A few projects I have done recently

Hey CM. This is the first time I’ve been on in a while. I wanted to tell you I am so sorry to hear about your Mom.

Congrats on the new truck as well as the big workload. Nice to see you are busy!

Landclearer said:

Hey CM. This is the first time I’ve been on in a while. I wanted to tell you I am so sorry to hear about your Mom.

Congrats on the new truck as well as the big workload. Nice to see you are busy!

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Thanks LC, I appreciate it. Idle minds go to waste so it's good to be busy - it's been 10 years since I've seen this much economic activity.

I have been slacking in picture taking.

By putting together two crews meant we needed another excavator. RPO'ing a 2018 325FL. Delivered it to the bank demo, the loaner machine is being picked in the background.

It has the tool control circuit and plumbed for a QC. Opted for a manual thumb instead of hydraulic, as a manual can easily be removed when laying pipe. Might add a QC later and adjust the thumb tines to match.

Pretty good deal the local Cat dealer is offering on a Rental Purchase Option. 6 months interest free with 100% going towards purchase price at the end of the 6 month term. Monthly rental is the same amount as renting one from the Rental Store. It's a no brainer if your work load is full.



We drop the manual thumbs when we don't need them. A lot of times we are lifting heavy structures or reaching at distance laying pipe and the extra weight causes issues. Our profit is putting pipe in the ground, the demo and other things requiring a thumb are just part of the overall package.

In order to keep the bosses from spreading out we use an old pin when the thumb is off. This is the 321DL.

Congrats on the new hoe. That is a good deal on the rpo!

Would you do a pin grabber or wedge lock coupler? I prefer the wedge because it does not change the tip radius much but you can’t turn the bucket around and use it like a shovel.

Landclearer said:

Congrats on the new hoe. That is a good deal on the rpo!

Would you do a pin grabber or wedge lock coupler? I prefer the wedge because it does not change the tip radius much but you can’t turn the bucket around and use it like a shovel.

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Yeah it is a good deal, it's a little more interest over the note but gives you 6 months of flexibility up front so it's a trade off.

I was talking to my salesman about the wedge lock coupler as I'm not that familiar with them. We've had a pin-grabber in the past and had problems with the hydraulic lines to the cylinder as little rocks would get in and rub holes in the line.

It appears Cat sells loose "ears" to retrofit buckets to a wedge lock so I might investigate a little more on that option.

What I'm interested in is a hammer. We had over $100K in hammer rental on the gas station job and coming across more rock on our projects. Of course a hammer wears on a machine but it wouldn't be dedicated to run it.

We'll see.

I personally like the wedge lock. Like I said it does not change your tip radius like a pin grabber. We actually have three buckets from out Cats. We got a couple coupler brackets made so we could switch some of them to the Volvo’s. I think we have a 42 inch a ditch cleaning bucket and v bucket still with cat brackets.

If you do get a hammer make sure it is not plumbed with quick couplers on the hyd lines. We had a coupler come apart on our 325 because of the hammering. You guys take care of your stuff so a hammer on it wouldn’t be that bad and like you said it would not be an everyday thing.

Cm good deal on the ex

As for hammers of you run across rock you can't afford not to own one in my opinion but you wont survive here in the custom home world without one

In my experience if you put the right hammer on a machine the wear is squat if you know what your doing and since I am giving my opinion the only brand of hammer to own or put on a machine you own is an npk

I've used Stucchi VEPHDL couplers on smaller excavators, they can handle the pulse shock of hammers without coming apart inside, but on that size excavator I prefer direct connections to the pipes. One thing you need to inquire CM, that new rig prolly has it, but make sure it has the valves to send the oil on the return aux line direct to tank, you don't want the return on a hammer to go back through the control valve and the oil cooler. Also, I don't know about that rig, but some brands offer return filters that are designed for hammer use, Cat may offer that on that machine. Oh, BTW, good to see you're kicking a$$ enough to bring a new rig in the fleet, rock on bro!

And be wary on mounting a hammer on a machine that has a thumb, mainly a thumb that has a full backing plate welded to the arm. That backing plate creates a reinforcement along that portion of the arm. But where it ends, slightly below mid arm, it will create a stress point in the arm when using a hammer and can cause cracks in the arm steel at that point. Of course this is all related to how the operator puts a load on the arm during breaker use, fore and aft. In rental units this is more of a problem, like sending the arm all the way out until the cylinder bottoms out and bang away. Grrrrrrrrrr

^^ I'm glad you mentioned that willie just something to keep in my mind when looking the machines over as I'd much rather catch a crack before it goes nuclear...

Thanks for the info Willie. This tractor does have the thumb backing plate welded to the stick. At the moment it's just a discussion, work is going in so many directions that creates a lot of "needs" on the equipment front.

Here she is on a restaurant project in Birmingham.

Nice rig, and looks like dang good long undercarriage. And yes, just my experience, not research science, that I've noted machines that have backing plate for thumb welded to the arm does make a stress point when using a breaker. But again, I think that's all related to the operator as much as anything.

I forgot the 325 is a RTS now. I was expecting a 270 size machine. For some reason I thought the loaner was in the foreground of the last post. This is what happens when I HEF past my bed time.

hvy 1ton said:

I forgot the 325 is a RTS now. I was expecting a 270 size machine. For some reason I thought the loaner was in the foreground of the last post. This is what happens when I HEF past my bed time.

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The loaner was a 329. It was a nice tractor.

I had a 325DL that was a 65K lb machine, it appears the 329FL took it's place. We really need a RTS machine for the work we do.

I'm not sure what I like best, the new pickup or the new 325. I really like both. Ditto on Willie's comment that business is good

willie59 said:

Nice rig, and looks like dang good long undercarriage. And yes, just my experience, not research science, that I've noted machines that have backing plate for thumb welded to the arm does make a stress point when using a breaker. But again, I think that's all related to the operator as much as anything.

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I can see that Willie. The strongest part of the chain is the weakest link.

Raildudes dad said:

I'm not sure what I like best, the new pickup or the new 325. I really like both. Ditto on Willie's comment that business is good

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I would have to say the truck.

We have a 95% shot at a 50K SF warehouse addition with a tentative start date of Aug. 1. The project is mainly dirt work with a fire line, hydrant and roof leaders.

The project consists of:
2500 LF of silt fencing
3.5 acres of hydroseeding
4,000 CY of cut/fill, all fill coming from onsite and any excess wasted on site.
50,000 SF of fine grade sub-grade
50,000 SF of supply, place and grade 6" DGB stone under concrete
13,000 SF of supply, place and grade 6" DGB under concrete paving
750 LF of 15" to 12" HDPE roof leaders and connections
460LF of 8" DIP fire line
Relocate 1 existing FH and install 1 new FH.

We are obviously not going to manually blue top 50K sf so I went looking for options. Decided on a Cat BB124 box blade with auto laser set up to run on our 279D. I haven't order the blade or the laser system at the moment, waiting on a contract for the above project 1st.

Local Cat dealer and Sitech quoted the entire system with a UL622 laser, installation and 1 day training for $30K. I thought that was a good deal.

Basically we'll be able to grade the dirt sub-grade and DGB stone to 1/2" tolerance over 50K SF with one machine and operator. I figure this project will pay for the blade and we have the ability to grade flat, single slope and dual slope projects with precision. That blade will make grading a small 8K sf pad a piece O cake.

Do you guys use scrapers or blades in that part of the world. I just find it interesting how different things are from one region to the next

I have only ever seen one track loader on a job here but everyone has a wheel loader along with grade tractors I only know of one skid steer set up but you find grade tractors everywhere

AZ there are scrapers around my area but not that many. Hoes and artic trucks are the choice due to the varying ground conditions in my area and my choice as well to move material. Go to the north or south part of the state and scrapers are more common as they have more "scraper dirt".

We have track loaders running all over the place in the Southeast. Heavy amounts of rain and clay soils make it tough on a wheel loader. Birmingham AL on average receives more rain (total inches) than Seattle. It's not uncommon to get an inch of rain in an afternoon during the summer.

By grade tractor I assume a skip loader? Which is what I call a loader backhoe without the backhoe and a box blade on back. If so, I don't think I have ever seen one working locally.

Yea skip loaders like a deere 210k or l

I like your term "scraper dirt"
it's like top soil we don't have any

Everyone here in the commercial pad business does it with scrappers and blades but then we only get 12 inches of rain a year maybe and the only time you find sand is in the river bottom witch is dry most of the time