Grading with a skid steer?

[Dmurphy116]

Hi everyone,
I am in the planing stages of purchasing some land and building a shop hopefully starting this fall. The first thing that needs to be tackled after the lot is cleared is building a road in. I have access to a skid steer or a Ctl, is it possible to grade a road with either a crown in the middle so the water runs off to both sides or slope or so the water all runs to one side. I am hoping this is something I could do my self as it will save me a little bit of money and could be good practice as in the future I will have to touch it up (until we pave it with recycled asphalt millings)
Any suggestions?

 

[skata]

A ctl would be my first choice

 

[Welder Dave]

Either a skid steer or CTL would work as long as you don't have big roots or tree's to deal with. It will take some time if you don't have much experience but certainly doable. Tires are better if you have lots of rocks. You don't want to cut up tracks on sharp rocks.

 

[CM1995]

Welcome to the Forums Dmurph!

CTL's are far superior to wheeled machines concerning anything to do with grading. CTL's are more expensive to purchase, operate and maintain but you get what you pay for.

Just my $.04 which is my old $.02 adjusted for inflation.

 

[southernman13]

Yea what cm said. But I’d much rather have a little dozer w 6 way blade. Of course U may not be able to go that route. Understood fosho! A CTL will work it’ll take some patience and plenty practice

 

[Truck Shop]

I haven't been in the construction end of things for a while now, but back when I was one excavation outfit I worked for used nothing
but 953's and 963 for site development. Too quick not to use at that time.

 

[Dmurphy116]

Welcome to the Forums Dmurph!

CTL's are far superior to wheeled machines concerning anything to do with grading. CTL's are more expensive to purchase, operate and maintain but you get what you pay for.

Just my $.04 which is my old $.02 adjusted for inflation.

I have access to either or, but from doing a bit of research on how to crown a road, a lot of the videos I see on YouTube people are using a tractor and a box blade I believe. Is there an attachment for the skid steers?

 

[Dmurphy116]

Yea what cm said. But I’d much rather have a little dozer w 6 way blade. Of course U may not be able to go that route. Understood fosho! A CTL will work it’ll take some patience and plenty practice

If possible I’d like to stick to what I have access to as it won’t cost me anything, but I’m not opposed to buying something if it’ll be needed to work on the property in the future.

 

[BrianGrenier]

My neighbor built this for maintaining his road... hooks it onto his skidster

 

[skata]

I have access to either or, but from doing a bit of research on how to crown a road, a lot of the videos I see on YouTube people are using a tractor and a box blade I believe. Is there an attachment for the skid steers?

You dont need any attachments.
Just use the bucket. Floating the bucket in reverse for final smoothing.
How long of a road?

 

[Welder Dave]

A skid steer or CTL let's you see what the bucket is doing so it's fairly easy to get your angles for slopes and just continue them for the length you need. You want to scrap all the topsoil off for a good driveway.

 

[CM1995]

You dont need any attachments.
Just use the bucket. Floating the bucket in reverse for final smoothing.
How long of a road?

X2 - you don't need an attachment. IMO dozer blades on skids or CTL's are worthless.

 

[BrianGrenier]

Have you thought of talking to the contractor that would do the RAP? They might end up redoing whatever you perform anyway.

Maybe use your tools to clear and grub and let someone else get profile and elevation.

 

[JBrady]

I don't know your soils or conditions, but from my own experience working on my private/oilfield lease roads on our ranch, I would hire someone with a dozer to cut in your road and then equip yourself to maintain it thereafter. I have a skid steer and I use it on my roads to spread gravel and other little things, but I find a good old ag tractor with a box blade and an angle blade is far faster.

 

[Twisted]

Dozer to build the road then a tractor and box blade to maintain it. My SS is the handiest and most worthless tool I own.

 

[Welder Dave]

If you have an Ag tractor with a box blade and/or an angle blade. Some pics. of the property and where you want the driveway may help in determining the best way to go.

 

[Mobiltech]

A blade on a skidsteer is very hard to control depth. You are far better off with a box blade attachment.

 

[Dmurphy116]

Dozer to build the road then a tractor and box blade to maintain it. My SS is the handiest and most worthless tool I own.

If I had access to a dozer I would, but it seems like the skid steer or ctl would be used a lot more than a dozer would after building the road. I see they make the dozer blades for ctls but not sure how well they do

 

[JBrady]

If I had access to a dozer I would, but it seems like the skid steer or ctl would be used a lot more than a dozer would after building the road. I see they make the dozer blades for ctls but not sure how well they do

Probably true, it's hard to put round bales out with a dozer or drill fence posts! Around here, you can hire a dozer for as cheap as $75/hr. An experienced operator with a 450/D4 could probably knock it out in two days tops, depending on distance and conditions. I love my bobcat, but it is far from my first choice for road building. If you are dead set on using a skid steer, I would look at one of those rotating bobtachs that allow you to tilt your bucket independent of the machine. I've never used one, but always thought they would be great for cutting ditches and crowning the road.

 

[John Canfield]

If you have an Ag tractor with a box blade and/or an angle blade. Some pics. of the property and where you want the driveway may help in determining the best way to go.

Yes!

You didn't say how long your drive/road is. The main drive from my gate to the house is 600 feet and I have a 66 hp Deere tractor, box blade and angle blade I used to redo our road with many loads of crushed granite. After I spent hours and hours trying to level out the grade I had a guy bring over a motor grader. He was finished in about 30 minutes.

Keeping my roads groomed is easy with my equipment.