Moving crushed stone ???

[Madman_Mark]

I've ordered a tandem dump truck load of crushed stone for the 1st week of May.
I've got a long muddy driveway that needs fixing.
Some of the load will have to be dumped out in a large pile because of over head wires (instead of being slowly dumped and spread).
What I'm wondering is how easily my tractor will be able to move this around and spread it out ?
It's a 55HP 4WD with a loader.
All I've really used the loader for is moving snow so far.
I'm sure it will handle it all right but I'm just looking for some hints or tips etc...
Thanks.

[KiotiJohn]

Mark, you can do the spreading pretty easily if you have gotten good at using the loader. Get your bucket full and slowly drop it while backing up. Feather the loader control so that you only drop the needed amount at one time. If you don't have a boxblade to grab and draw it, this should work. If you have larger "blobs" of it after spreading, take the bucket and angle the cutting edge down, put the loader in the float position and drag the high area back, slowing curling the bucket to drop bits at a time until more level. That's one way to do it, I'm sure other members have some good ideas. John

[_RaT_]

I had 2 truck and trailers dumped or 4 loads. Two were piled, the others spread. I can spread a pile well before he arrives with the second trailer, about 10 minutes or less. I have a smaller tractor but use my boxblade considerably. With the loader, it still goes very fast. I load it and then once I'm where it needs to go, either in forward or reverse quickly get going all the while dumping my bucket to "spread" it out. My final spreading is with a boxblade but you can do a reasonable job with the loader, just keep the bucket at a very slight angle with the rear of the bucket off the ground about an inch or so.

[RobS]

I'm doing this right now Mark, it's a breeze. I had three tri-axle loads delivered. They tailgated it some but it still needs spreading and smoothing. Stone is about the easiest to work with as it flows well. As others have mentioned, use your FEL, box blade or just about whatever you have. I'll finish mine up this morning with a few passes with my landscape rake turned backwards. I like the way it fills everything in without actually moving much material around. I may then rent a compactor to run over it as this is not our everyday drive. Vehicle traffic is normally enough to get a good pack but be sure to drive completely, edge to edge.

You've got plenty of hp for the job, what implements do you have?

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[CTyler]

I've lost track of how many times I've done this with my little L3130(32hp). Scoop it up and feather the FEL down so it just stats to fall out and start moving backwards. Feather the FEL down while backing up. You'll get the hang of it pretty quick.

You can also spread it with the FEL as well. Put the FEL in float and drive backwards. If you curl the bucket all the way back, going backwards, it will start to dig and carry a small amount or material with it. I call it the poor mans box blade....LOL!

Anyway by adjusting your roll angle you can carry a little material and then roll the bucket down when you need to fill a little more and smooth. It will probably take you two minutes to figure it out.

[Madman_Mark]

RobS, I have the FEL and a Farmi logging winch on the back, nothing else so far, maybe a wood splitter and a bush hog eventually.
The winch has a large but plate/blade on it which I could use for leveling stone.
Thanks for all the great advice.

[frank_f15]

mark: all the guyd gave u good advice on the way to do it,but the best teacher is to just saddle up and get at it. u will soon learn for yourself the best way to do it.

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( mark: all the guyd gave u good advice on the way to do it,but the best teacher is to just saddle up and get at it. u will soon learn for yourself the best way to do it. )</font>
You are exactly right about that Frank. Nothing like on the job training to learn. John

[Soundguy]

Piece of cake... you could do it with a box blade or rear blade or dirt scoop on a smaller tractor, and just take more time, and have a sore neck a couple days later.. your setup sounds virtually 'ideal'.. loader is deffinately a ++ tool.

Soundguy

[WCarlson]

Mark,
I just did 60 tons of stone on Monday and Tues last week to make a new driveway. I had the stone delivered in a stone shooter. They were able to spread the stone evenly up to 30 feet from the truck at a rate of about 20 tons per half hour. The operator would spread stone evenly over the closest area to about 30 feet from the truck then backup over the stone he had just laid and do the next section. I then touched up using the FEL and the BB. Use of the stone shooter added about $50. per load to just having the stone piled. It wasn't expensive and made the job a lot easier than spreading it with the tractor.
Bill