RDrancher's Photo Thread

[Piston]

RD,
You have some awesome pictures and seem to be very knowledgable with what you do :thumbsup:

I seem to remember in a land plane grader blade thread, that you had been looking for a grader plane for your business, it looks like you found one?

 

[RDrancher]

LJH - You can cut rocky soil, but back dragging doesn't work to well. Sifting can be accomplished by stockpiling and using the bucket teeth to filter the rocks up the face and over the top. The 4in1 bucket I was using has a leaky cylinder so back dragging opens it up a little. I take advantage of the flaw and use it for a sifter. I'm the only one that rents it so I haven't told them so I can use it that way.

DT86 - The Kubota is a rental. In these economic times it makes more sense for me to rent anything I don't use at least 50% of the time. The cab is spacious, that's for sure! Its a great machine, but one thing I don't like is that if its equipped with a deep enough bucket to back drag with the bucket heel (works excellent with road base) you can't see the leading edge or corners of the bucket without leaning WAY forward (and I'm 6' tall). I'd look pretty hard at the JCB before buying one. Check out youtube videos concerning arm-play.

Piston - I ended up getting a Landpride for a great deal through my Kubota dealer. I just ordered another set of blades to mount for planing in reverse.

 

[LJH]

LJH - You can cut rocky soil, but back dragging doesn't work to well. Sifting can be accomplished by stockpiling and using the bucket teeth to filter the rocks up the face and over the top. The 4in1 bucket I was using has a leaky cylinder so back dragging opens it up a little. I take advantage of the flaw and use it for a sifter. I'm the only one that rents it so I haven't told them so I can use it that way.

Ah ha! Sifting with the bucket teeth, now that's pretty durned clever. I thought maybe you had some kind of nifty portable gravel screen. My Baby John's bucket don't got no teeth . I may scrounge around for some heavy-gauge screening and rig one up. Thanks for the reply!

 

[RDrancher]

Here are a few photos from today.


I had help today so I started on the french drain. Apparently the pool contractor connected the fill valve directly into the main water supply without a backflow prevent valve. The homeowner knew better and had him change it but the pool company got the last laugh. While re-routing the line (goofy routing I might add) and putting in this little retaining wall (completely incorrect as a matter of fact) they must have hit the main and broke it. They repaired it but never primed or glued the coupling and obviously didn't pressure check it before back filling either! So this turned out to be the source of all of the water surfacing inside the water boxes below the wall...that the plumber said was from over watering the lawn. We got it all put back together and left the hole open so I can check it again in the morning. I can't believe how many schedule 20 main water supplies I've seen since I've been here in Texas. It's hokey and just plain stupid IMHO.

 

[swick1]

I agree with you on the water line. I see lots of silly stuff around here in wv too. I love the kubota paint scheme and I've been looking at kubota or john deere for my mini ex purchase in a couple of years.

 

[RDrancher]

Ah ha! Sifting with the bucket teeth, now that's pretty durned clever. I thought maybe you had some kind of nifty portable gravel screen. My Baby John's bucket don't got no teeth . I may scrounge around for some heavy-gauge screening and rig one up. Thanks for the reply!

A Ratchet Rake works pretty good too.

I need to build one of those screens for my place. I've got stockpiled dirt from various jobs out back that I need to sift through. I'd sure like to "borrow" the one the county road and bridge fellas have down the road. :laughing:

 

[LJH]

From some of the horror stories I've heard and a bit of personal experience, pool companies seem to fall into the same category as mega-banks & politicians in the ethics department.

I used to moonlight driving a truck & pup for a pool company to make some extra play money. Those guys would cut corners and cheap out everything they could, including paying less than minimum wage to the poor illegals who did the manual labor. I finally quit working for them when they refused to fix the truck brakes - there was no adjustment left on most of the wheels, the stinkin' thing would not stop with a load and I was supposed to dodge the scales. Nope, later for that! The cheap bastages eventually went bankrupt - too many consumer lawsuits would be my guess.

 

[RDrancher]

Yep, back in the day I used to form and pour two or three decks a week for a "name" pool company. I had better luck getting paid by hunting down the manager at his favorite bar.

Funny thing mentioning your truck experience. My first full time driving / operating job was for an old drunk. Nice guy, but didn't take care of anything. He owned an old Ford cabover single axle dump and Ford skiploader. Funny story...The first day I worked for him (before I even met him!) I picked the truck up from the shop, early in the morning and in the dark. It broke down in less than a city block. After the mechanic got me going I headed up in the hills above Hollywood to haul dirt for another guy. Coming back down the hill (first load), I put on the brakes and the cab flopped forward, pinning me up on the windshield along with my lunchbox and toolbox! Luckily, at the bottom of the hill there was a "t" intersection with an ivy uphill on the other side. I went up the hill (still on the windshield) until gravity took over and flopped the cab back down, throwing me and my now-open toolbox and lunchbox up on the shelf behind the front seat. If that wasn't enough, when I was getting on the freeway (same load) the truck overheated, blowing off the radiator cap and the lid on the shelf behind the seat, filling the cab with steam. It was quite the day!

After a few months of the same type of wild days in the truck I told the guy that "the next time it breaks down I'm leaving it right there!" Of course it did, and I left it right there and hitch hiked home. I was so fed-up I never even called the guy to tell him where his truck was. A few years later I ran into him and he acted like nothing ever happened. I asked him about the truck and he said the highway patrol had called him to let him know that the truck was in impound. He thought that someone had stolen it. He never did ask where I'd been for the last 3 years! Drunks can be pretty funny sometimes.

 

[LJH]

Let's hear it for the ivy! :laughing:

Good lord, that one truly takes the cake. I've had some hairy truck-related episodes but never a horizonal windshield ride, oy. How long did it take to get your heart rate back to normal after that little interlude???

Thought someone stole it ... that would be a pretty desperate and/or stupid truck thief, eh? :laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[RDrancher]

All I can say is I'm sure glad I was still a youngster. These days that kind of excitement would give me a heart attack!

 

[jinman]

RD, you really need one of these rock buckets in the attachments. Those rocks would have been no challenge with this. I sift soil from rocks all the time. The way it works best is to not try and get the bucket full, but just gather a few rocks and roll them around to clear out the loose dirt. You can scoop up rocks and dirt and move the dirt to a sifted pile and then dump the rocks in a clean rock pile. It really does work. The basket design lets you roll the rocks around by curling the bucket. The added grapple is a joy to use on bigger rocks. You just get the rock on the lip of the bucket and clamp down with the grapple. It allows you to pick big rocks and carry them without having them shift around and maybe fall out. The really nice thing about the grapple is it can also be used for brush. My rock bucket has SSQA, so you could use it on a rental SS loader or your New Holland. The cost of my 5' bucket was $1595 and the added grapple was $400 + hoses and my installation materials (steel and u-bolt mounting) plus hoses for my hydraulic remote on my tractor.

 

[RDrancher]

Yep Jim, I need one of those. That's actually the model I was looking at, but I didn't know that you could attach a grapple to it. Thanks!

 

[RDrancher]

Busy day getting a few things finished up and returning equipment.

Trenched and set the culvert and graded the catch basin area. Then took back the KX71 and dump trailer.


Got the french drain set, rocked and backfilled, then set the water supply boxes and placed river stone over geotextile in the area. Then returned the SVL75.


Cut the rest of the swale and finish grading. The homeowners landscaper is supposed to come in tomorrow and sod the slope, so I didn't bother to get it perfect since they're spreading top soil first. We'll see if my swale is still there on Monday.


Loaded up the TC35D so I can get her cleaned up this weekend and hopefully mount the new front tires I've had sitting in the shop for way too long.

 

[jinman]

Yep Jim, I need one of those. That's actually the model I was looking at, but I didn't know that you could attach a grapple to it. Thanks!

That French drain is a beauty!:thumbsup:

The grapple on my rock bucket was all my design and installation. SHoule makes a grapple attachment, but it's probably more than the rock bucket.

 

[RDrancher]

Thanks Jim. I would have taken photos of the install, but I actually never saw anything after digging the trench to what you see in the finished photo. :laughing: My out of work buddy did the entire install (including repairing pipes) while I was returning equipment and working up on the hill. Its nice to have someone you can leave alone, run the tractor, and have the job done just the way you want it. I wish I had more work to keep him busy, but most of the time the jobs just require just me and a machine.

So did you document your grapple fab?

 

[jinman]

So did you document your grapple fab?

Is the Pope Catholic?

Get a Grip!

 

[RDrancher]

Is the Pope Catholic?

Get a Grip!

Last time I checked... :thumbsup:

Thanks for the link Jim!

After evaluating my business over this past year, I think I've finally come up with a plan as far as equipment goes. I'm actually coming to terms with the reality that as good as of a compact tractor the TC35D is, that it's really not suited for my purposes.

My original plan was to purchase a Deere 210LE...but I REALLY wanted air conditioning and factory PTO's are scarce as hens teeth! So my second idea was to move up to a cab tractor in the 60hp range with a much higher loader capacity. I could modify the rear hydraulics to operate somewhat like an industrial loader but still have that wonderful a/c I really, really want to operate in. I could keep my present trailer and still use my F350 to tow. The problem with this route is the fact that a compact tractor is still not a real construction tool. I also considered the Deere 110 TLB with a Laurin cab for same reasons, but in reality its marginal as far as construction strength equipment goes, doesn't have 3 PT down pressure and the cab is ridiculously expensive and for some reason looks a mile high. I still haven't ruled it out so maybe I haven't come up with a plan yet.

My next thought was to keep my TC for brush hogging and such and add a CTL (with a/c of course) for dirt work and spreading gravel. After using the CTL while my tractor was in the shop for both dirt and gravel work, I've found that as good as it preforms in dirt it kinda sucks for doing gravel work and gravel is hard on the tracks. Coupled with the CTL's much higher cost per hour to run (and as much as I like the incredible increase in power) I'll stick to renting a CTL when I need it. It just makes more sense. The other thing that became VERY apparent while running the CTL is that since I work by myself the majority of the time, I'm in and out of the machine far far far more than I realized. The drastic and constant change in temperature just might end up killing me. Since any CTL I would have considered would also mean purchasing a trailer with higher weight capacity, my outlook on the entire plan has come full-circle.

So I'm actually leaning towards purchasing a 210LE again. I've rented a few with over 5,000 hours on them, and if they can stand up to the level of abuse they get in the rental world, I'll get a lot of time out of a low hour non-rental purchase. One of the other things that got me back on this train of thought is that I really could use a single axle dump truck at least three times a week. So the plan is to start looking for a dump truck and 210LE along with an equipment trailer. I can add a PTO to the Deere and have actually been able to locate a few on the used market.

John

 

[jinman]

John, since you've rented a 210LE, you know it's a beast compared to your TC35D. It weighs over twice as much and just won't get into the tight spots like the TC. Still, if you get a set of forks for your bucket, you will not be challenged with unloading and moving materials on pallets like with the TC. The 1-yd bucket will also make loading and spreading much faster. The boxblade on the 210LE is a serious piece of earth shaping iron too. I'm not sure if your land-plane is heavy duty enough to use with the 210LE 3PH. With the 25 GPM hydraulic flow, you'll have lots of additional options there too.

Of course all of this costs two or three times the same equipment costs for the TC. I shudder every time I start looking at the price of a new backhoe bucket for my TLB. I have a 24" bucket and would like a 12" trenching bucket. Since I have a quick-attach backhoe bucket adapter, that means the 12" bucket would also have to have a QA plate. I've learned that the TC implements cost in the $100s, and TLB implements cost in the $1000s. It's a big step up in the price of "toys."

 

[RDrancher]

Jim, since it is Monday...and the block heater cord on my powerstroke seems to be bad, so its refusing to start yet...

I sure understand the higher cost of attachments for the heavier equipment, but boy do they have some power, as I'm sure you know owning your backhoe. I found a low hour, privately owned 210LE already set up with a QA, 4in1 and forks. That would be pretty close to the perfect setup for me. Of course, I'll need to get the heavier trailer too, so nothings cheap! But all of the things the larger machine can do (including being able to load dump trucks without building a ramp to stay off the sideboards) would be a really big plus.

I know that I won't fit as easily into tight spots, but I've logged enough hours on the Deere and Case skip loaders to get a pretty good feel for it. Plus...I like a good challenge.

One reason I didn't spend the extra money on a 6' construction grade landplane was the possibility of upgrading my machine (which will need at least a seven-footer). I know that Yellowdog has a 3pt adapter for his skidsteers and shared that he's broken pretty much every tractor attachment he has with the extra power. Upgrading machines is also the main reason I haven't purchase the remotes for the 35...it just doesn't have the power I want, and at 2500 hours of heavy use its getting a bit "worn".

 

[timberland]

Ok, rdrancher I need your professional advice. Just had a house pad done. I had the dirt guy grade for the driveway. He went down to clay, about 2-4 inches with 10 foot dozer blade. I am in the Longview area, East texas. What would you reccomend for a gravel drive and who should I buy materials from.
I am thinking geo fabric, edging (wood or metal ? ), a base rock and a top layer rock. Need your advice. Also I need to install a 4 inch culvert pipe. Not sure what type and where to get pipe.

Nice work !