Can anybody give me an idea of how much a bulldozer costs? One that is good for digging ponds...

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 16, 2001

Answers

Depending on how you plan on building the pond a bulldozer is not going do all the work. You need someway to lift the dirt up and into trucks to be hauled away. A dozer is a fixed blade piece of equipment. Unless you have more uses for the dozer, renting one would be cheaper in the long run. If your still insistant on getting one check out http://www.equipmenttraderonline.com/ for used gear. figure $10,000 for a usable dozer then the prices go up.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), May 16, 2001.

I agree, a dozer is probably not what you want. A front end loader/backhoe combination would be your best bet. You can rent one for about $200/day or maybe buy a older one for $10-20,000. If you rent, look for a Kubota L-35 or L-48. I have an L-35 and nothing in that size range comes close to the power and versatility. Good luck.

CQ

-- carter (chucky@usit.net), May 16, 2001.

Would the front end loader/backhoe be able to dig fast enough? It seems a little dozer on tracks would dig much faster.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 16, 2001.

D-8's and D 10's go for 5,000 to 8,000 dollars around here, we got a lot of 'em, lots of logging going on around here.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), May 16, 2001.

I don't know how big a pond your digging but I dug a small retention pond about 20' accross and 3' deep in about 3 hours with my backhoe. The ground was pretty rocky too. The backhoe bucket is about 1 ft^3 and the frontend loader is about 1/2 cubic yard. You can get a lot more dirt with the front end loader but you can dig harder ground with the backhoe. Sometimes on bigger, hard ground projects you have to scratch it loose with the backhoe and move it afterwards with the frontloader. That'll get the job done but can be slow. Thats when a dozer or a big track loader would be nice. From my experience with it, I've come to believe there isn't hardly anything that a kubota L-35 can't do, it's just small and has to do it slower with littler bites. We kid around and say it wants to be a bull dozer when it grows up. I dug a water line one time and hit a seam of really hard shale. I litterally use the teeth on backhoe and scaped and scratch it into power. It took a while but I got thru. Anyway, unless your digging a lake, you should be able to do it in a day or too. It also helps to have an experienced operator to get the most out of the machine. Good luck.

CQ

-- carter (chucky@usit.net), May 17, 2001.

This looks like another one of those threads where you get more than you asked for, but not necessarily what you thought you needed. This one from my brother, the farmer, rather than from my personal experience, but he heard that a front-end loader was a better deal than anything else for a farmer. He hired it done, and saw it proved, as far as power and versatility goes, too. Got about two days worth of work done for about - well, never mind, different currencies, but not enormous hourly rates for a man with a shovel. Got three earth dams expanded enormously (in that time). The word was that a front- end loader on a tractor will get you a tractor and a front-end loader for less than the cost of a bulldozer. Use it for as long as you need then re-sell it for about the same price you paid; or keep it forever and you've still got the tractor (you need a tractor) and the front- end loader. I agree that the back-hoe is attractive, but for basic earth-moving a three-tyne ripper (or even one or two) will loosen the soil, and then the front-end loader will move it. Not as fast as a bull-dozer, but doesn't use as much fuel, and your own time doesn't cost you cash money.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 19, 2001.

we have a case 580C and have tried to dig ponds with it before. its ok if you dont want it to hold any water. you need a big heavy dozer so it can pack down the dirt and hold the water. you are NOT going to get that done with a kubota, no matter how small of bites you take. your best bet for digging a pond is having it hired and get a guy with a D8-D10 that has the experience it takes to build a nice pond. try it with a tractor/backhoe, you better buy a pump with the money you save so you can keep it full.

-- (yucip4u2@yahoo.com), January 17, 2002.

I'm convinced pond digging is not a wise seat-of-the-pants learning experience.

Granted, with a few hours in the seat just about anybody can shove dirt around, pick it up and dump it with a piece of heavy equipment made for such.

But can he cut and fill to a grade? Nope.

Does he know how to properly evaluate the terrain and construct a solid dam and spillway that will work together when the heavy rains come? Nope.

Does he know the soil and geology of the area and the kind of bottom that won't leak water as fast as it comes in? Highly unlikely.

Does he know if he'll even find a bottom like that? And what if it's just not there? Then what? Plastic liners? Sodium bentonite?

By the time the amateur buys a piece of equipment he doesn't know how to operate, tries to research and/or poke around peoples' minds for the knowledge and experience it's taken good pond diggers years to acquire and then ends up digging a mudhole that won't hold water -- then he'll realize how cheap it truly is to pay $40 or $50 an hour to someone with a big machine that can move a lot of dirt fast and efficiently.

Get someone from the local Agricultural Extension Service to come out (for free) and assess your situation and what you want to do. Listen to and believe what he tells you.

Grill local people with ponds on who is the best pond digger in the county.

Settle on one and pay him to dig your pond.

You'll be amazed at little it costs, especially if you can make a deal with him to trade out some of the fill for some of his work.

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 21, 2002.