Skid Steer or Backhoe for digging a pond

[bjorn773]

We are clearing invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn on our property. It has completely taken over the understory. I've been using my Kubota to knock over the clusters of honeysuckle which pops the root ball out of the ground. Then I can get the bucket under them and lift. However, I have already broken my steering knuckle twice so I think I'm overstressing the front end. It seems like maybe a skid steer would be better suited for this work so I'm currently looking for a used unit. We'd also like to dig a decent size farm pond down the road. Would a skid or backhoe be better suited for this kind of work?

 

[jeff9366]

Ponds are usually located in damp areas or where there is a spring.

Anything with wheels will bog down to the axles. You need a TRACKED mini-excavator, preferably with a extended reach arm.

VIDEO: mini excavator pond - YouTube

 

[TripleR]

I suppose it depends on how big a pond you are talking as well as the mentioned ground condition. All of our ponds have consisted of digging down and creating a dam on the open end of a valley to catch water and dozers were used. Having used back hoes and skid steers I wouldn't choose either one and would go with a dozer or excavator.

We tried the skid steer as well as tractors on one project and by the time we figured fuel cost and wear and tear on the machines, we could have had it done or rented the proper equipment.

 

[EddieWalker]

For digging, you want the hoe stick at the back of a backhoe, or even better, and excavator. But digging the dirt is the easy part. Moving it is where you wear out machinery and spend all your time. A full sized backhoe will have a one yard or bigger front bucket. I dug my 3/4 acre pond with a 2 wheel drive full sized NH 555E backhoe It took several months of just going back and forth, in and out of that hole. And I just dumped the dirt close to the pond. I spend many more months moving that pile down to a field that I still have to smooth out ten years later.

When I dug my 4 1/2 acre pond, I bought a used 170 hp Case dozer to push all the dirt into a very long dam. The dam is half of the pond, so there was a lot of pushing. That took 2 years, but included rebuilding the engine and lots of weather delays. Of course, since I pushed the dirt into the dam, I only handled it once.

I rent skid steers all the time for jobs and realize they are useful for certain things, but overall, hate them. Horrible rid, small front bucket, very little traction on set dirt and zero suspension. I would never want to own one. The tracked ones would be better for the dirt, but still not my first choice for moving a lot of material.

If you can, dig the dirt with a backhoe or excavator and put it in a dump truck to haul it. The bigger the dump truck the better. Mine is only 5 yards, but it made moving the dirt from my 3/4 acre pond doable. It's not hard to dig a thousand yards of dirt, it's horrible moving it any distance at all. The amount of material you can move per trip is what gets it done!!!

 

[bjorn773]

Our property is all low with a creek running through it. The area that we are scoping out for the pond is quite a distance from the creek, yet always stays wet. We're thinking that there must be a spring under it. I was leaning toward a tracked skid due to the wet conditions, but maybe I would just end up getting that stuck.

 

[EddieWalker]

Be careful of springs. When conditions are wet, they are great, but when it gets dryer and the water table drops, that spring will lower the water level in a pond. How wooded is the area? I found that when I cleared the trees to dig my big pond, all the wet areas dried up. I have two springs that are just above water level on my pond, but they both flow so slow as to not matter. What did matter is that they where soft enough to swallow my dozer when I drove over them. At 40,000 pounds, you really don't want to get that thing stuck!!!!!

 

[sikmusicfreak8]

As stated, all depends on size. Ill be digging my pond with dozer (International TD-7E) and cleaning up with my Branson and backhoe. Mine will roughly be 150x80, with an island, so I wont be moving too much dirt, and the dirt I do move will be used to build dirt bike jumps and a Maverick course. Still looking to buy a dump trailer, but nobody ever sells those **** things used...

If you're doing a pond of significant size, rent some big iron and get an excavator. Best bang for the buck, fast, and effective.

 

[gsganzer]

When I had my pond dug, they used a combination of two machines, an excavator and a dozer. The excavator would loosen the soil and the dozer would push it out. This seemed like a pretty efficient use of the strengths of each machine. Excavators can dig, but they don't move a lot of material. A dozer can push a fair amount of loose material, but a dozer tears it's drive line up when turning while pushing. Think of the pond being the hub of a bicycle wheel, the dozer would push the dirt out of the hole in different directions like the spokes on the wheel, so it was always pushing in a straight line.

Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, I suspect you're better off hiring out the job. Two or three full days of the above mentioned machines working in tandem can dig a pretty sizeable hole.

 

[jenkinsph]

When I had my pond dug, they used a combination of two machines, an excavator and a dozer. The excavator would loosen the soil and the dozer would push it out. This seemed like a pretty efficient use of the strengths of each machine. Excavators can dig, but they don't move a lot of material. A dozer can push a fair amount of loose material, but a dozer tears it's drive line up when turning while pushing. Think of the pond being the hub of a bicycle wheel, the dozer would push the dirt out of the hole in different directions like the spokes on the wheel, so it was always pushing in a straight line.

Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, I suspect you're better off hiring out the job. Two or three full days of the above mentioned machines working in tandem can dig a pretty sizeable hole.

Some good points and practical advice^^^^.
Large equipment can move dirt at the lowest cost per yard.

 

[bjorn773]

It is pretty heavily wooded, there is not sunlight thru the canopy. The trees are primarily silver maples and shoot straight up competing for light. It sounds like the first thing I need to do is clear the trees and see what condition the ground is in afterward. As far as time, I am a teacher with summers off so I have the time to plug away at it. The pond is not a huge priority. Clearing the invasives is our focus right now. I was thinking plugging away at it with a tracked skid would work for the pond when I get to it, but it sounds like it's the wrong machine for the job.