There’s magic or providence in how that pit was ready for that boulder. And those people got themselves quite a yard ornament, for free! This story reminded me of the pipeline being installed by us. The machines are something! It’s wild to have rush hour traffic on our road.
Thank you, Miles. I appreciate it. I did build some houses on flat lots with regular foundations and footings, and many with a 30 degree slope, but this one was definitely the worst.
Is that picture of the actual dozer/auger rig that you worked with? That's a very old D9 - Cat went to elevated sprockets in 1977, and that also looks like cable controls. I cut my teeth on D10's and D11's in the late 80's, and our pit development work sounds very similar to what you describe here - we had to do some track repairs on D11's stuck and half buried on unstable 45 degree slopes!
I once had an operator tell me that you couldn't roll a dozer...but I've seen multiple dozers on their sides, and belly up, so I'm not sure what gave him that idea.
We used more rockbreaker attachments than augers, often (as you describe) on excavators. But we also stuck a rockbreaker on the front of an old 992 wheel-loader, with a modified boom - that caused some significant heartache, getting it to work reliably - but it was a good stable platform.
Great piece, again - I could smell the diesel and hydraulic oil...
Cool that you know all this stuff, Tony, I thought you might. The photo I stole from Fine Homebuilding that ran an article on pier drilling a long time ago. It was the best that captured the feeling of what we were doing, except that lot they show wasn’t nearly as steep. Everything else is from memory. Pretty sure we used a D-9 in late seventies, early eighties and we did several steep lots but that particular one was the worst. I never saw an operator go cross slope on a bulldozer, though I did see a Menzimuck do it. The Menzimuck was Don Fargo’s tool. As always, thanks for reading!
Great story with wonderful imagery! A hole in one! It almost harkens back to your bookstore story about the occult.
I never worked with a bulldozer on pier holes, but we used to use Hillside Drilling (from Richmond) who had drills mounted creatively on all kinds of rigs. And Channel Lumber (also of Richmond) for lumber drops.
The smell of diesel exhaust on a cold morning still fills me with a confused mix of excitement and anxiety from those days. Great stuff!!!
Cool John, I worked with both those outfits. An excavator had the drilling rig on the end of the hoe arm so they could drill several holes from one setup.
Dangerous stuff. But the real danger comes when we get too familiar with what's going on. In the past I was running a masonry job in the underground parking of a 40 plus story twin tower high rise in Century City. One of my duties was to coordinate my grout pours and deliveries with the other trades. Every day there would be close to 100 concrete trucks pouring the floors and structure of each floor. The footprint of the job did not allow for much space to maneuver every body's deliveries. My task was to get space to set up my pump so I could grout my two concrete trucks. To say the least, I had little clout. Take care.
There’s magic or providence in how that pit was ready for that boulder. And those people got themselves quite a yard ornament, for free! This story reminded me of the pipeline being installed by us. The machines are something! It’s wild to have rush hour traffic on our road.
It was sure strange. I had this strange feeling of wonder and exhaustion. Thank you so much for reading!
I believe it!
I never did a lot of work on this kind of steep grade so I really enjoyed the description of the process. Thanks for another great chapter!
Thank you, Miles. I appreciate it. I did build some houses on flat lots with regular foundations and footings, and many with a 30 degree slope, but this one was definitely the worst.
Is that picture of the actual dozer/auger rig that you worked with? That's a very old D9 - Cat went to elevated sprockets in 1977, and that also looks like cable controls. I cut my teeth on D10's and D11's in the late 80's, and our pit development work sounds very similar to what you describe here - we had to do some track repairs on D11's stuck and half buried on unstable 45 degree slopes!
I once had an operator tell me that you couldn't roll a dozer...but I've seen multiple dozers on their sides, and belly up, so I'm not sure what gave him that idea.
We used more rockbreaker attachments than augers, often (as you describe) on excavators. But we also stuck a rockbreaker on the front of an old 992 wheel-loader, with a modified boom - that caused some significant heartache, getting it to work reliably - but it was a good stable platform.
Great piece, again - I could smell the diesel and hydraulic oil...
Cool that you know all this stuff, Tony, I thought you might. The photo I stole from Fine Homebuilding that ran an article on pier drilling a long time ago. It was the best that captured the feeling of what we were doing, except that lot they show wasn’t nearly as steep. Everything else is from memory. Pretty sure we used a D-9 in late seventies, early eighties and we did several steep lots but that particular one was the worst. I never saw an operator go cross slope on a bulldozer, though I did see a Menzimuck do it. The Menzimuck was Don Fargo’s tool. As always, thanks for reading!
retired now, living in Montclair so love the stories. in and out of construction work in one way or another my whole life. keep the stories coming!
Cool that you’re there. Thanks for reading!
Great story with wonderful imagery! A hole in one! It almost harkens back to your bookstore story about the occult.
I never worked with a bulldozer on pier holes, but we used to use Hillside Drilling (from Richmond) who had drills mounted creatively on all kinds of rigs. And Channel Lumber (also of Richmond) for lumber drops.
The smell of diesel exhaust on a cold morning still fills me with a confused mix of excitement and anxiety from those days. Great stuff!!!
Cool John, I worked with both those outfits. An excavator had the drilling rig on the end of the hoe arm so they could drill several holes from one setup.
Dangerous stuff. But the real danger comes when we get too familiar with what's going on. In the past I was running a masonry job in the underground parking of a 40 plus story twin tower high rise in Century City. One of my duties was to coordinate my grout pours and deliveries with the other trades. Every day there would be close to 100 concrete trucks pouring the floors and structure of each floor. The footprint of the job did not allow for much space to maneuver every body's deliveries. My task was to get space to set up my pump so I could grout my two concrete trucks. To say the least, I had little clout. Take care.
Thanks David, I think the danger for me was getting tired and lazy, but all that work requires staying on top of it.