moving dirt

   / moving dirt #1  

Anonymous Poster

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Help. I recently bought a 2 ac rectangle sodded plot in NW Fl w/ my home and a 1/4 ac pond. I need to keep the whole thing manicured. The place is flat as a pancake (see NW Fl, above). The house is on the front ac. and the pond is on the back ac.

My plans for the place include moving the excavated dirt (sandy material, see NW Fl, above) from the pond to the front of the property and create some raised berms for a more interesting 'golf course' look and help get rid of the pancake effect. The excavated dirt was spread around the back rim of the pond. I want to make a gentler slope to the water for a more pleasing look and to capture some runoff. As best as I can tell, I need to move about 30 to 50 cu yards of dirt.

I was thinking to buy a 'bota bx2200 or a b7500 or something similiar w/ a fel and mmm w/ turf tires to use as a mower (90% of the time) and garden tractor (10%) and to pull double duty as an earth mover (one time job). My justification to myself and the family CFO for the cost of a fel is that I would pay someone the cost of the fel to move the dirt around. Am I sane? A buddy at work said I was insane. It would be much cheaper to pay someone w/ a 'real' earth mover to do the job in only one day and I will spend weeks moving this dirt w/ a toy tractor.

What are your thoughts?
 
   / moving dirt #2  
I guess that it all depends on wheather 'you' want have some fun, or pay to watch 'someone else' have some fun. Since the fel would only be for a one time use. Aw, what the heck. Buy it, use it, and then sell it. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
Bill
 
   / moving dirt #3  
30 to 50 cubic yards of dirt isn't that much. The tractors you mentioned will do it easily. Then there is also the possibility the lanscaping has to be touched or rearanged a bit here and there every few years.

Egon
 
   / moving dirt #4  
I agree with the above post from purely a financial standpoint. I hired a med. size dozer and operator for some similar work at my place. It was absolutely amazing at what he did in the span of 8 hours. My cost was $500. Assuming that somebody could do it for that, a FEL is lots more unless you are gonna use it again. But I also have to agree about watching others have fun..../w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
 
   / moving dirt #5  
<font color=blue>"...create some raised berms for a more interesting 'golf course' look..."</font color=blue>

Well, first of all, I'm ALWAYS agreeable to anything that involves "golf course looks! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Secondly, I say you buy the tractor. You'll find that once you have it, there are a lot more uses for the tractor and FEL than just the one time dirt moving job. Think about it. How many "beverages" could that FEL carry down to that pretty pond of yours for a nice family picnic /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif?

Go for the tractor!!
 
   / moving dirt #6  
Having a tractor that is able to do what you want gives you the option later on of making minor changes to the landscape as you desire. Having someone else do the work for you leaves you at their mercy, plus the fact that the longer it takes them the more it costs you.

If you can swing it with the CFO buy the tractor it will always be worth about you paid for it a few years later and your land value will increase because of the added landscaping./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Randy
 
   / moving dirt #7  
Why pay someone a little when you can spend alot more on your own? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Do you want a tractor or not? Of course you do, we all do.

As for moving 50 yards of dirt, my large bucket is 10 cubic feet. A cubic yard of dirt is 27 cubic feet. So it would take me about 3 trips to move a yard of loose sandy soil. So 150 trips back and forth across two acres would take me, based on my limited experience, about a day, give or take a few hours and depending on how many neighbors I stopped and shot the bologna with.
 
   / moving dirt #8  
As much as I think a man should have every toy he can afford, I would think twice about an FEL on a tractor to be used 90% of the time mowing less than 2 acres, especially if you will be mowing around trees, shrubs, sheds, house, etc. At least get a quick attach FEL so you can drop the bucket off when not needed. The FEL will restrict your maneuverability considerably. Also you must be careful with the swing of the bucket when turning (wanna see pictures of where I almost took off the side of my shop door /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif.
 
   / moving dirt #9  
That's the beauty of the Power Trac PT400 series. You by the base tractor and it comes with the lift arms attached permanently. All of the implements are purchased separately. They attach to the lift arms in a matter of seconds, literally. I have changed from pallet forks to bucket in under 15 seconds without getting off of the tractor. Prices for the implements are very reasonable. Small loader bucket $300.00. Larger loader bucket, $360.00. Finish mower, $1200.00, 4' brush hog, $900.00 and lots of other implements. You might want to check them out just for fun. Interesting stuff to look at. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.power-trac.com>Click here for Power Trac website</A>
 
 
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