brianidaho
Silver Member
Hi All,
I have a 20 acre parcel that has a steep hill going down from the largest portion of my property down to a small lake. Going straight down, the slope is 45* plus, no way a tractor is going on it. There is an old skid trail cut down and across the slope, it's somewhat steep (maybe 15% grade), but passable, I run an ATV on it regularily. I want to run the tractor down this trail to do some cleanup down by the lake, but the trail is a bit narrow, with some "slough off" from the cutbank down onto the trail.
OK, so how would you approach doing road improvement on a slope like this? I need to cut into the uphill side slightly to cut the "off camber" grade of the road, and "soften" some water breaks going across the road. I have L3240 with FEL, box blade and rear blade. I'm thinking I need to start from near the bottom of the grade, using the box blade, pulling (driving) down grade, with the FEL as close to the ground as possible to keep weight down. Once a short streach is done, back up a bit further, cutting more while going forward (down). Sound OK?
Only problem is the tractor is at the top to start, gotta get it down in the first place. Not sure how to approach this, maybe a touch of cutting with the FEL in the worst spots, then backdragging to rough level.
Any thoughts? I need insurance before I think too much about this!
Bri
I have a 20 acre parcel that has a steep hill going down from the largest portion of my property down to a small lake. Going straight down, the slope is 45* plus, no way a tractor is going on it. There is an old skid trail cut down and across the slope, it's somewhat steep (maybe 15% grade), but passable, I run an ATV on it regularily. I want to run the tractor down this trail to do some cleanup down by the lake, but the trail is a bit narrow, with some "slough off" from the cutbank down onto the trail.
OK, so how would you approach doing road improvement on a slope like this? I need to cut into the uphill side slightly to cut the "off camber" grade of the road, and "soften" some water breaks going across the road. I have L3240 with FEL, box blade and rear blade. I'm thinking I need to start from near the bottom of the grade, using the box blade, pulling (driving) down grade, with the FEL as close to the ground as possible to keep weight down. Once a short streach is done, back up a bit further, cutting more while going forward (down). Sound OK?
Only problem is the tractor is at the top to start, gotta get it down in the first place. Not sure how to approach this, maybe a touch of cutting with the FEL in the worst spots, then backdragging to rough level.
Any thoughts? I need insurance before I think too much about this!
Bri