Renting a Cat 953D - Stupid Idea?

[Liquidsilver]

I have an area behind my pond that was left a mess by a friend with a backhoe when he fixed a leak in it. It's been a weedy mess ever since, and the area behind it has a pretty sharp gully that's about 100 feet long and 40 feet deep. I've smoothed it out with my FEL but it's still really steep, uneven and there are a couple of mature trees in the middle of the mess. Every summer, I get tall thorns and unsightly weeds because I can't mow it.

I also have some messy woody areas around a larger, 6 acre lake that I'd like to fix, grade and plant with fescue. I'd like it all smoothed out so I can mow it and not be dodging rocks and gullies as I'm mowing.

I'm pretty sure that a local operator I've used before could do all this for about $3000 - $6000 with his 953s. He does good work and I trust him. Then I would spend another $1000 to seed the fresh grades. This is Ozark hard rocky soil with huge planted rocks and there are some full sized oak trees that I want taken out. Despite the giant rocks, I was very happy with this operators work as he corrected and graded my large dam, and it's a beautiful thing... though it cost me $16,000 plus the seeding.

But here's the thing... I think it would be fun to rent a machine and do this job myself. I'm pretty good at operating things, I can fly two types of helicopters and almost every kind of motorcycle, but I have zero experience with earth moving, other than some basic grading with my FEL. I'm not sure if the equipment rental places would rent me a big loader... but it looks like it would cost $2500 - $3000 for a week.

My quandry... would I be able to figure out the operation of the machine and good techniques... or would I make a big mess and need to hire the local operator after I made the mess?

Can anybody give me any insight here? Thanks.

 

[fruitcakesa]

I have a friend who is an experienced heavy equipment operator and always defer to him when it comes to specific projects that require machinery that I don't own and have little or no experience on.
Having seen the kind of mess a newby can make and the resulting additional expense that came from having to hire someone to fix it, I would say, unless you are determined to "do it yourself", get your local guy to do it.
It will get done faster and better.

 

[countrybumpkin]

First thing I’d do is get a firm quote from him, then you’ll have a better idea of time and cost of renting and doing yourself. You have to realize a skilled operator can work circles around a untrained or novice. That being said I’m sure you would be able to get it done but do you have the time to if your renting a machine, say you get started and then it starts raining for a couple days, he walks away and does other things not costing you money, renting your still paying for the lost time due to the weather. One thing you might look into is leasing a machine from a dealer instead of a rental yard, that may allow you a longer window of time to complete the project.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I ALWAYS bring in BIG IRON to do the heavy lifting. I would never consider renting for larger equipment. The way I see it, the operator is FREE when you hire a contractor. Worst thing, I hate is paying float charges actually. Especially for a day or two job.

 

[EddieWalker]

A track loader is designed for picking up material and moving it in bad conditions. It's not designed for grading. It can be used for grading, but it's one of those things that has a learning curve, and once you have it figured out, it will take longer to get nice results then a small to medium dozer with a six way blade.

D5 lowtrack bulldozer would be my first choice if I was renting Cat, or a Deere 700

 

[Jstpssng]

There is a learning curve involved, but if you expect to be doing that type of work again it might be worth your time to do it. (Plus it's fun.) Another member recently asked a similar question,then ended up bringing in a loader or something, which a friend helped him learn to use. Then he went on to rent a dozer, if I remember correctly.

For your purposes something like this "Bladerunner" would be handy; a midsized ex with bucket for digging and a 6 way blade for moving the material around. I don't know if you can find one nearby for rent though.

 

[edgarrian]

Id suggest using an excavator. If you don't have experience on one it will take you a day or two to get familiar with the controls. IF you rent something like a 312 or 315 for a week you could get a lot done on a 40hr rental. Pile up the the crap you move, dig a hole, then burn it, and cover it. You can grade it out pretty good with the excavator but you certainly have to use ur tractor to pretty it up.

 

[Jstpssng]

Another consideration if you get an excavator with a thumb; I've seen some pretty good leveling jobs done with a heavy I-beam like what is found under a bridge. You still would need to do some finish work with your tractor... and would have to come up with that piece of bridge steel.

The pros of hiring somebody is that he hopefully knows what he's doing so all that you do is write him a check.
The cons of hiring somebody is that all you are doing is writing a check, not getting a chance to learn/run a different piece of equipment.

 

[Liquidsilver]

Thanks for the thoughts. I only mention the big track loaders because that's what he did the dam with... and his grading results were really terrific.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Operating heavy equipment is not rocket science, and the machines are getting easier and easier to use. I will just flat out say, you would be fine as an operator.

Just as an example, and please do not get caught up on the machine type, but I was sitting in a gravel pit, pulling my teeth out of the front windshield on a John Deere 744G loader with spade nose bucket since the pit wall was so hard, yet had an excavator sitting in the pit with me.

But I had never run an excavator before...

So I jumped on it, and within an hour it was like I had been born on it. The controls are just intuitive. Add in any type of equipment here, with the exception of a grader maybe...

But renting REALLY makes sense. There are some ways to really get your money's worth, like renting machines with tracks and all weather cabs, so if you run into rain, you can still work. It is all about getting seat time.

As an example, I can rent a 34,000 pound class excavator for $6500 a month: or 28 working days, or 160 hours. No payments, no maintenance costs, no wrenching to do, no repair costs; just run the thing for 160 straight hours. That is WELL worth it. I can do an awful lot of work with a 34,000 pound machine in 160 hours.

Edited to say: My mantra has always been, "Do as much for myself as I can." It comes out better because I know what I want it to look like, and it is fun.