I my BX too heavy?

[DGS]

I have just finished paying $700 to repair some broken tile in my septic bed
The fellow who did the repair said that my BX1830 may be too heavy to cut grass over my bed (clay tiles)
All I use is my 54'' mid mount mower with nothing else on the tractor.No FEL.back weight
Is he right?
The bed is over 50yrs old and I have been here the last 33 with no trouble
Tank gets pumped every 3yrs and although it is a bit small (400gal) the pump guy said it is good enough for 2 people
I had a Cub Cadet 1650 hydro with 60" belly mower before selling it to buy my BX and it was no lightweight garden tractor (mostly cast iron and steel)
Anyone's ideas will be gratefully appreciated
DGS

 

[timswi]

I find that one hard to believe..The BX has pretty good weight distribution. How deep was the pipe, that could be part of the problem.

I've run skid loaders and loaded pickups over mine with no issues at all.

 

[brin]

It could be that it just happened over time..the tiles got aged and weak and maybe you ran over them when the ground was soft from rain otherwise you have to ask...if not your tractor then what ? What caused it if not your tractor...I am very careful moving around our septic and lines to it..I try to just back the rear mounted finish mower over it from all sides instead of driving over it wirth the tractor and for sure never stop or go slow over the tank itself or the lines (tiles) feeding into it..

 

[radioman]

BX too heavy for septic?! I find that bunch of you know what. Not to sound dismissive but don't you think it was just the timing of it all ? like other poster- how deep were those old tiles ? what do you have there now after it was repaired ?

 

[powerstroke444e]

You should be able to drive anything over the them light trucks, backhoes and excavators as in our area they have to be 36" to keep from freezing. But I have seen some break that don't have anything driven over them.

 

[timswi]

My guess is that the clay pipe just failed and the plumber was looking for a reason. That stuff has a finite life span and is very brittle.

 

[Couple of Achers]

I have what is called an "at grade" system. The drain field pipes are roughly 12" deep. I was warned never to drive anything other than a lawn mower over the drain field area or it would be possible to crush the pipes. I guess in your case it would depend on how deep your pipes are, and then add to that the age of the clay tiles, I would say it may be possible the BX was a little too heavy.

 

[TripleR]

I agree with everyone else, I have driven, my BX, trucks and even my Case CX80 over my tank and leach field without problems. If it was installed properly, you should have no problems with a BX. When I had a new field installed at one of my houses, the installer used his backhoe to fill the lines in and drove over them repeatedly backfilling; no problems and it was even pretty muddy.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Drive over mine all the time with BX, B and did when I had the L. Don't believe BX had anything to do with it unless you've got really powdery dirt and the lines are almost on the surface which I would not expect in Canada. Clay tiles are very fragile especially over time and will fail because of ground freezing and thawing movement.

 

[bp fick]

Drive over mine all the time with BX, B and did when I had the L. Don't believe BX had anything to do with it unless you've got really powdery dirt and the lines are almost on the surface which I would not expect in Canada. Clay tiles are very fragile especially over time and will fail because of ground freezing and thawing movement.

Agreed. Clay tile are an organic material and this quite likely just natural decay. Our first house was built in the 1930's and had clay tile for perimeter french drain around the foundation. Had to excavate and replace with plastic perf.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Hard to believe. I'd love to do a PSI analysis of tractor weight vs. contact patch area, but I'd wager to say that the BX distributes its own weight as well as any lawn tractor half its weight.

Sure it weighs more, but it has to be a point load for that weight to transfer more than a few inches through the earth.

I used a cherry-picker mounted on an F550 recently that left ruts in my settled earth. Huge weight coupled with high pressure front tires.

If you're overly concerned, let a couple lbs of air out of your tires. That'll distribute the weight even more and better over uneven surfaces. Do it all the time when running my truck in the sand...works fabulously. Just don't do heavy FEL work thusly equipped.

 

[DGS]

Thanks to all of you that have replied as it is very helpful advice so far
Just to let everyone know my tilebed is set 24" in very heavy clay the clay tiles are surrounded by crushed gravel so that should be no problem in that respect
The Health dept in my county are real strict in enforcing thre rules and regulations and that makes me very parenoid about what I should do if this fix doesn't work
These guys will evict you from your own home and I have seen them do this many times around here
The BX runs 10psi back and 12psi front so that should be fine I think
I really do not want to have to lose my tractor for something smaller as I have done so much with the BX
Moving 40+ yds earth
Tilling my garden 25'X80'
Snowblowing my drive plus the neighbours also
Finally lots of very enjoyable hours mowing my lawn
Again thank you for all your ideas
Regards
DGS

 

[TripleR]

If you figure the actual amount of weight of your tractor divided by four, the difference in weight on any wheel is not going to decrease a great deal with a smaller tractor. I just don't see how enough weight transfer is going to occur through two foot of clay and then gravel to even be felt let alone do damage.

If you are still concerned, you might want to mow across or at an angle on your lines, so you don't have two tires going over the same line all along the way. I also change my pattern every on a rotating basis to cut down on soil compaction by running over the same set of tire tracks every time I mow.

Just some thoughts.

 

[radioman]

DGS, you welcome- I am sure you are happy with your BX, hopefully you will be able to sleep at night now. No need to listen to plumber comments since he may not know the actual weight of the BX. I am sure he saw the FEL and automatically assumed it like a heavy construction equipment.

 

[KeithInSpace]

If you figure the actual amount of weight of your tractor divided by four...

Well, you had to go and start introducing math...

Let's say the contact patch of the front tires is, conservatively, 3 inches by 5 inches. Let's also say, very conservatively that 2/3 of the weight of the tractor is over the front wheels and also, very conservatively, that the tractor is outfitted to weigh 3,000#.

That means there is 2,000# on 30 square inches of contact patch on the front tires.

By extension, there is roughly 67 lbs of weight per square inch in a VERY conservative analysis.

Not that I've tried, thought about trying, or wanted to try running over my foot with my BX tractor, but I'd bet money that it woudn't even hurt.

Given that you say our bed is 24" deep, I don't see any fathomable way that your BX distressed the tile in that manner. The weight distribution is just far too great to impart any force on an object 24" in the ground, especially in clay which has, as a fundamental component, high shear strength.

This is not a reason to give up your BX. Please...don't mention that possibility again. It just hurts too much.

 

[kthompson]

About 40 years back we had same type of tiles that failed same way with nothing more man made than push lawn mower and one horse wagon with wood in it crossing the line. Now it was about 12 inches deep. Some tile failed that never had more than a cow or such walk over it. But pounds per square inch probably is more than your tractor.

 

[marvindmartien]

If you calculate the square inches of rubber that touches the ground compared to your old Cub, I yould bet that your BX is lighter! You have greater weight distribution on those large tires. Maybe your broken tyle is from high pressure gas evacuation. Got to watch those frank and beans.

 

[bp fick]

Clay tile, from that era, were a fired clay tile. They are porous, filled with miniature flaws, and all it takes is a bit of water and the freeze thaw cycle and you have larger portholes, cracks and fissures. The OP's tile are many decades old, as he described them.

Countless freeze/thaw cycles, frost heave, earth movement, compression, constant exposure to moisture. Tile are almost always exposed to moisture because that is their job. Eventually, failure is assured. Clay tile have been in use as sewer and potable water since the time of the Roman Empire. I witnessed 2000 year old tile in the eastern Med.

Your Kubota had little to nothing to do with this.