Sawing among the Cat's

[jackpine]

 The job I am currently on ( see the " sawing small logs " thread) has an extra intimidation factor. I am sawing on the edge of what will be a 20 acre pond when completed and today had 4 Cat scrapers and 3 Cat D8's lined up along side the mill :D 4 more D8's were working pushing up sand about 150 yds. away. Made me and my little Woodmizer look like toys :D Talk about feeling small. This afternoon they came and picked up the scrapers,backed the lowboys in along side of me and loaded up no more than 50 ft. away while I was sawing. I could feel the vibrations thru the frozen ground. When I left tonight I felt the mill was in good hands with 3 D8's keeping guard.

Bill

[Brad_S.]

I know the feeling. :D When you're sawing in someone's yard, you're the big man on campus, but in the middle of a construction site, you feel as insignificant as a gnat. :D

[Norm]

There's few things I enjoy more than working around big equipment like that. Usually the dirt work has stopped this time of year but I'm guessing the D-8's just don't really notice the ground being a little frozen.

[thecfarm]

Some people have way too much money.Glad they can afford to have that equipment come in and do all that ground work.That must of been quite a sight,3 scrapers and 7 D8's.That will get some work done in a hurry.

[LOGDOG]

Jackpine,

   How deep did they go down? I remember the water table being pretty high up there. Are they going to let the watershed fill it or do they have a well, spring, or?

LOGDOG

[sawguy21]

I remember spotting gravel trucks as they were dumping for a road bed. I had them stagger the loads so as to not overwhelm the dozer, I had never seen a D8H work. :D

[jackpine]

Logdog
The sequence as was told to me was, first the  scrapers pulled away the topsoil for later use as this pond will have lots laid out around it. Then the D8's pushed up the "berm" around the pond. They look to be going about 20 ft. below grade because they dissapear from view and then reappear as they push up the edges. This work was all sub-contracted. Next the owners crew comes in with excavators and haul trucks to dig the pond deeper and then when they reach the water table they bring in the drag lines and dig deeper yet. I'm not sure what depth the water table is there, I'll ask next week.

Bill

[LOGDOG]

Wow... Sounds like they have a project on their hands. I'd love to see those drag lines work. They can lay up some dirt on a hurry. We ran dirt pans to build our pond but when it got to deep for them to climb out I had them pull into the pond and stage on a shelf. Then below them I had a track hoe loading them out. From there they'd run out the shallow end of the pond and lay the dirt out. Fun to watch.

LOGDOG

[jackpine]

Thought I would up-date this thread. THe D8's have moved out so only one D9 stands guard this holiday weekend. On Wed they brought in a, new to them, excavator. First semi had the counterweight, second the lower arm and shovel. Both were unloaded using two excavators to lift them and allow the truck to drive out. Them the excavator showed up, 100 tons of Liebherr on a truck I have never seen, 100 ft lg rig with the a pivot in front of the rear axles. Unfortunately they unloaded this about 150 ft behind me so I could not watch, but my helpers were all eyes. Sure wish I had a camera with me. The owner told me he bought it at an auction in Mn. for $175,00. It looks to be in excellent condition and they went right to digging after they installed the counterweight and shovel.

Bill

[Norm]

Now that would have been worth the price of admission to see. I've always wanted to run a excavator of that size, wonder what they'd charge to let me get a couple of hours in it. ;D

[jackpine]

Norm
Knowing these guys if you could show that you knew how to run it they would probably let you :D

I forgot to mention the other interesting part. They could not get the lower arm and shovel attached, standing on tall stepladders they could not get proper alignment. Their solution was to dig a hole with one of their other excavators, lower the shovel& arm into it to get a better angle and to be able to work from the ground. Filled the hole in after all was done.

Bill

[Corley5]

The only difference between men and boys is the size and price of their toys  8) 8) 8) 

[Norm]

A friend of mine that runs the big excavators says they all are controlled the same way. The big ones have so much power you can break the machine badly if not careful. On mine you run out of power and weight before something bad happens.

I've often thought that you could charge pretty well to sell time in some of the bigger dozers and excavators. Same with some of the big farm machinery we have around here. The next door neighbor has a 500hp cat tractor with auto steer and more electronics than the space shuttle. He allows me in the cab but hides the keys.