RDrancher's Photo Thread

[dave1949]

Thanks Dave.

Funny, the homeowner I was working for owns right up to the other driveway. What's a snowblower?

In this case, ignorance is truly bliss. :laughing: Piling up snow that disappears is a really worthless pastime.

We're about 6-8 weeks away from any driveway building work here. The roads were posted for heavy load restrictions last week, so no one will be trucking gravel until the frost comes out of the road beds. That's a yearly thing every spring. They say it keeps the asphalt roads from getting busted up, but I don't know how they could tell the difference. :laughing:

 

[EddieWalker]

Not yet, but I have a on the books. First I have to deal with this....
View attachment 365262

It wasn't leaking when I bought it or after using it the first time. It's gear oil coming from the floating seal between the final drive and hydraulic drive motor. The Case Construction dealer and regional service rep have informed me that it's not serviceable by them. At between 6 and 7K for them to replace it, I'm searching other options. I found the correct rebuilt Case / Bonfiglioli finals available from a company in Oklahoma for a little over 3 grand, so I may do it myself. I do have an incident number with Case customer service so we'll see what happens on that end.

When my Case dozer needed work on one of the hydraulic pumps for the left track drive motor, Case was kind of worthless in wanting to fix it. they said that they would not rebuild it and would only replace it with a new unit, which was ten grand plus labor. The good thing is that they guy in charge of the shop told me of where he would take the pump to have it rebuilt if it was his. So I pulled it, brought it to the shop he recommended and they rebuilt the motor for a couple of grand. Some of the parts where no longer available, to they had to machine them.

If they wont do it for a reasonable price, try asking who might be able to? I've also had the same experience with New Holland and take parts to where they take parts to get them rebuilt. The savings is HUGE!!!!

Eddie

 

[RDrancher]

Thanks Eddie! I did find a place that would replace the seal in the final, but it's within $500 of the completely rebuilt one with a warranty. I think I'll just suck it up and git 'er done.

 

[RDrancher]

It helps to be flexible and persistent...especially when you do dumb things...

I had a one-day window to work around the county road department on this job. The project included replacing a damaged culvert with a longer one and getting some recycled road base down to get these folks out of the mud. With rain on the way today, I was trying to hurry and get this job done. :laughing:

When I looked at the job initially, the county boys had their equipment surrounding the job, so I was in a hurry to get out of their way. In my haste, I measured the culvert diameter but didn't measure the length. In my mind (or lack thereof) it was a 20 footer. I was wrong. I picked up a 24 footer...the same length that was already there. Of course, I didn't realize that little tidbit until AFTER I removed the old one. To add to the fun and frivolity, the original culvert was set with packed brick on both sides. I can usually scrape off the top, rip the sides and pull them out with a chain...20 to thirty minutes max. Not this one! I should have gone to get my ctl or a mini-ex, but time wouldn't allow, so I kept at it with the tractor, and two hours later I finally was able to get the sucker out. Then I had to drive back out and exchange the culvert for a 30 footer. All of this added up to missing my noon gravel delivery.

Now to the driveway. Since I was in a hurry to get out of the way, I didn't walk it to take a good look. There was 1"-2" thick concrete washout everywhere, with some of it buried in the grass. Larger chunks of concrete and plywood too. It was a real PITA to get it graded. There was so much buried junk that I couldn't get the edges the way I want them, but the homeowner is happy. In the end, that's all that counts.



I finished wheel rolling and got out of there just a shade before 9pm... Thirteen hours after I started.

 

[weldingisfun]

I guess you kicked yourself enough already, no sense piling on.

All in all, another job well done.

 

[dave1949]

John, your days like that will end when you get just a bit older. You reach a point when remembering anything is hopeless, at which time you begin to write everything down and check your pocket every five minutes to see if you still have the note. :laughing:

 

[LJH]

Momma said they're be days like this ...

Sure came out looking good in the end. Love the night time pictures.

 

[LJH]

John, your days like that will end when you get just a bit older. You reach a point when remembering anything is hopeless, at which time you begin to write everything down and check your pocket every five minutes to see if you still have the note. :laughing:

My life, exactly.

 

[RDrancher]

John, your days like that will end when you get just a bit older. You reach a point when remembering anything is hopeless, at which time you begin to write everything down and check your pocket every five minutes to see if you still have the note. :laughing:

Dang...I'm only 57 and CRS is well on it's way. The worst thing is taking pics at a job walk and then seeing them later and trying to figure out...where the heck are these from?

 

[RDrancher]

It was raining yesterday and this morning, so I took the opportunity to get some quotes out . I picked up two permanent culvert installs, two weeks worth of pond work and grading and an indoor arena. Not to mention two final grading jobs coming up and 150 acres of burnt oaks to clear. Our family is blessed, that's for sure. Now if I could just clone myself using the stamp tool on Adobe Photoshop...I'd get things done quicker!

Speaking of the arena...I became involved in this fiasco at the first of the year. And now, the REST of the story...

Mrs. Customer hired "Mr. Arena" (yeah, I guess he really calls himself that) to re-do an outdoor jumping arena and a new indoor training arena. I get a call from Mrs. C for consultation initially. Mr. A graded the outdoor arena with the flowline heading away from the existing drainage system. Kinda lumpy in the middle too. On the indoor arena, Mr. A graded the sub base, then puts down 6" of chat as a base and attempts to compact it (it doesn't compact...EVER). So...he spreads bags of Portland cement over the top, wets it down and compacts it! Of course, the hard top-layer chips off even under human traffic. NOT something you want to jump $100k horses on, that's for sure! So Mr. Arena is booted off the job and I come up with a plan and pricing to fix both arenas. The outdoor arena is an easy fix. The indoor?...not so much. First off, the chat has to be removed...good news is that I can save her a little cash, since I have a buyer. I'll then compact in select fill and install mason sand for a topping. Good plan, but as with all equine related endeavors, it's not over yet.

It'd been a while since I heard from Mrs. Customer, and I actually thought that she'd found someone else to do the job. Kinda did I guess. Sometime during the building of the arena enclosure, Mr. Arena (who hasn't been paid yet) and Mrs. Customer have a long talk. Mrs. C relays my plan to take all of the chat out and replace it with select fill, and Mr. A says he wants a chance to "make it right." Says he will remove the chat for free (no kidding) and bring in select fill. He doesn't have the money for all of the select fill though and needs $3k for a total of 300 yards...(I figured 180.) For some reason (which is WAY above my pay grade) Mrs. C feels sorry for the guy and agrees to be screwed out of some money once again! :confused2:

A few days ago my lovely wife is driving by the property and sees some familiar looking equipment parked outside of the new building and a "tall transit thingy" (laser) sitting in the doorway. Figured that I for sure lost it. Oh well, not a big deal.

So two days ago I get a call from Mrs. C asking if I can come out and look at something and she even offers to pay me for my time. I'm thinking...what now? I get out there yesterday and see that Mr frickin' Arena has now sold her and installed 300 yards (really 180) of pond dig out material! Clay of all different varieties...gray, black, tan, with some shale thrown in for good measure. None if this junk is good for anything. The base has been compacted and graded (kinda). Some of the material is scraped black from the blade...numerous areas torn out and chunky, and more holes and elevation changed than I could count. As soon as I saw Mr A's pan and laser grading blade, I knew what had happened. He overfilled the arena with the pan, compacted it, and then attempted to grade it flat with the blade. That method doesn't work with this junk material. He still has the guts to tell her that he can fix it! :laughing:

Mrs. C is furious. She asks me if I can fix it. Well...of course I can! But now, I have to remove the compacted junk and start over so it will cost a good bit more than my original estimate.

It turns out that Mr. Arena is actually the owner of a company located just down the road from me. Never met the man myself, but my material supplier just laughed when I told him who it was. Seems they've been screwing things up since 1986. Hmmm...maybe they could use that as a tag line on their business card...? :laughing:

It's hard to see in the photos, but the dark areas are "hard and high" and the lighter ones "loose and low."



I will add that I am in no way tooting my own horn. I admit to some serious flaws when it comes to operating on equipment I run all the time. That said...Mr. Arena couldn't hit grade on a granite counter top!