Grading Road Maintenance Advice

[MikeInEburg]

If I were in your situation, I'd buy a classic rear blade for making ditches and a grader scraper, aka land plane to smooth everything out.

 

[fried1765]

I'm in the same camp, and I won't be 78 until October. <g>

I'm sure they make things easier, but they are clearly not needed. Climbing off the tractor to adjust (I can actually adjust the top from the seat because I don't have a cab, which is unnecessary too) doesn't hurt a healthy person a bit.

A heavy blade probably helps, but isn't necessary either. Just wait until the drive is a bit damp. It packs back down better then anyway.

I do this one with an old light-duty blade with no hydraulics:
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/299055-grading-interesting-driveway.html?highlight=interesting+driveway

DITTO !!!!

 

[fried1765]

I'm in the same camp, and I won't be 78 until October. <g>

I'm sure they make things easier, but they are clearly not needed. Climbing off the tractor to adjust (I can actually adjust the top from the seat because I don't have a cab, which is unnecessary too) doesn't hurt a healthy person a bit.

A heavy blade probably helps, but isn't necessary either. Just wait until the drive is a bit damp. It packs back down better then anyway.

I do this one with an old light-duty blade with no hydraulics:
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/299055-grading-interesting-driveway.html?highlight=interesting+driveway

I LOVE the look of your place.
That driveway must be absolutely gorgeous when the rhododendron (?) are in bloom.

I have a 32HP 1989 Ford 1920FEL 4x4: in many ways similar to your JD870.
My new 72" EA 6 way extreme duty blade is absolutely the cat's axx.

I have been using some sort of rear blade, behind some sort of tractor, for the past 45 years.
Old guys like us, prefer older tractors, cause we can fix 'em if we need to.

 

[TerryR]

I LOVE the look of your place.
That driveway must be absolutely gorgeous when the rhododendron (?) are in bloom.

Thanks. Yes, it is. The substantial growth of rhododendron you see in the middle section have grown in naturally to cover the banks that were created 25 years ago when the road was cut in. They seem to thrive on the bare cuts with no noticeable topsoil.

 

[airbiscuit]

I maintain 1/2 mile of road. I have a rear blade and a box blade, but here are my weapons of choice ...

 

[Gordon Gould]

I am a little late here - been on a ill-timed vacation to miss mud. It is just getting started now.

Your situation is exactly the same as mine 20 years ago. Mile long unimproved road in northern NE and no maintenance experience with little money. Only difference is I had a one ton dump truck. l also had a 30 hp tractor.

I bought a 6' Land Pride rear blade. And for the first 10 years that is all I had or needed. No TnT or anything else. When the first mud season came I would back in and dump 3/4" stone into the very worst spots that I couldn't drive thru with the p/u and spread it with the bucket and blade. As the frost came out and things started to get a little firmer but still muddy I started filling the ruts with 3/4" stone and leveling with the tractor. After 2 years of doing this we could drive my wife's car in during mud season instead of leaving it at the end. And after about 4 or 5 years it was a solid year-round road just by continuing the same process. The mixture of 3/4" stone and dirt gets very solid.

You learn to use the blade pretty fast. You can't make the road worse so what the hey. After ten years when I thought I was pretty good with a blade I bought TnT and that made it easier and faster to grade and then I built a Land Plane Grading Scraper and that has become my main tool now that the road is really established. I only use the blade to recrown when necessary. Here is what the stone and dirt road looks like before and after grading in 2010 when I first built the LPGS. There is not crown there it just has a flat pitch to the left so water drains to the down hill side.





gg

 

[Gordon Gould]

A couple more pics of stone and dirt road. Slight recrown with the blade then gilding the lily with the LPGS.





gg

 

[fitter1]

Nice road work. I also maintain a half mile or so. Been trucking in stone for years and still not enough. A friend of mine got stuck up to his running boards 2 days ago and had to call in a wrecker. He was checking in on my place when he got stuck. Still over a foot of snow in the woods. Hope things are well gg. Been on a ill-timed vacation myself.

 

[nybirdman]

I think you will have better results when things are dry. I have both a rear blade and box blade;for your uses a good heavy rear blade should work.

 

[rScotty]

You don't have to choose between a box blade or grading blade. What you need is a grading blade that has removeable end caps so that it works just like a box blade with the added advantage that it can be angled. So one implement can do both jobs.

Inexpensive simple grader and box blades are so common that a lot of tractor people don't even know about the better options.

It's all in the implement. You alread have more than a good enough tractor, so now if you get a blade with three movements: Tilt, Offset, and Angle... and it has removeable end caps.... then you can work that road like a pro.

On the gravel, I ask for 1"minus crushed roadbase material with the fines left in (unwashed). That gives me a sharp but small stone that interlocks well because the fines (the dust) in left on the crushed rocks. When you say "roadbase" you are specifying a compactible material. Usually made by combining about 5% to 10% clay into the crushed stone above.
rScotty