You guys might laugh, but we bought a 1950 John Deere 440 with a 7' blade to put in our pond. That little 2 cylider gas beast will push a good bit of dirt.We used a small backhoe for a weekend to put in a couple of shelves. I have some pics on my webpage. It took about 5 months to push out the hole to around 12' and about 1/4 acre surface area with a swimming pool grade to the shallow end. We recently bought a 63' backhoe and single axle dumper and along with the old 440 we will put a nice addition on the pond after the rainy season. I think we have about $7,500 in equipment, dumper, hoe, dozer and tri-axle trailer. Maintenance hasn't been bad either, replace some hoses and cylinder seals every 2-3 years depending on use.
