Grading--what am I doing to cause this?

[npalen]

Once blade dig's in to create a ripple,more are created when tires go in and out on subsiquant trips. Slides long enough to bridge ripples help control blade oscillation as tractor tires go in and out of ripples. Additional weight on blade helps prevent blade riding up and over loose material.
From what has been suggested I agree with landplane or slides on box blade.
I strongly disagree with loosening additional dirt and rocks. There's enough loose matreial in your picture to fill low spots. If some ripples are present after soil is set up,shaving high spots for material to fill low spots is much better than ripping teeth. If your plane or box doesn't shave well,bring in material to fill low spots.

I feel that dragging loose material to fill in a washboard is only a temporary fix. Traffic will eventually knock the loose material up out of the washboard and the problem is back.

I suggested using ripper teeth to break up the washboard and inch or two depth so that it doesn't reoccur at least for a period of time.

 

[mechtheist]

My opinion is going to be different... It looks like you are cutting too much. Once the blade cuts into the ground, it wants to dig. What you got there is fine, NOW turn the blade backwards and drag the road forward, blade at an angle (it will smooth and not cut). OR use the box blade but this time extend the top link so that you are only riding on the rear blade (rear blade facing backward will not cut, but will only smooth the road out). It takes time and practice... post more photos of the road bed. If there are large rocks, you are going to have issues. Good Luck!

Thanks. I missed a bunch of posts. That box blade tilt is a great idea, it was in the video someone posted earlier. I'm about to have a hydraulic top link and that will make a lot of difference. I'll try to get more photos. There are rocks aplenty but not very big ones for the most part.

 

[mechtheist]

I feel that dragging loose material to fill in a washboard is only a temporary fix. Traffic will eventually knock the loose material up out of the washboard and the problem is back.

I suggested using ripper teeth to break up the washboard and inch or two depth so that it doesn't reoccur at least for a period of time.

That is mostly what I did the first few passes but I keep having a hard time from keeping from digging in too much. There is one area that always turns into a mud hole but I think I may have got that stopped by moving a bunch of material there overfilling it, before I had kinda just smoothed it out flat. The washboard thing hadn't really happened before so not sure why it started, it might just be the condition of the ground. I did keep trying different things so it was over a number of days and the surface dries very quickly for the most part unless very heavy rain or a lot of rain over days.

 

[mechtheist]

I get that ripple effect when using the grader blade on my York rake. Once I get the road crowned, I fold the blade up and make a few higher speed passes using just the tines. Smoothes everything out nicely. Using the trolley wheels also helps.

I didn't think of using my rake, but I have like only 1 in 4 tines on it since I was using to try to clear surface rocks and putting them back on isn't something I feel like messing with right now, too many other things to do.

 

[mechtheist]

I think that is your problem. The box blade needs to be set with the top link at the correct angle and lowered all the way down so it can float.

There are many threads here and YouTube videos showing how to do it.

Yeah, I saw a good video, I thought someone posted it here but it was another thread. It makes a lot of sense and maybe keep from having to add slides or skids.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Why would I put anything in a window? Sorry, that's what I read at first, I don't even know what one of those is. I know what a harrow is but don't have one. I hate to say it but I'm not that picky about how great it looks, I just don't want to be putting all those waves in there, it implies something is off and y'all are doing great helping me understand what's going on, thanks everyone!.

The spreading loose material is something I've kinda sorta done or tried to. That's when i keep having the problem I mentioned earlier about the weird inconsistency a given blade height at one point in the road seems to go lower in further down--the blade set to just barely touch the surface at first and then it's digging in 50 or so feet later.

Here are a couple of windrows. You make them for various reasons depending on what you are trying to do. In the first picture here I am trying to crown the road and I have a lot of surface material to work with. So I set the blade to cut material from the edges and move it to the center. Thus making the center higher than the edges. After doing both sides I turn my blade straight and go down the center spreading the windrow to a feathered edge in the middle of the road. Set the blade height so it just skims the road where the material is coming off the the ends of the blade.

Don't get discouraged - it takes practice. Every time you will get better.

In this next one I am trying to take material from the edge and fill the wheel rut that has developed. The windrow is much smaller because most of the material drops into the wheel rut. But I finish the same way by going down the middle with the blade height set so it just kisses off the windrow flat without digging. For a small windrow like this it is easier to turn the blade backwards sometimes

gg

 

[airbiscuit]

Having a tail wheel / guide wheel on your rear blade would make a big difference.

 

[CADplans]

To the OP, tale a long handled shovel, and with the handle almost vertical, push the shovel down that exact stretch of driveway
The shovel will jump up and down, exactly the same.

Now, bolt a 2x4 piece of wood a foot long to the back edge of the shovel, with 10 pounds (maybe 5?) on the 2x4.
Now, again, push the shovel the same way, you will not get a ripple,,

The shovel and 2x4 simulates a land plane. The sides of the land plane stop the up and down jumping.

The only time I ever get something that looks like a ripple, is when the excess material randomly spills over the blade of the land plane,,

A quick pass with a lawn roller flattens the material that spilled over,,

Rear gauge wheels on a grader blade can come close to the same results,
especially if you can hang enough extra weight near the gauge wheel.

 

[KWentling]

Having a tail wheel / guide wheel on your rear blade would make a big difference.

Thanks for posting that. I was thinking of rebuilding my Bison's tailwheel because I don't like the way it works. Better than nothing but not great. Now I know what I want to build.

 

[Cycledude]

You have a lot of good sized rocks and that makes getting it smooth more difficult.
Grading while the gravel is wet often helps me. A hydraulic third point making it very easy to adjust-experiment helps a lot.
Maybe if you get it smoother and then cover it all with some decent sized crushed gravel you will have better luck.