What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[dirtydeed]

Happy to report that todays job was the kind I like to do. Dig, repair and get home to my other "real" job.

This one was simple. About 8 foot down. Nice, firm ground.

Start (I always get pics of the one call markings before anything else is done).

Found this: root intrusion down 8 feet where the 4" pvc changed to 6" sdr. Roots broke the reducer/hub.

Pipe (with evidence of roots on right side of pic):

backfilling:

Done. Get home to start Job number two

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Happy to report that todays job was the kind I like to do. Dig, repair and get home to my other "real" job.

This one was simple. About 8 foot down. Nice, firm ground.

Start (I always get pics of the one call markings before anything else is done).

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Found this: root intrusion down 8 feet where the 4" pvc changed to 6" sdr. Roots broke the reducer/hub.

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Pipe (with evidence of roots on right side of pic):

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backfilling:

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Done. Get home to start Job number two

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DD, is there usually/always a small leak that gives the roots a 'toe-hold'? If so, do you think it's due to a poor installation or a joint break due to settlement, etc.?

 

[dirtydeed]

DD, is there usually/always a small leak that gives the roots a 'toe-hold'? If so, do you think it's due to a poor installation or a joint break due to settlement, etc.?

Good question.

It would appear to me that both of your answers are correct. I've noticed that there seems to be a common cause in each "neighborhood" that we work in. One development may have several jobs where we find glued joints w/o primer. Other's where we find house traps have broken from settling either from lack of stone bedding or something as simple as a clogged gutter dumping water next to the foundation or a combination of all of these.

Then there's the typical joint separation and/or decay when older materials (terra cotta, cast iron) fails. These are to be expected simply due to age.

One additional cause is from the homeowner/renter...many that get plugged with grease. Failure caused be mechanical cleaning of the lines.

 

[ctfjr]

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on to the next one tomorrow with the little orange pictured above.

Are those Dresser Couplings?

 

[dirtydeed]

Are those Dresser Couplings?

They are called brass "Ford" couplings.

 

[ctfjr]

They are called brass "Ford" couplings.

lol, I should have known - they are in our computer system. The company I work for used to sell all underground fittings. No more

 

[fried1765]

Double Orange day! finished up the job we started last week. It was another 12 hour day wrestling trench boxes, cast iron risers and 6 foot deep water lines. We wound up renting an 18" bucket for the KX080. I was able to fit it inside the trench boxes and kept digging to make the sewer line connection. Depth was around 9.5-10 feet.

I didn't get many pics of this one as I was just too busy/tired. But I did snag one of the two Oranges together...one big, one very small.

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Double Oranges

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on to the next one tomorrow with the little orange pictured above.

I am kinda surprised that you do not OWN an 18" Q/C bucket.
It should work just fine on your U-27.

 

[dirtydeed]

I am kinda surprised that you do not OWN an 18" Q/C bucket.
It should work just fine on your U-27.

I have a 12", 24" and 36" for the U27. The issue was that there's no way I could've reached where I needed to dig with the U27. It was 9 feet down and 8 feet out. I would've had to backfill against the front of the trench box (doable possibly, but we already had the big machine on site).

edit 1: forget to mention that the guys (plumbers) don't like working in any trench less than 24" wide. Most of them are bigger guys, so, I get it. The hate it when they have a deep water service cut with a 12" bucket. Ditch winds up being 14" wide.

edit: glad it was an 18" instead of a 24"...lots of slop in that 007 rental hoe.

Not sure if I posted before, but I had one hell of a time pulling the trench boxes out of the ditch. The walls had collapsed against the sides of the boxes (trench boxes are 6'x6'x3'). The KX080 went into relief as I was trying to pull the furthest box from me. I had to rock them a bit to get them loose. It was roughly 12 feet away from me. That demonstrates just how much pressure the soil exerts. Interesting, and I made a mental note of it.

 

[edritchey]

Added a thumb to my Kubota teacup TLB

 

[Old_Paint]

I started cleaning up the front area with my labor and the Kubota. There’s a section where the wisteria and kudu were taking over some trees and I wanted to eliminate them. After a damn hard day, I had accomplished very little and I had broken (yeah, broken) a walnut tree by pulling two vines at once. Its diameter was only about 8 inches and it was full of nuts.

When I came inside, I got a couple of quotes from the local mulchers and went with a local fire department captain who originally cleared our land several years ago. Just because you own a tractor doesn’t mean you should.

BTW, I did salvage the walnuts and will crack them open once they dry out. Already removed the hulls and washed them. Now I’ll have access to several other walnuts and a couple of pecan trees. That’s a redneck’s dream come true.

We also now have access to a tree that fells some years ago. Only the main truck remains. It’s kind of large - you should have seen the tree mulcher dude’s eyes when he say it for the first time. He thinks it’s the largest one he’s ever seen in this part of AL. MrsK7 added for scale. She’s barely 5’2”.

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Dunno what you plan to use to crack black walnuts with, but it better be hard and heavy. You might find more to eat in that old stump.

What was the tree, cottonwood? They get GINORMOUS. One of the oldest ones in Alabama was at the Confederate Hospital site near Verbena. IIRC, it died about 10 years ago despite all efforts to save it. It was nearly 150’ tall in its prime and something like 12’ across the stump. I saw it just before it died, and it was the definition of huge.

 

[Old_Paint]

Got up early this morning to swap the grapple for the bucket so I could use the forks. I had a rather large order of cabinets coming. The truck finally showed up after 5pm. Unloaded our new cabinets and sorted them for installation.
My bucket forks work, but it doesn’t take much to run outta lift/curl with ‘em. They push the load way too far away from the bucket knuckles, so 600# rating is in no way gonna be exceeded. There was nearly 1500# of cabinets on one pallet. But I took about a third of the load off the long pallet and then could pick up the rest after putting some cribbing under the double pallet so I could get under it sideways. Broke the shipment up and sorted it by priority for installation. Now all I gotta do is finish up the sheet rock repairs and remodeling in the kitchen. Fixed a lotta holes in the walls left by sloppy installation and upgrading work by previous owners. Still have one electrical circuit to fix and can then put all the drywall back up.

 

[fried1765]

I have a 12", 24" and 36" for the U27. The issue was that there's no way I could've reached where I needed to dig with the U27. It was 9 feet down and 8 feet out. I would've had to backfill against the front of the trench box (doable possibly, but we already had the big machine on site).

edit 1: forget to mention that the guys (plumbers) don't like working in any trench less than 24" wide. Most of them are bigger guys, so, I get it. The hate it when they have a deep water service cut with a 12" bucket. Ditch winds up being 14" wide.

edit: glad it was an 18" instead of a 24"...lots of slop in that 007 rental hoe.

Not sure if I posted before, but I had one hell of a time pulling the trench boxes out of the ditch. The walls had collapsed against the sides of the boxes (trench boxes are 6'x6'x3'). The KX080 went into relief as I was trying to pull the furthest box from me. I had to rock them a bit to get them loose. It was roughly 12 feet away from me. That demonstrates just how much pressure the soil exerts. Interesting, and I made a mental note of it.

I understand that you needed the extra reach from the rental hoe. but wouldn't the 18" bucket be nice for the U-27 on other jobs?
Looks like you often dig in clay.
I would guess that you must have a guy standing by with a shovel to clean the stuck clay from a 12" bucket.
I don't dig much (for play-work only), but even in my sandy soil, for a narrow trench, I use a 16" bucket, to avoid bucket clogging.

 

[SAR Tracker]

Used the bucket to lift about 4 250# Ponderosa Pine rounds (16" length) onto the splitter (1 at a time) to make more firewood. Oak, maple, cherry, etc would be nice for firewood, but pines is what I got, so there ya go.

 

[K7G]

Dunno what you plan to use to crack black walnuts with, but it better be hard and heavy. You might find more to eat in that old stump.

What was the tree, cottonwood? They get GINORMOUS. One of the oldest ones in Alabama was at the Confederate Hospital site near Verbena. IIRC, it died about 10 years ago despite all efforts to save it. It was nearly 150’ tall in its prime and something like 12’ across the stump. I saw it just before it died, and it was the definition of huge.

I’ve got a device that’s been used for pecans and should handle walnuts. They’re not dired out enough yet - the shells flex into almost a “not-today” smile. I did manage to crack one, not a lot of meat as you noted.

In the first run a few weeks ago, 10 walnuts gave me enough to flavor two bowls of ice cream. The squeeze may not be worth the juice. Too bad, walnuts are my favorite.

 

[L35]

Used the bucket to lift about 4 250# Ponderosa Pine rounds (16" length) onto the splitter (1 at a time) to make more firewood. Oak, maple, cherry, etc would be nice for firewood, but pines is what I got, so there ya go.

Nothing wrong with softwoods, let them season like any other wood and they will heat your home. Burn times won’t be as long as there are less BTU per cord than other species. The old wife’s tale of using pine in your wood stove will burn your house down has been debunked time and time again.

 

[Fordtech86]

using the Bota to build freedom acres…it’s a 1A safe space where you can go say anything you want to at that pile of dirt without retribution

 

[S-G-R]

Mowed 10 acres with the LX3310 and FDR2584 then gave both a bath. Last mow of the season so the bottom of the deck was cleaned and everything greased so it's ready for next year.

 

[NCL4701]

Nothing major. Moved a couple of logs to the seating area by the pond to serve as footstools. They were aged to the point the bark was pretty loose so I peeled the bark with a dull mattock/grubbing hoe last weekend and pressure washed them. I don’t know what these things weigh but more than I can pick up, so having a grapple to set them exactly where the boss lady wanted them was pretty sweet.

The guy in yellow is our son, who lives next door. Wife was quick enough to get out of the pic, but he wasn’t quite quick enough.

 

[Fordtech86]

Still got some more cleaning up to do , really need rain so I can burn all the stuff I got piled up first. But we did use the Bota to help throw some angry words at the dirt

he starts shooting team in a few weeks, got cleaned out to 50 yards for now (they shoot at 25 and 50 yards)

 

[Snowman7]

Mowed 10 acres with the LX3310 and FDR2584 then gave both a bath. Last mow of the season so the bottom of the deck was cleaned and everything greased so it's ready for next year.

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I cannot imagine having ground that is level enough to mow 84”, it would be scalp city at my place!