driveway fix

[boze_man]

hey all

need some advice. i checked some old posts but could not get specific answers...i want to repair and prep the driveway before winter hits. it is a combo of gravel (all sizes & types) and dirt, a lot of pot holes and ruts, about 1/4 mile long. the guy who owned the property before us never really did it right to start with, or took care of it. i wanted to repair the ruts, smooth things out, make it look nice for the boss, and prep it for spring.

i was going to box blade the ruts, then blade the mess to smooth things out. there is some assorted gravel left from the building process all about. i was going to spread that around as well. maybe get some roadmix delivered?

some questions are:
should i wait till spring to get some road mix delivered?
do i need a rake?
should i scarify the whole thing then blade?

any help appreciated. keep in mind i want to get some seat time... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

thanks
bill

L3130 HST w/LA723 FEL
6' box blade, 7' rear blade

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( keep in mind i want to get some seat time... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
)</font>

Bill,

Do you want seat time or efficient techniques for this? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Kidding aside...

A picture always helps. If you have one, please post.

I see you're in Montana. How much time do you have to work this driveway before the snow hits? Not having a real good picture of neither the exact condition nor the amount of time you have but looking at several small things, I'd probably consider doing this project in phases. I say this from the following reasoning:
- Looking at your tractor and it having low hours, you don't have a lot of seat time on it yet and have yet to see what it (and maybe you) can do with different implements and in the different seasons.
- If it hasn't been touched in awhile, it may take a couple iterations of going over it to re-establish a base, get rid of the ruts and establish a new top coat.
- Sounds like this will be personally, your first pass over this driveway. Hate to have you start on it to find things out below the surface you don’t have time to address this fall.
- Whatever you start loosening up now may not get down hard before you have to pull out your 7' blade for snow purposes. The blade will scrape and scoop off some of the top of the driveway as you remove the snow. (Plan on where this will end up).

So, my 2 cents would be to use your box blade without the teeth down and just try to get it the best you can. Get rid of pot holes and bad irregularities. Keep a crown. Maybe go over it a little with the straight blade to get even smoother. Try to get rid of the larger (3” or greater) that are sticking up as they’ll make your snow blade bounce or snag. I’d probably stop there for the winter but drive all over it with the cars to help packing (not talking about driving up and down all day, but don’t follow the same exact trail every pass). Come spring, see where things stand. How did your fall progress hold up? How much did you loose by plowing the snow? Then proceed.

Brian

 

[Junkman]

My experience with a dirt / gravel driveway and pot holes is that you can fill them, but they will never go away completely. If you want to get rid of them, you have to dig them out and then repack the material. If you just fill, the filling will not bond to the hole and with subsequent rains, it will just wash out. Try not to drive in the pot holes this winter when there is water in them. This just blows them out bigger. In the spring, when the ground is moist, but not saturated, start scarifying the entire surface and work it till it is what you want. There after you will need to keep up the maintenance and not allow any pot holes to get started. At this point in the season, I would just wait till next spring to do any of this. Just patch as best as you can and tough it out for the winter....

 

[Soundguy]

If it was a limerock base, you could clean out the hole good and then tack it with some driveway sealer and then repack some limerock into it and tamp it down good. Boxing it out will help prevent the patch from scabbing.

Soundguy

 

[44trxfun]

bozeman, I just had mine done here in western NY. A little late in the season (or a little too wet in any event), in my opinion. However, winter's coming and it had to be done. Originally, I had talked with my contractor about grading the drive, then adding some 2"- gravel to it (Once I get a good base on it, I snowblow it in the winter). However, he ended up using a yorkrake behind a L3130 to remove the existing ruts, then put the gravel down. (He used a rake with a roller welded behind it to smooth the material; worked pretty slick.) He raked it again a couple times, then I fine-tuned with my boxblade.

I have a feeling I'm not done with it, but like you, mine had had no maintainance on it in several years and it would have been pretty difficult to clear this winter.

Good luck!

 

[TOMDUALLY]

boze-man, your already getting frost overthere, so anything that you loosen up now will more than likely turn to mud during the spring thaw.so I agree with Junkman, just make it passable now and then wait till spring and when it dries out enough to work start by scarifying it really good then work it with the back blade before deciding what, if any extra material will be needed

 

[pajoube]

I assume you are in Bozeman area. Contact Figgins Sand and Gravel. They will be able to advise you on best type of mix and how to put down.
PJ

 

[boze_man]

thanks for the replies...

i decided over the weekend to run the BB over it a few times to clean it up for the winter. it did wonders....in the spring i will have to spread some road mix. the road is mostly round rock? river rock? at one end, so i also decided to try to mix it all together. got about 3/4 of it all mixed before i ran out of the smaller stuff. looks a lot better, and got a lot of seat time. hehe /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif