Having spent the preceding 2 ½ years dragging hose, cleaning and setting up system for other operators; my first ever ‘on my own’ pour was a real doozy.

Dale Bone, the guy that hired me as an operator for ROB pumping in Den, CO didn’t trust me enough to drive the pull truck and Schwing 800 trailer over Loveland Pass to the site of my first pour, Copper Mountain ski area. I can never forget the trip. Coming down the western side of the pas we caught the trailer brakes on fire… no, real flames type fire. Dale rode it out to a stream about ¾ of the way down where we threw buckets of water on the wheels and put the fire out. It was right about then that I knew that the job was not for the faint of heart. When my pulse rate finally got below 150 b.p.m. we took off for the last leg of the journey.

The ski area had been up to that time placing the concrete for the lift tower bases (you know, the big erector sets that support the cable system for the skiers ride up-hill) by helicopter. Each trip from the bottom of the mountain to the designated base to be poured cost $250.00 (for ¼ yard bucket). So really no matter how bad I screwed up, it would still be cheaper to pump than to fly the mud. Each tower base held between 20 and 45 yards; you figure it out.

Upon arrival I began to unload the close to 1,500 feet of 5” vic pipe and clamps that it would take to make the first set-up. Since the winter ski patrol was the summer construction crew there was lots of help. So we set up the system up this steep ass mountain; pipe, clamp and gasket and two six foot pieces of re-bar and three feet of #9 wire. WHAT… you don’t know what the rebar and wire was for??? Well, I will tell you. You clamp-up the pipe and then drive a rebar into the ground on each side of the pipe until there is about one foot sticking out… then wrap the #9 wire around the rebar and tighten the wraps with your pliers until they are tight against the pipe and right below the clamp. That is how you keep the pipe from walking down the mountain while you are pumping.

All set up… pour it out!

The pour actually went pretty well… except for the usual plug ups due to the worst concrete in the world. Mountain concrete in 1971 sucked!!! BAD!!! Big ass rocks, manufactured sand and low cement content, typical every day crete… deal with it.

We finally got it poured out, I was a basket case, and the people paying the bill thought I was OK.

Man… I love this business. ;~)

Bob you crack me up,but a very true story.

I can just picture DB sr hanging onto the wheel hollering whoah baby.

Those tower bases are deffinatly fun,mixes haven\'t changed much.Bright side is now the tunnel exists and a couple of runaway ramps today.Oh and the pumps are better.

It was the summer of 96. Since I was little I had been in excavating construction working for my Step Dad, that was all about to change! First came the knock down drag out fight with the old man, next came the job searching. My real dad ran a self storage facility out of Miramar, he told me about a guy he knows in construction named Duane, who owned some sort of concrete construction business, and that I needed to talk to him. I drove out to Poway to talk to Duane, but ended up talking with the manager there. It was American Standard Concrete Pumping. After the whole, \"this job sucks and its not for everyone\" speech I was offered to work for free for a week. If I still liked it, and they liked me then he would hire me full time. Young and dumb, \"Sounds Good To Me!\"

For the next week I ran along with a couple of the old timers on big booms. Then came Monday Morning! There I was in the yard early, waiting for my Mentor when here came the manager looking very eager or upset, I couldnt tell. \"Go see dispatch, ur runnin a pump today\"! And then he was gone just like that. So I visited dispatch, got my orders and headed out to fire up the old Schwing truck mounted line pump I was so eager to try my hand at operating! 125\' of 4\" hose on the truck and Im gone! Headed for Chula Vista WWTP, Oh Yeah!

Somewhere around San Diego I noticed smoke coming from the rear end, then, BOOM! There she went! I proceeded to sit on the shoulder of I-5 for about an hour before our well acclaimed mechanic showed up in a 32m schwing. Round Two, off to Chulajauna I go with my newly acquired BOOM Pump. Aside from remote chord problems, a little chunky prime out and one really pissed off hose guy, the rest of the day went rather well!

Welcome To Concrete Pumping, I LOVE IT!!!

i remember my first and second day like it happend yesterday. back in 2001 the company i worked for only had an olin and an old 1978 dodge 318 flat bed. we poured 20cy footings arround the perimiter of church wich was about 3-4 acers big. the guy that ran the pump set up 100 ft of 3 inch line then we did 3 moves. the sick part was that the operator was pissed cause i was the boss made me the driver of the truck from that day on so the operator was kind of mad at me. the reason is he didnt have a license. when i think of how we did that job now i crack my self up cause when we moved those hosses he actually made me drag the hose the first 200 ft the disconected the hose at the reducer move the pump then drag the hose down to reconnected. he could have at least dry pumped the line out a bit to make it lighter. but anyways it took us about 6 hours from leave yard to arrive. i used to think that pump was the fastest pump lol 30 ph.

the next day we had a pour on a base pumping those vinyl fence post holes. the operator didnt show up so i had to go solo lol. had to run 200 ft of 2 inch hosses for 6 houses. did 3 moves on that one thank god for the laborers they had there. i was told what to do and how to do it by the boss over the phone. after that job i had about 18 green botles lol and a bonus i was happy.

Boy, do I remember that date July10 2000, Dallas,Tx. I can\'t recall if it was our 2nd or 3rd job I was being trained on a mayco st-80 pumping with 3inch hose my mentor decided to take a brake on the nice looking yard little did I know as we dosed off about 1 hour later I had a hammer BEATING hoses out. I sure haved learned alot.Now I run a 2007 SCHWING 52z

my first pump job was in morenci az at a mine (phelps dodge ) the bigest open pit copper mine in the nation, the pump was a old black and white 29m swching, i was fresh with the traing and very green but i was ready to take the chanlange witch i dident know was going to be a 16 hour chanlange + two hour mob, needless to say i was in for the long haul , the job at hand was figured at 180 yd and the mat was on sold rock that had gaping cracks all throughout, the mix was a lean backfill and ungodly rockey,  well 870 yds latter and 16 hours of my life gone the job was done. 

Well it wasn\'t my first job but one of the first.  we had two pumps at the time a 36 meter rocket launcher and a 32 meter.  The ancum. pump died on the 36 and we had to hook my boom to the deck pipe on the big pump.  Finished that pour and moved down the road about two miles to pour a 100 yard wall starting around 4:30 pm in the middle of winter.  Its dark no lights wall was 6 feet out of ground,  very big wall.  Front bumper of truck was 2 feet from wall head lights did nothing.  Thank the good lord above and Nextel  I ran the pump and the hose guy told me over radio where to move could not see him.  Finished around 8:30pm good times. 

my first solo pump job on a boom pump was a near disaster. i started running pumps in vancouver bc for reynolds, used to be the shwing dealer. i had been running the line pumps for a few years and had been trained on the booms. the one day my job got set back an asap call comes in for a 28m. well the boss he look at me in the lunch room and saysto me \'well you feel up to it\' me i couldn\'t wait. so i did the pretrip with the old german mechanic watching over my shoulder. i get that done and i fire up the old 28m shwing 800 gate pump on the internatinal conventional cab.water her up and down the road i go. little did i know clause had fallowed me to the job. to make sure i would be okay. the set up was pretty strait forward. excavated site mostly bedrock with some sand.thraw down the pads set her up and away we go. of course clause watch over me like a old mother hen, i was able to prime out okay so i boomed out ful stretch and the i started to load the boom.well that when the sh.... hit the fan. the ground under the front outrigger had an air pocket  and gave with a sickening crack. the boom came down so fast i bareley had time to blink. two good things happened at that moment, one the hoseman had stood back knowing i was green \'cause i told him and asked him to have patients with me\' so he had waited for a full flow before he was going to grab the hose,this probably saved him from searios injury or worse.the second good thing was the boom never hit the ground.when every one calmed down and returned from the short exersise sprint for safety. clause myself and the crew foreman looked over the situation and saw the cause, with some encoraging from clause i was able to fold the boom up and move the pump ahead 10ft to try again.this time i took no chances i used some 2x6s and plywood under the pads. that day i learned that ground conditions are not as they appear, i learned not to panic and to not show the customer that i was scaird. clause encoraged me to continueon and get the job done, nobody got hurt. the foreman told me i did a good job and i was welcome on his sites any time. i don\'t know what clause told the boss, but i was put on that old 28m shwing after that. todd my name is lane mortimer sr. i will post my first solo line pump job later.  

Hey can you post youre first solo line pump job please Id love to here it Im from Kelowna so  Im familiar wit Reynols