Roadbuilding

[Scott]

[Scott]

A D6H dozer with angle blade clearing a trail.

[Scott]

Here's some pictures i found on the Yankee Group's page. I think they're pretty good.


 The dozer sidecasts material to make the pioneer road. Looks like a nice old Terex dozer, does anyone know about their quality?




 The excavator moves rock into postition and removes overburden from above the road while the dozer smoothes out the road behind the excavator.


The Truck dumps rock onto the road surface while the dozer spreads it out.

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya Scott
ya were asking about the 6 way blade ,i have 1 like ya pic that ya posted it's on a D45 A (bout 90 odd Hp) 8)now from what i have been told if pushing alot or wanting to put a full root rake on this is the way to go  ..the smaller PAT blades are still good but  look where both blades are being pushed the leverage on the PAT blade is greater ...only draw back is with smaller dozers D3 etc etc a wrap around 6 way blade is heavy .....
oh yea LW ya were asking about diggers with 6 way blades with a tilt head on them ya don't need them a good wide bucket and a good driver ya would be shocked what they can do..
yea it dose seem diggers are takeing over some road building i think cos the road is finshed faster with only one machine a dozer will push a track faster than a digger(diggers down fall speed moveing ) and even track tidying up tracks a dozer will do the job but putting slopes on cuttings ,pipes in for crossings,putting fill where ya need it a digger wins hands down ..
like i said i have a dozer it's ok, a digger i would do more with
catch ya ;)
JD Kid  

[Bibbyman]

Anyone hear of a machine called a "chunker"?  

I've heard it is something like a grinder or processor that makes wood "chunks" that are used to pave roads in the forest.  Depending on the type of wood and the environment, they will last from 5-8 years.

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya
How big are these chunks??i have seen chippers but i don't think they would last on a logging track or big rains.. i have seen mulch chips used on walking tracks ..unless ya were miles away from gravel or the cost was very high i don't know how much work these machines would do ..
catch ya
JD Kid

[Scott]

 Jd_kid, I've also herd that an outside mounted blade is better for heavy pushing and i guess it makes sense. I was just talking to my neighbors dad who was telling me about a road building job going on near his woodlot. He said that a decent size dozer (D6) went through with a rake and took out all the stumps. Next the excavator went trough and built up a rough base. While the excavator was building up the road surface the dozer switched from the rake to an angle blade and then leveled out the road surface behind the dozer. He said this method worked quite well and moved quickly. Do you have any pictures of your dozer at work?

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya Scott
no i have not got any pics :'( it's about D4 size and 1 of only 5 that come in to NZ (there are other D45's and D41's but my steering levers come out of the floor other D45's are dash levers) D5 or D6 are a good size for track work same as JD 750's eazy to move from place to place small eneff for little jobs and given time can do bigger jobs (D8-D10 size jobs)most diggers working here are around 20 tonne much bigger they are harder to truck with trucking laws,the way ya talking about this road a digger with a thumb could do that in one pass ,clear,mound and grade ..most road building ya see here in NZ a dozer might be pulling a roller or pushing main lines but 99%of the time just diggers working with graders doing the top work..i'll try and find a modern box browine and get some pics for ya, it needs a wash tho as i had it boged the other day ;)
catch ya
JD Kid

[Bibbyman]

From what little I've been able to find out about wood chunks for road building, they are broken up about fist size and are used in logging areas where they can't build permeate roads.

[Ron Scott]

The USDA-Forest Service has done some research and use of "Chunk Wood" roads. There may be some publications on their use available at the USFS Forest Products Lab, Madison, WI or at its Forest Science Lab at Michigan Tech, Houghton, MI

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya
i did a surf of chunk roads and could not find anything  :'(but fist sized once packed down would work ok and with not haveing to cart rock it might be a saveing ,and it's a use for off cuts that may just be pushed off the skid sites ..be a mean chipper tho ,i did see on a site doing land clearing they had a big tub grinder on a low loader being feed but a digger maybe that was a chunker i have a funny feeling that they can be set for the sizes ya want IE fist sized base core to 1/2 inch top chip ..
catch ya
JD Kid

[Scott]

I once saw a cheap winter ice road that was built largerly from the waste that came out of the logger's mobark chipper (branches, bark etc) it held up ok for the winter but now you would never know there was a road there, maybe not a bad thing. The other interesting thing was that all the material was spread by their skidder and they didn't have to bring in any roadbuilding equipment.

[Ron Scott]

See the USDA-Forest Service; North Central Research Station Publication #145 on Chunk Wood, roads etc.. 109 pages. http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc145.pdf

[Scott]

109 pages is a little bit too much reading for me. The chunk road idea seems great for flat areas rather than scaring the land by ripping it up with a coventional road.

[Scott]

jd_kid, is the blade you have similar to this one?

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya Scott
yea kinda like that but if ya look along the side ya will see 3 pin holes to angle this blade (one in pic)ya have to get off pull side arms out then turn blade IE by hand ,mine looks the same but insteed of haveing the side arms pined there is a ram and track on the c frame so ya can move the blade to any angle on the move ...i think ya other pic has the same set up as mine lookhard along the sides ya will see the rams
catch ya
JD Kid

[Paul_H]

Here are some pictures I took while driving rock truck last week.They are arranged in order of a round trip.
We are hauling all material to a spoil site a mile away,because there is no side casting allowed,on account of the steep ground,and the creek below.







View from the cab,down to the bridge






Looking down the long hill to the spoil site



From the spoil site,looking back up to the heading



Pulled over to let another truck pass on my return trip

[Jeff]

Whats all that white stuff? Is it still april in B.C.?

[Scott]

 Great pictures Paul, do you have anymore shots of the excavator? i love pictures from outin the mountains as it seems like such an extreme place to work. Keep up the good work.

[Furby]

GREAT pictures!  8)
 Makes me hungry for the open road again! ;)

[Paul_H]

That slide chute still had a whack of snow a couple of weeks ago.Now there are False Solomon Seal and other Spring flowers popping out in different stages.The slide alder is just leafing out now,in some places up there.The snow slides from the top,right on down to the creek,and dams it up.

It's a cool place.

Scott,

I'll see what I can do for excavator pics.Today he was scaling a vertical wall to knock down some large boulders that were overhanging.Tomorrow we haul it away(for several days) so the pics might be a little boring.

[Norm]

Great scenery Paul, glad to see you are getting some hours in. I noticed that the excavator doesn't have teeth on the bucket is there a particular reason for that?

[Paul_H]

Norm,
The work being done right now is reconstructing old road.There was a lot of slumping of the cut slope,and pulling back of the fill slope to take the weight off of the outside of the road.It only takes four scoops to fill my truck.
The bucket being used is a cleanup bucket,which has worked well for the most part,but for scaling and new road construction,a proper digging bucket with teeth will be used.He scaled yesterday with the cleanup bucket,but it bounced him around pretty good.

[Ed_K]

 Here's something you don't see everyday!

 From Wheeler Cat, Salt Lake City UT.
 Ed K

[Scott]

 Heres some pictures (a little small) of the local logger's roadbuilding equipment.