Help me understand maintain gravel drive.

[jmt1271]

I have an L2501 hst with filled R4 tires. I have a Land Pride GS1560 grader. I will be receiving a 6 foot 6 Way rear blade from EA in ~6wks.

I have 2 gravel drives. Main driveway for house is about 100 feet long and 20 wide.

2nd drive is a winding driveway along perimeter of property and back to our barn. Total length less than 500 feet I would say and probably 10 feet wide, mostly flat with one decent grade.

My goal is to pull gravel that migrates off the road bed back into it. To establish a small crown and general maintenance.

I'm under the impression that disturbing the gravel (especially the larger 2-3 inch stuff that comprises the lower level) isn't conducive to longevity. It seems it would encourage potholes etc.

But when I run the land plane on it, isn't that a risk? If the gravel is well compacted, it just seems that disturbing that compaction isn't a good idea.

I ordered the rear blade mainly to make ditches to direct water flow but also because it seems I could offset and tilt it to pull gravel back into drive without disturbing compacted gravel on the drive.

Just looking for general guidance and theory lol. Forgive errors posting from phone.

 

[/pine]

crowning a lane generally requires ditching on both sides and often needs a cross-over culvert...

By pitching the lane to one side (preferably the lower side if there is one) or the other...only requires one ditch...and it is much easier to grade and groom...
One caveat...
In regions where there is long term build ups of heavy ice a single pitched lane is not always the best choice...

IF you have hydraulic T&T your new blade will be much easier to master...learn to use the rear blade with the forward cutting edge turned around (180*) and learn to adjust the blade angle and the top link length so it collects gravel without digging into the road bed and shoulder edge...

Good Luck...

 

[jmt1271]

Thanks. I do have top and tilt.

 

[deezler]

Location and specific site conditions would dictate whether both sides of the road can be ditched. Ideally they would - a crowned road is much nicer to use and maintain, IMO.

If the existing gravel base is really so well compacted, good news! Your land plane probably won't really mess it up. Don't weigh the plane down too much or force it down, etc. Just let it coast along and ride the high spots, only pulling already loose material nice and flat for you.

Do you have a nice amount of smaller gravel atop the base?

I've thought about getting a land plane for my 1000' gravel drive, but to be honest I have absolutely no trouble maintaining it with a simple 6' rear blade. I just set the blade up at the right angles to pull material up from the edges into the middle of the road, then spin the blade around backwards and dead flat to smash all the gravel back out nice and smooth. I should probably get some pics to be of more assistance on here.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Frogmore]

It is all going to depend on your skill level. Some people have excellent results using a box blade for everything. Having tried using one for a short period I can say that it takes a lot of skill to make it smoother. I ended up getting a Land Pride Grading scraper. Since I have a B2620, I got the 48" wide one. It was easy to use from the start. Just put it down and go forward and it makes the road better. Now that I have many tens of hours using it over a few years it is even better. Could I have learned how to achieve the same results with a box scraper or rear blade, probably but it would have taken a lot longer.

I typically put the rippers down to break up the top layer so I have something to move. Once it is all broken up, I raise the rippers to smooth it out. Yes, some of the larger rock comes up, but I have found the only way to get rid of a pothole is to completely cut it out. So, in an area that has a pothole I disturb all of the material in the surrounding 5-10 feet. This way the pothole has less chance to be remembered by the road.

Over the winter we had a lot of snow and I had to use my bucket to remove it. This gave me a very washboard road surface on 250' of driveway. A couple of hours with the grading scraper and it was back to smooth.

 

[nyone]

A box blade with adjustable teeth would do what the land plane and rear blade would do. Yet beable to move material further down the drive as well. Theres really no good use for a land plane on a gravel driveway unless you just want to make everything loose.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not sure how one would ever get gravel that migrates off the road back onto it. I have grass along my driveway. I don't want dirt and grass on my driveway.

 

[Katahdin]

A hand-held power broom will move the gravel back onto the driveway without disturbing the grass. Regrade and crown after the power broom cleanup is complete.

 

[RustyA]

Since no one has mentioned it yet I'll suggest the obvious...When I'm grading and leveling my driveway and 1/4 mile private road I find it way easier to do shortly after a good rain when the road is still damp. I can grade with a lot less blade jump and cut a little deeper to eliminate potholes. Once I have the road cut from each direction towards the crown I level the back blade and set it to straight position and grade backwards down the middle of the road to level. Then I turn around and lower front end loader with pressure to compact both sides of the road in each direction to firm up the road by driving backwards with downward pressure on bucket.

 

[/pine]

Not sure how one would ever get gravel that migrates off the road back onto it. I have grass along my driveway. I don't want dirt and grass on my driveway.

Usually the displaced gravel ends up in the ditches...often much of it is recoverable and as long as there is a good mix of fines with it I put it back on the road...

...I don't see how anyone would ever get displaced gravel out of grass etc. and get any fines with it...loose gravel without fines doesn't make for the best topping...