RDrancher's Photo Thread

RDrancher · Mar 2, 2013

LJH said:
True. The kid looks right natural up there, don't he?

You shoulda seen us trying to pry his hands off of the wheel! My wife says I've got the kid brainwashed...all of his toys are tractors, construction equipment and trucks. I say I'm just pointing him in the right direction.

Bob77064 · Mar 2, 2013

John, I enjoy your thread. Great direction for your little one, my 5 year old grandson still likes to climb on the tractor every chance he gets.

RDrancher · Mar 2, 2013

Thanks Bob! I think that too many kids these days lead a sheltered life. My dad was killed in a tractor accident when I was three. That could have been the end of it for me, but I had an uncle that farmed. When we moved to Iowa I spent a lot of time at his place, and he kept me around tractors and got me interested in machinery in general. By the time I was nine I was running a 9N by myself, hauling a hay trailer and following the big guys baling. Those memories are the best ones that I have from my childhood. I absolutely LOVE what I do for a living now and wouldn't trade it for anything else!

jinman · Mar 2, 2013

RDrancher said:
After failing to duck low enough while walking between my truck and GN trailer yesterday afternoon...which resulting in me smacking my melon against it and landing on my back in the parking lot at my local fuel stop...I decided to take it a little easy today. I feel like I got hit by a...trailer.If you don't duck, you are likely to quack your noggin.

I noticed last evening that I had once again cracked the bucket. It probably didn't help that the bolt on the cutting edge was loose. I'm not a welder by any standards, but I get it done and it holds. I had my 72" HD bucket crack at the back (heel) of the bucket inside where the weld bead is. I just rewelded with a big ugly fillet and all is good.

I also developed a leak earlier in the day at one of the loader quick connects. O-ring time! McMasters has them and charges a huge price, but you know they are right when you leave. They also have to sort them and put them into little plastic bags with part numbers. The labor has to be paid somehow. I think I might pick the o-ring out and take it to Purvis Bearing on East McKinney street in Denton behind the post office and across from the City Hall (200 E McKinney St, Denton, (940) 380-9600). They have always been a great source of belts, bearings, and o-rings.

I hadn't seen this monster around here before, so I thought I'd stop and take a couple of pics. That's the same kind of machine the seismic crews use to set charges.

View attachment 306003 View attachment 306004

Your boy sure looks cute on that Mahindra Max. Great Photo!:thumbsup:

RDrancher · Mar 2, 2013

Thanks Jim!

Yesterday I told my wife...I should give Jim a call and head on up. Maybe he'll let me run his hoe. She says, "I'm driving since you can't see straight from whacking your head and we both have major head colds...and you want to do what?" She won that one...

jinman · Mar 2, 2013

RDrancher said:
Thanks Jim!

Yesterday I told my wife...I should give Jim a call and head on up. Maybe he'll let me run his hoe. She says, "I'm driving since you can't see straight from whacking your head and we both have major head colds...and you want to do what?" She won that one...

You're welcome anytime. I've got to get out there with my grandson and get some dimensions. I need numbers and I'm sure you do too.

ben2go · Mar 2, 2013

LJH said:
True. The kid looks right natural up there, don't he?

Yep.Yep he does.

two_bit_score · Mar 4, 2013

I just enjoyed catching up on my favorite thread here on TBN!

Great pic of the boy on the little Mahindra! Keep him working!

Thanks again!

deerseeker001 · Mar 11, 2013

that cement work is hard work,you do nice work.that's for sharing the pictures.

RDrancher · Mar 14, 2013

Thought I should start catching up on pics.

This driveway really needed 400 yards of fill before spreading the roadbase, but that wasn't in the budget, so I graded it to shed water to one side. With the way my schedule is running right now, I'll have to come back and compact it later.

Me thinks there's a hole in the screen at the pit...

A little regrade and topping.

Bob77064 · Mar 14, 2013

Looks real good, big improvement.

deerseeker001 · Mar 14, 2013

looks nice good job.

two_bit_score · Mar 15, 2013

Thanks for 'catching up'! I look forward to new posts on this thread.

EddieWalker · Mar 15, 2013

With all the country driveways that you do, how many of the people who live there have tractors? I'm wondering if they did it themselves and messed it all up before hiring you, or are they mostly just people without a tractor of their own?

Eddie

jinman · Mar 15, 2013

John, Wise County is re-surfacing (re-graveling) our road right now. I cannot believe the number of gravel trucks coming and going. In some places, they are putting in a foot of fresh crushed rock roadbase. It's premium stuff with just the perfect amount of powder. After laying and grading, they are coming back with water trucks and a roller to compact it. It's not pavement, but it's about as good as crushed rock gets. I'm very pleased with the job they are doing.

RDrancher · Mar 15, 2013

EddieWalker said:
With all the country driveways that you do, how many of the people who live there have tractors? I'm wondering if they did it themselves and messed it all up before hiring you, or are they mostly just people without a tractor of their own?
Eddie

Eddie, thanks for asking that question. Now I can go on my favorite spiel.

There are several reasons why folks hire me to do their drives...even the those with their own tractors (and that's quite a few.) I don't build or rework a driveway like anyone else around here, or pretty much any homeowner with a tractor or skidsteer either. When I spread new gravel I don't drag a landplane, RR tie or chunk of old fence along a driveway and call it done. In fact, I'm still not sold on using a landplane for gravel at all. I grade (or re-grade) every driveway (road , parking lot) I build or repair. I'm a stickler for drainage. I don't fill holes with rock or spread pretty new gravel over old problems...collect a check and leave, just to have the same old potholes and and other bad stuff show up a few months later.

The largest gravel delivery company around here was started back in the 60's. The guy had a paving attachment mounted on the back of a dump truck...NO grading for new drives or re-grading before spreading a topping of new gravel. They might remove the top layer of grass and soil, but that was it. He could lay down a beautiful looking driveway with his attachment, but all of the unstable ground and potholes turned folk's driveways into junk in short order. That same company delivers load after load everyday around the area. They still tailgate loads, which looks fine for awhile, and even when they spread with a tractor or SS, they just spread. No grading, no actual concern for soft spots, or the drainage or potholes that plague the homeowner at all. That's exactly how all of the other guys do it around here too.

I do it differently, I'm the most expensive guy around, and I stay really busy. I do know for certain that I am blessed to have this much work!

RDrancher · Mar 15, 2013

jinman said:
John, Wise County is re-surfacing (re-graveling) our road right now. I cannot believe the number of gravel trucks coming and going. In some places, they are putting in a foot of fresh crushed rock roadbase. It's premium stuff with just the perfect amount of powder. After laying and grading, they are coming back with water trucks and a roller to compact it. It's not pavement, but it's about as good as crushed rock gets. I'm very pleased with the job they are doing.

That sounds pretty good there Jim! In between the time that I found and then bought the house I'm in now, the county paved the road. Pretty cool!