Trencher

[Taylortractornut]

Thanks Hiltz, the area has really gone down a few with money try to run every thing and shut off the public beaches. Some friends of mine and are getting private gates taken off of public beach access points. So far we ve gotten ten taken down had to saw 2 off. Everywhere else atthe lake every hill cliff or bluff has a house ontop of it now. Do you remember Goat Island and the marina there my grand parents ran the marina. I dont know if the water way had been completed through there or not yet in the early 70's. The old unfinished TVA nuclear plant/ NASA,Thiocol complex looms in the distance. My uncle owns their old house on the lake now.
Coleman Park is still one of the last preseved places, the next park GoatIsland state park was turned over to private hands and isnt what it used to be either. They are having alot of trouble with beach erosion on the gravel beaches at the moment, too many big boat owners running too fast and making large swells. The yellow Creek waterfall is still a big plac to go but poor boatman ship has really dragged it down to. I remember in the 80,s when I was a kid my uncle taking us there on the old 32 foot pontoon. Seemed everyone knew the proper piloting technique and made cruising pleasant but now its a nightmare. Wished I had all the beer cans dredged off the bottom of the cove lol.

 

[Hiltz]

Thanks for your reply Taylor. I do indeed remember Goat Island. The building of the Nuclear plant, and when the Tombigbee was cut through there. Kinda sad what you said about houses on top of every hill. I guess us Americans are really good at ruining beautiful places. There was a really big waterfall between Coleman St park and Pickwick dam that people use to go to. Seems like about middle ways between the two. It had a nice sandy beach next to it that you could pull your boat up on. People would climb up and jump off the falls. You could spend the whole day there having fun. Somebody told me a couple of years ago a Golf course is now owns it and you cant even pull in there anymore. Sad. Oh well, progress I guess. Again thanks for your reply. I look forward to seeing your next build................

 

[Taylortractornut]

My grandparents had the first house on the left past the old marina at Goat Island. The falls you are talking about I think is Shiloh Falls. Thats the only one with sand there I remember. I got landed there once and they tried to run me off but I had a friend thats a TVA inspector with me he reminded them that its not private. The next thing Im building will have some pics of Got Island when Im using it. My uncle bought some more land there he is making a buffer around his place to keep back developers. One place he got has an old graded off hill that the corner is one someone else so they agrred for him to build a wall we can cut the corner off the hill. I need an auger to run a toothed bit through the chert and clay gravel. Im building it for my skid steer with a planetary gear box and hydro motor.

 

[Hiltz]

Looking forward to your next project posts.......and pictures of Goat Island............Have a great weekend

 

[Donsyl]

Taylor, nice setup you got there. I wanted to make something like that when i had my Kubota L2800. But i just didnt know where to start.....Nice job, you can make some money with it im sure......Don

 

[Taylortractornut]

Thanks Don, it didnt turn out as clean as Id have like it to, I had to throw it together. the shroud was some corrugated RV subframe from a notch they put in the frames. the gear box was almosst free and the pipe was salvaged. I wished id have used a higher speeded box. I went on the principle of a saw blade course tooth pitch for soft material and a higher speed since I couldnt go Higher I need to add a few more teeth. I really basically use it on the place but have done a few jobs with it. One thing if you build one and use a cotton picker spindle box the hub thats splined has a shoulder that runs into the bearing , its actually the inner race. And the outside is toothed to fit the stripped drive. I took it off and the shaft flopped around. I drew the temper out by heating the teeth cherry red with a torch and let them cool. Then I turned them off int the lathe till they made a nice mount. I wanted to add the new teeth to it this week but after work Im helping a friend set up and repair a boring auger on an old Lima crane.

 

[warmbrus]

Well I finally got done with my version of Sandmans trencher. I made mine a bit different as it had started out as a stump grinder wheel from a 3/8ths transfer pattern out of a sawmill edger wheel. I added planer blade teeth from the chipmill. I had a 1to 1 box off a cotton piccker spindle drive. I made alot of mistakes on this one as I didnt have the tractor in the shop to get all my clearances. Every thing including the pto shaft was salvaged at a total cost of 30 dollars for the rods to weld it with. I had to try it out this morning before breakfast and found I needed to add some more teeth. Since I dont have a plasma cutter to cut more teeth out from the blades I uses som olt tiller teeth off a sears tiller. They peel off the material from the advancing wall and the blades chuck it out. I hope to have a few pics tomorrow.

Could you send some pics. I am interested in making something very similar. Thanks.

J. Wayne