Hello, I'm a a first time owner of a d7e. I need to cut a hill road in for about 500 yards. It is probably 30-40% grade. How does this end up going if you don't have an angle blade...only tilt. Does the fill end up making it over to the other side of the cut or does the blade try to keep pushing it down hill? Btw I have a lot of trees and brush to deal with. What's the best way to handle these.....push them over and keep going or try to use my skid steer to haul them away before the Dozer buries them? Here is my new machine. Thanks Drew Drew
yes you can cut roads on a hill with just tilt, I have a komatsu D-58 and made plenty of roads on the side of the hill, starting the cut is the challenge, as you cut the dirt will fill in the lower side, it may take a few back and fourths to get the proper angle you want and then just maintain that through the cut.. as far as the trees, if you want then for fire wood or to keep things neat, you can knock em over and cut them up or just push to the side and keep going..
Don't build the road on top of the trees. They will rot and undermine the stability of the road.
Yair . . . That's not much slope really . . . what 21-22 degrees? That seven will clatter around on that alright and clear the right of way. If it is to be an all weather and permanent road it may pay to put in a catch drain above the cut. Again, if its a permanent road it should be all on cut or the loose spoils should be compacted with the dozer. The wider you make it the easier it will be with a straight blade. Get that drainage right either by the catch drain already mentioned or by a good wide cut and a drain at the toe of the batter. An extra few hours spent in the first place can save a lot of money and grief later. All the best with it and please post some finished pictures. Cheers.
I wonder if he is confusing percent slope with degree slope? When I read the OP's first post, my first thought was just like yours, Scrub, that's only a little steeper than a 3:1. So then I started thinking, at what percent do things get really hairy? A 1:1 is a 100% slope, and I know there are hillsides that are more than a 45° angle. I cheated, and searched this page. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/slope-degrees-gradient-grade-d_1562.html Interesting how crazy the percents get when you approach 90°. For instance, a 89° angle is a 5789% slope. I've never had to cut a road into a mountain, but I would think much more than a 60% angle would be pretty intimidating, and that would be a 173% slope.
Gotcha Shimmy1 . Percentage and degrees get confusing, I just took the OP numbers on face value, I think I was right. (grins) I have cut many miles of roads across slopes of forty five degrees and better. a lot of dirt needs to be pushed to get twelve feet of road on cut. . . you end up with a sheer wall on the up hill side. Cheers,
Around La Crosse it could be 40 degrees or 40 percent. Not too many places that you'd need to build a road on a 40 degree slope though. I think it depends more on the type of soil, depth and hardness of the bedrock, size of the trees, etc. than just the slope you're crossing. I know I wouldn't take a new dozer out and do that project to learn how to use it, no way, no how. No screens on that machine for one thing. Shimmy might know how to calculate gradients more precisely, but I'd trust Scrub more to do a road like this, IF he could see the ground it goes through. Whether this is permanent or temporary makes a big difference to, as far as the water management that was mentioned.
Well it looks like the area to cut is about 30 degrees of slope. We're gonna try it real soon. I just got feel for the new machine for 6 hours today leveling off a pad for a building. I'll post some pics soon. Thanks for the advice! BTW the old Dozer worked great.
Just noticed the gray paint, engine recent overhaul? BTW, nice machines.
Yes. It's been a few years but apparently the balancer shaft came apart and destroyed a few things?? It appears this machines is quiet low hours. Probably between 3000-4000hrs. I have the last 20 years of service records and it's around 1000 hrs in all those years. It lived at a landfill pushing shut garbage dumps for the last 30 years. It was a military cat for its first 22 years.
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Be an enjoyable machine to use, you will find as we all have why dump tractors sell pretty low. First time have to gas axe or weld on it the odor can be quite repulsive as it seems the dump travels with the machines having soaked into the steel. Still does not take away from a good usable machine.
I don't think this machine ever pushed garbage. It has no smell. It pushed scrapers and such. BTW does anybody know the best way to repair a scratched lift cylinder ram? It's got a few dings and will leak a little at times.
Buff the scratches with a fine flap wheel then pull 1 shim from the stem seal retainer. Bob