Y'all could use some of those skinny trees to make posts instead of burning them. If you char them in the fire a little, they will last almost as good as treated post and they are fine for making fence posts around things like chicken yards or gardens. Don't waste your resources.
That, and their next piece of equipment could be a good-size used chipper like tree trimmers use - creating tons of chips for paths, ground cover and such AND saving the environment from all the burning..
That charred wood is a Japanese technique called shousugibon, not sure of spelling of that. LOL but they've found wood carbon dated to thousands of years old in Japan which was treated that way, really amazing.
In my experience as a long time Army truck driver, the CTIS system sometimes needs a hard reboot. Just unplug the cannon plug at the controller with the power on and plug it back in. It will do a systems check and blink lights until its happy. It usually works. You also need to REGULARLY vent the water out of the air tanks. The air dryer doesn't get all the water out and water can not only damage the CTIS and brake system but can give faulty pressure readings to the computer.
Just a suggestion relating to burning. If you can go into the woods a bit and dig a hole with the excavator, dump your burn material in the hold and set the fire. The hole will go a long way in containing the fire. Additionally, if the fire starts getting out of control, you can simply push dirt into it to smother it. Also, REALLY recommend putting tree root balls into the holes to burn then you can simply bury the leftovers.
Tires can be used to build up low Sections of road ditches.add rocks inside and add tire on top. Build up a wall. Fill in with dirt. Save all fire wood possible.. Even Low yield can keep the house warm.
i live in north alabama,,,,have heat pump but for the last 5 years ive been burning all sorts of free scrap wood, all kinds, milled lumber fruit trees, pine, apple, telephone poles broken, any thing that will burn, i have a fireplace insert. 3300 ft single level brick home. I save about 180 per month on my heating bill. Scraps of wood from 3" to 28" diameter. i have a gasoline splitter and i find many people along the roads anxious to get rid of trimmed wood or cleared trees. Often times i can get professional companies to bring their cuttings to dump in my back yard so they dont have to drive 27 miles one way to the approved dump. i have a couple of chain saws so if i get really big sticks, say 15" diameter and 30ft long, i just cut it into short lengths or even as short as 12" if they are large diameter so i can move them to the splitter. Or, splitter is on wheels so if need be i can bring splitter to logs and cut and split there . works well for me.
just a thought, our beagle male dog used to disappear regularly, so we put a tracker on his collar at least we could go get him. there are things that will fit gollar and stop at a certain distance eg upto 200yds . we didnt fancy that tho tracker works well enough
Wow! Yesterday I was "Binging" all of your content of the D~8. I am so impressed with you guys. I think I discovered all of this a week ago. So now I recognize your "road." ~~~ Seems like I've gotten to know it well. But wait ~. There is more! ~ I had no idea that you guys did all of this work (on the road) too! Unbelievable. I think I'm back on what I watched yesterday. Oh no! It's an addiction. Pushing rocks and knocking down trees! So satisfying to watch. Whew! Aaand Best Wishes for the New Year. Thank you so much for sharing all that you do. You guys have skills. You just do. And then there are two of you. Getting it done! Wow! Thank you Thank you Thank you. You Tube doesn't pay enough.
Cool!! That Ford Courier is from the 70’s and was built by Mazda for Ford. That’s why from the side it looks a lot like the Mazda B series trucks of that era. A neighbor had one when I was a kid and he kept it until the engine died after something like 300,000 miles. He loved that thing and drove it everywhere. It was a regular occurrence for there to be 3 or 4 of us piled in the bed with our bikes after he picked us up at the bottom of the mountain and gave us a quicker ride home. Cool little inheritance piece. If it’s not fully rusted out, I say slowly rebuild it when you have a need for a distraction to help align the zen, lol. 👍🏻😎👍🏻
You are wise to clear all of your underbrush. It can be a flashpoint in the coming months. Do not underestimate the power of a forest fire. I have been in California's Sonoma County during the catastrophic fires about five years ago, and for the past few years I am in British Columbia where the fires were also catastrophic. Whole communities destroyed. Make sure that the vegetation around the perimeter of your home have been removed. And your valuable equipment might be safer at a storage space in Pend Orielle. So far we've had a wet spring and early July, but the weather can turn on a dime and the woods become tinder dry. Best wishes
From where I sit those skinny trees would make great Fence post. How abut saving a few once you cut them down , Limb them and stack them for Future cost , given the cost of lumber, and even post . But you both are doing a great job. Smile. Ninette Bird-The Caribbean Wife. -Tx
Little helpful tip on loading with your excavator.... Break you rock loose as you usually are.... But have your machine sitting higher and your turnaround time will usually be cut in half on loading.... While waiting on truck mine some more loose and so on
Hi guys: Great viewing as you go through the trials and tribulations of building your homestead. Wishing you all the very best and most of all stay safe. Q. Why don't you put a load on that dump truck? With the cost of fuel today you could save a lot of money hauling full loads instead of quarter loads. If the hoist won't lift the load then you would have to load back end heavy or us the excavator to help unload as you did in the early part of this video. Brian, Ontario Canada.
Truck should be the base for a ‘tailgate’ barbecue at some remote picnic site on the property. Fix up the seats to watch a sunset in a bug free car space and build an awesome picnic area around it.
No matter what I’m doing, when I see you’ve posted a new video, I stop everything and watch it. Your videos make me forget all my problems. You guys are 100% awesome in every way.
Idea for the Courier.... It would make a great barbeque and planter!!!.... I saw a non operational car with a barbeque under the hood ..... which was cool!! But you've got the extra bonus of putting soil in the bed of the truck and growing a salad bar!!! Lettuce, Tomatoes, Chick peas.... etc. Just a thought....
I really know how you feel with the new fuel tank. I have a diesel farm truck, backhoe, and two tractors. It was a real chore fueling everything - until I got the tank in my on the road pickup. What a great timesaver, not to mention work saver, and no more of the sometimes fuel spills with the 5 gal. cans!
Looking very good guys. Keep an eye on your burn sites for a few weeks after the fires are out. At our homestead I've had fires rekindle 3 weeks after they were "out".... Especially as we enter the dryer season ahead. Anyways, can't wait to see the progress and the road without snow on it. It'll be easier to move the shed for sure. Grins.
You definitely need to turn that mazda truck into a project . You can get that thing running again, make it into an off road vehical for your property. good job on the road work. However, in stead of burning that brush turn it into road covering/ compost by using a chipper. better use of materials. Yes , you need a culvert to drain the snow and rain, deter the mud. You two are doing a great job ! I want to see you mill those trees and frame the completion of your big house and shop. There is nothing to keep you from extending the shop, and building the house around it. Use thosae wonderful creative minds of yours and utilize your materials around you . Let the adventure continue ! Don't forget to put in raised vegetable beds for a healthy organic diet.
Some of those soft spots in the road might need refill a few times to make them solid but you guys are definitely on the right track, place it looking more like a homestead and less jungle like.
9:12 That thing would make a sick prerunner with I beams and rear trailing arms. Keep the paint as is though. It would fit right in bombing around Johnson Valley during KOH.
I think you should do a "will it run" video on the abandoned Ford Courier truck. Pretty sure Riley has the wherewithal to get it going. Then, since it probably has no title, just use it to haul stuff around your 20 acre property and never take it on the public roads. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, no registration, no insurance, no problem!
I must say being an heavy equipment operator and trainer, your wife has picked up the functions and embedded some quality operating techniques, very well done as an excavator is not an easy machine to learn, i enjoy watching your wilderness building adventures.
I am a mechanical engineer so the roadwork is not my expertise. I don't know how to get ahold of them and I am just catching up and a year late, but the new episodes seam to show them still working on the road. I would hire an civil engineer to walk the road and advise what to do and where. should take less than a day. then I would hire a heavy machine operator like yourself for a week, to teach you to actually do what the engineer advised you to do. it will save a ton of time and money in the long run. I'm waiting for the cement work videos to see if I loose my shit. lol
The ford courier you can save for a will it run video. There’s a TH-cam channel called Puddins Fab shop where he is on a reality tangent saving Uhaul trucks from the 80s from the scrap heap. There’s some good money saving ingenuity I see you considering and that’s maybe a homemade screen to separate your own aggregate on property to top off the base of the road as well. Coming along nicely though.
those little ford couriers can be beastly little work trucks, my dad had one for years, drove it till the frame broke then welded it back together and kept going. it won't outperform your big truck but if done right it will sure keep up as long as it's not too far gone.
Great entertainment and creativity. As for the Ford Courier. Make it a flat bed utility truck. Little 4 banger for efficiency and low bed for loading will become a go to utility vehicle. Add a UTV winch and no more wet ATV seats.
Possibly the most entertaing real entertainment and those two dogs are simply perfect completely understand your fire fear it something that needs managing alway keep them coming
The road is graded like most private access roads, like a bath tub. Cut ditches that drain well and push over that small berm to allow the surface and subsurface water to drain. From a retired Highway Engineer.
That old Ford Courier is a rebadged Mazda. I spent many hours in the back of one on long road trips. Yours is the older late-60/early-70s model and there are precious few out there still moving around under their own power. Trying to find engine parts would probably be a hassle, so my recommendation is, if you're so inclined to retain it, take it apart to do all the necessary body and frame restoration, then build it back as an EV. You have a LOT of PV installed now, so it could be mobility for more-or-less free.
It does amaze me how many folks are poo-pooing that little ford PU. Apparently they haven’t seen how capable you guys are of turning nothing into something. As is clearly evident by how much you’ve done prior to the property though the last year on the property. Keep doing what you guys do best and that’s being awesome! Thanks for the great content and see you on the next one. 😃
Nice job on the road. Having the right tools like a dump truck and excavator, and the availability of abundant rocks and soil, will save you much time and lots of money. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
You should have graded the wet slop off the track first then put the rocks in the holes. Try get a ditching bucket if you havnt already got one. Deep respect for you both wanting to live like that 👍
I agree 100% with Willie McDairy, you'll probably have to add material a few more times. As a logging road contractor in your neighborhood I would have no problem adding at least a foot of shale to your soft spot. A roll of road fabric would help a lot as well. Commercial grade road fabric is available locally at Arrow Supply in Ponduray or Consolidated out by the airport. Don't bother using landscape fabric available at your local home improvement stores. Even without fabric your plan will work fine just keep adding shale until it heals up.
Might be a good idea to clear and make a couple of turn-arounds on your road while weather favors. invaluable when anything comes by big trucks, and for you while building
I say 4x4 conversion on the Courier maybe drivetrain from an XJ or something and turn it into a little grocery getter/off-roader. Could be simple on leaf springs even
Greetings from Scotland !! You folks are amazing - so capable of so many things !! I have followed you for ages, but only now have discovered how to post comments 🙄 Keep up the amazing content !! Cheers 😀
Old tiers cut in half and then bolted together end to end to make a big grid also work as an amazing road base, but also a lot of work. Works best in the most steep sections. There are commercially available expandable mesh that dose a similar thing. Great work in todays video.
Take the beater truck and 2 push mowers to the scrap yard to help fund your next project. You may need a title for the truck in order for them to take it. Check with your state licensing office on how to obtain a tile for it.
You could use the old truck at the road entrance to your property. You could put a sign and shrubbery in the bed. You could also use the bed as a place to put at your look out like a little porch with a great view!
Hey once you get that spread fill humpty I mean fill it up no floor showing and half way up the sides the length of the bed .Now drive up and down the road a few times locked in drivetrain running on the dirt and rocks you missed from last pass.This will pack the road to a solid foundation for your runoff for spring .Last couple passes refill tires to hiway pressures 90lbs packs it even better ,return load to your rock piles and call it a day ...
Love everything you guys do. Excellent progress on the road in such a short period of time. You guys were right...the excavator was an excellent buy and you guys have put it to great use. Courtney reminds me so much of my wife...I bought this nice 60" zero turn professional Toro mower that is super sweet (retail around $10K) and I can't get a minute on it. We have 3 1/2 acres with 14 small rental houses on it and we mow the property. Before the grass even needs cutting she is on it. I have to send a notice to all tenants to have all small children and animals inside.....she is cutting a 60" swath at around 90mph LOL!! Not really, she is very safe but does love speed and this thing will fly on the straightaway. On another odd point, If someone else commented on this than I apologize in advance, hopefully you took some pics of the truck including vin number etc just in case of a very long shot it might have been involved in a crime and hence the ditching it where it is. Chances are probably slim to none but, there it is.
Courtney, right you are about wearing those bug-hats while working on a ladder with tools! Two weeks ago I bought one each for my wife and myself just for that reason. They make fine sun hats, with that secret weapon of a net hidden until needed, and they cost less than expected!
really like that Pickup you pulled out oud the woods!!! Unfortunately at 91 I'm alittle to old to start again. They make fantastic dalley drivers. Gramps
For the Courier - use it as a mid point marker up the road. Paint it or just rough clean it and add ambition strike logo on it. You can also gut the inside and refurbish it for storage. Then you can hold emergency items you can store mid way in case of emergency.
Courtney if you look really close at your logo on the side of the army truck, you could take that and have a custom emblem made to fit the missing spot on the front of the truck that you pointed out.
Ha...good use of the clino and good job figuring it out. The camera never shows how steep something is, wow that road is steep. Have fun and excited to see what you guys do when building your trails next year!
The early Ford courier pickups are very cool when fixed up. It could have the 1.8 liter diesel, which got about 40 mpg... y'all should build it, I would watch every episode for sure!
Our family have been watching your channel for years all your projects are so much fun to see and learn from. Hands down you guys have become our favorite you tube channel and we watch a lot of you tube. Thank you both for not only doing a great job on the videos and builds, but for bringing it to everyone with such wonderful style and humor. Myself and the family have voted your channel as the very best to watch and learn from. We love the puppy dogs too. Our entire family just love you guys for everything you do. Your the best ! Sincerely Rik Scarpino and family. “Peace”
You won't believe it I ordered that same hat for my Alaska trip but because I couldn't drive through Canada I didn't get to use it. Stay tuned I may make another attempt but right now fuel prices are scaring me off. Those grades are extreme I can't believe you were able to get up them.
Your road base is looking great. Using the native rock is definitely the way the old timers built roads. If you can spot a good deal on a crusher, you could probably make your own 3/4 minus road crush which would save you thousands over buying it. That rock you were digging out looks like it would fracture pretty easy.
For the Courier, move down to the mailbox/deliver area. Rig it with solar. Put smiley faces on working headlights. Rig with a motion sensor so headlights come on. Packages can be placed in the cab and door locked. Yard art.
heads up, tires are notorious breeding grounds for mosquitos and will spread disease. If you have any laying around, please police them up and secure them in a dry location. I think they're great for creating embankments or retaining walls.
Strip everything off that truck. Bed and fenders, just leave the hood. Put a simple flatbed on the back Get the thing running Use it as a smaller land runner truck and to take to the neighbors or such
wow you guys are very determined and work really hard to settings up best way .. good luck .. One my suggestion will be .. having some few containers turned them into air bnb ... i am sure many people like to come over and enjoy the Peace of quite and fresh air and beautiful surroundings .
nice that you have such a mini quarry on your land. I love seeing you two having so much fun together. good that you also think about the water drainage because that will help your road quality a lot because if a swamp remains under your road you will soon have such a bad road again and all your work and effort has been for nothing. what also works very easily is getting those little flags to stick in the ground that they use to mark cables in the ground before work is done. when it rains you go outside and mark where the water comes from and where it naturally wants to go . when it is dry enough to work again you can visually see through the line of flags how the water ran and you can try to direct it in the right way and place the water the way you want it to run. for ideas maybe take a look at the TH-cam channel of : Gate City Foundation Drainage . but pay attention to HOW you adjust the water because water will not be stopped if you do not keep the right degree angle or if you want to steer too much. thanks for the video AS. Sincerely, Hollandduck from the Netherlands
You mentioned that your solar cells get some energy from the back, have you ever tried a reflective surface behind them, should be easy to try out. It might boost your output.
Tow it to your entrance !! Plant flowers around it use those tires to plant flowers (spray them pretty colors) in 2 tears on one side of truck open windows fill with 🌺🌺 add garden statue between inside plants under hood plant more flowers 🌼 Maybe add a water feature on truck bed??
Personally I would say keep the Ford Courier. It will make an invaluable small utility vehicle. When the other trucks are to big, this will fit nicely. It will also be cheaper to run.
In cli nom eter is essential ,FYI you can do this with your laser level as well. Also keep in mind grade over distance is key when controlling water, snow, and ice on a road excavation. Make sure to use erosion control on your down grade side of your road build ups to shore it up. The shale base will need to be tracked after several rains to compact and tighten the base.
Each tree sucks up some amount of water every day. With every tree you remove, there's going to be that amount of water running elsewhere, for which you may need drainage to not get a swampy road.
Your next piece of equipment could be a good-size used chipper like tree trimmers use - creating tons of chips for paths, ground cover and such AND saving the environment from all the burning..
Use steel pipes across the road, angle them so they will drain from one side to the other. Use a road flare to start green brush fires. Turn the straight trees into posts. Cut, stack, and let dry
Good for you that that found the fill for the road on your own property. Maybe dump the Ford pickup front end and make a trailer for the Honda four wheeler from the pickup bed.
You guys are so lucky and smart! The private quarry is a treasure you got there. I am sure Riley can build a rock crusher to produce stone chips. Love your channel.
You can always build your road using logs as a base, it's called a cord road or corduroy road. You might like it since we all know how much you like to use the chainsaw. Using all that oversize rock will work too as long as you keep the depth around 18". Happy road building :)
No idea what you should do with that Courier...but something, maybe a truck to move stuff around in the woods that you don't care about bouncing off trees. Speaking of finding stuff; The other day we walked up behind our place (we're surrounded by federal land on 3 sides). We found an old Silver mine entrance. In searching the area we found tons of history. We found what looks like an old crucible made of cast iron. It probably weighs about 1500 pounds. We found what look like huge electric switches and gutted transformer casings that are also made of cast iron. I've never seen anything like these. They probably weight over 1000 pounds each. We found a car that is about 4/5ths buried in a mine tailings pile. An Oldsmobile Dynomatic. I tried to look it up but couldn't get a year on it. You really have to be looking for this stuff because everything is now covered with trees and brush but you can tell the whole area is huge tailings piles from the mine. What's really crazy is at some point they obviously could drive a two wheel drive car up there. This area is super steep and is so overgrown that now it's a challenge just to get there on foot. Next time we go up I'll get some footage. It's so cool to scour the area and find pieces of history while trying to imagine what that area must have been like back then.
The old Ford is definitely a fixer up, maybe a small lift for slightly larger tyres and better ground clearance but nothing excessive, and paint it the same buff colour as the truck, making it your "corporate" colour.😀.
Get the Courier running. With the 5 speed manual transmission it will make a very efficient "run to town for supplies" vehicle. My 1979 2.3L got 26 mpg on the hwy.
Puddin's Fab Shop youtube channel does a lot with mini-trucks like the ford courier. I don't even really like mini-trucks but his channel is very entertaining.
I would restore that old Ford as much as possible. What a fine little truck. Not like the HUGE beasts that are made these days. I like old smaller ones much more. Simple mechanical vehicles that you can fix and maintain yourself.
another thing you can do to build up spots on the road is to use "Cordage" basically you lay logs perpendicular to the road as a base on the road to help give structure and build the road up so you can have drainage. the Logging industry does this a lot when building out roads for hauling.
I hoped you saved the one lawnmower with the twist starter, those are getting rare, and have been told they are fun to start up (winds up a spring in the top, you press a button, and it spins the motor to start.) Although if it's broken, I heard too that they are a pain to fix. But at least you guys have a very unique lawn mower.
id use the bed of the truck weld the tailgate to the bed then place it on a steel platform put in a Rubber liner and have a small pond with Koi or gold fish
Great job, you guys! Just going back through your older videos to catch up. Keep up the good work, nice to see people who are not afraid to learn new stuff, even if it means their entire lives are on the line.
I am constantly amazed at your creativity and problem solving. SO smart to use slate rock just sitting there on your land for fill. IMAGINE the cost of having a company haul in dozens of loads of rocks. And the savings from doing it yourself.
I just MAY be up there in July for the meet and greet! (But I’m not a TH-camr). Which other YT’ers are going to be there. I subscribe to a lot of North Idaho YT channels!
An uncle-in-law used one of those couriers for 15 years in his lawn care business. Then he sold it for more than he paid for it. The bottom of the bed was rusted away, replaced by a half rotten sheet of plywood. The fenders and door skins flapped in the wind. The buyer said he was going to restore it. Do NOT scrap that Courier! Compared to some of the rustbucket Couriers people restore or customize, that one looks 'pristine'.
It looks like you may have a natural "Spring" in that area of the road which is producing a lot of water. Multiple culverts may be necessary. A deterrent trench to a collection basin and then large culvert it away is good for copious amounts of runoff. Paying a hydrologist a couple of hours to survey your issue might save you money in the long run. You have the right idea widening your road and clearing both sides. Fire equipment access and good egress is crucial. You guys are doing a great job and your perseverance will pay off. In your journey, you have come far. Not bad for a couple of SLO folks.😁🌞
I have to say you guys are Awesome. How much you have been able to accomplish in a relative short time is just mind blowing. it may not seen that wat to you but you guys have amaze me. I will say I am older and wish I would have done what you guys are doing when I was younger. I had so much energy back then that you guys show. Courtney is a hard working , awesome supportive Wife Riley. Riley you’re equally hard working and talented. But it’s a good thing you have Courtney watching over your safety.
This was a great video of work that needed to be done. Watching the road repair work was so satisfying. Watching your road work made me think of our current economy and food supply issues. I am sure you have already done this but please be sure to stock up on dog food and staples for you and Riley. Don’t know what it’s like in Idaho but every time I go to the grocery there is less food available. Challenging times are ahead. Love y’all so much and just want you to be prepared. ♥️🙏🏻
We can't believe how far we've come on this road project in the past year. 🤯 What was your favorite moment?!
Y'all could use some of those skinny trees to make posts instead of burning them. If you char them in the fire a little, they will last almost as good as treated post and they are fine for making fence posts around things like chicken yards or gardens. Don't waste your resources.
That, and their next piece of equipment could be a good-size used chipper like tree trimmers use - creating tons of chips for paths, ground cover and such AND saving the environment from all the burning..
@@christophermapes5176 They seem to be burning a lot of good fire wood.
Not to mention making compost to amend the soil homesteaders are cringing over the waste
That charred wood is a Japanese technique called shousugibon, not sure of spelling of that. LOL but they've found wood carbon dated to thousands of years old in Japan which was treated that way, really amazing.
@@redtop03 I call it shoe-sugar-barn 🤣👍
In my experience as a long time Army truck driver, the CTIS system sometimes needs a hard reboot. Just unplug the cannon plug at the controller with the power on and plug it back in. It will do a systems check and blink lights until its happy. It usually works. You also need to REGULARLY vent the water out of the air tanks. The air dryer doesn't get all the water out and water can not only damage the CTIS and brake system but can give faulty pressure readings to the computer.
Thanks for the tips!
Your friends send you the best gifts! It shows the goodness of your hearts.
Just a suggestion relating to burning. If you can go into the woods a bit and dig a hole with the excavator, dump your burn material in the hold and set the fire. The hole will go a long way in containing the fire. Additionally, if the fire starts getting out of control, you can simply push dirt into it to smother it. Also, REALLY recommend putting tree root balls into the holes to burn then you can simply bury the leftovers.
Tires can be used to build up low
Sections of road ditches.add rocks inside and add tire on top.
Build up a wall. Fill in with dirt.
Save all fire wood possible.. Even
Low yield can keep the house warm.
i live in north alabama,,,,have heat pump but for the last 5 years ive been burning all sorts of free scrap wood, all kinds, milled lumber fruit trees, pine, apple, telephone poles broken, any thing that will burn, i have a fireplace insert. 3300 ft single level brick home. I save about 180 per month on my heating bill. Scraps of wood from 3" to 28" diameter. i have a gasoline splitter and i find many people along the roads anxious to get rid of trimmed wood or cleared trees. Often times i can get professional companies to bring their cuttings to dump in my back yard so they dont have to drive 27 miles one way to the approved dump. i have a couple of chain saws so if i get really big sticks, say 15" diameter and 30ft long, i just cut it into short lengths or even as short as 12" if they are large diameter so i can move them to the splitter. Or, splitter is on wheels so if need be i can bring splitter to logs and cut and split there . works well for me.
just a thought, our beagle male dog used to disappear regularly, so we put a tracker on his collar at least we could go get him. there are things that will fit gollar and stop at a certain distance eg upto 200yds . we didnt fancy that tho tracker works well enough
Wow! Yesterday I was "Binging" all of your content of the D~8. I am so impressed with you guys. I think I discovered all of this a week ago. So now I recognize your "road." ~~~ Seems like I've gotten to know it well. But wait ~. There is more! ~ I had no idea that you guys did all of this work (on the road) too! Unbelievable. I think I'm back on what I watched yesterday. Oh no! It's an addiction. Pushing rocks and knocking down trees! So satisfying to watch. Whew! Aaand Best Wishes for the New Year. Thank you so much for sharing all that you do. You guys have skills. You just do. And then there are two of you. Getting it done! Wow! Thank you Thank you Thank you. You Tube doesn't pay enough.
Cool!! That Ford Courier is from the 70’s and was built by Mazda for Ford. That’s why from the side it looks a lot like the Mazda B series trucks of that era. A neighbor had one when I was a kid and he kept it until the engine died after something like 300,000 miles. He loved that thing and drove it everywhere. It was a regular occurrence for there to be 3 or 4 of us piled in the bed with our bikes after he picked us up at the bottom of the mountain and gave us a quicker ride home. Cool little inheritance piece. If it’s not fully rusted out, I say slowly rebuild it when you have a need for a distraction to help align the zen, lol. 👍🏻😎👍🏻
You are wise to clear all of your underbrush. It can be a flashpoint in the coming months. Do not underestimate the power of a forest fire. I have been in California's Sonoma County during the catastrophic fires about five years ago, and for the past few years I am in British Columbia where the fires were also catastrophic. Whole communities destroyed. Make sure that the vegetation around the perimeter of your home have been removed. And your valuable equipment might be safer at a storage space in Pend Orielle. So far we've had a wet spring and early July, but the weather can turn on a dime and the woods become tinder dry. Best wishes
From where I sit those skinny trees would make great Fence post. How abut saving a few once you cut them down , Limb them and stack them for Future cost , given the cost of lumber, and even post . But you both are doing a great job. Smile. Ninette Bird-The Caribbean Wife. -Tx
Little helpful tip on loading with your excavator.... Break you rock loose as you usually are.... But have your machine sitting higher and your turnaround time will usually be cut in half on loading.... While waiting on truck mine some more loose and so on
Hi guys:
Great viewing as you go through the trials and tribulations of building your homestead. Wishing you all the very best and most of all stay safe. Q. Why don't you put a load on that dump truck? With the cost of fuel today you could save a lot of money hauling full loads instead of quarter loads. If the hoist won't lift the load then you would have to load back end heavy or us the excavator to help unload as you did in the early part of this video.
Brian, Ontario Canada.
Truck should be the base for a ‘tailgate’ barbecue at some remote picnic site on the property. Fix up the seats to watch a sunset in a bug free car space and build an awesome picnic area around it.
That Ford Courier looks to have some classic charm. Maybe do a revival like the YT channel Junkyarddigs do ? id love to see a vid on this.
No matter what I’m doing, when I see you’ve posted a new video, I stop everything and watch it. Your videos make me forget all my problems. You guys are 100% awesome in every way.
☺️
Idea for the Courier.... It would make a great barbeque and planter!!!.... I saw a non operational car with a barbeque under the hood ..... which was cool!! But you've got the extra bonus of putting soil in the bed of the truck and growing a salad bar!!! Lettuce, Tomatoes, Chick peas.... etc. Just a thought....
I really know how you feel with the new fuel tank. I have a diesel farm truck, backhoe, and two tractors. It was a real chore fueling everything - until I got the tank in my on the road pickup. What a great timesaver, not to mention work saver, and no more of the sometimes fuel spills with the 5 gal. cans!
Looking very good guys. Keep an eye on your burn sites for a few weeks after the fires are out. At our homestead I've had fires rekindle 3 weeks after they were "out".... Especially as we enter the dryer season ahead. Anyways, can't wait to see the progress and the road without snow on it. It'll be easier to move the shed for sure. Grins.
Thanks for the tip, we’ll make sure to keep an eye on them!
Yes! We had a bonfire in our pasture mid winter, deep snow. That summer, ~6 months later, we ended up with a spontaneous fire in that same spot!
You definitely need to turn that mazda truck into a project . You can get that thing running again, make it into an off road vehical for your property. good job on the road work. However, in stead of burning that brush turn it into road covering/ compost by using a chipper. better use of materials. Yes , you need a culvert to drain the snow and rain, deter the mud. You two are doing a great job ! I want to see you mill those trees and frame the completion of your big house and shop. There is nothing to keep you from extending the shop, and building the house around it. Use thosae wonderful creative minds of yours and utilize your materials around you . Let the adventure continue ! Don't forget to put in raised vegetable beds for a healthy organic diet.
Some of those soft spots in the road might need refill a few times to make them solid but you guys are definitely on the right track, place it looking more like a homestead and less jungle like.
Yup..... grew up on a clay road in the Mother Lode..... the family finally put down about three of four loads of road base to get it right.....
That and fabric underneath goes a long way towards not having to use so much material and reduces having to add so much more over time as well.
9:12 That thing would make a sick prerunner with I beams and rear trailing arms. Keep the paint as is though. It would fit right in bombing around Johnson Valley during KOH.
I think you should do a "will it run" video on the abandoned Ford Courier truck. Pretty sure Riley has the wherewithal to get it going. Then, since it probably has no title, just use it to haul stuff around your 20 acre property and never take it on the public roads. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, no registration, no insurance, no problem!
Wow, a 72 ish Ford Currier! My parents had one with a camper shell that we used to travel in, lots of good memories.
I must say being an heavy equipment operator and trainer, your wife has picked up the functions and embedded some quality operating techniques, very well done as an excavator is not an easy machine to learn, i enjoy watching your wilderness building adventures.
I am a mechanical engineer so the roadwork is not my expertise. I don't know how to get ahold of them and I am just catching up and a year late, but the new episodes seam to show them still working on the road.
I would hire an civil engineer to walk the road and advise what to do and where. should take less than a day.
then I would hire a heavy machine operator like yourself for a week, to teach you to actually do what the engineer advised you to do.
it will save a ton of time and money in the long run.
I'm waiting for the cement work videos to see if I loose my shit. lol
The ford courier you can save for a will it run video. There’s a TH-cam channel called Puddins Fab shop where he is on a reality tangent saving Uhaul trucks from the 80s from the scrap heap. There’s some good money saving ingenuity I see you considering and that’s maybe a homemade screen to separate your own aggregate on property to top off the base of the road as well. Coming along nicely though.
As a kid, we had one of those lawnmowers. You crank up it up and then slap the handle over to TRY and start the motor.
those little ford couriers can be beastly little work trucks, my dad had one for years, drove it till the frame broke then welded it back together and kept going. it won't outperform your big truck but if done right it will sure keep up as long as it's not too far gone.
Great entertainment and creativity.
As for the Ford Courier. Make it a flat bed utility truck. Little 4 banger for efficiency and low bed for loading will become a go to utility vehicle. Add a UTV winch and no more wet ATV seats.
Possibly the most entertaing real entertainment and those two dogs are simply perfect completely understand your fire fear it something that needs managing alway keep them coming
The road is graded like most private access roads, like a bath tub. Cut ditches that drain well and push over that small berm to allow the surface and subsurface water to drain.
From a retired Highway Engineer.
“Like a bath tub”. 😂 That is so true!
I just found your channel. I love the energy you two have to tackle anything.
That old Ford Courier is a rebadged Mazda. I spent many hours in the back of one on long road trips. Yours is the older late-60/early-70s model and there are precious few out there still moving around under their own power.
Trying to find engine parts would probably be a hassle, so my recommendation is, if you're so inclined to retain it, take it apart to do all the necessary body and frame restoration, then build it back as an EV. You have a LOT of PV installed now, so it could be mobility for more-or-less free.
It does amaze me how many folks are poo-pooing that little ford PU. Apparently they haven’t seen how capable you guys are of turning nothing into something. As is clearly evident by how much you’ve done prior to the property though the last year on the property.
Keep doing what you guys do best and that’s being awesome!
Thanks for the great content and see you on the next one. 😃
Nice job on the road. Having the right tools like a dump truck and excavator, and the availability of abundant rocks and soil, will save you much time and lots of money. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
I’m glad you are using large rock that you already have to build a good base in the soft spots
You should have graded the wet slop off the track first then put the rocks in the holes. Try get a ditching bucket if you havnt already got one. Deep respect for you both wanting to live like that 👍
I agree 100% with Willie McDairy, you'll probably have to add material a few more times. As a logging road contractor in your neighborhood I would have no problem adding at least a foot of shale to your soft spot. A roll of road fabric would help a lot as well. Commercial grade road fabric is available locally at Arrow Supply in Ponduray or Consolidated out by the airport. Don't bother using landscape fabric available at your local home improvement stores.
Even without fabric your plan will work fine just keep adding shale until it heals up.
Might be a good idea to clear and make a couple of turn-arounds on your road while weather favors. invaluable when anything comes by big trucks, and for you while building
So nice to have all that rock available on your property. That is how to fix a road. Great start. I just love you guys. Ambition Attitude
I say 4x4 conversion on the Courier maybe drivetrain from an XJ or something and turn it into a little grocery getter/off-roader. Could be simple on leaf springs even
Greetings from Scotland !! You folks are amazing - so capable of so many things !! I have followed you for ages, but only now have discovered how to post comments 🙄 Keep up the amazing content !! Cheers 😀
Old tiers cut in half and then bolted together end to end to make a big grid also work as an amazing road base, but also a lot of work. Works best in the most steep sections. There are commercially available expandable mesh that dose a similar thing. Great work in todays video.
Take the beater truck and 2 push mowers to the scrap yard to help fund your next project. You may need a title for the truck in order for them to take it. Check with your state licensing office on how to obtain a tile for it.
You could use the old truck at the road entrance to your property. You could put a sign and shrubbery in the bed. You could also use the bed as a place to put at your look out like a little porch with a great view!
Hey once you get that spread fill humpty I mean fill it up no floor showing and half way up the sides the length of the bed .Now drive up and down the road a few times locked in drivetrain running on the dirt and rocks you missed from last pass.This will pack the road to a solid foundation for your runoff for spring .Last couple passes refill tires to hiway pressures 90lbs packs it even better ,return load to your rock piles and call it a day ...
She looks great in the helmet and head phones! Very smart! Love the hat too. Everyone uses them in the woods!
Hi how are you doing?
@@Godwinpounds4333 good
@@Kt75082 its nice meeting with you here. Where are you texting from?
Love everything you guys do. Excellent progress on the road in such a short period of time. You guys were right...the excavator was an excellent buy and you guys have put it to great use. Courtney reminds me so much of my wife...I bought this nice 60" zero turn professional Toro mower that is super sweet (retail around $10K) and I can't get a minute on it. We have 3 1/2 acres with 14 small rental houses on it and we mow the property. Before the grass even needs cutting she is on it. I have to send a notice to all tenants to have all small children and animals inside.....she is cutting a 60" swath at around 90mph LOL!! Not really, she is very safe but does love speed and this thing will fly on the straightaway. On another odd point, If someone else commented on this than I apologize in advance, hopefully you took some pics of the truck including vin number etc just in case of a very long shot it might have been involved in a crime and hence the ditching it where it is. Chances are probably slim to none but, there it is.
Another awesome video brother stay strong and God bless
Courtney, right you are about wearing those bug-hats while working on a ladder with tools! Two weeks ago I bought one each for my wife and myself just for that reason. They make fine sun hats, with that secret weapon of a net hidden until needed, and they cost less than expected!
really like that Pickup you pulled out oud the woods!!! Unfortunately at 91 I'm alittle to old to start again. They make fantastic dalley drivers.
Gramps
For the Courier - use it as a mid point marker up the road. Paint it or just rough clean it and add ambition strike logo on it. You can also gut the inside and refurbish it for storage. Then you can hold emergency items you can store mid way in case of emergency.
Courtney if you look really close at your logo on the side of the army truck, you could take that and have a custom emblem made to fit the missing spot on the front of the truck that you pointed out.
Ha...good use of the clino and good job figuring it out. The camera never shows how steep something is, wow that road is steep. Have fun and excited to see what you guys do when building your trails next year!
Thanks Scott!
The early Ford courier pickups are very cool when fixed up. It could have the 1.8 liter diesel, which got about 40 mpg... y'all should build it, I would watch every episode for sure!
It took me a while to learn this it is said like this in-ca-lam-it-ter. I Hope this was helpful.
Our family have been watching your channel for years all your projects are so much fun to see and learn from. Hands down you guys have become our favorite you tube channel and we watch a lot of you tube. Thank you both for not only doing a great job on the videos and builds, but for bringing it to everyone with such wonderful style and humor. Myself and the family have voted your channel as the very best to watch and learn from. We love the puppy dogs too. Our entire family just love you guys for everything you do. Your the best ! Sincerely Rik Scarpino and family. “Peace”
Thank you so much for watching and supporting our channel! We have had so much fun sharing these adventures with you all. 😊
Incredible success with the road. You two are so fun to watch and I love the banter. Wow that is much steeper road than it looks.
You won't believe it I ordered that same hat for my Alaska trip but because I couldn't drive through Canada I didn't get to use it. Stay tuned I may make another attempt but right now fuel prices are scaring me off. Those grades are extreme I can't believe you were able to get up them.
Your road base is looking great. Using the native rock is definitely the way the old timers built roads. If you can spot a good deal on a crusher, you could probably make your own 3/4 minus road crush which would save you thousands over buying it. That rock you were digging out looks like it would fracture pretty easy.
For the Courier, move down to the mailbox/deliver area. Rig it with solar. Put smiley faces on working headlights. Rig with a motion sensor so headlights come on. Packages can be placed in the cab and door locked. Yard art.
Yard art?
heads up, tires are notorious breeding grounds for mosquitos and will spread disease. If you have any laying around, please police them up and secure them in a dry location. I think they're great for creating embankments or retaining walls.
Strip everything off that truck. Bed and fenders, just leave the hood.
Put a simple flatbed on the back
Get the thing running
Use it as a smaller land runner truck and to take to the neighbors or such
wow you guys are very determined and work really hard to settings up best way .. good luck .. One my suggestion will be .. having some few containers turned them into air bnb ... i am sure many people like to come over and enjoy the Peace of quite and fresh air and beautiful surroundings .
nice that you have such a mini quarry on your land.
I love seeing you two having so much fun together.
good that you also think about the water drainage because that will help your road quality a lot because if a swamp remains under your road you will soon have such a bad road again and all your work and effort has been for nothing.
what also works very easily is getting those little flags to stick in the ground that they use to mark cables in the ground before work is done.
when it rains you go outside and mark where the water comes from and where it naturally wants to go .
when it is dry enough to work again you can visually see through the line of flags how the water ran and you can try to direct it in the right way and place the water the way you want it to run.
for ideas maybe take a look at the TH-cam channel of : Gate City Foundation Drainage .
but pay attention to HOW you adjust the water because water will not be stopped if you do not keep the right degree angle or if you want to steer too much.
thanks for the video AS.
Sincerely, Hollandduck from the Netherlands
You mentioned that your solar cells get some energy from the back, have you ever tried a reflective surface behind them, should be easy to try out. It might boost your output.
Tow it to your entrance !! Plant flowers around it use those tires to plant flowers (spray them pretty colors) in 2 tears on one side of truck open windows fill with 🌺🌺 add garden statue between inside plants under hood plant more flowers 🌼
Maybe add a water feature on truck bed??
Hi how are you doing?
Personally I would say keep the Ford Courier. It will make an invaluable small utility vehicle. When the other trucks are to big, this will fit nicely. It will also be cheaper to run.
You can use that ford pickup as your supply truck with all necessary tools to work off grid! A sort of portable toolbox thingy
Nice job !! When are you gonna build your deck good time to dig for the footing. Easy dig right now .
In cli nom eter is essential ,FYI you can do this with your laser level as well. Also keep in mind grade over distance is key when controlling water, snow, and ice on a road excavation. Make sure to use erosion control on your down grade side of your road build ups to shore it up. The shale base will need to be tracked after several rains to compact and tighten the base.
Each tree sucks up some amount of water every day. With every tree you remove, there's going to be that amount of water running elsewhere, for which you may need drainage to not get a swampy road.
Your next piece of equipment could be a good-size used chipper like tree trimmers use - creating tons of chips for paths, ground cover and such AND saving the environment from all the burning..
U two having way too much fun with that excavator n dump truck keep putting out great videos
A good way to start a green pile is pour some diesel or old oil on a bale of straw, not hay. Then put the pile on top.
Use steel pipes across the road, angle them so they will drain from one side to the other. Use a road flare to start green brush fires. Turn the straight trees into posts. Cut, stack, and let dry
Good for you that that found the fill for the road on your own property. Maybe dump the Ford pickup front end and make a trailer for the Honda four wheeler from the pickup bed.
You guys are so lucky and smart! The private quarry is a treasure you got there. I am sure Riley can build a rock crusher to produce stone chips. Love your channel.
You can also use those trees as part of your road and barium and if you stack the logs next to each other makes a Log Road and does beautifully
Make it a mini mud rail! Basically just use the fram and rear Axel. Build for fun. Not street use. Put a roll cage around it. Safty harness.
The courier that is. Love your show
Oh most definitely rebuilt that Truck. You guys are awesome and it would make great content. I know I'd be glued to the screen watching it.
You can always build your road using logs as a base, it's called a cord road or corduroy road. You might like it since we all know how much you like to use the chainsaw. Using all that oversize rock will work too as long as you keep the depth around 18". Happy road building :)
No idea what you should do with that Courier...but something, maybe a truck to move stuff around in the woods that you don't care about bouncing off trees.
Speaking of finding stuff; The other day we walked up behind our place (we're surrounded by federal land on 3 sides). We found an old Silver mine entrance. In searching the area we found tons of history. We found what looks like an old crucible made of cast iron. It probably weighs about 1500 pounds. We found what look like huge electric switches and gutted transformer casings that are also made of cast iron. I've never seen anything like these. They probably weight over 1000 pounds each. We found a car that is about 4/5ths buried in a mine tailings pile. An Oldsmobile Dynomatic. I tried to look it up but couldn't get a year on it. You really have to be looking for this stuff because everything is now covered with trees and brush but you can tell the whole area is huge tailings piles from the mine. What's really crazy is at some point they obviously could drive a two wheel drive car up there. This area is super steep and is so overgrown that now it's a challenge just to get there on foot. Next time we go up I'll get some footage. It's so cool to scour the area and find pieces of history while trying to imagine what that area must have been like back then.
The old Ford is definitely a fixer up, maybe a small lift for slightly larger tyres and better ground clearance but nothing excessive, and paint it the same buff colour as the truck, making it your "corporate" colour.😀.
Get the Courier running. With the 5 speed manual transmission it will make a very efficient "run to town for supplies" vehicle. My 1979 2.3L got 26 mpg on the hwy.
Puddin's Fab Shop youtube channel does a lot with mini-trucks like the ford courier. I don't even really like mini-trucks but his channel is very entertaining.
I would restore that old Ford as much as possible. What a fine little truck. Not like the HUGE beasts that are made these days. I like old smaller ones much more. Simple mechanical vehicles that you can fix and maintain yourself.
I commented that it is awesome that you seem to have all the ‘tools’ to start your own roads crew and are making good uses of it too !!!
Riley, you have to be so proud of your wife! She is the best!
Handy hint,grease everything in the afternoon if it's cold, the machine will be hot,and if you get dirty, who' cares at the end of a day! Cheers
another thing you can do to build up spots on the road is to use "Cordage" basically you lay logs perpendicular to the road as a base on the road to help give structure and build the road up so you can have drainage. the Logging industry does this a lot when building out roads for hauling.
I hoped you saved the one lawnmower with the twist starter, those are getting rare, and have been told they are fun to start up (winds up a spring in the top, you press a button, and it spins the motor to start.) Although if it's broken, I heard too that they are a pain to fix. But at least you guys have a very unique lawn mower.
id use the bed of the truck weld the tailgate to the bed then place it on a steel platform put in a Rubber liner and have a small pond with Koi or gold fish
And scrap the rest of the truck for $$$$
Maybe figure a way to wire in some led lights in the taillights
Great job, you guys! Just going back through your older videos to catch up. Keep up the good work, nice to see people who are not afraid to learn new stuff, even if it means their entire lives are on the line.
I am constantly amazed at your creativity and problem solving.
SO smart to use slate rock just sitting there on your land for fill.
IMAGINE the cost of having a company haul in dozens of loads of rocks.
And the savings from doing it yourself.
I just MAY be up there in July for the meet and greet! (But I’m not a TH-camr). Which other YT’ers are going to be there. I subscribe to a lot of North Idaho YT channels!
An uncle-in-law used one of those couriers for 15 years in his lawn care business. Then he sold it for more than he paid for it. The bottom of the bed was rusted away, replaced by a half rotten sheet of plywood. The fenders and door skins flapped in the wind. The buyer said he was going to restore it.
Do NOT scrap that Courier! Compared to some of the rustbucket Couriers people restore or customize, that one looks 'pristine'.
How lucky that you have those rocks on the property. Sure saves a lot of money
You two are such hard workers
It looks like you may have a natural "Spring" in that area of the road which is producing a lot of water. Multiple culverts may be necessary. A deterrent trench to a collection basin and then large culvert it away is good for copious amounts of runoff. Paying a hydrologist a couple of hours to survey your issue might save you money in the long run.
You have the right idea widening your road and clearing both sides. Fire equipment access and good egress is crucial.
You guys are doing a great job and your perseverance will pay off. In your journey, you have come far.
Not bad for a couple of SLO folks.😁🌞
I have to say you guys are Awesome. How much you have been able to accomplish in a relative short time is just mind blowing. it may not seen that wat to you but you guys have amaze me. I will say I am older and wish I would have done what you guys are doing when I was younger. I had so much energy back then that you guys show. Courtney is a hard working , awesome supportive Wife Riley. Riley you’re equally hard working and talented. But it’s a good thing you have Courtney watching over your safety.
This was a great video of work that needed to be done. Watching the road repair work was so satisfying.
Watching your road work made me think of our current economy and food supply issues. I am sure you have already done this but please be sure to stock up on dog food and staples for you and Riley. Don’t know what it’s like in Idaho but every time I go to the grocery there is less food available. Challenging times are ahead. Love y’all so much and just want you to be prepared. ♥️🙏🏻