Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 128 Location: Okanagan Valley B.C.
The Rock Garden « Thread Started on May 8, 2009, 10:07pm »
Hi All, Joe you shouldn't have got me started on this. Now I want to try it again.
I went back to the site again today to see if the rain last night helped with the dust. It did a little, but to my dismay it made all the little rocks in the field grow up into bigger ones. Now I have a "Rock Garden" to deal with and I don't have a green thumb. Pink maybe but that is another story.
Just to clarify what I am trying to do here, a bit of history. I am an ATV Safety Instructor (among other things) and I am trying to build another training area to use for courses. This spot is not used for anything, as it is just an old fill site from road building and gravel pits. I used an area on the next flat above this one before but the dust was bothering a nearby business so I decided to move down here. This whole area is just a big gravel pit type thing that had a mill site on it at one time in the past. The result is lots of old metal pieces and wire rope and junk in general. This entire area was filled over with rough fill and left. That's where I come in. As I try to level off an area to put the course site I uncover many lost treasures.
This has been a crazy spring. It still hasn't warmed up properly and you never know what is around the corner. That really is snow, and the temprature is only in the low teens.(silliness) and mid 50's for the others. By afternoon it's warm and dusty again.
This bench where I am working is about 2000 feet above the valley floor where the lake is. You can see it down the hill in the distance.
The rain last night had the effect of growing the little rocks that I had left uncovered yesterday into big ones, You should never do that, it makes more work.
Turn your back on them for a moment and they multiply.
If you go to the other side of the flat the nuggets sneak up on you.
If you dare to scratch the surface the air must attract them 'cause they come up and wait for you.
These rocks must think I'm going to take them home or something as they even sneak up and get into the track assembly. Boy, does that make a screeching sound. Took a bit to work it out too, How do they jump in there like that?
All in all I think this is enough fun for one day, time to head home. I have to trailer to here about 35 miles south of my place through two small towns and one city. Wish things were closer but not as bad as some of you have to deal with. Load 'er up and lock 'er down, by the time I drive back, get serviced and fueled it will be close to supper time.
Oh Yah, Almost forgot. When I lay out the actual training course configuration I mark the ground where the cones will be placed during the instruction period. I can't leave the cones but nobody will take a pink painted stone. I use a bright pink survey paint and usually get it on my feet and fingers. Hence, the "Pink Thumb"
Yuchai Dozer, Model YCT 306-Z, Jiangsu Jiandong TY395E3-GL01 3 CYL Diesel Engine, Manufacture Date is 05-12.
hardpan Moderator ~ 3rd Officer 3rd In Command member is offline
Energy Independence (Without a So Called Carbon Footprint)
Joined: Jul 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 869 Location: Tahuya, WA USA
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #1 on May 8, 2009, 11:22pm »
Oh Yah, Almost forgot. When I lay out the actual training course configuration I mark the ground where the cones will be placed during the instruction period. I can't leave the cones but nobody will take a pink painted stone. I use a bright pink survey paint and usually get it on my feet and fingers. Hence, the "Pink Thumb"
Later Pat
Pat,
Your anti-theft pink stones idea wouldn't happen to be a spinoff of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's anti-theft pink underwear issued to the inmates of the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona would it?
IF YOU DON'T STAND FOR SOMETHING, YOU'LL FALL FOR ANYTHING.
2005 Jinma 284 LE 435 hours, destroyed by fire 8/25/07 (restoring). 2007 Jinma 254 LE, Prince PTO pump, LITW 7600 BH modified to close mount, attached to modified Jinma BH frame, modified Jinma BH tank with screw-in suction screen, 10 micron return filter, sight glass & temperature gage, hydraulic cooler.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 128 Location: Okanagan Valley B.C.
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #2 on May 9, 2009, 9:26am »
Hi Wayne, No, I just found if I leave the cones lying around they go walking, so I switched to rocks. Even though the cones are bright traffic orange. Pat
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #3 on May 11, 2009, 8:22am »
I bought an east wind 404 ....worst tractor I could ever have imagined buying. I think they built it out of playdough. $40,000 for rubbish. Thanks China.
biggerten Moderator ~ 3rd Officer member is offline
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Joined: Aug 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 266 Location: Near Superior, WI
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #4 on May 11, 2009, 8:46am »
"East Wind is a brand name for tractors built by Changzhou Dongfeng Agricultural Machinery of China. Changzhou Dongfeng has been building farm machinery since 1952 and exports equipment worldwide"
I bought an east wind 404 ....worst tractor I could ever have imagined buying. I think they built it out of playdough. $40,000 for rubbish. Thanks China.
Hey ArseWinded,
Now Look Here,, I'm getting confused,, cause Pat is trying to tell us all about his Rock Garden,, and How much fun,, he is having with his Chinese Bull Dozer.
Are you Trying to Rain on Pat's Parade..?
Please Start Your Own Problem's Thread in The Appropriate Tractor Section,, and We'll Try to Help You,, but Posting Negative ~ OFF TOPIC in another member's Thread,, is not a very nice thing to do.
I can surely understand your Fury and Frustration,, from Paying Too Much for your Chinese Tractor,, Cause I know for sure that there is Something Wrong with my Chinese Tractor. Run's Good, Start's Good, Pull's Good,, got 300 hour's on it now,, but I'm with you,, cause I know for Sure SomeThing is Bad Terrible Wrong with My Chinese Tractor. Don't know what it is though...
Thing is though,, I only paid $5,000 for my little 224,, and although not nearly as big as your 404. If I had overpaid by $25,000 Dollars too much for my Tractor,, and it wasn't able to Stand Up and Dance The Jig,, I would be Very Disappointed myself.
If The Chinese 404's are going for 40 Thousand,, where you are,, how much are the 40 Horse/4WD Ford, John Deere's, Massey Ferguson's, Mahindra, Kabota's going for there? Just guessing but maybe in the $100,000 Dollar range?
Well here's hoping that you are able to Salvage, Joe
IF YOU DON'T STAND FOR SOMETHING, YOU'LL FALL FOR ANYTHING.
2005 Jinma 284 LE 435 hours, destroyed by fire 8/25/07 (restoring). 2007 Jinma 254 LE, Prince PTO pump, LITW 7600 BH modified to close mount, attached to modified Jinma BH frame, modified Jinma BH tank with screw-in suction screen, 10 micron return filter, sight glass & temperature gage, hydraulic cooler.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 128 Location: Okanagan Valley B.C.
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #10 on Oct 22, 2009, 12:43pm »
Hi All, Well, I'm back again. Thanks to those who thought I'd dissappeared and were concerned. Nice to be missed. I just got so busy what with the fires and working and holidays and such I didn't have time to write. I did skulk and tried to keep abreast of what was going on. Summer is over and I haven't got done what I wnated to do yet and snow is on the hills. If you look at the post I put elsewhere you know that I was camping on the Thanksgiving weekend and froze up my trailer. It took three days at home to get the water going again. The cold spell just wouldn't let up. It was interesting, because at home the municipal water main got broken next door to my place, and we had to shut off the main. No one had water for three days. What fun. It was a holiday weekend, what can I say. Its fixed again and the road is paved over so should be good for a while. Hopefully the winter doesn't do anything bad and the warm days return. It's hard to believe that this year is almost done. Seems like yesterday I had my first flat on the dozer.
Speaking of which, I had another one, this time it was a doozy. Didn't get any pictures of it at the time as I was too busy but got a couple of the result. I was back at the "RockGarden" again, this time I was trying to dig a trench through the rubble to make a water pit for some guys to use at a demo days thing for the ATV's . The bolders were being ugly and I was having a really bad time getting the trench dug. It ran across the bottom of a slope with the hill sides on both ends. Idea was to come down the hill into the pit and out the other side. The ditch was to be filled with water to make it tougher to navigate as if the rocks weren't enough, but whatever. On one pass I had turned around on the hillside and was getting ready to come back down into the pit when I slid sideways on the slope. It's all rock and the tracks don't hold that well so away we go. It stopped hard when the tracks dug in an when I tried to go forward I threw the lower track off, Big Time. It was all tangled up under the dozer which of course is sideways on the hill. Last time I dealt with the thrown track the ground was flat. Not so lucky this time. It took three of us 4.5 hrs to get the track back on. What a job. Push down with the blade, block under the frame raise the blade, have the dozer slide downhill off the blocks. Etc,Etc,Etc. Finally got the track on and tried to move the dozer. It went about 2 feet and threw the track again. Now the problem is seen. The front idler wheel is bent. Guess when the dozer slid down the first time and the tracks grabbed the weight and momentum bent the bottom of the front wheel inward 'till the tracks came off. I didn't see this at the time and when the wheel came around, the bend flipped the track off to the side. Oh Boy, Now I'm in trouble. Lucky there was help around as I managed to back up the hill using bars to force the track back on the wheel as it came off and didn't loose it completlely. I made it up to the top of the hill to where I could back my trailer to and got the dozer loaded. That was it for dozing, I got the cripple tied down and went home. Still didn't get the pit finished. Next day I looked at the damage and ordered a new front idler wheel. It's a sprocket style with teeth, although it just turns on bearings and doesn't drive. Because the tracks have to be so tight to avoid being thrown any side motion is transferred to the wheels because their sprockets are in close contact with the track. I was lucky that I could get the parts without much trouble. I've dealt with Northern Tool for all the stuff I need and had good luck. The wheel came to the drop box I keep in Washington State and I went down and picked it up and there we go. It's this type of fun I have had with the dozer and guess that's what we crave. Fun adventures. Own a Chinese machine and you are sure to have your share.
I'm trying to add some pictures of the repair after I got the thing home. Wished now I'd taken some of when it was sitting on the hillside with the track stuffed under the machine. The image is in my head and it isn't pretty, the image that is. Hope these pictures get pasted into here. Smee
Yuchai Dozer, Model YCT 306-Z, Jiangsu Jiandong TY395E3-GL01 3 CYL Diesel Engine, Manufacture Date is 05-12.
Rolfo Global Moderator ~ 2nd Officer 2ND IN COMMAND ~ Seniority Date ~ 12/12/07 member is offline
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Joined: Mar 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,032 Location: Northern Norway
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #11 on Oct 22, 2009, 3:50pm »
Hi again Smee, trying times with your dozer. Even if you like it sporting, driving, repairing, i guess it sometimes can be too much. How is the tightening system for the track, grease pressuring?
Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 9 Location: Bothell & Silverdale, WA
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #12 on Oct 22, 2009, 11:09pm »
Smee, I assume you had your seat belt on for safety's sake. If you had asked, I would have told you to NEVER, EVER turn on a slope that is more than 3°. Dozers have an entirely different center of gravity from wheeled tractors, but generally speaking, always go up a slope in reverse and always go down a slope forward. To do otherwise is really asking for it. I don't want to see your name in the obits !
Note: I have never thrown a track except when I've asked for it.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 128 Location: Okanagan Valley B.C.
Re: The Rock Garden « Reply #13 on Oct 23, 2009, 2:15pm »
Bob, Messing around in these rocks and boulders is asking for it. They are a little more than what should be done with this little machine. But the challange is there. Trouble I had was when a nugget came out I couldn't get it out of the way. Had to push along the trench which is just blade wide, instead of being able to get rid of it to the side right away. I tried to turn out of the trench at the bottom of the slope then turn and back up to come back down into the pit. I got too high up the slope while still sideways and that was it. The old school mechanicals on this machine require a more subtle touch and I haven't had enough time to develop it yet. I've had a chance to try a machine that had joysticks for everything and hydosatic drive. Custon built for this type of work. What a caddy that was but with a price to match. The tracks on these things need to be tightened a lot due to the stretch of the poorer grade of steel in them. As the tightening system is just a screw to maintain tension you have to watch it closely. I found the rocks can get into the tracks easily as they don't have guards. Thought about putting some rock guards on, but at least if I can see it I can dig it out. The guards would not let me do that and there is still room to get rocks into the tracks with guards although they are smaller. Maybe I can learn to stay out of the rocks but not likely, Most of what we have to deal with is rocky but not usually in a gravel pit situation. I'm learning how to deal with breakdowns that happen but would like to have some easy stuff for a while. Smee
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Nice work when you can get it. 
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