Grading Gravel Driveways

[W5FL]

I came across a really neat attachment for maintaining my gravel driveway called a GradeMaster.

As soon as I get the money I am going to get one. The six foot model looks like it is about 6 ft x 6 ft x 1 foot high, looks rugged and hooks up to the 3 point. It has two cutting blades set at an angle where the gravel spills over each blade.

With a conventional box blade, I have not been able to make a good gravel drive without a wavy surface and can't keep the crown in the drive. I see that some users do this by backing up so the tractor is on the level part of the road and they regulated the height of the box blade to get a fairly level cut. Actually my landscape rake works better for leveling road base on my drive than the boxblade.

There are two local dealers in the North Texas area that carry this GradeMaster implement. Mark asked for more details about it and this is what I found:

The brochure says "The GRADEMASTER BLADE is simple in design but outperforms complex motorized graders. Consisting of two forward cutting blades mounted on a strong high-grade steel frame with runners and side pans, the GRADEMASTER BLADE has an A-frame hitch that mounts to any three-point-hitch tractor with a minimum of 24 horsepower.For gravel road maintenance, the GRADEMASTER BLADE fills potholes that stay filled longer and virtually eliminates corrugating or washboarding of the roead surface. The GRADEMASTER BLADE does not leave windows and churns and shifts aggregate materials so that the finer aggregate levels out in more uniform layers with the coarser aggregate deposited on top."

They come in 5 ft size at about $800 for the utility model, 6 ft at about $900 for the utility model or $1550 for the HD model, 7ft at about $1900 for the HD model, and on up to 12 feet. The factory quotes $300 per foot and the brochure I have is scribbled on says $200/ft.

They are listed as GRADEMASTER BLADE OF TEXAS, LLC, PO BOX 191, Forney TX 75126 (800) 299-8582.

 

[MChalkley]

Thanks for the info!

Mark

 

[gordon]

Go to this link and check out the open mesh system. I made mine from chainlink fence checkbook to small to afford that. http://www.gehl.com/const/attachments/pg4.htm This is a simplified grademaster I tow mine behind the tractor I have added rod to keep the fence taught and angle iron for weight.

 

[W5FL]

Gordon, I went to the link and it has some nice attachments. Interesting that the one you describe is also called GradeMaster although I guess it is entirely different equipment altogether. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Would you describe the one you build and how you use it. I looked at the picture, but wasn't sure how you fill it with dirt and empty the rocks. It looks just like a flat box made from about 3 inch angle with something like chain link across the bottom.

I would like to know more about their heavy duty grader and power landscape rake. Both of which look really nice, but no specs on the site or any more data that I could find other than a picture. Looks like a list price or two wouldn't hurt these guys just to let us know whether it is worth considering. Maybe we could make more money making websites. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[W5FL]

Gordon, I also found a breaker - looks like a hydraulic operated jack hammer that you could put on a loader. Again wonder how much one of those cost and how much hydraulics they take. Now that looks like it would pulverize rock. You could dig a storm celler in rock with that and a few weeks of time. [grin]

 

[gordon]

The grademaster the you spoke of is the mac daddy I went to the web site a few months back they even have a short movie on how it works--I was impressed with it. The chainlink fence idea came from landscaping years ago helps to bring rocks to the top and also level as the same time making running the rake much quicker. My last house had a driveway that was 1800' in lengh and from that I found different items to work best a different times of the year. But all took to long to complete. Then came the old link fence.

I have made a couple different styles for different applications. The one for the drive is as follows:
10-12' long piece of fence it has 3" angle run down both sides L facing in to hold the stone 4' from the tounge it has a 1 1/2" piece of angle facing down welded to the side angles and 8' from the tounge is a piece of 1" angle facing down as well welded to each runner. The fence is held to the angle with cable clamps and wire.
This design worked real good for the long drive I had an old trailer tounge welded to the front to get the first bite and then the stones rolled over the angle leveling the drive out very nice. Boy my friends made fun of me while I was building that but once the saw it work they all shut up.

Now I only have a 300' drive so I didn't need the monster anymore so I cut it in half and made two shorter ones and mounted the angle cross runners at a 45 degree angle to roll off stones when grading lots makes raking much quicker.

When the fence starts to wear out I go get some more free fence from the fence installer the old stuff they take down . It pays to recycle and helps the checkbook to

 

[MChalkley]

Gordon, do you have an address for that site?

Mark

 

[gordon]

For which site the skidder site or the site of Gordon's hokie homemake but works as well or better than the big boys toy's---Wait till I make my brush brute this winter already have been drawing it up on my cad.

 

[MChalkley]

Gordon, the one you meant when you said "The grademaster the you spoke of is the mac daddy I went to the web site a few months back". Thanks!

Mark

 

[Richardb]

'Actually my landscape rake works better for leveling road base on my drive than the boxblade...'

My neighbor is lending me his landscape rake for this purpose in the spring (we still have a foot of snow). I've never tried to smooth our ~1500 ft drive which is 6" crusher with a nice crown put down by a 70 year old bulldozing expert 3 years ago. Now it is washboard in places an I want to smooth it up.

I'd appreciate advice on this process - forward, reverse, depth of tines, speed, etc. Thanks!

 

[gordon]

Can't interest you in one of Gordon's homemade hokie rigs? Well if I can't the next best thing is the link for the mac daddy---its http://www.roadboss.com I hope this helps. It takes a minute to load but it has some neat music too.

 

[MChalkley]

Ok, it's the RoadBoss. I've looked at the brochures for that one and it really looks slick. I'd really love to see one in action. The Grademaster seems like the same thing, but a lot cheaper. I'll know when I get the brochure.

 

[M. Sullivan]

Interesting stuff. Anyone know approximate prices on these??

 

[PaulT]

Gordon,

I am having a bit of trouble imagining what your setup looks like. I have 800' of driveway to maintain. Right now its dried hardpan clay mud mixed with #2 crushed, with a base of rip rap 4" below that. The hardpan/gravel surface is rutted, has depressions where the tires travel, and has washboard bumps intermittently. I am skeptical that just an angle iron and some chain link will dig into this very hard surface without scarifiers of some sort. Could you post a picture of your setup?

PaulT

 

[Anonymous Poster]

WEN
Thank you very much for the plug. I work for Grademaster Bladed of Texas, and this afternoon, we received a telephone call from a gentleman in New York because he saw your posting. If you give me a call at 1-800-299-8582, or email me at tbsthumb@email.com with your address, I can send you a brochure and a price list for the complete line. I can also give you a number to get hold of my boss(F.W. Lynch, the owner of Grademaster Blade of Texas) and he can give you all the information about the Blade that you need and probably some you don't need.

Thanks again for the plug. Rebecca Sherman

 

[Dhouk]

A old box spring with some angle iron and cement bolts works well also.
It can be built for less than $100

 

[deezler]

Welcome to the site, Dhouk.

But I hope the OP figured out his grading issues, given that he posted this 13 years ago! haha.

The thing I don't understand about people resurrecting zombie threads, is.. don't the search results come up in chronological order? As in, this thread from 2000 would clearly have been at the bottom of a search for "grading / gravel / driveway". Maybe the search term was juuuuust right...?

 

[jenkinsph]

Dhouk welcome to TBN,

It is an old thread and some of the posters have switched to landplane grader blades too. I always get a kick out of the suggestion to use the old box springs, haven't seen a set in a long time and would assume they are hard to find today.

 

[murphy1244]

A old gate might work. Like Jenkins I use a Land Plane.

 

[schmism]

got to love the smell of old musty threads

Ill add my typcal .02 on the side of a rear blade. Only tool that will do everything you need to do to maintain gravel drives/roads.

- reclaim gravel that has been kicked to the side/gutter
- cut new gutter. rule number 1 get the water off the road!
- crown road
- roll surface aggregate in order to mix large stones with fine material

you can do some of that with a box blade, you can do some it with a landplane, you can do some of it with a landscape rake.

but the only tool that does it all is a rear blade.