The Ground around here is getting pretty soft thinking about using plywood on the grass the ground to keep the equipment from sinking in or tearing it up. Is it worth the money to buy equipment mats made for heavy equipment? Maybe in the long run ? How heavy of equipment do you guys drive a crossed the mats or the plywood
Long run.... Definitely get some poly mats or similar cause even really good 3/4 or 1 inch plywood doesn't last for more than 6 - 8 jobs if you're lucky, we still buy plywood every now and then when we are short mats .. probly should buy more and take my own advice..
Ok you talked me into buying some mats . Is there any brands you or don’t like. I liked the idea of getting mats with hand holes. But just sure it worth it .
I got the 3x8 with one side smooth and the other with the crossbars in black, mine don't have hand holes but you could always cut in your own... When I was first looking I was after 4x8's but the salesguy talked me into the 3's as they are lighter enough moving around by hand if you're doing a bunch it won't kill ya' When I have to I use a CB hook to grab them outta mud... fits in the holes just fine. A couple jobs we have done I wished I have got the white ones as they are supposed to not kill the grass as much when left down in the sun for several days... but oh well they do make it easier to clean up as we're working our way out of a site.
They do cost quite a bit more than plywood but for as rough a treatment as they have gotten from us they do seem pretty indestructible had the corner of one get caught under a skidsteer once, bent it over a couple feet back next day it was flat again They are a little flexible to where it will still 'mush/rut' the ground out some... it really depends on just how soft the subgrade is... but it's still better than without them!!!
We bought 3x8 mats 15 years ago. Started with 6 and slowly increased to 25. One man can handle 3x8 easily, 4x8 needs 2 to handle. We picked up some used 4x8 ,we keep those at bottom of pile as last resort. We still buy plywood when short for jobs. It was tough to swallow purchase price of $225 a mat back in 05 but I charge rental on mats per job and when you have to buy more its easier. All original 6 are still in service and you can pick them up with thumb on mini ex. where you will poke holes in plywood. We have used mats under hydro vac and loaded dump trucks with out any problem. Andy
I had 80 4x8 Alturnamats in white and black. We used pallet forks to put them out/retrieve them, which made the job considerably easier than doing it by hand. The heaviest thing we moved on them was 9 trips with my grapple truck from back yard to the street after a storm. The truck weighed 47klb empty, heaviest load was probably 40klb (76 yard body). The mats kept us from getting stuck and made the job very profitable.
Thank you guys for all the advise . i won’t be moving any heavier then you guys do so now I just have to open the wallet . I was going to get 4x8 but if the 3x8 are a one man job I’ll get those
We've done basically the same - I bought a few 4x8s, then my supplier brought in 3x8s. We've got about 20 or so, and haven't destroyed any yet. Plywood for us typically only lasted 3-4 jobs before it was trashed.
So, maybe this is dumb but if you don't have a huge stack of these things do you place one or two in front of you, drive on to them, get the ones behind and move them up? Or do you only place them where you are planning to sit and work?
We use them mainly to traverse customers front lawns to get to the back work area, sometimes to lay on sensitive paving for tracks, anytime you will need a good 'haul road' If you have unlimited time I suppose you could leapfrog them but we never have enough time at all
I believe it. I didn't think about plywood for my yard but sure could use it a bunch. I've driven a lot of deep ruts around the yard and the one spot that I get real stuck in, next to the creek, is the one spot I could really use the hoe any time now due to the wind knocking over a lot of trees, this was a couple weeks ago, there is probably twice as many in this spot now... On my first day out there after buying this hoe I had her buried base plate deep (is that what you call it? It was basically sitting on it's belly) and front tires were axle deep, so I couldn't turn much (the dark spots in the picture are actually these ruts!). Next, the direction I was sitting I could only drag myself toward the creek and more trouble and without being able to turn the front wheels it got sketchy quick. It was good practice to save myself, I guess.
We had to get a combination truck 600 feet out into a grass field to flush a storm drain and we simply leap frogged the matts. It takes time but can be done. This kind of job is definitly a time and material job. We also lay them down to pile material on to reduced cleanup time and protect grass and other surfaces.