Desperately need to fix driveway

[Egon]

The water trough is full. The horse is not thirsty!!

 

[/pine]

Fried1765, I have absolutely no problem maintaining a crown with my rake.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/driveway-pic-1-jpg.701854/

You don't have any hills either...NBD...!

 

[/pine]

In my part of the country, a tractor is a routine piece of equipment on new road construction once trees and rocks have been removed. May not been everywhere. They show up about the same time as earth movers use pull scraper boxes. They are one of the last to leave as they can do so many different jobs simply by changing implements.

The most common implement you will see on a regular sized tractor (commercial/industrial models) working on a DOT approved road job...(not talking about small repair projects) ...is a broom (roller)...it is just not economical to use implements designed for small machines on public road contracts...(minimum 10'+ wide lanes)...

 

[Binx]

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...

Thank you /pine. I didn't know that we shouldn't work a gravel driveway when it's dry.

 

[Binx]

Don’t think the surface material shown will pack or hold its shape. You require a crushed well graded gravel.

A rear blade with gauge wheels would work best for bringing in the sides and shaping the road. Scarifying well first would really help. The gauge wheels will really help with a back blade.

The stages:
scarify
pull up the edges and define ditches
roll a windrow of material back and forth to fill in hollows and get
nice smooth grade. This is very important. One pass just doesn’t
do it. Rolling a windrow will also help mix the aggregate on the road. The vertical angle of the back blade is important to do this
correctly.
You may end up up with a few larger rocks on top. Blade these into the ditch.

Then a vibratory drum compactor.

Now you would be ready for additional crushed gravel. ( 3/4 in. And less )

The tilt of the blade and the angle can be varied so certain tasks can be carried out. Again one setting just don’t do it.

Thank you Egon. I put your information together with others and I think we've got a plan now.

Buy a box blade or land plane w/scarifiers. Is 700lbs sufficient?
Hubby nixed the back blade, but he's open to getting a landscape rake depending on it's price.
Scarify.
Spread out the loose gravel.
If we get a landscape rake, get at least an 7' rake and use it to pull gravel back into main driveway.
Make a crown and smooth the drive.
Expand the ditch on the right side of the drive.
Compact it with the tractor.
Lengthen the ditch on the right side of the drive.
Check on what the driveway looks like and decide if we should get crusher run or something in between.
Compact it again and wait for a rain.
Finish off with crusher run.
Compact again.
Don't let UPS or Fed Ex or Amazon drive on it until after the crusher run is spread, it is rained on and has been well compacted.
Maintain after that.

 

[fried1765]

The water trough is full. The horse is not thirsty!!

Yup!

 

[BukitCase]

"I'll see if I can convince my husband on the top and tilt. Is it expensive and/or difficult to install if you're handy?"

Graziaka, kind of depends on just HOW handy; I sourced the needed parts for my ancient Allis from surplus center and discount hydraulics.com, did some minor machining on the cylinder for tilt, added a mechanical diverter valve to the ONLY remote that tractor has (so I could choose between top link or tilt cylinder), put it together, and it actually WORKED; but most of my approximately 50 years in the work force was in various tech and mechanical fields, and I have a few machine tools plus 4 welders, plasma cutter, etc...

Also, my last two jobs (total of 34 years) were in industrial instrumentation/control, so I already had most of the knowledge I needed in hydraulics.

The GOOD news - a LOT of our members will be (and HAVE been) ready to help members with ZERO hydraulic knowledge successfully complete TnT projects on their tractors. You mainly need to be tenacious like with ANYTHING that's new to you... Steve

 

[bcp]

Just don't start the installation the day before you need it



Bruce

 

[ttener]

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.

This, in my opinion, is the best advice here, but it still doesn’t help with your question. Use this advise on the new driveway.

In the meantime, both land planes and boxes have their place. In your case, without adding additional material, as most are suggesting, I would go with the land plane. It’s got far less of a learning curve and will give you immediate gratification.

A box blade can be tricky to fiddle with to get the angle just right for a decent crown. It’s not impossible, but it’s a steeper learning curve and can be frustrating at first.

Everything is a trade off though... think about how you could use either implement in a year, 5 years, 10 years. Both of these are implements that only get used occasionally throughout their lifetime and need to be stored for long periods of time. Factor that in as well.

Best of luck! Either one will work for you and toys is toys!

 

[fried1765]

This, in my opinion, is the best advice here, but it still doesn’t help with your question. Use this advise on the new driveway.

In the meantime, both land planes and boxes have their place. In your case, without adding additional material, as most are suggesting, I would go with the land plane. It’s got far less of a learning curve and will give you immediate gratification.

A box blade can be tricky to fiddle with to get the angle just right for a decent crown. It’s not impossible, but it’s a steeper learning curve and can be frustrating at first.

Everything is a trade off though... think about how you could use either implement in a year, 5 years, 10 years. Both of these are implements that only get used occasionally throughout their lifetime and need to be stored for long periods of time. Factor that in as well.

Best of luck! Either one will work for you and toys is toys!

"A decent crown" with a box blade...... is mostly fantasy!

 

[/pine]

"A decent crown" with a box blade...... is mostly fantasy!

LoL...There is a Gary Larson cartoon that shows some birds making some things...the caption reads "Non singing canaries have to take wood shop"...

Those that don't have the patience to master the learning curve of a BB are doomed to failure...

Actually creating a crown on a gravel lane with a box blade is one of the simpler things that a BB can do...

 

[fried1765]

LoL...There is a Gary Larson cartoon that shows some birds making some things...the caption reads "Non singing canaries have to take wood shop"...

Those that don't have the patience to master the learning curve of a BB are doomed to failure...

Actually creating a crown on a gravel lane with a box blade is one of the simpler things that a BB can do...

A box blade cannot be angled, and thus cannot bring the migrated edge material to the center to help form a meaningful crown.
Box blades are not used to form the finished grade for new roadways.
A road grader is used......and an angled rear blade is simply a poor man's road grader.

 

[ttener]

Here’s a couple YouTube’s that are offer excellent instructions on box blade use in general and one that explains angling. (None of them are mine. I don’t utube.)

 

[fried1765]

Here’s a couple YouTube’s that are offer excellent instructions on box blade use in general and one that explains angling. (None of them are mine. I don’t utube.)

Nothing in either of those videos explains how to angle a box blade, because box blades are not normally built to be angled!
Box blades can be tilted, but not angled.

 

[deezler]

Exactly, and if you tilt a box blade to the side, they carve a ditch on the road edge, and pull material until it falls out towards the center of the road lane. Repeat on each side, and you have.... a crown. Magical.

Not my favorite way to do it either, but maybe give it a rest now lol.

 

[Egon]

Given time the Horse does become thirsty

 

[TractorGuy]

If I could only get one attachment to deal with that it would be a grader blade. The biggest one my tractor could pull. Ideally you want it to be as wide as the tractor with it set at 30 degrees or so.

 

[CoyPatton]

Thank you Bukit. I'll see if I can convince my husband on the top and tilt. Is it expensive and/or difficult to install if you're handy?

If you have rear remotes already on your tractor it is a breeze to install and consist of a few fittings 4 hoses and a hydraulic top link and a hydraulic tilt linkage.
With out remotes, they will have to be installed as well as control valves and hydraulic supply to the remotes.

 

[dirttoys]

Good stuff here, build a road above grade, pack it well, and mess with it as little as possible.

If I was constrained to a single implement it would be a harley/power rack, but unless you have something else to do with it, it sure is expensive. Next would be a simple scrapper, if it was capable of offset for ditching so much the better. I have seen guys make magic from nothing, and it is amazing Crowing with a box blade is not magic, but for me it is close, worked them for years, and just don't have the eye to tweak them. Not that it cant be done.

I can do darn near anything with a mini x, and I have seen guys finish grade with a medium dozer better than I could with a skid, but, that doesn't mean either are the correct tool. I still love a land plane for after build maintenance.

Best,

ed

 

[MossyDell]

I maintained a looong, uphill gravel driveway for 10 years in SE Ohio with a box blade. I didn't worry about forming a crown. Car tires took care of that. Part of my goal was always to take out the crown cars made. Now I learn here I was doing it all wrong. Probably was. Sure loved my heavy 5' Bush Hog brand box blade though. Got pretty good at using it the wrong way.

I have noticed here in VA that our county's road crews don't seem to form any crown on gravel roads with their big new graders. They do try for ditches on either side. I walk one of these roads all the time and talk to one resident who's always angry that the potholes are never ripped up and fixed right. So they tend to come right back. What amazes me is the county folk seem to hit the road on schedule, about every 6 weeks. To me, it stays pretty nice, and since they work it so often the potholes are small and shallow at least.