front loader or mini excavator

[finnercy]

Hi

Newish operator, I need to move 75+ton of dirt in piles of about 10ft high. Its been sitting 10 years so is very well compacted. I attacked it with my Front loader (Kubota B2230 HST) but was strugging to break into it and get a full bucket.
I need to move this dirt about 100 yards for distributing and leveling out so wondering what my best option is.

1. Hire a mini excavator and use it to load my dump trailer which Ill pull with the tractor - probably set me back a couple hundred for a few days hire. Used to have a mini Excavator so can run one.

2. Forget the mini excavator and use the Front loader to load the trailer then hitch it up and dump.

Option 2 is cheap but Im having difficulty breaking into the pile, also wondering if the dettaching/reattaching the 2 ton trailer repeatedly will be a headache. Would a tooth bar on the bucket help breakout?

Any suggestions would be great

Cheers Rob

 

[Thomas]

Good owner operator could make short time of dirt pile...no headaches or weather to consider.

 

[ProjectKing]

How big is the dump trailer? I would rent a tracked skid steer and load the dump trailer if it has any kind of capacity. If it doesn’t I would just move the dirt in the bucket on the skid steer the 300’. You can move a lot of dirt like this in 8 hours if you are running a full size skid steer (10,000 to 12,000 lbs)

 

[Diggin It]

A loader is a loader. It's for loading loose material. It is NOT for digging in anything other than loose material.

Review this thread if you have any doubts: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...25328-broken-loader-mount-kl4030-ck2610h.html

 

[Industrial Toys]

Could also read the "I broke my loader mounts" or "my front axle turned into garbage" threads.

A large mini ex at the very least, as the production and reach of a small one is poor.

You won't break a tracked skid loader, but it won't have that much break out force either. Teeth would help quit a bit.

 

[MossRoad]

Hi

Newish operator, I need to move 75+ton of dirt in piles of about 10ft high. Its been sitting 10 years so is very well compacted. I attacked it with my Front loader (Kubota B2230 HST) but was strugging to break into it and get a full bucket.
I need to move this dirt about 100 yards for distributing and leveling out so wondering what my best option is.

1. Hire a mini excavator and use it to load my dump trailer which Ill pull with the tractor - probably set me back a couple hundred for a few days hire. Used to have a mini Excavator so can run one.

2. Forget the mini excavator and use the Front loader to load the trailer then hitch it up and dump.

Option 2 is cheap but Im having difficulty breaking into the pile, also wondering if the dettaching/reattaching the 2 ton trailer repeatedly will be a headache. Would a tooth bar on the bucket help breakout?

Any suggestions would be great

Cheers Rob

Yes, a tooth bar should help. Think about it. If your bucket is 48" wide, all of the force your tractor can generate is distributed across that 48". If you have 12 teeth 1" wide each, all of that force is now distributed across only 12". That's 4X the force. Teeth also help with loading loose material. It's a good investment.

How big is your dump trailer?

If you could tow that behind a 2nd vehicle, it would go much, much faster VS having to hook and un-hook the trailer with each load.

 

[kthompson]

Excavator and dump trailer...we used that setup to move dirt from a one acre pond about same distance. 5 ton excavator and 6 by 10 by 2 feet dump trailer. Hooked the hyd cylinder to the tractor's remotes for faster and easier dumping. Was loading, making the round trip with dumping as quick as 8 minutes. Two operators. Oil trailer bed, dump trailers don't raise anything like as much as dump trucks. No way you want to load the trailer and have to then hook it over and over.

 

[Ortimber]

A CTL (compact track loader) and a little time and that pile will be gone. You can move a lot of material with one of those in a day.

 

[WoodDuck]

Another vote for a large tracked skid steer with a large capacity tooth bucket. If you rent a unit with decent ground speed, it might be quicker to skip the dump trailer entirely and just shuttle it over to the dump site. Could try it both ways and see. I'm all about not handling anything more than I have to. If you load the trailer with an excavator, then pull the trailer over and dump it, then come back later yet again with your tractor to distribute and level after that, you've handled the same scoop of dirt several times with multiple pieces of equipment. Might be more efficient to run it over to the dump area with the skid steer, then dump/spread/rough level it as your backing away to return to the pickup pile. Can always finish smoothing things out with a tractor plane or blade after the bulk has been moved to the new location. My two cents anyway!

 

[4570Man]

How big is your dump trailer? Having a truck or trailer would definitely make the job go better but moving 75 tons of dirt with a CTL wouldn’t be that bad of a job. A toothed bucket on a CTL will easily break into hard packed dirt and load it. It’s a completely different animal compared to a small tractor. My recommendation would be just hire someone. Someone with a CTL and dump truck could have that job done in 2 hours.

 

[finnercy]

Hi and thanks for the replies so far.

The dump trailer is 2 ton capacity and 8ftx5ft. Im doing the job myself and wont be getting someone in to do it, last time I had anyone do groundwork for me, they dug up the same main drainage pipe twice despite been given a plan for where it was and generally made a helleva mess. I am aware I could get someone in with heavy equipment and do the work in hours, however the tidy up afterwards would take days.

I going with a mini excavator and using my tractor/trailer to shift the soil. Skidsteer loaders are not common here, I'd need hired in plant insurance to get one (which I dont have and is expensive) but I could hire a mini excavator without it it locally and for a lot cheaper. Will make sure I have one which can load the trailer hightwise , 1.5ton is a common size here and easily available. I rented a 1 ton machine last year and was suprised at the power the thing had and the size of the bucket you could use and still dig in hard ground.

This is my property/garden I am working on, so Im trying to minimise the amount of collateral damage of this work and I have time on my hands just now for some reason....

 

[Grandad4]

I'll second the comment about a tooth bar on the loader making a huge difference for this sort of work. My little subcompact has dug and moved far more than 75 tons of hard-packed soil on many projects. That said, your plan to open up the ground with a mini excavator and then load to the trailer with the tractor bucket is pretty good, I think.

 

[ProjectKing]

Hi and thanks for the replies so far.

The dump trailer is 2 ton capacity and 8ftx5ft. Im doing the job myself and wont be getting someone in to do it, last time I had anyone do groundwork for me, they dug up the same main drainage pipe twice despite been given a plan for where it was and generally made a helleva mess. I am aware I could get someone in with heavy equipment and do the work in hours, however the tidy up afterwards would take days.

I going with a mini excavator and using my tractor/trailer to shift the soil. Skidsteer loaders are not common here, I'd need hired in plant insurance to get one (which I dont have and is expensive) but I could hire a mini excavator without it it locally and for a lot cheaper. Will make sure I have one which can load the trailer hightwise , 1.5ton is a common size here and easily available. I rented a 1 ton machine last year and was suprised at the power the thing had and the size of the bucket you could use and still dig in hard ground.

This is my property/garden I am working on, so Im trying to minimise the amount of collateral damage of this work and I have time on my hands just now for some reason....

Curious where you live. Skids steers are as common as potato chips and soda pop in the USA! Lol!

Your set up will work. Will just be slow going because you have to run both machines and dump trailer doesn’t have a huge capacity. But it will be certainly the most fun way of doing it! Excavators and dump trucks are fun to run. (0: Good luck!

 

[nbryan]

A box scraper at the other end where you're spreading and levelling would really help.

 

[finnercy]

yea the location is Scotland in the UK. Backhoe loaders seem to be the the thing here that get used in preference to skidsteers, you do get skid steers, but not very common.

I am using a box scraper as a rear counterweight currently (again box scrapers dont seem that popular in the U.K) and yesterday used it for leveling off an area I am going to pave, the ground is sandy with many many stones and it has worked very well just using the blade without rippers engaged. I need some more practice on it though. Great to move/level a few tons of sand/stones and not have a sore back after!

 

[Code54]

A CTL (compact track loader) and a little time and that pile will be gone. You can move a lot of material with one of those in a day.

Exactly - that would be no big deal at all. 75 tons is not a whole lot and you are not going real far so you can do it in a day.

 

[plowhog]

Hi

Newish operator, I need to move 75+ton of dirt in piles of about 10ft high. Its been sitting 10 years so is very well compacted. I attacked it with my Front loader (Kubota B2230 HST) but was strugging to break into it and get a full bucket.
I need to move this dirt about 100 yards for distributing and leveling out so wondering what my best option is.

I did almost exactly this same project except with a Massey GC1710 scut and a 5x8 2 ton dump trailer. And my pile of dirt was maybe 8 feet high, not 10.

I was surprised how many trips it required, but I did get it done. I had the dump trailer hitched to my truck and loaded it with the Massey SCUT. I did have a "piranaha bar" on the front of my loader which helped a lot to get a bite of dirt. Even so, there were numerous times where I had to back up, and get a new bite. If I could do this with a SCUT I think you can do it with your setup .. and maybe a tooth bar instead of a smooth edge on the bucket.

 

[4570Man]

Do the batteries in dump trailers hold up to marathon dirt moving?

 

[ProjectKing]

yea the location is Scotland in the UK. Backhoe loaders seem to be the the thing here that get used in preference to skidsteers, you do get skid steers, but not very common.

I am using a box scraper as a rear counterweight currently (again box scrapers dont seem that popular in the U.K) and yesterday used it for leveling off an area I am going to pave, the ground is sandy with many many stones and it has worked very well just using the blade without rippers engaged. I need some more practice on it though. Great to move/level a few tons of sand/stones and not have a sore back after!

That’s great! Nice to talk with someone from Scotland. I have heard compact wheel loaders are very popular in Europe. That’s what’s I would like to have! They don’t tear up the ground like a skid steer.

I think your plan will work well! Yes the box blades work excellent. I normally never use my rippers. The blade alone can do a lot of work in the right ground.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I absolutely love my Kubota R510 wheel loader with backhoe. Never a thought about wrecking turf with the turf tires.

As much as it is designed for production loading, and I have a toothed bucket, if the material was firm, I would probably dig it up a bit with the backhoe first. Just becaue you can force a machine to do something, doesn't mean it's the wise thing to do.