Building Lake Corona

[bindian]

The cost of ownership is not always so obvious. Is it?

.

Nope, especially when parts are hard to find.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

My use is about 90-95% dirt and 5-10% pallet work and snow removal on gravel. No concrete. Looking forward to seeing how these do on the slopes I'm working on.

We are excited waiting to see them working also. How is the install going?
hugs, Brandi

 

[jk96]

We are excited waiting to see them working also. How is the install going?
hugs, Brandi

The tracks won the 1st round this morning. No amount of prying could get them over the front idler. After lunch I came back and won the 2nd round. Tough job for 1 person but will go much easier if I have to do it again. The 2nd track only took me about 10 minutes. I used a genie lift I have at the shop to get the tracks on the sprockets. For the front idler I ended up strapping the tracks through the center hole and around the inside of the track. I then ran the ratchet strap through the loader arm to a chain on the bucket opposite side of the track I was working on. This allowed me ratchet in and pull the tracks toward the machine. This gave me the extra pull I needed to move them with the pry bar. 1-1/2" pipe works perfect for getting the teeth above the idler. It took two pipes and two straps through the tracks as I rolled the tracks forward and worked them on.

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[ovrszd]

I hope that is so.:thumbsup: Excessive traveling doesn't help sprockets either. I figure I'm around 50%.:confused3: The machine had 5008 hours on it when I bought it. I always try to plan ahead in my head where I need the machine and where I will wind up when finished.:2cents: Cruisin' around isn't an excavator's strong suit.:thumbdown:
hugs, Brandi

They are a great tool!!! Nothing can replace them for the job they are designed to do. They have limitations.

I don't "need" one but I certainly "want" one.

 

[ovrszd]

Mental stamina!!!! You conquered this task using Mental stamina!!!! Nice work!!!! Anxious to here your thoughts about your new tracks. Thanks for posting the pics and update.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good work, nobody hurt. :thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

Good work, nobody hurt. :thumbsup:

No blood is always a success.

 

[jk96]

No blood is always a success.

Only a sore back tomorrow most likely. Those tracks are heavy. Ground is pretty sloppy today from a small amount of rain and even some ice mixed with snow yesterday. 62 tomorrow and 73 Monday so hopefully will get to try them out on Monday.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, this coming week looks good. Things will dry slowly in you work area.

We're goin under State mandated lockdown on Monday. Hope you can continue with your project during this ordeal.

 

[jk96]

We live a mile off the highway and 1/2 mile from our closest neighbor. This project may be the only thing that keeps my sanity for the next 3 weeks.

 

[ovrszd]

I hear ya!!!

I'm isolated on my farm too. So I have 150 acres to roam on. I'll get thru it.

We've got two positive tests in our County. Local Nurse and her husband.

 

[jk96]

We have 80 acres here. Slow morning at the house. Up at 6:30. My wife and daughter were up half the night binge watching a netflix series, boys were up gaming so everyone was sleeping in. Decided to go for a walk and drain what water was standing in anticipation of getting to move some dirt tomorrow. A few random pics from this morning below.


Couldn't even get the dogs to follow me this morning.

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Just using a garden hose and gravity to drain. Looks like I'm draining just a bit more than is seeping in.

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Watched a squirrel darting in and out of this tree on the way back to the house. Probably where he's hiding his winter stash.

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Tree down in the background across one of the walk paths in the timber I made with the ctl and brush cutter. Will probably get the chainsaw out today for it.

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View of the back side of the house from the walk back.

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[ovrszd]

Beautiful place!!!!

I walked down to the East pond this morning to check on my Canadian Goose that's nesting. She wasn't too happy couple days ago when we had freezing rain most of the day......

I've got two dogs. One laid on the porch and watched. One went with me.

Supposed to be 59 up here today. Sunshine will probably drive it up a little more.

Our Governor put us on lockdown starting tomorrow. Looks like we'll have plenty of time for home projects if the weather will permit. Supposed to be good thru next week anyway.

Thanks for the pics!!!!

 

[hawkeye08]

Our stay at home order got extended to May 4th. If everyone plays nice and follows the guidelines, we should be able to get business going sooner.. I need a bit warmer weather to work outside.. mid 40s with 15-20mph wind just doesn't do it for me...

 

[Alien]

Cold weather makes it easier to stay at home. We have been having perfect weather so I have been getting mowing and spraying done at my leisure. Looks like a late mild winter coming.
Us 70 + year olds should be staying home but not strict on that. Haven't heard of any cases in our local town yet. I know an ambulance officer and she said there had been none in our area yet.
Funny, jk96 is building his pond and I just finished filling mine in. It was only good for breeding mosquitos and cane toads.

Lovely home mate. Those trees look as feral as our gum trees. Promised myself that next place I buy has no (or few) gums.

https://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/4/3/9/9/2/8/a13334889-63-IMG_20200330_175139.jpg

 

[jk96]

Just got back in from spending an hour moving dirt. Everything dried up today with the sun and warmer temps. New tracks are amazing. I can't believe the difference in grip with these. Absolutely no spin on the slopes now. Tomorrow's task is going to be clearing some small trees before I can move any dirt. The big trees will be left standing and hopefull can get them over after enough dirt is moved around them.

 

[hawkeye08]

Just got back in from spending an hour moving dirt. Everything dried up today with the sun and warmer temps. New tracks are amazing. I can't believe the difference in grip with these. Absolutely no spin on the slopes now. Tomorrow's task is going to be clearing some small trees before I can move any dirt. The big trees will be left standing and hopefull can get them over after enough dirt is moved around them.

Awesome, I was hoping you would notice a big difference... makes the price and work of changing them much easier to digest.

 

[jk96]

Got a call this morning for a paid job digging out a tree stump. Ended up being the largest stump I've seen when done so I only made it out for an hour before dark today. Wish I would have thought to take some pics. Root ball was larger than my ctl.

I spent my hour before dark removing some trees. Tomorrow's job is getting rid of 4 large trees from 12" to 24" diameter that will be part of the dam if not removed. These are going to be tricky getting to and digging out enough to push over. I may have to rent that excavator after all. On the plus side the slopes and soft topsoil are making anything up to 10" pretty easy to remove. Here's a video of the last couple before heading for the house.

Video - click for link
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[two_bit_score]

A good operator makes it look easy! ^^^^^^^^^

 

[jk96]

A good operator makes it look easy! ^^^^^^^^^

Old tracks would have broke loose and been spinning trying to push those.