I was running some calculations for the elevating scraper (613) and the time needed is ridiculous. I have a D7E as well wtih straight blade. I believe it is about 11ft wide IIRC. I am trying to get an estimate of how far of a push is practical? Basically I need to create a pond to gather soil for privacy berms. I am estimating about a 1acre pond for this. I will also need to capture all the surface top soil to be reapplied to the berms and retain the soil from the pond cut as well. This nearly doubles the time required but top soil is not easily made. I am looking to push the entire surface of the pond area into piles approx 100-200ft away. I would then want to push what I can close to the pond to a point that it would not make practical sense and need to move to the scraper. Regarding the berm areas, these are about 3000ft long, 20ft wide, and 6ft tall. I need to strip these areas of top soil. I know pushing it would be MUCH faster but my D7 does not an angle blade so I am not sure how I can do this. With just a little angle, I could do this very fast. If I use the scraper, it might get ridiculous. I do have the cat production manual but there is just no comparison to experience IMO. There is also not much data on these older dozers either to figure out what they will do. My soil is sandy loam soil and will get into rockless clay as we go down. No rock of any concern should be encountered. Soil should cut rather easy. Just a lot of it... I guess I am asking for an estimate of how far of a push is practical and about how many yds per push? I will probably estimate about 1-2mph on push speed.
I would use the scraper to strip the top soil and then do the rest with the dozer. The most production you are going to get out of a 613 is about 200 CY's an hour and that is if its a flat haul and less than 400 feet in length. I personally, would never use a scraper unless the push was more than 400 feet. We really need to know how thick the top soil is and the distances from the barrow area to the fill or berm area. This is just my opinion and others may differ.
Ah, my calculations are running the scraper at about 150yd/hr. Haul distance will vary as we get closer and further betweeen points but will average about 600-700ft. I am actually going to construct more than one just to help reduce haul distances. The property is exactly 1/4mi squared and going around the edges. The top soil thickness is unknown right now but may not target to get ALL of it. I am assuming stripping 1ft of top soil. Once I run some horticulture studies, I might pull a bit more if it is there. The thought with pushing off the top soil for the berms is to just move it aside a bit and push it back up the berms when done. I can't see how a scraper would do this faster but my concerns of how to do this without an angle blade might be valid?
If the top soil is a foot thick, use the dozer....a scraper would be a waste of time and money.
Yair . . . fastline . A bit hard for me to get my head around your job but a couple of points. In my experience an angled blade is of little use for moving dirt . . . stripping grass, cutting firebreak, hillside cuts I believe are their application. On the other hand when used straight I prefer them to bull-blades and a good operator an angle blade will produce more than a so so operator sitting behind a wobbley teaspoon. Even with a wobbely teaspoon out to around three hundred feet I wouldn't even think about a scraper. You have to do it right though and push front to back and clean the rills up back to front . . . even if you are only cutting a foot. Cheers.