I think we chatted on this some time back. My hand is sort of being forced now due to people loving me so much, they want to put homes by me, in the middle of BFE! Seeing red is an understatement.
I have always planned to cut a pond on my own place. Built plenty for others but nearing time to do my own. All I really care about is getting that dirt! Because I want privacy berms built everywhere. The estimated amount of dirt I need is 4K yds. I will be doing much work with my 322 hoe and will be getting my D7 back online. However, The hangup I have always had is moving that dirt and my brain hovers around 'efficiency'. I don't like moving it twice. However, I might have to eat it here, just not sure.
Regarding scrapers, I have considered buying an 8 wheel pull tractor and try to find a pan, but pans are NOT cheap! IMO, over priced as used in my area. I have watched for elevating scrapers here for many yrs. Nearly bought a 633 which would have be awesome, but didn't work out. I think where my frustration is, is paying for trucking support here knowing I am just giving money away rather than 'investing' into equipment I could really use. But I am not sure if tractor/pan config could really drop down in the ground 10ft and still power out of the hole? I mean, if I resort to loading a pan with the hoe or having to push it with the dozer, am I running efficient?
I do plan to strip back and properly place topsoils. I want vegetation on all this stuff, so that will take extra time. But I started working numbers towards a pair of tandem dump trucks, and though I have not hired them by the hour in a LONG time, if I can get a decent rate, maybe it is for the best? My thought was that I could pretty much dig my pond as needed, mostly by myself, and use the dozer to move material out of my way. Once that operation is mostly done, I could try to configure a more optimal loading arrangement of the material into trucks. Like climbing the pile and setting myself up for efficient loading so my focus is solely on those trucks.
I might ask you guys about tandems running offroad, real capacity, traction, etc? This dirt is hard unless wet. We have run lowboys at 100K on it without issue, but not 100 cycles! I think some of our locals can run 17T on their trucks but running offroad, is that it? Do you let them tell you? If I load this way, the material is already broke free so it should load out very fast. My bucket is about 2.2yd and if I am pushing, I could get up to 3 buckets/min but my estimates are based on 5yd/min loading.
I guess as much as I really want and need a scraper, I also need to make a plan forward on this that makes sense. These berms will be sharp and aggressive with 2:1 slopes so really just dropping piles from a truck might be more ideal? My thought was I could call them in for a day to move the sub (fill) material and then allow me to work it with my equipment for a time, then return later to move some top soil for me to spread over the berms.
This project has been 'grading' on me for over a decade. Never enough time or money to do it but I simply cannot even plant a single tree until this gets done. I know it's a matter of time before more housing BS starts. I HATE neighbors and I am 30mi from the center of the mess. Figures they need to build RIGHT next to me! My luck continues.
I have always planned to cut a pond on my own place. Built plenty for others but nearing time to do my own. All I really care about is getting that dirt! Because I want privacy berms built everywhere. The estimated amount of dirt I need is 4K yds. I will be doing much work with my 322 hoe and will be getting my D7 back online. However, The hangup I have always had is moving that dirt and my brain hovers around 'efficiency'. I don't like moving it twice. However, I might have to eat it here, just not sure.
Regarding scrapers, I have considered buying an 8 wheel pull tractor and try to find a pan, but pans are NOT cheap! IMO, over priced as used in my area. I have watched for elevating scrapers here for many yrs. Nearly bought a 633 which would have be awesome, but didn't work out. I think where my frustration is, is paying for trucking support here knowing I am just giving money away rather than 'investing' into equipment I could really use. But I am not sure if tractor/pan config could really drop down in the ground 10ft and still power out of the hole? I mean, if I resort to loading a pan with the hoe or having to push it with the dozer, am I running efficient?
I do plan to strip back and properly place topsoils. I want vegetation on all this stuff, so that will take extra time. But I started working numbers towards a pair of tandem dump trucks, and though I have not hired them by the hour in a LONG time, if I can get a decent rate, maybe it is for the best? My thought was that I could pretty much dig my pond as needed, mostly by myself, and use the dozer to move material out of my way. Once that operation is mostly done, I could try to configure a more optimal loading arrangement of the material into trucks. Like climbing the pile and setting myself up for efficient loading so my focus is solely on those trucks.
I might ask you guys about tandems running offroad, real capacity, traction, etc? This dirt is hard unless wet. We have run lowboys at 100K on it without issue, but not 100 cycles! I think some of our locals can run 17T on their trucks but running offroad, is that it? Do you let them tell you? If I load this way, the material is already broke free so it should load out very fast. My bucket is about 2.2yd and if I am pushing, I could get up to 3 buckets/min but my estimates are based on 5yd/min loading.
I guess as much as I really want and need a scraper, I also need to make a plan forward on this that makes sense. These berms will be sharp and aggressive with 2:1 slopes so really just dropping piles from a truck might be more ideal? My thought was I could call them in for a day to move the sub (fill) material and then allow me to work it with my equipment for a time, then return later to move some top soil for me to spread over the berms.
This project has been 'grading' on me for over a decade. Never enough time or money to do it but I simply cannot even plant a single tree until this gets done. I know it's a matter of time before more housing BS starts. I HATE neighbors and I am 30mi from the center of the mess. Figures they need to build RIGHT next to me! My luck continues.