96 GMC K2500 Suburban Restoration (with a couple of mods)

OutlawDrifter said:

I bet VDOT would bring a backhoe out and scratch that ditch a bit deeper. I would venture to say that part of the road ditch technically belongs to them per right-of-way.

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Thanks - you’re right, they probably would do that, as the ditch is clearly within their right-of-way.

However, I’m reluctant to ask them to do so, because I’m afraid that they could wind up making it worse. The fact that they left it the way that they did is not a positive sign.

In truth, I’m looking at this as a rock wall project that will open up the culvert in the process. I want to be able to find enough suitably large rocks to build proper retaining walls at the culvert openings. I already have my eye on a number of them, some of which are at the bottom of the ditch on the inlet side. If a backhoe gets in there, many of the choice rocks might get covered up.

Digging out around the culvert where the actual walls will go is probably best done by hand anyway.

Ideally, said walls would be concrete, but VDOT isn’t going to do that; nor are they going to build rock walls. Hence, it’s my project, at least for now.

OutlawDrifter said:

Edit: Bottle jack and a some cribbing might help reshape your inlet.

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Good idea! Fortunately the deformation is just at the end, and so shouldn’t be too tough to reshape.

Back to the Subdivision.

Yesterday, near the beginning of a 180 mile round trip to Goochland, VA, to meet @Keeper to exchange a 7.4 air intake and a mini split, the ABS dash light came on and stayed on.

I pulled over at the first available exit and checked the brake fluid level. All good. Plus there were no other clues as to what the problem may be; so I decided to keep driving.

This morning I hooked up the XTool D8 scan tool and checked the code. Nada. Nothing showed up, even though the dash light is still on.

The D8 said that that particular function is not yet enabled. I’ll email XTool and see if they are able to fix that.

In the meantime, I’ll have a look at the factory shop manual to help figure this out. I’m suspecting a bad wheel sensor, as two of them have recently been replaced, along with the ABS control module (EBCM). We shall see.

Aside from the dash light coming on, it was a very pleasant trip, and even got warm enough (79º F) that I put on the A/C a couple of times. The best part was the great conversation over a really good lunch.

Sometimes the sensor/area just needs cleaned.

OutlawDrifter said:

Sometimes the sensor/area just needs cleaned.

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That sounds reasonable - thanks!

About that driveway culvert and associated rockwork. In case anyone is interested, I’m considering starting a separate thread, as it is clearly its own project. If I do, it should probably go in the Lounge.

It's your thread, do as you wish!

OutlawDrifter said:

It's your thread, do as you wish!

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OK, I'm thinking that maybe it's not worth starting a whole new thread after all. Please bear with me.

I've been working at it a couple of hours at a time over the past week, interspersed with other chores, and have made slow but steady progress. Hard work, to be sure, but I suspect that at my age it is good for me as long as I am smart about it. I haven't done any rock work for at least a couple of decades, and it feels good to be lifting and stretching, once again participating in this physically demanding and creative activity.

As Nietzsche said, what does not kill me makes me stronger.

And, upon further reflection, I believe I'll take @OutlawDrifter 's suggestion and ask VDOT to scratch out the ditch on the outlet side and make it a bit deeper, probably all the way to the property line below the bottom of the picture.



The inlet side, on the other hand, appears to be fine now that it's mostly cleaned out. A few rocks in the bottom of the ditch have yet to be removed, but I'm using them to stand on while I'm building the wall over the inlet.

Speaking of the wall, I'm fairly happy with it so far, considering that it's rip rap I'm working with. Certainly not as pretty as I'd like it to be, but it should work well enough to keep the road base from eroding into the ditch. It has a ways to go, but it's getting there. The process will be be repeated at the outlet end of the culvert.

It's pretty hard to tell from the picture, but the two larger rocks directly above the center of the culvert are actually resting on the rocks at either side of the culvert, forming an arch. That thin rock resting on the culvert is mostly to add stability.



Ideally I would have excavated about 4' into the driveway so that the base of the wall would be equal to the height. However, lacking the time, energy, and motivation, I only went in about half that distance, which will hopefully be good enough.

Some good news: Turns out that the pipe deformation is only at the very end, where it is just a thin sleeve to fit over another section of pipe; the pipe itself is undeformed. To finish it off I may actually cut it back a couple of inches at the top, as it is non-structural.

Periodic updates to follow.

Culvert/tile work is always fun. I spent a week or two doing that a few years ago at my parents. We had to dig up and replace the original clay tile with new corrugated plastic tile. That was a lot of work. I can’t remember if it was before or after harvest. I think after since the ground wasn’t hard. We did about 100 yards worth with a backhoe. My grandpa (76 at the time) helmed the backhoe and dad and I handled the hand tools and surveying tools to make sure we had the right slope.

All said and done it was a lot of fun, I enjoyed doing something so different on the property. Not a lot of people have the opportunity to work beside their grandfather and father at the same time like I did.

My dad didn’t view it the same way I did!! Burning vacation time just to work on the house!

fancyTBI said:

Culvert/tile work is always fun. I spent a week or two doing that a few years ago at my parents. We had to dig up and replace the original clay tile with new corrugated plastic tile. That was a lot of work. I can’t remember if it was before or after harvest. I think after since the ground wasn’t hard. We did about 100 yards worth with a backhoe. My grandpa (76 at the time) helmed the backhoe and dad and I handled the hand tools and surveying tools to make sure we had the right slope.

All said and done it was a lot of fun, I enjoyed doing something so different on the property. Not a lot of people have the opportunity to work beside their grandfather and father at the same time like I did.

My dad didn’t view it the same way I did!! Burning vacation time just to work on the house!

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Wow - you did it all! And it's awesome that you got to work with both your grandfather and your father on a project like that. Plus you had a backhoe available!

This project has certainly been a learning experience. Hard work, since I'm providing 100% of the manual labor, but I'm enjoying it, for the most part. I'll be glad when it's finished, though.

Then I can get back to renovating that house at the top of the driveway; a project that has languished for far too long.

As for the Subdivision, it's running just fine, mostly going back and forth to this project. True, there are a few items, including the ABS light, to be addressed, but overall I'm pleased with how well it's performing. I also appreciate its having a functional 4WD system, as it's still pretty muddy around here. Using 4WD really helps avoid tearing up this yard and the one at home.

I'm realizing that my plans for going through the Subdivision with a fine toothed comb this winter were perhaps a bit ambitious. Between having way more going on during these past two months than I had realized, and the weather, to a certain extent, the schedule has slipped by at least a month.

It will get done; just not as soon as I would have liked. Such is life.