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Swamp mats

ConwayMuddy

ConwayMuddy

Dis member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
307
Messages
1,745
Loc
Jerkwater wi
In an effort to reach some places on my property with a tractor, I need to make up some swamp mats. I've got a steady supply of 4x4's I'm uncertain of the best way to hold them together. I'm thinking drilling holes and using all-thread, washers and nuts. I could also buy a shitload of long screws. Short screws/nails with 2x4's across them? Cost isnt really a concern, though cheaper is gooderer. Suggestions?
 
What are you getting 'there'?

A log skidder, a riding lawn mower, or something in between...?
 
scooter2374 said:
What did they call the roads that Sherman's armies built on their march to the sea?
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Corduroy road?

I got this picture sent to me by a buddy. They just built one last week. The water to the left is where the first corduroy road sank lol. It was all grassy and swampy. They built it last fall this spring it was gone and just water there now.

I got a video of him backing his dump truck down it and that was a big nope from me. The road sank like a foot where each tire was. This is a bottomless bog. The hoe grabbed a 25’ long tree and did not hit anything solid when he stuck it into the ground.




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ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Corduroy road?

I got this picture sent to me by a buddy. They just built one last week. The water to the left is where the first corduroy road sank lol. It was all grassy and swampy. They built it last fall this spring it was gone and just water there now.

I got a video of him backing his dump truck down it and that was a big nope from me. The road sank like a foot where each tire was. This is a bottomless bog. The hoe grabbed a 25’ long tree and did not hit anything solid when he stuck it into the ground.




filedata/fetch?id=375784&d=1618079406
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normal shit in SE alaska, most small roads are built that way
 
RusM said:
That's how they do crane mats, all thread rods, but those are 12x12.
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this is what I've seen
big fuckin timbers and 3/4" rod with nuts and washers

4x4s would probably not do too great, tires are really bad point loads
 
Any piles of rail ties around?
I've still gotta figure out who to talk to about the pile of ties in a town somewhat near me
pile's like 10' high and 100' long, all junky but still useful looking
 
[486 said:
;n375892]Any piles of rail ties around?
I've still gotta figure out who to talk to about the pile of ties in a town somewhat near me
pile's like 10' high and 100' long, all junky but still useful looking
Click to expand...
Usually the rr auctions off sections of old ties by the mile or 10 or whatever. From there people usually sell them depending on grade.
 
For only being 4x4s, I'd probably run at least 2 or 3 perpendicular and use big lags. Maybe even do it double thick the whole way.

Cable sounds like a pain, all thread obviously works on the bigger stuff. But, I can't see it scaling down to 4x4 size and ~1/2" at.

Are you planning on moving them much? Or just placing them in a few key spots?
 
Also, fwiw, Crane mats don't use 3/4" all thread, it's 1" and is actually made to length with a solid shank in the middle and just threads on the ends.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Also, fwiw, Crane mats don't use 3/4" all thread, it's 1" and is actually made to length with a solid shank in the middle and just threads on the ends.
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This. I used to haul a lot of them out to W Tx. 8ft sections so they'd fit on the flatbed.
 
any sorta ditching you can do? I know around here they get real... governmental about "ruining the wetlands"
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Also, fwiw, Crane mats don't use 3/4" all thread, it's 1" and is actually made to length with a solid shank in the middle and just threads on the ends.
Click to expand...

didn't know it was that big, just remember they used a pipe threader to do it, with a special die no doubt
way smarter than paying for allthread
 
ConwayMuddy said:
In an effort to reach some places on my property with a tractor, I need to make up some swamp mats. I've got a steady supply of 4x4's I'm uncertain of the best way to hold them together. I'm thinking drilling holes and using all-thread, washers and nuts. I could also buy a shitload of long screws. Short screws/nails with 2x4's across them? Cost isnt really a concern, though cheaper is gooderer. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Oak boards is what you want. Google logging mats. They'll support 80 thousand pound log trucks across some of the shittiest ground I've ever seen. We tried a log road once years ago without cabling them together and they'd just vanish so far under the swamp you couldn't even pull them back up with the excavator.
View attachment
 
Are you planning on moving them around, or leaving them in there as a permanent road once you put them in? Have you seen where they cut sidewalls out of tires, bolt the treads together to make a bunch of linked rings, and then pour road base into them? Would something like that work, or is your place too swampy for that?
 
billybob_81067 said:
Have you seen where they cut sidewalls out of tires, bolt the treads together to make a bunch of linked rings, and then pour road base into them?
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You have my interest.
I've thought about doing this, just cutting out one sidewall and not bolting them together, but bolts makes sense
 
[486 said:
;n376007]

You have my interest.
I've thought about doing this, just cutting out one sidewall and not bolting them together, but bolts makes sense
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Yeah you could leave the bottom bead in and that would help hold it all down even more.
 
I would just not use huge tires and bolt them together with big washers. Then fill with gravel. It is easy to get free tires.
 
billybob_81067 said:
Yeah you could leave the bottom bead in and that would help hold it all down even more.
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less cutting, too
DMG said:
I would just not use huge tires and bolt them together with big washers. Then fill with gravel. It is easy to get free tires.
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I got a guy that's currently paying someone 4 bucks apiece to get rid of them, thinking I could get him for 2 bucks apiece c:

Got a stack of old/broken leaf springs and a cutting torch for the washers. Figure they'll be big and curved enough to not tear through.
Low profile tires might not need the sidewalls cut, but normal tires with actual sidewalls certainly need at least the one cut out, they will be squishy forever if you don't. Squishy means the bolts might tear through?

100% going to try this shit
ya'll got me convinced
 
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