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 | El*Gordo
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 4 Southern Maryland 
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2004-05-26 86940
Does anyone have any advice for working in beach sand? I have a TC-30 with FEL and York rake. I need to move some sand with the loader and rake up debris. I,m worried the sand might cause accelerated wear on the tractor. Will the sand get into the wheel bearings or eat up the seals?
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 | lucerne
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192 Lucerne Maine
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2004-05-26 86946
If it's a salt water beach, how about working it on an out going tide, then the sand will be wet, or a misty,rainy day. Work the beach from high to low tide. No wind would be nice for the sand the tide doesn't reach. As far as the sand damage, I'm sure it doesn't help the machine, but tractors are always in dirt and are built for it. Make sure the air filter is tight. ....
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 | beagle
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1333 Michigan 
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2004-05-26 86969
Keep the loader fittings well greased. That is the best way to keep sand or any dirt out of the fittings. Most other bearings are sealed. Keep the air cleaner, evacuator, and screens clean. Stay out of salt water and wind. You have a valid concern, but with care and operating under the right weather conditions, you should't have a problem. ....
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| Chip11
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14 MA
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2004-05-26 86976
Hi ElGordo,
In my high school years, I spent a couple of summers working for a Beach resort in the maintaince dept, one task we did on a daily basis was rake a ~8 acre beech. I don't remember the exact size tractor, but I am guessing it was in the 35 pto hp size range. Generally the impliment of choice was a pull behind "rake" that was driven by the PTO that had a track on either side of the rig, with bars that held on "spring fingers" that actually ended up picking up the seaweed and other beach debris, driven in the opposite direction of the foward moving tractor. We often had to replace these spring fingers as they tended to break frequently It was a also on a weekly basis that we power washed the tractor and rake, to keep the salt off the equipment. All in all, working with that equipment was one of the better parts of the job.
Chip11 ....
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| El*Gordo
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 4 Southern Maryland
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2004-05-30 87245
Thanks for the responses, Sorry I,m slow to reply, computer issues. Sounds like the tractor will handle the job. Someone submitted an estimate to my community association to do this work and was charging a fat premium for machine wear. I think he intended to use a track machine to move the sand, though. Anyhow, it got my attention, I'm not charging for this job and would hate to damage my new tractor. ....
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| El*Gordo
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 4 Southern Maryland
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2004-05-30 87246
Chip11
I'm interested in getting more information about the rake you describe. Any idea where to look? My york rake slow going, it quickly loads up and pushes up a pile of sand. It doesn,t take much to stop the tractor with loose sand under the wheels. ....
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| Chip11
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14 MA
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2004-06-02 87579
Hi ElGordo,
It has been a long time, and I don't even remember the brand name of the "rake", however somthing is sticking in my mind that it was not designed for sand, but cleaning up tall cut grass off of a field.
Chip11
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada 
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2004-06-03 87611
Gents, the implement that Chip is talking about is a side-delivery hay rake. Chip is right about field use, it is intended to move cut hay into a narrow windrow where it can be picked up by the baler.
It will do the same thing with anything that is not too heavy, we use one to do clean ups at a local race track after big events. We run around the place raking all the litter into rows where it can be picked up easily with pitch forks. If the seaweed is too heavy the spring fingers will just flex and drop the material, the trick seems to be to travel really slowly in heavy stuff and let it just nibble away at the material.
It also makes a FANTASTIC de-thatching tool.
Best of luck. ....
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| Chip11
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14 MA
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2004-06-03 87681
Yes, Murf is right. I seem to remember the use of a york rake, putting them into piles, and then using the front end loader to pick up piles, into a dump truck to haul away ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-06-04 87703
If you are picking up thick heavy seaweed and little else the easiest, cheapest solution might be to get (or make) a wide stone fork bucket for the FEL and just drive along scooping up the stuff.
The stone fork will also do some limited grooming if that is desired.
Several resorts we have worked on have used this method and been very happy with the results.
The one trick we have discovered with working in sand is to keep an eye on the speed, depending on the moisture of the sand it will start to be flung up onto the axles, etc., at a certain speed. If you can prevent the sand from getting to the seals it will go along way to saving them. We also cary a cheap hand pump sprayer full of clean fresh water of the type you would spot spray weeds with on each tractor. when some sand gets somewhere it shouldn't be a little spray rinses it right off.
Best of luck. ....
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| El*Gordo
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 4 Southern Maryland
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2004-06-06 87830
After all the great advice, I made my first attack on the beach today. Right now, I am mostly moving sand around that got displaced during Isabel. My opinion of the TC30 is growing - got a lot of work done. My 5' York rake was very effective in moving sand using it like a grader blade. Had trouble raking up debris though, kept plowing sand. Today I'm going to try removing every other rake tine to see if this helps let sand filter through. If this fails, I'll look at some of the rake options suggested here.
Murf, It didn't take long to learn about the importance of speed. I kept watching the front axle and kept the speed slow enough to prevent sand from being thrown on top of the axle. I hate the thought of the seals being covered in abrasive material. I like your advice about the sprayer and will probably power wash when finished today. I'm also being pretty anal about using the grease gun.
Thanks for the advice ....
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