Holding up well after a fair amount of work!

Well I have not been the best at documenting any of the work i've done w/ my 5530 but I figured I'd throw up some pics of a major project that is near completion, and the things that need a little tlc after aprox. 80 hrs. of hard work on the pond.




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The first pic is of the pond I've cleaned out. I did it w/ water still in it b/c it is the only water I have to irrigate w/ and since its been so dry I just couldn't see pumping it out and wasting all that water.(Yes I am a tightwad even w/ water but I've been worrying about my well going dry so at least we have water on the property:o)
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This one is of the spillway. I still need to remove about 10 more inches to lay some flat limestone out to dress it up and keep the dirt from washing away.
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Here I am showing the tube I built. It is a 24" pipe burried about 4' w/ concrete filled half way up inside and out. I then cut a hold out the side of it and ran a 10" pipe through the side to the other side of the dam. All the material was leftovers and scraps from past jobs I've worked on so expenses have been minimal. Also, I am planning to put block or brick around the tube to dress it up. I have seen one built like this before and it was very relaxing to just sit and watch the water flow into it.(If it ever decides to rain:rolleyes:)
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This is the dredge I built to clean the pond out. I have about $150 in the build not considering welding rod, but not bad considering how much dirt it moved and I only had one failure on it. Which was the cable that pulls the blade down, I put a bit to much preasure on it oops.:p
Basically it is two pieces of sch 80 pipe (8" and 6") slid togther w/ pvc bushing between them so I could colapse it if needed. The hydraulic was given to me by a friend at work who restores massey harris tractors. He said one of the tractors had a make shift 3pt on it w/ that cylinder but he wanted to put the tractor back to original so he gave it to me. The only thing he said for sure is: If it dont work or leaks like h311 dont bring it back.:laughing:

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Here is the pile of mud I pulled out w/ the dredge. I would pull enough out that the mud would start to become so fluid from mixing w/ water that I would have to start dragging only the mud I had pulled out of the water farther up the banks where I would then disconnect the dredge and put on my box blade and proceed to drag and bucket mud up into the pile out of the way so I could start the process all over again(Only sliding into the pond so far that I had to get pulled out once:mad:)
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Well I started on this project at about 86hrs and here I am now.:cool:

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Little dirt build-up in the rad and intercooler.
Spent about 10 hrs cleaning up and checking things out today.
Found a few hydraulic lines that were seeping (dealer installed aux hyd) but no biggie.

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And here is a little toy I purchased for the Mahindra. Got some LED's b/c a loader makes the lights non-existant up front. Two 27 watt nine led lights.:licking:

Got a lot more to do down at the pond as far as moving dirt to get it to dry and dressing up around the rest of the pond.
So I gave our friend at Fit Rite a call and gonna get a TnT kit. Man I cant wait:licking::licking::licking: thats gonna make things a lot easier. No more on and off the tractor.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Nice work with your Mahindra and dredge. The pond looks great. I am having one dug this week. Trackhoe and dozer though. I am looking at LEDs too.

CT

Yea, a trackhoe and dozer is the way to go!!!
But, being the cheep@55 that I am, well you know.
I do have to say though when someone walks up to that pile asking how I got all that out and then finds it was w/ a 6' blade on the back of a 50hp tractor(44' behind) it does impress.(Or maybe baffle{what the ________was he thinkin)

As to the LED's
a GREAT investment.

only someone who has moved dirt can appreciate the size of the pile...I have...and I do!
Good work. Interesting tool you built