Football to Cooler sized rocks

[Dan Watrous]

What weight of dozer would be good for making/finishing/maintaining unfinished forest roads in ground infested with football to cooler sized rocks? 8+ foot wide roads would be adequate for the atv roads we want to make on the steep side of our mountain property.
What type of blade is best when trying to push through these rocks? (Is an angle blade sturdy enough?)
Do the low and high tracks have equal stability in steep terrain?
We have a 16 ton excavator to pioneer the roads, make them roughly level and handle the largest rocks if needed. I have been very happy I didn't buy a smaller excavator, but not sure I need a beast of a dozer.

 

[Tones]

It's a great idea using the excavator to cut the roads in and if you do a good enough job a D3 or 4 size machine would be more than adequate IMO. Having your own digger on site any rectification becomes simple.

 

[Welder Dave]

Any large rocks or stumps can be handled by the excavator as well as initial roughing in. Guessing it's about s 3/4yd. machine. Depending on your budget I think a D5 size machine would be ideal. Just enough bigger and wider to do heavier work pushing rocks and stumps than a D3/D4. I think D5N is around 25,000lbs. but you could get an older model. D3 is about 15-18,000lbs. depending on year and is more a finishing machine and not normally used for heavier clearing work. D4 is somewhere in between. I think an angle blade would be fine and a 6 way blade could work as long as you're careful and don't try to do heavy stumping or digging big rocks especially with the blade ends. The 6 way would be good for maintenance of your trails/roads once they're in.

 

[Dan Watrous]

Thank you for your advice to help me get started.
I didn't mention we have a 50 hp farm tractor at home with a box scraper I could use for finishing roads and making shallow ditches too, spring time maintenance after the snow and rains as summers and falls are dry here.
So, if the dozer needed to take off at least a layer or two of undisturbed firm soil to give a solid roadbed after the excavator roughs in the road, I want enough weight to push through almost all the embedded rocks where the blade is low enough to not just scrape over the top of the rock.
I know the fire dozers around here are using blades that support the outside corners, std, tilt or manual angle, but imagine trees are the issue more than rocks, and these dozers are brutes. Do those blades seem like the safe way to go

 

[Welder Dave]

Standard angle blades are stronger than 6 way blades but you could encounter large rocks/stumps regardless where you need the excavator. A 6 way is much more versatile but requires more careful operation.

 

[Dan Watrous]

Thank you,
Nothing built on fill.
Excavator cuts into the hillside when there is slope side to side
I would like to use a dozer to make it more level and also lower the roadbed below the loose dirt left by the excavator and the remainders from removing stumps and large rocks.
This mountainside has been logged and there are some old good logging roads, overgrown from 40 years. They have good flat, level beds and dirt berms on the down slope side for my grandchildren. I would like to make more roads like that.
I thought i would cut in the road with the excavator and then lower the bed 6 - 12 inches to increase the dirt berm, all on solid ground. I just wonder about the rocks stopping the blade. I can dig lower with the excavator if necessary. It just doesn't make a nice flat road very well.
We don't have logging anymore around here. Do you all know what size dozers probably made these roads?

 

[Welder Dave]

I'd guess D6-D8. Don't know how big logging was in your area but have seen a lot of D8's sold at auction from logging companies. Hardly ever saw smaller than D6's. Keep in mind a newer high track D6 can be closer to an older D7 in terms of weight and pushing power. Even a pretty good difference between models like a D6N and a D6R. I think with your excavator a D6 or maybe a D5 high track would be a good choice. Something in the 24,000 -32,000lb. range. If you can remover the bigger rocks first a 6 way blade would make leveling roads on the sides of hills easier.

 

[chidog]

The ride is bad enough in rocks on an 80,000 pound machine, my body always hated anything smaller.

 

[Welder Dave]

Pics. of the terrain may help. If it's through trees maybe less rocks??

 

[Tones]

Dan, you don't need a dozer to cut tracks, you have got all the necessary equipment. The only capital investment needed is a wide flat edged bucket if you haven't got one and a ripper.
Start off making the track and any large rocks removed the use the smaller rocks to backfill the hole to below grade then bring it to grade with dirt. If more dirt is required win it off the up hill batter. Go through the length of the job roughing it out the you'll see any blemishes that needs rectifying. Coming back over the job with the flat edge bucket do the final shaping,then with the box blade do the finish cut and fill to your satisfaction. It's a job I've done many times with success, sure it maybe a little slower but the running costs of a dozer versus and excavator is like chalk and cheese.
PS, a tilting bucket makes that part of the job easier.

 

[Dan Watrous]

Tones, WOW, I had no idea how much diesel I would have to buy for a dozer compared to an ex.
I can buy a long day of fun with 15 gallons. Hopefully the price of diesel will go down for everyone, about 6-7 here.
Thank you so much for this recommendation. I think I can buy a bucket without any trouble, but a dozer would have been a long campaign to justify.