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Cat 951-C in my sights

Nitelite

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
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Retired
On Monday and Tuesday I spent some time with a real hero and friend, Mr. William (Bill) Robinson. No enlisted man in American military history was ever held as a prisoner of war longer than Bill. He was a helicopter crew chief on a rescue mission when his chopper was shot down over North Vietnam and captured on September 20, 1965 and was held 2,703 days as a POW.
 

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,129
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
On Monday and Tuesday I spent some time with a real hero and friend, Mr. William (Bill) Robinson. No enlisted man in American military history was ever held as a prisoner of war longer than Bill. He was a helicopter crew chief on a rescue mission when his chopper was shot down over North Vietnam and captured on September 20, 1965 and was held 2,703 days as a POW.
Not to get too political but our so called "president" would not consider him a HERO as he likes people who don't get caught!
Next time you see Bill shake his hand for me!
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,434
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
I lost a good deal of HS members in the war, a Handshake for me as well for surviving and having served our nation.
 

Hobbytime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
709
Location
usa
Not to get too political but our so called "president" would not consider him a HERO as he likes people who don't get caught!
Next time you see Bill shake his hand for me!
I believe his comment on that was aimed at 1 particular person after that person started with the negative comments, but on a lighter side, the current president has given more praise to the military and law enforcement in several months than the previous one over 8 years in office...:)
 

Nitelite

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
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Retired
Been getting about four to five hours a day seat time on the track loader. I am digging in a clay bank and moving the hard clay about thirty to forty yards. kind of boring but I am accomplishing two jobs at one time. Filling a hollow for a parking area and taking that hill down in order to pour a pad and build my building. The old 951 is really operating very well.

Today at the end of working I parked the 951 in a convenient location to do maintenance that is due. I am at a point that I need the dozer on the project again anyway. I will work the dozer up on top of the hill for awhile.
 

jughead

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
284
Location
soddy-daisy tn.
Occupation
retired
been 20 years since i could stay on my loader 4 hours at a time. wouldnt be able to walk if that long now. about 2 hours a day is about it. old legs and too many heart problems tell on me. still enjoy it though.got about 2-3 hours road work planned for today after a dang doctor visit. old ticker complaining again but it just keeps keeping on.
 

Nitelite

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
Occupation
Retired
I know the feeling jughead. I am 20 years out from two heart attacks, three stents, and triple bypass. I am on my forth pacemaker/defibrillator and it has about 1/2 battery life left. Never heard of anyone getting a fifth but they need to go ahead and get #5 ready for me as I have long range plans. I am in Chronic and permanent A-Fib with a 25% ejection fraction. Class III kidney failure, Diabetes on five insulin shots per day. Loss of use of right hand and right foot. I have claw hand and can't stand or walk without a leg brace. I get around with a cane and a scooter. You don't want to know about all of the the rest. All of that as a result of Agent Orange when I was young and in the military. I do admit that the VA takes good care of me and compensates me well. In the last 24 months I have kept 134 doctors appointments at the VA hospital as well as some more with private doctors.

I can still operate the equipment, with some modifications to the controls and repair it from the ground up when it needs it. I do four hours seat time because I can't manage five and I dread the effort that it takes to climb down when I am done. I pull her up and park next to the step ladder. I refuse to sit down and do nothing but it would be so easy to do that. I work for myself, by myself, at my own speed and don't need to get in a hurry or keep up with anyone.

I put my bass boat in the water today and took the grand kids for their first boat ride. It has been more than 20 years since the boat was in the water. Rebuilt the carbs, new water pump, fuel lines, and renewed the registration. The old 50 Merc runs as good as the day that I bought it new in 1986. It looks like new as it has been kept inside all of those years.

I might need to use a cheater on a 3/8 wrench once in a while but I can make up for it with a lot of will power! I can half heartily out work some of these younger guys, standing on one leg and one hand behind my back. Not complaining or bragging, just keeping on keeping on. And yes, I can tie my shoes with one hand!
 

jughead

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
284
Location
soddy-daisy tn.
Occupation
retired
my hat is off to you i just thought i had problems. you can work rings around this old man too. brag on you have earned the right. oh and thank you for your service
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
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16,434
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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
I thought my slight issues were tough, not hardly!! You Are Da Man big guy!! My hat is off to how much you manage and the method you manage them at.
 

Nitelite

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
Occupation
Retired
I have a friend who is paralyzed from the waist down due to a motorcycle accident. He had the front glass removed from the excavator that he owns. He then welded an I beam overhead above the seat position inside the cab and removed the seat. The I beam extends straight out the windshield opening about six feet. He has an electric winch and trolley system to pick up his wheelchair with him in it and transfer the chair to the operator's position. He locks the wheelchair in place, fires up the machine and he can forget the world for awhile. He operates a construction dump site and uses the excavator to keep the construction debris pushed in. He is Da Man. If he can do all of that with his profound disability, we can all get a little more encouragement and traction to keep on keeping on.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
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Feb 21, 2010
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16,434
Location
Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
:)
Takes all sort of commitment and due diligence to go that far!
I am mostly blind in left eye due to injury 1987, you all know the back/neck saga that started 1977. Arthritic three fingers left hand, caught in wood jointer at 15, hit by car at 3 yet managed to derive a Cat's nine lives, did not preclude US Army enlistment 1974-76, was sent home after found the arthritis as seems the doctors doing the physicals never rolled my hands from palms up to see the top side damage until it flared badly in Ft. Knox. 2A medical Honorable discharge as they had let me in and thru boot. Just a mangle of scar tissue any more but well better off than so many.
 

Nitelite

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Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
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Retired
A pretty rough storm went through two days ago. Really made the work/play site muddy so no work on the project for a few days. I have used some of the down time to fuel the machines and do some maintenance. I topped off fuel in the 951, D4, two ag tractors and then refilled my transfer tank, 105 gallons. All of that after putting 85 gallons in the 5 ton and 35 gal. in the F250. Local Co-Op diesel price is still under 2.00 per gal. I don't expect to see that low price much longer.

I don't really know how to figure yardage of dirt removal but the area to be excavated is 130' x 140' at an average of 8' deep. What I come up with is 16,177.7 yds, if I am using the right formula to calculate the yardage. I stand to be corrected by those of you in the know. I do know that that is a lot of hours and wear on a 69 year old man on a 30 year old machine. I think that I have removed about half of the dirt so far. I am sure that it is a small job for some of you more experienced operators.
 

Tags

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
1,610
Location
Connecticut
I think it is closer to 5400 yards or so + 20% for expansion of the excavated material, that would be somewheres around 6400 yards. I take 140x130x8 and divide that by 27 to come up with those numbers.

On a side note, I've read every page of your posts and it brings a smile to my face whenever I see you've posted something new. It is absolutely incredible the patience and fortitude you have to rebuild and maintain and purchase the toys you have. I hope I have the tenacity and vigor you have when I reach the same point in my life. Thank you for your service as well!
 

Nitelite

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Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
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Retired
Thanks for the comment. You make me sound pretty good but to me, it is just life playing itself out. I am proud of who I am and all that I have accomplished in life. It will all come to a halt someday but until then there will always be a smile on my face and it is WOT!

My mistake was I divided by 9 instead of 27. I am glad you straightened me out Tags. That means that I only need to relocate 1/3 of the amount of dirt that I had figured on.

Once upon a time I was spat on and called a baby killer, I returned home in an inconspicuous manner, took off the uniform, integrated back in society and never divulged that I was a veteran for almost forty years. Now days I am proud of my military service and thank you for recognizing it. Personally, I reserve the greatest respect for the working man/woman across this great nation. Want to see who I am? Do a google search for James M. Cripps.
 

Nitelite

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Jul 5, 2013
Messages
905
Location
Ashland City TN.
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Retired
In March the fender mounted starter solenoid on the F250 went bad. While going do the road at about 55 mph the starter engaged the flywheel and it made one heck of a noise. By the time that I realized what was making the noise the starter drive had no teeth left on it. The flywheel luckily was not hurt at all. I replaced the starter and that is a job on that 7.3 liter Diesel. It takes a guy working with one hand four hours just to get the old one off. Two hours to put the new one on.

Luck has it that the new starter went out. The plastic face on the starter mounted solenoid that came mounted on the new starter broke. I removed the starter again yesterday evening and picked up another new one under warranty this morning. Got it back together this evening and it is back in business. I couldn't do without the truck because of the bed mounted diesel transfer tank. The truck was parked on pavement with more than 100 gallons of diesel in the tank but I couldn't move it in order to fuel the machines.

I have scraped the face of the clay bank with the loader until it is now too hard and too tall to work from the bottom. In the next post is pictures of using the loader to push dirt over the bank from above.
 

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Nitelite

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Jul 5, 2013
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905
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Ashland City TN.
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Retired
After pushing dirt over the edge from the top I am again at the bottom with the loader scooping it up and carrying it about thirty to forty yards to use filling in a hollow. Too short a distance to use the dump truck in this one man operation.
 

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