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Dirt Compaction
Besides compaction what have you done to ensure the wedge-shape fill (as seen from the side) will not slide down the hill? I dug in subdivisions where many years ago they backfilled 5 feet deep over a hay field. I uncovered it and found the hay had not decomposed and the matted hay prevented the top backfill from integrating or locking into it. This also happened on 2 large ponds I dug that started with 4 feet of fill over a weedy field. Both layers were clay. The pond would fill up after a rain, but would drain quickly. The fill about 100 feet from the pond where it was fairly thin atop the original grassy elevation stayed wet. The layer of weeds allowed the pond water to migrate under the fill effectively draining it. That said, IMHO assuming the existing sloping yard is stable, you should have dug out a flat surface or plane into the slope. Then, fill it consistently in 3-4 inch lifts (layers) and compact it with a plate compactor (depending on many factors such as soil type, density, moisture content, etc. a vibratory roller-type compactor may be best). If the fill is a different type than the slope's (dry or not), the tendency will be for the fill wedge to ramp down. Combine that with vegetation on the old slope which will allow water to migrate (where the fill is thinnest and has less resistance to water pressure) inbetween the top and bottom layers and create a lubricant, much like a glacier behaves as the meltwater seeps between the ice and the mountain soil beneath. If it is too late for this, I would suggest creating what I call soil pins which consists of augering down through both the top and bottom filllayers and filling them with homogeneous material that has excellent shear strength clay crushed stone, or even broken concrete. Poured concrete is even better. An even more extreme example of a soil pin is a "helical pier" (google it) which are big screws/augers spun into the ground. They help lift and pin a sliding foundation to a slope. They are designed to withstand incredible side shear and compression and tension (53,000 lb. per 10 inch pier is not uncommon--approx. 10 per foundation)
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Dirt Compaction
Using tire down-pressure alone is not the answer. The tire is static in that it has NO "pounding" or "shaking" ability to force the soil particles together and force out air and liquid water. Picture this: if you drove a heavy tractor (tire) over a nail sticking up in a piece of wood--providing it didn't puncture the tire--, you would hardly see that nail be driven into the wood. Now take a 1-lb. hammer and tap the nail and you can drive it in easily. Compaction works the same way--it's not the weight but the weight and frequency of the blows. Most drum and all plate compactors use vibration "blows" like a hammer to compact. Plate compactors use some of the force it develops to drive it forward (some backward).
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03-25-2006, 22:01 
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