New Driveway Construction

FF117 · Sep 13, 2015

After 2 weeks and $1200 the tractor is fixed. A bolt that holds the ring gear in the front end sheared and got into the ring and pinion. The mechanic commented that he's seen a couple others do that and Branson is using different bolts now. Unfortunately this didn't translate into a better price for me. I'm going to look into the issue some more.

As for the driveway, I got back to work on it today. Good news is that there was a pretty good rain storm a couple days ago and no water crossed the driveway. Overall I was pretty pleased with how the water flowed, but I'm going to have to get some seed/straw down to hold the dirt on the hillside. There was quite a bit of silt runoff that filled the ditch near the entrance and it was really wet there so I figure that water sat in that area. The road commissioner came out again and suggested an 8" pipe in the area shown in the pics. This is also the area that the water was sitting. I'm going to install a 10" duall wall pipe tomorrow using a borrowed tractor with backhoe.

Today I feathered out some topsoil and worked on the ditch at the top of the hill. I ended up cutting the ditch previously discussed to direct water into the existing gully and help reduce the amount of water running to the entrance. Only have a couple hundred feet of virgin ground to go. I'm thinking I won't go all the way to the house site just yet in case something changes. Assuming no more breakdowns, I should be ordering rock next week.

vtsnowedin · Sep 14, 2015

Thanks for the updates. Warranty should have covered anything like that so do pursue the issue.
Yes get some hay or straw mulch out there to hold the soil in place. seed with a mix that has some rye in it at the same time.. Also a few stone check dams across the ditch strain the soil back out of the water and slow down the flow.

FF117 · Sep 14, 2015

Got the pipe installed today, then extended the driveway another 100' or so. Thanks for the suggestion on the check dams. I was thinking about putting some large rock in the ditch. Maybe 3" clean or possibly rip rap. Don't think it would cost much because it would only need to be about a foot wide x 300 feet long. Would this work to prevent erosion, or should I just go with the check dams?

As for the tractor, my warranty expired last year. I was thinking it expired last month, but I was wrong. I was still hoping they would help me out since it was a known issue. I find myself being much easier on the tractor now; gentle stops/starts, taking it out of 4wd, ect. Guess that's what a $1200 repair bill does to you.

Still have about 100' of dirt work left, but I'm thinking about stopping here just in case we decide to change the house location again. I doubt we will, but you never know. The first couple pics are of the pipe install. Didn't take long to get it in, but had to drag a bunch more fill to get enough cover. Still some work to do on the shallow end. You can see where I almost ran over the end of the pipe with the trailer. The other pics are of the 100' added today. You can see the driveway will curve in order to approach the house at the correct angle.

old gray · Sep 15, 2015

I am very armature at this stuff. I know a little late now for you on this project. Consider a ratchetrake to help remove/ break up grass and topsoil. Available on line or Tractor Supply. It has been very helpful to me for a number of things.Use common sense when using it so as not to tear up your FEL.

kevin37b · Sep 15, 2015

I think you might want to add another 10 ft. to the downhill end of culvert and widen the approach .Gonna be a lot of big rigs in and out of there building a house . Nice looking work .

hutchman · Sep 15, 2015

FF117 said:
Got the pipe installed today, then extended the driveway another 100' or so. Thanks for the suggestion on the check dams. I was thinking about putting some large rock in the ditch. Maybe 3" clean or possibly rip rap. Don't think it would cost much because it would only need to be about a foot wide x 300 feet long. Would this work to prevent erosion, or should I just go with the check dams?

As for the tractor, my warranty expired last year. I was thinking it expired last month, but I was wrong. I was still hoping they would help me out since it was a known issue. I find myself being much easier on the tractor now; gentle stops/starts, taking it out of 4wd, ect. Guess that's what a $1200 repair bill does to you.

Still have about 100' of dirt work left, but I'm thinking about stopping here just in case we decide to change the house location again. I doubt we will, but you never know. The first couple pics are of the pipe install. Didn't take long to get it in, but had to drag a bunch more fill to get enough cover. Still some work to do on the shallow end. You can see where I almost ran over the end of the pipe with the trailer. The other pics are of the 100' added today. You can see the driveway will curve in order to approach the house at the correct angle.

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Nice! I'm right behind you about to start doing the same thing. The loggers and an excavator already took topsoil off for me ... I just have to level it out, put in ditches and a few culverts. Mine's 1,300-1,400ft. long.

FF117 · Sep 15, 2015

old gray said:
I am very armature at this stuff. I know a little late now for you on this project. Consider a ratchetrake to help remove/ break up grass and topsoil. Available on line or Tractor Supply. It has been very helpful to me for a number of things.Use common sense when using it so as not to tear up your FEL.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to look that up. Probably a little late now though.

FF117 · Sep 15, 2015

Yeah I was thinking that myself. There's about 20' from the edge of the county road to the culvert that I plan on flaring out some in order to make it easier for trucks to get in. Ideally I would like to extend the pipe and make the driveway a lot wider near the entrance but I'm not sure if that will happen cause I'm getting a little burned out. Hopefully just flaring it out some will do the trick.

RDrancher · Sep 15, 2015

Too bad your machine let you down in the middle of the project, but you're doing a nice job. You'll learn to appreciate the geo under the drive, especially over time. Once the gravel is all packed down you won't have to deal with settling and potholes much, if at all. Get yourself a landplane and spruce it up once a year and you're set. I installed a gravel over geo parking lot a few years ago for one of our local high schools. It gets used every day and it still looks as good as the day I compacted it. One thing...use a smooth drum compactor for the gravel. Sheepsfoot rollers are great for locking in lifts of dirt, but will cause separation of the rock and fines in gravel.

deranged · Sep 15, 2015

I have half my gravel drive with geotex under it then the added on turn around loop has no fabric. After one year the part with fabric has settled in to a semi smooth but the part with no fabric is smooth but has lots of weeds growing up through it. So until I get a land plane, I have to mow the part of my driveway without fabric. :thumbdown: I am no expert on drive construction but yours looks better then mine.