Renting trackhoes and bulldozers

[ultrarunner]

I like the Dozer for putting in a roughing out a trail... been doing firebreaks and fire-trails.

The park departments all use motor-graders witch make quick work for maintenance... amazing how fast those guys go when everything is dialed in.

I'm able to get good result by timing my work for the optimum soil conditions... enough moister for compaction... not too wet of too dry...

At the end of the day I go as far in as possible and then backdrag to smooth out and tweak the slope.

 

[Stimw]

I'd like to cut the grade down on my 1/4 mile driveway with a dozer, but having never driven one, I'm not sure how good the work would turn out. It would involve moving a lot of earth and some rock, so I'm guessing rippers on the back would be needed, and then the blade to get the right drainage slope. How easy is it to catch on to using a big machine like that? Or am I just better off getting a contractor in to do the work for me?:confused2:

After 2 years in the ARMY I was.discharged in 1970 and assigned to a National Guard Unit on inactive reserve.
2 years after I got out I was called to go to Summer Camp for 2 weeks with an Engineering Unit.
The first day we were in formation and Lt. says "I need 5 dozer operators out here now". 2 guys stepped out.
Lt looked around and then said "I need 3 guys who think they can run a dozer out here right now".
I almost knocked a couple guys down getting out there!
The 2 guys who knew showed the 3 of us who didn't the controls and I ended up driving an OLD D-9 with a 12' blade for two weeks!
The dozer started on gas and you pulled out a knob to switch it over to diesel and the blade was cable controlled! I said they were OLD!
Took me about 1 hour to get the hang of it and the rest of it was pure FUN!