Easing Rise Methods

[SLOBuds]

I want to ease the slope on a small portion of my property, as in the picture below. I will reduce the slope from the solid line down to the dotted line.

My tools are 35hp Kubota L35, loader, backhoe, and box scraper. I do not want to buy or rent any other tools.

What is the best procedure to cut that slope? The current angle is too steep for me to drive crosswise. It is too steep for me to push dirt with the loader, going in an upward motion. So I am limited, at least to start, with moving dirt while the tractor is above the 'X' point in the drawing.

Thanks.

 

[jimainiac]

Aproximately how many feet is it between where the dotted and solid lines converge, upper and lower?

 

[SLOBuds]

Aproximately how many feet is it between where the dotted and solid lines converge, upper and lower?

It varies because the land is sloped to varying degrees along the area that I plan to ease. My guess on the length is somewhere between 20-40'. Height of the 'bluff' is probably about 10-15' at its greatest distance.

 

[jimainiac]

Is the length a long way across the face of the the area? I wish I had a good answer for you, I'm in about the same boat as you, we have an L3830 with loader, 9' backhoe, 7' rear blade. I try to do as much as possible with it, but sometimes it's more practical to hire someone with the right equipment, such as a dozer. Would it be possible to back to the edge of the bluff at the top and pull dirt away with the box blade? I guess it would take forever to pick away at it with the backhoe.

 

[SLOBuds]

I guess there isn't any magical answers to this. I'll try to pull it away with the box blade.

 

[charlz]

Can you make downhill runs with the box blade pulling the dirt down to the low area and either leave it there or then move it with the loader?

 

[bjcsc]

That's going to be tough as I think your resulting angle is too great to drive crosswise, but maybe it's your drawing. I had swales cut and ended up with almost the same problem you have. I tried to use my BB to progressively cut it down driving crosswise, but the ground was too hard to get much action. I ended up discing it then scraping it. I did this right up to where the steepest angle was and when I was done with the BB, I pushed what was left into the valley and started high again until I had it all uniform and crosswise drivable. I had ~400' on each side to do and it took me about 3 days. If I was going to do it again I would either borrow or rent a dozer. Once the BB fills up you have to take it somewhere and that eats up a lot of time...

 

[Runner]

I have pretty much the same situation, smaller scale. My plan is to use the box blade/rippers to loosen the soil and move it down to the bottom of the hill. From there, I'm going to use the loader to take it to another location for fill.

 

[Bird]

I once spent a day on a pile of dirt that was more of a bluff or cliff than that. I only used the FEL with a toothbar on it to start with. I'd start just to the left of your X, go in fairly shallow with the FEL bucket and push the dirt over the crest of the bluff, back up and do it again until I worked that hump down to where I could safely drive down it with the box blade dragging a load of dirt down.

 

[dynasim]

When doing something like that with a dozer(on a farm tractor) when I was a kid, we would cut a single path down the hill at the appropriate slope, and then progressively cut the bank out from the side(like widening a road through a slot), pushing the dirt down the hill, and packing it on the bottom.

The hard part is cutting the first slot safely, preferably from the bottom.

I think you could do the same thing with a loader. The thing that would make it difficult is the presence of rocks.

Chris

 

[zeuspaul]

I would back up using the box blade to push the dirt down the slope. I have done similar work with my set up. Top and Tilt and a medium to heavy box blade would make it easier.

Zeuspaul

 

[john_bud]

I want to ease the slope on a small portion of my property, as in the picture below. I will reduce the slope from the solid line down to the dotted line.

My tools are 35hp Kubota L35, loader, backhoe, and box scraper. I do not want to buy or rent any other tools.

What is the best procedure to cut that slope? The current angle is too steep for me to drive crosswise. It is too steep for me to push dirt with the loader, going in an upward motion. So I am limited, at least to start, with moving dirt while the tractor is above the 'X' point in the drawing.

Thanks.

Start by peeling off 2" of top soil / sod with the fel going from a point 1/2 way between the top edge and the X. Push the dirt down the hill. When you are able to run the tractor from top to bottom, use the FEL and the box blade. After you pass the area you want cut, feather out the dirt from the bucket and box to build up that. You will end up with all the top soil / sod on the bottom with this method, so you may have to add more top soil after you are done.

With a good box blade (heavy), you should be done in 1 day (8 hours) and have a nice smooth transition. The slow part is pulling off the top 2-4" of grass and roots. Once that is gone, the box will really be your best buddy. It will require some spot filling over the next couple years as the bottom settles and the grass composts down.

 

[jmfox]

Can you use the front loader to push the dirt down? As you dig down you will fill the steep part at the bottom making the slope uniform. If you do not have enough HP to push it, take small bites. I assume your brakes are good.

jmf

 

[AndyMA]

Can you use the front loader to push the dirt down? As you dig down you will fill the steep part at the bottom making the slope uniform. If you do not have enough HP to push it, take small bites. I assume your brakes are good.

jmf

If I were attacking it, and I have done similiar things many times, if I had room I would start from the bottom and cut one path to the top to set a reference slope. It also depends where the excess material is going and how rocky/stumpy the material is. I would probably then work from the top at a slight angle taking bites and pushing them down the center work path. Any time I ran into a hard area I would be on the backhoe softening it.

Andy

 

[SLOBuds]

I have to apologize to everyone because I failed to say that all of the removed material has to be placed on top of the hill, and there is a fence at the bottom which will not allow me to push material down first.

Sorry.

But I do have a way to create a reference slope because there are a couple of accessible areas that are at a lesser angle. I can start the cuts there and move progressively into the larger angle.

The other thing is that I have plenty of room to place my removed material.

These are all very good ideas. And I can picture how each one of them would work pretty well. Sorry I did not think to say that I have to remove towards the top and can't pile down below. That's what makes the process a bit dicey to begin with.

 

[JoeL4330]

Even with a dozer, some of the questions remain the same: is there good top soil there now? Would you be able to work crosswise if the grade were the dashed line?

If yes to both, then I would scrape top soil from the top and the bottom ...reserve well off to the side (and/or on the level up top and the level at the bottom if there is any such) ...now, as has been suggested you can attack the material you have to "cut" by digging forward with your bucket (tootbar helpful) and dumping over the "cliff" (the dirt, not the tractor) being careful if you venture onto any of the spoil you have just pushed/dumped over.

If the max depth of the cut you need is modest you may feel better attacking it uphill from below with the (toothed) bucket and then backing and dumping gradually ...reaching up and pulling down with the backhoe if required. Now you will end up with a suitably wide "starter road" top to bottom.

You could continue in same fashion or you might be able to work crosswise as some have suggested, but a note of caution. A sidehill that you can traverse comfortably (your dashed line, say) is not necessarily a slope on which you can WORK crosswise because lifting the bucked (and/or backblade) might raise your center of gravity just a little too much. Along these lines, note that if you were crosswise on your to-grade-road and attacking the material to be cut then the bucket would fill unevenly in the WORST sense--heavier on the downhill side.

Again, if the "cut" is not too deep, wIdening your to-grade-road might be more comfortably done with the tractor working straight up/down the "fall line" (as the skiers would say) and with an angled back blade and then redistributing the spoil on every pass ...otherwise, you would just be moving the "cliff" onto your (formerly-)to-grade road but just displaced up/down a little.

If the cliff is big and you really mean what your drawing indicates, then this would be a job for a big payloader and a dump truck to haul away the excess so I'm guessing not to big a cliff and actually raising the finished grade above your dashed line as you redistribute the material, no?

No matter what, seatbelt ROPS and video camera are essential ...best of luck.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I have to apologize to everyone because I failed to say that all of the removed material has to be placed on top of the hill, and there is a fence at the bottom which will not allow me to push material down first.
Sorry.

But I do have a way to create a reference slope because there are a couple of accessible areas that are at a lesser angle. I can start the cuts there and move progressively into the larger angle.

The other thing is that I have plenty of room to place my removed material.

These are all very good ideas. And I can picture how each one of them would work pretty well. Sorry I did not think to say that I have to remove towards the top and can't pile down below. That's what makes the process a bit dicey to begin with.

I think you could work down the hill, slowly removing all the material uphill of the apex point. That will give you good push with the loader, and you can back up the hill with small bucket loads. Depending how high the point is above your desired grade, you may need to be excavating it a little as well, but leave a good bump there til last. It will give you something to push into and also a safety backstop. Once you reach the X it would be nice to use the BH to break off the point. Do you have a good solid tree up the hill that you can run a chain to to hold you on the hill while using the hoe?
larry

 

[john_bud]

If you have to work from the top and dump at the top, the task is harder. Still do-able, just a bit harder.

It's going to be about 90% box blade. Hope you have a good and heavy one, that will make it work better.

Drop the scarifiers down as deep as you can pull. Don't be shocked if that is the one closest to not engaging. Pulling is hard, pulling with the scarifiers down is harder, pulling up hill is harder still. Just back down the hill and drop the edge of the box over, then pull. It will cut better after the grass is gone and that will be more of a chore. After you are down to bare dirt, you can probably raise the scarifiers all the way, unless the dirt is too hard / rocky.

jb

 

[wushaw]

I did what your fixin to do last year, on my back pond one side was too steep (not on the dam) to mow with anything but a push mower so I used my box blade and pulled the soil to the top area and used the spoils for other projects.

It took me many days to get the look I wanted but after I finished I was able to drive my tractor sideways on it with no problem, I am just trying to get grass to grow now and slow down the errosion.