Grading Improving trails in rocky Maine ground ... would rear blade work?

easygo · Sep 5, 2007

I cleared some trails on my 10 acre property over the years (before I became a tractor owner) and now it seams that some of the side slopes are a bit steep for the tractor. I would like to make it a little smoother so I can use them without fear of rollover. What would be a good attachment to make the trails a "smoother"? Could I use a rear blade to drag out some of the rocks/dirt and pull it into the dips or it would just skip or get hung up on the roots of trees? I thought by dropping one side of the blade I could just carve out a portion of the slope forming a more passable area. I'm not looking to make a 2500ft long road in the woods just trying to figure out a way to improve them in a few spots. The reason why I thought of the rear blade instead of the box blade because I would be able to use it for snow clearing as well. Please give me your opinion on this.
Easygo

mazurrj · Sep 5, 2007

Depends on how big the roots and rocks are. Where I'm at the only option is to bring material in to cover rocks if too big to dig out with hoe and level trail. I would think the box blade would dig out the smaller rocks better than rear blade. so really depends on type ground.

easygo · Sep 5, 2007

The rocks cold be about football size at the most. Anything larger than that I mostly removed by hand. I wouldn't try to use the blade within 5-6 feet of trees so I will not damage the major roots but there are plenty of small ones farther away. The ground is fairly hard by the end of the summer but the Fall and Spring rains always made the rock removal easier.
Anyone can give me pointers on the usefulness of the rear blade?

escavader · Sep 5, 2007

easygo said:
I cleared some trails on my 10 acre property over the years (before I became a tractor owner) and now it seams that some of the side slopes are a bit steep for the tractor. I would like to make it a little smoother so I can use them without fear of rollover. What would be a good attachment to make the trails a "smoother"? Could I use a rear blade to drag out some of the rocks/dirt and pull it into the dips or it would just skip or get hung up on the roots of trees? I thought by dropping one side of the blade I could just carve out a portion of the slope forming a more passable area. I'm not looking to make a 2500ft long road in the woods just trying to figure out a way to improve them in a few spots. The reason why I thought of the rear blade instead of the box blade because I would be able to use it for snow clearing as well. Please give me your opinion on this.
Easygo

Easygo,
Sometimes the easiest way in this rocky state is to haul in something for a trail topping.My atv club bought 3 atv dump trailers-they work real well and you would be suprised how much you can do in a day.Once you apply a good coating of sand or something a rear rake works well to keep it smooth.
ALAN

Egon · Sep 6, 2007

Using the bucket and a back blade will work. It's easiest if you have gauge wheels on the back blade.

Picture of a trail made by bucket and back blade.

AceDeuce · Sep 6, 2007

A rear blade would probably work fine but a box blade is the right tool for the job. That said, I have a rear blade not a box blade because I use it mainly for snow removal. However, I have occasionally used it in the same manner you described with great success. Tilting it up and back makes it work like a single-tooth ripper - great for loosening up tough ground, cutting roots or mining rocks. Either way will work. I second the suggestion to bring in a topper. Gravel dust works great for trails.

jbrumberg · Sep 6, 2007

Easygo:

My only concern is the degree of manuverability you will have in your woods using a rear blade as well as your acknowleged potential for "blade skipping" and "root hopping". A heavy box blade would probably be more manuverable and less likely to "skip and hop". Just my $0.02- Jay

EddieWalker · Sep 6, 2007

I think you will be very disapointed with a back blade I don't have one, but my neighbor does and he used it just a few times. Now it's sitting along our property line available to me to use anytime I want it. I think he's sold it, but the buyer hasn't picked it up yet. He was kinda vague on that.

Anyway, it has the same problem the boxblade has. It sits on the back of the tractor and moves up and down just oposite of what the tractor does. If the front end of your tractor goes into a low spot, the blade on the rear will rise into the air. This makes it EXTREMLY difficult to get a smooth finish. Usually you'll end up with a worse finish then when you started.

I personally like drags. I have one out of a large oak log with cyclone fence wraped around it that is loose behind the log. I pull it over my trails and it smooths them out. For more aggressive drags, I have two very large, (massive) forklift forks that I drag around. My tractor is only 35 hp, so there are times it's not enough to pull those forks. My backhoe is 80 hp and I use it to from time to time to pull the forks.

These wont fix your rocks, but neither will the blade. You need to remove the rocks, cover them, or both. A FEL would be allot better at rock removal then a blade. A backhoe would be the best, but also the most expensive.

If it was me, I'd just take a walk on the trails every day with my shovel and take out one rock a day type of thing. In a year, you'd have it pretty much done and be in better shape for it too!!! hahaha

Eddie

charlz · Sep 6, 2007

I have found my back blade works well for three things: forwards on angle for removing snow, backwards straight for smoothing out trenches and stuff I have torn up with my backhoe, turned around and straight to push snow piles a little further off the road. Other than that is just sits.

Unless the rocks are already loose and sitting on top of the ground I think a back blade would just skip over them.

Can you rent one near where you are at? Best way is to try one without having to put a lot of $$ out up front

Charles

easygo · Sep 6, 2007

Thank you all for the input. It seems that most of you think it will not work too well. I guess I will use some gravel as fill and as CHARLZ said I may just try to rent a back blade and see how it works before laying out the $$$. I LOVE WORKING IN THE WOODS so it will not be a chore. The trail itself is mostly done by hand tools. It is just so nice to walk out there with a bow saw and a small ax to clear some brush and fallen trees. I used to haul out wood with an ATV and I regularly go for walks on it. I cleared a wide enough path to make it passable for an ATV and a 3.5ft wide trailer. The way it shaped up was: wherever I could go without cutting down trees, because I hate to just waste the forest for my convenience. I will try to post a few pictures I took this morning on my regular walk with my son.
The first picture is the bridge I built over a very soft area. I used to drive the ATV with the loaded trailer over that thing. I will reinforce it before I do the same with the tractor.
Second picture is a section of the trail that I recently improved using the FEL and gravel for filling.
The 3rd is the ATV I sold to pay for a good portion of the tractor and the 900lbs capacity trailer I made that is still in use. this picture is from last year.