Building a Farm Pond, Site Prep. Part 1/7 

"Once you're up on the wood, you should be fine". Now that would be a great T Shirt

Push your brush piles in second gear. The extra speed helps keep the pile in a ball and sliding across the ground. When you go slow it catches on everything.

I have the same dozer. That screen is constantly getting junk in it. I put an automotive inline fuel filter in that rubber part of the hose. No more trouble

Jon, you said you think you are being overly cautious about the dozer when you are clearing out the brush, rest assured you are not. The young man you setup with the car a few months back, Christopher, his Grandfather he never met, died September (9th I think) 2001 after a loading accident with a dozer, very close to where you are working. Keep doing the right thing and stay safe! Great content as always!

John when I couldn’t think you where living my dream any more you go and build a pond. The farm, heavy machinery, woodworking, metal casting, mechanical work, family life, giving back to the community, forestry work and livestock husbandry. Please never stop, an inspiration to us all.

33:46 No idea why, but this dozer push is just so satisfying to watch!

What a coincidence, I have been watching pond building videos for the past week or so for some reason and now you are building one too. :)

Farm craft is building a pond, how exciting 👏

You could always buy a couple sticks of 3/8” x 1” flatbar and weld it to the grousers. Simple cheap fix for worn out grouser pads. I would use 7018 or dual shield fluxcore to weld them on though. Stay safe and Keep up the good work John.

Oh yeah, we need more farm craft videos. Stay safe and do not get hurt. Please.

Jon, i feel cheated with only a 35 minute video. Lol, can’t wait for the rest of them to come.

Glad to see you back, Jon! This looks like the start of a good series.

God, i’ve been waiting for another Farmcraft vid for way too long.

My retirement dream is to buy some land and a D4, then push dirt piles around all day like a kid in a sand box. Now that something like that is cost prohibitive, I bought an IPad and watch RU-vid videos of guys doing it! Thank you!

I loved all 8 videos. Sitting in hospital for days on end bored to tears and farmcraft101 really helped me. In the Pond build it was like I was there. I could smell the soil being moved, the fire burning, the aroma after a rain and yes diesel fuel to. Love the highs and the lows of your videos. You are a blessed man.

7 hours To move all the trees and Brush and get the top soil Moved That is actually excellent Time Jon Good work as always @FarmCraft101

No sir…, you are not being “overly cautious”.., I think you are being “properly” cautious… You “just know, what you don’t know”, on that property. Looking forward to the videos on this project. Thank you sir. P.S., I think I see a video in your future regarding a shop fabricated “root rake” for the dozer…

Love the videos. The dry and well seasoned jokes are the best. Thank you.

A much easier and enjoyable video to watch, than an hour of Let's dig 18 doing the same thing in real time over and over and over and over and over.. 😎

1:55 I spy new content

John we were beginning to get worried! Can’t wait to see more on this series!

"Warp Speed" is a good thing sometimes! Otherwise it gets kinds like watching Golf. Which can be a good thing too if your ready for your nap!

Hey John if you want to make your ramp safer find a couple old truck tire cut the side walls off then cut the tread into strips and mount on the ramps. you will have traction going up or down, hey we all need to recycle our old rubber on the farm any way you can.

Nobody I’ve seen Farmcraft but you are documenting the the amount of time it takes to do a job start to finish. I like it👍

Nothing like the algorithm keeping me away from your channel JUST long enough so I can binge watch your pond series!😅 1:35

When you said that you thought you might be being a little too careful, all I could think of was that there is no such thing as being too careful on machinery. Every one of those pieces of equipment can take your life in a flash if you aren't paying attention.

Weather went from not bad to hugh winds in 5 minutes wow Jon @FarmCraft101

Thanks for taking us along!

Happy to be able to help ;)

Trailer held up like a champ on that dozer nice Jon @FarmCraft101

Wow, that was one clogged filter. Nice work on the pond prep. I look forward to part 2 of ?

I do like a good pond build video, plus it seems like it would be a great way to get to know those machines capabilities.

You can add bentonite to your clay layer to waterproof it, this is often done to improve dams and artificial lakes

Johnson Pond Digging Company . No hole’s too big, No hole’s too small!

I use old snowmobile tracks. Lay em down and drive my dozer up em. Prior to that, I just used old tires thrown on the ramps.

Great video! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

As I shared with Hometown Acres, think "French Drain(s)". Your several hills lend themselves to that kind of system. Mine filled a 2500 cistern (after a rain) and ran 4" gushing of water out for days. Research it well. There are lesser types of "French Drains"! Easy to make, no maintenance - efficient, low cost!

It’s so great seeing the machines being put to work after being worked on. Inspiring.

Getting it done!💪🏼

Let's dig craft 101. Love it. Lol

What a totally awesome way to relax on a Sunday morning.

Thanks Jon!

This job definitely proves why rental companies rent big equipment! Good luck

Big project Jon Thanks .

Happy to see you back!

You could stick a ring of small cheap magnets on the fuel tank around the outlet. it may catch a lot of the loose rust

Jon, You are an amazing young man. Your respect for safe approaches and solutions touches my heart! Keep it up! Stay safe & continue to teach!

I wasnt expecting a video today. Thanks alot!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

You could weld a vertical plate to every third segment of your track to give yourself more traction. Nothing too massive but just enough to give you that little bit of extra you are needing.

awesome!

I know everyone is a critic and I can remember when I started with zero experience and no one to teach me 🤦‍♂️. I would definitely push the undergrowth with the blade and re-stack it with mini leaving the dirt behind. I think it’s faster, it also allows me to just get it above water line or back of dam and focus on my core. I also avoid pushing uphill as much as possible and would have pushed the topsoil towards the dam essentially skirting the banks or running parallel to them towards the dam, it allows you to run faster using less fuel. At this point it’s ready to use for back slope and finish grade. You will learn to use every advantage and gravity is a big one lol.

It's a start !! When you get into this farther along, you will amazed how much you are accomplishing over time. Then you can breathe easier as the pond takes shape ! Good job John !

Comment for the algorithm to help the channel 👍.

Well done Jon!

Thankyou

Way to sell the boom lift to the kids on side. Genius.

Looks good 😊

Just Amazing. Thanks ❤

Good Afternoon John, so pleased to watch another Farmcraft film. Keep them coming I so enjoy you talk through what you do. 👍👍👍

You might try cleaning the fuel tank and then adding a filter in the fuel line that comes out of the tank. If you clean & flush the fuel tank that will take care of 99% of your problems. You will still have dirty fuel from the supplier, but not as bad. I had a few older machines and didn't solve the problem until I did the flush.

Love watching your uploads.Thank you 👍🏻

That is a big job. Looking forward to part 2.

Throw some planks on the ramps for bite.

Dont 'bull' your dozer. smaller bites and work your edges less stress on the machine and less scalloping on your base.Good luck with your pond!!

Looking forward for the next! Great job.

Good to see you back again. I ran out of your video's to watch and have been waiting for this one. Love what your doing. Keep them coming Jon. I'm hooked !!

Just for future reference seek assistance from the local NRS office or one of their engineering technical advisors to do a pond design layout for you. If you do that you will thank them for making the construction much easier with elevations, bench marks etc.

Can't wait for the next part! 👍👍👍

looking forward to this project!

Always interesting to sit back and watch you work.😄

I think it’s time you invest in a skid steer with a grappling attachment. It will become your best friend. And it has lots of seals lol😂

This is the 2nd pond building video series I've seen in recent months, and I love seeing it done! Doing good so far, and always love your explanations on things. :)

Nobody ever said regular work like Using equipment and clearing land was Fun to watch But i say it is Fun and entertaining 15:33 Jon @FarmCraft101

Hey John its really good to see the dozer in operation, all your hard work is paying off. Looking forward to the next installment of the pond build. Great video thumbs up.

You did a swale job here.

ahh yes after a little break, right back into some nice content to see all of the work you put into those machines on full display.

I haven't been getting notified, so now I've got 4 videos to catch up 👍

Check The fuel return line that goes back to the tank, if it's clogged then it will spit and sputter like it's running out of fuel, but in fact it's actually flooding. Also blow air through the main fuel line back to the tank to blow any debris out of the line. I have a 1985 D3B that was doing that and when I found the return line by following the lines all the way back and blew air through it I could feel the line dislodge debris and now the dozer runs great. I also installed an inline filter to catch any debris prior to the injector pump.

Good stuff

Now that is a lot of work!

Ok, gonna try to be helpful here, about 17 min in when you're pushing the top soil, there are some camera angles where it looks like you've got the blade so far down that the dozer is balanced on only the rear of the tracks and the blade. to be fair, it appears that its happening because your in the bottom of the valley and just haven't leveled back out. Seems like you'd move the soil around easier if you had the tracks level. Im betting you knew this, but its something that is way obvious from the camera and you might not have realized while driving. Also, i would love to see you restore that old screwdriver.

LetsDig18 is shedding a tear of joy right now...

Thats a hell of a project.

Thanks for the very good video. Especially the 'warp speed' bits. Look forward to more.

Jon, you had that dozer loaded like a pro!

and he is building a pond. this man is unhinged, productively that is.

Excited! I've been waiting for the next big project. I'm gonna tell my dad to start watching so we can compare notes over a beer on the weekends

Mr John, hey man, I been missing you, needed a video of yours to watch and you came through. One thing I noticed with the dozer, when you go to push, always go in straight lines. Try to line up with the ground that is as level as can be that way you aren't having to tilt the blade side to side. You may already know these things, just trying to help you anyway I can.

I have been looking forward to this video for a while now.

John, Luv your videos, always look forward to them. keep up the great content and thanks

Looks like you are off to a good start good luck 👍👋🇨🇦

I see grease gins and fueling, lots of fueling. That looks like so much fun.

7/21/23; mighty fine video 2day Jon, beautiful day, except for a brief Hail Storm! Excellent awareness for we viewers re: speed of video while filming your dozer back-&-forth.; your voice over & FF was much appreciated. Continuing to watch, as we loyal viewers do- no matter the forgotten fuel filter checks- I watch thru all surface scrapping, new brush excavating till final words..."more to come" on this project! Yea! Stay safe & carry on!👍👍👏👏🍺🤗

your back !! 👍👍

All the topsoil "washed down in the wash" it's mother nature. And bring your portable welder with you and weld on some new growlers at the site.

A new video!!! Yay!!! Finally

Had the same issues on my dads '79 f250 crew cab back in the day, sat for over 10 years, and we had to take off the filter at the mechanical fuel pump every two or three miles and blow it out with carb cleaner for about a week or two and then all of the loose rust had finally been filtered out.

Maybe find a rake for the blade to help. I'm sure there's a used rake out there and it will be a cleaner bush pile. Good video!

Fun building ponds for sure, I've built a number of them