Should I do it myself?

[em14]

Sendero,
There are a number of ways to get this done and only one is hard ... with a Pick and a D-Handle shovel! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif You can dig a decent ditch to lay the pipe in with the FEL just place the cutting edge of the bucket on the road way parallel to the center line of the future ditch. Now force the bucket to start the cut by moving the tractor forward a little and as the bucket cuts just curl it and scoop the earth out … continue to move across the road doing this until the ditch is finished. If the bucket cannot penetrate the surface of the road, then you will need to use a sub-soiler or an implement that can break thru. This is where the bucket teeth come in handy. You may need to clean the bottom of the ditch with a shovel and more than likely you will need too. Now place some sand on the bottom of the ditch … your soil maybe sandy enough without adding any more. Use this to cushion the pipe and to set the grade so it will drain proper. Back fill the pipe and compact as you go. Many people don’t do this well the first time but seem to get it right on the second time. Once you have gotten the over burden on the pipe the engineer told you about, you can either begin to push from the borrow pit (borrow ditch) with the FEL which, by the way, is also what you could do to fill the ditch if the borrow pit is close by, or just haul a bucket load at a time. Remember that you need to move, a full bucket in front of the FEL as that is much easier than just a little bit at a time. But don’t try to fill the bucket fast or you will end up wash boarding all over the place. You are becoming a dozier operator now. These 8 inches you are building to is not a speed bump so don’t built one. It is a safety and protection for the pipe … so once you get your load to ditch raise your bucket and dump it … after you have several buckets there start blading and back blading the pile. The idea here is to lay down a lift and as you go about your business of building your over lay your tractor helps to compact the lift! Remember large piles move the easiest and don’t build a speed bump. Sendero … This is one of many ways you can approach the problem and is no better solution than many others … it is a way to do it. Have fun …
Leo

 

[Phred]

You appear to be planning on burying it very shallow.
The general rule I always hear is that you want at least a foot of gravel on top. So unless you want a big hump in the road, dig it deeper.
I have put them in shallow before and the end up torn up by heavy traffic after many years of use.

A hoe is the right tool for the job IMHO.

You can do it with a rear blade, but not a cheap weak one. You need a real heavy duty blade (1000 lbs plus) that requires a lot of hp to run. The cheap ones will bend when you hit a rock.

Fred

 

[Slamfire]

For both digging the ditch and transferring dirt from the borrow pit, I'd think a pond scoop would be a better implement. Of course then you wouldn't have a box blade when you were finished, but I don't know why you'd need one. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Varmintmist]

I put one in with a single bottom plow. Plowed both ways, cleaned the trench out with the FEL, plowed it and cleaned until I was as deep as I could get. Covered it with modified stone. I did it in a evening, no biggie.

Layed 10in corrugated (cheaper) and covered. The rule of thumb is be at least 1/2 the diameter of the pipe down. That means that the bottom of a trench for a 12 inch pipe must be a minimum of 18 inches down. Deeper is better but ya gotta make it flow.

 

[BB_TX]

<font color="blue"> The rule of thumb is be at least 1/2 the diameter of the pipe down. </font>
I have often seen this quoted, and no doubt it is good practice. But around here most of them you see along the highway have no more than a few inches over them unless it is a really deep ditch. And it is not unusual to see a really old one that is beginning to show thru the cover material. None of them are collapsed or even appear to be deformed in spite of trucks and tractors driving over them. Mine is a 24" steel and has at most 6" over it. A flat bed semi drove over it multiple times when delivering my prefab metal building with no problem and his wheels got quite close to the end. I think as long as the dirt is packed very tightly especially around the bottom and sides when it is installed, it will not deform unless an exceptionally heavy load is passed over it.

 

[sendero]

I had a soil engineer suggest this solution. He did the survey and design for my pond and it came out just like it was supposed to. He's in his 70s and has been doing this stuff all his life, I trust his judgement.

Basically - he said that I merely need to cover it by a couple inches. I'm digging into the ground about halfway, and building up dirt the other half. After I'm done, I'll be putting 4" of crushed rock on top of it. It ain't going anywhere /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Alan L.]

Once the culvert is in place I think the box blade is the best tool for smoothing. I have known some that are very skillful back dragging a FEL, but I think it requires more skill, which I don't have. Seems like when I float the FEL it just skips over the dirt, and when I put pressure downward I end up lifting the front wheels off the ground and thus lose steering control. I have tried smoothing a friend's back yard with the FEL because I had the brush hog on at the time. Did a pretty crappy job and was wishing I had my BB which was 6 miles away.

 

[sendero]

I agree. I've used the FEL for smoothing dirt a few times and it really doesn't work very well. The biggest problem is the fact that it is so far out in front of the tractor, any lack of levelness on the tractor itself hugely affects the plane of the bucket edge.

It works ok for gross leveling, but I'd hate to have to make a flat level road with it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[SteveInMD]

I'd go for it. I think it could be done with your FEL, but if you want a BB, it sounds like a good reason to get one.

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I agree. I've used the FEL for smoothing dirt a few times and it really doesn't work very well. The biggest problem is the fact that it is so far out in front of the tractor, any lack of levelness on the tractor itself hugely affects the plane of the bucket edge.

It works ok for gross leveling, but I'd hate to have to make a flat level road with it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )</font>

I use MY 66 Bolens with the front blade for finer leveling /smoothing after using the BX23 FEL.