A few projects I have done recently

Jakebreak said:

it will be interesting to see how all this def stuff holds up on the equipment. the work looks awesome

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336 can probably burn enough DEF you want to make sure there is a filter on the vent line. The combines we ran when I was a custom harvester could pull enough vacuum to suck dust up 10-12' of vent line. Put one of those little inline fuel filters on the vent lines and no more problems with dust contamination.

hvy 1ton said:

336 can probably burn enough DEF you want to make sure there is a filter on the vent line. The combines we ran when I was a custom harvester could pull enough vacuum to suck dust up 10-12' of vent line. Put one of those little inline fuel filters on the vent lines and no more problems with dust contamination.

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Solid tip to know. Our combine isn't new enough to have DEF yet, but 2 of our 8 series Deers do

CM1995 said:

Thanks Jakebreak.

The 325 has been great. It's an F model not the current next gen. so it doesn't have any of the grade features.

I would love to have a 325 next gen but we're very sensitive to debt after being hammered during the Great Recession. Our current backlog is 6-8 months so not strong enough to justify a $300K investment at the moment.

What type of project do ya'll have coming up for the 336F?

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we have a 4 year project starting out on the desert at a navy base its mostly plumbing but we have a year to do the site work we have 22,000 feet of water main to put in from 16"-6" a bunch of deep sewer and storm and we have 2 huge underground storage tanks i think are about 20,000 gallons each maybe bigger those tanks are going to be about 25' deep 100' long and 30' wide if i remember the dimensions of how big the hole is going to be that's per hole it should be a fun project glad to hear your busy that is only one project we keep bidding work plus we have to start phasing out some of our older equipment that wont be compliant in two years

hvy 1ton said:

336 can probably burn enough DEF you want to make sure there is a filter on the vent line. The combines we ran when I was a custom harvester could pull enough vacuum to suck dust up 10-12' of vent line. Put one of those little inline fuel filters on the vent lines and no more problems with dust contamination.

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Thanks for the tip I will have to check that out and have our mechanic put one in

Jakebreak said:

we have a 4 year project starting out on the desert at a navy base its mostly plumbing but we have a year to do the site work we have 22,000 feet of water main to put in from 16"-6" a bunch of deep sewer and storm and we have 2 huge underground storage tanks i think are about 20,000 gallons each maybe bigger those tanks are going to be about 25' deep 100' long and 30' wide if i remember the dimensions of how big the hole is going to be that's per hole it should be a fun project glad to hear your busy that is only one project we keep bidding work plus we have to start phasing out some of our older equipment that wont be compliant in two years

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that base must be for the boys that sail wind wagons

As the arena turns.

15" A2000 PVC pipe. It's a decent plastic pipe to work with but it's brittle. PVC inline drains for the future concrete pedestrian area that will be in this location.

This whole site has been filled in over the last 150 years with all sorts of "treasures" left by the preceding construction projects. You can see the remnants of an old CMU wall in front of the inline drain. I saved the large sandstone rock on the right side of the pic when it made it to the dump, those rocks are worth a dollar or two for retainer walls.



15" A2000 tie in to a manhole the crew set on top of the new box culverts we replaced last summer.



The new pedestrian plaza has alternating patterns of colored concrete so we had to be sure the little grate inlet wasn't between the two different colors. We got together with the GC's field engineers to locate the exact location and provide offsets.

The plans showed this grate inlet not even centered in 4 different concrete colors. We adjusted the location so the GI ended up being in the middle of the same colored concrete square. Now if this little GI survives the lulls and manlifts is a whole 'nuther story..

Moved the rock box from the arena to our little retail project close to where the tornado tore a path through a week and 1/2 ago.



There were some small pines on site that we cleared and grubbed. We hauled them to our dump. I don't like dumping brush in it but at $50 a load to dump elsewhere I'd rather save the $300.



Stripping and stocking topsoil. There was about 6" of topsoil the original grading contractor spread back over this lot. Probably had an abundance and needed to get rid of it - something I've seen us do before.



Topsoil, topsoil everywhere.

LOL!
I worked a landfill closure and covering project. We mined 90,000 yards off this farm field on the river bottom, average cut was 3'.
I loaded it with a 988B at 215 8 axle dump and pups a day.

Tying in a 15" RCP storm line into an existing double wing inlet on a project we started a couple of weeks ago. This is the toughest labor wise part of this job as it involves shovel work which we all hate.




Another pic at a different angle that shows the extent of shovel work to get to the inlet box.



Backfill going in. Ordered 1" minus scrap rock from a local quarry that came out close to a dense grade base type stone at $2 less per ton than #57's. It's actually good rock with a fair amount of fines, perfect for a road crossing.

Even put the GC's super to work.

Engineer spec'd a Contech Cascade Separator storm water quality unit on one of our current projects. Basically it's a pre-cast storm manhole with a 4' sump in the bottom and a fiberglass baffle that circulates the storm water in order to settle any debris and trash before it exists the structure. This type structure requires regular maintenance to remove the accumulated debris.

First one we've installed. It installs like any other pre-cast structure except it's taller. Normally this would be two pieces we would set separately, note the steel band bolting the two together. The fiberglass baffle spans both sections of pre-cast, hence the metal strapping connecting them together.



Cascade Separator installed. There are two 15" RCP lines that will go out of this structure to drain the parking lot. The curb grate inlet is set backwards..



Your's truly being laborer in the hard hat on a Friday afternoon unloading inlet structures ahead of an Alabama spring storm.

These are the first round knock out boxes we've used. Interested to see how they work out compared to square knock outs.





Lucy telling me she's ready to hit the road - It's Friday pop!.

Pic of the above pipe tie in. Dug under the valley curb and slid the pipe in. Plans showed the curb being saw cut and replaced but it was easier to dig under it and leave it in place.

Back at the arena project.

Inside shot of the future sky boxes. The boxes will have their own enclosed area with mini-bar and seating out in the arena.



The new addition on the sky box level. The plywood on the floor covers the gap between the existing building and the addition. There will be a stainless steel cover over the gap which acts as an expansion joint between the two structures. The original structure is all pre-cast concrete and the addition is a steel frame with composite deck so the two will expand and contract at different rates.




This has been one hell of a project for us. We are the smallest sub on the entire job yet we've met every milestone on the schedule.

This job landed on my desk to bid last year and I told my wife and business partner that we won't get it but we're going to bid it. Covid hit like a freight train in March 2020 and we beat out one of the largest site contractors in the area for the job, I found that out after we started the job.

Signed the contract late March '20 and started in April. Our scrappy little bunch demo'd the site and moved 20K yards of dirt so efficiently that we finished a month ahead of schedule during a very wet spring/early summer. Proud of our guys is an understatement.

April 2020



April 2021



We're getting down to the end of our part of this project. Have a change order for some inline drains and 6" PVC in pedestrian area and fine grade for the plaza out front of the arena in the pic above. Other than some loose ends we are getting close to seeing this one in the rear view mirror.

It's been one hell of a project. This project took our comfort zone, crumpled it up, set it on fire and threw it out the window. We not only performed work we've never done before but did it on time, on budget and without one injury.

The sky has become the limit.

Back at the arena.

10" DIP roof leader tie into the existing 30" RCP about 12' deep. Crew opened this up Monday morning.

This was before lunch on Monday - 10" DIP waterplugged into existing storm line. This crew doesn't mess around.



10" DIP from the 30 RCP backfilled with #57 stone and 90'd into the building roof leader. The 10" coming out of the building is the roof emergency overflow.

BTW we have nothing to do with the ladder holding up the 6" sanitary lateral coming out of the building - that one is owned by the trade that goes by hot on the left, cold on the right, **** runs down hill, payday is on Friday and the boss is an asshole.



Other crew laying some 15" RCP on a small retail project. This line is 198', they started yesterday out of the water quality control unit up thread. Damn fine production for 2 days.

We have rain coming in tomorrow so I got the opportunity to be out of the office and run some iron. It's invigorating, much better than computer screens and blueprints that makes up much of my day.

321DL with 7,800 hours digging trench and our little Bomag with 1100 hours (which is alot of hours for a trench roller) still showing up to work and earning their keep.

CM1995 said:

321DL with 7,800 hours digging trench and our little Bomag with 1100 hours (which is alot of hours for a trench roller) still showing up to work and earning their keep.


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I hope it's not a lot of hours. I just noticed that mine has about 1,000 hours today. I works great, seems like it has a lot of life left in her (I sure hope it does), but I think there is some sort of parasitic draw because it has a dead battery frequently. I don't spend much time with it and I can't tell if there's an issue or if it's just my guys forgetting to switch off the battery cut-off when it's time to go home. Does yours have a similar issue?

DGODGR said:

I hope it's not a lot of hours. I just noticed that mine has about 1,000 hours today. I works great, seems like it has a lot of life left in her (I sure hope it does), but I think there is some sort of parasitic draw because it has a dead battery frequently. I don't spend much time with it and I can't tell if there's an issue or if it's just my guys forgetting to switch off the battery cut-off when it's time to go home. Does yours have a similar issue?

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Yes ours does the same. Our Bomag was having ghost issues of cranking, idling for a minute and dying. Then it would crank, idle up and not move.

Replaced the battery 2 weeks ago and it runs like it supposed to except for yesterday I left it idling for 15-20 mins to charge the remote battery. Went to move it, idled the engine up and it wouldn't go forward or reverse yet it would move side to side. Shut it off, re-started it and it ran fine the rest of the day.

These little machines just shake themselves to death and all the electronics on them doesn't help the situation. Hate to say it but they are throw away machines IMO.

Bought both of our trench rollers, one Wacker and one Bomag both used out of rental fleets. The Wacker came from Sunbelt and the Bomag came from Neff before they were bought out by United. Both little packers have earned more than they cost, so anything more is a bonus.

Congrats on the successful arena project! Thats gotta be a good feeling and confidence booster for you and your guys..with your hoe starting to get some hours on it, what do you see yourself looking to upgrade to in the future? Curious because we do similar type of work, just on a little smaller scale

CM1995 said:

Yes ours does the same. Our Bomag was having ghost issues of cranking, idling for a minute and dying. Then it would crank, idle up and not move.

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Mine will sometimes turn off during warm up. I believe the code it gives is for low oil pressure. This is an intermittent issue.

CM1995 said:

Replaced the battery 2 weeks ago and it runs like it supposed to except for yesterday I left it idling for 15-20 mins to charge the remote battery. Went to move it, idled the engine up and it wouldn't go forward or reverse yet it would move side to side. Shut it off, re-started it and it ran fine the rest of the day.

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The Bomags have a very annoying proximity sensor. Mine will act the way you described when standing too close to machine with remote.

CM1995 said:

These little machines just shake themselves to death and all the electronics on them doesn't help the situation. Hate to say it but they are throw away machines IMO.

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I've had my Wacker RT820 since 2004. It's had it's fair share of issues but is till going strong. The Bomags seem like good machines. I would think better than the Wacker so I hope it will last for years. Time will tell.

CM1995 said:

Bought both of our trench rollers, one Wacker and one Bomag both used out of rental fleets. The Wacker came from Sunbelt and the Bomag came from Neff before they were bought out by United. Both little packers have earned more than they cost, so anything more is a bonus.

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I bought my RT (used) from a wacker dealer. I also bought my Bomag from a rental outfit (United) at the same time that I bought my 66" single drum roller.

Browning.270 said:

Congrats on the successful arena project! Thats gotta be a good feeling and confidence booster for you and your guys..with your hoe starting to get some hours on it, what do you see yourself looking to upgrade to in the future? Curious because we do similar type of work, just on a little smaller scale

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Thanks Browning, there is nothing like taking on a challenge and being successful to build confidence in yourself and your organization.

Answering your question we have two mainline (at least for us) hoes - a 2018 325FL with 1800 HRs and a 2011 321DLCR with 7800 HRs on it.

Our plan is buy a new 325 for the senior crew, pass the '18 325FL down to the 2nd crew and keep the 321DL as a spare. The 321 is still a good hoe with a lot of life left on it in semi-retirement and it will save us in rental fees when we have to rent a 30-50K hoe which is several times a year. On average we spend $10-20K a year renting 30-50K size hoes.

DGODGR said:

I've had my Wacker RT820 since 2004. It's had it's fair share of issues but is till going strong. The Bomags seem like good machines. I would think better than the Wacker so I hope it will last for years. Time will tell.

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Our Bomag hits harder than the Wacker and I like the fact the Bomag doesn't have the eyeball sensors. Also you can jump start the Bomag with no issues but you can fry the electronics jump starting a Wacker.

Now I dislike the Bomag because Bomag is so protective with parts and parts diagrams. I can get online and find any part for our Wacker easily, order the part and have it shipped to the yard, not so much for Bomag.

So it's a toss up which one I prefer the most. When they are working I love the Bomag, when they are broken I love the Wacker.

FWIW our Cat Rental store went to all Bomag (they're also a Bomag dealer) because they had less issues than Wacker.

Ive never ran a zero tail swing machine before, but what is the main downside to them vs say a 320 or 323 in your opinion? Obviously you work in tight quarters a lot, but if a guy ran a 325 clearing trees, loading trucks, demo, etc is there a big drawback to them?