Private Track Machinery

Tracked skid like you said.  No brainer.

There is a privateer who lives near me who maintains his track with a track skid steer using a regular and hydro bucket. He graded my front yard with the hydro bucket, those are a game changer. 

Tracked loader is great, you can do it with a wheeled unit and add metal tracks to save some money too.  I would also invest in a tractor for ripping the soil.  We have one local track that does all their track work with a tractor with a bucket.  

I like Skid Steers, but I’d go tractor route, get a used one and spend the spend the rest on implements.   Tractors aren’t the best at any one they but they are more versatile in my opinion.  For a home track a tractor and a box blade goes a long ways.  I’d also get a heavy disc and a 6 ft shreader to mow.  Lots 3 point implements can be bought reasonable for tractors.  .  

$40K on a tracked skid is not going to get you too far - You don't really need a high flow machine, so that will save you a chunk of $$.  But you're probably looking at a higher-hour machine (1700-2000+ hr) and maintenance once they get into that range can be a lot of money. Stick to the big name brands  like Cat, John Deere, and Bobcat. Their brand-name recognition will help you when you are ready to resell. Keep the oil clean (engine and hydraulic) and keep everything greased!   A mid sized machine like a Cat 259D3 (9500lbs) is good and at 75 hp keeps you away from the machines that use DEF

I purchased a Kubota L series compact tractor to do the same things. Mowing and track maintenance, I've been very pleased with it. For $40k you can get a lot of tractor AND implements. Sure, a skid steer can dig more effectively. But you would be surprised what a box blade and a front end loader can do. Attachments are endless!

I've built and maintain my track with a Skiddy. IMO get the the biggest one you can afford, I have a Kubota SVL 97. You can't beat how versatile a skiddy is. My track is 1.25 miles long, I can do two passed with my 12' wide disc in 30 min. I've moved thousands of yards with this thing and it shapes jumps and berms better than an tractor. I have a dozer blade for pushing in dozer berms and pushing fresh topsoil, a tiller attachment for the corners is nice too as you can break up the larger disced clods of dirt. Sure not having def would be nice but a 75HP skiddy wont' pull a 10' disc or push up the amount of dirt needed for a moto track. To be a real track you need a nice dozer and 100-150hp farm tractor. trying to do all this with a skiddy really puts an emphasis on size.

Skid steer for sure. In heavy clay you probably don’t want to disc it unless you like riding on boulders. 

I love all the pics of home tracks. 

Growing up we had a wheeled Bob Cat with a bucket. Tracks would’ve been ideal but we made it work. 

Tracked skid steer. It’s like a Swiss Army knife of Machines. First I bought the machine then year after year I’ve bought different things for it. My favorite is a 6 way dozer blade I use to maintain the track. I also sold wife on its a great thing to plow the driveway with in the winter. I also have a grapple bucket. Great for clearing brush, trencher for running power or drain lines and a brush cutter. My next purchase is either gonna be a power rake or Hydra bucket. I also have an old shitty tractor that I use to rip the track. I’m 39 now and I have just as much fun building the track as I do riding it. 

Paging @Hammer 663s this thread is right up your alley. 

40k is decent down payment on kubota track skid steer that you can finance at 0% right now..... 

lol me too, my phone has 17,287 pictures on it. Probably about 100 of my wife, 3-4 thousand of my dog and then 14,000 of the same berm or rut prepped up in a slightly different way! 

The skiddy idea has already been mentioned, but I’ll add to that and say that I believe that is the way to go especially when considering it as a multi-use tool for other projects. Picture of the fire trailer that also doubles as an amazing track sprinkler, although the Oregon weather seems to take pretty good care of track moisture just about every damn day 🤣

Edit: I own a dozer, and aside from the initial cutting in of a track, I’d almost always choose a skid steer over a dozer! 
 

Track skid steer is #1

Dozers are best but, too expensive.

A good mid-size mini excavator WITH a blade is an awesome tool.  Especially once you learn its capabilities. Must have a blade.

I think depends on the size and what level your track is. I bought 3 acres, had it cleared and kept some pine trees. Bought an old 1954 Ford NAA. Bought a three point hitch scoop and brush hog. I barrowed a 7 foot box blade with scrappers and so far it has done a good job. I plan on getting a disc harrow at some point but my dirt is really good sand dirt mix so it digs up nice with just my knobbies. My only issue now is a need more dirt for jumps. The box blade only scraps so much up so I only have three small jumps. But I'm 69 and don't need much. 

I bought this land last June. I have been working on it since September. This is an overhead a took with my new drone about a week ago. I have a YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@MarkEdwards-350sxf) where I have been documenting my adventures with the property with photos, GoPro and drone footage.. I retired 4 1/2 years ago and moved to Perry Georgia. I love it here. I always wanted my on property and track. I'm doing all this manual labor work which I have never done in my work life. So It's been an a great learning experience. Wish I had a front loader or skid steer but to much money for me.

Here is my old tractor I bought and had to do mild restore on it.

It's nice having your own property to do what you want.

Why in the world would someone ever put down that much liquid capital on an asset they can finance for 0%? Save your $40k put it in an index fund and make $3200 in the first year and over $5k the second, etc. or at least a high yield savings.The bank is giving you free financing use it to the full extent. You never give up liquid capital especially when you aren't paying for financing. 

Yeah a good tracked skiddy is a must IMHO. You just can't shape berms and faces as well with a regular tractor/bucket. If I had $$$ I'd also have a water truck. I prefer a tiller to discs but you need a ripper to go with a tiller. Our clay/topsoil mix needs ripped deep at least 3-4 times a year to stay workable with the tiller. 

With clay, if you can get a source for sand and/or sawdust to blend in you can make it a lot more manageable. But every track is a ton of work. 4 or 5 hours of real work for every 1-2 hours of ride time. Nothin better than watching your friends shred it on a perfect day tho.....

NICE!

Dream setup right there!

Oh and skiddy for sure and pic up additional implements when you are able too. Tractors are way worse for shaping berms and jumps and much slower to do so. Not to mention way easier to roll. 

Hah. Hell yeah. I love it. It’s a thing of beauty - a freshly prepped track.

I built and maintain this 1.7 mile natural terrain track with just this little 30 hp tractor with a loader attachment and a box blade, a 10 tine cultivator and a landscape rake.

A little off topic, but it seems to me, it’s more important to have land away from houses/people, rather than a bunch of land surrounded by a bunch of people and houses.

Examples above like what you built on 7 acres, and what the other guy built on 3 acres.

My biggest fear is I’m going to buy a place with like 4-10 acres, and have some jerks nearby complain about noise for a couple hours on a Saturday.

On a local track here in Wichita they disc'ed the track one morning. I went out and it was like riding on marbles, I almost crashed several times in one straight away 😂. 

That looks like heaven!

We’ve got a new holland skiddy and a John Deere 4 series that keeps the track maintained. Initially built it with a front end loader, though. Anything is possible if you have enough time and motivation.

Porn!