Culvert Installation

Great advise from all and thanks for the kind words. My heavy clay can be problematic for some things when it comes to food plots, but it is great for roads. Hopefully things will dry out by the next time I get down. If not, I have other projects removing stumps nearby that I can work on. I think once I'm done, I'll just wait and watch. If I see issues after storms, I 'll have to look into rip rap or concrete wings.

I completely agree that for intermittent streams, a concrete or even just a rock crossing depending on soils can be a lower installation cost and lower maintenance item. Even in small streams they suggest that for infrequent crossings a ford is preferred over a culvert. I did consider the options. In my particular case, transporting rock or cement to the location would be costly and problematic. Since I have the excavator for other road maintenance and habitat work and we have good clay soil and I could get a culvert pipe for a couple hundred bucks, it was certainly the least expensive installation option by far. Time will tell if maintenance costs become a problem. You can't really do a cement crossing easily as this stream is not intermittent. Flow level changes but there is water flowing all year.

I hope to post a few more pics as things progress.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I'm really curious about your mini. I've been back and forth in regards to buying a mini, or a compact track loader. I have a tractor with loader, and I'm leaning to a mini to dig out some ponds, fix some terraces that have blown, dig up tree stumps, etc. Can you tell me the types of work you do with your mini ? Was a ctl in the running in your decision? I think I'd use a mini more than a ctl.... Just not convinced.
 
I'm really curious about your mini. I've been back and forth in regards to buying a mini, or a compact track loader. I have a tractor with loader, and I'm leaning to a mini to dig out some ponds, fix some terraces that have blown, dig up tree stumps, etc. Can you tell me the types of work you do with your mini ? Was a ctl in the running in your decision? I think I'd use a mini more than a ctl.... Just not convinced.

I just purchased mine. Here is the thread that helped provide me some recommendations: https://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/mini-excavator.12269/

I am one of 5 owners in a pine farm where we manage for wildlife (primarily deer and turkey) as well as for timber. Four of the 5 of us are hunters and it is our primary hunting location. It's about 380 acres. We are using some USDA/NRCS programs for management. This includes firebreaks, controlled burns, and certain timber management practices. Our terrain is mostly rolling with some flat areas and a few steep areas.

My wife and I plan to retire at the end of 2022 and we purchased a couple 8 acres lots about 15 minutes from the farm for a retirement home. We just had a barn built with a tiny living space put in it: https://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/new-barn.11326/

I have a little over 1/4 mile of driveway. I hired someone to rough it in (culvert pipes and major drainage and such) a couple years ago. I also paid a guy with a backhoe to trench about 1,000 feet for power. We plan to sell our existing home near the city and live in the barn while we are building our final house.

Between building the house, finishing the driveway, maintaining logging roads at the farm, and doing habitat work, I decided to look into a mini-excavator. I ended up buying the used JD 35G with 3 buckets and an angle blade with almost 1,000 hours on it.

So far, I've graded a parking area around the barn, graded a slope along the overhang, widened and graded about 1/2 of the driveway, and worked on this Culvert project. When I looked into it, I found that if you buy something used, in good condition, keep it for a few years and maintain it well, you can get most if not all of your money out of it.

I have an old Kioti DK45 with FEL. It has a cab, but the AC is gone. I'm not sure how much longer this tractor that I use for food plots will last, but the combination of it and a boxblade along with the mini-excavator, I can do a lot. I figure it will take me two or three years to get all the logging roads in good shape. Once they are properly drained, I plan to just use the boxblade and tractor to maintain them. So, when I'm done with the roads and habitat work, I plan to sell the mini-excavator and buy a new tractor. My Kioti should be on its last legs by then and I'll be old enough to need a cab and AC.

Thanks,

Jack

P.S. Back in the early 1980's I bought a house in PA on 17 acres on the side of a mountain with a crushed stone driveway. The guy who sold me the house lived locally and had a track loader. He had no place to keep it so I let him keep it on my place if I could use it. I used it primarily to maintain the driveway. It was not close to the mini-excavator in terms of doing the tasks I plan to do.
 
Thank you very much for your response and experiences. It sounds very similar to what I'm thinking in terms of buying one, getting my work done that requires a mini, and selling it in 3-5 years. I hear they hold their value well if properly maintained. I'll read thru the links you provided, thanks again!
 
Top