For Sassafraspete

[jmc]

Pete,

This is what's left of the basement spoils after using it for barnsite fill. Most of the bare ground in the background was covered with 5 ft of dirt. I moved it there 10 yrs ago one loader bucket at a time from 100 yards away. It took forever. I should have bought the trailer then.

John

 

[RobS]

That's a pretty impressive array of equipment there John. Very nice /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sassafraspete]

Yes John, I see in addition to the dump trailer I need a second tractor to pull it with. Is this when I buy a tractor for my wife? Thanks for sharing the picture with me. I am surpised you were able to dig a basement in that area. I thought the limestone bedrock was pretty close to the surface there, and if you wanted a basement you needed to blast. How do you like your Morton building?

sassafraspete

 

[jmc]

Pete,

Unfortunately, when the two sites are separated by 200 yards of regrowth, two tractors is still not enough! You need one to load the trailer, one to tow the trailer, and one to rough grade the dumped load to know where the next dump goes. ( did this in 4 -6 inch lifts for compaction) At first, grading was done about every five loads and you had to unhook and rehook the tractor each time. Then I started using the truck to tow with and the tractor stayed at the barnsite.

To anyone out there thinking about using a road trailer offroad, take a look a the brake wiring between the end of the axle and the back of the drum. This trailer had exposed loops dangling rather than running the wires inside the axle and then directly into the drum without exiting the protection of the metal components. 3 of the 4 wire pairs were snapped off by the weeds, too close to the drum to splice.

About wives..... My wife and I split household expenses down the middle. Since that backhoe is a legitimate household expense, she still owes me for her half of it after 10 years.

Shallow bedrock is spotty here but common enough that our contractor had a contingency clause in case we found some. We lucked out.

I can't say enough good about Morton. Their weakness is probably price but I guess you get over it.

John