Making it so the water can run

[Shimmy1]

Got the road trucks out this morning.

 

[Shimmy1]

Here's the other truck.

 

[pf/l]

Nice rigs. Thanks for the info.

 

[Shimmy1]

It's drainage season again. That backslope I'm sitting on is a lot steeper than it looks.

 

[JNB]

Clean looking work. What is the total distance on that swale?

 

[Shimmy1]

Clean looking work. What is the total distance on that swale?

First section I'm doing is a mile, less a little for the ponds that it goes into and out of. Then, I have another mile farther upstream. The exact spot where I took the pic is around 600', and I was about half done there.

 

[JNB]

That's a bunch of digging. Do you shoot any elevation points along the way or just go with the flow?

 

[Shimmy1]

That's a bunch of digging. Do you shoot any elevation points along the way or just go with the flow?

The elevation is set by the culverts. I'll set up at a culvert, shoot both ends. ALWAYS shoot both ends before digging on the inlet side. I've been burned. Really sucks when you clean a half mile of ditch 6" too deep. After establishing grade, I'll either survey the whole ditch to determine slope, or go to the pond that will drain. Sometimes, if there is a lot of slope, I'll set the laser at 0.06-0.08% and start digging. If it gets too deep, I'll just raise up a little, or jack the slope some more if the ditch is short.

 

[Shimmy1]

Here's some pics, if anyone wants to see some more.

 

[Shimmy1]

And a few more..........

 

[Shimmy1]

The bottom two pics are of a little project I did for a tile project. We built an elevated ditch to force the water through the culvert. The culvert is way off grade, and since it goes under the county highway, it can't be dug up and fixed properly. All the surface water will go through the pumps.

 

[JNB]

Hard to tell from the pics, but is the pump pulling from the tile field?

 

[Shimmy1]

Hard to tell from the pics, but is the pump pulling from the tile field?

Yes. There is a 140 acre tile field underground, and there is a surface inlet behind the pump chamber.

 

[Landclearer]

Nice looking work Shimmy. You are a very patient man. How wide is your bucket?

 

[Shimmy1]

Nice looking work Shimmy. You are a very patient man. How wide is your bucket?

7'. Am I the only idiot on here that insists on working on these ugly slopes? It is steeper than it looks in the pic. I would guess a 3:1.

 

[pf/l]

Nice work as usual. Must get pretty light on the back end at times working on them slopes.

 

[Shimmy1]

Nice work as usual. Must get pretty light on the back end at times working on them slopes.

Very seldom does the high track stay on the ground for the first half of the swing. Usually you'll pull up, feel the up track come up a little, then as soon as you begin the swing you'll feel it touch back down. If you don't feel it touch down, or the undercarriage twists, you know there's too much in the bucket. Maybe someday I'll get a Gopro and be able to video my antics.

 

[Shimmy1]

More excavator stuff. Here's for Landclearer. I haven't gotten an after pic, the area cleared was about 250' by 500'. Took about a week. The trees were thick, and big. Average size was about 18' in diameter, and 60' tall. Had a few cottonwoods that were 3'. I would guess close to 100 loads of trees.

 

[Shimmy1]

Last nights project.

 

[JNB]

Good looking work Shimmy. That cleaned up real nice.