IF You are a Tractor Operator in your ROOKIE Season.

[check]

Oh yes..it gets very cold here. A few years ago, I did my snow blowing with an ATV blower. I dresesed in arctic clothing with a lot of clothes on. It took me 4 hours to do it. When I came into the house and took off my mukluks, wool socks, etc. I discovered that one of my toes was totally black from frostbite. it was frozen through and then after several months of agony, it was amputated.... How cold was it? MINUS 45* F.... so thereafter I had to take my snowblowing task in shifts, to warm up every two hours.
I got a small Kubota, then had a Custom cab with heater built for it. The heater was wonderful, but it was too slow.
Since it will not stop snowing here in winters, I traded my tractor in on a new Kioti CK 2510 HST with the factory cab.
It can do the snow in less than an hour... in nice warm heat in the cab. I got all my money back on the trade, but not my frozen toe.---

Gheez, jix, that's awful! I am so sorry that happened to you, and I will be extra careful about my feet in the future, because I had no idea your toes could freeze without any warning like that. (We do get minus 30 or colder up at the cottage, where I use my open station BX25 with no cab.)

 

[lennyzx11]

I've read through this thread and wish I'd seen it earlier.
I bought my Kubota L3301/HST right before Xmas 2015 to help me build my 30 degree sloped yard up through the future and have promptly scared the **** out of myself a few times.
1. The tricycle effect of the front axle center pivotal mount. When going downhill compound angle on sideslope is a **** near certainty to pick rear wheel off the ground.
Lesson learned...
Weighted rear tires
Adjusted wheels out to max spacing apart
Always BACK down. Figure out a way.

I still have to build that slope up in order to safely now it side slope due to it being thin and long across the slope. But after reading here, I've managed to come up with the plan of putting a 3 point to SSQA adaptor on the back with a top tilt link. This will let me use the bucket on the rear with the grapple on the front to carry ballast if needed.
Back down the hill, dump enough to be able to box blade level later on drive straight back up or slight compound angles each time.

 

[AxleHub]

Greetings Lennyzx,


Your pictures certsinly show considerable slopes which I slso have. But You don't seem to have any flat areas. I read your post a couple times but I wasn't fully able to grasp what your plans for the land were. It sounds like you want to widen the driveway. Have you any plans for terracing any of the slope or creating a retaining wall of some sort? I wasn't clear what will hold the dirt you are moving . . to keep it in place and not heading down the hill?

Guessing at what comes beyond the pictures shown . . It appears you have some nice views.

 

[lennyzx11]

The down hill side is the back yard from the house. As it has to be mowed side slope due to only being about 20-30 ft wide, I want to build a stone retaining wall at the bottom and decrease to slope angle slightly.
There are some nice views. this is a shot from the deck looking down toward where the tractor was parked on the side slope. I measured that angle and it was 30 degrees on the transmission flat cover. Getting off the tractor and pushing on the uphill ROPS lifted the filled wheel easily.

View from that deck.


And a couple more shots.

 

[jenkinsph]

That is a steep slope to contend with, definitely dry weather work. Retaining walls with terraces is one way to deal with it but it will take several of them to do much good. On a steep slope good retaining walls can be labor intensive to build. I would recommend that you use a common retaining wall block such as the 16" wide x 6" height x 12" depth that are about 60 lbs each. You can stack these blocks six layers high for a 3' retaining wall. With the bottom layer partially buried you will get a net height of about 32" height for the six courses.

If it were me I would start at the bottom building the retaining walls and backfill over them and reduce the grade to a workable slope. That would make building the successive walls easier to accomplish.

For the initial layer I dig down about 6 inches and add 2 inches of crushed fines and compact this flat and level. Take the time to get this accurate as the rest of the wall depends on the initial layer. When building these walls I will set the stones two layers at a time and backfill to the slope with a plate compactor. Add two more layers and compact again. Set the last two layers and compact to a smooth finish. Move up the hill rinse and repeat.

While you can use native stone materials it would depend on what you have available that is suitable. The amount of labor increased could be a deal killer too. Much harder to get a good dependable wall that lasts after all the hard work.

Currently I have a retaining wall project using 2,200 of these 16x6 blocks this month and hope to finish it soon if the weather allows. We do a few of these projects of various sizes each year along with paver patios and walkways in my landscape business. Good workers with patience and a plate compactor are necessary for this work.

 

[jenkinsph]

That is a steep slope to contend with, definitely dry weather work. Retaining walls with terraces is one way to deal with it but it will take several of them to do much good. On a steep slope good retaining walls can be labor intensive to build. I would recommend that you use a common retaining wall block such as the 16" wide x 6" height x 12" depth that are about 60 lbs each. You can stack these blocks six layers high for a 3' retaining wall. With the bottom layer partially buried you will get a net height of about 32" height for the six courses.

If it were me I would start at the bottom building the retaining walls and backfill over them and reduce the grade to a workable slope. That would make building the successive walls easier to accomplish.

For the initial layer I dig down about 6 inches and add 2 inches of crushed fines and compact this flat and level. Take the time to get this accurate as the rest of the wall depends on the initial layer. When building these walls I will set the stones two layers at a time and backfill to the slope with a plate compactor. Add two more layers and compact again. Set the last two layers and compact to a smooth finish. Move up the hill rinse and repeat.

While you can use native stone materials it would depend on what you have available that is suitable. The amount of labor increased could be a deal killer too. Much harder to get a good dependable wall that lasts after all the hard work.

Currently I have a retaining wall project using 2,200 of these 16x6 blocks this month and hope to finish it soon if the weather allows. We do a few of these projects of various sizes each year along with paver patios and walkways in my landscape business. Good workers with patience and a plate compactor are necessary for this work.

 

[AxleHub]

Lennyzx,

My slopes are similar steepness and my side hill area is maybe just a hair steeper but only about20 feet wide and 120 feet long. However my slopes end in a flat area in the back yard and a reasonable culvert in the front. But yours goes right down into the trees. Obviously you already have your own plans . . . But until you can get them all implemented, you might want to consider some type of retaining wall line right before the trees as a safety in case you broke loose . . .maybe some of those manmade concrete big block units ( (I'm guesding they must be 18" deep and 24" tall and 36 or so inches wide. . . They'd serve either as a temporary safety or could be the base for your retaing wall at the bottom. They'd eliminate the need for any footing and they are big enough/heavy enough to not shift around if you compact the ground well. Just some plastic drain tile and maybe a little 1+ rock around the drain tile before dirt fill. Of course if using it only as a temporary safety . . You'd just set some of those down to help stop a runaway tractor or lawnmower before hitting a tree or two in the woods.

Nice views but definitely not a beer drinking event while mowing like it is now lol.

 

[jenkinsph]

AxelHub,
So you would feel safer running into large concrete blocks than the trees? Or just launch over the blocks into the trees? I want to watch this.

 

[lennyzx11]

Lennyzx,

Nice views but definitely not a beer drinking event while mowing like it is now lol.

DW managed to turn a rider over in that spot so the ultimatum has been issued.

I have did the other rock work in the pictures all from the rocks found on the property and will probably go that way but be a shame to bury the side facing the house huh?!

I can't dig down on the uphill side as the lateral lines run there.
It's not a have to situation just one of those "really want to" things. We bought the house as a stripped foreclosure and I do everything myself. The trees grew against the back deck when I started.
But I don't want to side track this excellent thread regarding rookie mistakes and I apologize.

If you are going downhill on a diagonal with something in the bucket or even the bucket raised up. You are probably doing it wrong.

Also, I thought that having the FEL on and carried low would help stability kinda like an outrigger or kickstand if the rear started up. That benefit though true can be a lot better if the FEL is removed first with just the tractor I found out on here through advice/past posts. The loader's weight actually raises the tractor's center of gravity.

If you have the quick drop FEL (arms and all) like me from Kubota though, good gawd don't drop it somewhere unlevel. You'll wish you hadn't when it's time to put it back!

Thanks for the advice guys. Great thread!

 

[AxleHub]

. . . . . . . .

If you are going downhill on a diagonal with something in the bucket or even the bucket raised up. You are probably doing it wrong.

Also, I thought that having the FEL on and carried low would help stability kinda like an outrigger or kickstand if the rear started up. That benefit though true can be a lot better if the FEL is removed first with just the tractor I found out on here through advice/past posts. The loader's weight actually raises the tractor's center of gravity.

If you have the quick drop FEL (arms and all) like me from Kubota though, good gawd don't drop it somewhere unlevel. You'll wish you hadn't when it's time to put it back!

Yes, taking the fel off on a non-flat area is . . . Shall we say . . . . another of those learning experiences for us rookies lol.

Personally . . Whether its a lawn mower or a tractor . . I reserve my steeper slopes for either up and down or sideways . . . Anything for diagonal directions is for flat land or mild slopes imo. Its been a very long time since my childhood days . . but even then . . Seeing farmers running tractors on the jills in our area of WI used to give me wonder . . . those 2 wheels spread wide in the back and 2 wheels tight together in the front . . what a tricycle effect. Its a wonder there weren't more accidents back then.

Lennyzx11, your pictures look like great views of pretty country. Looks like you've got good equipment, and you've got a learning and awareness going that a tractor offers benefits and challenges to slope inhabitants. I hope you keep sharing with us either on this thread or others on tbn about your experiences and successes . . . you will have a lot to contribute in 2016