What class of tractor for maintaining two miles of road at higher elevation?

[In.the.Piñons]

Not so much the loader itself, but the bucket. You can always pick up a bucket for $1200-2000, new, used, aftermarket, ect. No, you don't want to bend/crack them, but they are replaceable.

OK, that's good to know, thanks! That's not that big of a cost.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Equipment manufactures like to make a loader only fit a few models then change the loader design. This makes replacing the complete loader after a catastrophic failure difficult. Buckets are easy to change out and not terribly priced. However its different for loaders.

You can't with a normal backhoe. The snow wedges in the front and rolls off on each side. Its frustrating if your trying to clear a path wider than the bucket. If you want to push the pile off the road you drive off the road. I have pushed lots of snow with a backhoe.

You can get them with detachable buckets and 3rd function. However they are rare and often $$. Another option is to make something that mounts on the bucket and use 3rd function or a diverter to operate it.

They have rear lockers as a standard feature and most the newer 4wd ones have an automatic locking front differential. They plow great up hill because they are so heavy.

You cannot attach 3pt implements to most industrial backhoes. (not sure what a gravel rack is)
You could use something like a road maintainer if you fabricated a rear hitch. They work like a land plane.
View attachment 920900

Your description of the property make me lean towards a full sized 4wd backhoe. It will handle the rock the best, can handle major wash outs, repair the dam, plow snow, etc.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I would be clearing the whole width of the road, which is about 11-13ft and wider at intersections and a few places with "bump outs" to allow traffic to pass. A few other properties have ingress/egress rights, so we do get about 6-10 vehicles a day using the road, so just clearing the width of the bucket isn't going to work. Can you do two passes to plow a wider area, or do you just end up putting snow back on the side you just cleared on the first pass?

Also, I meant to say gravel rake (not rack), but think the proper name is landscape rake.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Good timing (maybe).
Check with local co-ops to see if they get any (what I'll call) "off lease harvest tractors".
@ultrarunner was discussing this in another thread.
Machines about the size you need are leased for harvest and heavily discounted at the end of the harvest.
@oosik nailed what you need, or maybe a little larger.

Thanks for the suggestion on the off-lease tractors.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Sure. They sound like the same questions I had.

....how does that go with the bucket, when you want to angle the snow off the road.
It doesn't angle the snow off the road in one controllable direction. A commercal size TLB like the Deere 310/410 has enough power and weight that it can push a lot of snow in front of it. With the heavy bucket in float mode the snow being pushed is increasingly compacted into a wide spear ">" pointed in the directon of travel. That > shape of compacted snow that just gets longer and larger - and more dense - untl the snow begins to roll off the road on both sides. Then we just continue driving forward. The bucket is 8 feet wide, so the cleared area is wide enough for a PU. It isn't a perfect job. There is snow left behind and also compressed under the tractor tires. The job ends up beng good enough for PU access, and general feeding and ranch work.....but it would be hell on a passenger car.

There are limits on how much snow is in the spear or "> shape" being pushed. It doesn't always work the same depending on how heavy and deep the snow is. On medium snow I try to get to it when it is about 18 " deep. And the result isn't perfect. But it is good enough for ranch work. And quick

Do you have to steer it into place?
No, not unless I just get lucky. Generally just push until a turn or end of the road happens. Then reorient and start again.

Can you get a plow blade for the 310 that has a third function?
So at the reasonable user level for us TBNers the answer is somewhere between no and maybe.
We are just now beginning to see quick change implements other than a bucket. You can put a 3rd function onto anything, and there are now also Quick Attach couplers built for commercial machines. The quick couplers are more expensive and not yet common - but becoming more available.
Most commercial size are dedicated machines, not a "one tractor can do it all" so popular with utlity and homeowner tractors. Not all SSQAs are heavily enough built for that duty on a 310.

Does it have a locker in the rear? How do you think it would plow going up hill?
Yes, they all have locking rear differentials. With 90 hp, all that weight, the locker, good tires, and 4wd.... it's a beast. Even so, it plows best on the flat or slight slopes. The problem is always with slopes that lean off to one side. IMHO, those side slopes vary from dangerous to nearly impossble with any machine except a "leaner" like a road grader or 6 way blade on a Cat.
Sometimes we have to be satisfied with just making a path. It will generally do that.

Can you attach a land plane / gravel rack / box blade to the back of one of those?
Some you can. I've heard of them being ordered without the backhoe for that purpose, but don't know anything about it. That is where the dealer's "Whole Goods Catalog" for commercial fleets is handy.

Hope it helps. My last advice is if you go this way spend the premium for a real good used one. Old ones can actually be better if cared for. New, they are all just too expensive,
rScotty

Thanks for all those details. As mentioned above I guess my concern would be needing to plow a path about 1.5 times the bucket width.

The extra power and weight would be nice... about the equivalent of a 100hp utility tractor.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

I really think most people expect to put 200+ hours per year on a homeowner machine. It might be 200 hrs in the first year, but it's normally sub 80 hrs per year after that. Now, our OP has additional day to day uses, beyond the dirt work, feeding hay, hauling water, maintaining his dirt bike jumps, ect. I really doubt we are talking about more than 400 hrs max, first year, and maybe 200 hrs per year afterwards.

What I'm getting at, we don't have to size the equipment for optimum speed and work efficiency. He could honestly get by with anything that weights 4000# with a loader lift capacity of 1500# and 3 point of 2500#. I assume we want anything other than R4 tires, unless the machine is Heavy. So, using Koiti as an example; he could go as small as a DK4720, on upto a RX7720. On a Massey Ferguson line, possibly get by with a 1840M, on upto a 2607H, or 2860M, or even a 4710.

I'm kinda assuming, we want to be able to move a full sized 5x6 round ball (atleast one on front and one on back), or a full IBC, 275 gal tote (2400 lbs).

Dirt work, frankly anything over 40 hp would so the work, over time, but I'd prefer 55+, and 7 ft impliments.

It's good to put things into perspective. Need vs want etc.

Due to the elevation here, I usually size up anything that has a naturally aspirated engine (dirt bike, chainsaw, log splitter etc), but as long as the tractor has a turbo diesel I guess it shouldn't be necessary. But then again, there is more to it than just having a turbo. It all comes do to how the boost pressures are programed.

Anyway, I guess I'm probably looking at a ~60-100hp tractor from what everyone has suggested.

In past winters we have had a company run a pickup or two with plows and chains to clear our roads. I think it takes them about and hour or two, depending depth of snow and what driveways they do.

So my question is. How much quicker will a 100hp tractor plow the road vs a 60 hp tractor. Something like a Kubota 6040 vs a 9540?

2/3rd of the road is far from flat. Here's an elevation profile that shows a 3/4 mile long section. +100ft and -180ft max slope is +22%, -26%.

I really don't want to chain up if avoidable (might put some grip studs into the tractor's tires for ice). Will the extra weight of something like the 9540 (13,000lbs with a loader) help with grip on those hills?

 

[Sportsman762]

Extra weight helps a lot when plowing snow. Snow weighs a lot, more weight on snow plow, more snow that can be pushed.
A backhoe can clear two paths worth of snow, it normally requires three passes, one down each side then a center pass. Or lots of plowing off the side if just using the loader bucket. If I were you I would rig up a old large snow plow blade that you can pin in the bucket. You do not need angle, just plow to one side, halfway through winter pin the plow to angle the other way so you wear the blade evenly. One thing nice about backhoes is that if you get stuck they generally can unstick themselves with the bucket or the hoe. I have pushed drifts 5' high with a 2wd Ford 655 on level ground at low elevation (1,000').

 

[TGM5040]

I'm currently building a driveway that will be 3/4 mile long at 7%ish grade and an elevation of 5700'.
For building the road I'm using a Komatsu PC78MR-6 excavator, and a Dynapac CA-121 padfoot compactor, and Cat 977l. I definitely wouldn't use the M5040 for road building in the rocky soil we have here.
I'll use the Kubota M5040 (non turbo, with cab) with an 8' Caldwell hydraulic rear blade for final grading/crowning and snow plowing.
The 8' Caldwell blade has been great. The arm pivot at the hitch is angled which took some getting used to but then it turned out that it gave me a lot of control.
I usually run the Kubota in low range and 1st or 2nd gear and creep along working the blade hydraulics as I go. It has plenty of power.
I'm getting a small grader (John Deere 570A) that should make things easier and speed things up (especially plowing snow).
Once the grader is going, I'm keeping the M5040 as it is just so handy. I'm happy with the non hydrostatic trans, although the clutch is a little stiff.
It has about 1000 hours on it. A 1000 hours in a car driving 50mph would only be 50,000 miles, seems pretty 'new' to me....

 

[In.the.Piñons]

I made the trek to see the local Kubota and TYM/Mahindra/DEUTZ dealers this week. It was not good news. Virtually nothing used, no off ag leases. I was told stay away from the turbo diesel TYM/Mahindra tractors as they were having trouble with them at elevation and had to de rate them to a lower HP!!??

The Deutz 5080D looked interesting and had good ergos for both me and the wife, but having to clutch to use the shuttle shift is a deal breaker for us. But the dealer said the new model coming in Nov will have an auto clutch SS. Are these smaller Deutz the real deal made in Germany, or are they just some rebranded Turkish tractor?

Kubota's are just so expensive and they don't include basics like a heated rear window and a wiper. I think used will be the only way I end up with a Kubota. Extensive dealer network and "Made in Japan" put them at the top of the heap in my eyes.

Maybe it's just my imagination, but the bigger tires on the 100+ hp tractors looks like they would do much better if I put a wheel off into the ditch (pretty deep and wide in some places).

I'm going to check out the Massey tractors next week.

 

[paulsharvey]

If you think you can make 60 hp work, the 2860M power shuttle is a heck if a machine; but it's probably 50% above your starting budget, I would be surprised to find one under $47k, with loader., but new, loader, and Cab, is $55k

There is a very low hours, very lightly used, open station in Missouri, for$28.5k

 

[jyoutz]

It looks like the nearest MF dealers to your area are in Gallup, NM or Salida, CO.