Junkyard's work thread.....maybe haha

[Junkyard]

Lol. I'm already the highest paid employee lol. I do what I can and take time off when I need to for the kids etc. Some days it's a bit much though. I don't know if I'd want more $ or a helper. I've crawled under the 11 about 50 times today getting the starters out. I'll pay for it in a couple days I'm sure. I don't know how he did it for so many years without a full time mechanic. Crazy thing is I enjoy it.....most days.

Junkyard

 

[kshansen]

Lol. I'm already the highest paid employee lol. I do what I can and take time off when I need to for the kids etc. Some days it's a bit much though. I don't know if I'd want more $ or a helper. I've crawled under the 11 about 50 times today getting the starters out. I'll pay for it in a couple days I'm sure. I don't know how he did it for so many years without a full time mechanic. Crazy thing is I enjoy it.....most days.

Junkyard

Well this guy must be treating you fair. Making more money can be nice but being trusted and appreciated make up for a few extra coins at the end of the week.

I know where I worked for years employees were treated almost like family then when there were some changes in middle and upper management that all changed. We were told flat out one time by the area manager that if we don't like working for him there were ten guys waiting outside the gate that would love to take our jobs and he went on to say that he could train a monkey to do most of the work we do.

Funny thing is in the last couple years when they needed to fill a job opening our supervisor, not the guy who said those things, always had a problem getting anyone to apply for a job or one that could pass the drug test! One guy actually asked if he could come back in a month to take the test and another guy was given a tour of the quarry and immediately told the boss,"NO Thanks, not for me!" Must need to get a better brand of bananas!

 

[Junkyard]

It takes a certain person to do this job. Field mechanic is one thing. Add in the occasional debates over what course to take, what tools we need, what job is priority etc is tough. Sometimes I back off and do it his way and sometimes I stand my ground. He's not a mechanic so I often feel like a service writer at the car dealer trying to explain to a customer why they need this or that. Then there's the occasional question about the receipts I turn in for parts. Never had an argument over it. I always cover my butt. There are times I want to say "go push dirt and leave this stuff to me". Some things were let go waaaay to long and I'm playing catch up. I like a challenge for some darn reason.

Junkyard

 

[Dickjr.]

I don't know how old you are , but let me make a suggestion. I am over 40 now and have done a lot of labor or ground man work myself. I have put entire lateral fields in by myself , just replaced the u/c on my 943 by myself except for putting the rails on. You need a helper or you are gonna end up like me , knees hurt , lower back hurts taking Naproxen almost daily to keep the pain down. That said , its hard to find someone who will work like this these days and I commend you for that. It kills me at times when I see 3 or 4 people doing a job I would do myself. The other day we had a primary conduit to lay , about 3 hundred feet. I dug it , put the pipe in , the tape in and blew a string in it myself. Took me about 3 to 4 hours. rode by a new commercial jobsite , 4 guys laying 3 , 4" conduits that were 60' long. 3 guys watching 1 dig. Keep the stories coming and picks. I like the 11 and 5pic looks like the 11 took a dump.

 

[Junkyard]

Dickjr

Thanks for the compliment!

I'll be 38 in 10 days. For whatever reason I've always worked harder than most and like you I've managed to do the job of two or three guys fairly often. I know what you mean about the knees and back. Already there lol. This year I have noticed it more, even my eyes are slipping a little. I find myself stopping and reminding the older me that I probably should use the crane or stop jumping off this or that.

Junkyard

 

[Junkyard]

Found some more pics. D11 stuck, pushing dirt and the steering clutch swap a couple weeks ago. Also loading the track last week. Don't be laughing at my $10 hat!



Junkyard

 

[d9gdon]

I have one of those Wally World hats too for when you just can't get in the shade to work on something. I used it last Friday when it was 109° when we were re-flooring the lowboy. I bought it to use when shredding with an old tractor with no umbrella.

I wouldn't believe that wrecker truck was actually any help getting that D11 out of the mud if I hadn't seen a pic. Is that an excavator in front being used as an anchor?

 

[Junkyard]

I think the excavator was helping pull in that pic. If I remember correctly it ended up being a deadman to keep the wrecker from pulling itself in. Quite the cluster. Not sure what possessed the operator to bail off in there in the first place. If memory serves its one of the better ones we have. I guess we all make mistakes from time to time. Thankfully other than than that hoe burning a few months ago we've been fortunate. Today I'm trying to figure out why my hydraulic air compressor won't build air correctly. I think the separator is plugged up. Feels like it weighs 10 pounds. Service kit on order. I'm enjoying a slack day!

Junkyard

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

d9gdon

I wouldn't believe that wrecker truck was actually any help getting that D11 out of the mud

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?42599-Bogged&highlight=d9+bogged

Sometimes it doesn't take much . . . and this is a good illustration of a bare azzed tractor needing rippers or a winch.

Cheers

 

[nowing75]

No I never made it to the chili bowl. Might have to venture out that way but I'm not a good spectator. Stay safe

 

[d9gdon]

Scrub, I googled the ground pressure of a D11N (21.6psi) compared to a D9G (14.7psi). That's a big difference, plus the suction of the mud on a tractor that's over twice as big. I did give him credit for not sticking it up to the doors though.

 

[kenh]

Large wreckers have pretty potent winches, a larger rotator is good for about 76 tons.
The nice smooth mud indicates dozer was down to its belly. Cat was stuck, now it is unstuck, mayhap the Wrecker did its share!

 

[Junkyard]

Nowing....it's worth doing at least once. It's not like it used to be in the early days. It's kinda like Knoxville in that making the A feature is a win in and of itself. I have some good connections if you want to get in last minute. You can always get pit passes but seats are another story. The ventilation used to be so bad you would come home smelling like exhaust bad. They'd even stop the races, open up the doors and get some COLD fresh air. Now they have some super duper fans they use to keep it liveable. I know what you mean about spectating when you are a driver. I struggle there too. Especially watching tracks I've run on.....I always feel like I could do it better!

Junkyard

 

[lantraxco]

Yep, set down on the belly plates for sure, if that dozer had fallen through and was up to the gunnels it would have taken some major work to pop it out like a cork instead of sliding it out.

 

[Junkyard]

It's been a few days since I've posted. Haven't done anything exciting lately. Until this evening lol. Started a 0-dark-30 this morning. Just about to call it a day around 3:00. Then I get a call saying scraper tractor blew a hose. Run out and find a hose about 20' long running from one nearly inaccessible place to another. Got it out, hauled butt and got to the parts place just before closing. Got back out to the field and started to fish that stiff PITA into place. I had seen some rain north of me on the radar. Drop, drop, drop and then the bottom fell out. 45 minutes later I'm soaked, hose is in, no leaks, oil topped off. New problem is I'm a mile of the slickest crap you've ever seen from the road. One steep little hill to go down and turn at the bottom. Creep down it, so far so good. Then my right front finds a rut and it's all over but the pulling! Ugh. Nice 15 hour day. Walk the rest of the mile to the road trying to call my daughter to pick me up. For some random reason a buddy saw the gate open and came splashing in and picked me up!



Junkayrd

 

[lantraxco]

Been there, buried that! Have a better one! :drinkup

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Hey, look on the bright side, not all days are that bad.

Some are even worse.

At least it was stuck with the painted side up.

 

[CM1995]

That sucks.

I had a similar incident and tore the front end off of a 6 month old F350 Lariat. Pop up storm drenched the site before I could get down a fairly steep, very slick hill. Two choices - go straight off the end of the road where it made a sharp 90 to the right or try and save it. Managed to get sideways with the rear hanging over the drop off and the left front buried into a 3' cut wall.

If you're in this business long enough you're eventually going to tear something up, this time all you got was stuck.:tong

 

[Junkyard]

Yep it could have been worse for sure. Once I felt it lay over to the right I quit. I knew there wasn't anyway it was coming out under its own power. Almost dark on top of that. I've been lucky over the years to avoid any major damage. I guess I got greedy yesterday and wanted the tractor up and running so they could keep making progress. Ah well. We've all done it, will do it again I'm sure!

Junkayrd

 

[crane operator]

That's the way some days go. Somehow it rarely happens first thing in the morning, I think sometimes I have more sense then. At the end of the day, I think "sure I can get out".



Went to a site yesterday. Water standing around all over in the 3' deep ruts the bricklayers forklifts have made. It looked like a mud pit for a demo derby. hvac contractors need a 6,500lb air unit set. Somehow I don't think a 95,000lbs crane on some truck tires is coming back in here boys.

Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure.