The one man show to grow

[Fastdirt]

Friday in Chattanooga

The pool builder had his 287 around to help make short work of he extra work.



Now this is what $181,000 looks like. Same company as the day before. The drivers sure loved their job and we talked as long as we could. He said the guy in the T800 the day before was getting his T880 as we were talking. He said they were out of Chattanooga and had 38 like dump trucks. This one was loaded. He showed off the trash gate after dumping the gravel. He said it had a Paccar 500 motor with 13 speed autoshift. WOW!!!! How do these guys do it!!!! $180,000 for a dump truck. I could buy 10 L9000's for that.

 

[Fastdirt]

Far cry from the T880 heated memory leather seats and auto shift but this is more my speed. I have been looking at this LTL9000 for a few weeks now. It was in Cleveland Tennessee. Just 30 miles from my jobs. I knew if I had a chance I was going to break away and take a look. It has the 13 speed and a 3406E that I want in a Ford..so now I can put my 3406E in it. As we were wrapping up the last job I broke away.....I got there as they were closing and didn't get to drive it but at least got to see it. It actually had a 3406E... That is super rare in an LTL. The 3406B is rare in them but the E is super rare. I have been looking at them hard for years. I am really attracted to them compared to the newer big money trucks.... at least for now and this is up my alley. I really want it. I do need two trucks. I would sell my L9000 after getting the best parts off of it to put on the LTL. Then I would pull the 5eK# 3406E @350hp and put my 475hp 3406E in there with a 600hp tune. I would also swap beds and have to do some chassis adjustments.


It's a plan that may or may not come to pass. Having two trucks is part of my plan for now. It helps to keep maintenance and top care possible instead of running one truck into the ground. Plus it's a hobby and interest for me.





Seeing an ECM in a cab that was designed in 1970 is wild. This truck has the fly by wire fuel throttle pedal....roller and all....and of course the CAC or intercooler I like to call them.


Photoshopped the bed off


It needs a good home to straighten her out.

 

[CM1995]

WOW!!!! How do these guys do it!!!! $180,000 for a dump truck.

No doubt FD, especially at $85 per hour.

I see brand new Stars, KW's and Freight Shaker tri-axles running around here too.

Paid less for a 321 that gets more per hour and I don't have to drive on the roads with all the idiots...:cool2

 

[90plow]

Looks good fast dirt. What's the reason for getting rid of your L? I had a brand new ken worth tri axle show up and threaten to walk off the job unless I cut the bushes down next to the driveway so down they came. The GC couldn't understand why the guy was worried about scratching a truck. I asked him if he owned any $200,000 trucks and he gave me a blank stare.
Site work looks good as always keep up the good work.

 

[Landclearer]

Looks good fast dirt. What's the reason for getting rid of your L? I had a brand new ken worth tri axle show up and threaten to walk off the job unless I cut the bushes down next to the driveway so down they came. The GC couldn't understand why the guy was worried about scratching a truck. I asked him if he owned any $200,000 trucks and he gave me a blank stare.
Site work looks good as always keep up the good work.

We are the same way, most people just think its a truck and who cares but like you said, when you pay that much money you take care of it.

 

[Fastdirt]

Same here. A lot of people including builders don't know the difference between the T880 I posted and my L9000. For me I treat mine like a brand new one though. I'll pull in driveways with my machine on the trailer sometimes and trim overhanging trees. I am very particular about my machine and I get asked to squeeze through all kinds of stuff. I'll ask/tell the builder I'm going to cut the trees. A lot of times we will strap trees back or worst case I always carry a tarp and just cover my machine then walk through overhanging cypress trees. Like the one earlier this week. I had to tarp my machine to get through. Most of the trucks I use will bulldog it through and I just shake my head. It takes less than a minute to do permanent damage. I always have loppers too for the counterweight and such.

This took awhile to tie back the tree on the right and on the left I used the tarp on my machine. I get this all the time and they know how I am. I don't care about the maples, dogwoods, boxwoods, cypress trees, etc.. I care about my machine and truck. Every scratch on my excavator and dump body are from either prized landscaping or uncut trees on city streets. I still have a broken rear glass because of untrimmed city streets. Should've got a picture but I was trapped inside with the tarp over the cab. The trucker didn't even think twice.



Plow thanks, I need more power in the L9000 bottom line. I've done my time with the L10 Cummins and I'm sick of the abuse I take on the roads.

 

[Fastdirt]

Squeezed into another and didn't get too much done before the uppity hag next door got us sent home. If you don't work in the city consider yourself lucky. At least once a week I get the pleasure of a city jerk. I say that because it never happens in the burbs or the country side. One guy called the cops on me three weeks ago. Two weeks ago I got bombarded by angry neighbors wanting to know if we had a permit to work. It goes on and on but yesterday this lady pushed hard. The inspectors showed and checked us out but left. They then returned and said to stop work! It was a two day job and I sure need the time off but we will have to return when it gets smoothed out.



There she is. I now take pictures of the people taking my picture or acting nuts.

 

[CM1995]

Yeah, I've met some "interesting" people out in the field.

Last auto parts store we did there was an alley that ran behind the lot and then houses. The alley went both ways as the side streets are laid out in block fashion. We had to position the backhoe in the alley and it temp. blocked it to set an inlet box.

A woman drove by in her minivan and complained to one of my guys that we were blocking the alley and that it's the only way for her to get out. My guy said "Ummm, the alley has two exits." She exclaimed -" Who told you that?". My guy - " Umm I can see the other exit standing here?".

Well turns out this lady's husband is on a city council of sorts and has a little pull. About an hour later an officer stopped by, super nice guy and asked us if we would be blocking the alley again and try to keep it minimal because the crazy bitch (he didn't say that but meant it) had been calling city hall and PD all day. He then filled us in that she has pull at city hall but she's basically a nut case.

As we were talking, I told the officer that she's really not going to be happy tomorrow because the city is digging the alley up and replacing the pipe under the road in order to tie into the new junction box we set that day. The officer laughed and said -"No problem, I'm off tomorrow".

Just another day..

What were you putting in? Rain harvest reservoir?

 

[JNB]

People are nuts! Back in my former life as a concrete contractor in SoCal, We were replacing parking lot aprons for a super market. We had one demoed (about 12" thick) and blocked off. From across the parking lot I see a lady park in the street, move my barricades and drive right in the hole. By the time I got over there she's screaming at the top of her lungs. I ask her why she drove into the hole and she says...I've been using this driveway for twenty years! So I say...Well ma'am, I guess you can figure out how to get out then too.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Looks like one of them new plastic septic tanks. It is complete BS that stop work orders can be handed out. I myself have been hit with one. I won't exactly tell how I handled it ,but the job was completed on time. Our property rights and personal freedoms are being slowly taken away. Rights people in my family bled for. Money and control now seem to be the bottom line. Seems like every other job a customer is getting stuck by the county. To close to the property line, in front of the house, 100' foot set back from all lines, metal structures not allowed, engineered letter not allowed in lew of inspection, slit fencing, we need elevations and floor plans for a metal carport, drainage surveys, site plans, driveway permit, that gravel road you helped make is now county maintained and we get 80' right ways and you need a driveway permit to attach to it. etc. Give me a magic wand and there would be big changes.

 

[Landclearer]

We get the same stuff around here with people complaining and taking pictures and so on. Several years ago we got a stop work order on a job because we were taking all the trees down behind a bunch of high end houses. We were shut down for about 3 weeks, went back to work and nothing changed, still took down all the same trees.

 

[kshansen]

Well on this subject of "People Doing Stupid Things" a couple years back at the quarry I just retired from the blasting company had just finished loading a shot when someone noticed someone walking across the loaded shot. We have a 6 to 8 foot chain link fence with three strands of barbed wire above it that surrounds the property so I don't recall hearing how this guy got in. This guy has complained often about the blasting. Of course this quarry has been here and active since the mid 1960's so it's not like we moved in the week before and started making the noise. Also not sure how long this guy has lived here but too often it's the people who move in after looking at a house on the weekend then get upset the first Monday when the plant starts up. Boss chased the guy off and called the State Police who I believe read him the riot act and he has not been back since. If he had been a few minutes later he would have got the ride of his life when the shot went off.

 

[Fastdirt]

Those are all very interesting stories. Some funny. CM there is something empowering about a minivan to a stay at home Mom. Throw some city council connections in there and you better watch out. Sad really and a dang shame. It's not like they are respectful to us and they treat us like a second rate citizen. Which is the farthest from the truth. Hypocrisy really. Like LC said you'll just return and pick up right where you left off after all the huffing and puffing. Screw em, they don't have any respect for us.
The week ended up much better than it started. Still a 50 hour week but with much better neighbors. Went 55 miles out to the country, another one about 20 miles into the chaos and had to unload and load up on a busy street. That always gets me anxious. No pictures of that but I walked it down the street in traffic.


Much better environment


So much work though. Demoed an existing vinyl pool and deck. Lowered the grade 3' from the old existing pool. Hauled all the dirt out to pasture about 30 loads. 2 Loads concrete decking to inert landfill. One load debris to C&D landfill. On site 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. plus a 110 miles round trip at 67,000 lbs.

Found the trash and had a cave in at 5:00 on Friday. This is as I was bringing it all back up. Wish I had a quick sheeps foot to grab and I think I'll start looking into it. Luckily had prime red clay from the opposite side to compact back up.


This was premium dirt and everything went good. Loving the safety orange shirts. Since I always have to work around two guys it's nice with the orange. All my moves have to be around them everyday all day. You want to hog dirt but you have to curl in and curl out every time around them to keep the balance going.



Oh and yes CM, that was a rain harvest reservoir. You're pretty sharp you know it. You'd think the neighbor would've realized it was in her benefit too.

 

[nedly05]

Nice looking work as always Brian. Do you use your truck on site at all, or does it primarily just pull the trailer? I just bought a 94 L9000 myself. Going to get it today after work.

 

[Landclearer]

Pools look great, I would love to do one in your dirt. A couple things done different from GA to SC. The guys I dig for put three stakes and a kicker for every stake they put in. I am just assuming but I guess you dirt holds the single stake much better than ours does. The other difference is when I have a cave in they put a piece of plywood in and shoot the shotcrete to that and like you said in your post you put the material back and compact it. I know just what you mean about bringing the stick in and out to move around the guys. On the last one I had 4 guys to look out for.

 

[CM1995]

Oh and yes CM, that was a rain harvest reservoir.

View attachment 134746

Thought it was as the house was in the city. The muni's are getting more and more restrictive on run-off when developing a commercial parcel, now it's found it's way into individual lot residential construction here. One city requires detention if you tear down an existing home and build a larger on on the lot.

Was the rain harvest reservoir a requirement or just what the homeowner wanted?

 

[Fastdirt]

Nice looking work as always Brian. Do you use your truck on site at all, or does it primarily just pull the trailer? I just bought a 94 L9000 myself. Going to get it today after work.

Nedly, I never haul dirt and avoid it at all cost really. I just use it to pull the machine to the digs everyday. That's why I bought the Peterbilt and lowboy. I'm not sure what my plan is with hauling in the future. I'd really like to see your 94 L9000. Is it a dump? I know you have that fancy Granite so whatcha got going on there now. ....

LC, we really do have good dirt around here for just hammering in an 18" stake and moving to the next. If it's not ideal you can usually strip it off and grab some better dirt and pack it in and drive stakes. If we use kickers it's usually a bad day. We can move along quickly usually if grade is close and the dirt holds up well but with that we can get into rock sometimes. That staking going on with your digs is very extensive. We use kickers only in bad situations. Most the digging here in the piedmont region is nice. Now trying do pools below the fall line in the coastal plains would be tough.. I've always thought that. Yours actually are much better than what I thought would be possible in sand. Tomorrow I'm going 85 miles North towards the Appalachians. Could get ugly.


Cm, all the residential construction in Atlanta pretty much requires cisterns and rainwater reservoirs or similar with the whole impervious disturbance regs. There is money in it and lots of work for that type of work for sure. I get talked into it a few times, "since you're already going to be here with the machine". I didn't get the details on the last one but I think it was just the homeowner choosing to do it instead of a requirement. It was not the city of Atlanta but right there next to it. I'll be back there soon enough.


Got some much needed forks. I hate borrowing stuff. I borrowed my neighbors and he needed them back before I could finish using them. Also picked up a seal kit for my track that leaks down on the TL150. Should be an easy fix unless I need a piston.


My friend who recently bought the two new 314's just bought two new 336F's. Man, that's growth and I would love to get into some of it. I Just hit four years on my own this week. I am setting my sights on one more year of this then I'm going to make a move into site work. The project Peterbilt was not a great move for me but I have to finish it. Soon enough.


Today's fun

 

[nedly05]

My "new" L9000 is a dump, a little tandem. I sold my single axle and bought it, it has a 13' box and I can haul 13 ton on it. 14 fronts 40 rears. 3306C cat @ 300 HP and a jake with a 10 speed. It was a one owner truck with 88,000 miles. It needs a few things, mostly tires and paint. Getting tires this afternoon, and I hope to get the box and frame painted this weekend. Its a sweet little truck. I will post some pics on instagram, shes ugly right now, but I will have that resolved in no time!

 

[Fastdirt]

Well post some pictures of the L9000 Nedly. I'd like to see it. Lucky for you it has Jakes and Cat power. The first tandem I drove as L9000 with the Cat 300. My L9000 doesn't have jakes and I sure wish it did.



We worked for it this week. About 470 miles total and 5,000 sq. ft. of pool digging but one was 3k sq. ft. We also did a 9 yd. slab for my brother across the street .

Nothing special here but this was about 5' of build up on the back side. Lot of compacting.


Up on the Catoosa River.

 

[Fastdirt]

The smallest one this year came in the same week as the biggest one. On the small dig my stick/H-link finally got down to the chamber lines and punctured a hose 5 houses away from the job and the brake started dragging. I have been meaning forever to get the trailer cross members fixed. It came like this when I bought it and before I met my current welder I had a shoddy welder. He patched it with angle iron and it didn't hold and the stick finally worked it's way through the boards but it did take three years. Of course the 20 speed bumps in that subdivision didn't help. I left the job and got new lines and fixed it back up and turned the boards around. Should hold till my welder can fix it right. I'll have to get some new oak boards too.





Somehow we did this 3000 sq ft in one day. Well we really got after it though. Took 12 hours on site and 3 hours of travel.