Actually rented the skid loader for a full day. Half day taking out the slope upside of the house, other half I made a preliminary stab at digging at the pond site, as well as a 6' X 40' X 30" test trench. Wish I'd had it for 2 days! Very rocky and not that much marginal clay in pretty rocky stuff. No way a guy working by the hour is going to separate out the roots and rocks the way I would. I get 40 hours on the crawler clock, but have 7 days so by huffing 10-12hrs a day, the marginal soil will get cleaned (labor intense, my labor) and packed (which the skid loader can't do). Estimate 2 weeks needed on the JohnDeere 550 with roll over protection and seatbelt. Crawler limited to 5mph. Kinda like the "Zen of Motorcyle Maintenance." The one that cares the most if it's done right, is yourself.
Keep the quality comments a comin'. Watch wet soil, tall dead trees (there 6 50'+ dead 'uns!)wear a seatbelt, careful on slopes, and don't charge over logs. Whatelse? Any useful links?
Last edited by SoSauty; 09/10/13 08:51 PM. Reason: be real nice
