Heavy Roller

   / Heavy Roller #1  

tc35dforme

Platinum Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2002
Messages
796
Location
New England...Central MA
Tractor
TC35D/16LA
This may not be the right spot to list this but I figure it will have the most broad coverage.

I have pretty much decided on a box blade to maintain my 1300 ft gravel drive. It is made up primarily of 3” minus crusher run dressed with some 1 ½” minus stuff. Pretty good to work with. Experience shows that a rake just sorts out the gravel and I end up with all the nuggets on the surface. I figure the rippers will chew everything up and let the box set it all smooth.

My plan is to follow this up with a rolling to compact it all. Has anyone built one ? I’ve seen a bunch of old ones made from concrete. I was looking at some 24” sonotube form and thought that with an ’axle’ in the middle I’d be in business. I would plan on building it about 8’ wide and of maybe 4 sections to avoid cornering trouble.

Thoughts ???
 
   / Heavy Roller #2  
Would take a pretty stout axle to keep it from bending in the middle. As they wjould have to turn independantly in a corner, how would concrete fare slipping on an axle shaft.
I suppose if a person used a pipe bushing through the middle for the axle it would work. I would want to be able to take the axle out easily to be able to grease it though.
Just rambling on, good luck with your roller.
 
   / Heavy Roller #3  
I have an Agri-Fab 24" roller, 48" wide that I filled with concrete topping mix. With water fill, it weighs 910 lbs. I'm not sure how much the concrete weighs, but it is quite a bit. It does a decent job, but a larger diameter sure would be nice. Norther Tool sells it for about $200. I keep looking for something bigger than 24" diameter to make a new one out of.
 
   / Heavy Roller
  • Thread Starter
#4  
JN3410,

24" diameter x 24" long concrete would weigh somewhere near 975 pounds. Maybe that's a bit too heavy and I'll reduce it to a bit over 6' in total width.

My plan was to pour in place a steel pipe ( sleeve ) and then fit a solid shaft with nylon bearings, probably a 3/4" dia. shaft. I'd set the shaft in some nylon sleeve bearings. They won't last forever but they're cheap enough to replace every few years. A jig ougtha keep the shaft sleeve straight while I slop in some concrete ??

Getting it all together will be the trick.
 
   / Heavy Roller #5  
What about just using the pipe? Weld on some end pieces and install a bung, etc... Fill it half way with sand then if you want more weight add water to suit your needs.

I've been eyeballing some of the water pipe laying around giving me ideas.
 
   / Heavy Roller #6  
Would this float your boat, or should I say sink it?
8 foot drum width, puts 7.3# per square inch on the ground with a total weight of 4300#.
Scraper bar across the top prevents mud buildup.
Hubs are from a 1 ton truck

Of course, it's really not the best thing for a gravel road, a tire roller works much better on gravel roads because it can accomodate crowns and rutting paths
 

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   / Heavy Roller #7  
Did you make the drum or salvage it from something else?
 
   / Heavy Roller #8  
The drum is a chlorine transport cylinder, 1" thick steel.
They cannot be recertified for transport, so they get sold for scrap. The empty drum weighs 2200#. It is full of water for additional weight.
 
   / Heavy Roller #9  
For packing gravel - freshly worked up and spread out flat - the best IMO is what Franz says, and that is a wheeled packer of some kind. I use the car (SUV) and drive back and forth until the entire drive is packed. I do it when the spread is still fresh and still damp. If one waits until drying starts, or worse yet, after a rain, then it won't pack and you end up with marbles (rolling stones). I have a very heavy 36" concrete roller with stacks of concrete silo staves on top, but it will not do the job packing the fresh-spread limestone gravel on the drive. My neighbor informed me that the roller wouldn't work many years ago, and he was right every time I tried it! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Heavy Roller #10  
For initial packing of fresh material, nothing beats a sheepfoot roller.
You can make a good unit for stone driveway maintainence from 8 tires of the same size in 2 banks of 4. Weld 2 1/2' pipe in the hubs, and slide a 2" pipe axel thru 4 tires per bank.
Fill the tires 2/3 with water and enough air to get to about 35psi. Stagger the second bank to cover the spaces between the tires on the first bank, and you have an excellent roller that will compensate for the ripples in a stone drive
If you need more weight, you can always put a rack on top of the tire banks and add weight there.
As far as ripping up a driveway with a boxblade, going deeper than necessary to get to the bottom of tracking ruts does more damage than good. I don't use a boxblade, see attachment.
 

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