Best roadside ditching technique?

djradz · Aug 20, 2003

There's other posts out there, some even with a few pictures. I'd recommend your rear blade tilted about 30 degrees and turned about 45. With a couple of passes you'll have a nice ditch dug and built up the center of the road at the same time.

kensfarm · Aug 20, 2003

"Best roadside ditching technique?"

[Joke] Tell her you think you have a flat tire and would she check.. as soon as she's out the car door.. hit the gas & haul a$$! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

wasabi · Aug 20, 2003

Sounds like that would work, but we only have a front blade that will turn out and tilt up or down but remains parallel to the ground. On the PT forum we have talked about plumbing in another cylinder to allow side to side tilt, but I haven't tackled that yet.

Phred · Aug 20, 2003

I agree, the rear blade is the tool for the job.
I was in as similar situation and use a blade for this task.
The comment about the grader is also on target. A grader is just a fancy rear blade with some additional capabilities, but they are expensive.

Here is my solution:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/37-218325-bladeinaction1.jpg
You can adjust the angles on the fly with hydraulics.
Also get a heavy one. It needs to dig in and cut material to be effective. The trick is not to heavy so that you loose traction. This 9' is just about to much for my 70hp 4wd tractor, but in low gear it works great.

It sounds like you understand the problem; water run off.
Using a blade you can get the road cut such that if you looked at a cross section it would be an arc with the peak in the middle of the road. In this way the water runs right off into the ditch and not down the middle of your road, creating an undesired ditch in the middle of the road.

I don't think the idea of planting grass is practical since you will need to touch up the road periodically with the blade. This will mean cutting up that grass you planted.

Just my two cents....
Fred

mikell · Aug 20, 2003

Angle the rear blade and use a very short top link. Thats what I use to build my railroad grades in the open. It would work much better if I had power down.

mikell

djradz · Aug 21, 2003

With a smaller tractor we've had to rely on a greater angle and somewhat less of a tilt. With a big angle, the blade will almost act as a plow and really dig in, essentially being pulled deaper like a plow would if you let it go. This helps to compensate for a lighter blade and somewhat smaller tractor.

Taylortractornut · Aug 21, 2003

Id go with a grader, or a tractor with a side arm rotary ditcher. With an angled blade o nthe front and rubber tires your machine with want to stab into a ditch, or push the tractor out. Even on a D4 its hard to do in big bites. A grader with the tilt wheels in fron and tandems on the back it will be hold it in the road and counte act the forces. also he can have a ridge breaker on the back to kill and windrow in the road and spread it to. Or he can com back and make a quick pass or let you take care of it. Also a tractor like the county uses with a side arm rotary ditcher and cut a nice 6 to 12 inch radis ditch at a speed of up to 10 miles per day. It will throw the material up on the bank and spread it thin. I know youd like to do your own ditches but it would be time consuming and ad alot of wear to your machine. If it wer me id have a contractor take a grader cut the ditches and then use your machine to maintain them. and do the minor clean up work. On a backhow with a 5 foot wide ditching bucket and trucks moving the spoil i can onlygo about 3/4s of a mile in a day. Thats with a 455 Ford .