Help me understand maintain gravel drive.

[Industrial Toys]

The township has once again put an unbelievable amount of gravel on the grass road allowance. I am just going to use my Harley Rake and smooth it out and hope the grass grows through. Usually, it just looks hopeless in the spring and the gravel soon disappears. AFTER ALL, you purposely spread graval and can't keep the grass from coming through!

 

[Ricn]

Someone said the Land Plane has little to no use for gravel driveways, that is plain wrong. My drive is 2200 ft long with several corners and steep up hill all the way angled in one direction for water run off. the Land Plane pulls gravel from the edges back into the wheel lanes with ease pulling up or down the drive. Lower the rippers one notch will rough it up enough that grader blades, (2) puts all the gravel where it belongs plus smooths things up as well. This model Land Plane has adjustable blades both up and down and cuts as little or as much as is needed. It is the Land Pride 6 footer heavy duty model and pulled with the same L2501 tractor having both top and tilt. My box blade gets so little use now I may sell it soon. Box blades are great in most situations but not the best thing in some situations. We had been using a back blade for years but got tired of craning my neck around so now have a U-35 excavator for blade and mower work, the Land Plane for final finish plus keeping gravel where it belongs.

Ricn

 

[fried1765]

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.

When you learn how to use it.......
You will absolutely LOVE your new EA 6 Way Scrape Blade.
It is the near perfect tool (having a tail wheel would be still better) for gravel driveway maintenance.

 

[jmt1271]

When you learn how to use it.......
You will absolutely LOVE your new EA 6 Way Scrape Blade.
It is the near perfect tool (having a tail wheel would be still better) for gravel driveway maintenance.

I bought it mostly for ditching and possibly snow, not that we get a ton.

But hopefully can learn to use it well. The top and tilt should help as well.

 

[Ricn]

Are they available with the tail wheel?

Ricn

 

[/pine]

Hydraulic top and tilt is the number one thing that mellows the learning curve of a box blade...
...being able to change the pitch and tilt from one extreme to the other without stopping is paramount to learning how to use a box blade efficiently and effectively with satisfying results...

Sure box blades have always been used without T&T and can and will get the job done by those that have perfected a technique...but in the same respect there is a large number of operators that have written off the use of a box blade because they never could get the hang of using one...

For many that have learned to use one with T&T there is no better single pull behind grading implement period...!

 

[mopardude318]

I agree with the topNtilt. It’s helps a lot. Now I just need to learn how to use my 6 way hydraulic rear blade! Gotta master the draft control as Brian has said to me many times. Lol

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sorry, but a Harley Rake is to a Box Blade what an Electric Planer is to a hand Planer. Probably an even wider gap, but you get my point.

 

[deezler]

But hopefully can learn to use it well. The top and tilt should help as well.

I was just thinking how cool it would be to set up a tripod behind your tractor and move that blade around, one pin/notch at a time through all of its configurations. Take a picture of each spot, then make it into a gif. The 6-way adjustments plus top and tilt means you can probably swing that thing around like crazy!

 

[L47TLBwannabe]

I've often thought about putting one of those skid-steer graders on the front of a decent size tractor, the first road graders started out by being mounted on the under side of a tractor often with a stretched frame and fairly simple mechanical controls. My thoughts were to use the skid-steer hitch on a loader on a tractor and hooking up the hydraulic functions through the auxiliary hydraulics. With the multitude of adjustments that can be made with a grader like this a solenoid valve system would have to be used. But to me it would be the ultimate grader for fixing driveways and even grading yards, parking pads, and golf course work. I know for many of you guys it would be a bit too much as many of you are more of the weekend warrior type and are just working on your own property but this is something I would like to try myself if the grader attachment in question isn't too heavy for a tractor.