Newb looking for advice and info on a new compact tractor and attachments

[leonz]

Wanting to build a road is one thing, being able to is another.

Have you done a perc test to see how quickly the ground takes water?

You can either build it one of three ways;

1. push through with a very, very large dozer and push all the trees back
fifty feet on either side to prevent regrowth from reaching the opening

2. push through with the heavy dozer and use a grader to build the road up and
hope its dry enough to work to make a taller dirt road with the dirt that
is there

3. push through with the heavy dozer and wide enough with the dozer so that the
dozer can dig the ditches if it has a 6 way blade a use the dozer to spread crushed
stone on the crown of the road.

Options 1,2, and 3 depend solely on whether the municipality will let you do this.

 

[coast40]

somebody mentioned a couple pages back that I could have the dozer build the initial ditches and major drainage. How does a dozer do drainage??

A 6 way or 8 way tilt blade. A big dozer with operator or a small/medium dozer you buy or rent would be my first action. Then later get a tractor for finish work and maintenance. I started with a TD9 dozer and a Case 580B. Now I have a Mitsubishi BD2J dozer and a Bobcat 331 mini-x that do everything I need. Old junk but still working.

 

[Torvy]

Options 1,2, and 3 depend solely on whether the municipality will let you do this.

Fortunately, many of us in actual rural areas don't have municipalities to worry about. Nearest one to my property is 7 miles away, and it is just a small town. We don't tend to have overly self-important county officials either. My experience in the NE would suggest that just isn't possible there.

 

[rScotty]

Fortunately, many of us in actual rural areas don't have municipalities to worry about. Nearest one to my property is 7 miles away, and it is just a small town. We don't tend to have overly self-important county officials either. My experience in the NE would suggest that just isn't possible there.

Nicely put. It's just a real big country. I have to keep reminding myself that our country is so large and so diverse that what is gospel in one area of the US doesn't even make sense to try to apply in another. It's not a matter of right or wrong, its just completely different. And that goes for tractors too.
rScotty

 

[Lawnranger]

Just two more cents for you to consider, I like a cab 80% of the time, but never do I like it on trails or in the woods. Too many opportunities to break glass and visibility always seems better when open. You will never regret extra HP nor extra hydraulics, get as much as you can afford. Good luck!

 

[Surshot]

I bough a tree farm that had sat fallow for 30 years. Did not take me long at all to figure out that my equipment was too light weight. Hired a land clearing guy with a D-8, root rake, a track-hoe with thumb and a 1 1/2 yard bucket and a forestry mower. Best thing I did was draw up a to scale sight clearing plan and watch.
I had him clear
1.a 14' wide fence lne of all trees and roots, 1 1/2 miles.
2. Make a 250 meter rifle range,
3.15' high berm,
4.build four pads for structures
5.dig a 1 acre agricultural pond in my low area.
6. make two roads, E-W and N-S for access across property

Then I could use my equipment. Trees restrict tractor width and require more power to move trees. Get a 2 cylinder grapple first thing. You are not farming, think land clearing, between trees.

 

[dustycoyote]

I bough a tree farm that had sat fallow for 30 years. Did not take me long at all to figure out that my equipment was too light weight. Hired a land clearing guy with a D-8, root rake, a track-hoe with thumb and a 1 1/2 yard bucket and a forestry mower. Best thing I did was draw up a to scale sight clearing plan and watch.
I had him clear
1.a 14' wide fence lne of all trees and roots, 1 1/2 miles.
2. Make a 250 meter rifle range,
3.15' high berm,
4.build four pads for structures
5.dig a 1 acre agricultural pond in my low area.
6. make two roads, E-W and N-S for access across property

Then I could use my equipment. Trees restrict tractor width and require more power to move trees. Get a 2 cylinder grapple first thing. You are not farming, think land clearing, between trees.

That's a lot of work. If you don't mind me asking, what did that dozer work cost?

 

[Rockbadchild]

Now days a D6 is 120 to 150 $/h plus operator..

 

[dustycoyote]

That's a lot of work. If you don't mind me asking, what did that dozer work cost?

Or maybe approximately how many hours each piece, or all, of the dozer work took?

 

[SonomaCountyGentleman]

I started tractoring as a total newbie 12 years ago and now I have about 1400 hours of self taught experience. I live on 15 hilly acres and I do trail maintenance and tractor work on miles of trails and roads in my community. I’ve done every kind of job imaginable with a front end loader, front forks, flail mower, box scraper, back-hoe and post hole digger on my property. I can’t imagine life around here without this tractor. I have a 3016 Mahindra shuttle, which I absolutely love. I especially like the flat floor for comfort.

I have a top and tilt setup in the back, which I can’t even imagine not having. You will appreciate all the ways to angle your box scraper.

I never filled my tires with anything but air and have never felt the need for liquids.

At times I wish I had more grunt for horse power, but I am more frequently quite happy my rig isn’t any larger because access to tight spaces would be more limited.

Some advice I was given early on said that all tractors can accomplish pretty much the same work. Smaller ones just can’t do work as fast. Bigger ones don’t fit into small spaces.

Seems to me for all the road work you intend to do, a blade would be a handy tool. I don’t have one, but there have been times I wish I did.

My advice. Don’t sweat the initial investment. You will find so many jobs for your tractor you will want to be using it all the time. Buy good equipment.