Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

[Grumblebum]

Good call doing the footings for the lift. I think the piece of mind from a solid foundation is well justified.

Now have you gone and started making mobile base frames for some cabinets or something ?

 

[jbmatth]

That was a busy weekend, I picked up a concrete saw on Friday for a single day rent price for the entire weekend. I finished laying out my cut lines in sharpie and set up the saw.
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After way too long cutting, ruining a blade, going to town to buy a new blade ($$$) and cutting the rest of it to "full" depth.
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I had to come back and make a deeper cut to get all of the way through the slab. It was pretty consistantly 4.5"-5" thick, which means I didn't have to really do any of this. Another view:
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This morning I put in more hammer and pick time, now tell me doesn't that new paint on the pick look so much better after half of it gets worn off. LOL
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One more section on the main slab and 3 more of the little slabs to go. Now what will they be used for again...?

I also managed to get the yard mowed, vacuum and wash B.P. 2.0, The Lemon (yellow ZX2), The Greed Dragon (Saturn), and my wife's Jeep. (No cool nickname yet.) As well I sold the front diff from the frame I picked up so now all of the parts are sold, I came out ~$600 ahead on that deal.

It can't be all about work and no play so Saturday was a nice evening, I took my cobra to get some gummy worms for the girls and snapped this picture.

View media item 63332Yep 30 miles since the last wash and I already have some nasty bugs on the windshield. Perhaps I should have washed it with the other four.

Recovering,
JB

 

[jbmatth]

Good call doing the footings for the lift. I think the piece of mind from a solid foundation is well justified.

Now have you gone and started making mobile base frames for some cabinets or something ?

Nope, with my new post maybe it'll give you a better idea. Thanks for playing along though.
JB

 

[jbmatth]

Just in case anyone was wondering concrete is heavy, and take a while to remove especially in the little 1'x1' (30.48cm x 30.48cm) squares where I really don't want to chance destroying the surrounding concrete with the big sledge. Here is one way I've been able to make very quick progress on the big hole:
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I use the pick to get under the end of the row, lift it up and place some pieces of broken concrete under the end. Then I wack it real good...I mean hit the slab with the sledge about 18" (~46cm) from the end yielding:
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Chunks of concrete that are easily manageable, stack them off to the side, rinse and repeat. The little squares I just have to use my 3 lb (1.36kg) hand held sledge and a little rock hammer. (I found this on the side of the road on one of my runs, I think it is a rock hammer of some kind, but if not please tell me otherwise.) The big rows I could get out in about 20 minutes, the smaller squares took closer to an hour to get all cleaned out. Now what could they be used for...?
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On another note I had a bad tire on my trailer so I took it in for replacement, the next day I blew the brand new CV axle boot out on my truck, it had less than 500 miles (800km) on it. The next day, yesterday, I had a flat on the Greed Dragon, swapped on the spare and it went flat before I could even make it a mile down the road. Some days I should just stay at home and work on things I want to break like the concrete.

Keep moving forward,
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, what are rebar pieces used for?
So are you going to mix the concrete yourself or have a truck come out?
I see my hearse is moved, did it go back together OK?

 

[jbmatth]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, what are rebar pieces used for?
So are you going to mix the concrete yourself or have a truck come out?
I see my hearse is moved, did it go back together OK?

The rebar is for the footing/foundation for the lift that will go in the big hole. I'm having the concrete trucked out, depending on how deep the dig hole ends up being I'll need 2-3 yards. I haven't told what the little holes are for, or the angle iron brackets...yet.

It went back together pretty easy other than getting the torque tube to line up with the driveshaft teeth, that was a booger.

JB

 

[1/2 Cup]

JB, I can see heaps of uses for the chunks of concrete, stacker stone, garden feature or a base for something???

Have a bit better day today, you deserve it.

Regards

 

[oldironfarmer]

Looks like a nice slab, does it have reinforcement?

I guess I differ from most on this forum. My piece of mind is usually derived from the fact that manufacturers significantly overdesign lifting equipment. If the foundation is close, I'm happy.

The square safety jack foundation holes look nice.

 

[Bob Heine]

The little squares I just have to use my 3 lb (1.36kg) hand held sledge and a little rock hammer. (I found this on the side of the road on one of my runs, I think it is a rock hammer of some kind, but if not please tell me otherwise.) The big rows I could get out in about 20 minutes, the smaller squares took closer to an hour to get all cleaned out. Now what could they be used for...?
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JB

JB, I think that particular tool is a brick hammer. Are the small holes going to be for floor anchors?

 

[dittle fart around]

JB, I think that particular tool is a brick hammer. Are the small holes going to be for floor anchors?

I'm thinking lights. Everyone needs a little up lighting!

 

[jbmatth]

JB, I can see heaps of uses for the chunks of concrete, stacker stone, garden feature or a base for something???

Have a bit better day today, you deserve it.

Regards

1/2,
The old chunks of concrete are going to be used for erosion control on a friends farm, he needs a lot and I have plenty. Besides this roughly 1 yard of concrete I have probably 10 more in a pile just outside of the back of The Warthog Hidey Hole.

Yesterday was much better, the tire shop repaired the spare for free as it just had a bad bead, I plugged the two holes in the normal tire and put it back in service. However, that tire blew out on me on my way to work this morning meaning I had to install the spare to make it to work. I dropped the other tire off to have it replaced today. Luckily they are small tires 175/65-14's and will be relativity cheap.

Looks like a nice slab, does it have reinforcement?

I guess I differ from most on this forum. My piece of mind is usually derived from the fact that manufacturers significantly overdesign lifting equipment. If the foundation is close, I'm happy.

The square safety jack foundation holes look nice.

Iron Farmer,
There is wire mesh in the existing slab but no rebar. As I mentioned here I was considering just running with the existing slab but after thinking about it I wanted to be certain the slab was more than adequate and not take any chances with my 7,500 lb (3,400kg) truck. I might also have a truck coming it that is bigger and heavier than mine once the lift is installed for some work.

The holes aren't for safety jacks, but I will be purchasing some of those.

JB, I think that particular tool is a brick hammer. Are the small holes going to be for floor anchors?

Bob,
Thanks for the info on the hammer, it works well for concrete too, and I didn't notice any loss of metal during use. I have taken all of the concrete out of the holes and will load it up for transport this weekend. Not for anchors, but I could see picking some of those up in the near future, rolling Herb's Hearse around is not easy!

I'm thinking lights. Everyone needs a little up lighting!

Dittle Fart,
Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner! I'll post more info next week when they will be closer to installation, but I plan to have 6-10w LED flood lights with those angle iron frames, 18 ga. sheet metal boxes, 3/4" (19mm) Lexan glass (bullet proof glass) covers, and wiring run in conduit set in concrete, or under the slab. All junctions will be in waterproof boxes within the light boxes so if any rework needs to be done down the road I can pull new wire, or make necessary changes. Lastly, I'm working to figure out the best way to activate them.

Have a good one,
JB

 

[jbmatth]

On another note we have some exciting news, the owner of the land around our house decided to sell. We decided to go for it as we've always kinda wanted to have some more land to play around with and eventually raise some cattle. So in about a month or so we will close one an additional 35 acres, seen here in the red outline:

We currently own the blue rectangle of 5 acres, this will bring us up to 40 acres total. Right now the green is pasture that is a little overgrown, but not too bad, with the remainder being hay fields. Short term we will lease the land out to the gentleman that currently has cattle on in but will work towards transitioning to where we have our own little heard on it. Not much more to add at this point, but I do have a new member that will be joining the family this Sunday, let me just say he is one big boy, heaver than my truck and wider too.
JB

 

[1/2 Cup]

JB, that's awesome news..

 

[BUGTHUG]

That's great you need some llama's to guard your property

 

[jbmatth]

1/2, thank you, I'm excited about it and will hopefully eventually make some money off of it, but also this way it will keep the original farm all in one piece.

Herb,
Are you asking me to take them or telling me? Lol if there is a better profit margin between them and cattle I'm game. At this point I need to really save/make money for a bit before I go off spending like a sailor in port.


Sent from my bag phone.

 

[markviii]

Congratulations on extending your property. We love our view to the west, so, overall, purchasing the extra 7+ acres was a good thing.

Chris

 

[madoc1]

great move on the extra 35 acres. you are young and energetic enough to make that a good investment. not sure you need any advice, but iron farmer seems to have his operation down pat. good luck and take care of that back.

jim

 

[oldironfarmer]

Congratulations on the additional acreage! You really can't have too much

You should be able to make enough money on cattle to pay for the annual taxes on the land.

 

[don long]

Hi JB
I was reading about your demo on the concrete and thought about the demo I did when I put in my air bag lift in the work shop.
I didn't have the juice to break up the slab with a sledge so I over cut the concrete and cut the slab into several different squares ,drilled a hole in the center of each square. Dropped an expandable retainer in the hole and put an eye bolt into the retainer. With a chain and my forklift I pulled up each square and stacked them out in the yard for later use. Last week I planted the last square in front of the door to the woodshop (barn) for a porch.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Hi JB
I was reading about your demo on the concrete and thought about the demo I did when I put in my air bag lift in the work shop.
I didn't have the juice to break up the slab with a sledge so I over cut the concrete and cut the slab into several different squares ,drilled a hole in the center of each square. Dropped an expandable retainer in the hole and put an eye bolt into the retainer. With a chain and my forklift I pulled up each square and stacked them out in the yard for later use. Last week I planted the last square in front of the door to the woodshop (barn) for a porch.

Great idea on the slabs! An alternate but somewhat slower way is to fill the hole with water and let it freeze over the winter, fracturing the concrete.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Maybe see what the EARTHQUAKE did to it
Did you shake this morning? Man I did, was freaking out and the house was making some weird noise like it does when the wind blows about 70mph.

 

[madoc1]

bug, are they doing much fracking near you? they have been having a bunch of quakes in ok that they blame on fracking fluids disposal wells.

 

[Grumblebum]

Congrats on the extra acres JB that is awesome.

GB.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

We had action on the quakes all the way up to Northeast KS.

 

[BUGTHUG]

bug, are they doing much fracking near you? they have been having a bunch of quakes in ok that they blame on fracking fluids disposal wells.

I'm not sure " How much ", but I'm sure there is some. I haven't seen any drillin going on, but not sure what a frackin setup would look like? I know they pour all kinds of fluids that have chemicals that **** up the water wells.

 

[madoc1]

a fracking set up is when you see like 20 water tanks and pumpers around a well head. shooting a million or so gallons of chemicals and sand down the hole. then they pull the fluid out and pump it into a disposal well and this is what lubricates the earth and causes quakes. as you say ,nasty stuff around regular water wells.

jim

 

[jbmatth]

First off I have to apologize for not replying sooner, I didn't get any notifications that there was activity here in my absence. Thank you all for showing interest in this new adventure we are taking on.

Congratulations on extending your property. We love our view to the west, so, overall, purchasing the extra 7+ acres was a good thing.

Chris

Chris,
Thank you, we are very excited and are starting to dream of the possibilities of what it could become. Maybe we can set up a small helipad if ya'll want to fly down for a visit.

great move on the extra 35 acres. you are young and energetic enough to make that a good investment. not sure you need any advice, but iron farmer seems to have his operation down pat. good luck and take care of that back.

jim

Jim,
Thank you as well, the back is wonderful now, I've been stretching it daily and giving it a good workout. The biggest improvement came from picking up a new bed. Our memory foam bed just wasn't cutting it, it was less than a year old and never has broken in, no matter how hard we tried. Of course I mean jumping on it with the girls and having pillow fights, and by girls I mean my daughters, ya'll get your minds out of the gutters.

Congratulations on the additional acreage! You really can't have too much

You should be able to make enough money on cattle to pay for the annual taxes on the land.

Andy,
Luckily the lease for the cattle and hay on it will more than cover the taxes, now if I could only fill it with my cattle...
JB

Hi JB
I was reading about your demo on the concrete and thought about the demo I did when I put in my air bag lift in the work shop.
I didn't have the juice to break up the slab with a sledge so I over cut the concrete and cut the slab into several different squares ,drilled a hole in the center of each square. Dropped an expandable retainer in the hole and put an eye bolt into the retainer. With a chain and my forklift I pulled up each square and stacked them out in the yard for later use. Last week I planted the last square in front of the door to the woodshop (barn) for a porch.

Don,
That is a great ideas and if I had some expandable retainers, eye bolts, or a forklift it would have been easy. Actually I could have used my cherry picker but they are out now and ready to load up and haul away on Thursday to a friends farm for erosion control. Luckily they don't feel all that heavy maybe 100 lbs (45 kgs) at most, so not THAT heavy. Luckily the landings outside of the doors stay pretty dry but I will probably take that advice and plant one just to give me a little step there.

Great idea on the slabs! An alternate but somewhat slower way is to fill the hole with water and let it freeze over the winter, fracturing the concrete.

Andy,
That would have been easier, but I do want to get the lift installed and in operation before winter hits, but that might be a bit of a stretch with an upcoming assignment.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Maybe see what the EARTHQUAKE did to it
Did you shake this morning? Man I did, was freaking out and the house was making some weird noise like it does when the wind blows about 70mph.

I'm not sure " How much ", but I'm sure there is some. I haven't seen any drillin going on, but not sure what a frackin setup would look like? I know they pour all kinds of fluids that have chemicals that **** up the water wells.

Herb,
Good news is we didn't have any damage from the earthquake that I've found so far. The epicenter was about 30 miles from me, a friends mom said she felt it all the way up in St. Louis and my family felt it up on the NE side of Kansas City. I was a little worried for a minute there, I thought the ceiling fan was going to come down, I didn't hear any cracking and that is what I was going off of. I still grabbed my girls and went outside just in case it continued to get worse.

bug, are they doing much fracking near you? they have been having a bunch of quakes in ok that they blame on fracking fluids disposal wells.

Jim,
They are doing some here and there all over central Oklahoma, but I can't really say how much. It ended up being a 5.6 which is tied for the strongest in Oklahoma history.

Congrats on the extra acres JB that is awesome.

GB.

Grumble,
Thanks, I'll surely put them to good use, maybe build a 1/16th mile drag strip.

We had action on the quakes all the way up to Northeast KS.

Outlaw,
It is crazy how far away people felt this one, luckily I never heard of any casualties and minor damage all in all. We came out much better than those in Italy with their 6.0.

a fracking set up is when you see like 20 water tanks and pumpers around a well head. shooting a million or so gallons of chemicals and sand down the hole. then they pull the fluid out and pump it into a disposal well and this is what lubricates the earth and causes quakes. as you say ,nasty stuff around regular water wells.

jim

Jim,
As mentioned above, there is some around our area but I really couldn't say how much. Of the three wells on our section of land none have been frac'd or horizontally drilled. Which I like because we are on well water, but if the royalty checks were big enough I could buy bottled water and buy a robust water treatment plant.

More to come,
JB

 

[jbmatth]

I have decided that I don't have enough on my plate and I needed to buy another project truck to fill all of my spare time. Just kidding, I don't have the time for the stuff I have, but it was a good deal...Sooooo, I bought another truck. I introduce to you B.B.B. or Big Baby Blue:

View media item 63565
'06 Chevy 3500 Duramax dually, it came with a poorly done welded welders bed (Welded to the frame very poorly), a Banks intake, Banks 5" exhaust, Banks 6 gun tuner and IQ display, heated-leather seat (Actually not in bad shape at all other than the drivers side seat bolster), good carpet, 6 nice tires that are the same brand and size I run on my truck but different model, decent American Racing rims, and 365,000 miles.

View media item 63563
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Oh yeah and it wouldn't start, missing the intake air sensor, some very interesting wiring, the front suspension is shot, and it has a blown head gasket.

View media item 63558
So the plan is to rob from it without shame, then sell off and scrap the remainder. The best part about this truck is it only cost me $2,000, so I shouldn't have any trouble getting my money out of it and maybe some more. I was able to get it to start after borrowing some parts from B.P. 2.0, and it ran long enough for me to determine I had a blown head gasket then I shut it off. That is all for now, keep moving forward,
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

you get any slab work done?

 

[OutlawDrifter]

That's a great buy for just the running stock and Banks equipment.

 

[jbmatth]

you get any slab work done?

Herb,
No I wasn't able to get any slab work done, I needed my truck to haul the trailer to get the other truck. Also the friend that is taking the old slab wasn't available this weekend. I'm itching to get it done and will get back onto it and load everything in my truck tomorrow morning.

That's a great buy for just the running stock and Banks equipment.

Outlaw,
That is what I was banking on, the turbo is in pretty good shape and doesn't have any shaft play that I can tell. Even with a blown head gasket it won't take much to change that out and sell the engine, or rebuild it and have it as a shelf spare for my truck. Same goes for the trans and transfer case. I'm certain I can make my money back and have some nice upgrades for B.P. 2.0 as well.

JB

 

[Grumblebum]

JB, is a 5" exhaust common for the 6 litre diesel donks ? That's pretty massive. I imagine it sounds pretty nice... Mostly here guys go a 3" but we really only have 3 to 4.5 litre Turbo diesels in our pickups.

You will end up having a nice tuck flip business going before long - you have the acres for a lot now

GB.

 

[jbmatth]

Grumble,

I'm all for making some extra money doing what I enjoy but don't think I could really flip the volume necessary to make much money. If nothing else it'll help to supplement the tool and parts budgets.

I wouldn't say that 5" (12.7 cm) exhaust is common, but it certainly isn't uncommon either. My truck from the factory came with a 3.5" (8.9 cm) exhaust system all the way out to the tip. Something that has become all too common though are giant exhaust tips:

As well as giant stacks:

I'm not a fan of either, and personally I don't like having the exhaust visible at all on my trucks, not sure why but it just seems to clutter up the overall style of the truck. I'm sure Australia is much more strict than the US when it comes to "Rolling Coal", even though it is probably illegal here in most places it is all to common as well:

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Every time I see someone "rolling coal" I just laugh to myself. Nothing like expelling unused horsepower out your exhaust to impress the locals.

 

[BUGTHUG]

they need some bull balls hanging from the hitch?

 

[madoc1]

jb, i certainly understand about the wells, royalties and bottled water. did you get the minerals with the new property, if i'm not being too nosy.

jim

 

[NKlamerus]

Hot damn how have I missed this thread. Glad to see a fellow Duramax Owner.

 

[jbmatth]

Every time I see someone "rolling coal" I just laugh to myself. Nothing like expelling unused horsepower out your exhaust to impress the locals.

Outlaw,
Very true, it says to me they don't have enough turbo and need more air, or they just don't know how to tune. I currently have about 475 hp at the engine with my tune turned all of the way up and it doesn't hardly smoke at all even romping on it hard to pass someone.

they need some bull balls hanging from the hitch?

Herb,
Or some giant hex nuts on a chain!

jb, i certainly understand about the wells, royalties and bottled water. did you get the minerals with the new property, if i'm not being too nosy.

jim

Jim,
It isn't too nosy and yes we do get the minerals, and if oil goes back up we may make enough to put a few tanks of fuel in our cars/trucks, but not much more.

Hot damn how have I missed this thread. Glad to see a fellow Duramax Owner.

NKlamerus,
Welcome to the party, there are a few Duramax owners on the GJ and now I see one more. Stick around and I'm sure you will see something that will be interesting. It just may not be anything I post.

JB

 

[NKlamerus]

Certainly excited to find some!

On the exhaust topic, 4/5" is absolutely the standard around here. A ton of military sign on bonus' and sons with blank checks.