Busy Wife This Weekend

[mike69440]

Re: Busy Wife This Weekend, Stepson got a L39 Hauler

Beside knocking down trees, an Excavator can do more than dig holes.
Trailer with 12K axles should be just able to haul the L39.

 

[EddieWalker]

Did you buy a new trailer and have to unload it yourself with the excavator?

 

[4570Man]

So jealous of all that rock you have there!!!!!

Come down to TN and I’ll load you up with more free rock than you can haul. I hate that stuff. It makes everything harder.

 

[mike69440]

Did you buy a new trailer and have to unload it yourself with the excavator?

Yes

Bought factory direct.

in all it was about $1500 less than thru a dealer

 

[KOscvmc]

Mike... going back to post #138. How did you attach the rail posts to your deck?

Reason I ask, local "handyman/carpenter" replaced the decking on my 15'x45' deck while I was out of town. One end of the deck is 6' above ground and the other end is 18' above ground. The deck rails used to be so secure that you could sit on them without worry. Now, I would be afraid to even lean on them. It appears to me that the ground posts originally continued past the decking and served as the rail posts. It also appears that he cut them off at deck level, decked over them, and then toenailed the rail posts to the decking. He insists that was the way it was originally. I don't think so, but it's too late to debate the problem with him now.

I just need to find a more secure way of attaching the rail posts than his "toenailing" job, and yours looks very secure.

 

[EddieWalker]

... It also appears that he cut them off at deck level, decked over them, and then toenailed the rail posts to the decking. He insists that was the way it was originally. I don't think so, but it's too late to debate the problem with him now.

I just need to find a more secure way of attaching the rail posts than his "toenailing" job, and yours looks very secure.

This is a picture of a shed that I built for a client. He wanted a place to sit and look over his yard, so I built a porch for it too. The picture shows how I attach my posts when not going all the way from the ground up. I attach them to the inside of joists and edge boards at the corners so I have maximum strength. They are bolted to the side board with galvanized half inch carriage bolts.

Ideally you want to remove the deck boards, but that's probably not a good option, so you might want to just remove them and install longer ones that bolt to the sides of the joists and edge boards.

Did he attach the joists on top of beams? Did you install diagonal bracing at the outside corners? Did he use screws for everything and avoid nails since they always work their way out as the lumber dries out?
These are my main pet peaves from DIYers and armatures.

These two pictures show the beams notched into the posts and how the joists rest on top of the beams.

 

[KOscvmc]

Thanks, Eddie. I'll take a look this weekend to see if I can bolt the rail posts to the joists and the beams. That looks like a perfect solution. I think I can cut 4X4 squares in the decking with a sawzall and install new rail posts. He had reused the old railing so I need to replace all that anyway.

All he replaced, was the decking (2X6's), so he didn't mess with the joists, beams, or support posts, and yes, he screwed the decking down. The original deck was built as part of the house in 1976 and all the "undercarriage" is still in good shape believe it or not.

As far as "armatures" go, I think he needs rewinding. LOL. I won't use his services again.

 

[mike69440]

Mike... going back to post #138. How did you attach the rail posts to your deck?

Reason I ask, local "handyman/carpenter" replaced the decking on my 15'x45' deck while I was out of town. One end of the deck is 6' above ground and the other end is 18' above ground. The deck rails used to be so secure that you could sit on them without worry. Now, I would be afraid to even lean on them. It appears to me that the ground posts originally continued past the decking and served as the rail posts. It also appears that he cut them off at deck level, decked over them, and then toenailed the rail posts to the decking. He insists that was the way it was originally. I don't think so, but it's too late to debate the problem with him now.

I just need to find a more secure way of attaching the rail posts than his "toenailing" job, and yours looks very secure.

Combination of miter cuts and Joist hangers I bought online. Home depot has about 1/10 of the styles available. To the house, I has Pt Blocks built out from the house header jousts sitting on the sill Flashed in copper and a vinyl plastic cover/ moisture insulator. i then Lagged the PT deck header joist to that and used joist hangers for the decking joists.

O then used cement tubes to elevate the deck posts and 1" galvanized threaded rod and some what I thought were aluminum plates I borrowed from work to make adjustable supports for the deck posts. These turned out ot be magnesium and nearly burned down the workshop when I cut those plates!

I gang lagged together 40' of 4 Piece thick 2 X 12 PT lumber to make the outside deck header, attached the posts using some Cut to shape 8" wide and used my excavator to pick up and set the entire assembly. Much easier building stuff on the ground. Did same with stairs.

Speaking of my Excavator, My wife made me crear ou about 2 dozen pine trees largest were about 60' tall 14-15" diameter shading her darn fruit trees. (Tasty pears and peaches)

For the most part I did not dig out the roots, just knocked the trees over, stump roots and all. Then I picked up the root ball and repeatedly dropped the ball to shake out the dirt.
Well the second to last tree I took out, while doing the dirt shake out routine, bounced into the side of my excavator, cracking the big sheet molded plastic cover.

I got some epoxying and fiberglass work to do to patch it up. I look at the bright side. The Hydraulic Pump will get more cooling circulation know that the grill work is destroyed.

 

[KOscvmc]

OK, I went back and looked again. Originally it appeared that you had somehow attached to rail posts to the decking. Then, I found this pic that I had missed. I can now see that the posts went through the decking. Thanks for the answer.

 

[mike69440]

Not be a good weekend on a number of counts. The one I'll mention is my excavator threw a track in the woods climbing over piece of Ledge I had no business try to mess with.

My track adjuster is frozen. Lost a lot of sleep wondering if this is the end of the old girl? 1-1/2 days later & 1,000 wacks with a 16 Lb sledge together with a hydraulic Jack against the blade, help from the L39 and the excavator arm, I got the track on & limped it out of the woods without trowing the track again, but cannot pump the track tight.

I first thought about trying a port a power cracked up to 10,000 psi hydraulic pressure at the grease port, but but I have an idea involving removing a track roller so I can get something up in the yoke to hold it out, like a block of wood.

If that temporarily seems to work, I'll design and 3D print a lockable saddle with inserts pockets for coupling nuts that that I can screw in 1/2 alloy bolts that can be act as adjustable jack screws. That way the jack screws and nuts bear the compressive load and the 3D printed plastic saddle is just holding the jack screws/coupling nuts in place around the shaft of the yoke between the stuck recoil cylinder and yoke flange.

I'm lucky I did not severe a finger or worse, dumb that I did this to my machine and clever in that I think I have a fix.
I imagine a new adjuster and front idler is thousands of dollars from Komatsu, and a Chinese import would end up still well over $1,000, plus all the danger & fun of removing the track.
How to unstick a track tensioner? - JDcrawlers Messageboard
Even if I "fix" it, the 21 year old machine is still the next major breakdown form the scrap heap. Sad, but I know I will never replace it. Hope it is around a few more seasons.