How long to dig a 30'x50'x8' ish deep hole?

[crashz]

Keep in mind your production will vary. The beginning of the trench will go fast. The end will be slower, as will backfilling and compacting. I think you'll be handling and tracking around a lot more than you think.

With a 15 ton machine I estimated 1 minute per CY, and estimate the digging will take 7.5 hrs. This is assuming sloped sides, proper placement and moving some material around. Real cycle time is in the range of 20-30 seconds or so in easy digging, but moving the soil around will take some additional time. I have no idea where your pile is to bury, so lets say its half in easy reach and half will include shuttling. Maybe 5 hours to get it in the hole? Another 5 to backfill and compact (with the bucket)?

My estimate +/- an hour or 2 is 17.5 hrs with a 15 -20 ton excavator.

 

[Tags]

Ive done jobs like this many times. The way i typically will do it is to have all the material to be buried right next to where i will be digging, so you could move the material you'll be burying closer to where you'll be digging with your tractor ahead of time. Then when i dig ill reach as far as my machine can reach, 20' or so, and usually about 15 - 20' wide and dig as deep as i need the hole to be and i cast the spoils to the opposite side of the hole of your filling material. I then begin to pull in the material to be buried, when i get to a point of how full id like the hole to be I begin placing the spoils back over the top but i don't fill in the entire hole, Ill leave the fill material closest to the machine exposed and I then back up and begin to dig another hole that is connected to my previous bury hole and repeat as many times as possible. This allows me to do several things, I can place and compact all the material to be buried with the bucket as I fill it in AND I can reach the entire hole to do this, I don't need to worry about having way to many spoils sitting above ground to deal with as I dig,it also assures that you will only be digging for the material you are burying where as if you dig the hole ahead of time it may be too big or too small and you won't be able to place and compact the material as well because you will not be able to reach over the scope of the hole. Of course you could start at one side of the hole and work your way in while compacting it, but what I have found with the type of material you are talking about burying is it seems to breakdown and compact more and more as you handle it, so if you estimate you have say 250 yards of uncompacted material to bury by the time you're done packing it in the hole it may only amount to 200 or less yards. I know this may seem long winded but I hope it helps.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Keep in mind your production will vary. The beginning of the trench will go fast. The end will be slower, as will backfilling and compacting. I think you'll be handling and tracking around a lot more than you think.

With a 15 ton machine I estimated 1 minute per CY, and estimate the digging will take 7.5 hrs. This is assuming sloped sides, proper placement and moving some material around. Real cycle time is in the range of 20-30 seconds or so in easy digging, but moving the soil around will take some additional time. I have no idea where your pile is to bury, so lets say its half in easy reach and half will include shuttling. Maybe 5 hours to get it in the hole? Another 5 to backfill and compact (with the bucket)?

My estimate +/- an hour or 2 is 17.5 hrs with a 15 -20 ton excavator.

Thanks for your input and the time breakdown. My intention is for the hole/trench to be dug right beside where the pile of debris is to limit any extra movement of material. Same with the fresh dirt, I figure it should be just cast off to the other side and not have to move it and extra. Should I not be able to dig a trench on one side of me and have room for the fresh dirt to be piled on the other side without having to move it multiple times?

Ive done jobs like this many times. The way i typically will do it is to have all the material to be buried right next to where i will be digging, so you could move the material you'll be burying closer to where you'll be digging with your tractor ahead of time. Then when i dig ill reach as far as my machine can reach, 20' or so, and usually about 15 - 20' wide and dig as deep as i need the hole to be and i cast the spoils to the opposite side of the hole of your filling material. I then begin to pull in the material to be buried, when i get to a point of how full id like the hole to be I begin placing the spoils back over the top but i don't fill in the entire hole, Ill leave the fill material closest to the machine exposed and I then back up and begin to dig another hole that is connected to my previous bury hole and repeat as many times as possible. This allows me to do several things, I can place and compact all the material to be buried with the bucket as I fill it in AND I can reach the entire hole to do this, I don't need to worry about having way to many spoils sitting above ground to deal with as I dig,it also assures that you will only be digging for the material you are burying where as if you dig the hole ahead of time it may be too big or too small and you won't be able to place and compact the material as well because you will not be able to reach over the scope of the hole. Of course you could start at one side of the hole and work your way in while compacting it, but what I have found with the type of material you are talking about burying is it seems to breakdown and compact more and more as you handle it, so if you estimate you have say 250 yards of uncompacted material to bury by the time you're done packing it in the hole it may only amount to 200 or less yards. I know this may seem long winded but I hope it helps.

Thanks for the thoughts, you have a similar process to what I'd figured on doing. The KX080 I'm considering renting is pretty much right in the middle of your 2 machines. What's your best guess on how long this would take?

 

[Tags]

What's your best guess on how long this would take?

It's hard for me to say. It really depends on how comfortable and efficient you are at running the 80. I have run them before and they are a quick running machine with good reach and good bucket capacity. Since you'll be digging and burying and backfilling and repeating the process several times you should get better and quicker every time you repeat the process. I would not get too fussy with the backfill part until you are completely done, just get some fill on top, pack it in and rough grade it and move on, when you're completely done you can go back and fine tune it with the blade and bucket or your tractor. I would think you could have it done in 2 - 3 days if the digging is decent. Mind you, this doesn't include moving the leftover backfill material since I don't know how far you need to move it.

 

[kevin37b]

I think the only way you will know the answer to that is to start making some phone calls to local operators and get some bids to do the job. Same thing with the rental yards. If I remember correctly, I could rent a 12 tonne excavator for $4,500 a month, or $1,500 a week plus fuel and a delivery charge. That's not a very big machine. My neighbor has hired a guy with a 45 tonne excavtor that is charging him $180 an hour and $500 delivery fee to remove about 40 acres of stumps and is expecting him to get it done in 160 hours. That's his budget, but I think he is running his time too tight figuring out how many stumps per hour he can get out. For what you want to do, I think I would hire somebody like the guy my neighbor found with the 45 tonne excavator and have that hole dug in one day. Then when you get everything moved into there, hire another guy with a really big dozer to push the dirt back into the hole. Again, a D6 or something close to 200 hp should be able to do that in a day easy.

How are you going to get the debris into the hole?

With the excavator ! With a 45 ton machine ! I could do that in 2 days . Done deal .