Best attachment to fix skid ruts in logging roads?

[namesray]

Trying to decide if there is an attachment to help fix skid ruts in logging roads after skidding out firewood? My tractor has a loader, but in my opinion that is clumsy and only works in some situations. Mainly due to how far away from the tractor the bucket is and how the undulations amplify the buckets side to side tilt. I am leaning towards a 3 point hitch back blade as I think I could just dropit and go. With the correct angle it would move dirt to ruts and level them out. Since the 3ph floats and is closer to the tractor where it would tilt on any undulations would be less, I feel it would be much faster and easier, both on me and tractor.

Or would a 3ph york rake, 3ph box blade with scaffirs, or something else...? I know a bulldozer would be best, but not happening. I want it to run off my tractor, which is a kubota mx5200dt 4x4, weighing around 6700lbs.

Another bit of info, I kinda would like a back blade for snow removal as I feel it would be easier then the loader for the same reasonsI listed above. I have a lot of turns and twists in my driveways. I also feel a back blade could help clean up all the bark and such on my wood landings by pulling the bark into piles. I also feel a 3ph york rake could work for this too.

I have limited experience with any of these 3ph attachments i mentioed, so I may be totally wrong on how well I think they might work in my situations. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[teg]

A box blade would make the quickest work of the ruts but would be less useful with snow removal. (No gravel driveways that you need to deal with??) It might take more time to use a blade or the rake to smooth the ruts but would work better with snow removal.

I would lean towards the blade but I use my rake on the gravel driveway a bunch... :2cents:

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF you have enough tractor, I guess you could pull this lol,

SR

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Unfortunately there just is not any one implement that does everything well. A lot of people "get by" with a single 3pt implement, and that's fine, but typically takes much longer getting a task completed that it really is not intended for.

If you only have a small amount of roads and area to fix-maintain, then by all means "get by" with a single implement of your choice. But if you have very much ground to cover, I think that you would be much better off with 2 or even 3 different implements to get each task done the most efficiently.

I have miles of road and fence line to deal with, I use 4 different implements. I can get basically the same end results with any of them, but not in the same time frame. Some just work better than others for different tasks, the simple fact of the matter.

For your roads, do you just want to smooth them out, or do you want-need to shape them to deal with water better?

A little more information would be useful to be able to give you better recommendations. One thing for sure, for grading purposes, weight is your friend, get about the heaviest implement-s that you can afford.

If you are purchasing new, they aren't cheap. :no:

 

[boggen]

box blade with scraficer. would be top of list, along with a rear blade.

rear blade shifts dirt side to side. and can help pull material from the sides to center of road to help create a crown better.

box blades, physical move the dirt, takng out high spots and filling in low spots.

the scraficers on box blades. hands down, you most likely will want. just to bust up the hard pan almost concrete like dirt at times. other wise, FEL bucket, to rear blade, to just box blade with out the scraficers down. will just skip hop about like a little kid. doing lots of things with tons of energy, but not getting a lot done.

primarily like a general duty bucket for FEL that just has a "straight cutting edge" on it. really does not dig. adding a tooth bar (bolt on or strap on). can make digging with FEL better, the teeth stab into and help break up the dirt, so it can roll into the bucket. tooth bar and just clean cutting edge. and you do the hip hop jump of the bucket as you try to dig with it. either to steep or not enough angle of bucket as you attempt to cut and dig into some dirt.

FEL bucket more better at material moving. needing to go some place on property to grab some dirt /rock and then move it across the property and across other roads and yards to dump it? that is what a FEL bucket is for. a box blade, is designed to move dirt like FEL but you have to drag the dirt/rock clear across everything. but a box blade is to made to remove the high spots/low spots.

you can also back drag. and some what smooth stuff out. some what with a FEL.

i am not a fan of rear blade and snow. persoanl reasons, to many stinking snow drifts. i would get stuck, before i could ever make it through a snow drift just relying on a rear blade. now a rear blade to clean up after snow drifts were moved. different story.

no experience with a landscape rake / york rake. i doubt for me, dealing with dirt roads, grass road areas, gravel driveway would do me much good exception come spring and pulling rock back onto the driveway that got pushed off during snow moving.

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TNT (top and tilt) for 3pt hitch. it replaces either top link turnbuckle and/or 1 or both side link turnbuckles on 3pt hitch with hydrualic cylinders. allowing you to adjust 3pt hitch on the fly from seat of tractor. if you have turns, and different crowns for roads, and needing to deal with some ditch making. it might be worth getting this. once you get the other implements. so you can actual fine tune everything and get it all done quickly.

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there are some rear blades that have wings that bolt on. and turns rear blade into a box blade in a sense.
there are some rear blades that come with scraficer teeth out in front of blade.
there are some rear blades that you remove blade and attach scraficers.
there are some rear blades that offer "offset" were the entire blade swings out to either side. and might be better dealing with ditch making.

land plane / grader scraper = more for gravel driveways, and sift the dirt rock. bring the rock to the top and letting the dust/dirt fall down. not really made for dirt.

there is also "motor graders" were a rear bald sets between front wheels and back wheels and there is a long distance between everything.
there are also some DIY trailer style motor graders. were folks have taken telephone poles, to 6"x6" posts. to square or metal pipe tubing and welded up a frame work to attach a rear blade in the center. and clear on the back put an axle with tires on it.
motor graders or trailer versions of them. are more designed to create a very fine smoothness to everything in that removing high and low spots. ((the distance between wheels and the blade = what makes a difference)) most likely only noticeable the faster you drive.

there is also roll over box blades.

there is potato plows / middle busters that might act as single scraficer tooth on a box blade. but go deeper in ground (may require multi passes over same spot to get to depth (depends on how compact ground is)

folks have dragged telephone poles, to a I / H metal beam behind there tractors / trucks to smooth stuff out within reason.

folks have dragged chain link fence to smooth stuff out (mimic a chain drag harrow)

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my vote would be box blade with scraficer teeth first. (primarily for scraficer teeth) fix the roads, get a crown on them, get the water off the roads and into ditches. and get the ditches to carry the water away. so you are not having to deal with ruts/pot holes / mushy muddy roads. and then look at something to deal with snow.

 

[Egon]

Rear blade with gauge wheels. Not the best for snow but the loader bucket can handle that and push back ridges that will develop.

 

[LD1]

Start with a back blade since you have other uses like snow removal. Don't get a cheap light one. 100# per foot + if you want to do any real dirt work. I have a 7' 700# blade behind my MX. Looking for a 8' or 9', 900-1000# unit with hydraulic angle because 7' is too small IMO.

Once you have a blade, try it. Then decide if you want a box blade

 

[jimmysisson]

If there are stumps in those roads, you're not going to have much luck w tractor pulled equipment. Bulldozer.
Jim

 

[namesray]

O, Rob, you make me laugh! Why don't you bring your bulldozer up here to Pennsylvania and I'll see if my kubota can pull it! I bet not. I do have some work for a dozer though.

I am aiming at fixing the approximate 4 to 8 inch deep ruts that develope in about the center of the logging roads after skidding a couple hundred face cord in tree tops down them. Mainly on the main logging roads that see most of the work and the roads that run uphill angles. I have had the minor ruts funnel heavy rain water to them and you guessed it, the collection of heavy water moving fast down those ruts turns them into deep chunnels.

I have fixed them before with the loader bucket, but like I said above, I feel a 3ph implement would be much better.

Most of the roads never have a stump in them, although a root is common, which concerns me if I were to choose a box blade with scaffirs, as a scaffir might hook into a root. I don't really have any other seeable need for a box blade either. But...

The main areas I am concerned with are the logging roads that run at an uphill angle. Those wash out the worst. Most of the time they are beveled towards the uphill side as to funnel water like a ditch. So I was thinking a 3ph rear blade could be angled and set to reshape that bevel in the road by pulling the dirt out of the low side, across the road to the high side, and fillig in the rut in the middle in the process. This would also put a ditch back in on the low side like it is supposed to be. Most of the time all the loose dirt that comes from the tree tops making a rut when skidding finds its way to the low side into that shallow ditch. I thought a 3ph back blade could be placed and I could just drive forward pulling the dirt across instead of when I have used the front loader just pushing the dirt. I also have tried back dragging with my 3ph winch blade, but I feel pulling the dirt across, like with a rear blade angled is the way to go. It would not be a major project if I would just "touch up" the ruts every now and then or before a big rain event is expected.

I agree that a heavier implement would be better then a cheap light one, especially for woods work. I don't feel I would need any of the tnt tilts. I am ok with manually setting the angle and letting the tractor tires follow the bevel/tilt that is already in the road and let the 3ph implement do its thing. What do you think?

 

[Ford850]

I agree that a HD rear blade makes the most sense. Some of them also have optional wings that let you pull much more of a load, similar to a box blade. I have wings on my Land Pride blade (modified LP wings), and it will hold enough soil to spill over the top of the blade without losing any on the sides.