How install a gravel parking pad for cars with an excavator

Grading For Beginners-Building A Gravel Parking Pad
| DigginLife21

[@aaronburford5701]

You are an absolute EXCELLENT excavator operator! The detail in which you are able to work the bucket is phenomenal!

[@lisafisher8081]

You have the gift of teaching. Really enjoy watching you work, explaining details and reasons for this and that. BRAVO and blessings to you.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks for watching Lisa 🙏🏻

[@aaronburford5701]

I am astonished by how much strategic planning goes into completing a project. I am totally foreign to this field but I enjoy watching, but I have learned an awful amount of informationf from your videos. Thanks so much for taking the time!

[@jimmyfavereau]

Thanks a bunch, good teacher and presentation. Be Blessed!

[@googlemustdie]

Very much appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise!

[@DigginLife21]

My pleasure!

[@marcelrobert9178]

Looks great

[@65BAJA]

That turned out really nice!

[@DirtBrute]

Mint ! These are the jobs I try to get. low stress one man one day jobs ! Great video .you did great 👍

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks 👍

[@jimsweeney25]

Enjoy your video's very much! As a novice excavator operator on my own property the information you share is great, thank you for taking the time to produce them.

[@DigginLife21]

Awesome, thank you!

[@justincase7524]

Todd, You may have already covered this, but the hardest thing about loading the bucket with shallow excavation and shallow gravel piles is the complex motion at the end of the scoop, ie you have to curl the bucket while pushing the boom down, and sometimes a little stick motion one way or the other is necessary too, depending on the material and grade you’re cutting. And if it’s not done correctly then you just push dirt around and it’s frustrating. This nonsense of using one motion at a time for beginners sets up bad habits that aren’t effective on real job sites. Complex motions in the corner of the joystick (like back right corner for pulling a level bucket, in SAE/“Deere” pattern) should be practiced BEFORE digging in the field. He’s explaining it now in the vid around half way. Awesome Todd. You’re the man!

[@justincase7524]

He explains this at 20:30 but a correction or tweak is that he’s saying stick in, curl bucket, and boom down, but there’s a little move in there at the end of the swoop that is necessary as well, which is to push the stick out a small distance but semi-swiftly. He didn’t explain that. If you don’t do all 3 motions together at the very end of the scoop, then you will have more difficulty filling your bucket up. Conversely, LetsDig18 tends to sweep his motions so fast that he doesn’t accentuate this complex motion of the stick at the end as much, but still some depending on the material. It appears that LetsDig18 just briskly scooping the dirt right in the bucket. The complex motion is still there to some degree unless the material is sticky and won’t fall out. It’s just not as much when you’re sweeping/scooping so briskly as he does. For the record, they are both better than me, I’m just anal about learning and proper instruction, as I wasn’t taught correctly, and struggled loading loose material for a while.

[@DigginLife21]

@@justincase7524 your explanation is spot on. Thanks for adding extra explanation. It never hurts to have more information. Thanks for watching and I look forward to seeing you in the comments🙏🏻

[@justincase7524]

@@DigginLife21 You bet. I’ve watched a lot of excavation online and I’d say you are the most informative and definitely the best channel for learning that I’ve seen so far. Most of the others seem mostly for entertainment, which is fine, but the little details and tricks are where it’s at! That’s why I love when you’re talking to yourself and also explaining some of this stuff that never gets taught correctly and takes a long time to figure out on your own like I had to do.

[@lestergreen8720]

What a beautiful job this man is a master on his equipment

[@MyTractorGuy]

Great job!! I saw another guy use an edger to cut the sod. I haven't had a job yet since I've watched that to see if it's worth the effort to drag out the edger instead of just using the manual excavator instead.

[@bozobennett]

Bravo! Particularly like the way you feathered or walked the mini-ex over the first bits of base...nice.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks!

[@viper-trent3195]

bro your vids are awesome thats all i gotta say!

[@martynwakeley5194]

Well done Todd good job.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks my friend

[@shanerowland3715]

Best dirt man I know !!

[@DigginLife21]

awe shucks... lol

[@joemiller5527]

Great vid man. If you’ll take a piece of flat stock and weld it to the teeth on either end of the bucket you’ll have a poor mans grading bucket then just pop the two end teeth and put on two others back to ditch bucket.

[@DavidTheDave]

Bloody great idea! I have a wide trenching bucket I never use and a length of salvaged RHS. Looks like I'll be getting the welder out tomorrow!

[@justinmartin3055]

Keep up the good videos

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks Justin 🙏🏻

[@jamesmoore2658]

Nice job Mr Todd!

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks James

[@jeffwilson1484]

Great job good information.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks for watching!

[@twhigday]

Nice work!!! Looks great!

[@DigginLife21]

Thank you!

[@brentking-gmailking2570]

Great job as always Todd, it really looks nice. Have a great day Brother.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks Brent

[@bigjohnworks1427]

Good advice on not growing the business to quickly. I almost caused my company to go under trying to get to big to quickly.

[@DigginLife21]

Lay with it my friend

[@henryh6727]

Like always great job !!!

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks Henry 🙏🏻

[@dangellosmith7243]

When doing a job like this how do you go about location of water lines, cables, etc? Have you ever had any issues?

[@russellthomas2044]

ever heard of a skip loader with a Gannon? Faster/ cheaper/ cleaner

[@ohiovalleypondandexcavatio2114]

I have heard you talk about road bond. I wonder if it is like our 304s like an 1.5 inch down to dust. That’s what we use for driveway stone up here.

[@terrymcgillicuddy8056]

Nice job 👍.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks 👍

[@jessel9954]

Sting line and paint marking wand. Much easier to see the cut with a bright orange line.

[@michaelweatherhead9470]

Good work dude.

[@DigginLife21]

Thanks!

[@jacobbowman9450]

Never ran a excavator or anything. But man you make it look easy. I know it isn't though. How much diesel do you burn through in that in an hour?

[@DigginLife21]

1-2 gallons

[@straycat9754]

Perfect job for a skid-steer.

[@dirtydiesel8998]

tracked or wheels? i gotta do a job like this but its for a shed not sure what way wanna go about it

[@straycat9754]

Since this is easy digging either would work well. Be sure machine has height and reach to load whatever truck or trailer you're using. Have fun!

[@jasonmonroe5981]

What year F650 is that? Or is it a 750?

[@roadrash90]

Thanks for uploading these man, I have a lot more free time now that my country (Ireland) is gone back into second full lockdown for 6 weeks 😪 I'm getting really depressed about all this crap.

[@bigjohnworks1427]

hate to hear that man. I'm on quarantine right now with my family. my job and my side business has suffered. i cant imagine what your going through being locked down that long.

[@DirtBrute]

Wow I’m sorry to hear this guys . I’m in Massachusetts we haven’t been locked down again but we all say it’s coming. Stay safe !

[@Kushert]

Keep your head up

[@tman3036]

Todd, maybe a dumb question but I notice sometimes you lay fabric under the road bond, is that only needed for wet areas or is it customer preference? Nice work and thx for another video👍

[@wyattcarson6572]

Road fabric is basically customers choice the main reason for using the fabric is to keep grass from growing back up thru the gravel

[@DirtBrute]

@@wyattcarson6572 that would be weed fabric. Road fabric (aka) soil stabilization cloth. Keeps the mud and clay from pumping up into road gravel material when it’s driven over . You don’t need to use it if the area is typically dry .

[@brandonjoins9811]

Quick question how do landscaping drain tile and skid steer work I’m a small business I’m looking for a good 10 yard single axle dump truck I’m gonna buy it out right cash what would be a good dump truck to buy in your opinion?

[@DigginLife21]

Number one... get one that is currently being work. I would stay away from a truck that has been sitting for long

[@MichaelTaylor-fk7mn]

Good Job Cant say enough on how helpful you are explaining bidding ,Customer service and work tutorial . That Yanmar seems to be a great machine I dont see you having much problems with it ? Any thoughts on that?

[@DigginLife21]

Its a fairly solid machine. Just not very well balanced

[@justincase7524]

I can only speak of my Vio35. He’s right in that they are very unbalanced. There is also too much play in the slew gear, which means when you rotate the cab/house and then bring it to a stop, it rocks back and forth several times before coming to a stop. I only have one mini so that might just be the nature of most mini’s. But Dirt Ninja (who is an expert operator) stays away from Yanmar mini’s for this very reason. Apparently his Bobcat midi excavator is very tight. I’ve been trying to get Mr DigginLife to speak more about this on his Yanmar midi!!!

[@justincase7524]

Actually this video shows how much play is in his Yanmar SV80. Less than my mini but way more than my larger excavator. I don’t see why a mini should be sloppier than a larger hoe, as there’s less inertia and total force, ie at scale it should be the same.

[@DigginLife21]

@@justincase7524 I’ll have to make a vid just on the Yanmar. I do have to be extremely light in the controls when swinging close to an object.

[@justincase7524]

@@DigginLife21 That would be great. Yanmar needs to tighten their stuff up, bigtime. I bought Yanmar because of AC saying they are bulletproof. Love the guy and everything, he’s a trip and got me into excavation, but I quickly realized after I bought a Yanmar, that he’s so sloppy banging into everything all the time, that he probably doesn’t realize what a tight excavator is like, or otherwise doesn’t mind all the slop. Due props to the Brits, I have a JCB JS220LC and there’s a smooth hydraulic brake when coming to a stop, and there is also no play or movement in the slew gear, so never any back and forth when stopping, even from full speed. Digging in tight spaces or lifting/placing in tight situations in the Yanmar drives me nuts. But I would take a huge hit from the $50k just laid out, even though it only has 300 hrs on it. If you’re looking for an almost new Vio35 or anyone that is, they can take mine off my hands! Barely broken in and “ready to work” as they say.

[@Natural-Causes]

Is what you call road bond, crushed asphalt Todd? Do you remember what you charged for this job Todd?

[@DigginLife21]

Road bond is same as crushers run/ABC

[@johnstarkey3017]

What weight is that mini?

[@DigginLife21]

right at 20k pounds

[@dannyhunter1225]

Were is your helper at

[@DigginLife21]

No longer with me

[@bradnavratil360]

I think that machine was too big for that job!! Should have had a small machine...