Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

That is the best possible foundation then.
If you have no cracks from ground freeze then you should be good.
Pockets and voids under the concrete is what will allow concrete to crack under load. Where thickness of concrete comes into play is the distance between voids it has to span.
I would guess your frost freeze depth in Ohio is 6-8 inches. If you are deeper than that you are good.
Your call though.
My neighbor back in WV had a beautiful concrete driveway. For 20 years it had zero cracks, and over the years he had many service and construction trucks on it. One day he asked me to come over to see how it cracked where a recent truck was on it. He was mad! It cracked right around the expansion joint near the edge. I explained to him that he had had much heavier trucks in the past, except now water over the years had eroded the underlayment and caused a void, which let the weight crack the concrete.
Good luck!

 

Lifting capacity of the CX is 1000# the lifting capacity of the CK is 1800#. I've reached the capacity moving logs around with my CK several times. When the tractor wouldn't pick a log up, I got the saw out and cut it in smaller pieces until the tractor would pick them up. With a smaller tractor you might need to cut trunks into 4' or 5' lengths instead of 6' or 8', depends on how thick the tree is but the tractor will still lift logs. Whether you rent something or buy it, if you're going to be moving logs around you want to use a grapple or forks instead of a bucket. Food for the brain...

 

Look on the bright side, it would be worse. The steep section of my driveway looks like that too. You need to either grade the driveway higher or grade the ground next to it lower so the water runs down the side of the driveway instead of over and on it. You might be able to fix some of that by digging a little trench on either side of the driveway. Giving the water and easier path down the hill before it crosses onto your driveway.

 

As we're sharing pics of driveways. I took few more of mine this afternoon.

You can see in this picture the area on the right side where the ground next to the driveway was graded to remove about 1.5' of dirt for about 250 yards. That did a good job at redirecting the water that used to run down the driveway. At the far end you can see the big culvert we put in at the creek.


This pic is on the other side of the hill. You can see where the water still wants to run down the drive here. Were the pipe is located there is a natural spring that pops out the ground when ever it rains. We dug back into the driveway about 4' to where the greatest flow was and buried that pipe. In a couple other spots we put them all the way across the road for better drainage. Those pipes all reduced the washouts considerably.

The first two pics were both taken facing west on either side of the same hill.

The last pic faces to the east and shows the steepest part the driveway on the far side of the next hill. That part of the driveway ranges from 10°-15° and can be a real bitch to go down with a load on the tractor or when it's icy. It also has a pretty good washout section about 3/4 the way up.

On the left side of this pic you can see the 1/4 mile long poured concrete driveway that belongs to the neighbor in the big house. If I ever win the lottery...

In all seriousness, from my first trip down this driveway, it had a considerable impact on me buying this house. Of course I had no idea how much dinero it was going to cost me the years to come. But after a long day in the city, fighting traffic for way to many hours, I loved coming home to drive down this tree lined driveway. The drive down it would just relaxed me.

 

Anyone ever rebuild ExMark LaserZ hydraulic pumps?

 

All the time.

Removing them is the hardest part.

 

ok……bought new valve plate, cylinder assy with pistons as well as gasket set.

the right side pump chatters a bit once it’s warmed up.

guess I should rebuild both while it’s apart?

 

I usually only do the side that is giving me grief.

Unless taking it apart I find a blown thrust bearing. Then I take both apart because I know there is glitter thru the entire system and it all needs flushed .

 

Thank you everybody! You guys all give great, knowledgeable advice!

hiPSI: not sure what our frostline is but we have to put everything 3" down if that means anything to ya. Also I'm very banked/sloped off the sides of the driveway & all the water runs away from the surface. Like KR said: that big long driveway was a source of comfort when we bought this place & no matter how much money gets sunk into it.... I love it here.

Speaking of KR: I love that long driveway you have! It's mentally like an escape route to your sanctuary.
Good news is your neighbor already has a blue print for how yours would go.
Do want to point out that while we just keep adding many tons of gravel ..... Its soooo much easier to get clean when it snows!
My neighbors that I do is still gravel. 2 passes with the rubber blade & he is good to go while I'm still scraping on my own.

 

So sorry, we consider those throw away pumps. Thats where parts cost more than the pump.

 

I think we are on different frequencies.

The Hydrogear pumps are $600-800 but can be rebuilt completely for under $150.

 

You guys are experts... I've never rebuilt one. Just always bought a new one.

On the exmark/laser are they White/Parker pumps like they are on my big Hustler Super Z?
The new Wright we just got has Parkers on it .

 

The Z masters and Lazer Z mowers with separate pumps and motors usually have Hydro Gear pumps and Parker wheel motors.

The newer generations are using Hydro Gear pumps with the motors in the same housing.

I just assumed that Hydro Gear and Parker were just different divisions of the same company. Never looked into it, so could be wrong.

 

Nope……..I have $140 and change in parts. A new pump was $893 plus tax and shipping

 

That was my thought. The pump is very smooth for a few minutes, when it warms up, it gets a bit jerky……if that makes sense

That’s exactly what I have. Mower is a 2006 great condition, cuts well.

 

I think you will find that cylinder is wore or the plate is wore. Some don't have a wear plate, so replacing the cylinder is the only thing that you can do.

 

Appreciate the insight. I looked up the part number and have a print of the HydroGear manual for the pump.

I’ve rebuilt actuators and control valves, all aircraft stuff. Would assume I should be ok.

 

This gonna be cake if you work on aircraft.

 

I was thinking it was a hydrostat, not a gear pump. Yes, gear pumps can be rebuilt pretty cheap.

 

id love a concrete drive if i had a spare 100k. maybe a wood fired boiler to heat hydronically or cool geothermal. man id be dangerous if i was wealthy.