Cat 951-C in my sights

[Nitelite]

When I pull into the drive through I can see over the top of the building but I can't see inside the drive through window. I would have to pay by air mail and send down a rescue basket to collect the big mack. When I hook the trailer up the rig will be more than 48 feet long. I have 9' aluminum ramps and the rise will be 34 1/2 inches.

Some of those humvees can be titled and driven on the road. They are going for a reasonable price right now because they are phasing them out and they are plentiful at this time. The tactical truck market is drying up quickly. Some low mileage humvees, 500 to 1000 miles, have been coming out of Albany Ga. They have heat and air. It is ever changing, you just have to watch the iron planet site. If I moved my excavation equipment around from job site to job site I would own one of the tactical road tractors for sure. I have seen the road tractors go for as little as $4,000. Low boy trailers also come up for auction but not as often as the tractors. Wreckers and dump trucks go for $7,000 to $9,000.

 

[Metalman 55]

Enjoyed the day with the 5 ton.

No rain today, the sun actually came out for awhile. I spent the day with the 5 ton. I got my decals put on the doors. That decal is a replica of the shoulder patch that I wore on my military uniform while I was stationed in Europe. I got four cameras installed, one in the front looking forward, one in the rear looking back and one on each front fender looking back down the sides. The camera records on a continuous 1,200 minute loop. I got everything greased and lubed on the truck as well as all preventative maintenance done.

Now I need to drive it to Walmart and buy a loaf of bread.
View attachment 164146


Might go by Lowes and buy a 2x4.
View attachment 164147


And then I might just drag up a chair, get me a beer, and look at it until dark.
View attachment 164148

Next project is to hook up the trailer and fab up some mounting brackets for the ramps so I can safely load the jeep on the trailer for parades.

Nice looking truck there Nitelite. Did you pick up that loaf of bread yet??

 

[Metalman 55]

Enjoyed the day with the 5 ton.

No rain today, the sun actually came out for awhile. I spent the day with the 5 ton. I got my decals put on the doors. That decal is a replica of the shoulder patch that I wore on my military uniform while I was stationed in Europe. I got four cameras installed, one in the front looking forward, one in the rear looking back and one on each front fender looking back down the sides. The camera records on a continuous 1,200 minute loop. I got everything greased and lubed on the truck as well as all preventative maintenance done.

Now I need to drive it to Walmart and buy a loaf of bread.
View attachment 164146


Might go by Lowes and buy a 2x4.
View attachment 164147


And then I might just drag up a chair, get me a beer, and look at it until dark.
View attachment 164148

Next project is to hook up the trailer and fab up some mounting brackets for the ramps so I can safely load the jeep on the trailer for parades.

Nice looking truck there Nitelite. Did you pick up that bread yet??

 

[Nitelite]

No metalman, I didn't get the bread but I did pick up a 2x4 at Home Depot! I should have gotten two, that would have given me an excuse to hook up the trailer. Come to think of it, I don't need that 2x4 either. I think I'll fire up the track loader in the morning, use it to load up the 2x4, and take it back to Home Depot. Did I mention that this wet weather needs to dry up some so I can go and play in the dirt and don't have to work so hard finding something to do?

 

[CavinJim]

James, if you were closer I'd say come put some hours on my 955! It's dry here, perfect for dirt-work, and I'm so busy with work and a 50th anniversary (in-laws, not mine!) that I haven't found enough time to do anything but watch the rattletrap idle in the shed! Sigh. I did get to play on the sawmill Saturday (beautiful--sunny and 70) but that was about it. At least I know I can make boards-to-order. My wife reminded me that I still need to make a vanity, shelf, and cabinet for our bath before building all the cabinets for the kitchen remodel--not to mention the workbench and miter-saw station I'm working on.... I wish I had your woodworking skills closer to hand! Oh, well, the fun never ends. Put that 2x4 to good use! I'm presuming it was a 12 footer. Maybe 16 if you were daring!

 

[Nitelite]

Got a little seat time today and expect more of the same tomorrow.

 

[boone]

The new site MUST have blocked your pictures cause I don't see any. Must be drying out there.

 

[Nitelite]

Believe it or not, I got so busy pulling levers and pushing pedals that I forgot to take pictures. We do have some dry and somewhat workable dirt for a few days here. They are calling for snow now. This new site does take some getting used to. I really don't think that it is an improvement over the old look.

About one more month boone and we will have better weather as far as dirt work is concerned. You are farther South so maybe a little sooner for you there in Al. I have a full list of things needing to be done and I am sure that you do too.

 

[Nitelite]

Well, crap happens!

 

[Nitelite]

I haven't been able to figure out this new format. It will let me post pictures but will not let me add any text after the pictures have been uploaded.

Any way, when I pushed that 36" white oak over the roots must have grown around my gutter drain pipes and crushed them. The crush points were in several places along the double pipe line. It is easier to just replace all of the PVC rather than to hand dig and try to patch. The loader wanted to run anyway.

I will be building on to this end of the house when the weather breaks. Will also be demoing the existing shed and putting in a new three car garage in its place. Too many projects and not enough time!

 

[Metalman 55]

I haven't been able to figure out this new format. It will let me post pictures but will not let me add any text after the pictures have been uploaded.

I have been struggling with the picture management as well. Maybe it is an age thing, learning new things!! I end up getting doubles of the pictures much of the time.

So, you are using the 951 as an excavator now.......maybe it is time to get an excavator now too?? You have the truck & trailer to pull it around with now. Maybe check with your wife & see what she says about that one??

Nice looking Honda RTV there too Nitelite . Bet the grandkids don't like riding it that one??

 

[DMiller]

I cut a ditch the same way Nitelite, set our Gray water drain into it with four inch clean rock so it can filter then drain away and not be a mudhole.

 

[Nitelite]

Yeah Miller, one of those lines has grey water from the washing machine flowing together with rain water from the gutter. It just runs into the hollow that you see there and dissipates into the ground.

 

[Nitelite]

Metalman, two yellow machines are no problem with the wife as long as they are not seen both at the same time. She don't notice that one has a bucket and the other a blade. Now, if there were three yellow machines, only one visible at a time, I would need only to explain the new attachment that made it look so much taller. I just know that I would make a good excavator owner.

I think that I just saw a picture in another thread with at least three toys that you might be playing with. I don't envy that white stuff on the ground in the picture.

 

[Nitelite]

That old Cat loader never ceases to amaze me! Up thread you can see in the pictures showing that I am digging a trench to replace the drain lines. I am digging across the trench in that I turn the bucket teeth straight down, Move forward two feet while at the same time curling the bucket. Then I bring up a full bucket, travel forward until just about half track is about to break over the edge of the trench and then dump the material on the far side of the trench. Usually I take two scoops out before moving six feet down the trench to repeat the process. That makes the trench about 36 inches deep. The trench will end up burying two 4" drain pipes about 100 feet long. I am back filling the trench as I add the 10' pipe sections.

Last week, about half way through the job, it started raining and turned cold, the ground froze so I quit working on the project. Today the temperature came up to 70 degrees and dried out somewhat so I continued digging the trench. On one scoop I went too far over the edge with the center and the loader, with a full bucket , broke over and did a nose dive into the trench with the bucket half raised and the front idlers sunk in the bottom of the trench. I was hanging by the seat belt. I could have dumped the bucket and used it to push myself up and out of the ditch backwards. Instead I threw both feet up on the dash to hold myself back in the seat, put the loader in reverse and opened her up to WOT. I wouldn't have given the machine ten cents worth of a chance to climb back out of there but it did! When it broke over the edge climbing out it was a good thing that I had the seat belt on. I have about twenty more feet to go before the job will be done.

A

 

[Nitelite]

What to work on and play with when the ground is too wet or froze.

 

[Metalman 55]

View attachment 165095 View attachment 165096 View attachment 165097 View attachment 165098 View attachment 165095 View attachment 165096
What to work on and play with when the ground is too wet or froze.

That is one solid looking combo unit there Nitelite............looking good! Wouldn't a mini excavator look good sitting up on that trailer now??

 

[Nitelite]

Yes Metalman a mini excavator would look good on that trailer, but If I had a mini x I would have it over there working on that trench instead of using the track loader. But then again, that trench project is about over. I dug the rest of the trench and installed all of the pipe today with the exception of one section of pvc that I am short. I hope that I will get a chance next Tuesday to finish up. Then I will move the track loader and dozer back to the site where I am digging out a hillside for a place to build a new building to house the 5 ton and trailer.
The new building will need a side shed on each side, one for the loader and one for the dozer.

 

[Nitelite]

Looking at the pictures posted above in this thread as thumbnail pictures in post #1056 as compared to full view pictures in post #1049, which is the more desirable post and which would you rather see, the thumbnail of the picture or the full size picture? I have not been able to figure out how to stop or correct the double post yet. Text combined with pictures gets kind of tricky for an old fart like me!

 

[Nitelite]

Well, I got in about nine hours of loader seat time today. I am digging out a place to put a pad for a new building. Sort of like digging a basement but much larger. The building needs to be somewhere about 40x100 with a clear span. I need about ten more days like today to complete the job, and some decent weather. Today was perfect. The clay was wet enough to dig from a steep bank but loose enough that it did not stick in the bucket. I need to put the dozer on it but that old loader is doing a good job. I am about to the point that the D-4 might be more efficient. Slot dozing should do the trick, with a straight down hill push for about 40 yards max from the back of the dig. Not far enough to use the loader and dump truck, especially considering that I would be the loader operator and dump truck driver! I am too old to swap machines that often.