Any experience with a "Sheep Foot" roller?

Going to borrow one of these to compact a hillside that has refused to "knit" together after the pond was dug with my 11B. Never have pulled one of these in the past myself. I'm planning to strip the topsoil with the dozer which is sliding down the bank towards the water, compact the subsoil, then respread the topsoil compacting as I go. A final layer of mulched and blended topsoil will then be spread and seeded with a "Harley Rake" and seeder borrowed from another friend whom is a landscaper.

Any tips available concerning pulling this thing on an incline? It's not that steep I'm worried about the dozer sliding sideways or anything like that.

Thanks,

Thank you. We are going to drain the pond with trash pumps over the berm created when it was built. There is a large amount of clay in the mix and was no compaction when everything was done. With the rains of late in the summer and now the freeze and thaw cycles, some of the topsoil is sliding off.

There will be enough room to go up and down the berm rather than sideways and then turn around up top. Never have operated a dozer sideways on an incline and am totally unfamiliar with the equipment to be used, so really appreciate the advice.  

Thanks, that is my thoughts also. The roller is about nine tons and the feet are about six inches long and I was thinking to go no deeper than about six inches per lift and run the roller over the area. It does not vibrate or anything like that but it sure is heavy. The owner usually pulls it with his 9670, or 8070 and they both do a good job.

No experience so open to suggestions.  

Thanks Ray. No experience with the tractor at all other than driving it across the flat gravel driveway. I have a brand new laser receiver for the blade, (Spectra LR50W) and remote display for the ROPS, (RD20). A contractor friend gave me a Johnson rotary laser I cleaned up and it works in bright sunlight from several hundred feet. Hopefully these will get me to grade or slope desired.

The water level is about 10' down from the top of the berm which has a driveway routed upon it. This is basically all fill from the dozer pushing the pond removal up the side forming the berm. This fill is now starting to slide back down towards the water. It's not very steep, but is a lot of clay and they didn't do any compacting at all other than back and forth with the dozer. It was then grass seeded and called good. The top of the berm is not fresh fill, the pond spoils were pushed up to it.

Off subject but I worked a project at the Paso Robles long range radar site doing upgrades to equipment a few years ago before retiring. Nice folks up there.

 We have a nice pond just behind the house, without any sand, and it is muddy to walk into the water. Can I just add sand to make a beach and cover the mud in the water so it will be nice to walk into the water?

 Thanks,

 Dusty

"They'll tell you when the moisture is right.  That is when they start rising up"

I think there is a bit of confusion with the problem at hand. Please allow me to attempt to clarify.  The pond is not leaking and the water level is quite a bit lower than the berm which has the sliding topsoil. Let's have a look at this overhead photo which is a bit aged of the area:

For orientation, the top of the photo is north:

The red line in the photo is now a gravel driveway atop the "berm" I've referred to. The yellow box has a retaining wall built in with a boat dock and diving platform over the top protruding into, and out over the pond. This wall was pushing out and warranted further investigation. I found the soil sliding away when walking up from looking at the wall. There is about a 10' drop from the driveway to the water level and the slope is about 20' in width. Prior to the dirt being pushed out of what is now the pond, the area was relatively flat but this pond area was a depression. The dirt was pushed up onto the south side and spread over about 100' in length up to what is now the gravel driveway edge. I'm told there is less than six inches of "fill" spread over the area but it looks greater than that to me. Again there was no compaction attempted except back and forth with the dozer.

I'm "green" to anything like this as have virtually no experience. Not going to kid anybody about that. Don't want to make mistakes and certainly wiling to solicit any help to attempt a lasting repair. The owner has a large mini excavator and is going to dig out the back of the retaining wall as there was no drainage incorporated there. There was a footing poured and the interlocking landscape blocks built up onto that. I would like to pour another good footing, and set a few two ton interlocking concrete blocks tied into the footings with rebar to ensure the wall will hold back any pressure. These will have drainage tile incorporated to relieve any ground water pressure however slight.

I would say again it depends on the type of soil to how well just adding sand will work. Could take less tons of imported material to start by putting bigger rock down and covering that with sand. But with big bucks anything is dowable. But a problem for we the common folk.  

I don't recall it being on a military base but it's been a long time ago. I was installing an ATCBI-6 secondary radar set and optimization of the same. Did this work all over the country so have forgotten a few particulars of each site.

Here is a link. I was an FAA employee for 34 years and specialized in radar maintenance, installs and tearouts, upgrades, and site planning. Really good career I enjoyed for the most part.

I've been scoping around on the internet during the early morning hours this past several days and have found much of what I need to know when pressing this old tractor back into service. Steering clutch rebuilding and/or parts, brake band relining, pins, bushings, seals, transmission parts etc. are not too terrible to source when, and if needed.  Broke down is not the best time to be looking for a part or vendor I figure. Very little available through conventional means on these tractors any longer, so alternatives need sought, and earmarked for possible future use.

I don't have any known problems with the tractor, but building a database all the same.

Hi Dave and thanks for jumping in. I really cannot answer for anything additional than stated. I do know the roller I'll borrow is a WABCO built in Peoria, IL and weighs right at nine tons empty but can be ballasted much heavier. I'm only interested in addressing the south slope of this area as everywhere else seems to be sound. All the "push" or removed dirt was shoved up onto this one slope and just spread out with no further attention other than a tiller behind a utility tractor to break it up for seeding. The retaining wall and dock/platform were installed the following year by the homeowner and family following internet research and home center guidance. I think we see the viability, and vulnerability of that.

I do want to drain the pond and allow it to dry a while later in the summer to "firm" it up. I don't know what it looks like under the water and ice there now so really don't know what I have to work with, or if it all needs torn out and started over? I've seen some photos but they are mostly of the completed retaining wall with some backfill performed. Nothing as far as what the footings were poured against. I asked if any "rip rap" and was told no, just sand for a level base so kind of a guessing game right now.