Using a Ford 3000 to cut a road/driveway

New to the tractor world, we bought a Ford 3000 last month to mow the 10 acres we purchased a couple of years ago. We're now going to build our house this summer and need a driveway/road of a few hundred feet cut (upwards of 600 feet) and need to cut out the topsoil so we can lay gravel.

We'd really like to do as much of this ourselves, and the idea of renting a small dozer to cut the road seems like a no-brainer if we are doing this ourselves, but I wondered if a rear blade on the tractor would have anywhere enough utility to try to handle the job without the dozer. Unfortunately, the tractor does not have a bucket loader so that isn't an option; since I have yet to really see a good video on YouTube of someone doing this my guess is the answer is no without hours and hours of struggle, but I thought it was worth putting this out to the experts. We plan on buying a box blade for grading and a rear blade for snow removal anyway, but if there is an attachment I'm not thinking of that would work (other than a bucket loader) that would be great info to have as well!

I don't know how much dirt work and grading you need to do, but a good size tracked skid steer may be a good choice rather than a dozer.

(quoted from post at 15:33:17 02/21/23) New to the tractor world, we bought a Ford 3000 last month to mow the 10 acres we purchased a couple of years ago. We're now going to build our house this summer and need a driveway/road of a few hundred feet cut (upwards of 600 feet) and need to cut out the topsoil so we can lay gravel.

We'd really like to do as much of this ourselves, and the idea of renting a small dozer to cut the road seems like a no-brainer if we are doing this ourselves, but I wondered if a rear blade on the tractor would have anywhere enough utility to try to handle the job without the dozer. Unfortunately, the tractor does not have a bucket loader so that isn't an option; since I have yet to really see a good video on YouTube of someone doing this my guess is the answer is no without hours and hours of struggle, but I thought it was worth putting this out to the experts. We plan on buying a box blade for grading and a rear blade for snow removal anyway, but if there is an attachment I'm not thinking of that would work (other than a bucket loader) that would be great info to have as well!

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point hitch dirt pan may help. Also there is a manufacturer that makes 3 point hitch buckets....I'll see if I can remember

(quoted from post at 15:33:17 02/21/23) New to the tractor world, we bought a Ford 3000 last month to mow the 10 acres we purchased a couple of years ago. We're now going to build our house this summer and need a driveway/road of a few hundred feet cut (upwards of 600 feet) and need to cut out the topsoil so we can lay gravel.

We'd really like to do as much of this ourselves, and the idea of renting a small dozer to cut the road seems like a no-brainer if we are doing this ourselves, but I wondered if a rear blade on the tractor would have anywhere enough utility to try to handle the job without the dozer. Unfortunately, the tractor does not have a bucket loader so that isn't an option; since I have yet to really see a good video on YouTube of someone doing this my guess is the answer is no without hours and hours of struggle, but I thought it was worth putting this out to the experts. We plan on buying a box blade for grading and a rear blade for snow removal anyway, but if there is an attachment I'm not thinking of that would work (other than a bucket loader) that would be great info to have as well!

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ttps://www.loaders.com/Auto-Dump/Auto-Dump%E2%84%A2-Packages/WR-20--WR-30-Auto-Dump%E2%84%A2

This post was edited by E.B. Haymakin' on 02/22/2023 at 07:20 pm.

that wr20 is westendorf manufacturing. It was supposed to attach a link. Or the pan I mentioned is also referred to as a scoop. If you don't have to go far with the topsoil your removing you may be able to just use the Box blade and scrape blade. But long distance removal or making a large tight pile of spoil is difficult with either blade

http://www.hoelscherinc.com/prod_dbscraper.htm

(quoted from post at 06:49:31 02/23/23) http://www.hoelscherinc.com/prod_dbscraper.htm

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This is great info I didn't know anything about; thanks!

Some good replies below.

Are you cutting through prairie grass soft dirt, or rock and tree stump infested hard packed tough dirt?

You are kind of at a cross roads with the size of tractor and size of project. It could go well or be a long miserable time depending on the details.

A simple back blade wont do it alone, you need something more aggressive to actually cut the dirt. If you get something too aggressive you run out of tractor power
pretty quick.

A crossroads.....


Paul

Stumps, roots, and rocks will make it hard with your tractor. If the area is clean a heavy box blade would do it. You can use the ripper teeth to break it up and then drag it to a pile or piles. The box blade needs to be heavy. A good 5 or 6 footer is what I'm thinking. A pond scoop would probably do it but be very slow.

How much time do you want to spend on building a 600 ft road
You ll need to cut about 4 inches of top soil off before building the road base. Road needs to be 12 ft wide minimum with ditch drainage on both sides so your looking at removing top soil on a 18x600 ft area, that s a lot of dirt to move with a box blade

Personally I d get a dozer and operator to build the road

(quoted from post at 22:16:21 02/24/23) Some good replies below.

Are you cutting through prairie grass soft dirt, or rock and tree stump infested hard packed tough dirt?

You are kind of at a cross roads with the size of tractor and size of project. It could go well or be a long miserable time depending on the details.

A simple back blade wont do it alone, you need something more aggressive to actually cut the dirt. If you get something too aggressive you run out of tractor power
pretty quick.

A crossroads.....


Paul

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The land is flat as a pancake and there aren't any trees or roots that I think we will need to negotiate, so from that perspective it should be about as straightforward as it gets. I don't currently have a box blade but thought we would need to get one anyway for road maintenance, so perhaps I will buy one with teeth and see how it does on a small patch and if it's going to take a hundred hours see about a skid steer or dozer.

I appreciate the replies!

If there aren't any local government enforced specifics as to your roadway, and it's all up to you...most driveways are only 6-7' wide if that. But if the fire department can't get in the loss will be on you, just saying. In 25 years of having to maintain two family right of ways on private property in Alabama there have been no requirements other than the culverts at the public right of way. Baldwin county has requirements, and enforces them at that juncture. I have only used a box blade, and scrape blade to build and maintain. Now I also have a dump trailer to acquire material, and a landscape rake to use from time to time. However one was initially put in by a contractor using an industrial loader tractor. As I recall, it's been decades, but there was really topsoil leveling, then red dirt brought in and crowned. It was finished with oyster shell. The oyster shell was thin by year 5 gone in 10. Have used crush&run or material with lots of fines...don't like it costs as much as rock but it washed, one rainy year and it's thin. #57 is good, but can wash and is susceptible to "tracking', being carried off in vehicle tire treads. Cars aren't too bad but SUVs and 4x4 mud tirees are terrible about it. I've settled on only using #4 limestone now.

Last summer (2022) I paid $45 a ton for aggregate. 2017 aggregate was @$24 a ton. Whatever you use try match to conditions it will weather in, and try for longevity. It only gets more expensive with each passing year.

(quoted from post at 11:51:52 02/27/23) If there aren't any local government enforced specifics as to your roadway, and it's all up to you...most driveways are only 6-7' wide if that. But if the fire department can't get in the loss will be on you, just saying. In 25 years of having to maintain two family right of ways on private property in Alabama there have been no requirements other than the culverts at the public right of way. Baldwin county has requirements, and enforces them at that juncture.

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When we bought the property there was a short driveway (less than 50 feet) that was already built that connects to the public road; as such we're just extending and not subject to any county restrictions so in theory we have flexibility to make however we would like.

When we bought our property here, there was barely a two track in the dirt the 2,000' or so back to where we built our house. The soil is all sand/clay, no rocks.

For the first few years the dirt did ok, the tracks would rut a bit when it got wet but then it would dry and an hour with the backhoe would have it all smoothed out and fine again.

After a few ok years we had rain that wouldn't quit for weeks and the ruts go so deep the F350 4x4 had to be pulled through with the 4x4 backhoe and we just parked at the end of the driveway. And finally we were riding the backhoe down to the truck when we went out.

I finally hired a place to fix up the road, and waited for it to dry enough to actually work on it. It dried up and again I graded with the backhoe in an hour and had the dirt in ok condition. A couple days later they sent out a massive CAT grader to rough out things and in a couple hours it was a consistent width and smooth.

It took a good week of work with a D6R dozer, tri-axle dump and Kubota tracked skidder to dig fill from back on the property and build up the low areas and get it compacted and leveled with two guys working. Then we put down road fabric and and a dozen loads of rock which was enough to at least get some cover along the full length.

Periodically we bring in another load or two of rock as the road gets further packed and stabilized and I grade it with the tractor and box blade. Eventually we will get to the proper cover depth and won't need to do more than touch up with the box blade yearly.

The point is that building a driveway / road is a huge project even with large machines and experienced operators. Seriously consider contracting the initial work and leave the annual buildup and maintenance for yourself.