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''steep slopes on dozers''

Bandit44

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
68
Location
Mississippi
Thanks Countryboy, I am new to running a dozer, but have been around long enough to know it never hurts to ask someone else the best way to do something that they know a lot more about than me.
 

Dozerboy2

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
16
Location
Belize
Occupation
Business Owner, Operator, Manager, Mechanic
too steep

was trying to get to the top of a hill till i slid off an undergrown edge with a 3ft drop.. don't remember anything from there till i got to hospital. machine had made 3 full revolutions to the bottom.. thank god for seatbelts!:Banghead
 

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Hjolli

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
124
Location
Iceland
Wow, hope you escaped without a bad injury.
I suppose the machine had a proper ROPS cab/canopy.
From the underside it looks like a Cat D6 C or D?

Regards Hjolli
 

Dozerboy2

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
16
Location
Belize
Occupation
Business Owner, Operator, Manager, Mechanic
It was a D6D .and yes it had a good Rops. nothing happened to the cab..my head just got banged up pretty good from hitting the side screens. small fracture in my scull..
 

white_boyz1

Active Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Messages
42
Location
springfield,la
finally got some pics

one pic shows the slope meter on 0,next shows slope meter on 50 degrees,and last shows looking up slope at dozer and trackhoe..this was a 6000 yard stock pile that had to be sloped to 50 degrees all the way around..
 

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Sparffo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
223
Location
Finland
Occupation
Demolition contractor
It was a D6D .and yes it had a good Rops. nothing happened to the cab..my head just got banged up pretty good from hitting the side screens. small fracture in my scull..

:eek: You are lucky to be alive!! who did find you, some other guy working on the same site? it could have gone really bad if you had hit a truck or something before stop...

i usually go up really steep slopes, my guess would be 1-1 or steeper! thats on the motocross track, some jums are soo steep you can't walk up, you have to put on the human 4-wheel drive :D
when fixing the jump faces in summer time its no problem, but in the winter when the track is frozen and covered in snow, it can be really scary.
a couple of times the machine has begun to slide sideways down, once i saved it by smashing full throttle reverse, the other time (first) i just wenth down sideways with the machine, hoping not to roll over at the bottom.

I can just imagine how small you feel when side sliding down a hill, even those jumps feels scary, and they are not so high...

lately i was trying to make some jump faces with the Bobcat 763, i had to leave it, halfway up the jump the mashine begun to rise in the front end :D even with the loader and showel down... i wouldn't like to roll over backwards in a bobcat :D
my friend did it once with a 443 bobcat, he did reverse full speed with empty bucket. suddently the front weight came loose :eek: when he let of the steering sticks, the machine whent over one full turn backwards, and ended up on its side in a ditch... this guy could thank his fat for saving him, he could barely make it inside the phone boot sized bobcat, so he only hit hes head when rolling around, it looked incredibly stupid indeed :cool:
 

Ray Welsh

Banned
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
134
Location
Queensland Australia
:eek: You are lucky to be alive!! who did find you, some other guy working on the same site? it could have gone really bad if you had hit a truck or something before stop...

i usually go up really steep slopes, my guess would be 1-1 or steeper! thats on the motocross track, some jums are soo steep you can't walk up, you have to put on the human 4-wheel drive :D
when fixing the jump faces in summer time its no problem, but in the winter when the track is frozen and covered in snow, it can be really scary.
a couple of times the machine has begun to slide sideways down, once i saved it by smashing full throttle reverse, the other time (first) i just wenth down sideways with the machine, hoping not to roll over at the bottom.

I can just imagine how small you feel when side sliding down a hill, even those jumps feels scary, and they are not so high...

lately i was trying to make some jump faces with the Bobcat 763, i had to leave it, halfway up the jump the mashine begun to rise in the front end :D even with the loader and showel down... i wouldn't like to roll over backwards in a bobcat :D
my friend did it once with a 443 bobcat, he did reverse full speed with empty bucket. suddently the front weight came loose :eek: when he let of the steering sticks, the machine whent over one full turn backwards, and ended up on its side in a ditch... this guy could thank his fat for saving him, he could barely make it inside the phone boot sized bobcat, so he only hit hes head when rolling around, it looked incredibly stupid indeed :cool:

Some good ideas here. I use a thing called a clinometer to measure slopes. It shows degrees and percent of grade and is about the size of an old fashoned pocket watch & is easily carried in your shirt pocket. For rough field work I have also used it as a dumpy level when the good gear was somewhere else.

To the bloke with the leaking dam wall, I have used an underwater explosion to settle the ground near the leak. Just gelegnite in a waterproof bag, suitably weighted to make it sink and set off with a detonator. It worked for me!!!!!...........C ya.............Ray
 

HoJay

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
78
Location
the west
Never seen a slope meter on a cat before only on graders. I wonder why we dont have those seems like a time saver.
 

Vantage_TeS

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
495
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Occupation
HE Operator. Surprise?
You have to be very careful running a machine on anything steeper than a 1:1 for another reason. Oil pressure. Once you hit the 1:1 mark if your oil is low (or sometimes the sump pickup is slightly out of position, maybe bend up a little last time someone was working on it) your engine can blow! Always a good idea to overfill the oil slightly anytime you are working on a steep angle for any amount of time.

I'll see if I can dig up my picture of the 6R XML III I had on a 1:1. It definately didn't want to stay in a straight line and I was just creeping around with my foot on the decelerator so I could stop before I got too far into trouble anytime the soil condition changed. There was one spot where I hit very loose dirt and ended up having to jamb it in reverse and turn hard with the way the bottom track was sliding, digging the corner bit in to get the machine to pivot. Sliding backwards down a slope sucks ass, let me tell you.

Word of advice, if you do start sliding, don't try to fight the slide, just get yourself straight (up and down) and ride it out. Using the machine to pull yourself around by accelerating works alot better then trying to brake (once you are sliding you are already in a low traction situation to braking is only going to make that worse...).

And for god sakes take your time! If you are going slow you have a bit of warning before you get into trouble. Don't need to be a space cadet and end up on your can at the bottom. And if you aren't comfortable doing the work, tell your foreman to stuff it. You have the right to refuse work you feel is unsafe.

Now with a hoe...I'm pretty much batshit insane =D

I'll have to do some hard looking for those dozer slope pictures.
 

ih100

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
731
Location
Peterborough UK
If the conditions are right, 1:1 sideways is perfectly possible. It's hard on the undercarriage, and certainly not for anything bigger than D6 or thereabouts. As someone put earlier in this thread, safest way is working top to bottom with a windrow to stop you sliding, but remember that's all it does, preventing a slide. As long as the surface is dry and tight i.e. no mud, sand, snow, etc., no dips or rocks, and you keep straight and the speed down, it can be done. I've done a 1.5:1 in a 963 as well, though they slip sideways a lot easier.
 

vapor300

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
382
Location
St. louis
i just got done work a 1 1/2:1 slope on a 8Twith 28 inch pads, its not fun, had to keep a very big winrow when i ws runiing the slope!
 

D6RXW_GPS

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
11
Location
Wisconsin
Occupation
Operating Engineer, soon to be retired.
Jesus, thats a big machine to put on a slope like that!
i just got done work a 1 1/2:1 slope on a 8Twith 28 inch pads, its not fun, had to keep a very big winrow when i ws runiing the slope!
 

vapor300

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
382
Location
St. louis
Yes it is, and i couldnt run it sideways cause i would of tipped, and i could run it top to bottom because the dozer would hardly push a 1/4 blade full it was so steep so i had to run it at an angle, does make your day kinda interestin!

But we only had my 8 with 28 inch pads, and another 6t with 24 inch pads and my 8 stayed on it better then the 6 did, but the 6 did have brush guard sweeps on it so that prob didnt help.
 

rockbreaker2

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
18
Location
CA
Slope measurement ?
I think some of you are confusing measurement of slopes like percent and degrees , slope meters normally measure in percent up to 50 percent or 26.56 degrees .
a 2 to 1 slope is the same as a 50 percent slope ( 26.56 degrees ) 45 degrees is 100 percent and it not possible for any dozer to work on a 1 to 1 slope or even to climb a slope that steep without help from another machine or a winch , a quick way to measure a slope is with a Smart Level and as long a straight board you can find and read the degrees directly.
 

ih100

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
731
Location
Peterborough UK
Slope measurement ?
I think some of you are confusing measurement of slopes like percent and degrees , slope meters normally measure in percent up to 50 percent or 26.56 degrees .
a 2 to 1 slope is the same as a 50 percent slope ( 26.56 degrees ) 45 degrees is 100 percent and it not possible for any dozer to work on a 1 to 1 slope or even to climb a slope that steep without help from another machine or a winch , a quick way to measure a slope is with a Smart Level and as long a straight board you can find and read the degrees directly.

No confusion here, rockbreaker. And it can be done with smaller dozers.
 
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