Ron's Project

[OkeeDon]

Re: Ron\'s Project

The 416C is a lovely machine. I rented one to do my land clearing and it was very capable and smooth. I'll likely rent it again to use the back hoe when we do our extensive utility trenching (unless I find a mini-excavator at an impossible price).

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Here it is at work.

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Ron\'s Project

The one we rented had a bucket, but this rake is what did most of the work.

 

[sbrem]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Whereabouts in New Hampshire? Looks like a nice spot.

Stephen

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Stephen

Little town called Lyman.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Don

I've been looking at the rakes. Since the machine has the integrated tool carrier on the front it is easy to change front implements. Hydraulic pins lock the implement to the machine. Once locked on, a diverter valve can be turned to direct the hydraulic flow to two quick couplers. The rake I"m interested in has a hydraulic grapple on it and ten inch spacing on the teeth. The majority of trees in the area I need to clear are 3" to 6" in diameter. The roots will come out fairly easily with a rake. The larger roots will come out with the backhoe. The larger rocks are being stockpiled. Three sides of my property are bordered with stone walls that will be rebuilt. I would like to build a stone wall on the fourth side. A thumb on the backhoe would help with this.

RonL

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Ron\'s Project

The grapple would be a nice addition. The stuff we were clearing included acres of wild grape vines which have a mat of roots. When raking them, a lot of dirt comes along. As a result, we couldn't burn the piles - too much dirt. We ended up moving all of the piles (over 45 of them) to one spot (a row about 200' long) for subseuquent burial. Not having a dump truck or trailer, I moved all that stuff one rakeful at a time - took almost 5 days. I got very familiar with the Cat in that period! A grapple would probably have cut the time in half because each payload would have been greater.

The attached picture is part of the row of brush after it was moved...

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Don

I try and pick the roots up and drop them to dislodge the dirt. I do this with the backhoe by trying to clamp the root between the bucket and the stick. It's awkward. A thumb would help here also. I pile the roots up and let the rain wash the rest of the dirt off. They seem to dry quickly. I'm going to attempt to burn them in the near future. Alternately, It'll be a big pit in the far corner of the property.

RonL

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Rolling works good, too. As you start to pick up a load, let the rake (or bucket) "accidentally" roll over the top of the pile, and everything underneath kind of rols with it, losing dirt in the process. We also used the pick up-and-drop method; works good with trees and brush with defined roots.

But, those grapevines - learned to hate 'em. Here's a shot of what they look like from underneath...

After several failed attempts to burn them (and using enough diesel to travel from here to there in the process), we picked out a nice spot far away from any buildings or landscaping improvements and are going to bury them. We're just waiting for the property to dry out enough for the contractor to bring in his track hoe and dump trucks. Interment of the brush comes first, then a pond. Just had another 6" of rain pass over the area in the last few hours - looks like another couple of weeks of waiting.

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

I hauled a camping trailer to my property and promptly sunk into the mud when I pulled onto the property to position the trailer. The tire tracks immediately filled with water. My neighbor came over with his chains and Kubota and pulled my pickup out of the muck. I hooked the chains to my dozer and positioned the trailer where I wanted it. The town has a ditch on the other side of the road from my property that runs for two or three hundred yards. It terminates in a culvert that runs under the road and empties onto my property right at my clearing. With all the recent torrential downpours the output of the culvert is a virtual river. I took my backhoe and started to dig a trench that diverted the water around my clearing. When I turned the backhoe around to finish the last part of the trench I got buried in the muck. Even in four wheel drive with the diff locked and pushing with the bucket, I could not get into position to finish the trench. I was able to pull myself down hill and get myself to solid ground. I fired up the dozer and started to mound the dirt up in a line to divert the water. When I pushed the dirt up with the dozer blade and backed up, the dirt oozed back down halfway. I now have a keen understanding of the term : "Oozama". I tilted the blade and cut a trench around the clearing as best as i could. My fire pit was filled to the top with water. Unfortunately I was too busy to get any pictures. My wife said:" I should have taken pictures so you could have posted them on Tractorbynet".
When things dry out I'm going to dig an 18 foot deep hole, put in a concrete catch basin, and feed the run off downhill to a cistern. I'll have a standpipe on the cistern for fire protection.
I'll be going back up in a couple of days. I'll take pictures of the mess and post them.

RonL

 

[NoTrespassing]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Ron, that electrical setup looks identical to mine with the exception of 400 ft. between my pole and my box. It was the first time I ever did any wiring and included trenching in 400ft. of wire. The day we put up the meter pole and hardware it was 100 degrees in the shade. Thought I was gonna die out there.

Nice looking work!
Kevin

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Kevin

The pole is going to be permanent. The meter box is connected to a 200 amp breaker which then feeds to the distribution box pictured next to it. The pole is reinforced with a 12 foot section of 8 inch channel that run 9 feet underground. my original intention was to use the distribution box temporarily until my barn/workshop was built. I would then disconnect the distribution box and run an underground line to the barn from the 200 amp breaker. The barn would then be the distribution point. However, after all the time, money and effort of installing the distribution box, I'm thinking of leaving it permanently and feeding the barn and other periferals from it. The house will have a seperate 200 amp service.
I was at one point thinking of putting in one 400 amp service in a seperate distribution building but the cost of a 400 amp box and its components shocked ( pun intended ) me.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Just got back from spending two weeks on my property. I think it rained the entire two weeks. If not, it may have just seemed that way. The culvert that feeds the runoff onto my property was pretty much silted up but it was still pouring water. The picture shows what used to be my fire pit in the center of the field. That's a pump in front of it. Pumping it out was pretty much an exercise in futility. When things dry out this summer I'm going to install the drain and cistern.

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

I started cutting in for the driveway. Cut in about 150 feet. Gotta set up the transit and stake it out now. I'll be going in 300 feet and then make a right turn. I'll cut several hundred more feet in a downhill direction to open up the view. A seventy year old gentleman from down the way came over with his chain saw to help me cut trees. He was a logger all his life. I pushed the trees over with the dozer. He cut them up. By the time I got off the dozer he had the tree cut up and limbed. He tossed me the logs and I stacked them. He's nineteen years my senior but he was running me ragged. We bundled the limbs on a chain and dragged them to a stockpile with the dozer.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

The chip pile.
On edit the file was just a hair too big. I'll resize it and repost it.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

This is a view of my property from across a small valley. The ridge of trees halfway down runs along the stone wall that borders my property. The area that is fairly level is the direction towards which I am cutting my driveway. I will then cut downhill ( towards the left in this picture). The top of my property is at about 2000 feet elevation. The picture was taken about fifty or sixty feet lower.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

The view I expect. Taken at 5 AM on a cool morning.

RonL

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Once again, the chip pile.

RonL

 

[EddieWalker]

Re: Ron\'s Project

What are you using for chipping? That's a great chip pile!!!

 

[RonL]

Re: Ron\'s Project

Used a Vermeer chipper that I rented. Powered by a 25 HP Kohler gas engine. The chipper had a sensor that stopped the feed if the flywheel slowed down. If you put in a large branch the chipper would grind and stop, grind and stop. It did chip a large pile in about 2 hours of constant work with two of us feeding it.

RonL