Small towable graders?

[nyone]

Pay someone to drop gravel. Save the 15-20 grand

I too once had a dump truck for personal use..until I figured out that the cost of insurance alone could get me 20ton of stone every year. I'm glad I dont have a dump any more.

 

[RancherGuy]

I'll try the 3 point thing.

I don't believe that the "3 point thing" (adjustment) will do what you need. It doesn't matter if a 3 point is at the bottom or somewhere in the middle. It is designed to not go lower than what you set it at, but it can go up. Therefore bottoming out has no benefit.

Regarding land planes, the primary problem I have with those is the same problem I have with a box blade. There is no means to shift material sideways. You want the road to be crowned so water moves off of the drive surface, thus greatly reducing the creation of potholes. To crown, you need to be able to draw material from the edges, towards the center.

The best solution has two aspects. (1) the blade is situated between tires forward and aft, which is why road graders do such a fine job. Either the blade can be raise/lowered, or one set of wheels, or the hitch, can be raised/lowered. Of course the forward wheels would effectively be your tractor rear wheels. (2) The blade needs to be able to angle, which can move material sideways as it is dragged. Some may add (3) the ability to tip the blade so one end is lower than the other, but I think you can get around that with multiple trips.

 

[RancherGuy]

My neighbor has an actual road grader that's been sitting forever. He finally got it going and after about 30 minutes of use, he blew out alot of hydraulics for the belly blade. He had someone quote him $1200 for repairs. I should go in halves if I can use it.

Another approach to your neighbor's $1200 hydraulic hose issue is to (1) only repair what fails, and not everything possible, (2) specify and shop around the complete replacement list, looking for a source that responds to "give me your lowest price for the whole", (3) buy a used [electric/hydraulic] hose crimper and raw hoses and fittings to make your own. Sell the crimper afterwards to recover that cost.

I chose (3) for my approach and believe I could get more by selling it now than what I paid for it. I can also make hoses 24/7 for a fraction of overpriced shop charges.

 

[Bob Rooks]

I use one of these. You can also rent them.

 

[Santarick]

I bought a TR3 rake and it does a fantastic job on my gravel drive about 1/4 mile long. It is 3 tools in one. Blade, scarefier and rake. I also used it to landscape my yard and groom the trails in my woods about 3 miles worth. I pull it with my Kubota M6800.

 

[piper184]

IMO DR products are highly over priced for their quality. Shows what a good advertising campaign can do.

For 400' of gravel driveway I made this from salvaged road grader cutting edges. It is UGLY and heavy but it does the job when I need it to. Because both blades angle the same direction I can pull gravel sideways, it just takes a few passes. The scarifiers are almost useless, but help sometimes if the moisture is just right.

If I had it to do over again they would be more rigid. When I made it I didn't have the material to make it a 3pt but this allows it to go into my 3pt receiver hitch adapter. Adjusting the top link lets me dig, carry or smooth as needed. Adjusting the lower links so the right side is lower helps to pull the shoulders towards the center. Running in reverse will spread out any left over ridges.

I use a back blade for most of the driveway work, but after a heavy rain or fast snow melt there are some soft spots that rut easily and this will work better than the blade. I have taken the entire driveway down 12-15" and rebuilt it with just these two implements.

 

[JRH02]

We have a 1 1/4 mile common trail. The first 1/4 mile is not bad as a more recent full time owner has a small dozer and a small/mid sized UT with a box blade and that section is level and flat. But past their place the trail climbs steeply with many turns. Again, this is a common (private) trail crossing private land, a half mile passing through BIA set aside land and you know that owner does nothing to their part of the trail. In addition there is no grading to be done on the mile to our place or the various sub trails. There are very large stones to literal boulders imbedded in the trails that hold it intact. Mess with that and you break up the base and it becomes a bog that severely and quickly erodes. So the only repairs are adding material and not cutting except for maintaining some drainage laterals. Lastly, many ditwads refuse to lock front hubs or engage their 4wd which should be done all year around when climbing so they spin tires and throw rock/fill off the road. Some people try to come up the road to other places in their little front wheel drive city cars leaving pieces of plastic along the way. It's hilarious.

We consider the road condition a blessing. It seriously discourages snoopers, cruisers and kids exploring. I only post this to say that sometimes a nasty road can be a blessing in disguise.

 

[Joel/ak]

We have a 1 1/4 mile common trail. The first 1/4 mile is not bad as a more recent full time owner has a small dozer and a small/mid sized UT with a box blade and that section is level and flat. But past their place the trail climbs steeply with many turns. Again, this is a common (private) trail crossing private land, a half mile passing through BIA set aside land and you know that owner does nothing to their part of the trail. In addition there is no grading to be done on the mile to our place or the various sub trails. There are very large stones to literal boulders imbedded in the trails that hold it intact. Mess with that and you break up the base and it becomes a bog that severely and quickly erodes. So the only repairs are adding material and not cutting except for maintaining some drainage laterals. Lastly, many ditwads refuse to lock front hubs or engage their 4wd which should be done all year around when climbing so they spin tires and throw rock/fill off the road. Some people try to come up the road to other places in their little front wheel drive city cars leaving pieces of plastic along the way. It's hilarious.

We consider the road condition a blessing. It seriously discourages snoopers, cruisers and kids exploring. I only post this to say that sometimes a nasty road can be a blessing in disguise.

Our road parallels a power line. That a frame breaking trail there. We've had off-roaders try and take the power lines and realize they can't or don't want to go back down them. They just rip down our gates and use the road anyway.

Quite a few police reports taken. Even the power company calls us to ask for access. We allow them and it works out, pretty much have a lifetime lease to the power lines for hunting for basically free. Lease is in writing.

I'd like to fix the road mainly for my dad, he drives a Chevy and his front bumper can hit on certain spots.

 

[Budweiser John]

Bolt some tires together and drag them. That will smooth things.

I took 3 pieces of railroad track about 8’ long and spaced them parallel about 2’ apart on a lever surface and then welded two pieces of 4x4x1/2” angle iron across the top of the rails about 6” in from each end. Torched a couple holes through the ends of the angle for a couple chains And pull this home made plane up and down my 900’ driveway a couple times a year.
by changing the length of the pull chains the angle of the plane will accumulate the gravel to the center creating a crown or vice versa

this simple tool has worked for nearly 50 years, needs no shed space, and is heavier than my late mother in law.
B. John

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I took 3 pieces of railroad track about 8’ long and spaced them parallel about 2’ apart on a lever surface and then welded two pieces of 4x4x1/2” angle iron across the top of the rails about 6” in from each end. Torched a couple holes through the ends of the angle for a couple chains And pull this home made plane up and down my 900’ driveway a couple times a year.
by changing the length of the pull chains the angle of the plane will accumulate the gravel to the center creating a crown or vice versa

this simple tool has worked for nearly 50 years, needs no shed space, and is heavier than my late mother in law.
B. John

Seems like you already have it. That would be heavy enough to do it. Are the rails on any type of angle? Or do you adjust that on your chain, if I'm understanding correctly.