What's your hoe doing?

[T-town]

Thanks guys...
Swetz.. I hope things have been dry enough for you to make some progress at your place..

 

[Willie B]

Little job;
The one room school in my town of 200 people was expanded to two rooms just before I started first grade. Now it's the Town Clerk's office. The handicap ramp was old, so we ripped it out. That exposed the building sills, they were rotten. Concrete steps were under the rotted out handicap ramp. They had to be removed. I guessed how deep they might go into the ground, I was off by a foot. I estimated it at 7000 lbs, they proved to weigh 10500. I could have moved 7000, 10500 I lifted, but couldn't move. I moved them 20 feet, but couldn't drive with them.
Ended up getting an employee from the local paving company with a Cat 966 to haul them away. I bet they will make the crusher grunt!

 

[Swetz]

Swetz.. I hope things have been dry enough for you to make some progress at your place..

I am, thank you.

I have almost all the stumps removed from the pad now. I should finish them in the next week.

I have also been working on drainage for my house. Ran a 4" pipe and built a dry dam with a catch basin and a 4" riser.

Hoping it stays dry so I can finish with my swales to get rid of all of the water. Oh, bought some 15" double wall culvert pipe too.

 

[T-town]

bought some 15" double wall culvert pipe too.

If the price of that plastic is anything like what they want for conduit.... holy crap!
Glad to hear things are dry enough to move forward at your place.

I will be picking up 400' of 4" perimeter drain in the next week or so. They want 100+ at the box stores... few dollars less at some local supply houses.... but if I drive a couple hours its 60... go figure!
At least the price of a stud is back to reasonable.

 

[edgephoto]

I really enjoy seeing what you guys do with your 'hoes. I bought mine oct of 2019 thinking "next fall I can start cutting trees and stumping for our house and leeching field". Well COVID hit and everything got screwed up plus I ended up fixing my backhoe more than originally planned.

I decided to fix it right so I can have it for years. When the weather is above 90 I can't work on it. I am not built for the heat. I am not aiming for next Spring to have her fixed and moved to my land. With all the life changes that COVID brought we are not sure we can even build now. At the least I will clear the land for a house, put in a driveway and do as much as I can to prepare the property for a house. At the worst I can sell the land and turn a profit.

I can't wait to start digging. I have never used a backhoe before so this will be a learning curve for me. My neighbor is an operator for a local home builder. He uses a Cat and I have a Cat. He offered to help out by running my machine.

Keep posting, you guys inspire me!

 

[T-town]

I too was a "rookie" operator.... but no better place to become somewhat proficient than your own 'dirt'!!
I was just thinking today, as I was moving yet another load of fill to my sand mound berm.... how lucky I felt to be doing what I was doing....sitting solo on the property... smiling .... priceless!! Have fun.... and stay safe.....

good thing about old age is the slowing down.. gives ya time to ponder the situation

 

[Willie B]

I was one of those teenagers could run anything. Both my sons surpass me on my best day. I had occasionally had a fraction of a day I would have opportunity to run excavator, or backhoe, I just loved it! Several times, I rented an excavator.
About 22 years ago I bought my own backhoe. Like most used old machine purchases, it had problems. After diagnosing the problem, it took forever for parts to arrive.

I needed a backhoe, so I bought another, This was functional but not loved. I found another in very nice condition, close sibling to the previous. This I kept 15 years.

My son's friend is no mechanic. He bought a backhoe to do his own site work on construction projects. He was disillusioned after two years, wanted to sell. I bought his also.

I didn't need two, I sold both, added some more money, bought a low hour machine a model still in production.

You'll either quickly learn to run it, or find it isn't for you.

 

[T-town]

It has been awhile, but I think I found proof....


rocks DO grow here in PA. !! Finally pulled one with roots still attached. That explains it


Got started on the sand mound....


Ended up a bit shy on the sand... so more coming,


Will get the dosing tank set this week.... run some pipe and get the next inspection. If OK then I can cover and seed.

 

[Willie B]

You said sand mound. My mind went a different direction.

When I was a young man building my house there was a neighbor kid, sort of a cast off. He was one who didn't know who his father was, his mother didn't know. His grandparents were virtually dysfunctional, (alcohol). His great grandmother was dealing with her lunatic daughter, but was best he had in lieu of parents. He lived several months of each year with her next door to me. He was 8 when I was 23 & he followed me around whenever I was there.

He's all grown up now, runs his own excavation business. He has a wife & two adult daughters.

He was hired by a trust fund old man to build what I call Mount Crumpet. The homeowner lived in an impressive place, several beautifully landscaped ponds, a beautiful 1800 house restored in the best way money could buy. Picturesque barns, & a guest house much nicer than my home. Still he had no distant view, except the very peak of Stratton ski area.

My friend was hired to build a mountain. It was to be tall enough to see over the uncooperative neighbor's trees with views of Stratton. The thing must have been 40 feet high. Plan was to have an entertainment area at the top big enough to bring invited guests for an evening of entertaining, they would see the distant evening activity on the ski area. Dormant in summer, it is still a meeting place for the wealthy to gather year round.

When I last saw it, it was at height, but the top level area was barely big enough for the loader. It still needed many thousands of cubic yards of earth to expand the space at top.

 

[T-town]

..wow.... and was he hauling in ALL that fill ? or getting it 'on site'....

I'll bet over half the hours I have added to this "old hoe" have been moving material around a bucket at a time. When I cut my footer ditches I could see how much material I added to the top of this ridge I'm straddling.... 2 foot here, 3 1/2 foot there.... and I thought that was a lot.
At least my view was good from the get go.... not Stratton mind you but pretty good non the less.

 

[Willie B]

..wow.... and was he hauling in ALL that fill ? or getting it 'on site'....

I'll bet over half the hours I have added to this "old hoe" have been moving material around a bucket at a time. When I cut my footer ditches I could see how much material I added to the top of this ridge I'm straddling.... 2 foot here, 3 1/2 foot there.... and I thought that was a lot.
At least my view was good from the get go.... not Stratton mind you but pretty good non the less.

Built a pond, that provided some material, but most was trucked in. Hard to say how much was trucked, many thousands of yards.

 

[T-town]

.... wow again... well.... when money is no object.... there you go.

 

[Willie B]

I've lost touch with the property owner. His house had a generator I didn't install 2' from his bedroom. He wanted a generator for the guest house, insisted it had to be 100 yards from the building, couldn't accept that all that ditch etc. would cost.

I'll check in to see if the mountain is finished.
Last day I was there was the day of the solar eclipse.

 

[cosmaar1]

My hoe is getting prepared to start the final stage of my pond build August 18! within a week after I’m hoping it’s holding back water!! 3.5 years in the making and it will soon be finished!!!!!!!

 

[aighead]

Welp, digging the drainage trench around the barn last night and go to scoop up a bucket full of dirt and out sprays a fine mist of hydraulic fluid. I guess my worn out bucket hose has finally run through the extendahoe area one too many times.

Any of you guys with New Holland extendahoes want to take a picture of the routing for the hoses going to the bucket? Mine, theoretically, lays down inside the space between the extendahoe arm and the not extending arm. There are two little tabs that appear to be for guiding the hoses back down into that space but I'm not positive. I've got a hard line the comes off the cylinder a couple feet to keep that pathway going but mine looks like it's all bent up (not creased) and not held tight to cylinder like I think maybe it should be?

The hoses running in that track have a rubber sleeve over them but the one that got cut that sleeve is pretty much shot. I'd like to find something comparable or beefier.

 

[Swetz]

I am away this week, so attempting to upload some pics on my phone...hope it works!
Let me know if this is what you need. I will be back at the tractor Sunday and could get what you need.

 

[aighead]

Thanks Swetz, I think your first and 2nd picture show me what I'm looking for, my issue is on the hose on the left in those pictures. I'll have to take a few good pictures myself to compare. Your hard line is in much better shape and strapped much more nicely to the cylinder than mine, I think I've got mine stuck in some tree branches or something several times. I should be more able to straighten that out upon removing the hose, so I'm not so scared of it. Also your little tabs that I presume are for guiding the hose back into that channel are more angled out than mine, that has likely contributed to the tear.

I'm very busy this weekend and I think the hose shop will only be open early tomorrow, when I can't get to it, so it'll likely be mid next week before I can do anything. We'll see. Thanks again man!

 

[T-town]

Got a 'dosing' tank placed in the hole this last week...


.... and maybe some of you might have some experience with the various ways by which one connects pipe to these precast tanks.
The inlet /outlet holes ( to be) look like this....

... a close up of the casting imprint? .....inside wall of the tank appears smooth. I guess its a simple 4" knockout. Or do I hole saw a 2"+ opening for the pipe and then grout the 'cone'??.... as one would for the 4" pipe ( the grouting)

Not sure yet if there's a 'connection boot' that I'm gonna need...... the inlet from my yet to installed septic tank will be 4"..... the outlet from the dosing tank to the 'sand mound" is 2"..... so maybe they make a reducing boot??

thanks for any insight into the area of precast.

 

[aighead]

Can you guys help explain what I should expect upon removal of the hose that pivots the hoe bucket? It's similar to the the one Swetz is showing above, on the left in the first 2 pictures, and it appears to be the hose that curls the bucket in. So I'll lose the curling ability, and theoretically I want the cylinder to be on the empty side of the hose, right? Like the shaft shouldn't be seen because it's in the cylinder? Meaning the bucket is uncurled? I'm thinking I won't lose a ton of hydraulic fluid either way but I don't want to do something dumb either...

Is there a better solution than the plastic sleeve hoses are wrapped in, for when they travel into and out of the channel for the extendahoe?

Am I missing something that may get me hurt? This seems like it should be a straight forward hose to remove but I'd hate to be wrong.

 

[Tinkerer]

If the bucket is on the ground and curled all the way in or out you shouldn't lose much oil.
With the engine off, move the control lever back n forth to relieve any pressure in the hoses.
Most any hydraulic cylinder repair shop should have rolls of protective sheathing for hose.