Can 3720 dig pond in clay???

[MichMan]

I'm looking at the 3000 series. I have 7 acres of flat ground. I have some ditch work to do, landscaping, 500' gravel drive that drifts shut each winter. I also want to dig a 1/2 to 3/4 acre pond in this grey clay we have. Does anyone have any experience with the 3720, 300cx FEL and 448 BH in this situation? I realize that that is a lot of dirt, and will take time, but all the pond diggers around here want 10-15K. Any observations really at all would be welcome.....Thanks,Serge.

 

[jcmseven]

The answer is "yes". I have a 3720, but donot have a backhoe with mine. My neighbor has a 4410 with loader and backhoe and he dug an equivalent size pond for his property. We live in the mountains here and the soil is clay based, but also has a lot of rocks, both big and small and the terrain is steep and treacherous. I doubt where my neighbor put his pond could anything larger have gone. He is retired, and it took him a while to get done, but his machine did a good job and did not utter a peep. I suspect the 3720 would be even better secondary to an upgraded loader and backhoe. Also, one can rent a small excavator if needed for those super tough things and still come out way ahead.

John M

 

[Dargo]

I spent 3 years with a 90 hp dozer before I gave up and rented a large excavator for a week and borrowed 3 other tandem axle dump trucks to go with my truck. I then ran 6 people 14 hours a day for 8 full days to finish. That is after spending hundreds and hundreds of hours on a small (90 hp) dozer. My answer would be a resounding "no". I have heavy clay soil and the lake has been great for the last 10 years or so now though. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JJT]

1/2 - 3/4 of an acre? The anszwer is yes it can be done with this machine, but it will take an eternity. You could save your money and do the same work with a shovel and a wheelbarrow....

We had a 1/4 acre pond built 8 years ago. 2 guys with large excavator, huge payloader, D4 dozer and a 10 wheel dump did the work in 3 days. I did the finish work and the bill was under $4K. We went 14' deep.

I've dug some fairly large holes with my L3710 with the fel, in a few hours you can have a hole big enough to swallow a truck, but I would never attempt anything bigger.

15 years ago at another house we built a much smaller pond, it was a 1 day dig, we had a JD450 and good size backhoe. The JD got stuck and pond cost tripled due to the retrieval/breakage cost.

The nice thing about using a big excavator - they don't get stuck on a pond job unless you do something stupid.

For shallow ponds around here they use big dozers - D8+. If you want depth and you have any water in the hole, (read mud) you need the excavator.

 

[MichMan]

I was also considering buying an excavator to dig it then getting rid of it. Hiring out the big work, and most of the dozer work, and finishing it up myself is an option also, if I can get someone to work with me. This was to be a swimmming/fishing hole. Might have to get a pool for now to appease the wife....Thanks, Serge.

 

[jim_wilson]

I had a similar train of thought when I bought my BX23 - my initial projects were to dig out for a 100ft extension to my driveway and then to dig a foundation hole for a new 3 car garage. I have a small lot - just 1/2 acre - so I did not want to get too large of a tractor. Well - I got the driveway dug out - and I am in the process of digging out the foundation hole now (see attached picture), but I have to say I sure do wish now that I got a bigger tractor, or bought a BX with FEL and then a used excavator or some other combo. Don't get me wrong - the BX does get the work done, but digging out the driveway took me months and the foundation hole is also taking a good amount of time. I am up to 250+ hours on the tractor now.

There are three main things that I have discovered that have taken up a significant amount of time and/or would have made the job go faster if I had known beforehand:

- moving the dirt with the FEL takes up a LOT of time.
- having the backhoe and the FEL on the same unit takes up time as you reposition or take up a setup to use the other implement.
- I wish the backhoe was bigger and I can see why the mini excavators are so much more productive now.

If it was me and I was contemplating doing this again I would get a setup as follows:

- buy a used excavator, I have seen smaller ones for as little as $8000-$9000, an excavator will allow you to dig faster and move the dirt farther than the backhoe will.
- buy the tractor you want with a FEL but no backhoe - you have the excavator so you don't need one.
- buy the biggest dump trailer that the tractor can tow, using a dump trailer will allow you to hook it up to the tractor, dump the dirt directly into the trailer with the excavator, and then hop from excavator to tractor as you go from digging to dumping, this combo will be much faster than digging with the backhoe and then moving the dirt with the FEL.

After you are done you could sell the excavator and probably recoup most of your investment and you will still have the tractor and the dump trailer for other work.

 

[sticky]

You have no idea what you are getting into thinking you can dig in grey clay with a compact utility tractor. You will tear the loader into junk and dig nothing. Digging in grey clay with a machine under 10,000 lbs is a waiste of time.

Rent an excavator for a week for about 1400 or a month for 3400 threw someone like United Rentals. Buying an excavator for under 10,000 will get you a piece of worn out equipement that you will have to sink alot of money into that you will never get back.

 

[sticky]

In order to have fish in a pond around me in Indiana 50 percent must be 10 feet deep. In this picture I am down to about 16 below my max waterline. You can see the grey clay. A CAT 262 skidsteer with steel tracks that weighs about 9000 lbs couldn't do a thing in it. A hitachi EX150 excavator that weighs about 30,000 lbs is what I used to dig with.

 

[sticky]

let me try again

 

[sticky]

This is what I am using on my 3/4 acre pond. I had to put my deere in for this forum. Forks and box blade