Need some Ideas

[narampa]

My driveway is crushed rock or course gravel. In the winter I used my snow blower with the feet set high so that I leave about 2 inches of snow. I use the blower this way a few times and than I remove the blower and install my blade. Once the snow is packed the blade works great. I prefer using the blade than the blower it just does a nicer job.
Anybody out there in tractor land make a drag that will knock the air out of the snow and speed up he process of getting a hard pack of snow quicker. I am not really interested in a roller. I was thinking of something that could be made out of tires.
I have everything I need to do this tool wise. Just need an idea.

 

[oosik]

Hmmm - I've got to say, I've never heard of a situation like yours. I would think driving up/down the driveway would do the trick. A drag is going to move the snow around and probably not pack it. I don't understand why you use the blower when you have a rear blade with feet. The feet should keep the blade off the gravel. Rather than some type of drag - look at bigger feet that will hold the blade up and do not need hard packed snow.

Because I've not put feet on my rear blade I'm fairly gentile on the driveway - snow removal - until the surface freezes hard. However, like now, the driveway is frozen hard and if it were to snow there is no problem with the rear blade dragging directly on the frozen driveway.

 

[narampa]

Hmmm - I've got to say, I've never heard of a situation like yours. I would think driving up/down the driveway would do the trick. A drag is going to move the snow around and probably not pack it. I don't understand why you use the blower when you have a rear blade with feet. The feet should keep the blade off the gravel. Rather than some type of drag - look at bigger feet that will hold the blade up and do not need hard packed snow.

Because I've not put feet on my rear blade I'm fairly gentile on the driveway - snow removal - until the surface freezes hard. However, like now, the driveway is frozen hard and if it were to snow there is no problem with the rear blade dragging directly on the frozen driveway.

I don't have a rear blade. Maybe I should have said how do I knock the air out of the snow. If a grader makes a pass and the snow that it piledup gets hard that is because there is no air in it anymore. At the first snow fall I just want to remove the air out of the snow.I don,t want to remove any snow. Driving up and down is not a option it would take for ever,however it would work. No a drag won't work because I don't to move the snow I want to float the air out like you do when finishing cement.
Hope that explains it better.
And I forgot to mention I need a hard packed surface to skid trees up my driveway. My wood lot is across the road and my processor is in the back yard. I have been doing this for 15 winters. I would just like to be able to speed up the hard packed driveway and get an earlier start on my firewood.

 

[Chopperhed]

Do you have rims for the tires.

If you want to pack it down, a roller would do it. Stack the tires in a row, add fluid or weight, and pull it up and down the drive.

Something floating behind would level it out after.

Or look at how the ski hills groom the hill.

 

[mfreund]

Spray it with a mist of water and then let it refreeze.

 

[jix]

Spray it with a mist of water and then let it refreeze.

Yep!..after it is flattened. I use my blower, moving its broad flat bottom surface backwards over the snow and with PTO tilted so that it does not pick up snow, and with the blower PTO off. That flattens it nicely. Sprayed and sanded. its good to go till we get a thaw. Winter is just such a hassle!

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Someone posted a video a couple days ago of him plowing his drive with his BX. He had his blade turned around so it would be easier on the drive. I think that may accomplish what you want.

 

[treman]

Why not try a sheet of plywood with some weight on top. Similar to a giant toboggan. You would need to keep the leading edge up a couple of inches but that would easily be accomplished my attaching it to the 3pt. This would smooth and compress the snow in a single pass and you could then mist it with water if needed as others have said and have a nice smooth hard pack.

If those tires are on rims and of the same size you could make a rubber tired roller as has already been suggested by sliding a pipe through the center.

Another option would be a piece of culvert pipe made into a roller. I know you said that was not something you would like to do but many trails are groomed that way and it works rather well.

 

[notme]

umm u want to pack it down right? I just back blade (drive backwards the weight of the blade pushes it down) because the blade is roundish the blade lifts as the snow pushes it up..leaves a good flat pack..i do that a few times till theres a few inches of hard pack then plow normally with the shoes set high onces or twice so it doesn't cut in....and then its good to go.

 

[narampa]

Well I certainly got the ideas I was looking for. I am going to try and incorporate making a roller out of tires. I talked to a tire recycler and he said that they get a lot of tires with rims on. It seems they just put them to the side as they deal with them later. He said for a box of beer I could get what I need.
I am also going to look at a roller made from a culvert. That would work great as I could use down pressure to pack it harder. Now that idea just might work. I am retired and on a fixed income so I don't want to spend a lot of money.
Thanks for the ideas!

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Before there were automobiles people would get around in sleighs in the winter. Instead of snowplows, towns had machines to groom the roads for sleighs. The design I saw was a roller pulled by a team of horses. The surface was ridged to leave a rippled surface so that the sleigh horses had something to grip rather than a completely smooth surface. I would think a car could drive on a surface like that.

 

[jimmysisson]

Some if those rollers I've seen were 7' in diameter - possibly a storage problem? Cool, though.
Jim

 

[mikehaugen]

The problem I see with a roller is that wet snow will stick to it at times. It may stick in clumps resulting in bare spots and uneven surface. If you do go some kind of roller route, make sure to make it as non-stick as possible. Perhaps snow-plow paint or fluid-film or something.

 

[sixdogs]

To pack snow in the lighter snows of central Ohio, I just drive back and forth across it in my truck to pack it down. It leaves a beautiful job. If the snow is deep I often pack with my tractor first and then use the truck to smooth the tread marks. I do have a plow arrangement for the really big stuff but rarely use it.

A roller doesn't sound like it would work well unless you build a scraper edge onto it to keep snow from sticking. Another way is to use that non-stick plastic to cover the edge surface. Driving back and forth with the truck is easier and I get to listen to the radio and have the heater on.

 

[woodchipper]

Use you loader, gently tilted, in float mode, then back it up!"
One good try, would be to use a straight tree trunk, and attach it with chains (using eye hooks) to your front loader, then lower your loader to the prefered hight, and back you go!!
Enjoy winter...!

 

[narampa]

Ok fellows here is what I've done in the interim. On my blade c/e I welded two pipes about 3 inches in diameter. They are are welded one behind the other. So basically I have created a 6 inch skid plate full width of the blade.I can still push snow and when the blade fills it actually lifts up and leaves about 3 inches of snow on the drive way. If I apply down pressure I can go down to the gravel.
I should have all the compaction I need using float and a few passes.
Tomorrow I will test it out and report back.

 

[narampa]

Well I tried out my blade. Works great! I might not get the same results with all snow conditions. Time will tell. Thanks everybody for your input.

 

[CNC Dan]

Well I tried out my blade. Works great! I might not get the same results with all snow conditions. Time will tell. Thanks everybody for your input.

How about a picture.

 

[deerseeker001]

In the start of Winter i leave 4 inches of Snow on the driveway and drive over this till she is pack down good and that is my base from there i use my back blade.There is no dragging of Gravel.

 

[PILOON]

The roller concept is not new.
In the 50's many rural back roads in Quebec were rolled. I seem to recall about 4 ft diameter by about 8-10 ft wide drawn by teams of horses. Compaction was good enough that cars could drive on the surface when frozen.
Come spring thaw those roads were unusable for about 2 weeks.

Back then they also graded with horse drawn drags.