Victory from the jaws of defeat

[Bill in VA]

A couple of days ago I posted a thread about my (and others)1st defeat with their tractor......

Mine occurred on a slab of shale. But I went back over the last two days and carefully reworked several of the slabs. There were actually 3 that had remained ....but there is only 1 now. Once I finally caught a seam......

The first pic with the front of the jeep is the pile remaining from slab#1. Didn't take long once I caught the edge.

The 2nd pic (with the fuel can) is the remains of the 2nd slab. That one actually took longer than the first even though it was considerably smaller. I ran into it in a trench that I am digging for drainage. The pic with my foot shows the bottom of the trench. At this location I am digging through pure packed shale. The crazy thing is how I finally got a seam to work with. I took an 8 lb sledge hammer and two old metal wood splitting wedges and got a crack started. Once I could get the M59 backhoe teeth into it..........

The last pic shows the view up the road. Its very rough now but when done I hope to end up with a full drainage trench on the right (going up the hill) and culverts about every 100-150 feet.

So 2 down, 1 to go with the worst one remaining......wish me luck

Bill

 

[texasjohn]

Luck:thumbsup:

 

[beenthere]

Makes me glad I just have glacial till....and that means boulders.
Or limestone rock layers where the glacier didn't make it.

 

[Marveltone]

I guess that means my gravel ridge means I've got it easy in the digging dept., and I'm too smart to go into the swamp in the summer, so no problems there.
I'll try to send you some good luck in dealing with your clastic sedimentary rock. :thumbsup:

 

[Grandad4]

Bill, your pics made me wonder if renting a jackhammer for a day wouldn't open up your remaining shale enough so you could get it out of there with the backhoe. I've not done it myself, but have watched it done on so many construction sites, it just seems an obvious plan of attack. You've probably also seen those huge, boom-mounted hammers on full-size trackhoes that just melt any ledge they go after. Since you've only got maybe one more patch to contend with, the old-fashioned man-operated jitterbug is probably more what you need.

If you've already considered this, pardon my redundant suggestion, but I thought it worth mentioning. Best of luck with your project.

 

[crazyal]

It's amazing how a day or two later can mean all the difference. I have lots of hard Vermont granite along with some softer types of rock. The hardest time I've had with rock I had to have the backhoe pulling and the dozer pushing at the same time. I was able to get a large stone the size of a small car out of the middle of the road and into the woods. I bet I tried 3 or 4 times before I finally seen a wiggle. I've even used a jackhammer with a 200 CFM tag compressor. BTW jackhammers are real slow when it comes to rock, maybe shale or something with grain you can get the bit into but over all it will make you respect just how much work your tractor is doing.

Did you do the victory dance when you finally got it?

 

[DiezNutz]

Once I could get the M59 backhoe teeth into it..........

Bill, I know it's fun using the new "toy", just wanted to make sure you realized that using the BH to break up rock like that will wear the teeth down quickly. If you have a lot of it to do, renting a jackhammer like someone suggested is not a bad idea.

 

[Bill in VA]

Grandad4 and DiezNutz....Thanks for the jh suggestion guys. That third slab of shale will be dealt with just that. I went back to it today and tried to find a seam again, even tried the splitting wedges again but after about 20 minutes it obviously is in my best interests to get some type of hammer. I actually considered the hammer prior to last week but having only the 3 spots at that time decided to see if I could do it. But your right Dieznutz I consciously made the decision, "lets see if this toy can handle it"!!!!!!!

Where I have been working is the worst of it and other than maybe one other area I'm through it now. I'll leave that 3rd spot, work around it and any other spots I find and then have a jackhammer party.

jackhammer...........good name for a drink.....wonder if it already exists or if I should invent it.

Bill

 

[RadarTech]

Grandad4 and DiezNutz....Thanks for the jh suggestion guys. That third slab of shale will be dealt with just that. I went back to it today and tried to find a seam again, even tried the splitting wedges again but after about 20 minutes it obviously is in my best interests to get some type of hammer. I actually considered the hammer prior to last week but having only the 3 spots at that time decided to see if I could do it. But your right Dieznutz I consciously made the decision, "lets see if this toy can handle it"!!!!!!!

Where I have been working is the worst of it and other than maybe one other area I'm through it now. I'll leave that 3rd spot, work around it and any other spots I find and then have a jackhammer party.

jackhammer...........good name for a drink.....wonder if it already exists or if I should invent it.

Bill

It exists....

I could post links.. but google will find em....

J

 

[DiezNutz]

...I consciously made the decision, "lets see if this toy can handle it"!!!!!!!

:laughing: It's only natural. Been there myself a number of times, and lived to fight another day. The trick is to know when to quit before you break something.

Kindof like the proper torque setting for any fastener is "a 1/4 turn before it snaps."