Lowering a road - Possible?

[Evad]

Hello friends.

I have about 150' of 12' wide dirt road that I need to lower about 2.5-3.5 feet. Is it possible to use my scarifiers on my box blade to cut up the material, then scoop with the FEL and remove it? Or is this asking the tractor to do more than it was really designed to do? I am trying to fix a road on some property I own and I dont have a lot of options when it comes to getting equipment there....

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[skeets]

Can it be done, yes it can, will it be a quick and easy operation,,,, ahh not so much. If I may ask why do you want to cut the road down that far ?

 

[old and tired]

Worth a shot to try... what are the possibility of hit bedrock? Got plenty of time on your hands, I hope.

So, just a dirt road, no gravel??? If it has gravel, I would pile that separately to be used to dress the road again. Can you make the road wider with the dirt vs. hauling off the dirt? or did you have plans for the dirt you remove?

 

[bird dogger]

That's a lot of dirt to remove. Not that you can't do it as planned. How much time do you have or how quickly do you need to get it done? If you have the time....it can be done.

A bigger question might be: What are your plans for the dirt once loosened up by your scarifiers? You're looking at roughly 200 cubic yards of compacted dirt. With 20% swell after loosening it up and hauling it away.....you're looking at roughly 240 cubic yards of dirt to move and pile up at a different location?

That's a lot of trips with the tractor one bucket full at a time. a dump trailer could really help to speed things up and make it go quicker?

 

[Evad]

Thanks all for your thoughts. It's just a dirt road, no gravel. No chance of hitting bedrock (Glacial till) but could be a giant boulder down there somewhere. I have a place for the dirt at the end of the 150'. I realize it won't be a quick job but I have most of summer to work on it when I visit the property. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to strain the tractor in a bad way.

 

[D2Cat]

If you remove material 3' deep that is 4 cu yds of material every 3'. 150' divided by 3 = 50. So 50 x 4 = 200 cubic yards of material to move.

Now just look up your bucket specs and see how many heaping scoops that is, then decide how much time you have and where are you going to move it to?

Will a 30 HP tractor do the job.... yep, be like cutting a hay field with a scissors. If you do it get a tooth bar!!!

 

[Grandad4]

Relocating dirt should be quite feasible. But it could be really hard on your tractor if you run into a bunch of rocks or boulders. Suggest you have a Plan B for that possibility.

 

[Elliott in GA]

FWIW, I leveled (to within 1 inch) a 30 foot by 30 foot area with a 1.5 foot slope in an afternoon using my LX2610 SU with loader, 5 foot box blade and a Bosch rotary laser kit. The ground was hard Georgia red clay with softball to football size rocks.

30 x 30 x .75 (averaging the 1.5 foot slope) = 675 cubic feet = 25 cubic yards.

In my favor, I did not have to haul the spoils anywhere; I simply redistributed them. Against me, I leveled it to within an inch by myself - lots of on/off the tractor to check with the laser receiver.

If my experience is any guide, you are probably looking at 10 full (8 hrs +/-) days of work.

Due to the rocks in my ground, I found digging with the bucket to be the best first step. The box blade was used for finer work.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

possible Option #1

Do ANY neighbours NEED 'fill' ??
200 yds is about 20 tandem loads , if 10 yds per haul, 13 loads if 15 yds/haul

A respectable amount of 'fill'.

Ask around,post in local papers, online, etc. You might get lucky and 'Joe around the corner' needs it, will bring his excavator and trucks and do the work for you in one day.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Here is my take on it...

OP: "I have about 150' of 12' wide dirt road that I need to lower about 2.5-3.5 feet. Is it possible to use my scarifiers on my box blade to cut up the material, then scoop with the FEL and remove it?"

Yes. 100 percent.... Pending boulder or large rock issues. You might need a jack hammer. Or a chain saw if you find roots. Either way, it will not be fun. But it would be satisfying.

OP: "Or is this asking the tractor to do more than it was really designed to do? I am trying to fix a road on some property I own and I dont have a lot of options when it comes to getting equipment there...."

No. The L3301 is a no joke. It is a real and serious tractor. But it will take you days. Maybe weeks.

In my simple history. I will add this: I dug swimming pools with a B7100 in the late 1970's. It took a week each pool. It wasn't fun. Bobcat skid steers took over and the Bobcat was an epic machine.

There are better options for speed and convenience. But if you want to use what you have, an L3301; It most definitely can be done.

 

[mikester]

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious..
how much material does the boxblade hold ?
why not drag the material to the end ,turn around , go back..breaking up and dragging ?
you'll have piles at both ends.
number of runs is equal to total volume / boxblade volume, more or less.....

 

[jyoutz]

Hire a guy with a dozer. Cut down and move dirt in one day. Spend the summer with your tractor distributing the dirt piles.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Hire a guy with a dozer. Cut down and move dirt in one day. Spend the summer with your tractor distributing the dirt piles.

^^^ best solution ^^^

 

[Vlach7]

A lot of hard hours going to put on your tractor, use the right tool for the job. Sounds like busy work, most roads need to be raised not lowered, you never answered why this needed to be done?