Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop

   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #21  
Slamfire said:
I can see how it'd do ok in sand, but all I have is heavy clay and sandstone pretty near the top. Oh yeah, and one bent stabilizer bar.

You are right that the backing method won't work in all soil types or rocks. I actually broke a lift arm on my Ford Jubilee with a rotary cutter attached. The lift arm had been broken originally by the previous owner and rewelded. The break had been above and below the bolt hole where the adjustable lift link attaches on the right arm. The weld was harder than the lift arm and flexing over time caused it to metal fatigue and break. I replaced it with a new one and the next thing to break was the threaded fork that extends down from the right side adjuster. That broke while pulling a boxblade. I suspect it had been cracked and finally just gave up.

Although I cannot swear that backing did not contribute to either of these breaks, I can say that after I replaced them with new parts and added adjustable stabilizers, I never broke another lift arm part.The right conditions and type of material always have to be considered. Also, pushing the scoop into moist sod at 2" deep is a lot easier than pushing into dry clay 6" deep.

BTW: I think I've used my scoop once in the last 5 years. Since I got my tractor with an FEL, The scoop sits: lonely and unused. I keep saying every year that I'm gonna convert it to hook up to my FEL and use it as a swale cutter. Maybe this year...:eek:
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #22  
i didnt read the entire post but i do have alot of experience building dirt bike tracks. one dump truck load is not going to build very many jumps or berms. i used a jd318a with a FEL and Box blade to build all the ones i did. alot of people use a skid steer to build tracks. you might consider this to get this job done. dont forget every jump needs a landing and as you get better your going to be moving that landing. are you building this for little bikes or big bikes? if its just little 50's then you can probably make 2 small jumps with one load but if your doing this for 80's and up one load will make the face of one jump. use your tractor to pack the dirt and a skid steer to build the thing.

also i hope this track is for you and your kids, you can get into some big problems when the neighbors want to come over and they get hurt.

skid steer rental is about 150.00 a day around here, get one w/o ripper teeth so you can smooth out the face. berms can be tricky to make, use the dirt bikes to get the radius for the berm as to whats comfortable for them.

good luck
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop
  • Thread Starter
#23  
workinallthetime said:
i didnt read the entire post but i do have alot of experience building dirt bike tracks. one dump truck load is not going to build very many jumps or berms. i used a jd318a with a FEL and Box blade to build all the ones i did. alot of people use a skid steer to build tracks. you might consider this to get this job done. dont forget every jump needs a landing and as you get better your going to be moving that landing. are you building this for little bikes or big bikes? if its just little 50's then you can probably make 2 small jumps with one load but if your doing this for 80's and up one load will make the face of one jump. use your tractor to pack the dirt and a skid steer to build the thing.

also i hope this track is for you and your kids, you can get into some big problems when the neighbors want to come over and they get hurt.

skid steer rental is about 150.00 a day around here, get one w/o ripper teeth so you can smooth out the face. berms can be tricky to make, use the dirt bikes to get the radius for the berm as to whats comfortable for them.

good luck

Thanks for all the advice! This is a mini track with small jumps. The bikes riding it are a Yamaha PW80, Kawasaki KX65, and a Yamaha Raptor 80 quad. My kids are 8 and 9. This is a "backyard track" - not real big... (less than 1 acre) At my house. I made a small berm and 4 small jumps... all of them have a landing (kinda table top style), and there isn't room to build up a lot of speed in the yard, so so far so good.
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop
  • Thread Starter
#24  
Just a followup post... I decided to get the dirt scoop and box blade, rather than fabricate anything.

I bought a 30" dirt scoop, a Howse $275 new.
I bought a 5' Box blade with teeth, an Armstrong $375.

We made the track in a single afternoon! It was a lot of fun.

The jumps are really small for now... Maybe I can post pictures later! But the kids LOVE it...
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop
  • Thread Starter
#25  
Slamfire said:
I've also got a grader blade and a dirt scoop. Moving dirt is quick and easy with the scoop, but I'm puzzled as to how one would build motorcycle jump ramps with one.

It was really easy... I used the box blade to scrape up some of the clay dirt into a small mound, and then used my dirt scoop to move loose dirt from a pile to the ramp spot, then we used just a hand shovel to shape the dirt into the proper profile. Drove over it a bunch to pack it.

Keep in mind, my jumps are small, for small kids bikes... I don't have acreage at my house for a large track.

If we had to build a track for big bikes, I would need a LOT more dirt and probably need to rent a skid steer. That is how my buddy made his 3 acre track. He had an in ground swimming pool dug, and hired a skid steer operator to make him a track from the dirt dug for the pool. The skid steer operator did it in 4 hours...
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #26  
so i guess tripples and a killer step up are out of the question for now,lol
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop
  • Thread Starter
#27  
workinallthetime said:
so i guess tripples and a killer step up are out of the question for now,lol
LOL... I ride a KDX200 and sometimes my wife's CRF150, so you can see I am not some killer MX rider. I have ridden at 2 mx tracks, one had a triple step up... I have never even doubled... But it sure is a load of fun, riding!
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #28  
Yeah but he can make whoops by settin' the grader blade on position control.
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #29  
im sure there are a million places to ride in texas but i love going to stillwater oklahoma to what they call the stillwater 500. its 500 acres of woods trails that are marked to follow so everyone is going in the same direction. I love it there !!!! nothing is more fun than railing through the woods on tight trials. there is also a track there but its pretty rough, i like the trails. stillwater has at least 3 professional tracks to ride on also. Guy cooper and kenny barstrom are both from stillwater so on any given weekend you might see some pros out there having fun. we were lucky on time and got to watch kenny and travis pastona rideing at the 500. in a couple of pastrana's vids you can see he is at the stillwater 500.
having a backyard track is awsome, i bet the kids love it
have fun man, rubber side down
 
   / Johnny Bucket vs dirt scoop #30  
Lots of good info on Dirt scoop that I'd like to buy. I can not justify to add a FEL to my Ford 1700 without Power steering and Front wheel assist. Has any one ever used a 3 point dirt scoop along with a hydraulic top link. I'm thinking, this may be the a pseudo Rear End Loader:D (rather than FEL)with limited capability to scoop light load (compost , cow patties and etc) with ability to change the angle of attack necessary to pick stuff up and curl and lift the scoop.

Is there any merits with my idea?

Thanks,
Jetro
 
 
 
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