Dozers are actually low ground pressure machines, designed to be able to get around in soft ground conditions where a wheeled vehicle can't. For instance I have a Cat D5 which weighs about 25,500 as it is configured, but since it has about 3800 in^2 of track area in contact with the ground, it only exerts a ground pressure of about 6.7 psi. That is an average pressure of course. On the other hand I have an international cub tractor which weighs about 1950 with the wheel weights on. However it only has about 58 in^2 of contact with the ground over all 4 wheels. This equates to 33 psi which means that my little tractor exerts almost 5 times as much pressure as my considerably larger dozer. Appearances can be decieving. I'd run a sheepsfoot over the worst areas. A sheepsfoot can pack at around 250-300 psi. Don't use a sheepsfoot over a bentonite liner however. Just my $.02 from an engineer's perspective.
Good info Hillbilly! Thanks for posting!
