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Spring/summer works
- Thread starter 20/80
- Start date
A young man I know bought an old Case 580C hoe. Never ran one. He asked me if I'd hire him to do some Township work? I said certainly.
Today he met me at a culvert location to dip out the bottom end which was silted. He arrived at 8 a.m. Should have taken him 20 minutes max. 3 hrs later he was finally done.
Went to the second site where a culvert needed extended. Should have taken an hour max. 4 hrs later he was finally done.
He wore me slick. I was patient and offered operational hints frequently. Which he handled very well. He has no operator experience at all. It was horribly painful to watch all day. I'm not sure he'll ever get it. He seems to not grasp multi tasking with the controls. Rarely had more than one cylinder moving. At the end of the day he still couldn't get the hoe bucket full. Doesn't grasp how to place the machine for most effective digging. At the end of the day still couldn't reset and get the right distance from the dig area. It's an extendahoe which he doesn't appreciate at all.
I'll use him a couple more times but if he can't show improvement I'll cut the string.
Today he met me at a culvert location to dip out the bottom end which was silted. He arrived at 8 a.m. Should have taken him 20 minutes max. 3 hrs later he was finally done.
Went to the second site where a culvert needed extended. Should have taken an hour max. 4 hrs later he was finally done.
He wore me slick. I was patient and offered operational hints frequently. Which he handled very well. He has no operator experience at all. It was horribly painful to watch all day. I'm not sure he'll ever get it. He seems to not grasp multi tasking with the controls. Rarely had more than one cylinder moving. At the end of the day he still couldn't get the hoe bucket full. Doesn't grasp how to place the machine for most effective digging. At the end of the day still couldn't reset and get the right distance from the dig area. It's an extendahoe which he doesn't appreciate at all.
I'll use him a couple more times but if he can't show improvement I'll cut the string.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
I delivered a load of drainage stone to a fella this winter. He was not from the area and had bought an older home. He was really concerned as to the hardness of the rock, and if it would degrade over time. I assured him that it was from a hard rock quarry, and there should not be any issues. I'm thinking he must have come from an area with lime stone maybe. But yeah, your quarry is closer than ours, so it's just a budget thing then?
20/80
Senior Member
We have like 4 quarry's in our area, some have good gravel some is garbage, the first blast off the face is usually the best, its softer stone with more fines, the further they blast into the face the harder the stone less fines, I have a few roads they graveled using pretty much rejected gravel, just like glass beads, no fines and will not bind and stays alive, I will have to tear up what's underneath and mix it to get it to bind, their specs for gravel now sucks compared to the old days which packed like cement and lasted, now it seems the department buy's the cheapest gravel and adjusts its specs to make it pass.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
They test our base material almost as much as our asphalt aggregate. If it won't pass for government work, we use it for private. I find the government spec stuff too clean, and it segregates bad if you don't keep it wet when grading it.
20/80
Senior Member
Yes the government specs are to clean, all manufactured stone with very little fines now, when they used to use bank gravel when they crushed was way better gravel for graveling back roads, lots of fines and bind together like cement, the gravel roads lasted alot longer with bank gravel for crushing, the stuff they pass for back roads today is almost like chip seal stone.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
We still use bank gravel. One of the only government roads I ever grade, goes into the pit. The province will only grade into the last house. Around 14kms. I have to the the other 14 into our pit when the truckers start complaining. That district has the only 2 long roads I can think of that need grading. They are built in gravel country, so no need to add any. There is a km or so on the section going into our pit that I wish they would gravel. It has a bunch of bald men's heads sticking up every where. I used to try and pull them out, but there are so many. If it's not too rough, I'll skip it. The road to our quarry is chip sealed, so it just stays rough.
Yes, a budget thing. I have approximately $1,100 of annual income for each mile of road.
Nothing available here but limestone. It wears quickly. I grade my roads app once a month. I always try to leave the loose rock in the traveled area. I sometimes think that's a mistake. It gets ground up more rapidly.
This coming week I'll start on a project to build .3 of a mile of road on a ridge thru a corn field to a house build site. The owner ran a vertical tillage tool over the area to chop up the corn stubble and loosen the top soil. I'll windrow it to the sides and then elevate the roadbed a foot or so. Then put the top soil back. Will build a roadbed app 12ft wide. He'll seed grass on at least 6ft of shoulder/slope. I'll take pics. I can see his build site out my kitchen window to the North of my house 3/4 mile.
20/80
Senior Member
This time of year I'm mostly fixing up roads that have become badly potholed over the winter till the roads dry up a bit more, spot grading is the term they call it, gets the water out of the potholes so they will dry quicker, depending on the weather and dryness of the roads will determine when I go into full swing grading, thinking more towards the last week of April is the norm, spot grading makes the roads better to travel on but is a temporary fix, you can fix the roads up faster this way for now , be glad to get my wing and tower off, our mobile went to Disneyland, lol, not allowed to remove anything without him being present, been taking it off for over twenty years, anyway its coming off this week one way or another. lol
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
Great idea to start this thread I definitely enjoyed the winter works one we have melted a fair amount of our snow here only snow left is in the trees and the big banks but they have shrunk to half of what they were so that’s great I took the wings off my cat machines going to start blading my townships today got 5 of them to get over I figured I’d show you guys my wing stand I made can have wing on and off in 15minutes very handy plus don’t have to break much apart other then top and bottom brace.
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
Great idea to start this thread I definitely enjoyed the winter works one we have melted a fair amount of our snow here only snow left is in the trees and the big banks but they have shrunk to half of what they were so that’s great I took the wings off my cat machines going to start blading my townships today got 5 of them to get over I figured I’d show you guys my wing stand I made can have wing on and off in 15minutes very handy plus don’t have to break much apart other then top and bottom brace.View attachment 283629View attachment 283628View attachment 283627
I've built a lot of short driveways. Never one quite this long. But it's all on a ridge with no culverts required. Should be pretty simple. I'm waiting on a rain shower to move thru this morning.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
Is that your tow behind compactor to the right?
20/80
Senior Member
That stand is a great Idea, we store everything out side in the elements, is there a mount still bolted to your grader after the wing and tower is off?
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
It’s not a towable it pins on to my ripper so I can raise it up and down I love it extremely handy.
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
Yes the mount is still on the machine but it’s not in the way so we leave it on.
In Western Kansas/Eastern Colorado I've saw graders with a drag on their rear ripper. Very handy for them on their wide, relatively flat roads.