Dirt Road Maintenance

[Werstlna]

I'm near Concho, AZ, at 5600 ft. on unimproved dirt roads in area of 40 acre parcels. My neighbor and I just acquired a 1989 Kubota L2550 with FEL and a 6 foot CountyLine 3pt blade, and 5 foot CountryLine drag box for our road maintenance (about 1 mile of hilly road total). While it's no grader and reshaping the road grade substantially is difficult and slow, it does do the job. We wait for good moisture conditions; it will not readily move dry hardpacked clay. The blade is used to move material from the shoulders into the road to fill gulleys, the box is the primary road grading tool, with FEL used for pot hole filling. Either the blade at 45 degrees or the box would do your washboard if it was rain softened a bit. We plan to add 150lbs to the low side of the blade to improve cutting power. If one of us stands on it, it cuts like fiend. Both blade and box are ideal, if I could only have one the box is the hands down winner.

I had my doubts about the compact size of the L2550, but with 4WD, filled rear wheels and reasonable expectations it does the job quite well and we are very happy with our low budget DIY road grading. As it happens we've had a few inches of rain in October, something that has never happened before in the last 40 years. Our road is looking pretty damn good.

This was my initial thought as well, specifically the L2501 model with a grade box and land plane grader scraper.

Update on the domorequipment TP-84 pull behind grader scraper: the rep returned my call today and quoted me $4,300 + $700 shipping. I'm new to the whole implement world, but that was about double what I expected! It seems like getting a used tractor in the $10-15k range would make better long term sense so it could be used for other tasks as well. But then again new L2501 packages are around $19k so it's easy to creep up the cost ladder and justify something new.

 

[Werstlna]

As luck would have it, we received significant rainfall today.

 

[CapnDean]

My L3901 walks the dog with my 6' grademaster land plane (Locally called the Bionic Blade) www.grademastersales.com I have the plain jane 6' plane. no Hydraulic adjust etc... I do have hyd top link. It's the bomb on my gravel driveway. I guarantee that an L2501 would drag it just as well as my L3901 does.

 

[SRG]

My L3901 walks the dog with my 6' grademaster land plane (Locally called the Bionic Blade) www.grademastersales.com I have the plain jane 6' plane. no Hydraulic adjust etc... I do have hyd top link. It's the bomb on my gravel driveway. I guarantee that an L2501 would drag it just as well as my L3901 does.

Wow, those are built beef. Up to 18ft wide.....
Whats the cost?

 

[eipo]

As luck would have it, we received significant rainfall today.

Are you allowed to manage the stormwater?

My first inclination would be to install culverts in the areas where water runs across the road.

RipRap along the sides where it runs parallel with the road and then a culvert where is crosses...

 

[Missouribound]

This was my initial thought as well, specifically the L2501 model with a grade box and land plane grader scraper.

Update on the domorequipment TP-84 pull behind grader scraper: the rep returned my call today and quoted me $4,300 + $700 shipping. I'm new to the whole implement world, but that was about double what I expected! It seems like getting a used tractor in the $10-15k range would make better long term sense so it could be used for other tasks as well. But then again new L2501 packages are around $19k so it's easy to creep up the cost ladder and justify something new.

The cost of the tractor can only be justified by you. If you will use it then go for it. If it will sit until you need to do the roadwork then you may have to consider that. My tractor sits a lot. But when I need it I NEED it. Many have said it's like a hired hand around the property. It is. I suspect that Door towable grader my be enough for you. It depends on how often you keep up with the road. If you let it get out of hand you may need something heavier to engage ground with.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

As luck would have it, we received significant rainfall today.

Unless you have time to burn which maybe you do, forget about anything smaller than an M series or equivalent. Will the smaller machine do the job, absolutely, but more than twice the time though.

I have a 32 HP tractor, the LPGS is 5' wide and 800lbs.

My 75 HP tractor's LPGS is 7' wide and 1400lbs.

I maintain over 1 3/8 miles of road and about a mile of fence line.

I understand not wanting to deal with the water. A lot of work and expense, so don't.

Get the right sized tractor and LPGS and just make the road smooth when needed. Make improvements later if you change your mine.

I have 3 types of implements for maintaining my roads, LPGSs, hydraulic rear blade and roll over box blades. My smaller tractor can do the job, that's for sure, but my bigger tractor does it a LOT faster and easier.

I have other things to do than just grade.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

As luck would have it, we received significant rainfall today.

Are you north east of Scottsdale?
I drove a lot of roads like that out there.

 

[BruceM]

I concur that bigger is always better for road work, and twice the time for half the weight is generous.

I'd like a full size road grader, myself, instead of tractor toys but that was not in my puny budget. My neighbor and I have about $6500 in the Kubota L2550, parts and equipment and about 30 man hours of labor in repairs . We are restoring it. Split in half, it was a modest investment.

After doing a fair bit of work with it I am very pleased with it. The engine starts immediately with NO smoke at all, even after it had set for almost a year due to death of the elderly original owner. It had it's engine replaced in 1999, and I don't think it had heavy use since it got retired from small farm service. I knew the owner and am pleased to be fixing up his Kubota, which he really liked.

 

[KennysNewFarm]

Not sure if people are familiar with gov deals . com but they have a lot of used equipment up for auction all over the United States. Saw this and thought it would sure take care of the job at hand! https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=452&acctid=4207

 

[Werstlna]

Are you north east of Scottsdale?
I drove a lot of roads like that out there.

Yes, in the Rio Verde foothills.

 

[dlundblad]

When my parent's road was dirt, the county came through every month or so weather permitting with a 6 wheel drive grader. Seemed to work okay, but the washboard always came back in very short time. I am guessing the ground is too soft of a grader box or anything else that's "harsh."

I would add tiles running under the road for the washout areas, but it'll be $$$.

 

[G.rid]

That tow behind domore doesn't look like much more than a 3point hitch land plane with a few modifications. If you're handy with a welder, I can't see that costing more than $1000 over the cost of a regular land plane. Most of that budget would be for the servo, hubs and wheels. If it doesn't work like you expect, it could be sold as is or strip it down and at least get your money back for the plane. That might be the cheapest option to try before investing big $$$ in to a tractor, especially because it doesn't sound like you have much other work in mind for it.

Another thought, as kennysnewfarm mentioned. Check around to different auctions. An uncle that lived in Texas bought a 1/2 sized, 6 wheel grader for under $5k. I never saw photos of the road he maintained but it sounded identical to what you've got.

If you only have the one main job. It might make sense to get a piece of equipment designed for that job.