So the past couple of days i have had two komatsu trucks bringing me blasted rock (everything from 1 foot and smaller) and i have to try and grade off a level pad. Is there any thing i can do to make this job easy? First off I always find that when im pushing, the bigger rock in the pile is always making me loose traction. Second thing is that the work i have already leveled up is so rough (bigger rock sticking up) i cannont back up with any speed and it really ends up making me fall behind. is there any techniques i can use to make this job easyer? thanks in advance.
Couple of questions- What size/kind of dozer are you running? What is the allowable fill depth?
Work your piles farther than you would normally work a pile of dirt. Your dozer is going to become the screen plant. Have the trucks dump on top of your fill, in an area you have leveled off. You will have to work a little harder. Push the bigger rock over the edge of the fill. Then back up and push the fines across the bigger rock. This fills the voids, and gives you a smoother finish.
Hi Danial, main thing when building a rock fill is to maintain a smooth work area. If you have 1 foot minus material and you have a 3/4 foot lift you need to either dig holes in front of your lift to sink the bigger rock or get them off to the side in the fill slope. Try cornering into the piles and taking smaller bites so you can shake the bigger rocks out. Check your grade frequently so you don't have to go back and build thin fills. Work from a flat platform a little thicker than need at first and cut it down as you get organized.
I feel sorry for you I had to do the same with an 825 compactor. it is tough but once you get a pattern going its easier. like turbo says dump the loads on your level pad then push it. good luck
Yes, and once your smoothed up and to avoid getting behind have the trucks dump right at the end of your lift so you don't have to push as far.
Thanks guys!!! I will be putting this info to work today !!!!
My only reason for dumping away from the edge is to give you a decent amount of room to push through the piles, and sort the big rocks out. So boss, howd the tips work out for ya today.
are you sore, I was barely able to walk or drive when I got done the first day after that it got easy :bash:bash:bash
The tips worked great!! Took a couple of trys to get it to work out but it did make a big difference! It makes life so much easyer when you can actually travel at a decent speed! Thanks everyone!
That's cool! Great tips from pros. Rock is hateful!!!! :dizzy Make dozer operator mad!!!! :Banghead Big rock goes over edge!!!! :avid
amen brother
I had a foreman tell me once: "ya gotta be smarter than the rock!" I was on an old single shank 8 trying to rip fractured rock and was hardly getting anything done and just really fighting it. I told him if you think you can do better, go for it. He hopped up on there and right away started pulling it apart. I had a lot of respect for him after that. The main things I was doing wrong was one, I was not aware of how the rock was layered and was ripping in the wrong direction and two, I was not keeping enough fines on the rock to maintain traction.
I use to take smal cuts of the tipped load to get more of the fines to roll down on the flat area. Makes for many passes back and forth, but u can get it exactly to level and hard as rock afterwards. Passing over it also makes the rock crack into smaler rocks, making it even bether. U both get it level, and the grousers crack the stone and compress your filling. Tipping outside the edge also makes your tip look like a rough sea, because you are then getting uneven compression of the filling. I also use to lay it a coupe of inches higher at the end, like a ski jump, because it will get compressed and down to right level as u go forward. The extra height i lay is a resault of watching how the filling get compressed over the day, both by the dozer and the trucks driving over the filling. Doing it this way will often give u a inch or two with fines on the top, done good, the grader can be able to level theese fines later giving the trucks a smoother ride without adding anything.