Reclaim, regrading existing gravel driveway

[airbiscuit]

How long and wide is the driveway in question?

 

[crazyal]

I have a grading scraper with rippers and in the past borrowed a box blade. I would never bother with a BB again. If you want a solution that'll get the job done then that's the way i would go. If you are looking for cheap that will do a pretty good job then go to your local steel place and see if you can get a cut off from a large I-beam. I have one that's about 4' long and 27" wide. I pull it behind my side by side and it'll remove the weeds and do a little smoothing. Mine is about 200 lbs but if I want more weight I can throw a few cement blocks on it. I'm pretty sure they will sell you one for the price of scrap steel

 

[Rich B1]

Box blade and grading blade will do what you need. It will take time, but you can get the results you want.

Big thing with both attachments is learning to use the tilt on your 3 point to achieve crown. Then using the top link to get the pitch of the cutting edge to do what you want. The pitch is the one you will adjust the most, especially when using the box blade. You need to learn the angle of the box blade to rip with the ripper teeth, cut with the cutting edge to move material, and spreading material.

With the blade, you will pitch the cutting edge to cut or move material.

There is a learning curve with both. IME, the box blade requires slow travel speed. This is not an attachment that works well with too much ground speed.

My driveway is similar to your description. It doesn稚 seem as the original drive was graded properly when the house was built. I am limited on attachment size due to the tractor size, but with a box blade, grading blade, and time, the drive is in better shape than it has been since we bought the property. Downside, it does require good maintenance about every other year and yearly touch up.

 

[senecak19]

Love the creativity. I’ll be honest my Landplane didn’t cost me a dime either. I obtained a large welding table for free. Had a shop cut the top in half and this became the sides of my landplane. The rest I had in material in the yard. I’m not taking any of the credit for the design though. That’s all Gordon Gould. Last I checked he has a photo of his in use as his TBN image.

I have a grading scraper with rippers and in the past borrowed a box blade. I would never bother with a BB again. If you want a solution that'll get the job done then that's the way i would go. If you are looking for cheap that will do a pretty good job then go to your local steel place and see if you can get a cut off from a large I-beam. I have one that's about 4' long and 27" wide. I pull it behind my side by side and it'll remove the weeds and do a little smoothing. Mine is about 200 lbs but if I want more weight I can throw a few cement blocks on it. I'm pretty sure they will sell you one for the price of scrap steel

 

[tcdiver]

Thx all for the input

 

[tcdiver]

How long and wide is the driveway in question?

Not long, about 1/4 mile with the turn around, minimum one lane width. I'm guessing 10-12 feet.

 

[ctgoldwing]

I used the tools I had on our gravel driveway (box blade and back blade). I needed to rip it first because I wanted to regrade it. The the box blade was used to spread the material and finally the back blade was used to finish it.

 

[airbiscuit]

Not long, about 1/4 mile with the turn around, minimum one lane width. I'm guessing 10-12 feet.

Anything to loosen the soil first would be helpful (box blade or land plane with scarifiers, disc, etc.). After that any of the suggestions would work. Here is a video of a road drag I made to maintain my 1/2 mile drive. My pony grader is what I use when I have to get serious.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Box blades are great for repairing and or reworking rough or damaged lanes etc...for light maintenance and grooming established gravel lanes there is nothing better than a landscape rake...especially if an "old metal box spring with concrete blocks" used to work for you...

often when just general maintenance is required a box blade will create as much additional work as it remedies...!

Also a BB does nothing to recover migrated gravel simply because it can't be angled...

second on this for me. my rake is my goto road maintenance tool.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have found that most of these tools and suggestions are good and helpful.
A rear blade is the best thing to move the gravel back towards the center.Very good for shaping the crown and cutting ditches for drainage.
For roads that require reshaping and have drainage problems I would buy the rear blade first.

If the crown and overall shape is good and drainage ditches are good. Then smoothing can be accomplished with a box blade or land plane grader scraper. I agree with scarifier teeth on either box blade or land plane.

So I suggest you will need both a shaping tool and a smoothing tool long term.