How to move boulders?

[zmoz]

My (great)uncle owns almost a square mile out in the middle of freakin' nowhere, including like half a mountain. There are nice granite boulders scattered around his property that would be worth tons of $$$$ installed in people's yards back where I live. He's getting very old and is now living in an assisted living facility, so he could use a little extra income. As such an old timer, I think he'd be amazed at the idea that I could actually sell his rocks for top dollar. LOL

Anyway, as a bit of a tractor newbie, what would it take to move say 3-4 foot around boulders, like you'd use for landscaping? What sort of impliment would you use to avoid making scars in the rock?

 

[20 20]

big excavator

 

[texasjohn]

given no further info and on the assumption that you need to transport the boulders to get paid for them, my quick assessment would be as follows.

55-60 hp tractor with FEL capable of lifting 3000 lbs
truckers straps to wrap around the boulder for lifting
a low flatbed trailer to lift the boulders on to
make a sled, probably of wood, for sliding the boulder around for placement
for lifting, drop the heavy FEL and use a lighter FEL attachment for attaching the straps to. My situation, I'd use my quick attach hay spike which weighs far less than the FEL, thus increasing my lift pay load.

others will likely have good ideas

 

[Egon]

Check out your local area and see what the landscapers use.

As a cheap approach I'd be thinking lowboy trailer and winch.

 

[Thomas]

Excavator w/thumb or beefy fel.
Hauling..least ton half dump truck or raising flat bed.

 

[studor]

I too have a lot of boulders that landscapers would love -- the problem is transport costs and loading etc. When I talked to a landscaper who would like to use the rocks, he wanted ones that could be moved with a skidsteer which he used to place the rocks in finished neighbourhoods. Loading the rocks on my end would require a similar capacity machine. Then because of transport costs, the trailer or float needed to be big enough to move a number of rocks -- in the end it was cost prohibitive versus quaried rocks from nearby. Check it out with landscapers who would use the rock - JMHO

 

[J_J]

A trailer like this. It was designed to haul a skidsteer which weighs about 7000 lbs. A skidsteer or tractor that can lift about 3000 to 3500 lbs, would be ideal

 

[harpoonalt]

We had a pile of huge rocks when we excavated for our house. Our developer used some of them for landscaping our road and we buried the rest. You need big equipment and a dump truck to make it worthwhile. Rocks the size you're talking weigh a lot more than you think and to place them accurately takes an excavator with a thumb and a large excavator at that. Better to see if some company wants to buy them. Not to discourage you but this is my second go round with trying to get rid of stone and it's a tough thing to do. The time and labor involved just doesn't make very viable as a real moneymaker. If you decide to try anyway, rent some equipment and make sure it's capable of what you want before you buy. I've seen some equipment struggle to pick up stone I thought it would have no problem with. Stone weight can be deceiving. Good luck!

 

[Egon]

Not to discourage you but this is my second go round with trying to get rid of stone and it's a tough thing to do. The time and labor involved just doesn't make very viable as a real moneymaker.

The equipment required would a killer!

Have you considered splitting the rocks to a dimensional size and selling them for walls or cobble stones?

 

[DanD78]

A 950 Cat loader with forks will do it. I would take pictures of the rocks and see if you can have then sold before you move them. Hiring a loader and a lowboy for half a day won't cost that much unless you are out in the middle of no where. A 3'x4' rock I move once weighed 4200lb at the local elevator before I unloaded it. The weight of a big rock will fool you

Dan