OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Thanks for the advice on the sheepsfoot.
Before I started on this I was looking into either buying one or building one. Problem with pull behind ones is they lack the vibratory motion to work the ground together. Without that added movement, then your just mixing the material a little and adding an additional source of weight for compaction.
My dozer weighs 40,000 pounds, but with the tracks, its psi is quite low. My backhoe weighs 14,000 pounds. With a load of dirt, it's over 16,000 pounds, with the magority of the weight on the front tires. The psi on those small front tires is extremely high.
I spent two days pushing dirt on my key way with the dozer. It feels pretty solid to walk on and after all those passes, I figured I had pretty good compaction. Good enough for what I was trying to do.
Wrong.
One day driving over the same area with the backhoe, and the keyway sunk about four more inches. Now I have the compaction that I need.
No way a pull behind sheepsfoot will give me those same results. The backhoe sheepsfoot roller might do it, but it would be extremely time consuming and I don't have that kind of determination to do the job properly over the entire dike.
I've seen them used on trackhoes for small trench compaction, but usually they use whackers or compact sheepsfoot machines that have the vibratory ability.
Before I started on this I was looking into either buying one or building one. Problem with pull behind ones is they lack the vibratory motion to work the ground together. Without that added movement, then your just mixing the material a little and adding an additional source of weight for compaction.
My dozer weighs 40,000 pounds, but with the tracks, its psi is quite low. My backhoe weighs 14,000 pounds. With a load of dirt, it's over 16,000 pounds, with the magority of the weight on the front tires. The psi on those small front tires is extremely high.
I spent two days pushing dirt on my key way with the dozer. It feels pretty solid to walk on and after all those passes, I figured I had pretty good compaction. Good enough for what I was trying to do.
Wrong.
One day driving over the same area with the backhoe, and the keyway sunk about four more inches. Now I have the compaction that I need.
No way a pull behind sheepsfoot will give me those same results. The backhoe sheepsfoot roller might do it, but it would be extremely time consuming and I don't have that kind of determination to do the job properly over the entire dike.
I've seen them used on trackhoes for small trench compaction, but usually they use whackers or compact sheepsfoot machines that have the vibratory ability.
