Grading Gravel Driveway

[beltfed]

I've read numerous posts about this but I'll ask again. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We have a gravel driveway about 1500 feet long. It is rolling, up and down a few small 3' hills and up a larger 100' hill. We have always had crush-n-run gravel dropped. Once packed down with a little rain, it is extremely solid. The larger 57 gravel on the hill is disaster and cars dig in and make huge holes.

All I currently have is a back 5' blade which is difficult to repair holes. The tractors front wheels go up/down and the blade goes up down.

I've read on here that some people like a box blade and a few others like a landscape rake. With the hard packed crush-n-run gravel, would a box blade work well? Same question with the landscape rake. Would it be able to dig into the hard packed gravel and move it around to fill in the holes.

Since the rear attachment goes up/down would it be a good idea to have something like rear wheels on the attachment to keep it a certain level?

I'd probably buy them at Northern Tool which means Hawse but I can't afford the more expensive attachments.
Thanks.

PS. Using an Iseki 1610 tractor.

 

[Solo]

I use a rear blade on mine with skid shoes. They work very well for repairing damage on the driveway. Mine is a Woods blade and the skid shoes are an option. Also turning the blade 180 deg. work very well.
Solo

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I use a boxblade for my drive and love it. I don't think there's anything else close for solving the problem of potholes in my drive. I don't know how much you'd spend for a Howse but you might want to look into a Midwest box blade. I have a 5' First Choice (which was made by Midwest) and it's very well made. After two or three years of use I can tell you if that, if it were stolen and I had to replace it, I'd get another one (though this time it'd have the Midwest label) without any hesitation. It's a very heavy, durable piece.

As to digging in, this works on my drive just fine. I'm not sure a landscape rake would work anywhere near as well. If your hard pack is able to hold fast against those scarifiers on a box blade, you could always add weight to it. I haven't had to do that as my blade is plenty heavy.

As to the cost, I think I saw an area dealer selling those for $285 last year or the year before. That's really quite a bargain for what you get. If you can come close to that, I'd jump on it.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Keith_TN65]

I too have similar driveway of about 1500 feet with the vast majority of it going up a long hill. Slag is a very popular and inexpensive driveway aggregate around here and that is what I use. Right now, when it comes time to level it, I set my back blade at an angle towards the center of the driveway. This keeps it from closely following each and every divot. I keep the ground speed up and go up and down the driveway several times. Then with most of the loose stuff piled in the middle, I spin the blade backwards with it perpendicular to the direction of travel and go down the middle of the drive. This pushes the loose stuff to the sides filling in the holes. If it is really loose, then I have some smalls or fines tale-gated off. Once it rains a few times, it becomes very hard and stable.

Now this technique is far from perfect. I've considered getting a rock rake with casters or just adding similar casters to my back blade. I'm curious to see the other suggestions to this post.

Keith

 

[nobull1]

I use my box blade a lot on customers gravel driveways and would be lost without it.Once a person gets used to using it you can fill holes and level a driveway in short time.I was out last week and did a landscaping job for a customer and used it for leveling the topsoil.When I was done they asked if it might work for their driveway /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.I spent 15 mins on a driveway approx 10 ' x 100' and they were just amazed.When you make the final pass you have the top link all the way out and just the tip of the back blade is touching.So all the weight is on the tip of the blade compacting the crusher run,really does a nice job.Being able to put 500 lbs pressure on the crusher run helps to keep it all in place.

 

[bncsauve]

I have both a box blade and a rake that I have used on my gravel drive. they both work pretty well. The rake will loosen up the hard packed gravel. (mostly various sizes of trap rock) It takes few passes but will fluff it up pretty well.
the scarifiers on the box blade dig more aggressively. So, I would suggest the box blade for major renovation and the rake for maintenance.

 

[Theowegian]

Ive used the technique that Keith TN65 described and it works pretty good. I mean, you can probably achieve filling in the potholes as he described.
However, I now use a box blade and it does a superior job than the bck blade. I did put on about 500# extra weight. The box blade now weighs about 1100 total. This heavy blade really helps to "cut" the high spots.
My vote is for the box blade first, then the back blade if that is all you have.
dwight

 

[hammer1995]

They make this thing in the south called a Bionic blade. It's designed for gravel driveways. I can't locate a picture to show you, but you may want to inquire about one.

 

[Egon]

Keith:

Your method is perfect. Rolling a windrow back and forth helps level out and keeps the gravel from segregating. Adding adjustable casters would help in feathering out the final windrow.

Egon

 

[Theowegian]

I confess that I also have a landscape rake and to be honest, I really love that attachment. A box blade does the heavy work for me, then the rake does the finishing work. Once you get the potholes reworked, my guess, is that you can do the maintenance with only a rake. But if the back blade is all you own right now, take keiths advice and "windrow" the gravel. It DOES work well. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif