Ever use a reachlift to backfill? Here's a pic of our machine helping to place leach rock in a corner, and to do this task with the hoe would be arduous.
We do it all the time. :thumbsup Typically, I'll dig a foundation, the plumbers will come in and use a mini-ex to dig for their undergound plumbing in the basement, and if I can reach it, I'll use the bigger excavator to place the gravel bedding for them. The trouble is, the site features relatively small lots, so often there's no way to get close enough with a big machine once the hole has been dug. The builder's guys will use the telehandler, with a 1/2 yard concrete bucket, to place the stone. They charge the bucket with a skid loader or mini-ex, and then drive over to where they can reach out and place it. It's kind of clumsy, but better than handwork. They're on their second telehandler, and both times I told them to buy a material handling bucket like the one you've pictured, but they don't listen.
We do it all the time too. Pour round foundation walls 48-135' in diameter and 4-8' tall. Fill the inside with sand or rock. Clumsy some, yes but beats a shovel
Yep me too. I have toted many a ton of #57 stone backfilling retaining walls and basement walls. Works handy as a shirt pocket when nothing else will get in there.
Seems to be working well Originally, the reachlift was put on the job to unload trucks, put stuff up on roofs, man basket chores, clean-up bucket duty, be a variable ht saw horse, etc etc ... all the things these machines do for building construction. We were assigned the job to put some subgrade drains in an expanded planter. Yesterday as an experiment I tried it for the placing of the rock and I didn't have to first move a spoil pile which is my normal solution. It worked adequately - so I wrote the post. Today the job continued and you may see from the pics how the sandy soil falls away, doesn't matter if it is wet or dry or damp, this is what it does. With the A/C pavement hanging over the edge, there was no way the backhoe's loader bucket would reach. Thanks for the help on this.
I plan on using my Gradall with the light material bucket to backfill around the chambers of a Stormtech underground retention system coming up. Instead of renting a larger trackhoe, ol' Blue will get to earn her keep once again.
I have often wondered about using one. just worry about production.
I wouldn't use it where you could get a loader or backhoe to place backfill for production reasons but if access is a problem and the lift will reach it, it can be the cheapest way to get the material there.
I have used them for retaining wall backfills and other difficult access projects. They are pretty productive once you get the hang of them, and save money over some of the other options available.
Bucket width and other experiences Thank you all for the comments. None of the local 'dirt only' general engineering contractors have reach lifts. The bigger firms that have these machines will use them on bridge and culvert jobs. Building contractors, steel building erectors, and tract developers use them all the time for materials and setting trusses; on these projects, concrete subs borrow the reachlift to 'sand the subgrade over the vapor barrier under the slab' although this practice is pretty much old school these days, now the vapor barrier is placed directly under the concrete.... The bucket in the pics is rented and it is a bit narrower than the width of the carriage, and certainly less than the width of the tires. I now think this width is a good idea for moving the 'fill materials' as it helps in keeping the forces lower on the boom (boom neck too) and the overall maneuvering radius is better than the wider bucket. The bucket doesn't really fill up that well but I am learning how to ride the bucket up the side of the stock pile which then it becomes angled to help it fill. This keeps the forces lower on the bucket. The speed of the tilt is pretty slow, perhaps that can be adjusted in the hydraulics. But I wouldnt want to have it quick using the forks so I will let it be alone. The bucket pockets seem to be taller than need be .... but I would like the convenience of quickly changing off the bucket to forks as opposed to the pin on style or quick attach style (since my machine would need a coupler type mod to do this). The pins behind the heel of the forks don't hold the bucket that well so we added safety chains to the fork bar and still make sure the helpers stay well away. This may be a characteristic of the slip on style (loose fit).