Grading woods trails??

[john_bud]

Old timers used to use a tire drag. Get 6 tires and bolt 3 of them together in a line. Use U bolts or else big thick washers and 3/8 bolts. Then add 2 more on the next layer, then the last one making a triangle shape. Then bolt on hooks or chain attachment points to the outside edges of the 3wide. That goes to the 3 pt arms. Just drag that around with the single tire farthest from the tractor and on looser soils it will smooth it out pretty well and it's about free to make.

For a couple hundred bucks you can get a chain harrow, also called a chain drag.

jb

 

[chuckhole]

My tractor is probably smaller than everybody that has posted so far. It is a 29HP and I run a 5' box blade on it. So all of my trails are 10' wide (three passes - side, side, middle). I created them and smoothed them out with the box blade but via the advice of neighbors, I have started using a 6' landscaping rake. The tines are really thick, heat treated but still forgiving enough that while your tractor is bouncing a bit, the rake is cutting smooth. The idea is similar to the drags mentioned above along with the control of a pivoting scraper blade. The landscape rake pivots in the center and the slots allow material to pass through and fill the voids unlike a box blade that tends to collect material.

For the rough work, I use the FEL and box blade, but for the upkeep and smooth work (and it cuts pretty good), I would highly recommend a landscaping rake. My land is priceless because it came with great neighbors.

 

[gordon21]

10' wide??? That's not a trail, that's a road. If you are doing it that wide, then try to build in appropriate slopes on curves and crown it in the middle on flat straight stretches.