Traction Fixing Creek Issue - Need Traction

[rambler]

Where I live, they put berms like that along my fields, and I'm supposed to be happy with that, keeps things from running into the ditch/ creek. You'd have some trouble if you were caught messing with the creek flow & berms 'here'. Not that I care, just saying...

Ag tires work much betterin wet clay. Chains will help your industrial treads, but only a little.

I assume you have 4wd, but more weight on the rear end always helps. Always.

Wait until it dries out some, we don't have boats or tracked backhoes, we have tractors, they can't walk on water.

--->Paul

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Strange question for you...

Over 100 acres of farmland drain into my back yard. There is a slope where the water is supposed to go, and continues in a creek for a long distance (don't know where it goes) around a bend. (Photo of back yard and bend attached)

My house was built recently and the slope of the yard was changed in some places. The result is that water now sits in my back yard. It's as deep as 8" in some places.

Last weekend, I took the tractor back to the bend to get it dug out a bit to get the water flowing again. This was easy work for the FEL. The problem is, my turf tires got covered in dirt/clay, and were rendered completely useless. I had to use the FEL to push my way out, making a big mess.

I really need to get the tractor up to the creek to fix the problem areas, but I'm not sure how to get traction. One thought was to use pallets if I could get some, so that I could put those next to the creek and drive on them. Another thought was to use some boards.

This BX2660 is my first tractor, so I'm looking for any tricks of the trade. To get over a muddy area.

For 9 years I've been doing projects on my hillside, gullied, rocky and treed residential acreage. My first Kubota was a BX22000 MMM FEL which I bought to be a lifetime mower. It was so powerful and useful that I started tackling bigger and bigger jobs. I to used to get myself out of "situations" with pushing myself back with the FEL. One time I got up on a big pile of downed trees and couldn't get myself off without using a chainsaw for who knows how long. Had a man that I had hired to do big jobs for me that had a Cat Dozer. When he arrived I told him to go get my tractor off the pile of trees.
Hmmm? Realized these little work horses had limitations. I've ended up buying 13 Kubotas over the last 9 years, still have 5 of them. They all have limitations. That has to be accepted.
Now, they will do a lot and even a lot more than most people realize but there is a time to accept hiring/renting someone with the proper piece of construction equipment to do construction work. I still hire a man with a track loader to do my steep hillside tree clearing. He can safely do in 2 to 3 hours what would be extremely dangerous for me to do in a few weeks.
OK. You have a tractor with FEL that you want to do construction/landscaping work with it. More than likely you'll want to do more later than just rearrage your elevations for better drainage. If one has a FEL one almost has to have rear weight to counter balance that front weight at the rear. Different options. In my opinion the boxblade should be one of the first purchases a tractor owner with FEL should buy. It provides the needed counter weight and is one of the most useful tools that can be bought for rearranging dirt with a tractor. You need one for weight balance and I believe you can possibly use it to fix your drainage situation. After the drainage situation is fixed you'll still have your counterweight and a tool you'll use from time to time as long as you own a tractor. I (well my nephew has mine now) still own my first purchased Boxblade.
With the teeth, maybe just 2 to start with, lowered I believe you can start some drains beside your current creek/drain. If it ever dries up then I'd wait till then and do the job but if you can't wait, go ahead and try it now.
You'll find an additional world opens up to you and your tractor with 3ph implements. They can often times be bought used from dealers and off Craigs list.
Here is a great website to see what implements are available and how they work.
Get your yard ready for seeding with the Everything Attachments Yard Pulverizer

 

[radioman]

I have same issue as you do, and everybody is spot on with advice. rear ballast and chains. There is a trail I use and its on a slope and every fall and spring, I ALWAYS got stuck going up with my turfs as they got filled with clay. I personally don't think any other tires will help - even ags unless you can at least double up the size so the lugs would be deeper.
I use v bar chains as the V part gives me the real grip I need. However, I dont need to use chains anymore ever since I put down a thick layer 2-4" of wood chips. It gives me the floating surface I need without getting stuck. Every year at the wettest time - I can see water oozing up from chips, the chips moving from weight of tractor, but clay never migrated through. Perfect trail material I'd say for the BX.

 

[ytechie]

I wonder if you guys are overestimating how big the sides are. I may not have been very clear. If you look at the far left side of my photo, that's where I got stuck. This is a 1ft drop over a 4 foot span. I even got stuck in a flat part of my yard that was a little more wet than I thought. A spot that I had mowed earlier in the day.

The section I did was a piece of cake, just used the bucket to push open a small channel.

Am I really crazy for thinking this should be easy for the Kubota? I understand chains and weight are key to getting any traction in mud.

I like the mulch idea. I didn't think of that. I suspect if I covered the mud in mulch I would be good to go.

 

[Baby Grand]

Is the water coming from the creek into your yard, or is it going through the yard to get to the creek?

Might be better to raise the yard instead of working in the creek.

Bruce

My thought, exactly. Looking at the photo, there are lots of trees along the edge of your yard. All you need is a few big roots to really stall your ditching project. If you can build up the low spots so that drainage occur on the other side, I think your will be much better off - and able to mow without getting mired more often.

Stupid question- On clay, will more weight or less weight help? I had an empty bucket when backing up, but no weight on the back at all. I'm starting to think that I didn't have any weight on those rear tires.

As dstig1 says, weight will definitely help. With turfs, chains should help a lot, too.

 

[Combustix]

Could you just rent a mini excavator a dig a small drain thru it? Then shape it up nice and neat with tractor once it dries out.

+1 this is the way to do it.

 

[tractchores]

I have clay soil and some drainage issues as well. I have a b2920 with loaded turfs. It does well as long as i have weight. I always put on my bh for that type of work (1400 lbs) and try to get the area as dry ad possible first. I usually try to drain it with the bh, wait a day or 2 then use the fel, if the bh won't reach you can make a small channel by hand. The other approach is to bring in material with the fel to create a firmer spot to get in and out and fill as you go. I've heard r4s are not good in mud, that ags are best and turfs are second best. Chains should act like ags, but will make a mess.

 

[RJD2516]

I agree with everyone on this. Couple other ideas (the chain one is a good one).

I use to have the same tractor. Those turf tires just won't do it in mud. If you change them to Ag's or Industrial, the problem you have is clearance. As soon as they start to spin to get traction, they are going to dig down and you are going to high center. I think you only have about 9 inches of clearance underneath, and that is without the belly mower. Weight is helpful, but will just make you sink farther into the mud.

My favorite trick was using carpet. I used this trick twice. if you have a 4 foot wide piece of carpet, lay it down, and drive over it. Slowly. Don't spin it out from under your tires. You can get old stained up carpet for free usually. Just put it in the really bad spots. It helps a lot. Chain link fence works pretty good too, but is tougher on your tires.

Another is to put in some drainage holes. I had a big standing water area in my backyard every year. The pest control guy told me to dig a couple of holes about 3 feet deep, and fill them with large rocks (like cobble stones) right in the lowest part of the standing water. It drained great. After a heavy rain, I would have some standing water, but two hours later, it was gone. I thought that was a great trick.

Of course, the idea of waiting till the ground had dried out is the easiest. There is no vehicle in the world that won't get stuck in mud. Good luck.

 

[ytechie]

Thanks for the help everyone. Today was much drier, and I was able to get in there and open it up without issue using the FEL.

In my back yard, I just used a spade shovel to open up a channel and get it to drain into the deep part outside my yard.

That mud really does neutralize the turf tires. Thanks for all the traction ideas.

 

[underdog02817]

Could you lay out some plywood to get you to where you need to go?

I know when I have had trees cut around my house in early spring. very soft mushy ground, they brought in large rubber mats and sheets of plywood to run the skid steer over on the lawn. Both to protect the lawn but also to prevent getting stuck was also a benefit.