Pond Boss Magazine: Different Machines Play Different Roles

Dirt of all kinds fascinates me along with the machines that move it. A problem I’ve had for as long as I can remember even when the Tonka T-9 was pushing dirt in the back yard, I was on a mission.

Still am.

Nowadays the Tonka just got bigger and runs on diesel fuel rather than chocolate milk.

But my fascination is still there, whether it’s the material in front of the dozer rising up higher than the radiator…which is the goal…or where its new home will be. It goes without saying, “He with the most dirt in front of his blade wins”. Clearly that is the answer, if you’ve ever wondered.

It doesn’t matter if someone sees it happen or you’re all by yourself. Every push should be an experience greater than the last. Just like if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it. Does it make a sound?

Pretty sure it does.

Or, the power of an excavator ripping material from the ground. Once again, he with the most material in his bucket wins. You’ve got to pull that bucket through the ground like you’re mad at it. The process of moving earth is magical to me. It’s the sights and sounds and, let’s not forget…the smells. Nothing quite likes the smell of fresh topsoil upended. I heard a wife’s tale once time that moving dirt around, we were helping to balance the earth. I like that, definitely makes my mission seem more important. Let’s not forget a pan

scraper. Definitely a machine close to my heart and a love/hate relationship for some.

I always found them amazing how can you beat a machine that can load, haul and spread its own material. I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of scrapers loading. Something about the dirt coming into the bowl seems a lot like the dirt rising over the radiator of dozer. The dirt would boil up out of the inside and begin to spill over the sides, simply magical. I know it’s not that magical, its horsepower and brute force, but still.

As I geek out on machines, it makes you wonder what this has to with a pond or lake.

As we all know, without all the horsepower and diesel fuel, we wouldn’t have all those beautiful bodies of water. While these machines are stirring the ground, a lot more is happening, especially if you’re on the mission to capture the sparkles of sunlight dancing across your water.

Let’s do a little break down on the magic that is occurring. The dozer, when it’s rolling that material up out of the ground and heading to drop it off on a dam is a classic example. There is a great mixing process going on. All that material deposited and left behind over time needs to be rearranged so if there were weak points in it, they get all shuffled around.

But once that dozer gets material spread out and in place it needs some help from a machine I didn’t mention. The compactor is an important machine in the lineup and the backbone of the operation. Without that compactor smashing those dirt molecules down as small is it can, you can be setting yourself up for disaster. I’ve seen a number of projects that lacked proper compaction that turned into a nightmare for the owners.

Those ponds leak.

Simply because the means of compaction wasn’t correct and they were not the kneading and binding material together to turn it into one unit, problems were created. As much as I love a scraper, it’s not always the best compactor.

Although there have been countless dams built that were successful with compaction of a scraper or even just a dozer. Just not a risk I’m into taking, compactors were clearly built for a task and they’re very good at their job.

A trackhoe is definitely one machine I’ve spent a lot of my life in the seat. You can open a core trench with a dozer but a trackhoe is going to do the tuning…at least in my world. Without this machine and a hammer on the end of it I would lose a lot of battles with water. Also, when you’re digging, once again you can mix and stir material up if it needs it and its within your reach. As you’re placing it in a truck, you get a little dirt from here and a little from there so it’s being rearranged.

Then when you dump it out on a dam and the dozer comes to process it and roll it around and continue the mixing then the magic is happening. The dozer spreads mixed material into shallow lifts and then the compactor does its magic.

Last, but not least, the scraper comes with its own mixing bowl just wasn’t advertised that way. A great machine and effective, but still needs help from its friends to be super successful. In the loading process it takes a small bite from the ground and rolls it up inside it’s bowl. While the material is entering the bowl it rises, breaks and mixes. Then as the machine comes across the dam and spreads its load, it’s important to have help from its friends…the bulldozer to spread and mix and set it up for the compactor.

The bulldozer stirs that material one more time before that compactor hits it. It’s crazy to me to see dams built with scrapers that seep. When cutting through the dam to figure out what to do on some of these dams, just examining the made me roll my eyes because of the lack of compaction. That’s not necessarily pointing the finger at the machine as much as the operator…or the plan to build the dam.

Here’s the point. Different machines play different roles. Our job as contractors is to discern the situation and use the proper equipment for that particular job.

Just remember—with great horsepower comes great responsibility. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Tonka T-9 or D9 Caterpillar—we’re all on a mission.