Hello,
I've done a bunch of online research which means I don't know a whole lot.
I have a scenario I haven't seen a lot of discussion on. The toughest thing I'll be doing with the tractor is at a family's site. I'm looking to clear a 800 foot as the crow flies single car width driveway through a wooded lot. It's land where there's been logging in the distant past but I'm not really sure if it will even be clear where those trails once were. It will be on an incline and is definitely full of rocks which will need to be moved. Those are the challenges. The things working in my favor is that the road can really take any route as it simply needs to connect to an adjacent road. That point can be the easiest point from the prospective of making the trail. We also have a house nearby that I can stay at. This means it can be slow and steady progress. I am well aware that a tractor isn't a bulldozer and the bucket is intended for lifting. My game plan would be to cut the trees into manageable chunks and have a dump site nearby. This would involve frequently grapple work. The rocks should be pretty good sized and that's where the lifting would also be tested. If I found any too big rocks, I could either divert the road around them or build up soil to go over them. Once the path is constructed, I would be able to dig up the surrounding area to use as a base and hopefully find some rocky soil on site. If not, would probably get gravel delivered to spread out. This road won't get a lot of use so I don't see needing a box blade initially. A rear blade should be good enough (and have another use as well).
I've kinda landed on a 50+/- HP requirement for my needs with 40+/- at the PTO. I want to get a tractor with a backhoe to dig up the roots (very slowly, I know) and the rocks. That way I'm not using the bucket incorrectly. Would also ditch the edge of the road to limit erosions. For attachments for this job, I've landed on a grapple, a rear blade, a stump puller, and a woodchipper. The last two should speed up the job and help moving forward. If the job goes quickly, I could clear a section for an eventual house as well as the tree line as it will be up on a hill and the view is currently blocked by some trees.
The longer term use of the tractor would be at my house. I'll have the usual assortment of stuff to chip and limbs to move. My most frequent use for it would be to lift the snow that falls from the roof onto the driveway. I have a metal roof and when the snow falls, it compacts into too dense of layers to snow blow or shovel. I would imagine a 7000lb (with backhoe) tractor blade could get under that pretty easily. The rear blade would also be used for snow removal. I also need to trench a pretty extensive irrigation system and put in a fence. Outside of that, I could see myself putting in a pond, grading the soil, redoing the entire lawn, etc... I definitely would find years of use and am not interested in renting a bigger machine for a month, purchasing a subcompact, and discovering I'm limited by the machine.
Would you think my requirements (50hp, 40hp PTO, backhoe, grapple, rear blade, stump puller, woodchipper, and post hole digger) would be able to do those various projects? Am I way off on the machine's requirements? Knowing the surrounding area, I estimated with a rock calculator I could be seeing 3-3,500lb rocks that will need to be pushed out of the way (not lifted). With the PTO, I'm thinking the test would be random limbs that are 6-8" wide. Ultimately I don't want to get anything that can't do the entire job.
Thanks!
I've done a bunch of online research which means I don't know a whole lot.
I have a scenario I haven't seen a lot of discussion on. The toughest thing I'll be doing with the tractor is at a family's site. I'm looking to clear a 800 foot as the crow flies single car width driveway through a wooded lot. It's land where there's been logging in the distant past but I'm not really sure if it will even be clear where those trails once were. It will be on an incline and is definitely full of rocks which will need to be moved. Those are the challenges. The things working in my favor is that the road can really take any route as it simply needs to connect to an adjacent road. That point can be the easiest point from the prospective of making the trail. We also have a house nearby that I can stay at. This means it can be slow and steady progress. I am well aware that a tractor isn't a bulldozer and the bucket is intended for lifting. My game plan would be to cut the trees into manageable chunks and have a dump site nearby. This would involve frequently grapple work. The rocks should be pretty good sized and that's where the lifting would also be tested. If I found any too big rocks, I could either divert the road around them or build up soil to go over them. Once the path is constructed, I would be able to dig up the surrounding area to use as a base and hopefully find some rocky soil on site. If not, would probably get gravel delivered to spread out. This road won't get a lot of use so I don't see needing a box blade initially. A rear blade should be good enough (and have another use as well).
I've kinda landed on a 50+/- HP requirement for my needs with 40+/- at the PTO. I want to get a tractor with a backhoe to dig up the roots (very slowly, I know) and the rocks. That way I'm not using the bucket incorrectly. Would also ditch the edge of the road to limit erosions. For attachments for this job, I've landed on a grapple, a rear blade, a stump puller, and a woodchipper. The last two should speed up the job and help moving forward. If the job goes quickly, I could clear a section for an eventual house as well as the tree line as it will be up on a hill and the view is currently blocked by some trees.
The longer term use of the tractor would be at my house. I'll have the usual assortment of stuff to chip and limbs to move. My most frequent use for it would be to lift the snow that falls from the roof onto the driveway. I have a metal roof and when the snow falls, it compacts into too dense of layers to snow blow or shovel. I would imagine a 7000lb (with backhoe) tractor blade could get under that pretty easily. The rear blade would also be used for snow removal. I also need to trench a pretty extensive irrigation system and put in a fence. Outside of that, I could see myself putting in a pond, grading the soil, redoing the entire lawn, etc... I definitely would find years of use and am not interested in renting a bigger machine for a month, purchasing a subcompact, and discovering I'm limited by the machine.
Would you think my requirements (50hp, 40hp PTO, backhoe, grapple, rear blade, stump puller, woodchipper, and post hole digger) would be able to do those various projects? Am I way off on the machine's requirements? Knowing the surrounding area, I estimated with a rock calculator I could be seeing 3-3,500lb rocks that will need to be pushed out of the way (not lifted). With the PTO, I'm thinking the test would be random limbs that are 6-8" wide. Ultimately I don't want to get anything that can't do the entire job.
Thanks!
