Attachments for trail maintenance?

[MF243RedTop]

Mine would be 3 implements..
Each has it's own specific uses..like mentioned already..
Angle blade
Box blade
Landscape rake..

All need to be heavy duty...snapping, pulling roots moving rolling rocks can be tough on equipment.

Since the trails were dozed.. I'm thinking you may need to pull some fill back to the middle if you don't want standing water in places.
That's where the angle blade excels in it's use..
Box blade for filling holes left, pulling roots dragging/pushing rocks out the way.
Rake for sifting finer rocks roots and debris..
Likes been mentioned no 1 attachment for all..

 

[sportbikerider78]

Thanks for the advice guys. I appreciate it and enjoy the education.
I'm in Upstate NY near Saratoga.

Pretty much everyone mentioned a box blade of some kind. I will give that a shot and see how we do.

I'll also revisit this in the spring...or if we have a thaw..and post pics of the trails so everyone can see what I'm working with.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Thank you for posting this as well. I had never heard of a ratchet rake. I watched 5 videos on it and I could see it being really handy.
My other 2 projects are clearing a 1 acre lot behind my house and removing brush from our lake property. Very cool tool...particularly for the price.

 

[airbiscuit]

1. However wide you think the trails are now, they will be 1/2 as wide when things grow back up.

2. A disc harrow would be my weapon of choice (over and over and over again)

 

[sportbikerider78]

Very cool..but I think there are too many rocks.

One complication is that the property is an hr away from my house and I have 3 little kids. If I was retired....this would be an entirely different story..I'd spend all week there.

Time is short and good enough will have to do..for now. I just want it to the point where the fillings will not get knocked out of my teeth.

I think ripping the rocks out and some simple smoothing is a great place to start.

 

[airbiscuit]

This!

 

[Code54]

If it is rough with rocks and roots, honestly it is going to be tough on a tractor. Every think about renting a small - Medium dozer and clean it up and smooth it out. FAR better than a blade and if the loggers "made trails" they dont really bother smoothing the trails. If you have to you can always back drag with a dozer (not really how a good operator would do it but works). This would also let you move dirt to the low spots quickly and get it in a position where the tractor with a brush hog and back blade could maintain it in the future without beating your eqpt to death.

 

[dfkrug]

I'm not sure what part of the country you are in, but around here if you have trails steep enough that you can go down them, but not back up, on your ATVs and dirt bikes, you are likely to have ongoing erosion issues. It's best to put some though into where you really want your trails to go and design the layout for durability form the start, rather than setting yourself up for ongoing maintenance headaches.

I would define a 'trail' as a narrow path that you can traverse on foot, or on a horse, ATV, or bike. Mine are 48" wide at their widest, and 33% grade at their steepest (3:1 pitch). A 'road' is what you have, IMO, when it is wide enough to allow wider vehicles like 4x4 PUs, jeeps, tractors, and SxS UTVs. Might be a rough road.

So a trail is gonna have limited tools available to maintain them. I love my recently-acquired 3-ft wide mini-excavator with thumb, which can get up a 40% slope if conditions are optimal. Using the dozer blade on it works if going downhill on slopes less than about 30%. But you have to use the bucket as a downhill outrigger.

There are also the walk-behind mini-skidsteers, which seem to be very popular, esp with contractors. I may soon have a DitchWitch SK500 project here.

I recently got an ATV with diff-lock, so I can go UP my steepest trails now.

 

[sportbikerider78]

If it is rough with rocks and roots, honestly it is going to be tough on a tractor. Every think about renting a small - Medium dozer and clean it up and smooth it out. FAR better than a blade and if the loggers "made trails" they dont really bother smoothing the trails. If you have to you can always back drag with a dozer (not really how a good operator would do it but works). This would also let you move dirt to the low spots quickly and get it in a position where the tractor with a brush hog and back blade could maintain it in the future without beating your eqpt to death.

This is true..but we had the loggers already back drag with a dozer. Some huge stumps remain..but you can go around them. Not an issue.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I would define a 'trail' as a narrow path that you can traverse on foot, or on a horse, ATV, or bike. Mine are 48" wide at their widest, and 33% grade at their steepest (3:1 pitch). A 'road' is what you have, IMO, when it is wide enough to allow wider vehicles like 4x4 PUs, jeeps, tractors, and SxS UTVs. Might be a rough road.

So a trail is gonna have limited tools available to maintain them. I love my recently-acquired 3-ft wide mini-excavator with thumb, which can get up a 40% slope if conditions are optimal. Using the dozer blade on it works if going downhill on slopes less than about 30%. But you have to use the bucket as a downhill outrigger.

There are also the walk-behind mini-skidsteers, which seem to be very popular, esp with contractors. I may soon have a DitchWitch SK500 project here.

I recently got an ATV with diff-lock, so I can go UP my steepest trails now.

Yep..4' is good enough for me!
Oh I can go up and down all of it with dirt bikes and atvs. I was speaking about equipment. I've been riding atvs, dirt bikes, sportbikes..my entire life.