I want to buy a Excavator or dozer, We have a farm in Missouri there are several ponds 18. two are spring fed and in the drought two years ago we hired a company with a large excavator to re dig several of the ponds. Many are spring fed simply just filled back up and are working great. we have about a two acre pond behind our house that had a small feeder spring fed tiny pond that was pushed through years ago and it filled in with mud and the spring stopped running, and killed the fish in the main pond. there is a hand dug well from the 1800's adjacent the the tiny pond that is full and clear water so we know the spring will run if we re dig the feeder pond. The 2 acer pond I was thinking of draining it and enlarging it if possible, the dam is solid and has a side spillover that works fine. Not sure how to drain it as the dam is working well and don't want to mess with it so I may rent a pump but thats another question. I am not sure if we need a Excavator or Dozer or both also would be great to have around the farm for other needs. maybe a combo Dozer/loader? we also want to clear trees and level out some fields that have rain ditches so they are not as rough. And dig out creek rock to fill our road mud holes. I want to make a smart decision and purchase the right piece of equipment for our needs. Thanks for any input!!!
You can use a siphon to drain the lake. Equipment wise, a track loader or dozer would be my first choice. On a 2 acre pond, an ex will have a hard time dealing with the spoils unless you have other support equipment to haul/carry and spread.
You can use a siphon if the pond's level is significantly higher than the neighboring ground, but most of the ponds I've worked on have just been at the ground water table. Siphons don't work when the pond's level is the same as the water table of the surrounding area. On a farm, if you can only have one heavy machine, I can tell you from experience that you want a track loader. An old cat 955 or 977 can do all sorts of things at quite a pace and at a decent cost. A track loader can dig, push, and even haul (short distances) fairly well. For taking out trees and leveling out fields, a track loader is once again perfect. A dozer would make a decent second choice, and is better for finishing, but a dozer blade is a lot less versatile than a loader. The loader bucket on a crawler loader can be really handy for taking out larger stumps or lifting things. Now, for using a dozer or crawler loader in a pond, you will likely need a good sized pump to dig to a good depth. On my farm, back when we were originally digging our pond, we first used an old D6 paired with a 60 hp pump until we reached a depth where it didn't look safe to take the dozer. Once we stopped the pump, the resulting pond depth was a mere 3.5 feet. Even that 60 hp pump was only able to lower the level ~3 feet on a pond that was around half an acre. Mind you, the pond was in coarse sandy soil. We had to then use an excavator (while the pump kept running) to get a proper depth, and then used the dozer and a wheel loader to spread the diggings. You'll need a loader or dozer to move the diggings if you get an excavator. If you can afford two machines, you would probably be best off with an excavator and a dirt pusher, as this combination will allow you to dig to a much greater depth. Also, for small ponds, the reach of the excavator makes much safer to dig compared to driving a dozer through deep wet muck. Summary: For a single machine: Track loader + mandatory big pump For two machines: Excavator + track loader or dozer + optional pump
Thanks Jumberjack It is on a slope so we could siphon it, This is great info
If you can siphon it, I'd say go for a track loader.
Sultan thanks Great advise just what I was hoping for, maybe we rent excavator and buy track loader.
Most track loaders come with relatively narrow street pads (triple grouser bars). A regular dozer has wider single grouser bar pads, which are better for getting around in the muck. A track loader may have an extra roller on a longer track frame compared to a dozer which makes up somewhat for the narrower pads. For really getting a machine into muddy places you want a LGP dozer which is a low ground pressure machine with a wider blade, wider spaced drives and track frames to allow clearance for very wide pads with single bar grousers for floatation. You can usually get track loaders at very good prices used, they are not as popular with contractors as they once were before excavators became popular. Buying a single machine they are hard to beat for versatility, however with more than one machine an excavator and dozer are a hard combination to beat.
I figured so when you mentioned not wanting to cut the dam.
Amen to that. I just spent almost 12 hours over 2 days digging my 977H out of the muck that sucked it in while renovating my pond. I was wishing it had much wider pads as it went in.......