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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Friend loaned me an end loader to build my backstop
I grew up working summers at my best friends dad's business where my friend and I at the ripe old age of 13 learned to drive end loaders to load fertilizer spreaders. I also worked there in college running heavy equipment and drive semis.
20+ years later I mention to my old buddy (he now owns the family business) that I was thinking of paying a local guy to put a stone drive behind my shop building and also have him tear out our MX track and use the dirt to build a shooting backstop....... A couple days later my old buddy shows up with a big front end loader on a semi trailer. He says I can play with it for a week or so and will be hauling me as many quad axle dump truck loads of stone as I need next week for my new driveway. He muttered something about appreciating the times I had hauled him over job sights in my airplane over the years to take pictures. He claims he won't accept a dime for fuel or stone and his business is over an hours drive away.  What a great friend!After spending this weekend digging clay and sod my new drive is ready for the stone. It only took me an hour or so to get re-accustomed to running the loader proficiently and I now have a 10' tall by 60' or so long backstop for practicing shooting the Glock.  On top of that my wife is happy that she won't have to mow around the old jumps in the side yard MX track.  My "shooting range" before  During  After  The driveway in progress 
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-08-2009, 03:53 PM
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Banned
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,930
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sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt!!!!!!!!!
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11-08-2009, 03:55 PM
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Did you get the memo?
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wichita, KS
Posts: 32,540
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Now THAT is a fun toy. I used to have a maintenance job that required backhoe use. I used to look for excuses to dig holes.
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11-08-2009, 04:00 PM
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Cogito Ergo Sum
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Wow that makes my dads new tractor look like a play toy... He just got a little 35hp tractor with a front end loader and a backhoe.....
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11-08-2009, 04:05 PM
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Cars & Coffee Killer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: State of Failure
Posts: 32,246
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The CEO of my company is a HUGE heavy-equipment guy.
Other CEOs have boats and airplanes. He has bulldozers, front-end loaders, excavators, and scrapers. He lives not far from my house and you can see him out "playing" on weekends...
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Some Porsches long ago...then a wankle... 5 liters of VVT fury now -Chris "There is freedom in risk, just as there is oppression in security." |
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11-08-2009, 04:26 PM
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AutoBahned
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nice, but you scraped up the top soil tho...
I'd have moved it over, then used subsoil to build the backstop then spread the topsoil back on the yard |
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11-08-2009, 04:39 PM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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When I worked for his dad, they had two end loaders but both were a tad smaller. This particular one is much nicer than what I remember. I have an old small Bobcat skid steer, but it is no match for our hard clay ground and well established sod. The loader is not really the ideal weapon of choice for peeling sod from clay and excavating to a perfect grade, but I am comfortable running it and it has done a fine job.
Much buddies company also owns two huge "long arm" excavators, several end loaders, several dozers and a fleet of semis and dump trucks. When I worked for them over 20 years ago, the business consisted of hauling the City of Toledo's sewage sludge to farm fields in semi dump tailers then loading it into five wheeled Terra-Gators with the loaders and spreading it on farm fields as fertilizer. It was a great business at the time because the city paid a substantial amount for them to haul it away and the farmers then paid to have it spread as fertilizer. Eventually the eviromentalists/EPA made land application too difficult. Now they typically get city contracts to remove and haul spent lime from dewatering lagoons.  
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-08-2009, 04:48 PM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Quote:
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-08-2009, 04:56 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Magnolia State
Posts: 7,548
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Screw the frontloader....I want a tour of the shop/hangar.
Now's my opportunity, Tim. Over the years I've seen snippets of your shop thru the many fascinating projects you've undertaken. How 'bout giving us a grand tour of your workstations, neat tools, projects in progress, restorations, aircraft, motorcycles, cars etc. Purdy please? We know you have no hubris...but share with us so we can feel inadequate
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Jim 1987 Carrera 2002 BMW 525ti 1997 Buell Cyclone cafe project 1998 Buell S1W: "Angriest motorcycle I've ever ridden." |
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11-08-2009, 05:09 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: uh.. let me check the hotel key
Posts: 1,311
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tim.... will you adopt me?
i would be happy to play with your guns\airplanes\dirtbikes and guns..
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SWB |
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11-08-2009, 05:16 PM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Quote:
Some would view this as a bad thing, but to me it is heaven. A few pics showing the inside of my shop. It has a large main storage area along with a small workshop, a paint booth/auto repair area, an office and a bathroom. Some day I will hopefully take the time to construct a large lean-to over my new stone drive to get back some space in the main storage area of the shop. View from small workshop looking out into storage area  View from paint booth/auto repair room looking into small workshop  View of storage area  View of front of shop and most of my high mileage fleet of future german resto projects.  If the saying "He who dies with the most toys wins" is true, I am up near the front of the pack. (only problem is my stuff is mainly older relics that I am too much of a pack-rat to part with )
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-09-2009, 05:55 AM
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Registered
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Magnolia State
Posts: 7,548
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 We're not worthy...we're not worthy!!
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Jim 1987 Carrera 2002 BMW 525ti 1997 Buell Cyclone cafe project 1998 Buell S1W: "Angriest motorcycle I've ever ridden." |
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11-09-2009, 07:35 AM
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Cogito Ergo Sum
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Nice shop.... Only problem I see is that he needs a taller lift...
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11-09-2009, 07:38 AM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Quote:
Dollar wise, probably the majority of those in their mid 40's on this site own way nicer homes and own several higher dollar toys. I just happen to enjoy all things mechanical in life which results in my large collection of "junk" to tinker with. Other than my one airplane and a workhorse ATV, all my "toys" were bought cheap with "issues" that I "enjoyed" fixing. Someday my kids will curse me for accumulating so much "stuff".... That much I am sure of.
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-09-2009, 07:49 AM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Quote:
and a BMW 325i) that my lift did not handle easily. It has a fairly open structure under it and removing exhaust systems, driveshafts, transmissions etc is not a problem. I have a small roll around chair to sit on when working comfortably under a car.
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. |
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11-09-2009, 07:56 AM
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Cogito Ergo Sum
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I am gearing up to do a 944 clutch on that lift...
I have to plan when I do something major like that b/c that shop is my dads and also serves as the main production facility for his sign company.... |
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11-09-2009, 09:08 AM
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MAGA
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
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Quote:
The good thing about it is that once you replace the 20+ year old rubber centered clutch disk with a newer spring type unit, you will probably never have to do it again to that car.
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne 0% Liberal Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing. Last edited by Tim Hancock; 11-09-2009 at 09:26 AM.. |
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11-09-2009, 09:23 AM
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Registered
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: bottom left corner of the world
Posts: 22,765
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I think you have too much fun
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11-09-2009, 10:50 AM
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: N. Phoenix AZ USA
Posts: 28,943
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Very nice!
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2013 Jag XF, 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins (the workhorse), 1992 Jaguar XJ S-3 V-12 VDP (one of only 100 examples made), 1969 Jaguar XJ (been in the family since new), 1985 911 Targa backdated to 1973 RS specs with a 3.6 shoehorned in the back, 1959 Austin Healey Sprite (former SCCA H-Prod), 1995 BMW R1100RSL, 1971 & '72 BMW R75/5 "Toaster," Ural Tourist w/sidecar, 1949 Aeronca Sedan / QB |
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11-09-2009, 01:45 PM
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19 years and 17k posts...
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Very nice setup you have there!
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Art Zasadny 1974 Porsche 911 Targa "Helga" (Sold, back home in Germany) Learning the bass guitar Driving Ford company cars now... www.ford.com |
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11-10-2009, 03:24 AM
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1986 Porsche 944 2.5l
MazdaSpeed3
