Working in Sandy Soil: How to Do It Right
Whether you’re excavating, hauling materials, or navigating through a site, operating in sandy soil can create issues with traction, trench stability, and various other aspects of earthmoving and construction projects. To help you avoid problems and reduce expensive downtime, we’ve compiled some crucial tips and recommended practices for efficiently digging and working in sandy environments.
Select appropriate CTL and excavator tracks
When digging in or moving across sandy terrain, maintaining sufficient traction can be challenging, particularly on slopes. We recommend opting for broad, high flotation CTL or excavator tracks. These wider tracks distribute weight more evenly, lowering ground pressure and minimizing the risk of sinking into soft, sandy ground.
Pick suitable skid steer tires
For non-tracked equipment like skid steers, both solid and air filled tires can provide adequate traction in sandy soil. Look for skid steer tires with deep tread patterns, as these will deliver the necessary grip to navigate effectively on loose surfaces such as sand, gravel, and similar terrains.
Dig with precision and care
When excavating sandy soil, it’s crucial for operators to prioritize accuracy, caution, and gentleness. Looser soils are prone to disturbance, with cave ins being more likely than in denser soil types. By adopting a slower pace and steadily removing material in smaller increments, you’ll improve stability, lower the risk of dangerous collapses, and increase overall project productivity.
Utilize the appropriate bucket
Selecting the correct type of excavator bucket or skid steer bucket is critical for successfully completing any digging or loading job. For loose, sandy soils, a general purpose excavator bucket or skid steer bucket featuring wide teeth and curved edges is usually the best option. This bucket design will minimize soil disturbance while still allowing efficient digging and movement of large material volumes.
Keep your tracks clean
Sandy soil can lead to friction and abrasion between components, causing increased wear on CTL and excavator tracks and undercarriages. You should check your machine’s undercarriage throughout the day and use a shovel or pressure washer to clean out built up sand and dirt.
Go heavy on lubrication
Because of its abrasive nature, sand can be especially harsh on your undercarriage, bucket, bushings, and pins. We advise ensuring all these components are well lubricated by applying grease multiple times throughout the day or approximately every five hours. That way, you’ll help keep sand away from sensitive parts, and any accumulated sand will be forced out when fresh grease is added.
Use proper trench protection methods
Installing trench protection is very important when working in sandy soil. Sloping and benching techniques, which involve angling the trench wall and creating steps for access, are generally less effective in sandy conditions due to the loose nature of the particles. Instead, we suggest using shoring and trench shields, which utilize metal supports to reinforce trench walls and prevent cave-ins during excavation work.
Perform soil testing
Soil tests are critical for jobsite and structural safety, especially when dealing with sandy soil. These assessments help on-site experts determine the appropriate benching, shoring, and sloping methods needed to avoid cave ins during excavation. Understanding the physical and chemical composition of your soil allows you to evaluate its weight bearing capacity for excavation and construction work, as well as determine the required level of compaction.
If you have any questions about operating on sandy soil, digging in sand, or selecting the right excavator bucket or skid steer bucket, please reach out to our team today!
