Road maintenance

[BSK]

I'm calculating out costs for having some new roads built on my property. These would not be all-vehicle access type roads but just roads made for ATV/UTV/4x4 tractor access (minimal leveling/clearing). I'm calculating maintenance/upkeep costs for these roads, and I'm curious, from those who have had to maintain roads over many years, which piece of 3-point-hitch tractor equipment do you feel is best for maintaining ATV/UTV trails: a box-blade with teeth or a rotatable grader blade? Opinions?

 

[deerhunter10]

Rotatable grader blade imo. A hydraulic one that'll run on remotes even better. You can move material better with it then a regular box blade. I don't own and haven't personally used one but I have a neighbor that likes his land plane kind of a hybrid box blade. It doesn't seem to move as much material around though.

 

[BSK]

And let me add, many of these roads will go up and down some fairly steep terrain, although I hope to have them constructed so none have more than 10% grade (hopefully, less). I'm most concerned about fixing erosion washouts.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Those rotatable grader blades look nice, but I've never used one. We kind of have both - we have a box blade, and also a landscape rake (that's rotatable). The box blade we smooth with. The rake also smoothes, but we use it to rake leaves off trails after most of them have fallen (for quiet walking). If those rotatable grader blades hold up, that might be the ticket.

 

[TnKen]

Box blade because you will need to do some cutting/ripping to fix ruts that develop, especially on the slopes

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Box blade. It will carry material and fill in voids (rills) as you go. A grader blade will only cut and move the cut material to the shoulder. If you run into a rock with a grader blade you're screwed. With a box blade you can drag material over it and smooth it out

 

[Jcalder]

I had to regrade my yard a few years ago. I'd still be working on it if hadn't of traded my grader blade for a box blade.

 

[BSK]

Very good news! Already have a box-blade with adjustable teeth.

 

[Smo]

I use my 6' rock rake more than any other attachment I own for road/ trail maintenance.

I have a landscape box and a grader blade , but the rake gets my vote…
Along with the front bucket on my tractor.

 

[deerhunter10]

Very good news! Already have a box-blade with adjustable teeth.

If that's what you have it'll work just fine. Just preference. We sold our box blade for a grader blade. But we do the vast majority of our road fixing or grading with a tractor and a bucket or a skid steer and a bucket. Just as fast.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Box blade especially if you're having to build waterbars, crowning, dips, and/or turnouts. Take the time to build them right and they'll probably be better than some county roads.

 

[BSK]

If that's what you have it'll work just fine. Just preference. We sold our box blade for a grader blade. But we do the vast majority of our road fixing or grading with a tractor and a bucket or a skid steer and a bucket. Just as fast.

Our 4x4 tractor has a bucket, but I'm always afraid to put too much pressure on it. I was told from Day 1, "Don't use it like a bulldozer!"

 

[deerhunter10]

Our 4x4 tractor has a bucket, but I'm always afraid to put too much pressure on it. I was told from Day 1, "Don't use it like a bulldozer!"

We treat all of our tractors as a dozer lol. Our poor 4230 I've welded the frame 3 or 4 times. Not uncommon on the 4000s series frames. Doing normal road maintenance generally isn't bad on loaders and tractors.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I've got a rotatable blade that I use but honestly still have to use a rented skid steer every now and then. When you have boulders the size of cars and larger, you can't do much with a grader blade. You have to backfill and smooth over and a skid steer is way easier for that vs a tractor FEL.

 

[deerhunter10]

I've got a rotatable blade that I use but honestly still have to use a rented skid steer every now and then. When you have boulders the size of cars and larger, you can't do much with a grader blade. You have to backfill and smooth over and a skid steer is way easier for that vs a tractor FEL.

Skid steer is a cheat code on stuff like that. But most people aren't going to invest that kind of money into one. I bought mine for my business. I never thought I'd use it as much as I do on our farm and for farming.

 

[Omega]

I have a box blade and a rotatable blade, but have used one of these to level out a large gravel lot at a JD dealership. It is much better than a box blade to maintain a road, just because of how it handles material. It probably wouldn't be good to create a road/trail, but for maintenance it is great.

 

[BSK]

I have a box blade and a rotatable blade, but have used one of these to level out a large gravel lot at a JD dealership. It is much better than a box blade to maintain a road, just because of how it handles material. It probably wouldn't be good to create a road/trail, but for maintenance it is great.

Those type devices are AWESOME for repairing fairly flat roads. We use that for fixing our main driveway.

But I'm worried about repairing washouts on steep ATV/UTV trails that are going to be pretty rough.

 

[Omega]

Those type devices are AWESOME for repairing fairly flat roads. We use that for fixing our main driveway.

But I'm worried about repairing washouts on steep ATV/UTV trails that are going to be pretty rough.

Depends on how bad the washouts are, you can always use the box to fix the washouts and then plane to finish it up. What I like about the plane is that it doesn't keep a bunch of material in it, just a little to fill in some low spots so it doesn't overload the tractor. I like to work downhill on the steep ones, which make the plane a good choice, you don't end up with a big mound at the bottom.

 

[BSK]

Pictures never do the steepness of hills justice, but the picture below is the type of road I'm worried about maintaining. The loggers cut that road down the hillside to access a valley. We use it to access the food plot. It has a measured grade of 27%. If it hadn't been for the massive water bars they put across it (which I hate - very hard to get equipment over them), that road would now be a disaster. We have had to fix it by hand numerous times (cutting drain lines across it as well as repairing the water bars). I don't want any of my new roads that steep, but any type of grade in these hills is going to see major run-off/erosion problems.

 

[BSK]

Depends on how bad the washouts are, you can always use the box to fix the washouts and then plane to finish it up. What I like about the plane is that it doesn't keep a bunch of material in it, just a little to fill in some low spots so it doesn't overload the tractor. I like to work downhill on the steep ones, which make the plane a good choice, you don't end up with a big mound at the bottom.

Our main road across the property, usually kept smooth enough for 18-wheeler log trucks, in one heavy rain had erosion cuts chest deep. It was so bad I couldn't drive an ATV on it.