How big of a rock/boulder can a 60 HP tractor push on relatively flat dirt?

herm0016 · Jun 21, 2022

Branson 47 hp and almost tipped her over with a cube about 24x24x24 inches of sandstone on the forks. no counterweight though. weights around 5k with loader. I figure the rock was around 1800-2k lbs. I just picked up a welding table 3 miles away est weight was 1400 and it was not a problem with a 8 ft blade on the back.

future_vision · Jun 21, 2022

Fxfymn413 said:
Be prepared to spend a LOT of time if you do this. The duty cycle on those winches is 10%. (That's 6 minutes per hour of full load operation)

If the winch is an option just rig it with a snatch block or two and move it with the tractor or excavator. Make one machine the anchor and use the other to pull with. As you run out of cable simply move the anchor machine back and make another pull.

Can you get them up on a stone boat? The smooth bottom makes it far easier to move than the rock on bare ground.

Hmm. Stone boat. Good idea. Hadn't considered that. Guess I got some how to videos to watch.

future_vision · Jun 21, 2022

rScotty said:
OK. I'll give an opinion. At least give a place to start & with some caveats.. Judging by your chart and what I've had to do with the similar size rocks on our place. And using our tractor which is a 60 hp, 8000 lb tractor with R4 industrial tires on mostly sand and granite soil - no clay. and using the loader bucket to push with and sometimes flip them....And assuming this is all on level ground. You can't slide much weight up even a slight incline.

I'd say you will be able to slide and skid the 3000 and under pounders around - especially if you can get the lip of the loader under an edge, but once you get to the 4000 pounders it won't be worth the hassle....if you can do it at all. Somewhere in that range is where I give up on moving them. With the backhoe I can flip a boulder over even if it won't slide.

rScotty

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have a backhoe on the tractor too so that might help especially when half the rock is underground (or even more. Think iceberg). I like the idea that herm0016 posted about using a stone boat. Just need to figure out how to build one sturdy enough to handle the large ones.

future_vision · Jun 21, 2022

jb1390 said:
You can roll some massive ones. Lifting them is harder. I think rolling with the loader would be more effective than trying to drag them.

For reference my machine is 50 hp, probably about 9K pounds (without the rock). I can lift them up to about 4K pounds I think. Not very high though. I can roll some that are substantially larger than what I can lift.

9k lbs for a 50 hp tractor? I think mine will be around 7500-7600 lbs. 4K for the tractor. Another 1400 for bucket and loader. Another 1200 for the backhoe and then another 900-1000 for the ballast in the tires. Most of the rocks are well under the 4K mark but there are those special ones that pop up from time to time.

future_vision · Jun 21, 2022

herm0016 said:
Branson 47 hp and almost tipped her over with a cube about 24x24x24 inches of sandstone on the forks. no counterweight though. weights around 5k with loader. I figure the rock was around 1800-2k lbs. I just picked up a welding table 3 miles away est weight was 1400 and it was not a problem with a 8 ft blade on the back.

Sounds like I am going to just do some testing and see where the limits are. The idea of a stone boat or event the mechanical advantage of using a pulley system might make sense depending on how far I need to move them and the terrain. Should be a fun adventure filled with lots of sweat, tears and head scratching.

JasperFrank · Jun 21, 2022

Pics are a poster's best friend.

future_vision · Jun 21, 2022

JasperFrank said:
Pics are a poster's best friend.

This will give you an idea of what I mostly deal with size-wise. The second picture is of those on the larger end. Of course I hit some outliers that are bigger but not often.