I'm looking at a job for a guy who wants an area clear of all trees, rock, etc & topsoil installed. Now I'm lucky on this job because all the chips, rock , etc can be used to extend a part of his property that drops off. My question is what size excavator & dozer should I look at? Also like I said I'm thinking of a sozer / excavator w/ thumb combo, is there a better setup? I was looking at a CAT 312 size & CAT D5C. Here are a few pics of the property, not the best though. I'll try & get some better ones for you. ( Lime Green = area being cleared. Red = area being filled in. I would use the large natural rock to create a wall. You can't really tell in the bigs but there is some pretty large rock Your thoughts?
i wouldnt bother with the cat. just use a 120-200 size machine. If your grading skills on an excavator arent that great i guess something like a d3 wouldnt hurt.
Its difficult to tell but I think you might be struggling to have enough resident stone there to build a wall properly but its well worth doing from the clients point of view. I can't see the need for transporting a dozer to that site...it would be nice to have but not necassary. Go the excavator....308 to 312 size or anything near....and probably a skid to clean up and finish off/grade if like Tyler says your not happy with the finish. I have done plenty of jobs like that with my mini and skid because I can't be bothered hiring a bigger Exy. If the rocks are bigger than 1 tonne go the bigger machine.
I wouldnt bother with the dozer, but definitly go with the thumb. You could see if you can get a 312 with a blade, then you can do a little pushing too.
I would use a crawler loader. Looks like you would have to handle the material several times with an excavator to get it placed properly. Use the loader like a dozer and just push it off.
Very simple--either a TLB or a small excavator,preferrably with a thumb for the rock placement and stump removal and then a small 450 size dozer for fill and topsoil placement and final grade.
Jazak - what kind of equipment do you have at your disposal that you already pay for? I hate to rent if I have something I can do a job with already. It seems that project could be tackled in a couple different ways.
That seems like a simple easy job just looking at the pictures a guy should beable to do that in 1.5 days to 2. Not really familliar to what a 312 size machine can do but a 160 sized (16 ton) excavator can do the whole job with no problems. Like the others said the machine has to have a thumb without one your :Banghead For final grading a skid steer or a rubber tired backhoe would do but a good excavator operator can get the ground pretty good to where you only need hand raking. A mini excavator can do the job too something like a 161 Kubota it just takes longer and more thinking ahead mainly so placing the rocks for the boulder wall.
I do mainly tree work & lot clearing jobs like this are becoming very scarce. So I don't have any excavation equipment. So I can rent whatever I want. I'm not the best operator so I don't want to rely on the excavator for all my needs. And yes I know the thumb is a MUST. I wouldn't even try to do the job with out one. I see some of you are saying skid steer. Wouldn't that be a little on the small side when dealing with large rock. (Attatched a pic of some of the rock we'll be dealing with, theres about a 12++ this size) Also the area that is has the green line through it will be totaly cleared & all surface rock will be removed & used for the drop off. There will be topsoil spreaded ontop & grass seed. Do you think a skid steer would be handle to do all of it? I've run TLB's before & don't think they would be able to handle a job like this + an excavator will way out work it on this. I used a CASE 580L? I think it was & it was straining to pull stumps with rock around it. Just trying to get some input from the "pros" & see what you'll have to say. So far its been great thanx. BTW you can't really see from the pics but there is a ton of rock. If I have to I can get some more brought in, cheap.
Its hard to say what you should do. If you have to rent a excavator to do the job that might get a little expensive. A 12,000lb machine would probably do the job and with the bigger rocks you will have to roll them or push them into place. Its where I mentioned pre planning you have a spot in the wall you want to build you roll the rock into place. Usually with a smaller machine handling larger rocks you have a one shot deal to get it into place. You will have a tough time buiding a rock wall with a skid steer you need the excavator to place the rocks. You will be picking the rock up and sorting through the rocks you have to find the right one. When your doing the clearing you will be using the excavator bucket and thumb to pick out the rocks you want to save and pick out the tree roots etc that shouldn't be buried behind the wall. Loading the truck with a excavator with the old stumps and debris into a dump truck to haul it away. Doing a job like that with a rubber tired backhoe would take a guy with lots of experience. It could be done with a backhoe but you really need to know how to run a rubber tired hoe. I know one guy that could do that job with a 590 Case 4x4 but he has 25 years on backhoes. Would I do that job with a rubber tired backhoe not a chance I don't have enough experience on one. A 160 excavator not a problem. Start pushing the trees over ripping them out of the ground buck the stumps off if the trees were being chipped. Pile the stumps in a area thats out of the way. Start stripping the over burden off separating the brown dirt (topsoil) from the rest. Pick out the large rocks you might want to use. Pick out the tree roots and stuff that can be hauled away. I guess I'am used to doing and seeing everything done with a excavator. It is very rare to bring any other piece of equipment to a site maybe a smaller excavator or a backhoe. A acre piece of property covered in trees can be cleared and leveled is done with a 160-200 sized machine.
I would definately use and excavator with thumb and a blade. Try a cat 311. I am not partial to cat , but they are a good size machine for the job. You can did out rocks, push trees over , tear out stumps , and the blade will get your grade pretty good without any real experience neccesary
So I guess I'll just rent a skid steer to help out with grading & moving the soil / small rock around. Keep the replies coming. And thanx
I think if you were to choose one machine for the job it would be a tlb, especially if you're having to move material from one end of the property to the other. Get a rental machine with a 4in1 bucket and an extenda hoe and you'll be alright. I wouldn't bury an organic material such as chips or roots, charge them to take it away, i've never buried them but always hear of the ground settling down the line as it decomposes. Dig a small footing for the wall, throw the biggest rocks you can move at the bottom, set up a string line and go from there. I just did a somewhat similar job with my mini excavator with a thumb. I moved some fill onsite, built a small rock retaining wall and raised the grade, brought in screened fill and topsoil.
I agree that the backhoe would do it fine. That's the kind of thing we do with our backhoe while tinkering around the house. You can pick up rocks no problem and grading with the 4n1 bucket is decent enough after some raking. The simplest thing we've done was grade with the bucket open and then use a small york rake behind a riding mower. The result is pretty good. If you have the space to move around, backhoes are not as hard to use for this kind of project as some would have you believe. This picture is the only one I have showing the rough grade left using an open 4n1 bucket. I was mostly shooting the rock, but you can still see plenty in the background.
He's now decided he doesn't want to fill in the drop-off. He's going to make his porch bigger.
Did he tell you that before or after you gave him the estimate...:ban You win some, you lose some... Joe
After. He still want all that stuff in the green area cleared though. But now I'm going to have to truck out the rock...........