Doing more damage than good :-(

[greggh]

A man after my own heart.

Hey the man just wants to do it his way..

 

[jpm1]

I wanted to put in a bigger garden this year with my new bigger tractor.
Let me rephrase that........................ I want to put in a bigger garden, because I have a bigger tractor.
I used a rototiller, I noticed the lawn was wet.
Then I pulled in a trailer with manure and the trailer wheels sunk in.
Next I drove out to the garden with the tractor and made some more ruts.
I was on a mission.
I made a mess of the perfect lawn I had with ruts. I can't drive out there to fix the ruts because the tires sink in. (R4s, foam filled on a L3400)
Using a hand roller, but it does not to the trick.
It seems like I'm just going backwards. I have a great machine, I have seat time, but maybe working a garden with a tractor is different than digging a trench or moving dirt.
I could have just bought a dam cucumber for $1.00 and called it a day!
I need to figure out how to fix these ruts.
Maybe make some three foot wide tires.

Been there done that and got the tee shirt to prove it! Easy solution to your problem, Rip up the lawn and make a really BIG Garden, then make up a bigger story to calm the wife down. this way your grocery bill is lower, less fuel used mowing the lawn and now what are you going to do with your extra time! All a win -win situation

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

it the ruts aren't horribly deep, you can use a hey or manure fork to gently lift them out.
Slide it in almost parallel to the ground and lever up.

Used to do this when I worked for a tree service and it would cure most compaction problems.
OTOH, I never tried it with a really wet lawn, so it may not work so well for you.

if it doesn't work, I'd suggest adding topsoil then stopping at Lowe's or home despot to pick up some sod - that way you don't lose as much mowing time and the ruts heal a lot quicker.

good luck.

 

[flusher]

I wanted to put in a bigger garden this year with my new bigger tractor.
Let me rephrase that........................ I want to put in a bigger garden, because I have a bigger tractor.
I used a rototiller, I noticed the lawn was wet.
Then I pulled in a trailer with manure and the trailer wheels sunk in.
Next I drove out to the garden with the tractor and made some more ruts.
I was on a mission.
I made a mess of the perfect lawn I had with ruts. I can't drive out there to fix the ruts because the tires sink in. (R4s, foam filled on a L3400)
Using a hand roller, but it does not to the trick.
It seems like I'm just going backwards. I have a great machine, I have seat time, but maybe working a garden with a tractor is different than digging a trench or moving dirt.
I could have just bought a dam cucumber for $1.00 and called it a day!
I need to figure out how to fix these ruts.
Maybe make some three foot wide tires.

You need more tools.

I faced similar situations around my 10-acre spread (flat hayfield).
For big jobs in the field, I have the 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto) with the ML-250 FEL along with a 1964 MF-135 diesel that I bought in Jul06 for $3600.

For smaller jobs, last year I picked up a 1951 Farmall Super A (~21 hp engine) with 3pt hitch and mid-mount sicklebar mower ($1300). Works OK, but won't shift into 1st. Need to pull the tranny cover and fix it later this year.

For veg garden and landscape work, I found a nice 1974 Bolens 1453 garden tractor (14 hp engine) with rototiller on craigslist ($600). Something like this would take care of your ruts pretty fast without doing more lawn damage.

The Bolens did a good job tilling the veg garden this Spring. Engine is starting to smoke. Looks like I'll be doing an overhaul on that Tecumseh soon. More wrenching fun.

 

[chh]

IMO "perfect" lawns are overrated. Throw a little dirt in the ruts and go on. Chalk it up to experience.

 

[BigKid]

if the ruts are in an area where you don't care whether or not they match the rest of the yard you can just throw some dirt in them and then seed them. On the other hand if you want them to match the yard perfectly you will have to let the ground dry a bit, then rent a sod cutter and cut the sod out, cut it into small pieces and set it right next to where it came from, then till the ruts to relieve the compaction, rake and then replace the sod. Will look so good you will never even know it was their.

 

[jdfire]

If you cant drive your tractor without creatin ruts you sure as h*ll aint gonna be able to till, disc or spread.

We drove out to our property today (about 1 hour away) to see if things are dry enough to start on some projects and instantly buried my truck in the mud and had to call for a wrecker. Guess it's not dry enough yet!

 

[newbury]

I<snip>
I could have just bought a dam cucumber for $1.00 and called it a day!
<snip>

Give a man a cucumber you feed him for a meal.
Teach a man to grow cucumbers and he'll feed himself.
Teach a woman to grow cucumbers and she ??.

I also have a similar potential "rut" problem.
The community swimming pool bought a truckload of sand to be put in a BIG sandbox and a volleyball court. It was to be trucked in. the truck got about 30 yards up a 70 yard path and buried itself into the axles and had to be towed out backwards, leaving the sand in the parking lot and the ruts large enough to pose danger to small children.

I unfortunately had left my new to me tractor out front and got enlisted to move the sand. Could have said no, didn't. It had not been explained they had ruts that took Volkswagens to fill.

So I got there, moved the truckload of sand, about 20 trips, and then they pleaded with me to fill in the ruts. By then my ENTIRE LIFELONG experience with a FEL was picking up 20 bucket loads, toting them about 70 yards and dumping said 20 buckets. Plus it was starting to rain moderately. I begged off, but they had also noticed the box blade in my yard

So, seeing this timely thread about ruts does the collective wisdom think it would be doable leveling it with the box blade with minor FEL work (after it dries out)? Note - my box blade experience is limited to taking it off and putting it on once, and I don't think I've got it adjusted correctly yet.

Or should I just sell the tractor and move?

 

[chh]

Or should I just sell the tractor and move?

Yes! Just kidding. I would be sure and let it dry out and while I was waiting hope they conned someone more experienced into doing it. At least make sure they know you are not a pro and use it as a valuable learning experience. Dump truck ruts could be quite a job to say the least and probably you could have used most of the truckload of sand just to fill in the mess.

 

[63DH8]

I had a similar problem. My yard was bad enough where I got my four wheel drive diesel pickup stuck. What I did was scrape out about two feet down for the entire length of my yard in front of my house. First, I laid a drain pipe, then blasting chips (chips of rocks from when the quarry blasted rocks out) down about six inches deep. Next, I laid gravel. Then I laid sand, but only enough to cover the gravel smoothly. Next, I placed decorative cement blocks over the sand, then poured more sand into the spaces of the block, then seeded everything. This is something like what the yard in front of my house looks like. (this isn't my yard. It's just a picture of I got off the internet.)

http://www.indiamart.com/terrafirma...all/glass-grid-paver-turf-pavers_10698100.jpg

Take your pick of available designs at your local hardware store.
http://www.tilecoinc.com/pages/masonry_pages/scr01.jpg

From the road, you can't tell there's blocks in the yard.