Well casing hickup

Today I was suppose to drive my well casing pipe into the ground.  Didn't happen.

Initially I was going to rent a Caterpillar excavator - a model 304 or 308 - for $300 from a business down the road from me and Jamie was going to run the excavator for me while I handled the pipe.  Then I saw a tractor with backhoe down the road at my neighbor - Charlie's - house.  I asked Charlie about the tractor.  It didn't really work but he had a buddy with a working tractor.

Saturday morning Charlie stopped by to get a look at my well before coming over with the tractor.  While I had explained the pipe's length was 25 ft, it didn't sink in until he saw the pipe laying on the ground.  The hole in the ground is between 9 1/2 and 10 ft deep, so 15 to 15 1/2 ft of pipe will stick above the ground to start with.  The backhoe only reaches 12 ft.

*sigh*

While Charlie didn't think the 304 or 308 would reach the 15 ft above ground, I checked the specs tonight and it appears they both would, though the 308 model has a higher reach at 24 ft vs the 17 ft for the 304 model.  I am not sure a 2 ft clearance the 304 has would be enough distance to start driving the pipe.

http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Caterpillar&model=304C+CR&modelid=92308

http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Caterpillar&model=308C+CR&modelid=92310

Here is a video of the 304 in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PFdDNAd6B0


Early afternoon, when riding my bicycle down the road a mile, I saw an excavator in action where a homeowner was clearing the trees for a new house. The excavator looked large enough to handle my pipe and the operator seemed very experienced.  I thought I could interest the operator in driving my pipe. I talked to the operator's father-in-law and learned the operator was borrowing his work machine over the weekend to clear the lot for a house and to dig a crawlspace/foundation for the house along with a trench for the power lines.  I figured he would be busy enough this weekend not to have time to do my little project so I didn't wait for him to take a break from his work to ask.


I am not sure if I am back to Plan A (the 308 excavator). I'll have to talk with some people and get their opinion.