3R Home and Barn Project

[3RRL]

I hear ya John. This was the scariest thing I've done yet, but going straight up and straight down is the only way to do it.
Now it was time to get up that hillside and start plucking the Buckbrush out....Oh brother...



Buckbrush is highly flammable due to it's high content of oil. There were several large Oaks that were down which I had to move also. I started with the ones near the bottom, working my way to the top. My goal was to get all the way to the base of the rock out cropping and get as many of them as I could.
This was really scary. I had to find a direct path to each one and back down the same way...no going sideways on this hill. The slope is deceiving and the camera does not do it justice. and some parts were steeper than others.




Here's one looking down from the rock bluff to the meadow, as I make my way up in the Kama. The distance from the bottom of the meadow up to the rock bluff is close to 500'.

 

[3RRL]

Here is a view from the bottom of the hill going up. You can see how many trips I've made already from all the grass being gone. Some of these views show the steepness better than others.



Finally, I got to the very top of the hill just below the rock bluff. There is a small area that levels out just a little up here, but still pretty steep. there's no way to turn around so You have to back straight down again.



Here is a view from the rock bluff looking back down to where I started piling the brush. You can see the entire Valley from here.



After this weekend's work, there's still a lot of them to get on the North and South slopes. Unfortunately, there's no way to get the tractor up those sides...it's just too rocky and steep in some places. Before we left, we took several chains hooked together and pulled some trees and brush out from the top. That's no cake walk either, trying to negotiate the steep slopes with heavy chains. So we left the rest for us to get later this month when we return. I'm afraid some are so precarious it will take a chain saw and hand saw or axe to get them out. Then we'll have to drag them down close enough for the tractor to get with the grapples. Man, that is going to be a lot of work!

 

[GuglioLS]

WOW Rob,
Now thats some serious road building with your tractor & Rob-O-Blade! Pictures never really show how steep those hills & ravines actually are. But seeing those huge filled tires spinning and your tractor trying to go sideways in that one video illustrates how steep it is. I'm too scared to do that on my tractor, I'm a wimp so I use a bulldozer instead. after seeing this, I have no doubts that you and your Kama with Rob-O-Blade could have cut the road on my land that the Bull Dozer did.
In the audio portion, the engine did not lose 1 RPM but I sure did hear the gears transmitting all that power to the wheels.
Talk about dust ! is it time for an air filter change?
I see you have your work cut out for you in clearing out all the buck brush & mowing down all the tinder dry grass & weeds.
The new roads look great!
This is by far the best post of you using you Huge Kama & Rob-O-Blade to it's maximum capacity.

Larry

 

[tommu56]

Rob what do you plant to keep soil from washing away that keeps fire crew happy?

tom

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Great pics and an awesome read!!! Thanks.

You really make the box blade look like a valuable tool. Mine is just a regular box blade without any of the fancy hydralics, so I don't ever use it. Seeing what you can do with it makes me wonder if I'm missing out on something? Naw!!! hahahaha

I know you don't get allot of rain, but when it happens, it can be pretty severe. What are you going to do to protect your roads from washing out? Ditches and culverts?

Are you putting rock on them?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Rob,

Great pics. I really need to get TnT for my boxblade!

Those slopes look about like my driveway. No going sideways only straight up and down. You do a great job on the roads...could be a second career for ya .

I was up at my build early today and had 3 concrete trucks ready to pour the basement. Forgot the camera but will have some finished pics to post in a couple days.

Get that road done the logs will be there before you know it!!

 

[3RRL]

Larry G, do you remember getting on the rock bluff and looking down over them?

I'm glad Loretta took a video of that...I had no idea, I figured she was just taking snapshots. You are right about it being a good video of the Kama working like that. It's no secrete that I'm proud of what it can do. Especially with the armament of modifications expanding it's capabilities.

Loretta said when I first came down the ravine path dragging the boxblade forward, the tractor was almost sideways with the nose facing right, but moving forward while sliding down. The front wheels were pointed all the way to the left...all spinning. During he first pass dragging the box forward down, I almost slid into that ravine on the right. I had to stop dragging the box and start bulldozing in reverse. The slope there was very deceiving.

I don't think Huge Kama would have cut your road Larry. At least not with the ease your bulldozer did it. Your ground is way rockier than the area I cut in these pictures. Some of those rock ledges you cut out would have taken hours with the Kama, I'm sure. But it's all I have so you make do with what you got, right?
What's the old saying, "when all you have is a hammer, every job looks like a nail"

 

[3RRL]

Eddie, Tommu and David,
Yeah, that boxblade is pretty handy for me anyways.
Since this particular road is a service road, the best I can do is to cut gutters along the side. I am not going to put rock on it for now. That means I'll have to keep it in shape with the tractor after the rains to get the ruts out again. this road is not the main road to the homesite. That road is in pretty good shape right now, but still dirt too. So I'm always on it smoothing it out. But it has 9 culverts in it and gutters cut on both sides. Other than being a bit slippery in a few places when it rains, it does remarkably well for a dirt road. Loretta is right there in the middle of all this work too. She was carrying the two fire extinguishers that got knocked off the tractor.



The area that is being cleared will be re-planted with succulents to reduce erosion. Loretta is researching other drought resistant plants for that area. I don't know the name of them, but there is one particular plant that stays green year round and has either yellow or blue flowers in the Spring. Supposedly, once it's established, it doesn't need to be watered for the rest of the year. Only from Spring rains. It is used commonly in California for hillsides especially like this one. I'll ask her what the name of the plant is.

After the house build and once we move up there, I will install an irrigation system to hopefully keep the entire surrounds green and more fire resistant. The fire crew will accept that. They just don't want any highly flammable grasses and dead fall within that 100' radius. Right now, every Summer all the natural plants and grasses dry out and it is like a tinder box. We have a lot of work to do yet. We will have to get a fire burning permit later this year too, to get rid of all the saplings and brush.
Thank you for checking out my thread.

 

[john_bud]

Unfortunately, there's no way to get the tractor up those sides...it's just too rocky and steep in some places. Before we left, we took several chains hooked together and pulled some trees and brush out from the top. That's no cake walk either, trying to negotiate the steep slopes with heavy chains. So we left the rest for us to get later this month when we return. I'm afraid some are so precarious it will take a chain saw and hand saw or axe to get them out. Then we'll have to drag them down close enough for the tractor to get with the grapples. Man, that is going to be a lot of work!
.

Have you thought about a hydraulic winch? Put a cable choker on the trees and yank them babies out!

jb

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Rob,
Very neat videos !!! That boxblade is doing one heck of a job ! Thats bulldozer work by the looks of it.

BTW it looks like you need a SCBA in that last video !

Keep the pics commin !