Off-Highway Vehicle Trail and Road Grading Equipment

Equipment Evaluations on the Francis Marion National Forest

Deschutes Trail Drag

After experimenting with several different designs over the years, longtime Deschutes National Forest employees Dick Dufourd and Kim Larsen designed a trail drag that grades tread material to the center of the trail. Dick Dufourd reports that it has been working extremely well.

MTDC fabricated another prototype, a wider version of the Deschutes Trail Drag, and tested it in South Carolina. The principal difference was that the MTDC drag was 34 inches (86 cm) wide (Figure 8). For trail work, we found it was a mistake to widen the drag from its original 28 inches (71 cm). The extra width made it more difficult to wind around trees and curves in the trail. This, of course, would be more of a problem on some trails than on others.

Figure 8-MTDC's version of the Deschutes Trail Drag.
The original was only 28 inches (71 cm) wide, a better width for trails than this
one, which is 34 inches (86 cm) wide. Angled blades on the drag provide a
cutting action, pulling in loose tread material to the center of the
trail. A straight blade on the rear, and a beavertail metal grate
behind the rear wheels, smooth out the graded material.

An electric actuator, controlled by the ATV operator, raises and lowers the wheels to control the amount of soil cutting.

In South Carolina, the Deschutes Drag effectively flattened the washboarded whoop-de-doos. However, the actuator that operates the wheels failed. We were unable to make the number of passes down the trail needed to smooth it completely. The Deschutes National Forest, working in pumice soil, reports that their version of the drag works fine in removing whoop-de-doos, and that usually about three to four passes are needed to grade the trail smooth. They, too, reported actuator problems. Our engineering plans now specify a heavy-duty actuator that should correct the problem.

If you would like to build the Deschutes Trail Drag, contact MTDC and ask for Engineering Drawing MTDC-969, Deschutes Trail Drag. Call Brian Vachowski to talk about fabrication questions.

Parts for the Deschutes Trail Drag cost about $1,050. Labor is estimated at $1,400, for a total cost of $2,450 for our prototype.