Finally finished!

[Shawn T. W.]

Finishing the job, hopefully I'm finally done!

When I bought this place 3.5 years ago, the right of way on the private road did not convey, so they put in a new “driveway” out through the hayfield, but all they really did was scrape off about 4” of sod, and spread out 4” thick of 1” base, which is 1” rock down to basically sand or “fines” … they put it right through a swampy section of the field … I brought in just under a million pounds of rock and gravel, put in three culverts, and dug over 600’ of ditch, which I had never done before, all with my tiny little SCUT … I found out that there is a 2.5’ rise from the road, before it starts going downhill to my creek out back, so … the ditch got quite deep, which I “mowed” with my 5’ brush hog, but the sides were steep, especially near the utility pole, as I didn't want to get too close to that . . . I fiddled with it off and on when I was home and it was raining, trying to get it to drain and flow properly. Finally this spring I was satisfied, but it was nearly 3’ deep in places!

I got 200’ of 4’ flexible pipe, and already had some 6” pipe sections, that I used for “connections” by sliding the 4” into the 6” a foot or so, covering with a double layer of weed barrier, figured that it would let and ground water in there, drilled a few small holes in top of other sections covering with more weed barrier … made “ends” out of ¼” hardware cloth to keep snakes out … and started to reduce the sides down by scraping and pushing it on top of the piping … I ran out of time, but got most of it done …

I had trouble scraping it, as if it was soft enough to dig in, it would push the back sideways, even though I had filled tires, 70 steel wheel weights on each side, plus 200 Lbs of weight plates I made a way to mount to my BH frame ...

Only the top few inches were soft enough to scrape, once the sod out of the way, then it was too hard, after trying a few different things, I used my rototiller to dig it up, then I could move it with the rear blade!

Since I got a bigger tractor to pull a bigger mower, I needed to get this done, but had to trim some of the trees along the private road that overhung the field to clear my cab, so that was the first order of business.

Step ladder and chainsaw, forks to carry the branches away ...

A full load!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

There was still a section of pipe not covered up, so I needed more dirt ...

I placed rocks near the ends, so the water can flow through, but I won't crush the end of the pipe running over it!

This is basically virgin ground, hard packed clay, that was dry, it wouldn't scrape/plow like when it was damp in the spring, even with the bigger tractor …

So, I got the rototiller to chew it up, it was tough and slow dusty work, but I got it chewed up!

15 second dusty video!
Rototiller virgin ground

Then I used the rear blade to put it in a row, to scoop up with the bucket and dump on the exposed piping …

May not be perfect, but the piping is covered, and it's “mowable” now, good enough for a field.

Unfortunately the time inside the cabbed Kubota was short, compared to the time on the Massey Ferguson SCUT, or using the chainsaw ... Hot and humid today, I'm wore out!

But glad I got this done!

 

[ultrarunner]

It always good to hear success stories… especially involving a multi year project.

My little BX23 has moved mountains…

 

[chim]

Nice! I'd suggest you add a battery pole saw to your Christmas list. Trees here can need trimmed for the cab two or three times a year.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I cut these probably 12' up, tractor is only about 8' tall ... But I got more trees to do ... But I'll check and see if Stihl makes one that uses the same battery as the chainsaw, be nice if they share the bar and chain too!

 

[chim]

I have various parts, pieces and extensions, some of which were bought separately that amount to something like the package below. IIRC, one of our suppliers had a sale on a pole saw plus an extension (tool only) for around $100 maybe 6 years ago before i retired. Later I added the hedge trimmer and some other stuff. I think some of these may now have telescoping shafts.

For branches of about 1" and smaller the hedge trimmer does fine. That's what gets used here a couple times each year. Not too often that big branches need trimmed off. In addition to trimming branches, the pole saw is really nice when dropping trees. When the tree is on the ground, it's nice to be able to reach in and whack branches off the trunk without wading through the branches. With the chain and the action 5 feet or so away working conditions are more pleasant.

DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Lithium-Ion Pole Saw and Pole Hedge Trimmer Combo Kit with (1) 4.0 Ah Battery and Charger DCKO86M1 - The Home Depot

Reach new heights with our 20v max combo kit. It includes a dcps620 pole saw, dcph820 pole hedge trimmer head, battery, and charger. Cut tall limbs and branches with up to 96 cuts per charge. The 8 in.

www.homedepot.com

 

[ledmircy]

That’s literally an epic project.

Major props for all the hard work you’ve put in!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

That’s literally an epic project.

Yeah, back in the spring of 2022 I couldn't even get a contractor to call me back, so I decided to just do it myself! That's why I bought the TLB, I really wanted a much bigger one, but it's done an AMAZING job!

Here are some before pictures ...

UPS nearly got stuck, then refused to come down my driveway after this!

This is basically the area my gate is now ...

I had the county add another 30' section of culvert to the existing 30' so it would be wide enough for me to back my semi-truck off the road ...

Then I got my TLB and put it to work, while learned how to use it! The "dirt/clay" was soft enough that I quite often had to dig it out of the bucket!

Once I got it down enough to start draining the area ...

I went back up by the road, removed the barb wire, and T-Posts, and dug out the multi-flora roses, water table was pretty close!

Then proceeded to remove the sod ... Got stuck multiple times, fortunately I had boughten "The Un-Stucker" model!

Then I finally got a guy to bring me rock!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Three loads of rock, and a little rain ... I got a rocky pond!

I told him to just keep bringing me rock! Until it kinda looked like a driveway ...

I used my semi-truck to roll/pack it down between layers ...

Kept adding layers ... It is now over 30" deep of rock I buried and packed in!

Every couple of months I'd add another 4" layer, until it was built up, letting it settle with the rain and me driving on it ... Then tried to bevel the ditches so I'd be able to mow them ... Kinda like a swale

Then added gates ...

And extended fence, planted trees ...

 

[dodge man]

I keep thinking of Clint Eastwood in the movie he plays a crusty old marine and says “improvise, adapt, overcome”. You certainly did that, nice work and I enjoyed the pictures.

 

[Lena]

There was still a section of pipe not covered up, so I needed more dirt ...

View attachment 3830003

I placed rocks near the ends, so the water can flow through, but I won't crush the end of the pipe running over it!

View attachment 3830004

This is basically virgin ground, hard packed clay, that was dry, it wouldn't scrape/plow like when it was damp in the spring, even with the bigger tractor …

So, I got the rototiller to chew it up, it was tough and slow dusty work, but I got it chewed up!

View attachment 3830001

15 second dusty video!
Rototiller virgin ground

View attachment 3830002

Then I used the rear blade to put it in a row, to scoop up with the bucket and dump on the exposed piping …

View attachment 3830005

View attachment 3830006

View attachment 3830007

May not be perfect, but the piping is covered, and it's “mowable” now, good enough for a field.

View attachment 3830008


View attachment 3830009


Unfortunately the time inside the cabbed Kubota was short, compared to the time on the Massey Ferguson SCUT, or using the chainsaw ... Hot and humid today, I'm wore out!

But glad I got this done!

Looks good. The only possible problem I see is the wire over the outlet. I retire with 20 years with highways dept. All the pipes I saw with obstacles at the outlet tend to gather any type debris and eventually clog the outlet end. Keep an eye on this. even though your pipe is underground you will be surpised what will wash out the end.

 

[walnutman]

Huge job and satisfying to do yourself. We all have suggestions and here are mine.

We only have about 2500 ft of right of way unpaved road going into three separate properties. First few years the neighbors... who were the original owners of all of this, kept up with the road... barely.

Being a Yankee from up north LOL, here in East Texas folks are proud and don't seem to take very kindly of our expert advice LOL.

So the road comes downhill then levels out. The runoff destroys the mid to upper portions of it. Big runoff ravines. They only added material if they got it for free but had plenty of nice new equipment to plane it out. The road is also depressed and acts as a creekbed when it downpours. I need to cut the sides down for runoff and crown it.

Neighbor husband passed away a couple of years ago. He was a horder when it comes to contraptions and metal. He had a really nice chipper shredder (Redroo) overgrown back in the field. I asked the widow if I could have it. She gave it to me. I cleaned it up and put a new carb on it. Got it running great. Sold it on FB marketplace for $1500.

You might ask... where is this story going?

Well I took the money and had a full tractor trailor load of road base.. flex base. What you had initially.

The great thing about this stuff is it likes to harden like concrete under the right moisture and compaction conditions.

Been 8 months or so and it has really done the job. Plan on adding more to build up the road some and also plan on cutting out drainage ditches like you did here because when looking at the road crossing over our property, its higher on the other side and lower coming onto our property... just a little. Long spring rains we have runoff crossing the road and into our yard. I have loads of underground drainage to handle the accumulation but I can alleviate a lot of it by cutting in an embankment on the far side and directing the water to the entrance of the ponds. Bad part is there are some underground utilities on the other side so I need to be careful with depth. No electric just fiber and copper telephone. The fiber isn't a problem as it's plenty deep but the telephone is only about 12-18 inches. I don't need a lot though.

So my suggestion would be why even bother with the drain pipe? It's just gonna clog up and end up working fine without it as surface runoff.

I hope I didn't hijack your accomplishments too much. That's a ton of work and will still be for a while.

 

[neilpaku]

That's a lot of work for a little machine - well done! And nobody ever went wrong putting in more sub-base : )

 

[tacticalturnip]

That's really nice work Shawn, it looks really good. Proof that a SCUT can get a lot done; it just takes a little more time.

 

[dbritt]

What part of the Ozarks are you in? I'm in southwest Missouri and I thought all the Ozarks was like my part of it, 4 inches of topsoil, then nothing but very, very hard clay and rocks, mostly rocks. To make a driveway around here, we remove the topsoil, put down a layer of 2" rock, and cover that with a layer of 1/2" to 3/4" mix with fines in it. Sets up like concrete and never moves. I cuss the rocks under the surface on my farm, but when it comes to making a road, those same rocks are a blessing in disguise.

Now, when it comes to digging holes for corner posts.....well, that's a whole 'nuther story.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

So my suggestion would be why even bother with the drain pipe? It's just gonna clog up and end up working fine without it as surface runoff.

Originally I was planning on keeping the "ditch/swale" open, but ... In order to get it to drain, I had to overcome the 2.5' rise, so it kept getting deeper ... I want to mow it with an 8' wide mower, so didn't want that short steep sides drainage area, plus the deepest part was by that one utility pole, which was only about 6' away from the center of my ditch, originally when I started digging, I only thought it would need to be 6"-8" deep ... So I didn't care how close it was to the pole ...

So I buried the pipe to make that area more level for easier mowing.

What part of the Ozarks are you in?

I'm about 30 miles East of Springfield ...

The "soil" varies quite a bit here ... This spring I was digging to plant some trees ...

25' away ...

And about 100' away ...