Driveway Maintainence

[Anonymous Poster]

Greetings,

What's best to keep a 1200 ft gravel driveway in shape ??
Boxblade ??
Standard Backblade ??
York Rake ??

Its pretty much bank run gravel 6" minus and a 3" finish layer of crusher run 2" minus.

Thanks

 

[Egon]

Backblade:

Angled to roll a windrow back and forth.

 

[rancar]

Do a search in this forum and read the discussion threads on box blades. Seems many TBNers use the box blade for just the purpose you cite.

 

[ewoss3]

I was maintaining just shy of 1 3/4 miles of gravel roads(3" fill rock 9" to 12"deep and crusher run 8"deep on top) for our mobile home parks. I have tried the back blade, it comes in handy for initially cutting the road and setting your ditch line but seemed a waste of time for maintaining the gravel due to windrowing. For maintaing the boxblade is ideal I used a 5' fixed blade for initial spreading of new deliveries but used the 6' swing back once I had the piles down to really level the surface. This job took about 3 hrs a month and proved very worthwhile as a building block for our asphalt and concrete streets.

 

[Thomas]

If you don't have to do much ditching,a York rake w/a fold down grader blade..its kinda like two for one

 

[cisco]

I agree with Thomas (a rake is great for gravel, and the light duty blade will redistribute modest amounts of material), but be sure you don't have a major ditching task, as the aforementioned blade attachment is not for heavy duty stuff. If you have to move, or ditch, through dense material on occasion, a box blade is probably necessary. That said, you need to be able to angle a box blade (tilt one side down) for ditching and the like. Does your 3 pt have an adjustable arm? If it doesn't, just get a simple blade that can tilt and rotate (and that section of the equipment is what will not endure major stress), and just accept the fact that load limitations will apply (with a heavy duty box blade, the only limitations are tractor traction, and the strength of the 3 pt.).

 

[Egon]

Maybe check out what your local county uses to maintain gravel roads and follow their example as close as possible. Don't think you'll find any box blades but there will be machinery that rolls a windrow of material back and forth to keep all level and to grade and also pulls the gravel back onto the road.

Egon

 

[Rowski]

I spoke with our local road commisioner, he was a grader operator when they constructed Interate 91 here in Vermont. He he gave me this advice. 1) Work the material. It can't be done in one or two passes. Loose material is easier to work. Spend some extra time getting the old material loose.Then do your grading. 2) You need good drainage (ditching), healthly road crown and proper road pitch. If you road is steep enough and you have a lot of rain you might need a road crown of 12" or more. 3) Don't wait till the road is in to bad of shape. Always stay on top of it. A badly eroded road will cost you extra time in getting it back into shape. Will cost money for fresh gravel.

I ask him what attachement he prefers for road matainance? He said Catapiller road grader /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif! Seriously, he didn't seem to think a box blade would work a well because your material is always behind you. You can't work it to the road side or pull it in from the road side. There are many people out there that use box blades and have good results.

I personally use a rear blade ( I don't have gauge wheels yet)and a rock rake with gauge wheels. I use the blade to loosen up the gravel, crown and pitch the road. Then use my rock rake to smooth it out. If I have fresh gravel, I will only use my rock rake. I think guage wheels is the way to go. It will take less time with gauge wheels.

 

[WALT]

I can echo the other folks remarks, with some practical experience in driveway maintenance. What has worked well for me, is to use both the box scraper and a york rake.
I initially use the box scraper, scarafiers down, to breakup and loosen the surface. this also fills in the large holes. Use caution if your drive has large rocks or ledge hiding below the surface, as that will stop you quick.
After the surface is loosened, I run the york rake, with guide wheels set, to create the proper pitch & crown.
The secret is to work the surface a minimum of 4-5 passes. The rolling action of the rake also helps to re-pack the top surface.
I finish by packing it down with the tractor or truck tires.
I use a 20+ year old 6' york rake, which has the hand crank adjustable guide wheels. The hand crank allows for fast adjustment, vs. the shim type that most mfg.'s have gone to.
As with any skill, the more you do, the better you become.
I have been able to turn this in some side jobs, which finance future implement purchases.

Happy Tractoring:

WALT

 

[WALT]

An item that I forgot in the previous post is that I have a set of ag (R-1) tires in addition to the turf tires. With a full load of material in the box scraper or rake, the turf tires spin or slide sideways in the direction of the rake angle. The ag tires provide greater traction & slide resistance for that application.

WALT