Culvert Project

[Bird]

Harv, I've never seen a manual with any box blade. I guess they figure, since there's no moving part, service, or maintenance schedule that you're just supposed to know how to use it, will learn from trial and error, or something.

Bird

 

[gordon]

Harv you got the best boxblade manual in the world----Tractorbynet!!!!!!
As Bird said trial and error---practice practice practice and then you will get the hang of her.

Gordon

 

[Corm]

Harv, I think your notes and pictures are great. Through them, all of us are living your learning adventure with you!

 

[ddl]

Harv
Nice pictures, but you said in an earlier post that your ground was rocky. From your pictures, I did not see a rock. I also notice the FEL, It is the best piece of equipmenta piece can attach to a tractor, but MHO.
Dan L

 

[Harv]

Dan -

Yeah, I think we've established that "rocky" is a relative term, and in the grand scheme of things my property would not be considered rocky to some. Let me clarify one more time, anyway.

- First of all, I was referring to my property as a whole, not just the part in the pictures. The soil you see me preparing for the first culvert is in a natural "wash" area which is mostly packed silt and sediment from years of water flow. Not representative of the other 40 acres.

- Also, although they don't show up well in the pictures 'cuz they're coated with dirt, that soil does contain a fair number of softball to football-sized rocks, to put it in the sports fan vernacular.

- From past experience I know that I am lucky to sink a 3-foot deep posthole exactly where I want it. All too frequently I run into a boulder too large to dig out, so I have to try elsewhere.

- There are portions of the property where granite dominates and soil is scarce. Maybe I'll shoot some more pictures to give a better overview (any excuse to take more pictures. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

Not trying to be defensive here -- just like to be clear.

 

[Harv]

Well, I'm all packed and out the door (making it difficult to reach this keyboard) on my way to the "Culvert Project".

Got word last night that the culvert pipe has finally arrived at the property, the weather is clear and the creeks have pretty much dried out from that last storm. It would seem my recent panic attack was unfounded -- or at least premature. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

In a few days I should have updates (with the usual smattering of pictures) of either serious progress or classic boo-boos, or maybe both. I will attempt to give either one equal photo coverage.

Thanks again to all of you who have either directly or inadvertantly given me some terrific pointers and/or ideas on how to get this job done. Some of you old hacks are probably chuckling about the fuss I've already made over what would probably be an afternoon project for you.

But then, what is a tractor for, if not to make mountains out of molehills? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[gerard]

Harv, Don't worry about the wordiness as long as you're posting pictures, remember the "worth a thousand words" saying!! One thing you might want to keep an eye out for is a one bottom plow. For digging that kind of trench I think it would be ideal, you could just drive the trench a few times which would loosen the soil, then remove it with the FEL. You should be able to get a used one under $100. Just a thought......

 

[Billc]

Harv,

The pictures are top notch. Don't know how you get the pictures to the web, but it's a great idea!

Wish some of the other fellas who have done some major tweaking of their tractors would post some pictures. Best was to get ideas.

Speaking of major tweaking, saw a commerical the other day that reminded me of Mark's "project". It was a tire commerical that featured Arnold Palmer. His auto was being lifted into the air at a garage. As the lift was trying to separate the truck's tires from the ground the building starts shaking. Then there is a large cloud of dust. Next you see Arnie's truck in the air and small sections of concrete floor stuck to the truck's tires. My guess is this is about similar to the way Mark's tries stick to dirt!

 

[Harv]

Okay -- 2-1/2 days of honest work and I'm ready to sleep for a week. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

Considering I don't know what I'm doing, the project seems to be coming right along. The one strategic error I may have made was in using 10-foot pipes. I figured, it's a 5-foot wide tractor so 10 feet is plenty. Then, when it was too late, I read that the backfill should be sloped inward from the bottom so that the top of the fill is about 2-1/2 feet in from the ends of the pipe. Let's see -- 10 feet minus 2.5 times 2 = ... 5 feet!!!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif YIKES!!!

I decided to modify that plan by shoring up both ends with sandbags to act as a retaining wall. In fact, I filled the bags not with sand, but with ready-mix concrete. When the rains come they should turn quite solid in a matter of hours. No steel, of course, but better than nothing?

Anyway, I had a great time toting pipes and working a pile of crushed limestone. The not-so-fun parts were filling the sandbags by myself (so I made kind of a funnel/chute jig) and tamping down the layers of backfill. From what I've read, the proper way to support metal pipe is to spread thin layers (couple of inches) of a good compactable fill material, like crushed limestone, on both sides of the pipe and thoroughly compact it by heavy tamping. I used a 20-lb steel cylinder with a piece of pipe stuck in the middle of it. Something my dad apparently used to crush beer cans for recycling.

The best part came when the pipe was covered enough that I could use the tractor to do the compacting. I pushed the flat of the bucket down on the surface hard enough to lift the front wheels, and then slowly backed over the layer of fill. My wife saw me ham it up for the camera on this one and dared me to post it on this board. So much for my self-respect.

Once covered with fill, I added a layer of topsoil to help build up the coverage. 12 inches is the recommended cover depth but I currently only have about 8. It seems to be supporting the tractor just fine, but I intend to come back and build it up some more once the other culverts are also in place. In the meantime, I have a usable creek-crossing. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If you have lots of time or a fast connection, there are more pictures in my scrapbook.

 

[scruffy]

Harv, Looks like you had a nice weekend! Congratulations on one down, two to go! Nice job Harv.
Being lazy, I would've bought the bags of premix, hauled them over in the bucket and stacked them...paper and all, but that's me. I don't like lifting, bending or stooping more than necessary.
Now if my tractor just had all the new stuff yours has, oh well, my oldie does just fine, it will last for a lot of years yet. Probably longer than me.