I have a small stock tank to clean out. It is about 200' in diameter. I have a NH L190 skid steer with a 1 yd bucket to work with. Can anybody give me some guidance as to how to get started with this job. It has been very dry here in West Texas. The tank looks dry in the bottom. I know that as soon as I start digging into it, it will turn into a muddy mess. I am pretty sure that there is a clay liner under the silt that I don't want to penetrate. My skid steer has rubber tires, would it be worth while to put OTT Tracks on for this job? I have never tried to do this before however my tractor dealer assures me that several around here have done it before successfully with a skid steer. Most of the big operators in our area seem to use a dozer or a excavator to do this work. Any advice you can give will be welcome. Thanks, Tim
I have no experience in that type of work specifically. The work that I have done with a skid steer and moving poo, tracks are always better, be it OTT or a compact track loader. Unless the clay liner is really hard, I would suspect at some point your going to find yourself stuck somewheres not so pleasant. I found that even on a hard concrete surface a tracked unit would push twice or more of what a wheeled unit would do. In the feedlot in the wet stuff, most of the time a wheeled unit would be stuck where a tracked unit would keep moving. Hope this helps
Thanks for the reply farmerleach, I have used a tracked machine in the mud before and it seemed to float over the mud as opposed to sinking and getting stuck. I had some OTT tracks for my old LX565 and they worked well the few times that I needed them. Tim
But when you get into real slop, it's a different story. If you can work your way in and clear a path to good solid ground, that's better than going in on top of a foot or two of soft silt. Probably be careful to only go straight in so that you can use the bucket to push yourself straight back out. Ken
Ken hit the nail on the head, a lot of times what looks dry on top isn't under and by clearing your way in you save your self a lot of trouble. Unless your useing a 4 n1 bucket watch for build up in your bucket. That said, if the build up is very deep that might be a pretty big job for a skid steer.
I don't know for sure, but I think the silt is about 3'-4' deep out in the center of the tank. I will have to get out in the middle and sink a stick in it to be sure. Others have suggested cutting a slit to the middle and letting the water drain into that. then pumping it out. Any thoughts about that? Also, how do you know when you are getting close to the liner? can you see a color change or what? How do they clean one of these tanks out with a dozer (seems to be the most common way it is done around here)? Do they push out the silt from around the perimeter and then work to the center, or what? Thanks, Tim
Yair . . . tmc_31 I reckon you would be pulling on a pretty big contract with just a skid. I have done quite a bit of this thankless messing around with standard dozers and it's never easy . . . probably go better with a LGP rig. Depending on the layout out I go in with an angle blade and cut in from one side. I try cut down to a firm floor and keep it pretty clean. Once you start you can't afford to stop as the water will seep though and beat you . . . depends on how wet it is to start with, every job is different. I always line up a means of getting out, the odds are that you are going to get stuck and if there is another tractor handy you are more inclined to get into it and spend less time pussy footing around. There are a few loaders with six or seven yard buckets cleaning oud tanks and I am told they are effective . . . at a price of course. The crazy part is that there is a very simple solution. . . the simple old silt scoop. It used to be normal practice to clean stock tanks out every ten years or so. Most districts had a tank desilting contractor with a couple of Canadian Ford Blitz's or maybe Studebaker 6x6's if they had a larger scoop. Nothing has changed with nature, tanks still silt up but these days no one seems to bother with desilting untill the tank is dry. Cheers . . . and best of luck.
I think your dealer is full of it. The best way I have found is with an excavator and a dozer. Scoop the muck out with the excavator and keep the muck pushed to the excavator with a dozer. You will usually get stuck with the dozer, but the excavator can pull or push you out in a hurry. I think you'll sink with a skid steer.
Scrub Puller, I figure I have about 2300 yards of silt to remove. I have not heard of a Blitz or a Studebaker 6X6. I looked them up and see that they are old military style trucks about WWII vintage. I don't get how you would use them to clean out a tank though. Did they have a front end loader attached? or did they pull a scoop across the tank? Tim
Yair . . . tmc_31. Yes mate the Blitz's or the Stude's were equipped with winches and pulled a scoop like this http://www.pederickengineering.com.au/ScoopsRippers.php back and forth across the tank. Very simple and effective and as I said it used to just a regular maintainance operation on the big stations (ranches). It used to be done with horses and I have have seen a diagram with the dates and the different directions they pulled silt from the various tanks on a station going back over eighty years. There needs to be a bit of water for the devise to be most effective . . . even when full you can still get a lot of silt out. A lot of the scoops were pretty crude. Ours was just a one way. We pulled it with a D4 and back with a Fordson, I think it held about a yard. If you do a google search for "silt scoops" you should get a few more pictures. Cheers.
Hey Scrub, how u been doing?
Yair . . . shopguy. Doing fine mate . . . officialy 'retired' a few months back . . . it's been nice to sleep in these winter mornings LOL. Cheers.
Scrub Thanks for posting that link. It looks simple and effective
Thanks for the post and link Scrub. I had never heard of a tank being cleaned that way but is certainly looks like it would be effective. Also congrats on your retirement!! Tim