spreading small rock

[MossRoad]

First, I’d use the FEL bucket to distribute the rocks about the area into small piles evenly spaced in the area. Then I’d fill the bucket with rocks, curl it all the way back, put it in float, and use the back of the bucket as a big, heavy straight-edged surface and back-drag the small piles to spread it out.

I used to do this annually on little league ball diamonds with my little PT425. Yards and yards and yards of granulated limestone. I’ve also done several pads of crushed limestone. And with my old IH2500b, I did about 100 cubic yards of slag in my driveway with the FEL bucket.

Back-dragging with the back of the bucket is a great technique to learn.

 

[wawajake]

Similar to Moss above post ..........when my daughter was building her rural home and had a long driveway to make , my BX2660 with a toothbar on the FEL spread 3 tandem dump truck loads of 2 inch gravel the first summer and then the second summer we topped that with loads smaller 3/4 inch gravel ...........I just brought the bucket fulls to where we needed it and then back bladed using the angle of the toothbar to get the 3 inch thick we wanted. Maybe a day of time each summer .

 

[s219]

Pine, the rear tires are filled. No problem with overflowing buckets and balance. Until one hits the <censored> humonguous dirt clods and holes left by the bulldozer around the area.

Filled rear tires is barely enough to counterbalance the weight of the loader, and it doesn't help take any load off the front axle. When moving a lot of heavy materials with the front loader, you definitely want some additional ballast hanging off the 3-pt hitch. Do not consider tire ballast as anything more than added stability to offset the nose heavy attitude of having a loader installed.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I'm not sure how applicable this is to the OP's question but here is my experience doing this sort of work.

Nine years ago, my neighbor and I put a 4" gravel overlay on our shared 1.25 mile private road. We used a product made by a local quarry called 2RC modified which consists of 3/4" and smaller crushed stone choked off with stone dust. It took 2000 tons of material and ten days to complete. We started using his BX2660 with box blade and my L3430 FEL to spread the stone. Neither of us are experts but we both have many hours on these small tractors and have quite a bit of experience doing this sort of work. We found the FEL to be more effective at spreading the material than the box blade using a technique similar to that described by MossRoad. After the third day, we switched from the box blade to a stone rake with blade and gauge wheels. That made all the difference and is definitely the right implement for the job.

Yes, a contractor who bid on the job would have taken 2 days to complete the work, but at almost 3 times the price. My neighbor and I are both retired and rather enjoy working our tractors so it was an easy decision. Since then, we have done a few driveways and made several road washout repairs using this same technique.

It's interesting to note, the contractor who bid the job would have used a track loader and small dozer. He saw the work we did and has since switched to a tractor with FEL and stone rake for similar jobs.

 

[David M]

All excellent posts, guys. I appreciate the input. I started doing the dragging of the rock with loader from the back but in that terrain it was going nowhere fast. This ground is far from level, plus all the ruts and mounds left by the bulldozer and it's tracks. At that point is where I saw my left from wheel had broken around 3 of the 4 lug bolts! (I was going to ask about that in a separate thread.) So I put the 2660 away in the trailer and cinched it down for travel when the owner returned. I only mentioned to him that I needed to get the box blade to continue (didn't have a chance to discuss the hardware failure) when he popped off about getting a larger machine to do the job.
The 2660 had done everything else he wanted, he was angry because he hadn't gotten his way in his time frame -- and on a FREEBIE!
That's the last time I help him. I neither need nor want that kind of hassle. There was *maybe* a cubic foot of the 1 inch rock or so left.

 

[Gary Fowler]

All excellent posts, guys. I appreciate the input. I started doing the dragging of the rock with loader from the back but in that terrain it was going nowhere fast. This ground is far from level, plus all the ruts and mounds left by the bulldozer and it's tracks. At that point is where I saw my left from wheel had broken around 3 of the 4 lug bolts! .

Broken lug bolts are usually cause by them working loose. It is very difficult to break a lug bolt when it is tight. Better check all the other ones while you are changing out the broken ones.

As for spreading the rock, I think I would have tried to level out the ruts first before spreading the rock. That would have made the whole process much easier. My B26 is about the same size as your 2660 although it is a bit heavier and I have no problem spreading rock or levelling ruts with it by back blading. On hard dirt piles I will pull onto the dirt pile, lower the FEL till the blade is vertical and then use it to cut into the pile and drag out some loose material. Some folks are afraid of damaging a cylinder doing this but I have never had any issue with either of my tractors doing this.

I have found that using the heel of the bucket spreads dirt and rock much better than using the back of the blade and it will knock down ruts better also because it tends to dig in rather than float over like the blade does.

 

[/pine]

Filled rear tires is barely enough to counterbalance the weight of the loader, and it doesn't help take any load off the front axle. When moving a lot of heavy materials with the front loader, you definitely want some additional ballast hanging off the 3-pt hitch. Do not consider tire ballast as anything more than added stability to offset the nose heavy attitude of having a loader installed.

Agree...my rears are also loaded and without any rear ballast I will get bounced around moving full buckets of gravel...

 

[Monster diesel]

Ratchetrake is crazy cheap and works well. Tractor supply has them.

 

[Chewwy]

My tractor is slightly larger but found spreading rock using FEL to be pretty easy and fast. Learned this after watching guy on skid steer do it.

Simply fill the bucket and with the bucket elevated where you can see the rock fall, SLOWLY curl bucket forward while backing up. Coordination the bucket uncurling with backing speed takes some time but with a little practice you get the knack of it. When thru with the pile of gravel, can use loader bucket backdragging to smooth it out.

What took me the most time to learn was making small blade adjustments using more passes rather than trying to do it taking larger bites.

 

[Thomas]

Attitude such as his been long while before my tractor treads made print on his land.