Driveway woes

[daveman]

Well I've given the contractor 3 months to put in the driveway and nothing. So after deciding (And convincing my wife!) I cancelled the job. My question to all is this. I have this great little Farmtrac 360 DTC with the TLB package. But what is the best tool to use to get this project going? I figured the stone already. That wasn't to hard with the projects listed in TBN. But should I get a Box blade or use the FEL to shave off the topsoil. (The ground underneath is mostly clay so the base should be sound enough.). I've got the culvert put in already but I need help from this point on! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Egon]

The Fel will work fine for removing the topsoil, digging the ditches and spreading the gravel.

Finish grading may require a box blade or rear blade. One of these impliments may be required for future maintenance of the drive.

Egon

 

[hhw]

How much topsoil is there? Will you be "shaving" it off for use elsewhere on the property? For the purpose of removing the topsoil your machine should work fine. Do you have a toothbar? I ask this if you need to go deeper for your base.

I'm guessing that you calculated your base/gravel amount based upon L' X W' X H' X(100) / 2000? If you are going with a ballast base how deep? Or, are you just going to do a complete run of gravel to dust?

Reardles of what you do, a rear blade (reversed) is a great gravel tool.

 

[KAB]

The FEL works fine for the rough work (Tooth bar is a BIG plus), but to get the crown put in correctly a box blade does wonders. I have put in 88' of driveway with a Kioti CK20 using the above and it worked wonderful.

Kurt

 

[daveman]

I figured it by going 8" deep. Using a large stone to fill that up. Then going over with a finer stone on top. I don't have teeth on the loader.(Wish I did!). But I figured if I skimmed 3" to 4" deep per pass it should have no problem. I'm not concerned about saving the grass. And with digging out the back of the house to add a basement entrance. (My first project!) I'm getting a nice dirt pile to play with . /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[jmc]

How long is your driveway? You might want to start with a 50 foot section to see how it goes. You might be surprised to see how big a pile that 8 inches of top soil makes and the time it takes carrying it away. Also, for me at least, keeping a constant 8 inch depth is difficult. Typically, the fel dives or skives and its hard to tell until you lift the bucket. A tooth bar would definitely help in that clay.

Speaking of clay, its a great base when dry, but since the dirt particles are so fine, its turns fluid when wet. Compounding that is you just made a nice trench for water to collect in and the fine structure slows the perculation and retains water. Plan some drainage for your trench, even though you are (partially) filling it with gravel. Around here, the soft driveway spots bulge up between the wheel tracks as clay oozes up thru the gravel.

John

 

[Freds]

I'm not sure how wide or long a drive you're putting in, but I would seriously consider hiring a dozer to do the initial grading. I dug an area out for my neighbor's patio a couple of years ago and it was very tedious and time consuming digging out a chunk of sod (one at a time) about 5" thick and putting it somewhere, in this case the back of a nearby dump truck.
I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but going 8" deep like you want to is a lot of dirt to deal with. I think you would be better off just doing the finish work. I prefer a rear blade, but some like box blades for levelling out gravel.

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I figured it by going 8" deep. Using a large stone to fill that up. Then going over with a finer stone on top.)</font>

Daveman,

My $.02

Like jmc stated, clay will want to ooze up towards the surface. I would recommend putting down geotextile cloth to keep the clay down.

Be careful on the depth of the 3-4" stone. You'll want to make sure it's completely covered. If you run a blade or something over it to clear snow and snag the 4" rocks, they pop out and you won't get them back in. Why not just use 1" to the full depth?

Brian

 

[beenthere]

A picture of the area you are going to put the drive would be worth a thousand words, so to 'speak'.

On clay, the drainage of the water that collects in the clay will be very important. As mentioned, when clay gets wet, it turns to something that moves and oozes and festers and is miserable.

Good ditches along the sides that are 12" below the base for drainage away from the drive would be my plan.

Try a section with your tractor, and find out how the dirt moves. I have found, that first using the tiller to loosen the dirt and then simply scooping up the loose dirt is the fastest and easiest way to move the top layer. Also, easier because the depth is more consistent and controlled.

 

[Tractors4u]

I would go ahead and get a boxblade. The loader can do it, but for I think the work would go smoother with a box. I have been working off and on for a couple of years on a driveway for our future homesite. I needed to go through a low area. I do have a small dozer that I used for taking out small trees and for breaking up ground and stockpiling it for relocation with my tractor FEL and John Deere Gator. Yes, I used a Gator as a dump truck. Some times I would have an FEL load of dirt and the boxblade full of dirt. I will attach a few pictures. This first one is at the top of the drive when I first started.