Excavator ground pressure

[Chaslynch]

I have to work in a very soft area, to dig fairly big duck pond.
I'm looking at what Machine to hire, and I'm thinking about what would be better between a 8 ish ton Machine and a 13-14 .
Does anybody know the difference in ground pressure roughly between standard machines of this size. Im guessing the bigger one will be better on the soft stuff, but I can't find much online.

[Muz]

I have to work in a very soft area, to dig fairly big duck pond.
I'm looking at what Machine to hire, and I'm thinking about what would be better between a 8 ish ton Machine and a 13-14 .
Does anybody know the difference in ground pressure roughly between standard machines of this size. Im guessing the bigger one will be better on the soft stuff, but I can't find much online.

Theres no hard and fast rule and the variance between them is not huge regardless of size unless you specifically opt for an LGP machine. The reason is that some will have longer undercarriages than others that have wider tracks for example. Its a question I often get asked. What will make a difference is steel or rubber tracks in general use in wet ground, if you get a machine on rubbers where the tread is minimal it will be useless in wet greasy ground, due to lack of tread depth and overly easy track flexing, whereas a steel tracked machine will have a better bite and much less flex in poor ground, and would be much easier to debog, if you got in bother 13 tonners are less likely to have a dozer blade attached or boom offset, if those were significant requirements (which I doubt you will need in that application)

[v8druid]

sod the risk ..... get some bog mats and go for the 13's reach and power ..... they'll both be a bitch to extract if you sink 'em ... bog mats will be money well spent .... could even consider buying them and then selling them on ... might be cheaper than hiring and can be picked up pretty reasonable

[v8druid]

just been looking for a link for you for some very inexpensive mats

https://www.tcitrader.co.uk/listings...x1mx100mm-2015