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Cat d8t and d6t fuel consumption and yards moved over distance please.

Mountainmover

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
282
Location
Southeast USA
I have a job that I have to squeeze into my schedule. I may need to rent a d6 or d8 from cat. If I don't rent I may use my d6d with ripper.

The job is a hill top. Already cleared. 100x100x12 deep cut for building pad. And fill is roughly the same area but maybe a little longer on length and width but not but 6 foot max deep fill. So maybe a 200x100 area. It's just a small valley shape fill area.

The distance the dirt is to be moved down the hill is roughly 100 yards distance.
I have to spread out the dirt and roll it with a single drum pad foot compactor in the fill.

What length of time could I just push the hill off with a d6 or d8? Fuel used? What is the going rate for a d6 and d8 per hour right now for a small job?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.
 

DoyleX

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Feb 2, 2013
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572
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Lever Puller, Gear Jammer, Pipe Twister
Well if you already have a good d6d... Depends on the variables. Do you have a chimp to keep on the packer? Pushing downhill that 6 will roll it like a 8. Slot it out and lift it in different work areas so your chimp can pack while you fill. Grab a few rental rates and add on your needed costs.

I think a d6d holds 68 gal of fuel and were designed to run hard for 10hrs so around 6 gallons a hour
 

Mountainmover

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
282
Location
Southeast USA
I do have a chimp for the Roller.
I guess I could push the dirt for a while in a notch and once I pile enough up at the pad I can spread it out to sheep foot it.

What is dirt going per yard right now in georgia? How much per yard?
Right now....off the top of my head....I think I'll be moving 5000 yards. Can I push that off a hill to a fill area shaped like a valley 100 to 150 foot away in 7 days?

I am going to go measure it s little more accurately tomorrow.
Maybe I will do the length x width x depth divided by 27 to get cubic yards. Then I need some swell factor.....hmmmmm.
I won't have an engineer on the compaction......but the guy wants it compacted.......
Thanks so much for the advice so far!
 

Dickjr.

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Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
1,484
Location
Kentucky
5000 yards in 7 days , not with a D6D and not while trying to compact it. Just guessing , not putting a pencil to it your looking at 14 days minimum and possibly upwards of 20 days. Most dams we build have 2500 to 3000 yards , it takes about 70 hours start to finish with a D6H. And that's using the tractor to compact the material best it can. That's how I came to guess it at 140 hrs. Do not use my figures , shooting straight off the hip.
 

Mountainmover

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
282
Location
Southeast USA
so I went out and did some shots with my rotating laser. I am gonna get a more accurate guesstimate of cut and fill. It's a round hill top and a flat fill area below it. How do I figure a round hill top that is cut down to a flat square pad? What would the cubic yards be of a round top cut area? It would not be a square but not a cone......

The flat fill area is square except the fill area has a belly shape curvature in the existing grade or the bottom of the hole.

What is the current cost of moving dirt per yard in 2015 based on conditions?
 

Oxbow

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Nov 22, 2012
Messages
1,220
Location
Idaho
I did 21000 cy yards of bony material measured in the cut, pushing up an average of about a 5% grade into a deep depression with the longest push of 350' last year with a rented D8T @ $1.14 per cubic yard and cleared roughly $8800 after fuel, rent, and wages @ $30.00 per hour; mobilization was charged separately. This did not include any overhead, insurance, or daily mileage on support vehicle. I did not have to meet any compaction standard.

Rent was $5333.33 per week, fuel usage was 13 gallons per hour, and I worked 66 hours total. The company I rent from charges the weekly rate for up to 44 hours, and then the weekly rate divided by 44 for extra hours.

This economic example will not work for your project however, as the yardage is considerably less. 100' by 100' by 12' is only 4444 cubic yards; add maybe 20% for slopes and contingency and you are still only at 5555 cubic yards. Also, time wise you will bury you compactor with a D8, or spend so much time leveling so your compactor can get over it that the efficiency of the D8 will be wasted. Add to that the cost of mobilizing a D8 vs. a D6 for two days of pushing and I think that the D6 is by far the correct choice for this scale of project.

A D6R rental for a week should be around $3100. Actually your rental rates may be considerably lower as our climate dictates about a 9 month period per year in which most dirt work can take place, so our rental companies must charge more per month to account for the winter season. Your fuel consumption will probably not exceed 7 gallons per hour. Your production rate downhill with an average push of 200' should be at least 150 cubic yards per hour and quite possibly quite a bit more if you stick to slot dozing. The time required to lay out lifts such that your compactor can get over it will probably cut your efficiency by 20 % or more, and the time required to work your slopes around the pad, and finish the pad to grade needs to be considered as well. Also some time to provide drainage around the perimeter of the pad. Compaction of the pad should not be an issue and will likely almost take care of itself during the process. Add a bit of time to lay any part of the pad that is fill in smaller lifts.

Add for insurance, compactor, labor, overhead, support vehicle, mobilization, and profit and you should be able to come up with a good figure.

Your photos look as if it will be easy pushing, but were it me I would add a rock clause into the agreement. If you are likely to encounter a hard material that has to be ripped then that should be factored as well.

Also, there will be some time stripping topsoil to the side and then covering the slopes and fill after the pad is built.

This is just a rough idea, and I hope that it helps. There are many additional factors to be considered such as will you need water to get compaction on the corners of the pad, and do you need to build a driveway/access road to the pad etc. This stuff is just off the top of my head, and I am sure that I have missed some things, but hopefully others will fill in the gaps and this gives you enough information to prepare your proposal. Make sure you address items like topsoil and drainage with the owner so that you know exactly what he or she wants. Often times property owners do not think about the value of saving topsoil, but at least in our part of the country it is crucial to end up with a nice finished product that is ready for the landscapers.

As for your question in regard to what the going rate per cubic yard is, there are far too many variables to throw a number out there.
 
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Dickjr.

Senior Member
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Mar 24, 2011
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1,484
Location
Kentucky
Oxbow , I can see were you made some on that job. But 1.14 sounds cheap per yard. Last NRCS job I did they paid 2.25 but the rock removal was included.
 

Oxbow

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
1,220
Location
Idaho
The hole that I was filling was a dragline excavated mining hole. This was part of a larger stream channel project, but a separate bid item. It was strictly hogging the overburden back into the hole that it came out of, somewhat bony material but no ripping required, and no compaction required either. I stayed in deep slots and did not clean up any windrows until the final cleanup. Also, this was just a balancing exercise, no particular grade had to be met other than fill the hole back up such that a small creek would not re- route itself into the hole during a high spring run-off event. The beginning of the cut was about 12' adjacent to the hole, so the bulk of the pushes were no more than about 100'. I probably got 5,000 loose cubic yards per day the first three days, and then it slowed down as the pushes got longer and I had to push uphill.

I probably should not have mentioned a price, but my point was to show how much variability there can be depending on conditions, quantity, and equipment used.

Here are a couple of pictures of the project. The first shows the hole that was filled. The second shows after dozing was done. In the second picture you can see where slash has been dumped next to the tree line; where that slash is sitting is the fill area. We hauled slash and topsoil over the area and then gouged it all up (microtopography) to enhance re-vegetation.DSC04627.jpg
 

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Mountainmover

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
282
Location
Southeast USA
Thanks for the help guys! Well....what I thought about was just rounding it off to 5000 yards. 3.00 a yard roughly. Then in my mind of operating my d6.....from past experience I keep visualizing that I could push the hill into the fill with a d6d within 10-12 days max. $150 per hour max and lose a little on a chimp running a rental pad foot roller. Roller rental is $750 per week. A Hamm 60-70 inch. Fuel would be gosh...$60 a day? An engineer isn't testing the compaction....owner just wants it compacted. I could stop rolling everyone once in a while. It's georgia clay unless I hit rock. I put a little rock clause in there that says "prices change etc...."......
I didn't include a silt fence price yet. It's clear ground on that pasture hill. A slight slope one each side. What would class-a silt fence go for a foot in georgia? Material versus install or both together?
I also didn't include grassing....will have to price that after owner decides what he wants at completion.
What are some good costs for figuring Hydroseeding and haying per square foot or acre? Versus hand or tractor seeding and hay?

I would probably notch the push on the Dozer. Make a few pushes from the cut and pile it up and then keep it pushed off crown of a hill and then push it out with berms on each side to keep it heaped in front of my blade.....

I thought about loading in dump truck with my excavator and just blading the full with my Dozer but that's a few extra machines to buy fuel for and find and pay operators! But it is easiest on equipment to truck it....I hate wearing undercarriage!

I really like to be gentle on equipment.

I wish there was an estimating forum for us earthmoving contractors..... I'm still hoping to hear more ideas on this project and learn.
Thanks!
 
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