I operate a water well business in FL and was wondering what might be the best and smallest dozer to assist with getting trucks into and out of properties when its wet/muddy. My heaviest truck is roughly 45k lbs loaded. It would need to be something that I could pull with my 3/4 ton pickup. This company has managed fine for 30yrs without one, but my mind wonders when I can't work. Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
I really doubt you'll be able to do that with anything you can pull behind a 3/4 ton. Heaviest machine you're looking at would be in the 12K range. Just picture a 12K machine on tracks in mud trying to move 45K on tires mired in mud.... ain't happen'n
thanks for the reply. I was thinking largest would be something in the 450 range, idk? its not pulling dead weight.. the truck is trying. when i do stick it, i usually pull it out with the other truck on site with either a chain or large rope.. drain water if necessary.
guess I'm wondering whats the cheapest/hardest pulling machine i could buy/customize to haul on a 10t gooseneck or under to do what I need.
A tracked skid steer with a hydraulic winch attachment (attachment being ground engaging) could pull very hard relative to its weight.... also might make the machine more versatile. A mini excavator can anchor with its blade and out pull a CTL for a short distance of its arm retraction. I've used mine to pull my grapple truck out, several times. It weighs 46klb empty.
I worked in the alberta oil fields. Deep sticky mud during break up. Smallest we ran was a D6 dragging in tankers and b trains. Mounted a pin on the ripper with a big cable. I wouldnt do it in anything smaller as I stood that D6 up on her rear idlers a couple times draggin those poor truckers through mud up to the top of their fuel tanks.
You may also want to look at a tractor or skidder as an option with a winch..
I have an international 4800 4x4 truck with some oilfield equipment on it. Weighs 24k fully loaded. It gets stuck often. Normally a D5 sized dozer moves it no problem but I have had it stuck before where one D5 couldn’t budge it. Had to hook two up to get it out. It was stuck bad as in both differentials buried in mud. Being buried and just not being able to get traction are two completely different things. With a 46k truck I wouldn’t want anything less than D6 if you wanted to be able to get it out of anything. Since weight and hauling are a major concern look into this http://www.winchskid.com/ A small dozer isn’t the answer.
Everyone who's been in situations like this before, should get that same sick feeling in their gut, and know how bad that is...... And I actually looked at that picture and still managed to laugh a little, because I've been there and it really stinks, but somehow everyone gets through it. But its such a pain in the ***. Thanks for posting that picture, it gave me a little smile. I've been that guy out goosestepping in muck and I can hear the words in his mind. And they aren't fit to print.
Yeh it was ugly that week. I was in the D6 with dry feet so it was only ugly for some haha. I had just pulled that truck into the lease.
I feel sorry for the poor bloke who had to clean all the muck off the Cat carriage!
John Deere 450C with winch ..... https://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/construction-equipment/for-sale/23973693/1980-deere-450c
I always wondered " What's Up ? " with trying to plow high dollar equipment through a mud hole ? Might be more cost effective to blade the mud off & haul in some stone for the trucks ?
Oilfield is such a strange thing. The oil process costs big bucks, but some of it is on the backside of nowhere. They may be 400 miles from a quarry. Maybe further. Backcountrybackhoe was working alberta, and I think some of that stuff is way out there. So they put a dozer up there, and drag everything in and out. The oilfield stuff closer to me (oklahoma area equipment) has usually been used really, really hard. They don't care about anything but getting the oil out. You know dragging trucks like that through the muck tears up all kinds of stuff underneath. Pulling out airlines, wiring, plugging axle breathers, filling drums with mud, and all kinds of nasty stuff. And about the time they have the equipment all full of mud, is when it freezes up, and then its twice as bad. But every day that the pumps aren't running is big big $$$, and they don't care about the "consumable" trucks. They aren't like some people trying to keep 70's equipment running forever (and I know you know what that's like ). And they don't care about the repair bills, or the labor to do it.
The best winch box I've seen is the trebron (old Iowa boy- yes.........) Built out of a holmes
You couldn't give me enough money to run that winch like that. If one of those cables snaps, he is done for.
Yup I shoveled them every day at the end of the shift. It was starting to get cold and freezing at night.
Not 2 hours out in the bush. Plus 2-3 hour haul from the closest rock quarrie. As soon as you get a week of dry weather this mud drys right out. But when it's wet you sink pritty good. The oil company's need these trucks getting in and out. So if they say get the truck in you get it in. No matter how big of a cat you need to drag it. After you tow you blade the mud to help bit you can just push it away. There a too much and no where to put it. And then you start digging a hole that way too.
I had a well put in this time of year here in Oregon, needless to say it was wet a muddy. He had some kind of mats he put down to keep his rig from sinking in. Granted, he only had about 100' of soft ground to get over.
They use rig Mats in alberta if they need to. But if they can drag the trucks in they do that first. Matting takes time and money
That's a nice unit ! We built a red neck version of it . They pull pretty good pound for pound . HeavyEquipmentForums
If you do decide to go the Deere with a winch route; on the Deere's that I've ran (450-850 g/h/j specifically 700J) you can't winch in and travel forward at the same time like you can in the D6's and up, when you winch in your tracks stop. This was very frustrating during rig moves working with truck pushes who think the dummy running the dozer cant do two things at once when it was you being limited by the dozer.
How much damage and muck is done to the trucks and who pays for that?
Had a forman tell me to drive a drill rig on a crane carrier through a mud pit.Itold him I would get stuck. He said I’m the boss you do as I tell you,said ok. Backed the rig up about 200 feet and let her rip ,when I stopped the floor of the cab was level with the ground . He told me to get a cable and crawl in the mud and hook it . I told him FU you got me stuck you hook the cable up,got a D8and pulled me out. Morale of the story is you don’t have to be smart to be the boss.
I'm guessing tax payers flip the bill for it ? .........
All part of doing business in the gas patch, I'm surprised they don't use mud boats like back in the day! The company I worked for started FDR-ing locations to cut down in our stone use. Man that stuff was great! You would get a skiff of mud on your boots but it was never deep.
Usually not much damage. Some times alot. I have heard of trucks whole front ends getting ripped out. Frame and engine and all . But the guy in the dozer should know how hard he's pulling too. My understanding is the oil company's pay the truck contractors repair bill in those scenarios
I think you could call me an expert on trucks and oil/gas field work. I worked nine years in the Gas Patch in western NY, PA, and Ohio. Water trucks were always emptying brine tanks at producing wells, rig moves, frac and cement jobs, wireline trucks, power tong trucks...etc..etc.. We had over 30 IH dozers from TD-8's to TD-20's. For water truck support, 95% of the time a TD-8 with a winch hauled on a tandem tilt bed would be the main tow tractor. An old 450 JD weighs about 8 tons and with a winch and good track pads will handle almost everything you need. If the loaded truck stops when starting to get in trouble, no problem for that size dozer. If its bad, we would get a TD-15 or another TD-8 to come help out. On rig moves with very heavy loads, we would use at least two 15's or even a 20 or two. Our access roads were always built bare minimum and trucks put through hell at all times. I have a 450C and that machine will relay pull. If you have oilfield bumpers on the trucks, well thats even better, because you can push, pull, spin them around in slick ground with the blade, etc. We only winched them if we could not push them through slick spots.
Years ago, my then boss, told me to dump a tanker load of product on this wet field. It was fine until I hit a soft spot, and sunk it down to the front axle, and drivers about 6", before I even knew it. So I fired up my D3 LGP, and the boss man int the truck. I was surprised that it barely even grunted and pulled the empty truck and trailer right out. I don't think I would want to pull a D3 behind a 3/4 ton pickup though, but thats me.
I literally just pulled out the city tandem plow with my deere 450e, he backed into the snow and got buried in a ditch, Winched him out effortlessly.
JD 450C dozers with rear winch were very common with loggers in my area . Skid logs , cut roads & pull trucks out . Dozer with allot of punch for the pound .
Have you thought of fitting a winch onto the truck , demountable so it can be used both ends of the truck . Either electric or hydraulic , some of the big electric are pretty good with remote controls .