grading help for my drive

[wilkesland]

Not sure if this is the right forum, so adminstrator feel free to move.

I am putting in a 600 foot drive and am having a lot of trouble getting the stone as smooth as I would like it. My backblade is the only implement I have for road/grading work and I do not have hydraulic cylinders. I have been able to move earth and get it smooth. I was able to prepare the subgrade for the road very satisfactorily, getting a nice crown so that it will drain.

My problem is that the techniques I was using for the subgrade are not working well at all for the stone which is a crusher run. In doing the subgrade preparation I kept the backblade on the sharpest angle it would adjust to and used a combination of cutting and backing up, adjusting the tilt as needed (manually, getting off the tractor). Backing up worked very nicely for smoothing. With the stone, driving backwards moves the stone not at all, and I am having a terrible time keeping the blade from digging in when I go forward. No matter how slowly I drive, I can't seem to adjust the 3 point to keep from digging in and tearing the fabric below the gravel. This is very frustrating as all I really need is have an even layer of stone over the subgrade. I have the tilt of the blade adjusted as far as I can for the least aggressive cut, and it is still digging in.

I can live with it like it is, but I don't like it. Buying another piece of equipment for this job is not an option due to financial considerations - I might be able to spend a hundred bucks or so, but that is stretching it. So I need to get a better technique, modify my blade somehow or build an implement that will do what I want out of materials on hand. I dont' know how to weld, but I can drill a hole in metal and cut it with a hacksaw.

Looking at my backblade, I was thinking that I might could make a gage wheel using 2x4's, some plywood and a small pnuematic tire off an old sprayer. Would a gage wheel solve my problem?

Also, I thought of making a wooden sled/drag, perhaps at a angle and weighted by concrete block. I was thinking about 6 foot width since the road is 10' wide and it is still crowned - draging first one side and then the other. Would a drag move that crusher run without skimming uselessly over the top or worse - digging in?

Any thought or solutions - cheap would be appreciated.

Thanks

Barry

 

[schmism]

sounds like you would benifit from some gauge wheels.

I know a section of chain link fence weighted at the end with some angle iron works well for a drag to smooth things out.

 

[Egon]

Gauge wheels will solve your problem. Turns the backblade into a completely different attachment.

 

[dubba]

You might also think of a single guage wheel run straight off of the pivot point of the blade. Woods makes one like this
http://www.woodsequipment.com/images/Product_Photos/Blade-RB10101.jpg

 

[rswyan]

...... and am having a lot of trouble getting the stone as smooth as I would like it.

Smooth in what way ? A lot of dips and whoop-de-doo's ?

..... I am having a terrible time keeping the blade from digging in when I go forward. No matter how slowly I drive, I can't seem to adjust the 3 point to keep from digging in and tearing the fabric below the gravel.

How thick is your layer of crusher run ?

Last year I put down about 4" to 6" of No. 2's (fist-sized) on top of my fabric and then topped it with 4" to 6" of crusher run. The No. 2's gave the crsuher run something to stick to so it wasn't sliding all over the fabric and the fines in the crusher run worked down into the No. 2's to lock them in place. Eventually the top layer of crusher run was only about an 1" or so thick. It's getting to the point where I need to add another layer of crusher run to top coat it.

I was thinking that I might could make a gage wheel using 2x4's, some plywood and a small pnuematic tire off an old sprayer.

Gauge wheels will definitely help ..... not to be negative but I would think that 2x4's and plywood ain't gonna hold up real well. You could probably build a set using steel for under $125 if you can find someone to weld it up for ya (maybe another TBN'er who is local.) I used 1/4" wall 2" square tube, 3/8" bar stock, 1" hot rolled round, and some cheap Harbor Freight 13" wheels for mine.

A nice wide landscape rake works very well for spreading and smoothing crusher run.

Have you tried to back-drag it in reverse using your FEL ?

Here's another thing to consider - the crusher run I got was very wet and loose when delivered (last fall) I spread it out and we drove on it over the winter and compacted it. By this spring/summer it was so compacted and dried out that it was almost like concrete.

Maybe you should grade it out as best you can and then just drive over it for awhile, letting it dry out some and once it has hardened up then try and do the fine grading ?

 

[wilkesland]

Smooth in what way ? A lot of dips and whoop-de-doo's ?

Yep - the real problem area is where the truck overlapped in dumping the loads. He started at both ends and met in the middle. On the second load, when he got to where the first load ended, he backed up. In retrospect, it was a mistake to let him do this because I ended up with a good foot of rise in the stone. On either end, I'm happy because the rock is a uniform thickness following the subgrade below. I spent a lot of time preparing the subgrade for that very reason. Trying to move the rock in the middle is the real problem area.

How thick is your layer of crusher run ?

On the ends, it is currently thin, only 2-3 inches, I'm holding off on adding any till I have an idea what I'm going to do in the middle section. In the middle, it gets up to a foot thick. I'm aiming for about 4 inches, which with the fabric should be plenty for this area. What is down has already begun to set up nicely.

Gauge wheels will definitely help ..... not to be negative but I would think that 2x4's and plywood ain't gonna hold up real well. You could probably build a set using steel for under $125 if you can find someone to weld it up for ya (maybe another TBN'er who is local.) I used 1/4" wall 2" square tube, 3/8" bar stock, 1" hot rolled round, and some cheap Harbor Freight 13" wheels for mine.

I agree that it would not be a long term tool - I'm trying to think of something I can do now with materials on hand - getting a better tool later for the long term maintenance. Yours sounds like wheels on each end, I was thinking of a single wheel in the middle. Do you have picture you could post?

A nice wide landscape rake works very well for spreading and smoothing crusher run.

I was wondering if it would. Can't afford one right now, but might be able to find a used one over the winter. Will a landscape rake work for maintenance after it has set up?

Have you tried to back-drag it in reverse using your FEL ?

Yep, I did - but didn't take the toothbar off, used the bottom of the bucket. Guess I'm going to do that Monday, though I wasn't real pleased with my initial effort back draging. Maybe being able to use the bucket lip will be a big improvement.

.

Maybe you should grade it out as best you can and then just drive over it for awhile, letting it dry out some and once it has hardened up then try and do the fine grading ?

If I can't get it like I want it now, that will definitely be the plan. As I said in my post, I can live with it, and it certainly beats having to use 4 wheel drive as we did last year during the winter.

 

[CurlyDave]

Yep, I did - but didn't take the toothbar off, used the bottom of the bucket. Guess I'm going to do that Monday, though I wasn't real pleased with my initial effort back draging. Maybe being able to use the bucket lip will be a big improvement.

I have had pretty good success backdragging, but don't have a toothbar.

It is not particularly fast, especially if you are trying to move material, and many passes are needed.

Without the toothbar on, you can move more material by starting with the bucket at a steeper angle. As you get closer and closer to finish passes, the angle should be less & less steep.