Ditching job

[jjeff]

1.5-8 ton cap. off road dump wagons aren't to outrageous in cost, a lot less if you can rent one. They hook up to your tractors rear remotes. One of these days I'm planning to convert one of my old trailers to one.

 

[Engineer42]

My two cents. I'd rent something similar to a hitachi 250 (could go bigger but of course more cost)~ $3500 a week, pull everything from one side with the additional reach; a Volvo 25 to haul the spoils ~ $5000 a week. Probably about 12-16 buckets per load depending on material. Maybe 400 gallons of fuel total @ $5.00 is $2000. Production should be at least 1500lf of ditch per day. Dump tight piles where the berm goes. It looks to average 4-6 ft in height. If it's dry enough, shape the berm with the excavator on day 5. If not shape it to drain and return with a small lgp dozer when it does dry.

Your tractor will probably rut up the established stone roadway with that many trips. You didn't mention how thick the stone road is or I missed it. Low ground pressure of the Volvos tires should alleviate that by splitting tracks.

My thought is this saves wear an tear on your tractor and speeds up the job to beat the spring rains. Or do it in July and eat the dust.

 

[Snobdds]

Something tells me there is no money in this job...

 

[Hay Dude]

Something tells me there is no money in this job...

Not NO money, but not big time money, either.
A decent size crawler carrier is $3000 for a week. That’s a lot of money and they’re slow. I figure a 4-5 yard crawler carrier will hold about 3 of my high cap bucket fulls of spoil.
I don’t think $3000 covers it’s cost.

Not too pressed for time right now and decent job budget, but I can’t charge enough to cover that.

 

[Hay Dude]

1.5-8 ton cap. off road dump wagons aren't to outrageous in cost, a lot less if you can rent one. They hook up to your tractors rear remotes. One of these days I'm planning to convert one of my old trailers to one.

I like this idea, but where to find one and I doubt they are rentable.

Engineer 42
The stone driveway used to be a road. It is very well built and old, but stone. Customer has 7’ back blade to groom if necessary. Driveway to get new stone after we finish, so all good.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve seen a lot of earthwork done over the years. Contractors with the equipment would use a full sized excavator and an off road dump truck. Off road dump truck I’m talking wheeled not tracked. I’m talking a bigger off road dump truck too. It’s going to rut things up but then they smooth it out with something like a motor grader.

Is anybody running grade on these ditches.

 

[Hay Dude]

Take a look again at these ditches. They’re far too small and the property much too soft to handle large machines.
The property is historic and cant be trampled on with big gear.
In this case, smaller and easy going is better.

 

[jjeff]

I like this idea, but where to find one and I doubt they are rentable.

I got the idea for converting one of my old trailers from one I saw at an auction they have lower sides and are easier to load with my L2850/ bf 500 fel and other small equipment lol. I believe you could probably buy a cheaply built one at your farm supply store like rural king (has them on there website), family farm and home, or ts I've never looked at one in person, but imo I'd only buy one of those knowing I'd probably have to reinforce it and or repair it especially if I was using it daily at a commercial level. That's a big bucket and tractor If you can haul more than a yard per bucket per trip. Is it worth your money and time getting a smaller 1.5 ton off road dump trailer for around 2500 with hydraulic hookups less if you can find used, just to cut your trips in half, less if your overloading it or go bigger? Only reason I ask 1.5 tons are a bit easier to come by around here but also probably easier to sell afterwards. Good luck.

 

[ovrszd]

Had to go back and read 1st post. So why are we having this discussion? You have already bid it. Waiting on acceptance. Come back when done and show us the results? Or not?

 

[Hay Dude]

I got the idea for converting one of my old trailers from one I saw at an auction they have lower sides and are easier to load with my L2850/ bf 500 fel and other small equipment lol. I believe you could probably buy a cheaply built one at your farm supply store like rural king (has them on there website), family farm and home, or ts I've never looked at one in person, but imo I'd only buy one of those knowing I'd probably have to reinforce it and or repair it especially if I was using it daily at a commercial level. That's a big bucket and tractor If you can haul more than a yard per bucket per trip. Is it worth your money and time getting a smaller 1.5 ton off road dump trailer for around 2500 with hydraulic hookups less if you can find used, just to cut your trips in half, less if your overloading it or go bigger? Only reason I ask 1.5 tons are a bit easier to come by around here but also probably easier to sell afterwards. Good luck.

It would be nice to pick up a real heavy duty dump trailer and pull it behind my tractor for this job, then use it for over the road use as it was originally intended.

 

[JethroB]

Take a look again at these ditches. They’re far too small and the property much too soft to handle large machines.

View attachment 734808

View attachment 734810

Along with the vegetation, would you be scooping good firm dirt or silt or muck?

 

[yanmars]

If it was in an ag area there is money available for grass waterways/tile etc. It pays about 90% of the costs in our area. That could help you both out.

 

[Citydude]

HD, I'd start off with your original plan on the ditch and and throw the weeds and grass off to the side with the digger. The tractor can come along with a grapple, bunch it up and grapple it away.

Keep the digger moving. If something needs to wait, it's the tractor.

 

[4570Man]

It would be nice to pick up a real heavy duty dump trailer and pull it behind my tractor for this job, then use it for over the road use as it was originally intended.

My 16k dump trailer will get you stuck in a hurry with the narrow 17.5 wheels. A dump truck would probably preform better than it does. If you outfitted the trailer with a more off road tire and bypassed the electric pump to use your tractor remotes it wouldn’t be bad. But I’d hate to see the price a wheel conversion and good trailers are insane too.

 

[jyoutz]

Take a look again at these ditches. They’re far too small and the property much too soft to handle large machines.

The property is historic and cant be trampled on with big gear.
In this case, smaller and easy going is better.

View attachment 734808

View attachment 734810

It seems like a road grader could reshape the ditches because they’re not too deep.

 

[plastikosmd]

Can remove topsoil and get it down to something reasonable to truck on?

Then do your ditch work and then repair?

shouldn’t be more than a day to scrape or dozer a path and a day or 2 to fix?

 

[4570Man]

Can remove topsoil and get it down to something reasonable to truck on?

Then do your ditch work and then repair?

shouldn’t be more than a day to scrape or dozer a path and a day or 2 to fix?

3 days on a dozer is a pretty big deal. That’s at least a grand a day.

 

[bigtiller]

Invite a bunch of teenagers to bring out their Dad's Gators or any brand UTV with an electric dump box. How many would it take to keep the excavator busy?

 

[Torvy]

Can remove topsoil and get it down to something reasonable to truck on?

Then do your ditch work and then repair?

shouldn’t be more than a day to scrape or dozer a path and a day or 2 to fix?

I was thinking along those lines. A pass or two with a small dozer and return it. Use loader and/or mini ex to load dirt and tidy it up. Thinking 1 day rental on dozer is all that would be needed.

 

[Rustyiron]

My 16k dump trailer will get you stuck in a hurry with the narrow 17.5 wheels. A dump truck would probably preform better than it does. If you outfitted the trailer with a more off road tire and bypassed the electric pump to use your tractor remotes it wouldn’t be bad. But I’d hate to see the price a wheel conversion and good trailers are insane too.

I've wondered about sticking a set of my SS tires and wheels on a dump trailer. I've got an old set of 14x17.5 14ply on 8 bolt pattern. Not really a flotation tire but better than road tires.
There might be a clearance problem, they are almost 36" tall.