Quickest and easiest way to strip top soil

We have always started stripping the top soil from the farthest point and push it in from there with a dozer. i have seen it done by started near the stock pile and working back. Which is the better way we are in southern New England so soils very a lot.. Just trying to be as efficient as possible thank you.

To sum it up in one word....... Scraper lol.

Seriously tho, we normally start farthest Way from the pile, cut/load the blade and then slide it xxxxx number of feet....dunno why but that's the way we do it ?

Pj

All depends on distance of push, where the dirt needs to end up, and how much you are moving. There are many variables that can play into this. Someone else will have to refresh me on this...but I do believe in the CAT Performance Handbook, it has you pushing in a slot...starting close to your pile and working your way back further from it. Growing up we always moved our scraper to job sites first to strip off all black dirt and pile it away from the project, was a one man project that could be completed before any staking done, etc.

Trbo

That's what I am talking about two different ways..We mainly do residential developments or small commercial places..Guess I am going to have to fool around and see if starting close to pile is actually more efficient thanks

Yair . . . Absolutely no need to fool around jazzyjeffer.

Work slots front to back and cut the rills out back to front. Maybe not so critical if you are just taking off a few inches but if you work a dozer according to that rule you can't go wrong.

You can't always do it due to terrain and circumstance but it has been proven time again that in bulk pushing the more you deviate from that basic premise the more inefficient you get.

Cheers

Slot dozing is about 20% more productive, very easily, in conditions that are applicable to using the method. Being able to carry much more material down the slot compared to having the material spill out the side of the blade is quite advantageous. Heavy cuts are what makes the most sense, I usually figure if the cut is about 30-50% of the height of the blade, go ahead and start a slot. Get the fat trimmed first while slot dozing, then come in later and tune it up making traditional clean up passes.

I only like slot dozing if your in a tight area to keep dirt away from buildings, curbs, or anything important. I like starting at the highest point first, then the farthest point back. I center the windrows every time, you are creating a new slot without dragging in old slot. You get a full blade and what is falling off is falling off closer to your stockpile. Slot dozing you are only moving 1 blade full at a time nothing else is moving towards stockpile.

I have gone side by side with operators using the slot dozing method. I have never lost using centering windrows method in 40 years, even when I had the smaller tractor.

Yair . . . Your problem dozerman400 is that like so many operators you don't understand what slot/front to back dozing really is.

Your comment about moving one blade at a time is incorrect and proof of that lack of understanding.

If you have been centering windrows for forty years you have been costing some one (perhaps yourself) a lot of money.

This is a thread on stripping top soil, not really a slot dozing application.

Take case of pushing out a hole one hundred and fifty feet square at the top, ten feet deep, three in one batters (slopes), all the dirt to go one way. The site is flat and the material is tight gravelly clay. Such holes were common for mud and water storage at oil rigs and I have seen supposedly competent operators take nearly twice the time to do the job by using poor and undisciplined technique.

There is only one way to do that job and I can assure you, starting at the furthest point and pushing out the rills isn't going to cut it.

If you would like to start a thread on production dozing I am sure there are folks on here who could refer you to some actual Caterpillar studies and explain the technique in detail.

Cheers.

Use a slot any time you can, you will gain 1/3 production. Begin the slot in the front that way you create it on the way back and are often able to load the dozer downhill toward the slot, take out the berm from back to front this way you can use the slot to remove the berm. Only way to bulk dirt.

Scrub Puller,

With all do respect, did you read that I have never lost with comparing centering windrows vs slot dozing. (post #7). I had a 955h vs a 977h, we split the site in 1/2, I stripped my half and helped the #1 operator of the company on the 977h finish his half with his slot dozing. This was a long time ago and I have been doing the same thing with newer machines all my life.

I realize centering windrows is not popular with the majority of operators, but the ones I have worked side by side with are believers.

Yair . . . Okay dozerman400. Slot dozing is very well document technique for obtaining maximum production with a dozer.

It would be impossible to use all the specific nuances of the method with a trackloader.

You may well be able to work a loader in a slot and get some increase in output, however that isn't slot dozing.

Such a loader isn't going to compare with a similar sized dozer when it comes to production.

Cheers.

Dozer man, anyone can put a claim like yours on the net. Cat tend to do their homework before recommending a method, as do the SeaBees, the army, Allis Chalmers, every textbook on earthmoving I've ever read. But tell me, using your method, you must be cutting all the time, whereas I and Scrub and all the other know-nothings cut until we have a blade full and then just drift the material along. Who burns the most diesel and wears tracks out the quickest?I'm sure with your 40 years you'll understand what I'm saying. I have competed with someone with equal abilities to myself, i.e. Me, doing it all ways and slotting I can outperform myself anywhere from around 25% to 50% depending on soil type, depth, gradient etc. but what do I know after 36 years?

Scrub, don't often find myself in the opposite corner to you, but on a topsoil strip or any job where you aren't taking too much depth, there isn't clear water between a tracked loader and similar weight dozer in terms of output. That bucket contains a lot of material when you doze with it, and not needing to push right up and over the stockpile saves quite a bit of time. Downside is it's all but impossible to steer in the slot. It isn't fashionable nowadays, but slotting with a loader used to be a recognised method, as was cutting and drifting. You'll remember that was where the term skid-shovel came from. I wouldn't argue that the dozer is the cheapest way to do, though. Too much to wear on the tracked loader.

DPete said:

Use a slot any time you can, you will gain 1/3 production. Begin the slot in the front that way you create it on the way back and are often able to load the dozer downhill toward the slot, take out the berm from back to front this way you can use the slot to remove the berm. Only way to bulk dirt.

Click to expand...

Absolutely... :thumbsup

Begin the slot in the front that way you create it on the way back and are often able to load the dozer downhill toward the slot

Click to expand...

Absolutely... :thumbsup




OCR

scrub.. what is "yair"? I see you use that a lot and I have no idea if you just cussed me out (many times I deserve it)..

I agree on the start at the pile and work your way back method. I have a friend that moves dirt for housing developments and he swears that using a cleanup bucket on a 460 Volvo excavator and a haul truck is the best way. Cann't say I agree but that's how he does it.

Yair . . . ih100.

Scrub, don't often find myself in the opposite corner to you, but on a topsoil strip or any job where you aren't taking too much depth, there isn't clear water between a tracked loader and similar weight dozer in terms of output.

Click to expand...

I don't think you are in an opposite corner really.

You will note in my comments to the O/P in the #5 post I mentioned slot technique not so important when just taking off a few inches. I always used to stress to my blokes though it was important to maintain discipline and stick with proven methods, work from front to back for instance and then push out the rills.

On this interesting thread I have perhaps broken my rule of not on commenting on subjects I know nothing about.

I know nothing about tracked loaders and also tend to think of "dozers" as machines with wide angle blades and tilt. I would be surprised if a loader stripping (say) six inches of topsoil would out produce an equivalent dozer so equipped but would like to keep this thread alive with further discussion.

Cheers.

oldirt said:

scrub.. what is "yair"? I see you use that a lot and I have no idea if you just cussed me out (many times I deserve it)..

Click to expand...

There is a Yair thread in the TGIF section

Even when stripping topsoil with a dozer, I still slot doze. However if the sub soil is soft, I'll sometimes start at the back of the slot and work forward instead of starting close to the pile. I usually do that because the surface or root mat will hold together better and keep from beating topsoil into the subsoil forcing me to strip more. Just my experience and what works for me. Harder subsoils and cut fills I start close and work my way back.

ih100,

I am cutting most of the time. That is moving dirt from where it was to maybe 5 feet closer to the pile as it rolls off to the sides. When I get to a point where it's to much to push, then i will drift for a while till I feel I can take more again. I keep it smooth with out gouging so when I back up I can back up in high gear. I have read some techniques on moving dirt, I agree with most everything but slot dozing. I am just telling jazzyjeffer the way I do it.

When I was young my dad always said if an operator can grade an area in 10 passes, I better do it in 7.

I completely agree with all that have mentioned slot dozing working your way back with on caviat - if, as is the case many times around here, your topsoil is sitting on gravel, it is slower but easier to keep from digging in to the gravel if you work from the far end toward your pile. If you have mid soil that is not going to compromise your topsoil quality much if a bit gets mixed in then by all means slot dozing working your way back is the standard to follow. After typing this I realized that JimBruce42 suggested the same thing.
With all due respect dozerman, in my opinion you should NOT be cutting all the time, but rather load the dozer and go. Any time I see someone boiling material over the blade for long stretches I realize that they have yet too learn some of the finer points of production dozing. It is far more productive, in my opinion, to load the dozer and lift the blade just to the point where the machine travels free and your speed increases. This is where maintaining a smooth surface in the slot is so important, because after loading the dozer and heading for the pile one should'nt have to chase the grade. There is a fine line ofcourse between losing material and maintaining a blade full.