Gravel Driveway (again)

[mjncad]

Are you going to get a smaller companion for Boris and name her Natasha?

OK, I'm biased against 3PH post hole diggers based on the one I owned. If it were me, save the almost $600 on that lightweight PHD, and rent a hydraulic one to dig your post holes. A hydraulic one can be reversed if it gets stuck, while a PTO powered one can't. I had mine stuck all the way up to the gearbox in our claycrete dirt one time. I managed to wiggle it out in a similar manner that one rocks a stuck car in the snow out its jam.

 

[mntnvew]

Interesting approach, I was just trying to figure out where I could cut an implement or two lose due to dwindling funds...

I dont really have THAT much to fence... Thanks for the suggestion, I will give it a thought.

 

[mntnvew]

OK, I got a quick question, when I start to grade, should I start on the driveway side or the non-driveway side?

I was thinking that I would start on the non-driveway side and try to grade that to the ditch, then when I grade the driveway side, I can push all the material up onto the driveway.

All that material is needed so I can level out the driveway right?

Anyone have any thoughts? What about any folks that can provide links to diagrams of grading directions for a heightened driveway like mine (see pics in inital post).

Thanks in Advance!

 

[smfcpacfp]

My gravel driveway has 8 " of fly ash (residue from the coal burned from the local power plant) that cost $0. I had to pay to have it hauled out here. I don't know if that would fly anymore. It was done 30 years ago. It is probably illegal, but it makes a very stable base on pure beach sand soil.

I love your tractor, it looks like a real bursier.

 

[DGS]

Hi all,

I just got my first real tractor, Boris, a Belarus 825. I am going to rebuild my driveway and wanted to get everyone's input (I know it is a common topic, but wanted to get comments on my specific situation).

Basically I live in SW Montana and we get a LOT of wind. In the winter we will get a few inches/feet of snow, then it will get blown away in a day or so as it isn't too long after a snow storm that the everyday wind is back in action. (if the wind even subsides while the snow comes, sometimes it is ground blizzard conditions). So we can get some HUGE drifts.

With that said, the previous owner of this property had a taller driveway constructed when he built the house in 1992. He stated he had the driveway built up so much to ensure the wind would just blow the snow off of it, instead of it creating a drift on the north or south side.

As you can see by the photos I included, the driveway is pretty much shot.

Now that you have a little background, here are some of my general question areas:

1. I was going to get a 8' box blade, 8' rear/angle blade to tackle this project. Is that reasonable?

2. The ditch can get kind of steep on the one side, will the BB and RAB work for me? (I dont want to tip my tractor over obviously, do I need to worry about this if I were to tackle with the tractor wheel in the deepest part of the ditch?)

3. What "expert" oh-crap's can anyone pass along (you know the things only experienced tractoring folks have learned over time)?

4. The height of the driveway over the surrounding area is about 8-10 inches. Can I acheive this with a BB and/or RAB? Do I need some special hydraulic RAB to do this? (I contacted my local road builder and he wants 5k to rebuild this 2/10 of a mile stretch of driveway, he would use a full size grader to do this he said) I cant afford a 3-4k RAB with all the trimmings. Could I use hyrdaulic top and side links to accomplish this? I guess it is the offsetting capabilities that allude me. However I am not even sure if I need offsetting capabilities for this project.

Any general comments, notes, opinions, etc... that could help out a green horn just getting into tractoring are much appreciated!!!

Boris, is almost 10' tall, has loaded rear tires & FEL.

My neighbour has a Belarus and his 3pt has downpressure so you might want to check a Belarus site with your model #
It will change any rear attachments ideas that you are looking at with regard to duty and strength if that beast has that feature
Good hunting
DGS

 

[mntnvew]

My neighbour has a Belarus and his 3pt has downpressure so you might want to check a Belarus site with your model #
It will change any rear attachments ideas that you are looking at with regard to duty and strength if that beast has that feature
Good hunting
DGS

Boris has great down-pressure, with a old 3 pt snowthrower that dont work anymore, I was able to lift the rear of the tractor off the ground.

I have my implements on order, just waiting for them to arrive at the tractor supply in Billings

I have never wanted to build something so much (ok, since my last toy, horses, where as I had to build the high tensile fence, install gates, etc.)

I love toys

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would think that your choice of blades is really light. You need something like the Rhino 1540 to handle the horspower of your tractor. With anything much lighter than this, you will have trouble with it cutting into the soil AND standing up to your horsepower. It is rather expensive, but if you search used equipment, you should be able to find a good heavy duty back blade for around $2000. I think you could do this road job with just a back blade if money were a problem especially if you will be dragging the ditches to move the dirt to the road. With a heavy blade, with hydraulic tilt and swivel, you can do just about anything a grader will do. Takes a lot of practice to keep the rear blade from scalloping but you would have the same problem with a box blade untill you got the hang of it. If I was only going to buy one of the two for this project, I would use the larger rear mounted straight blade. THE Box blade would be good to use to scarify the existing road. Maybe even pull the gravel off and into a few piles that you could scoop up with your FEL and save to put back on your base when you finish with the build up. If you have a tooth bar on your FEL that should work just as well as the box blade scarifiers.

 

[Gary Fowler]

As far as getting the work done. I would turn the blade to about 45 horizontal, tilt it to 20 or so and swing it to the side so the end of the blade is at the edge of your rear tire. THen just drive your tractor directly down the center of the ditch and let the blade pull all the soil up to the road. Go up one side and down the other and you wont have to move the blade angles. Once you get all the ditches cleaned out and to the depth that you want, then start working the top as already mentioned with your blade. I would gather all the rock that you have and remove it to a spoil pile or piles though before I did anything else. THen just use the material that you can harvest from the ditches to build up your road. Set your tilt angle to what you want the ditch angle to be (20 degrees or less) and just keep running them and pulling the spoils to the roadbed. Once all the material is on top of the road, just keep working it with the blade moving it back and forth across the road and walking it in with your tractor to compact it. The gauge wheels would be helpful for this but it can be done without them.
GOOD LUCK. Just take it slow and easy with that light weight blade with that size tractor or you may end up with an 8" U blade rather than a straight blade.