Best Implement to Maintain/Groom Driveway

[MikeTipton]

I have a BX24 and gravel driveway. What would be the single best implement to maintain and groom the driveway? And how would you do it?

Thanks,

Mike T.

 

[keving]

I use my rake and set it to an angle to bring the stone back on the driveway. Make a pass or two on each side and then I set it back to the normal position and make a final pass right down the middle spreading the gravel out without removing all the crown. I do this at a pretty quick pace. I also do this often to keep weeds from growing and it seems easier the more I do it. Good luck!

 

[Snatchface]

I also have a BX and bought the DR Power Grader. Worked really well. First I ran down the driveway with the bucket down to scrape off the grassy hump in the middle, then I made several passes with the grader. Driveway looks like new after probably in excess of 20-30 years without maintenance. I would recommend the 48" model for a driveway since it is easier to manuever with it.

 

[RonMar]

I use a chain harrow to drag mine...

 

[weldingisfun]

I have a BX24 and gravel driveway. What would be the single best implement to maintain and groom the driveway? And how would you do it?

Thanks,

Mike T.

How long is your driveway?
If it isn't too long the DR Power Grader is really good. I just so happen to have one for sale too. My road is just too long for it. I bought a Road Boss and don't need the DR any longer.

 

[schmism]

by groom you mean move the surface gravel around?

i love my rear blade... allowing me to pull loose gravel from the edges back to the middle etc.

 

[Woody_NH]

I have a BX24 and gravel driveway. What would be the single best implement to maintain and groom the driveway? And how would you do it?

Thanks,

Mike T.

I agree with Keving, if only one implement, get a landscape rake. I find that gauge wheels help a lot with getting even results and setting the crown.
I also have a tilt blade that I use for the ditch line and for making water bars to channel water off the driveway.

 

[MikeTipton]

I have a landscape rake. Any more suggestions on how to get the most use out of it? Do I just walk into my local farm supply and ask for gauge wheel?

Mike T.

 

[lhfarm]

After years of using a back blade, I just purchased a 7' rake. For me, it does a better job than the back blade. I was sold after the first use. My drive is 1400 feet and rises 250' in that distance.

I have a landscape rake. Any more suggestions on how to get the most use out of it? Do I just walk into my local farm supply and ask for gauge wheel?

Mike T.

Mike - do a serach and you will find lots of discussions about gauge wheels - including the very high prices. There are several threads about building your own, which I plan to do. I asked the dealer where I purchased my rake and he had never heard of guage wheels on a rake. Went to the LandPride dealer and even he had to look them up. The LandPride price was just about what I paid for my generic rake.

 

[Woody_NH]

I have a landscape rake. Any more suggestions on how to get the most use out of it? Do I just walk into my local farm supply and ask for gauge wheel?

Mike T.

Mike,

Gauge wheels were an option on my land pride rake, see:
Land Pride LR15 Landscape Rakes
You can also get an optional grader blade for the rake however I have a separate rear tilt blade:
Land Pride RBT15 Series Rear Blades

I don't know if your rake can easily accommodate wheels. Gauge wheels allow for precise setting of the depth of the cut as well as side to side tilt.

I live in snow country so each spring I use the rake to repair the gravel drive after winter plowing. First I pull the material back in from the sides with the rake angled inward and the outside gauge wheel set for a deeper cut. As I make two or three passes in each direction, I move toward the center of the driveway. The result is a cleaned out shoulder and a pronounced crown. I finish with a very light straight cut down the center to ease the crown a bit.

I then use the tilt blade to reform any water bars that the snow plow or rake had flattened. On occasion the ditch line needs cleaning out and if so, I would have used the tilt blade for that prior to the above raking.

 

[Kendrick]

How long is your driveway?
If it isn't too long the DR Power Grader is really good. I just so happen to have one for sale too. My road is just too long for it. I bought a Road Boss and don't need the DR any longer.

I have a 1k drive with a nasty up turn half way through. I would be intrested to hear whether you have any hills on your road and if it caused you some trouble.

 

[EddieWalker]

I guess I disagree with everyone. Gravel driveways are usually thick enough to get the job done, but not much thicker. Most people don't want to spend allot of extra money on rock, so they buy what they need.

Scraping the gravel with any impliment will result in thinner rock. When the rock gets to thin, it fails. You might make it smoother for a little bit, but you will also cut down on it's life span considerably.

The best tool for maintaining a gravel driveway is the one that carries the rock to the low areas. Alyways build up the low areas. Never scrape off the good areas to try and make a bad one good again. It wont work and all you end up with is more bad areas. In a very short time, you will go from one bad area, to many. It's just keeps getting worse.

Eddie

 

[Licklog]

I agree with Keving, if only one implement, get a landscape rake. I find that gauge wheels help a lot with getting even results and setting the crown.
I also have a tilt blade that I use for the ditch line and for making water bars to channel water off the driveway.

I am interested in putting water bars across my drive and was wondering how you went about creating them with your blade. How deep and at what angle? How do they hold up to traffic and how often do you need to repair them? Do you have any pics of them, maybe before and after?

Thanks

 

[GaryE]

The best tool for maintaining a gravel driveway is the one that carries the rock to the low areas.

Eddie

A box blade?

Sorry, could not resist!

Gary

 

[zzvyb6]

No question that a landscape rake with guage wheels will reset gravel to "smoove" if set at an angle and some weight is added. I also rip the gravel up using my 3 pt rototiller. I run it with the door raised and the tractor running in reverseat a crawl. Sounds like a good thing to do tomorrow so maybe I can get you some before & after pix. The tiller "reclaims" the 21AA gravel and the rake sorts it out. The guage wheels and a chain on the upper link float the gravel. Otherwize the tractor will cause humps to form. If you have teenagers this is a good thing... I also throw water softener salt on the driveway for dust and weed control.

 

[Kendrick]

eddie I would be highly intrested in your opinion as well. I know there are about a billion dirt roads in tx. duno if the winters here will cause a difference in the reactions.

I never had been around when my grandma's dirt road was maintained so I have no idea.

ZZ i would be intrested in pics and info about it. and how long you have maintained the road/how often you have to re gravle?

 

[EddieWalker]

eddie I would be highly intrested in your opinion as well. I know there are about a billion dirt roads in tx. duno if the winters here will cause a difference in the reactions.

Kendrick,

The original post was about a gravel driveway. Dirt is a whole different story. It really depends on the type of dirt and the amount of moisture, but the basic rule is still the same for all roads. Get the water off the road and away from it as fast as possible. That means crowning it and having drainage ditches on both sides to move that water away. This basic rule is the same in all roads. The only variation is how much crown and how deep to make the ditches.

Eddie

 

[SFish]

Licklog:

If you are interested water bars I suggest, instead, that you Google "rolling dips" to find the most recent information about good road building practices. A rolling dip is a way to get water across a road and to avoiding having to use ditches wherever possible. The search term should also get you into a lot more information that greatly reduces road maintenance.

Steve

 

[Kendrick]

my appoligys for using dirt/gravel interchaibly. we are getting a gravel road.

in My other post

The part lined in red is what we expect to own. the road in the middle leading to the house is what i am woried about. the dip is nearly 1 story from the shared gravel road to the maple house which is partially marked over. from there it gradually builds height back up to where we will be living. I suspect the length of the shared road will become our problem as well. Any thoughts would be wonderfull.

 

[Woody_NH]

I am interested in putting water bars across my drive and was wondering how you went about creating them with your blade. How deep and at what angle? How do they hold up to traffic and how often do you need to repair them? Do you have any pics of them, maybe before and after?

Thanks

I have a good crown on my driveway; see driveway A photo, so the water flows to the sides. On the right side the sheet flow goes right into a ditch and then off to the side.
On the left side the ground is flat and then drops off well to the side. About every 50 feet I cut a channel with a small berm on the down side to divert water off to the side. See photo driveway B. For lack of a better term I call it a water bar. They are angled 30 to 45 degrees to the driveway. They extend into the driveway only far enough to catch the water flow along the side.
I cut them by backing uphill to the side of the driveway with the blade angled, drop the blade and go forward a foot or two, then lift the blade. Later I pack the small berm down with the bucket.
I have to clean-up these cuts once or twice a year.
Photo driveway C is my lower driveway after a very heavy rain and with no side channels to divert the water. I have since re-engineered the drainage on that section.