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Rock Moving Without Backaches?


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Anybody got ideas for moving rocks/cobbles out of dredge/highbanker holes besides tossing them out by hand? I suffered severe lower back pain/hemorrhoids from doing this a month ago, and the hole was only 18 inches deep and 3 feet across.

Is it possible to rig up a cheap tripod or something with rope and bucket attached to move the rocks off to the side of the hole, but how to dump the bucket?

I like gold highbanking and dredging but lower back strains are no fun.And for some reason, rocks seem lighter underwater vs out of the water, why?

I assume the backstrain happens when I am leaning over the hole at a sharp angle ,then tossing rocks out of said hole.  Why does my lower back not like this? Of course being 60 years old and not in the best of shape probably doesn't help either...are there exercises I can do that might help too?

 

-Tom V.

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A lifetime of lifting wrong..... You are supposed to bend your knees and make the lift as straight as possible... But when we were young and invincible we all just bent over and gave a heave.... 

As to the weight thing in water it's all about specific gravity and buoyancy.  The weight of the object is displaced by the weight of the volume of water it displaces .... In other words if an object(rock) weighs 10 lbs. and it displaces 3 lbs. of water the effect of buoyancy will make the rock weight 7 lbs. in effect.

Or if you feel like getting some sleep you can read this.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buoyancy

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Much like the recent article in ICMJ I am going to build a rock sled for dredging.  I am going to use a piece of plastic to mold it and pull it with an atv which.  When I get started I will post pics in a thread.  

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Tom, I'm with Bear, going to build a rock sled and use a winch mounted to a four wheeler. I also use a Lug-All come along, rated at four thousand pounds and I have a gas powered Lewis Winch.

A lot of the guys are using the old steel milk crates to move rocks.

Would love to see some pic of your two inch dredge in action.

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I'd sure like to see some photos of your back saving rock moving sleds and contraptions  in action.

I just installed a new spark plug in my Honda WX15 motor after getting a severe tongue lashing from my buddy last time we went highbanking. We spent 20 minutes trying to get my formerly reliable pump to start which it absolutely refused to do, even with a new carb installed by the lawn mower shop a year ago.. Well, every so often it came to life but refused to keep running. After bearing  more verbal abuse than I could stand almost, we went to plan B, sluicing....well, I had a sudden thought? I would pray and ask God to help? I couldn't hardly believe it when I went over and gave that starter one last pull and she fired right up and kept running !!! Thank you God !!!

So, due to my friends angry tirade, I invested in spare spark plugs, plug sockets and ratchets, have sets in both highbanker and dredge toolboxes now. The WX15 plug was black and smelled of gas. Dunno why it wasn't tan like it should have been especially with a new carb on it?

Incidentally, I got a 3/8 inch no name ratchet wrench, 16 mm deep socket, regular deep spark plug socket, and 2 inch extension, off Amazon and 2 sets of these and shipping was under $25, a true bargain as long as the ratchet holds up. I also was able to get 2-13 inch tall x 4 inch pneumatic wheelbarrow tires with steel ball bearings and axle adapters for a measly 22 bucks shipped from Home Depot Online, shipped to a local store. These would have cost over 50 bucks locally. Am experimenting with a wheeled highbanker, easier to move around.

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On 10/12/2017 at 11:40 PM, sjmpainter said:

Tom, I'm with Bear, going to build a rock sled and use a winch mounted to a four wheeler. I also use a Lug-All come along, rated at four thousand pounds and I have a gas powered Lewis Winch.

A lot of the guys are using the old steel milk crates to move rocks.

Would love to see some pic of your two inch dredge in action.

How does the lewis winch work for moving boulders? I'm about to order one. I've used 12v winches for a long time and it worlds great minus the battery factor. I was worried with the Lewis not having reverse like a electric winch, that id get it stuck

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Gpldgetter, they work great! Also you can pull the pin and freespool if you need to back it up.

Ruhl makes a really nice chainsaw winch also. Quite a bit lighter than the Lewis brand.

Also I use a Lug-All 2 ton hand winch quite a bit.

let me know what you end up with.

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I've seen the rule but it has lower ratings then the Lewis. I have a older homelite that looks like the rule and it's ran by a litle rubber belt. It can't even lift itself off the ground,lol! I tried to take it apart to fix it but it was a pain!

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I can say my Lewis winch has never let me down and they are sill manufacturing them so you can get parts if need be.

Other than the weight I think you will be happy with one.

I have an old Homelite Super xl12 mounted to mine, if you put a newer Stihl on it you can save a bunch of weight.

If you go with a smaller saw you may want a snatch block to double the pull force.

One thing about the older Homelite equipment they are built like tanks, may want to take the time to look at it.

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