What the hell was I thinking! A tale of land development and our 1st rodeo in such.

[Georgia Iron]

Hold that thought Georgia Iron. I may very well take you up on that.

Dam, reading my post I see it looks like I was offering my services. Typing on a phone with limited service probably should be banned. I am not available to take on any new work currently. I was trying to point you in the direction of what to look for equipment wise if you decide to give it a go.

Tinkerer says he mixed fly ash with just a dozer so you might try that and see if it works if you can get it from a power plant. As he said once it gets hard it is over. The p61s were trying to cut it down for me because they jumped ahead mixing and they ended up spending hour upon hour getting a 1.5" off. So i would do small areas and get it right as you go. Other wise you will regret it if it does get hard and you are too high for your final finish height.

 

[Homer Dokes]

Dam, reading my post I see it looks like I was offering my services. Typing on a phone with limited service probably should be banned.

Oooooh noooo... don't back out on me now!

 

[Homer Dokes]

Am I correct in understanding that fly ash and coal ash are one in the same? If so... from what I see the EPA is cracking down mightily on coal power producers at the moment as they have deemed fly (coal) ash quite toxic. Do I have that right?

 

[chidog]

Maybe they all got laid off.

 

[Welder Dave]

Fly ash does come from coal fired power plants. I don't know if it's toxic but a lot of coal fired plants are getting shut down or converted to natural gas at least in Canada.

 

[Homer Dokes]

Fly ash does come from coal fired power plants. I don't know if it's toxic but a lot of coal fired plants are getting shut down or converted to natural gas at least in Canada.

They were all being shut down during the last administration in the states. In fact... the plants were being paid to shut down. It's the current administrations efforts to revive the coal power industry in addition to rolling out nuclear. Nuclear will take much longer to get rolling so coal plants are seen as a stop gap at least until nuclear goes on line. This is all being fueled by the huge demand that the AI facilities that are being built now will require.

This is a bit biased so take it for what it's worth: https://earthjustice.org/feature/coal-ash-states/indiana
It speaks to the toxins in fly ash. State epa divisions are going nuts with power plants right now over fly ash and cleanup.

I bring this up only in that if it is as toxic as stated then why is it being used as a building material? Particularly in the ground and is it just a matter of time before they outlaw it all together.

 

[Homer Dokes]

Got it home in one piece this evening and couldn't wait... had to give it a go in the rock hard clay. I love the results!!!

 

[Homer Dokes]

It's Christmas!!! More pics to follow. Had a $1/4 million in materials delivered over the last three days.

 

[Ollie]

Keep your water pipe gaskets clean good bevels when u have to cut pipe and a file for any little nicks so u don’t end up with any leaks. Enjoy the development work.

 

[CM1995]

L

Had a $1/4 million in materials delivered over the last three days.

LOL - I understand that feeling. Had $150K worth of 48" corrugated HDPE delivered in 2 days and all I could think of is - I am in the wrong business!

 

[chidog]

Good job on the ripping can go deeper of course, but don't do it like you would see on the gold mining shows where they use the bar as a bulldozer and shove everything like the main support into the rocks and dirt, I've seen too many know nothings doing that, those parts are NOT GROUND ENGAGING TOOLS, and messes them up as well. I also can't stand welding the weeny hitches to the bar either, there are much better ways to add a hitch and zero welding involved. Sorry its just me, I like concours d’elegance restorations, and hate the time and effort to fix messes.

Yeah I could run a brand new dozer and the only paint that would be missing is on the GET and the UC maybe belly pans if clearing.
How many would even bother?

 

[Welder Dave]

Yeah, it's easier on the dozer too to not rip full depth. No sense in trying to go so deep the dozer is spinning the tracks. It looks to work pretty good the way you did it. You can always rip it a second time after the loosened dirt is pushed off or rip it a second time at 90 deg's. Might want to tighten the track(s) a little bit. Is the pipe you got delivered secure so no one could potentially steal some of it? I've seen it several times where supplies for a job are just sitting there where anybody driving by could help themselves or come back when it's dark to take some.

 

[Homer Dokes]

I spent this morning ripping across the area that will be the base of the pond. I have a long way down to go (18' on the north side). I had the IH412 coming behind me and I have never seen it's bowl fill up so fast. The combination is working beautifully. I am going to look into either a camera on the back or some kind of feed back as to the position of the ripper.... depth... up or down. I took it to the barn to do maintenance on it this afternoon not realizing I had the rippers down... DOH!!!! Good thing it was dirt all the way.

We have a 40x40 pole barn on the premises (was already here when we bought the property) and we have secured it. I put up pallet racking in it and we have all the expensive stuff stored on pallets inside... including the fire hydrants. Those suckers are pricey!!! We have the round pipe sitting out. It is all 20' lengths and we have it stacked three high (36" round). If someone begins messing with it they will surely wish they hadn't. It is hidden from any road way to boot. The property is outside the city limits so few actually know the development is going on as again... it itself is hidden from view from the roads. Still... I feel compelled to get some cameras set up there with the feeds going to my desk at home.

 

[Homer Dokes]

Greetings guys. A bit of a hiatus here... thought I should make an entry with our progress. The addition of the HD16 and it's rippers are making a tremendous difference on the pond. I will have pics this evening. The weather is beginning to shift into full fall... which lasts about 3 days in these parts before winter actually commands the day. I have a couple concerns at the moment. The base of the pond currently still has to go down another 5 feet and already we are holding water. Bought a nice 3" portable trash pump and will be working on evacuation of that water, provided by recent rains.

Afraid I will have to have an excavator sooner than later to finish digging out the base. There is a John Deere 230LC literally sitting just 2 blocks from the property that is up for sale. Comes with three buckets. The owner admits that the undercarriage will need serious work soon but for the time being he has pulled a plate from the tracks to tighten them up. Hasn't given a price yet but indicates it will be one with the understanding that it will need some major work down the road soon. Will prod him for that today. If the price is right I will get the counties finest to escort the unit across the street (highway) saving me on transport costs.

Will have more to speak to this evening.

 

[TomA]

Sounds like a plan.

 

[Homer Dokes]

Just a quick video of the ripper in action on the HD16.

These 1 minute videos are taking simultaneously with two separate cameras. Should be able to click on the links they will play. These cameras have no sound but outside of that I am really impressed with them. They have a very strong magnetic base, are solar powered, have HD very clear video as you will see and both feed into a 7" monitor I mounted within arms reach on the underside of the canopy.

hd16-rear-cam-162940.mp4

LCEnt Dropbox - a safe home for all your data

dropbox.lcent.com

hd16-rake-cam.mp4

LCEnt Dropbox - a safe home for all your data

dropbox.lcent.com

 

[aighead]

What are the cameras? That a live feed to your monitor?

 

[Homer Dokes]

What are the cameras? That a live feed to your monitor?

Purchased the cameras from here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRYCDW4R?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Yes... that is the live feed to the monitor. The monitor itself recorded both feeds independently to an micro sdio memory card. I am so tickled with the results I am buying another set for the scraper. It's hard to tell where the pan is sitting and with these cameras it will make it easy. Also hard to tell when the bowl is full.

 

[Homer Dokes]

So we lost the pan to our IH412 scraper today off the track. Look here for the details....

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/lost-the-pan-on-an-hi-412.121535/

 

[chidog]

Just an FYI, never do a turn with the rippers in the ground. And always low gear.