I need another off road truck for a 11 acre development i am working on. Currently, I am using a Cat D20D. It is a 4 wheel articulating off roader. Must be a early 90's model. Rough shape, hot as hell but "only" 11k hours. Brought it in from Rotterdam back when you could get a Euro for 0.80 US. Need a recomendation for a replacement. How old is reasonable? Which ones hold up best? Which ones are easiest to work on. How should I inspect the truck? Where should i look to buy. Thanks.
These trucks are really quite fast on a small job and have the ability to side dump on the run. Ive never been involved with them until a few weeks ago and surprised the hell outa me. Rental companies have them here in Australia and we are a little behind the times in some respects.
I like the Hydrema, but i think i need more capacity and i dont believe i can utilize the side dump feature. My job is a fill job. I am digging 3 barrow pits (ponds/lakes) to provide fill for the site. I need dry weather and I have to pump the pits if and when it rains during excavation. Accordingly, I need to move as much dirt a possible the the weather participates. This makes me fear full of rental. I think the lease companies will give me some rain days but i don't think they will give me rain/pump/dry days. A rental, during most of my year, could be sitting much more than running. I guess i need to buy. I need to buy an old machine that has been well serviced and is most likly to have a couple more years left in it. I know, i may as well go to Los Vegas and gamble. Better chances. Thanks
I know this is not what you asked and I have never been involved in this kind of project but....... I have to wonder if one would be better off hiring an outfit that specializes in that kind of work and could do it in a short amount of time? Or am I miss reading this and that is the business you are trying to get in yourself? If so do you have prospects of more jobs of this type in your area? Just thinking out loud, but would be interested in the economics of buying a machine to let it sit much of the year as opposed to renting and again letting it sit. Might there be a chance of say renting two machines for a short period of time to get the job done during a "dry" period of the year?
Maybe, it took me 6 weeks to excavate and compact 10,500 yards fill and and move 3400 yards of top soil. With on average, one other operator. The two operators fled to a demo job nearby for unreported wages, butt slapping with buddies and work on rain days.
Have spoken with rental. Problem is i need dry weather. My understanding is the rental companies will give you tain days, but they will not give you pump down your lake days and soil dry after you pump down your lake days.
What yardage should i try to rent?
In order to help I need a little more information. What type and size machine are loading with? What size compactor are you using? With the information you have already given and assuming you're running a 5 day week you're shifting on average 400 cyds a day including topsoil. I have something else in mind to help but need more information.
A friend had 2 Moxys, life sucked if something broke, took forever to get parts. Ed
Excavating with a se350lc2 samsung. 75k lbs machine . Packing with a Sakai sv500TF single drum 7' wide pad foot .
Imy math is wrong. I will correct it shortly
Took me 6 weeks to excavate, move compact 3500 cubic yards fill and to strip move and stock 1140 cubic yards top soil.
Here is an idea that may just work. Get yourself an 12-13 yd elevating scraper,Cat 613 Inter 412 etc and remove the elevator assembly then weld an apron across the front of the bowl. That will haul and spread faster than any truck but it needs to have good drive tyres. When the jobs finished you then have the options of leaving as is or refitting the elevator BTW those machines are carrying about the same quantity as the D20
I was looking at pans . But, then decided i would use the excavator and truck. But why an elevator scraper? You mean use it as a dump truck and load it with the excavator? I figured it would be difficult to self load . Thought, i would need a pusher to load by scraping.
Hydrema are available here in the states, I saw a couple of them on a jobsite I was at last year, I think they were rented. The ones I saw were very small payload, on a very tight site. I've seen guys also do what was suggested with using a scraper as a dump truck. The advantage being you can level as you unload, vs just dumping a pile. I've also seen guys take the dump bed/ rear end off a articulated dump, and make a hitch and pull it with a farm tractor. That's mostly farmers who already have a tractor, and its a little more floatation than just a articulated dump truck.
Thanks, My farm tractor it too small (70 hp). I need the Dozer free when i am moving dirt. I have never operated a pan/scraper. I can't judge how well they can spread. How about i buy a scraper and actually load with the scraper? And then have the option to also load with the excavator also. Sure would like some feed back on this. If i bought a scraper , should i get one with the chain.drive thing in it. I know very little about scrapers.
Elevating equates to self loading in the right conditions. Leaving the elevator in place would negate loading with the hoe though. A good operator could spread close to finish grade.
Load it with the excavator. There's not to many open bowl of that size around anymore hence getting an elevator
Google is your friend, there are heaps of videos of them working
Dirt conditions need to be right to move dirt well with a scraper (self load). We've got way too much rock by me for scrapers. If you've got super wet conditions- which it sounds like if you are pumping/ drying it out before you move dirt, I don't think self loading a scraper is going to go well. Likely you will just bury the scraper in the muck. But you could easily pull the bowl up by the excavator and load, and then haul off and level as you unload. We rarely see 2 axle off road dumps. Mostly I see the three axle off road articulating dump trucks. Usually cat, deere or volvo in my area, never see the terex ones by me. I believe the john deere are, or at one time were the same as a Bell.
You think that would be cheaper than buying an articulating dump? Cheaper to buy and more efficient because i can spread better than a dump. I sure appreciate all of the feed back and advice. How about transporting from purchase site? Thanks.
There dimensions are approximately the same for road haulage. The only down side is they are 2 wheel drive but with some job planning that came be overcome. The upside is the elevator can be refitted and used for original purpose as a self loading pan. BTW what I'm suggesting I have been involved with before where it worked a treat so it's not the beers talking As for purchase cost I have no idea, ( I live in Australia) but over the ground per cubic yards carted and spread it'll beat a dump truck any day provided the job is set out right.
Hmmm thinking about it. Here things seem to have shifted to 40 yard Articulated Dumps. Not sure what the pans are hauling.
https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=8&acctid=19531 Here’s a gem !
According to RB spec she’s only about 11 yards heaped. The spec for the C model didn’t have the capacity. Would be more with the elevator removed I suspect.
Traction is another consideration between pans and artics. Artics will pull out of a hole in slick or soft ground a whole lot better than pans. Artics are also a whole lot easier to sell if needed when the job it done.
There are plenty of Volvo A25C’s and A30C’s still around and they are excellent trucks. You can pick one up for less than $30,000 but you’ll have to put a few tires on it probably. But if you buy one and fix it up, you’ll have something that can do your job when you need it, then sit around costing very little until you need it again. The problem I see in the project you are describing is that you need two or three of them to keep production going on the days you can haul. A 75,000 lb excavator can load a lot of dirt in a day if you’ve got enough trucks to stay under the bucket, along with a good dozer operator to keep it spread on the other end. But if you’re going to work through the winter, artic trucks are the only way I know to do it. If you’re willing to accept low production, you and a lesser qualified operator, or maybe a retired part time guy, can dig and haul with one truck for a while then go spread and compact for a while.
I've done the scraper/excavator thing before. If the scraper operator is good, there is not much for the dozer hand to do at the dump site.
Hated Moxys, good rig but rode rough as hell and tended to tip over (not me, but the guy I replaced apparently several times!).
Hydrema, the swivel dump is an option, they make the standard dump units. Older Terex, or Bell, or Deere all good, if you want to fall in love with a cruel mistress, drive one Volvo, you will spit on every other brand you ever run across.
yes a well put together driving rig in every respect.
Another option is a Bergmann. It's a 15 ton unit similar to the Hydrema but our North American operation is in Spartanburg, SC. Stone Equipment is the dealer in Alabama. The rear tip with 750mm tire is only carrying about 10psi of ground pressure, loaded.
I would have considered this. I missed some post. Not getting email notifications. I ended up buying a Terex TA30 from Yoder and Frey Ohio auction. Working through it now. 10k hours. I think I did ok but it is no spring chicken.
In Alabama, the Koehn team move a lot of dirt with scrapers: May be worth calling them for scraper pan advice or easiest if they moving the dirt for you.
That is what I did September - November. Using my old Cat D20D. Going to try and pick it up this spring with the TA30 I bought. Will try to put together crew to run two trucks. With pipe lines shutting down, starting to get some response from the laid off travel guys. Thank You .
I am too far into job for this. I should have started research earlier. Thank You
Check out MTS (Mobile Track Solutions) A months rent with one of them and you could probably do it by yourself. The hign speed tracked model should handle less than solid soil well.