Holding up well after a fair amount of work!

[EMB5530]

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.





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)

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.

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)


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.
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.


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)

Well I started on this project at about 86hrs and here I am now.


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.




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.

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 thats gonna make things a lot easier. No more on and off the tractor.

[charles todd]

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

[EMB5530]

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.

[texasjohn]

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