Help me cut a track into steep hill

[stumpjumper83]

Use an excavator.... really? I think good dozer hands must be hard to find in your neck of the woods. A 30 - 40k pound dozer equipped with a proper road building angle blade and a good operator can really sling some dirt. There is no backing up, you moving material all the time. When you get to the end of the road, turn around, **** the blade the other way, and head back, again, working all the while. I'll bet in easy digging your tossing a cu yard a second over the edge.

Excavators do have there place though, when you get the trail in and want to make a truck road out of it. After you can no longer single pass the dirt over the edge with the dozer, then the excavator shines as the dirt only needs to be handled once. But then you still need to dress up with the dozer after the hoe has done its thing.

 

[HandyAndy]

The excavator would shift the few big trees and pluck the rocks out of the way easier than the dozer can This country im working in makes it hard to carry the dirt for a track as the rocks are too large so there is no single pass available. I dont have a boss ramming effiency crap down my throat all day. I drive it for free because i like it and i am free to get the jobs done however i want. Im pretty good on the machine doing what i know but i have no problems asking the older and wiser operators for tips here and there. If theres an easier and faster way im all ears but in this case all we have is the d6 and the only cost is fuel and maintenance so it doesnt get much cheaper or efficient than that.

 

[bulldozer phil]

HandyAndy

Handy Andy, that's a nice looking D6C. You can push the brush out working perpendicular to the slope as much as possible. Leave some old posts or sections of the fence to mark the property line. Tilt the blade and bench a path for the new fence-when you get to the end or a good place to turn around, bench your way back to the start-it'll go faster than you think. A good seatbelt is a must for keeping your butt in the seat-makes it easier to concentrate on the work-a good suspension seat with a seatbelt would be even better. As for the headaches-see a chiropractor or a massage therapist and try to relax your neck as you work-steep sidehills are a tense situation

I need some pointers from the more experienced operators on here please.

Im on an old D6C 69j. The one that gives you a headache after about 5 hrs with open cab haha.

Anyway, I've got about 2,500hrs in the seat so am fairly familiar with the machine. All hrs done on farm doing the usual stuff us blokes do, stickraking,pushing timber live and dead, cleaning dams, wet and dry. Contouring, clearing fence lines etc.

Im halfway clearing a line now about 3000mtrs. And the old fence dissapears up a steep hill with thick scrub. I need to try to clear the old fence and make a track for the guys to build the new fence. I walked the hill yesterday arvo to see what im up against and doesnt look good. Ive got at least a 45 degree hill with a series of ridges etc and the old fence and trees and very loose soil with lots of rock.

I need to cut into it without sliding off this widowmaker hill. The track has to go along the side so im looking at a steep climb on my right of the cab and a long long way down on the left of the cab.

Anyone got some tips for me please. I know to keep the machine level and not play around near the loose stuff on the edge. I feel the job will take longer to make it safe to work on but the farmer will want it done quick.

 

[HandyAndy]

Thanks Phil, with what you said i can tell you've done a bit of fence work in your days eh.

The machine was bought at an auction and had rippers and a stick rake. It has faint painting telecom up the side and it must have had glass in it at some stage but didn't when we got it.

Im live on a farm out of town and do odd jobs for the farmer in exchange for a house and the use of a few acres where i have built a large environment controled shed i use to run my own company as a commercial bait worm farm. The farmer gets a guy to fix all his broken stuff and operate machines here and there, and i get a house and a spot to run my business.

Works out real good. Im a self taught dozer operator so some of the terms you blokes talk about im unfamiliar with.
Im real good in timber, and can do very neat work quickly and with minimum fuel burnt. I like trying to plan ahead the whole day, so any time i change direction or lift the blade to dump a small pile of sticks,stumps in what looks like a funny spot.... Theres always a reason why. Coz they will go next time when i bring that other stuff around that other tree over there and that saves be driving an extra 20 metres in 10 minutes time!

I dont need a boss ramming effiency, i do it to myself and i think thats why i get headachs...too much concentrating.

Anyway, i like all the responses here. I know why they call these old cats "crawlers" coz after a day in the rocks, you slide down off the machine and crawl back to the ute to go home to bed Hahaha.

I wouldnt mind getting a good book on dam building, i saw 2 dozers working on a farm a couple years back and these guys were true pro's. When they finished, it looked perfect. They didnt even leave a single turn mark any where on the grass outside the dam and the inlet looked like it was cut with a stringline.

Any recomendations for a good dozer work book?

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . HandyAndy . With the hours you have up I think you are beyond the need for any books . . . the old ones put out by Yeomans give some pointers on dam and tank design and construction.

Methods change with country and available machinery. I think Yeomans puts a lot of store in cut off trenches put in with a scoop . . . out of the question with a dozer and we just line the bank with clay.

If you get into serious earthwork Google up "front to back dozing" or "slot dozing" . . . getting things straight and level just means working to the pegs.

Cheers.

 

[HandyAndy]

Yeah ok, I sort of figured out making slots by myself. its the only way to keep up, pushing wet slop away from a dam being cleaned out. Boiling it out gets nowhere without a slot. Most of the earthworks on this farm was done before i was born. Mostly patchup errosion work now but raking sticks and clearing regrowth keeps me fairly busy. Theres 40,000 acres here and plenty of fences are always being redone. When i saw that hill i figured id handle it ok but i picked up a couple tricks here so thanks men.

 

[pp13bnos]

Andy if you have the time, snap a couple before and after photos and post them if you can. Good luck.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . viking1. Just loved the photo of what I assume is your place. There is a strange serenity to semi-desert country and, as I have mentioned I would feel right at home there.

What do you do for water?

Cheers.

 

[HandyAndy]

Jobs done. On foot scrambling up and down the hills the job looked deadly. but once in the seat it looked easy.

There was only a few spots and washouts at 45 and a couple of verticles where the dirt had built up on the topside of the old fence leaving a 4 ft drop on the bottom side the rest looked pretty straightforward once the trees were gone and I started getting it opened up.

It was a rush job as the fencing guys only gave me one day to do 1.5km and I just finished on dark last night. Bit messy looking but good enough for the bush.

here's a couple pictures, I should have took a lot more but didnt have time.

Started in this gully and went up and down from there. didn't get an after pic, forgot but it looks good now.

 

[HandyAndy]

 

[viking1]

Yair . . . viking1. Just loved the photo of what I assume is your place. There is a strange serenity to semi-desert country and, as I have mentioned I would feel right at home there.

What do you do for water?

Cheers.

Hey Scrubs, ya that's my place. I built everything that's out there (including my bridge below). I have a great well (water at 40'), so I'm in good shape.

Andy, nice job done with minimal disturbance. Way to go.....

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Good one HandyAndy! Looks like it worked out okay in the end.

Funny isn't it how it never looks as bad in photos?

viking1 Yeah, as I said I'd feel right at home there. Are there any critters there for hunting or is that not your thing?

Nice job on the bridge a lot hours went into that I reckon.

Cheers.

 

[D6c10K]

Funny isn't it how it never looks as bad in photos?

I was thinking the same thing....ground that you can fall off of can almost look level in a photo.

 

[willd8r]

This the normal I do. picture is a thousand words

 

[HandyAndy]

I'm glad I didn't try to learn on your hill wild8r, looks like that would be slow going pioneering into that stuff. If it looks that steep in the picture I can imagine what it looks like for real! makes my hill look flat. there wouldn't be many volunteers to go for a joyride in your machine up in there i bet. My passenger asked if i could let him out, after he asked me for a lift to the top of the hill before I had the pass in. haha, he didn't like it when she kept slipping sideways on the rocks.

 

[D6 Merv]

wheres that Bill; down Nelson or Oz ??
stumps are the battle, forestry roading, but would be easier with a D8R.
Glad I never had stumps here !

 

[D6 Merv]

Geez it worked ! That job would have been easier with your old D4E; Bill; but only had me old D4D was on the job.
another view

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . D6 Merv and willd8r I used to really like those sidehill cuts, I will see if I can get some of my PNG pictures resurrected.

Cheers.

 

[D6 Merv]

PNG ! Some good country over there scrub ! And RAIN; a whole new meaning of the word
worked up in ok tedi in 87; was a 'experience' to say the least.

 

[viking1]

Yair . . . Good one HandyAndy! Looks like it worked out okay in the end.

Funny isn't it how it never looks as bad in photos?

viking1 Yeah, as I said I'd feel right at home there. Are there any critters there for hunting or is that not your thing?

Nice job on the bridge a lot hours went into that I reckon.

Cheers.

Yup, a lot of hours into it for sure (mostly laying stone). As for critters, I used my loader last year to dress up a buck that a friendly deputy gave me after it had been hit by an SUV, & that has kept me stocked up on venison. I generally like to treat my wild critters as pets tho, LOL. I leave out water for them in the dog days of summer, so there are always plenty of all varieties around. My dog pack of 5 loves to carouse with the javelina piggies every morning.....