disc harrow for ice

[RockRapidsDeere]

I was told to get chicken grit from the local elevator. It's basically small crushed rock. That is great for the traction, but to melt the ice I got a bucket of potash. It's a granular also from the elevator, and works well. It doesn't track in the house like ashes do.

 

[jeff3590]

Has any one used a disc harrow to brake up ice on a gravel driveway? Or what else has any one used?

I know this is an OLD post, but I had the same question. Until today when I used my disc harrow on my driveway and road. About a quarter mile. It helped but didn't break up the ice. So, for context, my parking area between buildings is 80x80, plus or minus, and flat. Couple feet of snow, cleared, and then it rained. 3 inches or so of slush. Plowed it off and over night it froze solid. Parking, driveway, road to the house all gravel and frozen solid, and as smooth as a hockey rink. Road's crowned so vehicle wants to slide to one side if you're not on top!! I disced the whole enchilada and it helped a bunch. It didn't break up the ice but it grooved it nicely and flaked a bunch of small stuff out. When I went out later the flake had frozen to the old ice and gave me some traction. I DON'T have access to enough sand or salt so this was my only real alternative. It's not a great solution. If there were any hills or other problem areas it might not work at all, but for me it makes the difference between getting out safely or not getting out at all. It worked well enough that I'm going to do it out to the main road.
My harrow is an old set, only about 500 pounds, and the discs have rounded, worn edges.
I have snow tires on my vehicles, but don't want to have to chain up just to get to the well maintained, paved main road coming and going. Not the best solution, but it does help. The attached pic shows one side of the driveway disced, the other slick ice.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I know this is an OLD post, but I had the same question. Until today when I used my disc harrow on my driveway and road. About a quarter mile. It helped but didn't break up the ice. So, for context, my parking area between buildings is 80x80, plus or minus, and flat. Couple feet of snow, cleared, and then it rained. 3 inches or so of slush. Plowed it off and over night it froze solid. Parking, driveway, road to the house all gravel and frozen solid, and as smooth as a hockey rink. Road's crowned so vehicle wants to slide to one side if you're not on top!! I disced the whole enchilada and it helped a bunch. It didn't break up the ice but it grooved it nicely and flaked a bunch of small stuff out. When I went out later the flake had frozen to the old ice and gave me some traction. I DON'T have access to enough sand or salt so this was my only real alternative. It's not a great solution. If there were any hills or other problem areas it might not work at all, but for me it makes the difference between getting out safely or not getting out at all. It worked well enough that I'm going to do it out to the main road.
My harrow is an old set, only about 500 pounds, and the discs have rounded, worn edges.
I have snow tires on my vehicles, but don't want to have to chain up just to get to the well maintained, paved main road coming and going. Not the best solution, but it does help. The attached pic shows one side of the driveway disced, the other slick ice.

You might ballast the harrow and give it another try. More point load on the discs might break it up.

 

[jyoutz]

In my region volcanic cinders are available. The highway department spreads those on the road and they stick in the ice and provide traction. The only problem is if you follow another vehicle too closely, you are likely to get a chipped windshield.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

In my region volcanic cinders are available. The highway department spreads those on the road and they stick in the ice and provide traction. The only problem is if you follow another vehicle too closely, you are likely to get a chipped windshield.

When i was a kid in Wyoming, there were huge piles of coal dust, and clinker from the old steam engines. The city and county used to use them to sand the roads. It made the filthiest mess I have ever seen. It was half way through the summer, and a few rains before it all went away.

 

[jyoutz]

When i was a kid in Wyoming, there were huge piles of coal dust, and clinker from the old steam engines. The city and county used to use them to sand the roads. It made the filthiest mess I have ever seen. It was half way through the summer, and a few rains before it all went away.

Since volcanic cinders are basically very small sharp stones, they just end up providing gravel to the road shoulders.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I have two old spike tooth harrow sections welded together into a 3 point hitch implement. I use it to bring the gravel up in the driveway in spring. One time I just for the fun of it tried the harrow going backwards on an icy driveway. Since I usually pull it going forwards there is a sharp edge on the rear of each tooth. Going backwards shaved the ice enough that there was good traction on it after. The shavings froze to the ice and left a rough enough surface that most of the danger of slipping was gone. It was a cheap, easy and fast solution with an impliment I already had.

 

[npalen]

Raiko | Team Eagle

The Raiko Icebreaker breaks up hard, compacted ice layers on road surfaces with no damage to the pavement/surface below. An enviornmental sustainable method for ground maintenance.

www.team-eagle.ca

I don't even want to know the price!

 

[jeff3590]

I know this is an OLD post, but I had the same question. Until today when I used my disc harrow on my driveway and road. About a quarter mile. It helped but didn't break up the ice. So, for context, my parking area between buildings is 80x80, plus or minus, and flat. Couple feet of snow, cleared, and then it rained. 3 inches or so of slush. Plowed it off and over night it froze solid. Parking, driveway, road to the house all gravel and frozen solid, and as smooth as a hockey rink. Road's crowned so vehicle wants to slide to one side if you're not on top!! I disced the whole enchilada and it helped a bunch. It didn't break up the ice but it grooved it nicely and flaked a bunch of small stuff out. When I went out later the flake had frozen to the old ice and gave me some traction. I DON'T have access to enough sand or salt so this was my only real alternative. It's not a great solution. If there were any hills or other problem areas it might not work at all, but for me it makes the difference between getting out safely or not getting out at all. It worked well enough that I'm going to do it out to the main road.
My harrow is an old set, only about 500 pounds, and the discs have rounded, worn edges.
I have snow tires on my vehicles, but don't want to have to chain up just to get to the well maintained, paved main road coming and going. Not the best solution, but it does help. The attached pic shows one side of the driveway disced, the other slick ice.

Update. Remember. My issue is on all relatively flat ground. My experience has been relatively successful. It's not like driving on well maintained gravel or blacktop road, but it's NOT like driving on a sheet of ice, even though I am. At 10 and 15 mph I'm not sliding around looking for my tires to find purchase. I even had a couple of neighbors give me a thumbs up. Next time I'll churn it up before it freezes and see if that works. And there will be a next time!!
The latest iteration...

 

[dirttoys]

I have a couple of spots on a half mile driveway that are genuinely dangerous with a half inch of ice on them. I run a harley rake over them, sounds terrible, but works very well. I assume enough passes with disk or tooth harrow would work if they were heavy. Curious as to how the disk will hold up?

Best,

ed