BX25d in the mud?

[AKcorn]

Greetings all! First time poster here, long time follower. I recently purchased 2.5 acres on a steep hillside in Alaska. The land is on the side of a mountain and has quite a bit of water flowing just below the surface, which turn into muddy areas during rainy periods. I'm getting excited about putting in a driveway and some water control measures (French drain, driveway ditch, etc.).

The driveway was roughly cut along the sidehill and up to the building site about ten years ago. Wherever soil had been excavated for the driveway, there is a good amount of water...and mud. I'm confident that a BX25D is big enough to dig a ditch along side the driveway and do the other remediation work that I have planned, but I'm concerned that with the small tires I will constantly be getting stuck in the wet areas.

Would I be better served to get a larger tractor than a BX25D? I really need a backhoe, and don't really want to spend another $5-7K just for a hoe for a larger tractor.

Does anyone have experience with this machine in steep and/or muddy areas?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

From all I've read and dealt with the R4 (industrial) tires are worthless in the mud, unless you put a set of chains on them.
Are you going to be using it for snow removal too? If you are then R4's with chains are better then R1's with chains.
I would jump up to a much larger tractor if I were you.
I have a B7100 and it does really well with R1 (ag tires) in the mud, but for winter I have a set of studded snow tires with 2 link cleated chains for snow blowing and blading.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

With the hoe you can just pick up the back end of the tractor and swing yourself over to the side out of the mud or crawl out. Little tricks you'll learn as you operate the hoe...

 

[cerlawson]

I have the BX1860 and am sorry I got it. While it does most jobs OK, the three point is not "standard". If you go to anything in this category and don't need a three point, then go for it. I would not buy a tractor with back-hoe for a little job like that only. In your area for snow you need a rear blade as well as the bucket. As to the three point, look up the complaints where under "operating" the words "Jerky three point" is listed. I'd not go for the BX class if three point work is common.

My profession is a geotechical engineer. On a French drain, you may want some advice. Backfilling a trench with single size stone seems common, but it will fail if much water is carried, due to the voids in the stone getting filed with mud. The best, all around drain filling material is the fine aggregate (concrete sand) from a ready-mix plant, or equal. Then, in the trench use a slotted pipe. It does not need a sock if the slots are 1/16" of so. If larger, then get the pipe with the filter sock. Ideally the trench should be 4 feet or deeper to lower the water table that much to minimize frost heaving. If caving occurs as you dig, start at the outlet and work backwards, laying pipe and backfilling as you go. At least some sand filter around the pipe is needed in case of cave-in of sides.

 

[cerlawson]

I should mention the "Jerky 3-point" discussion is for a different Kubota series, but it also applies to the BX series. The valve there is a simple on or off up or down. There is no setting the "draft" depth as on most standard tractors.