Scarifying Ice

[kcoburn]

Our home, shop, tractor shed and wood storage shed are located in the midst of dense timber roughly a mile from the nearest county road.I have a 3/4 mile crushed gravel lane that winds through dense mature timber up and down over the ridges running down to a river's edge. A few years ago I bought a cab GL5240 with a loader and a 6' Kubota front snow blower to clear it. By mid winter there's a 2" base of packed snow left after I've cleared the snows. It's shaded enough that it doesn't melt off until well into spring. What little melting that occurs only serves to turn the packed snow base into glare ice. We've had a couple of serious close calls. A year ago I came perilously close to sliding my pickup over a bank onto the top of our septic tank. In winter 2000/2001 we were trapped back here for 8 days until we got enough breakup to let me get out to civilization. Couldn't even get out with a 4wd Honda ATV. But this spring my wife fell and broke her shoulder. It's time for me to find a solution.
Anyone have any thoughts on what implement would help me at least scarify the base? Years ago I tried storing sand and spreading it with an atv pulled spreader. But I couldn't keep the sand from freezing up so I gave up on that. It wasn't quite so bad when I used an L3600 with a loader and rear blade. But I hate pushing all that costly gravel off the lane into the timber. And once we get a foot or so of snow, I'd run out of room to get it off the lane. The snow just rolls off the windrows along the edges and back into the lane. The front blower was the "solution" to those problems but creates this ice base issue. I have a box blade but I doubt I could even scratch the surface with the teeth. Also have a B7610 and have considered getting a tooth bar for it's loader and back-dragging the critical locations with it. My sense, though, is that would be awfully tough on the outfit. I have chains on all 4 wheels, but they're not a very aggressive design. Maybe I should be using V bar chains?
Any ideas short of selling this place and moving to a warmer climate?

 

[NoTrespassing]

We have the same problem but a lot less thankfully. I use sand and gravel on the steepest most dangerous areas and also keep several hundred pounds of expensive calcium chloride on hand in case of a real ice storm. The right chains and all wheel drive would probably get you out most of the time but what a p.i.t.a. I still use a blade and hear you on the gravel waste. I just bought 2 tandems and had them dumped at the top of a hill at a cost of $300 per load. Around here we also have "red dog" shale that is cheaper and gives pretty good traction on top of ice. What about cinders?

I don't think trying to scarify my hills in January would work.

Kevin

 

[DFB]

Sanding is what every place does. I live at 1800 ft on steep winding hill. They lay so much heavy BLACK road sand I think the roadbed gets an full inch higher ever year!

My bud swears by the front wheel chains on his 550 4wd plow truck. He has some jobs where his only option is to plow uphill on gravel to open drives for seasonal homeowners.

 

[Rustyiron]

Does your town use "salt sand" on the roads? Find out where they get it. This is what is used around here. Sand with a little salt mixed in to keep IT from freezing.
It works fine out of a pile left outside, better with just a cheap tarp on it. If you can't find a suplier, you could mix it up yourself. Get a 20 ton load of sand, maybe 2 ton of salt and make a new pile that is mixed. I'm not sure on the ratio but when our town stocks the "salt sand building" for the winter, they would dump about a half of a backhoe bucker on to the top of the (loaded) truck hauling the sand, then dump it all into the building. I have a long lane through the woods also with a decent hill that really does not get any sun, and a good friend that is a plowing contractor. He swings by and it is amazing what just a little bit of this mixture does. So little that unless you really looked for it, you wouldn't know that he's been by! I think Hurd makes 3 pt. broadcast spreader that will handle sand, the tough patr would be loading it with a shovel.

 

[Rustyiron]

These "ice chaines" are more like ice magnets, expensive but you'd almost think that you were on dry pavement with them. These are "trygg" brand. They will last years & years for your use.

Tractor, Grader & Loader Studded Chains

 

[sandyc]

Our town has a small "shed" that is filled with salt/sand (winter sand) and is free for the taking by residents. I fill up 20 or so Kitty litter plastic pails that weigh 50-60 pounds each over the summer so I am ready to hand spread over the icy spots on my drive as needed for ice control. I looked into a spreader for my 3350 but the sand/salt is very wet and heavy so it would not flow through the implement hence I just put it out by hand. The mixture provides immediate traction and helps to break up the ice as long as it stays above 10 degrees or so. Any colder and you have to use calcium chloride.

 

[dave1949]

Yak Trax for the shoes/boots will add a lot of safety when walking on icy stuff. They work.

Studded chains and salt mixed with the sand like RustyIron said should really help. The salt also improves how the sand works on the driveway besides keeping the pile from freezing. The 5240 is heavy enough to push the chain studs into the ice. Sometimes I just drive up and down the driveway several times letting the chains rough up the surface.

I store my sand in flood sandbags indoors but wish I had a dedicated shed for that.

 

[Egon]

[video]http://whiteswearparts.com/grader-components/[/video]

Consider an ice blade?

 

[Baby Grand]

Ice frozen to the ground is one of the toughest things I've ever tried to remove.
It just won't separate from itself in any meaningful way.
For the situation that you describe, I think the suggestions to use salt-sand sounds like a winner.
Maybe some rock dust would work, assuming you can keep it spreadable and not clumped.
I wonder if some sort of a disc type cutter would work - a lot of weight bearing on a few rolling knife edges?
Good luck with this - I understand your frustration - you can't afford to have your loved ones getting injured.

 

[Garandman]

If you have a lot of freeze thaw cycles in the spring, scarifying isn't going to work because water will fill the low spots and refreeze.

Like the other New Englanders above we use sand with enough salt mixed in to keep it from freezing. Very common around here to see a barrel on side with a shovel sticking out at the base of every hill. Our neighbor has a spreader so every time he does his parking lot he does our driveway and charges $20-25.

Made it through the winter by grooving my R4's but I'm getting chains (and the necessary spacers) next winter for sure.