Calling the road-making experts for expertise

Hi, LCA078.
Firstly, you are wimping out on spreading that material with a 'D6-like' dozer. Dump it on the road and spread it from there. You'll lose less of it.

Secondly, see if anybody in your area has a bottom dump rig and would be willing to haul the material for you.

Just my 0.02.

Deas- thanks for quick reply. Yes, a bottom dump would be lovely but I haven't found one willing to do a small personal job here yet. The trucks would have to back down the 1/2 mile since there is no turn around and no commercial outfit with the bottom dumps wants to mess with this personal job (economy is still too good here).

Back to the dozer spreading issue, how do I spread the 15-yard single pile dumped on the road? Climb on top and push part of the pile down the road in one direction and then do the same in the opposite direction? Just keep whittling it down by passing over the top? I figured I'd just be spilling the base off to the side and make more of a mess this way. Or do I cut the edges of the pile down by pushing the edges onto the road via a diagonal cutting action?

As you can tell, I'm very new to this so just want to learn from the experts.

Deas- thanks for quick reply. Yes, a bottom dump would be lovely but I haven't found one willing to do a small personal job here yet. The trucks would have to back down the 1/2 mile since there is no turn around and no commercial outfit with the bottom dumps wants to mess with this personal job (economy is still too good here).

Back to the dozer spreading issue, how do I spread the 15-yard single pile dumped on the road? Climb on top and push part of the pile down the road in one direction and then do the same in the opposite direction? Just keep whittling it down by passing over the top? I figured I'd just be spilling the base off to the side and make more of a mess this way. Or do I cut the edges of the pile down by pushing the edges onto the road via a diagonal cutting action?

As you can tell, I'm very new to this so just want to learn from the experts.

LCA078,

I can't tell if you already have a D6 or don't own any equipment. If you just want to fix your road on the cheap, rent a Case 580 skip loader with a front loader and rear box scraper. First, attack the piles with the front loader back dragging (with the bucket in a dumped position) in a back and forth motion spreading on the road as you go. Eventually, the pile will be small enough to push through with the front loader. Continue to push the material forward until the pile is reduced. Then use the rear box scraper to grade the road. Where portions of the pile have migrated on to the shoulders, you can pull that back onto the road with the scraper until you get the piles distributed over the 1/2 mile of road.

A dozer will spill material on to the shoulders as you push through the piles. As above, attack the piles with the dozer back dragging to reduce the piles, then push through them starting from the side and working toward the middle. If your skill is just basic, you can probably get by with finishing the road by back dragging with the blade in float. I see you want to buy an old grader which will make the road maintenance easy. Just get one with a scariffier to loosen the caliche so you can grade it out. A Cat 12 or 112 would be about right. Galion made a 118 model which would also work well.

Have fun,

JanM

Live bottom is really the only way to go:

https://imgur.com/HwJkTUD
https://imgur.com/f8RDGfW
https://imgur.com/1ae2laU

you could always shovel it off! "wink". if you take into account the extra money spent on rental of equipment you could offer a company with a belly dump extra compensation to make it worth while??? have the driver chain the doors so that it will string out.

If I can't get a belly dump to haul it, I use a D4C to push the edges of the piles down and keep the material in the center of the road with the power angle blade while stringing it out. A box blade tractor can speed that up quite a bit but I use the dozer alone. It can take twenty minutes to string a load out for 100' and not wind up with more in the ditches than in the road. Most ranch roads are around 12' wide and 9" thick. Using a straight blade on a D6 would take longer but is doable. I have built a hundred miles like this. I prefer to dig and haul it with a scraper on bigger jobs where you have or can make a long pit on the property. Most times this is done when building roads for oil well sites and drilling pads.

You need the tracks to walk that rough caliche down into road base anyway. Some that I use is rough as a cob and might come out in 3 foot chunks if it's dug with a trackhoe, while some I use is nice and uniform with fist size rocks down to 3/4" minus. Walk it back and forth several times and it'll work up like crushed rock. Then you can run a motor grader down each edge and pull the cobbles back into the middle of the road and walk em down again until you have some really nice processed material. Then you can come back and put the finishing touches on it with the motor grader.

Here in Georgia we have spreader trucks lay down gravel. They spread at a smooth even rate …….minimal dressing up.

Just a thought as I'm sure Texas has those trucks as well,
Have a good day...…..Bill

Yes we do Bill, but caliche is usually very rough material and truckers don't want their trailers beat up with it.