Driveway help

[2diamondfarm]

I need suggestions on how to get the dips out of my 1/4 mile long gravel drive.
Attachments I have are a box blade with scarifires , land plane and a hyd top link on my tractor .
The dips are about every 20 feet or so .
Any ideas would be much appreciated

 

[joeyd]

I am not an expert but with your attachments I think it could be done. Think eating an elephant, a little bit at a time. Depending on your road surface and compaction try the land plane first if the surface is loose enough. If it doesn't scrape enough to fill the dips then try the box blade and set your teeth to dig up material to move into the dips. It will most likely take a combination of both implements to get a surface your happy with.

 

[j13smiley]

Did the land plane not work? That should be the perfect tool for the job.

 

[Panik]

I need suggestions on how to get the dips out of my 1/4 mile long gravel drive.
Attachments I have are a box blade with scarifires , land plane and a hyd top link on my tractor .
The dips are about every 20 feet or so .
Any ideas would be much appreciated

Something to consider as you go through this process..... I've had to do the same with my shop driveway (~800' in length). My problem is that whoever installed the road cheated out on both base material, as well as the crusher run used to top that road. As a result, when I've tried to remove dips and/or re-work the driveway it's become an issue of robbing Peter to pay Paul from one section to the next.

I'm not trying to imply that is the your case, more that if you're not getting the results you want that it might be worth the cost to bring in and spread more material if you find yourself getting frustrated in attempting to work the dips out of your driveway.

 

[2diamondfarm]

Did the land plane not work? That should be the perfect tool for the job.

It works pretty good but I still have the waves

 

[LouNY]

Your land plane should be doing a good job for you. Myself I believe a box blade is an over rated attachment.
It is good for moving material around from one location to another, not for leveling or finish grading.

 

[LouNY]

It may be in the length of your top link, is your land plane carrying a bit of material at all times.

 

[2diamondfarm]

Something to consider as you go through this process..... I've had to do the same with my shop driveway (~800' in length). My problem is that whoever installed the road cheated out on both base material, as well as the crusher run used to top that road. As a result, when I've tried to remove dips and/or re-work the driveway it's become an issue of robbing Peter to pay Paul from one section to the next.

I'm not trying to imply that is the your case, more that if you're not getting the results you want that it might be worth the cost to bring in and spread more material if you find yourself getting frustrated in attempting to work the dips out of your driveway.

Part of the problem is when it was put in they did not remove enough of the organic material , it have a lot of pit run gravel up to 12” on most of it .
I have put lots of crushed concrete on it over the last few years .
It has gotten better after the kids moved out and the speeding through the puddles has stopped

 

[2diamondfarm]

It may be in the length of your top link, is your land plane carrying a bit of material at all times.

Yes it does

 

[bdhsfz6]

Are you referring to corrugation or "washboarding"?

The "waves" can be from 2' to 20' apart, depending on slope, drainage, vehicle speed, etc.

I fight them constantly on my 1.25 mile private road. In my case, I've found the best implement to use is a stone rake with scarifier, grader blade and trolley wheels.

It's best to break up the high spots as well as fill in the lows. I make several passes in both directions with the scarifier & grader blade, then just the tines until I get a smooth surface. Afterward, I use the spreader to apply a heavy coating of calcium to hold the new surface in place. I do this every 2 or 3 years with good results.

I tried a land plane many years ago and it does work, but I find the stone rake to be more effective. It's also useful for many other tasks while the land plane is a one trick pony.

Of course conditions vary, and what works for me, may not be the best solution in every case.

YMMV.

 

[scootr]

Rolling dips in a gravel or crusher run surface road is caused by a poor operator usually at the time of the installation. The proper use of a box blade is the right solution. You need to move the high spots into the low spots (cut and fill). This takes some skill and practice makes perfect. When the cut material is in the low spots it needs to be compacted (moisture is required) Once compacted firmly in place a land plane can be used to get a uniform finish.
The land plane is not a material mover and anything that follows the ground is going to simply follow the pattern.
People saying the Box Blade is over rated never learned to use it. In forward the box will go up and down as the tractor goes up and down, as all attachments do. The trick is operate both the lift and angle of the box to cut and spread as needed. When spreading new material use reverse, the box will push out a flat surface which the tractor will ride flat on avoiding the dips and hills that come from spreading while driving on an uneven surface.

25 yrs ago when I first started maintaintaining our 2 lane mile long DG road I put woops and doops in it spaced out about a tractor length apart. Average about 4-6 inches in elevation change. The start of the fix for me was running the bucket on the surface with a slight cut angle followed by cut and fill with the gannon. Having the bucket down increased the length of contact with the road and decreased the tractor pitching. The fix doesn't happen all at once. It takes patience to get it right.
Last year I had a neighbor help me spread a fresh layer of recycled conc on the road. His side is full of the old woops and doops so once it rains and road is wet (workable) I'll be back to fixing that.

 

[JJT]

Slow down. I get the washboard effect if I go too fast.

 

[2manyrocks]

Box blading an established gravel driveway goes easier if it has some moisture. If it's dry, might as well try to grade concrete.

 

[alexinPA]

Your land plane should be doing a good job for you. Myself I believe a box blade is an over rated attachment.
It is good for moving material around from one location to another, not for leveling or finish grading.

Box blade with gauge wheels works really good for me

 

[ruffdog]

It sounds like the OP needs to lower the scarfs on the box blade to loosen material first then level with the land plane.

 

[2diamondfarm]

It sounds like the OP needs to lower the scarfs on the box blade to loosen material first then level with the land plane.

I have done that several times only problem is that it brings up larger rocks

 

[ruffdog]

I have done that several times only problem is that it brings up larger rocks

It then sounds like the base is not supporting the driveway in some areas and is sinking. Without a good enough base to support the top stone, this may continue for many years.

 

[2manyrocks]

I have done that several times only problem is that it brings up larger rocks

Maybe you need to add some finer crusher run material on top to flatten this out.

There is also a difference in how well some 'crusher run' material will compact. One of our quarries has crusher run containing more fine granular material that doesn't compact worth beans and would tend to windrow. Another has this stuff that really packs well and stays flatter. You may want to ask around to see what kind of material is available in your area.

 

[Panik]

I fight them constantly on my 1.25 mile private road. In my case, I've found the best implement to use is a stone rake with scarifier, grader blade and trolley wheels.

View attachment 1725642

Man.... that's exactly what I want/need for my drive and other uses around the property. I've got an Everything Attachments (I got lucky and purchased back when they were reliable) offset/adjustable rock rake that's pretty much bomb-proof....

However, the cost of buying an aftermarket set of gauge wheels and grader blade for the rock rake are freaking ridiculous. One of these years, when the kids are gone, I'm going to get a welding rig along with the raw materials and fabricate the remaining parts I need. Even with the time spent learning I'll still be money ahead of purchasing pre-made.

How does the grader blade attach to the implement?

 

[Panik]

Part of the problem is when it was put in they did not remove enough of the organic material , it have a lot of pit run gravel up to 12” on most of it .
I have put lots of crushed concrete on it over the last few years .
It has gotten better after the kids moved out and the speeding through the puddles has stopped

I'm with you on that... I'm beginning to think that the previous homeowner did the same regarding not removing organic material, or at very least didn't really compact the native base before adding any rock. I also tend to think the road gets a lot more use now than compared to the previous owner......