Crowning a stone driveway

[Going4it]

Hello. I've got 600 feet of stone driveway that raises 50 feet in elevation. Construction last fall created more washboarding. I've owned this place for three years and never had to do anything to the driveway before. I don't know how it was built/base, but it's not in bad shape.
I'm considering a Land Pride land plane to rework the surface. I have a LX2610 (24 hp) so a 5 footer is needed. I have no experience with a land plane and would like your thoughts on if the 05 series with fixed height blades, or the heavier 15 series with height adjustable blades is the way to go? Both have rippers. I definitely need to keep a good crown on it to prevent washout! The driveway angle varies between 10 and 25 degrees incline and I won't live long enough to develop the skill to get it done with my box blade. I would like this to be my last attachment purchase.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Smokeydog]

25* driveway? Pretty steep.

Have 2500’ driveway on a hillside to maintain. Land plane has been a blessing, has quickly paid for itself and has made the road durable with less maintenance. No blade adjustment. Grading up, most of the time, 6’LP can grunt my 60hp tractor in some spots.

 

[Going4it]

25* driveway? Pretty steep.

Have 2500’ driveway on a hillside to maintain. Land plane has been a blessing, has quickly paid for itself and has made the road durable with less maintenance. No blade adjustment. Grading up, most of the time, 6’LP can grunt my 60hp tractor in some spots.

Yes, that 25* is the steepest part. It's our almost daily walk/workout. I'm concerned about having the heavier 15 series land plane and grading up hill, keeping the flow towards the center by adjusting the 3 point lower on the right side. I imagine the adjustment blades can be bypassed by utilizing the rakers. Thanks for the help.

 

[leonz]

Does any of this driveway have a drainage ditch?

Do you know whether they dug a wide trench to build the
driveway and dumped stone in the wide trench?

You would be better off renting a small ride vibratory
roller to pack it down until you have it fixed with drainage
and black topped.

If they just dumped stone on the ground they did not do it
right to begin with.

 

[Going4it]

Does any of this driveway have a drainage ditch?

Do you know whether they dug a wide trench to build the
driveway and dumped stone in the wide trench?

You would be better off renting a small ride vibratory
roller to pack it down until you have it fixed with drainage
and black topped.

If they just dumped stone on the ground they did not do it
right to begin with.

Leonz, I don't know how it was built. There is a small ditch on both sides, except for a small area that I know I have to rework. There won't be any blacktop going in either. Very sandy soil on river front property with a good base. The concrete and delivery trucks barely created "ruts" as it was dry during construction. The only negative thing is the stone appears to be top dressing, no fines. At least that is what is in the rest of the driveway that isn't used much. I'm hoping to pull up any stone that remains on the main stretch and let it settle back into the dirt/sand base that was fine prior to the construction.

 

[Smokeydog]

Have never needed the scarifiers for driveway maintenance. The EA LP with more angle on the blades makes it perform better.

 

[oosik]

I have a mile long GRAVEL driveway. The gravel size - 3/4". The surface is gravel, sand, silt and volcanic ash. In the summer it is hard as concrete.

I have a Land Pride LPGS - GS2584. It has scarifiers and weighs 800 pounds. The scarifiers are definitely needed to break the surface - so the two blades can do their job.

I do not know what the OP means by "stone". Here I would call railroad ballast - stone. 2 1/2 inch to 4 inch in size. Something that definitely CAN NOT be worked with a LPGS.

Another point - DO NOT expect an LPGS to either create or eliminate a crown on a gravel driveway. This type implement simply will not do this type job. It breaks the surface and lays it back down. Basically in the exact same place. It DOES eliminate surface imperfections - washboard, lumps, bumps, even some minor wash outs.

I improve the crown, eliminate potholes, clear the ditches with my heavy duty Rhino rear blade. Then, if we ever get any snow, the rear blade clears the driveway.

Even with the scarifiers full down - I've never had a problem pulling the LPGS. There ARE a few spots where I put the tractor in 4WD. Otherwise - it's basically a 2WD operation. It is a slow operation but when finished - that section of the driveway looks brand new.

With either the rear blade or LPGS on the 3-point - the tractor weight a bit over 10K pounds. It has 1550 pounds of RimGuard in the rear tires also.

 

[oosik]

Experience - 42 years with this same mile long gravel driveway - shows........ an LPGS is very easy to learn to use. Hook it up - pull it. It does a great job for what it's designed to do.

A rear blade can be a cantankerous old toad. After 42 years of practice - I can get it right about 75% of the time. Problem being - the rear blade wants to be a big 'ol road grader - sadly, it is not. The rear blade operation is directly opposite of what the front wheels on the tractor are doing.

The front wheels go UP - the rear blade goes DOWN. And vise versa. All this while you are trying to keep the blade on an even keel by making adjustments with the 3-point controls.

Anticipation - a great help with control of a rear blade. Patience and experience help also.

 

[scootr]

25 yrs of maintaining 1 mile of dirt road topped with road base. Too much traffic going too fast makes washboard. My 7 ft GP LP weighs 500 pounds. I ended up adding up to 500 pounds of weight to cut the washboard effectively. No tool short of a road grader is perfect for the job. The box grader with tilt will help you redistribute material. You may need the LP to cut and loosen the material and the box blade to finish it. Problem is the smoother I make it the faster they drive and the faster the washboard comes back argh. My neighbor has a new tractor and he likes to play with the road maintenance... he's green and leaves a lot of bumps. Maybe I'll just let him do it - that will slow em down. lol

 

[Egon]

Experience - 42 years with this same mile long gravel driveway - shows........ an LPGS is very easy to learn to use. Hook it up - pull it. It does a great job for what it's designed to do.

A rear blade can be a cantankerous old toad. After 42 years of practice - I can get it right about 75% of the time. Problem being - the rear blade wants to be a big 'ol road grader - sadly, it is not. The rear blade operation is directly opposite of what the front wheels on the tractor are doing.

The front wheels go UP - the rear blade goes DOWN. And vise versa. All this while you are trying to keep the blade on an even keel by making adjustments with the 3-point controls.

Anticipation - a great help with control of a rear blade. Patience and experience help also.

A rear blade with gage wheels will eliminate much of the up/down movement.

It’s probably the best implement for three point road maintenance.

 

[m5guy]

Land plane does a good job. Rear blade has a steaper learning curve.

 

[oosik]

At the beginning and middle of my driveway I leave a couple woop-de-does. Just to slow the knotheads down. My driveway - mile long - straight as an arrow - right down the section line.

Visiting "friends" would brag about how fast they got up to on my driveway. Brings back humorous memories. One yahhoo got sideways - thru the barbed wire fence and out into the neighbors pasture. When he finally got it stuck - all the Herefords came over to greet him. Probably thought this fool was there to feed them.

 

[ruffdog]

Adjust-ability helps moving gravel side-to-side and to create crown:

 

[Going4it]

I have a mile long GRAVEL driveway. The gravel size - 3/4". The surface is gravel, sand, silt and volcanic ash. In the summer it is hard as concrete.

I have a Land Pride LPGS - GS2584. It has scarifiers and weighs 800 pounds. The scarifiers are definitely needed to break the surface - so the two blades can do their job.

I do not know what the OP means by "stone". Here I would call railroad ballast - stone. 2 1/2 inch to 4 inch in size. Something that definitely CAN NOT be worked with a LPGS.

Another point - DO NOT expect an LPGS to either create or eliminate a crown on a gravel driveway. This type implement simply will not do this type job. It breaks the surface and lays it back down. Basically in the exact same place. It DOES eliminate surface imperfections - washboard, lumps, bumps, even some minor wash outs.

I improve the crown, eliminate potholes, clear the ditches with my heavy duty Rhino rear blade. Then, if we ever get any snow, the rear blade clears the driveway.

Even with the scarifiers full down - I've never had a problem pulling the LPGS. There ARE a few spots where I put the tractor in 4WD. Otherwise - it's basically a 2WD operation. It is a slow operation but when finished - that section of the driveway looks brand new.

With either the rear blade or LPGS on the 3-point - the tractor weight a bit over 10K pounds. It has 1550 pounds of RimGuard in the rear tires also.

oosik
Our driveway material sounds similar. The 'stone' that is somewhat visible is the same 3/4" top dressing that is still too thick and loose in another section of driveway. I spoke with a local pit looking for limestone and fines. Apparently its not available in my area, but they said that my driveway is probably a mixture of stone, 3/4", sand and soil, as that is what is commonly used for road beds locally. After I run the land plane a few times I'll have extra top dressing to apply if its too dirty/sandy. Though I doubt that will be needed. I like the way its as hard as concrete in the summer. The top inch or so does get mushy when the frost goes out. I appreciate the point that a LPGS wont change the crown either way. We recently received 10 inches of heavy/wet snow. The front snow thrower was already removed. Using the FEL, in 4W, no chains, and having Rim Guard in the rear, I couldn't move three feet with the bucket down, on the steeper, uphill sections of my driveway. That's why I am concerned about the heavier GS15 series over the 05 series. Maybe I'm over thinking this as the driveway wont be "slippery" when I dress it. I run a Kubota LX2610 (24hp) I appreciate your input!

 

[LouNY]

My steep driveway is 14-16 degrees of slope or 25% to 28% slope.
I only used rippers one time on my driveway with a box blade, never again.
I will dress it out with my back blade at quite an angle to cut and fill any ruts or wash board. Even with 10,000 pounds and 80 hp I do the heavy work down hill and then lightly dress and shape going up hill. My back blade does have hydraulic tilt and angle and can be offset.

I do not find a "crown" to be effective in controlling water erosion, my driveway is too steep for an adequate crown to overcome wheel travel low spots. I have gone to a flat with a slight slope to it and I put water cuts across it at a steep diagonal to direct rain off of the driveway.

Also I would be very leery of a steel drum roller on a steep driveway it will lose traction and be uncontrollable.
Work it downhill and if and when needed carry material up the hill, normally it is counter productive to try and do much work while traveling up a steep grade.

An option to move material uphill and grade will be to hire a dozer and operator.

I can put these cuts in while coasting and using the brakes in most of the driveway.

 

[Going4it]

I've decided to go with the 150lb heavier 1560. I want the LPGS to ride and not bounce when the material gets light. If I need to move material around I'll use the box blade. Now I have a better understanding of what to expect. Thank you all for sharing your experience and situation with the equipment you have.
I may not have the physical experience, but, I now have practical knowledge to apply. Be Safe.

 

[oosik]

In all reality - there is little to no need for a crown on my driveway. We average around 12 inches of rain per year. We are called - semi-arid. Max rainfall over any 24 hour period - 0.25 inch.

I have a valley in my driveway. Water off the fields to the north will run down one side of driveway. I keep trying to ditch this water. BUT the bedrock is so very close to the surface - it washes out any kind of ditch I can create.

SO...... every year I recreate the ditch AND with the rear blade - drag all the surface material back up that one side and fill any areas that may have "washes". It gives me something to do with my tractor and implements. The "washed" areas can never get that bad - bedrock is too close to the surface.

I would estimate that 50% of my mile long driveway has less than a foot of "material" over solid bedrock.

 

[Smokeydog]

50” of rain per year, 280’ elevation in 2500’ winding thru woods need to keep water off the road. Little is crowned, mostly sloped to one side or the other. Land plane has greatly reduced maintenance time and cost. Mainly used to smooth tracks out to prevent water from channeling and washing out gravel.

By design, managing fines, reducing material disturbance while maintaining a packed surface. Simple and elegant solution. Don’t pretend to understand all the science and engineering behind it. 50 years maintaining this 330 year old wagon trail is much easier with a land plane.

 

[scootr]

The LP has been more effective removing washboard than the box scraper aka gannon. Due to the angled blades and the 500 pound water barrel added to it. Otherwise the gannon is the best grading tool when it comes to moving and smoothing material.

 

[repete]

The only thing that touches my driveway is my landscape rake. Pull the gravel back from the edges and tilt it slightly to maintain the crown.
Down one side pulling the gravel back from the edges then the same back down the other side.