Rear Blade Land Pride Grading Scraper with Class 5 gravel

[jackpine savage]

I have a 1/4 mile driveway that I just put 2000 yards of Class 5 gravel on. I used a 3 point blade to do the initial grading. Then purchased a LP GS2584 for maintenance. Having a little trouble. I used the LP a week ago, it came set up with blades about 1/2" deep. I made two passes, on the first the gravel didn't flow evenly over the back blade, but rather in 'waves'. On the second pass it really started digging in so I lifted it a bit with the draft control and sped it up to probably 4 mph. It still ended up with some ripples. I was thinking part of the problem might have been the gravel was too damp, we had a couple tenths of rain the day before. Class 5 has some clay in it and I think that's what is causing it not to flow evenly. After driving on it it was like washboard.

We didn't get any rain for a week so I went out yesterday for another try. I set the blades 1/4" deep. I made one pass, running about 2.5 mph. Then I rolled it with a heavy field packer. It's better but I can still feel washboard with the truck.

I'm afraid this is what it's going to be with the clay in the class 5. I think I have the LP set up right as far as tilt adjustment.

Anyone ran into this issue? Any ideas on what to try?

 

[Gordon Gould]

Here are some things to think about that might help. If the road is wash-boarded and you cut off the tops of the ripples and spread that loose gravel into the valleys you now have a road where the humps are still packed and the valleys loose but to the eye it looks very smooth. When you pack it the humps don't compress because they are already packed but the loose valleys compress/pack so you still have wash boards. What you need is an even layer of loosened gravel over a smooth packed base so that when you pack the loose surface it will compress the same amount every where and still be smooth. An other way of saying that is that you need to cut down deep to the base of the wash board or more. There is a couple ways to do that. Set your grader up so that it makes a deep cut in one pass, or it might take a couple before it all gets loosened up, by lowering the blades. Or do what you did, grade and pack, but do it several times. Each cycle you will shave a little more off the humps and it will get better and better.

If your grader is cutting to much don't lift it with the height control. It should rest on the road. Instead, lengthen the top link to make it less aggressive. Keep at it and you will start to get a feel for what effects what like you did with the moisture. A little clay is good - makes a better packing gravel.

gg

 

[CoyPatton]

In order to break up the wash board effect, use scarifies on the LP if equipped. They will break up the gravel clay mixture and allow for a smoother grade of the driveway.

 

[oosik]

CoyPatton has the correct answer. Scarifiers. I use the scarifiers on my Land Pride GS2584 every time I grade my driveway. I run them about an inch and a half below the side skids. Cutting blades about an inch and a half below the side skids also.

 

[Gordon Gould]

JackPine said he raised his blades because he thought he was cutting too much. Why would he need scarifiers ?? Every road is different and brand new gravel is likely to be softer. You need to adjust to the situation. It may not be best to do the same thing every time.

gg

 

[mikester]

Take a look at road graders...wheels are in front AND behind the blade. Putting the blade on the back of your tractor doesnt give you any depth control, every time you hit a bump up front makes a new bump out back. Your bouncy rubber tires exaggerate the effect giving you a nice washboard surface.

My workaround was to weld extension bars and a light duty (1500lb) trailer axel with golf cart wheels onto the back of my blade. I use my top link to control the blade depth. I also welded end plates perpendicular to the blade profile to act as a mini box blade, it keeps the spoil in front of the blade and prevents it spilling off the sides.

For pancake smooth gravel I set the blade up on a smooth concrete floor so it just touches the floor. This lets the blade cut high spots but it cant cut below grade. Recently I added a hydraulic top link and its the bees knees for finish grading and feathering. Much better fine control then the 3PH alone.

 

[CoyPatton]

JackPine said he raised his blades because he thought he was cutting too much. Why would he need scarifiers ?? Every road is different and brand new gravel is likely to be softer. You need to adjust to the situation. It may not be best to do the same thing every time.

gg

Read his post again. His new gravel has clay in it and he has some light rains! Yes every gravel is different and his will need to broken up after a rain and drying cycle!

 

[Gordon Gould]

Like you said they are all different but this is clay based gravel and it does not need to be broken up with scarifiers. The way I understood his problem was that he was not cutting deep enough.





gg

 

[Mat4644]

Short wheel base tractor and short implement. The level needs to be within reason for the GS2584 to work its magic. Eyeball it and manually raise and lower it to get it closer then watch the grader do its magic.

Often putting the blade back on at an angle and go up and down both sides putting material in the center followed up with the grader making it flat gets the waves out.

 

[PILOON]

Not having a fancy grader scraper I tried different approaches.
While a pain in the neck (azz) I found grading with reversed back blade while driving backwards worked OK. The reason being all 4 wheels were then on flat graded base vs grading going forward the tractor would rise and dip on every bump causing the BB to dig every time.

That worked OK but I later made a 3 bladed 'drag' that really solved my grading issues.