Home-made Sheep's Foot Roller Ideas?

[gerard]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

A real "sheeps foot" roller uses weight AND vibration to compact and break up lumpy soil after dozing. Something you just pull without vibrating wouldn't work as well and I agree with the other posts that merely packing the area in your picture will not hold up if the water flow continues to run down the roadway. Does anything grow there that you could use as a groundcover like a grass or something. Still haven't seen anything better than vegetation to control water erosion and if it's a low growing type you could still drive over it without having to cut it although you might end up with tire ruts depending on traffic volume.

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Lots of good thoughts guys - I'll try to respond in a single message so the thread doesn't grow so fast...

Harv - Thanks for the compliment! I really didn't intend for it to be a piece of art, but I guess I got lucky. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I actually have 8 distinct types of soil on my place (it is on an old <and inactive /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif> fault line. It ranges from sandy loam to clay - multiple colors too. (and lots of rock in places as well.) Some of it should pack pretty well, while some won't. I've actually used the BB to smooth things out a bit, the problem is the ruts that are now filled in aren't compacted, so if you drive down them with a vehicle, although it looks smooth, you get pretty bumpy ride as you go from "new fill" to "original road" areas and it compacts under the weight of the vehicle. I have decided I don't really like that sensation in a tractor. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Ewoss3/dummy/pks - Definitely some innovative ideas I hadn't thought of. The main section I'm complaining about is ~1600 ft. long @ grade, so I'm not sure how many "speed bumps" (be it RR ties or trenches) would be needed. The wood chips are an interesting idea too. Not sure how much would be required, but I could imagine quite a few trees would be needed. Got plenty of "trash trees" I need to clear out, but don't have a chipper. Hmmmm.... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

egon/gerard - Yea, I understand about the vibration thing. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif If I could rig up something to add vibration to the rig, that would be pretty cool, but I figure it would also have some pretty serious drawbacks (most mechanical stuff doesn't like vibration - especially stuff I weld together /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif), cost, and design (I'm a bit better off than Forrest Gump, but not sure I'm up to designing something in that category that wouldn't require constant repair).

The weight thing is also interesting. I did a few calculations using 55 gal drums - w/ H20 I get about 480 lbs. If I use concrete however, I get closer to 1120. The tractor/loader is close to 5K lbs, so I figure that it could probably handle it fine (BB is close to 700 - it did fine going up/dn and it doesn't roll) so although caution is in order, I think I'd be ok.

Vegetation is a good idea too. Not sure how well things will grow on certain areas (there are some areas that it would work REALLY well). I'll have to look into native grass seed...

Keep the ideas coming - I don't think I'll rule out the sheep's foot just yet, as if it works (even so-so) it should be real cost-effective in comparison to some of the other "better" solutions out there. If I only had a bigger budget.... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif


PS: Here's another picture of some other sections of my "road"... (rocky section - mild incline)

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Another pic...

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

One more....

 

[Harv]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Nice, Ranchman!

I gotta say it again -- I'm really enjoying your pictures. You have a good eye for the kind of stuff we like to see here.

Any chance you can shrink them down a tad for posting? Maybe 640 x 480 or so?

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Thanks again for the positive words!

I'll see what I can do about going ahead and "reworking" my future pics to see if I can get them a bit smaller. I didn't realize that there was an issue. Sorry 'bout that. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

That's kindof funny that you have to scroll to see the whole pic. Whenever I click on it it automatically shrinks to fit within my Internet Explorer browser.

I've opened the attachments with the "Multimedia - Enable Automatic Image Resizing" option under Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced both on and off, and for me at least, the pics I've posted it doesn't make a difference (not sure if it would for you).

Lemme know if you decide try that option and if it helps things out or not...In the mean time, I'll work on my photo-editing skills /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Well, the easiest way to make yourself a sheeps foot roller is to weld a bunch of 4" lomg pieces of 1.5" pipe to a roller drum. The pipe will pack full of dirt, and it's a lot cheaper to do that way than it is to make the pegs from solid stock and replace them as they wear out.

As to washouts, Old tires work extremely well to prevent washouts, and make a fantastic road base. We used to do that on the temporary roads in a landfill, and eliminated a lot of problems with stuck trucks.
Bolt the tires together tread to tread to make a mat, dig out 8" of roadway with your loader and set the mat of tires in place. Fill the cavitys in and between the tires with the material you dug out, and compact the whole thing. Even when the material gets wet, it won't be washed out.

 

[Harv]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

<font color=blue>I didn't realize that there was an issue. Sorry 'bout that.</font color=blue>

Oops! /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif I didn't mean to make it an issue, RanchMan. Yes, there are a number of ways to view large pictures, but Muhammad has politely suggested a maximum width of 800 pixels (see <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/faq_english.pl?Cat=#photo>FAQ</A>) for a variety of reasons.

Don't worry -- I don't think Muhammad is going to send that mega-pulse to your computer that makes it blow up, but since I'm looking forward to more of your shots I just thought I'd mention the size thing.

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

<font color=blue>I don't think Muhammad is going to send that mega-pulse to your computer that makes it blow up</font color=blue>

I sure hope he doesn't! I have a hard enough time keeping it from "blowing up" as it is!!! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

PS: Tell me if this size works better....

 

[Harv]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Now I've done it! I've turned this thread into a photo discussion. My bad. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

<font color=blue>Tell me if this size works better....</font color=blue>

That one certainly meets the pixel width criterion, but now the image quality seems less than the others (don't ever get Harv started on a picture discussion

). From the looks of it, I'm guessing maybe it's over-compressed? The file size is absolutely tiny, which is cool, but you could probably compress it less (better quality) and still be okay.

I'm not really used to anyone actually listening to what I say, so I hope this is coming out constructive.