Grading an "Interesting" Driveway

   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #1  

TerryR

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
1,056
Location
Boone, NC
Tractor
JD 870
I just finished my fall grading of our driveway, and in light of all the discussions on this topic from time to time I thought I'd share the challenges involved.

The driveway is gravel, a quarter mile long, and gains 150 ft. in elevation, for an average grade of 14%, though it's not uniform and some parts are steeper. The top is at 3,500 ft. elevation, in the Blue Ridge in western North Carolina, so we get snow and/or ice most years, but highly variable. We also get heavy rains from time to time, so washing is an issue. Parts drain to both sides and other parts all to one side.

The objectives in grading are to recover the gravel thrown to the side by traffic and in the process eliminate the depressed tire tracks that cause water to run down the road instead of off to the side, and to remove wash-boarding that develops at several points. I know there are strong partisans in support of various attachments for this task, but I use just a rear angle blade on my JD 870. This time I made one pass up each side to move the gravel into the center, then a pass back-blading to spread it off the center into the tracks, and one final round trip with the back-blade to touch up parts that still needed a little help.

There is little loose gravel - it's all packed or it would toss quickly with traffic. I wait until there's enough rain to make it easy to cut where needed and to re-pack quickly.

Knowing that it "didn't happen without pictures," here's the photos. Starting at the bottom, off the paved road.
road-1.jpg
This section drains to both sides, and is pretty steep. It wash-boards badly on the right side on the straightaway for some reason. The challenge is to grade out the wash-boards without destroying the shallow drain just above the planter. It wash-boards on the left side in the corner, but that's less of a problem to grade out.
road-2.jpg
This section is less steep, but has a shallow "S" curve, and transitions to a right-side drain only.
road-3.jpg
This section is not too steep, but drains only to the right, so has to be graded flat across so the water runs into the ditch and not down the road. This section was a state road until abandoned 40 years ago, and we only own the right half, so can't re-grade the left side.
road-4.jpg
You can see the old road continuing straight while our drive turns to the right. The curve is fairly steep, and wash-boards badly on the right side. I also have to take care to not cut a ditch past the shallow drain at the lower right corner of the photo.
road-5.jpg
This section drains to both sides, and is fairly steep. It faces north-west so even with the leaves off snow and ice doesn't melt well, so the tire tracks need to be graded out so if it snows it can be plowed clean.
road-6.jpg
This little section is nearly level, so presents a challenge to adjust the depth of the blade both coming onto it, and going out into the curve beyond.
road-7.jpg
This section is steep and is shaded by the pines, so snow doesn't melt well here either, so again the tire tracks need to be graded out to facilitate snow plowing.
road-8.jpg
This curve at the top is pretty steep and the inside wash-boards noticeably. It's banked, so there is a transition from crowned to banked and back to crowned.
road-9.jpg
We're at the top. The ditch on the right tends to fill with gravel that has to be recovered, and the parking area on the left accumulates gravel from plowing snow that has to be returned, but otherwise not much problem. End of tour.:)

Terry
 
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   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #2  
Thanks for the pics Terry. You have a challenging lane for sure. My lane is sort of a mini (900 feet) version of yours. I use the same basic technique with a front blade on my JD4300. First round trip moves the side gravel to the center. Next round trip is with blade in float mode and tractor in reverse. That smooths it out but leaves some in the center to help with runoff.
 
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   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #3  
Very very nice. :thumbsup: I am one of those people that can't say enough good things about a land plane grading scraper. (LPGS) But with saying that, it is advantages to have multiple implements to use, especially when maintaining a dive such as yours. And in your case, if only having one implement, a rear blade is the implement of choice.

Thanks for the pictures and documentation. :cool:
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #4  
Washboards are very hard to control on a drive like this. They are caused by the vehicle tires wanting to spin on the loose gravel. Most vehicles have open rear axles so the first wheel that wants to spin is the right one, i.e., right side is usually boarded worse than left. When that is an exception is a curve to the left. In that situation the vehicle weight shifts slightly and causes the left rear tire to want to spin worse because it's turning a tighter radius.

I think you are controlling this very well with your tractor and blade.

I agree with Brian that an LPGS would assist you, but especially in your case, would require tip-n-tilt. Otherwise you would be off the tractor adjusting the grader more than you would be using it.

Thanks for sharing the pics. Interesting to see what people have to deal with to live where they want to live!!! :thumbsup:
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #5  
That is quite a driveway in my book. You do a great job.
Thanks for posting. It is neat to see what other folks can do with there equipment.
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I use the same basic technique with a front blade on my JD4300. First round trip moves the side gravelto the center. Next round trip is with blade in float mode and tractor in reverse. That smooths it out but leaves some in the center to help with runoff.

I do all the heavy grading uphill to try to counteract the tendency of the gravel to migrate down the hill. That creates a load for the 870 but it is up to the challenge, though because of traction issues I have to plow snow downhill.

I used to back-blade in reverse, but I found my neck isn't getting any more limber with advancing age and looking over my shoulder to steer was getting to be a pain. So I finally figured out it works just as well to turn the blade backwards and drive forward.

Terry
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #7  
I used to back-blade in reverse, but I found my neck isn't getting any more limber with advancing age and looking over my shoulder to steer was getting to be a pain. So I finally figured out it works just as well to turn the blade backwards and drive forward.

Terry

Yep, and eliminates the worry of bending a 3pt arm.
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Washboards are very hard to control on a drive like this. They are caused by the vehicle tires wanting to spin on the loose gravel. Most vehicles have open rear axles so the first wheel that wants to spin is the right one, i.e., right side is usually boarded worse than left. When that is an exception is a curve to the left. In that situation the vehicle weight shifts slightly and causes the left rear tire to want to spin worse because it's turning a tighter radius.
That explains the wash-boarding on the right in the straightaway at the bottom. Everywhere else it's on the inside of steep curves. Here is seems largely caused by drivers of pickups who don't seem to know that their four-wheel-drive is for (local dealers don't stock two-wheel-drive pickups, so that's seldom an excuse). The other offender is UPS, which runs their little vans here with no weight on the single rear tires.

I think you are controlling this very well with your tractor and blade.
Thanks.

I agree with Brian that an LPGS would assist you, but especially in your case, would require tip-n-tilt. Otherwise you would be off the tractor adjusting the grader more than you would be using it.
Which would mean adding a remote, in addition to the new implement and finding a place to store it. I think I'm getting the hang of adjusting the rear blade. I only had to get off and adjust once after setting up for each different pass.

Thanks for sharing the pics. Interesting to see what people have to deal with to live where they want to live!!!
You're welcome, and thanks to everyone else for there generous comments. It was fun getting the photos and working out the story. We love the area, so a couple of hours to maintain the drive a couple of times a year is well worthwhile.

Terry
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #9  
pass.


You're welcome, and thanks to everyone else for there generous comments. It was fun getting the photos and working out the story. We love the area, so a couple of hours to maintain the drive a couple of times a year is well worthwhile.
Terry

No doubt about that, it is absolutely beautiful. ;)
 
   / Grading an "Interesting" Driveway #10  
Great work. Thanks for posting!

Terry
 
 
 
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