Desperately need to fix driveway

   / Desperately need to fix driveway #21  
If UPS trucks rutting up your driveway you have two problems. Not enough or right kind of stone and drainage.

Fix drainage issue first. Either hire someone or rear grader blade. May require ditching. Observe the driveway during downpours and correct according. Most of my driveway maintenance was with grader blade backwards at an angle, tilted like gg for over forty years.

The type of stone varies so much with locality and opinion.

Bought land plane 6 years ago. Can’t beat it for gathering, classifying, distributing, crowning, recovering gravel driveway. Greatly reduces maintenance time and costs. Simple easy to use.

Depending on the OP input might be best have someone to fix and haul stone then learn to maintain.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #22  
Was modified, crusher run or road base used? Or was clean stone used? Clean stone will always push out, no matter how well the driveway is graded/shaped.

Re-accruing potholes have to be busted up from the edges for the fix to last.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #23  
If you are having drainage issues install a few water bars to divert the runoff. I have a drive uphill, gravel and a half mile long. It would wash out every time we had a hard rain, I cut some water bars problem went away. We just had 5 inches of rain a couple of weeks ago and very minimal damage.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #24  
I should add - I have a hydraulic top link. It makes using all my land engagement implements so much easier. They will do the very best job for you because any adjustments are done on the fly and can be done until the implement is working perfectly.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #25  
My suggestion...fix any/all places where storm water runs down the drive and not across the drive...then get it topped with something like "crusher run" that has fines that will pack down hard...loose gravel will only get worse over time...

Working a gravel drive when it's been dry is not recommended...it tends to separate the fines and leaves nothing but more lose gravel...regardless of the implement used...
Fines are the key to maintaining a gravel lane that is like concrete...

Good Luck...
I agree with the Crusher Run. Not sure what they call it in your neck of the woods. But it does pack hard. I also think that you will get a real benefit by putting down a matting. I started my driveway with it and 6 years later it's fine. My neighbor has been just using Shale stone for the last 30 years and he needs to Top it every three years as the stone gets rutted and driven into the ground. I bought my matting at Lowe's. After that, a box would probably work to pass over once a year, after snow plowing pushed stuff around a bit

 
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   / Desperately need to fix driveway #26  
Hello All,

I posted a similar thread about 1.5 years ago regarding our driveway and after much thought, we decided to get a professional to fix it and get it done right. Well, after having a "professional" add gravel and smooth the driveway about 10 months ago, we are back to the same driveway with ruts....but we now have more gravel.

Info on our wonderful driveway. We currently have a .25 mile driveway (future driveway will be around .25 miles also) with surge stone and gravel. When the UPS/Fed Ex/Amazon driver comes down the driveway, they rut it up really bad. I have a small sporty'ish sedan and it's dinging up my skid plate and who knows what else.

My husband has given me the go ahead to purchase an implement to fix the driveway! Woohoo! I'm leaning towards the box blade mainly for the future house we hope to build in the next 2 years if lumber prices ever come down. The box blade would be used to maintain about 1/2 mile of existing trails, smooth out the land around the future house and finish building the rest of the .25 mile driveway.

We have an MX5800 (no hydraulics) and I think a 6-7', >700lb box blade would work best, maybe an EA Severe Extreme (78' or 84') or a Woods (76-84'). My husband thinks a land plane would be better. Any suggestions? I need to purchase it quickly before he changes his mind. :)

Thank you!
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #27  
1) Fix the drainage problem. The road needs to be above the water and shed rainfall to the side(s).
2) Use a well graded, crushed gravel. From the pic it appears the material used is not crushed and therefore has no sharp edges to help it bind and there are no finer gravels to fill the voids. It's like driving over marbles, they will just roll out of the way, since there is nothing binding the materials together.
3) Once the driveway has proper drainage, a crown and proper gravel, compact the surface. The compaction serves 2 purposes, 1) to seal the surface and help it shed rainwater and 2) to bind the materials and make the mixture as dense as possible.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #28  
Like a lot of rural/semi-rural folks, I also have a 400' drive that needs help to stay passable, particularly in spring. The problem is clay fines. They absorb water, freeze and expand. During spring thaw, they release the moisture and combined with their slippery-when-wet nature, create mud for weeks.

A few years ago, I took an area in front of my carport 30'x30' and tried a three step process: grade for runoff, add a layer of 3/4" washed rock (no fines) about 2-3" thick, then a layer of "crusher dust" 1-2" thick, which is all rock and about a 1/4"-minus aggregate. The no-clay-allowed crusher dust locks the washed rock together, the rock layer allows movement of moisture over the graded base and for 3 years, no mud in spring.

I'm about to do three other areas this summer, same fashion. Grading for runoff on the base (mine has too much clay for my liking..) adding a very porous layer, and then a locking layer allowing seepage with no ability to absorb water itself. I have needed to add some crusher dust in a couple of areas in the original patch that sift down into the larger rock. With real soft ground, start with some 3-6" minus stone for a base.

Also: if one can find and afford the proper fabric under the rock, it really is the pro touch for road-building over a soft area. At some point, the total cost begins to approach or exceed asphalt.
 
   / Desperately need to fix driveway #29  
Your road is the low point of the surrounding land. Need to get the road higher than the surrounding land. Add in some ditches to keep the water off. Then crown it.

It took considerable effort to build, but I have never seen a pot hole or standing water on my road. It's never muddy and is solid as a rock.

Build up the your road. Grading it without raising it will only keep you busy every year.

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   / Desperately need to fix driveway #30  
I agree with the other posters saying a drive being the low point is a recipe for failure. At least get it to grade with big rock and top it off with crusher run.
 
 
 
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