Machinery access solutions

[martwizz]

Hey guys,

 

I have a particularly tricky access job coming up, I have to traverse a large rockery with my HB20 grinder. Usually for the odd steps or bumps I use my trailer ramps, But this is an extended area and I can see them not sitting stable. (sorry no pics, just imagine an area of large rocks)

 

I have used hard reinforced black boards before with an old firm, and they were good when protecting the ground from impacts and compaction etc., however they wouldn't sit flat on an uneven surface like this, so I don't think they'd be very suitable.

 

I had a bit of a brainwave, and considered that perhaps if I had a thick roll of matting then I could roll it out over obstacles and track along that. Then I recalled looking at some 1 or 2" thick gripped rubber stable matting, roughly 4x 6ft I think. I could cut a large piece of this in half to provide me with two 2 x 6ft runs of track. In the future perhaps it would be rigid (but also flexible enough) to put across uneven steps, curbs and other minor obstacles.

 

Has anybody used anything like this before, can you see any issues arising with this idea, or are there any other solutions that people can suggest?

 

Many thanks!

[Dean Lofthouse]

Hay bales in the hollows then ramp on the bales ?

[martwizz]

Hay bales in the hollows then ramp on the bales ?

 

This is a rockery, not the grand canyon The rocks are perhaps 20-30cm in size, across an area probably 10m long. You could drive across it in a pickup, but it's a bit much for the machine, and a bit too uneven for the ramps.

 

I certainly could pad the ramps out with something like hay though.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Haha, I have some of that stable matting, I reckon it would break up, it's that type of rubber that if you bend it tightly it will crack

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Arbtalk mobile app

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Trying to visualize your scenario, a pair of long ladders with scaffold boards on them as they would be longer than the ramps, possibly with a few boards underneath at 90 degrees so they don't rock?

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

[nepia]

I certainly could pad the ramps out with something though.

 

 

Logs?

[biggarlogs]

crane????

[kentjames]

Sand bags under mats or ramps, they would enable you to fill the hollows in various different heights etc?

 

Or crane.

[martwizz]

Sandbags is a pretty good shout actually, they could be moulded fairly well.

 

A combination of sandbags and some strips of thick rubber mat might be the way forward. I'm just not a big fan of the ramps in terms of stability, and they are only 8ft long. Or a combination of the two!

[Daniël Bos]

Go to a big Ag dealer if you have one locally and ask for a set of worn tracks. They should give them to you for free, they'll need to pay to get rid otherwise.

Chop them open so you've just got a long belt and score under the first drive lug. With enough horse power you can then rip the lugs of in one go (they are moulded onto a separate steel belt, rubber moulded to the track) and presto, an indestructible, somewhat flexible/semi-rigid solution.

 

An other option would be the tread section of a tractor tyre (same Ag dealer, should be free again), which is a lot lighter both in weight and construction. Just cut the sidewalls of with a sharp knife (don't be tempted to use power tools, they melt the rubber and make it a very hard job, a sharp knife cuts tyres easier than you'd expect).

Tyre tread is lighter and more flexible (tracks are very heavy)

 

 

I have a set of tracks of a Challenger (Big tracked tractor, 600+hp) that I've had in a gateway all winter to drive the landy plus 4ton trailer through a very muddy gateway. Only sunk about an inch after more than 120ton of wood has been over it.