I live on a 6 block long 13% grade mountain road in Colorado. Every few years we need to "regrade" to get rid of washouts / ruts. There are lots of rocks here in the Rocky Mountains, and plenty of them just above surface level in my road. I just sold an Argo which could only be used to plow snow. Would like to replace with a 50HP 4X4 tractor which could plow snow and hopefully also help maintain the road. I'm wondering if a heavy box blade and ripper teeth could dig up 5 or 6 inches on each pass to provide enough material to re-level. The road is compacted from daily traffic, but also has washouts. How effective would a box blade and ripper be and if effective how heavy would it need to be. The tractor weighs 4500 before adding any implements.
A box blade and ripper would be my first choice given the limited tractor. 4,500lb tractor, I don't think you'll get six inches per pass unless it's loose and going downhill.
Yeah, I'm thinking 2 or 3 inches maybe. A good addition to your box blade would be a section of RR rail attached across the top help gravity push it down some.
My main concern is buying this tractor, then finding out that it won't hardly scratch the surface. What do you think a reasonable expectation for depth in compacted mountain road is? And I will be grading / ripping while downhill bound. And would it be better to get a shorter box blade?
What did you use to grade the road before? How big are the rocks in the road? How hard does the dirt compact,can you dig with a pick?
Rent similar size/hp machine w box blade- test drive that before buying (Or see if dealer has a demo you could “try before you buy”)
I used my now seized 1845C uni-loader, although Delmer gave me one more thin to thing to try. It had teeth on the bucket. 10 random pick swings went it about 1.5 inches. Most of the rocks I would be concerned about will be grapefruit to soccer ball size
I’ve never used a box blade but the ones I’ve seen seam a little lite duty for this IMHO.
If you scarify the entire road, you may need to compact it after grading it. A heavy rain may be a disaster if it isn't compacted. A heavy vibratory roller would be my choice. Those are awful big rocks deal with after they are pulled up.
Sounds like you need to fill some holes and add about 4 inches of crushed concrete. I prefer the stuff that is screened to about 3/4". I shudder to think about grapefruit to soccer ball size rocks in a road.
We used to do the Huge rock as base here, few subscribe to that line of thought anymore. Most will lay a base of 2-3" clean, then overlay with 2" minus and top with inch minus so it does end up close to concrete. Set a reasonable number of wash directing berms In the roadway, direct water at regular intervals Off to a ditch or drainage diversion of some type and washouts decline rapidly. I attend some 600 feet of gravel drive over Loess Soil, have a few wet weather springs pop thru on occasion but the primary issue was controlling wash as rose 120' in 600', land is terraced so too the drive where culverts at terraces direct field water under and the berm itself directs downhill flow away to side ditch. I attend my drive with a 77hp 2wd farm tractor that is NOT heavy enough, use a drag blade and the loader it is equipped with, a Skid Steer or CTL would be a better choice. A Track with a ripper better and a Motor Grader with scarifier ideal.
I got the impression he didn't have much choice about the huge rock base. or the 13% grade. I was going to suggest a bigger heavier 2wd tractor, and it might still be a good way to go, but that kind of grade, and who knows what kind of snowfall, I won't criticize a little 4wd. I will say a 4wd without a differential lock is worse than a 2wd with dif lock, I'd bet by far. If you have more volume of snow than weight, and not a huge volume either, then a large 3 pt blade on a medium sized 2wd tractor would be more effective than a small 4wd. IF you're willing to do the work to keep up an obsolete farm tractor, vs a newer homeowner tractor.
Regardless what is bought as far as rubber tires, chains will be a necessity come snowfall 4wd 4 wheel chains
In that situation, I'd like a Same, 4wd and 4 wheel BRAKES. I'll agree on chains. You might get away without them if the ground rarely freezes, you have great tread, and your snow is all powder. So you'd be able to reach the sand and gravel underneath with every snowfall. Around here, we'll have wetter snow that will be ice once it's packed, or 1/2" of ICE, black and clear.
I worked with a lot of crushed concrete. On crushing operations and spreading it. I never saw any that did not have wire and rebar sticking out of it. It was crushed down to baseball size and smaller. We used it for sub-base, never for top coat. It was recycled on-site when we were rebuilding highways.
Large rocks will be a problem if you ever want to get your driveway smooth again. You want a box blade to be at least as wide as the rear tires. Don't think a box blade would dig out large packed in rocks. I would see if it's possible to demo one. Another option might be to see if you could hire the county to bring a grader.
I guess I got some that was screened and magnetically filtered. Did a road with it two years ago and not seen the first sign of any metal.
I just mentioned the wire and rebar as warning. I'm sure there are stockpiles of metal free crushed concrete in existence.
My box blade ripper teeth would only run over the top of that unless it was wet. Then I would only be able to work down hill and would slid off the low side. It has no hydraulic down pressure. I have a two shank subsoiler that might get into that ground but it needs 60+ HP. Weight as mentioned would help. Sometimes I use a disc harrow and take a little off at a time. Then box blade it around. If you are not spending a lot of money on rock planting a small grain in it helps a lot. I would be very cautious about busting all that up at one time. Diversion berms as mentioned are mandatory.
We're assuming the road washes out, and diversion berms or whatever you'd call them locally will lessen that. If you never have a gully washer/frog drowner rain, or the whole road is adequately crowned and ditched, then you might get ruts just from the traffic on such a steep section. Especially if any front wheel drive vehicles attempt it.
I maintain about 2 miles of private road. There are two creek crossings that have banks where the road is 10%+ that are each several hundred yards long. I primarily use my ag tractor which is an older Case that is 85hp and 4x4. I use an 8' box blade with ripper teeth (when needed). It does a pretty good job, but I don't think I could get 6-8" in one pass. It might take me 2-3 passes. I've only ripped up a few sections where we had massive potholes. I've been amazed at how big of rocks it would pull out when one of the rippers grabs one just right. Having a lot of horsepower and weight is a must. My setup works, but I am still looking for an old grader or old dozer to really be able to do a good job. I am also still working on getting drainage right because most of my roads are just old oilfield lease roads that were never really meant for daily traffic. With steep grades, I wouldn't even consider a 2wd tractor or anything under about 50hp. BTW- I drove through Idaho Springs last week. That is a beautiful place to live.