Make sure to use some kind of additive to the water. The type depends on the
soil in your area. Bentonite is pretty common. Otherwise you hole could
collapse on you while you are pulling back. It also lubes up the hole so there
is less tension on the conduit. I measured the conduit tensile strength once.
Not a huge amount, less than 1000 lbs for 1.25” as I recall. The machine is
way stronger than the conduit. I would station a guy at the reel to make sure
it is moving when they were pulling. Cheap GMRS two radios. Driller says
pulling. The other guy better see movement or you are pulling it apart.
From: Chuck McCown via AF
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2022 9:10 PM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
Cc: Chuck McCown
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Ot: my adventure
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.
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