A few projects I have done recently

[CM1995]

Thanks for the update CM. I was wondering what happened to you.

I'll be in Puerto Limon Costa Rica on the 16th on a cruise, along with Columbia, Panama, Honduras and Belize. Very much looking forward to it.

Still kicking around Waterdoc. That should be a great trip, enjoy! :drinkup

I've never been to Limon or the Caribbean side, always stay on the Pacific side or up in the mountains. What I'm hearing from the expats I know is Columbia is the place to be. However it's the opposite in Columbia - the cities are safe and the rural areas aren't.

Medellin has reinvented itself - http://fathomaway.com/guides/south-america/colombia/itineraries/medellin-colombia-travel-guide/

 

[old-iron-habit]

Cool pictures, but wow it has changed. I spent 4 months in Central America starting in January of 1972. It does not look like the Costa Rica I remember. At that time from San Jose to Panama was a 22 hour trip on the only road(dirt/mud) if all went well. We ate all you could eat lobster for 75 cents in U.S. funds for almost 30 days. I'm still not craving lobster but would like a return visit to the area.

 

[dirty4fun]

Thanks for sharing the pictures wets my appetite even more to go there. I always have to look at what others have for machinery and how they take care of what they own, also..

I sure would like to see Costa Rica and Belize, well the countryside part never cared for cities, traffic and lots of people.

 

[Landclearer]

Glad you are back and that you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for sharing the pics as well. It is pretty interesting to see how things are done in other places.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that takes pics of construction while on vacation.

 

[CM1995]

Cool pictures, but wow it has changed. I spent 4 months in Central America starting in January of 1972. It does not look like the Costa Rica I remember. At that time from San Jose to Panama was a 22 hour trip on the only road(dirt/mud) if all went well. We ate all you could eat lobster for 75 cents in U.S. funds for almost 30 days. I'm still not craving lobster but would like a return visit to the area.

CR has changed a lot in just the last 6 years Old Iron, I can only image in the last 40. I spent a lot of time there from 2009-11 and to go back now to smooth paved roads and being able to get pretty much anything you want, including American items is shocking.

I know the road you speak of, the wife and I traveled the Pan American Highway from CR to Panama once. The border was a mess, had to bribe a Panamanian official to let my dog go through but that's a different story... :cool2

Also flew into Panama City and to to see the canal while the expansion was under construction. For us gear heads, the canal is a bucket list item.

Lobster will cost you $20 bucks minimum now.

Thanks for sharing the pictures wets my appetite even more to go there. I always have to look at what others have for machinery and how they take care of what they own, also..

I sure would like to see Costa Rica and Belize, well the countryside part never cared for cities, traffic and lots of people.

I love to travel dirty and CR is a great country to visit. Great people who speak the queens Spanish, not the slang you here in Mexico, and some English, they never make fun of my attempt at the Spanish language. I was politely told one time that my pronunciation of "Happy Birthday" was less than satisfactory - basically I was saying have a "happy arsehole"...

CR has a very high literacy rate due to excellent schools for Central America standards. Give it a shot for a trip, you won't be disappointed.

Glad you are back and that you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for sharing the pics as well. It is pretty interesting to see how things are done in other places.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that takes pics of construction while on vacation.

Thanks LC. There's a local friend of mine that has a 330CME, D6R and assorted equipment. He keeps it top notch at a very tidy yard. Really neat guy who runs a top notch business.

I can't help but take some equipment pics when I travel abroad. CR is a very wealthy little country by Central American standards and their economy is booming. New equipment and trucks all over the place.

 

[ddigger]

looks and sounds like a great trip!

 

[CM1995]

looks and sounds like a great trip!

It was DD. Had a great time relaxing and catching up with old friends.

 

[CM1995]

Not much going on with the break in the drought to a lot of rain.

I hate call backs.. Had to go back to the auto parts store with 2 CTL buckets of topsoil and fill in behind two small retaining walls that settled. The walls had been backfilled since Sept. but heavy rains settled it on in. We didn't compact behind the walls since they were in a landscape area and very little room to get R2 behind them.

Had to pull the sod up, take up the plastic edging, rake the river rock back and pull the weed fabric out of the way..
Finished product.



Another small wall that settled a few inches behind it.



Since the drought has broke, we were able to obtain a burn permit to burn the big pile of brush and trees we accumulated on the industrial lot prep project.

Using the pit method of burning, it works pretty well to hold in the heat and create a hotter burn.



Industrial sized fire poker.

 

[CM1995]

With winter rains setting in we're building another welded on shank tooth bucket with reversible cutting edge. The other bucket we built this way has lasted 9 years and is still in good shape.

Got this bucket when I bought the 279D. It's a standard Cat smooth lipped bucket with reversible cutting edge. It's built fairly well from the factory but it needs some beefing up to last.

Prepping the bucket for welding. Those are old D5G cutting edges we just took off the 5. The smaller, scalloped metal is the cutting edges between the teeth on the 953. We don't scrap any good metal around the shop.:cool2



D5 cutting edge welded to the side and D5 end bit welded at the rear. No that is not my welding handiwork or it would look like a toddler stuck Play Dough on it.

953 cutting edge trimmed of the thin parts, more on where those go later.



The D5 end bits have a factory cutting edge on both sides, obviously one side doesn't get worn so we turned the fresh edge towards the back of the bucket. This should aid in back dragging.



Bottom reinforcing just about finished up. The 953 cutting edges are welded in the areas where the other bucket similar to this has shown wear and denting. This should help with that.

The center of the other bucket took the worse beating/denting so we put full length D5 cutting edge across the bottom.



We got our shanks and teeth from Cat today. Next step is trimming and welding the shanks to fit the profile of the bucket lip and cutting edge.

This bucket is mostly used for fine grading pads and parking lots so the extra weight is a plus. We rarely load trucks with a CTL so the extra weight is not an issue for what we do. However the abrasive soils in our area wreak havoc on buckets and GET so the more meat the better.

Currently there are two other projects that made it from the "concept department" to the "engineering department" - converting a Trail King TK14 into a dump trailer and welding fork pockets on our pan trailer to transport forks without having them on the deck. Since the "fabrication department" is currently swamped, those two projects will be put on hold until a later date. We gotta make money too.:tong

Picked this up Friday off Ironplanet. One of the most frustrating things to do is having to adjust skid steer forks on a cold, wet day and the forks don't want to cooperate.

Got this hydraulic set cheap...$800. Now it's just a road trip to Kentucky to pick them up.

 

[hvy 1ton]

Do the tines pivot/float too? That's how the forks on my tractors are and prefer it.

 

[CM1995]

Do the tines pivot/float too? That's how the forks on my tractors are and prefer it.

That I don't know.

The standard Bobcat forks are rigid at the top and bottom, so are the ones for our 420DIT. Gradall forks float as well as the flip overs for the '53C.

 

[barnbuilder]

Can't believe you got those girls for $800! I need a new set.

 

[Mark13]

Can't believe you got those girls for $800! I need a new set.

My thoughts as well. I keep hearing about these IP deals and I need to spend more time on that website and figure out how to use it properly.

 

[lumberjack]

They're already on a pallet, why not ship them? Got a road trip already planned?

 

[grandpa]

He'll road trip to pick up those forks,,,, its about the time of the year he piles is pickup into a little old lady.....:lmao

 

[ScottAR]

The neighbor to my workplace had a lift with fork movers like that. We borrowed it a few times and it was nice indeed.

 

[hvy 1ton]

He'll road trip to pick up those forks,,,, its about the time of the year he piles is pickup into a little old lady.....:lmao

Grandpa must be getting restless up north.

 

[grandpa]

Grandpa must be getting restless up north.

I think you may be right!!! The short days and lack of light tend to bring the cantankerous out in me. So I like to:stirthepot this time of year.

 

[CM1995]

Can't believe you got those girls for $800! I need a new set.

I think I got a deal.

My thoughts as well. I keep hearing about these IP deals and I need to spend more time on that website and figure out how to use it properly.

Mark IP is an easy site to navigate.

They're already on a pallet, why not ship them? Got a road trip already planned?

Road trips are more fun than waiting on a LTL.

The neighbor to my workplace had a lift with fork movers like that. We borrowed it a few times and it was nice indeed.

Scott I'm thinking it will come in handy unloading a truck of storm pipe and materials. Depending on the material it may be RCP, concrete structures/risers and palletized rings and covers all on one load.

I think you may be right!!! The short days and lack of light tend to bring the cantankerous out in me. So I like to:stirthepot this time of year.

This time of year when I think of Gramps, this is the only image that comes to my mind :cool2

 

[Mark13]

Mark IP is an easy site to navigate.

Maybe it's the operator on my end then. I always end up finding the same items 3 or 4 times and never anything that is in the category's I'm looking for.