Road Building with a Compact Utility Tractor

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I often see a lot of questions on this forum about building small roads, trails, etc with a CUT so I thought I'd share my methods and pics. This first road is a connector from our main trail to another trail that goes around the top of the mountain. The original trail was steep and off-camber and wasn't suitable for anything but ATV's and tractors.

This is the site where the new road will go up and curve around to the right. The original trail is out of the picture, but off in the distance straight ahead:

Starting to dig into the bank. I always start at a level spot and work my way forward, generally working up hill if possible. Cut a bit out of the uphill side, drop it in the lower side, compact as you go:

Road starting to come along:

More to come directly...

 

[k0ua]

I like it:thumbsup:
James K0UA

 

[Verticaltrx]

Continuing the cut. I push/dig the trees out of the way as I come to them and continue working forward until I can push them off the side:

Moving fill dirt to outer edge:

Found some shale, it's tough to dig out but great for road building. Shale packed in with some clay makes for a good solid base:

 

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Came up to this pine right in the middle of my road, about 8" in diameter. A little digging and prying under the root ball and it gave up:

 

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Pushing some remaining trees out the top. When you have too many trees you do end up with a bit of a tangle, but with some pushing and a little chainsaw work all the trees are out of the way:

View looking down from the existing trail at the top:

New road, top section:

From the bottom:

Overall it took me about 2hrs to complete, however I do have a little finish work to do. I'll probably wait for it to settle for a while before doing any more on it. I've got numerous other trails and roads to build so I'll try to update this thread as I get more done. :thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Great thread and pictures!

Some of the most fun I've had with my little BX23 has been trail building and eventually making them wide enough for my Suzuki Samurai to travel.

The tooth-bar and backhoe help a lot on the steep and rocky sections... most of my work is downhill.

The nice thing about a loader is being able to place material where it is needed.

All of the local quarries are no longer in business... too bad for me I didn't start ten years ago when the closest one was still in operation... inexpensive, native stone nearby... now it is a struggling new home development for 250 houses planned.

It's amazing what these little tractors can do.

 

[Mpking]

Nice!

What kind of trees are you working around besides the pine? Did you have much trouble getting through the roots?

 

[dex3361]

Great looking work and it looks like the hills are pretty steep too. I usually try to build new trails this time of year because the ground is soft.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Thanks for the replies and compliments. I really enjoy seeing what I can do with a small machine, I've spent many hours running all sorts of heavy equipment(for my business) , but for my personal use I generally pick away at it with what I have on hand lol. To put it in perspective though, years ago roads were built with nothing more than horse drawn slip scoops and graders, so in comparison even a small tractor can do a lot.

Great looking work and it looks like the hills are pretty steep too. I usually try to build new trails this time of year because the ground is soft.

Yup, we've finally had the ground thaw out so the top soil is pretty moist, makes digging out those trees much easier. I started another section of road this evening that is much steeper, in fact the last section is so steep you can't drive across it with a tractor, I'll try to get some pics up in the next few days.

Nice!

What kind of trees are you working around besides the pine? Did you have much trouble getting through the roots?

Most of the saplings are maple, poplar, oak, locust etc. As for the roots, when you are cutting through the side of them like that they come out pretty easy, none of the roots sticking out of the bank slowed me down at all. Now when you have an entire tree you are trying to get out that is a bit different. Depending on the species getting it knocked over is only half the battle. Often it takes a lot more digging and prying to get the root ball free from the ground even after the tree is already pushed over.

Anyone else who is doing similar work feel free to post up pics and info, I enjoy reading about it as much as the next guy.

 

[Mounted Madness]

Great thread. Wish I had the acerage to play like that. Enjoy. :thumbsup:

 

[TripleR]

Very nice work.:thumbsup:

 

[Kyle241]

Very nice. Looks like a good solid trail. I wish our soil was like yours. Up here we have tons of stone and boulders and trying to make a trail without my BH or hiring a dozer just doesn't happen. Been thinking of getting some teeth for the FEL but I still think it would be hard go with that making trails. I'm jealous of your trail and your weather! Wish our snow was gone.

 

[sixdogs]

Skillful work and a real nice job.
That's what these tractors are for.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Very nice. Looks like a good solid trail. I wish our soil was like yours. Up here we have tons of stone and boulders and trying to make a trail without my BH or hiring a dozer just doesn't happen. Been thinking of getting some teeth for the FEL but I still think it would be hard go with that making trails. I'm jealous of your trail and your weather! Wish our snow was gone.

Unfortunately not all of our soil is this good. The higher up that mountain you go the worse it gets, eventually with a lot of rock outcroppings and loose granite. Most of the trails were built with a dozer in the '60s when they logged this place. There are several places they hit solid rock and the trail has to just go up and over it.

I wish I had taken some pictures when I was building the last road I did. The terrain wasn't as steep but it goes along a hillside through dense brush for about a 1/4 mile. I'll try to get some pics of that as well.

 

[pat32rf]

My biggest problem is getting the fill needed to dump on the "downhill" side of my sidehill trails...I just finished (?) about 100yds of sidehill trail (with a 30' of elevation change) which is to replace 150yds of trail that went down (60'elevation) the valley then back uphill the other 30'. Still got some fill to go in but that will wait till next year (when I build my dump trailer).
The first year I had my JD two of us built a perimeter trail around a 400acre estate for a customer. Billed him almost 1000hrs of tractor time, which pretty well paid for the new tractor......and was the most fun I've had in years. (my buddy was the rake, shovel and chainsaw man). The trail stayed as close to the property line as we could and in one place involved a 100yd section of corderoy accross a swamp, with a whole buncha steep hills that had to be snaked up or down. When finished the owner could drive his 4x4 Suburban anywhere but mostly used his ATV's, Argo or skidoos....

 

[Verticaltrx]

Sounds like some neat projects, got any pics? What kind of JD were you using for that project?

 

[wetstuff]

I've been a bit afraid to use the FEL on my JD 1070 to "dig" with. I'll chainsaw the gums, cherry, oaks (all <8") to about 3" above grade then use the bucket as a carry-all to get the cuttings out of the woods. The stumps stay. It is only about a 400' path I need for the tractor to reach one edge of my property, so no auto traffic, etc..

We could only wish for a hill - maybe some of the bugs would stay down at the bottom. Thanks for posting the pics.

Jim

 

[irvingj]

Ditto- great thread! I've got some sidehill "roads" to make....

A year ago last summer I got up to NB, stopped by to see Richard Breau (of Bro-Tek fame); he had made a great road with his Kubota SCUT, right down to the Miramachi River... got me to thinking.

He explained to me how to do it, and the pics & comments on this thread are giving me the urge to try it. Sure would like to be able to get down into my woods to pick up some of those dead trees for more firewood!

(Maybe Richard could add to this thread and post some pics of his road?? :thumbsup

 

[Verticaltrx]

I've been a bit afraid to use the FEL on my JD 1070 to "dig" with.

Jim

This type of work isn't really what these loaders are intended for, but if you work slowly and methodically you can get a lot done. It's not really different than running a skid steer, track loader, etc, you just have to take much smaller bites and use more finesse, less force. The tooth bar is also a must for this type of work.

Ditto- great thread! I've got some sidehill "roads" to make....

A year ago last summer I got up to NB, stopped by to see Richard Breau (of Bro-Tek fame); he had made a great road with his Kubota SCUT, right down to the Miramachi River... got me to thinking.

He explained to me how to do it, and the pics & comments on this thread are giving me the urge to try it. Sure would like to be able to get down into my woods to pick up some of those dead trees for more firewood!

(Maybe Richard could add to this thread and post some pics of his road?? :thumbsup

Like I said before, anyone that has pics of their road or trail building feel free to post up.



I worked on another section of old logging road today, it was a spur road that dead ended on a moderately steep hillside. I'm working on finishing the trail up to the top of the ridge (about 100'.) Unfortunately it's also right next to the property line, so I'm having to make it go steeper up the hill than it should. Not a whole lot of cut and fill like the last trail, just a little at the top and bottom with lots of small trees and rock to doze out of the way. I took my camera up there to take some pics, but realized I forgot the memory card back at the house. :ashamed: