"Grinding" pavement (black top)

   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #1  

Reg

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OK, this may be crazy, but I'm not the craziest person on this planet, so I figure if I can think of doing it someone else has already tried.

A friend has a dried up asphalt driveway that is cracked and crumbling.
I have a Harley Rake, so....

We were wondering if it would be "practical" to grind up this very dried out black top, compact it either with a vibrator or roller, then tar over it.
I know they do roads this way and I know it is much larger scale equipment, but he has more time than money and I can spare some of my time to help him out.
It is SO dried out that I don't think there is much chance of us just making a tarry mess, I think it will crumble.

Option B would be to dig it all up and have it hauled off, but he doesn't have budget for what we assume disposal costs would probably be.

Your thoughts, suggestions, recommendations are welcome - - ridicule and derision too, we may need to be laughed out of trying this one (-:

BTW, my Harley Rake has a good few hours on it so we wouldn't be abusing NEW equipment, not that I want to wreck it.
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #2  
sounds like you have a good plan that should work i dont know how you intent to grind it up with
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #3  
I'm a big fan of using milled asphalt. As a matter of fact I just did my 500' gravel drive with asphalt millings. A buddy has an 86" Landpride power rake that I borrowed and my 4720 handled it with no sweat. Also borrowed an Ingersol-Rand vib roller (rubber drive tires, about a 48" front drum) and it came out fairly well. Real test will be after we get our first freeze and out first heavy snow and we will see how it holds up.

As for your plan, I can't believe you are going to get good "break up" with yor Harley. How big is it and what do you power it with-weight and HP count. My millings came right out of a stockpile that came right from a road job-so I had my share of "chunks" with the fines. My guess is you are going to have nothing but "chunks". As such you are going to need one big vibe roller to get any kind of decent compaction.

One other thing, the Landpride I used doesn't have individual teeth on the rollers-rather it has rows of horizontal bars. Worked great as when rotating the bars would grab the "chunks" and pull them up against a screed bar that would further break up the chunks-not that I didn't do a fair amount of manual work pulling the big stuff out before I hit it with the roller.

Bottom line IMO, worth a shot but a Harley rake is NOT a milling machine.
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #4  
It sounds to me like you are fixing to tear up your harley rake.

How thick is the asphalt?
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #5  
You might think about cutting it up a little first with a sub soil tool. Or something like that.
Cut it into 1-2' wide strips, kind of break up some of the big parts, you get the idea.

Post pictures of the project.

Good luck
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #6  
I don't know where you are located but the place I work recycles asphalt and concrete. We grind them individually to make a 304 sized material from each. The asphalt has bcome a very good seller because when spread and rolled it packs very well and I have even heard of people having success with putting sealer on it. I don't know about that myself but I did my driveway with and I like it.

Randy
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #7  
By the way, couple of shots of the Landpride I used. And Randy B- you guys do it right. Like I said, the stuff I used came right out of the stockpile from a road job. The biggest outfit in the area will no longer sell you millings because the State of Mass. now allows asphalt producers to use up to 30% millings in new asphalt.-- Sooo-these guys now will sell you a blend of 33% milling, 33% asphalt shingles and 33% concrete/brick. Good subbase at a fair price but no way a good stand alone finished product.

There is another outfit that is running their millings through a pugmill of some sort getting it to a 3/4" minus product that they sell for 12 bucks a ton. In the spring I will do any repair needed with that stuff
 

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   / "Grinding" pavement (black top)
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks to all who replied.
We have a fair idea of how much better it would be to have the old material dug up and hauled away, then (professionally ground) material hauled in, laid, leveled, roller'd, etc. - - but that all looks like a lot more money than grinding what he already has right where it already is and tarring it over.
Budget, budget and budget being the top three factors here.

My Harley rake is a fairly old 6 ft one, it has the "nubs" on the drum.
The barrier bar is set at about 3/4 to 1 inch, anything larger than that keeps getting thrown forward until it breaks.
I don't have the easy way to adjust this, that came on later models, I have to use wrenches.

There is a local landscape contractor with a smaller tractor (30 or 35 hp Kubota) who uses an older Harley rake with the bar type drum.
I have seen them "recondition" a part dirt, part asphalt, part weeds parking lot with it, which is probably PART of where my thinking came from.
My "impression" is that my friend has about what that parking lot used to be and that the original asphalt was "milled in place" when it was dried out and crumbled.
I think my little 42 HP Kukje tractor would do this - and it is the only tractor that I could trailer there anyway.
About 6500 lbs with the loader and loaded set of R4s on (plus ME).

Red Horse;
If you ever get into Hudson (only the next town over to you).
Behind the Hudson public library, to the right as you face the water, the parking lot behind that apartment block.
Without naming names, the landscape contractor in Hudson with the red and white trucks.
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #9  
This is just about all we do for driveways anymore. We get crushed asphalt which is 1inch and smaller for $7 a ton. This is used as a finish as the dust is minimal in summer.
But I think you have to go slow but you can get the job done with your Harley rake.
We once used a outfitted forestry head that ground asphalt on the skid loader and you had just about fines when your done. We have a job coming up that's going to be in the 900-1000 tons of asphalt for a private road.
 
   / "Grinding" pavement (black top) #10  
The road milling machines I work with are in the 600 HP/ 50 + ton range. face it you don't have enough tractor to mill up your drive without trashing your equipment. Perhaps if the drive is old, and weak enough you could rip it up with a single chisel plow or a middle buster, then add 1,1/2" stone and mix it with say a five foot rototiller, but even that would inflict more wear and tear on your equipment then the cost of having it dug out and replaced with new high quality material by a contractor set up to do that kind of work.
 
 
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