3R Home and Barn Project

[schmism]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

How do I use that feature?
Thanks,
Rob-

click your name it should launch a javascript menu the top item is "view public profile"

(or this page)

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/members/3rrl.html

under that page you can click the link that says
"display all threads started by 3rrl"

and ding! all your threads....

[schmism]

So when you gonna hike up the ridge behind your place and take a nice overall areal shot so we can have an idea of what it all looks like....

[3RRL]

schmis-
I might have some I took right after the road was pushed in. I'll have to find them.
Oh, and thanks for the tip on how to find the posts. Geez ... what a blabber mouth I've been.
Now I just have to take a day to find the right one.

[3RRL]

This is the log style we picked.



I will post a few more photos of the work I did with the tractor before I get to the latest developments. This is still back in April. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and lots of seat time for me.

Don't let anybody tell you that you can't dig with the fel bucket. Mine with the toothbar did outstanding. It was time to go back to the DG pit and cut more of it out with the fel and the boxblade.



Here you can see how much dirt I move in one pass. The fel bucket, which is a half yard, is filled with about a yard of DG. My roboblade holds about a half yard too and is pushing another half in front of it. So I am getting maximum performance out of my tools. Look at the front tires...and they are 3/4 loaded with water/anti-freeze!

[3RRL]

It rained at night and sprinkled on and off over that weekend. There were a couple of pretty sights as I was working. One was looking from the DG pit going to the barn pad.



Here are a couple more I took while taking a break, drinking my coffee and smoking a Pall Mall.





That is really pretty country this time of year.

[3RRL]

OK, these are for schmism...
This is the best I can do for now. This first picture is of the valley below our property. Inside that tree line in the background is the South Fork of the Kaweah River. Our property is at the base of this hill and goes to the culdesac of the paved road. It does not go to the river.



This is a zoom in photo. We are about 1,000' above our property. South camp would be at the lower left corner of this picture and the homesite at the far right, but they are both out of view from our vantage point. But you can see part of our dirt road winding through our property.



That structure is our nearest neighbor. They are about 3,000 feet from the homesite.

[3RRL]

Here are a couple more pictures looking down the DG pit. You can see how hard the DG is to cut out. I was able to cut a lot by back dozing with Robo boxblade but sometimes it just stopped the tractor in it's tracks leaving all 4 wheels spinning. Then I tried to rip it and sometimes it would catch and dig in, sometimes skid. I also took the fel bucket and jammed the toothbar into it to pry chunks out. All three methods allowed a ridge where I could then cut off another slice. All this was really tough on the big Kama. That tractor has paid for itself just doing this job. I am so proud of it!



The pit overlooks the solar panels from East to West.
OK schmism, now they are both in the shade...

[3RRL]

I wanted to talk a little more about the decomposed granite on the property. This is the same stuff that is spread on my dirt roads as a topping. It was all cut from pits like this one.



Once you get through a couple feet of dirt, there is the DG, and it is HARD man! Here you can see the different layers as I cut lower and lower.

[3RRL]

This stuff makes great topping since it is basically crushed rock. When the D-9 and excavator was here, they cut through it a hundred times easier than the Kama by comparison. But then the Kama is not a bulldozer either.
Here you can see a close up of how rocky it is when I cut chunks out.



Then after scraping a layer off, it turns into coarse sand. After I get piles and piles of it dug up, I move it to the barn pad and distribute it layer by layer. Compacting it with the dirt mixed in will make for a solid foundation.

[3RRL]

Here is another interesting comparison between the dirt and the DG. This photo shows the Kama tire track in the dirt.



This one is the Kama tire track in the DG.
Notice the difference between the depth of tread where the DG holds up much better than the dirt. That's why my dirt roads hold up so good under the rainy conditions. And where there is very little DG on the road, it is slippery and muddy.
There is a noticeable color difference too.