road base fix

[bigdaddymacik73]

My road leading up to my house is made of road base. I have added more road base over the years but now it is starting to get potholes again. I would like to pull the gravel back to the top of the road instead of it being buried. I have seen some counties do this with their roads but am unsure of how to do it. I have used a box blade but it only smooths it out. The road is compacted. I have thought about a rock rake but am unsure if it would work. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[George2615]

Welcome to TBN.............

I don't have one but have seen the video below. Seems to do a good job reviving a hard packed gravel road.

Tractor Land Levelers and Graders For Sale

 

[jeff9366]

1. You need to scarify to the bottom of the potholes, then rework the surface. If you do not mix road base to the bottom of the potholes, or a bit deeper, potholes will return in the same locations. The scarifies on your Box Blade should do this, if they are long enough and if your tractor is heavy enough to pull it with shanks down.

2. By "pull gravel back to top" do you mean crown the road? A Rear Blade/Angle Blade will adjust to give you a crown. You cannot crown with a Box Blade. You could also crown with a heavy duty Landscape Rake to move loose road base, if that would be more versatile implement for other work.

3. Here is a link to REPAIRING POTHOLE threads in the TBN archive:

https://www.google.com/search?clien...tractorbynet.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl




Why don't you complete your profile before posting again? If the TBN readership knows were 'Jarrell' is we will have some idea of your weather conditions, which affect road conditions. Obviously, knowing which 'Kubota' you have is also helpful in constructing replies. Complete profiles save time for responders and give you better tailored responses.

 

[Deerherd]

Scarifiers on a box blade or land plane is a great way to refurbish your road. Potholes really need to be dug up to repair properly.

I use a box blade with scarifiers, a land plane and a landscape rake to maintain my drive. I use the rake the most for monthly maintenance, second is the land plane and the box blade to spread new material or to rip up a compacted potholes.

 

[ustmd]

Scarifiers on a box blade or land plane is a great way to refurbish your road. Potholes really need to be dug up to repair properly.
.

+1 You have to break up the surface around the pot holes, otherwise they just come back.

 

[EddieWalker]

Road base gravel needs several things to work. First it has to be on a solid surface with good drainage on both sides that quickly takes the water away from the road. If you have good drainage and since the road has been there awhile, you should have good compaction. The next thing you need is a proper mixture of big rocks down to fines. The rock has to have jagged edges and should be no bigger then a couple of inches. The road base rock needs to be at least four inches thick, with 6 inches being even better. This is really important because if it's not thick enough, it will not lock together. Once locked together, it becomes a solid surface that water will not penetrate.

Potholes are caused by one of two reasons. First is that the soil isn't compacted. This can be from just not getting compacted when building the road, or something in the soil broke down over time, such as organic material like top soil. The other, and more likely reason for potholes is that the rock wasn't thick enough to lock together and water got through it when it rained. Then every time you drove over that spot, the fines washed out and you where left with just larger rock. Then over time, that rock moved away from that area when the tires hit it.

One of the biggest mistakes anybody can make is to smooth or grade a road that has been compacted. This breaks it up and allows moisture to get into it and wash out the fines. The more you do this, the worse your road will be. Once a road is properly built, you should never grade it again.

Without seeing pictures of your road or knowing all the details, it is my guess that you do not have enough material on your road and the only way to get it right is to buy more road base and get it to the proper thickness, then compact it. I would tear up your existing rock and mix it in with new, then spread, grade and compact it all together. Do it right and it will last a decade or more. I'm at ten years on mine without needing any additional rock and I wont be surprised if I get another ten years out of it.

Eddie

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To the forum.

 

[Egon]

If you have noticed the local Municipality uses a road grader to maintain their roads. The scarifier or ripper is used to break up pot holed or washboard sections. The blade is then used to pull the shoulders up. Then it is used to roll a windrow from side to side. This mixes the aggregate and also distributes for a smooth surface. The final grader passes are made to crown the road. The more a windrow is rolled the better the mixing and distribution of material. Packing may be done as lifts are laid down.

Washboard is caused by deceleration or acceleration.Only way to cure it is resurface with cement. Asphalt will ripple. In cities many bus stops are cemented for this reason.

In your situation a back blade with gauge wheels may work but the surface must be ripped.

Uh--this used to work forty years ago.

 

[ruffdog]

Eddie....very good post!

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Once a road is properly built, you should never grade it again.

You sure about this?

One would think that the guys that design and build roads for a living would know what they are doing. Why is it that EVERY gravel road I've ever seen gets graded at least once or twice a year? Are you using "road" which would mean public use and maintained by county etc for what is actually a "lane/laneway/driveway" going from the public "road" onto your private property?

If we accept differences in terminology, how do you suggest maintenance without grading? Regardless of how well a private lane is built, simply due to the additional compaction of the repeated vehicle traffic on the same track it is inevitable that ruts will form from the 2 tire tracks without compacting the center or sides any further than the original construction. This same problem shows up even on paved county/provincial/state roads. Does that mean they aren't built right?

Not adding more rock is one thing, not grading it is another.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Peoples thoughts of what is fine are very different. I have had people ask me why am I grading at all, your road is about perfect. Well, there is a reason for that. I share my drive with 4 neighbors and it gets used by vehicles up to 70,000lbs. I typically go over it every 3-4 months. Have not had to add anything in 14 years. Cut and raised the crown a couple of inches a few years ago. Everyone's conditions and circumstances are different as are what they expect-want. We need to try and keep that in mind, I know that I don't always :ashamed:and I apologize for that.

 

[EddieWalker]

You sure about this?

One would think that the guys that design and build roads for a living would know what they are doing. Why is it that EVERY gravel road I've ever seen gets graded at least once or twice a year? Are you using "road" which would mean public use and maintained by county etc for what is actually a "lane/laneway/driveway" going from the public "road" onto your private property?

If we accept differences in terminology, how do you suggest maintenance without grading? Regardless of how well a private lane is built, simply due to the additional compaction of the repeated vehicle traffic on the same track it is inevitable that ruts will form from the 2 tire tracks without compacting the center or sides any further than the original construction. This same problem shows up even on paved county/provincial/state roads. Does that mean they aren't built right?

Not adding more rock is one thing, not grading it is another.

Sorry, I should clarify that I was talking about driveways as being roads. I did not think that somebody would misunderstand that and confuse a public road with what I was talking about. In your case it's true that public roads get graded on a regular bases for a variety of reasons. Probably the most common reason is that they do not want to spend the money to add enough rock to the road to not have to do this. I'm sure that they started out with the proper amount of rock, but over time with all the things that happen on a road, that rock was damaged and wore away. Once the start grading it, they have no choice but to continue doing this because it is now failing and of the two options, adding more rock or grading it constantly, one is a lot cheaper then the other.

Allow me to restate my earlier post and say that once a properly built gravel driveway is compacted using at least 4 to six inches of road base gravel, it should last a decade without any need of regarding it. Depending on the amount of traffic, the weight load it receives and the weather it receives, it could even longer without needing any more material.

As you noticed, I was very careful in my wording. I'm sure you can make a point and show examples where this isn't true, and I understand that there are exemptions to everything. Location, quality of materials, skill in application and what is considered a proper road. In your example of paved roads that fail, I would point out that they are the examples of a road that was not built correctly. I have a dirt road on my land built by the Army in 1942 that is still flat and compact. It is the only dirt road that I can drive on year round. What they did to the dirt, I have no idea. All I know is that it is unlike any of the other dirt on my land.

Eddie

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Thanks for the clarification Eddie. We are thinking the same thing with different names. Up here, there would still be a lane on my property between the house and the road leading to my place, thus my confusion.

I agree, most private lanes are way under built, even for light traffic. When I bought my place 4.5 yrs ago, there were 2 'potholes' in my lane that were big enough that a heron was landing in one of them. Total of 22 ton of GA to fill them. There's no base material under the top dressing

 

[jrclark]

Is this enough base for a driveway?






FYI, it's not just deep for the culvert. There's places along the driveway that are much deeper because of the soil.

 

[DB Pilot]

Bigdaddy,

I recommend the EA land leveler. I have 1000' of driveway that was previously repaired by just ordering various gravels/stone ???. and having that smoothed out. Needless to say I bought a real mess. I raked and scraped for a year with only temporary results. :mur: Decided to get the land leveler instead of having it professionally built as it is not a driveway I use daily but, it is a downhill grade that can wash out easily. :thumbdown: It seems to me that the Land Leveler brings up lost gravel and allows the hockey puck size rocks to stay down under the gravel. :thumbsup: I used the Leveler 3 times the first year, last year I didn't need it at all and this year after the snow melts I hope I can use it again. I like it because of the time saved in repairing the drive and the length of time it holds up. :2cents: