I'm working in a brand new subdivision which has fresh asphalt and brand new sidewalks. I want to use my 6 ton mini TB153FR on the homeowners lawn area. How can I cross the sidewalk from the road, with the most important part being not to crack the sidewalk pavement . I also prefer not to leave scratches, and black marks. I do have some ground protection mats for the asphalt or sidewalk. Track sprockets are 6' 6" apart. I know how to lift the front of the machine with the bucket and scoot forward. Drop blade down. Swing around and lift the rear side up. Raise blade, and push back with bucket. The sidewalk though is a bit too wide. I have some big rubber blocks (old blocks for train intersection road crossings) that are a foot tall and maybe 8' long and 2' wide. The curb is usually plenty strong, it's the side near the lawn that is weak. Around here they don't always do a good gravel base underneath the sidewalk. Ideas?
Timbers/cribbing. Throw what ever cribbing/blocking you need down on either side of the sidewalk so your horizontals don't touch it, then use timbers strong enough to span the sidewalk. I'd think a couple 6x6's on each side would do, blocked to the proper height. You'd probably still want to lift the excavator up on them using the bucket. Seems like a lot of hassle, but if it's that important it may be the only way.
I do have cribbing. Job is so small it may not be worth it. Also could use my smaller excavator, but the 6 ton once in, can load the full size dump truck better. I'll see if I can get an image of these big rubber blocks I got.
Assuming the sidewalk has been backfilled when was it poured? Is it laid out with a curb, grass strip, sidewalk then yard or is the sidewalk poured up to the curb? The way it's designed plays a big role. Have any pics of the sidewalk?
Sidewalk is poured up to the curb So you have the street, the curb, the sidewalk, and the lawn. No grass between curb and sidewalk. Most likely I could climb the curb and be ok, just come down on something ideally higher such as timbers or fill dirt above the height of the sidewalk. Curbs are strong, but in the event of a repair needed, sidewalk flat work much easier than curb repair. I'm thinking of using a 4x8 protection mat, to protect the new asphalt from damage when I lift the back of the machine and push back toward the lawn. Normally on old asphalt who cares. I will bring timbers that will be taller than the sidewalk and curb and climb up that. With tracks above the sidewalk, I will use the bucket on the lawn to keep me lifted and pulled forward and come down on a pile of dirt or timbers higher than the sidewalk. Then the easy push back. What am I missing. or what would be easier?
Street, curb then sidewalk is the best combo for what you want to do. Sheet of plywood/protection mat on the asphalt, some cribbing to climb the curb and protection mat with some dirt on the sidewalk if you want to get that involved. Dirt is one of the best cushions out there IMO. Use the bucket in the lawn to lower yourself on the sidewalk in order to reduce the shock load on the sidewalk like you described. We've ran countless trips over 7 day old 18" curb and gutter with a 279D (12K or so with a full bucket and fat operator) with only some DGB or dirt ramped over the curb at least 1' thick with no issues. The curb was backfilled first but the asphalt was not installed yet. Does your 12K mini have steel or rubber tracks? How many times are you going to have to cross the sidewalk?
Question--Where is the dump truck going once it's loaded? A loaded dump truck is a good way to crack a sidewalk.
Dump truck will stay on the road. Excavator has rubber tracks. Going over the sidewalk to go in, and then when job is done come out.
Old tires laid as a path should do the trick? Shold be plenty of them laying around...
I went into a polished floor situation in a museum and I use brand new OSb rips to prevent scratching and marring. No chance of an embedded rock.
What kind of curb you talking about? Precast, cast in place, or monolithic? Do you know how thick the sidewalk is?
Well, I'm doing the job on Monday. Decided to use my lighter TB240 (4.5 ton machine), and just use two 4'x8' ground protection mats. I will climb the curb with bucket on the lawn for lift, but keep weight off the lawn side of the concrete. I will pile some dirt next to the lawn side of the concrete sidewalk to keep me above the sidewalk height. Will try and take some images. Not sure on the curb sidewalk construction, but mostly what I see around here is they pour the curb first. Compact some gravel underneath the sidewalk area, then pour the sidewalk. I do not think they extend the gravel base past the sidewalk width, which makes the sidewalk weak near the grass.
Going to use my 7.5 dump truck on the owners driveway, instead of the 12yd dump truck on the road. Hauling off about 30yds of didt/sod. One day job.
OK for that I would lay a 6x6 that I hand set into the dirt, that sticks up above the sidewalk edge. That way you are not bearing on the edge of the sidewalk. I do that when I jump out of jobs with green wall pours. This was stripped the day before. I put those 4x4's on each side so they stuck up above the concrete.
Around here when we move crawlers across county roads we use old tires to run over
Welcome to the Forums NW350! Glad to have you.
So, no damage done! We ended up using the 4.5 ton machine though. I set up the two ground protection mats on the sidewalk and on the street. I placed 6 qty large timbers for the curb. Two double stacked sided by side to get me higher than the curb, and one timber each in front of the double stack to make it easier to climb up and give the double stack a bit more support. The lawn side had dirt stacked higher than the sidewalk. Only issue is that the 4.5 ton machine track sprockets are no quite long enough to bridge the raised gap well. The curb side though was plenty strong. Regarding the big 7.5 yd International 4900 dump truck, I backed that up on the homeowners driveway. I kept the truck about 5' away from the concrete edge. Sorry, didn't get any images.
This is what we did to get across a state highway with my dozer: Reminds me of Tennesee Ernie Ford's song "Sixteen Tons" as that's what the dozer weighs.