Tractor Trap

[Flienlow]

So …I get a call. It’s my tenant. “Yards really wet, should do something about this.” (we’ve had ungodly amounts of rain in my neck of the wood.) I like to take care of the people that take care of me, so I run out there to assess. Yep, the yards is pond wet, and we need to install some yard drains.

BUT… A Shovel don’t fit my hand, and I have a Tractor! -I’m so clever.
Or so I thought.

Anyway, I bring the tractor out and dig a quick ditch. This was supposed be a 1-2 day deal.
The ground is all mucky, soupy S#!T. To make matters worse, I had concerns about my down spout drains. There is standing water in them. I go to the city and get the plans for my development. Dial before I dig and proceed to find and dig out the outflow to the street. The idea was to ensure there was no blockage, and add a clean out. So I dig. I proceed to dig up the front yard, only to learn that I couldn’t find the pipe. Digging and mining way, I still can’t find the pipe. (insert neighbors with eyes rolling here.)
After a metric S-ton of work (and a shovel now conveniently fitting my hand) I learn the outflow is Under a concrete porch and dug with something that digs a lot deeper than a BX25.
I now need to rethink my drainage strategy to find enough fall. In order to do that, I need to refill my original ditch so I can get my tractor to that part of the house for the tie in. – I do it. To make matters more complex, I need to avoid both neighbors yards, utilities, and work around the constraints of a tiny yard.
Well since it is so wet, my first ditch was completely full of water and clay doesn’t drain, but I had to back fill it regardless, and did. I then get the tractor back in farther, dug up my outflow point and proceed to work my way back the alley. However, due to the original ditch being in its place I need to move my tractor tight to the house to avoid falling into it and redig the ditch out again. With the angle being what it is, this forces me to over mine, and so reasons I cant explain, I thought it necessary to dig it way deeper than it need to be. After all, you can always throw more dirt back in a hole with a shovel. That is much easier that to have to dig it by hand if you go to shallow.
Except, I cannot shovel this stuff at all. Good God, it’s all heavy wet crap. Making matters work, I have to carry 5 gal buckets of rock to dump into the ditch Because I don’t want to completely destroy my neighbors yard with my tractor, or have it fall into the ditch with the pipe in it. And that ditch attracts Kubota orange like nothing I have seen before!
Like a even more of a complete fool than already stated, I only got 1 yard of drain rock which is far from the necessary amount so I had to finish for the day. I left my yard a complete mess, as well as my neighbors. I mean just walking on it turn it to soup.
I think tomorrow aside from getting more rock, I will get 5 or so sheet of plywood. My plan is to drive on the plywood straddling the ditch and work my way up the ditch sweeping it with the backhoe to fill it in. I will then then bring in sand to go over the top of that.

But obviously, I am not doing well, so I am open for suggestion. ***61514;

 

[85Hokie]

without being a complete smarta$$....you are gonna have to allow it to dry out before you can do anything real. In your neck of the woods, I bet a week of dryness is almost impossible too!!! Wet will not pack well if at all, and then careful movement is almost impossible to boot!

I have played in the mire and muck, it aint no fun and somehow that muck rhymes with the word you end up saying when you track the mire into the house.....and that's before the wife sees it!

 

[groomerbuck]

Rent a mini ex with a thumb. Get 3 sheets of ply wood and you can place them in front of you as you go. A track machine will save you lots of troubles. Mud is tuff to deal with under any circumstance, but rubber tires make it that much worst.

 

[D2Cat]

Flienlow, what ever you do and what ever equipment you use, just be sure to report back your operation.

I can't say anything about your procedure to make it easier, but I enjoy reading your writing style!

Oh wait, I do have a bit of advise. Sometimes it's best to take action on your tenants complaints at the same rate they pay their rent. That usually gives you plenty of leeway to get better timing to do work!

Have fun.

 

[maclean]

Use the front bucket as a sled and be ready to push yourself along with the backhoe.

Got wheel spacers? Our Oregon pottery grade clay is so thick it was extruding through the levers on top. Wheel spacers solved that...

And have a tow strap or chain and a come along ready.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Rosher18]

After I heard the words "ungodly amounts of rain" and "clay" I knew you were in Oregon, Flienlow. Hello from a Salem resident! Most of my fields are too wet to tractor in, and some days they're even too wet to take my little green riding mower into. The AG tires make a mess of the area between my shop, the hay barn, and the horse arena. Way too wet.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Flienlow]

After I heard the words "ungodly amounts of rain" and "clay" I knew you were in Oregon, Flienlow. Hello from a Salem resident! Most of my fields are too wet to tractor in, and some days they're even too wet to take my little green riding mower into. The AG tires make a mess of the area between my shop, the hay barn, and the horse arena. Way too wet.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Close! Just north of Seattle.

 

[Flienlow]

Rent a mini ex with a thumb. Get 3 sheets of ply wood and you can place them in front of you as you go. A track machine will save you lots of troubles. Mud is tuff to deal with under any circumstance, but rubber tires make it that much worst.

A Mini with a grade beam would be awesome.

 

[Dayton]

I do not know how you fix that until it drys out some....but I think you may have solved some of your problems in the future...because your tenants will never call you for a fix again! Way to go!!!!!
Dayton

 

[Tooljunkie]

I have been moving around with my little kubota, no loader no hoe, just a box scraper. Them rice tires turn anything wet into a gooey mess. Nothing is draining due to the layer of ice below the snow. For all my trying im just making things worse. I cant imagine what kind of mess you are dealing with-wait! Yes i can, a few years back trenching in power in a campground. It rained for weeks. I remember pumping water out of collapsing trenches. Was a s#!+ show. And shovels and grub hoes were the tools of choice. Couldnt lay cable as trenching was happening,noooo that was done in fall.spring seemed to be good for ordering the power cable.

 

[cerlawson]

You used the term "drain rock". I assume it is a gravel, all one size, with lots of void spaces. In your circumstances this is only good for one thing and it isn't drainage. With all that mud those spaces fill with mud and no drainage is possible. However, that rock is very good for stabilizing muddy areas.
Sure the mud fills the voids, but the interlock between stones carries the load. Remember for every cubic yard of rock that takes up about 60 percent of the space formerly mud. You may have to haul away some excess material later because of rock volume added.

 

[lordulrich]

Using equipment in that is a bad idea. You need to do some dewatering or wait for it to dry. It might be too late to wait with the mess you've made. Contractors who need to do excavation in that kind of environment have a couple of methods. The two most common methods I've seen is basically a utility pump to move the water, the other is to drive a couple of sand point wells around the work area and pump out of those.

Now most utility pumps don't take sediment too well. I'd put some rock in the most downhill point of your trench surrounding a utility pump and try to pump the water away. It won't dry the yard out but just might be enough to make it workable. I'm looking at doing something similar as I've got a mud pit a lot like your's in front of the door where my tractor sleeps (it sleeps too much right now as I can't get it out with the mud)

 

[Flienlow]

You used the term "drain rock". I assume it is a gravel, all one size, with lots of void spaces. In your circumstances this is only good for one thing and it isn't drainage. With all that mud those spaces fill with mud and no drainage is possible. However, that rock is very good for stabilizing muddy areas.
Sure the mud fills the voids, but the interlock between stones carries the load. Remember for every cubic yard of rock that takes up about 60 percent of the space formerly mud. You may have to haul away some excess material later because of rock volume added.

I used 7/8 drain rock to bed the ditch, and then ran out. The Suppler closer to the house only had 1.5" rock. and used that to finish. I went with rock in hopes that it would in fact stabilize the area. This is not really a french drain as the clay wont let anything pass anyway. I am doing this (probably the wrong way) to just add NDS yard drains In the low spots.

Fear not Cerlawson, I have a big ol pile of ASTM33 Sand (or at least a close spec) at my other job. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to even start that drainage project as the house itself has been a complete nightmare.

I somehow my previous post is not showing up?

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone has used a backhoe with a mechanical thumb with a grade beam? I am wondering if I can use a railroad tie and progressively grade my way out with it?

 

[Flienlow]

Using equipment in that is a bad idea.
)

Well put that in a memo and file it under "S#!T I just figured out."

I am hoping it will dry out. But until then I at least have to Make an attempt and getting it somewhat graded. HOA is probably pissed already.

The good news it is supposed to storm for the next few day.

 

[tempforce]

i have deep sand, then clay. the sand turns into quicksand when it gets soaked.. i learned after watching swamp loggers. that won't have to have my tractor towed, winched out. if i use a stack of pallet flats and lay them out where i need to go. they are pallets without the spacers for forks. so you only have a layer of boards, then another layer of boards at a 90' angle to the first layer. stapled or nailed together. i lay them down in areas that are soaking wet. i can pretty much stay above the quicksand and clay... getting the panels out afterwards. takes a assistant, who connects a chain to the pads as you pull them out of the mess.

 

[Bulldog777]

Looks to me it's not just your problem, it's the neighbors problem also. Underdrain pipe with gravel surrounding it will help, if installed correctly. But you will probably have to wait till it dries out some. You might get with the neighbors to see if everyone can get gutters, and drain them away from the houses.

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[Tooljunkie]

Dumping rock in a clay hole wont make an efficient drain.i tried it. Imagine a trench ,lined with geotextile (industrial landscape cloth)then drain media laid in then cloth rolled over on top. The cloth filters the dirt allowing only water to pass through therby effectively draining your swamp- providing water has somewhere to go.

I set up a drain,from my basement sump pit to 100' from my house using cloth covered weeping tile buried 4" below ground level. Not only did it carry water away,it dried up part of my yard near house that was always wet. It moved it farther away,and also improved septic field.

 

[cerlawson]

Tool Junkie got it and tells of how he learned the hard way. Nice going.

 

[Flienlow]

I swear on my father's grave I will never do this again.

You called it. The drain isn't working. Its already clogged. The only value in this entire thing is the NDS drains basins. I knew better than to use drain rock, but did anyway.

I was able to get it graded out. I used my backhoe with a small railroad tie. This worked surprisingly well. However, It was like grading concrete, it was pure soup. More like just flattening it out. I laid down plywood and drove over it. It was an unbelievable amount of work to lift can carry out muddy plywood, however I deserve the misery for sheer stupidity alone.

Now, I have to do something, but with my success rate I am not sure what.
I cant walk on the yard, even gravel doesn't work on this stuff. Its almost bottomless. I am thinking about putting peat moss or straw on it, and then throw some grass see on it and hope for the best. Ideas?

 

[Tooljunkie]

I have a few places i fiddled with a couple days ago. Not gong back until some water runs off. I cut trenches in the frozen part (by hand)to get water moving so i can get in there once it dries some. Will be a while, still snow waiting to leave.
You need drying weather.