You can get a lot of compaction with the front tires of a front end loader tractor (either farm tractor or TLB) with the bucket fully loaded with dirt and run the front tires back and forth over the area. This is the way I compacted around my overflow pipes in all my ponds. This is another work around, but like the others I mentioned is not efficient use of time, labor or machinery if a large area needs to be compacted.
I use the loaded front tires to compact around pipes and narrow areas that need to be compacted as I can steer the tractor right into the area that needs it. You have to hand compact under the pipe, but once you get the area right underneath the pipe, a person can run the tractor tires right along the pipe, add clay, repeat till there is enough dirt over the pipe to not collapse it and compact over the top.
Edit: as a side note, a friend and I "borrowed" a county sheepsfoot roller once on the weekend when they were not around. This has been a life time ago, back when I was in high school ( a LONG time ago). I was helping with a tractor pull (back when a tractor pull consisted of a sheet of steel as a sled that people jumped on as the tractor was moving down the track. The people sat in folding chairs along the track and were the ballast added as the tractor and sled moved along - definitely not OSHA approved). We took my tractor and swiped the sheepsfoot, filled it with water, compacted the track, drained it and returned it to the road ditch where we got it.
Last edited by snrub; 10/31/17 10:36 PM.
