Yet another slightly offbeat assignment...

[Dougster]

They just keep coming in! Yesterday, I got a call to fill in a series of abandoned manholes with sand... about 10 cubic yards worth altogether we figure... to be filled through ~24" (+/-) manhole openings. It would be nice to just have a truck drop off a load of sand nearby and then do the filling with something like this (something I really need to buy anyway):




The problem... and there always is one... is that I cannot dump the sand out of a truck or my dump trailer onto the ground anywhere near this work... and therefore must work with the sand taken directly out of the back of the dump trailer parked in a nearby parking lot. This would not normally be a problem since my 78" FEL bucket is almost as wide as my 80" wide dump trailer and it would be easy to dump into the 78" bucket one load at a time... but not if I am trying to use a tapered stump/concrete-style bucket to get the sand into the narrow manholes without spilling it!

Cops and inspectors will be watching the process... so this can't be an amateurish and/or easily botched-up job. Any creative ideas folks???

Dougster

[AlanB]

Big plywood funnel?

If we were doing it, we would just shovel it in.

10 yds would be about three trips through. Not sure how many manholes that is, but I could probably start shoveling and be done by the time you get done fooling with that other stuff.

[Dougster]

Big plywood funnel? If we were doing it, we would just shovel it in. 10 yds would be about three trips through. Not sure how many manholes that is, but I could probably start shoveling and be done by the time you get done fooling with that other stuff.

Yeah, you're right. The job certainly begs for a dump truck or two and several men with chutes and shovels. I cannot disagree with you. But then, I lose the work.

Dougster

[6sunset6]

This might work
I have always wanted a side dump bucket . There is a skid steer attachment made that does that. Propbably cost as much as a tractor.
Probably half of the work I have done in 13 years would have benefited from a bucket like that. It would add quite a bit of weight to the whole FEL assembly so it would not work on too small a machine I think.

[Dougster]

This might work I have always wanted a side dump bucket. There is a skid steer attachment made that does that. Propbably cost as much as a tractor. Probably half of the work I have done in 13 years would have benefited from a bucket like that. It would add quite a bit of weight to the whole FEL assembly so it would not work on too small a machine I think.

I believe I've seen the kind of thing you are talking about... and they are very cool. But as I recall, they are also UNGODLY expensive. This job would not support that kind of expense or anything close.

Folks call me on something like this when they are getting BS prices from the normal guys... often as change orders by their own contractors as part of a much bigger project. They are looking for cheap... but they still want the job done professionally and right. That's the challenge.

Dougster

[kwolfe]

Ii would say that with some plywood and a few nails, you could build an upside down pyramid funnel. A little wider than your bucket. Should be easy enough to put together, and CHEAP! Build it a little wider and you may actually be able to dump the trailer into it.

[hazmat]

Big plywood funnel?

If we were doing it, we would just shovel it in.

10 yds would be about three trips through. Not sure how many manholes that is, but I could probably start shoveling and be done by the time you get done fooling with that other stuff.

I'm with Alan - shovel & be done with it. By the time you drop off the tractor & then go pick up sand, you could have emptied trailer #1.

I'd think you could shovel 10 yards by hand in a day (especially if the trailer is right at the manhole.). Charge them $1,500 + material. It is bull work after all... Even at $1,000 you'd be making good money. Any chance of hiring a teenager to help shovel???

[Dougster]

Build it a little wider and you may actually be able to dump the trailer into it.

I should have probably pointed out that neither a dump truck nor my dump trailer could actually get close enough to these manholes to fill them in directly without a considerably long (and possibly vibrating) metal chute. In the case of the dump trailer, there simply would not be enough height available to make this concept work. Hence the probable reason that a "compact tractor and backhoe guy" was called in to do the job.

Dougster

[Dougster]

I'm with Alan - shovel & be done with it. By the time you drop off the tractor & then go pick up sand, you could have emptied trailer #1. I'd think you could shovel 10 yards by hand in a day (especially if the trailer is right at the manhole.). Charge them $1,500 + material. It is bull work after all... Even at $1,000 you'd be making good money. Any chance of hiring a teenager to help shovel???

Not legally anyway But don't think that I haven't considered learning enough Spanish and Portuguese to join the "illegal alien" bandwagon! And I am not kidding!!!

Steve! Have you shoveled 10 yards of sand lately??? That's 30,000 lbs of sand!!! You must be in WAY better shape than me!!! I didn't quit engineering and buy a tractor so I could start using a shovel!!!

Already gave them my price... and it is a lot lower than that! Still, they are balking at it... although I challenge them to come up with anyone cheaper who is licensed, insured and NOT using illegal alien labor.

Dougster

[hazmat]

Doug,

You keep finding the wrong kind of "specialty" jobs

I wouldn't shovel unless I could drive the dump trailer right up to the manhole.