"Pumping" gravel uphill?

[zmoz]

I need some clean, graded 3/4" crushed gravel, which is about $33/yard. Otherwise I can buy "3/4-minus" for $11/yard, except it comes full of dirt, and, well, "minus".

I can run it through a screen myself and clean it and save myself a lot of money. Problem is I would need to do this in my creek which is about 40 feet downhill from the gravel delivery point. It would be nice to have the sand and small leftover gravel down here.

I was thinking I could run a 4" pipe straight down the hill, at about a 60 degree angle, and funnel gravel down to the creek area with gravity. (and maybe a little water) Once it's down there I can use the creek to sift and clean the gravel by pumping lots of water over it.

Problem is getting it back up the hill. No chance of any vehicle driving down there, not even the smallest tractor. How would you move a bunch of clean 3/4" gravel 40 feet up a hill? Is there some way I can "pump" it up the way they do with concrete? Maybe dump some gravel in front of a jet of water? Some kind of screw mechanism?

Otherwise I'll be stuck pulling buckets up with a winch, and that won't be fun....

 

[MikeInEburg]

And by the time you fabricate this, plus the time to wash and screen the gravel plus the fact that half the weight will be left in the creek - after all that, how much will you have saved versus buying the 3/4 that you need?

But to answer the question, a conveyor is the more standard solution to moving gravel like you describe.

Good luck.
Mike

 

[zmoz]

But to answer the question, a conveyor is the more standard solution to moving gravel like you describe.

Right, unfortunately there is no way that will work here. I need to somehow move it back up the pipe. It is a very difficult terrain, most machines won't work.

As for what's left in the creek that's half of why I want to do it, I would also like a load of sand and smaller gravel down there. Right now it's a muddy mess, I plan on installing a pipe and pushing sand/gravel down there anyway. Win win. And I have a lot of time....

 

[yankeerider]

How about pumping creek water up the hill to screen and was there. Keep the big stuff up there, return the fines with the water downhill through another pipe.

 

[Bartcephus]

Good thing you have a lot of time. Just a thought.... pack mules?

 

[SPYDERLK]

How about pumping creek water up the hill to screen and was there. Keep the big stuff up there, return the fines with the water downhill through another pipe.

:thumbsup: Thisll work. Couple of good sized pumps. You will need a power source at the creek - electric or engine to push the water up.
larry

 

[aczlan]

How about pumping creek water up the hill to screen and was there. Keep the big stuff up there, return the fines with the water downhill through another pipe.

That would avoid most of the hassles of moving it up, then down.

Aaron Z

 

[Scooby074]

Id check with the powers that be before id go dumping a bunch of silt into a stream. Not only will it destroy fish habitat, here at least youd be in for a VERY large fine. Huge fines (and court cases) have happened for merely driving through (a single time) a fish habitat. And these crossings were made "in the woods" where it shouldn't be noticed.. but they were.

 

[racerboy832]

Just check a few more places on prices. $33 is way too much even for CT prices. Last time I checked it was around 16 a ton from Tilcon.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Are you talking about crushed limestone (white) or crushed gravel (brown round rock). I would not put lime stone in a stream. Any type of crushed stone is hard to get to slide down a chute. When we haul it in conctere mixers the chutes have to be all the way down to get it to slide.
Bill

 

[Taylortractornut]

I wouldnt want to get caught with silt in a creek. Id spring for the clean stuff, Trying to pump that stone would be hard. When I was 15 and had gotten time welding I worked on a Gravel screen for the folks we bought our gravel from . THey had a chute wear thin. it was for pea gravel. I didnt know they had special grained metal for it. I picked up a peice of cold rolled metal. I welded it in and the first hour of production i was welding in a new peice of the wear material.

 

[pat32rf]

I thought 3/4 crushed ran about 2 ton/yard?
If you pump the water up and wash it then let the water flow back down, for the amount you are doing there might not be much silt that makes it to the creek.....
(is it a clear spring fed trout stream or a muddy crick?)

 

[zmoz]

Pumping water to the top instead could be a possibility, but unfortunately my best work area is going to be down by the creek. It's kind of hard to explain...but that's where I have the space to pile up my different "grades". I'm talking about crushed basalt which is about the only type of "gravel" we have around here.

Id check with the powers that be before id go dumping a bunch of silt into a stream.

This is actually a "drainage ditch" with a muddy bottom and no aquatic life what so ever. It gets most of it's water from the local parking lots. It looks nice and clear, but it's definately not clean. About half a mile down stream it fills the city's sewage ponds.

That's why I want to add gravel to the section where I like to relax, make it look a little nicer instead of a mud hole.

 

[zmoz]

Now imagine with me for a second...if I have some sort of auger attached to the end of the gravel pipe. If I continue to feed gravel into that, it should, in theory force it's way all the way up the hill....no? I'm thinking basically an auger that would fit tightly (but still spin) inside the bottom of a 4" pipe.

Or would the auger need to extend all the way up the hill?

Honestly I would just bring it up in 5 gallon buckets but I can't climb up the hill and cary a bucket at the same time. LOL

 

[zmoz]

Anybody have any idea what a 55 gallon drum full of gravel weighs? I might be able to clear a big enough area for some kind of track up the hill, a steel pipe or a peice of lumber, up which I could winch a drum full of gravel. **** maybe I could ride it too.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

depend on the gravel and how wet it was also. Somewhere in the 350 plus range.

you could parbuckel it, I have parbuckeled drums of fuel up pretty steep hills with just a couple people.

 

[Scooby074]

Drainage ditch that fills a sewer pond? You should be ok as far as the Dept of environment goes.

Sounds like it will be an improvement as to what you have now.:thumbsup:

 

[BHD]

could you make a skid (or trailer like cart) that is attached to a cable and then pull the skid/cart up the hill with your tractor on flat ground?

 

[SPYDERLK]

Anybody have any idea what a 55 gallon drum full of gravel weighs?

A little short of 1000 pounds. Gravel weighs roughly twice what water weighs. Gravel types vary density within a range so yould have to get more specific to close in on a closer weight.
larry

 

[2manyrocks]

There's a reason quarrys use conveyor belts and loaders. It almost seems like you'd want to look at the way they do mining cars on tracks and maybe figure out something from that. The problem with a 55 gallon drum is loading it on end, turning it over when it's full, and rolling it.