Finally finished!

[Shawn T. W.]

Finishing the job, hopefully I'm finally done!

When I bought this place 3.5 years ago, the right of way on the private road did not convey, so they put in a new “driveway” out through the hayfield, but all they really did was scrape off about 4” of sod, and spread out 4” thick of 1” base, which is 1” rock down to basically sand or “fines” … they put it right through a swampy section of the field … I brought in just under a million pounds of rock and gravel, put in three culverts, and dug over 600’ of ditch, which I had never done before, all with my tiny little SCUT … I found out that there is a 2.5’ rise from the road, before it starts going downhill to my creek out back, so … the ditch got quite deep, which I “mowed” with my 5’ brush hog, but the sides were steep, especially near the utility pole, as I didn't want to get too close to that . . . I fiddled with it off and on when I was home and it was raining, trying to get it to drain and flow properly. Finally this spring I was satisfied, but it was nearly 3’ deep in places!

I got 200’ of 4’ flexible pipe, and already had some 6” pipe sections, that I used for “connections” by sliding the 4” into the 6” a foot or so, covering with a double layer of weed barrier, figured that it would let and ground water in there, drilled a few small holes in top of other sections covering with more weed barrier … made “ends” out of ¼” hardware cloth to keep snakes out … and started to reduce the sides down by scraping and pushing it on top of the piping … I ran out of time, but got most of it done …

I had trouble scraping it, as if it was soft enough to dig in, it would push the back sideways, even though I had filled tires, 70 steel wheel weights on each side, plus 200 Lbs of weight plates I made a way to mount to my BH frame ...

Only the top few inches were soft enough to scrape, once the sod out of the way, then it was too hard, after trying a few different things, I used my rototiller to dig it up, then I could move it with the rear blade!

Since I got a bigger tractor to pull a bigger mower, I needed to get this done, but had to trim some of the trees along the private road that overhung the field to clear my cab, so that was the first order of business.

Step ladder and chainsaw, forks to carry the branches away ...

A full load!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

There was still a section of pipe not covered up, so I needed more dirt ...

I placed rocks near the ends, so the water can flow through, but I won't crush the end of the pipe running over it!

This is basically virgin ground, hard packed clay, that was dry, it wouldn't scrape/plow like when it was damp in the spring, even with the bigger tractor …

So, I got the rototiller to chew it up, it was tough and slow dusty work, but I got it chewed up!

15 second dusty video!
Rototiller virgin ground

Then I used the rear blade to put it in a row, to scoop up with the bucket and dump on the exposed piping …

May not be perfect, but the piping is covered, and it's “mowable” now, good enough for a field.

Unfortunately the time inside the cabbed Kubota was short, compared to the time on the Massey Ferguson SCUT, or using the chainsaw ... Hot and humid today, I'm wore out!

But glad I got this done!

 

[ultrarunner]

It always good to hear success stories… especially involving a multi year project.

My little BX23 has moved mountains…

 

[chim]

Nice! I'd suggest you add a battery pole saw to your Christmas list. Trees here can need trimmed for the cab two or three times a year.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I cut these probably 12' up, tractor is only about 8' tall ... But I got more trees to do ... But I'll check and see if Stihl makes one that uses the same battery as the chainsaw, be nice if they share the bar and chain too!

 

[chim]

I have various parts, pieces and extensions, some of which were bought separately that amount to something like the package below. IIRC, one of our suppliers had a sale on a pole saw plus an extension (tool only) for around $100 maybe 6 years ago before i retired. Later I added the hedge trimmer and some other stuff. I think some of these may now have telescoping shafts.

For branches of about 1" and smaller the hedge trimmer does fine. That's what gets used here a couple times each year. Not too often that big branches need trimmed off. In addition to trimming branches, the pole saw is really nice when dropping trees. When the tree is on the ground, it's nice to be able to reach in and whack branches off the trunk without wading through the branches. With the chain and the action 5 feet or so away working conditions are more pleasant.

DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Lithium-Ion Pole Saw and Pole Hedge Trimmer Combo Kit with (1) 4.0 Ah Battery and Charger DCKO86M1 - The Home Depot

Reach new heights with our 20v max combo kit. It includes a dcps620 pole saw, dcph820 pole hedge trimmer head, battery, and charger. Cut tall limbs and branches with up to 96 cuts per charge. The 8 in.

www.homedepot.com

 

[ledmircy]

That’s literally an epic project.

Major props for all the hard work you’ve put in!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

That’s literally an epic project.

Yeah, back in the spring of 2022 I couldn't even get a contractor to call me back, so I decided to just do it myself! That's why I bought the TLB, I really wanted a much bigger one, but it's done an AMAZING job!

Here are some before pictures ...

UPS nearly got stuck, then refused to come down my driveway after this!

This is basically the area my gate is now ...

I had the county add another 30' section of culvert to the existing 30' so it would be wide enough for me to back my semi-truck off the road ...

Then I got my TLB and put it to work, while learned how to use it! The "dirt/clay" was soft enough that I quite often had to dig it out of the bucket!

Once I got it down enough to start draining the area ...

I went back up by the road, removed the barb wire, and T-Posts, and dug out the multi-flora roses, water table was pretty close!

Then proceeded to remove the sod ... Got stuck multiple times, fortunately I had boughten "The Un-Stucker" model!

Then I finally got a guy to bring me rock!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Three loads of rock, and a little rain ... I got a rocky pond!

I told him to just keep bringing me rock! Until it kinda looked like a driveway ...

I used my semi-truck to roll/pack it down between layers ...

Kept adding layers ... It is now over 30" deep of rock I buried and packed in!

Every couple of months I'd add another 4" layer, until it was built up, letting it settle with the rain and me driving on it ... Then tried to bevel the ditches so I'd be able to mow them ... Kinda like a swale

Then added gates ...

And extended fence, planted trees ...

 

[dodge man]

I keep thinking of Clint Eastwood in the movie he plays a crusty old marine and says “improvise, adapt, overcome”. You certainly did that, nice work and I enjoyed the pictures.