Requesting help selecting first tractor. 73 wooded acres and a mile of steep roads.

[Old Guy in Tenn]

We have 73 acres in NE Tennessee. I was just checking google maps, and it looks like it is about 3000 feet (I had guessed 2000) of road from the pavement to our property. Most of this road is cut into the side of a hill as it drops about 500 feet. It then climbs back up about 400 feet using about 2000 additional feet of road on our property. I will need to maintain that entire mile of road, plus additional roads throughout the property. Yup. Some of it is steep. Some of it is very steep. A little of it is, uh, challenging.

We had timber taken off the hill 3 years ago. We had the roads reclaimed for logging just so the equipment could get in and out. When they finished the logging they restored the road, adding water bars to spill the water before it can gulley out the roadway. In the last year a water bar failed, and one stretch of the road has eroded significantly. I will have it repaired in the spring.

I plan to build a garage/pole barn on the property this summer, and begin working there seriously next fall when I retire. In addition to construction and cleanup efforts, I know I will (forever) be spending a lot of my time working on the roads. I need to determine what type of tractor and what implements will be needed to help me with this work.

The soil is typical Tennessee clay and rock. Good when dry, greasy when wet. The road is currently too narrow, and will need to be widened. I think I will need to dig and clear ditches, spread gravel, widen the road, and periodically smooth and crown the road. On the land we will be digging footings, leveling build sites, cutting weeds and brush (bush hog?), removing and moving trees, and a thousand things I have not thought of yet.

Because of the clay soil and the steepness of the roads I am expecting to need a tractor with 4wd and perhaps 35 to 50 HP. I expect also to need a backhoe now and again, but can either rent it or hire out the work. I will be spending a lot of time here at TBN before making a purchase, and hope that your experience can steer me in the right direction as I decide on a tractor and implements.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Sounds like you need a dozer with a 6 way blade for several months (or perhaps permanently) to use when widening and maintaining the road. A tractor in the 50 HP range with box blade wider than the tractor might work very slowly but they aren't that great for cutting into a slope for road building.

 

[jeff9366]

Sounds like you need a dozer with a 6 way blade for several months (or perhaps permanently) to use when widening and maintaining the road.

SAFETY should be your first consideration.

Traditional tractors with large rear wheels and smaller front wheels are inherently unstable, especially on sloped ground. Heavy tractors and tractors with a wide stance are less unstable than small tractors.

As you shop, determine which model tractors have rear wheels which can be adjusted to vary track width. You can set the wheels WIDE as you learn, then return them to a narrower setting when you have some experience and want to work amongst the trees. Generally speaking, economy tractor models do NOT have adjustable track widths.

Kubota "Grand L" tractors, 37-hp to 62-hp, do have adjustable wheels. (L3560/L4060/L4760/L5060/L5460/L6060).

Farming is one of the most hazardous occupations in the USA. Tractor rollovers are an important contributor.

 

[Citydude]

Sounds like you need a dozer with a 6 way blade for several months (or perhaps permanently) to use when widening and maintaining the road. A tractor in the 50 HP range with box blade wider than the tractor might work very slowly but they aren't that great for cutting into a slope for road building.

I agree with Gary. Use a dozer to build your road then a tractor could maintain it.

 

[holeycow]

I wouldn't fart around with that with a toy. It sounds like you need to hire some iron, pretty much the bigger the better, to build you a proper road. Bite the bullet, do it once. Then maintain it with your own tractor. You have to control the water. Very important, obviously.

Big machinery will make short work of that road (measured in days). Find some contractors, get some prices, and get a pro to build you a road. It will be expensive, but well worth it.

That's what I would do, and have done even when I run 100hp more or less farm tractors. My stuff is way too small and light and not purpose-built to do dirt work in any kind of a proper fashion.

 

[Old Guy in Tenn]

Thank you for these responses. I think that Holeycow's suggestion to hire the initial road build is a good one. The road construction is a one time thing, and I should be looking at equipment for the forever stuff. I can hire the widening, as well as any future major repairs or upgrades. My road focus will be maintenance. Some of the 4wd tractors have significantly taller front tires. Will this help to keep them from sinking and so be safer when going down those steep hills?

With the road construction off the list, my original issues remain. Road maintenance on a long and steep road, bush hogging, tree removal, build site preparation and more. How big a tractor? Why? What implements and why? What hydraulics and why?

I will be reading whatever I can find to help myself out, while also hoping for more good help from your experience.

Thank you.

 

[varmint]

I can see this will be another thread to follow! I maintained about 750' of sloping (but no roll-over situations) gravel lane for years, and boy, water is the number one issue! As already stated, some professional guys, who know what they're doing in your type of soil, with heavy equipment should be your starting point. For general uses, a 4wd tractor, with a wide track, SSQA and some remote hydraulics might be your handiest tool. I'm partial to HST, but if you're going to be more bush hogging than loader or grapple work, shuttle shift might be the ticket. More expert posters will be chiming in, but maybe something in the 40-50 hp range will be minimum. Too big, and working in the woods or around the property isn't ideal.

There have been lots of threads about the various implements one can use to work gravel, so you will be doing a lot of reading!

I'm an old guy, too, and as you know, heavy labor ain't as easy as it once was, so the tractor choice becomes even more important.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think you will be surprised at the price for contracting that 1 mile of road. You can likely buy a used dozer for the price and then sell it afterward and recoup all or most of your purchase price so you out of pocket expense will only be fuel cost. It will also be fun to do, at least it would be for me. You would also be able to uproot small trees with it. You just need to look for a good used one with good undercarriage so you don't have to repair anything while owning.

 

[kevin37b]

Hire a good dozer . He or she will do more in a week than you will do in a month , and it will be right . That is not a job for a learner . There is a reason for the blade on the front . You will destroy a tractor doing this work .

 

[holeycow]

You need more than just a dozer to build a proper road.