Do I really need scarfires on a Grading Scraper?

[ovrszd]

I say it depends on your patience and diligence. If you stay on top of things you won't need the scarifiers. If your plan is to run the driveway a couple times a year, regardless of condition, you'll probably need them.

I run a JD770G road grader on 50 miles of gravel roads. Patience and diligence is your friend.

 

[redman135]

Get scarifiers. It is very frustrating other wise.

 

[ovrszd]

I borrow my friend's grader couple times a year. Notched blade at the front, smooth blade at the rear, no scarifiers. It works great. I'd have no use for scarifiers that had to be manually raised/lowered. Hydraulic,,,, okay,,, I'm in.

 

[crazyal]

Does your driveway and road have fabric underlayment? If so the rippers will sooner or later rip it up. I have fabric in some sections of my drive so I can't use the scarfiers without being real careful. On the other sections I don't have fabric I'm always ripping it up. I even shorten the top link to change the angle as well as allow them to dig as deep as possible. A couple passes to rip it up and then a pass or two with just the blades and the driveway looks great. All my neighbors love me (can't count the number of apple pies I've gotten over the years). If I get busy and the driveway starts to suffer the neighbors call to make sure I'm not sick.

 

[oosik]

If I used my LPGS on the driveway more often - I think hydraulic scarifiers would be nice. I poo-poo'ed a hydraulic top link, until I got one and used it - what an improvement.

A side note - having a few shallow potholes on a loooong driveway is not an all bad thing. It keeps visitors speed down to about 20 mph max. Otherwise, I've had folks brag, saying they hit 45-50 coming down the driveway. They don't have to live with the choking dust either.

 

[wcampbell47]

Wish mine had them. Thinking of trading for one that does. And oh yes a hydraulic top link with a grading scraper is marvelous.

 

[jenkinsph]

I use a box blade with rippers but haven't needed them on my driveway in the last 10 years. My lpgs work fine with out them for most road work. Depends a lot on the local conditions and weather you have.


As far as ripping up a drive way deep all the time I don't see the point in it. Means you start over each time you rework it. I think a roller to pack the road base is important an isn't mentioned enough in these threads, this helps reduce the chance of potholes in your drive which are really soft spots. Once you pack the driveway down why loosen it up again?

 

[troutsqueezer]

I've got scarifiers but when I'm too lazy to get off the tractor and manually lower them - which is just about all the time - I point the bucket with tooth bar down slightly and rip with the front and drag with the BB as I go along.

 

[Carhartt Cowboy]

Call me crazy but I had no idea any manufacturer would make a box blade without scarifiers. A box blade on a 3 point hitch only has its weight to do the work. To not have scarifiers to loosened the soil extremely limits the tools usefulness. The only thing you can do is work with already loose soil. If you have a hard packed situation you might as well go get another tool or machine. A box blade is only one step above a rake and without the ability to dig a little all you have is a rake.

 

[Garycw]

My county line 5' has them and have used a few times. Especially if using in virgin ground. I've found I've never needed on my gravel drive though. I'd much rather have them than not, because you DO need them sometimes.

Sent from the mountains