Large Rocks?

[Darins]

I have a problem? This weekend I had some Septic problems(big) . But we won't go there anyway I had a trackhoe there and I asked him to get some of these big rocks out of this hole so I can use them for landscaping. Well they are a little bigger then I thought. Now he is gone I need to move them. I did move some of them but it dented the top of my loader. And being that it only has 15hrs on it I didn't like that! It did move them alright but is there a easyier way to move them? Should I get a strap or Strapes and try to pull them? Or is that too dangerous if they slip off. Any help would be great. Thanks Darin

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Should I get a strap or Strapes and try to pull them? Or is that too dangerous if they slip off.</font color=blue>

In my opinion, yes. I'm not sure just what you did to dent the top of your loader, but the only way I've moved things too big and heavy to pick up and carry in the front end loader is to use the loader to push and roll them from behind. I've moved big round bales of hay, big stumps, etc. with a B7100 by starting with the bucket low and pretty square with the object, and then push forward as I raised the bucket and just kept on doing that, stopping to back off and lower the bucket, and going again. Slow, but gets it done eventually.

Bird

 

[Von]

It all depends on how big the rocks are. I have pulled big rocks (3ft. in diameter) out of hedge rows with chains and then rolled them onto a stone boat with the loader to be moved. You can drag them with straps and chains if on flat ground, but it does a number on the yard. A stone boat on the other hand skims across the sod nicely.

 

[RobS]

Re: Large Rocks/Stone Boat

Von, I take it a stone boat is nothing like a concrete ship /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Can you describe it a little for us, or perhaps a photo? Sounds like it could be a useful addition to my arsenal /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Re: Large Rocks/Stone Boat

Von's idea of a stone boat would work quite well. Of course, I'd never heard of a stone boat until I started frequenting this forum./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Of course, we don't have any "stones" in Texas, but we do have a lot of rock./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif And if you don't have a "stone boat" an old car hood works quite well./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[WillingtonPizza]

My cusin has a small yanmar tractor, he welded a piece of angle iron down to form a three sided triangle on the top of his bucket. He then welded a hook on this, it has made his bucket very strong, when I bought my tractor it already had the metal on top rolled to form a triangle, very strong and good for hooks because it spreads out the load over the width of the bucket. Good luck

Rich

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Darin,

I have used a couple of truck tire chains to wrap boulders and then drag them away.

Al

 

[hayden]

I like that idea! Nice way to keep the rock from slipping out from the chain.

 

[Thomas]

Maybe a old car hood could help,just roll the stone on the hood than drag them w/your tractor.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Boondox]

Reminds me of the roadside rock our town highway department decided to remove one day. Seems they had broken many a snowplow wing by hitting that stone...and were getting tired of the repair bills. So they came out bright and early one summer morning with an excavator. Had to dig a huge hole, and for a while there it looked like it was part of the planet's core, rather than just a boulder. The guy was a real wizard with the excavator, and though he tipped over several times was able to right himself and get the rock onto the road.

But the rock was the size of a Mack truck, and the excavator was unable to move it any further. This was a problem because it was completely blocking our 8 foot wide dirt road. So they got a dozer from back in town and brought it up with all the confidence of men used to moving heavy things. The dozer hit the rock and stopped dead in its tracks. Hardly even scratched the granite.

So they loaded a dump truck with sand and came charging up the road to ram the boulder. The truck left part of its front end wrapped around the stone, and limped back down the hill.

So they rented the largest Cat bulldozer in the entire county. A huge behemoth that made the earth shake as it rumbled past. No luck. It didn't break, but neither did it budge. If only they could have gone around the boulder and come at it from uphill everything would have been fine, but the obstruction was perched halfway up a 22% slope, wedged between a steep embankment on one side and an historic stone wall on the other. The breezeway over my driveway was much too low for any large vehicle to pass beneath, so they had to attack from downhill. Bad news.

They finally brought in a demolition crew, drilled holes in the rock and blew it with dynamite. The boulder grudgingly split in half, and the huge dozer was able to pull them downhill as far as the turnaround where they became mired in sand and remain to this day. The town abandoned the turnaround, and the twin stones are now used only by snakes trying to get warm in our all too brief summer months.

Pete
www.gatewaytovermont.com