80 Acres- Eagle Creek, Oregon

[NWOutlawMX]

The mechanical shuttle transmissions from case uses a dry clutch at the engine but also uses wet clutch packs inside the transmission. Unless they changed the design from the 895 series. I've rebuilt the ones on an 895 before. Not a hard job but requires a split. If I remember right it was a $400-600 job.

You might try adjusting the dry clutch first.

Agree, I would adjust the dry clutch first.

It's been working ok lately so I haven't investigated further but I did look behind the panel and was surprised to not see any linkage or cables, just what appeared to be an electrical relay of some sort. As soon as it starts acting up I'll get into it further.

 

[dstig1]

PGE came in and pulled the wire so we now have power. Keep in mind that I commercial fish for a living so I am gone 7-8 months a year, my wife is a city girl (that's where we live now) and it was hard enough to get her to move out there. I do have plans for a back up generator wired to the house in the event of a prolonged power outage. There was little hope she would agree to move out there with the idea that she could suddenly be in the dark for hours or days and I'm at sea, especially now that the game camera's are coming back with pictures of Bear and Cougars on them.

It's been awhile but I did make some progress while I was gone. I took months just to get PGE to finish up the plans. I went with 320A single phase service underground, a total of 4 pull vaults and a pad with one extra run of conduit. 2 of the pull vaults can be branched off of in the future. Total distance was 2500' and a price tag of 37K. The wire and transformer were 18 and because I wanted it dug in before I got home I went with a contractor, so that was another 19 for excavation, vaults and conduit. They are already finished with the install and I had my girlfriend get some pictures. So my first project is to get the drive way straightened up and put gravel down so PGE can come in and pull the wire and set the transformer and hook up temporary power. The contractor got ahold of the phone company to see if they wanted to put anything in the trench but they claimed the existing line was put in not long ago and when he got close to or crossed it he seen that they actually ran extra conduit with the direct buried phone line.

I just found this thread tonight and read it through from the start. Beautiful property, and great work so far. Looks like you are almost 2 yrs into it, and can now get serious about the house part. I've been building mine for the last 2+ yrs, and we are finally moving in in a week and a half. Only 10 ac, but it has been a long tiring process doing that while working full time too. It is a ton of work, and my hat is off to you for all the effort you have put in already!

But I couldn't resist this... Reading it through from start to finish all at once, I notice you call her your GF in one post and your wife in another, back and forth. Unless you are talking about 2 different people!:laughing::shocked::jester:

Keep up the good work! Subscribed!

 

[woodlandfarms]

Bridge of the gods,,,, you are just down the road from us. beautiful area.

For backup generator, we have been seeing a lot of interest moving toward Musks whole house batteries. Might be something to look at there.

Looking forward to how this process goes for you.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

I just found this thread tonight and read it through from the start. Beautiful property, and great work so far. Looks like you are almost 2 yrs into it, and can now get serious about the house part. I've been building mine for the last 2+ yrs, and we are finally moving in in a week and a half. Only 10 ac, but it has been a long tiring process doing that while working full time too. It is a ton of work, and my hat is off to you for all the effort you have put in already!

But I couldn't resist this... Reading it through from start to finish all at once, I notice you call her your GF in one post and your wife in another, back and forth. Unless you are talking about 2 different people!:laughing::shocked::jester:

Keep up the good work! Subscribed!

There's only one. Technically she's my girlfriend, but because Oregon is a common law state after 7 years she gets half regardless, so that pretty much makes her my wife. We just haven't had any desire to get married legally, and we've been together 15 years. Thanks to the LBGT movement though I was able to get on her insurance as domestic partners for a couple years when I switched company's.

Congrats on finally moving in. We still haven't got the stamped plans back yet. We found them online but made some modifications and it's taken 5 weeks so far and then we find out that in Oregon you have to have a structural engineer review the plans for wind sheer and such and approve them, then it's off to get some bids. I was going to pull a permit to build so I could tear down the old house and put the shop up but you have to be done building 1 year after the old residence is removed or face the possibility of them not letting you build a new residence. The risk of getting caught is probably nil but i'm not taking any chances, the 40 acres the house is on is zoned Timber and they have pretty strict zoning laws.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

So while we've been waiting for the houseplans I finished cleaning up a section of field cut out in the trees. It will be where the future food plot will be. This is the area where I have seen the most consistent wildlife activity on the camera, Elk, Deer, and Bear. There are 5 mature apple trees, I thought there was 8 but looking closer at three of them they are actually Walnut trees. Just kept thinking they were weird looking apples cause they are green.

Then to my surprise underneath blackberries there is an old foundation, looks to me like it burned down. Weird part is the county has no record of a residence there.

For some reason I can't upload new photos, tried for an hour last night and half hour just now... I'll get them up ASAP.

 

[bcp]

Photo uploader is "broken."

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/news-feedback/338548-cant-upload-new-photos.html

Bruce

 

[NWOutlawMX]

So while we've been waiting for the houseplans I finished cleaning up a section of field cut out in the trees. It will be where the future food plot will be. This is the area where I have seen the most consistent wildlife activity on the camera, Elk, Deer, and Bear. There are 5 mature apple trees, I thought there was 8 but looking closer at three of them they are actually Walnut trees. Just kept thinking they were weird looking apples cause they are green.

Then to my surprise underneath blackberries there is an old foundation, looks to me like it burned down. Weird part is the county has no record of a residence there.

For some reason I can't upload new photos, tried for an hour last night and half hour just now... I'll get them up ASAP.

Back in action - First two are before's and second two are after's not quite from the same angle but hopefully close enough.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

I have pretty much finished the driveway finally. There will be some touch-ups and some minor grading but at least I can get to the building site year round. I'm just going to post up the second half of the driveway as I didn't do anything else to the first half. I ended up taking out a couple more stumps from the uphill side and took some dirt out to fill the downhill side, wasn't real happy with the little turns in it so now it's a little straighter.

 

[kevinwak]

I have pretty much finished the driveway finally. There will be some touch-ups and some minor grading but at least I can get to the building site year round. I'm just going to post up the second half of the driveway as I didn't do anything else to the first half. I ended up taking out a couple more stumps from the uphill side and took some dirt out to fill the downhill side, wasn't real happy with the little turns in it so now it's a little straighter.

wow!!

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Can't quite figure out how to do text, pictures, text so i'll just do it in sections. The hill was pretty tough for the trucks to get up after laying fresh gravel so they had to drive in, spread on the way out. Then I'd water before the next truck came in so he'd pack it down, got it done without anyone getting stuck. I've got extra to fill in some low spots. Out of all the equipment the John Deere 3038e with the box blade got the most use putting the gravel down. I bought the sprayer about a year ago to battle the blackberries, more on that coming up.

 

[teg]

Really your road it much wider and better built than what I had graveled... looking good!!!

 

[dstig1]

Very nice. That is a ton of gravel (or rather many hundred tons...)

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Bridge of the gods,,,, you are just down the road from us. beautiful area.

For backup generator, we have been seeing a lot of interest moving toward Musks whole house batteries. Might be something to look at there.

Looking forward to how this process goes for you.

The Stevenson area is great too, we looked at a property in the Corbett area but it was on top of a hill with no protection from the wind. Went up there when the wind was blowing 40-45 mph here in Portland and it was 60 with gusts to 70mph there. You're side of the river is a little more protected I think from those gorge winds, maybe not. It was funny watching the reporters last Feb trying to stand up in 100+ mph winds at Crown Point. Looked at some articles on the Musks and will be doing a little more research on them.

 

[woodlandfarms]

We looked at a cinder cone property on the WA side, outside of Camas. First day we were totally in. Next day, just double checking, we went back and it was a windy day. Nope.

Musks battery system I feel is going to replace generators for those who need that sort of protection (for me right now, A few hours of no electronic gadgets is a godsend).

But, batteries you can't fill back up if you are a prepper (I guess you could with a genertor but now I am in the "you are buying both?" dilema). Also, still not sure it is ready for primetime. If you are doing something LEED then its a great idea, but if you are just building a house, I am on the fence.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Really your road it much wider and better built than what I had graveled... looking good!!!

During the whole process I just kept in my mind that I had to make sure I could get up and down this with Trailers. The long straight sections are around 10- 14 ft wide and the corners 16-20. I'm pretty certain i can get a full size tractor trailer along the entire length. Before i started the gravel i drove up and down it with the 13ft flail and didn't have any problems. Who knows what kind of equipment and crops I'll end up with in the future.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Very nice. That is a ton of gravel (or rather many hundred tons...)

590 to be exact, 40 trucks. Any where from 4-12 inches depending what was underneath. Some may think overkill but what I've noticed is when I started the first 500 ft I went 8", then I was thinking that was too much so the next 350' I went 4". After driving over this section for 1 1/2 years I have not had to touch the first 500' but the 350' that was only 4" constantly gets washboarded and rough, the entire 850' is all on the same angle of incline. So the second half is all 8" and on the 350' steeper incline is 12" deep. It should compact and bind to hold well.

 

[TomSeller]

The Stevenson area is great too, we looked at a property in the Corbett area but it was on top of a hill with no protection from the wind. Went up there when the wind was blowing 40-45 mph here in Portland and it was 60 with gusts to 70mph there. You're side of the river is a little more protected I think from those gorge winds, maybe not. It was funny watching the reporters last Feb trying to stand up in 100+ mph winds at Crown Point. Looked at some articles on the Musks and will be doing a little more research on them.

Sounds like you can put up a windmill.

 

[teg]

This was after cutting the outside corner another 8 feet... the 18 wheeler behind him made it fine. Think it was a bit of driver error. Can NOT have it too wide...

View attachment 437784

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Sounds like you can put up a windmill.

The Stevenson area is great too, we looked at a property in the Corbett area but it was on top of a hill with no protection from the wind. Went up there when the wind was blowing 40-45 mph here in Portland and it was 60 with gusts to 70mph there. You're side of the river is a little more protected I think from those gorge winds, maybe not. It was funny watching the reporters last Feb trying to stand up in 100+ mph winds at Crown Point. Looked at some articles on the Musks and will be doing a little more research on them.

Lots of windmill farms further East and into the high desert. They have tried to put some in the Gorge but lots of objections and I happen to agree. There probably are some, you just can't see them. Would you want a bunch of windmills ruining this view? The structure on the cliff is Crown Point.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

I would find it best to get as many of big the root crowns out with the rake on your dozer. I would spray any new shoots with Crossbow once they are around 18" to 24" long and leave them for 3 weeks or so. I would then brush hog and repeat once any new shoots get to the 18" to 24" range again. Every time you should have fewer shoots. Some will be from dormant seed waiting to grow. Some will be from root fragments and some will be from missed root crowns. The ones from the crowns are the hardest to kill since there is so much mass to the root. The ones from the fragments and seed should be easier to kill with the Crossbow since there is less root mass. Mix the Crossbow at the recommended concentration and apply it with surficant so it sticks. The reason I like 18" to 24" length is so there is enough surface area for the herbicide to adhear to and transport itself to the root. Closer to the root is better. I would burn the berry canes over the previous growth area so that you kill any roots there (might as well). I would prepare the soil and seed with grass as soon as possible to help choke out the berries. Crossbow does not kill grass. Keep us posted please. Good luck, you CAN do it. It will take a few years, then forever maintenance spraying, but even that will go down.

I've been following your advise and agree 100% this is the best way to combat them, some areas are now blackberry free. I tried some cheaper products than crossbow but a waste of money, crossbow is the best for blackberries. I have found also it works better on the big crowns when you spray closer to fall and into it when they are pulling nutrients back to the crown after all the berries have dropped. I did end up buying a sprayer that holds 60 gals, has a 12' collapsible width with a pressure gauge and adjustment to control pressure in the tank, and a wand with 30' hose, and the best part is a see through tank so I can see the water level. Usually only run about 30 psi for the bar to get the correct application rate, came with a book that had different pressures with different tips already calculated out - money saver. The wand is awesome cause I can crank the pressure up to 70-80 and this thing will spray close to 100' feet, over if the wind is up. Nice for some of the steeper areas. I also have been using it for a fire watch when open burning is permitted.

Been using the spring for water and it's nice now that the power is in, not having to drag the generator around. The little shack was already there that someone built over a pool they made right where it comes out of the ground. Picked up a submersible pump from Harbor Freight and hung it high enough that it just gets clean water. Eventually I'll make a bigger holding pond so I can pump more in a shorter amount of time. I haven't noticed any drop in volume even during this drought, sticking a 5 gal bucket in the stream fills up in about 10-15 seconds. Must note that the stream is only as wide as the bucket, so i'm not dipping it in standing water, the stream is about 7-8" wide and 3" deep.