Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Methods for dozing a pond

Meadowlark, nation rental will deliver 50 miles both ways for free at lease the store in the DFW area did for me a few years back. There shows to be a store in longview, not sure how far you are from there. They have or had 2 sizes of track holes. The bigger one was more difficult to rent or deliver because of the truck required to haul it. Good luck. I'm using my kubota L4400 with loader to clean out my dry holes. I have no $$$$(cause I spent it on the new tractor), but lots of time on my hands cause the weather man said it ain't never gone to rain around here again. I am real pleased with what this little tractor will do. It works very well because it is light and want sink up in the muck. In about forty hours I have cleaned out about a foot of silt out of the dry half of my 1.5 acre pond. I wish I had a dozer or track loader too but it want mow my costal fields or plow my garden I had to sacrifice something.

rockytopper,

Unfortunately I'm about 200 miles(I think) from Longview, certainly more than 50. I've got a good possibility for a rental under investigation now...with a company that sells used heavy equipment, but will also do short term rentals (Hendrix Equipment).

That Kubota makes fine equipment, don't they. I bought a used M4050 a few years back with a loader and back-hoe attachment. It is just a great machine. They sell a back-hoe attachment for your model I believe and you could really make good use of it in cleaning out your pond. Kubota = great stuff, IMHO.

I guess guys like us can never get enough equipment. If you had told me a few years ago I would own this equipment, I'd say no way and would have been wrong.

ML,
A 30 ton excavator, 60,000 lbs, would be 27 metric ton. 30 metric ton equals (x 2204 lbs) 66120 or 33 tons. The 25 metric is 55100 or 27 1/2 tons.
Depends how much trouble moving it is where you are at. If oversize loads are expensive to get moved you might look at the 220 size. They are also more common.
You can find decent excavators at a reasonable price I would guess. I personaly haven't had the best of luck in this area. I bought a Case/Drott at an auction. The parts for it are made in France, not to handy. I got rid of it. Next I bought an expensive one that had 5500 hours. It needs some care now, and has had some. It now has 6900 hours. Had hoped to go to 10000 hrs without trouble.
Wait, you mentioned you wanted to buy an excavator, man do I have a nice low hour machine!
(Dr. Bruce - some hypnotizing of a pigeon perhaps?)

Kent,

Thanks again for your helpful info....I think you are correct about the 220 size.

While talking to some equipment guys this weekend, I learned that equipment in this local area is really absorbed on FEMA hurricane related projects right now. These guys said that they(FEMA) are paying premium wages for anyone who even claims to be an operator of anything and experienced guys are really in demand and being compensated accordingly. The market for track-hoes locally is just out of sight as a result. The data all points toward renting (if I can find one to rent). Thanks for your help...and Kansas is a little far away for transport to East Texas.

I have been a member for a couple of months now trying to figure out how to approach a one acre and 3 acre pond cleanout. The one acre pond has been drained for 6 months and is now ready for a trackhoe for cleanout. I have a D5 to help out and when I bought it I thought this was all I needed. Now that I am "keeping" the dozer my wife has a hard time believing I won't "keep" the track hoe. What in the world would you do with one after you dig out a pond or two? (as apposed to a dozer)

At this point I think I will be "windrowing" the muck to let it dry some before spreading, or, plan B would be to load it on a truck or scraper for hire. Does this sound reasonable? Also, I would be interested in buy/sell/trade/co-owning a track hoe for a year or so. I am in Oklahoma City.

Track hoes are like loader tractors, just really handy. You just might end up using it a for more than you think.
Loading on a truck would probably work better than a scraper. The trucks can dump out the back and leave larger piles. The scraper scatters it as it dumps and then can't drive there again without getting stuck. So getting rid of the mud with trucks takes a lot less area.
If there is room behind the pond dam I have done this and it worked well, works best before the mud drys; Get rid of the water. Dig a nice place to sit the track hoe on the dam, where you can easily reach the pond on one side and reach over the back of the dam when you turn 180 degrees. Dig a sump hole on the pond side and throw it over the back of the dam. A lot of mud will actually run into the hole, just keep throwing it over the back of the dam. Use the dozer and start crowding the mud to the hole- the mud runs downhill pretty easy. Runny mud will also keep sliding down the backside of the dam if there is room.

cwooten,

I most definitely would be interested in sharing a track-hoe for a year or more. I don't know the transportation costs from your area to mine and that might be prohibitive.

Let me share with you something that I did in renovating two old ponds, much like you are faced with. It worked for me, but may not be for your situation. Faced with the tons and tons of muck that built up over 50 years in a couple of ponds, I had the same choices you have....but I came up with a better way...for me at least. I pushed the muck into an island with a ring of clay to hold it in place. It takes only a few hours on the dozer to accomplish this in a small pond. The island becomes under water structure when the pond re-fills. In my case, one island is about four feet under water and surrounded by 8 feet of water. It works absolutely great for me and for the fish...but again may not fit your needs.

I'm seriously interested in the track hoe...send me an e-mail if you are also interested. Thanks.

Meadowlark,

Yes, I have read your technique. I don't see how that I could get my muck into a pile or island. I would think it would be like trying to pile pudding into a pile. Also, I think my muck would take up too much room in the pond eliminating the whole reason I am tackling the project. Anyway, call me hard headed but I just want the stuff outa there. Some one else mentioned piling/pushing it over the damn but this overflow area is where my next larger pond starts. I can use this technique on my next pond.

Meadowlark, where are you from. I just priced trucking a 13 ton machine from Sulpher Springs TX to OKC and it was $712.

THanks, C Wooten

cwooten,

In East Texas, between Lufkin and Livingston.

$712 sounds like a heck of a bargain to me.