Newbie question... Tractor on asphalt driveway

[mtwashingtonhunter]

Tractor, loader and cutter about 11,500+...Mahindra mPower 75 with loaded rear tires is over 8,100 lbs...loader is about 2,500...cutter about 1,500.

 

[gwstang]

That is some serious hardware. Congratulations! :thumbsup:

Those front wheels look bigger than the rear wheels on my little L2501!:laughing:

 

[mtwashingtonhunter]

Thank you!

 

[Gcorron]

I'm with the guys above, should be fine with the cautions quoted.

My 3/4 ton Cummins front end is a good bit heavier than a gas truck. One real warm day, I didn't feel like changing vehicles around so jacked it up on the asphalt instead of pulling it into the concrete carport.
DOH!
I can see the 4 wheels of the jack still. It's a lot of fun when wheeling around that area with a creeper!

Lesson learned: consider jacking it up OFF the asphalt, especially on a warm day!

"I'm nothing if others can't learn from my horrible example!"

George

 

[jenkinsph]

About two weeks ago I was driving my F550 service truck on a customers driveway and the front tire went through the asphalt. Made an indentation about four inches deep. The driveway had been reworked about April of last year and looked good but was too thin. The property owner is not mad with me but is upset with the paving contractor.

Long story short, what the asphalt can handle depends on the specific job done. A good job with two layers of road grade asphalt can handle high loads. A poor job and just about anything can tear it up.

 

[RaydaKub]

In 1988, the local IBM plant employed around 7500 people. One nice HOT day we had a major product announcement party. They filled up big section of the parking lot with folding chairs for everybody and had several actors from M*A*S*H come in for entertainment. The chairs were pretty cheap with very slim legs. After the event, every chair that had been used left four 1/2 inch divots. PSI is everything.

 

[jim44]

I've had 6 or 7 12 yard loads of driveway material and fill dirt hauled up my asphalt driveway with no ill effects at all, even where they backed off the edge to dump. Don't have a clue how much that may be in tons, but it seems to me that one of the haulers mentioned 36,000 pounds. Of course, I am afflicted with CRS. Just depends on how the driveway is done I suppose. This one was done very professionally, with a bunch of base and then a bunch of asphalt, and all done with the appropriate crown and drainage. Thank goodness the previous owner got to pay for it instead of me as it's about 1/2 mile long. Must have been quite a chunk of change.
Don't think you'll have to worry about the tractor as they're really not too much as PSI goes.

 

[bdog]

If your driveway can't handle a 12,000lb tractor you need a better driveway. My driveway is 3.5" thick concrete (2x4 forms) and we drive a 50k dump truck down it daily. I know concrete is different than asphalt but my driveway is thin and takes it. If an asphalt driveway can't handle 12k if wasn't done properly.

 

[AxleHub]

Should I be as worried as I am about driving a 12,000 pound tractor down an asphalt driveway?
Last thing I wanna do is damage the driveway... But I'm wanting to store it in my attached garage until my pole barn gets finished.

Everyone is saying its OK. But some variables can alter the wisdom.

1. Thickness is less important than how much blacktop was used and how much weight was pressed with the roller?

2. If the blacktop is new . . Often the roller doesn't pressurize the edges or the area right before the garage. If the asohalt is new . . those are its weak spots.

3. Tires. A turf tire is much easier on the blacktop than an ag tire. The ag tire psi exertion on the blacktop is much higher than a truck or car tire of the same vehicle weight.

 

[MHarryE]

There are many variables in asphalt. Aggregate size is important - stone matrix asphalt will carry more than a fine, bicycle path mix. Ambient temperature is important. I was working with a dealer crew to install a super duty cooling package on a vibratory compactor at the Palm Springs airport many years ago. Job was resurfacing one of the runways. One day they closed the remaining active runway due to temperature - at 122F the airplane tires were sinking into what was a strong airport asphalt mix. Most small pavers are at the mercy of what the asphalt plant is supplying. I visited one state roadway department test facility where they tested capabilities of nearly 100 different mixes. After the standard test some had tire grooves over an inch deep while others had almost no visible rutting.