Dirt driveway building?

[BrokenTrack]

A grader operator knows the score on a non paved roadway, we have many here and they know what there doing with dirt roads.. And they know how to push frozen banks back just as well..

Hey don't forget scarifying ice so that the logging trucks can get up the hills during the winter!

That will make a grader operator out of anyone: cut too much and you go skidding at an angle off the road, and don't cut enough and you will be pulling logging trucks up the hills with a chain. Get it ALL WRONG, and your front tires will be in one ditch, your rear tires in the other, and you are tetter-tottering on your moldboard on the crown in the road.

The other thing in a grader operator learns pretty fast in Maine is, Maine only averages 10 feet to bedrock, and every gravel road just barely covers it. Make a decent cut, and you'll be wearing a windshield on your face.

But an old duffer told me thirty years ago, the one thing about operating a grader is, EVERYONE will tell you how you are doing it all wrong, but those same people could not do it themselves to save their life. That applies to roadside mowing too.

 

[Garrett2006]

Sand land

 

[Garrett2006]

Thanks for all the good reply’s guys! It’s not icy at all ever hardly ever. The soil type is sand the some top soil under from what I can tell. There will be a slight down hill grade coming right off the highway, but then fairly flat. Got to build it to tie into an existing dirt road. Thanks agin

 

[atsah]

Proper drainage and the crown is key..

 

[jaxs]

This is one of those jobs where hiring someone with right equipment is the way to go. While they build your road,you earn money doing what you do best to pay them. Even after you move dirt,you can't compact well enough with less than commercial equipment.

 

[BrokenTrack]

This is one of those jobs where hiring someone with right equipment is the way to go. While they build your road,you earn money doing what you do best to pay them. Even after you move dirt,you can't compact well enough with less than commercial equipment.

I disagree.

Why buy a tractor, just to turn around and pay someone else to do work with THEIR equipment?

Today, there is plenty of information on the internet to show you how to build a road. Your working with sand, on flat ground, what a perfect spot to use a tractor. And honestly, no one can do a better job then you can. You just keep refining things. Keep working it over and over until it is exactly how YOU want it. I mean, you can never pay a person to care as much as a person does on their own place.

I have always said, "Do as much for yourself as you can."

It has never proved me wrong.

You got a tractor it...use it! You will be fine, you just need confidence.

 

[nikerret]

We need a lot more information. How big of driveway and what loads does it need to support? Soil type and conditions, natural barriers, logistical issues moving equipment and supplies, all these would help us help you.

If it’s a small utility driveway, your tractor will be fine. If you’re cutting a half mile through mountain rock, you’re going to do more damage to your equipment than it would cost to pay someone with big equipment.

 

[airbiscuit]

Was the land stumps and big roots or sod and little roots? If the latter, maybe just disc or roto-till it up, and then form the roadway, crown and ditching with your loader and boxblade. It will be easier to work if it is loosened up. Mixing a little of the topsoil in with the sand will help hold things together. Drive on it a while and then tune it up some more.

I think that would be better than digging the roadway down below the adjacent edges.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Just rent the equipment you need for the big stuff, and use your tractor for the rest. I have done that dozens of times. Its still doing it yourself, and renting works really well.

What I like about this is, I have a lot more experience on my own tractor, so I can really finish grade things well instead of struggling with a machine I am not used to.