Cutting an access road on a slope

[Sebculb]

Hello, does anyone have any pointers on how to cut an access road/driveway going across and up a somewhat steep slope? Attached are a couple pics of the slope that I happened to have around to kind of give a better idea of the situation. The one that has the tractor backed uphill on a cockeyed angle is pretty much exactly the path the driveway is going to take, we were digging out a pesky tree stump with the backhoe right then, lots more pesky tree stumps to dig out still... Since then I've dragged a lot of sawlogs down that way so its becoming a compacted path of sorts.

Eventually this is going to be the driveway to a house site a little further up, itｴll probably be about 40-50 meters long or so when done. Like I said, its becoming a sort of navigable compacted sorta smoothed out pathway, but it remains really cockeyed and itｴll have to be leveled out side to side before itｴll be a suitable driveway for the family SUV. The tractor is kind of new to me and Iｴm still learning how to drive it, and every time I try to level the road out or clean it up I make a worse mess of things.

All weｴre working with is the Kubota with the loader and the backhoe (and hand tools), donｴt have access to any grader blades or box blades or any of the other attachments that are commonly used to make roads. The tractorｴs pretty light so at first whenever I tried to do any scraping or grading with the loader bucket it would just skip around on top without actually doing anything, and if I tried to really dig it in then it was making a hole and not smoothing anything out. Have since welded a tooth-bar/rake thing and bolted it to the loader and that makes it much more effective for scraping up a top layer of dirt in an orderly manner. Havenｴt really adressed the driveway issue again since installing it, though. Right next to the tractor shed is a flat spot where I could begin from to try and make a controlled level scrape with my new improved tooth bar loader, but that would be working uphill, which I dunno if thatｴs how things are customarily done. Itｴd also be tricky. Iｴve thought about going up backwards and using the backhoe to scrape dirt off the uphill side, which could work, but thereｴs a big possibility of just making a mess too. Iｴve seen bulldozers a lot bigger than my 23hp tractor make roads around here, and they usually go downhill and they also have a plow blade that adjusts its angle to compensate for slope and grade properly and stuff, its a much bigger, different piece of machinery.

I donｴt have a lot of experience driving this thing yet and none with any other types of machinery, and Iｴm finding its waaay more difficult to grade something flat than it is to just dig a big hole and carry the dirt away. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it.

 

[bcp]

I did about 200 feet on a slightly steeper sidehill using my BX. The two biggest helps were a good toothbar, and keeping a level place to work from.

Dig about half a bucket (left or right side) and dump it on the opposite side. Repeat a couple of times, then drag or push with the bucket to smooth it some. Pack it down with a front wheel. Repeat for hours.

Once I had a level path, left to right. I used a box blade to lower the high spots and fill the low spots.

I had rocks up to 2 ft diameter, but no stumps.

Bruce

 

[Verticaltrx]

A few tips:

-I like to work going up hill when possible, it's tougher going but safer.

-Basically a road along a hillside can be thought of as a shelf, you have to cut it out of the hillside

-You can start the cut at the bottom with the backhoe, dig away from the upper side and place dirt on the lower side to get a nice level area to start. Then if the digging isn't too tough use the loader to continue digging away at the upper edge and placing the dirt on the lower edge, compacting with the tires as you work your way up the hillside. If the digging is tough you may have to use the backhoe for a majority of the work.

-With a loader and backhoe you have the perfect tool for building a small hillside road, a box blade, scraper blade, etc are only good for the final finishing and not needed for this basic task.

Take a look at this thread I made awhile back on this subject: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/197254-road-building-compact-utility-tractor.html

 

[MotorSeven]

I agree with Vertical, without a box blade w/rippers, I think I'd just use the backhoe to dig & level the road bed working up hill. Then come back and scrape it with the bucket. It will be time consuming( a few days), but you will be able to get the road level and consistent in width that way. Also don't forget when putting the finishing touches you can back drag the lip of the bucket in "float" mode which makes it all pretty smooth.

 

[Egon]

When dumping your bucket try and keep the front wheels at right angles to the slope or as close as reality allows and keep the bucket low. Also watch out for the outside shoulder being soft. If you get onto it and parallel there could be an Oopsie. In the event things get tense drop the bucket and steer down slope.

Proficiency takes time. But it will happen without you noticing.:thumbsup:

 

[Sebculb]

Wow, Guys, thanks lot for all the information. I really appreciate it and it'll help a lot. Especially that other thread, Verticaltrx; lotsa good info and pics there.

I´m gonna try to make the whole thing a shelf, rather than put the fill on the downside. It'll be a pain in the butt to back down each time with a bucketfull, but I can really use the fill in some other spots on the property where we're filling and leveling some depressions. Also, I´m going to be cultivating right below the road so I don´t want a bunch of loose fill piled up making the access difficult as well as washing down onto the crops. It rains a lot (like monsoon) here, so its also better to dig down to "tierra firme" if you want anything to really stay put.

Thanks again for the info, keep it coming!

 

[dave1949]

Don't forget to plan for run-off and drainage.

I think I would use your backhoe to cut into the high side of the slope and pile the dirt in what will become the middle of your driveway. Then level that out with your FEL bucket. You might have to take multiple passes at this as CUT backhoes don't have much reach. If so, then begin with the pass that is farthest out from the driveway. You will have to move the dirt twice, but that is nature of small equipment.

You might want to dig deep enough while doing that to create a drainage ditch on the up-slope side. Be bold and dig deep to give yourself enough material to work with.

 

[Ed of all trades]

It can be done easly with a plow and a rear blade. Plow a furough on the up hill side throwing the dirt into the road, and then grade with the blade. If the hill is steeper you might have to plow several times on the up hill side to get the road "level".

 

[schmism]

the man has a backhoe.....

set the machine up backwards, dig from the uphill side, put it on the downhill side. move tractor backward.

rinse and repeat.

 

[Sebculb]

Thanks! We're picking beans right now (a lot of them, we're beaners) so I won't get to play with the road for a few days. Gotta pick them before the pods get too dry in the sun or else they pop open and drop the beans all over the place. I´ll post up how the road's going when I get to work on it again. Thanks again for all the advice, I´m sure everything will go a lot smoother now.