Clearing Recently Purchased Land

[TripleR]

Very nice, a couple of years ago my sons decided to skip renting a dozer and save money by using our tractors. By the time they were finished, our diesel bill was more than the cost of renting the dozer, put a LOT of wear on our equipment and took weeks instead of days; won't make that mistake again.

Then to add insult to injury we had a flood and washed most of the work away.

 

[wmonroe]

Looks like you got a lot of work done and had a good time doing it. I need to find an excuse to rent a dozer, that looks awesome.

 

[walker450]

Wow I've moved a lot of dirt in the last few days!!! Managed to get a few pics:

Sunset:


Father in law on his Ford:


Will be finishing things up tomorrow morning!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Nice Job.
My dad bought a small used dozer years ago when we were doing a lot of logging. They are fun to run. I spent a lot of time on it, my dad did the cutting, I did the pulling. It truely paid for itself. I think he sold it for more than he paid for it.

 

[TomSeller]

Very nice, a couple of years ago my sons decided to skip renting a dozer and save money by using our tractors. By the time they were finished, our diesel bill was more than the cost of renting the dozer, put a LOT of wear on our equipment and took weeks instead of days; won't make that mistake again.
.

I can sympathize. I have been clearing about 5 acres with my tractors. Coulda used a dozer.

 

[wmonroe]

Beautiful sunset!

 

[DT86]

Your project is coming along nicely!

Did you have to have your own insurance or anything special to rent a machine of that size?

 

[wmonroe]

Your project is coming along nicely! Did you have to have your own insurance or anything special to rent a machine of that size?

great question, I don't have need for a machine like that now but if I do it would be fun to rent one.

 

[walker450]

Thanks for all of the comments guys! I haven't had much time to talk, have been putting in long days!

Then to add insult to injury we had a flood and washed most of the work away.

I hate to hear that! I am a little nervous about ours washing away too. I've got several large slopes. I plan on using lots of rained on Alfalfa hay to spread out and I've got several hundred feet of silt fence I will be putting up after the dirt work is done. It will be a very busy March/April while I'm trying to get grass to grow!!

I can sympathize. I have been clearing about 5 acres with my tractors. Coulda used a dozer.

I have done tons of work so far with my tractor to help keep rental time down on the dozer. So far I wouldn't change a thing.

Your project is coming along nicely!

Did you have to have your own insurance or anything special to rent a machine of that size?

Yes you must have total loss insurance to cover against theft, fire, etc. My insurance man quoted me $175 for a month (minimum time frame). CAT charged $190 for the week. I went with CAT to minimize paperwork etc. since the cost was so close.

However, the CAT policy does not cover any damage the renter does to the machine. If I drop a tree on the machine I have to pay to have it repaired, no matter the cost. If I would have used my insurance man it would have covered against any damage I would have caused on accident, but there would be a deductible of course.

The main risks come when running the machine in timber. Things can get away from you in a hurry when pushing large trees so you must proceed with caution. I've ran an old D6 in the trees before so I felt comfortable tackling my job with this new machine.

 

[walker450]

My friend ran the machine all day today and performed the finishing touches on the pad and drainage. He has ran a dozer since he was a teenager and has owned several of his own machines. He sold his dozer (Case 850K) last summer to focus solely on farming. He is loving the CAT machine so much he offered to totally finish everything up! This is great because I have been running the box blade at the same time and also have been on root/stick/stump patrol!

Here is a pic of the house pad, dozer is touching up a water diversion terrace to keep the water from the large hill flowing around the yard and home site:


Here is another sunset, taken from the house pad area:


Filling up the beast with fuel, using the Kubota for extra light: