How to find an old cistern when trying to unload your pellets....

[krooser]

So we loaded another ton of compressed sawdust on my son's pickup and headed home... when backing up to the house we found an old cistern hidden under the grass alongside the sidewalk....

These pix were taken after we unloaded.

The culprit... 6' deep and about 5' in diameter...

Here Derek is jacking up the truck so we can place a jackstand under the frame...

Here we used the pellet pallet to bridge the gap and drive away...

It looked worse than it was...only took about 15 minutes to get out of that predicament.

Don't try this at home!

 

[trogers]

So we loaded another ton of compressed sawdust on my son'sw pickup and headed home... when backing up to the house we found an old cistern hidden under the grass alongside the sidewalk....

These pix were taken after we unloaded.

The culprit... 6' deep and about 5' in diameter...

Here Derek is jacking up the truck so we can place a jackstand under the frame...

Here we used the pellet pallet to bridge the gap and drive away...

It looked worse than it was...only took about 15 minutes to get out of that predicament.

Don't try this at home!

Only 15 minutes? I would have thought it would take much longer to get that this out. You should work for a NASCAR pit crew! My wife's car once sank in the yard while we were washing it.. turns out the builder buried a lot of stumps in the yard.

 

[krooser]

We jacked it up...set the jackstand under it...then jacked it up a little more then slid the pallet under the wheel. I was going to call a wrecker but figured we'd give it a try on our own.

 

[slvrblkk]

I just noticed I have that same jack from Sears....still works great....I think I bought it back in the late 80's.....glad to see you got out of that mess....hope you bought good pellets!!

 

[imacman]

We jacked it up...set the jackstand under it...then jacked it up a little more then slid the pallet under the wheel. I was going to call a wrecker but figured we'd give it a try on our own.

Wrecker schmecker......you did a nice job. ;-)

 

[defield]

Krooser,

Thank goodness you did not back your wife's street rod pickup truck into that cistern or you would have possibly scratched the finish.

Glad you got out without too much trouble and hopefully no damage to the truck.

Ranger

 

[Nic36]

Find any buried treasure?

 

[krooser]

Slvrblk...The jack I bought at Sears in Ocala, Fl in Feb. of 1988...we were racing in the IMCA "Florida Series" during Speedweeks... we had every imaginable spare part with us but forgot to load the jack so we bought a new one.

Old Ranger... yeah thank goodness we didn't scratch her truck...hehe

Mac... I was gonna call you to come help!

Nic... If you stick your head in the hole and listen real carefully you can hear Chinese...

Tomorrow I'm taking my new Al-Goremobile to the gravel pit to pick up some fill for the hole...

 

[countk]

LOL. Al Goremobile. Gotta Love It.

Where do get these pictures!

 

[countk]

Slvrblk...The jack I bought at Sears in Ocala, Fl in Feb. of 1988...we were racing in the IMCA "Florida Series" during Speedweeks... we had every imaginable spare part with us but forgot to load the jack so we bought a new one.

Old Ranger... yeah thank goodness we didn't scratch her truck...hehe

Mac... I was gonna call you to come help!

Nic... If you stick your head in the hole and listen real carefully you can hear Chinese...

Tomorrow I'm taking my new Al-Goremobile to the gravel pit to pick up some fill for the hole...

Just realized that can't be an Al-Goremobile, as the horse would certainly emit harmful methane gas, upsetting Al's Global Warming.

 

[smalltown]

Krosser The unexpected always happens. Glad to see that nothing got damaged.

 

[Czech]

Jeez Kroos, you could have called me, I would have been over in say and hour or two? Cool fix, I love it when I see stuff like that. Like the way you think. Get a little hydrolic pump from NH, run the gutter water in there, and you have a garden water system!

 

[krooser]

Jeez Kroos, you could have called me, I would have been over in say and hour or two? Cool fix, I love it when I see stuff like that. Like the way you think. Get a little hydrolic pump from NH, run the gutter water in there, and you have a garden water system!

I was thinking hot tub....

As far as the photos go.... I live in an Amish community with a lot of hot rodders.

 

[krooser]

We're making progress...

The culprit again...

The fix... two yards of road gravel @ 2,000 lbs. per yard. At least now I know I can haul two skids of pellets!

Now if I can get my wife to handle a shovel...

 

[teetah222]

I can't believe they didn't fill the darn thing in when they covered it in the first place. Could have been a person falling in instead of the truck tire. :bug:

 

[krooser]

I can't believe they didn't fill the darn thing in when they covered it in the first place. Could have been a person falling in instead of the truck tire. :bug:

Looks like there's an old concrete top covered with wood... there's broken concrete down in the hole... looks like we broke thru the rotten wood.

It's probably 70-80 years old, I'd guess. The house was built prior to 1900 so it's done it's job... looks like they routed all the rainwater into the cistern then drew the water from it via a hand pump.

 

[krooser]

Fixed...boy is my wife tired

 

[teetah222]

Sure she is... LOL

 

[MCPO]

Great photos Krooser! And a very interesting thread too.