[BiggKidd]

WWe got a bullet washer one evening about a month ago and this happened in just a couple hours. That was 8 to 10 feet of water probably.

[BiggKidd]

Anyway I had decided by then that wasn’t going to be large enough and there was another drainage ditch 50-75 feet away. So i spent three and a half weeks getting the water back out. While that was draining i started getting the other side dug and a 4″ pipe in.

[BiggKidd]

In the last post the first two pics were taken from the same spot facing different directions. Third pic shows where I was hand digging the rest of the pipe in. Fourth shows the D4 sitting on the hump I am removing to make the dam taller and the pond larger. Last pic was a shot of water draining for almost 4 weeks. I never did get the last few feet out.

[BiggKidd]

AAfter I finally got the rest of the trench dug out and the pipe in. I haven’t gotten any new pics since but I’ve moved about a quarter of that hump to the dam which has raised it another foot or so. It’s raining again now so who knows when it will be finished. Plus I can only supply a few gallons of diesel a month toward this project. So far I’ve used about a hundred gallons doing this.

[BiggKidd]

That 4 inch pipe is to hopefully pull some hydro power from one day. The idea is to one day be able to pump water up from the creek about 70 feet lower and a couple hundred feet linearly from the pond when the sun shines and let it out for power when it doesn’t. The pond is a rain catchment system only otherwise. The last measurements I took told me the pond is likely to end up around a half acre or possibly a little larger. It may end up nearly 20 feet deep if it ever fills all the way. Should make a pretty good battery one of these days. LMAO

[Radiojoe]

Have you ever thought of using a ram pump? https://www.instructables.com/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/‘

[BiggKidd]

We are going to try one and see. The creek is small and only has 30-35 feet of fall in 1600 feet of length.

[BiggKidd]

Moved a few more tons of earth today after slightly adjusting the right steering brake. This old dozer really needs new steering clutches and brakes, not sure how much longer I can limp it along without fixing it.

[BiggKidd]

Believe it or not my little Chinese tractor did what the D4 couldn’t. I put my homemade ripper on and it was able to break up ground the D4 couldn’t. Now I can push a layer off with the D4 then break it again and repeat until I hit solid rock or get where I want to be. I can only go down 4-8 inches at a time but that’s dang good progress considering!

I’ll try and get pics to post next time I go up.

[BiggKidd]

I’m using the homemade Ripper on the back of the tractor to break up the ground and pushing it off with the Dozer. I would guess I took another 12 to 16 inches off the top of that hump today

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  BiggKidd.

[BiggKidd]

Tractor was doing great breaking up the ground UNTIL I was already straining the hell out of it and hit a root or rock or something. At which point something had to give. The something was one of the old welds on the TPH lift arm, broke it clean in two AGAIN! The is the first of my welds to break on one of these arms. Both arms have been broken a few times but never where I had already welded them until now.
Even considering that I got quite a lot of earth moved using the dozer. Lucky for me I was on the last pull of that round of breaking up ground when the arm broke.

[BiggKidd]

I know I mentioned the steering brakes and clutches are pretty much gone. Well since I haven’t been feeling to great I spent the down time trying to find a cheaper option for fixing the brakes at the minimum. Caterpillar wants about $1,300 per side for new brake bands. I think I found new linings I can rivet on myself for about $100 for both sides. Now if I could find some decent instructions on replacing brakes and installing the new linings. Waiting on word back from the seller if these will fit my machine. I know I mentioned the steering brakes and clutches are pretty much gone. Well since I haven’t been feeling to great I spent the down time trying to find a cheaper option for fixing the brakes at the minimum. Caterpillar wants about $1,300 per side for new brake bands. I think I found new linings I can rivet on myself for about $100 for both sides. Now if I could find some decent instructions on replacing brakes and installing the new linings. Waiting on word back from the seller if these will fit my machine.

[BiggKidd]

The company did get back in touch and they are the correct parts so now I just need to see what the total cost will be and hope I have enough left after bills next month to order them.

[BiggKidd]

For now this project appears to have more or less turned in to a pond project, I may revisit adding pumped solar / hydro power down the road, but one step at a time.
Whelp I decided to go ahead and attempt to get the dozer going. Which after an hour or so I did. Then I proceeded to make on hell of a mess! I didn’t count but I’d guess I managed to take out 6 or 7 medium size hardwoods, mostly over a foot in diameter but less than 18 inches. There were also several smaller trees that came down. This was all in the area being cleared for the pond. Now the real work of breaking them down begins, and I’m already pooped!

[BiggKidd]

A few pictures from today and the toys I got to work with. I cut that entire tree up with that little baby Echo cs330t even though that big Sthil chainsaw was sitting right below it. if a little light saw will do the job why tote the weight of the big heavy saw

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