How much dirt work with a MT242HE?

[DylanE]

I recently purchased a LS MT242HE for our 20 acre property, along with a rotary mower and box scraper. This is the first tractor I’ve owned, but on our prior much larger property we owned a CTL for clearing, trail work, various projects. This property is more mowing ect so it seemed like a needed downsize.

We have an area on the property that is a small gulley with decent sloped hills on three sides. I’ve been thinking about hiring out a dozer to put in a small levee to create a livestock pond. It would probably be 50-100 cubic yards of dirt moved and then some grading. The few guys that I talked to wanted to bring in a D5 dozer and knock it put in a day or two, but charge around 20k.

Does this seem like something that could be down with my tractor and a box scraper? I don’t mind spending some time on it, but I also don’t want to end up tearing up the gully only to realize it’s out of scope.

 

[4570Man]

If it’s only 100 yard of dirt then 20k is ridiculously expensive. 100 yards wouldn’t build much of a pond either. Some details would help.

 

[DylanE]

If it’s only 100 yard of dirt then 20k is ridiculously expensive.

I agree. The way our property is situated it’s a pretty tough to get equipment in. The tractor on a 20’ trailer was pushing it. Cut hill on one side and a fall into creek on the other. I kinda took the 20k as a “not worth the time and effort” estimate.

 

[4570Man]

I agree. The way our property is situated it’s a pretty tough to get equipment in. The tractor on a 20’ trailer was pushing it. Cut hill on one side and a fall into creek on the other. I kinda took the 20k as a “not worth the time and effort” estimate.

100 yards is doable on a tractor but an easy job for a CTL. It might be worth renting another one for a day. A larger CTL would move 1 yard per scoop but even on the conservative side that’s 200 scoops.

 

[DylanE]

It's hard to see in the photos but the area already has three sides of the pond in place, it just needs a levee on the downstream side to start holding water. Dirt from the hill on the righthand side of the photos would just be brought downstream to the yellow line on the topo map. I don't think it would take more than 100 cubic yards moved, but I would have to scrape and compact the other three hillsides so I'd have to rent a sheepsfoot or something regardless.

Sounds like I'll just have to rent a few things this summer.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, clean fill, 100% doable with the tractor. Now, if you are digging it out of a hill bank, with rocks or clay, it might be a real challenge.

So, on the dozer, if we assume $3000 mob, and $2500 day, I can see a $8k bill, maybe $10k, but $20k is too high, IMO.

 

[paulsharvey]

Now, I didn't address the other unspoken part; will your soils hold water? And do you plan to construct a true pond, that holds water year round? Cutting a keyway, and making sure everything is water tight is more than moving dirt

 

[garry1p]

You will need a core ditch (keyway) I had a pond installed and they did not install the core ditch properly or pack it well enough 2 years later it would not hold water.

 

[4570Man]

So, clean fill, 100% doable with the tractor. Now, if you are digging it out of a hill bank, with rocks or clay, it might be a real challenge.

So, on the dozer, if we assume $3000 mob, and $2500 day, I can see a $8k bill, maybe $10k, but $20k is too high, IMO.

Even $3,000 is a lot to move a 5 unless it’s going 100 miles in the middle of nowhere.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, before you get too serious, you need to dig 3 or 4 test holes and do a perk test. If that wash area doesn't naturally hold water, your entire idea becomes more trouble. Dig a kinda smooth, 3 ft deep hole, and see how long a bucket of water takes to perk.

Next, you need to locate your proposed embankment source (the dam), and make sure your borrow material also holds water.

If both hold water well, I would start cutting your borrow material and make sure you have the machine to do it, and I would pile it close to where the dam goes. It's easier to quickly grab from the stockpile, than go "mine" it from the hill. Once you have atleast 50% of your borrow ready, cut the keyway, 1 bucket wide, all the way across the wash area, and start back filling with your borrow. Your going to want a 2:1 slope on both sides, so a 6 ft high dam, is going to be at least 12 (front), 12 (back), 8 (core and maintenance berm), or 32 ft wide at the base. A 6 ft tall berm, 50 ft long, is going to use 355 CY of material.

Once it's build, dont cheap out of stabilizing the dam, it needs grassed