Attachments for trail maintenance?

[dfkrug]

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.

I also have rough roads (at least 5-6' wide) on my property, which I built and maintain with my tractor. Turning around on them is next to impossible, in less than a 10-point turn. My tools of choice to maintain them are my backhoe with hyd thumb, and 4-in-1 loader bucket. I do get a lot of tree-falls, and usually a mudslide or 2 in the winter. My days of pick-and-shovel are waning.

 

[John_Mc]

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

That brings back memories. When I started working on our trail system, it was with a Craftsman Garden Tractor. Trails were about 5' wide - enough for the 54" deck to get through. "Big" trails were about 9' wide: once out and once back on the mower. Even the wide ones grew in so quickly that it was either live with getting smacked in the face or ducking and twisting as I went down them, or a constant battle to keep them clear.

These days, I do have a couple that are just foot paths, but "narrow" is 10' wide, and most are 15'. I'll stagger the mowing over the width of the wider ones and not mow the whole 15' at once - I like to create some "edge" on the wider trails rather than an abrupt transition from trail to woods. The "traveled lane" of the trail is about 6 + feet wide. with the edges partially grown back in. That edge makes for some better wildlife habitat as well: we have a lot of even-aged, mature woods in the area, so allowing for some brush to grow up, and letting some sunlight down to the forest floor (and getting some raspberries to grow in) makes for greater diversity of wildlife habitat. However, that strategy is a response to the fact that much of Vermont is mature, even-aged forest (a good bit was cleared for farms, then large parts abandoned around the same time when sheep farming was no longer economical in the area. Creating some edge and areas of early successional forest is increasing diversity. In area with a different history, I'd manage differently (for example, in an area with a lot of open space, I might focus no providing connections between smaller forested blocks).

 

[dfkrug]

Sticks or roots poking up on a newly-cut trail, skid-road, or other kind of dirt road are the nemeses of tractors. They are just waiting to rip out hydraulic lines, steering tierods, and low-hanging hydraulic filters. Kiotis are especially bad at low-hanging filters that get broken off often.

I went more than 15 years with my current Kioti before I bent the tierod on a 2" stick protruding from the ground. These are quite soft mild tubular steel, so very easy to straighten if you remove them first.

A 4-in-1 allows you to smooth the soil, and pluck out the occasional stick as needed.

 

[CoyPatton]

My concern is that you name several needs in your list. No 1 implement will ever address each.
Also your description raises a few questions that need to be answered to give you better recommendations.
The biggie in my opinion is regarding the roots and the rocks.
Are the roots small feeder roots or larger ground anchoring roots? Probably best able to answer this by estimating the diameter of the roots. Feeder roots are generally smaller less than 3” diameter with most being smaller than 2”. If roots are long and 3”+ diameter, they will probably have to be dug out, you may be able to do so with a stump bucket for the loader, but much less effectively than a backhoe. Small roots 1” or so can be dealt with with root rake or box blade.

You mention rocky clay soil. How large are your rocks? If large rocks (as much ad you want to lift by hand or bigger), you are again to possibly using a stump bucket, but better results with a backhoe. If drive base rocks and clay the the box blade or rear blade.
Working clay is tough—to wet and it balls up, baked dry in summer heat and concrete seems softer. If wet, live with its status, if baked you may make limited head way with a box blade with ‘teeth’.
Sticks and general debris, what do you want to do with it? Move it to a different location? A grapple! Push it to the edge and let it rot? Root rake or ratchet rake for your bucket.

Not the answer you want, but again no 1 implement is right for all jobs—why do you think so many implements are made?
Now let me made a plug for looking at used implements—most older implements are made heavier, they will typically out last you and your grandchildren, not to mention they may have already done that previously. Usually 1/2 or so of a new heavy duty implement. Unfortunately you seldom find a root rake (at least in good condition used). The bad, seldom are they QH compatible and some times not adaptable even if you have the ability to do the adaptions.
However, look into Pat’s QH for an alternative to the full QH, QH is extremely helpful when you have multiple implements and need to change with much frequency. 1 caution for PTO implements—all QH systems add 4+” in the needed length for the PTO shaft.

 

[airbiscuit]

This

 

[crazyal]

Get a box blade or land plane with ripping shanks. The rippers will do most of the work you'll want to do. This isn't going to be a highway so don't think like you need the tools to make it one. You're most likely not going to need to move dirt very far so a box blade will be of limited value. It's not going to pull up rocks or roots either. But the rippers will. So I would get the one that you'll have a use for somewhere else. If you have a gravel road to maintain then a land plane/ grading scraper. If not used box blades can be had saving money. One thing to think about is washboards. If your trails start to get them then a land plane will be very desirable.

 

[Snaker]

This would be my choice.
A dozer is a match for tree roots, a tractor with light duty blades and a loader bucket isn't.
I've had a 10,000lb tractor spinning a hole hung up on roots while pulling a back blade.
And if your running the toys, they do tear up the trails.
This thing (serrated discs and as much weight as possible) will level and chop up small roots.
You could run some sort of smoothing drag behind, something that could deal with snagging a occasional root.

 

[Snaker]

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)

Oops. This

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

To me it kind of depends on what the ground is like on the trails...

When I had my lake place, the ATV trail ran close.. I would lightly maintain about a kilometer each way from my place for the local club, because I liked to ride also..
The local club maintained many kilometers of ATV, cross country, snow machine trails.. Several Biathlon clubs would travel to ski these trails..
The stretch of trail I worked with was quite rough and rocky..
I used my FEL, homemade 3pt chisel digger, back blade as conditions required..

 

[rScotty]

Like others, we have a box blade with rippers. In fact we have several. They are just about the least expensive implement you can buy for the 3pt hitch in back, so you might as well get a good heavy one. Used ones work as good as new and are common. Some even have hydraulic control over the rippers. As you use it you may find it handy to bolt some wooden runners to the sides to control blade depth. Some will also have a flip down edge to work in reverse. Sometimes that is handy.

You need to carry something on the 3pt in back heavy enough to counter-balance the front end loader, and a heavy box blade is about right.

But I actually get more of the rough dirt work done by using a variety of front end loader buckets because I can see what I am doing.

With SSQA on the front, switching from one type bucket to another is even easier than mounting rear implements. I typically use one regular bucket and two different rock sieve or skeleton buckets. The two skeleton buckets have different shape teeth and different sieve spacing. Next on my list will be a 4-way FEL bucket.

I use the buckets going forward for rough work like removing rocks, and then put the bucket on the ground and back drag in reverse to smooth out the dirt. You will probably come us with your own technique that fits your land.
luck
rScotty