Homemade road maintenance "tool"

[2orodd]

Hi, this is my homemade road maintenance tool. it is made out off old truck tires and steel cables, all for free :thumbsup: Dont know what you call it "over there". I find it much easier to use this than a grader blade. Because it will not pull up rocks an other stuff, it also follow the terrain in a smoother way.



first round

 

[2orodd]

3rd and last trip :tractor:

 

[smstonypoint]

Ingenious.

Thanks for posting.

Steve

 

[bcp]

More photos. please.

How many tires to make it?

Bruce

 

[Rustyiron]

:welcome:
"Over here", I'd call that pretty slick! (nice):thumbsup:

 

[Citydude]

Great idea!

 

[jwmorris]

I used something similar for years. I have put to together, one 4 sections of a catwalk and one 6 welded together with chain links to attach a drag strap.

Recently built a land plane that works better for filling badly damaged paths.

 

[Wagtail]

Ingenious.

Thanks for posting.

Steve

I agree! Well done. :thumbsup:

 

[PILOON]

Yep! I like that.
It has desirable weight and probably will never wear out and conform to minor deviations all while filling in holes.
Being rubber it will ride over obstacles without snagging and bouncing.
Shorten one side to mound towards the center to effect drainage.
About the only improvement I could think of would be to add a spacer between each layer to effectively create multitude cutting edges.
(sort of like a razor, one blade shaves but 3-4 is smother)

 

[ovrszd]

Great idea. Best part is you aren't worried about how much money was spent when it's not being used!!!!!

 

[bcp]

And the scrap metal thieves don't want it.

Bruce

 

[PILOON]

And the scrap metal thieves don't want it.

Bruce

Yeah, we made an all welded 3 blade scraper, about 8' long X 8'wide and one day it was gone. (and that was 18 yrs ago!)

 

[Renze]

Just filling loose gravel to the bottom of a hard packed pothole isnt a long time cure. Water will collect between the gravel and it will splash out of the hole when driving on a wet road. But all right, if you have a bit of gravel on top of a rocky road, i can see why you dont want to pull stones up and get more work than you started with....

 

[2orodd]

yes that's right, i do have a bit of gravel on top of a rocky/muddy/sandy road. The problem i had with the blade is when the tracktor drives over a bump the blade behind the tractor creats a new bump. This i eliminated with the new tool. and it is also faster to use.

I am not saying it is better than a road blade, but i prefer to use this tool on our road:thumbsup:

 

[2orodd]

left side is the front. As you can see the side walls of the tires are removed. Very important to have the steal wires as tight as possible. At first attempt they were too loose and the "rig" bent in the middel. So i was just dragging the gravel with me.

I also added a small steel beam, to prevent it from bending in the middle. now it is pulling gravel from the side of the road, and pushing it to the middel and creating a curv in the middel of the road.

The aggressive edge is pointing forward. The "tool" is almost 10 feet wide. 3 feet long. It is also very heavy. i am guessing 1800lbs

Next time im driving with it i will try a longer rope on the right side to create a bigger angle on the "tool"

 

[Egon]

Nice idea.

 

[dickfoster]

Pretty slick.

 

[CADplans]

If you hang it under the loader bucket,, you can smooth the road ahead of the tractor.
That will allow the operator to have a smoother ride,,, :thumbsup:

Can you tell I am an old guy that likes to take life easy? :laughing:

Would it be possible to put a runner on one end of the tool?
The runner could lift the end slightly, allowing you to "crown" the road.

If you have any hills, a crown in the center of the driveway is necessary to cause the water to run to the side of the road,,,
rather than running down the road, creating a ditch in the road.

I have been learning how to crown my driveway with a landplane.
The landplane really does not like to crown a road,,, it really wants to flatten the road.

 

[2orodd]

yes have been thinking of putting a runner on one side, but i dont think it is nesesary yet. No problem with the water digging in to the road. But it has been a pretty dry fall.

when i use it, I try to drag it as long as possible out in the ditch. This helps curving the road an also remove things growing near the road

 

[jwmorris]

The problem i had with the blade is when the tracktor drives over a bump the blade behind the tractor creats a new bump.

The drag behind does work for this but the land plane will as well because you set the depth of the blades and its riding on the skids but depending on the depth of your blades the drag can be more or less likely to "pick up" larger objects, at the expense of less efficient movement of materials (more passes to smooth).

If you hang it under the loader bucket,, you can smooth the road ahead of the tractor.
That will allow the operator to have a smoother ride,,,

I have been learning how to crown my driveway with a landplane.
The landplane really does not like to crown a road,,, it really wants to flatten the road.

Better have a good dust mask if you run it up front. Once I have the road graded with a crown I run the landplane on each side with the inboard skid riding on top of the crown. If you straddle the crown, it will be gone.