Driveway repair with rear blade HELP!

[Egon]

The rear blade and add gauge wheels. It will make life much easier. The Father in Law will be impressed. He'll figure he sure raised a clever girl to find such a competent man!

The object is to pull the gravel on the shoulders up to the roadway and also mix the fines with the coarser rocks to make a packable mixture and lay it all down smooth with a center crown to shed water.

Pull all the gravel on the shoulders to the middle and then make some passes rolling a windrow from side to side. End up leaving the windrow in the center and then splitting it in half laying each half down on its side of the driveway.

Do it a few times and it all becomes self explanatory.

The size of your tractor will also dictate how much of a windrow you can pull.

 

[dirtworksequip]

croc, I think you are going to be quite frustrated and do more harm than good with trying to grade up your road with a rear blade. I know you think a rear blade is more versatile,but a landscape rake is the way to go for stone road maintainence and snow removal. You can also use the landscape rake for snow removal without blading a lot of stone off the road as you would with a rear blade.

Here are a few pics of a road that I maintain with a landscape rake. You can't beat a landscape rake for snow removal on a stone road. I'll take on any rear blade enthusiast to get similar results.

Sincerely, Dirt

gradingroad3520onturnwfaulstikpond.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

gradingroadfinishedabovepond.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Below pic: Although I'm not removing any snow in this pic the rake is popping the stone to the surface to give better traction for vehicle traffic.
P1010958.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

[crocodile_jkg]

Dirt:

Thanks for the advice, I will take all the info and advice I can get before I do any actual work on the driveway.

We do not get much snow in north Alabama and when we do we are to busy playing in it or sliding on it to even think about removing it.

 

[Egon]

I've often wondered why the county graders don't have rock rakes instead of blades!

Or why construction site graders use blades when laying down gravel???

Or about segregation and compaction!

 

[bamatoolmaker]

Dirt:

Thanks for the advice, I will take all the info and advice I can get before I do any actual work on the driveway.

We do not get much snow in north Alabama and when we do we are to busy playing in it or sliding on it to even think about removing it.

Maybe we will get some snow this year.Your place sure looks familiar I also live in Ashville.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think the odds are that you will find more dirt blades for sale at lower prices than rock rakes. For some reason around here, the rock rakes cost a little more. You may run into what you need at a farm equipment consignment auction or farm auction if you don't find something in your local trader paper or craigslist. I saw nice heavy dirt blade for $150 recently. Have seen some older blades for $75.00.

What I see in your pictures is the normal gravel build up on the middle and sides of your road from being driven on. You just need to move it back from where it came from.

 

[Renze]

I've often wondered why the county graders don't have rock rakes instead of blades!

Or why construction site graders use blades when laying down gravel???

Or about segregation and compaction!

the county has professional drivers that can handle their tools... (Well... i hope they have in your county, but over here, these guys do more harm than good, so i have to touch up with the land drag after they grade the road...)
Also, the county professional tools have more power and momentum, which will snap tines out of their rock rake before they even apply downforce...


The rock rake is a good tool because amateurs cant do much harm with it

 

[Egon]

Ahh so be it. Some places the ordinary man is a dolt and in others he's competent.

It's just that I've have been involved in road building operations where the dolt's never got a chance to operate. They just supervised!

And then there were fellows who came along and did tests and talked about someone called Proctor or something like that!

 

[JerryG]

I you do buy a blade, get one that is heavy and can be angled several different ways. If you buy a light cheap one, you will regret it. They might be alright on snow but not worth a hoot on dirt.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Egon,no offense meant..........but since you seem to be throwing mud.Every engineer I ever met thinks way too much and couldn't even begin to run a machine well enough to build a road. Leave the road work to the operators.

Sincerely, Dirt