Gravel Road Grading

[NoTrespassing]

Edit: The driveway is actually mostly crushed limestone with a little bit of gravel.

I'm looking for advice on grading my gravel driveway. The driveway was in the worst shape it's ever been this spring in the 15 years I've lived on the property. The frost did a real number on it and a power company boom truck really tore it up right when it was thawing.

I've spend about 15 hours grading it with my box scraper, putting a crown back on the drive and creating ditches on each side. I've got it to drain which was a huge help.

My problem now is that it has dips in it every 20-30 ft. or so and I'm having a hard time getting it to level out. The box scraper just exaggerates the dips.

The only tools I have are the box scraper, a blade, and a roller. I also have a harrow but there's no place to turn around if I try to drag it.

Does anyone have any advice using the tools I have available?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[LD1]

I find using the blade on an angle helps not to exaggerate the dips. Also helps get the crown back in. Angle toward the middle. After you go up and down he drive doing that, go in reverse with the blade angled to push back to the edges. but leave the blade turned around so it dont bite in, just level and feather out. Then drive over to pack. Repeat if needed.

If this is an ongoing issue though, you may need to invest in a landplane

 

[Baby Grand]

Like LD1 says: try a blade set at an angle after you do a pass with the box blade with just the scarifiers working the stone.
If you can add one or two gage wheel(s) to the back of the rear blade - the more aft you can, the better - that will allow you to float the blade and may help to eliminate some of the "porpoising" that is causing those dips, too.

 

[haroldy]

I have a similar problem on my lane
I am going to try the box blade with a chain for a top-link so it drags and doesn't exaggerate the dips or bumps when the tractor goes over a bump

 

[Silvic]

Would agree that a land plane is the best option but very careful use of the back blade with continual manual adjustment of the height with your three point (if you do not have a gauge wheels) can overcome some of your issues. Unfortunately without the right tool you will have to work harder and slower to get the result you want.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have a similar problem on my lane
I am going to try the box blade with a chain for a toplink so it drags and doesn't exaggerate the dips or bumps

This will not work, the box blade will simply roll forward when the cutting edge digs in.

I understand that you guys don't want to purchase any new implement to help you with your drives, but is this not an ongoing concern? If you were to get a LPGS (land plane) I doubt that you would regret it for very long.

Just my :2cents:

 

[DennisArrow]

For me, I have had to do this every time I dump a new load of gravel and spread it out.................Yes, angle the blade so that what you scrape goes toward the middle. Have the right edge of the blade perhaps 1/2 inch lower than the right, so that you are scraping down into the surface and passing it along to the middle............Now, it is tedious, back drag your bucket pulling some or all of the loose stuff into the low places. That is the problem, you need to fill in those low spots and cut down the high parts. Do this until you get a level surface and can use the box blade pretty level to scrape and fill the little dips and humps..............FINALLY, when you have it level, NOW with your blade at an angle again, and yes the right side lower start on the far side of one side of the road and JUST barely bite into the surface moving material to the middle for your crown...............Go to the end of the road, turn around and do it again with the SAME HEIGHT of the blade............Now keep doing that but move to the toward the center on each pass perhaps half a blade width until you are overlapping coming and going down the middle...........At this point you should have a "stripe" of gravel/material 12" or so wide and perhaps 4" to 6" high.......................Turn your blade around and straighten it up without any angle and the same height across................Backblade the center now with the blade raised perhaps 1/2"...............There ya go.........God bless........Dennis

 

[GregbkH]

I messed up my 1/2 mile easement with my rear blade and made it real wavey. Then I bought a Landpride 2584 Grading scraper. All is well now and my easement is flat (has a crown) and pothole free. I also touch it up with my landscape rake once in a while. Works good.

If you're going to continully maintain a gravel drive...... get a grading scraper.

 

[RobS]

I've finally given up on the box blade for this chore. It's great for moving material around but not so great for leveling. This year, I used my rear blade for moving material back onto the drive from snow plowing, and generally creating a crown. Then I used my landscape rake to finish. First few passes with the rake "normal", then a few finishing passes with the rake reversed. My drive is also crushed concrete. It's now smooth (even) but the larger rocks poking up still make it quite bumpy. Everytime we drive on it, it gets better...

 

[kcflhrc]

A standard rear blade turned completely around with the cutting edge reversed will do a great job. That way it doesn't dig in.

 

[docone]

I've found the box blade works well if you lift the front cutting edge about one half inch above the surface, and let your 3pt all the way down, the rear edge will smooth as you go. The big secret is the speed of travel, SLOWER is BETTER! I have successfully takes the swales out of my 650 ft gravel drive in just a few passes. Box blade work requires lots of practice, BE PATIENT, and you will suceed.

JMHO

 

[NoTrespassing]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

 

[dmccarty]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

When I built our driveway, I put down geotextile fabric and it works wonders. The only problem with it is that you want to lay it as flat as possible and if you have to regrade later, you have to be very careful to not dig down and catch the fabric. If you do, it will pull up out of the gravel and you will have to rebury it. I use a pick axe to loosen the gravel along with a pointed and straight shovel. Not a big deal but you hate it when it happens.

I built our driveway over two time periods. The first phase I only put down 2-4 inches of gravel on top of the fabric. The idea was that when the house was finished we would put down a few more inches of gravel to repair the driveway from construction damage. The problem was that there was no damage from the house construction so we did not add gravel. We NEED gravel because the first section of driveway is at grade so we have water run off problems in very HEAVY rains. I had to use the hard rake, pick axe, and two shovels to do some repairs over the weekend. Anyway, we need a few more inches of gravel to raise the driveway above grade to help solve the water run off issue.

The second phase was built after the house was completed and the fabric has 4-6 inches of gravel and is in perfect shape.

Our driveway is 11-12 years old at this point and I think this year we will add the extra gravel.

Some of the erosion on the first phase of the driveway is in a steep turn and quite a bit of the stone washed away even though the fabric was still covered. You could walk on that part of the driveway and feel the mushy clay we have moving under the fabric. My neighbors do not have fabric, and with less driveway and a flatter slope, they have much worse erosion. Once we put down enough gravel to get the driveway above grade our water erosion issues will go away.

No way could we have gone over a decade without additional gravel if we had not used fabric.

Later,
Dan

 

[RDrancher]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

I recommend a minimum of 6" of gravel over the geo. You'll lose 1" to 1.5" in thickness with compaction.

 

[PILOON]

A standard rear blade turned completely around with the cutting edge reversed will do a great job. That way it doesn't dig in.

Yep, done that more than a few times.
Also rigged that way driving in reverse does a good job of scalping the highs and filling the lows because the 4 wheels are on flat surface and the blade 'scalps' the bumps. Just like a grader.

And for a 'pretty finish' drive kinda fast dragging that reversed blade and you'd swear somebody hand raked the finish.

 

[Pirate]

All I have ever used is my back blade reversed. Seems to do a great job. Problem is driveway is real steep so when some cars drive up too fast or in drive instead of low, they dig ruts. Right now we are having a massive internal debate of whether or not to concrete our steep portion which is 300'. That will leave about 300' before it from the road and gravel all around the house.

 

[PILOON]

All I have ever used is my back blade reversed. Seems to do a great job. Problem is driveway is real steep so when some cars drive up too fast or in drive instead of low, they dig ruts. Right now we are having a massive internal debate of whether or not to concrete our steep portion which is 300'. That will leave about 300' before it from the road and gravel all around the house.

The answer to that is to inform everyone to shift to LOW at the bottom of that slope.
You will notice the problems come at or about where the automatic tranny shifts. Starts with a few loose stones and exaggerates at every shift.
Climb in low and no problems.

One good solution (if available) is crushed or chipped re cycled asphalt as a topping, Much better than concrete ,which by the way, would need and armature or mesh to stabilize that concrete.

Around here even our city is using re cycled asphalt on all our hills as so far (like 5 years) no problems.
Heat re-cooks and binds it back to a flexible road bed surface. Best installed early summer to let sun do its job. Best advantage is that water no longer erodes the finish.

 

[dmccarty]

I recommend a minimum of 6" of gravel over the geo. You'll lose 1" to 1.5" in thickness with compaction.

I agree. While I did not do this on the first phase of the driveway I did in the second phase. Though 6 inches seems to have worked just fine on the "newer" part of the driveway.

Later,
Dan