Well, first off, here’s a little fella who I look forward to seeing real soon….
Todays trip was one of the more interesting ones. Hauling a 500 gallon Roth Multitank up there for future use. Managed to fit it into the back of my itty bitty pickup truck (although I had to turn the tank on its side) and get up there with no problem. However, it was a rather awkward and heavy object to get out of the back fo the truck by hand. Figured I’d just give it a shove and let gravity do the work. Smarter, not harder, yknow? Well, I lost control of it and it rolled off the back of the truck and right over my AK…
Managed to squash the corner of the magazine floorplate and ruin the mag. Here’s the kicker – I only brought one mag for the AK. I figure if I haven’t solved the problem with thirty rounds of steel core another mags worth aint gonna change things to a noticeable degree. So, there I am, in the middle of Beartopia, with a single shot AK. Bad survivalist!
So, what to do? Why, break out the ’emergency rifle’, of course. Reached behind the seat of the truck, opened the gun case, and pulled out the Green Meanie:
That one has eight spare mags with it, by the by. So…moral of the story…spare mag even if you think you wont need the extra ammo because you may just need the mag itself. And, as they say, unless you’re swimming or on fire you can’t have too much ammo.
So, rolled the Roth off the truck and looked like the Presidents escape pod from Escape From New York. (Note that the iamges show it laying on its side. That lid is the top of the thing.)
Size? Uhm… let’s see….
Height: 51″
Width: 62″
Length: 60″
The 750 gallon, which will be up there in two weeks, is same dimensions but 103″ long, which means it’ll hang out the back of my truck by a tad under three feet. Not too unworkable.
Still gotta get the equipment to bury these guys though. Here’s a cross section of what the terrain is like under the grass:
Lotsa shale-like rock. A guy at work wants to sell me this:
Needs a new starter switch assembly which can be had on Amazon for less than a hundred bucks. For a couple grand, it might be worth taking a chance on . It might not have enough cajones for larger projects but for small projects like trenching, post holes, etc, it might be worth it. However, If I wanna drop a good deal more coin he has a Case backhoe for sale….
Thatll do pretty much anything I want but its probably more than I need. To my way of thinking I only need it for a year or two until all my digging projects are done. Then it’s just money sitting idle. However, I am told that once you have a backhoe you discover a lot of uses you didnt know you needed. I imagine I could always sell it to the neighbors…there’s always that one guy living in the sticks that has his own road grade, bulldozer, or similar equipment.
Regardless, something has to happen and soon. In addition to needing to bury these guys, I need to get some holes deep in the ground for concrete piers for a little bare-bones cabin. Starting tomorrow the days get shorter and it’ll snow up there in probably another 10-12 weeks. Tempus fugit.
Nice! Making progress, good to see!
Go for door number one: Backhoe, not the mini excavator.. Mini is cute, but the
backhoe is probably the most versatile piece of equipment you can own as a small time homesteader.
Bucket on the front end. Digger (AKA hoe) in the back. The digger can pull yourself out of a bind when you are stuck. Bucket on the front digs and lifts loads with ease that you couldn’t shovel in 5 hours by hand.
Add a forks attachment to the bucket, and you can lift your stuff around, including fence poles, pallets, septic tanks (full or empty) with ease. Probably even a cheesy 1/4 ton Toyota pickup truck……(no insult intended).
Yep, mini is cute and towable behind your truck, but if you want to do more, and can’t move in a full size excavator on a lowboy, go with the “hoe”.
Cheers,
ben
Another possibility. You might have a neighbor up there that already has a backhoe in the neighborhood and you could hire him to do some work for you. Much cheaper than tying up thousands of dollars in a machine that you won’t be using all that often.
I concur on the tractor. It’ll probably need a battery, new hydraulic lines and a few other things like that, but take it from a guy with three – a tractor is invaluable and it must have a bucket (front-end loader). You simply will not believe how much you can suddenly do once you have it. Weld hooks on the bucket if it doesn’t already have them and pick up some chain with hooks on the ends. The mini-x is cool, super handy, but if I could only have one, the tractor is a must.
you’re totally correct about homesteaders buying a piece of equipment and finishing off the required work for it – it’s now sitting around gathering rust …..
why you should probably check around for a local “borrow” – if nothing else find a more local purchase and possibly a better deal ……
I wonder if one of the neighbors has one that you could rent or borrow?
I know that Burt Gummer keeps running out of Ammo but that does not make it a good idea!
Gravity solves a lot of problems as does a winch and come along. Enough downed trees up there for a stone boat or pole skids. Also, If that backhoe has chains, you could move a lot of snow with it to keep your road cleared. Don’t forget those mineral and salt licks for your “neighbors”, never know when you might have to borrow a pound of backstrap or steak for fajitas.
Farmcraft101 on YT has a lot of vids about maintaining his various digging equipment….might be worth a look.
And the reason I carry an extra mag for my carry weapon isn’t because I think I’ll need the rounds. Because mags are the highest failure item in a semi-auto firearm. Consider a stock pouch for your AK…just in case.
Flight ER, You got that right!
Mags get lost, the lips get bent and you can never have too many!
I say again, mags get lost, the lips get bent and you can never have too many.!
Your fire team member/fellow grunt, might need some extra. Get out of the mindset of Me, Me, Me….!
“Me, Me, Me”, Ain’t going to get it CZ! I am not saying, to go “recruit”, but I am saying, good individuals may come along……..
+1 on the backhoe. The front end loader will be worth its weight in gold for your road improvement and maintenance. As others have said, the loader and bucket, with chains and straps can move nearly anything on your property you’d need to move. You’ll find uses for it long after the original project you bought it for are long finished.
I agree with others about the great versatility of the backhoe/loader and that it’s a better choice than the mini-excavator.
Depending on what he’s asking for it, and how well you maintain it, I think there’s a reasonable chance you could sell it in two years and recoup most of the purchase price, though there’s obviously going to be some expense I getting it to your site and then back to town or to the new buyer.
I’d ask the guy for an estimate of what it might sell for in 2 years if it has x additional hours on it
Every property I have ever had, there have been tractor/s on it. I never looked at it as trying up money, I looked at it as paid for capability. A tractor and the right implements and you can do any type of project you wish.
My vote is for the backhoe. I’ve used a small rental yard that I bought 20+ years ago. Tough and easy to work on and still worth what I paid for it. Weighs about 1700lbs ,20 Joan’s over build. I’d recommend a 4×4 if you can find one.
Yikes on the mag.
I flash back in time.
2002.
Best friend getting married.
Fiance’s grandpa, me, him, and the fiance’s brothers go to the local gun range after Laser Tag and “The Owl Themed Place”.
Grandpa had pile of guns (he’d been tabletop FFL in the 70s).
Brought along his AMT 380 amongst half a dozen guns.
(Think it was the single action model)
He’s readying to fire when the magazine spontaneously disassembled.
Spring, floorplate, retainer, follower, the 6 rounds of ammo all dumped on the floor with the range mess of empties.
Found floorplate, spring, and follower (body stayed in the gun at least).
Not sure if he had another magazine at home, but he only had one in the gun with him. Not sure if that one was fixable either.
After that if I did purchase a firearm I tried to leave the shop with a spare magazine if they had one, or “get one ASAP just to have at least a spare”.
Keep an eye out for backhoes with end loaders at auctions. I picked up my Case 420 a few years ago for half the price of a maple leaf. Fully functional, no leaks, well maintained and free delivery. You will get more use out of one in the next 10 years than you probably will out of a scope for twice the price.
Look at it this way you can now tell them at work that you ran over one of your Ak’s with your tank.
so now are you going looking for a Komatsu Limited D355A bulldozer?
Give it time you’ll work it out…..
A career in construction has taught me that there are few things more useful to have around than a backhoe (unless you are space constrained).
But. I have also learned that there are few things more frustrating than worn out, poorly maintained equipment that breaks down constantly and/or doesn’t work correctly. Equipment rental exists for a reason: time share often makes more sense than buying.
The mini excavator looks to have a reinforcement welded onto the boom – might be something to be wary of.
I would ask that fella that took you around and showed you your corner markers if he knows of anything nearby. He might have just the thing.
As I’ve said, there’s always some local guy who has a road grader or other piece of heavy equipment in his front yard. Pretty sure thats the case up where Im at. My hesitation is that if I have the guy down the road come in and dig some holes for me, it means that the local rumor mill finds out about the new arrival who had some odd holes dug and various locations on his property and what do you think he was burying there? Lets go look!
I mean, I know theres a reason the pharoahs killed the slaves after they built the pyramids but I’m not at that level yet.
Make sure you’re comfortable with the sticks. I can run joysticks with ease but case levers are some trouble for me. I can run them but it’s not pretty. Just saying
At some point, maybe this summer, you should stockpile gravel. One pile of 3/4″ minus, and one pile of inch & a half or larger. Probably 2 loads for each pile. Those piles may sit for a while, but they will come in handy when you need gravel, and you need it now. And like I said, probably should budget it for this summer whlie a truck can get up there, cause winter is when you’ll have the emergency need for gravel, and they won’t be able to get to you.