Driveway maintenence - toothbar?

[DJ54]

Yeah, seems every state is different on stone sizing as far a numbers. And what a lot I hear called crusher run is 67D, #411, or berm material here, it is 3/4" down to dust, and 304 is approx. 1-1/2" to 2" down to dust, ie; #4's down to dust. Here #67 stone is about 3/4" ,#57 is closer to an inch. The 3" you mention is what we would call #2 stone. You'll have to decide how deep the holes are, as to what to use, and be able to use up what's left over. Sucks you can't get a smaller load yourself, then have them bring a top coat of the smaller crusher run.

But yes, 1-1/2" in the bottoms of the holes, then choke with screenings/bug dust. It's best if the screenings are damp. They will work down around the larger stone, and lock it together. But yet the larger stone will give you some base. It still may push down some during the thaw, until it stabilizes. And probably best to do it by hand. If deep enough, a layer of the 1-1/2", then sprinkle some screenings on. If deep enough to get another layer like it, do it again. Once all holes are filled, roll with your tractor, until it's packed good. Once locked together, then topped with 2"-3" of the finer crusher run, if it ever needs graded, the larger stone should be down low enough, not to pull it back to the top, and kick around.

Top coat with crusher run of choice. And again, it's better if it's good and damp. When you get your finish grade, roll it with your tractor, and compact it. Not sure what kind of traffic you have on it weight wise, but the finer, 3/4" down will grade & compact easier for maintenance. If you have quite a lot of larger trucks running on it, the larger would be a good choice. You'd just need to grade deeper when working it up to maintain, to get enough smaller material, for the larger stone to lock into. Other wise, you'll just be pulling them to the top, and it will then roll off to the side.

It actually looks like you have enough on the far side to pull that over to fill in the holes. If you had a small load of screenings to choke over top, you'll be OK. Then, top coat with what crusher run you wish.

Just plain stone on top of what you have now will just roll around. Kinda' like working concrete, you need that cream (bug dust) to lock your larger aggregate together, and make a smooth finish.

If you see the spots starting again, that's the time to grade it, and after a good rain if possible, making it easier to grade, and re-compact.

 

[twosocks90]

Here's what we did. I filled in the larger holes by hand with 'large' stones, perhaps 2-3" in diameter, depending on how deep the hole was, then put some smaller stones around it.

Then I had a load of 3/4" crusher run delivered. On the worse side of the driveway, he put down a few inches of material. On the good side, a little less. I then graded it out with the rear blade and loader then drove on it to compact it in. The tractor is an MF35 with wheel weights and liquid filled tires so it has a little weight to it. That was a week ago.

So far, it's holding up well. We haven't had much rain yet so we'll see what happens then.

We don't have any truck traffic, just a gaggle of teenagers who come and go constantly and probably drive way too fast

 

[DKCDKC]

Just a note about another use for a ratchet rake or toothbar. We had about 5 inches of wet snow Monday. I wanted to do something but had put the ratchet rake on the FEL to grade past scrapings out of the drive. So I just put it down like I was going to grade the drive through the snow and ran the mile length of the drive. It didn't mess up the gravel but tore up the snow and exposed enough gravel that most the drive melted today, with temperatures just a bit above freezing. Normally I have to do something because traffic on the snow on my steep, curved hills packs quickly to ice and because really scary. This this is a good way to handle a light snow that will be followed by mild weather.

 

[wawajake]

Of note : because I do not own a box blade , I have used my toothbar to spread gravel by using it by pulling backwards to spread the gravel the thickness of the teeth (that thickness I can vary by tilting the bucket somewhat even)
It works to get the gravel generally in the right location and thickness and can be fine tuned by hand or by using the smooth bucket back (again by pulling in reverse)
See pics of me doing my son in laws rural driveway.

 

[Code54]

We just run a subsoiler through the hole a few times then regrade. Works great and never had the hole come back

 

[impdaddy]

Dude you missed an opportunity to get both. The toothbar to dig out the hole and the boxblade to fill and grade. JK just down highway 30 in Schuyler. welcome

 

[twosocks90]

Dude you missed an opportunity to get both. The toothbar to dig out the hole and the boxblade to fill and grade. JK just down highway 30 in Schuyler. welcome

Truth be told, I did take this opportunity to buy a Pirahna toothbar even though I won't necessarily use it on the driveway. I found enough other potential uses for it to justify buying it

And thanks. We're just south of Blair a few miles.

 

[impdaddy]

Near the new 133 construction zone? What a mess.

 

[Cherokee140]

I just got a Ratchet rake last night and played with it a bit on different areas. Would it work...yea I think it would work...is it the best tool for your job. NO. My driveway is a little more loose then yours. With a pretty good crown. I don't have a Box Blade, but I have borrowed one from time to time. And from looking at those land planes I don't think that would be the ticket as well because those seem to be for more loose or bumpy areas.

Now after the box blade gets done I think the Ratchet rake would be all you would need to keep it up. It knocked down my crown (I only did part of the driveway as my ADHD kicked in and I wanted to try it other places) down in nothing flat. About 100' in about 10 minutes....and that was at Idle. It smoothed and made that section of the driveway look like it belonged on lifestyles of the rich and infamous.

I know what you are working with and the box blade will do it...but it will bring up pretty big chunks....you have a chore ahead of you...you are going to have to bust up those chunks also.

(this is what I did) Really what I would do if you can afford it is bring in new gravel/crusher-run and buy the ratchet rake to maintain that new top layer. What you have is a good solid base for the new gravel...and I would get gravel. Then get one extra dump truck load of gravel for you to tuck away somewhere....you will use that after real heavy rains (I live on a hill and have a driveway that turns into a river) to fill in some bad spots.

I really like the ratchet rake...and think it would be perfect to keep it up, but not to start over.

 

[radioman]

cherokee140- I dont want to burst your bubble, but you need that crown in the drive. Its the only thing to shed water off the drive or you will have water issues. I understand your wanted to rid of crown as the tire tracks gets deeper and deeper and crown higher and higher. What you need to do is redistribute the material on each side of crown - filling in the tire tracks and lowering the crown/moving outside gravel back inside. The BB and angle of 3 pt is what you need.