Digging holes with a Front End Loader

Mosey · Dec 9, 2002

I have a rear scoop and I've heard of people digging some pretty big holes with them. So, I have been experimenting with mine. The problem is, I can't get very deep without having the hole be a lot bigger around than I want.

I realize a backhoe is the best attachment for digging holes, but for my purposes I would get more overall use out of a FEL and I don't need to dig deep holes very often. I need to dig a hole about 6' deep and just a few feet wide in order to bury some old bricks and busted up concrete blocks.

I don't have a FEL, but if I had one with a 5' bucket could do the following? First, till a spot of ground about 10' wide and 30' long with my 5' tiller. Then I would scoop the dirt out with the FEL. Next, till the ground again, but not quite as wide and not quite as long. Then scoop the dirt out again. Repeat until the hole is 6' deep and 5' wide and 10' long.

Then I could use the FEL to dump the bricks/blocks into the hole and put the dirt back in. Does this sound feasible? There are almost no rocks in the ground around here, just small stones about 6" - 8" in dia, so the tilling shouldn't be a problem (unless someone else has already done what I'm planning to do in the same spot!)

hazmat · Dec 9, 2002

Don't know if your wife treats herself to a day at the spa or a massage, or some other day of beauty.

Time for you to treat yourself to your own tim allen version of a day of beauty. Rent a mini backhoe or excavater & have at it.

I'm not saying that the FEL can't do it, it would be a painfully long process.

DUMBDOG · Dec 9, 2002

I guess I would agree with hazmat, but sometimes things are more fun the hard way. We have close to the same size units, and I have dug holes up to three feet deep with the loader, it takes some time, guess have not buried as much at one time as what you are planning, but you have to remember with the type of hole you are planning you will have quite a slope to go both up and down. Go twice as wide and not quite as deep and you will have fewer problems with cave ins and the like. At six feet just the top of the rops will be above ground and it would be the pits to have a cave in. With the loader it is not very easy to taper the sides. With the bottomland that I have, the tiller is not ever used first.

Anonymous Poster · Dec 9, 2002

I've done something similar to what you describe, however I did not go that deep. In my situation, I was digging 2 holes--1 was prviously grass covered and the other was covered by driveway rock. The grass hole was easily dug using the tiller/fel method. The other hole was a little different. I assumed I could remove the driveway rock with my box scraper and once I got to down to the clay/dirt, I could use the tiller/fel. After I scraped down the rock, I hit what you discribed--a previous dumping ground of rocks, bricks and old cement. The hole over the driveway rock took many many more hours to complete. Since I don't know other model tractors very well, I will throw out the fact that I have a 4010 with a 52" (or close to it) bucket and a 50" tiller. Bottom line--I think I could have gone as deep as I wanted when I was digging in just dirt--no cement, rocks, bricks, etc. The other hole was not impossible, but very time consuming.

kyoders · Dec 9, 2002

Danny,

I've not tried to go anywhere near as deep, but with my little BX I've been able to dig 4'x3', 2' deep holes very easil with the FEL. With the bucket level, it only goes a few inches below the tires, but vertical, it can get almost 2' deep. It takes a little practice, but I've even been able to do it in some nasty clay. Rocks, even ones not very big if you hit them wrong, can be a show-stopper.

Given your larger tractor, I would assume the loader would also be substantially stronger than mine, too. I'm not sure that tilling would even be necessary or beneficial. The clay I've dug out with the FEL would not have been touched by my tiller. Having never really gone below 2', I don't know if conditions deeper might make it impossible. I know some of the clay areas I've dug in have not been disturbed by construction within the last 30 years (when this area was logged).

Kevin

snowman · Dec 9, 2002

The FEL doesn't go down too much farther than the tractor itself.

I dug out a pond for my wife last summer - about a foot deep and 12' wide. Worked okay for what I was doing, but in your case, where you just want a relatively narrow hole to bury stuff, you may end up having to dig out three times as much as you need.

I also tried the tiller method - till, then turn around and scoop it up. Problem I had was the the angle climbing out of the pond was too much and the PTO shaft to the tiller would come apart. You can do it, but you need a very small incline for it to work.

Mosey · Dec 9, 2002

hazmat - You have a good point, it would be fun to run a mini backhoe! But, it would take me over an hour to go get it, then probably and hour to get it off the trailer and drive it to the spot I want to dig. Then, the same amount of time to get it back to the rental place. That's 4 hours just in setup time! I could probably dig the hole in less than 2 hours, so the total time would be about 6 hours. You say it would be a "painfully long process" with a tiller and FEL - do you think it would take more than 8 hours?

Hoeman00 · Dec 9, 2002

A box blade w/ rippers will dig fairly fast
w/ a top link cylinder the box could be tilted
down in front to rip deeper then tipped up
to scrape dirt out.
I've done this w/ a dozer many times
when BH wasn't around.

Stonewall · Dec 9, 2002

I've been there too Hoeman! Didn't use a dozer but my little Massey will move earth fairly well with the box - n -rippers and the FEL. I don't know the soil composition in the area but I would be very wary of a cave in. It could not only ruin your tractor but it could ruin you too! I like being creative but sometimes there's no getting around "the right tool for the right job" and I think the mini excavator is the trick here. take a look at your property and see what else you could do with one while you have it. They do a great job on small foundations for workshops or retaining walls and don't forget the water line you always wanted out to the barn!

ebeacham · Dec 9, 2002

I don't know what hazmat will say, but depending on what kind of soil you have it could take every bit of those 8 hours.
Consider that your hole is 300 cubic ft and that a 5 foot bucket is @ 6.5 to 7.5 cubic ft and that I doubt that you will completely fill it up on each pass. You are looking at making at least 50 passes and maybe even double that. If it were me ( and I know it is not ) I would table this project and wait until someone nearby is doing some backhoe work and get them to come over and do it for you.
If you can talk the wife into it, It is a great excuse ( reason ) to buy a backhoe 1 /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif