Installing cattler guards- any tips ?

[bcarwell]

I've got some heavy 10 x 10 cattle guards that are "box" style with metal sides all around that are about 1 foot tall. They are going in pretty tough, hard Central Texas dirt with limestone rocks randomly down about a foot and a half.

I was just going to dig a 12 x 12 pit about a foot deep for each, make sure its reasonably level at the bottom of the pit, and just slide them in- no footings, no concrete anywhere. Any tips on anything else I should do or consider (aside from wings I already know about) ?

For example should I dig down 1 1/2 feet deep and fill with 6 inches of septic gravel so there isn't a standing pool of water for mosquitos ? Or should I put a french drain trench perpendicular to the the road on either side ?

These Mommas are going to be a bear to "slide" in (5 inch pipe) and won't move once I get them in, so I don't want to be pullin' them up after installing. I assume over time they'll fill in with run off dirt or whatever I'll have to clean out but I don't think there's any way to avoid that.

Thanks,

Bob
Bob

 

[rtimgray]

I've set 4 cattle guards - three of them I put in concrete footings (just small quickcrete footings) and one I put in in a hurry (cattle had figured out they could jump the cattle guard, so I had to make it wider in a hurry).

I just dug the hole, put in a little gravel that I had, and put in the cattle guard. It was always in my plan to go back and pull the guard and set some footers. That's been about 5 years and I still haven't done it. It has sunk on one end a few inches, but it's not worth digging up now (at least not yet).

I think you'd probably be okay to just dig the pit and set 'em. Adding gravel for drainage would be a good idea, and pipe to daylight is even better if you can get it. I have one that always holds water for a while because it's in a low spot and there's now way to drain it without pumping it.

Good luck.

 

[weldingisfun]

Have you considered setting them on the surface then building dirt ramps to drive up and over them? No digging necessary and no standing water. Just a thought.

 

[bcarwell]

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys. All very helpful. I don't think given my limestone problem I'm going to have much sinking so I'm leaning to just diggin' a pit and being done with it. Good suggestion about considering leaving it on the surface and just filling the edges whcih I hadn't thought of. With them being a foot tall and it being difficult to dig topsoil around here its almost a toss up trying to dig a pit or diggin up enough soil to fill the edges that are a foot high. But you did cause me to consider another option. Rather than digging a foot deep pit, only dig it 6 inches and use what I dug out on the edges. I think I may find its too difficult to dig a whole foot down anyway for 3 100 foot square areas. My FEL won't do it and I've had to use my post hole digger for a septic leach line. Wish I had a trencher. I just broke 3 pins on my post hole digger in one day trying to dig down 2 feet for a fence. Grrrrr......

Anyway, thanks again. I now have the confidence I'm not overlooking anything, never having put one of these things in.

Bob