joshuabardwell
Elite Member
Did a little touch-up on my gravel drive today with the box blade. I have worked it with the loader, but this is the first time I really got in there with the box. Suffice it to say, I'll never go back to the loader again if I don't have to. The box did a great job, both at aggressive leveling and removing ruts, and finish spreading. My method was to do one or two passes down the driveway with the box tilted forward aggressively, to help level the base and to scrape off as much of the plants growing in the drive was possible, then a few passes with the box just barely tilted backwards, to pull the piles of material back over the area, then a final pass or two with the box tilted hard backwards to put the final finish on it. It was interesting to see what a difference just a few turns of the top link made in that middle position. With the box hard forward, it dug in pretty much no matter what. With the box hard backward, it slid over, no matter what. But in that middle position, just a few turns of the top link made the difference between carrying and spreading the pile and just dumping it all out the back in the first few feet of travel.
One issue that I don't know how to solve is how to keep gravel from spreading off the side of the driveway. If I had a rake or a grader blade, I could pivot it to the side, to pull material towards the center. I wonder if I could cock the box blade slightly to the side with the sway bars to approximate that effect. Would that even do anything, since the material can't fall out the side of the box?
Here are some pics, because I know the policy. No tractor pics though. I was too busy working to take pics then.
I went back afterwards and, by hand, raked the gravel that was thrown into the grass back onto the drive. The indignity! By hand!
One issue that I don't know how to solve is how to keep gravel from spreading off the side of the driveway. If I had a rake or a grader blade, I could pivot it to the side, to pull material towards the center. I wonder if I could cock the box blade slightly to the side with the sway bars to approximate that effect. Would that even do anything, since the material can't fall out the side of the box?
Here are some pics, because I know the policy. No tractor pics though. I was too busy working to take pics then.
I went back afterwards and, by hand, raked the gravel that was thrown into the grass back onto the drive. The indignity! By hand!