Loading dump truck with mini excavator?

[53GMC]

Hello,

Would it be possible to Load 100 dump truck loads of dirt using a cat 303.5 mini? Or would it be to slow. We need to Move fill dirt to a property and have been quoted 10-15k to have it brought in. How long would it take to load a dump truck with a mini?

Thanks.

 

[tessiers]

likely a long long time. probabley about 20 swings to a yard, 15 yards to a truck, 100 trucks, thats 30,000 swings at 2 per minute thats 250 hours. Good thing is you only need 2 trucks, no mater how far you are hauling it.

 

[tractchores]

Thats going to take a very long time. I've used a mini excavator to load half a dump truck with gravel and it took forever. If you do it, use the biggest bucket you can handle.

 

[dodge man]

I have a Kubota BX and I think it would load quicker. It wouldn't have the reach without a ramp though. The big problem with that small a mini ex. is the bucket size.

 

[53GMC]

The mini ex has a 22" bucket on it. Does anyone have a estimate on how long it would take to load a dump truck with it? Thanks.

 

[arsenix2001]

I had a kx 121 with a 24" bucket. It would take about 10-15 minutes (and im very familiar operating, 8 yrs) to load a f550 which holds 4-5 yards heaped. So your looking at close to an hour per truck if your good is my guess. Plus you have a reach issue. I would rent a 953 loader and be done with it in a weekend.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have put in some time on a 303.5 and it is a good digger for its size. Loading a dump truck repetively isn't one of its strong points. In my area 12 yd trucks get $65/load for hauling fees. Thats about half of the cost you were quoted, if the other half covers the material and loading fees that is a reasonable price imo. $10 to $15/yard delivered is a fair price for fill, everyone has costs and overhead.

 

[DJ54]

You are leaving a lot of variables out... Are you talking single axle trucks, ?Tandems..?? Yards, or tons makes it easier to give a person an idea.

How far will the truck have to haul it, and what type of material, and type of borrow pit. Digging a hole, digging back into a bank..?

You can cut down on load time, if digging into a bank. Simply build yourself a bench to work off of, as high as the top of the bed of the truck you will be loading. Dig off to the side of the truck as near as possible, and no more than a 90 degree angle, thus cutting down on swing time.

Plus, sitting that high, you can double the amount of the bucket capacity. Sitting that high, you can pull straight into the bank, and not having to lift up and over the side, just lift a bit, and swing over the truck, and dump. You're more limited to the weight, and tipping forward, depending on how far you have to reach out to dump. Especially with tandems. Unless you keep the face of the cut pretty well at 90 degrees, 4 to 5 feet can make a big difference.

And if you need to hire the truck, most tandem size or larger around here did charge $75/$85 per hour, and that is when fuel was a lot cheaper.

On the other hand, I've included a picture of a pad I built for my new horsebarn. You're looking at approx. 700 loads/2800 tons of bank run material, hauled on that little Chevy dump truck sitting there. I hauled another 35 loads to level up a pad for a new shop.

Material was $1.00 per ton, and took right at $4.00 worth of gas to make the 4 mile round trip. I could load all day on less than 10 gallons of gas in my old backhoe. I calculated it up to be right at $2.50 per ton hauled.

It took 61 days, to load, haul spread, and compact that approx. 3,000 tons of fill. I'm retired, so that was a huge help. My time, versus paying someone else to do it came in to play.

I sold the backhoe, for right at what I had in it, so that helped a bunch too, on the over all cost. In my particular case, it was well worth it, to do it myself.