Track building equip.?

If you are using mostly natural terrain, a small dozer is the trick, that is if you have an operator. Small trees, brush just kind of jump out of the way.
If you are going to have to move a lot of dirt any distance your going to need more, at least a loader, you could push it but it would take more time.

Hard to beat a skid loader (aka Bobcat) for knocking down small trees and digging. Then again if your just looking to grade out some open area a tractor with a box blade on the back is pretty effective. Now if you want to do some SERIOUS tree removal and dirt reorginization a dozer is the answer. I'd say find the land first then decide what you want to do to it. Another option might be a land lease? Our club has a lease on a 1,000 acres where we have cut HS in the woods and setup a MX track and a 16 mile outer loop (GPish). Most of this was done with chainsaws, lopers, and a tractor (the MX track had some heavy equipment help). The land owner makes some money, we get a private place to ride without it costing a zillion dollars and everybody seems happy. I have a John Deere 4100 4WD with loader, brush hog and box blade that I use around our new place and will be using at the clubs lease and I am sure it will be more than enough for the job.

Just noticed what you do. I'm SURE there is a dirt contractor you have worked with on a project that would be willing to help ya' out even for a small fee. Then ya' get a trained operator and the right equipment. (That's where our heavy equipment came from).:D

A small dozer will do wonders (that's what made most of my trails), but a skip loader would probably be cheaper to rent. The only thing that I'd be wary of with a skip loader is how steep your hills are. I know it wouldn't have worked where I built my woods loop, because it would have tipped over way too easy.

Anyhow, after you get the track built, a small wheel tractor with a back blade will probably do the trick. I have grass in my trails, and my father-in-law (who owns the ground) goes up and mows it once in a while. Makes for a nice little track, and the grass helps keep the dust down.

Where things were flat& no boulders I used a Scraper and a Loader for cut & built type operations and my road grader for the first cut on an overall layout be it a track or a road....but where I am building a track now my backhoe & farm tractor with a bush hog&box scraper are flexible enough to do all I want. A skid steer is too top heavy & too small. A loader too big. A Scraper and Road Grader too clumsy. A tracked peice of equipment to slow and limited for the other things in my life( But effective). Most people can't afford commercial equipment anyway much less maintain those things. For what I have for terrain a couple of options would work:

An old track loader. Like a Deere 350 or 450. Even a track loader/hoe. They can be had for cheap. 10,000 - 15,000 in decent condition. Of course it would be used 90 percent for track maintainance. To heavy&slow to drag around or run down to the neigbors for odd jobs. So its cheap but limited and my wife wouldn't let on go across our yard for garden work.

An old backhoe. Not A Case (even thought thats what I have) The John Deeres are way more stable. Something like a John Deere 410 D four wheel drive hoe. (Stay away from those early 510's) These can be had for under 20K in decent condition. A backhoe is so much more versitle than a tracked vehicleand can run up and down the road. A track vehicle is bound to your track location unless you have a trailer setup to haul it around. I've seen folks spend more money on pickups than is required to get a really nice older hoe. Hoes are so versitle is amazing. Just takes a little longer to get things done as they are a compromize machine.

Of course dirt is my business so my sense of cost may be out of wack.

If you're buying, John Deere will probably be the cheapest, while Caterpillar will be on the high end. Check with some of the big outfits for some "Gray Iron" (used stuff shipped over from Japan). Usually pretty economical. My father-in-law scored a pretty new Hitachi EX100 for somewhere around $14,000!:cool:

Originally posted by buffmaster
... my buddies and I are throwing around the idea of getting some property and building our own, private track(prob. a small hare scramble-type).

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I used to have an XR250 that was great for making trails. ;)

I go to a place that rents Bobcats for about $250 and I get it all weekend long. They bring it on Friday afternoon and come back to pick it up on Monday morning. Have your plans ahead of time and you'll be surprized how much earth you can get moved.

If you are going to be taking out a lot of trees get a track hoe or backhoe. The track hoe is the best because it is heavy and has a lot of power to get under the big trees and uproot the whole tree very fast. The again if you got a backhoe with a front end loader it could do a lot more jobs but would take a little bit longer.

yup. And once you have a backhoe...you can't imagin life without one. Especially if you have acrage.:)

An axe is about the heaviest peice of machinery we use!!! :D