What a brute!!!

[Mechanos]

That's some good lookin work. I've heard several people say you just could not dig with a tractor, only move loose material. Looks as though you've got it down to a science.

Don't know if I'd go that far. This is my first job ever excavating with a FEL. You just have to learn the limitation of the machine and work within those limitations to achieve the desired results. As I'm learning how to accomplish different tasks with the tractor, my technique is improving each time I get on it. I still screw up, though and have to go back and "fix" some areas.

If you're trying to cut into a 2.5' to 3' bank like I'm doing, you just cant do it in a single bite with this size machine. I'll approach the face of the bank and position the bucket about 6" below the surface and cut peel off the top layer, then back up and lower the bucket another 6" or so and take another bite. I do this a few times until I have a full bucket and go dump it. Then head back and keep slicing off layers however thick the tractor will handle until I'm down to the elevation I want. It sounds time consuming, but with an HST and practice on the bucket controls I'm getting really fast at it. I'm averaging about 1 minute or so per round trip to the stockpile. Or course that depends on how far away your stockpile is.

 

[dex3361]

Reminds me of when I excavated out the leach field for my septic system. LEACH FIELD I moved a lot of dirt that week. Great job with the JD.

 

[Mechanos]

Reminds me of when I excavated out the leach field for my septic system. LEACH FIELD I moved a lot of dirt that week. Great job with the JD.

Holy crap! Thats a LOT of arch chambers. What's total capacity of all those chambers? 800 - 1000 gallons?

 

[dex3361]

Holy crap! Thats a LOT of arch chambers. What's total capacity of all those chambers? 800 - 1000 gallons?

I really dont know the volume of the chambers, I would have to find the spec sheet and see if it is located on the sheet or try to calculate from the dimensions. This leach field as being added to my existing field. The system is about 25 years old and the old field started sealing off. I decided to try the biodefussers over the pipe because I would not need as much gravel and it was easier for 1 man(and his tractor) to complete.

 

[dex3361]

Holy crap! Thats a LOT of arch chambers. What's total capacity of all those chambers? 800 - 1000 gallons?

I really dont know the volume of the chambers, I would have to find the spec sheet and see if it is located on the sheet or try to calculate from the dimensions. This leach field as being added to my existing field. The system is about 25 years old and the old field started sealing off. I decided to try the biodefussers over the pipe because I would not need as much gravel and it was easier for 1 man(and his tractor) to complete.

 

[Mechanos]

Haven't updated in a while... I wasn't able to do anything on the project for two weeks due to untimely rain and business trips out of town. Got to work on it for a while over the weekend, but not enough. Rain is in the forecast for this weekend so I took a couple days off this week to get some more done. I got the rough cut finished, did a bunch of hand digging right up next to the building, and then did some leveling and polishing with the box blade:



I don't want mess with a retaining wall, so that means laying the side of cut back at an acceptable slope that I can mow it. I started out by tilting the box blade and using it to cut the slope I was looking for. A dozen or so passes with the box blade gave me one 5' wide cut with the slope I was after, but it also gave me a decent crook in my back from running back and forth across the slope with the tractor leaning underneath me. So, I gave up on that approach and started cutting vertically down the slope with the FEL. About the time I got one swath cut down to grade, it was time to call it quits for the day.



No... that's not the sun setting behind a mountain range... that's my spoils pile.

 

[swick1]

Wonderful! Very ambitious!

 

[Mechanos]

Wonderful! Very ambitious!

It has become quite the undertaking... but then again I knew it would be. It really needed to be done though. That side of the barn was never graded properly... whoever built it just did a cut and fill to make a level pad and the cut on that side had no drainage at all. During heavy rains and the spring melt after a heavy snowfall winter, the run-off from the slope would run under the wall and across the floor of the barn. During saturated conditions, water would even bubble up through the floor (just an AB-3 floor) and make a general mess of things. I'm wanting to pour a concrete floor, but the drainage issues had to be addressed before I even think about pouring concrete. I also needed a place to park my 24' gooseneck trailer so I can get it out of the barn and free up more workspace.

 

[RoyJackson]

You're doing a really nice job, Mechanos!

 

[Mechanos]

You're doing a really nice job, Mechanos!

Thanks Roy. I'm sure it would go quite a bit faster if I actually knew what I was doing. :laughing: A top and tilt sure would come in handy for grading with the box blade.