Fixing Ruts

[KBforester]

I've had a lot of ruts to fix up during my [short] career as a forester. However, I've always had nearly unlimited resources in terms of equipment to have them fixed.

Now I'm dealing with my own property I've got some ruts for a harvest I had done two years ago in the winter time. It's on the main trail, which was per-existing and the processor didn't have enough trees on it to create a substantial cushion of brush. The side trails are fine. They hauled some in with the forwarder, but we got two feet of snow, and cold weather, and everything looked nice and flat.... until spring.

We had to freeze in @1000 feet of winter road across my [clay] hay field, so getting other heavy equipment out there isn't a great , or cheap option.

My question is, how would you go about fixing ruts with a 5,000lb-  60HP (ish) tractor?

Currently the tractor is pretty bare bones, but may have a bucket and grader blade next year. I'm not sure how a loader is going to be terribly helpful for fixing ruts. The grader blade might not be helpful either because there is brush and bones (cut offs) in them. Any other attachments/implements that might help me out? I could do some pct/tsi and haul small material in/on the trail to make a corduroy road through the rough spots? The area in question is about 300 feet, with 1ft deep ruts.

One crazy idea I had was muck around back and forth in the spring to get it nice and sloppy to see if things will level themselves out  :D . I'm not afraid of trying something crazy. 

In the long term, I plan on accessing the woodlot with the tractor only in the winter, and the driest summer months. For summer it would be great to have a flat trail. Winter might be tricky as well, since we don't seem to get a lot of snow down hear to level things off.

I'm in Coastal, Downeast Maine.

[thecfarm]

Got rocks? Yes,it takes time,but they will stay with you. I'm doing a place across the bog about 200 feet. This is the second time doing it. This time bigger is better. I'm putting rocks in about 3 feet across this time. Than smaller ones on top.See it those will disappear.The first time I did it with rocks that I could pick up. It was fine for a 40 hp tractor. But that forwarder with a load of wood pushed them down to somewheres. But with no loader that would be hard. My father and me would haul small rocks on a trailer when the mud would start to ooze out of the bog.I think your idea of making it level a foot deep would just trap the water in with no place to go. The water would sit there and not drain away. I have a place right out back that I bring my firewood too. I was doing it one spring. The woods was still frozen but up by the wood pile I was rutting it up pretty good. I did not want to put the rocks to it because I mow it. I cut off some good size limbs and cut them up 4-6 inches long and put them in the ruts. Worked out real good. I did not want something long to come up under the tractor and broke something. I hate ruts.

[chain]

You coud use a off-set disk or new-ground disk to fill in the ruts; may have to take off the back gang but a heavy disk would help to chop up debris and prepare a rough seedbed. If you did fill your ruts consider acquiring a few old rolls of hay and roll out on your trail. may help to prevent erosion  and at same time mulch the area in prep for seeding this fall or next spring.

[beenthere]

I'd first fix the drainage problem, if at all possible.
Put in a culvert or two and build up the trail over the ruts from a borrow pit.

[Sprucegum]

Mucking about will help some, as long as you don't get stuck  :D , but you will still have a low spot because of compaction. Some coduroy; logs, trash, or dirt will be needed to make it a nice road again.

[g_man]

I was hopeing someone would have an easy answer. I have the same problem with existing roads and soft ground.
From my experience if the brush and cut offs are any where near the road surface trying to use a blade will be frustrating. The blade  will work better if you turn it around backward so it is more like a drag than a cutting blade but it will take alot to fill 1 foot ruts. I never tried it but the disc sounds worth a try. You can probably borrow or rent one. You will end up with a soft road as I am sure you know if you don't add material. Filling with rocks works well but can take a while and is a lot of work.
I have "ironed out" some old skidder ruts on my roads with my little dozer. I wait until the road  is plastic like and just drive on it to get it even. Similar to your idea of using the tractor to soup it up but easier. But I end up with a low spot that gets muddy easy especially if it can't be drained. So I have to stay off with the tractor except in dry weather or winter.

[Gary_C]

My question is, how would you go about fixing ruts with a 5,000lb-  60HP (ish) tractor?

You can do a lot of good by using the wheels when it is mostly dry to level out the ruts. You have to catch the moisture conditions at just the right point to do much good. Just drive outside of the old ruts and try to pack down the high ridges. Wide tires or tracks will be your best tool. Just don't expect the fix to be permanent.

The only permanent solution for a road like that is to keep the water away from the road surface and never drive on it when it's wet. Elevation and drainage are the key words.

[lumberjack48]

When i had a low spot i dug a hole on each side with the skidder blade. This is so the water has a place to go. Then hauled good fill for the road, or break it up with the blade and keep back dragging it, pretty soon the ruts are all filled in. If theres a lot of water around and its a drainage area , dig down on each side and put a culvert in, other wise your building a dam.

[Woodchuck53]

Do you have access to the right kind of contractor for a one time cost of a root rake dozer followed by a road grader to throw a crown on it? This way you will get a reasonably uniform road bed width and a crown road bed from the pulled ditches with the needed drains off the ditches. Get it done right the first time and be finished. Control weather access to it and maintain with a box blade. Or is cost a decideing factor here?

[KBforester]

Got rocks?

Not a one! Well, maybe one or two by the stream. Its one freak of a landscape here. It would be a farmers dream if it weren't all saturated clay.

You coud use a off-set disk or new-ground disk to fill in the ruts;

Thats an interesting idea... I have a feeling I'll be having trouble with the bigger hunks of wood that got put in there (4-6" cut offs and tops).

I'd first fix the drainage problem, if at all possible.
Put in a culvert or two and build up the trail over the ruts from a borrow pit.

Again... this is a freak of a landscape. The property is about half a mile long and there are probably two contour lines over the entire thing. Flat as a pancake. Obviously the water goes somewhere.  I guess I could use Lumberjack48's idea and dig a hole. Any hole on the property deeper than the rut will be the new low point on the property I'm exaggerating, but seriously, there is rarely any discernible slope on the trail.

But oddly enough, there is one "lump" on the property that is like a little island of gravel. As if someone dumped in there centuries ago. I could use that as a borrow pit as a last resort. I'm a little nervous to use gravel if I don't have a drainage solution first. I might loose the gravel too... I guess I can't sink forever though! Corduroy would help with that too.

Well I appreciate the help everyone. I think the thing to do is try a little bit of everything. I might try to put up some brush this winter, and have it ready to try out some different things next summer. I'll see if I can get some good pictures of how it looks now too. It might be tough, the grass has taken hold pretty well, so the ruts are hard to see. I know, I've fallen on my face while walking around more than once.  :

[Maine372]

im chuckleing at the image of you falling on your face! seymore would tell you thats the sign of a good forester.

do a search for a harley rake. they are make 3pt hitch pto powered ones. basically its a hydraulically powered roll with little nubbins on it. they look sturdy enough to take the abuse of some wood chunks. it would level the ground, but it wont build up the road any.

i think i would just live with it. straddle the ruts, limb your wood over them when youre cutting there. ive been working pulling wood through a spot like that at dads since 2004. the tractor will just fit between the ruts the skidder left and the trees on the side of the trail. in one spot i can see the old corduroy logs somone put in there long ago.

[snowstorm]

if you have gravel there you are all set. there is a lot of gravel  downeast some better than others. depending on where you are some tends to have some clay in it. tailings are the best. rocks 6" and under they will punch down in there. if you dont have rocks then put down farbic or the rappers from lifts of lumber old indoor outdoor carpet. anything that keeps the subgrade seperet from the gravel. or turnpike it. with an excavator pull the stumps tip them upside down drive em back in the hole ditich put the dirt in the road dust it off and let it dry. start from the back and work your way out if its real wet. i have built many miles of woods roads use what ya got

[John Woodworth]

Fixing ruts is mainly the least disturbance of exhisting ground, stabilize the rut either with rock, pit run or logging slash, once the rut is stabilized then you can worry abour the top surface, another rule of thumb split the ruts with each passage.

[WDH]

The only way to fix that is to bring in the right equipment and pull material out of a ditch on each side and crown up the road.  That puts the road bed higher than the landscape.  The gravel on site will be a big help in stabilizing the newly crowned road.

[davch00]

Not a one! Well, maybe one or two by the stream. Its one freak of a landscape here. It would be a farmers dream if it weren't all saturated clay.

If your clay is anything like the gumbo we have around here the best way to fix ruts is to dig them out and compact the trail afterwards. If you just put fill in them they will come back before too long. You can use a blade, disc or a chisel plow to dig them out and just drive your tractor back and forth over the trail to compact it.