Portable Concrete Mixer - Tips?

[LOGDOG]

Hey All,

   Yesterday I picked up an old portable concrete mixer that my now deceased father-in-law had in his shed for approxiamtely 20 years -never having used it once. It needed to have a motor mounted on it. If I had to guess I'd say it's about 1/3 of a yard capacity. I went to tractor suplly and bought a 1 h.p. electric motor and a 2 and 1/2'' a belt pulley, few bolts and nuts and brought it home. Got it up and running in a couple hours which included to trips to the auto parts store to get the belt size right. The motor spins at 1725 rpm's and after it's reduced through the pulleys and then the gears on the circumference of the mixer and the gear on the backside of the drive pulley I came up with 29 rpms. That's close enough for me. Sticker on the side recommended 22-25 but I see others running at 31 inthe catalogs.

   I've got some corners that have washed out of my bulkheads in my bridge. I have to mix the concrete up at the house where I have water and power and then cart the concrete down to the bridge a little over a half mile across the way. I thought about having a mixer truck come and pour it all in one shot but then my forms have to be bulked up enough to support the weight of a 5 yard minimum load so I don't get hit with a delivery surcharge.

   I'm forming up the corners of the bulkead, going to pour them and then pour an apron approach on each side of the bridge. I figured I'd drive re-bar vertically down in my cornersand use mesh in the apron.

   Any tips? It's been forever since I've done any concrete work and even then I was on the back side of a wheel barrow. All tips appreciated.

LOGDOG

[logwalker]

Around here it is a lot cheaper to buy the concrete by the yard on the truck than in the bags. It takes fifty-four 60lb. bags to make a yard. It sounds to me like the truck is looking good. Most small to medium sized mixers I have used were in the 5/6 bag size. Thats a lot of mixing. Do you have access to a tractor with a front end loader to transport the mix to the forms? Joe

[sawguy21]

Far too much work wheeling that much concrete a half mile, at least for this old back. :D Could you power the mixer with a generator and haul a couple of drums of water on the pickup or a skid?

[Furby]

It's a bridge, unless it's a dry one...... water's covered! ;)

[sawguy21]

I have to mix the concrete up at the house where I have water and power and then cart the concrete down to the bridge a little over a half mile across the way.
LOGDOG

Sounds like the on site water is gone.

[LOGDOG]

The trouble with getting a truck down in there is that it's a narrow road - levy style. He'd half to back in the half mile. There's water in the creek BUT it's 12 feet below grade and that would require a trash pump  to pump it up or lots of walking with a bucket. I had thought about mixing up several trash cans full on my trailer and then taking them back there to tip them off into the corner that are being poured. It's a lot of work no matter which way I go. You're right - much cheaper to get it on the truck - delivery surcharge aside. I'd also have to spend more on form materials because I'd need to have the whole shootin' match formed to take advantage of a load of concrete on the truck.

   I'm taking pics as we go along. Just got back from Lowes. Two sheets of plywood and 10 sticks of re-bar = $100.00 bill.  : And we feel bad about charging folks for the lumber we cut and sell? Huff!

LOGDOG

[Tom]

If it's a bridge over water, use a bucket and a rope. Even one or two gallons at a time is better'n walking 1/2 mile.  :D

[WH_Conley]

Buy your cement in a bag and the sand and gravel bulk, should save a little money.

[WDH]

This discussion is making my back hurt  . 

[Beweller]

Logwalker says 54 60 lb bags per cubic yard.  More like twice that, and even then I would guess a little shy.

[LOGDOG]

   OK, OK ...y'all convinced me. After much consideration,contemplation, arm foldin' and chin scratchin' I realize not only  is it easier physically but also cheaper financially to go with the truck. I took a bunch of pics that I'll put in the thread and you'll have a better feel for what I'm up against.

    After sizing things up I'm seeing that to really do this thing right I need to spend the most time and money at the very base of the bulkhead which puts me down at stream level. I need to get a good solid - level footing all along it so that I can take off from it. That's going to require a lot of concrete. I think I had the footing figured at 7.11 yards alone. That's a lot of bags! At the box store there were 42 80 lb bags to a pallet and the pallet was right at about a cubic yard.  :-\ So what I think I'm going to do is some major tuckpointing in my corners where it's letting out the dirt from my bulkhead and then grade the dirt back level with the bridge so that the truck can come in, cross the bridge, turn around and head back out pouring off his back end. He could come in on the field if it's dry and that would be on the low side of my levy but then that puts him pumping about 8' up hill to where the apron is going to be. I may have to do it though and get a pumper truck in here to go up hill with the crete. We're supposed to have rain all week though so if it gets wet that puts us to waiting again. Hopefully I can get those pics in soon. Have to do them on the other comp and transfer them over here to my laptop. Thanks for all the tips and the wake up call so far.

LOGDOG

[Don P]

That's what I come up with, 40.5 80's per yard. I got the nickname gravel mix at one point, my truck could haul 25 sacks and I could make 2 trips a day and mix it. I did several hundred sacks on a remote job that way. That was wheelbarrow and no mixer, I dunno digging ditches was never a bother to me either, kinda lets your mind wander and your body work.

We have a mixer here now and a pile of gravel and a pile of sand. 1/2 sack of portland 2 buckets of sand, 3 of gravel and water to taste. Not too bad, about half the price of quickrete. At my rate of enjoyment we did about 5 yards this summer that way around here.

Sure is nice to see it flow out the end of a crane supported hose though, count on losing a yard in his lines priming and washing down.

[LOGDOG]

Thanks for the tip on that lost yard Don. I may not have figured that in. Ever been glad to go back to work come monday? This is one of those weekends.  ;)

LOGDOG

[Faron]

Around here there are lots of front unload concrete trucks.  They could unload before they had to cross your bridge, if that is a concern.

[LOGDOG]

The bridge will hold the weight no problem. The truoble is the apron that he'll end up pouring wouldn't be able to be driven over after the pour as it's on the entrance side. That means he'd have to back out. Which maybe that's not that big a deal. I can back up a half mile like it's nothing just using my mirrors and not go to wandering. I'm going to call the concrete company tomorrow and see how they feel about it. I'm also going to see what the pumper trucks are charging. I need to do both bullkheads so if I had a pumper truck I could form and shoot both sides from one side.

LOGDOG

[sgtmaconga]

I used heavy hog wire insted of rebar. cut it in 3' lengths and weave it back and forth. last i bought was around 80.00 adn it filled in nice

[DanG]

Logdog, look into one of those small pumps that they pull behind a pickup.  It should be a lot cheaper than a big pumper truck.  I paid a guy $350 for a 3 hour minimum, and we pumped three trucks in that time.  He didn't waste much washing out, either.

[logwalker]

I just used the Quikrete concrete calculator and it is 60 bags @ 60lbs. and  45 bags @ 80 lbs per cu. yard. Times that by 7+. How many pickup loads is that.  :D

[Don_Papenburg]

You guys have to get Quickcrete$$$$$ out of your minds .  A bag of portland 90# times 6 would be less than 60 bucks  then you need sand and gravel at about 6 bucks a ton  So on the high side that would be 72 bucks a yard . Around here 6 bag mix is pushing $100.00 yard and 4yard min.
  I used a PTO shaft on my mixer till I got electric  service .  Attach the PTO shaft onto the pinoin shaft run the tractor at an idle or a little more .

[LOGDOG]

Dang ... How far do you think that tow behind pumper could pump the concrete? Think it could go 40-50 feet?

LOGDOG

[cantcutter]

The 2 inch pump trailers are a pain to mess with.... That hose is heavy and they have to use a #9 pump mix because it will not pump anything larger. The 4 inch line pump trucks can pump a 57 pump mix. If you order it in on a truck get a company with front loader. He can pull down in to unload and backing out is not an issue for somebody who is one with that truck about 70 hrs a week. The front loader has 18ft of reach from the front tires to the end of the shute. If that isn't enough reach get a wheel barrow, it will not take long to offload that truck into one.. I have seen it done hundreds of times on small loads.
In this area we get 75.00 for short hual on a load under 6 yards. Its often cheaper to pay the short hual than to buy the extra concrete as the concrete cost more than that per yard.
You can forget about them pulling the truck across the bridge....that truck weighs 40,000lbs empty plus 4000lbs per yard. Most companies will not take there trucks across private bridges and if they did you would own the truck if it went through.

[cantcutter]

Dang ... How far do you think that tow behind pumper could pump the concrete? Think it could go 40-50 feet?

LOGDOG

I hope they are not talking about pumping it from the road .5 miles out :D I was thinking they where talking about pumping it across the bridge. Even a truck pump cannot pump more than a few hundred feet.

[DanG]

Yep, that hose is heavy, but not all that bad if you have a couple of helpers on the job.  Sure beats a wheelbarrow!!  We used a 50' hose when we did our footers, and he had more on the truck, so I assume he could use it.  You do have to use "pump mix", which has smaller gravel and is a little wetter.

Sounds like you need to make a few calls and get some local prices.

[LOGDOG]

Yep ...I'll make calls today when I take a break from sawing. As to the truck going across the bridge - hasn't been a problem in the past. This bridge is made out of highway bypass bridge materail. Each section is 4'w x20'L x 12" thick with 2" rebar throughout. I've got (8) of those making the bridge 16'w x 40'L. We've had 70,000 lb well drilling rigs across it and dump trucks loaded to the gills with crushed concrete when we layed 10,000 yards of it down to top the road we built in here. The brdige itself is fine. It's just the approach that needs shoring up. I'll let you know how I come out on the calls today.

Thanks,

LOGDOG