Military Camp

East Texas land purchase

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Texas

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • mongoose

    Well-Known
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Sep 10, 2012
    1,289
    96
    nm
    coiled plastic tubing. - that red stuff. PEX is soft and will collapse. Put some wire in the trench with it so you can find it later. Couple feet deep and in a pipe where it goes under road. Heavy equipment will break it. Freeze isn't the problem.
    PVC or Pex should be buried into a sand bed surrounding the pipe( for a cushion effect ). Pipe should not be buried with natural earth ( including rocks ).. My Sister ran about 2000 lf of PVC to access the water at the main road ( no problems), Metal pipe sleeves under any roadway is an excellent suggestion. I have Used Pex for long runs with no problem in crushing ( school district requirement),
    Venture Surplus ad
     

    Haystack

    Active Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 2, 2021
    417
    76
    Edom, TX
    I dont have it yet. My road test at DPS is supposed to be on the 15th but I have to push it back. I need more practice time on the backing maneuvers, the pre-trip inspection is no joke either. That takes about 45 minutes with the examiner.

    Sent from my SM-A135U1 using Tapatalk
    You are putting it mildly about the pre-trip. It's done gone insane. We've had guys fail because they didn't say just the right words when looking at something. I'm glad I got my CDL back before they went crazy on the rules.
     

    popper

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Apr 23, 2013
    3,000
    96
    Ask daughter- 4-5 breaks from heavy equipment running over 12" deep water lines. And the meter is at the highway. And it's red pipe! PVC won't work. Residential sprinkler stuff (sched 40 and you can't afford sched 80) that breaks all the time. Nothing like a broken rural water pipe that's run for a week/month. Her soil is sandy /clay and clay shrinks in drought. A lot! Has a big tractor and has to be careful where it is run. I also found out what quicksand is like. Never encountered it before.
    IIRC, the OP asked why replanted pine. Cost! Get a quote on hardwood samplings. If you can find any! Won't pay in 30 yrs. If you can start your own (good attended tree farm), you might make $.
     

    mongoose

    Well-Known
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Sep 10, 2012
    1,289
    96
    nm
    Ask daughter- 4-5 breaks from heavy equipment running over 12" deep water lines. And the meter is at the highway. And it's red pipe! PVC won't work. Residential sprinkler stuff (sched 40 and you can't afford sched 80) that breaks all the time. Nothing like a broken rural water pipe that's run for a week/month. Her soil is sandy /clay and clay shrinks in drought. A lot! Has a big tractor and has to be careful where it is run. I also found out what quicksand is like. Never encountered it before.
    IIRC, the OP asked why replanted pine. Cost! Get a quote on hardwood samplings. If you can find any! Won't pay in 30 yrs. If you can start your own (good attended tree farm), you might make $.
    Running utilities only 12" deep is just asking for problems. Probably was just backfilled with native soil also.
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    I kinda veered off the tracks with this purchase. So, I bought a dump truck. Sight unseen. From an auction website.
    What could go wrong?

    22737_3_2.jpg
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    Believing with you fir the best.
    I think it will be okay. I've bought a few vehicles like this and have only been burned once and that was through a Ritchie Bros auction. This one was owned by a small city and was part of fleet. At a minimum its been maintained and repaired when issues have come up.
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    The dually is down for maintenance. I replaced ball joints and the wheel bearing hub assembly on the drivers side. Got that back together and tore into the motor to replace the oil cooler and do an update on the high pressure oil pump.

    While I'm waiting on parts to arrive I helped a buddy replace a culvert on his property with the mini ex. Replaced a 24 inch galvanized pipe with a 60 inch poly pipe and had it knocked out in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, no pics of that. The community water association finally installed my water meter. I saved him a lot installing the culvert, in exchange he's giving me a few hours of labor when I put my water line in.

    Went back to the camper for the night and sipped coffee in cool weather under stars I can actually see, unlike Houston. It was perfect weather, no mud, no bugs, just cool crisp air. I slept in the camper with just the screen door and it got down to the low 60's. It was the best sleep I've had in years.

    I fired up the old Ford 3000 this morning and played with a new to me 5ft disc I won at an auction. My road in is still only dirt and will get rutted up driving after a rain. I plowed up the road with the disc and switched to my box blade and smoothed it all out. Took the truck and drove over it a few times to help compact it down and it's a much nicer ride in. It's ready for road fabric and gravel now. I need to figure out a way to add more weight to that disc, it worked so much better with few 80lb bags of cement riding on top.

    I have absolutely no regrets about buying the equipment to do my own work. It costs but I like being able to work on my own schedule at my own pace as my funds will allow.
    084872e71541b40b955d57da8a721aee.jpg
    fb59c882ab6fd1e495c22ca9d5d08069.jpg
    557530a11bc57c5e491008015b39441d.jpg
    762eac65bae859888927c5726900b1f6.jpg
    a03048d6d8a4d485692e52e027ca63ce.jpg
    cc3147adf8fdf89c7d707fd154a850df.jpg


    Sent from my SM-A135U1 using Tapatalk
     

    TEXAS "All or nothing"

    Active Member
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Mar 24, 2021
    922
    76
    Texas
    The dually is down for maintenance. I replaced ball joints and the wheel bearing hub assembly on the drivers side. Got that back together and tore into the motor to replace the oil cooler and do an update on the high pressure oil pump.

    While I'm waiting on parts to arrive I helped a buddy replace a culvert on his property with the mini ex. Replaced a 24 inch galvanized pipe with a 60 inch poly pipe and had it knocked out in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, no pics of that. The community water association finally installed my water meter. I saved him a lot installing the culvert, in exchange he's giving me a few hours of labor when I put my water line in.

    Went back to the camper for the night and sipped coffee in cool weather under stars I can actually see, unlike Houston. It was perfect weather, no mud, no bugs, just cool crisp air. I slept in the camper with just the screen door and it got down to the low 60's. It was the best sleep I've had in years.

    I fired up the old Ford 3000 this morning and played with a new to me 5ft disc I won at an auction. My road in is still only dirt and will get rutted up driving after a rain. I plowed up the road with the disc and switched to my box blade and smoothed it all out. Took the truck and drove over it a few times to help compact it down and it's a much nicer ride in. It's ready for road fabric and gravel now. I need to figure out a way to add more weight to that disc, it worked so much better with few 80lb bags of cement riding on top.

    I have absolutely no regrets about buying the equipment to do my own work. It costs but I like being able to work on my own schedule at my own pace as my funds will allow.
    084872e71541b40b955d57da8a721aee.jpg
    fb59c882ab6fd1e495c22ca9d5d08069.jpg
    557530a11bc57c5e491008015b39441d.jpg
    762eac65bae859888927c5726900b1f6.jpg
    a03048d6d8a4d485692e52e027ca63ce.jpg
    cc3147adf8fdf89c7d707fd154a850df.jpg


    Sent from my SM-A135U1 using Tapatalk
    Depending on how long ago the other side was replaced/fixed I bite the bullet and do both sides. Parts aren't cheap and can be difficult too find, but doing the mechanic work yourself is a real saver. Do you have a decent range for shooting (yardage)?
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    Depending on how long ago the other side was replaced/fixed I bite the bullet and do both sides. Parts aren't cheap and can be difficult too find, but doing the mechanic work yourself is a real saver. Do you have a decent range for shooting (yardage)?
    I plan on knocking out the passenger side very soon. The parts were $300 from rock auto just for the drivers side, plus I bought the ball joint press. I can't imagine what a shop would have charged me.

    No permanent range yet, but that's what I bought the dump truck for. Right now I have a dirt pile marked off at 100 yards that I can shoot into. 300 yards is possible if I setup along my electrical pole easement.


    Sent from my SM-A135U1 using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited:

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    Not much progress to report for the last quarter of 2022. Been working to pay the toys off, that's about it.

    Hunting has sucked. I've only been out a couple of times and didn't see a thing. Even on my cameras they are only coming at night and it's few and far between. I'm hearing similar reports from all over Newton county due to the bumper crop of acorns we had this year.

    Last time I visited, my camper was over run by Asian beetles. They look like lady bugs, they were everywhere. No way I was sleeping in there while the beetles were using my place as an air bnb. I'm hoping they're gone or dead next time I spend the weekend.

    I managed to pick up a skid steer, which will be my last purchase for a long time. I have everything I need to do what I need to do. It's in good shape. I'm just going change the oil and filters and put it to work.

    I made a quick trip to Cassville, Missouri over the weekend to pick it up. I love driving through the Ozarks. The drive back was a bit less fun driving through the hills loaded at 11k and getting 10 mpg. The track machines were well out my price range so this will have to do.

    05a68b30a8ff8b0897afb59b8f9e1ebc.jpg
    a4fdea93d4d68c6f5b10451aa1bdc84c.jpg


    Sent from my SM-A135U1 using Tapatalk
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    Finally, a positive update. This was a rough winter at the property. I completely missed deer season. One of my coworkers was sick and I was unable to take off for the majority of November. December was rainy and busy with holiday stuff. Based on my what I saw on the game cams there wasn't much coming to the feeder anyway.

    The mud here is the slickest thing I've ever seen. A 4wd drive truck won't make it through here if it's wet. You either need an ATV or a tractor to get around. My dumptruck has been stuck in the pasture since October. It finally dried enough to get it unstuck with the aid of the skid steer. Getting the road built is the key to doing anything else with this place. The mud completely shuts me down after a rain and I have to get the road built to get my equipment in and out.

    I have a couple of friends coming out to help. I'm laying down road fabric to keep the rock from sinking and I'll be putting down 3x5 limestone initially as the road base and as I build the road bed I will go to a smaller rock with fines and pack it down. If the weather holds out I will try to pick up three loads of rock and see where that gets me. That's about 33 tons.

    My old workhorse Ford 3000 tractor that I use for box blading and bush hogging might have given up the ghost. None of the gauges work and it ran low on coolant and might have overheated and seized up the motor. Fingers crossed that it's salvageable and I can rebuild without any machine work.
    a013cbbaf68ba5ff650258fe4353a47e.jpg


    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
     

    andre3k

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    We always put down the big 4” and packed it down before the fabric.
    More than one way to skin a horse though of course.
    That's makes sense too. You have no worries about the larger rock sinking over time? I'm a youtube certified equipment operator, so I'm going into this blind. The good thing about moving dirt is that it's easy to fix if you make a mistake.

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
     

    smittyb

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    12   0   0
    Nov 12, 2009
    3,062
    96
    Cut N Shoot
    That's makes sense too. You have no worries about the larger rock sinking over time? I'm a youtube certified equipment operator, so I'm going into this blind. The good thing about moving dirt is that it's easy to fix if you make a mistake.

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
    I can see it both ways as well. I just know around the farm growing up we would put down the 4” and pack it in first. Sometimes it seems we would drive on just that for a quite a while till it was packed into the ground really well, and then spread another load before the fabric. Of course we were driving mainly tractors and the occasional truck, not car traffic.
     
    Top Bottom