I can appreciate you putting your inexperience out there for the world to see. I’m very limited myself. Some advice I could offer is not to be afraid to work with a full bucket of material. It takes the slack out of your pins and gives you a more consistent grade along with reducing unnecessary and inefficient movement from dumping excessively. Keep your bucket full and keep pushing material as far as the machine allows. Keep at it!
I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave some advice. That is certainly the spirit I want to foster around this channel. Thanks man, and have an awesome Friday!
Love this idea, Michael. I've been using relatively straight cedar logs, but I can see the i-beam working so much better. Makes total sense. Thanks man!
Great vid. I myself have a kubota mini excavator and do what you’re doing. I started with a trailer much like yours but it got old quick. That E45 is a chore to load on a low pro trailer. I switched to a 22ft deck over hydraulic tilt. Stayed with bumper pull but that extra width makes all the difference in the world.
Thanks @draginit. I've never run a deck-over so I have no experience. Everyone is always saying... "but the center or gravity is so high..." and stuff like that. What is your experience running one? Any chance you're hauling with a 3/4 ton too?
@@EarthServe-tk8tm I haul with a 1 ton srw ford powerstroke. I have a pj T8 I love it. I wouldn’t run one with ramps but the tilt is perfect. I can haul drain tile and anything on pallets. I have a U35-4 with a cab.. prob 8500-8800 pounds and it’s not a big deal at all.. definetly taller but it’s not sketchy at all. I was nervous too. Then after I loaded it for the first time and moved it I was hooked
It's been a while, but I had a couple of takeaways... 1. Mobilization of equipment is a job by itself, especially bringing 2 machines on site with only 1 tow rig. 2. The hardness of the dirt really makes a difference - struggled to cut this dry compacted red clay and took much longer than expected to grade it.
Hello been doing grade work for a few years for the state now. At around 18mins in the video you're seen digging directly ahead of you at the grade. In. This moment it would be better to be in the drive way swinging the buckets at grade and allowing the skid to clean it up. The skid can maintain grade much better than an excavator so remember that. This whole job could have been done without the excavator really but I understand you wanted practice so Edit: also use the skid bucket and back drag everything allowing you to see highs and lows better. When the material is roughed up like that it can be harder to see grade
Thanks so much for the comment and dropping some knowledge. Agree with you that the ex was more of a "fun-to-have" on this project, get some seat time, etc...
I would recommend not using the excavator as much if you are able to. There are alot of attachments for your loader you can rent fairly cheap that would make things much faster and easier. A hydrobucket is one of them. It has a built in Harley rake which is great for breaking up grass root and smoothing things up quickly.
Thanks for watching and the comment! Looking back at this video, the excavator was still very new to me and I think I was just excited to get some seat time and try to figure out how to use it... Agree Hydobuckets are awesome and would love to add on to the fleet - or even just a Harley Rake would be amazing too... Honestly, I'm thinking about upgrading the skid steer soon too to accommodate better attachments, including high flow options.
I'm a heavy equipment operator for a county road department. Here are some things I observed. Chain down properly. There are 4 tie down points in the corners. Use them. The rear tie downs can not be both hooked to the same point like you had it. The front tie downs should have gone over the blade not around it. Get yourself a laser (or a transit if you will have a second person) and learn how to shoot grade. Grade around a building is about drainage, not just making it look pretty. Using the siding as your reference is a bad idea and not very professional. Lasers have come down in price and you can get a good one for about $500 to get you started, but realistically you will probably spend closer to $1,000 for one that can be used on big projects too. Don't look at the cost, look at the investment. Part time or full time doesn't matter, you want this business to succeed. Part of doing that is investing in tools and equipment that will make you money, and a laser is one of those tools. I assume you're licensed and insured, so you can also write it off as a business purchase. I won't judge on your grading other than to say get yourself an I-beam, you can even get a blade to replace your bucket on your excavator that will work the same way. Overall, I think you did good. Grading is fun but it's a challenge. Being in public works, I don't get the luxury of "just messing up a yard". My mistakes get seen by thousands of people and can have pretty big consequences. Talk about a steep learning curve. But no better way than to just get out there and do it. I'm you 118th subscriber - good luck man and enjoy it.
Mike - thanks so much for your insights based on your experience, man - respect!! Really appreciate that, as well as subscribing... I've got a laser now. I'm mobilizing for my next "off the farm" project on Monday and hope to have the video up by the following weekend. Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing a transparent video of your first job!
You're welcome. Thanks for dopping me a line.
I can appreciate you putting your inexperience out there for the world to see. I’m very limited myself. Some advice I could offer is not to be afraid to work with a full bucket of material. It takes the slack out of your pins and gives you a more consistent grade along with reducing unnecessary and inefficient movement from dumping excessively. Keep your bucket full and keep pushing material as far as the machine allows. Keep at it!
I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave some advice. That is certainly the spirit I want to foster around this channel. Thanks man, and have an awesome Friday!
You should find yourself about a 10’ chunk of steel I-beam. Pinch between the thumb and bucket. Great for grading/raking.
Love this idea, Michael. I've been using relatively straight cedar logs, but I can see the i-beam working so much better. Makes total sense. Thanks man!
Great vid. I myself have a kubota mini excavator and do what you’re doing. I started with a trailer much like yours but it got old quick. That E45 is a chore to load on a low pro trailer. I switched to a 22ft deck over hydraulic tilt. Stayed with bumper pull but that extra width makes all the difference in the world.
Thanks @draginit. I've never run a deck-over so I have no experience. Everyone is always saying... "but the center or gravity is so high..." and stuff like that. What is your experience running one? Any chance you're hauling with a 3/4 ton too?
@@EarthServe-tk8tm I haul with a 1 ton srw ford powerstroke. I have a pj T8 I love it. I wouldn’t run one with ramps but the tilt is perfect. I can haul drain tile and anything on pallets. I have a U35-4 with a cab.. prob 8500-8800 pounds and it’s not a big deal at all.. definetly taller but it’s not sketchy at all. I was nervous too. Then after I loaded it for the first time and moved it I was hooked
@@draginit5086 cool. Thanks man.
Appreciate the vulnerability of taking us along for your first Dirt Gig! What were your learnings?
It's been a while, but I had a couple of takeaways... 1. Mobilization of equipment is a job by itself, especially bringing 2 machines on site with only 1 tow rig. 2. The hardness of the dirt really makes a difference - struggled to cut this dry compacted red clay and took much longer than expected to grade it.
I’d recommend a laser receiver for the equipment.
Power rake or 6 way blade for skid steer makes life easy too
Appreciate it Lyle - these are definitely on my wish list. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment.
Hello been doing grade work for a few years for the state now. At around 18mins in the video you're seen digging directly ahead of you at the grade. In. This moment it would be better to be in the drive way swinging the buckets at grade and allowing the skid to clean it up. The skid can maintain grade much better than an excavator so remember that. This whole job could have been done without the excavator really but I understand you wanted practice so
Edit: also use the skid bucket and back drag everything allowing you to see highs and lows better. When the material is roughed up like that it can be harder to see grade
Thanks so much for the comment and dropping some knowledge. Agree with you that the ex was more of a "fun-to-have" on this project, get some seat time, etc...
I would recommend not using the excavator as much if you are able to. There are alot of attachments for your loader you can rent fairly cheap that would make things much faster and easier. A hydrobucket is one of them. It has a built in Harley rake which is great for breaking up grass root and smoothing things up quickly.
Thanks for watching and the comment! Looking back at this video, the excavator was still very new to me and I think I was just excited to get some seat time and try to figure out how to use it... Agree Hydobuckets are awesome and would love to add on to the fleet - or even just a Harley Rake would be amazing too... Honestly, I'm thinking about upgrading the skid steer soon too to accommodate better attachments, including high flow options.
I'm a heavy equipment operator for a county road department. Here are some things I observed. Chain down properly. There are 4 tie down points in the corners. Use them. The rear tie downs can not be both hooked to the same point like you had it. The front tie downs should have gone over the blade not around it. Get yourself a laser (or a transit if you will have a second person) and learn how to shoot grade. Grade around a building is about drainage, not just making it look pretty. Using the siding as your reference is a bad idea and not very professional. Lasers have come down in price and you can get a good one for about $500 to get you started, but realistically you will probably spend closer to $1,000 for one that can be used on big projects too. Don't look at the cost, look at the investment. Part time or full time doesn't matter, you want this business to succeed. Part of doing that is investing in tools and equipment that will make you money, and a laser is one of those tools. I assume you're licensed and insured, so you can also write it off as a business purchase. I won't judge on your grading other than to say get yourself an I-beam, you can even get a blade to replace your bucket on your excavator that will work the same way. Overall, I think you did good. Grading is fun but it's a challenge. Being in public works, I don't get the luxury of "just messing up a yard". My mistakes get seen by thousands of people and can have pretty big consequences. Talk about a steep learning curve. But no better way than to just get out there and do it. I'm you 118th subscriber - good luck man and enjoy it.
Mike - thanks so much for your insights based on your experience, man - respect!! Really appreciate that, as well as subscribing... I've got a laser now. I'm mobilizing for my next "off the farm" project on Monday and hope to have the video up by the following weekend. Stay tuned.