Junkman
Super Member
put some goldfish into the pond and there will be no mosquito's .... they eat the larvae ..... When they get big, they will reproduce that is, if the birds don't take them out.
yet another pond
- Thread starter OkeeDon
- Start date
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EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Just a guess, but wouldn't the preasure of water in the earth be greater than when it's out of the earth.
I've never been to Florida, so I have no experience there, but I've dug holes in California and Texas that fill up with water before I've reached the water table.
It will come several feet up in some soil conditions. I guess it's the same principle that creates a spring.
Water follows the path of least resistance, even if that is up hill.
Just guessing.
I'm really enjoying your pictures and all the information you're providing.
Good Luck,
Eddie
I've never been to Florida, so I have no experience there, but I've dug holes in California and Texas that fill up with water before I've reached the water table.
It will come several feet up in some soil conditions. I guess it's the same principle that creates a spring.
Water follows the path of least resistance, even if that is up hill.
Just guessing.
I'm really enjoying your pictures and all the information you're providing.
Good Luck,
Eddie
have_blue
Veteran Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Water follows the path of least resistance, even if that is up hill. )</font>
I've seen that too. I suppose haveing less pressure (no dirt on top) makes the water rise above the water table. Soil is heavier than water, and I suppose this helps.
I've seen that too. I suppose haveing less pressure (no dirt on top) makes the water rise above the water table. Soil is heavier than water, and I suppose this helps.
Normal progress today, almost done with the pond, the road is getting a second layer (better to compact it 6" at a time), and the dozer has not yet shown up to grade and compact the house and barn pads.
We had a bit of debris at the other end of the property, near my kids' house, and a low spot near the boundary between their property and mine, so we decided to put in a second hole in that area, bury the landscape debris, and raise the grade. The excavator came over and dug the hole, then loaded a few loads in the dump truck which deposited them in the hole. They decided to leave the hole open, as I was flitting about on the TC18 and doing some last minute, minor clearing and grooming.
Which leads me to the reason why there are no pictures today. I, uh, sorta backed into the hole.
I was back-dragging some dead branches out from under some brush, concentrating on keeping the bucket flush with the ground, and I kinda had a senior moment and forgot the hole was there -- it hadn't been there an hour before, after all.
My best guess is that the left rear wheel went over the edge. I didn't have time for any pucker factor. One second I was backing up, and the next I was falling off. The hole was about 10' wide, 6' deep and had about 3' of water in it. I knew what was happening -- it was all slow motion to me. The tractor started to flip to the left, and I thought, "oops!" I fell off to a sitting position at the bottom -- my straw hat never got wet. I looked up, and the tractor was upside down and coming towards me, still moving. I thought, "Gee, I hope it doesn't fall on me."
It didn't. It stopped about a foot above me. It was still running. From the sitting position, I was able to reach up and turn off the key. I crawled out and started feeling around for things. I pitched my hat and glasses up on the bank, then started feeling around for the digital camera that had been resting on the instrument panel. I found it a couple of feet away, along with some other things - a hammer, a chain, and a marker paint gun, that had been behind my seat. There were some spare Cat I pins and such in the tool box behind the seat; they disappeared in the soft sand under water. I noticed a trickle of red, and knew that it was the off road diesel leaking from the fuel cap vent - but it quickly stopped.
I stood up and looked at it, then felt down into the water, and discovered the ROPS was buried in a couple of feet of sand. The top of the seat was just under the water. The front of the tractor was still up on the bank, resting on the FEL arms, totally upside down.
Remarkably still entirely calm, and absolutely unhurt, not even a scratch, I climbed up the bank and started walking towards the incoming dump truck. He later said I looked like something dragged out of the swamp, soaking wet and covered with wet sand. I simply said, "I backed the tractor into the hole. I guess we ought to get the hoe over here."
A few minutes later the hoe arrived, we put a chain around the ROPS (near the fender) and around the front axle, then the hoe lifted and righted it with sort of a little "shake" like a wet dog. We changed the chains to just the front axle and he pulled it up as smooth as soft butter. There was plenty of sand on it, but not a scratch on the tractor. I guess the sand is pretty soft...
This is what I know for sure: there was no one around. If there had been any problems, it would have been a while before they found me. If the ROPS had been folded, I'd have been pinned under the tractor and likely drowned. If I had been wearing my seat belt, I would have been hanging upside down from the seat with my head in the water, possibly stuck in the sand, and I would likely have drowned. And, my hat would've gotten wet. If I had backed in where all the branches had been dumped, I might have been impaled. If the front of the tractor had come down the bank, I would have been pinned.
None of that happened - I don't know why. Wesley, the dump truck driver, said, "I'll bet you won't forget to look behind you from now on." Angie, the loader driver, said, "I'm not letting you near my big loader." Everyone was laughing, probably from relief that nothing serious had happened.
Once the tractor was up, and we had checked to be sure that no water had gotten into the oil or fuel, I fired it up. It started right up, but when I tried to turn the wheel, it stopped. A quick check showed nothing on the hydraulic fluid dipstick. About that same time, I started realizing that everything was oily - me, my clothes, the seat and steering wheel, all had an oily film. What it turned out was that the rubber plug on the top of the rear axle housing that covers the hydraulic fill had fallen off, probably pushed off by the pressure of the fluid while upside down. It took almost 4 gallons of hydraulic fluid to fill it again. I just regretted that I didn't have a hydraulic filter on hand; I'm at 285 hours, and need to change it at 300, now I'll have to do it again. It's kinda the hard way to drain the fluid, however - I don't think I'll use that method again.
Apparently there is some sort of safety overide on the the engine so if there is not adequate hydraulic pressure, it won't run. As soon as I refilled it, I started it up again, and it was fine. We lost no oil, no battery water, no cooling fluid, and only a pint or so of diesel fuel.
I did pay a price, however; my beloved old Sony Mavica FD71 was underwater and buried in sand long enough to ruin it. Just a few minutes ago, I bought another FD71 on Ebay Buy-it-now for $200; it should be here by Wednesday because it only has to come from Orlando. And, my Nextel cell phone was underwater, too, on my belt. It's junk, and they don't make the i1000plus any longer. I had repair insurance, but not replacement insurance. I found a bunch of i1000pluses on Ebay, however, and tomorrow I'll give Nextel a call and see how much of a hassle it's going to be to get a used phone activated. It looks like my maximum loss was around $350, less if I can use a used phone. I think I'm pretty lucky.
One of the first things I did after I crawled out of the hole was to yell for my son-in-law and ask him to get his digital camera, so we could get a picture of the silly tractor with it's wheels sticking up out of the hole. He brought it over, but the battery was dead. So, no pix. Sigh.
The contractors will be back in the morning, and I'll get right back up on my horse -- but I think I'll pay more attention when I'm backing up.
We had a bit of debris at the other end of the property, near my kids' house, and a low spot near the boundary between their property and mine, so we decided to put in a second hole in that area, bury the landscape debris, and raise the grade. The excavator came over and dug the hole, then loaded a few loads in the dump truck which deposited them in the hole. They decided to leave the hole open, as I was flitting about on the TC18 and doing some last minute, minor clearing and grooming.
Which leads me to the reason why there are no pictures today. I, uh, sorta backed into the hole.
I was back-dragging some dead branches out from under some brush, concentrating on keeping the bucket flush with the ground, and I kinda had a senior moment and forgot the hole was there -- it hadn't been there an hour before, after all.
My best guess is that the left rear wheel went over the edge. I didn't have time for any pucker factor. One second I was backing up, and the next I was falling off. The hole was about 10' wide, 6' deep and had about 3' of water in it. I knew what was happening -- it was all slow motion to me. The tractor started to flip to the left, and I thought, "oops!" I fell off to a sitting position at the bottom -- my straw hat never got wet. I looked up, and the tractor was upside down and coming towards me, still moving. I thought, "Gee, I hope it doesn't fall on me."
It didn't. It stopped about a foot above me. It was still running. From the sitting position, I was able to reach up and turn off the key. I crawled out and started feeling around for things. I pitched my hat and glasses up on the bank, then started feeling around for the digital camera that had been resting on the instrument panel. I found it a couple of feet away, along with some other things - a hammer, a chain, and a marker paint gun, that had been behind my seat. There were some spare Cat I pins and such in the tool box behind the seat; they disappeared in the soft sand under water. I noticed a trickle of red, and knew that it was the off road diesel leaking from the fuel cap vent - but it quickly stopped.
I stood up and looked at it, then felt down into the water, and discovered the ROPS was buried in a couple of feet of sand. The top of the seat was just under the water. The front of the tractor was still up on the bank, resting on the FEL arms, totally upside down.
Remarkably still entirely calm, and absolutely unhurt, not even a scratch, I climbed up the bank and started walking towards the incoming dump truck. He later said I looked like something dragged out of the swamp, soaking wet and covered with wet sand. I simply said, "I backed the tractor into the hole. I guess we ought to get the hoe over here."
A few minutes later the hoe arrived, we put a chain around the ROPS (near the fender) and around the front axle, then the hoe lifted and righted it with sort of a little "shake" like a wet dog. We changed the chains to just the front axle and he pulled it up as smooth as soft butter. There was plenty of sand on it, but not a scratch on the tractor. I guess the sand is pretty soft...
This is what I know for sure: there was no one around. If there had been any problems, it would have been a while before they found me. If the ROPS had been folded, I'd have been pinned under the tractor and likely drowned. If I had been wearing my seat belt, I would have been hanging upside down from the seat with my head in the water, possibly stuck in the sand, and I would likely have drowned. And, my hat would've gotten wet. If I had backed in where all the branches had been dumped, I might have been impaled. If the front of the tractor had come down the bank, I would have been pinned.
None of that happened - I don't know why. Wesley, the dump truck driver, said, "I'll bet you won't forget to look behind you from now on." Angie, the loader driver, said, "I'm not letting you near my big loader." Everyone was laughing, probably from relief that nothing serious had happened.
Once the tractor was up, and we had checked to be sure that no water had gotten into the oil or fuel, I fired it up. It started right up, but when I tried to turn the wheel, it stopped. A quick check showed nothing on the hydraulic fluid dipstick. About that same time, I started realizing that everything was oily - me, my clothes, the seat and steering wheel, all had an oily film. What it turned out was that the rubber plug on the top of the rear axle housing that covers the hydraulic fill had fallen off, probably pushed off by the pressure of the fluid while upside down. It took almost 4 gallons of hydraulic fluid to fill it again. I just regretted that I didn't have a hydraulic filter on hand; I'm at 285 hours, and need to change it at 300, now I'll have to do it again. It's kinda the hard way to drain the fluid, however - I don't think I'll use that method again.
Apparently there is some sort of safety overide on the the engine so if there is not adequate hydraulic pressure, it won't run. As soon as I refilled it, I started it up again, and it was fine. We lost no oil, no battery water, no cooling fluid, and only a pint or so of diesel fuel.
I did pay a price, however; my beloved old Sony Mavica FD71 was underwater and buried in sand long enough to ruin it. Just a few minutes ago, I bought another FD71 on Ebay Buy-it-now for $200; it should be here by Wednesday because it only has to come from Orlando. And, my Nextel cell phone was underwater, too, on my belt. It's junk, and they don't make the i1000plus any longer. I had repair insurance, but not replacement insurance. I found a bunch of i1000pluses on Ebay, however, and tomorrow I'll give Nextel a call and see how much of a hassle it's going to be to get a used phone activated. It looks like my maximum loss was around $350, less if I can use a used phone. I think I'm pretty lucky.
One of the first things I did after I crawled out of the hole was to yell for my son-in-law and ask him to get his digital camera, so we could get a picture of the silly tractor with it's wheels sticking up out of the hole. He brought it over, but the battery was dead. So, no pix. Sigh.
The contractors will be back in the morning, and I'll get right back up on my horse -- but I think I'll pay more attention when I'm backing up.
JerryG
Super Member
Thank God your all right, Don! Your are right it could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness your still with us and able to tell about it.
On the other hand /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif, that is a novel approach to draining the hydraulic fluid. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif You should have put a disclaimer on that post so that no one tries <font color="red">YOUR</font> method of changing fluid at home.
On the other hand /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif, that is a novel approach to draining the hydraulic fluid. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif You should have put a disclaimer on that post so that no one tries <font color="red">YOUR</font> method of changing fluid at home.
BradK
Bronze Member
Glad to hear you are ok Don. to bad about the camera and phone but they can be replaced. i think i would have needed some clean shorts if I fell into a pit with my tractor.
BradK
BradK
jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,059
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
Don, there's nothing I can say that would make you more safe. I'm sure glad your cost is low, and you are able to walk away scratchin' your head and smilin' about your good fortune in a bad situation. I pulled an old willow stump out of one of my ponds this last weekend and found myself up on three wheels a couple of times. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif That's enough excitement for me. I'm sure glad everything turned out okay. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
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- 66,512
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- South Bend, Indiana (near)
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- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Main thing is, you are alive /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Go hug the family /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Glad you are OK and un-injured. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Go hug the family /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Glad you are OK and un-injured. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I'm glad to hear you're alright. While reading what happend, I just kept thinking how quickly a small thing can change you and your families whole life.
You are very, very lucky!
Thanks for sharing your story.
Eddie
You are very, very lucky!
Thanks for sharing your story.
Eddie
Junkman
Super Member
Glad to hear that you are ok....... now on the brighter side, have you considered a rear view mirror?
since you didn't have a picture to show us, I searched around and found one that will give people the general idea of what it must have looked like....... without the water.......
since you didn't have a picture to show us, I searched around and found one that will give people the general idea of what it must have looked like....... without the water.......
Attachments
Robert_in_NY
Super Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2001
- Messages
- 8,586
- Location
- Silver Creek, NY
- Tractor
- Case-IH Farmall 45A, Kubota M8540 Narrow, New Holland TN 65, Bobcat 331, Ford 1920, 1952 John Deere M, Allis Chalmers B, Bombardier Traxter XT, Massey Harris 81RC and a John Deere 3300 combine, Cub Cadet GT1554
You will do any thing for attention won't you? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Glad to hear you are ok and that everyone had a good laugh over it. I have done plenty of stupid things in my short life but so far the only thing I have fliped was my little riding lawn mower (which is close to the size of your tractor /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ). I did put a JD 450G on its nose once which was embarassing. Once again though, I am glad to hear you are ok and the tractor was strong enough to handle it (makes you wonder if any of the other colors would have held up as well /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)
Glad to hear you are ok and that everyone had a good laugh over it. I have done plenty of stupid things in my short life but so far the only thing I have fliped was my little riding lawn mower (which is close to the size of your tractor /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ). I did put a JD 450G on its nose once which was embarassing. Once again though, I am glad to hear you are ok and the tractor was strong enough to handle it (makes you wonder if any of the other colors would have held up as well /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)
ikline
Silver Member
My father had a similar experience. He was not as fortunate as you were. Severed fibula and tibula. He was laid up for 1 year. Glad to see your ok.
Bird
Rest in Peace
Don, that would be just too much excitement for an old man. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Glad it wasn't worse.
Taylortractornut
Elite Member
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- Iuka Mississippi USA
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- 3550 Fard Backhoe and a 1948 Farmall Cub,
Don im glad your ok, sometimes holes sneak up on the best of us. Ive always had to watch behingd me because of other workers. Except the time I was spreading fill for a road and had a roller operatr rund behind me when i was backing up I ran over the sheepsfoot.
Junkman that looks like a nice shiny Fendt tractor with a liquid manure tank and that pond isnt full of spring water either lol Its the dreaded sludge pit. I worked on a sub contract to dredge one one time its was 6 feet deep concrete lined on a hog farm. One of my friends found a supposedly stolen bobcat a tiller several plows that had all ben chunked in it. the bobcat and most of the tools are still being used today.
Junkman that looks like a nice shiny Fendt tractor with a liquid manure tank and that pond isnt full of spring water either lol Its the dreaded sludge pit. I worked on a sub contract to dredge one one time its was 6 feet deep concrete lined on a hog farm. One of my friends found a supposedly stolen bobcat a tiller several plows that had all ben chunked in it. the bobcat and most of the tools are still being used today.
bmac
Veteran Member
Don, I'll repeat everyones relief that you are ok. What a story.
However, as you know, this forum requires photographic documentation of adventures like this. So, once your new camera arrives, have the trackhoe operator replace your tractor in the pre-recovery position. Get back in the water, just as you were at the time of the event and have the lil' darlin' Angie take some photos. Only then will we be satisfied. If you'll go ahead and buy that hydraulic filter, you can use this as an opportunity to change the fluid and filter. After all, if you're going to waste 14 gal of hydraulic fluid anyway, may as well just flip your tractor over again so we can see what you looked like. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
On a serious note, should this story carry a disclaimer that, while in this instance the failure to wear a seatbelt very likely contributed to your ability to walk away from the accident unscathed, tractor operators should not use this account as an argument against routine seatbelt use? I think your Guardian Angel was with you today.
However, as you know, this forum requires photographic documentation of adventures like this. So, once your new camera arrives, have the trackhoe operator replace your tractor in the pre-recovery position. Get back in the water, just as you were at the time of the event and have the lil' darlin' Angie take some photos. Only then will we be satisfied. If you'll go ahead and buy that hydraulic filter, you can use this as an opportunity to change the fluid and filter. After all, if you're going to waste 14 gal of hydraulic fluid anyway, may as well just flip your tractor over again so we can see what you looked like. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
On a serious note, should this story carry a disclaimer that, while in this instance the failure to wear a seatbelt very likely contributed to your ability to walk away from the accident unscathed, tractor operators should not use this account as an argument against routine seatbelt use? I think your Guardian Angel was with you today.
Junkman
Super Member
Don't know anything about the tractor or the hole that it is in... I know of a European site that has all sort of tractor accidents..... fires, wrecks, overturn, head on collision, etc.... Just pluck an appropriate picture once in a while when things get dull around here......LOL..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I certainly appreciate everyone's good wishes. The one that captured my spirit the best was bmac: "So, once your new camera arrives, have the trackhoe operator replace your tractor in the pre-recovery position...", especially since exactly that same sequence had occurred to me.
Folks, I'm not really trying to make light of what could have been a serious situation, nor do I think I'm simply whistling in the cemetary. What I actually feel is stupid, mad at myself -- and danged lucky. What really scares me is that when I was 15 years old, my father escaped injury in a serious accident with the bus he was driving (it slid down a hill on ice, hit a steel pole and broke in half; there were no passengers and he was back at work the next day), but 6 months later he had a mild angina attack, fell off the 3rd rung of a stepladder, fractured his skull and died. He was 47 -- I already felt relief when I passed my 48th birthday, and I'll feel a lot better about 7 months from now if I'm still around. What, me superstitious?
Alas, I won't try the reenactment because I think I've used up my luck. The hoe would probably tumble into the hole on top of the tractor and me...besides, the hole is filled.
I sure did take a lot of ribbing from the crew today...all I needed was Marsha yelling, "Look out!"
The camera will be here tomorrow, and I got a good deal on not one, but two i1000plus Nextel phones on EBay. They're going out tomorrow priority overnight, so I should be back in business on Thursday. $73.50 plus freight for 2 phones, chargers, holsters, car chargers and a hands-free setup, because a nice man moved into an area that doesn't have Nextel service. Of course, priority freight was expensive, but my total cost of recovery was around $300 plus $20 for hydraulic fluid and a hunk of black duct tape over the hydraulic fill hole until I can get a new plug. What the heck did we do before EBay?
I was tempted to update, but I was happy with my old, out-of-date Mavica FD71 and my no-longer-available i1000plus phone, so I replaced them exactly - although from the descriptions, both should be in better shape than what I had.
On the seatbelt issue -- I made a conscious decision, based on my own terrain, to circumvent the conventional wisdom. I run with the ROPS up but no seatbelt most of the time. My land is flat. The few times I've worked on a sloping swale with a full bucket, I used the seatbelt. However, I'm more uncomfortable than ever with the single roll bar style ROPS. In our race cars, we use a full cage. My son rolled our car in two different events and I can attest to the safety. I can't do anything about it now because I'm in between shops, but as soon as the barn is built and I get my tubing bender installed, I'll be adding front uprights and a halo to connect the front to the rear hoop, and some diagonal reinforcement. If the front of my tractor had not gotten hung up on the bank of the hole, it would have possibly crushed me, or at the least, done serious damage to the tractor. Remember, more than half of the ROPS got buried in the sand under the water...Once I have a full cage, I'll wear my belt.
Progress today -- they finished digging the pond and trucking the spoil. The excavator moved on over to reshape my s-i-l's pond. The dozer arrived - a D4H instead of the D6 I had thought it was, but still more than powerful enough - and started grading the house and barn pads. He climbed up on top of the densely paced piles and started cutting them down and spreading them out. It was neat to see 6' high piles being reduced to a 30" high raised yard. The weight and vibration of the dozer does an excellent job of compacting, especially since the sandy soil compacts so easily. The road is nearly finished, all the debris is buried, the loader and dump truck have moved on to another job, and the whole project should be finished by tomorrow.
I should have pictures to post Thursday evening. The only disappointment was that there wasn't enough spoil to do everything I wanted, but it wouldn't have been easy to make the pond any bigger. I got all the work done that required expertise...what's left is filling some low spots along the highway and doing some swale work, stuff the TC18 and I can do.
Next, I have to get some sod in quick to stablize the banks of the pond. The growing season for Bahia grass is over until spring, and its a little early for winter rye to take hold, so seeding is not a good way to go. I know they use rolls of sod in many areas, but around here we use pallets of cut squares of sod.
The road needs about 6" of shell rock along the entire 800' length to stabilize it, and that has to be trucked in. I've done some research, and using a hauling service will run about $2500. The actual cost of the material at the pit is just a fraction of that. A couple of weeks ago, I was planning to get a dump trailer, but now I'm looking hard for an older 5 to 8 yard dump truck so I can get my own shell rock. The pit is less than 3 miles from my property. It will take a lot more trips with a smaller truck, but I can haul one day and spread it the next until it's done. If I can pick up a truck for around $2K or less (and it looks like I can), the road project alone will pay for the truck. After that, I can get the rest of the fill I need for the non-critical areas for around $1 per yard at the pit plus my own operating expenses for the truck, which is even cheaper than the pond project. The difference is that I'm not in any hurry, now - there is no deadline for filling the low spots, like there was for the road and building pads. I can't use a larger dump body -- the 12LA FEL will only lift about 80".
Folks, I'm not really trying to make light of what could have been a serious situation, nor do I think I'm simply whistling in the cemetary. What I actually feel is stupid, mad at myself -- and danged lucky. What really scares me is that when I was 15 years old, my father escaped injury in a serious accident with the bus he was driving (it slid down a hill on ice, hit a steel pole and broke in half; there were no passengers and he was back at work the next day), but 6 months later he had a mild angina attack, fell off the 3rd rung of a stepladder, fractured his skull and died. He was 47 -- I already felt relief when I passed my 48th birthday, and I'll feel a lot better about 7 months from now if I'm still around. What, me superstitious?
Alas, I won't try the reenactment because I think I've used up my luck. The hoe would probably tumble into the hole on top of the tractor and me...besides, the hole is filled.
I sure did take a lot of ribbing from the crew today...all I needed was Marsha yelling, "Look out!"
The camera will be here tomorrow, and I got a good deal on not one, but two i1000plus Nextel phones on EBay. They're going out tomorrow priority overnight, so I should be back in business on Thursday. $73.50 plus freight for 2 phones, chargers, holsters, car chargers and a hands-free setup, because a nice man moved into an area that doesn't have Nextel service. Of course, priority freight was expensive, but my total cost of recovery was around $300 plus $20 for hydraulic fluid and a hunk of black duct tape over the hydraulic fill hole until I can get a new plug. What the heck did we do before EBay?
I was tempted to update, but I was happy with my old, out-of-date Mavica FD71 and my no-longer-available i1000plus phone, so I replaced them exactly - although from the descriptions, both should be in better shape than what I had.
On the seatbelt issue -- I made a conscious decision, based on my own terrain, to circumvent the conventional wisdom. I run with the ROPS up but no seatbelt most of the time. My land is flat. The few times I've worked on a sloping swale with a full bucket, I used the seatbelt. However, I'm more uncomfortable than ever with the single roll bar style ROPS. In our race cars, we use a full cage. My son rolled our car in two different events and I can attest to the safety. I can't do anything about it now because I'm in between shops, but as soon as the barn is built and I get my tubing bender installed, I'll be adding front uprights and a halo to connect the front to the rear hoop, and some diagonal reinforcement. If the front of my tractor had not gotten hung up on the bank of the hole, it would have possibly crushed me, or at the least, done serious damage to the tractor. Remember, more than half of the ROPS got buried in the sand under the water...Once I have a full cage, I'll wear my belt.
Progress today -- they finished digging the pond and trucking the spoil. The excavator moved on over to reshape my s-i-l's pond. The dozer arrived - a D4H instead of the D6 I had thought it was, but still more than powerful enough - and started grading the house and barn pads. He climbed up on top of the densely paced piles and started cutting them down and spreading them out. It was neat to see 6' high piles being reduced to a 30" high raised yard. The weight and vibration of the dozer does an excellent job of compacting, especially since the sandy soil compacts so easily. The road is nearly finished, all the debris is buried, the loader and dump truck have moved on to another job, and the whole project should be finished by tomorrow.
I should have pictures to post Thursday evening. The only disappointment was that there wasn't enough spoil to do everything I wanted, but it wouldn't have been easy to make the pond any bigger. I got all the work done that required expertise...what's left is filling some low spots along the highway and doing some swale work, stuff the TC18 and I can do.
Next, I have to get some sod in quick to stablize the banks of the pond. The growing season for Bahia grass is over until spring, and its a little early for winter rye to take hold, so seeding is not a good way to go. I know they use rolls of sod in many areas, but around here we use pallets of cut squares of sod.
The road needs about 6" of shell rock along the entire 800' length to stabilize it, and that has to be trucked in. I've done some research, and using a hauling service will run about $2500. The actual cost of the material at the pit is just a fraction of that. A couple of weeks ago, I was planning to get a dump trailer, but now I'm looking hard for an older 5 to 8 yard dump truck so I can get my own shell rock. The pit is less than 3 miles from my property. It will take a lot more trips with a smaller truck, but I can haul one day and spread it the next until it's done. If I can pick up a truck for around $2K or less (and it looks like I can), the road project alone will pay for the truck. After that, I can get the rest of the fill I need for the non-critical areas for around $1 per yard at the pit plus my own operating expenses for the truck, which is even cheaper than the pond project. The difference is that I'm not in any hurry, now - there is no deadline for filling the low spots, like there was for the road and building pads. I can't use a larger dump body -- the 12LA FEL will only lift about 80".
have_blue
Veteran Member
Don, I just want to be the last to tell you I'm glad you're OK. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Your accident made me extra careful while working yesterday. I too have a steep 6' hole in 1 corner of my pond, and I get nervous when working around it. I can just imaging backing up into it. It could easily be fatal.
Although I can easily imagine myself panicking at the moment of an accident, I didn't. I think not panicking is the rule. It can be a life saver.
I have been un-seated from my tractor twice, and found myself flat on my back looking up watching the tractor run relentlessy on without a driver. Don't know exactly what happened except to say I was violently bucked off. In these 2 cases, the seat belt would have prevented some very ugly bruises. When I work around water, I pass on the seat belt!
Your accident made me extra careful while working yesterday. I too have a steep 6' hole in 1 corner of my pond, and I get nervous when working around it. I can just imaging backing up into it. It could easily be fatal.
Although I can easily imagine myself panicking at the moment of an accident, I didn't. I think not panicking is the rule. It can be a life saver.
I have been un-seated from my tractor twice, and found myself flat on my back looking up watching the tractor run relentlessy on without a driver. Don't know exactly what happened except to say I was violently bucked off. In these 2 cases, the seat belt would have prevented some very ugly bruises. When I work around water, I pass on the seat belt!
em14
Platinum Member
I sure am glad you are alright ... have never had one upside down but, I sure have come close on several occassions ... even to the point of having the uphill wheels in the air ... that was to close enough for me ... Once again I'm sure glad you are OK!
Leo
Leo
