! I'da considered coming up for a beer, I think Lima is a bit more than an hour north of me (maybe more, I don't remember). We could have seen if the Focus would hold 5, just for fun!
Effin... I went and found the starter, not in the location I suspected, where it looks like it'd be easy accessible, but behind the fuel filter and all the lines running around there. It also looks like they've put guards on the starter, so I'm not sure I can use the screwdriver method, unless there's some weird fork design I could make... 2 bumpy screwdriver? I think I see yellow (battery, there are several wires going to it) and I think I see red (from the picture above) but I can't find blue (key switch). The battery post appears to have a plastic guard so at least the battery can't easily be touched off to the starter post. That one I've marked blue is probably red! There's so little room behind the fuel filter and all the junk attached I don't see how to make contact with the battery to the key, especially since I can't even see the key post. This is ridiculous. I need to just find a mechanic around here, so I can stop being mad at it get it running.
Wow... yuck! Places like that, make up a switch or pushbutton with long leads. Or grab one from autoparts store. Try sliding that spade connection back and forth. This sometimes "cleans" it.
Holy ****... don't get one from the autoparts store.... 40 - 80 bucks for a remote starter switch.... Remote Starter Switch - Remote Starter Button We have the best Remote Starter Switch for the right price. Buy online for free next day delivery or same day pickup at a store near you. www.autozone.com
You don't have to jump THOSE wires together to test if the starter works. You need to get 12v to the exciter wire which should be the yellow wire seen between the two fuel lines. You can make up a wire with a quick disconnect terminal (some incorrectly call it a spade) and plug it on where that wire is. Touch it to any 12v source and if the starter and solenoid are good it should spin over.
Yes.. yes... QDT... LOL Looking at his second pic on a larger screen, it seems the "spade" is half off the connection or am I seeing things again? Agreed, Do not jump the bat & starter lines together.... bad things happen....
Another short cut idea is to try jumping at the relay. If it's similar to mine the relay is on the firewall inside the engine compartment. Some had it on the right and some on the left. I would make a short jumper out of 10 gauge wire with two male quick disconnect terminals. plug it into the space for terminal 87 then touch it to the space for terminal 30.
Thank you guys, I'm looking at this on the run right now and I understand some of what you are saying and not some... I'll have to read more carefully. If I'm understanding Marcus- the connector is the key, when I was looking for a bolt, yes? so I could screwdrive off the bolt I initially showed as battery, to the flat metal thing the connector slides onto? NH you are saying hit the battery post with 12v from somewhere else? I did note that the connector for the key was not as on there as it should be, so I slid it back on better. I'll have to try multiple on/offs with the connector to see if that does anything.
Yes if you jump 12v from the battery or any other source to the wire you see between the two fuel lines it should turn the engine over provided the starter, solenoid, and battery are all okay. If you can connect a volt meter or test light to that small wire on the starter it should have power with the key in the start position.
Moving logs around so I can put my new chainsaw mill to use. Dropped 3 26" white pines recently.
Love the old Stihl saw...029? Cant stand the new style Stihl caps . Looks like it is working real well for you. I thought about getting a mill setup for my saw, but never have. Maybe someday.
025. My coworker inherited it and he sold it to me. Been a great saw.
My wife bought me an 029 for Christmas, many years ago. Only problem I have ever had with it was I drove over it with my hoe. I had to buy some parts, but is back up and running. I also have a MS290. Basically the same saw with the crappy new style fuel caps. The saw is great tho, now that I have replaced them cuz of leaks. On the tree forums, they do not seem to fond of them. They say they are heavy for the hp, and not powerful enough. I am not a pro at all, just a guy that has used the saw for over 25 years and hasnt had an issue!
Same here. I run a old Homelite SXLAO and a Husky 288XP. I never got into the Stihl saws.
My hoe is helping me do some tree cleanup too. I lost a few trees when a tornado rolled through a few weeks ago. Uprooted one of my 70' pines and a few smaller trees. There's another 30'+ of that pine back in the wooded area with about a 10' rootball and dirt pile popped out of the ground. I've got a little electric DeWalt saw, a John Deere 40cc saw, an old Partner R420, (65cc) a Stihl 362 (60cc) and an Echo CS8000 (82cc). Mostly use the Stihl for most medium stuff. The DeWalt is actually pretty handy for the smaller stuff. Echo is good for larger, got a 2nd 36" bar for that one. Bought most of 'em secondhand for good prices.
I have lost a substantial number of trees on my PA property, in the last year. It just seems like a very windy year. Just cleaned up a tree last week across my driveway. My neighbor has big pine trees like yours, ekretz. I watch them bend in the wind and wonder why they dont fall. Power has been out at least 4 times in the last year. In fact it was out last week for the best part of a day. Before that (bout a month ago), my new generator got a good test as the power was off for more than 24 hours.
Yeah, we lost a big oak branch that landed on the power feed line from the pole to the house too. Luckily I beefed it up a few years ago when another big one tore it off the house. This time it held the branch up in the air, half still partly attached to the tree. With no power, it was an easy matter of getting up there in the bucket with a saw and piecing it out a little at a time. No worries on the power, as it was out for a little over a day. My generator got some exercise too. I have a fair amount of very old pine trees that are starting to die of old age, but they're all plenty far enough from the house not to be a problem no matter which way they might fall. The hoe is a massive help. I hope that the oaks stick around until I'm gone, they are massive. I have a pretty wide wingspan being 6'3", and I don't think I can wrap my arms even halfway around the bigger ones.
Stop running chainsaws over with the backhoe. Lol Whenever I’m using a saw or any tool around my backhoe I am a stickler about its location. I have a Sthil MS 250 that I have run over 3 times in the 25+ years I’ve owned it. Cleaning up tornado damage in Buchanan TN, I learned my lessons. Now every tool is put up again a tree that will not move. Running 3 or 4 burnpiles at once and hearing a thump, thump as your driving around and you look out the cab window to see a clam rake, with all 4 tines embedded in the rear tire and the broke off handle hitting the fender as it rolled around. Now I usually lower the backhoe bucket a little and put the saw and tools in the bucket. LOL
LOL, here is the best part. I read on here about a guy that put his saw in the bucket of his hoe for transport. Things happened once he got to the job and he forgot it was there. He then used the loader bucket for work and screwed up his saw. I read this and decided I was not going to do this. So, I put mine on the ground as soon as I arrived at the job. Job required me to move, and I look down just as the front tire cought the saw...I paid the stupid tax once more...LOL
Heh... No saws but I did set one of those small shovels on my tracks after cleaning......... Never did find that thing.
Nope, never done that... At least mine wasn't a saw. I had offloaded some stuff out of the truck bed with my baby tractor's loader bucket and put the nylon straps in the bucket when I was done. Went around to the back yard and thought to myself that I'd just mow that *one* overgrown spot real quick before putting the tractor away. Forgot the straps. Lowered the bucket a bit to see better and they dropped right out, unbeknownst to me. Then I proceeded to mow them. Argh.
Better or worse than barbwire to remove?
Not too bad actually. Luckily they were small, flexible straps and as soon as I heard the engine grunt down I realized what had happened and killed the PTO to the deck immediately. Basically only had loose wraps to unwind and a bit of fraying. Now the 3/8" steel cable that I caught while mowing a 30 acre field for a guy (who told me it was clean) was another story... Grr. That stalled the engine immediately and was a bitch to get loose. I was not real happy with him. Made him buy me a new set of blades too.
You want a racket, um sorry, RACKET!! Hit a lost chain... Had to replace the gear head on that one.....
Oof. I sucked up 40ft of poly wire fence in my garden tractor once. That was a pain to unravel. Had to use the dykes to cut it away and remove two of the blades to get it all out.
Yeah.... that was the last time with a grade 8 bolt on the pto side also.. running with grade 2 now... Much more forgiving!
I have a double ended bar 60" & a single ended one. I have two Husqvarna 390 saws. We talk of making up a better slabbing rail, but haven't done it yet. I'd like to be able to make long timbers. In woodworking, much of what I've ever done was from standing trees.
Not too long ago, after I was done flushing my hydraulic oil. I had been using my front bucket to help transfer the old contaminated hydraulic oil into buckets from a beautiful drain pan my father had made, from an aluminum pan. It’s 3/16“ thick and rectangular and probably holds 20 gallons or so. Well after I got the backhoe running and decided to try it out. I ran it into a 3/4” crushed gravel pile in 2nd gear and lifted it up and put it down. As I was backing up I noticed how flat the pile looked in one area. Oops. My father had put 4 handles on, now it only has 2 and it’s a little crooked.
My dumb moment involved my first ever backhoe, a John Deere 410. Loader curl cylinders had a bit of creep in them. One morning a spindle snapped off on an old utility tractor. Lazy man's jack is a loader with chain. I raised, then blocked it up. I backed the hoe a few feet away, but left the bucket up. I forgot a chain in the bucket. Two hours later the bucket drooped far enough. A drizly rainy, almost snow day got worse. A 3/8" chain 20' long suddenly hit me on the back of the neck. No real damage, it only reinforced a bad day.
My hoe continues and continues not to start. I finally got out and tried to hit the starter nut and key spade connector thing with a bent piece of copper. I got one small spark as the copper touched off some other piece of metal but no vroom-vroom. I've decided to call it quits and hope I can find a mechanic. I'm going to offer them some extra money if I can be annoying and watch over their shoulders to learn something. It's been months now and it's grown miserable for me to think about.
Ya' got a multimeter? I'm sure we could walk you through finding the problem, step-at-a-time like.
I do, but I haven't really learned to use it. I did find that I have correct battery voltage and I don't remember where I went from there. My access to the starter is such that it's almost impossible to get to it without taking a fuel filter off and who knows what else.
Aighead I have an old Case backhoe that would intermitently not start I finally traced it to bad grounding . I removed the starter and cleaned the mating surfaces and haven't had a problem since. Just a thought. Steve
You don't really need to know how to use it, we can guide you through. You can do it! Do you get dash lights and the like when you turn the key to on? For starters, first thing I'd do is check if you've got voltage at the starter's positive lug when you hit the key. Check with positive lead at the big nut on the solenoid that goes from the solenoid to the starter itself. Put the negative side anywhere on the bare metal of the starter. If that has nothing, check the small wire on the solenoid for voltage, meter's negative lead in the same spot. (Both of these with the key turned and held all the way to starting position). If that has nothing, check at the starter switch terminal itself. Should have a wire back behind it that sends out battery voltage only when the key is turned and held in start position. If no voltage there, check for +12V on the biggest wire connected to the back of the starter switch. Likely it will be red. If no voltage there, check at the fuse box. Checking all these places should give you a narrowed down area where to find the problem. Also agree that you should check ground too. This is checked in resistance mode. Put a lead from the meter on the negative terminal of the battery and one on the ground lug by the starter mounting bolt. Should be very low resistance.
I replaced my starter once which didn't turn out to be my problem. (I'm supposed to be a better mechanic than that but age happens) As I recall I had to remove the primer pump and filter assembly to remove the starter. I can't remember if I had to move it out of the way when I did the cables or not. It is time consuming but doable. You would want to have new fuel line olives on hand when you loosen those two lines going in the back of the pump/filter assembly. At the end of the day new battery cables solved my starting issues but your problem sounds like something different than that.
Didn't have to move it to troubleshoot on my 555D but it might be different on you guys' E. I *did* have to move that stuff to swap the starter also. I just cracked the fittings and pivoted it out of the way.
I think aighead has a B series. I think it is that iveco/cummins engine??
It's an oddball engine, it says CNH UK Limited on it. I think someone above knew what that meant but I don't remember.
Yesterday I used the loader bucket to scrape a bunch of dog fennels and weeds and level the area. Then I dug up and felled a couple of trees. I also used the little tractor and grapple to move all the tree debris I already had down and cut up to the burn pile. Today I cleaned all the windows, added a quart of oil, and added a 12oz can of 134A. I can see again and it's blowing cold again. Didn't take any pics of the backhoe action but here is one of the grapple work.
My sweet wife asked when I was fixing the backhoe after crapping about two healthy trees that block the view to the back field... I said "Yeah."
Find something to hit the side of that starter like a metal rod of sorts and see if cranks right afterwards. If so it's not wiring problems, time for new solenoid or new starter. Either way, time to start gaining access taking stuff off to get back there.
Backhoe ain’t no good, if it don’t run.
Every night before going to sleep aighead says a little prayer hoping the starter fairy will show in the middle of the night and fix his starter issues.
The weird part, @stinky64 , is that worked the last time it fired up. I got in moved the f-n-r lever a few times, turned the key and away she went! I suckered out and talked to a mechanic yesterday. We'll arrange to schedule something for mid next week, it sounds. He was like "we're really busy right now and won't be able to get to it until next week" I said "Ha!" Sorry for disappointing y'all and I DO appreciate your help, always! Similar to my cylinder rebuild, I'm hoping to gain a bit of hands/eyes on understanding of what is being done to try to fix it.
Well dagNABBit. My old hoe was doing a damn fine job of helping me with tree cleanup earlier today until just as I was cleaning up and putting things in the bucket to haul them back up to the front. I went to stow the backhoe and lock it in and a line popped. One of the big ones that come up underneath by the pivot. At least it had the courtesy to wait until I was done, haha!
Dug 250 ft of utility trench up my hill today to install temporary power panel at our build site. It's pretty steep. Used my massey with bh attachment on the short steeper section cause i was scared to take the jcb there. But I used the jcb for most of it.
I had three trees I cut on the steep face of a hill that had lodged in the other tree tops. My plan was to pull them down the hill, but these three had to pull up to dislodge them. Broke two chain hooks, both painted blue, labeled High Test, other side said China. I had 50 feet of grade 70 chain come flying to my back window, smashed two rear sections Case 580 Super N.
Oh man, be careful...
That must have been interesting watching the chain come flying at you... 3/8" chain?
I can usually get away with chain breaks liability by putting old rugs or moving blankets on them when pulling serious weight. Even other chains draped over them.
Have several old tires and tire sidewall cutouts from bunk silos to keep the rubber from blowing off the wood piles. Whenever pulling on a cable or chain there's some kind of tire chunk hanging on there to prevent carnage and they're impervious to weather, just throw "em back on the pile.
Yes, I learned the hard way. Both front teeth have been replaced. In my 20’s, was pulling good weight with a chain come a long and one of the supplemental chains snapped and got me right in the teeth. That hurt.
Yeah, grade 70. I'm pretty firm about only good chain, good hooks. These slipped by somehow. Power Wagon has rusty gas tank. I haven't taken time to make new. Two winches on it would have been the machine to do this with. Hill between the "meadows" is VERY steep. driven it on the crawler, and with the Jeep. When we bought the land I found the rotted remains of a tree house in a dead elm tree 30 feet above ground. It was unusually high, & no logical kid to have used it. My father in law had no answer. His stepson, 20 years older than my wife answered the mystery. It was a ski jump. Boards nailed to the tree formed a makeshift ladder. A platform 30 feet up, he put skis on. Part of the chute was wood on cables, then off the steep face. Father in law was born in Norway 1912. It seems this was a normal activity there. This hill gives me the sweats on a dozer. Seth confessed to doing it down on the dozer. He confessed years later he slid, managed to dig in with the blade.
Mine have been replaced a few times beginning age 9. At 18 again. at 30? again. I'm now 67, it has been a while.
It's a good thing I have all the time and money in the world (uh, I don't). Mechanic came out and within 30 seconds said I need a new starter. He busted out a little crow bar, did a little tap tap on the solenoid and it fired right up. At least I know where to tap in the meantime of getting the starter replaced. Jimony...
Cricket Good to know isn't it?
Yes, good to know but not in any manual.
Now comes the fun of trying to source the starter on an engine I'm unsure of. Looks like I can find them on Amazon, so I can return it if needed.
I bought the starter for mine from DB Electric. I have also bought a couple of alternators for other vehicles from them. All have fit and worked as new. DB Electrical - Aftermarket Auto Parts - Starters and Alternators DB Electrical keeps your vehicle running with premium aftermarket auto parts, including replacement alternators, starters and more. www.dbelectrical.com
I bought one for my 555D from Brokentractor. Looked to be a rebuilt OEM unit and price wasn't awful.
I have purchased multiple starters from db electrical as well. just know that they are imported, at least every one I have gotten has been. Quality has been good tho! crank faster than stock on my new holland tc33d. Same with my dihatsu/briggs on my splitter. you can also call and talk to someone. I have done this in the past when unsure about the correct part number.
It's a bitch to get out. I think I had to take the fuel filter and pre pump assembly loose to make room to pull it. I found my cab ground strap dangling lose when I did mine and I assumed it was connected to one of the starter bolts. That is where it got connected anyways.
I just changed the starter and positive battery cable on a Mack E7-350 in one of our forage trucks. I had to remove all 3 oil filters, a couple air hoses, and an inner fender/mud flap deal to get access. On top of that, one of the bolts pulled the aluminum threads out of the bell housing. Its all fixed, just made for a pain in the butt day.
At least you guys are making it sound fun! I whipped her into shape today. She again fired right up without any love taps, gave her a fresh greasing, and then I moved some big rocks and pushed over a tree! Whoop! I like pushing precarious trees more than cutting them down.
That sounds like a good day after your summer long starting dilemma. Glad she's out of the barn and earning her keep again.
Yeah, me too, even with my sheepish admission that I should have tried tapping on a solenoid...
I've had bad experience with buying rebuilt starters. We have a local one man shop does starters, voltage regulators, alternators & radiators. A rebuild from him lasts many years. If tapping on the solenoid makes it work, why do you believe you need a starter? 12 volt systems are very prone to bad connections. The complete system is two circuits. Low power circuit energizes the electromagnet in the solenoid. It passes from the negative battery, to the frame, through the magnet, It passes through numerous safety switches & fuse. It gets key on power through the ignition switch, forward/reverse selector. A schematic is a valuable guide. High power circuit is heavy cable throughout. It might carry 300 amps. Two choices, rule out circuit problems, then replace the starter, or remove the starter & test it. Starters ain't cheap. Might replace it then find a different problem. I have a Dresser TD7G dozer. 2016 we went through the whole machine freshening everything up. It got new batteries, cables, solenoid, switches, etc. All terminations were new & fresh. It was driving me crazy! when cold it wouldn't turn over at all. Charge the batteries, it'd start. I put up with it a couple years. Batteries good, I still wasn't getting adequate voltage at the starter. One very cold day I started stripping it down following the high power circuit from battery positive back. Under the seat, 45 minutes job to remove everything to get at it, I discovered the problem. Negative battery cable went to the master switch. From the master switch a short cable terminated on the frame. Cable & terminals were new, the frame point was ground brite & shiny. Everything was coated with Noalox grease/zinc. A new nut on the stud holding it was started, not tightened. I immediately knew what happened, phone rang, he forgot to tighten it. Two years frustration from a loose nut.
Be VERY careful pushing down dead rotten trees! Live trees can be predictable when you push them. Dead ones I pull down with long cable. In my case 1956 Power Wagon is perfect. Front winch is 8000 LBS factory option. Rear is MUCH bigger.
.....where have I heard that before??? ..and me and that truck look good for our age..... ....is it for sale??
Glad you pushed that tree down without incident. Last one I did gave me a headache from the loud bang of it hitting the cab. Lucky, lucky, lucky. So many times I have to catch myself, oh it’s dead, will knock over easy. One brain dead moment, I was driving by a 10“ dead pine and said to myself, I will just put the stabilizer down and catch this tree and rip it, while I’m driving. I have the ability to do stupid stuff.
We all do! I recently crashed my atv into a pile of trees....5 stiches to the face and a broken hand as a stupid tax
Holy crap man, stiches and broken bones are on the things to avoid list in the retirement handbook. Were there any adult beverages involved?
LOL, I kinda wish, but no...Just a dumb ass move!!
Geez Swetz, glad to hear you made it through that adventure... those atv crashes can get bad.... How's the shop coming??
Well, I was moving dirt like crazy until 2 and a half weeks ago. Then all work stopped. Have a doctors appointment in Dixon City next Tuesday. At that point I hope to know if the hand is healing properly or if I need surgery...yikes! Shop is not happening this year .
I have two sons, two grandaughters, several extra sons. If I know the day I will die, I will sell it to avoid a cat fight. Everyone wants it except my wife. Can't cut it up, have to liquidate.
Especially those of us who consider ourselves intelligent. When I first commissioned the dozer I was cruising around taking down dead pines. I told myself I'd approach carefully. I'd watch the top. Quicker than I thought possible the top 8 feet of a dead white pine came down, obliterated my air cleaner, missed me by inches.
I learned the dead tree lesson a while ago when I big branch came down and shattered my hoe side glass (I'm sure I posted about it above). I was certainly keeping an eye on things above but you guys are right. There was a pretty substantial chunk of tree that hit the ground before the rest of the tree. If it hit the top of the cab I'm not sure what would've happened.
Time before last when I was taking down trees I banged the cab a couple of times. Trees weren't dead, it was just carelessness. I told the wife next time I was going to cut them down waist high then dig the stumps. Last time I took trees down I was right back to pushing them over with the hoe. It's just too much easier to get the stumps out with a tree attached. I was more careful and didn't bang the cab.
Yup, it is way easier. The problem I had this time was a less than desirable angle (I wanted to push it more down the hill than across) and the tree wanted to stand right back up. Using the knowledge of "don't shake that tree around a lot" I made very gentle moves when I saw it standing back up, then kept gentle each time I adjusted or pushed. It can still certainly be sketchy.
Sorry to hear that....... and such a great couple weeks rain wise.. I too have stopped work for a bit. I was digging drain lines for gutter downspouts and trying to get my final grade 'round the foundation.... but nature and the kidney stone in my bladder had other ideas.. .... doc grabbed it today. and left me with a hose for a day. But... we are none the worse for wear. Hope your hand is healing OK
That's when you gotta dig around the roots on the backside some more.
That's what I did NH, but didn't have much access, and I couldn't push laterally with the hoe.
Sorry to hear this T-town!! Hopefully you are good to go now! Next week will determine if I am healing.
I would take a different approach. It would be a shame for a truck that everybody in the family loves to be sold off. What I would do is get everybody together that would want the truck and figure out some sort of lottery, or rock paper scissors it or whatever, so that everyone had an equal chance. And I might not give preference to the grandkids. First of all: they'd be more likely to want to sell or let it sit and rot if they run into financial trouble. Second: they can be patient and maybe inherit the same way from the parent who gets it. That is a great old truck.
That's a catch 22 but they are all going to be unhappy if you sell it out of the family. If one son favors it more than the other I would leave it to him with the stipulation it doesn't get sold outside the family. OR draw straws between the two sons if they have equal interest. I don't think that is the kind of thing I would bypass a son and leave to a grandchild. Just my opinion without knowing the family dynamics. It IS a beautiful machine!
... or maybe to be "used by all" ( family) when needed..... and a trust fund for maint. Your sons are close by to make that work?? That truck is a tool for sure. where we are.... brother in law next door has the shop with assorted things that I pick and use as needed... I have the hoe.... sister in law/mother in law across the way have a compact with a loader ( quick connect) and a plow that I use at present while I get my old jeep set up for that.... Point is... if every one gets along and are on the same page so to speak.... all equipment/tools etc. get used by all.
Installing gutter drain lines..... a bit tight up against the house, had to maneuver and dig perpendicular to the trench line. Did tell my wife that I had not hit the siding .... yet .
I did have to hand shovel the trench.... but I was on the shady side of the house! All covered up and ready for rain.
Good job T-town! Congrats on NOT hitting the house. I backed my boom into the garage roof edge one day. Just barely bent the aluminum trim but I see it every time I look up there.
Maybe I’ll tell about ripping the corner off my new house when driving by with a downed tree, with the tree parallel to the backhoe in the back bucket because I didn’t want to get sawdust all over the driveway. Duh! I see it everyday, patched it up good and I’m the only one who sees it. lol
Very Nice! House is looking beautiful!! Wish my house had your grade.
I wish my house had your view! I've done a few jobs that close to buildings and it's always terrifying. I hit the crap out of my brand new barn while doing this same thing, but was successful in not hitting things at other people's houses when removing shrubs or other planty junk. The amount of dents and dings in the barn, almost before I moved anything in there is nuts.
I came close to hitting the overhead door with the backhoe backing into the shop. 99% of the time I open the door all the way. This time it was only open about 75%. I looked back just in time to see the door was too low. Now the door is fully opened everytime. I did nick the back corner of the shop with a tooth on the skid steer bucket. Made about a 1/4" hole. There was a bunch of the metal siding left over so I cut out a small patch and used a type of instant crazy glue to hold it on. I also cut the patch so one side went under the corner trim to help hold it in place. I'm glad it's on the back and you have to know where to see it. Still bothers me though.
LOL, I have a door story. In my first job almost 50 years ago, I was a stock handler at a local Kmart. Had 2 pallets of oil on the forks and was putting it in the garage. All of the sudden I see Styrofoam all over the place. Turns out the bay door was only 1/2 way open and the pallets blocked my view. Well, as you can imagine, I took out the door, several panels in fact. Needless to say, my boss was pissed! They had to hire security to stay in front of the door all night because the door guy wouldn't fix it till the next day. From that day on, I never partially open a garage door, and train my students in the same manner...
I was scared I came so close to the door. I'm really glad I went with a bigger shop with higher walls and a 14' door. A 12' door would be very sketchy.
I built my house 44 years ago. Had a '65 Jeep with snow plow. The land is so boulder rich everything was hauled away. The guy I hired at the time moved sand from a pit 3 miles away. He'd bring a few 10 yard loads a day. My father or I moved it to backfill around the foundation with the Jeep. Dad slipped a front tire into the hole, punched a hole in the newly clapboarded wall. No big repair. Years later I had a Case 580K, notorious for fast swing of the backhoe. Backfilling around an addition I smacked a 4' square hole through a wall not yet sided. Again no big deal.
will 'get ya' every time.....
Ya, before it I had a John Deere 410. Variable displacement, closed center. All functions worked simultaneously. Case had a seven section valve. Priority was given to the section closest to supply. Valves have feathering grooves, allow some power beyond, but if you finished a function upstream, a surge of power hit the swing. At one point they increased the bore of the swing cylinders to slow the action of swing, at another they put flow restrictors in the swing cylinder ports. Fast, sudden & unpredictable describe the swing of 580K. Pair that with foot swing where everything is stiff & you stomp the other pedal to stop swing, it gets tricky!
Good thing the foot swing on draglines isn't unpredictable.
Seven structures on my property and every one has some sort of "ding" from a tractor bucket or hoe swing. Everything is fun and games till ya hit a rock or soft spot. Oops. Last "virgin" building ,had shingles in bucket to eliminate that whole carrying up the ladder crap. Brilliant idea till neighbor was walking next to tractor and tripped over the dog and caught himself on loader control valve. Luckily it only tweaked the gutter a little, could have been a lot worse.
My barn is open front. Solves the door problem but I plan to enclose it someday if I sell the backhoe. My garage has a 7' door so I can't drive anything of any height into it to begin with. My old F150 use to barely fit in far enough to close the garage door but the newer one hangs out too far. Both were supercabs with the 6-1/2' beds. Go figure?
I think there is a law against this!!
That's blasphemous!
Another job off the big list.... Turns out I need to build a 'shed' for some of the stuff we have... and since the pole barn is a ways into the future, I needed a spot leveled... and the gable end of the garage fits the bill. 2 downspouts to bury and a triaxle load of fill ( good compactable stuff) and some fuel of course. Before and after shots.... and the grade is not to finish yet.
LOL, imagine that!
Well, I was planning to go out and hoe around some more over the weekend but the hoe/starter would not respond to my love taps. I guess it's time to start pulling the starter. Unfortunately, the loader bucket is down, so the arm is in the way of the engine bay. Should add to the fun.
I would give it a day and try again. No way would I want to tackle that eith the loader arm in the way.
Is the loader bucket accessible so that you can lift the boom manually ?
Yes, but I'm not sure how to lift it? Disconnect hoses and then a jack and some blocking? What does a loader bucket weigh? I think my jack's capacity is 3k pounds. I wish my barn ceiling was beefy enough to throw a winch on. I think I'd have to raise it pretty high to gain much access since the starter is on the firewall.
Unless you have joysticks, just tie the hoist lever back in the up position. A tow truck/ wrecker would have it up in hardly any time at all. Using a jack(s) and blocking is an invitation to the hospital , or a funeral home IMHO. You do have safety props for the boom cylinders, right ?
Holding the lever back opens that valve even when the tractor isn't on? Hmm. I have the arm that swings down from the drivers side cylinder and keeps the cylinder/bucket from falling, yes. Thinking about blocking it up I'm pretty sure it would take every piece of wood and likely more to get it up high enough to make a difference. I don't like the idea of standing boards up, but that would be the only way. I don't think I can get a wrecker in there.
NO to the boards on end unless a video cam is running...... J/K Have someone turn key to start, hold it there then tap tap tap.... Just make sure you don't knock off the wire with the spade connection.... Might check that first anyway.... coulda been knocked off last try...
There is no safe way to jack it up. Especially if you are thinking about jacking it up by the bucket. Get a tow truck to drag it out somewhere so that he can get at the FEL.
Tall A-Frame and a chain hoist? Do you have access to a smaller tractor with a loader? It might have enough lift to raise the bucket enough to get the prop set. Stick the little bucket in the BH loader bucket and raise er up?
That's what I was gonna say, but I actually changed my 555D with the bucket down. It wasn't that bad. Not sure if the E is different.
Thanks guys, I'll go take a look and see how tough it may be and look at options. I may be able to drop the starter out the bottom. As far as dragging it out of the barn, welp, the hoe side is extended a bit and that bucket is sitting on the ground too, nearest the door, so that's likely out.
Keep messing with it, and maybe you'll get lucky and she'll light off. If it does, make sure you park it in an accessible to work on spot, with the boom off the ground and locked up so you have access to get that starter changed. I changed my starter with the boom on the ground and it sucked, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. It was winter, cold, blowing snow sideways and nobody could make it up my driveway. I needed my machine back to clear my drive. I pulled it off, got it repaired (bad solenoid), and reinstalled that day, and I cursed my way through it. In all seriousness though, consider hiring this one out to your mobile mechanic just to have your machine back. Otherwise you have an expensive piece of yard art obstructing space in your expensive barn the longer you drag this out.
Cut the head off of a proper size bolt that your starter uses to mount it. Screw it in the highest hole in the bell-housing, then you can use as a guide to slide the starter into position.
I think it's held in with bolts and nuts so you have to get a wrench behind the bell housing and a socket and extension on the bolt heads.
Not on the D. Not sure about the E. His is an E, right?
I can't keep up with who has what. Here's an idea! How about we all list our equipment in our signatures?
I've got your signature right here!
These photos look a lot like my E series "Emission" engine. I remember having to at least loosen the pre pump and filter assembly to get the starter out. I can't remember if I removed it completely for the starter removal or not. Seems like it had some hard to get at allen bolts holding the pump & filter on. I might be having a senior moment on the starter bolts having nuts. I do remember finding a loose ground wire and attaching it to one of the starter bolts going back together. I might have used a nut on the backside to attach that or something.
Looks like a similar spot but I've got a few more hard lines, I think, around the filter, which I'm sure I'll have to remove. Your engine looks way cleaner and less rusty than mine!
First time operating the backhoe. I trying to guide her in using the pilot controls. She pushing my hands away: "No Grampa, I got it."
Awesome. Real American pursuit right there!
The dry weather allowed me to get some hardscaping done...at the back kitchen door I needed a pad poured for the step landing. I always underestimate the bags of concrete . Hoe brought some material.... and then it became a big wheel barrow easy to move!! In the foreground will be a patio/walkway...... room for a comfy chair.
Then I needed a front walkway to the porch. We had been gifted 'brick' pavers so I will use them here and a couple more spots. Had to scrape the modified that I had piled up to walk on... then pour in some fresh, 'clean' modified. The 'bedding' material is referred to different ways..... but its the screenings, or 'crusher' run that is 1/2" minus material. A skid steer loader would sure fit the bill for these jobs..... but I won't speak wrongly of my dear old Deere. In the foreground are a couple of the 'new' blight resistant Chestnut younglings..... I'm hoping I can get them through the winter....
My old house was in a neighborhood mostly built in the 1920s-1930s and we had streets lined with Horse Chestnuts (close enough to Buckeyes). They were neat old gnarly trees, but had been there for a while by the time I'd moved in around 2004. A lot of them had rotted out and died, leaving messy branches and such. I don't know when they were first planted but they put off some beautiful shade and the nuts made for lots of nature hanging around. Mostly more squirrels than I could imagine. It wasn't uncommon to see 10-20 squirrels scampering about just in the view of my urban neighborhood porch. Your progress looks great!
Looking GREAT T-town!! My wife likes to get chestnuts for Christmas. I cook them in the fireplace. Someday, perhaps I will grow some. Do the deer eat the trees? I had to fence my orchard because the deer mow the trees down. If a branch starts to grow out of the fence, the deer chomp it 123. For the pavers, is that 2x6 pressure treated you used for edging?
Yes on the edging..... could not find ( didn't look too hard) metal thats beefy enough, and have used the plastic on another job and did not like the longer term result... ...With these pavers I need something so I went with the 2x4s .... and 3/8 rebar to spike it down. Of course it leaves you with straight edges or runs..... but I'll leave the 'sweeping arcs' for another time The 'woods cows' here eat anything... so I'll have to keep 'em wrapped in fencing wire for a few years when I do get them in the ground..... they did leave the norway spruce I transplanted alone... and they have yet to come close to the house to browse. Our woods are full of Oak so lots to eat in the woods... and we are not overbrowsed like some areas of the state. This area had lots of chestnut back in the day I'm told... and in a few places some old root stock is still alive and will send up sprouts, which will live some years, feed the root stock, then get the blight and kill the woody part..... and then that 'cycle' starts again. The state and other groups have developed these resistant strains and are beginning to replant on a large scale. Hey.... how did you make out with the hand??
LOL!! Hand... Last xray showed no break. Calcified is what the Dr said. Took off the soft cast yesterday, but have strict orders not to grip with the hand (thumb is the one that broke). My fingers are not too happy about moving after being in the cast all that time. I spend my time forcing them open and closed. Real nice to shower without a bag on my hand...LOL I go back to the doctors in 2 weeks. We will see at that point where I am, I guess. Driest summer on record, and I havent moved 1 bucket of dirt in 5 weeks...Grrr! Thanks for asking T-town!
T-town, Kidney stone problem all good now?
Just got back from a little camping trip.... Yes.....the stone problem good for now I guess. Passed a big one into the bladder that they did not think would find its way out so they went in a grabbed it. Still another 'up river' last I heard. If you need a hand ( sorry for that) with anything.... firewood, moving dirt etc. let me know... I'm a short drive away ! Happy to help....
Thanks T-town!! I do want to get together one day.
Spent the afternoon taking out pine trees. Wore my GoPro on a chest strap and happily narrating my methods with the radio off so YouTube wouldn't sensor the videos. One thing I wanted to demonstrate was how I dig with my manual thumb deployed at 90 degrees to the boom setting. (I never move it from that setting). Pulled the SD card and discovered it was a defective Sandisk card. I don't even know why I would have put a Sandisk card in it because I swore those off years ago. I only use Samsung Pro Endurance cards. Anyway, that card is in the trash and a Samsung Pro Endurance card is now in the GoPro. No Videos and I could have listened to music all afternoon. Kinda my fault for not paying attention to the double beeps on start up. It is only supposed to beep once when I start a recording and twice when I end it.
Ahh man, that's a bummer.
yea digging with the thumb out takes some getting used to. I don't usually keep it on though because it limits the use of my extradig on account of the way i had to mount it.
I have had issues with SanDisk cards too. I had two fail on me. Sent them back to SanDisk and they informed me they were counterfeit cards. They did send me new cards anyway, which was nice. They sent some info on how to tell fake cards from real ones. Turns out I had two more fake cards too. I bought the cards on Amazon. I did not buy from a 3rd party or anything. Turns out Amazon does not keep 3rd party seller's product separate. So even though you bought and paid for the real thing you could get some Chinese knockoff.
Wow. That sucks.
I've had several fail. When I went on the SanDisk site to view their warranty it said they didn't guarantee them not to fail in cameras that record continuous like dash cams which were what I was using them for. That is when I looked at the Samsung site and found they made a card specified for continuous recording. I have not had any of the Samsung cards fail so far. Didn't have the same luck with Samsung phones. I never had a Samsung phone that didn't develop issues. I switched to Motorola phones years ago and have had good luck with their durability.
Well, I'm finally doing it! I went out and it was pretty chilly around noon today, tried firing up the hoe, to raise the loader bucket and tadaa! She fired right up! Got the loader raised and out of the way (I can't imagine trying this with the arm blocking the engine) and I'm making an attempt at changing the starter. It's gone reasonably well through 2 bolts (and getting some stuff like the fuel filter off and out of the way) but now I'm stuck... I've needed about every 1/16th of an inch I can get to get the tools in there. So I've got at least one thing in the way, if I could remove it I can then see, really, where I stand. So, there's this thing, that was at the top of the fuel filter. I see the 2 hex bolts there (red) but also the cap thing (yellow). I'm not sure, after looking at it that the he bolts will really release that whole thing (either teal or orange)? If that black cap makes it possible to remove the teal circled part I think that give clearance to get to one of the wires on the starter to unbolt it (red arrow), seen below, I'm not sure how to get to it otherwise. Then, I have the trouble of the third bolt. I don't even know where it is. I can't see it from underneath either. I've got the two bolts removed (or broken, in regards to the top one) in the direction of the yellow arrows). Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, as always. I took Monday and Tuesday off work as I anticipated some frustration with the job. So far it's been smoother than expected but I think reinstalling will be a drag too...
For that last third starter bolt, back behind, I used a very long extension and just used my other hand to feel for the bolt head and guide the socket on. I didn't need to pull any fuel system stuff off, just pivoted the fuel canister out of the way by loosening the fuel line fittings. I think yours is an E though, isn't it? Mines a D.
2004 Lb75b. I just found a video for a 2001 and I think I can find that third bolt but I'm still not sure how to release the wires where they are. I could cut the side of that shield thing out, if I can get in there with an oscillating tool...
aighead, I feel like all you need to do is remove the fuel pump. The 3rd bolt is prolly behind the starter as eKretz said. This is a very common mounting.
It's not uncommon to remove the starter bolts, swing starter down a bit, then remove the electrical wires from the solenoid. I would see if I could get that third starter bolt out by feel and touch, and then wiggle it down to a spot where I could better access the wiring. I have never done one on a NewHolland though, so there may be more too it.
Seems here lately, feel is the only way I've been removing starters. Haven't tackled a BH tho I did a pull and install on the 175C.
The black screw cap thing will allow you to remove the fuel pump. It will also have an electrical connector. I’m a pro at doing this unfortunately. The hex bolts I believe remove the housing. I have not taken that apart.
I would imagine this is quite similar? Fast forward to the starter removal part.
What's the hoe doing?... Well the MF202 is slowly returning to the earth... Hoe hydraulics are a trainwreck, and the frame has some serious cancer... Front end is good as it's indoors. Will try to rehome it in the spring I suspect since I got the 310. The JD310 (we ain't got no letters here... just the original 310) is mostly sitting, and dripping. Still new to me, and chasing the major issues before I put it to work. Got about 1/3 of the lines replaced on the hoe now, so it's useable. Need to probably take care of a few up front on the loader/4 Way to make me comfortable. Need to sort out some of the pins/bushings/buckets to make it acceptable, but I'm not overly stressed about that currently. Looking forward to a machine with a full cab and heater. Haven't even had a canopy or rops before... (sadly ROPS will not fit in the barn, so I can't retrofit)
The black cap and the thing above it is the pre pump. If you can get the cap to loosen you can remove the pre pump and have better access to the Allen head bolts. Mine didn't feel like it wanted to come loose and I removed the Allen head bolts a quarter turn at the time with a ball end Allen wrench. I had to alternate between the bolts and remove the assembly as they loosened. That left the Allen head bolts trapped so they had to be put back in the same way. When I did mine I found the wires to the pre pump had corroded apart and fixed them so it worked. I had run my machine a couple of years without the pre pump even running. At least one of the starter bolts will have to be removed by the brail method. I want to think mine had nuts behind the bell housing but that may have just been the one that had the cab ground wire attached to it. HERE is the listing for DBELECTRICAL for the starter. I want to say their phot is mirrored but not sure. I won't have time this morning but if I think about it this afternoon I will take a picture of my old one and attach it.
You guys rock. Lots of good info there, I appreciate. I'm going to head back out in a bit to try to get that last bolt.
Braille method.... I'll have to remember that phrase. Here's hoping you have longish arms.
*** engineer decided to put all that crap in front of the starter. What a hellish job, I feel vindicated because I put the rear emergency brake pads on the shelf after I took the brake caliper and rotor off and took a look at the hardware on my Jeep Wrangler. Some jobs you need to do, some get put on the decade back burner.
Success! It took several extensions on the ratchet and the braille method but I found it no problem. Wiggled it, just a little bit, then had access to the bolt at the end of the solenoid. Wiggled it and flipped it around, gear side up and it fell right through the bottom of the machine! It'll be interesting to see how it goes putting the new one in. I'm going to get risky and attempt to put in the block heater while I'm here. Does this spot look acceptable?
Certainly, just make sure to mark the heater if it’s not already to make sure it’s installed in the correct orientation, up or down does make a difference. Remember that there will be a pigtail coming out and it’s somewhat easy to direct to one side or the other. My case has a small hinged door to check the oil so I use that to hook my extension cord to, that attached to a Wi-Fi receptacle, so I can tun it on or set a timer with my phone and check the oil most times. You could also use the other freeze plug that in the corner of that photo but try and stay as centered as possible.
Done and done. Fingering around in the hole this is the only orientation that worked.
I feel like this is a dirty joke just waiting to be written...
G spot!
At least there was only the one hole to worry about.
Awesome aighead!!! Don't plug in the heater until the cooling system is purged! They don't like heating air so much!! Now the million dollar question....does your hoe start now?
I had to take out thw old starter to figure out what I needed for the new one. I'm going to look for one locally but I assume I won't find it so maybe next weekend for reinstall. I've got to go back to work tomorrow, so it may be a bit.
oh, I thought you already had the new 1. As mentioned above, DB electrical is a good source. I have purchased alternators and starters from them in the past. Starter for Ford 3430 1990-1998, 3930 1990-1999, 4630 1990-1999, 4830 1990-1994 478109 Shop for the Starter For Ford 3430 90-98, 3930 90-99, 4630 90-99, 4830 90-94 478109 at DB Electrical. The best selection, low prices, fast shipping, and great customer service. www.dbelectrical.com
This one doesn't look right for his tractor. The one I linked to above is listed for the LB75. But like I said I think they have their image mirrored so it is pictured in reverse.
I looked up lb75b. not B75B. aighead, Is there a part number on the starter? This could be cross referenced.
You're in Dayton, should have a Napa close enough, take your starter and set it on the counter, if you get lucky someone there may be able to hook you up. Have ordered from DB Elec. as well, use check if it fits option. Napa may be a bit more pricey, but eliminates the guess work.
Same here. The link I posted says LB75. It should be the same as our E series I think.
Yeah, looking it up via the number on the starter only gets me so far. I can find the - - - 200 but not the 0 001 369 201. I've got an Amazon link saved for a db electric, at like 220 bucks. It's worth a shot probably.
I plugged in "Bosch 0001369201" and found several links. From UK Starter Motor For New Holland M100 M115 M135 M160 LB115 0001369200 0001369201 | eBay BOSCH 0001369201. New Holland LB115 2000-2007 4490ccm CNH F4GE0484G D. New Holland M160 1996-1999 7485ccm NH WM456 CID TC. New Holland M115 1996-1999 7485ccm NH TD456 CID NA. New Holland M115 1996-1998 7485ccm NH TD456 CID NA. www.ebay.com Big cross ref. NEW HOLLAND 81868126, 82005343, 82013923, 8203923, 84036631 BOSCH 0001369200, 0-001-369-200 0001369201 Starter Motors NEW HOLLAND Starter Motors are engineered for high performance with OE design, perfect fit and competitive pricing from DELCORIBO. www.delcoribo.com
I got a bunch of nothing! Thanks!
No problem Aig! Glad to help.
Not sure if it helps but the New Holland cross for the Bosch starter off my 575E is 82005342. It crosses at DB Electrical to a 1100-0103. It looks like I threw my old starter away so I don't have the Bosch number off of it to compare. Starter for Ford New Holland - 82005342 86513093 82005343 82013922 Shop for the Starter for Ford Holland - 82005342 86513093 82005343 82013922 at DB Electrical. The best selection, low prices, fast shipping, and great customer service. www.dbelectrical.com This part says it replaces the Bosch, Iskra and Marelli units. Lucas 12v, 10 tooth drive. 3.2KW. This one also looks like they have the photo oriented correctly. My guess is if it looks like yours it would work but they don't list your model in the model checker. I would go to the Messicks site and get the NH part number for YOUR tractor and see if it crosses.
Messicks does in fact lists the same starter number for your tractor that is listed for mine. They don't show a new one and only the rebuilt is available. BUT the main number is the 82005342 that DB crosses to the $170 starter I linked to above. New Holland #82005342R REMAN-STARTER REMAN-STARTER www.messicks.com
FWIW I put a DB Electric starter in my Cat machine. It looked identical to the Bosch I took out. I am sure it is a Chinese knockoff but at 1/4 the price I rolled the dice.
Same here on a couple of my machines. I think one said Turkey, but the others were China. All working currently tho, including one in my wifes Excursion.
Ok, I just bought the one from DB that NH575E posted above. Thanks for all the help guys. I broke off the bolt that holds the wires (negative, I believe). It's the through bolt. Anything fancy about that or does any bolt that the wire fits on acceptable?
Do you have a pic?
The new starter should have a negative cable post on the rear that doesn't use one of the through bolts.
I don't have a picture. I forgot that it was a through bolt and was able to get the impact driver on it, when it was just spinning I remembered the bolt on the back and got a wrench on that to find that I sheared the head right off. Handy NH! On the one I took off there were two other smaller wires attached on the back side, can those go on that front bolt too? Assuming they'll all stretch that far...
Pretty sure the small wires go to the solenoid. One will be the power from the ignition to activate the solenoid. Better check the wiring diagram on those. That photo has a rubber boot covering the solenoid so you can't see those terminals. When I did the cables on mine I eliminated the negative cut off switch and ran the ground directly from the battery to the back of the starter. I also attached the braided ground to the frame on that stud. My tractor also has a ground for the cab which attached to one of the starter mounting bolts. I found it dangling loose so whoever had the starter off before me left it off or it was supposed to connect somewhere else.
Mine had 3 wires on the solenoid bolt, up front, 2 biggish ones and one slightly smaller red wire. Then it had, on the top left big through bolt one big wire on the front side of the bolt and two pretty small ones on the back side of the bolt. I assume the big one is the negative, and was thinking the other two are grounds, but I have no idea how the grounding works. I'll look at some wiring documentation and hopefully it makes sense, or I'll just put it back the way it was. I was going to say it'd be great to not have to worry about a through bolt at all but then thought that that hole isn't going to be tapped, so it'll be a through bolt either way...
Okay, when you say it had wires on the through bolt you are talking about one of the three mounting bolts for the starter at the bell housing? If so the large one should be for the cab ground. I don't know why there would be two more there but it may have some accessories grounded there. I thought you were talking about one of the 4 through bolts holding the starter housing together so the term "through bolt" confused me. You should have two wires connected to the battery lug on the starter solenoid. One goes to the positive battery terminal and the other to a 80A fusible link. The small wire should be on a separate quick disconnect or spade terminal as some people call it. THAT small wire is what tells the solenoid to engage. When the solenoid engages it connects the two large poles on the solenoid to send power to the starter motor. The 12v supplied to the small wire must first pass through the ignition switch and from there to a neutral safety relay then to the starter relay. A bad connection or relay anywhere along that path will result in it not starting. From the factory it would probably have a negative disconnect switch. The negative battery cable would go to the switch. On the switched side it would have two ground cables. One would connect to the ground lug on the starter housing and the other would connect to the frame. On my tractor I eliminated the negative disconnect switch and ran the battery and frame grounds directly to the negative lug on the starter. The engine and cab are rubber mounted to the frame. That is why it requires three grounding points.
Good explanation NH, thank you! Yes, the through bolt I was talking about was one of the three bolts holding the starter to the machine. In the picture below, right in the middle of the picture you can see the socket attached, I think that's the negative, with some grounds on the back side of the starter attached to that bolt... Anything special about that bolt? It's just a steel nut and bolt, right?
That is a single ground cable with a P-strap behind it to hold another harness in place. It's just a regular bolt.
If that strap is in fact under the bolt head and it has a plastic coating on it you have a poor ground connection. Only one side of the threads are making the ground. One side of the threads you may wonder. There is a thing about threads and the secret of the inclined plane. Add grease or oil to the threads and the ground is weaker. IMHO
It kind of looks like it but no, it's cut back away plenty, but yes, to the oil and grease!
IT'S WORKING!!!
Phew! Surprisingly easier to put back on than take off. It ran like a champ!
Good job! You must be quite pleased.
I really am. I feel fairly incompetent with this kind of stuff and I'm happy I got it figured out. It's sad that I waited months to spend 5 hours to get the backhoe running again.
Atta Boy! Your first real success as a mechanic! From here on it just keeps getting easier, confidence is the essential tool.
Thanks again for the help guys! My first job back was to go pick up a fuel tank from the neighbor, so I slapped the forks on and got it. I've got to say that my idea for the reverse camera in the bucket with forks on is a pretty good one, especially if you are setting down with plenty of room. It makes it very easy to see where the fork tips are.
I think I've mentioned it already but my property is long and narrow. We have our main yard which is all mowed, then a couple acres of back field. We've determined that it's nice to have some distance to our view and this mulberry tree, though still alive and lovely, was a better door than a window. My lovely wife suggested taking it down. I suggested waiting until all the leaves were off. Since the ol' backhoe starts and runs like a champ now, I got her out and pushed just a bit up high and got to sawing. It came down beautifully with just a slight push cracking the hinge. I proceeded to limb it and all that, then the wife wanted some emergency firewood so I bucked to reasonable sizes using the forks to raise branches up and slice them apart. I also kept the trunk and a crotch, in hopes of making something out of it, so I moved that to the log pile. Then I ran around the yard a bit and did some fire pile clean-up and stuff like that. I also used the forks to rip some of the logs for a garden idea we had, I'll show that later. This is the view now, and after moving some big heavy stuff, making life sooooo much easier, and giggling like a little girl while I did it I realized how much I've missed the backhoe!
Look at all the quality thread content you were missing out on with that bum starter.
Looks great aighead!
What a nice view now...... !! great job.
My hoe is Working!! Proud to report that the broken hand has healed enough to allow work, and my hoe was ready, willing, and able . 72 loads of dirt moved, spread, and tracked in, in the last 2 weeks...Thank god for good hoes!!! Still have more to go, but making great progress. I really cannot believe the weather in the northeast...amazing...We are going to have to pay for this later!!
Pretty fancy all terrain dirt dumping apparatus ya got there.
This is the first time, maybe ever, that I haven't heard you mention rain Swetz! Looks great, and I agree with you about the weather, if you are getting similar to us. It's been dang beautiful for weeks and weeks now. I feel like I'm living in San Diego but we still have some seasons.
been out camping.... Hey Swetz !!!! Great job..... glad to hear dirt is 'movin'! That pad looks pretty big.... how big will that shop be? Ditto on the weather..... got to do a lot of landscaping.... a 'head start' on next year for sure. ......I'll get some pics up later......
My plan is for a 40x60 shop with a 12 foot wide lean-too on one side. Not sure if full length of partial. This lean-too is for my generator, compressor, and fuel tank. Can never have too much space, but the $$ are limited too. Pad is going to include some nice level space. Something we don't have much of here. Camping, nice! In PA? Looking forward to the pics.
Went south to DE..... I'm native to that area... @ cape henlopen..... I could see NJ from the beach Last 'fling' of the season.... the temp held up into Nov.... could go longer??.... save on the old heating bill and get some stuff done outside. Now to winterize the camper... Are you sourcing your fill dirt on site??
Yes. I am digging a hole at this point. Once the weather is back to normal it will fill up with water. It is ~15' deep. Not sure if I will leave it as a pond, or fill it in. Time will tell. If I fill it in, it will be from the rocks and organics I removed from the pad prior to filling it. I also have an additional pond onsite that I want to enlarge. This too will provide fill, if I decide to fill it in. The reason that I am contemplating leaving it as a pond is that it is right next to where I want to establish a garden, and would provide a great water source for irrigation as needed.
A hole 15' deep?? wow, I went down 2 to 4 and hit shelf! I guess thats to be expected on a ridge...... Anyway.... glad to see your hand has improved enough to work,,, and the weather has allowed that pad to grow.... next year a shop??
I couldn't imagine digging a hole and not being able to go as deep as I want to. I know there are rocky areas, but it's not that way where I'm from.
I get different soils. At home I might remove 50 cubic yards of boulders to get an 8' deep hole. I could dig to China, never find bedrock. Not many wells near, but two properties behind me aren't in the "Fire District" I am very jealous of them. I pay $1200.00 a year for water, then 4 $48.00 payments for water. If I drilled my own well, I'd be exempt from 4 X $48. water rent. They each have 150 feet of steel casing to get down to ledge. At the "land" three miles away by road, I might dig three feet to ledge. or 10 feet to ledge. No risk of digging very deep, though there are a few deposits of sand 20 feet deep.
My hoe spent yesterday picking up more of the mulberry tree to slice up. I've gotta say whomever came up with the fork attachment is a crazy genius. Man they are handy. The wife had an idea to improve our very small attempt at a raised bed garden. This year was our first go and we just used some totes and some big flower pots. We found we enjoyed growing stuff so we are going bigger. Her idea is to stack logs along the fence, as seen below, to build boxes with, then line them and fill them with dirt. It should work well and looks pretty neat, this is about a third or so complete.
I now have two, count them two, fuel tanks that I got for free. The FIL paid me a small, probably 150 gallon tank for helping him move some i-beams for a bridge he's building. It's in very good shape but I need to build a skid for it and probably put it in the barn until I fill it. He brought it out on Saturday and the hoe moved it. Man, it's nice to hop in and fire up with no issues. The other tank is an out of shape much bigger tank, that I'm not sure what I'll do with.
Check the local scrap metal places to see if they will take it.
How big? I made a shed out a real big one, it worked great, till I sold the place.
I scrapped a corroded fuel oil tank once. I had to cut a large opening into it, and burn the inside to ensure there was no fuel residue left in the tank. Then they took it.
I may end up using it on Mr. Discopants, if the scale is right. I'll figure out something good for it. I could chop it in half for a pretty good fire pit... Safe to assume no one stores a diesel tank in their barn? Mine will find a home in there until I fill it but I assume it's best to build a little shed for it? I'd like to leave it bolted to a skid so I can move it to the driveway to be filled. I doubt a tanker will head into my back yard. Harley- it isn't that big... Maybe 250-300 gallons.
I store my 100 gallon slip tank in the barn. Diesel fuel has a very high flash point, it's not like a 100 gallons of gasoline that could go up like a bomb with a wayward spark. If it was gasoline, I would keep it outside, or in a simple 3 sided shed away from my house and barn.
My bulldozer lives in an oil tank. Diesel is a stable fuel. You have to do special things to make it burn. I routinely cut 275 gallon oil tanks with an acetylene torch. Liquid fuel won't burn, this is true of even gasoline. Diesel isn't very volatile, the cloud of vapor above the liquid isn't dense enough to ignite except when it is heated. The risk with either gasoline or diesel is leakage from a rusty tank. On the ground, diesel is highly igniteable. I once was in front of the garage door cutting a 275 gallon tank in half. It had 15 gallons of dirty diesel fuel in it. I had cut much of the way around it, when my son wanted to open the door. I had it on forks with the backhoe. Moving it, a bit sloshed on the gravel driveway. First spark hit the ground it burst into flame.
Well, great! The tank is in really nice shape and it'd be cool to keep it that way inside and under cover. I knew diesel wasn't nearly as volatile as gas but have only seen it stored outside, but granted, often next to gas tanks.
A very happy Thanksgiving Holiday to all.... This will be the 1st in our 'new' digs. Speaking of 'digs'...... due to the dry warm fall I took the opportunity get some landscaping work done. The front terrace wall needed a 'finish' top coat.. I still need to complete the 'bottom' end... but won't need to use the front area to access it. Had to dive into Aighead's boulder stash ( sorry ) for a couple of well placed rocks to block the view of minisplit hoses, and for the hardscape. 1st.... at the start, moving a big one... ...and a spot for that one
The final job will be to finish spreading some top soil and get some grass growing in the spring.
You've used my rocks well, T-town, I'll forgive it this time. You've made great progress and the landscaping looks really nice. Uh, that's a big rock!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! looks Great T-town!! That ole hoe is a real keeper! No worries aighead, I have more rocks than ever, and I am willing to share.
I bought my 310d from a custom home builder. The picture is the as is condition that I purchased it in, hoe wouldn’t go forward, front tire off the bead, won’t drive forward, park brake not operational, broken lower rear glass panel. The machine has right at 8000 hours, engine runs well. This weekend I started to change fluids and filters other than the reverser which I plan to pull and rebuild. Reading other post I think the belville spring has broken if everything else checks out. The reason it was parked was the hoe suddenly wouldn’t go in reverse. A mobile heavy equipment shop was called out and they diagnosed it with a defective FNR valve. It was replaced and two days later the hoe wouldn’t travel forward.
Welcome to the forum neighbor! Good luck with the hoe.
Oh yeah, my fuel tank's new home! Now I just need to find several hundred dollars to fill it! I suspect I'll get a real test of my block heater this weekend. We are supposed to get a big, for us, snow Sunday, calling for 8 or so inches, so I imagine I'll be out keeping the driveway and neighborhood cleared up a bit. It's been raining for a few days and the yard is soggy but I think we've got several days below freezing, so maybe it'll firm up when I need to pull it out.
Yes, 15', no more, because my excavator wont go any more. LOL. We have a lot of dirt here. I have never hit bottom anywhere I have dug on this property. That said, there is a rock quarry about a mile away. The above stated, there are several boulders in my excavation that are so big, the excavator is not able to bring them out. I just move them out of the way and continue on. Yes, the hand is slowly improving. The broken bone seems fine. It is the inability to bend my fingers that drives me crazy. I went to physical therapy, and continue to do the exercises, but still not 100%. They told me this was normal when a hand is immobile for some time, then go on to basically say it takes longer for people of your age . Ill take it, LOL! Took a ride down to the pad yesterday. Even with all the rain we have been having, it looks real good. The hole that the dirt came from is full to the top with water and overflowing. Gonna be pumping in the spring! Fingers are crossed for a shop this year 2025, barring I do something stupid and mess myself up again. Happy New Year, everyone! Edit: Check out the white birch trees in the background. We have had so much heavy snow and wind that I have acres of bent over trees. Some have snapped in two as well. Crazy!
Nice looking pond Swetz. Happy new year!
Those birch are the 2nd cousins to the 'black birch' popping up in the woods my way.... they all seem to sprout once a bit of sun hits the floor. Ice storms/heavy snow will bend 'em over and bust 'em all the time. They die/rot and feed the 'new' batch. They seem to root propagate.... and will fill up an opening real quick. The white birch will cover culm/waste banks when other trees won't. Nice pond Swetz..... i'll bring a fishing pole. Happy new year to all..... and have a safe/healthy 2025
615a, we got some snow, maybe 8 inches, it's pretty chilly, plugged block hearer in for maybe half an hour, she fired right up. Letting her warm a bit to plow my way to the main road to see if it's worth trying to go to work. I don't think anyone else is there. Happy first good snow of the year day!
Spoke too soon, now it's stuck in my driveway. Cranks good, no firey. Fuel doesn't appear gelled. It was running fine then it started bogging down for a minute then died. Starting back up it fired for a second then died again. It's probably 25 degrees out.
Nice! Perhaps Gelled? Soon as sun is up will clear off some of the drive here, have not measured but can expect 4 or more inches to shove off the sides. Been NO Movement on our County Road last night thru this morning, no state trucks either so wife and I are situated for the time being. Already added PS to that tank.
Yeah, don't know, I updated above. I'm about to head in to the warmth...
Sounds like a fuel restriction. Pull the banjo bolt at the sediment bowl if it has one and look in the fitting for crud.
Definitely sounds like fuel. You could put in some Power Service 911 but it usually doesn’t work that well. Where your hoe hasn’t been run in so long, I question what kind of fuel you have in there, winter/summer fuel. Might have to wait for it to warm up a little and make sure you add the white bottle stuff after you get it running. When I have had fuel problems in the past, it is a real pain to get it done in a snowstorm. Change fuel filters, fill half full with PS 911 and bring a jump pack. Its easier to put a tarp over it and get a propane salamander under it or a turkey fryer, if you have the room and warm the girl up.
Perhaps, it's been in the barn and I ran it fine a few weeks ago. I'll have to look into ps911... I can also run an extension cord to the block heater.
I'm wondering if fuels lines were frozen up a bit... I ran it in the barn for 15 minutes or so before going out.
Definitely do the block heater and whatever you can do to get the whole engine warm. If you haven’t been putting the white Power Service in, you should now. I put a few cap fulls in every 5 gallon jug.
It’s got fuel in it right?
Good plan. My daughter has a car that'll probably make it to the car parts store later. I'll see if I can find it, assuming they open today. Yeah, I check that too!
Power Service 911 is a product to de gel if gel has already formed. I've read some comments that 911 is not healthy for your engine. There are several brands of gel preventer, I use Howes. It prevents formation of ice crystals, prevents gelling. In extreme cases gelling becomes tiny waxy gobs that don't dissolve even when warm. I'm not sure whether PS911 would help. Often, your fuel filter is plugged with a combination of ice crystals, & gel. Replacing fuel filter can get you going again. I add kerosene to diesel fuel to prevent gelling.
Most fuel additives are Kerosene based. No secret why works.
Yeah, I've been putting both normal pump diesel (bought semi-recently) and Howes in for a few months now. Nothing in the tank looked gelled but who knows what the filter looks like. Are there issues with leaving the block heater plugged in all day? Or for hours?
Leaving the block heater plugged in won't hurt anything on the engine. Just the electricity to run it. We have 2 tractors and a loader that stay plugged in for 8 hours or so every day. We have a guy that comes in at midnight to feed cattle and that equipment has to start for him, and no one is available to plug them in an hour or two before they need to start. So, they get plugged in around 4 or 5pm when we head home so we know they'll be ready for the night guy.
Gelling always happens in the filter first, where the fuel needs to be spread thin to go through the tiny openings in the filter element. And my experience is that it will gel easier in a filter on a suction line than a filter on a pressure line. Not sure why. Try pouring some fuel that seems like a normal liquid through a piece of cheesecloth when it's cold. It will quickly plug up the cheesecloth with wax even though it pours fine.
Stupid wax!
I would drop the filter. I bet it is jelled. I would get the regular treatment, and add it to the tank for the future. The 911 treatments aint so good.
If it's like our e series machines the first point.for potential restriction is at the sediment bowl. I added a small engine filter at that point since the factory design goes straight from the tank to the bowl. I fought with a fuel restriction problem for a couple weeks when I first got my hoe before I found that pea size clog in the banjo bolt.
For 20 dollars you can buy a Wi-Fi outlet that you can turn on remotely or set up a schedule for on and off and they work great. I have a Ministon and schedule it 7 days a week right now from 4 am to 8 am so it is ready every morning.
After many years of hesitation about timers, especially for the power draw of a block heater finally bit the bullet this year and bought a timer. Got the old rotary style for $17 from Lowes. One of the best moves ever. No heat at the timer or GFI. If need the hoe for big snow fall or really crappy weather (cab is awesome when 15 degrees and blowing 20mph) plug in night before set from 9-12 am. By time I poop and have some breakfast, engine is warm and ready to fire. PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE: Fuel system health is a year round job, not just when it doesn't work.
Thanks guys. I've got remote controlled power but currently it's hooked up to some stuff in the shop. I'll have to get another. I guess I should run one out there and test that the range goes that far first. Also, what I took away from Swetz's post was Hot Shots and Peak are the ones to keep an eye out for, and hope it doesn't gel.
Since you have power you could get a cheap heat gun and warm up the filters, fuel lines and injection pump. If you've been using Howes your fuel may not be gelled. It sounds more like a blockage. If it was gelled it likely would have never started in the first place. Once running the fuel is circulated back to the tank and warms up. Running for 15 minutes doesn't sound like gelled fuel. Although it's a much bigger engine I was shocked at how much fuel was pumped on my dump truck with an M11. Had a 4 litre clear bottle to bypass the fuel tank. Sucked it empty in less than 45 seconds. There's a lot fuel recycled back to the tank in 30 seconds. 15 minutes I think should have thawed any suspected gelled fuel. It would be different if it had known summer diesel with no treatment and came out of a heated garage and died. Even then it would have to be really cold and a backhoe isn't driving 60 MPH creating a huge windchill to keep things cold.
Yep agree Dave, running for 15 minutes, pretty much everything should have been pretty warm. Even hydraulics as the oil cooler returns right to tank. My Case the other day had the filter light on for quite a bit, until I actually started using the hydraulics, filter has las than 6 hours on it. The wind has been kicked our ass for a couple of weeks.
Range should have nothing to do with it as it’s Wi-Fi but not an expert on that. I just set up the Minoston outlet in the house and plugged it in on the side of the garage and good to go. I actually put one on my split unit so I can turn the heat up from anywhere, anytime.
Except when it's lubricating your engine.
Update?
Still sitting in the driveway. Wasn't able to make it anywhere beyond the driveway until this morning and didn't feel like with messing around in the wind and snow. I'll check it out this afternoon when I get home.
She's in the barn! I took the fuel filter off, dumped it, I couldn't tell if anything seemed wrong with the fuel in there, and put an ounce or two of hot shots in there. Plugged it in for maybe 2 hours. It struggled to start but did after three tries. I was nervous so I ripped into the barn and parked it. Not sure how to test in the future? Fire it up and leave it be for a bit? Maybe run hydraulics through their paces a bit? How do you trust it doesn't die half a mile down the road?
Get some fresh fuel if you think you're fuel was the problem. Eventually, you just have to run it and re-build your trust with it.
I would add some fuel conditioner and after watching that video, you pick, because I have always used the white power service, add it and start it up in barn and set idle at 1200 and let it run for 30 minutes and shut it off for an hour, try and drain any water from the tank, refill with good winter blend and you should be all set. Generally, before winter, I will use a suck bucket or brake bleeder and stick hose directly on bottom of the tank and suck up a quart or so of fuel and let it set in a mason jar and wait a day or so and see how much water was in the tank, just for winter maintenance and what to expect. This is usually an issue with machines that don’t see much use.
Another real good video. Not sure why, but it will not let me link it. Just search this on You tube. THIS Is The TRUTH About Diesel Additives...
They also make a product K-100D that will mix with any water in your system and burn it through, but tank has to be warm enough for any water to be liquid. Not to be confused with isopropyl(dry gas) that does not mix with and burn the water. Notice K-100D not K-100G, there is a potion for Gas as well the G denotes gas. Stuff is available at most parts stores and does work provided all water is in liquid form.
I forgot to listen to the check-for-water advice but went out and dumped an ounce or two of the Hot Shots in the fuel tank, gave her a vigorous stir with a bamboo stick and the hoe seemed to run pretty well. I was quite surprised to get nearly stuck, just up on some unlevel snow at the end of my driveway. Even in 4wd I was spinning more than I'd expected. It wasn't really bad but some spinning was surprising.
Could have been a small ice block, glad to hear back on line.
My first backhoe around 2000 was a two wheel drive JD 410. I reasoned a 14000 LB machine would push snow without tire chains. My lot is more level than most of Vermont. Town road (paved) climbs a hill, but each neighbor has a terraced lot. No driveways I plow are steep. My driveway is level, but raised above the adjacent lawn a few feet. First snow I got a lesson. In a second I was in the lawn! Went that day & bought tire chains.
All depends on what you have for conditions when plowing snow. Sometimes I just make ice and get to do the tilt a whirl, with a 15k lb machine. Sometimes it comes right up. Worst case is when the snow is wet and the ground is frozen, turns into a skateboard.
It seems all the forums recently had an upgrade that tags all video links as a security risk. Where a You Tube video link use to automatically allow you to play in the post it now either won't post or just posts a message saying "security risk". I didn't have the patience to sit and watch the 46 minute video. I have used Biobor JF in my fuel since the beginning and haven't had any fuel related problems. That was all the testing I need.
I have a gravel driveway and like to leave some snow on top to pack down. Problem is if it warms up, it melts and then re-freezes turning it into a skating rink. My driveway is wide enough I don't have to go over the edge to push the snow into the ditch. On a narrow driveway you could slide off the edge pretty easily and not be able to get back on top without chains. An icy driveway is kind of a necessary evil unless you put a little sand down but that's not much of an option on 1/4 mile long driveway.
All that weight, rubber tires not designed for ice conditions. Warm snow that turns to ice from pressure, or ice under cold snow, that 7 or 8 ton tractor becomes a big snow saucer.
I enjoy seeing all that snow and ice in pictures from my unfrozen home in FL.
I think I hit some compacted spots that caused the spinning and I was definitely not on flat ground, just a hair off flat right before my gravel extension. I backed up mostly no problem but that weight and 4wd surprised me a bit. The worst I had was a couple years ago, plowing the neighborhood, the street over my right side tires went off the road, just a touch, while going uphill a little. The creek to my right was screaming at me and I puckered up more than expected!
Don't jinx yourself.
No crap, we’ve been having some extremes lately. All we need is a nor’easter in the sunshine state. LOL!
Can that happen...LOL
We think of VT as a snowy state. We have seen 41" deep snowfalls a couple years ago. This winter we haven't had a single event that brought more than 2". I have elderly neighbors I don't want falling on ice, so I have plowed & sanded, I wouldn't have bothered to plow my own driveway.
@Spud_Monkey had the correct idea..... we need more emoji icons....
We did have snow and ice one year back in the 80s. Wife and I were supposed to drive over to Jax for Christmas. I got up and drove to the country store and back on the ice and came back and canceled the trip. They ended up closing the interstate to stop the fools that thought they could drive on it.
I don't mind the snow, pushed about 10" this morning, still snowing. My yard isn't on fire or under water. Just sayin'
I love driving on snow and ice. I get more experience than my location would suggest. I'd enjoy it a lot more if the flatlanders would slow down a bit...
Mrs. B. is, (was, newly retired) a first grade teacher. Her father imigrated from Norway. Nothing gave her more pleasure than a snow day. Snow has been in my home a cause for celebration. Snow is not a problem for those prepared. I was once naieve, thought I didn't need tire chains. I once plowed snow with a CJ 5 Jeep, used chains occasionally. Two wheel drive tractor needed chains to steer with the brakes. Seven ton backhoe NEEDS chains to plow. It slips sideways as well as any other direction.
Not putting chains on my driveway, like it just the way is. My backhoe does just fine, till it doesn’t. Then I park it and wait till it goes away or gets fresh powder on it. There have been some hairy moments but now I’ve got new rear tires and so far it seems to be working and it plows like a beast. The power angle 10’ works nice and with new pipe it scrapes even better.
I never used tire chains until I was 30 years old, and it was absolutely necessary. Same as @Willie B , I learned that a heavy backhoe is no match for slopes and ice. In my first real winter event at my current property, I managed to get my truck, my Bobcat, and my backhoe all stuck in about 30 minutes. I ended up using a John Deere 8440 to pull everything out, went home and ordered tire chains for the back hoe. It was a few years later before I ordered chains for the Bobcat. I felt stupid waiting that long when I saw how well it improved the performance of the Bobcat. I rarely touch the backhoe during the winter, but the chains are always on and ready, just in case. I chained up the skid steer last weekend and have plowed every day since. I also have chains and a snowblower for my lawn tractor, which is currently parked at my dad's to help him out this winter.
The R4's that most hoes sport doesn't help things... R1's would be better, but you'd rip up everything when the ground wasn't frozen, or bone dry. If I ever need to use the hoe in the snow, I'd have to get chains. Fortunatly I've got other machines that are better setup, or suited for snow removal as I'm sure those chains would be pricey...
Chains for the backhoe in 2016 were just over $200 for a pair of ⅜" double linked pattern. Chains for the Bobcat (⅜", single bar pattern) were just under $200 for a pair. I also bought chains for a dump truck I had that had an underbelly plow. Those were around $500 for the pair, but they chained up both tires on the dual set. That thing was awesome at clearing the driveway and then grading it in the spring, but the hydraulic cylinders failed. The cost to repair them exceeded the value of the truck. I ended up cutting the plow off and just used it as a dump truck for a couple years until someone with too many $100 bills offered me enough to let it go.
With a quick look, it would be ~$400 for the chains (duo style) for the existing tires/rims... Those are shot sadly, and the ones on the parts machine that are in decent shape push the starting chain prices up to ~$800+... Now that's irritating. Probably not gonna happen...
Last chains I bought were for my Allis Farm tractor, had them over fifteen years now and not looked back except to see if was even sane in swinging them every winter!! Are on it today. Not bought chains for Blue or the pickup even as have considered for that pickup yet Blue will no see them with me driving.
Anyone have issues with chains fitting between the tires and cab/frame of their backhoe? My dad's Ford 555D has very little space. We do have a set of chains for it but they rub once in a while.
My Case 580 Super N, I put left tire on right & vice versa, Added about 4" to overall width. Or, I can't remember the manufacturer, wheel spacers are available. Five other backhoes there was clearance for chains. Be a good lathe project for you.
Good idea, but probably more than the 12" diameter that my lathe is capable of.
@HarleyHappy what is this? Something I should know? Searching didn't help...
I’ve talked about this before. I bought a junk 8’ plow off CL for 100 bucks and added 1’ wings so it’s a modified snow bucket. Since I have a majority of gravel, I have always preferred the Meyers type trip, where the whole blade tips forward vs the Fisher type where the cutting edge trips ands sprays gravel all over, and breaks your garage door windows, lol. I tack welded a 2” pipe to the cutting edge and so far, the first pipe lasted 3 seasons and I just put a new one in. I also added a third function hydraulic valve with a separate pressure relief valve block. I modified the plow mount to be like the slip on forks, so you just drive in and your cutting edge on the bucket slips under an 1 1/2” pin on each side. The only issue is, I would like a little down pressure, as it acts like a plow on a truck, where It can ride up on the bank. So this year, the springs that held up the tower broke and instead of replacing, I just welded the tower to the frame. Now I would like to try and come up with maybe a homemade air cylinder spring unit, to create a little down pressure to the tower. Still it plows like a beast and while it has been a learning curve, I have no issues winging snow down the long driveway. The only downside is, it is long and awkward in tight spaces.
Two thoughts... Can you just bolt/hang some weight on the back of the plow for additional down pressure? I have suitcase weights hanging from my back blade to get a good scrape from a 3 point setup. If you want MORE down pressure, perhaps a more rigid mount to the bucket, and just set you loader in float?
Oh yeah! My apologies HH, thanks for the update on it! That's way more complex than I'm inclined to do but I like it. @Toolslinger weights on the blade is a great idea! How'd you hang them? How much weight? I've been disappointed in my ability to grade as my blade tends to bump over any hard dirt, but I wonder if weight would help.
I don’t seem to have float in my loader valve. I don’t think more weight will do me any good as the plow is extremely heavy itself. I see backhoes with their wheels turned in the other direction because they have down pressure on the plow blade and fortunately I don’t have that problem. Still, at times it would be nice to be able to scrape a bit better. Only if I angle the plow right over, can I get it to actually trip the blade. Was thinking of like a Bimba air piston to be able to adjust the pressure. I have even considered resealing the up piston that is still in the plow, to make it a 1 way air cylinder. Whatever I do, is just going to bend or break something else, so I think I will just stand pat for a bit.
My blade has no manufacturer info, and it's both old, and unique... The frame is all angle iron, with the blade angle controlled by a long rolled sector. Actually a really nice setup, but it's light, and small at a 6' blade. Works fine behind my 8N. I just hung a couple suitcase weights from the angle that runs across the pivot point, and held them in place with a ratchet strap. 2 weights was enough, so something like 130-150 pounds... Don't recall my weight's weight...
No detent past full down? Almost all machines I been on had a detent to float release
Maybe float hasn't been used enough and the valve is stuck? Have seen that on skid steers.
In my opinion, there are many aspects make a backhoe less than perfect machines for snow removal. The balance of weight front to rear is big. The bucket cutting edge is always parallel to the rear axle. It seems always one corner of the bucket is digging into the ground. I have spent much of a life using equipment not built for snow removal. Worst ever was putting a plow blade to replace a loader bucket. Loader frame pivots high, near steering. This is geometrically similar to a pole vaulter. Plow grabs, & tries to vault the tractor over the plow. Mounting a blade in a loader bucket was NOT a success. Freezing the loader bucket just above the ground solves the pole vault similarities. The floppy nature of a snow plow cures the digging one corner in issue. The thing is 35 feet long!
Nope, have float on my Kubota but never on the Case 580 SE. I looked for information, as a matter of fact, that’s why I floated in here. It locks to the left to tip up while loading but have never had it go into float. My plow alone weighs over a 1k pounds, I would imagine. It’s just so wore out, it flops around a but. Probably a blessing as I would probably break it if it wasn’t. lol
I see what you did there...LOL
Looks like I did just that. We have a chance of snow on Tuesday now and it's all my fault.
Yea, we are supposed to be getting about 6" on Sunday (tomorrow), and below 0 for most of next week...Brrrrrrr.
My experience with 580SE is minimal. Evert loader I have ever used has float. Push the raise lever past. I believe the float function in loader valves is a dip, or groove in the spool. A spring loaded ball drops into the hole & you have to force it to release. 580B, 580K, 580SN, have it, every farm tractor & CUT have had float. You won't like float for snow plowing pushing forward. Tractor is pushing down on the blade or bucket. Makes it dig in on any irregularity in the driveway. Pivot point of a plow has to be low to work well. A plow mounted in a loader bucket, where plow push frame hinges & is lifted with a chain works better. The light front weight, & long distance combine to make it push sideways when you angle the blade. Snow pushers are petty nice on a backhoe.
35F at 1 am here, now 26, heading down ALL Day, teens for highs tomorrow and a Low of 3F Monday.
Big problem with using float when pushing is if the blade/bucket catches something solid. In an instant the whole weight of the entire machine slams the lift cylinders fully retracted. 14,000 lbs. or so slamming the cylinders closed isn't going to end well. Even worse if you're moving at a higher speed.
I actually found float, of course my fingers didn’t like it when they hit the dash. Will have to inspect linkage as it must be a bit wore out or something as you literally have to push it forward about a foot, maybe even a little more than that. It does seem to actually go into float. Not sure I would use it anyway as the way the plow is mounted onto the bucket, I have to angle it down probably 15 to 20 degrees or the bottom of the plow frame will drag on the ground. This allows the plow to ride up or down a foot, which seems to be the sweet spot for gravel, with the pipe on the bottom. For my limited pavement, it helps if I lift it up a little to help it plow more straight, seems to scrape a bit better. Thought plowing with the backhoe is not ideal, it does make it just a little bit more necessary as if it doesn’t plow, then I need a plow truck. This is the first house I have owned, where I didn’t have a plow truck and the problems keeping a rusted out plow truck running enough to keep it together. I grew up in a family that always had a dedicated plow truck, first one was a Scout, with a beer keg for a gas tank and you could see how well you were doing by looking through the floor, like Freddy Flintsone, you could always put your feet down. Lol In my experience, I hate having a plow on my daily runner and I have had a few. Running around with a plow on the front sucks and back in the day, the damn Minute Mount, meant an hour and a hammer and a digger bar. I heard the new ones are a lot better, Worst plow to put in was a Diamond plow, plowed like hell but what a pain to put on.
About the only thing float is good for is back dragging. I find having a little down force while back dragging is beneficial. I do use the float on my small tractor sometimes.
On heavier machines I have used Float is great on grade control.
I had a US Forest Service surplus Jeep Cherokee (1976 full size). I put a 7-1/2 foot Fisher plow on it, a very nimble plow rig! I drove it until it was 12 or so years old on highway, then several more years as a plow rig. It was the best I have owned. One year it wouldn't start, I failed to find time for a tear down, eventually scrapped it. I rigged the plow on a loader frame, not a success! Everything else has been a makeshift thing. I handle small snowfalls with a back blade on a utility farm tractor, along with the loader it is versatile if not quick. Deep snowfalls I've had a few rigs on a backhoe. Lately I just use the front bucket, clean up with the farm tractor & back blade. I've got my eye open for a ten foot snow pusher used.
Have a small Utility Deere in the shed, primarily a mower but has a loader frame where with 4WD has potential. Still needs chains for rear of some type where Deere offers a slightly angle adjustable push blade to replace the bucket. Small and really nimble hydrostat.
Spreading processed material, flattening in reverse, removing snow after the ground has frozen are the uses for float. Pushing snow on unfrozen ground only works with the cutting edge tilted up a bit. It'll always react to a minor irregularity in surface & dig in.
Used float on a 963 for setting platform surface as ended cleaning off a Clay Pile. Produced a reasonable consistent level site just had grouser marks.
Deere has a quick attach different from skid steer. If the adaptation allows a pivot near the ground it'll work less than perfect. If it is only a replacement for the bucket, save your money. I designed a push frame to put a Fisher plow on a JD 1050, (30 HP CUT) It used simple weld on receiver tubes & ball mounts. Used third function hydraulics to angle, & the loader (bucket removed) to lift.
May look into something like you describe, still awaiting Doug on what he has there. My old Allis has a Single stick control for the loader I added on, has float and still have remotes for making Angle on that.
My primary snow plower is in the shop right now, so I'm relying on my cub cadet walk behind. engine had a funny idle sound and some unusual smoke. Pulled the injectors and they were yucky looking for sure. cleaned them up, but they may be a bit leaky so we'll see. Had to order new (used) cv joints for the front end because new ones were $800 a pop! Parts for this machine are hard to find. Steering bearings and seals I had shipped from the Netherlands because it was way cheaper than SouthernGlobalTractor. Still waiting on them. After using the walk behind I appreciate a snowplow more. Although we haven't gotten much snow here in upstate ny despite being fairly cold.
I like that the plow is on rear, just hate sitting sideways to see what am doing.
I watch outdoors with the morgans on you tube. He does all his plowing with his back blade, and he has all kinds of other options. When I watch him, my neck hurts!
Yea if it's a big snowfall I feel it a little. Maybe I should install a backup camera!
I just put a camera in my little Kubota cab tractor. It's a 4 inch high by 10 inch wide dash cam setup with a rear camera. I won't use anything but the rear camera but it is super clear and out of the way. The brand name on it isn't available anywhere but there are several similar units out there. It is carplay and android compatible but I don't need any of that.
The hook and pin? Yep, got a skid adapter for that setup (JD).
Float is a great feature if you know when to use it. It's especially good on a track loader with a heavy bucket. I've used it to back drag mud out of low spots so it can dry. It's hard to tell how deep a wet spot is and float automatically adjusts to different depth's. It's really good on a skid steer/CTL too if you don't want to leave tire or track marks. Some will say float is for people who can't level going forward but sometimes you don't want tire or track marks. There's good reasons float is on every commercial dozer and loader made.
I agree. If I had found the float 3 years ago when I bought the backhoe, the bucket would have been worn out by now, lol. I ended up grading 880‘ just fine without float and truth be told, never really used it In my Kubota. It can be very useful. I plan on using it this snowstorm as the ground just thawed an inch or two, in the last 2 days. My gravel topcoat is almost all stone dust so it gets to be a grey soupy mess, when saturated. Might consider back blading after the snow cleanup, because with the temperatures we have coming, it’s going to freeze fast.
Was able to get a few pines down before the snowstorm. Taking down about 30 pines that are giving us grief with pine cones and pine needles and most are in hurricane reach of the house or back deck.
Looks like you could get a couple saw logs from that tree. No snow at all on the ground?
I hear you on taking anything close to the house! My rule is if were to fall, and it would hit the house, it is gone. Wife says, but you bought the house in the woods. I say, yea and once I clear what I need, I will still have 40 acres of trees! Sweet ole hoe! Handsome Forman too (2nd pic) LOL
Have 6” on the ground now. By the time I put the plow on last evening it was spitting out. When we built the house, we were kinda limited on what to be cleared because of a DES permit I paid for, by the square foot. So the pines that were left on the fringe of our house lot were there for a good reason. Being as I’ve been in the house for 3 years, they can suck it. I am removing pines for the pine cones, pine needles and safety of my house. There is a state river about 40 yards from that hoe in the pictures. We keep putting lime on our lawn but between the crappy topsoil and the acid from the pines, it’s tough having a nice lawn. I contacted the old guy that logged the lot for me and asked if I stacked up 30 or 40 pine trees, would he take all. He said keep them as long as you can. That 130’ pine came out in 3 chunks and we were trying to get a babysitter built before the storm. Our dog can spend hours and hour trotting around a burn pile, therefore we call them babysitters, lol.
Those are nice saw logs. I cut down 3 22-24" whites last summer. got through about 3/4 of the logs with the chainsaw mill. Cutting stair treads and beams. Blue stain is probably in the remainder now but ill cut them too at some point. My house is surrounded by 100' whites, so I hear you on the pine cones, the needles, the pollen, the sap, and those little fuzzy orange things they shed. Not to mention the stress during high winds and ice storms. Its a lot to deal with.
Received a MODOT Permit to clear at Highway and install both Entry at House site and the Barn site, have modified the Barn entry with 4-6" Clean along the Culvert Cover embankments as were washing to hell, stopped that. The entry at house end was Limited to 30' width, that is now 38' but for me Nominally 30!!
Man! I'm jealous of those logs! Big ones!
I love pine trees but my favorite are hemlocks as they don’t bleed so much sap, when you put tree stands in them. We have had to move a few ladder stands, that were put up in pine trees and every time you would hunt out of one, you’d have pine pitch all over you and your gear. We picked up pine cones no less than 10 times last year and there were still thousands left over. Nothing like having a good wind storm and having pine cones bouncing off your windows. Between the pine needles and the pine cones, the lawn doesn’t like it. The thought of one coming down on the house is nerving to say the least. We have had to chainsaw our way out a few times in the three years we have lived here. The trees is one reason, every time I mention selling the backhoe, I get smacked in the head. Some, I intend on digging the stumps out but most I think will stay. We had one big pine tree come down last winter, that had a 6 to 7’ branch go through the ground, right over the leach bed and I actually had to pull it out of the ground with the backhoe and a chain. We were worried it could damage the leach bed. Next, I may give my wife a deep foot massage and convince her we need a little band sawmill, to help with cutting boards for a barn. lol
I came real close to getting a sawmill. After I really counted my trees and saw the cost and learning curve of getting one I changed my mind to using that money on the backhoe. I can chainsaw mill for now and for as much as I do, not much, it's no big deal. I'd still love to have one but there is a guy down the road that I could probably transport logs to, if I ever wanted. I need to stop by his place sometime to chat with him. I'd love to be able to mill up my own lumber for projects and I'm quite envious of the guys on the forestryforum.com who do that and can make a shed anytime they want...
A buddy of mine built his own place some 15 yrs back.... timber frame. I got involved with helping since I had not built that way before. He had several loads of hemlock ( our state tree) delivered to his site. and had a guy with a portable bandsaw come by and mill them. Stacked the material for a year and then went to town with it. Posts, beams, 2x's and 1x's...... helped him run his posts and beams through a planer to size them. He spent a winter in a barn next door 'cutting' joints....come spring, joined his bents together and 'up she went'. I had planned to build such a barn on our site..... into which I would add an apartment to live in while we built the house..... but once the design was finished and the 'log list was looked at I decided I better put up the house first... and see what was left for the barn. ....... turns out the barn will have to wait.... and will be rough cut.... with some steel plate joinery.
You only watch that for a gander at Mrs. Morgan. Cougar time..
Some of you guys lost your weather and it's down here in my yard. I'm gonna need you to come get it.
Looks like April or May to me. Why are there cobwebs hanging from your trees?
I told you that you jinxed yourself...LOL
No, late September.
Now that's funny... True story. Mo 34 year old son always said she was hot. One day she was knitting in the video. He was done. She is not hot in his mind any more. He just cannot unsee that incident...LOL I must say that Mike and Melissa are great! Kinda down to earth hard working people..
That's FUNNY! I watched for a while but tired of the 30 minute blah blah blah it takes him to explain a 5 minute operation.
I do fast forward a lot when splitting wood and using the mill.
My plow truck had a fuel leak, so we took out the backhoe yesterday to cleanup 14”. Fixed the truck this morning and pushed another 12”. Should have used the tractor again. I know I’m beating up the truck with that much snow, tractor just happily pushes.
My hoe would take one look out the barn and say "I ain't goin out there".
Had to wake up from winter hibernation to push back frozen banks and flip my over turned shed.
It stayed together pretty well!
OMG!!
Decently. I tried flipping it with the Bobcat first and ended up breaking a couple boards. Then the Bobcat broke traction and couldn't get it to lift up much off the ground. Then I squared up yhe sife walls a bit and added corner braces. Then used the backhoe and it gently pulled right over at an idle.
Time to anchor that shed down @colson04
The idea of a loafing shed is portability. Being able to drag it around the pasture and change their location on a regular basis. I've moved it a couple times, but I haven't moved it since 2019. This spring, I'm pouring a pad and mounting this shed as a permanent structure instead. I'll extend a covered lean too off the high side to give more shade for the calves, as I plan to add more to the herd throught out the year. The backhoe will get some busy time coming up soon enough.
I think a few screw in anchors in the corners would hold it and be easy enough to remove if you need to move it.
Been getting dumpings of snow/sleet and freezing rain thats been reeking havoc on my snowblower. Its formed a kind of layered snow lasagna that you can almost walk on top of without breaking through. Been sticking to my metal roof like glue. Seems like every time I use the blower something breaks. The town plow leaves a mound at the end of my drive that gets run over by about 100 snowmobiles sometimes before i get to it. I guess thats alot to ask of a walk behind. I go through sheer pins like toilet paper. I think Im just spoiled having used a tractor/plow for so long. Good part is the thing starts first pull every time. Picked a fine winter to rehab my tractor!
You go through shear pins like toilet paper... What does that even mean??
It means we better go to wallyworld and get a bunch of shear pins..
Means he has a lot of dog toys in the yard. Sucks getting the Kong balls out of the snowblower. lol
Welp, my lovely wife noticed a kid looking over the deceased neighbor's bulldozer on Saturday while I was sitting around. It was cold out but she said "Hey, you gonna go see if he needs help?" I guess I was. This is, I guess, a relative a time or two removed, meaning not really related, from the lady of the house (bulldozer owner). I go out and talk to him and he said he's done some mechanic-ing and has watched some videos of how this dozer from the late 40's/early 50's should run. I tell him that the guy did have it running when he went to the home but could not get the tracks to turn independently, meaning he could go straight forward or backward. I gave him my phone number after telling him I'd helped move the dozer around with the backhoe several times, and if he needed anything to just let me know, and I went back in the house. I went out on the front porch a couple hours later and surprisingly he'd got it going. It has a gas engine that would warm the engine up before switching over to diesel and he had the gas going when I went out. I gave a whoop and he gave a thumbs up. Next I went over and he'd gotten the diesel side to fire up and we came up with a plan to move the dozer out from under a carport (there is a big jib crane blocking the forward path, but nothing blocking the rearward path). So, he got it going and moved it rearward to clear it of the carport and the barn it was sitting next to. I used the hoe to wiggle it sideways and after a fair amount of backs and forwards and dragging we got it so it would clear everything, then we set him up at an angle to miss my trees along the property line and him be able to bring a big truck and trailer out later. Yesterday, he sent a text saying he was out there again and if he needed help would I be available. I didn't see it until about 15 minutes before dinner, so I went out again and told him I had 9 minutes to help. He fired it up and parked his trailer perfectly to drive right up on it, and off I go for chicken enchiladas with a minute and a half to spare. No more bulldozer sitting next door. We ruined the yard a bit, again. I also used the hoe bucket on the back pin to attempt to spin the dozer a bit, to find that some cracks on the top of the bucket that I've previously noted way above on this thread were very noticeably expanding as I was trying to pry the dozer sideways. We switched to a chain and more secure spot. It looks like some big welding is in my more immediate future, because the cracks make it look like if I were to pry on a stump a bit (or something) the whole bucket will get ripped off. That'd be a bummer but I imagine that'd make it a bit easier to remove the bucket for a new one...
Those old crawlers are tough... It was a bit painful when I sold the Cat D2 after inheriting it. Same kinda issues with stuck clutches and brakes. Couldn't get spark on the pony, so had to sell it non-running, listing the known issues. Guys that bought it came in the middle of the night (like 2am if memory serves). We loaded it up downhill on the trailer, controlling the roll with the JD300, all under several sets of headlights. Less than 24 hours later, they had it running, driving, and one steer clutch broke loose. Took a little longer on the second but they got that too. As much as I wanted to get it going, reality is I don't need a dozer, and it went to an excellent home, with knowledgeable owners. Hopefully your neighbor's machine gets the same fate.
Bucket rebuild is fun work. Don't wait until it is 90 degrees out to do it.
Aighead, Somehow, while I was reading your story, I kept waiting for the part that the tractor came to your house...LOL
The old saying. ‘No good deed goes unpunished’… I often ‘volunteered’ to help and find myself in a mess, but somehow never learn to mind my own business and do it again!
My wife, since my acquiring the backhoe and tractor, has taken to offering my help everywhere now... If she sees someone stuck in the snow or out and about and thinks I can do something about it she lets me know. I do enjoy helping where I can but not every time, maybe.
I dunno... Sounds more like she wants you out of the house... Seat time is generally nice, and I enjoy helping folks too, but when it's stupid cold, the fun aspect kinda goes out of it...
My wife knows better than to volunteer me. I'll generally help others in need; I'm not heartless. The last time I was volunteered though, the people needing help, didn't want to participate. They just wanted someone else to do it for them. After that, I made it clear my time wasnt to be given away without my prior consent.
My wife volunteers me to help with HER volunteer projects but not with any projects involving machinery. It's been a while since I was called upon to help a neighbor. Last time one of them had a heavy bush hog they wanted loaded on a trailer. I did get a thank you. One of that neighbors renters asked me to bury a horse once. I ended up doing all the work including winching the animal out of the stall with my come-a-long then dragging it to where they wanted it buried and putting it in the ground. When I dropped the animal in the hole it didn't fall to their liking and they wanted me to reposition it. I said no and filled it in. They left me a 5 gallon can of diesel at my gate. The next time they wanted me to bury a horse I was totally involved prepping for my barn build and didn't have time. I apologized but told them I just could stop what I was doing. From that day on they looked the other way when they drove by and wouldn't even wave to me.
I’m usually on the short end of the stick. I’ve often said ‘There are only two kinds of people… Givers and takers’. Just the fact that your here says a lot about all of you! And Thank You!
I've been there on the livestock burial as well, but the folks I've helped were appreciative with either their thanks or cash. I maybe shouldn't mention that it's been a while. I also didn't like the yanking the horse from the stable part, but I had some help with that. Luckily, my wife only volunteers me for generally easy stuff. If I can pull someone out of a ditch I will. It usually takes longer to make sure I have a chain or strap and to open the barn than it does to do the work. I was out there for a while moving that dozer around but the other guy was re-chaining and all that junk and it was kind of fun to watch my machine move something that weighs probably as much or close.
Helping out is one thing and hopefully the other party appreciates it and thanks you. It's not good when a neighbor or someone just expects you to come and help them whenever they need it. Oh, he has a backhoe, etc... he'll just come over and do it. It doesn't work that way. The other end of the spectrum is when a neighbor will only help you if you pay them. I've mentioned before about my neighbor wanting 150L's of diesel ($175) for pulling out my dump truck on my property. I won't be offering to help him out anytime soon.
A good friend had a 17000 LB pulling tractor. He would ask me to move it for him. One often repeated trip was 39 miles each way to his home, another 45 each way to the pull. My old truck was gasoline fueled & the whole trip was up hill or down. Fuel cost about $1 per mile. I charged him $200 to haul. He never objected, but I felt he was a bit stung. I didn't feel so bad about it, truck, trailer & tooling cost me about $20,000. CDL wasn't simple or cheap to get. Insurance, registration, inspections, upkeep aren't free.
That's more than reasonable. Nothing wrong with getting paid to cover your expenses when you have to go out of your way. Not having to go far for the odd time you can help someone out as a favor. There may be a time they can return the favor. Another lopsided deal I had was with the guy I bought my property from. He bought an 8N tractor and asked if I could pick it up with my truck and trailer. Yeah, I could do that. The day he wanted to do it I was busy but said he could borrow my truck and trailer. First I had to string all my chains and tie down straps together to pull my trailer about 75' through a soft field with the skid steer. Hooked the trailer up and he said it was about an hour away. 4 hours later he finally gets back. Says he got lost but more importantly complains about much gas my truck uses (Chev. 6.0L). He said he put $50 in and then had to put another $40 in to make it back. He was driving around lost for 3 hours and another hour to get back! I mistakenly figured he might have at least bought me some gas since I let him borrow my truck and trailer. Most decent people would fill your tank. Nope, not a drop! Truck had a little over a 1/4 tank when he left and when I hopped in to unhook the trailer the gas gauge was exactly where it was when he left. Wow! A little later he asked if I could clear a fence line for him with my track loader. Not a chance. He is the cheapest SOB I've ever run across mind you my current neighbor is about equal. If either was stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere at -20 I'd really struggle if I should even stop. Maybe if they gave me $175 up front I'd "consider" helping them. Easier to just drive by and ignore the cheap ba$tards.
I sold a racecar to some guys from Texas. Last minute they asked if I would meet them part way and said they would pay me. They had already wired the money for the car so I agreed. We didn't talk about how much. I met them 220 miles from my house and charged them $200. They acted put out but I told them less than a dollar a mile one way was more than fair.
Tell me about it. The registration renewal for my IH just came in the mail the other day. Almost $1200 for one year. Thankfully most people are happy to pay what I want when I move things for them. And the nice thing about a CDL truck is not many people can borrow it!
I had an IH single axle dump truck for awhile. It could be seen from the road, parked near my barn. Out of the blue one day, a neighbor that I rarely talk to texts me and asks if I can haul a load of top soil from the local gravel pit to his house, less than 20 miles total driving. I told him I charge $50/hr for trucking, but I could do it the next day if he wanted it. Never heard another word from him. It's been over 4 years.
Some people feel entitled. It's a little different if It's a neighbor you regularly interact with and would return a favor in a heartbeat.
One of the reasons I built my house a 1/4 mile from the road. The only way people see my house is driving up a winding gravel road or in a canoe. Can’t even tell how many times people have stopped me at the bottom of my driveway asking if they can borrow my backhoe or Kubota, or can I do a favor for them. I had one guy ask if he could borrow my Kubota for a month. I will help anyone out, within reason but I learned my lesson when I helped my good neighbor clear his yard when he bought his house next door. Part of it was my land and he is a good friend but I probably spent 60 hours and a lot of diesel fuel, nevermind chainsaw work, cleaning up. Then I let him use my Kubota with the bush hog and my York rake. He brought the bush hog back, with the deck collapsed, from backing into trees and half the tines were bent on the York rake. I tried giving him some pointers on running the loader and then unfortunately, I caught him back dragging with the back of my bucket and the asshoke came out in me. Told him from now on he pays for dirt work. Just can’t be running equipment for hours, for just a thanks. I buried a horse for the other neighbor and he gave me 300 bucks for 3 hours of work. Had to use a snatch block, to get her out of the stall and around a corner. I hate burying horses.
A friend’s s Percheron horse died in the stall of the horse barn and asked for help. To tight for tractor to pull that big animal out. They told me to cut a hole in the outside barn wall. Tried to get them to cut up the horse instead and save fixing the barn. No go. But I understood and complied. It was a long day. On lending stuff, I’ve had to much returned broken or not returned at all. My rule is If they don’t already own one then they can’t use mine. My thinking is if they own one they won’t need mine and if they do own one then they are less likely to break it. But I’d probably just go over and use it myself, it will be less trouble than having to repair it when it comes back.
I dug a big ditch for my best friend (noted way above, I'm sure) after moving the hoe to his house about 45 minutes away. He paid me well and was smart enough to not want to run the machine for more than a few minutes, as he didn't want to be the one to break anything. I was surprised at how much burying horses/cows hasn't bothered me. It's not fun but I expected to be much more grossed out by the process and I expected it to be much messier than it was. I was much more upset burying my last dog, and don't look forward to burying my current one (and the next one the wife gets any day now...).
That seems like a darn good deal.
The property next to mine is owned by the neighbor to the rear of me and there's about a half mile of space between his house and the "driveway" which is just a grass path to my neighboring property. It's 6 acres of land that has about 2 acres of trees maybe then about 4 acres of field that gets hayed. We've had undesirables around in the past, and sometimes people hang out in weird spots. Down the road from me used to be an ideal spot for people to deal drugs from their cars, as it was easy to see a long way one way and the other is an S turn where you could easily see headlights coming before you see a car so the interaction could go pretty securely. That has seemingly slowed way down or stopped, thankfully. Anyway, the past few nights, when my wife has been walking the dog she said she's heard people pull into that driveway and BS for a while. I sent the property owner a note saying as much and that we could put a log across the driveway if he wanted and move it when the field needs hayed. I found a mushyish log in my pile and forked it on over last night. It's a treat to have a backhoe and loader forks that make it so easy! I didn't have to chain anything or drag it or get outta the hoe.
Sounds like it's time for a good gate to be installed. We had a neighbor tell us they spotted a truck going in and out of one of our drives that leads back to a secluded hay field. My dad put up a trail camera and sure enough, some truck we don't know was going in and out in the middle of the night. We presume they were spotlighting deer because they weren't back there very long. Dad put the stop to it with a couple 6x6 posts and a pair of gates. Couple nights after he put the gates up, that same truck pulled up to the new gates, then backed up and never came back.
Yeah, you can see a worse-for-wear gate in the picture above and he said he may get out and put up another gate but didn't know when he'd have time... We'll see what happens. The log I put there could be moved pretty easily but would take some effort. I have bigger, better logs but I wasn't willing to part with them, so I can live in the eternal hope that I'll mill them one day.
It always confounds me that there are folks out there feel they can go ( trespass) wherever they want.... same with some folks riding 'round in atv's/ utv's.
I have 3 sitting off the ground ... nice oak logs.... been 4 years.. .... didn't get a 'round tu-it'. Now they are fire wood (MAYBE).... or an ant nest!
Amen! These people never worked hard for something like we have, so no pride or respect for those that have!
I have almost infinite logs that I'll mill one day, but also I watch some of them rot away... Sad. The worst we've had is a team of hunting dogs, like 15 little beagle-y guys arfing their butts off come running onto the property while I think their owners were out on the road. We were out doing yard work or something and next thing we know we are surrounded by dogs. I used the same "Get!" that I do with geese that threaten to land or hang out in the pond, and chased them off. We got no trespassing signs pretty quickly after that. Oh and another time we were out doing something... My yard is only about 200 feet wide and about 1500 feet deep, and there's like a big back yard area, then the creek and on the other side of the creek is a 2 acre field. It's almost entirely surrounded by trees along the property line so we can't see much of anyone else and they can't see us and folks don't wander too much, even on the street it's not common to see walkers or bikers or anything. Anyway, this time I looked up toward the back field and I see a skinny, long-dark- haired girl, looking like she's from "The Ring" walking towards me from about halfway down the field. Startled me quite a bit! Turns out she was the back neighbor's daughter, who thought she was in the field next door, mentioned in the story above. She was apologetic but we are very used to not seeing anyone. To the point that we don't have curtains on our bathroom window on the back of the house because you can't see in unless you are in the yard. Then you may get an eyeful.
I use to have a pack of small Beagles I ran deer with in my younger days. They are a hoot to play with. Funny story on the first time I took them out. I named them all after characters in the Jerry Clowers stand up stories . One in particular had very soft fur, was a little on the pudgy side, and was my wife's favorite. He was also the smartest in the sense he would only trail deer but he was too determined and wouldn't stop chasing one as long as he kept the scent. Anyway as I was loading them in the back of my old Bronco my wife sticks her head out the door and yells, "JUST MAKE SURE NUGENE DOESN'T GET LOST". I ended the day with ALL my dogs lost except one. By the following day I had them all located and back home except Nugene. A week later I got a call from someone that lived at the country club on the other side of the county saying they had my dog. I couldn't believe when I got there to pick him up they had him closed up in a Corvette so he wouldn't run away. They wouldn't even take my reward offer. My only problem with trespassers has been surveyors. They have a license to trespass in FL and most states and seldom contact people before they arrive on their property. They show up surveying adjoining property and put reference nails in my ground with a piece of tape on them and leave it there. I will leave them a couple of days then pull them out. If I see the surveyor I will ask them NOT to leave anything on my land that I might collect in a tire. One of them argued with me there was no danger of that and I told him the first $600 tire I ruined when plowing a fire line was his to buy.
I actually had a surveyor come to my door one day, asking for permission to access the SE corner of my property where there is a permanent survey marker set. He said the adjoing property they were surveying was too thick with brush and briars to access it from their side and he could walk right up to it from my side. I told him that was fine, but we had corn planted and he would have to park at my house and walk the ¾ mile back to the marker as I didn't have a path mowed back there. He agreed and off he went. He checked in before he left to let me know they were leaving. Pleasant enough fellow.
That is why they come on my property but none ever asked. First time it happened the wife was in the back yard and spotted him climbing over the fence in the back part of the property. None have ever been wearing a safety vest or any identifying clothing. It's a wonder more of them don't get shot.
I also saw two guys wandering around my back yard then they went out of site behind my shed. When I confronted them, turns out they claimed to be surveyors. I couldn’t understand why they were there since they were to be working for someone several properties away. Told them they might want to check in with people first because what they were doing is dangerous… a good way to ‘catch a bullet’! And told them to leave.
Surveyors and fish cops, license to circumvent the 4th amendment. lol
Game wardens too! Had some on my PA property. Didn't even have the decency to knock on my door and give me a heads-up.
....but they have sidearms!!... and uniforms too
Fish cops = game wardens? I am starting to have a house built. As part of the job I needed the 15 acre parcel I bought surveyed. As luck would have it the pin marking a boundary with my neighbor is in the wrong spot. It marks the line on the side of his property and behind his house. The pin is off 75 feet in both directions. His back yard is 75 feet closer to his house than he thought and my side line is 75 feet into my property. To try and start off on the right foot with him I walked the lines with the neighbor and he was friendly. He was interested in "possibly buying" the piece of my land behind his house. He gave me a tour of his property and he seemed to be a nice guy. We had a nice couple hours. We agreed and shook on making the property line where the pin is and changing our deeds. I even agreed to pay the fee for filing his deed. A few weeks later the surveyor drew up the map showing the proposed "land swap". I sent it to him. After a couple days I texted him to ask if he got it. Yes replies "you take weeks to get me this and you want an answer right away? I have to discuss with my wife.". Then a couple days later I get a call from my surveyor stating he just got off the phone with the neighbor and his lawyer asking questions. I was furious. I hired the surveyor and he calls with a lawyer and never invited me. When I contacted him he said "I will let you know by Wednesday at the latest". As of today it has been 6 months and no contact. We are having the pins installed correctly and the two property lines that border his property marked. He loses 75 feet of his backyard. I am pretty sure his chicken coups are on my land. He is dead to me now. You don't keep your word twice, I have no use for you. I fully expect to get some sort of letter from a lawyer or at least he will come over and say "I agree to the land swap". Too late, "I might build a house there to sell and need the 75 feet so I can do that according to zoning".
Sometimes, we end up with the worst friggin neighbors. Had same situation with last house. First day neighbor shows up and walks the property line, telling me what’s his. Got the plot map out and found out the end of driveway is definitely on my property. For some reason, every other lot has a concrete post on the north corner except mine, where his driveway is. I let it slide, till a skid steer and dump trucks show up. Both his kids had just got their licenses and they needed to double the driveway for parking the kids cars. I told them to leave, neighbor starts yelling. I was glad to move and build my house on 20 acres of family land.
My son went through three years of college training to be a game warden. Before his fourth year he learned it is nearly unheard of for VT to hire a game warden younger than age 29. He is NOT a patient man! Waiting 8 years was not in his agenda. Last year in Paul Smith's College he switched to my life dream, he studied surveying. A real hot shot, more energy than he should have, he filled a need for field surveyors. He also is VERY sharp in new technology. 6 years after college he uses a drone, or sits in an office with a computer. Earlier, he was sent to survey a factory facility. He is out in the extremes of the property swinging a machette. Security charged him, demanding a bunch of information. When a number of phone calls were ended, security took his machetti, he'd have to survey without it. At his wedding, his father in law took the microphone, admitted to snooping his truck. Seeing the axes, machetti, & tools of destruction, he imagined a murderer. I'm not one to speak in public. I might have had two toddys that evening. I couldn't stop myself, I took the mic. I said: "When Zack was three years old, I was building the garage. I was trapping mice. Early one morning I caught a mouse by the tail. I wanted to finish it off, didn't want to traumatize a three year old. I carried it behind the building to do the deed. He followed. Then I noticed he had found a railroad spike. He held it in his hand head down, hoping to do the honors of killing it."
My front property line is right on our snowmobile trail here. One rider felt extra adventurous this year and rode off the trail and up onto my property just long enough to mow over a row of fir trees I had just planted last spring. There will soon be a fence there.
That’s unfortunate. As much as I like people enjoying the outdoors, I hate when people do stupid crap like that. We gave up sleds decades ago, when the snow downstate disappeared but have gotten into SxS’s. We go up north for vacation and really all over doing it but not for tearing it up, more for the views and seeing different places. We tend to not tolerate riding with other people, that are not considerant of property lines and signs. Leaves a bad taste as I don’t want to ride, where we are not wanted. We do have a problem with non landowners that want to own big property, posting other peoples property, because they don’t want you there. Have the same problem, with hunting areas.
Right now it’s getting repaired and prepped for paint.
Today it was taking down trees. "New" water system 30 years ago, "low bid" contractor did a lot of damage to tree bark. All the trees along the roadside were buggered. All had spots where injuries hadn't healed. The trees were mostly bad around the stump. It was in preparation for losing the trees I built the stone wall. It is time to take them out before they fall down in a storm doing damage. I usually pull trees down, or push them down. These might break if I winched them down. Power line is near enough to want to be certain where they fell. These I boxed, then back cut leaving a thicker hinge wood than I might, then I pulled. It works very well to put a bit of tension, enough to lift the chain off the ground, then do the chainsaw work. Last step is pull a little harder.
Looks like most or all of your snow is gone
How long of a chain you running for that Willie? I don't have long chain money but when I cut down the mulberry I had the hoe about 15 feet up pushing, just a hair, in the direction I wanted it to go while I cut my wedge and back cut, I didn't really like it.
Yeah, we are West of the Green Mountains. Prevailing snow comes from the west. As it pushes up crossing the mountains, it can't carry as much moisture. Usually you get the big snows while we get a few inches. I remember one year we had a foot on the lawn. A 1-1/2 story camp at Griffith Lake, we rode snowmobiles onto the roof.
I think I had 120 feet out. It gets heavy running it out. I'd have used the Power Wagon winch, but it needs a gas tank.
When I can get that close to the tree I dig up some roots in a V shape between the tree and hoe then push the tree over stump and all.
The snow is mainly all melted here as well. North facing slopes still have a little, and where it's been piled up. Last week was much too warm for March, but for some reason, mud season has been very minor this year so far.
Was also surprised by the lack of mud, warm temps pushed the frost from the ground quicker than usual.
Not sure we are going to get a mud season, worst was our driveway. Thinking of putting in about 4 to 500 feet of fabric over the bad areas. The last 5 or 6 loads of stone had so much fines, it packed great but all the stone sunk out of sight. It’s down there because I skimmed down about 5” and there it all was. Thinking of pulling up about 6 loads and trying to put some fabric in.
The geo fabric works. I put it over the sub soil for my driveway, and at my sister's place. It has kept the rock up where it is wanted and helps it dry out faster. We have bad clay in the sub soil so any rock placed without fabric just pushes down into nothing in short time if something isn't done to stop it.
I think 1-3/4" drainage stone works great. By itself it will take a lot of it to firm up the muck. Start with a trench to drain the muck, fill it with coarse stone, then top that with the 1-3/4. If there is no downhill to drain to, you have to build it up. Ultimately you have to have the road surface a foot or more higher than the shoulder of the road.
When I built the driveway, I took out all the burden and startle with 5” minus in the low wet areas and 1 1/2” after that and then to 3/4”. Just seems during spring, the top of the driveway in certain sections are just turning to grey muck, which I know is the stone dust. I literally have 10k in gravel but the last 6 or 7 loads were real light on stone and very heavy on the fines. When dry, it’s tighter than all get out but wet, turns to mud. I have a decent crown but it’s staying in the grey muck. Hoping to reclaim a bunch of it and put fabric down and recover. I have 3 to 400 yards of mostly sand and was wondering if I could use that as a base, under the fabric. I understood that maintaining 800+ feet of gravel driveway through a wet are was going to be a challenge but after 3 years, my driveway is worse than ever. Oh well, more gravel and more diesel, I guess. I used the fabric netting 35 years ago, with good results on my camp up north, with a terrible steep driveway and a lot of 5” minus but these wet areas are aggravating me. I know how to build a road, driveways, I guess I suck at. I even mixed up 500 gallons of calcium and wet it down, 4 years ago, that worked great. It really has to do with the trees and the shade and frost but I like the trees for privacy.
I have a Right Of Way to my property. Town Road dead ends, my ROW begins. It angles up across a sidehill on the neighbor's lawn. ROW document says "16 feet wide travelled surface, together with additional width for drainage, shoulders & ditches." I try to be a good neighbor, my road passes across the hill above their house. A single culvert would concentrate run off toward their house. I didn't want to do a great deal of excavating to remove sandy loam soil. I just built up a thick layer of 1-3/4" stone so the road is elevated well above the surrounding lawn. it is about a 10% grade. No standing water ever, Rain runs along the ditch upper side of the road, passing it to Otter Creek well away from their house & driveway. I like the drainage stone as water passes down through it keeping the surface dry immediately after rain.
Because my brother did not want a culvert in his front yard, I put in a 3’ catch basin and ran the outlet to the bottom of the farm pond. That does help the bottom of my driveway as it keeps the sides dry but my damn driveway is still a mud pit, lol.
It's likely not the same as a properly made driveway, and it's anecdotal because regardless of advice that I got from the fine folks here I decided to do it my way, which was wrong but in budget (and I don't know what I'm talking about!)... I put a crapload of sand in the bottom of my barn, I don't think I put any geotextile in (which may have made a massive difference?) and I put big gravel (2-4") on top of that and small gravel on top of that. I found, with the sand it behaved like snow that would not melt. It just squashed around all of the place. I couldn't get it level ever, every step I took it squashed around. After adding the big gravel I expected it to firm up a bit, it did not, I couldn't ever level that out real well either. After adding the small gravel it did start to firm up a bit, especially under parking spots for the backhoe and tractor, but now so much in the rest of the barn, and I should still get a compactor out there and run it around for several days to knock everything in a bit. Again, I imagine my lack of knowledge on this stuff is understood by now, but that was my experience with sand. For what it's worth, surprisingly, my barn that is on a pretty steady downhill slope and I expected it to be wet. wet, wet, has stayed very nice and dry through all the big rain events we've had. I expected all my rocks to sink in but they have not. I did add buried corrugated pipes around all the wet sides, dumping to pretty massive holes full of rocks, that may help more than I realize.
I leveled the foundation for my barn with sand and had a similar experience. I got it as close as I could and drove the hoe back and forth over it to compact it. Then I went back and forth with my smaller tractor. I finished it by hand with a garden rake and put a large tarp over it. Then I added 4 inches of crushed red brick. It came out firm and level but I think the tarp causes it to hold moisture. I have a lot of condensation. The company I bought the sand from listed it as a good choice for a foundation. It was certainly squirrelly to work with.
Water is the curse of any hard surface. I was amazed that quicksand is nothing but sand, water, & vibration. A person I know built a new home after Hurricane Sandy on the Jersey shore. Pushed Yellow pine poles 110 feet deep in the sand. They used two poles each fastened end to end. The pile drivers don't pound, they push & vibrate. Vibration inserts water between grains of sand, it becomes quicksand. Leave it alone a few minutes, sand sinks, water rises. It becomes hard land under many tons of pressure. Roads don't have as much pressure, but they do behave absolutely differently with or without water. Drained roads don't pothole.
Well, the hoe finally did some work... Not much, but it was a start... Pushed some dead ash trees over, away from the pastures. I'm getting tired of cleaning up fallen branches, and trunks. Better to just rot down in the woods.
Its such a shame to see the woods full of dead trees.... I changed filters... new oil, and topped off hydraulic... then a once around with the grease gun. Then after a top off charge she fired up for the 1st time in '25. Put her to work 'harvesting' some dirt..... removed the black birch saplings to the burn pile, and mixed the top soil with the sub underneath... and piled up a 'triaxle' load waiting to be screened. The old hoe showed no leaks..... ....... maybe a weep or 3... Have to stockpile as much as I can get from this 'recontour' job... to be used 'round the house for final grading.
Yea, I'd say 25% of my woods are dead ash. It's real strange seeing grasses growing in the middle of the trees since there's so little canopy in areas now. Used to be nothing but ferns could live in the shade.
I have 2 big dead standing ash trees, in the property line, that are too close to the barn. My wife wants me to take them down and knock them into the neighbors yard (the neighbor has given permission) but honestly, I'm scared of them. I'll have to dig out some honeysuckle to get close enough to attempt pushing, but it's losing branches also, and some of them are 8-12" around and pretty high up. I've thought of cutting a big wedge out of the side and letting (hoping) nature take its course but it's all sketchy. I don't really have ropes of chains that are long enough for me to feel safe pulling them over. I wish I could throw a sticky hand grenade up there or something to knock out the big limbs, but I'm guessing I'll have to put on my big boy pants and hope the trees don't kill me. I'd hate to have to pay a bunch of money to have pros come get it when I should be able to do it myself.
Mostly, I wish I had taken them down when they were still good wood. The tops rot, and fall, and then you're left with a trunk that isn't quite as dangerous to work around, but by then the wood is garbage. I did one cluster some years ago, and ended up with a great stack of 4x6 lumber, and a few tons of really nice firewood. Any that are left standing now, are shot. Too tough to pull over easily, and too crappy to make any use of.
Yeah, that's where I am with them. Pretty sure they've been dead since we bought the house in 2016 and we didn't have a barn back there then. I'da been smarter to at least take them out when we decided where the barn would go. I can see cracks in all the bark and I'm none too pleased about their ability to snap off up high. I don't really care if they snap off and leave a stump but I don't like the idea of having to be under it to work on them.
I have my fair share of dead/dyeing ash trees. I had figured they would be extinct soon till I watched this video. I hope they are correct! I just did 6 of my gas powered machines in the last month. I still have another 5 or so to go. Oil, Fuel, Hydraulic, Trans, Grease as appropriate. Backhoe, Excavator, Generator, Log Splitter, Push mower, Jeep plow truck. Still want to get the following done before spring Gas generator, Gas water pump, SXS, 3ATVs, lawn cutting tractor, Small loader/backhoe...Damn, that is more than 5, i better get busy!
I have poison ivy that goes to the top and makes them look live . Don't like poison ivy!! I am with you!! I got hit real hard when taking down a maple with a dead top. Been wearing a hardhat since.
A photo might help with getting advice. I had a oak limb fall on my head one day while disconnecting my trailer. Damn thing bounced off my head and landed on the other side of my truck. I blacked out briefly but came to before I hit the ground. Was bleeding pretty good but no permanent injury or need for the ER.
Yeah, I'll try to get some pictures one of these days. I have a motorcycle helmet but currently no hard hat. I told the wife I'd wear a motorcycle helmet and she laughed but I was serious. Swetz, I have some of those poison ivy trees too! I keep meaning to mark them in the summer to knock them over in the winter but I haven't yet. I think it's only a couple.
Dead trees don't hinge the way green wood does. When you fell a live tree you box cut at near 90 degrees. A live ash I'd plunge cut to leave only 6" X 15% of tree diameter. this prevents barber chair. You want to keep the hinge in place until near the ground. Dead ash, the hinge breaks before it falls very far. Hire a professional, or pull it down with long chain. There was a dead ash among those I cut recently. 75 foot tall tree, I attached a chain 20 feet up, tightened 110 foot chain enough to be off the ground, boxed it as I would a live ash, made the back cut leaving about 15% of diameter, then tightened the chain.
If I didn't have a hard hat, I'd go with the motorcycle helmut... Sure gonna beat nothing at all. I don't think I'd want to be pulling out 110' of chain... I've got a couple 100' cables for that kinda work. I typically try to anchor to another tree if possible, and through a block so I can be offset from the fall direction. Regardless of your method, out of the way is the right way.
Ya know, I always forget that cable is an option... That seems more reasonable to manage than 100 foot of chain. Thanks. With ash I have to assume as soon as I get close to it with a saw that it'll just start shattering apart. Boo.
I need to invest in some good used rope. I probably have 300’ of chain but as soon as you get 50’ out, it’s just too damn heavy. Last moose hunt, I was able to borrow 200’ of good rope from a lineman company and that stuff pulled a 960 cow with a snatch block like nothing. I have no idea where you buy good rope anymore and probably don’t want to pay for it. I keep perusing CL and FB marketplace, some day. I was pulling some vines down pretty far away with my Kubota and had a hard hat on and still got brained so bad, I was stumbling around like a drunk and the damn strap cut into my forehead and I was bleeding pretty bad. Barely broke the skin but Merde, no more.
Maybe a couple of these? https://www.amazon.com/Ucreative-Synthetic-Winch-Extension-Vehicle/dp/B0BZNZ6JFM/ref=sr_1_6?adgrpid=1335907189425669&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dhSo-6cbhQIaWFuN-agE9DmefhU7Jc0HEjriPUN_D_eQ0Je1PE86WzWWTXBDbbRdoK46WjQfmp6NnXNK3qzK-Q_E6ECPzqvzQU7SKtVyKs3mJ4qf_CiCeMoAX9Ei0x7BQRoz_u0tWj7lYf1WX_vvGMf_OgAGudpvsQZeYWWFiaT3gLtx41wkFx16mu2nv3Ux6pX_3hQcRlMrWV4UPjhUFAgijyVBWfRcHdVjY4_qTZ79Ak1gllH7m04GE9Z8GovnxpSP-IiAerzDHp9Q4TipH260QdDW7nYHLwIMIE_1R4CotC5xVn0ZKFzlmS1kwj1yO01hTspSq3hZJerXUyNHKZ4Rm08IvlsdWd6sYSqon3_GJdc66MJRplwkhr7fGhNoP9leksnZReEsHPKJ0R-lihXlfMSEYIJ-8jVRqjk3l86-9znjS8falcCsYdO0kYxd.gHhQB-Evy9W040tvjPPRiX_z7HPlMwSMOVEye4I5E6w&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83494542956408&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=100854&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83494534815058%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=7027_13291095&keywords=synthetic%2Brope&mcid=8376074aacf63a49abc4389ecf37a1ce&msclkid=296758977459198ea87c3f7b32830f96&qid=1743538035&sr=8-6&th=1
That might be, I replaced the 100’ winch rope on my SxS and have that. It’s only 3/8” but supposedly 2500 lbs. be better than a chain or a cable snapping. My neighbor who has a couple or Roll offs, just went to these Kevlar winch cables and claims he loves them. Not sure what his insurance company would say though. I did a few runs last weekend with one of his trucks for him and while the new ropes are nice and lightweight, you can’t slide them under the cars like the cables.
My daughter had a friend whos' horse had a heart attack and died in the trailer when they loaded it. They didn't have any place to bury it so I agreed to bury it on the back of my property. I used this quick release knot with a long tail to pull the large dead horse out of the trailer with 5/8" braided nylon rope. I wish I would have used the same knot on the backhoe so I didn't have to cut the other end off of it but I didn't lose much at that end. Dragged it out and into a 12 foot deep hole like it was nothing. Pulled on the long tail of the rope and it came right loose from the hind legs.
Thanks Swetz, that looks pretty good and not terribly expensive. I wonder about the capacity rating, that seem real high! I also wonder how throwable it is? Oh, now I'm seeing it's rope not cable. Probably more throwable that way. We've got another supposed real big storm coming in tonight, 70+ mph winds, maybe I'll get lucky. I should have gone out and cut a wedge in it last night but didn't think of it until now. NH575E- You telling me the horse wouldn't have figured out to pull on the loose end? I'm guessing now that it saw how it was done it will... I doubt the horse you were dealing with had similar issues. Nice of you to bury it.
@aighead hard hats are cheap. You can get a decent one from Tractor Supply for $50. It comes with a face shield and ear protection built in. Or shop around online. A bull rope can be purchased from an arborist supply house, or off the internet. If you are pulling on trees, the recommendation is ⅝" diameter rope as the smallest to use. I bought a ¾" rope as the price was only slightly higher that the smaller bull rope, but the load capacity was substantially higher. I have a ¾" x 150ft long bull rope, 16,000 pound tensile rating. Cost around $200. An arborist is probably going to charge $500-1000+, depending on what equipment they need to safely get them down. For under $500, you can pick up the extra equipment and do it yourself, and keep the equipment to use for future projects. Also, you use a throwline with a weighted bag to get the big rope into the tree. Launch the throwline where you want it, then lower the weighted end to the ground, tie off on the bull rope, and pull throwline backwards to hoist the bull rope. Then tie a knot that will slide (daisy chains/running bowline/etc) on the free end of the bulk rope so it will cinch up on the trunk of the tree when tightened. I pushed over dead ash with my backhoe once. After the third tree we quit, got the rope out and winched them after a notch and back cut were made. They started to shatter in the trunk low down with the backhoe, making them wildly unpredictable. The cut/winch method put the next 6 exactly where we wanted them.
Excellent advice Colson! Thank you! I was guessing in the thousand buck range for someone to come take it down. The shattering is what scares me about even getting under it to cut... We'll see what the big wind does tonight. I've pushed a few ash over, the one I'm remembering was at the end of the driveway (I mentioned it here a while ago) and I got it to crack and fall but it's left a 10-15' tall stump. It doesn't matter if that falls over.
?? Make for a good basketball pole?? grab a hoop, a backboard and a ladder.... 'April Madness ensues'..... of course then you'd need a light pole tree so you could play after dark..
I have an old meadow grown up to a variety of young trees. White pine are biggest, they average 20" DBH. A storm 15 years ago left most damaged, many are now dead. I've been pushing them down one at a time with the backhoe a few years now. Backhoe gives a level of finesse, I haven't had a bad experience. They rarely uproot the stump as they are dead & somewhat rotten. I was pushing out stumps with the 14600 LB dozer, and I got greedy. There was 70 feet left of a pine with the top broken out years ago, no bark. Seemed a simple push down. 8' of 10" diameter snapped off falling 62 feet. landed on the hood of the dozer, obliterated the air intake, missed me by an uncomfortable short distance.
T-town this brought back a nice memory of my grandparents installing a basketball hoop in their gravel driveway for me. They used some log that was probably 6-8" around and strapped the hoop to it. We had a nice time as a family out there, though the pole was pretty flexible, so it moved a fair amount, and the gravel was tricky to dribble on. I'd forgotten all about that. I'm sure it was to keep me out of their hair a bit and to stop me from asking them to take me to rent video games so much. I got the ol' hoe out yesterday, a bit nervous about how soggy it was going to be, to clear out the creek a bit in front and behind the culvert pipes under my bridge to the back field. I got lucky and it wasn't terribly soggy at all. I made the mistake of putting screens over the front side of the pipes, but luckily one fell off and disappeared into the ether, the one that is still on there collects a lot of small materials that have clogged it up. I'll have to get down there and cut it off sometime. There's been a lot of material pass through and the pipes are probably an eighth or so full of mud at the bottom, but they still move a good amount of water. I cleared stuff ahead of a big rain we had last night and according to shining the flashlight out there (the best I could do at about 445a) it looks like most of the water stayed in the creek and not up in the yard, great! I'm not positive if it's the reshaping of the creek in places, or culvert pipes that can actually handle the amount of water that passes by, or if it just hasn't rained as much, but the creek seems to be staying in the creek more now, woop! The artsy side of me thought this was a neat picture, I guess, looking at it on the computer I could have framed it a bit better and not over-exposed it!: Also, here are the ash trees I was talking about:
Well, looking at the ash, I'd probably be ok working that set... You still have some of the tiny twiggy branches up top, so the rot hasn't set in too bad yet. Once all that tiny stuff has broken off, I start to get real nervous working around them.
@aighead if I was looking at that Ash I would be tempted to try strapping my pole saw to the hoe bucket and seeing if I could trim some limbs from a distance. I would probably just destroy my pole saw though. I have seen videos of people cleaning out culverts by pulling a tire through them. Don't ask me how they got the chain or rope through the culvert to tie to the tire. Maybe if it was still flowing water you could tie a float on a string or rope to get that through then use that to pull a chain or larger rope through.
Not bad ideas NH, my culverts are only 20 feet long so I could probably figure out something. Good point about the little branches, Toolslinger. I'm still scared though!
The trees aren't rotten. Branches are rotten. Stumps are brittle. These trees I think about removing my body from falling debris. I'd pay a pro, or I'd use a ladder to hook something strong to the tree high as I dared. Usual bird mouth, then back cut works fine, I'd leave a thicker hinge than I would on a living tree. With sufficiently long chain, cable, or VERY stout rope, pull slowly. Be advised a green hinge will guide a tree to near the ground. A dead tree, the hinge might break at 10 degrees of tilt. It is no longer a hinge, it becomes a deadfall.
My wife is a teacher. Twenty years ago her Principal retired. Principal's husband is creeping closer to eighty. He is a tree surgeon, swings through the trees like Tarzan. He routinely tips trees the wrong way gravity doesn't want. It requires a hinge & a tension force greater than the imballance of gravity. Dead branches kill. Dead hinges don't bend far.
...yes they do sadly... Even under 'good wood' conditions things can go terribly wrong working with a tree. Not much safer than a bucket truck and level space to work in..... oh, and no wires.
Mark is a good guy, he's a bit younger than me, I've got to know him better in recent years, though I've known of him all his life. He is a logger, sometimes he works alone. His brother for years, now his son drive the log truck, & sometimes help in the woods. 10 years ago he cut a tree, it fell as planned. Somehow a slingshot effect, a second tree tossed a dead large branch. Hit him on the hard hat & wiped down his left side. Broke numerous bones & severe soft tissue damage, including nerve damage he never did recover from. After a year of recovery, left arm still hung limp, pain severe, he had it amputated. I know several career loggers who've died or been severely injured from falling trees.
Some 20 years back my BIL next door and I had our adjacent properties selectively logged. A father and son team did the job... and a very efficient operation. Took grade saw logs to the mill, had some mill close by that made 'ties' with the low grade wood... and they chipped all the tops and sold that to a company that heated their greenhouses with the chips. We got paid by the load for the 'tie logs' and by weight for the chips. The father was old at that time.... but some 5 or so years back I read that he was killed in an 'on the job' accident. Not sure if his son is still working in the woods.... There is a non-profit in our neck of the woods called ALIFT... they provide financial support to loggers and/or their families who have suffered such tragedies.
As dangerous as working on heavy equipment can be, I always dread breaking out the chainsaw. I have about 6 more pines to take down for the season, hopefully by next weekend. They are all close to the house and need to direct them with the backhoe but there isn’t much that scares me, other than tree work. Just need to get these done to complete the pile, so the sawyer can pick them up.
Boy.... those are nice looking logs.... I could use 2 or 3 loads of 'em. Looking to turn them into a nice pole barn!
I have a pile of about 20 or 40 of them. Hopefully the farmer/woodcutter keeps his word and picks them up for free. If not, I will have to dump them somewhere. Now you got me thinking, how would you use them for a pole barn?
Run the logs thru a portable mill..... lots of 1x's for siding, some 2x's for framing, and posts, 8x8's and 6x6's. Stacked ( sticked) for a year and then your ready to build.
I think of a pole barn as pressure treated poles set in the ground. You DO NOT want pine for that! Anything structural of pine must be above ground.
Agreed... I have a problem with burying any wood in the ground..... but I think long term. These would be attached to concrete piers..... attachment point above grade.
My mother-in-law hired a truck to deliver furniture from her DC house to her Colorado house. Nice guys but oblivious to Colo weather & condition. Drug them up the last mile to the house.
Amish/Mennonite around here use larch for pole structures apparently lasts pretty long. Friend who lives 1/2 mile from Mennonite mill just followed suit used larch poles for 20x60 lean-to on shop. Fraction of treated lumber price. Next door neighbor had property logged 2 yrs. ago lots of straight larch "tops" laying around. Last summer I built a 24ft. bridge across the creek in yard. Used 8- 10"logs as base with 2" hand ripped planks as the deck boards. Used 2x6 treated boards under both ends for ground contact (not totally convinced of larch rot properties) Sturdy enough to support 27 fat girls-with sandwiches. Can drive my tractors into the woods now. thinking it will outlast me.
Picture of 27 fat girls with sandwiches or it didn't happen.
I agree T-Town, I saw Harley's log and said "Ooh!" I'd love to have a good supply of big, long logs, for similar lumber making uses.
My hoe braved the soggy conditions after the neighbor got her mower stuck (well, her helper got it stuck, then he tried to get it out with his truck and tried getting that stuck too). I walked over to see how wet it was and was surprised to find it not too bad until getting right to the point he got stuck. I was going to use the tractor but thought with the turf tires it may not go so well, so I got the hoe out. Pulled the mower out with ease and didn't rut up the yard too much. I talked to her for a bit after. This the lady whose husband died about a year or so ago and he had the bulldozer that I've mentioned a few times. Turns out she gave the bulldozer away, and called the people who got it and a bunch of other stuff scammers, I'm not so sure. She's put some prices on stuff but I told her to let me know what stuff she is selling so I could find reasonable value of the items, lots of tools, welders, air compressors, jib crane, bulldozer, skid steer, etc. She never talked to me about it. Turns out she's trying to sell the house, which is way too much work for her, so that'll be good. She doesn't get outside much and works a lot, so I'm sure the house and property are decomposing, though the house was built in the 70-80s so it's still in ok shape. She doesn't get out much to the point that she said she'd never seen my backhoe (she called it a backhole) even though it's been in her driveway numerous times for extended periods of time and running around in my yard, making noise and causing trouble... I'd like to be able to buy her house to fix it up and sell it but she thinks she can get way more than what I can afford.
Real estate is nuts... My neighbor died in his driveway a couple years ago. (no loss to the world, but nobody should go out that way) The place is a dump, on a postage stamp lot surrounded by my uncle's place, and I'm across the road. I thought I might be able to pick it up, and just demo it to bring it back in to the property... His estranged kids told me the price they were listing it for. 3x what I was thinking it would sell for. They got it... Not from me though.. So I have a new neighbor. Nice folks, but they're in trouble if their cess pit fails. Not enough property to put in a septic...
As much as real estate is a great game to get into, sometimes it can get frustrating. There is an acre field between me and my brother and I have 4 acres out to a state road all along a state river and my father tried to acquire it 40 years ago, to square our properties off. Bank will not approve and we have decided when the decides to sell, we may be taking a mortgage out. Would love for that 150 year old farmhouse to burn to the fieldstone crawl spaces, just to have a normal lot and not have a neighbors property that splits me and my brother out front. We have approached them with a trade for their 1 acre for 4 of wetlands that squares their property also and for 40 years and 4 different owners, they always agree but they always owe too much to the bank and they won’t allow it. My wife and I have an agreement that whenever it goes up for sale, we are going to buy it. We will rent out the old farmhouse and have it surveyed, to square the properties off.
I've learned I don't know nuthin bout no real estate. I was offered 8-1/2 acres that adjoins my property for $32,000 back in the 80s. I thought that was nuts and it didn't matter because I didn't have the money or so I thought. In hindsight I should have figured some way to buy it then. As time went by the old guy died and the property was split between one of his sons and his daughter. The son got 5 acres of it and I told him a couple of times I would like to have it if he ever wanted to sell. Years went by and one day I was driving out and there was a realtor sign on it. I got in touch immediately and ended up buying it for $46 grand. The guy that owned it lost $3 grand in realtor fees by not calling me first. Not two weeks went by and the other 3-1/2 acres went up for sale. They were asking $35 grand for that which I figured was nuts. In my mind I thought it would sit unsold for a while and I would make a low ball offer. It sold for asking price within a couple weeks. That guy sat on it a couple years and a developer offered him double what he paid and he sold it. I now have two neighbors in half million dollar houses next door. Thank goodness I at least got the 5 acres between us so the developer didn't build all around me. The 5 acres I bought is actually 3 lots. This land is all on a non-county maintained road with no maintenance agreement and covered in sickly looking pine trees. Both of the new neighbors have had tree damage on their out buildings. The last one had a tree fall on, and divide his pole barn in half and it's sat unfixed for weeks with the tin flapping in the wind. I can't imagine how or why people would pay those premium prices for sub par properties? The old saying if you snooze you lose comes to mind.
Yup, been there, done that. Oh, the stories I could tell. The missus & I always loved the ocean. Living in Vermont ocean front is hard to find. We fell in love on, and with Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusets. We desperately wanted land "on island". I looked into the value of kidneys, we'd each need 12 to sell to raise the down payment on a 1/4 acre building lot in a jungle of overgrown brush mid island. Gave up on that. We learned of Quaddy Village, Moose Island ME. It had been a US Navy Construction Battalion project in the Roosevelt era. Roosevelt was going to spend the nation out of The Great Depression. The plan was to build the bigest hydro project ever. There would be a need for housing. A village was built, cape style homes, others, duplex were colonial style 2-1/2 story, probably 200 homes. 1937 Congress didn't fund the project. No jobs, no people to live in them, the village went stagnant. 50 years later, I arrived. My contribution was small. I bought an ocean front double lot with power, town water, and sewer for $5000. I convinced the love of my life ocean front property could only grow in value. I dreamed of building a small house on it, where we could sit on the porch, or in a window, stare at the bay & sip bourbon. Mrs HATED the place! 15 years later we accepted it was my dream to have a house there, not her's. Put it on the market. A real estate agent suggested we ask $2000. Years later, thousands spent on advertizing, we sold it for $15000. perhaps a break even factoring the value of a dollar.
That's a bummer Willie... Harley, I like to think I'd like river access, but flooding makes me nervous. I would consider hydroelectricity though! NH, I have a neighboring 6 acres that is the twin of mine that my neighbor to the back owns. I've probably mentioned it but the first thing I said to him when I met him was "Let me know if you ever want to sell that property." He just kind of chuckled. I'd love to have it and we'd find a way if it was ever an option. The wife and I have discussed sitting down with he and his wife to discuss it but we haven't done it yet. I'm sure the value of the land is just going up and up. I don't expect them to do anything with it but maybe leave it to their daughter and/or grandkids, but I'd fear that she may sell it off. Luckily, I think that is a ways off, but I'd still like to have the land. I'm guessing it's in the 40k range now, if not more. We wouldn't do anything with the land either, except maybe plant more trees to block some of the noise of barky dogs. Ha! On the barky dogs point... My street is maybe a couple miles long and just a country block or two away from less desirable neighborhoods. There are a handful of us that keep in contact pretty well and watch out for each other. Everyone is armed and we are all willing to keep an eye out and help with whatever we can. I got a call last week from a neighbor way down the way saying he saw some unknown person walking in a firebreak a couple houses down from me and the person said they lived in my house. The guy that called said "I'm going to go at him pretty strong, can you come out and talk to him with me?" I say sure, even though dinner is on the table. We have an S turn on our street and that's where the guy was, so I hop in the car and as I pull around the turn I see 3 other cars. I get out and the unknown person was way down the firebreak and very near my neighbor's house, an unknown family relatively new to the 'hood, with very barky dogs. We see the kid down there, so we all hop back in our cars and go to the neighbor's house (another guy rolls up on his Harley, so he joins the crew. Now there's 5 dudes in their driveway seeing what is going on with this kid. Turns out he lived there but no one had seen him, he'd just gotten off the bus who knows where and was walking home, but one of the ladies of the house came out too and met us all. We basically said it's nice to meet you and we watch out for the neighborhood and I imagine it was quite intimidating but we were also welcoming and apologetic upon realizing this was the kid's house. These folks turn out to be renters, in a non-renter kind of place. They've had bad interactions with their across-the-street neighbors, who are also friends of ours, and between some of their behaviors and the dogs barking the 'hood wasn't terribly pleased to have them so far. Anyway, this long story concludes with since then they've left their dogs out to bark much less frequently than before, so I'll take that as a win. There's been crime here and we don't want it to start back up. I don't think it's bad if we put some fear into folks occasionally.
Yes, my house is 71’ from the river and while half my land floods every year, my basement floor is a good 15’ or so above the water level. We have had floods that were real bad. Last one was in 2008, our house didn’t exist but my family home was cut off for a few days. Pretty soon, we are expecting the deluge of snapping turtles, that happens every spring and we will wake up in the morning with the dog barking her silly head off and there will sometimes be 20 or so snapping turtles all over. Some as big as the hood of my wife’s car hood. There is no chance of my house flooding but it still can cause issues. I am expecting another 300’ of driveway fabric, to be delivered today. Need to redo about 400’ of my driveway this weekend or next. There goes another couple of thousand dollars in gravel. Hopefully this time the gravel stays. I took out the burden when putting in the driveway and it’s graded well and crowned but it still turns to grey mud when wet. Bonus is, we can still do naked rain dancing in our front yard.
My hoe is impatiently waiting for shipping from Amulet Manufacturing. My son has done the grunt work. We had differing opinions how the hydraulics should be rigged. I wanted to utilize the one way hydraulic hammer circuit. Place a valve on the Extend a hoe dipper that'd be electrically controlled. He favored a selector valve mounted under the tractor. A toggle switch selects between stabilizer, and thumb. Stabilizer doesn't need port relief, so an additional valve is needed for that. Common thumb failure is when the thumb is in a fixed position, you squeeze with the bucket, pressure at the butt end of the thumb cylinder is too great. Typically the rod bends. Port relief valve sends excess to the hydraulic tank at low pressure. It has been a long haul, I let him take point on this project. Utilizing existing hydraulic lines has required a number of welded fittings to connect Case steel hydraulic lines to standard hydraulic flex fittings. I never did locate fittings made for the purpose, I ultimately machined available fittings to mate to steel tubes. I had a few bumps in the road. First fitting I welded a stainless 316 fitting to steel tube with 316 stainless filler. I got considerable "burned sugar" inside the tube. Second fitting, I back purged with argon. My purge rig was not well enough ventilated, made interior pressure, blew a hole in the tube. I worked the bugs out of my technique, switched to 309L filler with success. We've gone as far as we can until the thumb arrives.
Does anyone know what sort of steel the Extendahoe dipper of a Case 580 Super N is made from. I'm planning to weld with Dual Shield gas shielded flux cored wire, spray transfer. As it is filled with grease, I'm reluctant to use much pre heat.
I'll pass on the big snappers Harley! Willie that sounds like a lot of work! I hope it goes well!
Last fall, I was welding a pad on my dipper for the thumb bracket to hit against, instead of the dipper arm. Over the years it had created quite a big crease from the thumb bracket hitting it. It’s been on for over 30 years. From welding a shelf up, the inside of the dipper at the end by the bucket pins, that had accumulated years of grease and hydraulic oil caught on fire and smoldered for a week before we figured what that oil burning smell in the yard was coming from. Put it out twiCe before I finally climbed up on a step ladder and had to remove 1 hose to get in there well and flood the whole dipper arm. Took a while and the black crap that washed out if there, is still visible in the gravel. Big mistake. My wife ran into the shop yelling FIRE, FIRE, FIRE. LOL
My wife won't be around much next several days First grandson, third grandchild is emerging as we speak. If it goes well she will be 100 miles away when the last flame dies out. A little fire inside contributes to austentic crystal formation, (that is a good thing).
Congratulations Willie!
Yup, he was born 12:35 AM perfect. My wife describes him as angelic, I said "Wait four years when he sets the dog on fire, we'll see if you still use the word angelic."
Yah, it wasn’t a ball of fire, we could just faintly smell that grease and oil smoldering for a whole week, every time we went outside. If you can imagine how bad that burning grease and oil smell, how bad it was. It was all the way down into the dipper arm, right by the pin for the bucket. The first time, I just sprayed the hose down there and considered it done. Evidently, the grease and oil in the dipper was over 12” maybe even 16” deep. The dipper never really got that hot, paint is still on it but when she finally figured out where it was coming from, it was kinda important. lol Congrats Grandpa.
I am with @aighead , congrats on your wife not being around!!! Oh yea, congrats on the new grandkid too
Congrats Willie B!!
My hoe got a bath today. Picked up a hot water/steam pressure washer that needed some fixin' from Facebook market for pretty cheap. Got it all fixed and ready to rumble yesterday. Man is that nice; cleans so much better than my old cold water one.
When I was a tech for the utility company, we had a wash bay. In the bay they had a hot pressure washer. It was incredible! I have always wanted one, but haven't gotten one. That looks great! congrats on the purchase!!
I’ve used them in the past, great for removing old grease and dirt that has been ’aged’ onto the machine. I have two that were given to me, both with problems. One needs the electric motor, the other needs the heating coil. My plan is to marry the two together. Just need the time. Sooo many projects…..
Agreed....And they said I would be bored when I retired...aint heppening!!
Lots of folks told me that when I retired, some even bet that I would get another job! Got to many things needing done on my list, and it seems the ‘Honey Do’ list trumps mine!
As much as I would love a hot pressure washer, I can’t justify the cost, unless one were to fall in my lap, so to say. What I did do for the meantime, was for the dog and for convenience, I put 2 hot water faucets outside. Being that my potable hot water is set for 120 degrees, on my on demand hot water heater, it comes out quite hot. When I used it for the first time last fall, I turned my heater up to 140 but after 10 minutes, you couldn’t hold the pressure washer wand, without gloves. Will see over time, how it affects the pressure washer as it wasn’t designed for hot water but it did work excellent, much better than cold water. If course, the pressure washer manual warns against using hot water.
We have a Chinese brand hot water pressure washer like what @eKretz has. You don't wash without some kind of gloves on to insulate your hands from the wand. The dial goes all the way to 180°, but we found the o-rings in the wand break down real fast at that setting. We usually run it around 140-150°F and it does a great job of stripping grease and oil off equipment without causing the o-rings to fail rapidly. We are running the high temp rated o-rings we got from a local dealer, but they don't last any better.
First few years I thought I would have to get another job so I could get some rest. Anybody remember steam cleaners? Nowadays they all refer to little electric things for upholstery cleaning but back in the day we had big ol kerosene fired boiler machines for cleaning engines and stuff.
Had an incident with a steam cleaner when I was 17. Was trying to put a drilled out zerk fitting for a nozzle tip as owner (my father) was too cheap to buy anything. Zerk fitting somehow flew off and drove into my thigh about 2” into the muscle. Of course it was so hot, it kind of cauterized itself in there. Dad had to explain to mom that I got shot with a grease fitting and had to go to the hospital to get it cut out. He bought some new nozzles after that. That thing would fill the shop with kerosene fumes if it didn’t light off right away. Never did get infected. lol
We have a diesel fired Mi-T-M washer and that thing will smoke like a locomotive if it's not burning right.
There should be an air shutter on the burner intake to adjust air/fuel ratio. Adjust it one way until it exhausts white smoke and note that position. Adjust it the other way until you hear rumbling or see black smoke and note that position. Set it in the middle for a quick ballpark. Had to do that adjustment on mine. Also check the igniter pins periodically. They should be about 3/16" apart and about 3/16" offset from the spray nozzle. Too far away from the nozzle and they could have trouble igniting the fuel as quickly as they should. Too close together and the spark might not be as hot as it should. I wouldn't have this one either except I got it really cheap, and saved another $200 off the agreed price by fixing an electric hoist for the seller. This one sells new for $4,500ish. And it's made in Minnesota. I got about $1,000 into it, all in with all the repair parts, including one I machined myself. I get most of my stuff that way. Save a lot of money. Couldn't buy that fitting without buying an entire new duplicate flow switch, so I made one from scratch. This one's diesel or kerosene fired; temp dial tops out at 300° - and the gun is specially made for hot water use. Lots of shielding and insulation. Probably will still require more frequent o-ring replacement. I have accidentally put a hand where there's a bit of exposed metal and yeah, that hurt. It'll teach you to be careful or wear gloves pretty quick! And yes, it sure does melt grease and oil off in ridiculously quick fashion. Even used it to clean the greasy mess out of my range hood condenser screens from over the stove. Easy work with this thing.
..that and of course your time..... but, ...... what else would ya be doin?? Great find and nice job!!
Yup, it's mine though, so it's free! If you count the money I save over the hours I spend though, I get paid pretty good! Haha.
Mine got a thumb yesterday, connected hydraulicaly today. I had to attend a meeting this evening, make the electrical connections tomorrow. I deal with rocks, trees & stumps. A thumb is near essential.
... that's what the apes said..... ...Great job Willie B !
My dog desperately wishes she had a thumb, especially when trying to open doors and treat bin lids.LOL
100% agree!
Making good use of the new thumb this weekend. Our son & daughter in law live in the house she grew up in. 35 year old swing set is two power poles set in the ground with 4 PT 2 X 10 across the top. Not deep to ledge, they weren't set deep enough, both leaning. We set mafia blocks a bit below grade as guy anchors to hold them upright. It started raining mid day yesterday, so we switched gears & launched into a major clean up of rotten trees. Several loads hauled in as fuel for sugaring had laid around too long, and a number of dead trees needed cleaning out including digging out stumps. It all got burned today. Seth came up with a leaf vacuum 8 HP Briggs, it really moves some air! Didn't finish what we hoped, but did accomplish a major cleanup. I wonder how I ever lived without a thumb. I've had a backhoe 24 years, 8 of those without a thumb. The machine is so much more useful with thumb.
If it doesn't do anything for long enough and you have clay stuck in the stabilizers the bumble bees will make their nests in them.
That is crazy!
Thinking about welding my thumb back on. I welded it directly to the boom which worked fine for 8 years then the metal tore out around the welds. I just cut it off and welded up the holes but it looks kinda ratty. I have metal to weld over it all to reinforce the boom and weld the thumb to that but I haven't taken the time. The main reason to put it back on is just to make it look better. I have a JD 4310 CUT with a grapple to move the wood around after it's down and cut up.
I have a couple of fake owls. I see birds coming in and out but haven't seen any nests. They can be a real annoyance when they nest and start crapping all over everything. My latest fake deterrence test is fake hornets nests. Most I saw on Amazon were paper but I found a 4 pack of some that are waterproof so I bought those. I put one on each end of my porch and a couple in the barn. They supposedly keep the wasps from building.
I have a lean to that I built 3 years ago and every year I have the, I believe, same damn family of birds nesting and crapping all over my tools and SXS. I have tried Gatorade bottles, deer antlers, I wonder if an Owl decoy would keep them out. Have one for hunting but don’t use it much any more.
I am going to look into this. I have a ton of wasps and yellow jackets at my PA house. Been stung a couple times too.
I have a fake out that sits on random stuff in my shop as I move it around, it has not worked. I think it did the first day I had it, and maybe would if I hung it somewhere, but the birds will fly right past it with no concern. I tightened up doorway gaps and such to lessen the birds. The crap was making me nuts.
A lady I worked with " class 8 driver " bought a concrete eagle. It was life size. She painted it and it looked awesome. Put it on top of a column at the end of her drive. Other birds acted funny for a few days. Then they figured out it was not a threat and dive bomb pooped hard all the time. Some birds do things that are strange to me.
I move my plastic owls around every now and then. They say if you leave them in the same place the birds will catch on that they are fake and start to ignore them.
Try tying up a few pie plate aluminum plates where the sun can shine on them and the wind can blow them around
Took down a few trees. Then discovered the new pre pump was leaking. Parked again till I figure out why.
Put 5 more trees on the ground. Kinda miss my thumb but getting by without it for now. Jury is out on the eBay fuel pump. Looks like there is a gap where the two halves meet but I loosened it up and wiggled it around and retightened it and it stopped dripping. Got all the bumble bee nests out of the stabilizer feet. Old hoe is running good and staying dry for now.
Nice of you to help the old guy.
My hoe was out on Sunday filling up my freshly made garden beds with Super Soil! I should be adding plants to it soon!
Please esplain to me how you get to drive an 8+ ton beast across the lawn without leaving ruts
Easy, wait for it to dry out and only drive over it once. Oh, and envision feeling light and airy. lol
15 psi will minimize ruts. A drained lawn won't be too bad. Think PSI ground pressure. A 21" wide tire has a lot of surface to spread the weight around. I'll guesstimate mine is about 14 PSI ground pressure.
It's easy... you don't! About a year after we moved in I found the need for a backhoe, so I rented one for a rainier than desired/intended week. I absolutely destroyed the yard with ruts. Then, after I found out how useful the backhoe was, I bought one and continued destroying the yard with ruts. I pick and choose my days a little better now, and I know where the wet spots are much better but sometimes there's not much avoiding it. My wife and I value progress over an unrutted yard, usually. I have covered most of probably 2.5 or so acres of the "yard" parts of the property and it's not terrible. My lawn mowing experience is less than desirable with lots and lots of bumping around but over time it has gotten much better. I've also tried dragging a roller around a time or two and that helps some. Oh yeah, not really the right thread but I put in my plants last night! Then I worried about critters, we didn't have any issue with that last year so we'll see how it goes this year.
Thanks for the explanation. My wife would shoot me. She doesn't want me running over the tree roots for fear they will all die. I hope you used something a little lighter to pull that roller around
If you want to tear up a yard run a tracked machine through it a couple of times. Even a mini ex with rubber tracks will do 10 times the damage a backhoe does.
I worry some about the trees but not a lot, for better or worse. We have lots of dead ash and a lot of junk trees. If I had a yard full of Sugar Maple and Walnut and Oak I may feel a little different, though we do have one volunteer oak that popped up that I drive past frequently and it's thriving. I used my mower to pull the roller but felt very quickly that it was much too light for the job. It did ok but certainly felt it struggle and it felt like I was just stretching the crap out of the drive belt. I'll put it behind the tractor in the future.
I like pick your days. I was on a budget when my I bought my 1994 JD 310D. Everyone said you need 4 wheel drive but at the time that was an additional 4000 dollars. For guys like us for personal use or bury a pony for my neighbors little girl we work on dry or frozen ground. You get nothing accomplished in wet weather. I much rather have extendahoe than 4 wh. dr. My neighbor asked what do I owe you for burying the pony? I told him there is no price in the book for burying a little girls pony. He brought me fresh eggs for over a year.
Or a rubber tired skid steer. I guess my van puts more pressure on each square inch of ground than the backhoe. I did buy new R4 tires for it a few years back, wish I had chosen the more expensive traction tread.
Yeah, new tires with the deep R4 tread and I just wobble like a bobble head down the driveway. lol
My neighbor dug a trench for some power to the pool we had with a rubber tired skid steer and jimoney, yes it did tear up the yard way worse than the backhoe.
We are 'just' getting to the point of having lawn to tear up.. but I am working my way from top down putting it in. Needed to 'finish' the top layer of rock on the retaining wall and backfill with some 'good' dirt for a planting bed along the wall. I used the day before the wetness to add the 'finish' coat of material for the parking area.... a tri-axle load doesn't look like much when spread.... which was done by back-dragging piles.... with some hand raking. I am a bit shy of material needed.... but then I have something to do another day.
Lookin good T-town! Thanks for the update!!
...speaking of..?? That shop goin up??
Yeah, looks real nice T-town!
Well, rite now it is a bit damp, LOL! I did sign a contract for the pole barn, and have a tentative timeframe of last week of July, or 1st week of August. The problem is, I am not finished with the pad. I was ready to start moving dirt about a month ago, then someone turned on the spigot. Since then we have gotten at least 6" of rain, and climbing as it is currently raining. At this point, I need a lot of hot, sunny, breezy days in the near future, or I will have to push it back. So to answer your question....I hope so...LOL
Waiting to see your new barn. I could use some of that rain down here if you want to send it my way. Been watering every day and about to run lines out to water my zinnia patch. I said I was going to let nature take it's course out there but I hate to spend the time and money just to watch my flowers die as they are about to bloom.
Used the 480E on a large culvert job recently:
555D on the job to help take out a problem maple. Old Betsy blew the lower bucket curl line right as I was about to start, so had to replace that first thing. She still has some "legacy" lines on her from the previous owner that are inside sheathing, so they're hard to inspect. I've been just replacing those as they blow. About 3/4 of the lines are updated now. This one looked like it might have been an original! Had my dad come over and give some help too. We had pretty high winds recently and it took out the top part of a maple tree near my house. Broke it off about 15 feet up and dropped it right into the top of another maple tree that was... of course... also near my house. It had already previously dropped a huge branch on the neighbors' back deck stairs and damaged them. Time for it to go for good. Started by clearing a bunch of branches, then chopping the base of the still attached bit of the top of the tree and letting it fall to the ground. Then lifted that with a chain and the backhoe loader and tugged it out of the top of the other tree and dragged it out where we could easily cut it up. Then came the tough part. Taking the rest of the tree down in a super narrow window between the corner of my house and the other maple tree. It was either that or pay somebody, and well, figured we could get it, and we did. About 26" trunk, so not *too* big, but decent sized. It brushed the hose lightly with the wispy branches in the left and brushed the other maple tree with the same in the right, so it fell *just about* as close as we could get to where I wanted it. Upcoming project: get rid of the other maple too. Here's what it looked like the morning I found it: After clearing branches and removing the top section: The tree where it fell: And why I hate Maple trees growing by the house.
@eKretz so it started the day with a busted curl hose and you still trusted it for a man lift? Sorry but I have seen the bucket sag and fall on both my backhoe and my John Deere tractor before without warning. NO WAY would I use either to put a person in.
It never occurred to me that a bucket would be dangerous for a man lift, as I have done it a hundred times. Guess now I will keep that in mind but to me it’s much safer than a scetchy step ladder and a chainsaw, as I have done that, more than a few times. Hardest part, is explaining to the wife, I want the bucket tilted back just a bit.
We all used the loader bucket as a man lift on a job I had years ago. It was an accepted practice. I admit it’s not the safest. I nearly fell out from full height, saving myself at the last second, but the chainsaw didn’t fair so well. Can’t say I’ll never do it again but I’ll take a few more precautions. I plan to build a cage/railing that hooks to the bucket like the pallet forks and use a harness. And always a well experienced operator!
I know it's not OSHA acceptable. And I know that there will be guys on both sides of that question. The front loader hoses are *all* brand new. The remaining old ones are on the backhoe, and that was the bucket curl line that blew, not the front loader bucket. The hose that blew was probably from 1994, when the machine was born. So yeah, I trust those new ones. I have never had any front loader drop on any of the machines I've owned, been using personal machines with loaders for 30 years without a single one dropping. I am pretty careful with keeping front bucket hoses in good shape, and I'm extremely easy on the hydraulics, and smooth with feathering. Sometimes, ya' do what ya gotta do. I asked if he wanted to wear a harness and attach to the bucket too, didn't wanna do it. If the bucket *were* to fall, it wouldn't do much good anyway.
Ain't plastic pipe the cat's meow !!??? Wonder if I could handle a metal one that big??? Nice job.....
Thanks, that was a 4'x20' plastic culvert, biggest I've set with that backhoe are 5'x30' plastic and 6'x20' arched metal culverts. I like the arched metal culverts because you get a lot of flow capacity without the height. We can get them in a DOT grade that are heavy gauge and both galvanized and aluminized, they supposedly have a 100yr lifespan. I do use plastic wherever I can though.
I want 2 start by saying, I am not a fan of having 2 take down maple trees. They all seem to split off into multiple trunks, of which 1 or more will be either dead or rotten. With this in mind, they will not be allowed anywhere near any structure I own. I have taken down several on my pa property. 1 in particular, broke off and hit me in the head. Not good! I now wear a hard hat when doing maples, ir any other dead tree! As far as getting in the bucket: I worked on manlifts of many types over my years at the electric utility. Without exception, every aerial device that is rated to carry personal have protection built in at the cylinder. Basically, they lock the oil in the cylinder should any component downstream fail (ie hoses). That said, does this guarantee that the cylinder itself will not fail, no. So, I guess one could look at it how much risk exists and decide if it is worth it. For me, I flew manlifts up to 165 feet without fear. But some amount of danger is inherent. I have also stood in a loader bucket without the protections of the valves. Everyone needs to make decisions for what is best in there situation. Thanks for sharing eKretz!
I will usually use my tree stand harness attached to the bucket, if doing any serious work. Just a few months ago, I was up there with my wife just lifting and tilti the bucket, with a powered pole saw and with that kind of weight, you can bet I was wearing the harness. Trick is, to give you enough room to move, if you need to.
Yes, maples suck! I have done a few that were so bad near the cut that I wrapped above and below the cut with chains. They are extreme pains in the ass.
Lot of people love planting maples, especially the red maples, next to their house. My mother planted a red maples 20’ from the house when I was a kid. 40 years later, I’m cutting it down because the roots blew through the field stone foundation and half of it was all over the roof. Don’t plant maples near the house you are going to live in, for the rest of your life. Maybe, at my age, I should plant them all over the yard and screw the “new” owners, 40 years into the future. Not like I’m going to care by then. lol
Trees don't belong anywhere that I can't safely cut them down and dig out the stump without damaging a building. I want to have space enough to quickly and easily get rid of any tree that could threaten the house.
I agree, and follow this at my house. That said, many people live in houses with postage stamp lots, and if they follow that philosophy, they will not have any trees. Near my nj house, they are cutting down all the trees that are around the houses because everyone is afraid because of all the storms. Understandable but it looks like as*.
My current .25 acre lot has 3 mature maples. The one in the front yard is too close for my liking but it looks nice and my wife says it stays. The two big ones I the back yard provide some shade. That being said, we are building a new house on 15 acres. I am removing any tree that can hit the house if it falls. We will plant more ornamental type trees to make the yard look good.
Really nice job! How does that International pull the backhoe? I've been looking at a similar truck with a dump body on it, but wasn't sure if it had enough power?
I have a couple acres, but I didn't plant the maples by the house. It was probably the "helicopters" from the neighbors' trees that did it. My native trees in the yard are all big old white oaks. While those do drop a dead branch now and again, I don't expect any of the trees themselves to fall on my house. I just wasn't really paying any attention to the maples growing until it was too late, heh.
Been clearing trees and digging stumps for the past 8 years. I have a huge Live Oak behind my house I will never remove if it doesn't fall on the house. I have to limb it off the roof from time to time. Here is my front before I started. This was about the midway point in the mission.
Looks great @MG84 ! I've got to say I've used my loader bucket twice in a week or two as a ladder. I considered the hydraulics blowing and me falling, but not enough to be paranoid enough to not do it. Both times were my kids operating. First was to clear some branches off a tree that were hitting the backhoe hoses as I went to fill my garden boxes with dirt. My daughter did a beautiful job raising and lowering me with the only scary part being me looking up at the branches when I got to height, instant vertigo for a second. Second was Sunday, my sliding 14' high barn door was dragging, so I had to raise it up a little. This time my son came out and raised me up, also beautifully, even as he had to run out to the outside door to check on my raising progress. It took a couple times of explaining what to look at/for (I'd forgotten to show him before going up) and encouraging him to walk faster to check on things because of being stuck up in a bucket I don't trust all the way and poisoning myself from backhoe fumes in the barn (the big front door was open, so it wasn't too bad, but I was getting a bit sweaty! @Swetz 165' up is too high, thank you. My FIL has a boom lift that he's taken me maybe 40 feet up in and I was not a fan, I'd talk myself into it due to the usefulness but I'd be nervous! I still have not touched my big ash tree by the barn. I looked at it pretty hard while mowing and I'm thinking I may pay someone, but I think I should do it soon and before the neighbor sells her house. I think some pros could come out and do it easily and not terribly expensively, if they don't need to do any cleanup.
Still going to be a pretty hefty bill. Around here, they have been using cranes to take trees out. It’s so common now, a lot of tree companies are buying their own cranes and offering them as a no mess tree service.
About as soon as I could be useful, I've been riding the bucket of the JD300. So probably better than 40 years... I never thought anything of it until I got older, and actually understood why it might not be safe. That said, the only reason I don't do it as much now, is I don't have an operator that is comfortable. So it gets used as mobile scaffolding as needed. Set it, and then run up a ladder to work from it. If I have to do anything serious, I will borrow the neighbors bucket truck. While I'd love to have a boom of my own, that's not currently in the cards.
Honestly, one would prolly not survive a fall at 40', so it isn't much different...just a mind thing. Heres one for you aighead....At my previous employer, the high voltage transmission wires were maintained while live. That is what the 165' bucket truck was used for as it was insulated and kept monitor for leakage. Someone got the great idea that they could do this work much faster if they could dangle a guy from a helicopter. They fabricated a seat, (which is patented) and hired a couple of pilots and off they went. Today, a good percentage of the maintenance on the transmission lines is done by these workers hanging out of a helicopter in close proximity of up to 500,000 volts. Now that is crazy to me. Fact is, they have been doing it for years now and no injury's or death. In PA and NJ the crane thing is popular and very spendy!! I even know a tree company that uses a crane for the tree, but a worker is also suspended from the boom to do his work....now that is CRAZY!! The last time I had a tree pruned in NJ, the guy used a bucket truck, but no harness. I had an extra, so I gave it to him and said here put this on! At the utility I retired from, we had several ejections from the bucket. Those that wore the harness were unscathed. Those that didn't either died or were severely hurt to the point they could never work again.
A customer was switch room operator for the power company. He remotely controlled switches on thousands of square miles of network grid. He once had an emergency call: Some knuckle head had been on land adjacent to a high voltage trunk line. He was operating a truck mounted log loader. Thought it'd be a good idea to swing a 120 foot long tree, see how close he had to be to the power line to get an arc. The arc burned the hydraulic hoses, collapsed the loader, knocked the line down, & ultimately set the truck on fire. When the power company crew got there, he was still in the seat. He suffered from smoke inhalation, but survived. I ponder, I'd be surprised if there is a law against arcing with a tree to a power line. Was he guilty of a crime?
I think I'd feel better about doing that from the chopper. I'm hoping, if I don't let nature take it's course, with that tree, that someone would just come out with a big truck and rope and pull it in the right direction. I don't know... it sounds terrible regardless and is probably 500 feet from the road and 200 feet from my driveway, so I don't know what kind of trucks they'd be willing to bring out there.
Do you not own a backhoe?
Idiots abound! I expect he was. That should fall under property damage... Criminal mischief or vandalism.
In deaths, the crime is manslaughter. Your actions were so careless, so negligent you caused a death. A drunk driver causes a death, it isn't murder, it's manslaughter. I'm not aware there is a parallel in damage. You are so utterly stupid you don't consider the damage you will cause. I'm no lawyer, but I can't think of a criminal case of someone causing catastrophic damage through stupidity. Those cases go to civil court where insurance companies, or employers are penalized. Generally stupid people are exempt from criminal prosecution.
High voltage lines that cross my farm they use a helicopter with the blades below. Talk about dangerous!! Don’t even sneeze!!
I don't think it matters if it was intentional or not when it comes to damage. Just a matter of whether the DA feels like pressing charges. Often they don't if it was truly accidental. In that particular example I wouldn't call it negligence, as it was mentioned that the guy did it on purpose. If he tried to see if he could cause an arc, that's willful damage to me. Stupid, but still on purpose.
No ground though?
I do Willie, but the tree is big and scary!
Nothing a good rope and a snatch block can’t take care of? My load of big pine trees got picked up last week and I told him I’d have another load next spring. Fortunately for me, every big pine that could hit the house is gone, now I will be taking out another 20 or 25 just for sunlight and the fact I hate pine needles and pine cones all over my lawn. Last year, was the worst year for pine cones, we have ever had.
Is it solid enough to lean a ladder on it? I've had good success chain or cable 20 feet up. Make real sure the cable is long enough! Give a series of good hard tugs with back dipper. If it isn't sound enough, it'll likely snap off, or top limbs will snap off. If it holds up to that abuse, do as 10,000 You Tube videos show. Keep it simple. Box cut goes to the line where the width is 2/3 the diameter of the tree, near 90 degree from top angle to bottom. I like to switch cable to front bucket & back up the tractor, a bit of tension on the cable. Back cut is then pretty simple. Do not cut as deep as you would on a live tree. Leave a hinge thick as 20% of diameter. Again pull gently but surely with the tractor. Dead trees are brittle, rotten trees are even less predictable. A green tree can hinge to near the ground before the hinge breaks. A dead tree might break free at the hinge with only a ten degree lean. A rotten tree might be terribly unpredictable, snap at the stump before any appreciable lean at all.
A builder I worked for many years cleared only enough huge White Pine trees to build his small house. 40 years later one by one, the trees were dying. As he cut a tree he had a rope his wife pulled on to guide the tree down the right direction. The caring, loving husband he was, he worried she was getting too old to run when a tree came down. He bought her a longer rope.
....that's Love right there!!!
It sure is….. especially she gets it for an anniversary or birthday gift!
He did get her a wheelbarrow tire for her birthday. She was struggling with carrying firewood without her wheelbarrow.
The neighbor has an old orchard out there with what I think are some grape trellis made of what appears to be 4x4s. Knowing him he sunk them 5 feet into the ground with concrete, but I've never investigated. If I could tie off to that a snatch block may work, but it may also take out that trellis thing. I need to go back and look at the area on their side of the tree, it's very overgrown but I may be able to get the backhoe out there with a cable. I need to ask the neighbor if she cares if I mow my way back there. I'm pretty fine with most of that part. The part that really scares me is standing under the tree while I cut. I've seen too many of my previous ash trees break off up high and it makes me very nervous.
If I am cutting on a dead tree, with limbs that may break off, I will put my bucket above me “ I know hydraulic line may break” and use it for cover as I put in enough cut to pull the tree over. Cutting trees down and trying to put them where they don’t want to go, is some of the most dangerous things, we will ever do. 1 week after my father retired, he had a maple tree put pins and rods in his knee and leg, leaving him with a terrible limp and 20 years later just had his hip replaced. That was his first and only accident with a tree, that I know of. After that, now I’m the dumb son that take trees down for the family as no one in my family will pay for tree work.
Yeah, I like that bucket idea, I've got 4x4s sitting around that I could brace the bucket up with.
You could always just use the loader arm lock, I guess.
I'm removing trees that are within 75-100' or so to the house. We live in an area that's wooded in a large expanse.... and I'm leery of fire as time moves on. I have lots to remove.... but here is one less red oak heading to the burn pile! I did get some grass growing!!
Just gotta love that hoe...taking wood on both ends Lookin good T-town!
Getting ready for a deck expansion. Going to put a tee into the deck and go out 15’x10’ and put a roof over it for the grill and griddle, with room for the table, without the damn umbrella that keeps getting bent by the wind.
I just cleaned and sealed my deck...man am I sore!
.... round here, a 'deck' counts on the assessment. I'm going with patios... ... and that 'soreness' gets more and more regular for some reason??..... I have become 'addicted' to a heat pad in my go-to chair.
Yes, I found that out when I got my assessment and my taxes went up after I built the deck. I can tell you that after my hand was out of the cast, the heating pad was my friend. Until that time, I really hadn't used one.
When I 'cracked' those two vertebrae in my neck and got the 'patch' put in, I was 6 weeks in the neck brace..... I had to start this house build so I would work for two hours and then have to sit in a chair with the heat on my neck..... then put in a couple more hours. Later I picked up a larger pad that covers the whole back.... sweet!! I think the county assessors are using google maps and an algorithm that flags 'changes' on a property.... they use the permit process to ID 'big' things.... but lots of folks don't go that route.... so they 'find' those little projects..... decks and things. That shop of yours will cause the 'man' to come see ya. Are you Lackawanna county?? where they just had reassessment
Wayne County. We had a reassessment during covid. The locals were livid. They said real estate was high, and would go back down after covid. Didn't happen. Property values are crazy still, and taxes are still up as well. I did get a permit for the shop, so I expect taxes to go up. I sure could use 2 weeks of dry so I can move the remaining dirt. A guy snoops around on the ground here, but my neighbor tells me they use a plane as well. Neighbor told me that he had a visit due to a roof that the plane picked up. He tells me it was a roof over a shooting table. He says that there was a shooting bench under the roof, and the whole thing was mounted on a pallet to make it mobile. Neighbor told me that he told the assessor that if he was going to charge him, he would take out his tractor and smash it right then and there. Assessor said no need because it was on a pallet. Crazy!
T-town do you live in the house now?
I'm waiting for them to get me on my barn. The builder didn't mention a permit so I just didn't bother. I had an ag rating on part of my property when I had it built which I am told would exempt it but I had it built on my residential parcel next to the ag property. Since then I removed the ag rating so I am now residential on one parcel and unimproved residential on the other. The barn is clearly visible on google maps. Years ago my wife came home and found a property appraiser measuring a carport I put up behind the house. Since then I gated the property and they are not supposed to enter without notification. They never added any taxes for the carport that I remember. The property next to mine got developed a while back at the peak of the boom and those two houses went for half mil each. I am afraid they are going to increase the value on my unimproved property and raise that. They have more than doubled the value on my house since it was built in 93. We have some kind of save our homes rule that prevents them from going up to some extent but I don't really know how it works. Our governor was trying to get the legislature to eliminate property tax all together and let the excess sales tax revenue cover it but I don't think he convinced anybody else it would work. They have gone into overtime to agree on a budget so maybe he can get it through before the session concludes.
Oh yeah.... Dec. '23 move in. The tax man caught up with us as of Sept '24. I just did square away the partial tax bill and am now on the normal schedule of bills. ( County/ Township bill in spring, School tax bill in the summer)
Around here they asses on total building value, then land value. While I realize my taxes will go up by building a deck expansion, with a roof over it, it’s what we want, especially the wife. I am not one to not do something because of taxes, we all have to live our life and we’re not taking anything with us. I’m more concerned with DES because of all the trees I cut and they could even ding me for the deck because anything I do, is within 250‘ of a state river. Even the damn lean to I put up is going to cost me more money. It blows my mind though, that I can pay for the materials and do the labor, to cost me more money every year in taxes, because I improved my house.
My neighbor in the industrial park saw the tax lady standing on the tailgate of her explorer trying to take pictures of our equipment yard behind the fence. The fence is 6' chain link with privacy screen. Ridiculous. I hope you guys get the "no property tax" passed down there and AL can follow. Our property taxes are low but our sales taxes are high including sales tax on food which is immoral. Taxation is theft.
In between rain storms the beast has been gathering dust. But yesterday it finally got the bucket upgrade. I've had it for a couple of months now and I finally had the time and weather to put it on. Now if it dries out around here, I'll be able to finish the drain I've been working on.
Nice bucket
If we get some wet stuff this weekend it will be 16 in a row..... ... sorry Swetz
I kno, it sux! Moved 20 loads of dirt this week, but then it rained. Site is still 2.5 feet out of level and they are supposed to start the end of july. Talked to the company yesterday and they said they have one delay after another because of all the rain.
We had 3 dry days in a row so I took a chance and graded the main road in. I have neighbors that'll drag a box blade up and down the center until it is getting deep puddles so every so often I have to go down and try to reshape it so it will drain. Since I graded it we have got a 1/4 inch every day which isn't too bad. It has a couple of small puddles but so far it's way better than it was last week.
Started on the deck expansion, that will have a free standing Lean To roof over it. Have one more pier to set. Then backhoe is going into a bay to get the loader taken off and fixing the front axle, u-joint, along with new loader pivot rods and bushings.
Love that thumb design. Did you buy or build it? I only see one hose???
You can see the other sheathed hose on the other side. I bought it with a smooth thumb, that wasn’t worth crap, so I cut some teeth out of 5/8” leftover cutting edge and put them in and some extra brackets. I believe this is factory from Case because I have seen other thumbs on 580 E’s with the same thumb and the same ****** weld on the boom. I keep thinking, I have to fix it but it hasn’t broken but man it looks nasty.
Those hoes need attention
What hoes?
My hoe has just been sitting. No major projects on the immediate horizon, though we did discuss knocking all the trees along the driveway over this fall, and I should get to a few others while still ignoring the big one by the barn. As far as rain- at about 3pm every day for the past 4 days it's rained quite hard for about an hour, then stopped and turned sunny again. I'd thought my big culvert pipes were keeping the backyard floods in check, but I was proved wrong last Tuesday or Wednesday, then again yesterday. Also, my garden is doing poorly...
The garden needs sun and a bit less rain, I would bet...LOL
We got an inch and a half within an hour yesterday and supposed to get more this week. Last trip down my graded road it was still in better shape than I found it but it won't last if we get too many frog stranglers.
I have my electric running from my brother-in-law's next door, over his driveway to a pole, then underground to me (500 ft). As luck would have it, the biggest oak around sits 30' from said power/pole drop.... and it has given up on life... We got a price from a tree guy that must have been an 'I don't want this job" number... and that was just to drop it... no cleanup. Another fella got us the " What? you haven't done it yet??" number and they dropped it with a couple of lines to keep it true. ...now a cleanup... after some of his buddies grab what they want.
... while up on the hill..... lawn development continues.. I had to use the manual, break-your-back hoe/loader.... ...and use the aux power unit to move/dump the 'loads'.... and of course the manual stone rake to smooth. Meanwhile, my burn pile keeps growing.. I'm gonna need to 'set that off' to make space for the other trees that need to fall.......
That was a big tree t-town! Swetz- I think the more sun is right, though it's been pretty crazy sunny for all day except for the hour or so of very hard rain. Seems like it'd be perfect growing weather, though I'm thinking the whole garden may not get enough sunlight. I added a bit of wood ash last night to add some potassium, we'll see what happens. I've got some tomatoes that are starting to flower reasonably.
Back in the day I needed to have 3 large oak trees taken down around my house, and one trimmed. Brought in a guy for an estimate, and he started telling me how tough the job was going to be as one of the trees was growing near the power lines, which were bare copper conductors. He said he would need a crane to do the job, and it would be over $10k. Thank you very much...Brought in another guy, and he never mentioned the power lines and it was $3k. Guess who got the job...LOL Anyhow, not only did he take the trees down, and trim the other, but he painstakingly removed ivy that had grown up in the tree he trimmed. I have a large burn pile that has been waiting for years to be burnt. One of these days I will get some time to get it burning. First I need to get the building built! We plant a garden for my mom every year. She loves a garden, but cant actually do the physical work. Her garden is in a good spot for sun, and grows beautifully. That said, it has become a feeding trough for the critters. I get daily updates on how "groundy" the groundhog ate this, and the rabbits ate that... Yes, it has a fence, but the fence keeps the deer out not the smalls. I still believe it is worth doing because it keeps her occupied planning how to get revenge on the critters...LOL
I paid a tree service $700 to cut a dead oak down last year. I mainly hired them because they were next door and had a man lift. The tree had some large brittle limbs that were falling and I was afraid of it. They didn't even bring the man lift over and the deal didn't include clean up. They pushed against it with a skid steer and cut it down. I think they were on the property 30 minutes to an hour at most. My son in law and I cut it up and split it for some elderly folks we know that use wood for heat then I dug out the stump.
I had about an 80' dead oak several years ago that was right between my house and the neighbor's, and also very near to my detached garage. Before I even noticed it was dead, it dropped a Widowmaker and hit the neighbor's house, damaging their gutter and a bit of the roof. I have cut quite a few trees down over the years and am fairly competent at it, but this one had no clear place to drop, so it was either rent a lift myself and piece it out or pay somebody. As luck would have it, the neighbors had some tree work done and I got to talking to the guy who owned the company when he saw me using my little (~2,500 pound all in) tractor and a compound pulley setup to pull ~8" trees right out of the ground. We made a deal where he'd take the oak down and I was to mow a field he'd been contracted to maintain - but he didn't yet have a tractor. So I mowed it (30 acres!) and then had to wait 3 GD *years* of me constantly badgering him to get the tree cut down. And I even had a written contract he signed that I drew up that he'd do it within 30 days of the field getting mowed. Should have just paid somebody else and took his ass to small claims and had him pay it. Thank goodness it didn't drop any more branches in the meantime.
Several years ago my backyard neighbor had a large oak on the corner of the property line with a stockade fence. So big that two people couldn’t touch hands around the trunk. The tree was land locked by his buildings and pool. Had to get permissions for access from me and two other neighbors to get a company in to take it out. They used a lift like the link below. Pretty cool! When I first saw it it was so compact that I thought they brought a knife to a gun fight. I was wrong!! At the time the crew said the machine cost $175k, and the job cost was $18,500. Took them the best part of a week to make it disappear
30 acres of field to mow to wait 3 years for a tree removal is nuts.
30 acres to mow is a lot. Hope you didn't use a push mower.....
No, I used the aforementioned small tractor. A 24 HP diesel. Took me a few days, as the "waist high" grass turned out to be well over my head. I'm 6'3"... Definitely got the short end of that deal.
There's about an acre in my neighbors back field that I feel like one day this will happen to me. If I ever take that big tree down I'll likely have to mow a spot for it in her yard. It's no where near as bad as 30 acres but it'll be annoying just the same.
I can't believe the difference that the 24 inch bucket makes over the 12. I finally got enough dry days to get thru the low area ( not without some effort) to get to where I am digging the trench to rid myself of said low area. Three scoops and I am half way to where I need to be to connect the trench to the county (?) drain - if you wanna call it that. Of course, I had to call it quits because - you know - it's fn raining
I once had a 24" & a 12". Mine is Case, If I have all the tools ready it takes 15 minutes to switch buckets, then another twenty to clean up. I beefed the 12" up substantially. It was best digging out boulders, tree stumps, shallow ditches, I loved it handling trees for firewood. It best broke up frozen ground up to a foot deep. Digging a ditch, (I usually dig 46" deep for power lines), I move more than 3 times the volume of dirt with a 24" over a 12" I have bought a 36" clean up bucket, that is sweet!
Roughed in a loop drive. Right now it just gives me access with the machine to areas i didn't before but eventually it will be easier to make the loop with cars. While I was excavating some fill I found another dinosaur egg, and it was too big to pull out of the hole in one pice. Luckily it already had one Crack and I just picked that piece off. But I got out the feathers and wedges and hammer drill to lighten it up even more.
Great job casey.... ..... and your woods look mighty green!! well watered this season??
Seriously!! I was just out moving dirt, because we were just now drying up, and then deluge. I wont be moving dirt any time soon. I am down to a little over 2 and a half weeks till they are supposed to start on my shop, and I am still no where near done. I will prolly have to make a phone call next week.
Casey, I have a couple nice rocks like that in the hole I am attempting to get dirt from. Large rocks are common round here. Smaller rocks too, LOL! The road is looking good!
Yes. A lot of rain earlier this year. Vegetation got off to a good start around here. Those ferns took over my entire bank. Very thick.
Sorry Swetz... didn't mean to rub salt.. I saw the other day you all got hit hard up there... and we didn't get any of that?? go figure....... slow moving dumpers and spotty. Dry spell coming early/middle week?? Hope you get it done!!
Casey, those rocks are beautiful!
Here's a couple of pics of the trench I've been working on: The trench in the image on the left runs a 100 tards or so around the back of a small wood lot that always floods in the spring. The trench is to hopefully keep it drained and drier. Just beyond the end of the trench in the image on the right is a county drain ( a glorified ditch line is more like it) I can't quite get back far enough with the bucket yet. It's only a couple of feet, but I'll get it.
Took the old hoe out and dug a Laurel Oak out from under a Cedar tree. It fired right up. AC is cold as ever in the 95 degree heat.
And you wanted to sell her. Glad to see you still have the old reliable hoe!
Hey Swetz..... did you get your pad finished?? hope so
I did, thanks for asking. Because the dirt was so wet, I wound up ordering 8 triaxles of #2A stone to complete the pad. I did what I thought was a good job. 50x70 pad with less than 2" out of grade. They came last Wednesday and drilled the holes for the poles. (Note my hoe in the left corner of the pic. ) Well, needless to say grade may be a bit off at this point...LOL The bad news it it poured rain after they drilled, and some holes are full of water, and others started to cave in. They are supposed to be here next week to do the build. First they will need to fix the holes...No rain forecasted for the next week .
I keep getting ever so close to finishing the project I bought it for but not quite. I will get it finished one day, maybe. Sorry to see your building woes! You sure don't want to build on a unstable foundation though.
When we were building our camp in Warren NH we got the foundation in and started building the log home kit we got. We got about 5 or 6 logs high and it rained for 2 weeks straight. After the 3rd day, I had to cut holes through the Advantech with a chainsaw through 6 inches of water because the downstairs was filling up with water. I cursed Mother Nature for a while after that.
I may have said a few choice words in the last several months when it was raining everyday!
I was certainly cursing her as I ran a chainsaw through 6” of water getting soaking wet, while it was pouring out. Trying to figure out, where the stairs were going to go, so I didn’t cut holes, where I didn’t want them.
Well my sweaty arse is jealous!
Mine too! My machine has AC, but it leaks. I have not looked at it as of yet. I spent a bunch of hours in the last 2 weeks out in the sun working. My saving grace is that I installed a 12 volt fan in the cab. Not perfect, but gets one by. After my shop is done, perhaps I will have time to check for the leak...LOL
I actually got the hoe out of the barn for a bit yesterday! My rock pile has tons of weeds and junk growing up through and we're going to put some weed fabric underneath, so I got out and moved all but the two big rocks. Next I'll have to move the rocks back, but I'll have to figure out how to not drag the fabric around as I do. Looking at the pictures you wouldn't know there were many rocks hiding in there. I also got one of our long standing burn piles going and moved cool parts to hot parts and got the whole thing burnt down pretty good, without a 10 foot tall pile getting too out of control!
The fan i do have. A 6 inch dash fan. I beleive that was jcb's climate control option in 1986. That and doors and windows that open.
All of my glass opens as well, thank god! And you said you didn't have any rocks
All the original hoses on mine were seeping through the skin. That was a bugger to figure out. Found it with one of those $15 leak detectors off eBay. I eventually had to replace all of the hoses. BUT the hoses, condenser, expansion valve, and evaporator were the only part of the original system that was in mine when I got it. My compressor was missing, the mount was homemade looking, and the controls were all frozen. I replaced the compressor, drier, expansion valve, thermostat, and cable controls. Pulled the seat and cleaned out the evaporator and heater core. My tractor had been in a dust storm and was full of inch thick dust and some kind of grass seed strands. It was in every crack and crevice including above the headliner. I think something had nested above the headliner. One of my prerequisites when shopping for a backhoe was one with a cab and AC so I wasn't about to let all the flaws stand between me and having it. The joys of buying something sight unseen off pics and somebodies word and having it shipped to you!
I purchased one of those too, after I charged it and it was working sweet...2 days later, not at all. Well buying the tester is about as far as I have gotten. In another month, the heat will be the most important thing where I am at...LOL
I’m still in the middle of a deep clean of the interior on my 580SL. I bought it from a paving company but from the looks of things it likely lived on a dirt site for a while. A no A/C machine, they must have had the windows and doors open a lot. I pulled the headliner and heater ductwork to find thick dust and some evidence of mice. Removed the seat and covered electrical stuff best I could and power washed for best part of an hour until the water ran clear out the door opening. A leaf blower help speed the drying process. Penetrating spray on electrical areas to fight any corrosion. There is still some hand cleaning needed. I’ll be adding wiring for one of those dash fans for my A/C and some additional lighting along with all new turn and stop lamp assemblies. Also adding some security features so it won’t go missing. I found that even Bobcat keys fit Case. It’s going a lot slower than I expected.
My polebarn progress end of day 1. The water and mud in the holes really slowed their work, but that is done . They are still saying it should be done by the end of the week...That would be great! Also, the weather forecast isn't bad, an added bonus!! It looks so small...LOL 40x60 seemed huge prior to going up.
I find most things go slower than I expect these days. Part of it may be me slowing down, but I think that I do more planning and have more respect for danger than I used to. Getting old sux, but it sure beats the alternative!!
Inside height is what -- 12 ft.? Mine is also 40x60 but was built before a backhoe was even a consideration with 10 ft. ceiling and 9 ft. doors
The bearing wall (short side) is 16'. I am having scissor trusses used so that the celling height will be higher. I am going to have a 16' wide x 14' high door installed on the front gable end.
I almost screwed up when I first specked my barn. I had it ordered and the pad ready then pulled the backhoe up in the center section where it would park. HOLY CRAP! This thing isn't going to fit! Thankfully it wasn't too late to have them make the plan deeper. It still sticks out the front since I put a table and tool box against the back wall. My center section walls are 14 feet high the the outsides are 9. It ended up 30 feet deep and 42 feet wide. It's all cluttered up now.
If you call that cluttered, you’re a neat freak. Sometimes, the wife and I drive by some places, that would be a pickers paradise and we just chuckle a little and ask each other “could we live like that”. lol
You can't see all the stuff in front of the tractors. I sold one of my boats a while back and delivered it to the family. Their garage door was open. The garage was full and stuff was flowing out the door so it couldn't close. Junk was at least 5 feet outside the garage and a couple feet high on the pad.
I am not quite that bad. My 1 car garage in NJ is filled to the door with "good stuff" Sometimes I have to push it in a bit to close the door, but it does close...LOL
18' wide center and 12' wide sides. You guys can have your wood pole barns. Mine is a Carolina Carports with 12 gauge galvanized tube frame and 22 gauge galvalume panels. Florida rated for 170 MPH winds. I have a similar built but lighter gauge 12x20 carport that is 26 years old that has sat through several hurricanes without budging and has zero rust.
I had a 40x60x16' high pole barn put up in 6 days. They could have done it in 5 but figured coming back another day was no big deal. It has a 14x14 door. Wider will be nice. Interior height is pretty much 16'. I can lift the bucket of my 931B track loader to full height with room to spare. Really nice when I need to take the engine screens off do to maintenance and repairs. Sadly I traded the property to the gravel pit and can't afford a new shop on the new property. The good thing is I can still use the pole barn to store equipment and other stuff for 2 years or longer. The gravel pit didn't need the pole barn but it would cost a fortune to move it. Probably the cost of a new one. Make sure to put a special membrane material on the roof under the metal so you don't get condensation dripping on the inside. I'm not sure what it's actually called but it makes a huge difference. The walls are wrapped with house wrap as well. This is good if you ever plan on insulating the building. And it doesn't matter how big you build it, it will never be big enough. 40x60 is the most common size for pole barns. Try to organize it as you move tools and other stuff in. Otherwise it will end up a cluttered mess. You will love having an indoor shop though.
I'll take a pole barn over a carport any time. The biggest problem with older pole barns was they cemented the posts in. This caused them to rot and top. On mine they poured two bags of Quickcrete concrete in the holes to make cookies for the posts to sit on. The holes were 24" dia. and filled with 3/4" washed rock to disperse water. The poles on Swetz's building look to have PWF treatment for the in ground portion so should last forever. They look like single dimensional poles though? On mine the poles are four pressure laminated and glued 2x6's. Larger pole barns will use three 2x8's for the poles.
The poles are laminated and glued. The bottom portion is treated wood.
I thought so but was hard to see on my phone. It would be nice if all 2x boards were as straight as the ones used for laminated posts.
So exciting, Swetz! Good for you! I thought the space for my 40x48x16 barn was huge, then it was built, and it seemed huge, the height really helps with that, then I started putting stuff in it, and it's not huge anymore. I'm not using space very wisely in there and there's some stuff to get rid of. I really wish I'da spent the money for a slab of concrete. My very unlevel gravel makes it kind of tough to tuck things nicely into corners and such. I have a few nice storage cabinets but have to find the energy and time to level things out or put down leveled cinder blocks to set things on top of. My doors are both 12wx14h and it's nice and easy to pull the backhoe and anything else in. I keep an eye on the stabilizers as I move in and out. I've been concerned with the top of the boom joint on the hoe side hitting the door frame, it's hard to see and the ground level inside the barn is a fair amount higher than the ground outside, but when I park in the doorway and get out to look there's tons of room. I love having doors on both the front and side of the building. There have been a few times where something happens, like the side door that I park the backhoe behind gets frozen to the ground, that made it lovely to have that front door to be able to access and still get the backhoe out, though it challenged my maneuverability a bit.
Wish I had seen the future when I built. Garage doors are 8 high by 10. Shed off one end is an even 10 feet tall at entry. Building out back, entry of outboard bays is 8.5 feet high. Center bay,9'. I have backhoe squeaks in with an inch to spare, dump truck I had to cut down the stack to squeeze in, Bulldozer won't quite fit in the garage, & a farm tractor ROPS near 8.5". Even antique tractors (Farmall M) I can't sit upright. I store wood across the road in a carport I built for my mother 45 years ago. Power Wagon is too tall, loaders only part way in. I cleaned out a woodshed my father built 50 years ago to store two Jeeps, only to find one is an inch too tall to fit. All these buildings could have been taller if I'd forseen what I'd want to store.
Progress on the pole barn, day 2. Note the haze in the air....that is from the Canadian fires. A view from the back. The scissor trusses. Looking from inside the rear large door, and man door
Dang...is that ever nice!!
Thanks! It has been a long time coming! I have been talking about it since before covid...You know the olden days...LOL Price has almost tripled since then too .
I had mine done right at the onset of covid. Got a heck of a deal on it at just over 11 grand. Two guys showed up within a couple weeks of my having the base prepared and put it up in 2-1/2 days. Not a screw out of place. One of the few times in my life I ever had something built and was totally satisfied with the quality of work. I put down a 4 inch layer of crushed red brick in mine after adding and levelling a bed of sand. It has pretty much stayed in place. I had to do a pinion bearing in my truck rear end this year. It won't fit in my garage. I threw down some OSB to give the creeper a smooth surface to roll on. I used the metal belt shields off one of my mowers to put the base of the jack stands on. Worked better than expected.
Story of my life...dollar short and a day late...LOL I agree about contractors. They are the reason why I do most things myself. Working alone, I could have never done the pole barn tho. Just hoping it is 100% when they say it is done. I have herd you talk about the crushed red brick before. In NJ, they have a similar product. They call it RCA...Recycled Concrete Aggregate. It is ground up concrete, bricks, other blocks (basically whatever masons are getting rid of). This stuff is awesome. It packs and stays in place. Best of all it is really cheap. The supply houses charge the masons to bring it in, then grind it up, then sell it out the other door. All good! I wanted to say cheap as dirt but dirt cost way more...LOL Only downside I have herd on RCA is some people claim pieces of rebar and mesh are in it. I have never experienced that at the places I have purchased it. The one place, I was near the machine, and saw that it had a huge magnet pulling out the steel. At my PA place, I mention this stuff and people look at me funny. In PA it is cheap to dump and land is plentiful still, so I guess they figure it is not worthwhile to upcycle it. This is exactly how I have been working at my PA place. In NJ I have a concrete driveway. If it is a quick job, I use cardboard that I save just for these special occasions.
Around here crushed concrete is a common road fill. I have used it and never found any metal in it. I suspect they filter it out with a magnet. Another waste concrete product is washout the stuff they wash out of concrete trucks. I used it once and never again. Nasty dusty stuff. When I did my barn they had been tearing down student dorms at FSU and the crushed brick was readily available. I haven't been able to get any more since then.
The best advice I can give is always open the overhead door all the way. I was backing my track loader into the shop and thankfully turned around in time to notice the door wasn't open enough to clear the backhoe boom. I normally open the door all the way but I had left the track loader outside. I opened the door about 3/4 to take the skid steer out. After using the skid steer I wanted to put the track loader back in the shop. Damn glad I turned around to line up in the middle of the door. Another 2' and I would have been crying. I was scared straight after that. An extra 10 seconds to lift the door all the way is much better than forgetting you didn't open it all the way.
Amen! I preach this to my students every semester,
It was only the odd time I didn't open the door all the way like if I was just taking something out of my truck. After that it doesn't matter, I open it all the way.
Progress on the pole barn, day 3. So, they got the roof on, minus the ridge vent and cap. Started the siding. Installed 1 of the 3 windows. Did soffit on one short side, and 1/2 of the back gable end. They did a bunch more work, but it was stiffening for the trusses.
Is it me, or are the sides sloped? Like a Canadian building.
No, I was standing up on the Lull in order to get a pic with the roof, and it may have made it look that way.
They are working fast, how many guys on the team?
If you can afford it, I'd recommend eavestrophes. Probably not too expensive. Without them water off the roof will cause a ditch along the sides of the building. This can cause the dirt from the floor to get washed away and potentially weaken the edges if you have a concrete slab.
....or... 30 year weed block and some #2b on top should keep it to just H2O splash???... and you can install yourself with no ladder/scaffold
Snow load. That's more important than wind shear up here. Most of those metal car port buildings aren't rated for the minimum 35psf snowboard requirement up here. Once you beef up the carport buildings to meet snowload requirements, there isn't a coat saving advantage anymore.
6. They are supposed to be done with the build phase on Saturday.
I cannot. This building took everything I had saved, and more! I actually wanted to have a lean-to on one side as well. No money for that!
6 is great! I had 2 guys and it took like three weeks but they also fought some snow. I was still completely amazed at how much they got done and how quickly. They never looked like they were working fast, just plodding along and next thing I know I have a barn. I don't have any gutters or anything on my barn and so far it's ok, I do see a groove but I also have french drain around the entire 3 higher sides of the barn. The inside of the barn is also mostly a foot and a half or more higher than the outside. The only moisture I've seen, through a lot of rain, has come in through the ruts that the backhoe has created in the doorway. I've since fixed that.
The foreman told me that the company wants even more guys on the crerw, but he said any more and he cannot do any work. He would have to spend his time babysitting. I understand that. Thank god, about 2 weeks ago it finally stopped raining steady, and has only rained once since. (which set them back with the holes).
Same here. I had them use scissor trusses for the height gained inside. They really whacked me for them! Also, for strength (read snow load), they has to put the trusses every 2 feet instead of 4. The builder said this took a bunch of additional time. Also said the celling is going to be a pain to put on as well, because of the angle vs flat of regular trusses...hence the upcharge
For now, I am planning to lay the metal scraps on the ground where the water falls to keep the mud off the building. Once the bills for the 11 triaxles of stone (did not plan on 9 of the 11) are paid, I will think about some clean stone. That will be some time in September tho.
Progress on the pole barn, day 4. 3 sides of the building are sided, minus that little piece on the right front. The rear gable has 1 piece on it. They installed the other 2 windows and the door as well. The trim is about done as well. Inspector passed the framing as well.
Very nice looking building. I understand being broke. We trimmed our shop 25 feet in length just so we could pay for it. Company that installed the doors said they would cost 2x more today.
Thank you! Well, I got a pre covid price for this building. The price I paid was almost 3x that original quote. I expected an increase, so I saved twice the original estimate prior to retiring. Well, that didn't cut it, so I had to scrape together the rest. Not complaining, just stating how things have changed in such a short time. Oh, and the company I went with was the lowest priced of the 4 estimates I got. One place, for the same money would have built me a building with no floor, windows, of doors. Cant wait for my new tax assessment...LOL
Go on CL or FB and find someone giving away some bundles of asphalt shingles and lay them around the perimeter and then put 2” to 3” of 1 1/2“ stone over them. Way less stone and lasts forever. Been doing this for 35 years and it works great. No weeds and no splash.
Good idea!
Nice looking building Swetz! Is it going to have a gravel floor.
No. 6" of concrete.
So they pour the slab after the fact instead of building on it?
Yes. They drill holes for the posts, then place a concrete cookie in the bottom, followed by concrete then dirt. The posts support the building, and are outside of the concrete. The concrete slab is floor only.
Looks great! I really like the windows!
Thanks! The bottom of the windows is 6' from the ground. I did this so that it is much harder to look in.
Nice looking pole barn. The posts are set in concrete? If so are the posts in plastic tubes or treated so that water from the concrete doesn't soak into them? That was the big issue with early pole barns. The poles would rot off at the top of the concrete. PWF isn't enough on its own to prevent water ingress. If the poles are set in concrete they make post protectors or you can use perma-columns that are made of concrete the upper poles bolt to. The posts on mine are set in washed rock in 24" dia. holes. I'm not sure how many were on the crew but my pole barn was put up in 6 days. They could have done it in 5 but there wasn't a big rush. I was way over my original budget too but in hindsight should have spent the $600 or whatever the cost was for heavy duty eavestroughs. I had to put trusses on 2' centers because I wasn't a farm and also had to pay $2500 for engineered drawings that farms don't require. It's really stupid. The place I bought from even said a farm is more likely to have way more expensive equipment in it than I ever would. Concrete floor was way too expensive and would have cost half the cost of the building ($20K). The skylights on the sides were about $320 but let in a lot of light. I don't have power so it's really nice. Some pole buildings have skylights on the roof but I was warned that's a bad idea. They can leak or get damaged too easily.
Welder Dave, Thank you for the kind words! The posts are set directly in the concrete. I think 4 bags per post. The post ends are sitting on a precast concrete cookie that was put in the hole prior to the post. The posts themselves are treated on the ends, however, I do not know what the treatment is. At this point they are in and done. I am not going to worry about rot. If I am lucky, I may have ~25 years left on this earth, and I figure they will make that. If they rot off after I am gone, oh well...LOL I did look at a building company that had a fancy steel jack post that went in the ground. In that system, no wood touched the ground at all. I considered it, but if I purchased from that company, all I would have had was a shell of a building (no floor, windows, or doors) for the same money. The speed of price increases outpaces my ability to save, so I was forced to go a different route...kinda a compromise I guess. I think the crew will finish the build today (day 6). They are not far from done now. My township did not demand engineered drawings. They were available at a cost. I could not tell you how much, but I know they were not cheap. My township only started requiring a permit in the last 20 years. When my house was built, there wasn't a permit. To me, the permit thing is a money grab. As far as roof skylights, I do not want any holes in the roof that don't need to be there. I did see that they offered panels that would let light thru. I think they were some sort of plastic/fiberglass. One of the locals had these, and they failed while the steel panels were still good...No thanks. The windows are to let the light in, and they seem to do a good job of it. I had them installed high so someone couldn't just look in. For me, concrete was a must have as I will be doing repairs/maintenance in the building. I am tired of laying on stones! I am having a 6" floor with metal mesh and fiberglass fiber put in for the installation of a auto lift in the future...when I save the $$. The insulation and floor coverings will be 100% up to me going forward. I want to use rockwool, which is of course more expensive than fiberglass, but for my application, I feel worth it. So, as I get a couple bucks, I will buy some and put it up till I get some more $$ to buy more. Eventually I would like to have steel liner walls...someday! In the meantime, at least my machines will finally have a roof overhead.
Progress on the pole barn, day 5. They finished the rear gable end today. Also installed the corners. They are also working on the celling. One more day should finish the build portion of the project...yay.
Nice looking barn. I am building a house on my 15 acres that we purchased back in 2019. House building costs have basically double since then. My salary has not doubled. I had plans to put up a barn like that. In January I had a widow maker heart attack and ended up in a helicopter with a few minutes to live. Got a stent put in and feel better now than I did before but I get winded much quicker now. While in the hospital I decided to cancel the plans for a barn when building the house. I am 61 and just don't think I want the extra tax, utllity and maintenance costs for a barn. I still might do it down the road. I am glad I canceled the plans for now. My project is somewhere about $30,000-40,000 over budget already and the foundation was just poured.
I like the lined ceiling Swetz! Glad you are on the mend edge!
That lined ceiled is going to look awesome. I imagine that air space will create pretty good insulation. On the subject of wood on concrete my front porch posts were set on a piece of treated 2x4 directly on concrete. It was built in 93. The 4x6 posts are still sturdy as new but the pieces of 2x4 rotted and the galvanized hurricane clips rusted out. In my searching I found code would no longer allow wood directly on concrete here. BUT it allows galvanized standoffs which is probably just as bad or worse. I could not find 4x6 standoffs anywhere but I came across some in Stainless Steel from Vevor of all places. To reuse my 4x6 posts I had to add 3/4" at top and bottom since they were originally set on 1.5" thick 2x4s. The Vevor standoffs were 3/4" thick. The cradles and tie plates are probably 10 " high. I got a 10 pack of the Vevor standoffs through Walmart for $58. It came with the standoffs, tie plates, screws, through bolts, and concrete anchors, all in non magnetic SS.
The vevor factory must be one of the craziest places on earth. I assume it's all chinesium garbage but some seems to work and they have their hands in, seemingly, everything.
I've only bought two items from them and both have been awesome quality and deals. I bought the standoffs through Walmart and a boat cover through Lowes. Both were under $60. Here is the before and after on my porch posts. It gives them kind of an industrial look rather than a dressy home look but they won't let the porch fall down or blow off.
Rockwood is the best insulation. I think I read mice don't like it. If your posts were put in Quikcrete without much water should be good. I've heard of just putting the cement mix in the holes with no or little water and rain does the rest. Cookies in the bottom is pretty standard. The trusses every 2 feet and the engineered drawings I needed was just a money grab to justify somebody in the gov'ts. job. However the money didn't go the gov't. The place I bought the pole shed got the job because they not only had a good price but also were at least half the cost of any other suppliers for the engineered drawings. I paid $2000 but was quoted up to $6000 from other pole barn builders.
I put dry concrete mix in the holes for my gate posts. Just tamped it in.
Wow that's nice putting in a liner for a ceiling. That really finishes off the inside!
Well my Hoe from Wisconsin has been busy digging a septic tank hole. She is 21 years old and has never given me any trouble. She is ready for a make over with sandblast and paint all hoses and cylinder repack.
Also spreading some gravel then back inside with her siblings.
Thanks! The big reasons I had the celling installed is 1. It is too darn high for me to mess with and 2. They need the celling to blow in the r-38 insulation they are putting in. Someday, when I get some $$ I will do the walls too. That will not be soon tho.
Legdoc, Wow that's nice putting in a liner for a ceiling. That really finishes off the inside! ---- Thanks! Nice machines! Nice toy box!!
Yes, mice do not like it. Also, it will not absorb water or get moldy. Is also fireproof. Quickcrete without water is exactly what was done.
I know, the overruns stink, but in the end, I predict that you will love the house! I hear you on the salary...I retired a year ago (and am happy I did), and my salary was cut to 1/4 of what it was. No regrets tho. I would much rather live on less money than have to go back into the corporate world!! Glad to hear you are feeling better!! I am not looking forward to the new tax bill but I wanted my machines to have a place to be out of the weather.
I have been told that Vevor doesnt make anything. It is all chinese vendor supplied goods....They do seem to sell everything! I have also herd one needs to but the Vevor products from a 3rd party like Amazon or Walmart if you want any chance at warrantee on the stuff. I cannot verify either of these things as I have never purchased Vevor.
Hey Swetz.... Your 'shop to be' is looking great.... I am SO jealous Nice that your gear will soon be out of the weather..... and that it stopped raining just in time for the crew to get 'er done.
Amen!!
Of course I ran into the driest Aug in some time to seed some grass... But I am working small sections at a time ( on the uphill side) to mitigate any possible washout from some of the previous months type downpours.. pic #1 before.... #2-3 during #4 grass coming up!
Progress on the pole barn, day 6. Build Complete!! Did the ridge vent, finished the celling, finished corners and overhangs, and did a cleanup. They were done by lunch. Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!! Next is the concrete...Hope it works out as well! The workers! The very happy Hoe!!! Just lovin her life BTW, my hoe has been working very hard behind the scenes. Over 100 hours on her in the past couple months...no issues
Looking real good!! I hear u on the washouts! Guess you have been watering. Looks like not a lot of rain in the forecast either.
Oh yeah..... twice a day. But we are off for some recreating w/camper and I soaked it yesterday.... and I swear it grew overnight! Congrats on the barn.... a wonderful addition to the retirement homestead. The old barns 'round here had a basketball hoop at one end...?? just sayin
LOL!
If I put concrete in I was definitely putting a hoop in, maybe one day. The barn looks great Swetz! It is a very exciting day when you get to park inside! I didn't even consider a lined roof but man it really looks nice.
Taking down a pine. This one scared me a little. It wasn't ready to come loose when I pushed on it and it snapped in half. Thankfully the shrapnel didn't hit the cab and break anything. Stump pulled right up with the left over trunk that was sticking up.
Phew, that did come back with a bit of force!
I could critique your approach and style but the tree is gone and you are safe, good job.
Progress on the pole barn, day 7. They prepped for concrete. 3 triaxles of stone, leveled it with a laser, tamped it, installed a floor drain, vapor barrier, and wire mesh. Supposed to pour next Wednesday. If you look closely on the right side, you will see the 4 conduits I installed for eventual electricity. Figured it was better to go thru the slab than have to cut holes in the steel. Note that they ran short on mesh. The pour crew will install the rest.
I know partly what I did wrong but constructive criticism is always welcome. I normally don't lean that hard on a tree. I usually push lighter until I see the stump and roots giving way before I attempt to push it all the way down. I took down 3 trees yesterday so today I moved them to an area I'm not mowing.
What a beautiful field or lawn but must be a chore mowing! I try and get quite a bit closer to the tree, because the curl function has more power but have to be careful to not flip stuff into the cab. Though I did not see many rocks. I don’t pick up soil and move it, I just dig through it and leave it and the roots tend to gravitate up. While most people don’t like to move, once digging, on pines, I cut each side then move 90 degrees and I can usually pull up the rootball with the tree. Less mess.
When I first started I would dig some on one side and move to dig some more. Sometimes I can get the roots loose without digging out but it's not easy with a 2 ft bucket. I have got to where I try to dig around as best I can without moving and I get the trees down faster. This one has caused more of a clean up task than I like. I rushed through it because I was taking the video. Mowing is a task and I need to get started on it again. We have had ample sun and rain so it has to be cut once a week or it gets out of hand. Thankfully I only have 7 acres to mow. I have a little Kubota cab tractor with a 72" MMM and I pull a 60" swisher offset to get a 10' path. I can get around the trees with the swisher while keeping my distance with the cab.
Huh... I don't know that I've ever seen a mowing deck with it's own motor. That's pretty slick and probably runs a bit better than PTO. 7 acres is a lot of mowing. I won't crab so much about my 3 or so regularly mowed acres.
I think the pull type mowers are pricey for what they are. I think a dedicated 72" or 84" out front commercial mower would be quicker than a belly mower and pull type totaling 120" wide. I had a 72" commercial mower that was many times faster than a 72" finish mower on a tractor. It would depend on what it would cost to get a good used commercial mower though.
I got a pretty good deal on the tractor last year and my main goal was air conditioning. The tractor, mower, loader combo only had 200 hours on it. I have already put 120 hours on it. The 72" mid mount mower mows as clean and fast as anything I've ever owned. My land is too rough to drive anything without suspension on very fast. I don't mind taking my time and cruising around listening to music in the AC. I can mow the 7 acres with this combo in about 4 hours not counting the time I spend trimming around with my JD F725 front mower. That takes another hour or so but I don't do that every mowing. The Swisher I bought as a basket case for $500 and the seller gave me the 24 HP B&S Vangard engine with it. I have around $700 in it with all new bearings, blades, belts, and idlers. Adapting the engine was a task but I got it to work. I agree a new Swisher is way over priced for what it is and they are not built very heavy duty. The stock 60" home owner Swisher is under powered. People usually try to cut heavier grass than they were built for and blow up the engines. This one had been through two of the 14.5 HP engines when I got it. I have a couple seasons on it and so far it's holding up okay. I was pulling it offset behind a 84" RFM before I bought the Kubota. It mows my whole place on less than 2 gallons of gas. The Kubota burns a lot more diesel than that.
When I went in to the Stihl store to get my weedeater I about crapped when I saw their zero-turn selection had one for sale that, if I recall, was either $45k or $65k. I know the kid that works there and we were BSing about them, he said one of the guys that owns a local restaurant chain bought 2 of them or something. Bonkers.
I gave my JD rider to my mother in law because they were still using a push mower and were talking about having a landscaper do it. Knowing they are both on SS with little else, I serviced my JD and delivered it. All because my wife wanted a Zero Turn. I bought a Cub Cadet with the Kawasaki motor and the 54” fabricated deck. It mows great and fast but I hate it. Fell like I need to wear a full faced helmet, with inflatable body suit. Sooner or later, I’m probably going to break my neck. Might weld up a ROPS on it after googling how many people die each year on those death traps. Might be great, if you have a reasonably level and straight lawn, I don’t. Sooner or later, I hope to get my JD back. Since I built this house, she has been picking her spot on where to move in. Funny, since she just informed us last weekend that our Governor just approved detached housing permits for elderly housing approval. She mentioned that she would like me to think about a new shop, with overhead living area, that she would pay for, after selling their house. Now, I just have to pick what I want and where I want it. When pigs fly! Might not really have a choice though. Love gifts of crap that are made to smell good.
I agree on the zero turns! I don’t own one but have test drive a few I worked on. They’re fast and great on the level lawns, but not for anything with hills. Here in Southwest Pa. (nothing but hills) they are really tuff to run. I can turn around and do tricks with the hydrostatic lawn tractor on the banks, but with a zero turn it just wants to slide off. Having to go get another machine to recover it isn’t saving any time.
I have only owned one zero turn and it covered me in dirt from head to toe. I will never buy another one. I wouldn't mind having a cabbed front mower but those cost 3 times what I paid for my little cab tractor and reports are the cabs aren't sealed very well.
I had tried 3 different zero turns before I bought the Cub Cadet and they were all the same. Somehow the designs are built to get crap all over you, like was said. I have since tried an Exmark mower and while stupidity expensive, much better on getting covered in dirt and grass. Think I might invest in some rubber strips and screw it around the deck. Might have a clearance issue with the blades though. ROPS might be on that to do list also for next season.
My zero turn was a Craftsman. I attached lawn edging around the front of the deck and it helped a little but didn't solve the problem.
I'd love something faster that could circle around all the trees more easily than the tractor or the garden tractor mower but the bumps in my yard would cause me to break my neck/back if anything went much faster.
I have a John Deere zero turn mower and the only time I get dirty on it is when the deck discharge is blowing into the wind. It has a roll over protection bar. The older ones had a miserable seat suspension and were a really rough riding. The newer ones have a way better ride with a whole new seat suspension. It can be adjusted for the operators weight.
Was the Stihl zero turn battery powered? I mentioned it before but I was very close to reporting a former neighbor for child endangerment. She had a brand new zero turn mower and was bombing around at almost top speed doing spin turns at the end of rows holding a kid about 4 years old with one arm. I'm sure if my dad would have been around he would done something. He sold commercial turf equipment for over 40 years and never once had an incident with a mower or other equipment. He studied the machines and read all the warnings. Something a lot of people don't do. Riding mowers are one of the top machines for injuries among kids. As far as good mower for large area's I'd get a used out front mower like a Toro GroundsMaster like golf courses and municipalities use. They are often traded in with only a few thousand hours and well maintained. Much safer than zero turns with a steering wheel in front. Below is one I found in a quick search. Pardon Our Interruption
My Z-turn is a Ferris ( Simplicity)....One of the few with spring suspension.. helps alot! No issues with the deck 'leaking' dust/debris. ROPS standard. Works well for me. My 'lawn/grass' areas are limited still......but enough to keep me busy for a couple hrs.
Too many people don't think about what could happen if they hit a hole or got distracted on a riding mower. They just bomb along as fast as they can without a care in the world. Grass doesn't need to be cut at 10 MPH or faster. Anybody wanting to go that fast should for sure wear the seat belt especially on a zero turn. They can make very quick movements and there's nothing to hold the operator back. A mower with a steering wheel is much safer.
My trimming mower is an old John Deere F725 that has the out front deck and the steering axle on the rear. Drives like a forklift. I love the way it drives. Hydraulic steering with a steering wheel is nice. I just don't want to mow my whole place in the heat with a 54" deck. Almost bought a F925 with the diesel engine and a 72" deck. It was going to be another project mower so I passed. I got the F725 with a parts mower. Between the two and a few new parts I got it in pretty good condition. It has a 20hp water cooled Kawasaki.
My friend and neighbor has the JD 52” with the Briggs 27 HP zero turn and the first time he used it, he rolled it into my pond. He gets covered in crap every time he uses it.
NH575E, I hadn't seen this machine in your arsenal before. How long have you had it? Nice looking setup!
As far as zero turns... When I purchased my property in PA 8 years ago, I was in the market for a setup to cut a couple acres of grass. Several people tole me that the z-turn was the way to go. It is much faster, and maneuvers well around obstacles. I honestly considered a z-turn at the time, however, I wanted a machine that could do more than cut grass. I needed a machine to pull a trailer, run a bush hog, run an auger, oh, and cut grass too. With those parameters the z-turn was out. Some have even told me that I should get a tractor for all the stuff the z-turn cant do, and a z-turn for the grass. To me, that didn't make sense as I would have to store and maintain another machine. I am very happy with my choice overall! The New Holland TC21D spends 85-90% of the time cutting grass, but also does other duties round the property.
I picked this up last year. I was inspecting a larger John Deere cab tractor that was coming up for auction. I went back for a second look at that and saw this on the dealers lot and inquired about it. They had just bought it wholesale that morning and were going to sell it outright. They quoted me a price that according to the Internet was at least 10 grand under.market so I jumped on it. I didn't really want a third tractor but I couldn't pass it up. Besides the JD I was looking at was going to need some repairs and would have cost at least 10 grand more and possibly exceed my budget.
"Didn't want a third tractor." What kind of malarkey is that?
I lived in a big, private company park, that my stepdad ran, in my mid-teens. That meant that I was the go-to for any odd jobs that needed done. Anything from working at the golf course pro-shop, or cutting greens and setting the pins, to collecting trash from picnickers, to working at the boat dock or miniature golf hut. I got to mess around with a lot of different mowers and stuff and used the front mounted mowers a lot. I'd love to have one now, with the rear steering. They were always comfy, fast, and cut well. I didn't even consider that option when we went mower shopping and I assume I just forgot they exist. The only part I didn't like was they had the brakes that applied when your foot was off the throttle and when cutting downhill the back end liked to come up into the air more than I was comfortable with.
I think all out front mowers are hydrostatic and run at full throttle. The pedal adjusted the travel speed and direction with built in dynamic braking the same as a skid steer. I'd prefer that over freewheeling especially when working on slopes. With the deck up some are quite tippy though and if you slow down too fast you can get pitched forward. It wasn't uncommon to put counterweights on the back. Should always wear the seat belt when on slopes or transporting. Mowing on familiar flat ground at a reasonable speed you can get away with not wearing the seat belt. The steering wheel at least gives you something to hold you back. A zero turn I think you should always wear the seat belt as there's nothing to prevent you getting thrown forward if you hit a hole or bump or have to stop fast. I'd bet 95% of people don't even think about wearing the seatbelt though. Like I mentioned about my former neighbor, I was very close to reporting her for child endangerment. Brand new zero turn mower bombing around at top speed including spin turns holding a small kid with one arm. Not many things make me cringe like that. I'd bet my dad would have went to tune her in how dangerous that is/was.
Yeah, I got used to the endo but I wasn't expecting it the first few times, I don't remember if they had seat belts on them. I don't need a new mower (though I do need to replace the starter on my current one, I keep forgetting) but now I want to shop for a front end mower. My father in law may have a Kubota one...
Not sure how someone is running a zero turn and holding much, as they usually require 2 hands to operate. They do offer a couple of models with a steering wheel but they are not very common. Of the 3 different zero turns on my property, a JD a Cub Cadet and a Bad Boy, none of them have seat belts. I have issues with my Cub Cadet as when mowing around and holes or grade changes, there is no flex in the frame, like a rider and it tends to freewheel, even though it’s hydrostatic. All I can say is the zero turn feels very violent, mowing and my rider feels very relaxed. Zero turns are not for the faint of heart.
"Country Clipper" is a brand that uses a joystick.... I guess so you can hold your adult beverage ( or your kid ) while mowing. I have used one a couple times....
My F725 has a counter weight bolted under the rear of it from the factory. Only looks about the size of the 42 lb suitcase weights but the engine is also rear mounted so it shouldn't be too light in the ass. I have never operated it going down a hill and stopped though.
This is precisely why I didn't get a zero turn in the first place, I thought I'd be holding a beer. Turns out I'd rather mow for an hour or two then take a beer break, then get back at it.
Well, the way I see it, you mow with a beer in hand, then when you need a break from mowing, you take a beer break, then get back to mowing, beer in hand.
I have adjusted m zero turn arms, so if I want, I can run with one hand as long as I’m going reasonably straight. Ant zero turns, requires 2 hands to operate. lol
Straight? What? Every one of my straight lines has tree or pond interruptions. I can run my tractor in Low 3 confidently, almost everywhere (my beer consumption on the tractor is minimal), but not get close as I'd like to the trees, but for time's sake I'd love at least High 1, but it's terrifying with all the junk I've got to get around. Or bumpy. I can get into High 2 in the back field but I don't mow it often and that still gets scary as I turn.
Progress on the pole barn, day 8. Well, they poured the floor yesterday . They arrived around 7:45AM, and set up. First concrete truck arrived around 8:00. A total of 3 full trucks and 1 partial trucks of concrete. All of the concrete was down by a little after 10:00. Some of the crew left at that point. The remaining guys were here a bit late. They made the final saw cut at around 9:00PM, cleaned up and were out of here at about 9:30PM...Long day! They told me they had a 2 hour ride back to the shop, then had to clean up the tools to be ready for the next day....I sure do not miss those long work days. A young mans job for sure!! And, of course it had to rain. So, I now have mud... But the floor is sweet!! Because it was late and mud is on the floor, I intend to clean the floor then seal it. They were supposed to do it, but I told them I would do it because of all the mud on the floor, and it was late already.
Nice looking floor. Shouldn't that be kept wet while it cures before sealing?
Boy, I'd be soooooo tempted to get the tires of that side by side loaded up good with mud and do as many donuts as I could in there! Imagine the art of mud slung out to every surface in there! Looks incredible Swetz! Mine, in the shop, was kept moist for a while before doing anything more to it. I think it was covered for a day, but I don't really remember.
They told me they usually seal the concrete prior to leaving the day that they pour. I don't know much about it, but I have seen a guy I watch on You tube seal in the same way. Trust me it is moist! 98% humidity, and drizzle here, and rain yesterday.
Actually, yesterday it killed me to drive down there. I just pressure washed the whole machine and it was soo clean...not so much now!
Was a good thing it rained and the floor was out of the rain. I'm pretty sure the zero turn had 2 levers. I mostly saw them from the side/back but did see her do a spin turn at the far end of the property. That's how young the kid was that she could hold the kid and still operate the steering lever. I think it would have made anyone cringe. Much worse than holding a beer although mowing while a little tipsy... or a lot isn't a good idea either.
I think seatbelts are an OSHA requirement on any moving vehicle.
More tractors the better.
Just before I bought this last one my sister gave me this coffee cup. I blame it on her.
He who dies with the most tractors wins. Had an uncle with "tractor issues", rubbed off a little bit. Doesn't make us bad people.
There is no need to wet the floor after the finish troweling is done if a curing agent is going to be applied. The sealant should be applied as soon as the floor surface is dry after the finish troweling is done. Its purpose of it is to keep the surface from drying out too fast. It is critical to not get the sprayer wand too close to the concrete while applying the sealant. If it gets too close it will create permanent stains in the concrete. I am not trying to be a know it all. But, I used to do a lot of flatwork in my spare time.
Good to know, thanks!
You are bad! You aren't showing them all. My oldest son (now 40) started the local antique tractor pull mid October. I haul for a number of tractor owners. It takes a while to empty the field. Sunday, the field was down to 15? tractors. Mrs. B. looked at me, asked: "How many of these are yours?" Deer in the headlights, I had no answer. I'm not exactly sure.
Zero turns have been around since the early 70s, my experience is they pull and turn MUCH better going up hill, especially if you are unlevel or off camber. going downhill they tend to slip and slide much more. Opinions vary and objects may appear closer than they are
There are different flavors of ZT too... I've got a Walker, and it clings to hills that I don't want to mow. They seem to sit lower than most of the mid deck units. Controls are kinda unique. You can run, steer, stop, and reverse with 2 fingers of your left hand. The master forward speed is set via a lever with your right. It took some getting used to, but it is very comfortable. It doesn't seem to have a top speed as crazy as many of the mid deck units. I honestly don't know why they run that fast. That said, if I hadn't inherited it, I would likely have something else. Nothing against it, and it's amazingly maneuverable, but I'd be happier if I had something a bit wider, and with some kind of suspension in the seat. No seatbelt on it, which is fine since it doesn't have ROPS. I'd rather be able to vacate than have it go over on top of me. Local township guy rolled a ZT in to a stream a couple years ago, and didn't survive since he was safely strapped to the machine.
Sounds like an interesting setup for operation Toolslinger. Kind of like airplane controls.
Stinky, is your whole family named Stinky, or did you inherit your uncle’s nickname?
Speaking of steering....... I think my new 'set-up' needs some camber adj. ???
I guess it does!
Camber or the dreaded kingpin plague?
Couldn't resist the shot.... Had to to do a 'tighten up' on some big nuts.. 1 5/16ths.... and while the wheels were off I changed those hydraulic filters
Stinky from my pappy's side, last name kinda sounds stinky like. Got couple of sisters that were referred to as stinky as well. Not as bad for the men folk. Pops even had a skunk tattooed on him when in Amsterdam while in Army.
Didn't use the backhoe but I got out this morning and cut up and stacked the last three trees I felled. Temps are starting to come down enough I can get back to working outside.
Well Tinkerer, I did exactly what you said i shouldn't...LOL So I have 3 sprayers. Course I choose 1 that is not so good. Now I have to transfer from 1 to the other. I pus the sprayer between the posts to transfer from 1 sprayer to the other...all goes well. Of course I left the pump out in the middle of the floor when I moved in by the pole. I go to get the pump, and trip on the want....Yup, you guessed it, I knocked the sprayer over. Now the sealer spills all over the floor...crap...I run to my house and grab a roller and roll it out. Yup, I stained the floor. I get the second sprayer going and continue after muttering some very bad words. Next thing you know I am out of the sealer and only a fraction of the floor is done...You guys laughing at me yet! I head off to home depot and pick up a new sprayer and 5 gallons of sealer. Then I read that itis only to be used on cured concrete...poop! Off to the local lumber yard that sells masonry supplies. I explain what has transpired, and he says we have exactly what you need. It is called REZ. Awesome! He charges me then figures out that they are out of stock. My luck! He calls the local ready mix company (after telling me they are closed on Saturday), which is where they get the REZ, and the guy answered, and was willing to meet me there. Another 20 min drive, and I have 5 gallons of the correct stuff and a new sprayer. The rest of the story is not as exciting, LOL I sprayed all 5 gallons, and It looks a bit shinier than it was...I am calling it sealed. True story!
There is a HUGE difference between a sealer and a curing agent for concrete. In my own shop I painted the floor with an epoxy paint because I hated cleaning up oil spills on concrete floors. Starting fluid was the only thing I found that would completely remove the spills. The epoxy finish is very slippery if it is wet. But is awesome to use a leaf blower to clear dirt off of it.
Super job, finished interior looks mighty clean. What's it gonna be, a laboratory?
... the Lake Ariel Roller Rink...
LOL! Storage and work shop. Now thats funny!! There will be a lot of rolling in and out for sure.
I was acting like NH575E Saturday and pulling stumps! I had a couple trees that I cut down a couple years back, which I left stumps on to make them easier to push/pull over. One next to the creek that started growing suckers on like crazy was still not easy to get, it was holding on pretty well. I took several shallow bites around all the stump, which also included "pulling" weeds with the bucket, and eventually I'd wrecked the yard enough that I got it wiggled out. On the other side of the creek is basically overgrowth so I gave the stump and root ball a good shove into it and she disappeared! The other stump was a bit taller so it came out with minimal trouble and minimal yard damage. Got both areas smoothed out reasonably well and tadaa, my mowing just got a bit easier. God bless a backhoe.
I've been down for a few days with lower back/leg pain - worst pain I've ever felt. Prior to that - and I am sure part of the reason for the back issue - the beast and I cleaned out an old fire pit we established when we built our home back in '96. We'd throw pretty much everything in it and whenever we'd run across a rock or two. they would go around the perimeter of the pit. Three days and a bad back later and it's rock free, seeded in and covered with straw. The beast developed a leak in the right front lift cylinder - really looking forward to that. Not bad, but still.
Sorry to hear about your back. A bad back will surly ruin your day, and grind production to a halt. Glad you were able to finish the project! Lift cylinder is not that bad. At least that one doesn't have the prop rod on it. That is a bit of a pain!
Murphy must have been hovering above you. Looks good though.
Back pain isn't fun. Hopefully it gets better soon. My back pain was misdiagnosed 3 times as muscle related. Turns out I had compression fractures due to bone marrow cancer that doesn't show up on x-rays. If your back pain is getting worse and nothing seems to help get an extensive blood test done to measure the calcium levels. Mine was off the chart according to the ER DR.! That's when I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Sure hope your back pain is temporary.
Thanks for your concern *Dave. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis Hope you have it under control. Mins is starting to ease up some. I get regular checkups and am due for a follow-up here shortly. Last blood work only showed high cholesterol. Everything else was pretty normal. You take care as well.
Glad you are getting better. My back has kind of a nagging ache. It's not too bad most of the time but if I have to bend down or twist it starts to ache pretty bad. It was pretty bad the last couple of days because I went out on Sun. to put a couple pumps and hoses in the pole shed. Bending down to roll the hoses up took a toll and it was pretty hot that day. After I got the pumps/hoses moved with the skid steer, I used the track loader to pull about 40 fence posts out. Then I manually loaded the posts into the bucket to dump them with the new posts that were never used. I tried to take short breaks but I still over did it. I haven't been feeling good since then but feel somewhat better today.
I have had a few back surgeries. Originally ruptured (blew out) a disc at L4/L5. Got an artificial disc put in. Didn't fix it, been in pain ever since. Feels like somebody pressing on the"funny bone" nerve in the elbow, but in my back. When I wake up, it feels like light to medium pressure on that nerve. The longer I stand, the worse it hurts. I generally get about 3-4 hours to do something, then I have to lay down a few hours to get the pain to subside to a manageable level. Docs can't figure out why or what to do about it, so I am just pretty much stuck with it. Take care of your back! You'll really regret it if you don't and it breaks in a way that they can't fix.
Damn. I'm not complaining. I get it. I'm still semi-mobile and it will probably clear up. I don't plan on doing anything to make it worse. I don't know how you guys do it. But you really have no choice. Stuff's gotta get done and if you're the only one to do it well.... Hang in there Mr eKretz
Progress on the pole barn, day 9. Had an interesting time a week and a half ago. They came to blow in the insulation in the ceiling of the pole barn, and wound up with 3 fire trucks in front of my new building. Really cannot see the work going on. There are 2 individuals up in the trusses, and 1 on the lift. One more in the back of a trailer feeding the insulation to the blower The generator on the front of the trailer caught fire. 3 fire extinguishers failed to put it out, so I gave them the one I had for my excavator, and called 911.
Progress on the pole barn, day 10. Friday they installed the 2 roll-up doors. There is a problem with the larger door that I will call about, but overall, I like them. My final inspection is Tuesday, and after they fix the door problem, the builder is officially done. Then it is my turn. Lights and insulation on the walls are the priority. I also want to install a deadbolt in the man door. 16x14 door 9x8 door
Looks really good. Only extra thing they could have done is wrap it in house wrap incase you want to insulate the walls at a later date. Wouldn't be required if it was spray foam though.
I'm always a fan of a deadbolt, but how useful do you think it will be on a door with that much glass? That's not to say I didn't have a deadbolt on a door just like that in my last house... (But only because there was already a hole in the door for one)
For doors with glass you would use a double cylinder deadbolt lock so they can't just reach in and unlock it. They could still climb in the broken window but won't be able to unlock the door by hand. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kwikset-985-Series-Satin-KW1-Satin-Nickel-s-With-SmartKey-Double-Cylinder-Deadbolt/1001135306
Very nice looking building. Well done.
Great Swetz! The big roll-up doors look real nice, I couldn't afford those! Luckily, I'm not as opposed to the sliders I have as I expected to be. When I was a kid my grandparents had a barn with sliding doors and that was the bane of my existence as young. I hated trying to open them. I'd imagine it was because I was young and weak. My big doors now (both 12'x14) are easy to slide when adjusted properly. It would be lovely to press a button and up they go.
I understand that all locks are only a deterrent. The pros can defeat anything! Ad NH575E said, I will use a double key deadbolt. I actually was at a local home depot picking up some spray foam for the windows, and was shocked to see that they didn't have a single double key set in stock. I understand that someone could break the glass and climb thru. Once inside they could open the garage doors. Hell, it would be even easier for them to drive a vehicle thru the garage doors. I do intend to put a decal on the glass so that you cannot simply look thru and take inventory. For the same reason, the 3 windows are mounted high. The one below is the lock I was leaning towards. Schlage B62 N 626 Deadbolt, Keyed 2 Sides, Highest Residential Security, Satin Chrome - Door Dead Bolts - Amazon.com Schlage B62 N 626 Deadbolt, Keyed 2 Sides, Highest Residential Security, Satin Chrome - Door Dead Bolts - Amazon.com www.amazon.com
Thanks! I really wanted the house wrap, but the added cost was beyond my financial abilities. Don't remember the quoted cost, but trust me, it was crazy!
Thank you! Yes it would. I don't have power in the shop at this point, and don't plan to get utility power. They want crazy money because I am a ways from the street. Just ordered a Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Portable Power Station. I will prolly use it for lights and the door opener. I plan to attach a solar panel or 2 to charge it, but also have the option to recharge it with a generator. That is prolly what I will do for now, because I own a generator ($$$).
If your shop is within range of your internet consider buying a WiFi dead-bolt. I have 3 of them and they are awesome. I can be any where and operate them plus the Kwikset app shows if they are locked or unlocked. I tried a Yale wifi lock and it was impossible to get it to communicate with the MyQ app. I returned to Walmart and got a full refund.
I don't have or need power in my barn but I have one 100w solar panel and two 30w solar panels on the roof. They are overkill for what I use them for. The 100w keeps a group 27 deep cycle battery charged and also powers a wyze cam. I also have a couple of LED lights on it and run my pump for filling the tractors with diesel. I very rarely turn the lights on. A 30w panel would have worked just as well. The 30w panels are connected to Battery Tender brand solar battery maintainers. I switch the leads to those back and forth. One remains on my trolling motor battery I haven't had in the water all year. I will probably get out some in the fall to do some red fishing. The other is usually on my backhoe when it's not in use. I like the Battery Tender charge controllers. They have a little LED light that turns green when the batteries are fully charged so it's an easy way to monitor. A while back one of the wires got broken or chewed into and the LED was flashing to tell me it was disconnected. I have another 30w panel on my double gate opener. It connects directly to the Mighty Mule operator that has a built in charge controller. I use a Walmart lawn tractor battery on it and the panel keeps it charged year round. My first single gate opener I used a 10w panel and I would have to charge the battery a couple times a year in cold or rainy weather. I get 3 to 5 years out of the Walmart lawn tractor batteries and I use them for several applications. I even have two of them in my 24V diesel generator. All the charge controllers say to connect to the battery before connecting the solar panel so I have the positive lead on all the panels on a toggle switch. I just open the connection to the panel with the switch before connecting and reconnecting to the batteries. Everything has SAE plugs for easy disconnect/connecting. I have a few more 10w panels I just put a blocking diode on the positive lead and use them without a charge controller on small batteries. Those only put out a little over a half amp in full sun so they work perfect as maintainers. Lastly I have a 5000W generator I can roll outside and start up to run a small compressor if I want to use my air tools in the barn.
Keyed inside and out are rare now because of the safety concern that in an emergency someone like a fire someone could be locked inside. Probably not as big a concern in a barn but not recommended in a house where it would be locked with people inside.
That is crazy. It was pretty much a standard feature as well as the membrane under the roof on my pole shed.
I bought house wrap for mine on my own, asked them to put it on, they said they'd charge like 300 bucks but ended up doing it for free. I ended up "tipping" them with a bottle of bourbon and a case of beer I think.
I wish that would have worked for me.
This is true in America but rare in Europe. I use euro cylinders for all my locks as they’re way more secure for many reasons. Many double keyed locks also won’t allow someone to open the lock if a key is already in the interior side. This offers an extra piece of protection as you place your key in the interior lock when you’re home and no one can enter even if they have a key. It also essentially turns the lock into a thumb turn when you’re home so the safety concern of burning alive by not finding keys is gone.
Doesn’t do much for breaking the glass, reaching in and turning the deadbolt…with the key inserted.
I have dead-bolts keyed on both sides. The key for the interior is never left in the lock. It is always hanging on a drywall screw, in the wall above the top of the door. I rarely use that key because I always have my truck fob with the house key, on ring in my pocket. All of my door locks use the same key. That includes the shop door and the deadbolt on it. I used to rekey my locks myself. It isn't that difficult to do with the proper tools and an assortment of tumbler pins. I now use kwikset Smart Key deadbolts and door handles with Smart Key locks in them. They are easy to rekey with nothing more than the Kwickset tool that comes with them.
Glass on main doors are also an American thing.
Nothing like having 5 full light doors in your house and 2 in the shop and knocking on wood, not having to worry about getting broke in.
Now that you mention it, the last time I changed my front door on my house I used this setup. Didn't have to buy 6 or 8 new keys this way. I wasn't a genius tho. I bought a lock and it turned out to be one of those kwickset smart locks...LOL
Great looking shop and floor, Swetz. I've enjoyed every ones pictures and projects in this thread. Dead bolts will keep a lazy thief away. Several years ago I had a detached garage built where we lived in a semi-rural neighborhood. I had the typical glass man door with dead bolt - keyed exterior and thumb knob on the interior. One morning not too long after it had been built, I got up one morning to go to work. Wondering in the yard, was a heavy dew that morning, I noticed skinny swerving lines in the yard that led between our house and the shop. I followed them all the way through the backyard into the neighbors yard. It dawned on me that someone had ridden a bicycle through our yard that night. I checked my shop door and sure enough there was a screwdriver or bar impression in the trim beside the door knob. They had tried to jimmy the latch open. If it hadn't been for the dead bolt, which luckily I had locked he would've gotten in. He was looking for an easy target. I heard later that another neighbor, also with a detached garage had a break-in that week (probably that night) and thief had made out with several tools and a carburetor. Right after that, I installed a game cam above the door to catch anyone's picture coming and going. Never had any issues after that. We later moved, but definitely have no regrets installing a deadbolt.
Thanks for the kind words! I hope I am as lucky to keep the bad people out!
Poor Swetz, was feeling good about progress on kick-ass new shop, now all he'll be thinking about is some crack head breaking in and stealing his good crap. Oh, the travesty of it all...
On another note, ran underground power from shop to sugar house yesterday, got sick of running extension cord. Big dig, 35 ft run, 3/4 schedule 40 conduit, 12/2 wire runs 2 led lights and 2 receptacles, GFI protected of course to run jukebox and fan whilst I'm making maple steam. Took longer to "landscape" 2 ft. ditch than running all the electrical stuff. Big operation, forgot to get pictures. Damn.
My hoe from Wisconsin has been a bit busy today. She moved a tired Ford F-700 with Lucas Girling brakes that will not release and moved a pile of soil to facilitate a foundation layout for my daughter and SIL.
Got to love lifting and moving trucks around! My buddy has some land near Jackson, Ohio, just forest land that he put a shed for camping on. At the end of October he plans to rent an excavator to take some trees down and do some dirt moving. I told him I may be able to bring my backhoe out for a couple days, though I'm not sure I have a way to move it. If I don't have a way to move it it seems likely that getting mine moved out there would be as expensive as renting one locally, and I wouldn't have to worry about wear and tear on mine. Any suggestions? I'm guessing he doesn't want to rent both an excavator for the week and a backhoe for a couple days. I don't think I want to rent the backhoe for his property work, as I assume it'll be in the 500 buck range. My FIL has a trailer but I'm not sure if he has a truck that'd be good for the distance traveled. I don't know what it would cost to rent a truck that would do it, if I were to take my backhoe? Will I kill myself or others having never towed something so big?
Man, you toggled some memories...or was it nightmares...LOL The utility that I worked from had probably a thousand trucks with these brakes because ford was selling them cheap. Well, they may have been cheap to buy, but the overall cost was much higher. Those wheel cylinders always leaked! Eventually, we got a supplier that stocked the backing plate as a complete unit and just zapped off the backing plate and replace everything as a unit. When they worked, they worked well tho. Had guys putting brake fluid in the hydro pump too. Air brakes would have been soo much better, but they saved a buck...LOL You can cage those hydraulic cans, to release the brakes, kinda like air brake chambers if you run the bolt out.
My advice....don't offer your machine up. I get that you want to help a friend, but you could also get yourself into a jam. A rented excavator should be able to clear a spot for a shed in short order. I would volunteer to be a ground hand. Surely there will need to be some saw work when clearing trees. You will save him the time of popping in and out of the machine every time a little saw work is needed.
Those stuck brakes are often caused by bad hoses.
X2 on the no travel clause, aside from transport issues. What if something breaks while at the property? Not trying to be an A-hole, but as posted here your mechanic skills are limited and you may have to commute back and forth to repair or worse pay someone else. Nice to help out a buddy, but support work like Swetz said is just as important.
I have caged them before. The truck sat for about 3 years. I was able to cage one can. The other side stud broke off at the can. That will be fun, BOOM.
X3 Don't do it. I try not to even drive mine off the property but I have on a couple of occasions.
Have experienced that too. They are so frozen the roll pin holding the nut in place snaps...Junk!
Welp, good comments. Thanks guys. My wife mentioned my hoe breaking down there too.
Took down 4 more trees. 2 more to go and I think I will stick a fork in it and call it done.
The LG brake system has been more trouble on that dump truck than anything else. I have used the truck on the ranch for years with only the parking brake working. I have about 400 yards of soil to move so I will have to get them operable. Someone should have their a** removed for that poor design.
Oh, but this made a lot of sales for the service and parts departments in the day.
New project. I want to add a shed roof to the rear of my garage. Pretty much the same as the one on the front. Only difference is I think I'm going to put up a mafia block retaining wall against the bank. I may try to land the posts on top of the wall. It will only be 2 courses high. I'll probably give the blocks one spring to settle and get to building it next summer. 2x2x6 ft Blocks will be here Tuesday. Supposedly they are 3600 lbs thereabouts. Im confident the loader on the jcb can lift and transport them. Hopefully the rear hoe can too for setting them. Anyone ever build one of these walls?
What is a Mafia block wall and how did it get it's name
Also called bin blocks or retaining wall blocks. Use your imagination about why they got there name. Casey, What are they charging for each one? New or used?
Concrete trucks werte coming back to the plant with left over concrete. Some inventor decided to build a form, empty the truck into it, sell the block. The idea took off like wildfire. They transport well, can build a functional retaining wall in hours. They've become refined, come with a tongue at top, groove at bottom. Early ones had a random piece of steel in them as a lifting eye, now they have a galvanized, engineered lifting eye. Bigger ones are big enough to hide a body. Mafia are reputed to dump murder victims in wet concrete.
Pretty sure long ago in New York City, my uncle was connected so I’m offended by the name. (just Joking).
...he didn't go missing did he ??
No, lived a full and happy life. Quite well off.
New blocks. I think it came out to around 70 bucks a block maybe. The delivery was 250 per load (8 blocks ea), but i know have no interest in making a trip back and forth for each block so I'll pay that.
Thank you! I am with you, 8 trips would have sucked. The block prices vary wildly from location to location.
Snap! 70 bucks ain't bad. I don't remember what they are charging around here but do recall whomever I looked at didn't want to deliver. My FIL has a big trailer and I'm sure he'd be interested in helping me move some if I ever got some. I'm reconsidering my pond build as I've seen folks built the walls of a swimming pond with these kinds of blocks. It was decrease my lining costs substantially, and I could line the pond in different sections. I'd be surprised if my hoe side could lift and move one, but maybe I'm selling her short.
You would want a loader bucket full of ballast if you were to try it.
I make it 3480 for a 2x2x6 block. I can lift one at 23' extension of the hoe, but have to bring it closer if I go high, or swing to the side.
My hoe set "stones" for our annual antique tractor pull. We have 30 800 LB concrete blocks. Most years that is enough. It rains often in VT, the track absorbs enough moisture to get saturated loose. We are in severe drought, the track was dust loose. Seth took the fire tanker & fogged it down with 2000 gallons of water Friday night. Saturday morning it was absorbed! Made the tightest I've ever seen it. We had a lot of big tractors this year, they all were performing. End of the day we had four still pulling 25500. We found a mafia block to top the boat, three pulled that, one, a Farmall 450, broke a bull gear bearing & ruptured the differential case. Slight downgrade in the track, we ran out of weights, pulled uphill. First tractor spun out, leaving a big hole, no one else was able to climb out of the hole. I'll describe it as a draw. Three pulled 28980, all of them weighted to 15000 (or they claim) we don't have a scale. It was a good day, perfect weather. We usually pull Columbus Day weekend, this year's foliage wasn't bright.
I bought them from a massive concrete company in my area. Not sure they are made with leftover concrete or purpose poured. They are big and heavy tho so I'm hoping they stay put. Debating whether or not to sink the first course in the ground a bunch to keep it more stable in the frost/thaw.
Last year I dug these in the banks in anticipation of having a watergate fabricated this summer. Has not been tested yet but soon enough I’m sure. Hopefully the crossbar is out of the water!
It’s all that 580M wanted on the hoe. Loader was not a problem. This is how the gate turned out. Time will tell if it needs tweaked.
I have never set one of these blocks but have wanted to...Someday maybe?? Anyhow, I talked to a local concrete guy and he said a nice layer of clean stone under them, and first layer partially buried would be best. They are big and heavy, but he said the clean stone is to drain the water so that they do not heave from the freeze. Sounds reasonable. but I cannot back it up other than his word of mouth.
Have built a few retaining walls with them and currently waiting on future SIL to get a garage/loft project off the ground, because we are trading some work for a 20x24 carport. I will be stacking 2 high and anchoring carport to the Mafia block tops. I usually put stone down a foot or 2 depending on frost line, here it’s realistically 2 1/2’. Then pack some dense grade over the stone and level it out. Then I put some clean stone for at least 2’ for backfill. That will keep the frost out.
Whereabouts are you? I am a little concerned about frost. Our line is 48" here in upstate ny technically but i don't think it usually gets that deep.
Again, no real experience here, but the concrete guy said he does not try to get below the frost line. He tries to make the water drain so it does not lift the blocks. I would assume it would not hurt them to move some as they are separate pieces.
You’re not really getting below the frost line, more like just getting a good level base and having nothing underneath that will heave. I’m in Southern NH and frost line is 3’ but what’s more important is drainage.
Interesting. I was considering landing my 6x6 posts on these for my shed roof. Im ok with slight movement but can't have anything major. The clean drainage rock compacted underneith kinda makes sense.
Whelp, they are here. 2 loads. Truck lifted 4 at a time! Didn't realize they could lift that kinda weight. They smell of fresh concrete
I have seen this done before. WOW, crazy lift capacity!
Nice! I'd be curious, but don't understand the math and physics involved at how much outward pressure some stacked blocks could withstand. If I were to use them as swimming pond walls for, I dunno, 15' x 25' x 10' deep would I need to back fill to keep them standing? I think back filling would be acceptable if kept below the water surface for plants and junk on the outside of the swimming portion.
Wet dirt is heavier than water. I expect walls to buckle over time. A house basement ithstands pressure from outside for a few reasons: It isn't real tall, typically less than 8'. It has a concrete floor poured between the walls preventing soil pressure from buckling the walls at bottom where pressure is greatest. The wooden floor structure is bolted to the top of the foundation wall, helping to support from the top. Dirt is usually not as tall as the wall. Poured concrete foundations include steel & have some strength. Dirt weighs approximately 100 LBS per cubic feet, wet dirt more, it's more plastic. Ten feet down, that is more than 1000 PSF against the bottom of your wall. Water weighs about 55 LBS per cubic foot. Ten feet down pressure is 550 PSF. That's about 450 PSF differential pushing on every square foot of surface That's 5400 pounds force against each mafia block. A small enough structure would gain strength from the corners. Long, tall walls won't do as well. Wet dirt one side, water on the other, these blocks displace water, about 1700 LBS per block. Under water they don't weigh as much, only about half as much as they do in air.
Yeah...what he said.
Willie, you take me for much smarter than I am! I think you are saying the dirt/mud would be a bigger issue than the water pushing out on the blocks and that with the pressure from both sides the dirt wins and that the blocks would likely not hold the water due to them collapsing or moving in toward the water?
In the area where I live they use concrete that is leftover from deliveries. The strength of the concrete in them varies as result of that. My loader could only lift them if I wrapped a heavy chain around the loader's cross arm. That was not a good situation because the elevated block was very close to the radiator shroud. I actually damaged the loader valve from the extreme pressure that was generated from hoisting a block like that. The valve body had weak spot in it and the pressure blew a un-repairable pin hole size leak in it. I located a couple of used valves for sale on the internet. All of them were extremely expensive when the shipping was added to their cost. Unfortunately when a machine is as old as mine is I was lucky to even find a used valve.
Yup. A pond holds water because the earth around it is saturated & heavy enough to hold it in place. A vertical walled pond wouldn't be possible unless huge cut blocks were used heavy enough to resist the inward pressure.
Continuing to 'push' down trees... .. one of the bigger ones, took a bit of persuading(#1) The lack of moisture in the ground let me clean the root ball of dirt..(#2) Tree no. 2 was a bit smaller (#3) ...and the clean up where I disguised the hoe as a pile of oak leaves.. ..that lack of moisture was before todays 2.5" of wetness!!
It doesn't necessarily have to be saturated. Many many ponds and lakes hold water because they have a high percentage of clay in the soil underneath, and that's effectively watertight. I agree that freestanding blocks would not stay in place while holding 10' of water depth though.
I've heard if a pond doesn't hold water you can fence it in and put cows in to pack it.
Welp, back to the drawing board! I'm not intentionally being obtuse but what if the hole was on the inside of the blocks? Meaning a single row or two, where the outside was only 2 or 3 feet deep but the inside was 10. Like I set the blocks 2 high, then dig down past them on the inside. I imagine there may be collapse or sinking issues, but would that be the case if the exposed dirt was pressed back by the water (and pond liner held in by a fair amount of gravel)?
I'm not clear what you propose. One might dig a pond in native soil. If the sides are steep they'll migrate toward center. If not as steep, the weight of soil keeps it in place. In engineering they refer to angle of repose. If you see a pile of processed material placed there by a tall conveyor all sides of the conical heap are a straight line in a specific angle. This angle changes by a number of factors. In very wet slippery material this angle becomes a very slight grade. Wet concrete for example, nearly levels itself. Dry crushed rock might form a stable very steep cone. Typical pond soil is going to be wet, pretty plastic. Gravity wants it to flow down. If it isn't able to flow down (there is soil beneath it) pressure moves it sideways. To some extent water weight & pressure oppose this, but water isn't as heavy as mud. Think of wet concrete. Wet concrete weighs about 175 LBS per cubic foot. A form holding wet concrete 1' tall has 175 PSF pressure. A form 8' tall has 1400 PSF forcing the form apart at bottom. Lets think of a cellar foundation full of water. The form inside walls would be opposed from moving by the weight of the water, about 63 LBS per cubic foot. At bottom of that 8' tall wall 500 PSF oppose that 1400 PSF of the wet concrete. Form only needs 900 PSF strength to contain the wet concrete. Many a concrete crew have had tragic results when they failed to consider pressure rising as height of wall is great.
Whelp the loader lifted one of these with absolutely no trouble. I even drove one up my steep hill for a back stop on a rock screen I plan to set up. I excavated behind the garage a few feet but have had to excavate some large rocks where I plan to set the block. I will have to make sure I compact well when I fill the holes.
That’s kinda the main reason to put some stone in. Get rid of the big rocks, so the wall doesn’t heave. When I do mine, the concrete place by me has some without the V so it’s like a cap block for the top layer.
Right now she's painting her toen......oh wait a minute...
Did you try lifting one with the backhoe? I have a tension scale that goes up to 10,000 pounds and hooked my backhoe on the 555D to a big old stump with chains to see what it could do. It managed a max of 4,500 pounds in the upward direction. I *think* it would lift one of your blocks, but not extended out very far.
No wonder you got fired.
There are many functions where you might measure lift. Backhoe boom might lift 5000LBS Use the dipper, you might lift 7500, use the bucket curl at mid position might be 8500. This might apply to the loader. Case hoes, the bucket curl is more powerful than the boom. I can lift 9500 with either end of my backhoe/loader, I have to use the most powerful function in combination.
The hoe would not lift the blocks with the chain connected to the bucket. If I tried to lift with the dipper it would overcome the boom even close in. I moved the chain to the thumb bracket and was able to lift with a slow drift down but only very close it with the boom almost vertical. Do you think its normal? Are my boom seals kaput, or aux releif valve set too low? Main releif valve pressures are to spec.
What machine is that?! Mine was a simple test of *maximum* upward force, using any and all functions. I've never heard of a backhoe that could pick up that much weight using the backhoe for crane/lift. This sounds normal to me other than the drift. Did that happen even with hands off the levers? I just looked up the current Case 590 Super N and it's only rated to lift ~4,100 pounds even with the "Power Lift" or "Power Boost" function which increases power a bit beyond normal. They're known for being pretty strong lifters.
Yea if the boom was near vertical the dipper would lift the blocks to a point a few feet off the ground and if i continued would begin to pull the boom out (overcoming the boom cylinder).
May be time for a seal job then. Mine's also due on both the boom and the dipper. I'd do a leakage test.
Waiting on the transport to take it to it's new home.
Sold your New Holland?
Yep. Bye Bye old friend. Be good to your new owner.
Sure you're crying a little on the inside but remember, every feller needs a spare.
I have friends wouldn't own anything but Ford New Holland. They've had several 4500, three 555 A, B, C. They now have a 655A well loved since birth, now offered for sale. They had a number of articulated wheel loaders, now a compact track loader. Large excavators Ford & New Holland are pretty scarce, they have several Case. Dozer track loaders are exclusively IH 175, I thought they had one Dresser 175, my son informs me only the decals are Dresser. After he had sold his brother's 5 or six, I asked Ken how many 175s he still had. "only one" he answered. Later that day I viewed 4, three in daily use. Ford or New Holland 555 are very common, I've never before seen a 575 with or without a letter.
Congratulations NH! On to different projects! Hopefully, you stick around to converse with the buddies you've made here!
Some of the exposed shelf rock on the top of the ridge( building site) was too much to move ( early on) so it was destined to be incorporated into a planting bed. We started this 2 seasons back 'cause we needed a place to put some perennials we had....in addition to a 'patio' spot to view the western sky ( sunsets!). This week I got a 'round to-it'..... ...Waiting for grass seed to 'pop' ... top view Some of the boulders were 'added' to the hardscape...2nd pic shows exposed 'shelf'
Better Homes, Rocks and Gardens here we come. Nice job.
I had cracked a seam in an old bucket trying to pry apart some of the rocks in this bunch...decided they would stay put after that.. .. did a patch on the bucket and still sits as a spare thanks.... one of my summer jobs in my (much) younger days was on a small landscape crew in the poconos.....some people there spent an awful lot of coin for their 'scape. The 'woods cows' loved them! Anyway, always a passion for the hardscape ... even when 'forced' as a youngster at home The material ( soil,rocks) all come from onsite. The modified for the sitting area came from a barter... 3 triaxles for an old 4cyl/stnd Ranger ( 97) that had a bad slave cylinder(178k) that I had no gumption to fix.... .......but I did have to buy some fescue seed....and the mulch, which is from hemlock logging
I still have an old international 250a hoe sitting here. Spent about a zillion on hoses and still everytime I tried to use it something else broke and it still wouldnt get even mid size stumps out. I gave up and bought a Case CX130 exc.
That's a lovely spot T-town! I have a bucket with some cracks that were exposed upon trying to drag a bulldozer around that I haven't done anything with yet... I probably should!
T-town, That landscaping looks great. They always say a man needs to know his limitation...I do... I stink at landscaping! I just lack the artsy flair. My wife tells me what to do and it looks better than I could ever imagine...LO
Thanks guys.... I have an ulterior motive.....well several I guess.. One goal is limit lawn.... and get things to the point of not needing a trim mower or needing to use a string trimmer. Just sit on the 0-Turn and marvel at the newly cut grass..... while enjoying a beverage. Little by little we are getting the 'outside' set up. Mt list for next season is growing..... but it does give me reasons to get out of bed..
good GREAT! LOL
My place is the same where my wife has a great mind for landscaping projects, she starts them in some state of madness and it comes together looking great!
Beautiful. Its people like you that prove how much work those old machines still have in em. Even with all the required tinkering you still end up way ahead of where you'd be had you not had a machine at all! Nice work!
.... your right there!! If she shut down tomorrow ( don't think she will ) I'd still be way ahead... and that's not counting all the FUN ... ..and thanks.....Mrs.T came home from a trip, took a look and smiled.
Had trees down and cut up all over the place waiting for conditions to burn. Our granddaughter was wanting to have a party with a bonfire at their house and my son in law showed up with a dump trailer and hauled it all off for me. 4 loads. Now on to sifting out piles of dirt and smoothing out some ground.
Nice. Haven't had much rain here in ny. Statewide burn ban in effect until at least the 15th maybe beyond.
I really enjoy bucket repair/reinforcement. I don't get to do it often enough. I'm not at a place I want to damage my bucket for the satisfaction of fixing it. Done it a few times, I enjoy it. Wish I could find someone willing to pay me to fix buckets. Big machines to move them, big torches, arc gouging, and big welders intrigue me. I'm sort of an amateur. Truth is most major damage, you'd be more cost effective buying a used replacement.
..agree there, however... ... a 'true cost analysis' has to include the "fun" factor...
When buckets are well over $10K you can do a lot of fixing at less cost than a new bucket. There are a lot of used buckets though.
I'm kind of assuming with my lack of welding skills that a new bucket may be in my future anyway, so I may as well try it. Is it suggested to disconnect batteries prior to welding on a bucket? Is the battery disconnect switch enough to "disconnect"?
Didn't get any pictures, but I pulled the old Deere out of the weeds, greased her up, and shuttled some material around yesterday. I had piles of bricks/blocks from a demo job that were donated to me for fill, along with about 10 yards of fines that had washed out of my driveway. I gather them up.a couple times a year after heavy rains and haul them to my fill zone. Once washed out, they'll never stay put in the drive again. Start to finish, I think I spent an hour in the hoe. Farthest pile was about 800 feet from dump zone. It took 7 trips, but the ol girl moves at a snails pace compared to newer equipment. I was surprised to find a dead battery, but then I realized I hadn't touched the poor thing since April. It wasn't too dead though, a quick jump off my pickup and she lit right off. Winter blend diesel should be going to the pumps soon so I'll pick up 10 gallons and top it off before winter really sets in.
In a perfect world you'd remove the bucket from the tractor while you weld. Older machines with less electronics seem fine. Avoid putting electricity through any two parts of the tractor. Many years I used my loader bucket as a welding table. Clamp the work lead directly to the item being welded. I've never had an issue.
Set several blocks today, I spaced the wall back as far as I could but its barely enough space to get the machine back there, and forget the outrigger. Had to use my big ol jack under the hoe frame. Works but tedious. I have underground utilities in the hillside so thats all the space I had.
Over 10 years back, I had a dozen or so Norway Spruce seedlings that were left overs from an Earth Day give away to the young schoolkids..... Had them in pots at the old house... drug them up here to the 'new' land and 'heeled' them against a stone wall. After planting 6 along our drive over the years... I had a couple left.. and there were getting a bit tall... So I put in a new planting bed ( one that was planned for some time) and using the spruces to screen some views down the hill.... 1st prep... peeling sod #2 dragging a lone boulder up the hill ( keep my front bucket healthy!) #3-4 now I have to mulch and water ( for days) I'm hoping they will re-root.....
...and the 'new' view from the house.... .... ran short on mulch.... and the beds need enlarging ... but the trees are in!..... good 'till spring. Trees are muted this fall... maybe the lack of water in Aug/Sept?? Foreground grass is new and has been watered...
That's really nice
... tanks.... yeah, I'm havin fun !!
Beautiful t-town! My lovely wife and I took a few days off work to do some stuff around the house. I had my hoe out moving my rock pile (original link below) back to where it was, hopefully this time we don't have a billion weeds growing up through the pile, due to the geotextile we put down first. There are a couple lessons to be learned. We've got a big concrete parking block, that I showed waaaay back on this thread, that I used for drag grading. My wife suggested using that to avoid rocks rolling into the pond and I promptly ignored her. The second big rock I moved went into the pond. The better lesson was to use that parking block to stop rocks so I can effectively scoop rocks into the bucket and place them much more accurately. I ended up using other big rocks to do this but the parking block would have been better. There are some neat looking rocks and I'll be happy when the next rain washes them off. Some cool pink ones, a blue one, some sparkly blueish ones, and some pink layered ones that would flake off big chunks. We've got a bit more to do but the ones left should be moved by hand probably. One day I'll build my pond to shining swimming pond glory and we'll use these rocks in a way that is nicer than just a pile of rocks. As per usual, the scale isn't impressive. That big rock in the back left is VW beetle sized and likely much, much heavier. HeavyEquipmentForums It's been a beautiful day in the neighborhood, I hope it wss for y'all too.
I've had 5 backhoes & sort of a sixth. Two I have owned a number of years before adding a thumb. I always wanted a structure 5 feet wide, 15' long, maybe 1-1 1/2 feet tall. I could place it between the stabilizers & the bucket. Simple substitute for a thumb. My current hoe has a new Amulet thumb, I HATE it. It is shaped like a seven year old's teeth, big gap in the middle, overall, it is too long for the bucket. I'm going to alter it. Big rocks it pushes away from the bucket, small rocks scoot out the middle. I built a homemade thumb for an earlier hoe. It was simple, a bit shorter than the bucket, two parallel arms held a flat of plate steel 10" square. It gripped all sizes of rock in a three point grasp. I found rock or tree trunk it worked best with a 12" wide bucket
Aighead, we all know how excited you must have been about that rock pile, did you and your Honey "snuggle" next to the pile last night?
Hahaha! Unfortunately, no. Her comment was that it didn't really look like she envisioned. I'm still envisioning it as a collection to be used later. I think she is envisioning a nice pile of rocks.
Done! Well not really. Have to order more clean gravel to finish backfill. Only had enough to cover the drainage pipe. Wall leans back a tad but im ok with it.
lookin good Casey!
.... now a roof?? Great job!!!
That was the plan but Im thinking I may let it settle through next mud season before I land a roof on it. Had to dig some bigger rocks out of there so I'd hate for it to move a bunch after building a roof.
You are better off having it leaning back a little bit. Most retaining walls are supposed to be leaning back a little bit. Looks good!
I had some buddies over for a bonfire Saturday and one brought their kids, 10 and 7. It was getting late but not too late to let the kids dig some mud out of the creek, raise it up and let it splat out into the water. They had fun, the little girl, 7, was into it and excited to try. The boy, 10, said no, he didn't want to try, until after his sister did, then he climbed up and gave it a couple goes, smiling.
Good stuff....You may have planted the seeds of a future career.
Along the same lines, no backhoe involved. White water rafting in W Va., came to a spot we could get up bank and jump off into river about 40 ft. below. Four grown "manly outdoorsmen" staring off cliff at water below humming and hawing, heard a noise from behind us, here comes running and screaming like a banshee, teen age hillbilly chick ran right through us and jumped off the cliff. Damn now we all have to jump. Damn fearless chicks.
Swetz- That's kind of what I'm hoping for. I didn't know heavy equipment operation was a thing when I was young or I would have seriously considered it instead of factory work and now riding a desk a fair amount of time. Stinky- That's great! I'da been very much doubting a jump that far!
Time for a new shed lean to. My plan has come under criticism from many. I got my hands on some heavy wall 6" squares, 12' 10" tall. They have 3/4" think 18" square bases, burried more than six feet deep. I beam is used steel I had on hand. Welded uprights to receive each rafter. Holes in the siding allow each rafter to rest on the plate, nail to studs. At I beam, each rafter gets 5 1/4" screws to hold. 2x12x24', I don't know what they weigh. It was me & the Mrs. Don't know if I would have managed to carry each rafter up a ladder. I do know she wouldn't. The backhoe did the heavy lifting.
I'm all about overkill when building, no criticism here, that's friggin' awesome. Whattya using for sheeting 1/4" plate ?
Well, if the garage falls over, at least you will probably still be able to use the lean-to.
Looks good! No sons or extra sons to help with this project?
They all disappear at once. I've always said: "When I'm lonely, I go to the bathroom, there is sure to be somebody needs me. When I want privacy, I build something."
I don't see a problem provided your posts cant fill with water, and your wall studs and plate are well secured. You might be pushing your span tho. What is that span? and your rafter spacing? Are you doing metal or shingles?
Posts have a 1" hole in base plate, another 2" above in the 6" square tube. I think they were 5/16" wall, but hot dipped galv, they grew to 3/8". Our soil is rock only, big gaps between Never seen a puddle here. We have a lawn only by hauling in topsoil, sand & manure. It is all welded together. I beam is 10 X 6" 22 pound per foot 13' span between posts. Rafters are 2 X 12 24 16" on center. actual span between the walls is 21'. Plan on 3/4" plywood & asphalt shingles.
Well I'm about 50 miles due west of you. Your probably at a snow load of 50lbs/sq ft like me. You may want to double those rafters up at a 21' span if your not doing metal for the roof, but thats just going by the beurocratic numbers . Just something to look at. Looks good. It'll be a lot more useful space.
Somewhere between me & my son in Rock City Falls. Other son adds SH instead of C for Rock City Falls. I ain't scared. The shed other end of the garage has 20 foot rafters 2 X 8. It only spans 17 feet. No evidence of sag. Main building is 26 feet wide, 20 foot 2 X 8 held well 30 years. I confess the quality of 2 X 12 has me concerned. I may chicken out, sister them up.
Don't think you have anything to worry about with rafters. Used to frame big "home show" houses when a youngin'. Lots of cathedral ceiling family rooms, 24' 2x10 doug fir rafters 16oc, only time we doubled rafters was for skylights and that's for Buffalo Lake Effect snow machine load. Not to dismiss the New England snowfall but ours is a serious stress test.
The quality of 24’ lumber around here has taken a dump. Only thing good is SYHP and it’s coming from down south.
Not doing anything yet, fixing er up. I just like backhoes so here’s a couple pics. Toying with the idea of tint, so I photoshopped some on it’d be nice here in the high desert I think.
Ugh! Had electrical problems. Shuttle started shifting sluggishly and at times not at all. Hazard light would come on and battery gage would die whenever in forward or reverse. Weird stuff. Found the shuttle relay to be no good. I bypassed it but I also found the ground wasn't properly grounded. I think that was my main problem. Seems good now.
Goodness, Casey, that looks like a mess of a dashboard. Bummer, glad you got it going.
Good work Casey! Hoes need some attention here and there too!
Hope you all enjoy your holiday meal.... ..... make sure to save some fresh grease for your old hoe
Thanks T-town! Was an especially good thanksgiving this year! As is customary, the turkey and the sides cooked outside. Of course, we had a bonfire too. Dutch ovens for the sides, and deep fryer for the bird. My old hoe makes her own grease Belated happy thanksgiving to all!
Do we have a picture of your hoe parked in her new house??
Hey T-town, Was in T-town on Saturday. The family went to Bennies Nursery for a Christmas tree. Some operation. They are big fans of John deer. Lotta green machines moving around the farm! I plan to do another status update on the building, but the garage door guys have been here 4 times so far and they have still not fixed the door . Getting a little aggravated cuz they keep asking for the final payment even tho they are not done. Some recent pics. As you can see, I have been installing some foamboard. The excavator and hoe are snuggling nicely The stuff on the trailer is a 12k auto lift.
Whelp, I'm sufficiently jealous! Looks great Swetz. You can never have enough barn.
Agree, big time!! I wanted a lean too, but was out of $$$. I have wanted a place all my life, so I cannot complain one bit. This is great compared to working on stones!
Looks great Swetz.... shame about your door. Amazing what they get for that foam board Yeah the Barziloski's have been growing trees for near 100 years.... were you at the farm up on the mountain ( the main spot) or south of town along the river? Don't know if they still do it but in the past they hauled trees into NY city and sold out of lots...sure they made a killing. Their mountain place is on the flank side of Miller Mt..... which is now owned/managed by the state. The dirt road past the farm goes over a ridge and into an area called Thurston Hollow.... beautiful place! We chugged by the river spot on Sat as we rode the Santa train out of T-town with the grandkids. 'Tis the season for sure.... and now a bit of white stuff for tomorrow. I'm late getting snow stuff ready
.... And as far as the green machines at Bennies..... another family in town owns/runs Bartron's ... JD Ag dealer and Bobcat too. Had all the current folks in class at one time or another.... life in a small town!! ...and you can always add the 'leaner' later...
Defiantly on the side of a mountain! My son was winded pushing his son in a stroller...LOL We saw a train, and people walking to board it. My wife wants to do it now too. Yea, I need to start my plow truck. I haven't done that in a while. Bennies did have some Bobcat side-by-sides as well Yes, I may add the lean too some time in the future. Would be handy. I don't even need a floor or to have it closed in. Just something to keep stuff out of the weather.
Barn looks great Swetz! It's amazing how quickly it fills!
Thanks....Amen!
The train co. is the Reading Blue Mt. and Northern Railroad. The runs out of T-town are @ Christmas time on a specific wknd. For a really nice ride look into the runs into the Lehigh River Gorge that leave from the town of Jim Thorpe by the same outfit. Pretty much all year long I think. They now have day long trips leaving the Wyoming Valley ( Pittston PA) and going down to Jim Thorpe, letting you have a few hours in town and then they haul you back. Easy parking for that trip. The small town of Jim Thorpe is a busy place during certain times of the year. Best to get in and out by train!
They run Reading to Jim Thorpe as well. Same kinda deal. I've been meaning to take one of the fall foliage runs in to the gorge for a while... Never seem to have the time and weather line up. I imagine a run in there after snow would be awfully nice as well.
...and for all the folks not from this area.... 'Reading' Pa is pronounced 'red-ing'..... just so you know
Thank God for hydraulic snow shovels, especially the one with heat. Have had snow almost every day for several weeks now, that whole lake effect thing.
NEPA is getting its fair share too. Been using my plow truck. Backhoe is in the new building. Cannot bring myself to take it out in the snow...LOL...She was out for the last ~5 years, she deserves a break.
Whatever you do, don’t coddle a backhoe, regardless of gender, they get insulted easily and will get back at you, at the worst time. I will admit some pride, when I look at my old hoe and we have a deal. Treat me well in the snow season and every spring, she gets an upgrade.
We haven't yet had enough snow for me to get her out to plow. I was supposed to be close this past Saturday and even though it snowed pretty hard all day we didn't get more than maybe 4". I stayed inside.
We have had snow since first week of November here went from nice October to mid February in few weeks the old how been in hibernation past month just running the skid steer with the lighter oil for snow plowing only good thing lakes froze over early so off ice fishing
Big snow here, so I went out and plugged in the block heater Monday morning around 8a. Went out at about 9a and it didn't want to turn over and I was wearing the battery down. Plugged the battery tender back in and went back inside for a while. Came back out and she fired right up, but the hydraulics were real cold. The hoe was pretty well frozen to the ground. I slowly exercised the hydraulics, while still parked, until POP! and one of the hoses that goes to the manifold on the hoe side started shooting fluid all over. F#*#! Shut her off. I should have left it to sit and run for a while before attempting to move the implements. It's supposed to be less than 20 degrees for the foreseeable future, so I'm guessing hose replacement is not happening soon.
Sorry to hear that.. .... my old gal is parked for the winter..... she doesn't like to start @ 40 much less single digits. We ended up with just over 1 ft of the white stuff... thank goodness no ice! Flakes I can push.... not so much with the 'hard' stuff. I am still shy getting a plow for my beater truck... but have been using the in-law neighbors utility tractors to plow my driveway ( a shy 1/4 mile). But I will like plowing with some heat on in the future!
I clicked the like button but, not because your hose blew. Sorry about that.
Nothing like cold weather (read thick oil) to find a weak hose! One of the reasons that I try not to use my machines in the cold, and it has been cold! Make sure the hose does not empty your tank, if you are going to leave it for a while or you could have a mess...an expensive mess! I am using a jeep liberty to plow. Many ridicule it...That isn't a real truck...That thing doesn't even have a frame...etc. I absolutely love it! The short wheelbase lets me navigate around in my cluttered yard. It plows like a beast. Has power angle and up/down. Float as well. The plow cost more than the value of the vehicle...LOL, but it is a legit plow. I did have to install a 2" lift on the jeep because it was sitting low and the angle on the blade didn't seem right. Been using it for 7 winters now. I forgot to mention...The heat is SWEET! I actually take off my jacket and open the drivers window, and still sweat. I never have that problem in my hoe!
I have an old ('00) jeep cherokee sitting for 5 years now.... original plan was to turn that into my plow truck. But that would need a 'bit' of work to get it to that point.... my '10 chevy 1/2 ( with 258k) has become the 'beater' and the engine/tranny have had 'new' life a bit ago so I will get a plow for that.... as long as the heater stays working .... Got a '17 250 for pulling the camper around the east coast.... and that is sitting for the winter/salt season
Talk about a beater truck, I’m using a not registered 89 GMC with an even older plow. It’s hanging in there to get us out of our 500-foot driveway. My son loves plowing.
Gotta love those old GM trucks. Put probably 100 camshafts in the v8s, then an engine a month or 2 later at the utility company I retired from. They rode ruff, but lasted forever.
Lots of people with plow set-ups on 4 wheelers and utv's, yours is about the same size, but you've got windows and heat. Got my block heater on a timer, 9-noon every day any chance of bigger snow, about 75% of the time this year. By time I get out there 11-12 she usually takes right off. If single digits usually needs at least 2 hours. Put your long undies on and fix that line. You might need it. Gonna need that front bucket to haul all them new sap buckets around.
That's funny, about 10 years ago that's exactly what I did, new camshaft and lifters
Of course, where your at "snowfall" for you is different than the rest of the northeast... You'd think that lake would be frozen over by now??.... and your snow machine would run out of fuel. ...... Letchworth is on our bucket list of places to camp..
The weather folks say 85% frozen this single digit weather might seal the deal and February will be sunny and cold, wishful thinking. Letchworth "the Grand Canyon of the east" is beautiful most of the year, best part is not overcrowded like many state parks.
Worst thing you can do with a flat tappet cam is leave it idling. I wiped out a cam on my Volvo 1800E by leaving it to idle and "warm up" one morning.
Swetz- your plow lights make your Jeep look like it's got funny eyes. I potentially could have wrestled the blade on the tractor but I have turf tires on there, so it'd need some chains, and it starts harder in the cold than the backhoe...
Never really thought about that. The light crossover is automatic. Any time the plow is plugged in, the plow lights work and the stock lights are shut off. Since I never remove the plow, the plow lights work all the time. The plow lights are brighter than the OE truck lights, so it is fine with me.
I ponder how to attach a plow assembly to a unibody. Size of the Liberty is near perfect for the purpose, very maneuverable! I used a Jeep CJ5 four cylinder many years until the frame rusted to let rear springs float. After that, a Jeep 1976 Cherokee. Same story with that, rear frame rusted away.
Short wheel base anything, is the best plow rig. I had a Ford Bronco full size, that plowed awesome. Plowing with the backhoe works great but the skid steer around the house and out buildings, is the ticket.
Attachment was peaty straight forward. You have to take the entire bumper assembly off and mount a frame. The frame attaches to the structural crossmember as well as the subframe that the control arms are mounted to. This is all behind the bumper when all is said and done. You could remove everything but the plow mounting for summer use and no one would even know the truck was fitted for a plow. Very clean.
As long as the vehicle has good visibility. The liberty is awesome in this regard!
Not as interesting as snow ,pushing some new dirt roads.Dry and dusty,needing some good rains to come..
Pretty nice view Digger!
I would guess you don't have to worry about the heater working...
Aw I wish I was somewhere where pushing dirt and dust Been pushing mountains of snow and ice for past 3 months in minis a million degrees
And I thought it was bad here with the 12 inches we just got last week
That kind of work would double my beer consumption.
That lab don't care about no stinkin' weather they love it. Used to have chocolate dogs, got stuck out on the road one time dogs were out in the kennel (K-9 condominium, every comfort but a/c and cable tv) My dad got worried about them, drove out 30 miles from the city, got stuck 1/2 way down the driveway (1-1/2' of fresh snow, 700 ft. driveway) trudged down the rest of the driveway to the house suited up in carhartt suit, made his way out to kennel, dogs all excited to see grandpa, he opened the gate and they ran right past him through all that new powder and jumped right into the creek that runs through the yard. About 15 degrees, came out looking like 2 big frozen brown porcupines wagging their whole bodies just happy to be alive. Mother F%$#^&, Pops was not too impressed but happy his efforts were not for nothin". He then had to take them in the house and dry them off when thawed and we know how that goes. Thanks grampa.
Don’t worry ,when winter comes my arse freezes.I’m up in a mountainous area that hits -12 Celsius often
Hey Stinky I bet where you are you must get some good lake effect snowstorms
This year especially, been a while. We're in the bullseye, but at least cold, dry snow now. Think Erie is frozen but now we're getting snow from Huron or some crap. No worries, spring's right around the corner.
Don’t suppose I’ll get over that mountain
Mine is getting medicated. We have two places to buy off road diesel nearby. I don't like driving it on salty roads. For reasons of price, quality, and people I like, I prefer one. My son prefers the other. Last weekend in the storm, Town, and State roads were being plowed, but not salted. Seemed to accumulate 4" between plow runs. Seth decided it was a good time to put 36 gallons of fuel. "Lady" who runs the store grew up in a construction family, she knows better. I believe she is buying summer diesel, selling it as winter fuel. In past, fuel sellers used kerosene to protect against gelling. Now they use additives. I guess non gel agents, alcohol to prevent formation of ice crystalls. He did put Howe's fuel treatment in it. I don't think he ran it around enough to thoroughly work it through the fuel system. Next day it wouldn't start without charging batteries, it was cold outside! I checked, the batteries are Case, 9 years old. I went off to buy new ones. Of course the new ones didn't easily fit. An extra little rim at base made them too wide. Tractor sat after getting the batteries in. Yesterday, it started, ran fine 20 minutes, then quit, wouldn't restart. Three hours later, warmed filters, a dose of diesel 911, ($20.), dried everything, it ran, with the water in filter alarm screaming. Took the water separator off, dried it out thoroughly, alarm went away. I'll run this tank of fuel out before new fuel filters, likely be warmer weather by then. She is saving herself money buying untreated fuel. She's making money selling Diesel 911, and fuel treatment, costing customers money & time.
I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but my neighbor called me yesterday and said the axle on his tractor broke when he was pushing some logs in the woods. He asked if I thought I could pick it up to get it on a trailer for him to take to the shop for service. Lifting the tractor (even with a front loader and backhoe attachment) was easy, I was more worried about getting stuck in the 12" of snow we have on the ground, but with 4WD, I didn't have any issue. Then while it was started and warmed up, I went ahead and dropped 2 round bales over the fence for the livestock.
I bought this 1964 Case 530CK for $3500 with a rebuilt newly painted engine, don't laugh! same year I was born! What a Powerhorse! Look at that bucket for being 62 years old. Neighbor bought a Kabota for $28,000 smaller than mine with pull mower and tiller attachments. Bucket is 1/2 or more less thick than mine and he said mower is almost worthless so light it bounces everywhere. Time I get done with cylinder seals and hoses, many hoses are original with steel coiled banding and springs. Getting it back right, maybe another $10,000 Dealing with positive and negative wires verses computer boards is a True plus.
Local guy bought one of these new. He made his living with it many years, then bought a newer one. I think it is the same one another local has now. Last I saw it it was pretty forlorn looking, but stil,l in use.
Almost bought one of those myself. But then I ended up with the 555D.
Mine is on repair, front stearing cilinder leak. Got to pull out axile, bolts are on thread lock, it is impossible to undo them under the loader. It is last summer pick.
Literally just did that myself, last fall right before the weather got nasty. On a 555D mine came off pretty easy though. I did cheat and use a tiny Enerpac jack and hand pump to pop out the tapered fits after loosening the nuts.
Badass machine. Hope you get 'er fixed.
Kretz, what tool did you use with your enerpack, socket wrench or cup wrench. I couldn t use socket wrench too limmited space there. And I was afrraid to use cup wrech if it slips from nut , there ll come real problem. I have done this with rear stearing cilinder coupla years back. after I rolled out rear axile / . To unscrew the bolts I put a metre long lever on the socket wrench. And these bolts were going very hard untill the last turn.
I spent whole day on a safety measures. I m going to place 270 diametre metal pipes under the frame. Would have to lift front bucket to win space.
a little tip if the hydraulic distributor starts to leak don t rush there to repair it may be due to clogged ventilation valve of hydraulic tunk. Just untighten the cup to let it breath until you replace it.
My hoe is bleeding! LOL My hoe is in out of the crazy weather, for the first time since I have owned her, and she went to bleeding....bleeding all over my new floor! Some may recall that I changed a bunch of coolant hoses last spring. I am hoping that the clamps need to be tightened due to the cold weather. I have seen this before. In fact, back when I was turning wrenches for the utility company, we had a ford with the Brazilian 6 cylinder engine that no one could find the leaks on. One day I decided to pressure test it in the parking lot while it was cold, and Wala, I found the leaks. Heater hoses. I am hoping this is the same. my favorite kind of fix...free...LOL
Might notta noticed if it was outside bleeding, but NOT THE NEW CONCRETE !
I didn't need it to loosen bolts. Just to push out the rod end from the tapered fit.
I once owned a Jaguar XKE. Every long trip it leaked. I spent too much time beside a road searching for a leak wouldn't leak in the garage. I started carrying several containers of water & anti freeze. Way too far into the problem, I got it over the pit. I discovered tooth marks in a new radiator hose. Another victory to a porcupine! God I hate porcupines.
You got red coolant or is that trans fluid?
Looks like a Mafia crime scene
Yes, red coolant. Don't even want to think about a trans problem.
Do you know what Brits say about Range Rover. If there is no oil spot under the car. There is no oil in it.
Lucas electrical sells blue smoke in aerosol cans to replenish that what leaked out. Lucas Electrical, the prince of darkness. I've owned a couple Land Rovers, A Jaguar, two British tractors. I am NOT a fan of Lucas. In my experience, if it stops leaking it is empty. Not gaskets or sealant enough to stop british machines from leaking.
Fixxed it. Tomorrow back to work.
Lucas did not invent darkness but he did perfect it. British cars do not leak oil. It is sweat from all the horsepower or is it a self-lubricating chassis?
at least you found the low spot in your new floor!
HA! Range Rovers don't leak - they mark their territory!
Lost an old 70' pine in our recent several days of heavy winds. It uprooted and fell into another stand of trees, getting stuck at about a 45° lean angle. The old hoe helped straighten that out. Had to cut some of the roots with a Sawzall to get it loose though, it was taking the tail end of the machine off the ground trying to lift at the root ball prior to that. I tried just pulling with a chain too, spun all 4 tires. Cut through a couple of the largest roots and was then able to lift and pull with a chain around the base of the tree hooked to the bucket hook and drag it down.
always a shame to lose one that your not looking to 'get down'.... but you have the machine to deal with it!
Thought I'd make a post here thanking everyone for all the advice and information shared on my Case 680E. I've learned a lot and it's helped me trench power to me and my wife's dream home. The good ol case has been working hard piggy backing off a hammer Hoe to clean up after breaking the rock. Now she's currently working solo with rental fees adding up. Hopefully we'll be putting in septic and water and propane lines soon!
Finally, someone has a good-looking foreman instead of a fat, middle-aged old dude hahaha.
It took years of swooning but well worth the effort for sure! She was helping tonight locate some small leaks having an extra hand makes a big difference!
I finally got out to have my wife fire the backhoe up while I figured out which hose blew when we got snow a while back. She turned the key and it was very quickly evident that it was the big hose appearing to go into the hoe side valve manifold. It has an enormous nut on it and I haven't figured out where the other side goes yet. Access to that one big nut looks reasonable, we'll see on the other side.
Helping to build a new sawmill shed:
That is an unusual truss design. I have never seen the webs face nailed to the outside of the chords.
Home made trusses. Sawmill shed = we got wood for trusses. Joe H
Yes exactly, this is the way it used to be done before commercial trusses were available. This design I'm using is a USDA design from the '40s or '50s. You can find lots of truss plans online in the old USDA archives. I've been using this particular design for years because its strong and fast/easy to build. Only pieces that need to be precision cut are the top chord and one end of the short blocking. Everything else is laid on with the ends running wild, nailed, then trimmed flush with a chainsaw. They also don't require any special fasteners and use common lumber sizes that can be scaled up based on the application.
USDA? Hadn't heard of it. My son's father in law has a hangar at a small local airport. He tells me it was engineered sponsored by Borden. The explanation was that many farms were so remote, aircraft would be beneficial. Borden, a dairy company took on the challenge of designing hangars for small planes. To my eye, this thing is built of toothpicks, and they are WAY too far apart. This hangar was built for a 1957 Cessna. To me, that design uses almost exclusively 2 X 4 lumber & trusses are spaced I think 48" apart. It's a just barely strong enough design, one knot, or split in a stick could cause failure. Snow load isn't a big factor, it is unheated and wind is fierce there. I'd think wind would be a big concern there.
Google up the USDA plans, thousand of plans for hog sheds, barns, anything you'd want to build. Those huge barns with the curved roof, you need the truss plan? https://web.utk.edu/~ggrandle/Programs/Plans/6411.pdf https://web.utk.edu/~ggrandle/Programs/PlanList97.htm State Land Universities have them, lots of them. Joe H
USDA ---> United States Department of Agriculture
We've hit the wall here in Central Australia, alerted by a high level heat cloud over Antarctica, our Bureau warned of a switch to off for rain, but floods everywhere else, from early September, which did end a wet Winter and brought on three heatwaves to nearly 43°C here. This has put farm water into crisis and our trusty 580SK has rescued water to the edge safely for our stock in a day, where for many this is impossible to solve with silted storages due to the higher levels of erosion now. A few spectators' watch on !
Back to more dams at risk or just silted! The first one is now little more than a silt trap because a big wetland above it was wiped out by feral pigs (wild hogs) and the Pinrush or Juncus Rush were all tipped up some years ago as the pigs ate the roots and all the soil set to move down. No wonder it went dry, as there was only a metre of water and when it turned hot just evaporated away in three weeks, that was December and the spring (opposite the hoe is sealed off with the silt). My plan is to let the silt drain into the sump at the 'makers edge' or peak depth when it was dozed clean back in 2004 (and originally 1968 Fiat 50CI local contractor !), not planning to enlarge just dry it out and let my 1150D do the rest in a few minutes, because there is no rain forecast for the next warm month ! This little task and the later one were about 90 minutes, next best to magic, the mighty 580SK. I tend not to explore soft excavations' such as these, in case, yes wall collapse and I work alone is the problem, there for good.
Next one is nearby and the water port for stock has almost sealed off in two weeks of evaporation, so backed into the water and broke back into what remains, this could be a candidate for cleaning (last was 02/83 here) but probably not unless we really turn "droughty" which seems likely, then there is the cost of fuel too ! Hot here today at 28°C for Autumn!
Side shift is a feature seldom seen in USA. I can't think of an example I have seen, only photos. I think I'd really like one if only to shorten the tractor, avoid the big tail swing when turning, and beter balance the tractor climbing steep hills.
Deere 315 & Cat 428 here in the states
Seenum alot over seas in the citys where their wasnt that much room but the mini ex took alot of that market now
JCB still offers one, PRO Series IIRC
See east coast Case 580SV available with off set likes like a JCB
The utility company I retired from had a couple back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. No one wanted to operate them. They were not popular with the operators, but had their place. Parts were a bit of a problem because they are so uncommon in the USA.
Man @AU.CASE that's some nice looking dirt and beautiful landscape! I went out and wrestled my busted hose off. Nothing like taking two hours to loosen two nuts (which really turned into four nuts, I hope I remember where the other big one goes). I think my hose repair shop is closed today, so it's off to mowing I go. Yay!
Junkyard up the road. Ol man's hoe is gone but damnit I want a bubblegum cigarette & Thomas of tang play operator
Nope! I'll pass on those plans. Big barn (by Vermont standards) collapsed a short time back. I theorized they were engineered exactly enough. Farmer runs into a brace, damages a few pieces, then a leak develops in the roof. An uninformed carpenter cuts in a door where no door was in the plan. There was a stiff wind, not unexpected, it collapsed. It isn't clear how many cows died. In the aftermath, numbers get vague, 30 died, 60 died, none died, hard to tell.
As I say, I haven't seen one. The upright stabilizers I haven't actually seen here either. I have a number of manuals that cover them as an option. I'll guess they are available here, but rarely bought.
Dad had 315A around 76' it had early outriggers deployed from the bottom if needed pull the pin slide out 2' like a regular hoe foot print
315 series is unusual also, plenty of 310, A,B,C,D,...........The 315 isn't one I'm familiar with. The 300, 400, 500 were common also.
On YouTube neat video. 1959 JD film. Odd Deere started with vertical stabilizers change outriggers design twice with the 1010 & 315a 315B on was back vertical stabilizers
1980s Deere had 315,415 & 515 all side shift hoes . 90's auction flyer saw 3 515s for sale in Canada as my dad said a 515 would be bad digin' **
32.97 Thank you, yes the World is amazing and it has been a privilege to live here from birth, there is lots of wildlife and now lotsa ferals so the ag' side is tough now, with the weather pivoting from hot to cold x wet to dry so often. We were in renewables but was blocked, we are high country (for Australia) at 750M ASL something that has been tough. Yes, side shift in Australia, with this machine is EU make, it does have advantages, but yesterday I was a bit stuck (boss was amused - a little ! ) at another really boggy dam, not much problem to hike up, on the boom and a few slate rocks later we move to the next port. I'd reckon the extended stabilisers would be easier to read when they sink but you can't setup next to a structure, tyre wear can be obvious if the shift remains on one side, the opposite rear tends to wear faster as it slips more, so its roundabouts and swings perhaps. I'm sorting my workshop and storing parts to protect them from Winter's monster rodents, we are remote and some items have to be on hand when the job is ready, the main one is engine oil and I'm glad I restocked our 44 at about $1120USD, might just be a "shade more" now. I suppose its a habit but I use a Teflon additive in gear oil transmission (Nulon) and our dozer finals were clean after 1038Hrs, magnet barely visible detections, oil comes out cloudy though which can be alarming if not sure why; The Teflon does that to it !
New hose day yesterday for the one I blew out. The Parker store could not accommodate the 1" connection to the 3/4" line, so he asked if I wanted the whole thing at an inch, and I said sure. As he was ringing me up he said "yeah this hose is pretty expensive" and said yeah, I kind of expected that, thinking it was going to be 200 dollar hose. Turned out to be a 340 dollar hose. Yikes. The store was in a new location, when I went in I asked if this was the store from River Rd. and he said "yeah, we moved maybe 2 and half, 3 years ago" which made me pretty happy that I hadn't busted a hose in at least that long.
Hydraulic lines were probably the biggest single expense when rebuilding my old beast, previous owners not really big on maintenance. Then I started working at the feed mill with a fleet of 28 auger trucks, everything runs on hydraulics. Every size of hose and fittings you could imagine. I could custom make them for cost. Made a couple spares, but the whole machine would have saved a bunch.
Replacing hoses is a way of life on the farm. I replaced (2) 1" drive hoses on a skid steer a couple weeks ago to the tune of $300/each. Today, I found one of those new hoses has a slow seep in the fitting. Down time to tear it out, see about a warranty replacement, then back together. About an hour after I got the skid steer done, I find a steering hose on one of our big tractors is in rough shape and we're about to start long days of tillage with this tractor. Back to the dealer I sit, waiting on another hose to be made.
Well, it's nice to hear I didn't get hosed too bad. My neighbor has a tree that was knocked over by the wind a couple weeks ago and asked for help getting rid of it. I'd like to do it tonight if I can, so a hose fixing I went last night. That thing was likely 3-4 inches too long, inflexible as can be, and it took everything I had (including tearing a pec muscle that had just started healing up after snatching my fat ol' dog up to carry her to the basement during a tornado warning) to get it attached. I made the mistake of not really paying attention to the hose's routing on the way out so I went through the easiest hole I could. With the extra length of course that hole didn't work out, so I had to route it up higher over some other hoses and stuff, then after getting the hoe side attached I wrestled the crap out of the side under the cab, and I had to really jam it and twist it up as high in the undercarriage as I could. Got it all tightened up and no leaks but I only ran it for a few minutes, and didn't get it up to temp to see if it would leak. I'll keep an eye on it. I was happy to see that I thought my oil still had some water in it but upon removing the hose the oil that came out looked pretty good. I don't know how you all do it, doing regular maintenance work often on this equipment is rough on a fella.
Perfect reason to look for a used hose crimper. I was sick of paying 500% markup for hoses and now make a bit of money on the side. That 1” line was probably 25 bucks to make.
I would have to stock so many fittings it wouldn't be worth it. John Deere Case Komatsu Bobcat New Holland and a myriad of various fittings for different implements. Lots of sizes, JIC, ORFS, etc. The amount of inventory I would have to carry negates the value when I have a dealer 5 minutes from our farm. A bit further, is two, really good, fully stocked hydraulic shops. The hydraulic shops are cheaper to have hoses made than the dealer, but one is 25 minutes away and the other is 20 minutes. Plus every NAPA nearby and a couple other repair shops make hoses as well. We looked into it at one point and the numbers didn't make sense to do it.
With Cat it is very handy, especially since much of our work is pretty remote, to be able to call in with the number off the tag on the hose and have one built and set outside so that we can pick it up in the wee hours if necessary. I guess other brands do this as well? Purchasing a Cat o-ring kit has also more than paid for itself in downtime savings.
I don't miss having to worry about hoses on a backhoe. All of my hose worries now are on loaders and rarely go bad. Not a fan of Parker hoses since I had some develop cracks all over in just a couple of years. I switched to Gates which were more expensive than the generic brand hoses I was having made but I got away from it before the latest increases. I never had any single hose cost over $200 even in Gates brand.
Gonna have to change my hoe's rear tires at some point before too long, they're getting awfully cracked. Picked up a new helper for when the time comes. Facebook Market sure comes in handy now and again.
She dont need new shoes the old sayin was barefoot and pregnant
Nice find! I always keep an eye out for stuff like that. Yesterday, couldn’t pass up the Vevor mag drill, fully kitted out, even with the drill chuck, for 239 bucks shipped. Already have a few jobs for it.
Sweet! 1990. Still the good stuff too!
Just be cautious of the Wind Up!!
It has a built-in ratchet to catch and hold it. You pretty much *have* to be careful of it by design on this one. Apparently Enerpac bought this design from Sweeney (or maybe bought Sweeney itself) and produces the same model with their name on it now. Several other companies including Williams also license it from Enerpac and make the same model. Seems to be a pretty good bit of kit. I only need 800ft/lbs. for the back lugs. That's only 59ft/lbs. on the input side.
Well that takes the fun out of finding a longer cheater or a fatter date honey I said you'll bounce with a pipe not on
Sweeney makes high end tools. Worked at a shop that used a Sweeney hydraulic torque wrench to tighten flange bolts to 5000 ft./lbs.
Y'all ever see one of these FLIR cams? Fun little buggers.
My hoe kicked *** today! Woo! It's exciting to be back out doing stuff. After finally replacing the hose I got out. We had a good wind storm a few weeks back and my neighbor had a pine tree blow over. She asked me if I knew how to run a chainsaw and if I could cut this 30 foot tall tree up "in 4 or 5 pieces" and she would take care of it from there. She doesn't get around too well, and I knew 4 or 5 pieces was still going to be a LOT of tree to try to move, so I spent the past week convincing her to let me take the whole thing with the backhoe (she's called it a backhole before, which is funny). She finally stopped fighting it when I told her I'd have to make probably a hundred cuts for them to be the size she can handle (she said "I don't really know anything about trees" and I said "they are really heavy and it'll take you weeks to move it, it'll take me an hour, maybe"). I was going to dig the stump out but upon inspection I did follow her suggestion to just cut the tree from the stump and let the stump fall back into the hole. I'da made a much bigger mess pulling the stump out too. It ended up taking me longer to mix fuel and fill the chainsaw than it did to make the cut and move the tree. The tree was pretty big and fat and rather than stick it on a precarious fire pile in the yard (where chances are decent that my wife starts it on fire producing 40 foot flames likely to light the woods on fire) I ended up dragging it to the back field and shoving it into the scrub. If you didn't know it was just moved there you wouldn't even notice it. Good stuff. I effing love the backhoe. It even swept my driveway and now it looks cool! I also took care of the stump from the tree in my yard that blew over and another big chunk of wood I cut from it, reaching over the fence strapping them up and lifting them over without incident. And rearranged the fire my wife started to make it a bit more productive.
In the Otter Creek Valley there are lowland areas where native white pines grow huge. Swamps grow Hemlock, a few get huge. Soil may be shallow over bedrock, or water table may be only a few feet down. Very big connifers aren't so protected from winter wind as deciduous trees. Conifer roots in these areas are very shallow. We get uprooted trees as much a 12 feet diameter uproot, 44" trunk diameter. Cut one off, it makes a perfect grave for a domestic animal. My father kidded that that would be his grave. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer January 2nd, died January 29. I asked if he was ready for that one way trip? He quietly said he wasn't up for the walk.
BILs farm at Gladden MO has Shallow Soil, Severe Karst Structure Limestone. Straightline winds came thru at 50-90mph several years ago, showed how shallow even Oak or Hickory root systems were. Similar serious diameter but less than a few feet down 50-80 year old trees toppled. Fast became a forest of Widow Maker Leaners.
Yup. Seen a lot of those. One wind storm I had about 100 white pines ruined. Only a few uprooted, others only the top taken out, lots broke at the stump. I only know of one place 10 miles away the same storm did the same damage to another young pine forest.
Super happy for you aighead! Soon you will forget the pita hose and just love the hoe! I have been working on my hoe 2. Soon I will post.
Big trees make the best driveway sweepers, provided you can turn around at the end for a sweep back down the other way. Flipping around on state highway leaves too much debris in the roadway.
Mount Washington Auto Road used to be part paved, part gravel. They researched heavily what product made the most durable surface gravel. It was a mixture of fines & crushed stone up to 1/2". Their maintainer was a frame with a ?dozen? stiff push broom heads screwed to it. They dragged it a number of times a day. I guess after hours. It was always the nicest gravel road.
To the point of sweeping gravel, my driveway, at the yard end, has big pieces of gravel 3-4 inch and upon putting the hoe away and walking back to the house I found lots of that big gravel had been dragged, with the tree, into the yard. It cleaned up fine but I was surprised. We went on a dog walk later that day to find a piece of that gravel made it as far as it could during the dragging. About 900 feet!
Been working on repacking the boom, dipper, and bucket cylinders. Got the dipper done, went to cycle the dipper to check for leaks. Uppon raising the dipper in the air a couple gallons of hydraulic oil showered all over the rear of the cab. I guess the extradig cylinder had been leaking for a while, sneakily filling the dipper with oil just waiting to get me! I cycled it and saw that it was hemorrhaging fluid. Guess I'll be rebuilding that one for sure now. Think I'll weld some shim on the inner dipper while i have it apart. Its very worn out with lots of slop and clanks all over the place.
Thanks to this forum, my backhoe is back up and running. I used it this past weekend to remove about 2000 feet of fence and rotting wood posts, then when dumping said posts in the woods for the rabbits to hide in, I buried the front end in the mud. When using the loader to help push me out, I heard a pop and then a firehose sized spray of hydraulic fluid started spraying out of the back of the machine. I got it unstuck and limped it back to the house. Took the floor plate off and luckily I could access both ends of the hose from the top. $80 hose and $150 dollars in fluid and she is back to work.
It's been a minute since I was last on. The Beast has been sitting quietly next to the barn somewhat sheltered from the elements. I did end up adding another battery to it for the winter. I stole the one out of my tractor and rigged a temporary platform to stack them on. I ended up not using it at all. Today I swapped the batteries back where they belong and cycled it few time. I found a leak in the right side loader lift cylinder (it's the lower one - not sure what to call it). I sourced the parts and will prolly order em up later this week. Maybe I can get it fixed before the ground dries up enough to where I can use it.
I did a video on the left side. To loosen the nut on the right side you would strap the wrench and pull on it rather than the push method I used.
Thanks NH! It's amazing the things we go thru to figure stuff out. I don't have time to watch the whole thing right now, but promise I will later tonight when the wife isn't hovering around wondering what we're gonna do toady - bless her heart.
My wife asked me to redo our garden. She wanted me to clear all the topsoil out, level it (not my best skill) and prep it for raised beds. It is supposed to storm tomorrow so I had to get it done today. I am by no means an experienced operator, and it was a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to do it, but I think it turned out pretty good.
Looks good to me! Where are all the rocks??? LOL, In Northeast PA, rocks are the topsoil. I am always amazed at how different the ground is by location.
Any rocks would've been removed years ago. We bought this land from the family when my grandpa died, and he worked this area as a garden for decades, so he had it pretty well cleared out. When building the house, there were rocks everywhere. I still find them when mowing all the time.
Theres fields around here if you picked all the rocks youd be to bedrock how they grow anything in them is suprising
I put my rocks to work safety frist
I am building a house. Due to topography and my budget we had to build close to the property line. Not real happy about it but the 15 acres we bought is very rough. Nobody thought it could be built one. All those rocks are from digging the foundation.
That's more like what I would expect...that, and bigger.
The bigger ones are not visible. The smaller ones are holding everything back.
Wish i was digging like you guys! I tore apart the leaky extradig and I can see why it was hemorrhaging fluid. Rod is badly bent near the eye. That bend caused galling on the gland that consequently caused gouging down the rod. Ugh. Not really sure what caused the bend. Maybe all the slack in the extradig assembly allowed the ram to bend? If I can press most of the bend out, does anyone know a shop in the ny/vt area that re-chromes these things? Or is there any chance it would be ok for occasional use as is if straightened?
Might be a little farther away than you were hoping, but check out NH hydraulics. They will know how best to repair that. Top notch shop in my experience.
Thank you
Casey wear bars need to be replaced & glad maybe egg shaped getting rod straight may not fix leak might check a parts hoe swap'em out
I have not had great experience with them. John Deere backhoe valve was manufactured by a defunct company, no parts available. John Deere offered a whole valve substitute, cost more than the value of the tractor. NH Hydraulics were able to sell pieces to replace the whole valve. Took ?25? phone calls & several months, but they supplied me a 6 section valve for $1400. Each section was 1/4" narrower than the old valve. I had to build a new mount & joystick assembly to make it work. In the end, only the long time it took made me complain. I've had cylinders needed more than repack, they are always months out on that work. This is also true of all the other hydraulic repair shops. I met a one man shop American Hydraulics, can't think of the town in Western NH, he says NH Hydraulics sub cylinder work to him. I've heard good things about Cylinder Services in Rochester NY.
Vermont has new laws will make it very expensive to build a home in any rural town. They go into effect July 1. Any road construction longer than 200 feet will bury you in permit Hell for years. I have a wet spot on the road into my upper meadow. Plan was to dig down to ledge, put drain pipe in, and fill with stone. Raise the road a couple feet higher than the surrounding land. I lasted about 15 minutes before I lost a tooth. Had to go home for a metal detector, new tooth, and other tools. Turned out the ledge is only 8" deep in part of the road. Drain tile won't be an option. I'll have to settle for a rock road base to firm things up.
double post
I myself have had terrible service at NH Hydraulics. I was around, when they started and had a full size military Humvee and a big military truck for advertising and such. They must have gotten better to have survived 30 years, I would hope. I use Curtis Hydraulics in Hooksett NH. They can do anything. They would just replace the rod and weld your eye back on or make a new one. All hydraulic shops in the area are weeks out on work and have been for years.
When I was working on your backhoe I decided to repack all cylinders and replace all hoses to the cylinders. One cylinder had a dent in the tube and needed to be rebuilt. The shop I used took 3 weeks and was not cheap but they did a lot of work. I have one stabilizer cylinder that is clearly not an original CAT cylinder. I took it to them to have repacked since I needed to match up parts. That took another 3 weeks. I know a small 2 man shop and they were so backed up they told me they did not want the job because it would be 6 months at least before they could get to it. Part of the issue is we are not regular customers so shops put us at the back of the line.
Good to know. I've only had one cylinder repaired by them, but I was pleased with the results.
Interesting. Good to know there are other options around.
Past happened to notice looking at the extendahoe bucket cylinder hose is missing it partner odd checking it out past someone turned 90* up routed over the top of dipper to the bucket cylinder clamped it with extendahoe hoses full reach that hose was taut my luck it would pop on me. Easy fix took it off site,grab couple nut rounders had in the car & no real mess had back hanging like it's neighbor in 20min. Kids remember how your hose hang.
Cassella is a huge trash hauler based in Rutland VT, but spread through several states. They are also in the excavating business, do road building, site work, water, sewer systems. They have a hydraulic shop, a two man operation. A few years ago it was run by identical twins. One twin broke away, started his own shop. He had been on his own a month, I needed a tube portion of a cylinder built, a blade angle cylinder for the dozer in my thumbnail picture. I pestered him 5 weeks when he said he didn't see any opportunity to do my cylinder in the forseeable future. I went to pick it up, projects piled up 1/4 acre around his shop with the 2000 square foot shop full. He was in business a few days when a huge calcium carbonate quarry offered him 4 days a week work. By the first week, they were pressuring him to commit to another two days per week. It seems qualified hydraulic shops are few, their work load is overwhelming. I believe they all give preferential treatment to their regular customers.
Would that be considered a part time hoe
It would be a Bruce Jenner hoe parts have changed
Kinda like when that ol boy down under reached for it
That's not a knife sheila this is a knife
So.... the gland nut was egg shaped. I machined it back round and cleaned up the seal seats as best I could. Came out ok I think. The rod i got pretty dam straight in the press. We shall see. Here's the kicker, this thing has been this way as long as iv had it. Some dingbat put the extradig ram in upside down, there is a support welded to the cylinder to support it at full extension. Being upside down there was to room for it inside the dipper and that bent the ram once the cylinder was retracted. Probably been that way a long time.
Who the heck would put the cylinder in backwards? Doesn't really seem possible with most cylinders but some people just don't pay attention when taking stuff apart. Glad you got it figured out.
Good catch! You should be fine now.
I had my first Case 580K, I believe it was damaged by a bullet. There was a noticeable dent in the barrel of the boom cylinder. We took it apart, it was a nightmare of a job. Gland thread was very fine & very long. I made a spanner with 6' long handle. We had a cheater pipe over that for most of the way. Used a weed burner on it, found it was coated with red locktite. It took hours to remove it. Once apart, it was clear the dent went to the inside of the barrel, and the piston was damaged. It needed a new barrel, and piston. Took it to Reeds Hydraulics in Gansvoort NY. Great place, great people. Did it in about two weeks. It was expensive, but it was a big job. Next cylinder I wasn't able to do myself was the piston bolt wouldn't come off. We clattered on it 1/2 hour with a 1" impact wrench, couldn't budge it. I had no spud wrench. Went to Reeds to learn the place had been sold & the seller took most of the tools with him. They broke several chinese sockets trying to loosen it.
I had one of my boom cylinder bust my balls. The piston bolt would not come off. A friend works at a heavy truck/equipment shop. Took a 1-1/2" impact and the big trailer compressor you tow with an 18 wheeler. The 1" impact on the regular road service trailer did not touch it.
Most of the time when a rod bolt wont go just heat the head a bit let it cool and it will come out "should" use a new bolt I ve have done it it and used the old bolt with out problem
Got out on the hoe yesterday afternoon, after I got a burr up my butt, to take down a handful of trees that were dead and too close to the house. My wife is adding more fencing to the yard to give the dogs a bigger place to roam and these trees would also be inside the fencing, so I figured now is the time. Two of these are thorny Honey Locusts, one with a hollowed out base, and that was the one leaning hard toward the house. I didn't really want to use the chainsaw on these because they seemed too precarious, but upon giving a couple shoves I found I was not offered that luxury, and there are some hydrangeas at the base of the trees my wife want to keep and popping up the roots of the trees would have popped them out too. I cut the first couple trees to an acceptable notch and pushed them over without incident. Then I got to the last one, with the hollowed out bottom, that really wanted to fall toward the house. After staring at the tree for several minutes and deciding how poorly this could go I decided to put my bucket up against the side of the tree about as high as I could so if the tree let loose it would, hopefully, at least slide down the boom and crush the backhoe rather than the house. Then I got out and cut a small notch on the side I wanted it to go and I took a slice on the other side leaving as much tree as I could while still feeling like I could push it over. Getting back in the seat I found that maybe having the tree lean against the side of the bucket was maybe not good as I couldn't push, really, in the direction I needed to. I was now scared to move. Slowly, I readjusted, trying to put pressure on the tree while uncurling and unextending so I could put teeth on the tree rather than the side of the bucket. Wife watching from the door, I'm nervous as can be. The tree held for what I tried to make a smooth and quick (but still slow) transition of bucket placement and though still nervous I managed to put the tree right where I wanted. Shew. It's the scraggly ones just behind the right deck post, this picture is old and the scraggly ones on the left have already been taken down. The left tree was the one making me nervous. You can see all the bark missing on it. This was the easier one on the right. The pile, missing the left tree, so there's more, dumb thorns everywhere.
I'm never comfortable taking a weakened dead tree. Too much liklihood of a widow maker. Those almost always get pulled down, not pushed. You can reasonably safely saw a bird mouth to direct the fall, and maybe a little at a time of back cut in between pulling from a safe distance. When it tips, it'll break instantly, with no hinge action. Gravity takes over, it falls where it will. I like chain or cable quite high in the tree. Healthy trees can usually be pushed, taking stump out of the ground. Stumps must be made of asbestos, it is NOT easy to burn them.
Yeah, I wasn't really loving the idea of doing much of anything with the dead trees. I don't have any rope or chain long enough to get into these trees, but I've got one more big cherry tree to get rid of that scares me a bit. I'm considering either rope and snatch block or hiring it and another next to the barn out. I hate to spend a bunch of money hiring someone to do what I can do, but I also like the idea of a pro pointing these trees away from buildings. I can clean it all up.
Aig it ain't right hire it out
I have been known to decide the risk is too great, get a professional. I chose that route with a sugar maple hanging over my garage. The arborist was in his seventies. He said: "You don't live to my age climbing every tree. I only climb the few I absolutely have to." He walked around the tree using a steel tape rule as a handy plumb bob. tree was leaning 90 degrees away from where it needed to fall. He cut it successfully without wedges, cable, any other tools, only a chainsaw. Another was a big soft maple leaning hard over the 7200 volt power line. I didn't dare touch it. A crew came with both a bucket truck & a crane. I'd guess it took an hour. $850. & nobody got killed, no damage, I called it a good day.
I bought a 90 meter rope many years ago. I have used it with a winch or the backhoe to pull on trees on many occasions. If they are leaning the wrong way I will use the wedges too. I have several 80/90 ft pines next to my house though. I would never risk it with those. If I take them down I'll pay a legit outfit with the right tools. Better safe than sorry.
Doesn’t look to bad to me. Not really seeing the risk. Use loader bucket to protect your head, cut wedge, leave 40% hinge and push over.
Harley, I haven't posted the two I'm worried about. The one by the barn I may have posted many months ago. I got both of the ones above.
I couldn't get the piston bolt loose on my crowd cylinder. I took it to a yellow JD dealer and the guy there used the same 1" HF impact I had but on a large hose and compressor and zapped it right out. The last cylinder I did I bought a 1/2" hose and fittings and tapped into the tank fitting on a small compressor. HF 1" wrench took the bolt right out with the extra volumn.
Crow foot jackhammer type fittings on a 3/4 hose work great, the regular quick disconnect fittings are a choke point
I've told the story too many times. Fellow I worked for was 40 years old when he built a small house in the center of a tall stand of white pine. One by one the trees declined, and died. He always climbed a ladder to tie a rope in a tree, recruited his wife to pull to direct the fall when he cut a tree. At some point he noticed his wife, 16 years older than he, was slowing. For her birthday he bought her a longer rope. This man was a real romantic!
I have had a few leaners near the house. I like to climb up with some spikes and remove all the branches on the side I want it to fall away from, then cut it down. Has worked very well for me so far.
" What's your hoe doing? " Not much when urgently needed just now ! After rebuilding the stabiliser feet and testing one for fit, I could smell oil and all was revealed when a lake formed next to me. Seems to be the supply hose to the rear spool, so seat and floor at least to start with, boss not happy.
Well its a day later and bruised an battered we are a 'runner' again, more expensive oil on the ground oh well. Yes it was the main hose (E49776) to the rear spool tower and having wondered why the original was still in place, I am now informed. This 5/16 x 3/4" UNC bolt is in the RHS chassis (hyd tank) and about a foot back under the floor, so CASE didn't remove the old hose because it is hard to access this bolt, realising this I had the replacement hose copied from the original, after I removed this clamp (leaving the faulted hose in place to keep the tide of oil back). This fastener required over an hour to fit back in and tighten which is unusual for these machines but it is essential to prevent hose throb, because that is what crippled both previous hoses as they shouldering the transaxle due to poor placement and lack of guarding. To guard the new hose I wound a metre of spiral wrap over it, from the clamp down to free space and trialled some ties to hold it away from housings, to see how it goes. Did some general cleaning and tidying of cables to keep them in place, repositioned the diff lock spring (was just thrown over the lug, not through the purpose made hole and if it came off, differential might be no longer?). This is the backhoe spool end of the new hose made on the spot by BB's Hydraulics this morning: The best in the West. Now, where was I? Oh yes fitting the stabiliser feet and getting out around the stock now that our first cold snap has landed from Antarctica.
AU.CASE, There are days I feel like i should have forked over the cash for a machine 20 years newer with fewer hrs, but i feel like I'd still be fixing broken stuff, maybe just not quite as often.
And in 20 years you wouldn't have a machine that you could use. The old stuff is more generic than the new stuff and was made to last. No computer problems either, that would be obsolete when they took down the machine!
Yes, had that one yesterday, what frustrates me is being pedantic, how much the lack of maintenance wore out the 580SK when it was in the Government railways and parked near the coast which rusted one side badly. Also operator abuse shows, which all of us here wouldn't do, so machines last and look pretty always. So true, the later stuff could just be turned off by a 'built in obsolescence' and where I live and work there isn't time or money to get in an advanced technician whom cares enough to resolve those sort of faults. When we went to buy sixteen years ago, the dealer had me look at an '580SK old banger' which had virtually no glass [cab was rusted out], big thump in the Cummins, low tyres, a ton of oil leaks, but was $16K [AUD] less, nevertheless the boss said 'there's a nicer one in the shed' so we bought there, thank goodness we did as the cheaper was scrap really.
I am amazed how much wear a machine can have and luckily still have a good running engine. My extradig was worn completely through the slider plate welds and 1/4 inch into the support beneath it. I cut that section out and welded in two1/4" plates to build it back up and take much of that 1" of slack out. (Dont be laughing at my stick welds now) Built up the rails with some 1/8 steel strips too while I was at it. Good n tight now!
I've had a number of backhoes. All until recently were not operated by their owners. An owner cares about lubrication, an employee might not. I hate a sloppy hoe. My first was already 25 years old when I got it. Paint was better than average, but original. Joints were tight. Hours were low. I didn't make it home driving it. It leaked hydraulic / transmission oil bad! Got it home, fixed the leak, only got an hour use before it lost nearly all hydraulic power. That's when I learned no one was still available knew how to fix John Deere hydraulics. Eventually I talked to a mechanic several states away, told me: "Oil is flowing somewhere it shouldn't. Get an infrared camera, start it up cold, figure out where oil is flowing. Took months to diagnose, then 6 months to get a new valve. I ultimately fixed it. It hadn't worn out because it didn't work, probably since new. Others I've bought were victims of no lubrication. The one I have now still had paint inside the hoe bucket, really hadn't been used as a hoe hardly at all. I think it had only seen loader duty, cutting edge was worn both edges. The mechanic had labelled date, his initials & oil variety on each component. Makes a big difference when lubrication is not neglected.
Damn robins don't respect anything, building on and crappin" on a fellers machine. She'll be evicted when first batch of eggs hatch.
A working 755 probably the last 1 around lucky bird
Pole Barn Update I haven't had a chance to update my progress in a while, so I figured it was a good time. Not sure If I mentioned it, but last fall before the snow fell I was able to burry the 4" drainage pipe up against 1 side of the building. Once it dries up enough to get a truck near the building, I will purchase the stone in order to finish the other side. During the winter I spent a lot of hours installing the 1 1/2" foam on the walls and spray foaming it in. This took a good while and it was a really cold winter, so there were times I had no interest in going down the the building to work. Additionally, my mom had a hip replacement and I was one of the caregivers. This happened in NJ, so I needed to stay in NJ instead of going to my place in PA during her operation and recovery. She is 89 years old and it is amazing how great this worked. She has already walked a mile in an afternoon since the operation...incredible! Anyhow, here are some pics of the foam. I also calked the area around the floor where the concrete meets the wood. I was surprised at how much gap there was. I assure the pressure treaded wood dried up. Continued in another post. Reached my limit on pic uploads.
Pole Barn Update (continued) In order to facilitate the insulation installation, I purchased a manlift. The one I purchased is in excellent condition for its age (~1990). The reason I like it is no computers!! just good old fashioned hydraulics. This thing is a godsend. It goes up 19'. In the center of the room, my celling height is 19', so this thing is perfect. Once I am 100% done, I will most probably sell it. Id love to keep it, but room may bean issue. As of last week, I have purchased all of the rockwool that I will be installing. This stuff aint cheap! I did find a guy on Marketplace that saved me 2 grand plus tax, so that was good. Still steep tho. I do expect it will pay dividends tho. I have spent several days installing the rockwool. Not as easy as I thought, but I am making progress. Hoping to purchase the 2x4's that I need next. Then Wire, and steel for the walls. Fingers are crossed that I get the inside done this year. I have the 12k lift that I purchased to install as well...A little at a time.
Was there forms or plastic put around the posts before the concrete? A lot of old pole barns the posts were cemented in and the poles rotted prematurely because they soaked up the water from the concrete. Poles on the pole barn I put up had 24" holes filled with 3/4" washed rock with 2 bags of quick crete poured in first to make cookies for the poles to sit on. They make plastic pole protectors too if you're putting in a floor. Good deal on the Rockwool insulation. It's supposed to keep mice at bay. I sure wish I could have moved my pole barn to the new property. I put it up in 2015 and to replace it now is double the money at over $84Kcad. for a 40x60x16 with a dirt floor.
Giving my hoe some attention. So, as previously reported, my hoe is leaking...LOL As I suspected, it was the connections on the coolant hoses I replaced about a year ago. I guess when the fittings get real cold they shrink a bit. Anyhow, I tightened all of them and then pressure tested the system for over an hour with zero leakdown...I am calling this one fixed. Hopefully next winter it doesn't do it again I have also had a problem with the engine starting after sitting overnight. This machine has always started well, and I suspected a slight vacuum leak in the fuel system. I say vacuum because it does not leak externally under pressure. So I changed the fuel filter and the water separator bleeders and seals. While I had the system opened I installed a primer bulb. This will be handy in the future when I change out the filters, or when I need to prime the system in general. This seems to have fixed the problem, and the hoe is willingly starting now.
Giving my hoe some attention (continued). In addition to the starting problem, My machine was not cranking correctly. I recently dove into this too. I wound up replacing the cables from the battery positive (on both batteries) and both battery negative cables to the disconnect switch. The original cables all looked fine, but the 2 positive cables made a cracking sound when I bent them after removal. I did not investigate any further, however, I believe these were the reason the engine would not spin over The disconnect, itself, seems fine with almost no resistance. I would have removed it, however, I have been shutting it off when the machine is in the building. I feel it is just another layer of protection to prevent something shorting out and starting a fire that could burn down my new building. In order to make the crimps at the end of the wires, I spent ~$50 on a hydraulic crimper. Yes, it is made in China, but it really worked exceptionally well. I would totally recommend this thing! As for wire, I used 2/0 marine grade tinned copper wire. I purchased the wire, lugs, adhesive lined shrink tubing, and terminal boot covers from battery cables USA, an online vendor. In the end, the engine spins over better than ever. I am calling my hoe fixed
No, the posts have pressure treated wood in the laminations at the bottom.
You've been a busy little monkey. Shop looks great. Have hung steel on several ceilings, that lift is the cats pajamas.
Wow, my dream to have an 'all weather space' to fix things, right now we have two workshops, that over time have served their purpose, but lack height for machinery of this age at the wall and roller door plate, also are not suited to a climate where welding is next to impossible in Summer and simple tasks are such as machining are intolerable in Winter. Also, really admire the sealing to prevent rodents which wreck a lot of the best in a workshop, such as my stock pile of offcuts, which is rusted and hosts nests from time to time.
Swetz check valve on filter housing sounds like it's leaking back
Hey, that is either small hoe or a very large Robin. Son said so. Think I might have started this fault finding trend with a recent oil leak, going to have the camera handy soon to 'get back to topic' of: "Whats your hoe doing"
There is standard pressure treating and in-ground pressure treating. The bottom 8' of the posts for mine were the in-ground type and they went 7' deep. Water from the concrete can still penetrate the beams. I think it helps some if the concrete is a thicker sloop. I'd like to put up anther pole shed but they're just too expensive now.
Agreed! I wanted a lean-to off the side without windows, but I was in way more than I wanted to be already, so the lean-to idea got nixed.
The hard starting started just after I serviced it last. I think that either the gasket on the filter or the gaskets on the water separator plugs were leaking. Those are the things I touched. Not sure which, but it is good now so one of them for sure.
For me, equally important to the shop to work in was a place to store my machines out of the weather. It drove me crazy to see my machines out 24/7 for years prior to the building!
@Swetz I put a primer bulb on mine also. Last time I messed with it I had to loosen and reseat the fuel pump a couple of times to stop that oring from sucking air.
In all honesty, you were my inspiration on the primer bulb. We previously discussed doing it. I had the system open, so I decided it was a good time to do it. Ne regrets here. I think it will be handy in the future. AS far as sealing, i purchased every plug and O-ring in the fuel delivery system, including the ones for the pump (they were crazy expensive from NH too). I did not use them all. I started with what I disturbed in my last service and it seems good now. I have a bunch of O-rings if I need them in the future...LOL
@Swetz Yeah the primer bulb not only adds a convenient way to prime the system it adds another check valve to prevent fuel from going back to the tank if any seals are leaking.
That's the main reason I put up a pole shed. Wish I could have put it up earlier. I think I'll have to settle for a fabric building on the new property. The better quality ones are pricey too but I want something that will handle severe weather and last. If only I would have known I would have put a fabric building originally. Then it could have been moved easily.
Great job on your barn Swetz.....
Just bumped into this and for us, it describes just how versatile a strong hoe is around a farm. I found that wooden posts sunk to the bedrock or at least 4' / 1,200MM remain in place properly, then fit that 'tall boy' post and compact, so yes, there is no end to their proof as "the King of tools."
With a 4 in 1 bucket you have the ultimate fence post tool. You can push them in and pull them out.
Went out to improve water for some stock today, hoe is really well after the welding and a failed hose (which it must have known should alert the operator right at the workshop and not deep in some job, way out, where I'd have to walk back!) also a couple of historic images, any wonder I was fascinated with machines. Improved this dam / tank / pond with safer water to the edge. Another dam, better, cleaner and safer. Now this is your writer in 1964 with a close family friend starting his career as a dozer owner / operator (and his Dad's David Brown dozer) making the dam above. Same again, moments later, taken by my Mum with an "Olympus Wide-E 35MM camera." Learning to laminate that wall
Swetz your barn looks great!
Boss is away today and we are waiting the fuel delivery (bracing for $5.67 USD / US Gallon) and am not sure where that is on a World scale but it is lower than we were paying in bulk delivery. Boss said "get wood" so, whilst I wait and the 'hoe was near a stick I cut it in half and this is the first bit, she loves the block splitter and yes, it will bounce outa' "Yellow Box" Aussie hardwood. Cut with a Stihl 044, that I have owned and cared for from new (1989?) and it is so powerful, we forget after doing a lot of minor stuff with E powered Stihls' that we have. Crazy but a new softwood chain that I was sold by mistake, 2 minutes to cut, so fast, nowhere near seasoned though at six years since it fell over, about 400KG here.
California my dads property we had silver dollar eucalyptus & other species pain to cut no value as firewood it's a waste. Get in the front bucket of the hoe elevator up please Husky 372 get whatever I can & some get pushed over with the excavator. Danger to a anything around em
Yo, Australian trees are hard, super long grain, we love them though. The Gum you mention wouldn't be a firewood, but the Yellow Box (eucalyptus. Melliodora) above is incredible heat, tight grain, add some seasoned Red Box (e. Polyanthemus) and it will nearly melt boiler plate, mind you the boss is trying to clear the place and we'll burn 8T in a good Winter, this next one though will be milder in el Nino / drought. One beautiful timber here is Red Stringybark (e. Machrorhynca) and burning it for months leaves virtually no ash at all, has to be well seasoned though.
The Red Stringybark was heavily milled, it is long grain and so incredibly strong, a 4"x2" nine foot long will easily support an adult in the centre, bouncing on it only if back sawn though, 'so don't try this at home.' It can be nailed when green, but has to be drilled after a year or so when seasoned, white ants like it which requires caps on the piers, or else. The boxes, Yellow, Red and White are rare now due to clearing, some are endangered along with all that goes with their disappearing habitat.
Garden season. This is my first spring with a pickup truck, so off to the store I go for a entire skid of dirt! It's lovely to be able to do that, so I only have to handle it once, pulling it off the skid to go into the garden. The hoe was used with the forks to unload the truck for the two skids I got. Mighty handy! Also moved my new raised bed into place though this isn't a great picture.
A little spare time and the seat was needing a cover so I learnt more about my Taiwanese $2 "revolve shop" White sewing machine (laughing required ) and more wood this time I flipped it on end with a tooth on the corner of the bucket to keep more of this rain out of it and yes Mr Dog decided to make his mark. Used some fairly tired canvas, base is a draw cord and rear is contact adhesive, more or less worked to keep it together and the Sun out.
Wow, haven't seen green pasture like that in a year here, very difficult season but OH is easy on the eye!
Don't let the internet lie to you, there are parts of Ohio that are beautiful.
LOL! Especially in the spring. My place in North East PA is beautiful this time of the year...green everywhere! I have to cut the grass weekly or it is crazy tall.
Been working on our 'rear' patio... off our 'hot tub' garage.. buried a propane and elec line for an outdoor grill station ...the 'boss' eyeballing the plan ! I've worked with bluestone as both 90 deg cuts and 'stand up', the 1st a bit expensive and the 2nd too much 'knee time'. Here I went with 12 x 12 concrete pavers.
I was planning to stick build a pergola... but wanted a 'roof' over the grill so we went big and picked up a gazebo. Will try my hand at laying block for the grill station.... and lots of planting beds to install..... and the hot tub room gets a finishing touch when the temp doors are replaced with an 8' slider.
Very nice
The boss should be very happy with that setup...very nice!
Looking good. I put in a patio 20 years ago. Came out awesome. I literally have sat on it 2-3 times for more than 5 minutes. Now I am building a new house. Wife wants a patio again. A lot of money for something we have not used. Hopefully in retirement, 2-3 years away, we actually will sit down once and a while.
If your retirement is anything like mine (2 years) you actually have less time to sit....always something to be done!
This is the west side of the house.... and that means sunsets of course, one of the bosses favorite activities.... sitting and watching. Even the old hoe gets a seat and a view,, ...I'm getting to enjoy sitting and snoozing midafternoon.....
Old Bess had a rear tire leaking down. The rear shoes are getting a little bit worse for wear. Had zero pressure loss for quite a few years but one side wouldn't hold air more than a few days any more. Had a tube put in and will run it a little longer. Finally getting around to replacing that broken lug stud while I'm at it. Bought the machine that way and kept forgetting to replace it. Good time to remember.
Finally got the machine back together. Rebuilt the extradig and repacked all cylinders on the digging arm. Took it out back to grub some stumps and all is working well. Got all the work done just in time for my son to be born a week early! A healthy 7lb boy!
Congratulations Casey on your little buddy.
Yay! Congratulations Casey! Beware, my son turns 20 today, it goes real fast!
Congrats Casey!! Ina flash your son will be driving that hoe...Time sure flies!
TEETH I find myself often raking the ground to remove rock on or just below the surface. New teeth work OK for digging them out. Picking up a rock to load it in the truck can be easy, or hard depending on its size. I have an Amulet thumb, forged into it is CT Series. I feel it is too long for my bucket, and the geometry isn't right. I've got an idea for reshaping the thumb. I feel like a seven year old eating corn on the cob, thumb is useless for small rocks under 16" diameter. Those, I find myself pulling them toward me, can't get under them to get them in the bucket. Even digging a hole to scoop them out of fails to get rock in the bucket without gravel also. Worn teeth make it even worse. I've kicked around a number of ideas to improve the situation. I've considered building a heavy thing that I'd move around as needed to push rocks against like I would with the blade on a mini excavator. I once welded extensions to the teeth to lengthen them. It worked great, but eventually they broke. No welds failed, the scrap cutting edge I was using broke an inch or more past the weld. I'm considering a better choice of steel for another try at it. Anybody got a better idea? What would you use for the extensions. Stuff I used before was 3/4 thick bolt on edge for a road grader.
I’d consider looking for a clam shell hoe bucket. There was one on FB marketplace for a 580 L a month or two back. Think it was only 500 bucks and it was 24” I think. I was messaging the guy and he was actually responding, then I decided I didn’t need it as I have a hydraulic thumb already but the price was almost too good to pass up. That and it looked to be in excellent condition.
Willie for the thumb might be worth checking a extra capacity bucket like old Fords used plus find'em cheap to modify. Wain Roy 4/1 hoe bucket is one of the original & new brands use hydraulic motor for clamp instead of hydraulic cylinder past see'em on gov/park machines time bucket was 12k us new
I think this is the biggest shortcoming of a backhoe compared to an excavator, the loader bucket is on the wrong end. If it could be used like a broom & dustpan it'd be much more convenient. At least an excavator has a blade you can push the rock against. I checked out clam buckets, way out of price range unless I could find a used one.
Not really the same use case and not terribly friendly unless you have a helper but I got a set of log tongs I haven't tried yet. My plan is to use them to move some rocks around. It looks like it should work but they may get bent up pretty quickly. It was a 90 dollar gamble. My solution has been a bigger rock to scoop against and it works some, but without a thumb placing them, after picking up, is a crapshoot.
I find a big pile of rocks, I can get in the bucket size rocks in. Find as I work a pile it gets too close to the back of the tractor to reach. If I'm not careful it ends up under the swing tower. I get ads for a strap invention to lift big rocks. I'm tempted because it is hard to place rocks the side up or swivelled where I want them. Again I don't think it'd be very convenient to use if you don't have a second person. I have found a piece of 3/8" cable with a very thick ring at one end works reasonably as a choker to lift big ones won't fit in the bucket.
2500lbs max lift for light duty rock moving or snare for Bigfoot
If you want to trap a bigfoot, OK. How do you put the rock on this? how do you get this thing out from under the rock?
With the back end roll the rock on & once moved roll it off the net
Random pic
3.3 ft square...those are my small rocks
I got this- https://a.co/d/0ilfCm21 Again, haven't used it yet but use case looks similar to the net, though I think I should be able to very specifically set a rock where I want. The net looks like it could be a bit precarious, and both net and log tongs would benefit from a helper.
I can't find it at the moment. This thing pops up often. It is two loop straps with short straps holding them together. You position them both sides of a rock, and slide the shorter straps down snug on the rock. No need to get it out from under after placing the rock. Tempting, but it's kind of specialized to rock landscaping.
Rigging is it's own art.A new straps WLL drops fast from single straight line lift to a basket & side load the eye stitch can fail or a cut release stored energy is dangerous. 3' Boulder ball park 2000lbs -/+ lot of weight for a old hoe,lift center of front bucket,rear bucket full of dirt add terrain once the rear tires start to float you're on the front axle pivot easy get pulled over. A chain g7 can take a lot of abuse. 2 chains twisted together can make a basket to lift.
I didn't always own a backhoe, haven't always had a thumb. Earliest obsession with getting big rocks elsewhere was at age 9 with an old Farmall Cub tractor. I've tried lots of rigs, most successful I've used is a truck tire chain. I also have chains 5 links long to use to adjust chain too long. Often I want to set a rock in a permanent position. Having the rig under the rock is extra work. I've messed around with a choker rig made of cable, It works best if I rig, & someone else runs the hoe. There are a lot of different backhoes. Each a little different. My present one lifts 9000 rear hoe, or about the same with front bucket. Spookiest is front bucket lifting. Tilt much at all, one rear tire comes up. Something bad happens to my sphincter when I feel the second rear tire lift! Carry load as low as possible!
Getting out and about after some germs that are doing the rounds solid here since May and I only work machines when I feel clear headed, still only 66% now in the warm part of the day. Did some stock feed (shedded a 550KG hay bale) and more fuel for our heater, this one is low ash Red Stringybark (e. Machronryncha) a beautiful wood, milled for houses, prone to ants though but very very strong in its long grain and can be nailed when green only. Our hoe is part way through a weld repair on the front bucket cut edge / clam grip has had big dirt get in (between the cutting edge and into the cavity), but I had to stop due to needing to be well first. I have a plan to seal it and build up worn edges and surfaces, in the last 1,000 hours its now obvious the work here is very abrasive.
LINKMASTERSLLC.COM They call it boulder buddy. Looks interesting.
I thought that was some new fangled bra...LOL
If that is your need, you want two.
Thought was the over the shoulder boulder holder for MIL’s calf’s.
..... but its always the straps..... how does one deal with those straps ?? ..
By mother in law died C1991. It has taken many years to forget the too many times she "accidentelly" exposed them in my presense. She'd have needed the big ones, extra long. When I say my prayers I thank God my wife is NOT like her mother.
Cut a large hemlock down yesterday to make more clamp. Had to notch it high on the trunk because there was a few strands of old barb wire in it. Dug the stump up today.
*make more room.
I love the moment when a big stump moves from the ground! Makes a big powerful hoe worth having. I wonder if it's still as fun with a 30 ton excavator. I used to have a 12" bucket for a Case 580K. I used it a lot for stumps. It worked well ripping out roots between our monster rocks. Ripped the bottom out of it.
Super heavy work!
Nice looking structure.
Cleaning culverts. My Town is very small. I'm one of three Selectmen. We have a very difficult time hiring contractors for some tasks. When the State built "new" Route 7, old Route 7 became a Town road. A 2' X 3' concrete culvert was full of dead tree, rocks & mud. A 200' long 16" round tunnel carries water away. Don't want debris plugging that. Few big vacuum units around, all are booked far out. I had an idea to try. Each end I was able to clean out with the backhoe. 40' of it under the paved road was too full to fit a person to shovel it, and too full of water. We passed 40 feet of conduit through, pulled a rope in, then a chain. First a pickup tire passed easily, but didn't bring enough gunk out. A large truck tire was a bit better. Both tires got stuck part way through. A bit of panic ensued with it blocking the water flow, but a 10 foot piece of 3" square tube we poked stuff around to free the tires up. Broke a tooth shank, so I have a repair to do.
Mine's been on tree cleanup with the storm a few weeks ago. Had about 8 go down, mostly about 60+ foot pines. Knocked over a few more with the hoe that I've been meaning to also. Of course, the storm only knocked down the ones I *didn't* want to...
My hoe has been sitting doing nothing. I have a couple small projects for it but for a bit it was way too wet, now I've just been lazy. I'm having a medical procedure tomorrow and expect to be off work for a couple weeks, maybe in a few days I'll get out, depending on how I feel. I've only got about 10 minutes worth of work to give it.
Good luck and well wishes for a full speedy recovery, Aighead! My hoe has been idle all summer as well, the good news is that it is in my new pole barn . Hoping to make a post soon on my pole barn progress.
Hope your procedure went well Aighead..... and I'm waiting to see your progress Swetz, As for me..... we've had a busy spring/summer with a 'new' addition to the grandkids. #4 was so 'excited' to meet us she came early... and spent 5 weeks at Philly's CHOP. After a pretty rough start to life she is home and seems to be none the worse for her ordeal. I will say she is the most smiley newborn I've met.... though she does not tolerate a full diaper. Her older sister raised 2 market pigs in her first 4H experience and won some ribbons at our county fair this past labor day weekend. She is now 'hooked' and will add turkeys next year. I was able to procure some material to add to my 1500' driveway.... but a couple of triaxle loads doesn't go too far. I concentrated on a couple of places that needed the most attention. But all in all, the drive has held up to wear and tear... when I consider how thin the initial 'coat' was. The 'modified' material came from the local quarry just a few miles away.... and I had several loads come from another source.... a redi-mix/block company that has a more sand based mix rather than stone dust. I bartered a broke down '98 4cyl Ranger for 4 loads of that material. I'm using that on my flat pitched areas. A trial patch from last year seemed to hold up well. ...the pig charmer ! ...waiting her turn at the livestock auction ..Quarry stuff up front ... sandy in the back
T-Town, thanks for the life update! It is great to see a youngster getting hooked on the farm life. Too many youth have no desire today, in my opinion. Glad to hear the granddaughter is doing well after a rocky start in this world! Seems to me, your barter worked out well. I'd put that on my driveway for sure. I purchased 3 loads of 2A and a load of 2B. The A was like $400 a load, and the B was like $550. I complained about the price, and the woman told me that the stone prices have not increased this year, it was all the fuel increase that drove up the bill. I need a ton more, but my piggy bank says, aint happening this year. I may squeeze in 1 more load if the weather hold out for another month or so.
Thought I would drop in and say HEY! Still hoeless since I sold mine and don't foresee buying another one. As far as I know the new owner of my old hoe is still happy with it. He contacted me a couple times after he bought it to tell me he LOVED IT. I have bought and sold several CUTs since my last visit. Picking up my most recent acquisition this week. A TC40DA Cab New Holland. Clean condition with 1100 hours.
My hoe got a little jewelry today. I occasionally have my teenager run the backhoe with my direction, but he's always forgetting certain levers and their directions. Decided to make things a little easier on him and safer for me.
NH575E, Thanks for dropping by and updating. That is an awesome little NH that you picked up! If I had the money, i'd own one. I am guessing working AC too .
Great Idea!
@eKretz Did you make those? I want to do that for my CAT. I don't use it enough and always forget
I modified the original handles. I made my own design and used my laser engraver to engrave down into the handle surfaces, then filled them with paint.
Do you do this for money? PM me as I am willing to pay
These days I mostly only do things for myself, but I don't mind helping a fellow hoe-lover out, haha.
I've never got used to Cat control pattern (ISO). Deer pattern makes sense to me. Left hand controls the boom, left, right, in, out do what seems intuitive. Dipper & bucket with right hand, in & out are intuitive, only bucket curl is not logical. Switch me to an ISO machine, it slows me down. My son & I installed a generator. The lady offered the use of her deceased husband's Kubota TLB. These things are not smooth as silk under the best of conditions. Seth couldn't operate it at all, it wasn't simple for me. She explained: "My husband ran Cat excavators in his job, couldn't get used to SAE pattern. He had it converted to ISO.
Thanks for the well wishes gang, turns out they knocked me out for about an hour to find that I'd healed up on my own, so no surgery after all. To celebrate I sat around for a few days! I went out and tried firing up the hoe and tractor after months of doing nothing, wouldn't you know- both turned right over (thanks battery tenders), though the tractor apparently has a fuel leak, it only ran for a few minutes before sputtering out. I got the hoe out yesterday to remove a bush from the front yard that was transplanted from a neighbor's driveway. It never took well, so after a couple years I popped it out. Then I removed a dead fallen tree from in front of the barn, turned out probably 25 or so feet but it was nice enough to be agreeable that I didn't have to bust out the saw, just scooped it out into the yard a bit and got it up on the forks to move it to the fire pile. I also had a skid full of bags of soil sitting in the driveway that my wife was tired of seeing there, so I forked them to the back of the barn. God bless a backhoe.
@aighead Glad to hear you are good to go.! @Willie B I never owned or operated a backhoe before I bought my CAT 426. So for me I have to learn the controls. I have hardly used mine since I bought her and refurbished her. Original plan was to use it to start the land clearing for a house build. My wife and I decided that we should just hire someone and not waste time. So my machine sits in my neighbor's yard at my current house. I will be moving her up to the new property soon. House is a few weeks away from a CO. Then I can use her to lift the piles of logs I have to cut and split for firewood. I also will make some trails around the 15 acres so we can walk our dogs. I also want to level a spot for a shed and a barn. So come and laugh as I try to get good at operating.
Good! Glad yourself healed 2!!
Congrats on the house! Trust me, you will find a ton of work for that like new hoe.
ISO is different in only two functions: Left moves the dipper in and out, right moves the boom in & out. I'll bet stibborn designers wanted brand loyalty. A few in this world use either with no struggle. I'm not one of them. My machine has a toggle switch to choose ISO or SAE, I switch when there isn't anything to damage. I'm awckward at best in ISO.
It's hardest to switch patterns on the same machine. Going from a backhoe with sticks out front to an excavator with joysticks on the sides is just enough different that my brain can handle it much easier than trying to run the exact same machine on the other pattern.
I don't often run an excavator. We were doing an underground service with a full time dirt mover. We had set posts, put the conduit in the ground. We were ready to fill so as to have something to stand on. I got a call from the digger, he couldn't make it. New holland 6 ton excavator was there. "Go ahead & fill where you need to work." I assumed it had ISO pattern, wasted 10 minutes searching for a pattern changer before starting it up to discover it was SAE only. I later learned that all Case, and New Holland machines are SAE pattern.
Same as my bolts!
Deere had the 690 excavator out 15yrs & backhoe 30yrs before Caterpillar. With homeowner Cat open to smaller companies seem now getting Cat control pushed more no can do a pain on some finding the leaver & flipin' it right.
Had a fun fight last job,was done with the hoe next day was to be picked up but truck didn't show but dump trucks did with base rock. The transfer runs a 2nd box into the truck box on rails & a Dc motor some how flange wheel jumped rail, trying to push/pull a 30k slug back in line was asking a lot at one point spun around use hoe as reaching & uncurling the pattern switch cut out default back to Cat smacked the dump box, looking stupid as driver & boss WTH no idea switch was dead ,Should have a loss power stop the controls. Drop air bags on truck,wood blocks & hoe got it done.
The first Cat excavator was the 225 in 1972. The first JD 690 was in 1969.
Books from yesterday vs today search, Facebook says 69 shows chains & rail but older style smooth crane pad small u/c 690 out there. Cat hit ground running 79/80 in U.S what I remember not legal advice
The 690A improved model came in 1971.
First excavator I ever saw was ?1979? Local guy got the contract to clear miles of brook beds of accumulated rocks & gravel. He went out & bought two JD excavators, a 690 & a 790. I've no idea what model years they might have been. Neither had a thumb, one had a wrist. 1980 US Forest Service did an extensive job in the brook above my house. There were no excavators. They used a crane, a TD25 International bulldozer, and dynamite. Blasted hundreds of boulders in the 20 foot & smaller range into pieces they could lift with a crane.
Was just posting some "Old Iron" and this machine was at a work event so I thought it was more appropriate here. 2024, October, working there at a farm trade show, Australian National Field Days, Orange NSW. I reckon it is this dealer: https://activemachinery.com.au/products/backhoe
Mine moved blocks for the annual Danby / Mount Tabor antique tractor pull. No little tractors this year, nobody showed up. Smallest were IH C, and a few 28 HP range tractors. By late in the day a few had pulled the boat with 25000 LBS. We were out of blocks, so a chain was put under the boat. Nobody was able to move that. We had light rain part of the day. A number of pop up shelters were errected, all went well. My son is the organizer, I'm #1 grunt. He was approached by four businessmen who enjoy the informality of our event. They have offered a donation of $5000. if we host another event October 17.
Nice Willie! My hoe was out in the front yard extracting yet another fallen dead tree from the "woods" (which is really only a space maybe 30 feet wide of trees and scrub between the yard and the road). I managed to break a strap that had already been broken once and was frayed a bit, so it didn't surprise me, so I chained it up the rest of the way. I took a forklift safety training lesson at work on Friday, where they talked a bunch about tip-overs, so while I moved the tree to a fire pile out back I was very conscious of potential tipping. I had the loader bucket doing the work and it was lifted real high to avoid the trench the tree was making as I dragged it (still trenched some anyway) but as I got to the hilly section I got nervous and lowered the bucket a bunch. I didn't tip over. I scooched the tree over onto the pile and luckily didn't bog down in the yard back there where the creek has been running over a lot lately. Woop! God love a backhoe.
Our pull is on a level meadow, but the blocks are stored well up in a gravel pit. Between locations there are several points where I get all crossed up. Dangling three 800 lb blocks at a time from the "crain" gets a bit hairy. Tuesday Night we moved 30 blocks to the field. It's then I discovered only one of four front work lights worked. Visibility isn't bad scooping with the loader, Hanging 2400 LBS from chains, everything is shadow! We did it, nobody got hurt! Putting them back up in the pit after the pull was in daylight, much easier work.