A few projects I have done recently

[walkerv]

It's been while since I've posted. We had a busy end of the year close out and took off some time over the holidays - 2 weeks to be exact. Gave the guys the from the 23rd of Dec to Jan 1 off with pay. We all needed a break.

Back to the grind. We have some pre-meditated downtime so we can bring some of the iron in to the yard and do some much needed maintenance.

The 321DLCR got new rails and sprockets. Original Cat UC went 7,000 hrs before we started having pin failures. With it's age and hours I decided to go back with aftermarket since it was 1/2 the price of Cat. Plan on replacing this hoe this year if work load goes as expected and didn't see the value in going back with Cat.


Ordered the rails, sprocket segments and hardware from TracksNteeth as they have a DC in Atlanta. Placed the order on a Monday and the LTL truck showed up the next day around lunch time. We'll see how they hold up.

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I was reading the other thread where the OP was having a devil of a time getting pads off the rails. Well we didn't have any real issues that the 1" Harbor Freight gun couldn't handle. There were a few bolts where the gas axe had to come out but only 1/2 dozen or so. Not bad for 9 years and 7,000 hours of use.

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So what's something creative to do with a set of wore out 321 chains and a set of well worn 953 chains other than giving them away to the scrap yard?

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That grey iron is just structural steel leftovers we've picked up from jobs over the years. I've got a boat load of I beams and angle iron.

I have seen them tack welded into circles and stacked up for a fire pit ring before.

 

[Ronsii]

Hang em' next to some 10-15 inch ductile and make hurricane/tornado wind chimes..

 

[hosspuller]

Weld them into a ridgid frame for your company sign. Like an oval with sprockets at the ends, Name between the sprockets. Sprockets not needed, use two truck rims (w/o tires). Mount the whole thing on a few boulders. Back light it, from the bottom (between boulders)

 

[CM1995]

Thanks for the ideas fellas. I've got the sprocket "rings" from the 321 that I could put on either end of one chain and go from there. I like the boulder idea hosspuller, there are some nice red sandstone boulders off a condo job at our dump that would work nicely.

 

[CM1995]

So we needed to take advantage of bonus depreciation (thanks to a ROBUST economy) and our highest milage crew truck was a 2014 6.2 gasser had 200K on the odometer so it was time to replace it.

Decided to give RAM a shot which still surprises myself as I've been a Ford guy for pretty much my entire working career.

Anyway bought a 2019 RAM 3500. 6.7, Aisin trans, 4x4, Tradesman package. The truck came with a Northstar bed with 2 underbody tool boxes.

Getting away from the iconic "white" work truck and moving towards silver as it's different and looks cleaner when it's dirty.



We installed a 110 gal tank we already had just had to give it a fresh paint job. Also had the two top Weatherguard boxes in storage as well. Just a fresh coat of paint and those boxes were good to go. Used some simple turnbuckles from HD to secure their Orca cooler.



Bought this UWS drawer toolbox back in 2014 and has been in service since. Acid washed it, ruffed it up with some 200 grit and painted it black. Looks good on the new flatbed and balances out the cooler on the other side.

 

[Ronsii]

Nice !!!!! I like it


Always been a ford guy myself but after driving/using the dodges the boss has I'd switch in a minute given the chance!!!

 

[AzIron]

That's a fancy looking truck even if it's a dodge lol

In all seriousness good to see others are capitalizing on this market as well

 

[CM1995]

Nice !!!!! I like it


Always been a ford guy myself but after driving/using the dodges the boss has I'd switch in a minute given the chance!!!

Thanks Ronsii! We'll see how the RAM goes in the long haul. Many, many contractors in my area are running RAM 3500 flatbeds like this doing erosion control to heavy civil work. Both my supers are RAM fans.

That's a fancy looking truck even if it's a dodge lol

In all seriousness good to see others are capitalizing on this market as well

HA! I'm with ya', still can't believe I bought one.

I am carefully and cautiously upgrading the main components of the 2 crews which each consist of a 320 size hoe, CTL, crew truck and trench roller. Currently have a 325FL with 1200 hrs with payment, 321DL with 7,000 hrs with no payment, 279D with very small balance owed, 279D bought new in 2019, 2013 F350 with no payment and 2019 RAM 3500 recently purchased. Trench rollers are both paid for and easily replaced through the auction houses so they are somewhat marginal.

Our D5G, 953C, 533E and 420DIT are all support machines and paid for that bounce between crews when needed. Just had the Cat house replace all 6 injectors and run the overhead on the 953. These machines are more profitable repairing instead of replacing with new as they don't rack up the daily hours but you need them to be competitive in the market place.

Next on the replacement schedule is a new 325 and a D5 with GPS.

 

[CM1995]

Selective demolition of 60 year old building adjacent to a coffee shop in an area of the city that is being re-developed. Slab on grade building with masonry walls and bar joist roof. They topped the roof decking with lightweight concrete around 2-3" with a tar and gravel roof applied over the top.

This building was in severe disrepair, hence the inside gut job. The stench from the building was permeating into the building next door. The same neighborhood non-profit owns both buildings.

Cut a 14' wide hole in the back of the building in order to start the demo. The 60 year old CMU walls are not in the best of shape. The crew had to be very careful with the walls to remain.



View once the hoe could get into the building and work. We'll get 3-30 yard boxes of scrap around 3 tons a piece, 2- 30 yard boxes to the landfill and 5-6 loads of inert material to our dump.



Pic I took on the man lift. The new iPhone camera's are outstanding.



There is a new "hip" coffee bar in the building next door, sharing the wall on the other side of the the 325. We have done several tricky demos next to existing occupied buildings before one being next to a Best Buy. Slow and methodical is the only way to perform these types of demo successfully.

Picking the second tp last bar joist out of the roof system - the reverse of topping out.

 

[willie59]

Pics from a drone camera?

 

[CM1995]

Pics from a drone camera?

Genie 40' manlift.

We needed a lift in order to get the guys safely up in the air to cut the imbed bolts off the bar joists that had them. It's just so much safer and easier to rent a man lift for demo jobs like this - no ladders or climbing over debris to cut things out of the way.

 

[willie59]

Genie 40' manlift.

We needed a lift in order to get the guys safely up in the air to cut the imbed bolts off the bar joists that had them. It's just so much safer and easier to rent a man lift for demo jobs like this - no ladders or climbing over debris to cut things out of the way.

I like it. Dang good pics bro!

 

[dirty4fun]

Selective demolition of 60 year old building adjacent to a coffee shop in an area of the city that is being re-developed. Slab on grade building with masonry walls and bar joist roof. They topped the roof decking with lightweight concrete around 2-3" with a tar and gravel roof applied over the top.

This building was in severe disrepair, hence the inside gut job. The stench from the building was permeating into the building next door. The same neighborhood non-profit owns both buildings.

Cut a 14' wide hole in the back of the building in order to start the demo. The 60 year old CMU walls are not in the best of shape. The crew had to be very careful with the walls to remain.

View attachment 209698

View once the hoe could get into the building and work. We'll get 3-30 yard boxes of scrap around 3 tons a piece, 2- 30 yard boxes to the landfill and 5-6 loads of inert material to our dump.

View attachment 209699

Pic I took on the man lift. The new iPhone camera's are outstanding.

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There is a new "hip" coffee bar in the building next door, sharing the wall on the other side of the the 325. We have done several tricky demos next to existing occupied buildings before one being next to a Best Buy. Slow and methodical is the only way to perform these types of demo successfully.

Picking the second tp last bar joist out of the roof system - the reverse of topping out.

View attachment 209701

Tearing down buildings is enjoyable to me. Did a big cattle shed a few years ago and had to save the three outside walls. Tearing off the roof and roof eave metal, hooking it with one tooth. Lift it off and then up over another wall then back up 20' with 4-6" between the wall and the feed bunk. The last bucket full I rubbed a post and scratched the paint on the counter weight. Had a friend make a caution decal and covered it up, because it damaged the original decal.
Enjoy seeing you work, always looks professionally done, I make a mess but like to leave things neat, like you.

 

[CM1995]

I like it. Dang good pics bro!

Thanks! These new iPhone 3 camera phones are pretty darn impressive - it's not me it's the camera.

 

[willie59]

Thanks! These new iPhone 3 camera phones are pretty darn impressive - it's not me it's the camera.

No, it ain't just the camera. You chose a time where the light was perfect, and that shot of the bucket and thumb about to pick that bar joist, very nice positioning for the shot, very nice. And yes, to hell with ladders and scaffolds, F that stuff, gimmie a 40 foot manlift on single story building sites, way better to work with. And if you need to go higher or farther out go with an 80 footer, pretty much any lift over 80 feet puts you working within an operation envelope and typically requires extending axles to increase footprint.

 

[CM1995]

Willie I appreciate that. My wife tells me I have the eye to take a picture too but never think about it - just snap the pic when it looks good.

 

[Ronsii]

I think a lot of it is the IPhone....

Here's a pic I took and like CM's both in the same time frame... same subject matter.. more or less but mine wasn't taken on an IPhone see the difference!!!

 

[Bls repair]

The iPhone makes things look bigger

 

[CM1995]

The iPhone makes things look bigger

That's what she said! Badabump

 

[Metalman 55]

A couple of Sat chores around home with the old 941. Push back some snow piles to make room for more at the end of the driveway & carry & level manure onto the vegetable garden in preparation for spring! For an old machine, it still runs great!