Turn your tracks in line with the dig as close as possible. Digging cross track is hard on the machine. Sometimes you have no choice but here you had plenty of room.
As a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for 40 plus years now, here is a few tricks. Turn the 5 gallon drum spout 108 degrees from the way that you were pouring. The air will be at the top and you will have a better chance of pouring it in the hole with less chance of spilling it out. The beat thing for any oil is checking what the best types of oil for the climate / temps that your at. Here in AZ we use type 46, this is best for the warm temps here in the summer times. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best when providing tips and answers. Grease your equipment, it is cheap and will extend the life of your items. Little tip first, dirt and sand is the killer for equipment, keep your grease fittings clean prior to adding grease. You do not want dirt in that port from being forced in when adding lube to your equipment.
Slopes - 2:1 2 to 1 two to one! Or you’ll never stop dealing with stuff off and vertical encourages it 😉 For your grease gun take the plunge now and get a battery operated with a whip, also a lock n lube tip Most people spend $30-40 on the little hand operated crappy ones 2-3 times before they realize With machinery greasing is a weekly at most operation Sometimes daily depending on use Tighten up your dude wear plates on the bucket before they get ripped off So excited for you guys That things a work horse!
I would dig that whole section of land where the mud keeps sliding into your home. I know it would be a lot of work, but you wouldn't have anymore problems!
Don't dig with the worn out bucket teeth as you can damage the bucket attachment points which will require welding to repair. Your bucket side cutters seem to be loose. These should be firmly bolted on. These side cutters are very expensive to replace. HL Tooth Co. on Ebay sells American Made bucket teeth. I use these and they are good. Avoid over tightening your tracks as this can cause premature wear on the under carriage. Always wipe dirt from the grease fitting before applying grease gun. Congratulations on your new adventure.
Greeting Children! A few comments in order. Get the RPM up on the motor and dig your trench. Construct a grader bar to cover the teeth for leveling your work. Start looking with construction company's for used and cut off pieces of sheeps-foot piling for terracing your hill side, I've welded many piece together to complete jobs. The size of your machine, making a holder will allow you to push the piling in instead of a driver operated with air and a three spool crane. Maybe I can take some time off from my retirement schedule this summer and come out to help get it started, but then I'm sure one from my harem will want to come along. LOL For warned been told I'm a real bastard to work with! LOL Go back to town and get 3/16 steel tubing to extend the zerts where it is protected and convent. Take your time to make the brackets and do a neat job, isn't any call for throwing it together, no call for that simple-minded bull-shit. And prime along with painting it. Enjoy your picture show a lot, even though at times I scream at the tv screen! LOL But what's a grumpy old man to do. You Kids keep the good work up!!!
Mike, get a longer hose and buy a Loc-N-Lube on the end of it to lock on to the grease zerts. Then you don't have to worry about it coming off and can use both hands to pump out grease. I finally broke down and bought a Makita 18V grease gun after years of thinking that they were a lame item to spend my money on. The amount of time it has saved me lubricating my equipment has paid for it this winter working on my machinery in my shop. Everything from my dozer, backhoe, swathers, balers, trailers, trucks, etc. can be lubricated in less than 1/4 the amount of time. It makes a quick job setting the tension on the tracks of my dozer. Liz, nice job on the bucket on the tractor!
Should definitely be spinning the machine when you do the turntable so the grease gets everywhere pretty sure that’s why they put that in the cab and when you are tensioning the tracks you should lift the machine up with the boom to see how much tension you were applying so you don’t wear out the rails prematurely over tight is bad
You should get one of the automatic grease guns from dewalt or Milwaukee they come in real handy on the bigger machines like that excavator. It’ll also make quick work of greasing your tractor
Nice solid machine. A lot is learning by doing and it is helpful to use some advice from the pro's. One important point is to clean all grease ports first and then use the grease gun. Once you have pressed dirt in the grease port, the minimal stress could be that the grease port is leaking, the more serious point is that you will get no grease in bolts or links and that you have to spend a lot of time and money to fix the problems.
I wish you guys all the luck in the world kids and I hope you don't mind ne calling you guys kids as I an almost 80 years young. I have also ask the Lord to be with you guys. It will work out just take one step at a time and in the long run it will be so worth it all. Reminds me of my own life so many years ago.
If you are planning to dig something in a line, as you started to do in the beginning of the video. do not do it from a sideways angle. You are getting minimal leverage/weight force on your bucket attempts. Digging from the side of your tracks is VERY rarely optimal. You absolutely do want to be digging with your tracks pointing first at your original first bucket, and then back up as needed. In frozen months, don't give up. You have to make it through a few feet of frozen ground, but after that, it's smooth sailing.
Pour those 5 gallon buckets with the spout at the top. The oil does not start pouring until the bucket is almost horizontal. Then, you can turn them to get the last bit out. Was that hard to read zerk for the track tensioner? A long funnel would be great.
The oil buckets have a plug seal .... you upend bucket over inlet BEFORE removing the plug. As I already said, first time = rookie mistake, second time ..... gggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Building site prep is so important yet majorly overlooked area of building. What your plan for the hill? Surely it's no keep cleaning up what falls off? Get your self a whole case of grease. Cheaper online.
Doesn't look like I can add anything that's not already said yet but to watch Letsdig RU-vid channel of him operating his excavators and you can only learn from that and another guy is Andrew Camarata and also learn how to maintain and repair things from him. Both skilled operators. Nice to see you smiling!
That thumb is a two person job for sure. Since it does not move by button, aim the thumb at the beginning of where you want it to grab on the ground, and close the bucket down ontop of the rest. The thumb is your "sight", if thinking about it like a gun..
There is a bolt or zerk fitting on the top of the grease gun for letting air out instead of trying to keep the top unscrewed until the air escapes when you load new grease.
Hey Guy's as you all finding larger stones and rocks you might want to stack them at an angle up that bank it could save you it the hill decides to slide down the bigger the rocks the better. You might want to watch letdig 18 or Dirt Perfect and Andrew Camarata You will learn a lot by watching Camarata older videos show a lot about maintenance on Excavators.
Laid Back Living wave ☺️ You're pretty good with that thing Mike! I think you've done that before 😉 and yes, wipe off the zerks, I found a good air powered gun and sure makes it easier! Battery powered would be awesome!
Nice buy! The best machines are the older ones without computers or DEF. I would keep some extra fuel filters on hand in case you pick up some water. They are sometimes hard to find when you need one the most. Try not to use home heating oil for fuel as it is crap. Off road diesel is great, but the best is pump diesel as it usually has all the winter anti-gel additives. If it dosen't have glow plugs to warm up the engine cylinders on cold days, consider a block heater that ties into the heater hoses and plugs into a 110 outlet. Saves the battery and starter. Hopefully these tips will make life easier for you. I have learned these tips from owning older equipment in New England. Good luck with your new toy.
Hello Mike, have you consider putting up some type of rock baskets retaining wall system, in front of those dirt ones that keep coming down with the rain? Keep up the god work
Beautiful, and she can drive a tractor...lol She's a keeper! 😄 🤣 That machine still has alot of work left in her, but be sure you know what, when, and how to dig away at the slopes, they'll fold over from the top worse if you take to much bottom. Ripcurl style, like the waves here in Florida..Love ya'll ❤
Great video, eventually you want to get a battery operated grease gun. But for now you should look at lock n lube. It allows you to lock the grease gun on the fitting. I have one to grease my lawn mower. Works great. Thanks for sharing your videos.
Hey guys- just watched a donyboy73 video where he recommends a grease gun add-on called the "Lock N Lube." Maybe something useful with all the additional maintenance you will have now!
Do your selves a huge favor a get a cordless 18v or bigger grease gun because older machines need a ton of grease on a regular basis also check the distance on your idler’s , you mention that they replaced a track pin , my guess is they removed a track pad to tighten the tracks on one side but not the other , this would leave the track loose and no more adjustment left on the idler sprocket . If it has ent had new undercarriage yet it’s likely due ? All the moving parts wear over time and eventually you run out of adjustment and you’ll start throwing tracks , and it never happens in a convenient time or place for some reason ! Lol ask me why I know this ….
Wow man if u pour it with a funnel or at lest with the spout up in the air u would have more control over it if u have plains on use this thing 4 years ur going to be able to drill 4 oil in couple years of dumping it on the ground & ur going 2 need hose 4 grease gun & ur going to use that two. Times a day u mite. Want to get battery operated grease gun there is alot more to machine then buy it & jumping on u really need to talk to a owner operator cuz u will cause more of a mess & just costs u more in long run but u dont want fluids all over ur ground & u should be checking final drives as well one of them go out on u ur looking at big $$ it would pay to talk 2 some one like I said be 4 ur in a new problem good luck & god bless
Anyone that knows the Johnsons have to be darn folks. Actually they told us about you all. You already have some good advice so I will just say keep on looking good.
Change your angle for digging. Get parallel to your cut. You will have better digging then. And not lift up the excavator like what was happening when you tried to be perpendicular with the bucket action to the main unit.
Hey !!! C'mon kids. Those hydraulic oil drums have plugs on them!!!!! Turn them up and over inlet THEN REMOVE the plug seal !!!!! First time rookie mistake , second time .... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
