Shop Build Excavator Experience

[karoc]

Good morning, I don't know about ya'll but after reading so many post about raising cost of building material and myself wanting to retire has put me between rock and hard place. But we still need humor so I though I would share little of my first experience with excavator. Which I never used one before nor have I ever seen one up close. But a member here had posted that he use one to remove stumps which is what I needed to do. So here few pics and a short video if I can figure out how to also post it. Needless to say I had it for 8hrs that Friday morning which I had couple big stumps and one that was really to big for machine. Anyway I had few small stumps which I started with those first so that I could kinda figure out the controls and get the hang of it. First one was a magnolia tree stump which was about 10". Got that one up so moved to next one and on second scoop I hit water, ****. There goes my day and 8hrs of excavator use. But water people came out and put a clamp on the line and told me its nothing so I went back at it. Which I was able to remove few more stumps. If I get the short video loaded, its the rental guy showing how to operate it and how to go about doing stumps. Nice, and good day with little success.

 

[karoc]

Dang it, video loaded but I don't know where it went. Sorry, it was just short video of the rental guy doing the first stump just to show it can be done and how go about doing it.

 

[CraigStu]

Other than the water you had a ball didn't you. I rented one a year or so ago and I keep thinking for a good excuse to rent one again.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Did you call for Mark out? Supposed to call 811 a few days before you excavate even if its private property, around here they would charge you for damage repair and or fine for not calling. It's free and you can do it on line, plus in ny you need to take a digsafe online class.

 

[a_whale]

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[karoc]

Other than the water you had a ball didn't you. I rented one a year or so ago and I keep thinking for a good excuse to rent one again.

That is for sure, even if its the small one it had some power. I couldn't pull stumps out but it could roll them out. But I did try, which I was at right angle from tracks which when I tried to lift stump the excavator tilted over. Scared heck out of me.

Renegade, my place is out there, there's no one to mark anything there's no inspections, no deed restrictions no nothing and that's why I love it.

 

[a_whale]

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[Renegade1LI]

That is for sure, even if its the small one it had some power. I couldn't pull stumps out but it could roll them out. But I did try, which I was at right angle from tracks which when I tried to lift stump the excavator tilted over. Scared heck out of me.

Renegade, my place is out there, there's no one to mark anything there's no inspections, no deed restrictions no nothing and that's why I love it.

Just so used to NY where everything is regulated, it's the land of no. At least you had some fun pulling stumps, excavators are a great multipurpose machine.

 

[karoc]

I do love it but I also wish it did have few restrictions, but its makeup is mostly weekenders who visit couple times but seems never show back up. Those places look kinda trashy side. Then rest is retired people which I hope to join them. Dang with material prices the way they are my retirement is kinda on hold. But that don't mean I can't keep preparing the place for that day. And try to make it look like normal people may live there.

 

[Sumboodie]

I've never run one that small. Most of my seat time has been on a 200 and 330 Hitachi. Bit of time on a 400 and played with a 700 once.

 

[930dreamer]

Excavators are great, I rented one two weeks ago. Lifting and hauling concrete blocks while comfortably seated is priceless.

 

[quickfarms]

Karoc, sounds like you are living in the kind of place I would love. That is pretty awesome. Michigan regulations were out of hand decades ago. The more you let them regulate, the more they regulate and the higher your taxes go. I lived in a township that was totally rural but prohibited parking an RV on your property if you didn't have a house on it. Prohibited unregistered cars, etc. I discovered that the best way to deal with them was to get a cheap lawyer and generate massive amounts of paperwork for them. Regulators love regulating, but many seem to hate paperwork, generate enough of that paperwork and at least some of them tend to go away.

Around here the lawyers work too because the city drones do not want to be responsible for the city getting involved in a lawsuit and a lot of what they do is pushing the legal limits and some is flat out illegal.

 

[Daveyclimber]

811 won't necessarily tell you where your utilities are, only the utility companies infrastructure which is generally pre meter.

 

[nadogail]

811 won't necessarily tell you where your utilities are, only the utility companies infrastructure which is generally pre meter.

Even with those limitations, you can demonstrate your claim that you exercised some diligence and made an honest effort to avoid any damages that may have happened. That can change the damages from willful to accidental.

 

[Busted Knucles]

I just removed 3 big pine stumps by digging around them, cut them off as low as possible and burning them out. The key was have a small household fan blowing on the hot coals and the stumps were gone.

 

[zkdiesel]

I just pull mine all out with a truck. Done up to 24” diamiter very easily

 

[mikegt4]

I have been clearing out about a quarter acre of Honeysuckle (the mid-west's version of Kudzu), fortunately the ground is soft due to recent rains. I can just rip the whole tree out in one piece and take it to the burn pile.

 

[PCustoms]

I just pull mine all out with a truck. Done up to 24” diamiter very easily

Come on over, I've got some oaks you can pull out for me.

 

[Firebrick43]

I just pull mine all out with a truck. Done up to 24” diamiter very easily

Do you have a monster truck? I have had to give several jerks on some 50 year old shrubs with a full size truck.

I used to have an 84 C60 with a 20000 lbs winch behind the cab I used to pull trees out with, well that is until one day, while pulling an 8" tree, before I knew it and got it stopped I had the front wheels 3' off the ground. One can not feather the clutch to let it back down. I still cant believe I didn't bust the windshield out or the kingpins/spindles.

 

[mcbane]

I just pull mine all out with a truck. Done up to 24” diamiter very easily

I’ve seen D8 operators spinning tracks trying to pull 24” stumps. I’m sure they all wish they had the power and traction of your truck. Why waste a day with an excavator cutting half of the roots when some guy with a 1/2 ton could have just popped it out easily.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Justind97]

I just bought that exact machine except with an enclosed cab. I haven't had the chance to use it yet. How was it??

 

[firebirdparts]

I always think people that don't run a dozer all the time (like me) should rent some piece of heavy equipment once a year and do some project. They are fun.

 

[Brly]

I just dug the footer ditches for my shop this past weekend with a rental E35. Dug 4' deep x 5' wide through rocky soil. Ran great, no issues. I don't have a ton of experience on an excavator, but jumped right on and got a lot of digging done in 2 days. Amazing how quickly the controls come back to you after not being on one for years.

 

[zkdiesel]

I’ve seen D8 operators spinning tracks trying to pull 24” stumps. I’m sure they all wish they had the power and traction of your truck. Why waste a day with an excavator cutting half of the roots when some guy with a 1/2 ton could have just popped it out easily.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

My truck is an understatement

Cut them high, break them off then lift up.
Small example

 

[86turbodsl]

Karoc, sounds like you are living in the kind of place I would love. That is pretty awesome. Michigan regulations were out of hand decades ago. The more you let them regulate, the more they regulate and the higher your taxes go. I lived in a township that was totally rural but prohibited parking an RV on your property if you didn't have a house on it. Prohibited unregistered cars, etc. I discovered that the best way to deal with them was to get a cheap lawyer and generate massive amounts of paperwork for them. Regulators love regulating, but many seem to hate paperwork, generate enough of that paperwork and at least some of them tend to go away.

My solution to this was to get a property that was really deep, put everything in the back way off the road and just do whatever i wanted anyway. they can regulate all they want, but at the end of the day, i'm the taxpayer. i can bury them in lawsuits if they want to get crappy.