Driveway maintenence - toothbar?

[troutsqueezer]

I would agree. My bucket is pretty robust so I can dig in pretty deep but for deeper scarifying I would resort to the BB. For the shallower holes and for washboarding, the tooth bar is a good accessory.

 

[twosocks90]

Appreciate the advice against a toothbar in favor of a box blade -- I don't want to beat up my equipment unnecessarily. Though too bad, I thought this was the excuse I was looking for to get a toothbar.

Here's a couple more pictures of the driveway. The original driveway is the dry, right side. My friend with his tractor and box blade first built it up with dirt, compacted it by driving on it, then I topcoated with limestone. Over the years, it's needed no maintenance.

The left side of the driveway was an expansion because the original was too narrow. The excavator (who was onsite for other work) stripped the topsoil off and we simply added limestone to match the rest of the driveway. A couple years later, the potholes started and have just grown ever since. There is good drainage to both sides -- we live on top of a hill -- so as long as water doesn't pool in the driveway it can run off.

 

[nybirdman]

A tooth-bar is a great addition for digging,but what you need for your road is a box blade.

 

[mark02tj]

If you don't want to buy a box blade, have you considered renting one? There is at least one rental place around here that will rent them for about $30 a day. That's not too bad.

I don't know how far you are from Omaha, but here's a place that might have one. I didn't see a box blade on their website, but they do have a tractor/loader/scraper combo for rent. It might be worth giving them a call.

On the other hand, I'm always looking for ANY excuse to buy a new implement!!

 

[DKCDKC]

I use a Ratchet Rake and a BB on my mile long gravel driveway. I have one flat portion in a damp cove woodland that sometimes develops potholes. I've used the RR and BB to fill them in, but they reappear. For the worse ones I went out with a power bar and shovel and dug them down a foot - just an hour or two of healthy work. I then filled them to near the top with trash rock 2 in or better gathered in the garden, etc., then topped off with a scoop of crusher run from my supply pile. They've never come back. I should have laid my entire drive on large stone, layered with gravel and coated with crusher run. But I didn't have the money. I just laid gravel and crusher run - and most of it is fine 17 years later. The potholes I have worked on have never returned.

Unfortunately most of my drive is very steep and curved, and water is not my friend. But my local quarry is.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Appreciate the advice against a toothbar in favor of a box blade -- I don't want to beat up my equipment unnecessarily. Though too bad, I thought this was the excuse I was looking for to get a toothbar. Here's a couple more pictures of the driveway. The original driveway is the dry, right side. My friend with his tractor and box blade first built it up with dirt, compacted it by driving on it, then I topcoated with limestone. Over the years, it's needed no maintenance. The left side of the driveway was an expansion because the original was too narrow. The excavator (who was onsite for other work) stripped the topsoil off and we simply added limestone to match the rest of the driveway. A couple years later, the potholes started and have just grown ever since. There is good drainage to both sides -- we live on top of a hill -- so as long as water doesn't pool in the driveway it can run off. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=361617"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=361618"/>

Welcome to TBN. I was born in Blair but, have been in Texas since I came back from SE Asia in 1971. Still have lots of cousins in Oakland, Herman, Tekamah etc.

From personal experience, you have to really work to get rid of a "pot hole" in your drive. Aggressive action, as noted by RDrancher is the only sure way to solve the issue.

Go Big, Go Deep,!

 

[twosocks90]

I have a couple of friends with box blades so I can beg or borrow the use of one if I need to. I'm thinking to remove most of the rock then add dirt to bring the driveway subsurface up like the rest of it is. That should prevent water from pooling under the rock and creating these holes which is what I think is the underlying problem here. It's unbelievable how much rock costs nowadays though.

I should have been more careful when the driveway was expanded and I probably wouldn't be having such a problem now.

 

[katoomed00]

I just use my old 5' grader blade and pitch it 1 hole (not sure the degree), drag it several times in different directions. it does a great job of breaking things up, then just put blade straight and make a few passes, driveway looks nice again.
I don't like the idea of dragging my FEL , makes me feel like I'm passing a grinder on it, don't get me wrong I have done it before, but the results weren't near as good as the grader blade.
Nowadays I purchase crushed concrete, it's half the price of limestone and sets a lot better,

 

[DJ54]

I really think you don't want to add dirt. From the looks of that wheel track, it's pretty close to the dirt now, and you've got mud pumping up through now.

For the deep holes, if you haul it yourself, get maybe some #4 limestone, and place a layer in the bottom of the holes, choking it with limestone screenings to fill in the voids, even if you need to take them a little deeper as mentioned. Another layer like that, or from there up, some 304, or what ever they calls 4's down to dust there as a top coat. Once holes are filled, top dress the whole wet area with the 304, or 67D and get it high enough to keep the water at the side, then make sure the shoulder is draining beyond that point. The 67D will be much easier to grade, and feather out later on.

We have built highway road base out of #2's and choked with screenings to make a good base. We got it premixed at a 50/50 mix. Just can't work it much, as the screenings will go to the bottom, and the 2's will be on top. But this was a 12" base, and a different story. Plus the sub-base was crowned to shed the water, and outlets cut to keep water from standing under the road.

Even a simple lock level, and one of the large retractable steel measuring tapes can get you the grade to shed that water on around the curve. Not to be smart... You said it was draining well, but the damp material in the driveway, crossing at an angle tells me different. Water looks to be soaking through the sub base, following the path of least resistance.

 

[twosocks90]

DJ64, thanks for the advice. I got lost in your reply talking about the numbers of the stone though. When I order rock it's by size: 3/4", 1 1/2" or 3" and then I can either get crusher run or not. Can you translate your reply for me? I think you're saying to put larger stone in the bottom of the hole then bury it in screenings/dust to make a firm subbase, then top coat it with smaller rock.

You said "if you haul it yourself". We can no longer take our pickup to the quarry for rock -- they refuse to load small vehicles which means I have to have relatively large quantities delivered by their dump trucks. It's unfortunate that there's no easy way to buy relatively small quantities any more.

Not to be smart... You said it was draining well, but the damp material in the driveway, crossing at an angle tells me different.

Sorry, I was not clear. If I can get the water off the driveway, it will drain off. The driveway itself is an entirely other matter. It's holding water like crazy. Yesterday we had a thaw and as another member posted... it looks like a creek! I should've taken a picture. It's getting worse and worse every month.