I knowmy tractor is not a bull dozer but . . .

[Raised on a Deere]

A long time ago my wife wanted a riding arena and we decided on a spot that wasn't quite level enough. The only eqpt I had was a Farmall H with a plow and and IH450 with a 2pt blade. I started plowing the high side and when I had some plowed up I would hop on the 450 and drag it to the low side. After several hours of doing this it was level enough. Then of course she wanted fencing around it but that didn't happen right away of course. What surprised me the most was how smooth the project went.

On the farm if we wanted something done we just tore into it with whatever we had or could borrow. Mostly we weren't surprised at the results but occasionally we got the satisfaction of thinking we had out done ourselves.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

Raised on a Deere,
So sorry your thread veered off the subject. Here's a couple of photos of me pushing clay, like a dozer with no tooth bar. Get the angle of the bucket just right and damp clay will roll off in front of the bucket. It's slow going, but a tooth bar would do it better.View attachment 368090View attachment 368091

If you can't get your old pond dry enough to muck out with your loader bucket, you can contract it out to an operator with a long reach excavator.
hugs, Brandi

I wonder about the tooth bar in the clay muck I will be working with. I am going to get one just because there are some other uses for it and if it works on this job then great. Thanks for posting about your mucking. I almost overlooked because of the off topic stuff but kind of enjoyed the humor. So perhaps we have a good bit of both worlds, information sharing and respectful humor. This thread may die on the humor side since for my part I will not get going on this thing until late summer but I will report on things I have done to get ready.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

Who gets off their tractor to pee? :laughing:

Cultivating corn high as the tractor I just stopped and peed on a leaf and watched it trickle down the stalk. John Deere A had spark plugs exposed on each side of tractor and would occasionally sputter when a leaf of corn would brush it. As a teenager know it all, I got the idea that if I was still standing on the tractor it would not do anything if I peed on the spark plug. You have to be grounded right?? Just how wrong can a person be and still have a grain of sense left over. We test the limits sometimes. BTW one of the posters on here is my son so now you know what caused him to be the way he is.

He will argue all day that he was stuck but he was not stuck.

 

[sacmarata]

Never been stuck yet, just "hung up"

 

[bindian]

I wonder about the tooth bar in the clay muck I will be working with. I am going to get one just because there are some other uses for it and if it works on this job then great. Thanks for posting about your mucking. I almost overlooked because of the off topic stuff but kind of enjoyed the humor. So perhaps we have a good bit of both worlds, information sharing and respectful humor. This thread may die on the humor side since for my part I will not get going on this thing until late summer but I will report on things I have done to get ready.

ROADeere,
Two summers ago I rented a Bobcat mini track loader to finish the pond's depth, as my tractor's front tires were sinking it under load. The Bobcat rep told me if I was digging I would need a tooth bar bucket. He explained without a tooth bar, digging in dry dirt can bend (or warp) the cutting edge. I told him it will be in wet clay. So I used a smooth lip bucket and all was fine.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Xfaxman]

Just bought a Yanmar Lx490 a 49HP tractor weighing 4792lb including loader and Rimguarded tires. I have an area where I had a pond bulldozed 40 years ago that is largely filled in now due to cultivation of runoff land. Just up stream of the pond is another good area for a pond. There is no rock, just clay as deep as I would want to go perhaps 10 feet. I have been thinking with the right setup I could start moving dirt when I feel like working my tractor hard without tearing it up and have a bit of fun if I could get the right implements to break the dirt loose so the loader can work with it..

I read somewhere on here where a guy used his FEL and a boxblade with ripper teeth, breaking the dirt up with the rippers in one pass and picking up dirt with the FEL on the return trip. Is that the most efficient way to do this with a tractor of this size or is there some other way to move the most cubic feet per hour in digging a pond. I am in no rush to complete this but hope to make some kind of pond by this time next year, working 4 or 5 days a month during the spring, summer and fall of this year.


Note: I am considering a new pond because I don't see how a tractor can deal with the muck that has filled the old pond. A bulldozer could do that well but if I can convince myself that the tractor could do it over time I just have a hankering to do it that way.

How are you going to keep the water out of the area that you are removing dirt from?

I removed silt from an old pond, but it had a drain pipe installed under the dam.


Read #307, down to post #313: What's the MOST FUN Thing to Do on Your Tractor? - Page 31

 

[Raised on a Deere]

How are you going to keep the water out of the area that you are removing dirt from?

I removed silt from an old pond, but it had a drain pipe installed under the dam.
View attachment 369009

Read #307, down to post #313: What's the MOST FUN Thing to Do on Your Tractor? - Page 31

View attachment 369010 View attachment 369011 View attachment 369012 View attachment 369013

Thanks for your input. Those pictures are helping keep me working out my approach. I have been thinking of whether to cut the bank, a project in itself, or plug in a couple of sump pumps. I believe the sump pump can handle the task during the drier months. The idea of digging or ditching around the muck to keep it high and dry was also creeping into my thinking. One thing I have wondered is how a cut in the bank will work out. I am sure there would have to be some careful packing or else it might just soften and blow out if the pond fills very fast such as in a major rain season.

Did you put the drain in after the fact or was it already in the pond as constructed originally. Maybe you answered that already. I will take another look.

Your project looks pretty exciting but I have to temper my ambitions a bit from what could happen with those impressive machines. But the technique could well be the same. My key, I believe, is to get it dry some way and then just dig, dig dig. :laughing: