Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Track Repair  (Read 21688 times)

symber

  • Joined Apr 2012
  • Moray
Track Repair
« on: August 12, 2013, 07:35:03 pm »
Hi,


  I'm looking for some advice on how best to repair a badly rutted track.


  The track is basically hardcore and was probably put in at minimum cost about ten years ago - you need at least a defender to get up and down it now...  Although this is the only access track onto my land, I'm not running heavy equipment up and down it, just the occasional medium-size tractor less than 10 tonnes.


  I've got a Ford 550 loader/back-hoe digger and this is my plan to repair the track - any advice from people who aren't just winging it (i.e. like I am...) would be gratefully received, though :)


  1. Grade the track back flat again with my digger
  2. Buy some 1 tonne bags of hardcore - some big stuff and some smaller stuff
  3. Fill any holes with the big stuff and do any levelling with the smaller stuff
  4. Hire a road roller (from Gap or somewhere) and compact it down
  5. Ta da...job done - sounds too easy, so I must be missing something...


  A couple of quick question if anybody can help:  I'll have to transport the hardcore in sacks hanging from the digger front bucket for about half a mile - the digger's in "average" nick - is it up to the job?


  Instead of hiring a road-roller (at £300 per day plus vat plus delivery plus collection plus <insert charge here>), could I just pull a heavy field roller with the digger (or a tractor if I can borrow one - I'm temporarily short on that account) and compact it down enough?


  I think cambering the track's going to be out of my road-building league - will some angled drain channels be good enough every hundred feet or so?


  Thanks for any advice, but bear in mind this isn't the M25 and my knowledge of roads/tracks is only based on driving on them...


Symber

Sandyknox

  • Joined Aug 2013
  • Dumfries, Scotland
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2013, 07:44:20 pm »
I have repaired the farm road many a time and what I usually do is level it all with the digger if that Is possible and if there is still some ruts/holes put some hard core down , a field roller will do just the same job if not a better job than the hired roller because of weight and width, hope that helps
S.Knox

symber

  • Joined Apr 2012
  • Moray
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2013, 08:21:26 pm »
That's exactly what I wanted to hear - digger out tomorrow in that case :)


I've read in various places about putting water down on the track before rolling it - is that just if you;re using cement or does it make hardcore bond better, too?


Thanks very much for your advice :)

Still playing with tractors

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Cumbernauld
  • You can never have enough HP
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2013, 09:34:52 am »
You need a vibrating roller to get the best compaction rate, a field roller will not do the same job as it does not vibrate. Do not add water as the fines will not bind. do it when the road is dry, otherwise the roller will vibrate all the fines to the top and you will end up with slush. Any large holes, rough out with digger bucket teeth but no deeper, then fill and compact, remember to add a tad more material before compacting. stone size should be either type 1 or 6F2. any more questions just ask.

stufe35

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2013, 02:03:55 pm »
Your digger should handle carrying bags ok,  but if you have somewhere you could tip, consider a standard twenty ton wagon load....you should get for about £10 per ton= £200,  Type 1 is the ideal stuff...be aware you if you ring and ask for type 1 that's what youll get,  ask the quarry/supplier what they do,  type 1 is specially graded to meet highway road building specs it a quality assured product and hence more expensive and more than what you need,  ask for the equivalent crusher run, or quarry scalpings, its likely to be 2 or 3 quid per ton cheaper.  6F2 is a bit bigger, but might be right depending on your useage--visit the quarry or supplier for a look if you can.

1 tonne bags are actually about 0.85 of a ton and are about £35 each=  less than 6tons for your £200.

You can then transport it in your front bucket, or load a tractor trailer and distribute by shovel, or drive along tipping slowly to the grade with the digger.

Depends how long your track is but you'll be surprised how quick you use the stuff, and if you have too much it will always save for next time.

If you can get a camber on to shed the water off , all the better, it is pools of water which cause pot holes.  No puddles = no pot holes and a longer lasting repair.

Have you got a ditching bucket for the back of your digger?  Put the arm on one side of the digger, then grade half of the track at a time,  Put one leg out further than the other to get the camber. (Your bucket is now at an angle if you see what I mean)

A whacker plate is good for compacting and relatively cheap to hire, you get different sizes so visit your hire shop for a look .


« Last Edit: August 13, 2013, 02:09:48 pm by stufe35 »

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2013, 08:28:47 pm »
If your track was built at minimum cost then it might not have been dug all the way down to the "hard", if so there will still be soil under it.  Using a vibrating roller over this would be counter productive as the vibrations will draw the soil to the surface leaving a weak finish.

Get a lorry load of hardcore from the quarry - you will use more than you think.  Every time I get a lorry load I am dissapointed at how small a pile 20 tons is.

I got a 50 year old dumper truck off gumtree for the price of hiring one for 2 weeks.  It goes on and on and is priceless for shifting hardcore down the road to fill the endless potholes on my road.

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2013, 12:34:21 am »
1.) find the cheapest material in your area thats suitable
2.) use it with whatever you got


today I bought 1 1/2 ton of scalpings and inch 1/2 to dust for £23 in my trialer to repair my drive - took a few hours to collect and lay - but we are taking only about 75 potholes on about 300m of drive.


If you already have a good base of the drive - dont disturb it unles you want to go the whole hog and thats alot of stone and redressing.

Patch if you only have a few quid.  inch and a half to dust or if you can get it road scalpings - all the way.



To be fair though I hvae done about 80m in sections on the hills with just pea gravel with loads of cement dust in and a vibrator. - but these have yet to see a winter :(


Most important thing with laying any drive is where the water is going to go ;)

graham-j

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Canterbury Kent
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2014, 11:58:34 am »
Hi,do you need planning premssion for this.I have repaired the track on my farm by filling in the two cart tracks/ruts with old clay tiles.The council have come out and have said that I need planning premssion for what I have done.I don't understand the track had become un usable even in my land rover I needed access to feed my sheep and other animals.
Graham.

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2014, 11:56:09 pm »
Hi,do you need planning premssion for this.I have repaired the track on my farm by filling in the two cart tracks/ruts with old clay tiles.The council have come out and have said that I need planning premssion for what I have done.I don't understand the track had become un usable even in my land rover I needed access to feed my sheep and other animals.



 YUK!

 Typical you'll need planning permission & BOC just to fart this time next year.
 I'd ring the planning and ask them if you need permission to repair and existing track where the hard core bed has sunk due tot eh wet winter ..get the name of the person and say if I write to you will you confirm that in writing.

 One thing that springs to mind is that around here  .....
The councils are demanding that any  refurbishment or reinstatement of such access ways, hard standing or drive ways  must now comply with current regulations like  having a permeable stron woven membrane on the ground such as Terramax ( ? sp ? ) & then relaying the track on it ..   It can be expensive but the green gone made folk are in the driving seats nowadays and there ain't any financial assistance on offer to the many who'll need it  .
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

midtown

  • Joined Oct 2013
  • English Lake District
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2014, 10:29:13 am »
Quote
It can be expensive but the green gone made folk are in the driving seats nowadays and there ain't any financial assistance on offer to the many who'll need it  .
How very true!
There's a track providing access to fields used by several farmers, which also received the designation of 'Public Footpath' for part of its length.
Over the years parts become chewed up and repairs made by infilling, then members of the rambling fraternity submitted a report to the county footpath officer, complaining about the state of the footpath.
Official jobsworth visits and informs that the material used for infill must meet a certain spec otherwise it could be treated as illegal flytipping!!!!!! :huff:

That was some time ago, and now the track resembles a film set for a WW1 movie! We've long since given up on the maintenance/repair, there's no money in the County coffers to do any repairs, the ramblers have not volunteered their services by way of a working party, and have in fact shot themselves in the foot by complaining in the first place. :roflanim:
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.  ~Douglas Adams

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2014, 05:10:40 pm »
This all sounds a bit strange unless planning is totally different in my part of the world.

We have the problem that there is no planning needed if you say it is for agriculture and as a result, over the past 5 years or so thousands (literally) of miles of tracks have been bulldozed through the hills (inclusing at least 1 SSSI that I can think of) creating massive unsightly scars.  Everyone knows the roads are for shooting parties but the estates just say it is for farming - even though there are hardly any sheep left in huge areas of the highlands now.  I wish we had more planning restrictions!

When I built the track up to my new house (last year, under current building regs) the only requirement was it was wide enough and strong enough for a fire engine to get up.  There is no specification in the regs as to how you achieve this.  There are quite strict rules though about how a track joins a council road and then they will usually insist on how the road is built for 5 or 10m back from the council road.

I don't understand why planning would complain about repairing a farm track unless there is something else they are suspicious of (eg is it the start of a new access to a potential house site or does it join a council road)

Not sure how using Terram is anything to do with being "green".  It is used to prevent soil coming up through the track and ruining the hard surface. 

shygirl

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2014, 05:41:54 pm »
dont use a compacter on wet hardcore/waterlogged roads as it just sinks. ...i learnt the hard way.
we hired a compactor but was mortified when it blew up.  :o :o :o

graham-j

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Canterbury Kent
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2014, 01:08:12 pm »
Hi,my next door neighbour is a magistrate and I think pulling with the concil.They have also tried to tell me i can't keep farm animals eg sheep and poultry on it as its registered as equine land.I proved them wrong on that,then is was noise abatement,I proved any noise was not a a level that constituted a nuisance.And now its because I have repaired the track.He has been round shouting demanding that I remove my animals from the land immediately.He said he didn't want neighbours and that the 3 fields i own wasn't a farm.
Graham.

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Track Repair
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2014, 03:20:26 pm »
Ahh.  That explains the problem.  A neighbour that should know better but is willing to 'misinterprate' the rules for their own selfish benefit. 
Nothing for it but to persevere and make sure you always do things by the book so they can't stop you.

 

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