Finally getting close to time to dig ponds. I basically just need to cut them for fill dirt for privacy berms. The berms will be approx 20ft wide and 6ft tall and about 2000 linear feet of them plus some other shaping work. Need to move soil approx 500-1200ft. There will be probably 2 ponds just to reduce the cycle times but that is subject to change or accept advice. I don't care how deep they are, I just don't want 2 acres of pond that is 3ft deep. I have: Cat D7E, power shift, solid machine with new cut edge on blade no remotes but I think fab that up. Case 1170, 130hp tractor, have duals for it, 2 rear remotes. Cat 225 excavator, a few bucket sizes. I am not above buying anything but im on a budget on this work. I know some have mentioned before about the use of a pull pad behind the dozer. i think the Case might be a little light? There is always the excavator with haul trucks but that seems very inefficient due to the travel distance. Some have also mentioned just pushing the dirt wtih the dozer. That also seems slow and inefficient? Not even sure how much soil it will move for rough calculations. I have looked at motor scrapers, specifically elevating due to the auto loading, but I know they are harder to keep running. We see a LOT of open bowls on ag tractors here in our loamy soils. We have sandy to clayey loam soils, no rock and such to deal with. My plan, subject to review, was to push off the topsoil on the pond sites with the dozer and probably push directly to some of the closer areas, right next to where the berms will go, so I can use the dozer later to push this material back over the berms. I may want to use a scraper for the further sites. Then get into the subsoil and start the process of making long and tall strips of soil where I want them. I figured I would keep them mostly level or whatev and use the dozer to do some shaping on them, followed by a lighter dozer with a 6 way. Throw me your thoughts of how you might get this job done wtih 1-2 guys, limited budget, but not wanting to take 500hrs to complete the job. I know you guys will have some good ideas.
Yair . . . No contest to this old Dinosaur fastline. Fit that Seven with remotes and buy or rent a matched scoop (scraper) and you have the one of the sweetest twelve hundred foot earthmovers that ever has existed. You can go into and out of the hole any place you choose, less holdups with a shower of rain, levels and compacts the banks, cuts the batters, not many downsides I can think of. Cheers.
all you need is the dozer and your all set, I had 2 ponds built and all that was used was a dozer...the operators were very good at what they did and all worked out perfect...
Yair . . . Of course you can use a dozer Hobbytime but pushing dirt a quarter mile sucks . . . its not so much the push as the drive back empty, it's much better with a scoop. Cheers.
Have you thought of renting or hiring a scraper. If your 20' on top and 1:1 slope you would be 32' at the base X 2000 linear ft. comes out to 11555 compacted yards.
I'm having a little trouble picturing this..... Is the privacy berm going to act as a 'dam' for your ponds or are you just digging the ponds 500-1200 ft away from the privacy berm? Either way, I think a scraper or two would sure make things go a lot faster. Not to mention the more compaction you get with the scraper.
You might consider a push-pull setup for a pair of scrapers. I have been around TS 24s with that set up. If your ground is right, it eliminates the push cat.
Stick a post on the ACMOC site. Depending on where you are at there are a bunch of the CA members that love to do play projects with there toys. They built a race track not to long ago.
agreed, but didnt he ask from the equipment he listed??
Thanks guys. Yes i did mention usinf existing equipment but also that i am not opposed to getting something else that is better for the job. What i am trying to do is optimize efficiency. I have looked at scrapers and seems elevating is the best bet for a one man show? Have been watching for a 623. A friend has a deere 762 so maybe we can work with it but not sure how they do trying to get out of the pond. No the berms are not part of the pond. I will shape around the ponds but mostly just need the ddirt.
I would use your 7 to push the topsoil off and hire some scrapers as DPete mentioned and knock the bulk of the earthmoving out. Use the 7 to shape the ponds and the berms. 1200' one way is a lot of UC wear with that amount of material to move.
Start off with 225 hoe and D-7 with short pushes then get some trucks for the hoe, the dozer can grade pond for you and grade dump area. Trucks you shouldn't have to pay on rain days, where renting scrapers can get expensive. Try to find good experienced truck drivers, they will move a lot more dirt.:my2c
Six years have past, how did it go ? Any problems with the outflow / overflow ?
Not how to do it! Quarter mile is no problem. Dozers are not dump trucks or scrapers so you can't operate them like one.
Sure you can run a dozer like a dump truck or scraper - It's just not efficient or profitable.
be sure to shake the blade off REAL good when you get there, and shovel the undercarriage too.
If you use it like a dump truck or scraper then your correct not efficient at all. And that is why I said what I did. I have in the past moved dirt probably more than a 1/4 mile with a dozer, and done it faster and more efficient than dump truck or scraper, as those usually need another machine to load them. Its cheating adding more trucks or scrapers, then the dozer count should follow as well. It has to be a lot of dirt that is being moved, not just a little pile here or there, like in stripping overburden that is 4 feet deep up. Its all in the proper technique.