Hi - new user here and hoping to learn from some expertise on this forum. Im a Gen contractor and have a septic line I need to replace on my families vacation property way out in remote Texas Hill Country (near Leakey , TX) . The septic line runs behind two cabins that are backed up to a hillside that was excavated out about 15 years ago. over the years, the hillside has eroded down so that there is a large slope now about 6 foot high by 8 feet wide behind each cabin and covering the septic line. The hillside is made up of Limestone, lots of rocks and thick heavy dirt. There are also a few large rocks mixed in - large like beach ball sized or larger. The nearest equipment rental company is 60 miles away and they recommend their Bobcat 630 with a toothed bucket for the job OR a Case Back hoe to excavate the slope out and then scoop it up with the bucket and haul away. I wanted to see what equipment the members on this forum recommended for the job, and if you think the 630 can get it done. the dirt once removed only needs to be hauled about 75 feet and then we have a place to fill in so the haul off is not an issue. I just don't want to get a bobcat 630 and then get out there and find that it isn't strong enough to get into the dirt and get it done and then i gotta go back and rent a Class 200 excavator or something like that because the space behind the cabins are only about 15 feet wide and im not sure anything larger would work. the pictures here are not the best angle but you can see a little of what it looks like https://goo.gl/photos/ww5n5Q8E6fq3VpzU7 thoughts? and thank in advance for your time and expertise johnny
Welcome to the Forums johnny78745!:drinkup It's hard to give any advice without seeing it and the pics as you said don't show much. With the rocky ground and not knowing anything else about the site conditions I would lean towards a backhoe. A rubber tired 630 wouldn't be my first choice. Do you have any other pictures of the area?
Go to harbor freight, buy a $4 angle finder gauge, lay it on a 2x4 on the ground, and see what it reads. Most skids don't like much more than a 15-20 degree side angle. Looks like a job for a mini excavator, to me...
Have you checked out if anyone nearby could do the equipment work. DIY is not always the best answer.
From your pics it looks to me that the bank has come down? I would give the bobcat a shot, it doesn't look like there is room to swing a small excavator and no ware to cast off with a hoe, so you would pull a little then turn around to get a bucket full repeat. Starting on level ish ground and being carful not to spin, work your way in. Make a cut wider than your bucket preferably double then start turning until you are parallel with the bank. You may end up with a lot of buckets with more material on one side, so what, lol. keep a close eye on the bank as you go there will be a greater danger of it coming down again as your cut gets longer.
yes the space behind the cabin is very very narrow - less than 15 feet or so. Thats why I was hoping to use something like a Bobcat that could get in and out easily. If we used a back hoe, I know it would be able to do the digging, but one bucket at a time and would have to drive out to dump it with no room to swing side to side more than 2 - 3 feet at most. My biggest concern is that i havent used a bobcat for this type of work before and I dont know if it is strong enough to penetrate into the dirt and rock far enough to scoop it up.
totally agree! only trouble is the math makes it difficult to not at least try DIY. If i rent the Bobcat 630 then it will cost me $950 for a weeks rental. The closest He operators (60 miles) want $175 an hour from the time they leave their place and estimate it will take 3 - 4 days so at $175 x 32= $5600 so for that difference, it makes it hard to at lest not give it a go myself, save $4000 and also have the equipment to get a couple of other small projects done at the same time.
The ground is actually flat and very accessible - its the hillside that has started to fall , and that is the part we need to remove.
With the size rocks I see I'd sure get some cheap 3/4" plywood to lay against the back wall of each cabin. Strange things happen when handling rocks that size in a tight space. Mike
That rock looks pretty layered. If the rock further in is the same, I would think you could pry it apart with bucket teeth, could be slow going, but maybe not, hard to say. I don't know about a 630. Can they supply a bigger tracked skid, something stronger with more weight ....something on tracks? I don't know if you can get one in there, but a tracked machine with vertical lift will give you more stability and allow you to haul quite a bit more and heavier loads than a wheeled machine.
The trick is not to spin and make a mess, as you dig in roll the bucket back and lift, this puts weight on the front tires and increases traction. If you start to spin back of on the drives. You can back up with half a bucket and start over to get a little more. How high is the bank? Maybe some sort of retaining wall would be a good idea.
Hard to say without seeing it and doing some poking around. But like cdm123 said, the skid steers can make a big mess. Not as big of a deal when it's dry out but where it gets wet you can do more damage than good. A mini x/track dumper combo would work. or a decent size track machine which will be able to put a lot more rubber to the road sort of speak....
I went back out to the site and got some pics
One thing about a skid steer is you could rent a breaker (jackhammer) attachment, which might come in handy.
Looks like you need to move the hill back a fair ways, it's just going to keep falling. Given the new pics I would say a large excavator on top of the bank, hopefully it's empty up there and not somebody's yard. Good luck.
How far away from the edge of the building is the septic line ...and how far down? Were you planning to get in there with a mini-excavator and dig it up/replace?
I've got a skidsteer, mini excavator and a 40 hp tractor with loader and a backhoe. If I had to pick just one for that job it would be the tractor. But that job looks shaky as heck to me. Be careful you don't end up with a rock in your lap.
I see rocks bigger than a skidsteer can handle. That rock sluff that you want to move, may be helping hold the cut in the hillside up. What a terrible spot to build a house. I'd insure the heck out of that building.. It's just a matter of time before that wall comes down. Can you move the septic line to a better place?
That's what I was wondering. But it looks like it's built on near-solid rock that would be a bugger to trench.