Singlecoil
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2006
- Messages
- 371
- Location
- Eatonville, Washington
- Tractor
- Kubota BX-24D Cub Cadet LT42e
So I got a good deal on digging a 510 foot utility ditch. $400. I told them I could backfill it myself since I didn't know how long it would take the electric company and the phone company to get out and lay their respective products. I knew it had to be 42" deep, tapered to 30" at the vault ends. I was a little surprised at how wide it ended up, but they did dig it with one of these...
Ok, so the ditch ended up looking like this after the lines were laid...
So I figured my BX-24 and I had our work cut out for us. No problem. We had lots of time. After all, the well drilling company weren't coming until TOMORROW! Thank you Mr. Utility Company for taking twice as long to get the conduit in the ground as you said you would. Did I mention that it rained heavily last night here in Western Washington? Terrific timing. Now the spoil is heavier and the tractor has less traction. I figured I would use the box blade on the back instead of the backhoe to help smooth things out. Two hours later, I had the crucial part done which was the area the well company needed access to.
But this was taking a long time as the piles were too big to push into the trench. I had to take bites out of them with the loader and dump them into the trench. Were the piles lower and smaller, I think I could just push them. Backing into them with the blade didn't help either; not enough traction. Then I had an idea... What if I just put the tractor on it's side and use the loader to push the dirt into the trench? Surely this would go much faster.
Lol. Unfortunately the engine didn't like that angle too much. Luckily I didn't get hurt when the thing went over. As is evidenced in the picture, I didn't even get a chance to get the loader down even though my hand was on the lever and I consider myself to have excellent reflexes. It happens fast. The engine was still running so I shut it off and licked my wounds. I spent about an hour trying to jack up the roll bar with my car jack but I was getting nowhere. I then called my soon-to-be neighbors (will be when the house is built) and asked for help as I knew they had a larger Deere tractor and a small bulldozer. The guy happily pulled up in a small tricked-out Jeep with a remote controlled winch and had me righted in no time.
I checked the oil and it was fine so I attempted to start the engine. It cranked about a half a turn then went back. The same thing repeated every time I cranked it. Looking at the fan belt, the engine would turn one way about 2 inches of fan belt travel, then go back to the starting point. I opened the oil filler cap and looked for action in there but didn't see any parts moving when I attempted to crank it. My neighbor thought it would be fine and that I would just have to let it sit for a while for the oil to drain down as it was likely hydro-locked. I certainly hope my 90 hour engine isn't toast. I was thinking of going back out tomorrow and attempting to manually rotate the engine with a wrench. Does anybody know what socket I need for a BX-24/2350?
Thanks.
Ok, so the ditch ended up looking like this after the lines were laid...
So I figured my BX-24 and I had our work cut out for us. No problem. We had lots of time. After all, the well drilling company weren't coming until TOMORROW! Thank you Mr. Utility Company for taking twice as long to get the conduit in the ground as you said you would. Did I mention that it rained heavily last night here in Western Washington? Terrific timing. Now the spoil is heavier and the tractor has less traction. I figured I would use the box blade on the back instead of the backhoe to help smooth things out. Two hours later, I had the crucial part done which was the area the well company needed access to.
But this was taking a long time as the piles were too big to push into the trench. I had to take bites out of them with the loader and dump them into the trench. Were the piles lower and smaller, I think I could just push them. Backing into them with the blade didn't help either; not enough traction. Then I had an idea... What if I just put the tractor on it's side and use the loader to push the dirt into the trench? Surely this would go much faster.
Lol. Unfortunately the engine didn't like that angle too much. Luckily I didn't get hurt when the thing went over. As is evidenced in the picture, I didn't even get a chance to get the loader down even though my hand was on the lever and I consider myself to have excellent reflexes. It happens fast. The engine was still running so I shut it off and licked my wounds. I spent about an hour trying to jack up the roll bar with my car jack but I was getting nowhere. I then called my soon-to-be neighbors (will be when the house is built) and asked for help as I knew they had a larger Deere tractor and a small bulldozer. The guy happily pulled up in a small tricked-out Jeep with a remote controlled winch and had me righted in no time.
I checked the oil and it was fine so I attempted to start the engine. It cranked about a half a turn then went back. The same thing repeated every time I cranked it. Looking at the fan belt, the engine would turn one way about 2 inches of fan belt travel, then go back to the starting point. I opened the oil filler cap and looked for action in there but didn't see any parts moving when I attempted to crank it. My neighbor thought it would be fine and that I would just have to let it sit for a while for the oil to drain down as it was likely hydro-locked. I certainly hope my 90 hour engine isn't toast. I was thinking of going back out tomorrow and attempting to manually rotate the engine with a wrench. Does anybody know what socket I need for a BX-24/2350?
Thanks.
I was getting in a rhythm of taking slices and dumping them in the trench in an arc. Unfortunately on this swing I had just lifted a load of dirt and the left front wheel ran over the spoil pile at the perfect moment. My coffee cup, which was on my left, ended up about 6 feet past the tractor on my right. That shows how fast it went over; it got launched.
