We are currently doing a rather large landfill closure project. About 75 feet up the 3to1 slope is a runoff water relief ditch we had to construct. What we did was build a road out of the top soil we are using for the cover material, along the top side of the ditch, backed a Volvo ADT out on the road, and used a 312 hoe to dig the 2"-4" rock out of the back, then track down about 15 feet on a 1.5to1 to place the rock in the ditch. We have 18 hours into building 300 feet of ditch! My boss and I were having a discussion after work about different ways to do this stupid ditch. More cost effective and the such. Track loaders came up. I ran a 977L 15 years ago, and he has never seen one. Shows how much we know about track loaders!! Now the problems we face are great. In order to work on top of the liner, under 14" of top soil, the machine has to be less than 8 p.s.i. Our 6R's and T's run around 5 to 6 p.s.i., the 312 is about the same. We need to be able to have the same climbing ability as the 6 LGP's have, and be able to work efficiently. Our 'big' boss said they are pretty much unfindable in the Northwest, and I have to agree! I looked on Machinery Trader and found quite a few in the mid-west and way down south. The LGP's they were showing all looked like they had regular width pads. I haven't looked on Cats website for info about them, because we are not looking for new. We also kinda wondered about the rubber track skid-steers. If any one has any info, or could point me in the right direction, or tell a success story about a similar project, I would sure appreciate it!! Thanks, Jason
Jason I would try a Cat 287 tracked skid steer. Or even one of the new MTL they have, like the 299, at least I think thats the number. They are fast, and my 287 digs well. It also is about 4.3 psi, so no prob on a liner. It will work on a 3:1 no problem. I don't think it will handle the 1.5:1 though. Reading your post again, it sounds like you could come from the bottom, climb the 3:1 and dump into the ditch. Maybe push some piles out to it with a D-6??? up 75 ft of 3:1 and back to the pile would be maybe 40 sec round trip, 1 min max, and you would carry about 1 cy at a time with the right bucket. Much faster than the 312, I think. A full sized 963 would be better, but hard to find as you found out already, especially in LGP version. If it is a track loader on the West coast, it is doing demo work and has narrow pads. Looing at probably 10-12 PSI, so no go on a liner. Hope this helps The other advantage is the 287 MTL is easy to find and relatively cheap to rent so it is worth a try.
Thanks for the response Jerry, I mentioned a Cat track skid steer, as I was looking at the NC Machinery rental guide we have hanging on the wall in the office. My bosses concerns are the speed. Like you said, it would be a hell of alot faster than using the 312! We would definitely bring all the rock up from the bottom with the loader, and dump into the ditch over the berm. We cant really dump any piles and push them with the 6 because we cant contaminate the top soil. ( I suggested that 2 years ago on another closure project.) I dug out my CPH last night and did some research there. I think a 953 would be a good choice for us, but like you say, the ground pressure is an issue. I'm gonna try to talk them into a rubber track skid steer, just to try it for a week. I think its gonna be faster and cheaper than using the 312, and tying up a A-40 all day to place 35 yards of rock in a ditch. Jason