Tools & techniques for driveway repair (crowing especially)?

[Fallon]

I've been doing a bit of driveway work for myself & on my side gig recently. What do you guys do for driveway work?

I had a 72" King Kutter box blad that just sold. I recently acquired a 5" Land Pride LPGS which is wicked nice & am getting an old 76" Gannon back online.

The LPGS is now my go to implement. I have a 72" track & it's only 60" wide, but that really hasn't seemed to be a problem in practice. With wetter material filling it up, it will put a burn on my 40hp pushing 5,000lbs Kubota L4060. It does a great job ripping up the packed & smoothing/leveling things out without ruts or potholes.

The only thing it seems to be lacking is crowning ability. Tilting it to the side doesn't really result in any sideways material movement. The box blade is more or less in the same boat, it will move a little material sideways when the box is full & it's tilted, but not that much. I've resorted to doing a herring bone pattern down the driveway to cut down the "curb" that always develops on the side & pull it into the middle. Then do a few more passes to smooth things back out. That usually gives me a bit of a crown. But it's slow & doesn't work well in tight spaces.

The obvious answer is a back blade. But it would end up being a bit of a 1 trick pony for me as I already have a SSQA snow plow & the other blades that do their specific jobs better. Would a rock rake work nearly as well as a back blade? It would still mean an implement change & having to haul another implement around, but at least it would be usable for a few other things as well.

I've even thought about trying to tack a cheap blade on the back of the LPGS to get the job done without an implement change. But after mulling that over for a bit I haven't been able to convince myself that would be the way to go.

What do you guys do for crowning? Any recommendations for implements or processes to make driveway jobs go faster or better?

 

[nybirdman]

I never had a lot of luck with the BB on wet material.

 

[Gordon Gould]

The obvious answer is a back blade.

You said it but that is what I think too.

If I need both I lash the rear blade on top of the LPGS for transport. When you get to the job detach the LPGS from the 3ph and use your bucket and some chains to get the blade off and set up.



gg

 

[jenkinsph]

You said it but that is what I think too.

If I need both I lash the rear blade on top of the LPGS for transport. When you get to the job detach the LPGS from the 3ph and use your bucket and some chains to get the blade off and set up.

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gg

Gordon has a very helpful answer^^^^

I go through this a lot, trying to decide which implements are must haves for my work. It can be more trouble to transport the equipment sometimes than I like. I have pretty much decided to buy an implement trailer to solve this problem.

For driveway work as a side gig I would suggest a good rear blade for shaping and crowning. I work in New Mexico with similar conditions and have not had much luck using a landscape rake for shaping a driveway. For most driveway jobs without major reworking you can get good results with a lpgs and a rear blade. One trip in and out.

For driveways requiring more extensive ripping, pothole repair a heavy box blade and heavy roller are brought in too. That is more work and more money and often more materials to spread too.

 

[Creamer]

I used a land plane once and never went back to it. The back blade does everything for me although once in a while I use my landscape rake just because it is hanging on the tractor. I only grade mine once or twice a year though.

You mentioned ruts - why do you have them? It sounds like more of a drainage problem. The most important thing is to get the water off and away from the road, i.e. a little crowning so there are no potholes and good drainage off to the side. Once you have that your driveway maintenance should be very minimal. Until you have that you are only treating the symptom not the root cause.

 

[Fallon]

I used a land plane once and never went back to it. The back blade does everything for me although once in a while I use my landscape rake just because it is hanging on the tractor. I only grade mine once or twice a year though.

You mentioned ruts - why do you have them? It sounds like more of a drainage problem. The most important thing is to get the water off and away from the road, i.e. a little crowning so there are no potholes and good drainage off to the side. Once you have that your driveway maintenance should be very minimal. Until you have that you are only treating the symptom not the root cause.

I completely agree. Lots of potholes or water channels on some of the driveways, pretty much always water to blame. Just looking for the easiest way to build up a crown to help keep the water off. The other culprite is just driving over the same spot for years with no maintenance. That ends up beating in 2 ruts with a lump in the middle & on each side.

 

[ovrszd]

I don't hire out to anyone. If I did, before I considered which tool I needed I would add TnT to the tractor. With TnT you can do a very nice job of crowning a roadbed using a BB or LPGS. A rear blade is the best tool but has the least variety of uses. If just buying one tool, it would be a BB first, Rear Blade second, LPGS third.

 

[Fallon]

I don't hire out to anyone. If I did, before I considered which tool I needed I would add TnT to the tractor. With TnT you can do a very nice job of crowning a roadbed using a BB or LPGS. A rear blade is the best tool but has the least variety of uses. If just buying one tool, it would be a BB first, Rear Blade second, LPGS third.

I agree. Very happy with my TnT setup from FitRite.

 

[Creamer]

I don't hire out to anyone. If I did, before I considered which tool I needed I would add TnT to the tractor. With TnT you can do a very nice job of crowning a roadbed using a BB or LPGS. A rear blade is the best tool but has the least variety of uses. If just buying one tool, it would be a BB first, Rear Blade second, LPGS third.

I would reverse the first two in that order. I have had a rear blade for 25 years and just bought a box blade two years ago. (I did rent one once 20 years ago for a special job.) I still hook on to my rear blade much more than the box blade. The box blade is good for ripping up and moving dirt but I put on the rear blade or landscape rake for leveling and grading.

 

[ovrszd]

I would reverse the first two in that order. I have had a rear blade for 25 years and just bought a box blade two years ago. (I did rent one once 20 years ago for a special job.) I still hook on to my rear blade much more than the box blade. The box blade is good for ripping up and moving dirt but I put on the rear blade or landscape rake for leveling and grading.

I totally understand. That's why there is a variety of tools and tractors. I use my BB 10 hours for every 1 hour of rear blade use.

Do you have TnT on your tractor? If not, maybe that's why you favor the rear blade. No worries either way.