Small amount of rain washout on my gravel drive?

[MossflowerWoods]

Hawk, KU0A, TEG,

So the shovel and rake repairs I made to the steepest part Wed. evening are holding an have dramatically smoothed out that part of the drive.

I will try to get pictures that illustrate this, but the hill is STEEP and I cannot go sideways with the tractor, it WILL ROLL.

I'm goign to try to backdrag the tooth bar (or just my root grapple) to disturb the top inch or two of gravel so I can try to fill in the wheel ruts a bit.

I have a crown, that is where the grass is! I also have shoulders (steep ones too) on most of the drive, and until I can get my hands on an 8' rear blade with tons of angle (plus a TnT I suspect), the only way I can improve the shoulders is with a shovel (which I am looking at doing). I cannot afford to buy a rear blade today, it will have to wait for spring...

I am trying to find something other than the standard for my area "57" gravel that I can get a couple loads delivered. I need daytime to work the phones to find it. I would like recycled concrete, but will take limestone or crusher run...

I am listening, and I appreciate ALL the advice, I simply have not had any time to act on it yet... I a hoping for some seat time today... Tomorrow morning worst case...

Be well all,
David

 

[jinman]

So these hills on my driveway are STEEP, super steep. I believe I have at least a 25 foot drop in elevation in maybe 35 to 40 feet on the main hill, and same drop in maybe 60 feet on the other side.

David, I think you MUST be mistaken about those grades. A 25' drop over 35' to 40' is a 60% to 70% grade. That's getting into dirt bike territory.:shocked: It's like the grades around bridge overpasses. I don't think anything less than solid concrete will ever stop water from washing on that type of grade. I'm surprised you can drive a car up that without causing a gravel avalanche ("gravelanche"). My driveway is a 10% grade (drops 6' in 60') and that produces some serious runoff.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

David, I think you MUST be mistaken about those grades. A 25' drop over 35' to 40' is a 60% to 70% grade. That's getting into dirt bike territory.:shocked: It's like the grades around bridge overpasses. I don't think anything less than solid concrete will ever stop water from washing on that type of grade. I'm surprised you can drive a car up that without causing a gravel avalanche ("gravelanche"). My driveway is a 10% grade (drops 6' in 60') and that produces some serious runoff.

Jinman,

You are right, I misunderestimated . Pics are coming...

I think one side is more like a 20% grade (and curved) and the other is closer to 25-30% in the worst part. My 2wd F150 grunts a little climbing it when dry, and with as little as 1/2" snow "fuggedabowtit"... When snow is forecast, I park it topside... The Flex is AWD, and I assume it will do as nicely as the Jaguar Wagon AWD did last winter...

There is a good 18-20' drop, but the drive is longer and the last bit is less steep.

Neither are straight either! And they are narrow.
David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

OK, First pic is from the concrete in front of carport looking towards steep side. Second is looking up the hill on the steep side. Third should be the "Y" at the bottom of the loop by the concrete. Last pic is an attempt to get the less steep side from bottom to top (barely visible in the trees).

I may have misunderestimated the angles, but they are flipping STEEP! :shocked:

David

 

[pmetal]

Best of luck David.

This rain has really been wreaking havoc on a lot of things around here.

Will be happy when it's done!

:thumbsup:

 

[MossflowerWoods]

OK,

I took the tractor out on the curved side and I floated the grapple, slightly tilted dowm so the teeth raked about 2" deep into the loose stuff that had "floated" downhill and I backdragged it uphill. James Ku0a was right, that was tricky, especially due to the curve.

The I raked it into the water ruts and smoothed everything out. Then I drove up and down on the tractor over it.

Then I discovered the problem at least on that side.
I will explain that in another post... (work calls!)

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

So... Part Two.

Shovel work.

I discovered there were two "diverter" channels that were VERY filled up with silt, pine needles, and debris.

I dug them out, and then I also dug a channel out from below the last "diverter" to danged near the bottom of the driveway. Not really deep, just 3-5 inches deep.

I am hoping that this will hold until I get gravel delivered. At least for this side. I'm trying to decide if I can go sideways on the top of the other side where it is wider and use the bucket... Probably too steep.

So I got about an hour backdragging the driveway, and 2+ hours with a shovel.

David

 

[SLHawkins]

David,
When you get the chance (and the funds) get yourself a landscape rake. It will allow you to grade and spread your gravel without pulling it all to the end of the drag like a blade does. A drag harrow would work for routine maintenance, but for repair I recommend the rake. Attached is a video of me refurbishing a parking lot with my tractor and a rake. 1st step was to use the FEL to place the gravel where I needed it, 2nd was to spread with both the FEL and rake, 3rd was to continue to level with the rake (I set the position knob for the 3pt hitch to 2 to control the depth), and 4th was final smoothing by backdragging with the FEL. The rake is also heavy enough prep the old surface by scarifying and loosening up the old stuff.

Hawk

Spreading Gravel with John Deere 5403 and Landscape Rake - YouTube

 

[MossflowerWoods]

David,
When you get the chance (and the funds) get yourself a landscape rake. It will allow you to grade and spread your gravel without pulling it all to the end of the drag like a blade does. A drag harrow would work for routine maintenance, but for repair I recommend the rake. Attached is a video of me refurbishing a parking lot with my tractor and a rake. 1st step was to use the FEL to place the gravel where I needed it, 2nd was to spread with both the FEL and rake, 3rd was to continue to level with the rake (I set the position knob for the 3pt hitch to 2 to control the depth), and 4th was final smoothing by backdragging with the FEL. The rake is also heavy enough prep the old surface by scarifying and loosening up the old stuff.

Hawk

Spreading Gravel with John Deere 5403 and Landscape Rake - YouTube

Yes SIR! Consider a York Rake added to my Craigslist Used attachment search list!

That would have helped me quite a bit yesterday.

I still have my buddies little 18HP Craftsman garden tractor, and it has a little 3 foot York rake. I thought about trying to figure out how to hook it to my tractor... Yes I admit that I did think about it...

It would have been a $10,000 video level goofball thing if I had tried (I didn't).

I appreciate the educational video also!

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Hawk,

There is an 8' York Rake on CL for $400 obo. Listed 9/27

I asked for a picture.

Maybe I will be able to do as directed!

David