Excavators

[BIGTWIG]

 

[pantheraba]

Looking SO good!

 

[ruel]

Yeah beautiful machine and sunset

 

[pantheraba]

@BIGTWIG that looks new...did you get rid of the Takeuchi 290?

 

[pantheraba]

We have been getting our eggs lined up...Alex got a fuel transfer tank from a retired FF..good price..made a mount for it. I ordered a 48" ditch/grading bucket for scooping lots of pond muck...it took about 6 MONTHS to arrive. Supply chain issues with TAG manufacturer. Alex picked it up a few days ago and we started experimenting how to load out the trailer. We think we have it figured out....hope to get some axle weight scale measurements soon to confirm.

He has his full CDL now. Kyle was right way back. Just HAVING that 24K trailer puts us in the DOT crosshairs. I just passed the knowledge phase of CDL. Have to take the practical test next.

We will be taking the excavator back to the farm in about 10 days for 3-4 days of ex work. Here is our trailer setup:

 

[treebilly]

How many gallons is that tank?

 

[pantheraba]

And here is some "ex" stuff we did back in October at the farm....breaking one of the bigger beaver dams:

 

[pantheraba]

How many gallons is that tank?

68 gal. Alex said with the dent at the bottom we'll consider it 60.

 

[BIGTWIG]

@BIGTWIG that looks new...did you get rid of the Takeuchi 290?

I recently sold the tb290.

 

[lumberjack]

@pantheraba Looking good!


Check rear overhang laws/if you need a flag or something on the excavator's boom.

 

[Burnham]

He's got a little one .

 

[pantheraba]

B is right...I told Alex a few days ago we need to get a bit more serious about the size of that flag.

Good eye, Carl!!

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Why not with the ex. arm toward the front? There's plenty of space over the attachments.

 

[pantheraba]

Weight distribution

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Indeed, if you just rotate the top rear to front, that can add some weight on the hitch. But even that, I'm not sure. Isn't the counterweight supposed to compensate for a good amount of the arm's weight? If so, the rotating shouldn't modify much the balance on the tracks. In both cases, it seems that you can adjust the excavator's position accordingly, a good amount toward the rear ( if nose heavy), or a bit toward the front by putting the blade on the rear (if butt heavy).
Just thinking out loud, I'm not there and you know your gear.

 

[pantheraba]

Good thoughts and I appreciate the input. We've got the front of the trailer filled up with a new ditch bucket, mulcher and a fuel tank. We have to rest the bucket on the excavator on the trailer deck to chain it safely. So I think we're just about limited to what you see there. And I added a better rear red flag today.

 

[BIGTWIG]

Gary, you could really de-clutter your trailer with a nice flatbed/toolbox on the Ford to service your ex for fuel/air/tools.

I was always concerned having the transfer tank on the trailer, I considered the tank to be more exposed to damage, and a pain to get the machine to at times.

 

[pantheraba]

Good input. That Ford is Alex's daily driver and has a lockable bed cover. He usually has it full of tools he is using for different jobs...no room for the fuel tank there. We are going to have to work with it like that for now as we develop/evolve our method. We were humping 5 gallon plastic fuel cans to refuel...that sucks big time. We may eventually move the fuel tank to my truck (open bed there) if the trailer is a hassle.

There is a custom toolbox on the front of the trailer for chains, binder/tighteners, straps, basic tools, etc. It is a big help.

Thanks for the input.

 

[SeanKroll]

Can you get diesel delivered to your farm?

 

[pantheraba]

I'm sure it could be done but we won't use enough to make that cost-effective I don't think. We've got three big tanks on the property now. Granddaddy used to use them for his equipment. Each one's probably 6 ft long and 3 ft in diameter, so they hold a lot. They're mounted about 8 ft up and were strictly gravity flow. So somebody had to pump up to them. At one time he also had his own gas pump by the shop. It's actually in the shop now; we have kept it and somebody will probably rebuild it one of these days. I remember we used to fill the car up back in the sixties before we went back to Atlanta.

 

[SeanKroll]

Idk how far out you are.

My friend gets his delivered, 100+ gallons, a good bit cheaper than the pump.

 

[pantheraba]

That's pretty interesting. I have never really considered having it delivered before. At some point we will be doing intensive work down there that might make that practical. I'm headed down tomorrow to spend this week there. We're going to cut the dam on the big pond and start draining it off. We'll let it dry 6 months to a year and then start dredging and digging out the sediment that has built up over the years. That's what we're going to need to have a dozer on site I think and that's when fuel will be an issue.

 

[Tree09]

You can always call a fuel company and they can deliver it right to the machine too. A bunch of contractors here just do that rather than mess around with a pickup one for the bigger machines. So if you have a dozer there just have them out to fill up everything.

 

[BIGTWIG]

 

[pantheraba]

Update on excavators...I bought a 2nd one. The Takeuchi TB370 is good for what it does...but we quickly realized it is too small to dig out the 20-acre pond.

I found a 2006, CAT 320CL...long track/undercarriage, about 50K lbs...it'll move some mud. We have had some pretty good (bad!) adventures with it...suffice it to say, I just received 10 mud mats, 4'x18'x8" to help not have too many more unplanned adventures. Lots of pictures and stories but short on time now. I am at the farm the last 3 days getting things ready here for our first family reunion at the farm since 2018. I inherited the farm about 2 years ago so it will be good to have a mess of kin folks all get together this Saturday.