Pot holing is a huge footage killer. We are happy with 400’ drilled and pulled back a day.
Sent from my iPhone > On May 21, 2022, at 7:20 PM, Steve Jones <thatoneguyst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > One of the front clamp cylinders needed replaced. The slide housing for the > front clamp had to be replaced too, where the slide block sits was worn down > to almost nothing, there was a ton of play on the clamp and when the little > steel left failed I wouldnt be able to break the pipe, that's a pricey piece > since it's dead stock. > They welded plates so the stress points on the frame wont break anymore, > looks like it had been welded and broke twice. I think there were a total of > 3 placed needing welded. > They put a new track on for me that was purchased in the buyout. > The water relief is bad and will fail, but that's on backorder. They had to > bypass the guage cause of stripped threads and discontinued parts. > The pump wasnt drawing from the tank so they had to do some work on that. > There was a fuel leak they fixed. > The drive chain was missing the tensioner clamp on the bottom and the rollers > were worn flat. There was some warp to the slide rail they fixed. > A bunch of other heres and theres (I did pay 45 bucks for them to replace a > bulb cause at this point another 45 bucks was negligible. > The sub saver shoulder was beveled back and the front was flared. > The bill will be around 3k less since they ended up getting the strike alert > going. The one on 7x11 isnt made anymore so it would have been a retrofit. > Most of the cost was parts. Labor really was surprisingly low for the amount > there was. > Theres much I probably could have done, like the control hoses were flipped > so the back clamp control turned the left auger and it was all backward. But > if while moving the hoses a fitting breaks or seal is bad I'd spend 2 days > acquiring parts and fixing it. I've never worked on a track, and I dont weld. > The sub saver is field replace, but I never replaced one and I really need to > get drilling. I have almost 150k sunk into this whole venture already and > every day I'm trying to figure out how to fix things is a day less I'm > putting money in the kitty for the days I'm trying to fix things. > I will say I'm never, ever, ever, ever, not even once gonna buy a friend out > again without just having the attorney do all the prep work ahead. This was a > clusterfuck and I still dont have my reel trailer in hand. > I'm told I can complete up to 750 feet a day. I want some of what they're > smoking. My numbers get really comfortable if we are getting 200 feet. I'm > the new guy on the contract, so I'm betting I'm not getting the prime dirt > work, I see a lot of driveways and intersections in my future. That leads to > another problem, not having an owned vac, but I'm out of money, so that's a > bridge I'll burn when I get to it. Before some unforeseen expenses I was > planning on getting an airvac and airspade, but its shovel time instead > >> On Sat, May 21, 2022, 6:12 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: >> Still that sounds steep. At least it might have been done right. Those >> pumps are pretty easy to fix. They get junk stuck in the valves now and >> then, so you need to know how to take out the valves. There are 6 of them. >> The pistons don’t actually slide in cylinders, they just intrude into a >> volume of space and displace water. So crud can go through them without >> harm. Most of the pump issues are leaks around the rods (you can tighten >> the packing gland or add packing), valve junk, and freezing and breaking. >> The last one pretty much ruins the whole works. >> >> They do suffer from cracked frames. I have strengthened my frame a bunch >> while fixing the cracks. Sad to see my Vermeer is on the auction block at >> RB right across the street from me. Full box of almost new rod. I have 4 >> other ditch witch drills so I am selling this one. We all like the Vermeer >> more than the DW as far as the two controls vs one. >> >> From: Steve Jones >> Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2022 4:17 PM >> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Ot: my adventure >> >> 21 year old drill, old parts, some frame cracks, water pump issues, etc. >> Labor wasnt that bad. I figure future repairs will be me, but to get this >> thing out the door and making money, I had vermeer do everything. >> >> On Sat, May 21, 2022, 4:45 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: >>> What cost the $12K? >>> >>> I do all the work on my drills, and I became quite an expert on the Vermeer >>> we had. I quit using strike finders. They break down all the freaking >>> time. >>> >>> I just have a ground stake that I sometime use. Should use it all the time >>> but if you get out around a bunch of drillers, they frequently don’t ground >>> either. That drill rod is a pretty good ground. But if you hit primary >>> all bets are off. If you hit secondary you will probably not get fried. >>> With or without strike finders and ground stakes. >>> >>> From: Steve Jones >>> Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2022 3:22 PM >>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >>> Subject: [AFMUG] Ot: my adventure >>> >>> So for the last three months I've been creating my company, getting all >>> that stuff in order, spending a shit ton of money (for me). But the last >>> pieces are falling in place on monday. I pick my drill back up from vermeer >>> (12,300 dollar repair quote, but they managed to fix my strike alert and >>> saved me 3000 bucks). Probably not a good business decision to put that >>> much into an old drill when the drill is worth less than the repair, but it >>> gets me in a drill. >>> I have a contract that's local for around 2 years work, fairly low rate per >>> foot compared to what's out there, but its local and all I can eat when I >>> want to eat it, so I can keep my fulltime job while I transition. I figure >>> spend this year and maybe next building experience with my son, then chase >>> the bigger dough. >>> The underground industry seems a whole lot like the wisp industry, where >>> theres a whole bunch of strangers willing to help strangers succeed with >>> good advice. Theres some assholes, but same here. >>> Once I get operational and have the toolset refined with some experience >>> I'll be heavily pimping to the wisp degenerates turning fisp, I think >>> theres a good number that a guy can operate at to be affordable to small >>> outfits and still get a little money in the wallet. >>> My kid operated a mini ex for the first time, the video games actually paid >>> off, he got the feather concept of the controls down, so he may leave me to >>> go do that after some experience, dont blame him a bit if he does, >>> equipment operators get the best cushions in the seats and the best >>> paychecks. >>> Just need to hand over the workmans comp certificate when I have the drill >>> back in hand and I start making the millions. >>> God is good, even if I'm not. >>> -- >>> AF mailing list >>> AF@af.afmug.com >>> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >>> -- >>> AF mailing list >>> AF@af.afmug.com >>> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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