Now’s a good time to maintain your tracks

Good tracks can make a huge difference to your ability to get out and get the job done. Whether you’re working an orchard or forestry block, or you’re moving cows on the farm: maintaining your agricultural tracks in Autumn can be beneficial to getting around in the Winter months to come.

If you want to maintain your tracks; what do you need to know? Let’s take a closer look at some important information to help you keep your tracks in good condition.

Good track construction is the key to easy maintenance

The better the construction of your tracks; the less time you’re going to spend maintaining them in years to come. Good track construction is a combination of preparation, good foundation layers that are well compacted, and the right camber to ensure water runs off the surface.

The six basic principles of a well constructed track are:

• Remove grass and topsoil
• Build a sound base
• Compact the surface well
• Use suitable surface material, i.e. metal
• Crown the race – make sure it slopes off to the sides and is high in the middle
• Build drains along the side.

It’s important to choose the right materials when constructing your track. These should suit your area, your likely weather conditions and water levels, and the use of your track.

Your track also needs good drainage to take away the water and prevent flooding.

We recommend this article by Dairy NZ which has some great tips on track construction.

Start your maintenance process by assessing your track quality

If your track is in need of maintenance, assessing how deep the issue goes is an important starting point. Here are some of the common problems you might face.

The wrong materials or a lack of effective compaction could leave you with a soft surface, particularly in the wet.

A lack of drainage or blocked drainage could be causing surface flooding as the water that runs off the track surface has nowhere to go.

You may have potholes or corrugation which create an uneven surface for orchard or farm machinery.

The crown or camber of the track may have flattened over time, causing the water to pool on the surface.

Implement a regular track maintenance schedule

Ticking off the minor maintenance jobs every year can help your tracks last longer and stay in better condition. Here are some simple ways you can maintain your track every year to ensure they give you access to the land you need to work.

Fill and compact your potholes.

Potholes are caused by water above or below the surface of your track. A good starting point before you repair any potholes is to check your drainage system and the camber of your track. Water needs to be drawn away from your track to stop potholes from reforming after repair. Effective drainage is the best solution to reducing potholes.

If you have deep potholes you will need to use a grader to remove the track to the level of the deepest hole. Then you need to rebuild the track by adding material in layers then compacting and grading to reform the crown of your road.

If you only have the odd pothole, start by digging in a drainage channel to remove any water from the hole. Once the hole is clear of water; add base metal to the level of the surrounding base, compact it, and top it off with a combination of fines and gravel.

Level your corrugation.

Corrugation tends to occur on steep tracks or corners and can be caused by poor driving, dry gravel or the wrong mix of gravel.

To prevent corrugation try to avoid aggressive acceleration or sharp braking; make sure you’ve got the right mix of gravel on your tracks; and preserve overhanging trees or vegetation which will protect your gravel from drying out.

Autumn is a good time of year to fix corrugation as it’s easiest to fix after the surface of your track has been slightly softened by rain. To remove the corrugation, grade the surface by cutting the corrugations back by 2-3cm and then topping with a blend of fines and gravel.

Dig or clear your drains

Good drainage is essential to ensure that water is carried away from your track. Pooling water will cause more damage.

A good track has flat, wide bottomed ditches on either side. Don’t remove vegetation unless it’s stopping water flow: it will hold banks together and filter any water that runs off your track.

Restore the camber or crown of your track

Time, regular use or wet weather can cause the erosion of the crown. The ideal track should fall 4cm for every metre from the centre to ensure that water has a clear pathway off the track when rain falls.

The crown of your track can be restored with a combination of grading and where necessary adding and compacting fines and gravel. An important tip is not to grade your track when it is dry – this will remove the fines which is an important lubricant to the surface of your track. Ideally grading should happen after a light rain or after the application of water to wet the surface of your track.

Time to restore your tracks?

If you’re ready to restore your tracks for Winter; Allways Hire has a great range of equipment to hire that can make the job easier. Here’s our top pick of machinery that’s ready to hire and help you maintain your tracks.

Our range of trucks for hire are perfect for transporting the material you need to improve the surface of your track.
Need to dig out a new track or clear some drainage channels? We have a range of excavators available to hire that can make easy work of the digging job.
Compacting your surface is an important step in constructing a track and maintaining it. Choose from our range of rollers and compactors for hire.
Ready to restore the perfect cambre? The Master Grader has been designed to be easy to operate and achieve a high standard of finish. Available to hire now.
If you need some water on the job our range of Water Carts for hire can help you work, wherever you are on your land.