Started my bridge

[Chris2]

The two outside beams are 12x8x20; the pilings they are resting on are telephone poles 32" in the ground. I'm going to add two more 8x8x20 beams between the
12x8's that are in the pic (total of 4 beams) then lay 2x6x8 across it. I will also add a 4x6x8 attached across the pilings right at ground level to help keep the pilings from sinking in the ground. I'm thinking of adding another 8' piece of beam across the bottom with a few cement bags in the creek bed and a large screw jack like a pipe jack pushing up just a little in the center of the bridge. It痴 hard to type something for other people to envision but if you understand my plans would you change anything?
I'm thinking this will be strong enough to drive my Kubota L2800 TLB across.

 

[andrehoude123]

Nice Work I will be following this closely! I need to build myself one of those to Is that wood from a small saw mill or from homedepot?and the price?

 

[rekees4300]

You seem to have laid a good foundation that should be strong enough for your tractor. :thumbsup: Would appreciate more pictures since I need to do the same thing on a similar creek.

 

[Chris2]

All the timber was a good "score" from a friend at a shipyard, it's all PSI treated and was FREE. I'll post more pics as I progress. I won't have time to work on for about 2-3 weeks but more pics will come.

 

[beeforty]

Be careful putting a center post mid span! You can collect a lot of debri in a storm/hi water and that might cause more problems than the help it gives you.

 

[Chris2]

Thats a good point Beeforty I hadn't thought of that.

 

[LD1]

Without doing all of the math, each beam should support somewhere around 5000lbs each for that span. And you ahve 2 plus are adding 8x8's, yea, I :thumbsup:think it can carry your L2800.

But try not to span more than about a foot with those 2x6's for decking. I would be worried about dropping though one of them if you have a load in the loader or something.

Any sawmills around where you can get some white oak rough cut. I just re-decked a trailer, and it was actually cheaper than PT lumber.

Up here at menards we can also get 3x12 bridge deck lumber from menards. That would span a bit more than 2x pine

 

[timster2]

Lay a couple of bags of sackrete in the creek and put your center posts on them and loosely tie them to the main beams. This way in a flood or heavy storm they break away easily but serve to take the deflection out of the main beams. You just have to go down stream and retrieve them if they ever get dislodged, however, they give you the extra support. I did this on a bridge and only had to retrieve them once or twice every two or three years when we got heavy thunderstorms and flash flooding.

 

[Arkaybee]

How about placing the center post tight at both top and bottom and then adding a large hinge at the top in such a way that when it is washed downstream it just hinges away and you can put it back in place when the flood recedes

:2cents:

HTH

Arkaybee

 

[rekees4300]

lay 2x6x8 across it.

Up here at menards we can also get 3x12 bridge deck lumber from menards. That would span a bit more than 2x pine

I think 3X12 would be a better choice than the 2x6x8.