Hello all,
First let me apologize for rehashing this topic for the thousandth time. I cannot find a good discussion about this particular context.
I recently had a new house built on acreage. I am buying an MX5400 for mowing, brush clearing, some dirt moving, and general tasks/maintenance. However, we have some initial tasks that are outside of the normal scope of the tractors use. I have three problems that I need to address immediately. These are in no particular order.
1. There is an existing farm road running through the property. It is about 800' until it reaches our house. The road is very old and has developed more than a few potholes. From what I can tell it's basically sandy fill dirt that has been hard packed over time. When it's wet it either runs off or collects in the potholes/low spots, and makes mudholes. When it's dry the material is very dusty. With all the construction vehicles coming in and out it got much worse. It looks like they wore through the road base down to the soil below in some spots.
2. There is a 200' section between where the farm road is and where our house sits off in the field. During the summer there was no problem. The vehicles coming in and out packed the soil and any rain was quickly evaporated in a day or less. The construction went into November and December and now that section is a giant mudpit that doesn't drain. It takes about 5 days of warm weather to evaporate. We get appreciable rain about every 3-6 days in the winter.
3. The construction company brought in fill dirt, which is mostly sand, to grade/slope away from the house. It is a rough grade and already has some low spots forming about 40-50' away from the house. There are also some small rain washouts forming. The house sits in a previously row crop field, and our soil is mostly sandy loam. It drains very quickly in most areas, but some areas are hard packed because of the vehicles. There is also vegetation growing everywhere.
Here's what I'd like to do.
1. Regrade the driveway, without adding new material (right now). I will add stone later, but we are on a tight budget with the state of things these days. I would like to basically just fix the potholes for now, and ideally add a crown to the farm road.
2. Cleanup and regrade the natural soil area to drain off to the side (I will use the bucket to create a ditch/swale). I will also add stone to this at a later date, but I have to make due with what's there right now.
3. Touchup/regrade the slope near the house.
4. Mow the vegtation and touchup/regrade the natural soil that will be the yard areas surrounding the house.
I can only reasonably afford two implements. I am buying a rotary cutter, and would like to get either a box blade or landplane to take care of these initial tasks, as well as future tasks. I know the ideal answer would be to get both, or to get a harley rake, but as I said we are on a tight budget. I have no experience with either a boxblade or landplane, but I have more time than money and I'm a pretty quick learner.
I'll attach pictures. Please give me your best and honest advice, thanks.
EDIT: I will be waiting to do the work till we either have a couple weeks with no rain, or till April when it warms up enough to be dry in a few days.
