What kind of floor for crawlers? and overhead lifts?

Scottyb · Post by **Scottyb** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:51 pm

I have a good supply of 24 inch+ spruce logs. I was wondering if they would make a good floor for my workshop. I could cut them into any dimension. I was told that treating wood with oil and Alum seals it up and makes it fire resistant. Anyone heard of this? I also have many 15 inch aspen logs. Some black popular as well. It is all going to be firewood soon if I cant come up with a use for boards.
I dismantled a shed 48 x 32 x 12 high shed in 2010 and will be putting it back up in my yard next spring. 2/3 dry storage but hopefully one good size bay will be heated. I will need a strong floor if I will be working on my crawlers.

Scottb

doc40c · Post by **doc40c** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:24 pm

Hi Scottyb, just my 2 cents, but I'd go with about 5" of reinforced concrete for the shop floor and maybe just gravel for the storage area if you can't afford doing concrete throughout. I just don't think you'd be happy with a wood shop floor! You might consider using the wood for some tongue and groove wall and ceiling covering. Good luck on your project! Randy from Michigan.

digitup2 · Post by **digitup2** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:14 pm

Our shop floor for the big stuff is clay pack and we can't use concrete even at 8 or 10 inches deep we make concrete blocks out of it with the 6 inch deep grousers and 45 to 48 ton machines so we use packed clay for two bays and hard wood plank for the door ways We used inset plank floor on two bays but had problems with replacement plank we just filled these ruts with clay also [keep it simple & keep it cheep]as well this is why we have skid steer's around to maintain the clay floor .With the smaller machines you can use 6 inch floors and soft wood plank lose on top We have heated floors around work benches and on concrete floor area also radiant heat in the open clay floor area this works best for us If it is just a storage shed then gravel base is best with good drainage under foot .A wet gravel floor is one of the worst things you can park a machine on for any amount of time as with moisture and no air movement things rust easy and fuel tanks will take on large amounts of condensation over a short time with a machine just sitting so We keep the lose gravel floor area dry as possible with a tile under it .Digitup.

Post by **Lavoy** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:55 am

For the smaller crawlers like we are talking about here, I would have to definitely say concrete. My shop is 5", 6 bag mix, and after 14 years of crawlers on it, still in good shape. The most damage to the floor has been done by falling slag from torch work, not the crawlers.
Wood burns, I would not even consider it under any circumstances.
Lavoy

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:16 am

at our JD shop they have concrete BUT in the track shop they have concrete with railroad rail (track not ties) in the concrete with the narrow side up just like for a train sticking up about 1/2 in or so at track width

caribcanuck · Post by **caribcanuck** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 1:36 pm

The shop i work in we have a concrete floor and regularly bring in a komatsu d65 dozer and a couple komatsu pc 220 excavators for maintance and the floor holds up well.

Tigerhaze · Post by **Tigerhaze** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:37 pm

jtrichard wrote:at our JD shop they have concrete BUT in the track shop they have concrete with railroad rail (track not ties) in the concrete with the narrow side up just like for a train sticking up about 1/2 in or so at track widht

How does that work out for you? It seems like it may make the crawler easier to slide along the floor but cause other difficulties.

drummer · Post by **drummer** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:19 pm

When I store or work on my 440ICD and my Cat D3C I use four 2x10
by 12 foot oak planks. I just lay them on the concrete than back the
crawler laying down the extra set as I go. You can even turn some without running off the boards. No damage to the floor and the tracks are on wood.
If you work on a lot of dozers than the clay base is probably the way to go.
Also after building four shops I found that putting 12 inches of insulation
in the ceiling and insulating under the concrete floor really saves on the heating bill. I elected to not go with in floor heat because of $25,000 cost in my case and just use a Modeen heater which works fine. Drummer

Scottyb · Post by **Scottyb** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:35 am

A lot of good advice for me here so far. I will assume that I will not have anything much heavier in the heated portion of the shop than my 450b, so a thick concrete slab is possible. I like the in floor heat in front of the work benches as well. I have a boiler in my cabin that might get replaced soon and it could move to the shop for the floor heat.

I am also considering the clay. How do you prepare the clay floor, is it oiled or treated in some way? I have a walk behind packer for landscaping that could work for this. In your clay floor shops will things like portable engine lifts move around without digging in?

I am also interested in a built in overhead lift if I can do it at a reasonable cost. I have a friend who runs a scrap yard and I might see what he has in the yard.
At 16' wide bay with 12' ceilings I would need some heavy beams to carry the loads required to lift crawler parts. Still I like the idea, so I could go with clay and use the floor budget for an overhead lift. Anyone built one?
Scott

Post by **Lavoy** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:41 pm

If all you are doing is parking on it, a loose floor is fine, but if you are working on it, you will hate it. I went one winter without concrete, never again.
Lavoy

mulligan · Post by **mulligan** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:58 pm

Scottyb wrote:A lot of good advice for me here so far. I will assume that I will not have anything much heavier in the heated portion of the shop than my 450b, so a thick concrete slab is possible. I like the in floor heat in front of the work benches as well. I have a boiler in my cabin that might get replaced soon and it could move to the shop for the floor heat.

I am also considering the clay. How do you prepare the clay floor, is it oiled or treated in some way? I have a walk behind packer for landscaping that could work for this. In your clay floor shops will things like portable engine lifts move around without digging in?

I am also interested in a built in overhead lift if I can do it at a reasonable cost. I have a friend who runs a scrap yard and I might see what he has in the yard.
At 16' wide bay with 12' ceilings I would need some heavy beams to carry the loads required to lift crawler parts. Still I like the idea, so I could go with clay and use the floor budget for an overhead lift. Anyone built one?
Scott

My first "shop" was a 12'x22' garage with a packed clay floor. I hated it. Jacks wouldnt roll easily, jack stands would sink, creeper wouldnt roll well.I improvised and laid down 3/4" pressure treated plywood and strapped the joints with 4" strips of 1/8" steel screwed every 4" inches. Worked well for a couple of years. The garage is only used now to store my little pulling tractor and the plywood has held up well.

How heavy are you looking to lift with the overhead beams?

I have a W14x26 I beam spanning my 30' wide shop supporting my mezzanine. I tied in a few vertical supports connecting in the rafters to the beam. I have two 1/4 ton electric 110v winches and they come in handy for lifting engines, trans, mowers, etc.

I have been collecting beams for a couple of years for my 40' bridge crane. I now have the material to do it and an engineering friend has given me the weight limits of my beams. The wider the flange the stronger the beam.

I'm holding out for a wide flange main beam to span the 30' but I may end up using two w14x26's welding together and capped with c-channel.

Check out this website for info.

http://www.efunda.com/math/areas/IbeamIndex.cfm

57jd420 · Post by **57jd420** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:14 pm

cement floor is the way to go. used to work at a rock quarry we always just put down a 2x8x12 when we backed the crawler in so we wouldnt chip anything up. biggest dozer we had was a D11 and floor held up well. a smaller crawler should be okay with out the boards.

57jd420 · Post by **57jd420** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:14 pm

cement floor is the way to go. used to work at a rock quarry we always just put down a 2x8x12 when we backed the crawler in so we wouldnt chip anything up. biggest dozer we had was a D11 and floor held up well. a smaller crawler should be okay with out the boards.

Jack-the-Ripper · Post by **Jack-the-Ripper** » Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:51 pm

I built a shop in a 33x38 barn with 12'6" to truss bottoms and door top in Idaho. I poured 6" concrete for half of it and 12" of 3/4 minus gravel on the other for the dozers. With a 16' roll up door I could drive onto either side. I deepened and heavily reinforced the edge of the concrete. It was easy to "repair" the gravel from track gouges with a rake. I kept large pieces of cardboard for sliding on my back on the gravel under the tractor. The thing I liked best was how the oil or fuel that inevitably leaked during major rebuilds just dissipated into the gravel. Afterward I could shovel it up and refill with new gravel. I could roll the tool boxes up to the tractor on the adjacent concrete which was otherwise easy to sweep or hose down. I kept a collection of large blocks and planks for "bottle" jacking. The floor jack rolled poorly but worked when necessary. I couldn't afford to heat and insulate so I didn't do major work in the winter. It sure was nice to be able to work in the rain, however. In all, I was delighted with the design.

gus · Post by **gus** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:22 pm

Concrete holds up well but..

Put steel at the doors or edges. Best I've found is 3X3 angle, at least 3/8" thick with rebar welded on the back to hold in extra thickened edges. Make the edges at least 6-8" thick by a foot with several rebars. That first cleat biting in and putting all the weight on the edge does the damage.

Another thing I do is have the gravel outside slightly higher than the floor. That keeps the weight off that first bite and you have to remember that the out side level is not the true bottom of a dug in cleat.

It should go without saying, but try to avoid turning while on the floor.

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What kind of floor for crawlers? and overhead lifts?

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