How to get more grip going up and down steep hills

[rox]

My husband and I are new at farming and he has to drive the tractor up some really steep hills. The path is hardpacked dirt. His tires turn but he doesn't move, going up. If we dug a trench and stuck some 2 x 6's on end, lengthwise, so that the the 8ft board was dug into the dirt lenghwise across his path, (oh this is so hard to describe!) but it was on its edge sticking up 2 or 3 inches, do you think the tractor tires could get a grip on that board and it would help him get up the hill?

 

[mwood]

As silly as this sounds, It might be easier if you deal only with hard packed dirt to try turf tires. I know this is strange, but they will actually give more traction on very hard packed surfaces, especially if you underinflate them some.

Good luck with that Olive Farm!!!

 

[Henro]

One way is to get a 4-wheel drive tractor...but that is not a sure cure either. If the tractor is not climbing a dry dirt path, that must be pretty steep!

Another way might be to put chains on the rear tires.

I don't have any luck at all going up my back hill, even with chains on and in 4-wheel drive, if I have to climb over a root that is maybe 4 inches above the ground surface, and the ground is damp...the tires will not grip it, the chains will not grip it...the tires just spin and I have to take a different route...and again, I have 4 wheel drive.

So I doubt that if the tractor will not climb on dirt, that it would climb any better on wood, expecially if it has to climb up onto the wood, even if only a couple centimeters...

It is amazing how strong a tractor can be on the flat ground and how it can be stopped cold on a slope by something like a a root or your board (maybe).

My guess is that the board would not help much, if at all, but I have been wrong enough in the past to try anyway. Sometimes what one thinks should not work, ends up working...

How steep are those slopes? Maybe you could measure them and report back. Might help someone to give better, specific advice... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[rox]

That's the problem, going up the hills it is hard packed, but in the flat areas is is soft and fluffy, form when he "cultivated?" I think that is what it is called, cultivation, he had an implement behind the tractor that dug up all the dirt to make it fluffy.

 

[rox]

Henro,
Your experience and advice, although true is a disapointment /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. If you looked at my other thread I had 2 pictures of the farm. Just see the houses, both 2 story and you can see how high up the land climbs from a two story house. It is really steep, like you get winded walking up and you develope nice shapely calf muscels. Now that you don't think the boards idea will work about my last resort is to get mattracks. I saw their website, I'll go and find it and re-post it. They are basically tracks like a military tank, that you put on your UTV/ATV's. The only problem is they cost like $4,000 and I was hoping for a solution at a lower cost. Tomorrow when it is light I will take a picture of the exact problem hill.
Perhaps others on this forum have an idea. But we are going to fill the tires, that is for sure. How do we do that anyway? Exactly how do you fill the tires? it doens't freeze here.

 

[rox]

Here is the website for the tracks
http://www.litefootatv.com/
I read a review in ATV Illistrated and they said they were awsome.

 

[mwood]

Just for the record, if you can't get up the slope with an ATV with four wheel drive and regular tires, you have no business taking a tractor there!!!!! An ATV will climb WAY more than a tractor...

If you need the Mattracks to get up them, then you definately shouldn't bring a tractor anywhere near them!!!

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> How do we do that anyway? Exactly how do you fill the tires? it doens't freeze here.
</font>

First...don't give up until you try your ideas...no one can be sure, regardless what they say, when they are not standing there beside you... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

You can fill your tires with plain water if it does not freeze there. It can be done very easily and cheaply. A year or so ago I posted a thread of how I did it myself, following the footsteps of others here at TBN.

The easy way is to use a little pump that you put on an electric drill. Here they cost as little as $4.

If you do a search for Loading tires, or something like that you should find several threads on how to do it I think. I would point you to the one I have in mind, but I did not bookmark it... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Filling your tires will be easy and cheap, since you live were it does not freeze. Who knows, they may be filled already...

 

[rox]

It's not just getting up the hill, we also have to pull a big sprayer behind the tractor. And the spayers that came with the farm are big heavy mothers. I think a smaller spayer and an ATV/UTV would work best. However because of the huge decline in the US Dollar, I no longer have the budget to run out and buy the UTV right now /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. Gotta wait for the crop to come in. In the meantime my husband has to get up these hills to spray or we loose our crop the the olive fly. We don't even cultivate up there, just kill the weeds with herbiside and hand weed. But spaying we must do.

 

[mwood]

Just a thought. Since it's difficult to pull the full sprayer up the hill, would it be possible to fill the sprayer at the top and leave it there. By the sounds of it, you have more than one sprayer. If possible, run water to one or two key spots, leave teh sprayers at these key levels and then fill them and spray. It's just a thought.

Think outside the box!!!

 

[rox]

mwood, Many Thanks for thinking outside the box! I came on this forum to ask for help and am so grateful that several people are offering help. Unfortunatley they are different types of spayers. One makes like a big cloud, and the other one has a hose and a gun. We have to many hills to be able to leave either spayer stationary. But good try!!!! Just need to get up this one hill in particular, the one that flips the tractor. Tomorrow I am going to take a picture and post it. My guess is at the bottom of the hill if you went into the hill 25ft underground, that the slop has risen 15ft to 18ft. There is a reall nice stone terrace I can measure how high up it is, and also measure the depth from the bottom of the hill to the stone wall. And at that point you are only half way up the hill.

 

[MicroPilot]

What kind/brand/model of tractor do you have? Can you post a picture?

 

[tracdoc]

Hearty congratulations on your taking the path less travelled. I can see it now... the Provençal version of Under the Tuscan Sun in the making. Simply delightful.

On your query about the hills and traction, I agree that a good starting place is to get some idea of the actual steepness of the hills
There are at least 3 ways that hill steepness is cited:
Angle (in degrees)
Grade (in percent)
Rise-to-Run (cited as a ratio, e.g., 2:1, 3:1,etc.)
All of these are inter-related, since they all provide information about the relationship between the same 2 sides of a right triangle.

For the most frequently encountered grades, the numbers are:

GRADE /% SLOPE /Angle

6:1 17% 10°
5:1 20% 11°
4:1 25% 14°
3:1 33% 18°
2:1 50% 27°
1:1 100% 45°

You can easily estimate fairly accurately the steepness of your hills with a few simple measurements using nothing more than a yardstick and a spirit level. These measurements can then be converted to the angles in degrees. I tried to paste a figure of a right triangle here to illustrate the calculations, but no luck. You can send me a PM, and I can attach, if you need.

Why do all this? It should assist you in determining if you have the correct (read as safest) tractor for your particular situation. All the loading/chains, etc in the world won't be of much help if the tractor still has too high a center of gravity for the conditions at hand.

The EU has a wealth of heritage and experience in dealing with your conditions. One of the biggest and most experienced tractor manufacturers in the EU is the<font color="green"> SAME DEUTZ-FAHR GROUP </font>. Their URL (in Italian) is:
SDF Group Webpage
There you will find info on the individual brands which the Group umbrellas. A number of them are suited for steep terrain. Another thought to consider long term is adding some terracing. As I am sure you know already, the French and the Italians have done this for centuries to level out otherwise unworkable hills.

Best wishes for much enjoyment in your idyllic adventure. Please do keep us posted, if for nothing other than our vicarious enjoyment of your experiences...

 

[KiotiJohn]

Rox, as I said on your other thread, backing up hills is the way to go. If it won't back up the hill, you don't belong on it. Most tractors should not be taken up more than 20 degree hills. Add the sprayer to the mix, and get turned just slightly to the side and you'll be pulled over. It would be better to rig a pulley at the top of the hill with a cable that would go up and back down. Hook it to the sprayer, and the other end to the tractor down on safe ground. Use the tractor to pull the sprayer up the hill. I hope this concept is clear enough. This should be a fairly inexpensive way of working the sprayer up the hill. From the sound of all you've posted, I wouldn't get that tractor up on that steep hill. Especially since there is little experience involved. Tractors turn over in a quick fashion, and by the time one realizes it's going over, jumping away from it is not always possible. John

 

[Egon]

Is there one excessively steep spot?
How long is the slope that must be climbed
Is there a flat area for turnaround at the top?

Would a long cable attached to the tractor with snatch block at the top of the hill with cable coming back to bottom of hill and being pulled on by another vehicle be feasible.

Or a winch.

Egon

 

[MarkV]

Taking Egon’s idea one step farther, would it be possible to pull the sprayer up the hill with a cable and then back the tractor up which often works better on steep hills. The tractor might have a better chance if not pulling a heavy sprayer.

I would sure try lowering the tire pressure, filling the tires and tire chains before I went with the track system. How about pouring some rough, as in plenty of gravel exposed or grooved, concrete strips at a width that matches the tractor tires?

Good luck and be careful.

MarkV

 

[MicroPilot]

Mattracks also makes tracks for tractors!! Don't know if this would be helpful if your tractor isn't 4WD though.

 

[MikeFromVA]

One other suggestion. You can us a winch to pull the sprayer up (already mentioned, I know) but you can also use one to assist in pulling the tractor up. You need a good anchor at the top of the hill though.

Hopefully, you aren't trying to farm the actual hill and you just need to get to the top to get to a more level area.

Best of luck!!!

 

[rox]

Egan and really everyone, Many thanks for your help. Do to the time difference, there is a delay in my response. I will post some photgraphs I just took. It will take me a couple posts to get them all on here. This first one it the tractor. It is a Goldoni 3050 DT, it is a Diesel. My husband does not know if it is 4 wheel drive. He says the farm worker already told him to back up and down hills. Didn't see any seat belt in the tractor but perhaps it is in the barn.

 

[rox]

Micro Pilot and all, here is a closer vier of the tractor.