I am looking at water/sewer main jobs and in the past have used mostly class 2 A.B as backfill with a vibraplate compacting everything worked out fine. I would like to use native backfill on upcoming jobs and would like to go a different route with compaction so as to avoid any problems with the lesser quality backfill. Due to narrow trenching the choices are remote padfoot compactor, hoe pac, or jumping jack. What tool do you think will get the best results with a clay topsoil mix backfill?
Go with the Hoepac. Im going to guess since you in Cali your soil is going to need moisture for compaction. Go with thin lifts, work with your dirt cop and you should do just fine. Ive been on several jobs where we used native soils for backfill.
we mosty use remote padfoot compactors they are easy to use and most are 1.8 ton so you can put the lefts in around 150, 200 mm i have even see them with water tanks on them.
if the soil you're working with is cohesive "clay".....i'd run an excavator mounted sheepsfoot, make sure your moisture content is within a couple of % of optimum. must faster than a hoepac. we run hoepacs on granulars or clays that are borderline "wet"...when it's like bubblegum and won't turn in the wheel.
x2 I've never been a fan of hoepac's
We have been doing a lot of sewer repairs lately and have just been using our wacker to compact the fill back in. I mentioned to my dad that maybe we should look into getting a hoepac for our 580 so im just starting to look around online to see if i can come across a nice used one anywhere. But the question i have is, do you get as much compaction with hoepac as you do with a wacker?
I would assume you get alot more due to the higher weight and hydraulic power.