Here's latest updates with many tons of clay/dirt fill topped with geotextile fabric. Moved everything in addition to what you can see in the initial pictures with a 4wd John Deere 790 and 419 loader that my mother in law owns. I tell you what, that little tractor is a nice work horse. It's only got 24 PTO HP, but that diesel sounds and works much bigger than it is. It feels nothing like an 8N. Plus it sips gas like a weed eater. They gave me a 2 gallon diesel tank to keep it topped off and I initially thought they must be joking. How many trips is that going to take to keep it running? But, I can run it off and on almost all day on around what feels like 3 or 4 gallons. Couldn't be more happy with it, other than the fact that it's extremely tippy on ridges and off-cambers since the front end doesn't pivot like an 8N or 601. The edges of the fill made me extremely nervous and I almost got it stuck once when the right front tire dipped down over the edge and the left rear wheel lost traction. I put the bucket down to steady it and with diff lock I was able to get out after 2 or 3 minutes or so.
The second time I made a mistake and thought it was in reverse when it was in first lunged me over the edge enough that the left rear tire was off the ground about 6 inches. I could sit on the grade blade I had on the back and pull the left tire down. Extremely dangerous! I could have maybe turned the wheel and went down the bank, but it was pretty steep and preferred not to do that. Instead, took my Ford 601 and had my son pull me out backwards while another son held the grade blade down and I had the diff lock on. About gave me a heart attack to say the least. It's nothing like my Ford 601 in terms of stability. I feel like I could just about take that 601 sideways across that ledge/bank. I used it for packing the fill on the sides and ended up getting it stuck twice on the uphill/neighbor's side of the bridge but it wasn't even close to tipping over, and I don't even have fluid in the tires. Very low center of gravity and honestly the ride quality over rough/uneven terrain is better than the 790 with the loader on it, but that's where the advantages stop.
Couldn't find anyone local with recycled concrete, so I picked up about 22 tons of 6 - 8" limestone for the steep edges and to fill the top some, and have another 21 tons of #2 rock that range from 2 - 4 inches in size. Think I'll probably top with the #53's several have talked about. I guess the channel liner will stay put on the edges? My neighbor thought I might need railroad ties to keep it front sliding on down, but I thought if we had enough of it at the bottom it should scale the sides pretty well?
I'm extremely happy with the fill effort and the way the geotextile wrapped it. In fact, it all surpassed my expectations thus far, but still need to get my neighbor to get his rubber tired skid steer out here hopefully this week.
