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Pond cleaning with excavator

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,258
Location
North Dakota
Looking good Shimmy! Did you use grade control for the slopes on the last pond?
I'm not a fan of the grade control. I use it to rough out the first pass or two on a slope, and then just check it about halfway. It has no chance at producing a finish grade that is acceptable to me.
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,258
Location
North Dakota
Kids had to check it out. In case someone is wondering, I left that tiny pile in the middle as a gauge so the landowner knew how much water had came in since the pasture has cattle needing the water. That bottom is 40' x 120', so with a foot of water back in it there is about 37,000 gallons overnight. I think the 35 pairs will have plenty of water now
IMG_20210703_105154511.jpg
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
How easily damaged are the long booms and long sticks? Looks like you'd have to be careful and not try to take too big of a bite.
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,258
Location
North Dakota
How easily damaged are the long booms and long sticks? Looks like you'd have to be careful and not try to take too big of a bite.
They seem pretty tough. After running one for a while, you figure out how to take as much as the machine will give you. It's not much different really than a standard hoe, but then again I have close to 20,000 hours handling a 2.5 yd bucket with a 25 ton hoe from all of my ditch cleaning work. It's just like riding a bike. You feel the machine lift up as you pull up and it's a balancing act as you begin your swing. The long reach is no different. This 323 has a pretty powerful swing.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
A lot of the long reach machines put limiters on the spool for boom and stick down. It helps a bit to keep gravity from slamming the bucket into the ground and sending those shock waves into the stick.
 

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,465
Location
washington
One job I did with a 210, this young operator really was itching to get in the seat. I set him up to do some things for me, and got him going. I was chatting with the superintendent when I saw him bring the stick in WAY too fast, and he tossed about a half a wheelbarrow of dirt right in on his feet! Luckily the toe glass was stowed behind the seat or it would have been broken.
I deftly steered the superintendent and inspector's attention elsewhere, he swung the machine away and started hand shoveling out the cab. Nobody saw nuttin! :D
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
One job I did with a 210, this young operator really was itching to get in the seat. I set him up to do some things for me, and got him going. I was chatting with the superintendent when I saw him bring the stick in WAY too fast, and he tossed about a half a wheelbarrow of dirt right in on his feet! Luckily the toe glass was stowed behind the seat or it would have been broken.
I deftly steered the superintendent and inspector's attention elsewhere, he swung the machine away and started hand shoveling out the cab. Nobody saw nuttin! :D

Sounds like something I would have done. I was loading a dump truck with an old radial lift bobcat, nobody explained to me that the bucket doesn't self level as it goes up. First bucket, heaped as big as I could, flew it straight up fast and dumped a boat load right over the back of the bucket and into my lap. Dump bucket into truck, then shovel out the bobcat and go back to work.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
When I bought my skid steer the dealer offered me a self leveling valve for $500 (no installation fee) because someone else wanted it removed on their new machine. Of all the options to not get, self leveling should be the 1st one to get! It should be mandatory in my opinion. I'm sure operators have suffered serious if not fatal injuries dumping stuff in their lap using a skid steer. Tipping forward on a dump truck with a full bucket of wet clay is another story but very glad my machine has a full width seat bar. Some of the early attempts at seat bars were pretty lame. Two small levers that flip over aren't going to do much.
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,258
Location
North Dakota
How does the JCB hoe compare?
It belongs to a farmer friend of mine. It's a 2006 with only 2500 hours, he bought it sight unseen about ten years ago. Price was right, $24,000. It moves dirt, that's about all I can say. The Case is faster in "A" mode that it is, and it will only track in a straight line in high gear. Burns quite a bit of fuel, too.
 
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