"Grading" Rocky Terain?

[lupuseven]

We just moved to SE Arizona (near Portal), I bought a used L3301 equipped with a FEL and a box blade (forgot the brand) to help with the many planned projects I have out here.

We live on a foothill where the terrain here is basically rocks with some dirt thrown in. I have been able to manage grading most of the areas I need by skimming the top w/ the FE, cleaning up with the Box blade, then scooping out the larger rocks the BB collected. exception would be the roads to the place. Which are super chunky and quite difficult to just run the box blade through to smooth it out (I've tried). I was thinking of adding weights to the BB to help keep pressure on it. With hope it will help dig up the rocks (Football size and bigger) and smooth the road out.

Anyone have any experience with this?
Is there an attachment made for this type of work I should get/ make (besides a dozer lol)?
I do have a TA tooth bar coming on Monday to help my FEL work the ground.
I'll try and post some pics tomorrow of the "dirt" I have to work with.

 

[lupuseven]

Right after yesterdays rain.

 

[lupuseven]

 

[NCL4701]

If you have loose but uncomfortably large rocks on the road (which is what it looks like) I would consider using a landscape rake or back blade to windrow the offending rocks off to one side to be aggregated and picked up with the loader. Might have to swap back and forth between the boxblade and back blade/rake a time or three to get it the way you want it. Others may have better methods.

 

[jyoutz]

We just moved to SE Arizona (near Portal), I bought a used L3301 equipped with a FEL and a box blade (forgot the brand) to help with the many planned projects I have out here.

We live on a foothill where the terrain here is basically rocks with some dirt thrown in. I have been able to manage grading most of the areas I need by skimming the top w/ the FE, cleaning up with the Box blade, then scooping out the larger rocks the BB collected. exception would be the roads to the place. Which are super chunky and quite difficult to just run the box blade through to smooth it out (I've tried). I was thinking of adding weights to the BB to help keep pressure on it. With hope it will help dig up the rocks (Football size and bigger) and smooth the road out.

Anyone have any experience with this?
Is there an attachment made for this type of work I should get/ make (besides a dozer lol)?
I do have a TA tooth bar coming on Monday to help my FEL work the ground.
I'll try and post some pics tomorrow of the "dirt" I have to work with.

Near Portal AZ? Your household probably doubled the population. That is a beautiful location and fantastic white tail deer hunting country. I’m a forester and am very familiar with those road conditions. I have planned reconstruction of hundreds of miles of roads like you describe. I’m not aware of any grading solution to that situation except to add a top layer of crushed rock. After adding the crushed rock, we would be able to maintain the road by grading with a blade. And yes I know that adding rock is costly. So maybe consider spot rocking the worst areas and living with the rest. In that type of soil, grading is impossible. Whenever you remove the large rocks, more emerge from deeper in the ground.

 

[Tarmy]

I have a 500 foot plus drive…volcanic rock and Boulder country. I finally figured out how to get a nice surface in two ways. Either buy crusher 3/4” or smaller…and the method I use as well…get out the rock rake (meaning the one YOU use with your hands) and do a chuck at a time…takes a while but gives you time to think about shooting stuff

 

[animals45]

I agree on the back blade . I was surprised how good they work when I put mine on for the first time . Make sure you get one that angles & tilts ,
animals45

 

[lupuseven]

If you have loose but uncomfortably large rocks on the road (which is what it looks like) I would consider using a landscape rake or back blade to windrow the offending rocks off to one side to be aggregated and picked up with the loader. Might have to swap back and forth between the boxblade and back blade/rake a time or three to get it the way you want it. Others may have better methods.

Kinda what I was thinking too, Im going to see if i can borrow or rent them to see if they are even effective enough before I spend the loot on someting that I wouldn use otherwise.

 

[lupuseven]

Near Portal AZ? Your household probably doubled the population.

LOL pretty much

That is a beautiful location and fantastic white tail deer hunting country.

the beauty of this area is what drew us here, and the night skies are the best I've ever seen!
We have a herd of about a dozen Mule Deer that camp out on our property every night.
Just for reference we live in the saddle on Safford Hill.

I’m a forester and am very familiar with those road conditions. I have planned reconstruction of hundreds of miles of roads like you describe. I’m not aware of any grading solution to that situation except to add a top layer of crushed rock. After adding the crushed rock, we would be able to maintain the road by grading with a blade. And yes I know that adding rock is costly. So maybe consider spot rocking the worst areas and living with the rest. In that type of soil, grading is impossible.

Thanks!
I was thinking about the adding rock solution too. I have a lot of material to remove and shuffle around the property. So I am going to build a couple rock screeds, one to 1" for road use and for 6" for fill on larger areas. I will use the remaining large rocks for decoration and for quickly building up the berms on the ranges I plan on carving out.

Whenever you remove the large rocks, more emerge from deeper in the ground.

yeah I've been finding that out as I'm leveling/ smothing out land for general use.

 

[lupuseven]

I have a 500 foot plus drive…volcanic rock and Boulder country. I finally figured out how to get a nice surface in two ways. Either buy crusher 3/4” or smaller…and the method I use as well…get out the rock rake (meaning the one YOU use with your hands) and do a chuck at a time…takes a while but gives you time to think about shooting stuff

I've been hand shucking the larger ones, its amazing how quickly it actually gets done too. good Idea on the hand rake I have a large one I'll have to start bringing with me when i manage the larger ones.

 

[lupuseven]

I agree on the back blade . I was surprised how good they work when I put mine on for the first time . Make sure you get one that angles & tilts ,
animals45

Whomever had the tractor before me put hydraulics on all 3 pts! I get some crazy tilt action out of it with one full extended and the other full retracted. Definelty need the angle, tilt not so much so that should help with whatever's out there in the used market

 

[jyoutz]

LOL pretty much



the beauty of this area is what drew us here, and the night skies are the best I've ever seen!
We have a herd of about a dozen Mule Deer that camp out on our property every night.
Just for reference we live in the saddle on Safford Hill.





Thanks!
I was thinking about the adding rock solution too. I have a lot of material to remove and shuffle around the property. So I am going to build a couple rock screeds, one to 1" for road use and for 6" for fill on larger areas. I will use the remaining large rocks for decoration and for quickly building up the berms on the ranges I plan on carving out.



yeah I've been finding that out as I'm leveling/ smothing out land for general use.

Yeah, the mule deer are down in the grasslands and foothills. The white tails are higher elevation in the pine/oak areas.

 

[skeets]

Well you sure do have the high ground no doubt about that. I bet the wind is real treat up there I was wondering if you just used a drag behind the tractor like maybe a 4 or 6 inch I beam to smooth things out a bit. The beam banging against the rock might bust some of it up to fill and smooth out some holes,, Just a thought

 

[steveh]

That section of driveway in your photo looks a lot like mine here in Colorado. I use a back blade on my tractor and keep it relatively nice. It is a chore I need to do every now and then, as our rocks continue to grow up out of the road surface due to warm/cold cycles in the weather. And as I grade the road, the blade will catch stones and drag them up above the surface. I have just compromised and do the best I can. The ground here is basically solid rock, broken up rock substrate, ground up rock, and a couple inches of "topsoil" here and there. I thought about paying big money to have brought in tons of road base or gravel, and I don't think that would solve the problem permanently and would have to be redone every so often.

 

[Lil Foot]

I met a guy with a similar road, maybe not so many big rocks, who worked hard moving rocks by hand, and using a back blade to get it usable. Once it was passable, he drilled a couple holes at the ends of a big, heavy I-beam. (maybe 10'x6"x10"x1/2" ?)
Then he hooked a heavy chain to it and hooked that to his truck, tractor, or what ever he was driving at the time. He would then drag it out to the end of his driveway, unhook, and go about his business. When he returned, he hooked back up & dragged it the opposite way back to his place. Occasionally, he would angle it one way or another, as needed. seemed to work pretty well. But is was noisy.

 

[NWAZL3560]

I have a skeleton rock bucket, you might try one. It worked well for scooping out bamboo roots for me. I have found that they tend to pick up a lot of dirt along with the rocks though.

 

[lupuseven]

Well you sure do have the high ground no doubt about that. I bet the wind is real treat up there I was wondering if you just used a drag behind the tractor like maybe a 4 or 6 inch I beam to smooth things out a bit. The beam banging against the rock might bust some of it up to fill and smooth out some holes,, Just a thought

Yeah the high ground was a good selling point to me on this one.
Surprisingly the wind isn't as bad as one would think. most days none, now this last storm was insane 30-40 steady with 60mph gusts.

I like the idea of the I-beam, I'll put out some feelers to see if anyone has any laying around.

 

[lupuseven]

That section of driveway in your photo looks a lot like mine here in Colorado. I use a back blade on my tractor and keep it relatively nice. It is a chore I need to do every now and then, as our rocks continue to grow up out of the road surface due to warm/cold cycles in the weather. And as I grade the road, the blade will catch stones and drag them up above the surface. I have just compromised and do the best I can. The ground here is basically solid rock, broken up rock substrate, ground up rock, and a couple inches of "topsoil" here and there. I thought about paying big money to have brought in tons of road base or gravel, and I don't think that would solve the problem permanently and would have to be redone every so often.

Exactly what I have here, nice to know a back blade will "help"
Now to research which is the most durable and heaviest.

 

[lupuseven]

I have a skeleton rock bucket, you might try one. It worked well for scooping out bamboo roots for me. I have found that they tend to pick up a lot of dirt along with the rocks though.

View attachment 72642

Wifey already said "we need one of those" when I was watching a video about them, almost ordered one right then lol.

It will definitely come in handy when I'm clearing out areas for animals and gardens, I have a few other things to spend on first otherwise it would be in the yard by now.

 

[lupuseven]

I met a guy with a similar road, maybe not so many big rocks, who worked hard moving rocks by hand, and using a back blade to get it usable. Once it was passable, he drilled a couple holes at the ends of a big, heavy I-beam. (maybe 10'x6"x10"x1/2" ?)
Then he hooked a heavy chain to it and hooked that to his truck, tractor, or what ever he was driving at the time. He would then drag it out to the end of his driveway, unhook, and go about his business. When he returned, he hooked back up & dragged it the opposite way back to his place. Occasionally, he would angle it one way or another, as needed. seemed to work pretty well. But is was noisy.

Il ike the idea of runing it out and back when you go out, I could probably even get my wife to do it when she gets around.