What are you guys seeing as real world production rates for a 30-40 yard push with a D6 with a straight blade? I have the production guide but I want some first hand numbers. I'm looking at a job where I would have to build a 30 x 60 yard pad on a hill with up to 3,600cy to cut and move to one side. It's a wide open sloping pasture and the depth of the cut will range from 3-6 feet. I'm thinking 200cy per hr once I get in the groove.
If its a D6H/R etc expect to push over that distance about 150 cy per hour slot dozing using the front to back method, every push in the U.K. now we would expect £1.50 cost of fuel per blade full over that distance (average) if its dry easy going soil thing will be a lot better for you on the yardage, in the U.K. the muck is usualy wet and hard work, best of luck.
Thanks for that, tc. How much is a liter of fuel in the UK?
Joispol, tractor fuel (Red Rebated Fuel) is around the £0.72-£0.75 per litre at this moment, we started thinking every time we pushed through a distance on high load it was a (£) pound a push, but we sort of think its more than this now, thats why I put up the £1.50 a squirt, High Drive D6 tractors with the proper motor in 3306 can suck up 10 imp Gallons an hour.
Sounds about right to me. My D-6R usually runs about 9 US gal. per hour, but will run a bit over 10 if pushing steady with a good hand who keeps it working hard all the time. I think you may hit 200 cy per hour, but will likely average a little shy of 150. You will never average what the peak is. Slots need established, and cleaned up at the end. Even if done perfectly, the volume moved drops when doing this.
Yair . . . How you clean up the slots is important to the average production and fuel efficiency of bulk pushing job. Many times I see fellers just straddle the rills and turn them into slots. This is poor practice and those slots should be maintained to the end. The slots should be pushed out front to back but the rills between the slots are the "cheap dirt" (especialy if it has been ripped) and they should be pushed out back to front . . . that is to say the tractor reverses to the back of the cut and at an angle that rill is busted out into the slot. Depending on the amount of material between the slots ( I like to leave about a quarter to a third blade width) this can usualy be done a couple of times and the material carried forward. The tractor is then lined up with the slot and the 'train' of material is carried to the fill. There is different material in different places of course but if you can push slots it has been proven the back to front method is the best way to deal with rills. Cheers.
In the U.K. with D6 size Blades the rills between the slots would be kept to around the 3ft size wide, or enough to keep the material within the slot contained, as already said front to back dozing working within the slots first, then poke out the rill from the back of the cut forward, pushing muck long distances is hard work on the tractor also emptys the fuel tank fast, if you are using a High Drive tractor check the fuel tank level well before the end of the days shift??