Help: How to level with a front end loader

[94BULLITT]

I disagree. You control the attitude of the bucket with the dirt you're moving. If the left side of the bucket is low... you dump some dirt in your left side wheel tracks to raise that side of the bucket. Once you get the get the bucket on the plane you want, it digs out at that angle. Then you can turn around and sit on the "level" area you just dug out to dig out the "launch pad" you created to set the bucket angle.

I said hard not impossible.

 

[LD1]

1st, a swimming pool isnt likely to be big, and if done right, will get a few inches of sand dumped on top. Sand is cheap so there is room for error in the "leveling" ability.

As others said, the bucket follows the rear tires. So if you are moving along leveling, and run over a rock, your bucket moves and you just screwed things up. If you dont stop and correct, and keep going, when your tires get to that screw up, it will create yet another, and so on.

As to getting the tires level, If it is just a gentle slope and not a hillside, work up and down the hill and not across it, at least to start. That way level is created by how deep you dig with the bucket...

 

[pinetree10]

Ironically I was looking for the same thing yesterday and didn't find much info. My backyard has a good slope to it and my wife keeps bugging me about a pool. I told her we can't have one with the yard sloped the way it is. I don't have a tractor with a FEL but I do plan on getting one within the next year. So I'm interested to see everyone's inputs as well.

This is off the subject but I have a sloped yard too and my wife has also been bugging me for a pool. We ended up getting a Radiant pool, which is partially buried and partially above ground. It's the solution for irregular yards like ours. Of course you don't have to tell your wife about this if you don't want to.

 

[cletus99]

This is off the subject but I have a sloped yard too and my wife has also been bugging me for a pool. We ended up getting a Radiant pool, which is partially buried and partially above ground. It's the solution for irregular yards like ours. Of course you don't have to tell your wife about this if you don't want to.

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Tilt tatch:
Tilt-Tatch Attachment - Bobcat Company

 

[bandaidmd]

Just FYI above ground pools recommend sifted dirt and not sand under the liner. sand won't pack and stay flat. Yes I ignored the directions and made the mistake of using sand.

 

[bandaidmd]

Tilt tatch:
Tilt-Tatch Attachment - Bobcat Company

Thanks, Thanks a lot now theres something else on my must have list. lol

 

[LD1]

Just FYI above ground pools recommend sifted dirt and not sand under the liner. sand won't pack and stay flat. Yes I ignored the directions and made the mistake of using sand.

I did not know that they didnt recommend it.

But I disagree with the packing and staying flat. We put sand under my parents 16x24 pool. And it is packed hard as a rock with the weight of the water on it, and sand is easily leveled, and can be fine tuned once a few inches of water are in the pool to make it even leveler.

Plus you dont have to worry about missing a rock or stick that may trash the liner

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I have a project along my drive where I'm moving large rocks (lifting & carrying, pushing, dragging, rolling) and planing the ridge down preparatory to building a stone wall and I'm using my FEL to do a considerable amount of digging and prying. The key is to not get in a hurry. Once I'm close to where I want the slope to be, I use the backblade to finish it.

There's a few boulders I'm rotating into position using a big hydraulic jack as a Bobcat CT230 just won't do a 4 to 5 ton boulder.

 

[rsallen]

To the op,
Nobody is saying it's easy.......only that's it's easier than a pick and shovel.

If you had something else other then a fel life gets easier, but not impossible.
Though having a post hole digger does present possiblities for loosing soil for removal with the fel.

Use your imagination, it'll take you far.

 

[Xfaxman]

Tilt tatch:
Tilt-Tatch Attachment - Bobcat Company

Thanks, Thanks a lot now theres something else on my must have list. lol

I even use a box blade on the Tilt-Tach.

 

[94BULLITT]

These are nice for some fine tuning.

http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-...0051&productId=3712822&store=2724&view=detail

 

[Wagtail]

I have a FEL, brush hog, and 12" auger. So not much of any of what you used.

Not so, Mate. The only thing you don't have, that I do, for the job that I described is a tiller. You can easily hire a walk-behind tiller from a garden centre... Actually, your Mate that you're doing the job for can hire that! :laughing:

Then it becomes a two man job.

 

[swick1]

Your best bet is to buy a toothbar or rent a 3 point hitch tiller. A walk behind tiller won't be fast enough unless you just use it for tuning. Make sure to get a bucket full of dirt and drive over it with your front wheels for final compaction especially if you use a tiller. Its easier to get perfectly flat if you dig from various directions. It cancels out the ruts. If the soil is dry wet it down with a hose until it is moist but not muddy then compact it with wheel rolling.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Again, the directions for above ground pools say NOT to fill in and compact, but to remove high spots to get to final grade. The reason is that the filled soil will compact under the weight of so much water and a slope can develop and collapse the pool.

 

[Wagtail]

Your best bet is to buy a toothbar or rent a 3 point hitch tiller. A walk behind tiller won't be fast enough unless you just use it for tuning. Its easier to get perfectly flat if you dig from various directions. It cancels out the ruts. If the soil is dry wet it down with a hose until it is moist but not muddy then compact it with wheel rolling.

... Or rent a 3 point hitch tiller, you're right. I don't have any experience with a toothbar.

From what I've been reading on the various threads, the FEL + bucket is not designed for digging therefore there is potential for doing damage to the FEL. Mind you, that doesn't stop 'us' from using it for that purpose. As the old adage goes: If the only tool you have is a hammer, everthing looks like a nail!

 

[PRF]

Just FYI above ground pools recommend sifted dirt and not sand under the liner. sand won't pack and stay flat. Yes I ignored the directions and made the mistake of using sand.

I guess it's different in different parts of the country.. Here they use either sand or screened clay soil under above ground pools, with sand being the preferred material. Keeps rocks from working up through the liner and the water weight holds it down quite well. They even used sand for ages with in ground pools too, before vermiculite became the standard. I agree with trying to avoid filling low spots because of settling.if it has to be done it should be in 6" lifts and compacted with a plate compactor..

We fill pools for a living in the summer, so I've seen thousands over the past 40 years.

 

[crazyal]

If you have plenty of room to work then avoid working off camber. Work with the tractor facing up hill but close to level side to side. Without a tooth bar you may need to start off breaking up the sod to get the cutting edge of the bucket down to dirt. You may also want to just the shovel to cut the sod along the uphill side of where the pool is going. If you take your time you should be able to get it pretty close. You can always use the bucket to backdrag the help further smooth it out. Just make sure anything loose you use to fill in any low spot gets packed real well and put a layer of sand down once your done. To keep the sand in place you can use some of the dirt or sod you removed on the downhill side.

 

[alchemysa]

With some effort you'll probably get it roughly level with the bucket but it will be far from smooth. To finish the job you'll some kind of manual leveller. Mine is just a 6' long piece of heavy angle iron with a metal handle (I used 1" galv pipe) welded to it, like a broom handle. Drag it around in circles and figure eights. Put a long board down occasionally with a spirit level to check the levels. Then repeat the process with your clean sand or dirt base. I did this recently to make a pad for a 20,000 litre poly tank. The result was very good.

 

[fieldman12]

Allot of the tricks to leveling can be learned by watching old timers on dozers. To build up a low spot dump dirt and pack your lifts. I like to do three or four inches at a time. Back dragging can help you smooth up a spot. If you want to even up a spot of loose soil drive over the humpy spots with bucket above the ground and knock humps off a little with each pass. Keep doing this over and over dropping the bucket a little with each pass until eventually smooth. The trick is don't move more dirt at a time than your machine can handle without spinning or lifting machine due to pushing way to much. Just make light passes. With each pass dropping the bucket a little more each time it will get smoother and smoother until eventually level. I have installed many barn pads for people with my skid steer, cut waterways and so on. You really have to have an act for it and patients but with time you get an eye and feel for it. With a skid loader the task is simpler but I have done with old cat track loader and front of backhoe many times