Gravel Driveway vs Box Blade

[mikester]

Hello,

I am trying to use my JD 4115 to repair and level my 400' long gravel driveway. Since the driveway is on an incline, everytime it rains really hard a little river forms and washes part of the driveway out.

I used my FEL to recover some of my driveway from the ditch along the road and fill in the holes. Then I distributed 10 yards of crushed limestone.

Afterwards I tried to use my TSC 5' box blade to level everything off.

Here lies the problem. Since I can only go back and forth along the driveway, some little hills built up. My wife says it like ridding a roller coaster.

When the front wheels start to climb one of the hills the box blade digs in more. And where it is digging in is where there is already a low spot. Then as the tractor crest the hill and starts down the other side, the box blade raises up and dumps it load on top of the hill.

The more I try to grade it the bigger these hills get. I have tires getting tricky with the draft control and clipping the tops of the hills and dumping it in the low parts but I am not tricky enough. I have also tired to use my FEL to redistribute it hills. That works to some degree but when I go to level everything back out I end up with the hills again.

I can imagine that if I were leveling a larger area where I could come in from different directions that this would be less of a problem but grading my driveway restricts me to driving only along it's length.

Does any one have any suggestions? Is there another attachment which might work better? On the farm where I grew up we used to use a rear grader blade on a 105 HP tractor to grade about 1000 FT of driveway and I don't remember having this problem. Of course the driveway started out a little more level and the tractor had a much longer wheel base.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I've got a similar driveway.

I modded my 3PH blade by welding wings to the sides of the blades and cantilevered a pair of golf car wheels on an axel that extends a good 1-2 feet behind the blade. Picture a grader machine set up with my tractor rear wheels up front, the golf car wheels out back, and the blade in the middle.

I set up the grader blade system on flat concrete and lower the 3PH all the way. I adjust the top link so the blade is just feather touching the ground.

Now when I grade my driveway I just drop the 3PH all the way and let gravity do all the work. My driveway is flat like a pancake now.

Its easy to raise and lower grade by slightly lifting/lowering the 3PH as I drive. Pot holes get filled and high spots are shaved automatically. It's really tough to get a good grade with a blade alone because the blades are made to cut and roll the spoil so the tendency for the blade is to keep digging in until the spoil pushes the cutting edge up and out. With my setup the blade still cuts freely but is depth limited. The spoil helps keep the blade loaded down with weight and cuts more effectively.

 

[Peter 315]

I have an Autel XSP. It's a quality machine, the company has excellent customer service. Autel is a gigantic corporation that has within the past 18 months moved into the Drone market. I'm a bit concerned about their survival. DJI has a firm grip on this market and vigorously attacks any company that tries to move in. They current have several infringement lawsuits pending against Autel. I don't like Bullies like that so I didn't buy DJI.

One thing you must accept. Whatever Drone you purchase will be boarding on obsolete within a year. With the additional accessories I've purchased I have $1500 in mine.

We need a drone thread so we don't get in trouble on this thread

 

[Buggs67]

I like that idea (the guide wheels). Was considering adding some to my BB or some sort of skid to restrict how much it cuts.

Got any pictures?

 

[prichard]

I just laid 2 loads of crushed on the old drive. I just let the top link out till bb rested on rear blade and front was about 1" higher. Put 3pt in float and it smoothed out very nicely. I only have bb, no hydraulics and I'm a novice. I was quite happy with the results. I'm learning a lot on here about using bb.

 

[Buggs67]

Yup your "local with more experience" can use a drag harrow, but he needs it once a month, because it only levels the bumps. It does absolutely NOTHING to shape his driveway properly, to shed water.

In the interest of fairness he did say he reshapes and grades with a rear blade regularly, but the drag harrow is his regular monthly tool.

I only have a 25 hp tractor with a 50" track. Not sure it'd handle 84" well.
I want offset capability but the one's I've been seeing for sale you have to unbolt the blade and remount it to get offset.

This one by Behlen seems easier to adjust.
6′ Heavy Duty Adjustable Grader Blade | Behlen Country

 

[MtnViewRanch]

In the interest of fairness he did say he reshapes and grades with a rear blade regularly, but the drag harrow is his regular monthly tool.

I only have a 25 hp tractor with a 50" track. Not sure it'd handle 84" well.
I want offset capability but the one's I've been seeing for sale you have to unbolt the blade and remount it to get offset.

This one by Behlen seems easier to adjust.
6′ Heavy Duty Adjustable Grader Blade | Behlen Country

How about this one? Just pull a pin and pivot.

 

[mikester]

I like that idea (the guide wheels). Was considering adding some to my BB or some sort of skid to restrict how much it cuts.

Got any pictures?

None...when the snow melts and I get the blade out of storage to grade the driveway I will post some pics.

 

[mark kram]

A river runs down it...I can relate. I found that adding speedbumps and drains behind the speedbumps to be the simplest fix. I put the rear blade up and haven't had to blade the drive since. That was 10 years ago.

 

[ovrszd]

A river runs down it...I can relate. I found that adding speedbumps and drains behind the speedbumps to be the simplest fix. I put the rear blade up and haven't had to blade the drive since. That was 10 years ago.

My neighbor did that on his driveway.

 

[Buggs67]

How about this one? Just pull a pin and pivot.

That one is nice. At $820 it's at the edge of the budget. We'll have more cash when the other house sells and I'm not carrying a bridge loan and two house expenses.