Tractor Sizing Have a half mile of gravel road to repair and maintain

[newby in tenn]

No tractor needed girder drag will work to some extent

One Man Road Crew - YouTube

Will this fix 1 foot deep ruts?

 

[TheMadOne]

What a wealth of information. Thanks. The driveway is in a mobile home park and sees a fair amount of traffic. Some of it is two lane and part is one lane - about half and half. I am retired but I can't spend all my time there plus I have developed back pain that slows me down. Current income barely covers the mortgage and expenses. I would be getting the tractor money from a 401k account. Being the newby that I am I had hoped I could get something for 6k max. Road maintenance is all that I have to have the tractor for.

With that budget you're faced with an almost binary choice. Oldish(80s-90s) small tractor or older(30s-70s) larger one. A quick troll through the Knoxville craigslist shows several options.

You have to prioritize at this point. Loader or 4X4? I don't see you getting both. I'd go loader. How old/obscure are you willing to go? I'd try to stay with brand names, Ford, Case, Allis, JD, Kubota, Massey and so on.

One thing to keep in mind while playing in this price range is the existence of "industrial" tractors. They almost always have a loader, probably have a 3 Point, but they usually DON'T have a PTO. If you're sure you don't want a mower, or post hole digger, or tiller, or any other PTO powered implement in the future, there are bargains out there in this sector.(Not a route I'd go, but the option is there, and I'm not you)

Speaking of options, gray market Yanmars.(GMYs) and refurbished Mitsubishis(sometimes GMYs in disguise). I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole, due to parts scarcity, but some on here swear by them. I honestly don't know if they would fit your budget or not, as I've never really gone looking for them, but could be a way to get a functional tractor on the cheap.

 

[newby in tenn]

I did. He didn't say anything about foot deep ruts. I can 'maintain' my private road / drive at the farm with my zero turn lawnmower pulling a tine harrow... and I do and it gets heavy trucks using it for grain and fertilizer deliveries all the time.... but rutted, NO. If I'm gonna box blade anything, I want a stout tractor with some power and real draft control, not position control like little tractors have. You people out east have some strange notions about doing things.... Myself, I want to get it done and go do something enjoyable and thats not sitting in a tractor seat. tractors for me are work, not toys. My toys go bang.

When I was younger and heated with wood, I skidded 'stems' with a Farmall A. Whether it was safe or right, who knows. I'm way past heating with wood and I'm not going back..

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My thinking is that with a smaller tractor may take some time do the initial repair but may be adequate for ongoing maintenance. But bigger is better. Thanks for the help

 

[teg]

Will this fix 1 foot deep ruts?

I would say it could help but you'll have to run it many times and the ruts will come back. Basically, you'll need to reshape the road so it has a crown and that drag will only flatten out the road bed.

Yea that drag fills in the potholes but they will be back in short order. You need to rip up the base material then pack it down where the water will run off the road. Whole other thread that's been talked about over time...

 

[bigdeano]

Are those ruts the whole length of the road? It would take a lot of dirt to fill them. If you just grade gravel into them all your gravel will be gone. If you have someplace to get dirt you could use a loader to fill them, then grade gravel over them with a rear blade. It's probably going to take a while unless you have some fill hauled in.

 

[newby in tenn]

With that budget you're faced with an almost binary choice. Oldish(80s-90s) small tractor or older(30s-70s) larger one. A quick troll through the Knoxville craigslist shows several options.

You have to prioritize at this point. Loader or 4X4? I don't see you getting both. I'd go loader. How old/obscure are you willing to go? I'd try to stay with brand names, Ford, Case, Allis, JD, Kubota, Massey and so on.

One thing to keep in mind while playing in this price range is the existence of "industrial" tractors. They almost always have a loader, probably have a 3 Point, but they usually DON'T have a PTO. If you're sure you don't want a mower, or post hole digger, or tiller, or any other PTO powered implement in the future, there are bargains out there in this sector.(Not a route I'd go, but the option is there, and I'm not you)

Speaking of options, gray market Yanmars.(GMYs) and refurbished Mitsubishis(sometimes GMYs in disguise). I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole, due to parts scarcity, but some on here swear by them. I honestly don't know if they would fit your budget or not, as I've never really gone looking for them, but could be a way to get a functional tractor on the cheap.

Thanks for your help. I have been watching Craigslist but there haven't been any standouts. Think the loader would be useful, but traction to do the road work is essential. But 4wd sounds like higher maintenance. Is 4wd widely available on older tractors or industrial tractors? Are the industrial / non-pto tractors significantly cheaper. I fully agree that I don't want a gray market machine or anything to increase maintenance.

 

[newby in tenn]

Are those ruts the whole length of the road? It would take a lot of dirt to fill them. If you just grade gravel into them all your gravel will be gone. If you have someplace to get dirt you could use a loader to fill them, then grade gravel over them with a rear blade. It's probably going to take a while unless you have some fill hauled in.

Right now the ruts are halfway across the road in high rain flow runoff areas in a couple of areas. There is some undeveloped area I could get dirt from. In the one road area there are 6 inch gullies along the road and the road bed is below the adjacent ground level. Thanks for the help

 

[newby in tenn]

I would say it could help but you'll have to run it many times and the ruts will come back. Basically, you'll need to reshape the road so it has a crown and that drag will only flatten out the road bed.

Yea that drag fills in the potholes but they will be back in short order. You need to rip up the base material then pack it down where the water will run off the road. Whole other thread that's been talked about over time...

I had read that potholes and ruts need to be dug out to the bottom, but one of the posts talked about filling with dirt and with a gravel layer on top. Does this give good results? Thanks for your help.

 

[newby in tenn]

The cost of the tractor is only the tip of the iceberg... Implements (even use) add up, maintenance and fuel... then comes tractor extras that are worth the money, Top and Tilt hydraulics for the 3ph, a grapple, and even more hydraulics... It's a slippery (but well worth it) slide.

Seems the more money you put in to a tractor, the more work you can get out of the tractor. I couldn't go back to a bare bones tractor. I would get the smallest, cheapest tractor and roll any savings into TnT for the 3ph a grapple and implements.

If you look at used and you should to get a feeling for cost, you'll see tractors hold their value pretty well. They are pretty expensive for the amount of use some of these will get. I only put on 60 hours a year, but it will last me for the rest of my life.

Don't rush it, you might find a great used tractor... you'll learn more as you tractor shop.

Good advice. Thanks.

 

[newby in tenn]

I would say it could help but you'll have to run it many times and the ruts will come back. Basically, you'll need to reshape the road so it has a crown and that drag will only flatten out the road bed.

Yea that drag fills in the potholes but they will be back in short order. You need to rip up the base material then pack it down where the water will run off the road. Whole other thread that's been talked about over time...

Thanks. Looked at the video. Looks like it would help with maintenance but I need to recondition may road first.