Buying Advice Build Stone Walls

[hr3]

Do you have stones or flat rocks or bolders?? My wife and I "mostly wife" built this wall with a b7610 with a backhoe and thumb.. She got pritty good useing the thumb.. I dug out the stone and bolders from where we cut wood the year before..


http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/a...p-dsc05261.jpg

[Lloyd_E]

Posted this in Boulder Walls:

I read an article years ago... wished I saved it. It was about two brothers that got together at the old homestead in Vermont or NH for a couple of weeks each year. What started out as a wall project went on for years - 20+! The wall ended up meandering through the pastures and woods. It essentially became a vehicle for getting the two together every year no matter what their schedules said. They worked on opposite sides of the wall building, gathering rock etc. But more importantly they talked!

A great story... wish I could find the article again.


Lloyd

[oldballs]

GFL, you might considered the overall use for your tractor other than just wall building. Here on three acres with (now) lots of dead pines as well as mowing, my BX2660 Kubota paid for itself in allowing me to build a wall 40 feet long and about four feet high. The stone here is flat and most fit into my toothed bucket, some larger than the bucket ; however I didn't have to "dig" them out of the ground for the most part. Setting them does take lots of manual labor which is my long suit. A rear blade made enough ballast and was useful in grading at the same time. Rough territory, a grapple, a backhoe and it's overall use could help with your decision. Have Fun!

[Gittyup]

I second the Kioti CK20. Nice and small and unbeatable lift for its size. Don't think there's anything out there in its class for lift vs width/length. Except Maybe the new mahindra max 25/28. If lifting 500+ lb rocks, you want close to double that or more if out on forks or in a grapple. Look at the width/length and loader specs. This should point you in right direction. Also, the TYM T273 is very small with good specs.

[Adamski]

Gary,

I have 6 fieldstone retaining walls in my backyard. The stones are roughly basketball size (some larger, some smaller) and weigh about 50#. I used a JD 450 garden tractor with FEL to bring the rocks to the area directly above the wall. That way the approprate rock could be rolled downhill and into its place on the wall. Of course, sometimes the selected rock didn't fit and another rock would have to be selected.

Start the wall with 1 course of large rocks below grade for a foundation. Since these are fieldstones, each rock must be hand-positioned just right to interlock with the adjoining rocks. Step the rocks back as the wall gets higher. Landscape fabric placed behind the rocks prevents dirt from washing through the cracks to the face of the wall.

Some of my walls are close to 6' high and I can drive my tractor within 1' of the top of the wall when cutting the grass. The main thing to know when building with fieldstone is that you put the mass of the rock to the back side - not the face side. This is counterintuitive but important.

I also built a fieldstone wall at the entrance to my laundromat. In that project, we poured a concrete footing and then layed the stones with morter. We finished by pouring concrete behind the stones and then brought the grade up to the top of the wall behind it. That wall isn't going anywhere. (See photo)

Larry

[jim_wilson]

I do it with a B7800 and a small grapple I designed and built. The rock in the picture weighs 600-700 lbs. The pile is what I stacked using it.

Very cool grapple. Did you use any pre-made components to build that? I've been thinking of trading in my BX23 and getting a B3200 (with backhoe) - and a large part of the reason is because I have 230-300 of rock wall I want to build. The BX23 just doesn't seem up to the task of doing that.

I would love to have a grapple like the one you have - I could probably build one myself (if I had the time) - but it would be easier if I could just buy some of the components and weld it up.