How to move clay for Jumps..?

[MTBWANNABE]

Hey.. well it might sound a bit straight forward.. but its kinda hard.. okay.. the deal is i have about 35 tons of clay from a swimming pool and digging for an extension..

It is sooooooo incredably hard to move by hand (spade + wheelbarrow) as when ever its wet.. or has been wet cause the clay soaks up all the water for ages.. so 1) its heavy as fuck to move.. 2) everything sticks to the spade so the spade gets heavy as fuck.. 3) it stays wet for AGES..

it's in numerous piles of about 5 tons around a roughly 1acre field (which is right next to my house..)

what possibilities is there for moving it..?

I might in the end try and rent a digger thing (quite a long time from now).. or just wait till summer to move it over many grueling hours/weeks.. but then again in summer the clay gets rock solid... what do i do?

i have a couple mates who might help.. but they don't seem toooooo keen..

any ideas of moving it? (which won't cost a fortune..)

Thnx Heaps.. Kev

[Joel O]

do you have a box trailer available? line it with a tarp and use it as a giant wheel barrow, most things are going to require some shovel work but at least this way it is being moved a tonne or so at a time.

[MTBWANNABE]

i don't personally have one.. but i'm sure a friend might.. good idea :)

[hasta muerta]

dude, stop whinging- you don't get results without a bit of elbow grease

[HYOSHIMO]

ill let you in on a little secret ive discovered about clay.... i have heaps of it at my trails, i even moved about 6 tonne worth digging old jumps -its a total waste of time. Because it holds water and is clayit cracks when it dries, its virtually impossible to pack and is just plain shit for trails -if youre intent on using it -use if for the inner filling of jumps and cpver with decent stuff - like brickie sand...

[scottmeister]

dude, stop whinging- you don't get results without a bit of elbow grease

I didn't see any whinging? Maybe you should just fuck off if you don't have anything to contribute, eh?

Also, clay is a bitch to move... I guess you'd either need a small bobcat or need to put tons of effort for a small amount of gain by hand.

[daymz]

if you have troubles with all the clay and mud sticking to the shovel and wheelbarrow then try spraying diesel fuel on both of them and it won't stick any longer... works a treat. It's what they use to stop tar (road works) sticking to everything.

[MTBWANNABE]

thanx heaps.. just talked to the parentals and in the next couple of weeks (or months?) we might rent a bobcat of sum kind for various garden work..

but i do agree hyoshimo.. the couple tiny jumps i've made all crack in the summer.. would plain gardening dirt work as the top layer??

Thnx

[whywalkwhenucanroll]

I like this:

you know we got like "35 tonns of clay from a swimming pool and extension", "set in 5tonn piles round a acherage next to our place", "might hire a bobcat thing for some garden work"

Shit man you have a huge place.

Edit:Try mixing Jypsum and or lime with the clay to improve its qualities and yea try to use it as a base with a 'topsoil' layer.

[MTBWANNABE]

haha.. the one problem i have with my house is its in the middle of no-where.. takes me 1 hour 15 mins to get to school every morning.. :(

Yeah i'll try mixing it and stuff.. thanx every1 for the quick replies.. :)

Kev

[HYOSHIMO]

thanx heaps.. just talked to the parentals and in the next couple of weeks (or months?) we might rent a bobcat of sum kind for various garden work..

but i do agree hyoshimo.. the couple tiny jumps i've made all crack in the summer.. would plain gardening dirt work as the top layer??

Thnx


umm if its top soil then no-its too "washable" meaning it erodes due to its organic material in it -ie hasd higher rates of plant matter... sounds wanky but yeah igt wont work- if you have decent dirt you can dig at it may be useful -you'll know if its any decent because you should be able to squeeze it when its moist and it'll hold shape kinda thing - if you have this realistically you can move the crappy clay and just use like 2-3 inches of this over the up + down ramps....

as some other person said about mixing it -tried it and it just dries quicker and creates bigger cracks + mixing it will suck up time and energy.

and heres my support for hasta -whilst a pretty pointless post that some of you havecrapped your pants over -i think he has a pretty valid point underneath the criticism- it wont matter what your doing if you dont put the effort in you'll get nowhere....fuck i sound like my parents...

hope that helps.

[cheese]

ill let you in on a little secret ive discovered about clay.... i have heaps of it at my trails, i even moved about 6 tonne worth digging old jumps -its a total waste of time. Because it holds water and is clayit cracks when it dries, its virtually impossible to pack and is just plain shit for trails -if youre intent on using it -use if for the inner filling of jumps and cpver with decent stuff - like brickie sand...

I wouldn't completely agree with you there. There's some jumps near me that get their lips built up with clay and once we let them dry they turn out nicely. Then again mabey if they survived more than a week each time they would begin to crack. :mad:

[b00fal00]

organise a dig day with all your mates - many hand make light work - offer em bbq beer, burbone, or what eva. Mate we've built 30 metres of cat walk in and hour and a half - with 8 ppl but it got built and we all ride it...And make the dude u like least do most of the heavy work... :) peace.. BOOF

[Deniss]

Or you could just get on of those digger things like on of these.

[MTBWANNABE]

deniss.... i like your thinking :D

[donthucktoflat]

i havent had any problems with clay cracking.. and we dont have any covering.. it is just rock solid.
i spose if you water it (or if it rains) as it is drying then that'd make for a more solid base? i dunno, but that is what happened when we built our jumps

[MTBWANNABE]

actually.. i never thought of that.. what if the jumps were carpeted? would that stop it/lessen (sp?) the cracking???

[Superman]

think back to year 7 science when you put dirt and sand in a jar with water, and it did that sedimentary thing. the stuff at the bottom is how clay is formed. the grain is just finer so it holds it holds together stronger. if you just give the lips a shower everyday for about a week, with less water everytime, it can prevent cracking. it has worked for me

[HYOSHIMO]

if its proper clay -which i suspect it is, which although being the same principles as your ^^^^ year 7 science, it usually doesnt work like that due to the compression-it usually clumps,weighs a tonne and usually cracks just because of sheer heat of being out of the ground - such as the stuff i used, it is found like 4 feet below surface and generally sucks - whilst you can water it profusely, the problem arises with the stuff in the middle remaining wet and drying super slowly whilst the stuff on the outer changes temp and moisture-causing different expansion rartes and drying rates which causes cracking -take for example my upramp for my old jumps, built out of clay from around a dam so it remained wet during construction, profuse watering over two weks left the tope cracking and when demolished the inner was so wet you could squeeze liquids from it like a sponge....

its up to you guys and you have all had different experiences but if i was him id just do the top layer thing- i wouldnt bother with the carpte over the top unless i haad it shaped perfectly and was able to water it every day....

[R33F]

I didn't see any whinging? Maybe you should just fuck off if you don't have anything to contribute, eh?

Also, clay is a bitch to move... I guess you'd either need a small bobcat or need to put tons of effort for a small amount of gain by hand.

sorry scottmeister, i dont have much to contribute either, as i just sold my bobcat, but if you hire one, its minimally 4hrs, so get your value for money, and maybe move more than 1 jump. or if its wet clay, its a shitload harder to move than dry.. from a bobcat perspective as the wet is stickier, heavier and more of a nuisance.

you are correct, clay is a bitch to move.

[Constable Care]

Bigger wheelbarows bigger spades and lots of em :)

[bulllet]

This thing could help....its the worlds largest earth mover:D

It stands 311ft tall and 705ft long, it weighs over 45,500 tonnes, cost $100 million to build, took 5 years to design and manufacture, requires 5 of your mates to help operate it, the bucket wheel is over 70ft in diameter, with 20 buckets each holding 530 cubic ft of material and can remove over 76, 455cubic meters of material a day. :eek:

Isn't she a beauty!, this should do you just fine.

[ona rampage]

That thing is HUGE :eek:

What the hell was it used for???

[johnny]

What the hell was it used for???
Giving me nightmares! :eek:

"Yo Hal, we got a job in New Jersey".

"Sure Bob, I'll just kick her over. Tell them well be there in six and a half years".

Has to be for an open cut mine somewhere I would assume.......

[hasta muerta]

that thing reminds me of a machine out of terminator (the flash backs(forwards??) to the future) or machines from the matrix.....
i'd say thats just a bit of over kill???

[mike&nat]

find some sorta slipery lube stuff for your shovels and put it on so the dirt/ mud sticky clay just slides off, not sure if you could acctually get stuff like that but would help

[bulllet]

Has to be for an open cut mine somewhere I would assume.......


Correct! 10 points goes to johnny :p

*edit* Look down in the left hand corner aswell, there is a normally large yellow dozer sitting directly below the bucket wheel:D looks like a tonka toy in comparrison :rolleyes: