Skid Steer or CUT for Road Maintenance?

[airbiscuit]

I like the mini ex option. Maybe rent one first to see how feasible it is?

 

[bdhsfz6]

Can you please post a few pictures of your roadway and ditches? Without pictures, everyone is just guessing. You know what is commonly said, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Letting us know what tractors you have would also help in recommendations.

Pictures wouldn't show much this time of year with a foot of snow on the ground.

My tractors are listed under my avatar and the attachments I own under my username.

I'm cleaning the ditches now using an 8' York rake with a T&T kit I bought from you Brian. It's been working great for over 15 years now, and increases the usefulness of the rake 10 fold. These pics are of the rake on my old L3430:

The problem is, the rake draws the debris from the ditch up on the roadway surface and makes a muddy mess. The best approach is to scoop and dump the material back on the bank using the FEL. I thought a shorter wheelbase skid steer would be much easier to maneuver. LHF2019 above, suggested a mini ex which might be a better idea.

Anyway, thanks to all for the advice & suggestions!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I guess what I'm thinking is that if you were to get a rear blade that can reach over 4 feet from the edge of the tractor, would it not be waaaay faster to just drive along pulling the ditch clean and then scooping up all of that material and disposing of it as you prefer?

Just a thought.

 

[scootr]

I guess what I'm thinking is that if you were to get a rear blade that can reach over 4 feet from the edge of the tractor, would it not be waaaay faster to just drive along pulling the ditch clean and then scooping up all of that material and disposing of it as you prefer?

Just a thought.

That's a nice one !

 

[spruce Deere]

That's how I pull ditches with my rhino back blade. Pull the offset pin on the plow frame, swing it over, angle the blade down and hit the ditch.

Mine is not as fancy as mntview's though, with all the nifty hydraulic movements.....

 

[bdhsfz6]

I guess what I'm thinking is that if you were to get a rear blade that can reach over 4 feet from the edge of the tractor, would it not be waaaay faster to just drive along pulling the ditch clean and then scooping up all of that material and disposing of it as you prefer?

Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestion but that's pretty much what I do now with the York rake. I offset the blade around 30" and drag the spoils out onto the road. It's a mix of mud, round stone and biomass which is tough to clean up without disturbing the packed stone road surface. It's the cleanup that takes all the time, considering how far I have to haul the spoils.

Timewise, it would be faster to use the scoop & dump method working perpendicular to the roadway. The more I think about it, the more I like the mini ex idea using a wide landscape bucket. The superior reach of the boom would allow me to dump the spoils farther up the bank so they wouldn't need to be hauled away.

 

[tradosaurus]

I have a 1,000 ft gravel driveway and use a box blade to fill in ruts.
If it was a mile I would buy a land leveler as they are specifically made for driveway maintenance.
If Everything Attachment was still in business I would have provided a link.

 

[CliffordK]

I was going to suggest saving the money on a tractor and paving the driveway. But at about $50 a linear foot, it adds up.

 

[tradosaurus]

I was going to suggest saving the money on a tractor and paving the driveway. But at about $50 a linear foot, it adds up.

One estimate I got was $150/ linear foot.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Over the years I’ve used a number of things to grade gravel roads. My go to now is my tracked skidsteer with a tilt tatch and typically my tooth bucket. This setup is heavy enough to break through the hard packed gravel as well as establish a crown on a formerly flat graded road. I have a landplane I use as well but the bulk of the work is done with the bucket. Once grade is set I lock it in place with a vibratory roller. I use this setup commercially but it’s been a game changer for grading.