245dlc
Senior Member
Yeah great pictures and love what you did to that dump truck looks really nice. How did you like the Volvo/JCB skid-steer? I always wondered how good they are with that one armed bandit setup.
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The one man show to grow
- Thread starter Fastdirt
- Start date
Thanks Bigshow!
Thanks lumberjack
Thanks, apparently there is a lot of Mercedes repair and crashes. They needed a bigger shop, so they dedided to expand out the back and add six bays. They were really busy.
I thought the Volvo was great. It's a little weird being off centered from the bucket but it has good visibility...at least the one side does. Smooth ride and the tracks were super wide.
This was early spring 2013.....After all the skid steer rental mishaps I had started saving up my money to buy a skid steer. I knew which ones were the good ones, but I didn't have or want to spend that much. Well, the ones I could afford were junk or too small...and junk. I looked around and was finding for what I was wanting to spend I could get an 864 Bobcat or a New Holland or even a Case. I was not going to buy a New Holland or Case. The 864's were in need of a lot a my budget. So, I kept saving. The same place that I bought my 312 and dump truck and trailer had one listed on machinery trader. I was a 2004 Takeuchi TL150 with enclosed cab. It was on consignment. So I got a meeting with the owner to look at it. I didn't have but half the money he wanted. I was possibly going to try to finance the rest. When I met him at his house we connected pretty quick. He had black sterling pulling a 20XPT with a Hyundai 140. A setup basically like mine only he bought them brand new. He had two Takeuchi TL 150's and wanted to sell one. He was a one man show like me now. He was the original owner and the machine was very straight and very strong. It just hadn't been washed in a long, long time.
We were about the same age, only he'd been married and was going through a divorce and the greedy ex wife had won a settlement against him. Another sad story. I've worked for so many guys that their ex gets part of the company or equipment. That's why I wont get married. Anyway, the guy liked me and trusted me and I felt the same about him. He called me back the next day and suggested I give him half the money and he would let me pay him off if I could do it in less than a month. WOW!, what a blessing. Just another of many blessings that have aligned for me. I went and picked it up and gave him half the price and two post dated checks that would cover the rest. Shook hands and couldn't thank him enough. Really, I couldn't have been more grateful. He was a great guy and I hate that that money went straight to that b!#@&, but he just wanted her gone and off his back. He still had another TL150 and was looking forward to a good 2013 work year.
So we made the deal and I owned a 2004 Takeuchi TL150 with cab and air. He also had one of the best bucket guards already fabricated and welded on the bucket. I always loved a Takeuchi personally, and at roughly 6 tons and 100 HP it is as much as you're going to get out of any brand skid steer and I also knew how dependable they were. It's a heck of a machine. Well during the summer I got contacted by a builder downtown. I met with him and we rode around in his truck looking at some backed up projects like basement backfills and house demos. I was excited about the work till he told me the name of his grader. It was the guy that sold me the Takeuchi. I said no way sir, I can't take this work. He said why not, and I just said that guy did me a huge favor in life and I'd never take his work. Good news was the guy was so busy he couldn't keep up.
Had to put it to work before I could re paint it.
This was one of the hardest jobs I've ever taken on. Trying to work full time and doing this in my shanty garage. I had to sand, prep, and mask more than I could've ever imagined. I went through at least ten rolls of blue masking tape and probably 1000' of paper. It was three colors plus the black rear light sections and the bucket. The machine was straight. No bent grab bars or anything. I had to bondo one area in the rear where a dump truck backed into it.
We were about the same age, only he'd been married and was going through a divorce and the greedy ex wife had won a settlement against him. Another sad story. I've worked for so many guys that their ex gets part of the company or equipment. That's why I wont get married. Anyway, the guy liked me and trusted me and I felt the same about him. He called me back the next day and suggested I give him half the money and he would let me pay him off if I could do it in less than a month. WOW!, what a blessing. Just another of many blessings that have aligned for me. I went and picked it up and gave him half the price and two post dated checks that would cover the rest. Shook hands and couldn't thank him enough. Really, I couldn't have been more grateful. He was a great guy and I hate that that money went straight to that b!#@&, but he just wanted her gone and off his back. He still had another TL150 and was looking forward to a good 2013 work year.
So we made the deal and I owned a 2004 Takeuchi TL150 with cab and air. He also had one of the best bucket guards already fabricated and welded on the bucket. I always loved a Takeuchi personally, and at roughly 6 tons and 100 HP it is as much as you're going to get out of any brand skid steer and I also knew how dependable they were. It's a heck of a machine. Well during the summer I got contacted by a builder downtown. I met with him and we rode around in his truck looking at some backed up projects like basement backfills and house demos. I was excited about the work till he told me the name of his grader. It was the guy that sold me the Takeuchi. I said no way sir, I can't take this work. He said why not, and I just said that guy did me a huge favor in life and I'd never take his work. Good news was the guy was so busy he couldn't keep up.
Had to put it to work before I could re paint it.
This was one of the hardest jobs I've ever taken on. Trying to work full time and doing this in my shanty garage. I had to sand, prep, and mask more than I could've ever imagined. I went through at least ten rolls of blue masking tape and probably 1000' of paper. It was three colors plus the black rear light sections and the bucket. The machine was straight. No bent grab bars or anything. I had to bondo one area in the rear where a dump truck backed into it.
This really shows some more of the work in this video:http://http://youtu.be/DsxSFD6GHh8
Not sure if I would take this project on again. I did put new decals on after about a week of running without them.
Not sure if I would take this project on again. I did put new decals on after about a week of running without them.
AlldayRJ
Well-Known Member
Dude that thing came out great but it was clean enough to begin with! How much did you spend on the paint and supplies?
One of it's first jobs was clearing a jungle away from a fixed up house in town. The previous owners didn't maintain the yard for over a decade and you couldn't even walk around the house. I had my brother do that job and he did a great job.
Thank you. I probably spent around $800 or more to be honest. I've tried to block it out. It was a tough job....all I can say is pay a professional haha.
The jungle job finished.
So my guy has years of experience running Takeuchi's doing landscaping. I let him unload and head to the job while I was on the phone, when I walked around the house he had run on a slope and the track come off. Luckily there was some logs on site and we just cut one to size to get the machine up with the bucket and boom and got it back on by releasing the front idler. No harm done in the end, but I was not too happy about that at first.
Yes, it's late here and we NOT working tomorrow. It's already 10 degrees and should be in the single digits in the morning and I will be in a dentist chair sedated, getting my wisdom teeth out...not sure what sounds worse.
I got a call to remove an existing foundation from a house that was jacked up on cribs in a 100 yr. flood zone. They cannot rebuild here because of permitting won't allow them in a flood zone, but they are permitted to raise their houses. A lot of houses on this street are now 10' feet in the air. The creek flooded there in 2011. These cribs were not straight either, making it even more tense.
Here's a video showing how close it really was. I had to cut down the grade to get under the main beams and if I were to bucket down at the wrong time it could raise the cab into the beams. It was scary I won't lie. http://youtu.be/X6I5quQuK4w
I got a call to remove an existing foundation from a house that was jacked up on cribs in a 100 yr. flood zone. They cannot rebuild here because of permitting won't allow them in a flood zone, but they are permitted to raise their houses. A lot of houses on this street are now 10' feet in the air. The creek flooded there in 2011. These cribs were not straight either, making it even more tense.
Here's a video showing how close it really was. I had to cut down the grade to get under the main beams and if I were to bucket down at the wrong time it could raise the cab into the beams. It was scary I won't lie. http://youtu.be/X6I5quQuK4w
nedly05
Senior Member
The tak deifinitely didn't look too bad to begin with, I understand you wanting to paint it though. Everything else looks amazing so its hard to have something that looks "OK" The weather is weird this year for sure. Have you ever felt single digits there before? We were below zero last week, 46 and rain yesterday, now its 6 and windy as hell!
Keep up the great work and pics, I know I said it before but I'm just loving this thread!!
Keep up the great work and pics, I know I said it before but I'm just loving this thread!!
Some more very nice work, thanks for sharing it with us. Working under a house isn't much fun, no room for a mistake on that one.
No enjoyment to be in a dentist chair, that is for sure.
Sending you some more cooling off weather, nedley -18 yesterday high was -9 and lots of wind to make it a bunch colder.
No enjoyment to be in a dentist chair, that is for sure.
Sending you some more cooling off weather, nedley -18 yesterday high was -9 and lots of wind to make it a bunch colder.
AlldayRJ
Well-Known Member
Do you have any experience on mini exs?
nedly05
Senior Member
We need some more work pics!!!! Im pretty excited I get to go dig some test holes today, it will be a nice change from sanding driveways!! Hopefully the frost isn't too bad in the woods.
Oh yeah, spent many days cramped up on mini ex's. I like the fast ones, but they can get you in trouble. I ran a Komatsu that was terribly slow and ran some that would give you whiplash. I plan on buying mini ex this year or I should say midi ex
Video loading a buggy w a mini http://http://youtu.be/Mgl3FvVmmXk
This one was way too small.
CM1995
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2007
- Messages
- 13,382
- Location
- Alabama
- Occupation
- Running what I brung and taking what I win
I see you haul your brush and stumps in a 30 yard can, I do the same depending on the location. How did you come out on the logs and was it worth it to buck them and haul them to the log yard?
AlldayRJ
Well-Known Member
Ok cool, im buying a takeuchi 1.5 ton. Its in much rougher shape than your ctl was. Did u buy the paint from tak or do you have a color i can source to repaint mine? You inspired me haha