Dirt Moving BX25 How Much Dirt can you move and labor rates?

[RomeK2]

I've put down plywood and not had any damaged walks when moving gravel with my BX

Ultrarunner- Plywood it is, what size? 3/4" any grade?

 

[rjkobbeman]

Ultrarunner- Plywood it is, what size? 3/4" any grade?

If the plywood is going to be on a solid base and is not going to support anything, I would think you could use the thinnest, cheapest stuff you can find.

 

[ultrarunner]

Ultrarunner- Plywood it is, what size? 3/4" any grade?

I picked-up almost 50 Half sheets from a contractor going out of business... he used them to cover narrow trenches and temporary cover panels he was installing. It's all 1/2"... CDX.

I would think thinner would work too, depending on how solid the surface under it is.

At work, I keep a dozen Masonite boards on hand... really protects the floors from damage... even when doing work with a small lift truck in the lobby.

 

[RomeK2]

I picked-up almost 50 Half sheets from a contractor going out of business... he used them to cover narrow trenches and temporary cover panels he was installing. It's all 1/2"... CDX.

I would think thinner would work too, depending on how solid the surface under it is.

At work, I keep a dozen Masonite boards on hand... really protects the floors from damage... even when doing work with a small lift truck in the lobby.

I'd pick up stuff like that if I had a place to store it. Perhaps when I build my pole barn in a year or 2. For now 1/2" it is, I will pick up a few. 3/8 would seem too flimsy.

 

[radioman]

Just had a thought, since you looking to maximize the carrying loads, instead of a trailer like i suggested before, perhaps you could get a rear scoop?this way you can carry more in front and rear, no need to get a counterballast as the rear scoop would be your counterballast. This would keep you within the 4 ft wide range.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Had a project moving around 33 yards of pea gravel about 1/4 mile. Ended up using the RTV and loaded it with BX, made 37 trips, glad I did not have to do it a bucket at a time. Anybody around there rent out RTV or other Utv with hydro dump? A good work crew could almost beat the BX with 4 or 5 wheelbarrows.

David Kb7uns

 

[jim_wilson]

I have moved probably at least a couple hundred yards of dirt with my BX23.

The thing that is going to take time is just the repetive back and forth of going from the pile to the backyard. I can see moving 13 truckloads easily taking you a few days - long days - to get it done.

The farther you have to move it - the longer it is going to take.

It's a distance x volume problem. The more volume you carry on each trip - or the shorter the distance you have to go the shorter amount of time it will take. I can knock down a pile from a full-size 3 axle dump and have it spread *in place* in 15 minutes or so. Trying to move that same pile a couple of hundred feet is going to take hours.

After doing this a number of times ( I moved probably 10 full dump loads when I put in my driveway - using the BX23). - I came to the conclusion that the most efficient setup for a BX sized tractor to move dirt a distance would be to get a small dump trailer like the King Kutter (or the Pronovost equivalent - I think it's the 503 model) - and get the tractor setup so you could hook up and disconnect the trailer quickly - like with a pintle hook and ring setup on the 3pt so you can hookup and disconnect with leaving the seat - and then use the trailer to move the dirt.

This would cut down immensely on the driving time and save a lot of time. A little bit of refinement on the connect-disconnect procedure on the trailer - then using the tractor to load the trailer - reconnect to the trailer - haul it back - dump - go back - disconnect trailer - fill trailer - reconnect - haul - dump , etc. Would go pretty fast.

The downside is that you would need to get the trailer- and come up with a custom setup to hook it up quickly. It would take some experimentation to get the optimal setup.

Short of doing that - probably your best option is to get the bucket addon from BXexpander so you can carry more in each load.

 

[LBrown59]

I used my Dodge 50 with a load handler in the bed to move 2 large piles of dirt about 300 feet .
Loaded it with 3 BX23 FEL loads of dirt per trip.
Worked slick as a whistle and there was no constantly hooking and unhooking a trailer.

I have moved probably at least a couple hundred yards of dirt with my BX23.

The thing that is going to take time is just the repetive back and forth of going from the pile to the backyard. I can see moving 13 truckloads easily taking you a few days - long days - to get it done.

The farther you have to move it - the longer it is going to take.

It's a distance x volume problem. The more volume you carry on each trip - or the shorter the distance you have to go the shorter amount of time it will take. I can knock down a pile from a full-size 3 axle dump and have it spread *in place* in 15 minutes or so. Trying to move that same pile a couple of hundred feet is going to take hours.

After doing this a number of times ( I moved probably 10 full dump loads when I put in my driveway - using the BX23). - I came to the conclusion that the most efficient setup for a BX sized tractor to move dirt a distance would be to get a small dump trailer like the King Kutter (or the Pronovost equivalent - I think it's the 503 model) - and get the tractor setup so you could hook up and disconnect the trailer quickly - like with a pintle hook and ring setup on the 3pt so you can hookup and disconnect with leaving the seat - and then use the trailer to move the dirt.

This would cut down immensely on the driving time and save a lot of time. A little bit of refinement on the connect-disconnect procedure on the trailer - then using the tractor to load the trailer - reconnect to the trailer - haul it back - dump - go back - disconnect trailer - fill trailer - reconnect - haul - dump , etc. Would go pretty fast.

The downside is that you would need to get the trailer- and come up with a custom setup to hook it up quickly. It would take some experimentation to get the optimal setup.

Short of doing that - probably your best option is to get the bucket addon from BXexpander so you can carry more in each load.

 

[RonR]

I did something similar when I bought my BX2200. I needed to fill in a partial in-ground swimming pool that we removed from the backyard. Had to dump the sand and top soil in the driveway.

My son and his buddy, both BIG jocks, each used a large wheelbarrow. I loaded the wheelbarrows on the drive and they "trucked" them to the hole in back. With two, I had some wait time. If I'd had another guy or two, I could have loaded non-stop.

We did it in HOT July, so the rules were easy: Anyone could call a break. I had cold water and gatoraid in the cooler in the shade. For lunch, I ordered a ton of pizza. With each trip, I checked each guy for signs of heat exhaustion/stroke.

They moved 35 yard of sand/topsoil in a few hours. About every 10 trips, they'd have me take a load back in the bucket, and while there, push the dirt farther into the hole.

Ron