Building a dirt Shop Pad

[ovrszd]

Last Summer we built a dirt pad for my Son to extend his existing shop. The pad is approximately 70ft x 150ft. At the lowest corner we elevated 11ft. We also extended the pad on two sides of the existing shop. Estimate that we moved 1,750 yards of dirt for the pad. Estimate we stripped 350 yards of top soil and then replaced it.

I started the project with my Kubota M9540 pulling a 5.5 cuyd clamshell scraper. Took me 40 hours to do that. I piled it in two separate strip piles that I could drive on and dump.

Once the pad build started I pulled a 9ft Sheep's Foot, dual drum, filled with diesel fuel. A pretty constant load on my tractor. 2,000 rpm, 4th gear, FWA engaged.

The pad dirt was placed with a 425hp JD FWA tractor pulling a 13 cuyd scraper.

Turned into quite a project that took us a couple weeks to complete. This pic is after I stripped the sod. My tractor and scraper setting in the left side of pic.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's some pics after I stripped the sod, before we started hauling fill material.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's a video of pulling the Sheep's Foot. Those things drag hard. This one is full of diesel fuel. Guessing it holds 300 gallons per drum, so 600 gallon of fuel plus the weight of the drums and hardware. It was about all the Kubota wanted.

 

[wmonroe]

Nice project. You can definitely hear your tractor working in that video.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great video and pictures. Why did you use diesel for weight?

 

[ovrszd]

Fr

Great video and pictures. Why did you use diesel for weight?

Friend of mine owns it. He filled it with diesel 25-30 years ago when it was very cheap. No worries with freezing. No worries with the drums rusting thru. At the time it was cheap, long term weight. Seems kinda weird now doesn't it!!!!

 

[ovrszd]

Here's a drone video I shot of the 13 cuyd scraper in action. I was busy packing so didn't get any pics of him scraping virgin soil. This is relaying the top soil.

 

[EddieWalker]

I misunderstood. I thought you filled it all the way up with brand new diesel, and that it was totally empty when you filled it up. Makes sense that you are just topping it off and that it's really old diesel. I never thought about it never rusting through.

 

[ovrszd]

Eddie, I didn't put any diesel fuel in the drums. My friend filled them a couple decades ago when fuel was cheap. No freezing expanding and busting the drums and no corrosion were the reasons.

I misunderstood. I thought you filled it all the way up with brand new diesel, and that it was totally empty when you filled it up. Makes sense that you are just topping it off and that it's really old diesel. I never thought about it never rusting through.

 

[Rob41]

Wow, thanks for sharing your project. It's really interesting to see what can be done with this equipment. It kinda drives the point home that nothing happens fast.....good planning and patience pays off!

 

[LD1]

Nice project.

We have a lawn roller but alot bigger than the ones you can buy for a garden tractor. 38" diameter 4' wide. About 240 gallons.

Same logic....we filled it with used oil. No freezing or rusting from the inside concerns.

I would have figured more than 350 yards of dirt in 40 hours. I have never used a pan before, but if my math is right this morning....you were moving less than 10 yards per hour....only two pans full per hour?

 

[deezler]

Cool project. So you stripped all the top soil off the back field, stockpiled it to the side, then scraped the subsoil to bring up and make the pad beside the existing shop?

Send that drone up again for the "after" shots of the new pad!

 

[ovrszd]

Nice project.

We have a lawn roller but alot bigger than the ones you can buy for a garden tractor. 38" diameter 4' wide. About 240 gallons.

Same logic....we filled it with used oil. No freezing or rusting from the inside concerns.

I would have figured more than 350 yards of dirt in 40 hours. I have never used a pan before, but if my math is right this morning....you were moving less than 10 yards per hour....only two pans full per hour?

Somehow must have misunderstood. Or maybe I misspoke. When Ryan was scraping fill material he was making a round about every 4 minutes. I think in the video of me pulling the sheep's foot he almost made a lap during that time.

So, go long and say it took him 6 minutes to make a round. 13yds, ten times per hour = 130yds an hour.

If my memory serves me right it took me 25 hours to peel off and pile the top soil. Took him a short day to put it back down.

Nothing replaces a scraper in situations like this.

P.S. Great idea of filling your drum with used oil!!!!

 

[ovrszd]

Cool project. So you stripped all the top soil off the back field, stockpiled it to the side, then scraped the subsoil to bring up and make the pad beside the existing shop?

Send that drone up again for the "after" shots of the new pad!

Yes, that's what we did. Even stripped the top soil off the areas that we elevated. No need in burying good top soil.

Sheldon has it seeded now. I'll try to get up there this week and take some "done" shots.

Next year he'll have a shop extension added. I'll come back with pics after it's done as well.

A Drone gives great perspective. But in this case it also "flattens" everything. Hard to envision how much fill was added at the far end and toward the borrow area.

 

[LD1]

Somehow must have misunderstood. Or maybe I misspoke. When Ryan was scraping fill material he was making a round about every 4 minutes. I think in the video of me pulling the sheep's foot he almost made a lap during that time.

So, go long and say it took him 6 minutes to make a round. 13yds, ten times per hour = 130yds an hour.

If my memory serves me right it took me 25 hours to peel off and pile the top soil. Took him a short day to put it back down.

Nothing replaces a scraper in situations like this.

P.S. Great idea of filling your drum with used oil!!!!

I think I missed the part where you said 1750 yds for the pad.

I only saw the 350 yards of topsoil....thought no way it should take that long.

 

[ovrszd]

I think I missed the part where you said 1750 yds for the pad.

I only saw the 350 yards of topsoil....thought no way it should take that long.

I didn't narrate the first video very well. Needed to speak louder to overcome the machine noises. Sorry.

 

[Boss 302]

That's one horse of a tractor and it gets bogged down a few times it's a good thing the operator knows what he's doing. That's a lot of dirt to move in that amount of time, pretty efficient.

 

[deezler]

Yes, that's what we did. Even stripped the top soil off the areas that we elevated. No need in burying good top soil.

Sheldon has it seeded now. I'll try to get up there this week and take some "done" shots.

Next year he'll have a shop extension added. I'll come back with pics after it's done as well.

A Drone gives great perspective. But in this case it also "flattens" everything. Hard to envision how much fill was added at the far end and toward the borrow area.

Yeah the drone fish-eye and altitude definitely flatten the view, but in your pics we can still tell there is a huge depression beside the shop that you obviously had to raise up to match the building grade. Maybe even 10 feet or more of fill to bring it up? Wow, lotta dirt. How many gallons of diesel were used to do all this?

 

[ovrszd]

Took these pics yesterday.

Farthest corner from the existing building was elevated 11ft.

Didn't keep track of diesel fuel burned. That's actually a minimal cost that's rarely tracked.