Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Track loader disadvantages or advantages?

Hi, I’m about to get started building a pond on my family Ranch in the next few weeks. However I was wonder if any one could answer a few questions before I get stared. The First questions I have; has anyone built pond in bell county Texas and if so did you have any problems with the soil? My soil is quit rocky. My second concern is the equipment I will be using. I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure that a dozer is the best thing to build a pond with. However I have a CAT 955L track loader. Will this be problem building my dam? What are the disadvantages or advantages to use a track loader over a dozer?
Any info will help.

Thanks
Ronald

I would ask Otto he has knowledge of soil down there Also a track loader will cut your dirt moving time by 40 % Uneven compaction rate as full bucket out and empty in. If dirt has to much moisture deep track depression. A dozer will float and compact even at 8 inch lifts. Doudle the lever work on a bucket loader and mind . I could give you a dozen more reasons but let others share their exp.
good luck

I've found that speed trumps everything.

I didn't spend nearly as much time digging and shaping the soil as I did moving it from here to there. I used a dozer, large tractor with FEL, and a tractor with earth mover. The earth mover was the fastest, so I kept going back to it. (although it didn't dig so great.

I guess the ultimate would be a large wheel loader and a dump truck. You can move a lot of dirt with those, and very fast.

I received a few e mails on this scoop loader thing so to clear it up somewhat if you are moving the earth a distance then a hoe and a dump are the better choice if you are coming out of the hole building youre dam a dozer is the choice if a scoop loader is used there is extreme dirt shake to distribute material and back drag for compaction
With a dozer you lift and shift

This was kind of a disadvantage...

My girl Cindy's pond is being built now. The clay for the dam is being harvested from the cotton/peanut field that's about 200 ft from the closest end of the dam and about 1000 feet from the other end.

tex, i have really rocky soils too. a dozer by itself would have been a nightmare in my situation. to dig and shape i used a CAT 320C excvator (track hoe) w/ a 4 ft bucket and thumb, dozers to move all the dug dirt. if i had to do it all over again i would have definitely used the track hoe, but added a large rubber tired front loader to move excess dirt out of the area and dozers for compaction and final grooming. if you have a mud bog like what jersey showed obviously you'll have some issues w/ the trackhoe, but if relatively dry and rocky and the rock breaks apart relatively easily, a track hoe is the only way to go IMHO. the dozer i used was a CAT D4 w/ rippers on the back which was somewhat useful, but really hard on the machine trying to break out rocky material.

Ideally you should have one of everything to build the pond, but that rarely happens, and costs most folks out of the game. You can do everything with a track loader that a dozer can do, it all depends how good you are in the seat. To shift soil in the same manner as a dozer you simply don't raise the bucket to carry, you let it fill up, lift it slightly to gain weight/traction and continue to push until you want to start spreading, then you raise and dump while carrying grade. Yes, it is easier to say than to do, but it is done all the time.

Track loaders inherently weigh more than dozers of similar size because almost all of them have longer track frames, heavy duty undercarriage parts due to the higher weights, and more lift cylinders, more hydrauilc capacity, rear counterweights, etc. etc. So any question of compaction, to me the loader wins it hands down.

As far as how you should approach your dam with it, tough to say without knowing your soil conditions, size of the pond, and actually standing there and getting some dirt on my boots. I have only ever spent time in the Dallas Fort Worth area so the rest of the state is unknown to me.

Jersey looks like you had that link belt some place it shouldn't have been, but I have heard of worse, my buddy was on a job with a 345 cat where only the operator came out the top window while the machine slid deeper, water eventually came out of the stack as it sank, and when it came to rest only the boom and dipper tip remained visible. It took 2 D9's and another 345 to dig it out and recover it.

Lots of good info.
What is the biggest town in Bell county?

It will be hard to give accurate information on soils because the very so much, But a good start is the other ponds around you,If they hold water good that is a good sign.

You should dig a few test holes before you get to far along just to be sure .

You can dig a pond with a shovel and put the dirt in your pocket if that is all you have.

When you are building it your self use what you have and have some fun.