Tractor Sizing Have a half mile of gravel road to repair and maintain

[newby in tenn]

Ditto, I can't get enough seat time in a tractor. Maybe I should get a smaller one??? :confused3: The OP has said several times about budget restrictions... In his very first post he said, "And the budget is very lean." In my opinion, big is not always better...:2cents:

Would like to spend 6k or less. Money will come from IRA

 

[dragoneggs]

Hire/rent a large tractor to fix the driveway.

Buy a smaller tractor to maintain the driveway and do all the rest.

Bruce

I think this is what I would do... wait... this is what I do. I share a 1000ft driveway with a couple neighbors. I do minor scraping maintaining only with my BX. Every couple of years we have a large grader come out. Add some gravel sometimes, correct the crown if needed, and roll it. Much of our gravel driveway is significantly sloped and novice drivers and visitors that don't drive the correct speed create washboard bumps.

You can have someone do it for probably $250-300. A tractor and box blade and 3 or 4 hours will make a huge difference. Dozier or grader would work as well. A grader blade on a tractor will not work very well.

$300... No way... at least around here. Not a half mile that is in serious need of repair. But I do recommend getting some quotes before you buy and try something yourself.

Before you spend any money get someone who knows what they are doing to take a look at everything. You might need to do some work for drainage and change some of the existing drainage system both on the road and beside it to keep from having to keep going back and fixing yet more ruts.

I think very good advice from the sounds of what the OP is starting with.

I have maintained my half mile with a bx 2200 for 15 years. Real workhorse and you could pick one up for five or six thousand. You will always need it for maintenance in the future. I have a belly mower and 6 foot rear blade, and FEL.

Agree on a BX for maintenance and other duties, but I have to doubt you repaired deep ruts as OP described.

 

[newby in tenn]

Looked at a Allis Chalmers 6060 today. But a lot of the hydraulic hoses needed replacing and the valve bodies were leaking. The owner wasn't there but he said the battery was bad. And there were a couple of loader arms that looked like they should be bolted in place some where but were tied off to the loader arm above it with ski rope. And it looked awfully large for a newby.

 

[newby in tenn]

Having dealt with about 750' of stone/gravel lane repairs for 15 years, with a 19hp Kubota B8200 and a 5' rear blade, I sort of know what is involved. No problem in moving gravel or crushed stone around with such a rig, filling ruts and cuts, but I imagine the OP will need to "fix" the cause of the lane's damage, probably water run-off, or at least find ways to keep it from washing out in the future- otherwise, it will require grading after every storm.
A smallish 4 wheel drive tractor, with a loader and rear blade, can then keep the lane maintained. Our lane ran downhill between trees, so stormwater runoff was a challenge to control.
Hydro is nice, but for a small budget, gear will work. He should be able to find something usable for $7000 or so.

I have heavy stormwater runoff coming down the drive. I need to get the water from the drive way to the low area behind the trailers. And I need to miss the underground water lines and septic tanks and drain fields. I have thought about trying to use some of the prefab catch basins and the 4 inch black flexible pipe, but I don't think that will handle the volume of water and would really complicate future maintenance and would probably get filled with sediment. Thanks for your help.

 

[RDrancher]

As others have mentioned, an old industrial tractor would do he job easily. They are also referred to as skip loaders. You'll find that the best deals are for 2WD models, which will still out pull and outwork most any modern 4WD CUT out there. Even the 2WD models weigh in the +10,000 lb. range and the loaders are stout. Ford / New Holland were the most popular back in the day. Models 345d, 445d, 545d are still seen the most. The first number designates the loader lift capacity. Skip loaders were also made by Deere, Massey and International. The only one I would avoid would be International since parts for those are hard to come by.

Edit: Forgot to mention that almost all of the older models are going to be equipped with a pto.

 

[rswyan]

This one is a little more than double your budget - but comes with additional implements - yard box (whatever that is), loader, mid-mount mower, Wallenstein chipper, 5' disc and a plow - has been shed kept and apparently (?) well maintained, includes manuals and is low hours (500) ... IOW: basically just getting broken in:

Kubota B2710 and accessories

The price may be negotiable ...

My thought would be to sell some of the implements that you don't need to recoup some of the outlay, particularly the Wallenstein chipper which could fetch a decent amount. Use some of that revenue to pick up a good 5' box blade.

This tractor is very similar to the one we own - basically the same frame size, same loader, with a few less HP (27 vs. 30), and a couple less bells and whistles. Our B2910 was bought new back around 2000 and currently has just over 1800 hours on it, with no issues and just normal routine maintenance. Been pretty much rock solid ... and I'm not easy on equipment.

If you want to get some idea as to what you do with a unit of that size/type, have a look at the thread at the link below, starting with post no. 33, where I tore out around 800' of old asphalt driveway and then relocated the driveway to a different area:

New Driveway and Polebarn

 

[varmint]

Newby, I should mention that at one point, after having drainage swales lined with rip-rap, with catch basins and 20" pipe installed, we paid to have the lane resurfaced and rolled with asphalt material that had been ground up during highway resurfacing. It was better than gravel, but heavy storms still washed it out. It was sobering to see how much gravel washed into the swales and catch basins. A couple inches of rain will do a lot of damage unless your lane is very carefully engineered, paved and maintained. That's why our lane finally got paved. Makes snow removal almost fun. In your situation, once things are fixed, a small tractor, like a Kubota BX, should be able to take care of things, and prove very handy in general.

 

[newby in tenn]

As others have mentioned, an old industrial tractor would do he job easily.
Edit: Forgot to mention that almost all of the older models are going to be equipped with a pto.

Thanks for the help. Was just looking at an 420 Ford industrial tractor on craigslist, but it di not have a pto.

 

[newby in tenn]

Newby, I should mention that at one point, after having drainage swales lined with rip-rap, with catch basins and 20" pipe installed, we paid to have the lane resurfaced and rolled with asphalt material that had been ground up during highway resurfacing. It was better than gravel, but heavy storms still washed it out. It was sobering to see how much gravel washed into the swales and catch basins. A couple inches of rain will do a lot of damage unless your lane is very carefully engineered, paved and maintained.

Ouch I hate to think of the cost of paving. I have see recommendations for the reclaimed asphalt and there is also reclaimed building material brick block and mortar. Not sure which is best. I have watched the water coming down the road. Looks like it attacks the less compacted areas and then works back into the more hardpacked areas. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience

 

[newby in tenn]

This one is a little more than double your budget - but comes with additional implements - yard box (whatever that is), loader, mid-mount mower, Wallenstein chipper, 5' disc and a plow - has been shed kept and apparently (?) well maintained, includes manuals and is low hours (500) ... IOW: basically just getting broken in:

Kubota B2710 and accessories

Thanks for your digging into craigslist and sharing your experience. I hadn't seen the tractor you flagged. I set my max price at 8000. I am going to try to hold out for a more affordable tractor.