LilGiantsConstrCo

[buzzy16]

wow Joe, This is amazing what you are doing in your basement of all places, it would be awesome to "work" down there.

[MitzuRazing]

I've also been tinkering at the mystery model I got last Spring, got to get it done for this summers activities outside.

I remember seeing some big tires in one of your pictures last year, I am betting this is a Bell 4206 Am I right or what?

[Lil Giants]

Lucky guess

[Lil Giants]

So this is what I've been digging lately, under the west porch.. it was kind of a ski slope from the back wall to the water heater. Cutting it down flat, square up the edges, make it a better storage area for wet dirt from other areas in the basement. Took about 12" cut at the face of the wall & it's about 8" at front of cut.











Hauling the wet dirt over here to the sw corner, will eventually employ bucket screener here & haul the wet lumps back to where I'm digging now, to leave to dry out over summer, then crush it next winter & pile and haul it out summer of '14.





This cut is 18" deep by 72"x32" (0.917 cu yd), that's most of the dirt already in this corner.





There's maybe a dozen bellydump loads to screen & crush here presently, the last of the bone dry dirt from the wall mined away last winter.



Haul quite a bit of this crush over to the wet pile sw corner, give the 850 a dry, elevated platform to perch from while screening. And put the remainder in the wall for backfill.





Started the slow soak again this morning under the west porch, take about a week for thorough deep coverage, then let the surface dry for about 3 or 4 days & dig some more...starting at 8" at the last cut, tapering down to an inch depth just behind the water heater.





Here's a movie, can't see the 850 hardly b/c of poor lighting, but I think you can still make out how tight of area it is for it to work within.

http://youtu.be/WwrxdVTLfmY

[Snochaser]

Nice Joe, you moved a bunch of dirt, I'm sure you're being cautious around your cast iron sewer. That would be rough if it let go, you'd be doing logging instead of hauling dirt.

Ben

[Lil Giants]

I bumped the pipe with the chisel bar a few times when I was digging in the posts for the wall, sounded pretty solid... do they crack easy? what's the wall thickness generally? Should I be covering up the exposed metal surface, pouring oil on it to prevent/slow further rusting?

[dabears]

Wish i could come up and play!! I wanna play in the dirt but cant till spring.... I can move snow though.... HAHA

[buzzy16]

I'd love to come and play as well, flights from Australia aren't overly cheap though.

[ihbuilder]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

I bumped the pipe with the chisel bar a few times when I was digging in the posts for the wall, sounded pretty solid... do they crack easy? what's the wall thickness generally? Should I be covering up the exposed metal surface, pouring oil on it to prevent/slow further rusting?

yes they do if they're not bedded well . the wall is some where around .1875 - .25 inches . I don't have any here since I haven't put any in in the last few years . Down here it was a common practice to put blocking under the pipe fore setting grade with no bedding under the rest . I've replaced many like that do to the back fill breaking the pipe between the blocking . Yours looks to be bedded well

[MoRockN]

Joe, your driving/operating skills make me sick..... You are such a master. That is all!
Ayoub

[Lil Giants]

Well it's been there nearly 50yrs Steve, good to know thanx.

Practice practice practice Ayoub... time for you to start shining the paint off that new loader of yours & showing us lots of videos, will they let in the building to do some track maintenance?

[buzzy16]

how many batteries do you go though in a normal night?
you must have alot of batteries and chargers?

the video's are great.

buzzy

[Stuff]

Joe is going to be done before I ever get out there! and Im only like a day trip away from him lol!

[Snochaser]

Joe they do break easy to if you hit them. They get hairline cracks and start seeping. Just be cautious.

[Lil Giants]

Buzzy, might use a lipo or two in a night, depends on hard digging or screening. Trks last for hours on a charge... this winter has been lack of ambition, 3-4 days/wk, 1-3hrs at a time.

Perhaps someday Dean.

Good to know, thanx Ben.

[tracksntreadslou]

Very tight spot Joe ..You managed that quite well ..Great vid too ...I find some of the longer say more that 5 minutes gets sometimes boring and i will not watch the whole vid .Not with yours though .the way you split it up doing different things makes a big difference ..Thanks for keeping us in the loop

[RCLogger]

Thanks for the update Joe

Looks like that WA 500 is still going strong, any idea how many hours you have on it ?

greg

[Lil Giants]

Cheers Lou. Cameras with bigger memory cards nowadays & youtube's wider mb allowance, not so rushed anymore to cram it all together or have to make several vids to tell the whole story.

Don't know Greg, it has worked very well... making a new bucket out of steel right now, the aluminum floor of the old one is getting paper thin & the pivot points quite loose. Also just got a rotary table from Sherline to make some custom wheels to mount different hollow tires that I can add BB's to to get this loader heavier for better traction & lower center of gravity for better stability.

[Lil Giants]

Buggered on the lighting again... it was much brighter & clearer before uploading to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vg0OXyiQ3w

[cdm]

needs a spotlight aimed where the bucket goes.. those halogen ones from china are great and give off plenty heat as a bonus).