First Job of the Season

[stretch]

...but before the bridge, here's an interesting rescue we had to perform.

As a part of this port project, we were supposed to dredge out an adjacent swamp, so we barged in the 50-B dragline while the swamp was wet. We left it on the barge overnight, and the swamp was drained before we came back in the morning. :Banghead

Since the closest body of water was now several hundred yards off, we decided to do a dry-land rescue. To do this, we hauled in the D9T from the highway job on our new lowboy and walked the D8R over from the port. We also had the Koehring truck-crane ready to assist.

-There it is on the barge.
-Staging area, we had to call in our escort F-250 in order to get the D9 here faster.
-Attaching a 70-foot cable to the D9, and the D8 will push.
-The D9 pulling, D8 pushing to turn it to dry land.
-Finally straightened out, this will be an easy job now!

 

[stretch]

-Finally back at the port, now we have to get it back to the drydock somehow...
-...so we called in the other Autocar winch truck and lowboy, took them off, and noware winching (and pushing) it onto the trailers. It barely fit, but we made it.
-Hitch 'em back up, turn it for the striaght, short trip back...it's not easy, but it's not as difficult as it looks.
-Turn it again to load onto the crane, push it up while one truck is winching from the other side.
-DONE...now to return the D9 and go home for the day.

Will post bridge pics later...

 

[Bellboy]

Cool beans man, Cool beans!

 

[Bellboy]

Cool beans man, Cool beans!

Lets see some more models in action! That ship looks great just by the way. Nothing some good ol' duct tape can't fix, build... etc.

 

[stretch]

Yes, good ol' duct tape...unfortunately it's already sprung a few leaks...:lmao

I'd better update this...even though our work's really slowed in the past few weeks.

 

[stretch]

The past few weeks haven't been great...we finally finsihed off the big highway earthmoving job (post #64) and had to layoff 10 guys after that job. Our new quarry or sandpit properties are also in question, as both of them are now the subject of some animal habitats. :Banghead

Anyway, here's a small job we got to build a pond to supply a local area. Called out the TD-25, D9T, 627, and our "new" 12 grader. The guys used to running the 160H are loving it.

-The lineup...
-Cleaning the border of the pond area
-Grubbing the pond
-Finished with the primary stripping (1'-2' down) and brush clearing and just doing a few things before the day's over
-Here's a project we had as a general contractor for a huge bridge project...we built the concrete foundations and had a temporary span across these until we could finish them off. However, a nice little storm named Hanna came and ripped the span off and screwed with the foundations. (And for anyone wondering, this is actually the Quinnipiac River and a good 25-30 feet across.) Also took out our approaches. :shf

 

[Bellboy]

Now remember all the lessons you learnt on that last river project...

 

[stretch]

Funny thing is, now the area where the dam is supposed to go is dried up again, no water at all...:beatsme:Banghead I think I'll stick to land for now.

And on another note...we finally got our environmental passes in and we're going to be stripping soon for the next sandpit. :drinkup

 

[JD4020]

Funny thing is, now the area where the dam is supposed to go is dried up again, no water at all...:beatsme:Banghead I think I'll stick to land for now.

And on another note...we finally got our environmental passes in and we're going to be stripping soon for the next sandpit. :drinkup

No water means its time to get out there before it comes back. Get a nice cement dam built so you can back up that creek and tick off some neighbors!

 

[stretch]

No water means its time to get out there before it comes back. Get a nice cement dam built so you can back up that creek and tick off some neighbors!

Thing is, in real life, it's our land and it's wetlands for a hundred yards before it gets to the closest yard. Yay us. We have thought of putting a dam on another stream for the neighbors... But I don't think we'll be getting to the dam this year, as we need to strip the new sandpit ASAP so we can have a stockpile for the winter.

 

[Bellboy]

What equipment do you plan on using to strip the sand pit? I am going to use my Liebherr 974 to strip and dig my nearest shale quarry.

Do you know who makes a decent European style semi with a dumping trailer, 1:87 of course?

 

[Bellboy]

Do you know who makes a decent European style semi with a dumping trailer, 1:87 of course?

I actually built a semi half pipe tipper this morning, using leftovers from the MB concrete truck and Kaelble ADT and a 'berrocca' tube. Pics tomorrow or on Monday, at my place.

 

[stretch]

I plan on using the three scrapers (627G, 2 TMS8A's), the D9T, TD-25C, and 560 loader to do the overburden work. The actual diggin will be done with the EX1100 front shovel, the 773 and Terex 50-ton trucks, and I don't know which dozer will be put on permanent pit duty yet.

As for the trucks, I would say check out Kibri and MOTORART. Kibri makes a lot of Mercedes trucks and MOTORART makes licensed Volvo trucks and construction equipment.

 

[stretch]

Started stripping today...no pics of the clearing but it was a bit harder than we thought it would be. Lotta roots, too many for strictly a skidder and a D7C w/root rake to handle, so we ditched the 7 and brought in the EC210 instead.
-Staging area...fuel truck (don't mind the "Jet Fuel" sign), lowboy taking away the 210, Deere skidder to go soon, also bought in the 966 loader instead of the 560. Fire Dept.'s there since the area is kinda dry and they want everything to be all nice and safe.
-25C and 9T working slots, 627 behind it. No pushcat needed here. :drinkup
-Here's my fave from the job so far...12 spreading the fill, TMS8A on the road on top headed back and the other one in front of the blade going to the end to turn around.
-Today's progress...about 11 feet down (9T height roughly) and half of this year's pit, need to get it down twice as much.
-All the overburden we moved is the new stuff on the left. The 12 is finishing up for the day.

 

[oakland]

wow! now thats some nice grade work with your old 12! i cant get it that nice with my 14M with gps just kidding it looks good. why are you filling your equip up with jet fuel? dont they run on diesel

 

[Bellboy]

That looks good. You guys got some nice work there! How did the layoff go? (post 86)

And oakland, lets just say, age comes before beauty. 'Ent that right? I decide to enlist my no. 12 on my road project, which is coming up as soon as the sod turning ceremony happens! Even though there ain't much sod TO turn!

 

[stretch]

wow! now thats some nice grade work with your old 12! i cant get it that nice with my 14M with gps just kidding it looks good. why are you filling your equip up with jet fuel? dont they run on diesel

Jet fuel...I thought it would make them work faster but nawww...:cool2 And thanks, the grade hands really love that ol' 12. I may have to bring in the 160H since we've been working out the bugs of having the old iron here.

That looks good. You guys got some nice work there! How did the layoff go? (post 86)

We called back a few of the guys for this one, they really enjoyed that news.

Now back to work...:usa


On edit...we need to get a dragline or large pullshovel somewhere in the 5 (B-E 88B size)-20 (P&H 2355) yd. range so that we can dig below grade. Any ideas on the next model?

 

[stretch]

Well guys, here's what I managed to cook up this afternoon. Got the first section cut out and stripped and ready for this year's digging. The other half is ready to go in case we have a surge in business.

I also dug up an old toy I built a while back...a 18-yard pullshovel, somewhat reminiscent of a P&H 2355. So until I get an actual machine built, here's what we got in the pit. I took these pics at around dusk (6:30).

-25C leaving the pit with the new ramp headed to the west side of the property.
-Behind me in that pic, the shovel was getting put up rather quickly (we are THE fast-track contractor!). here's the site, the EX1100 is also getting setup and the trucks will arrive tomorrow. The 25C and 12 are prepping a bench. (The pans and the 9T are gone back to the yard now)
-IT'S ALIVE!!!
-the first bite...or dump I should say
-Another bite, and we'll leave it at that for now. Stay tuned!

 

[Bellboy]

Dude, Awesome! Wish I was going to get up to something like theat this weekend, but homework and the dancing competition tomorrow...

 

[stretch]

I know I had started building a new plant to process the aggregate a while back, but some politics influenced me to move the plant closer to the river. Pros: water transportation, availiability of cheap water for washing aggregate, capital to build a larger, efficient, modern plant , land for expansion :drinkup; Cons: area prone to flooding but it's built of concrete so it should be ok, kinda in the boondocks (4 mile drive haul from the pits, but they enjoy the scenery :beatsme) and if we have an accident then fuel or chemicals can get to the river easier. Pics...note the conveyors haven't been installed yet.

-the main processing plant, trucks dump in on the right and then after larger-size rock is crushed, the smaller material moves to one of the three secondary towers. Note the new M318D duck next to the middle tower.
-office/shop building, with the other plant in the background by the cliffs overlooking the river. We'll use this plant when demand is high or if we get a load of trap rock.
-material storage bunkers. Not bad for a bunch of junk concrete, eh?
-that's the water intake structure in the river. We'll straighten it out when the water goes down a bit and maybe put up a dock on it.
-overall view...bunkers on the north end, plant 2 in the south.

Still looking for a dragline or pullshovel to build...ideas please? :bash