Box scraper

[scesnick]

I have read a few posts on box scrapers and was wondering if a box scraper is what I need, or will even work on my driveway.
I have a long (2.5 mile ) road I have to maintain. it is pretty packed. Mostly red dog shale. It gets some pretty good potholes when we get alot of rain.
Will a box scraper smooth out my road even though it is packed pretty well? Just wondering if this will work before I spend the money. Thanks.
I know if it is too packed it will be useless. My backhoe won't even dent it in the summer when it is sun baked and dry.
But, what about after a slight rain.
I have tried a rear blade but it didn't do much good.

 

[kenmac]

I f you get a box blade with the scraper teeth that can be installed & removed . The teeth do a good job of breaking up soil,it should work well on your road to loosen up the packed dirt / rock. I use mine on hard packed clay/rock, then remove the teeth & smooth everything out with the blade.

 

[VT_Hokie]

A box blade with adjusting/ removable teeth would be the way to go if you want to "dehump" your road and drag the material into your pot holes/ low areas. If your road is pretty flat and just has pot holes in it, I would be hesitant to tear into a already compacted road surface. In this case I would get some top dressing delivered and use a rock rake to maintain the surface periodically and fill in the holes/ low areas. You do need to address why you have the holes in the first place and may need to rework some of you ditches with the blade you already have.

Steve

 

[scesnick]

I looked into crush and run gravel for the last mile to my house. It will take approx. 700 TON !! so I'm looking at around $25,000 /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif For material and delivery.
I think i can get away with box scraping it.

 

[kenmac]

Where are you located ? You have nothing listed in your profile.

 

[scesnick]

I'll have to change that . I live in Western Md. right on the Wv border.

 

[VT_Hokie]

Sounds like the box scraper will be the cheaper way to go. 25K buys a lot of toys. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif If you were not so far away I would lend you mine for a test drive. If I were doing 2.5 miles of road, I would be willing to spend a little more to get a well constructed/ heavy unit. Mine was able to do a really nice job smoothing out a 90 year old farm road. I had the teeth in the unit, but set all the way up. They would catch here and there and did a good job breaking the hard surface. You can also adjust the agressiveness of the cut by the top link depending on what you need, and put a little grade on it too with adjustable arm links. There is a learning curve on usage so give it a spin somewhere "safe" so you don't cut a 6in rut in your road. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif