Best implement for maintaining a gravel driveway

[chim]

Glad someone found the info useful. Our main driveway has been blactopped for several years, and the unpaved driveway (the yellow stripe under the toplink) to the shed and LP tank doesn't get out of shape anymore. In recent years I have used it to smooth out fill, and flatten the volleyball court in the photo. Right now it's on loan to a bud who is reworking grades on his lawn..................chim

 

[Inspector507]

bellweather,
I tried several times to use a grader blade to help my driveway with not much luck. All I got accomplished was chopping the weeds off at grade level. I picked up a box blade and now the driveway looks like it was just laid down with new gravel. It pulls up all the old gravel thats been compacted and sunk in the dirt, back up to the top. I had several potholes that you can no longer find. The box blade cost me what one load of crushed stone would have. The last load I had delivered and spread while I was at work was not the crushed limestone they sold me, but was crushed shale....what a rip-off that was.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

That's pretty much the plan, yes. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MarkV]

Bellweather,
Gary pretty much covered the way I do it. When things are really compacted and pot holed I drop the teeth and make multiple passes to loosen everthing up. The box will then redistribute the material evenly on the drive. It helps if the drive is damp.

MarkV

 

[bellweather]

Gary, MarkV, Inspector507, et al - thanks for sharing your wisdom. Sounds like a boxblade is the preferred tool. I assume it will also be useful for spreading fresh gravel as well reworking the existing material.

 

[bubenberg]

as part of our landscape maintenance plan for owners of large properties that insist to have gravel dirveways we provide a leveling add on service. other than after a long periode of rain or winter with much snow we only use our york rake. we feel that a rake does a much smoother job and in less time then any scraping attachment.

 

[Alan L.]

The beauty of the box blade is that it will carry material and dump it out as needed just by driving down the driveway. Mine does the best job on the driveway when its completely full. I drag it all the way like that and it really does the job. When your done, you try to dump the last box full gradually as you raise the box blade.

I find that I can even turn 180 degrees with the material still in the box blade without losing or dumping it in an uneven manner.

 

[Egon]

Smother job in less time does not nesissarilly equate with a proper job. Crushed gravel has to be mixed to a properly graded mixture to be able to be packed to the proper density. A york rake will not do this but will sure leave a good looking product that cannot take vehicular abuse as it is gap graded.

Egon

 

[dmccarty]

bellweather,

Box Blade.

What MarkB and other BoxBladers is telling you is spot on.
You need to redo the gravel. It will be mushy to drive on
at first but it will pack down. I have about 1600 feet of
private road I maintain as well as my new 500 feet of
driveway. When the road is bad I'll rip the road with many
passes and then smooth it with the boxblade. The teeth
get the gravel out of the mud and back to the surface. The
box will smooth it all out.

Do this when it is wet but not to wet. If you do it dry you
will loose the fines in the road which bind the larger gravel
togather. Plus you and your tractor will be covered in dust.
Takes days to spit up all the dust. Right after a good rain
shower helps.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I have done this after many thousands of tons of timber was
taken down my road. The road rutted up real bad in spots.
After maybe 6 hours or so working the box blade it was all
cleaned up.

Good luck,
Dan McCarty

 

[bellweather]

thanks for the additional info...one more thing, how do you crown the driveway?