As you can see in the above picture, I installed an outside power cable in this hoe too so I can power the hyd pump from a larger battery for long run times. But even with a big battery (450CA) it doesn't last long at peak voltage of 13.5v after recharging. It seems to hover around that 12.25 to 12.5volts.
So it dawned on me today while I was rattling my bones in the rough hay field, why not connect it to my variable rate power supply - 30volts/5amps? I tune it to 13.5v & it's always there running my hyd pump at peak flow. It's interesting seeing the amp meter - pump running against the pressure relief valve it's pulling 2.2amps & when a cylinder or two is activated it drops to 1.2amps.
Aug 20th, 2005
Still hauling a few loads everyday.
That's my nephew standing behind the pile, he's 4'2" tall. The wagon he's leaning on, I've filled it a third full with dirt from the pile 4 times and have hauled/dump it in different areas of my yard. The Mammoth has hauled alot of loads out in the last 7 weeks, must be a few hundred trips by now. Not much loose soil left. This winter I'll work at trimming the walls & floor loosening up more soil to be hauled again next summer.
I think the cement foundation is 18x22 (feet) & the north wall (22') has been done already with 2x6 studs & treated plywood under the cement foundation back in the 70's when the water well was installed. So that leaves 3 walls that are 3' thick - 5' tall. I'm going to cut the walls back to 1.5' and build wood retaining walls to support the dirt walls from any future cave ins & take 1' out from the floor & someday pour 8" of concrete.
I built a wooden ramp and trucked it all out.
The ramp is 16" wide, I have strips of plywood 4"x8' that I was going to screw to the edges but haven't found need to do that. The 1st couple trips up/down were a bit nerving, but now I could do it blind folded (well almost).
And after making a few hundred trips it's becoming rather mundane doing it this way and I may reinstall the conveyer again at a later date, I've got some new ideas to possibly make it work better. The conveyor would be more time efficient and allow me to make use of my latest trl (presently it just sits on the shelf with no purpose).
Sept 8th, 2005
MORE POWER!!!!
The next thing to do now is install a more powerful servo for the steering, rewire the mechanical lift for the dump bed and add extensions to the sides & rear of the floor to make the dump body approx 20% bigger.
I'm going to put a couple of 2200's 12v packs up front, behind the grille. Being a few inches ahead of the front axle, maybe it'll be enough weight to keep the front end down with the added capacity to the dump body(?).
Sept 20th, 2005
My KH tractor is on my work bench now & I will start working at putting a powered - steerable axle in it to make it a 6x6.
Sept 30th, 2005
Well, after partially tearing down my KH I realized that I didn't have the proper wheels to bolt on the powered frt axle, so that'll have to wait awhile yet.
I tried using silicone to lock up an axle, didn't work. So I JB Welded the diff, it's locked now and it works awesome with 3wd. I just did the rear diff only so I would still have some steerabilty control, but a powered frt axle will help alot with that. With locked diff I'm getting around much better empty or loaded.
I've just about cleaned up all the loose dirt in my basement, it must be close to 2 cu yds I've moved out this summer. I'll have plenty of room now to grind down one of the walls this winter and then build a crib wall from 4"x4" posts and 1"x4" boards. After that's built I'll then backfill the gap.
