I have been working on getting our property ready for our new home construction. The land was logged about 20 years ago and has a 4-8" layer of peat built up on it and it hold water in the low spots something awful. I have been wanting to get some work done with my Ford 555 Backhoe but it has just been to wet and soft to move it around in those low wet areas and the bad thing is that I have to cross that low wet area to access most of the property. I have decided that I am going to dig a couple of small water retention ponds and a ditch in that low area in an attempt to control the water and give it a place to drain to so that maybe some of the rest of the wet area will dry up. Having said that, I need to build some mats so that I do nit sink this backhoe in the soft ground trying to get in to dig the retention ponds. I my thoughts on the mats is this. I figure that I will need at least three. One will need to be 16' wide by 8' deep. This one will be the end mat to make sure there is enough room for the stabilizers to hit and spread the load over a large area while digging. The other two will be 8'x8'. These all will be built with 2x8's and 3/8 plywood. I figure they will be three layers. the bottom layer will be the 2x8's spaces about a foot apart, laying the 3/8 plywood on top of that and then the top layer of 2x8's laied perpendicular to the bottom layer and placed 4" apart. This will give me 24' of approach to a boggy area (may not be enough, might need a few more 8x8 mats) and give me the stable platform (16x8') to dig from. I figure the plywood will help keep the mud from coming through the gaps and sinking the mats down to oblivion. Please give me your thoughts and let me know if I am thinking right or if this is not hefty enough for my machine. Thanks
I think your 3/8 plywood is way light. Perhaps the whole matt is to light. If it becomed point loaded because of a harder or uneven spot in the ground I think it will break up. IMHO. How to you intend to put them in position? You will not be able to pick them up and swing them around with a tractor hoe.
I plan to lay them out with the front loader on tractor. Starting about 50' out from the dig spot, placing the first mat then driving over it to place the second and so on. I plan on putting steel cable wrap around the 2x8 connection points close to the four corners to carry them. Once i have them laid out, I could use the how to move them over one tractor width at a time as the dig progresses (backing up as I move each one then drive back up that row of mats. The plywood is closer the 9/16 inch, (You know it is now 15/32, 19/32, 23/32, etc for plywood not the normal fractions we grew up using) I figured it would be more just to keep the mud below the mat so that it would not push through and sink the mat. The cost here is about $140 per mat. You really thing the plywood will break up being sandwiched between the 2x8 boards?
I have used 2 kinds of mats, 8x8s bolted together solid, used for draglines, and now trackhoes. In the logging woods "truck mats" are used, just 2x8s bolted together much like your diagram, without the plywood, and with length wise boards only in the tracks. They work fine for 80-90,000 lbs trucks, though they will break if layed across a stump or hard spot. A 555 is only 6-8 tons, so you won't be as likely to break them, if you do, its only a 2x8, replace it. That being said, I do a LOT of swamp work and I've never used mats under a TLB. I take my 580sK (and my Ford 4500 before it), where my trackhoe fears to tread. If you sink, just walk on both buckets. I've had it where the mud was coming over the floorboards and walked it out. I can see where it might be worth the hassle if you don't want to damage the surface.
I agree with Mitch504. You should be able to walk in on the buckets. Tip front bucket slightly to the front for a skid and pull yourself along with the rear hoe. Worked for years in a peat slough with my dad. We had a 7500 ford with cab, it was a heavy pig but would really dig. We welded 3ft square pads to the outriggers to help hold it up while digging. Even set outriggers on old car hoods when it was too muddy to even walk! We were working in peat with a depth of 5-25ft deep. Dig it and let it dry for a year and sell it to a bagger.
I've never worked in peat, but as long as there's a bottom I'm comfortable. Tip the bucket all the way forward, so the lip is back, lift the front up and tilt the bucket back at the same time you pull the stick in. You'd be amazed at what a 2wd backhoe can cross if the surface is dry also. Probably not going to wait for it to freeze though, huh?
That's a looong wait down here, Delmer.
Freeze, here... That would be a cold day in...... (Well, you know where that was going...)
If you have the Ford 4 lever controls, you can extend the boom and dipper and then pull back on their levers to pull them back. You can also use the front bucket control with your other hand to use the bucket uncurl to help with the pushing. Guy at the local Ford dealer told me how to do all that at the same time. It's one of big advantages of the Ford controls. I got my 5550 buried in mud, put 6x6s under one of the outriggers to get it up out of the mud. There's still about a 4 foot high stack that is still buried.....
Not to argue, but it's not hard to do with joysticks once you are used to it.
Mine is 2 stick controls.
I've been having to fight mud down here recently. I looked on craigslist and found a guy selling used laminated mats for $100 ea. Later that week I saw a place online that was selling them for $85 a piece.
I've seen guys do some pretty impressive things with a 2wd hoe in some deep stuff - although once I saw a guy on a nice new 4wd Cat machine but not much experience tear his oil filter open in a swampy area and make an EPA worthy mess. He ran almost every bit of oil out of that machine before figuring out where it was coming from.
Been years since I used wobble sticks, are the crowd and raise functions on one stick or one function on each? If you need both hands on the sticks, nothing left for working the front bucket. Which the Ford set up will let you do.
Boom up and swing are in your left hand, dipper crowd and bucket curl are in your right. It's not necessary to work the boom and dipper together to walk on the buckets, as the dipper goes under the boom pin it will raise and lower the machine, but I have done it many times. I have run and owned backhoes, mostly Case and Ford, as part of making my living for 29 years. I do a lot of swamp work, and have been known to walk as far as 200 yards on the buckets. As I said, if I can I use my backhoes for soft conditions, since they'll walk where the trackhoe has to be on mats. I have often said, 4x4 is great for loader work, but immaterial for hoe work, since you will be walking if it's bad, anyway.
Y'all just be sure that you're not working in regulatory wetlands to the extent that the EPA will come after you. Down here in South Georgia, we are very vigilant about such. TD
Nope, it is my land. No recorded wetlands...
Knightgang, I'm just an old-dirt appraiser down in south Georgia, but ownership is not relevant when it comes to impacting wetlands. Even if the reglatory wetlands have not been delineated (physically located by survey), if they are impacted without a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers, somebody could go to jail. Others have gone to jail because of impacting wetlands without a permit. I did not say that you are working in wetlands, because I don't know your situation; my comment was meant as a general heads-up to all. Most respectfully, TD
No worries... Yes, it could be a major problem. Everyone should stay mindful. My comment is that is was my land was more to reference that due to that, I know there are no federally regulated wetland on the property. However there is a protected habit area marked at the rear of my property, not actually within my property lines. There is a branch that runs along the back of my property that is clearly marked to not be disturbed. We stay mindful of that area for sure.
Thank you, Knightgang. TD
Well, went out to do some digging today. Plan was to get at least one drain pool dug so that I can hopefully get the water drained out of that top layer or peat and firm up the ground a little bit. I was sitting in 4 " of water and the more i dug, the front wheels sunk in, the stabilizers continued to sink. I used the rear bucket to re-position the machine a few times. Even taught one of my 15 year old boys how to operate it today. He got to dig for about 15 minutes when I said I needed to re position the machine before we really got it stuck. Well, dumping a 36" bucket full of wet mud and water all the way boom left had the left side of the machine really soft, even the front bucket had started leaning that way quite a bit. However, no worries. With the feedback I got from this thread, I was able to walk the machine on the buckets about 40 feet forward to get back to firm ground to drive out. that process went a lot easier then I thought it would. Gave me a lot of confidence about using my machine out there on my land int he wet areas. Also, I did find a hard bottom. At that location it is about 4' down. When the time comes, I will have to figure out how to get through that so that I can dig my main pond down to about 10-12' deep. Anyway, thanks guys. I gained a bit if very useful experience today and a lot more confidence using my machine.
In soft situations like that you will learn that not filling the bucket all the way, and working very smoothly, will help a lot to keep you up.
Yeah. I put the 36" bucket on thinking I could move more material faster, But man that makes for a heavy bucket at times. I have a 17" bucket and I just may put it back on while working this soft, wet areas... I wish I also had a 24" bucket, that would be perfect for a lot of the work I am going to be doing. Either way, things are coming along and I can't wait until next weekend to get back out there digging.
You said the front wheels sunk while you were digging... I never dig with weight on the front wheels. I usually dump the front bucket hard, then put it down. Dumping it tight takes the slack out of it, which helps stabilize the machine. If I'm on a finished surface, or in real soup, I'll put it down on a flat bottom. If the machine is wiggling while you are digging, you need to change your setup. It's natural to think you will move more material with a bigger bucket, but, often it slows your cycle time, or destabilizes your machine to the extent that a smaller one will get more done. If digging clay, a narrow bucket can be a PITA since the clay won't fall out. As far as digging through the hard bottom, just experiment with bucket angle and everything else. If it's real hard, you'll have to keep the bucket nearly flat, and just shave off long strips a few inches thick. All in all, it sounds like you did real good for a first experience in the soup. Good luck, Mitch
You are learning. You will also find when you are ready to dig the hard layer that the smallest bucket will do the most, as it applies the available power in a smaller area, so it will dig harder material. A set of tiger teeth will help as well. The smaller point you can apply the force to the harder the material you can dig.
We used to build temporary roads using gravel . But because of the cost we stopped doing that .So now we rent thick steel plates . Can be put in place quickly and when your done they come back and truck them away . These plates are designed for heavy weight for trucks and equipment .I think the wood idea would be costly .
I had the bucket down on the flat bottom, but the right side of the bucket started to sink as the machine was leaning. I was dumping at the far right boom position. Some of the movements were a little jerky as I learned the pressure points of the controls. I am sure that contributed to the bucket and wheel sink. In the future I will be more mindful of the setup and change it a bit more often if necessary. Thanks for the tips, they are helping me learn.