Digging the pond

[Durangogeek]

After a busted hydraulic hose stopped my work Sunday, I fixed the hose a dug my pond out Monday.

For those who don't live in the desert, water is more valuable than gold out here, and having a pond that holds my water is worth it's weight in gold. We get a full pond of water every so often and pump it out on to our field.

The pile of dirt in the background doesn't look like much in the photo, but it's roughly 30 feet across, 10 feet deep, and six feet high: all of it moved 1/3 of a yard at a time by me and my L2800.

A couple of lessons I learned:

Seat belts are a really good thing. (Years ago I lost a friend when his tractor rolled and he was crushed by the ROPS.)

The usefulness of a seatbelt is increased by one's pucker factor grip on the seat.

Don't back up the embankment when the bucket is full--this leads to the Kubota version of a hand stand.

Don't back down the embankment with the loader fully up--this can come precariously close to the Kubota version of a back-flip.

Tractors can remain upright when using only three or even two wheels, but four wheels are preferred.

The functionality of a tractor is limited when using three or two wheels.

Lowering the bucket can significantly change the center of gravity of the tractor and restore it to balance.

Lowering the bucket too quickly can lead to the Kubota version of a teeter toter.

If any of you have additional tidbits of wisdom, feel free to chime in.

Rob

 

[handyman]

Congrads that pond looks good. I live in Tn. a lot of people take water for granted .Looks like you have a beautiful place glad you got hoses fixed when I use a loader on other equipment I definately keep it close to ground in case of headstandThat way I can drop bucket fast if I need to.handy

 

[handyman]

One other thing what did you use for the base to keep water from seeping out? In Tn. most people use our good supply of red clay and they never leak. My wifes first cousin put HOGS (not motorcycle.) in his and lets them walk around making mud in bottom and packing all the mud down. My family always prefered clay.handy

 

[pat331]

Good job - nice pile of dirt. I might add to your list is not to back up a hill w/ a load on the FEL, tractor in FWD, and no counter-weight on the back. Your Kubota quickly tries to do a handstand.

 

[traildust]

Nice! Reading your post was like a check list for me of done thats

I really like that picture!

 

[Bulldog]

Nice job on the pond, it looks good. Your horses look good, I bet they are really going to like the new watering hole.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Not a bad job there borther. Sounds like you had one helluva crash course on operating on a slope and digging down deep. I dare say you found out all the booboo's and it takes acts like that to learn a lesson right the first time so ya dont do it a 2nd.

It's amazing what you remember when it scares the shit outta you and ya need a new set of underwear.

 

[Durangogeek]

The pond existed before, but I doubled its capacity and took it from being a decorative feature to a functional one. It now stores enough water to actually be worth using for irrigation. This is really the first real project I've used the tractor for. Everything else has been pretty minor other than the snow removal in the winter, which is the reason I bought it in the first place.

Our soil here is clay too, just dark brown rather than red. I could make a fortune making and selling adobe bricks. When I get a really good scoop of dirt that hasn't been broken up first, it can be a challenge to break it free from the ground. You can actually hear the vacuum breaking.

 

[Butch]

D-G... I want to chime in with one more safety tidbit.... theis is where one size fits all.

Kubota tractors do not ..... Float! I found out the hard way....

Butch

PS... in my defence I thought it was a good idea at the time

 

[Bulldog]

D-G... I want to chime in with one more safety tidbit.... theis is where one size fits all.

Kubota tractors do not ..... Float! I found out the hard way....

Butch

PS... in my defence I thought it was a good idea at the time

Butch,

I'm not even going to ask how you found out that a tractor sinks like a rock but I hope you took pictures and will share them with us.

 

[Durangogeek]

Butch:

I think we all would like to see the photos of your floating Kubota experiment.

 

[aquaforce]

Kubota tractors do not ..... Float! I found out the hard way....

Well the mini-excavator does not either.
We had a crew at work that thought the water was not very deep so they took a KX123 out in it to move some debris from a power pole. After the engine shut off they changed their mind. We had to replace that engine.

Hope your experience was not this rough.

 

[aquaforce]

Nice work on the pond. That is quite a tribute to the little orange tractor.

 

[Butch]

Sorry guys no pics... but I do believe the local fire department took some for training purposes

It was only in 3' of water and mud. The tow truck driver laughed all the time he was winching me out.... guess who had to wade out to hook up the tow cable....

 

[Bulldog]

Butch,

It's starting to sound like this wasn't one of your better days. Look at the bright side though, You are still here to tell us about it. The only thing that I know of that can't be fixed or replaced is our life.

Even though we never want to tear our tractors up it does and always will happen if they get used any at all. Yeah it does suck and we may not like to admit that we screwed up and caused the entire mess to happen but as long as we are here to tell the story everything will be okay.

 

[Butch]

Bull.... its like my granpaw always said... you can learn from stupid tricks... just don't do it the same way the next time.

Me personally... I have been told by a "professional" that I am accident prone. When she asked me to respond to her statement it was a pleasure. I gave her both barrels.

I simply told her that accidents were a function of exposure. If a man sat on his ass and let everyone else do for him the chances of that man having an accident was next to nothing. However... if that same man got off his perverbial ass and tried to do something for himself the chances for something happening that would be less than desired would increase to the same proportion of his direct participation in the task at hand.

She then said... would it not be safer for that man to have hired a "professional" to perform the tasks at hand and thereby reducing the risks to the man.

My answer was simple.... when the world goes to hell in a hand basket the "man" can't rely on the "professional" to save his ass (much less his family) as the professional is too busy tending to his ass and his family.

Does this make sense.... hope so

 

[Bulldog]

Butch,

What your grandpa said sounds about like mine was. Didn't hear him say not to do something but would hear "did you learn anything from that" after I screwed up.

It sounds like the "professional" that told you that must have been one of the Sit on your ass and let everybody else do for them type of person.

To hell with that. I don't go out and try to get hurt by no means but I be damn if I'm going to sit on my ass and pay someone to do what I can do myself. I know exactly what you meant by that and I fully agree.
I don't care if you are a professional or not, everybody makes mistakes from time to time no matter how careful you are. If you are doing the work the pain comes with it.

 

[skeets]

I am wondering since I do have a LP drag blade sitting out by the wood pile, and the XYL was talking about a water garden,pond thingie could I use that and my little BX to dig a pond,hole grade it out and stuff?? I have never tryed any thing like that so I was wondering.

And in the for what its worth dept. I have had the dubious task of investagating more than one case where a coal operator was killed or injured because he wasnt wearing a seat belt or the ROPS had been modifyed, coal trucks included,, boyz seat belts and ROPS are PIA, but they will save your life,, just a little note from your friendly MSHA inspector

 

[Bulldog]

Hello skeets,

I have had the pleasure of dealing with a bunch of your Georgia MSHA brothers over the years. I bet you don't hear MSHA and pleasure used together very often but I always looked at it like this. You are just doing your job and if I am doing my job properly then you or me either one won't have any trouble and there is no reason that we can't get along fine.

I fully agree with you about the seat belt issue. I have turned over before and I sure was proud to have a seat belt and a rops. I feel sure that it would have been a lot worse for me and I would have hurt a lot more than just my pride. Have a good one.

 

[skeets]

Yeah Bulldog those 2 words are not often used together, mores the shame of it. As far as Im concerned the Agency has lost sight of it's intended job,, the health and safety of America's miners, seems now all it is about number of citation an inspector has issued, rather than how did you help the miners today.
I have had the questionable honor of trying to train some of these pups over the years,, but they just would never let take a slate bar to the back of some of their heads,, boss always said try to train them whats right, dont killem.
I guess maybe I remember where I came from and why I went to work for the Agency, and thats why I get accused of being " TO SOFT" but I figure if I treat you like a man, and let you know whats going on then you will treat me like a man and we will get it worked out,,No Problems,, if not then we do it the hard way