Getting crushed rock back on driveway

   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #41  
Why not just get a landscape rake? Wou can also use it to maintain the road.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #42  
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway
  • Thread Starter
#43  
Why not just get a landscape rake? Wou can also use it to maintain the road.
As you can see by the reply of another individual, there is not consensus regard using a landscape rake. I keep checking into seeing if I can rent something to try it out. I have not seen any landscape rakes or even power brooms in use in this area. The local Orscheln store has landscape rakes for sale. Thanks
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #44  
Everytime I rework the driveway edges I use a rear blade to gather the rock out of the low spots where it migrates to. My rear blade is pretty heavy. About 10 years ago I purchased a small and lightweight 5' rear blade for my mower to push snow off asphalt driveways without damaging the surface. I bought one from tractor supply you can turn it around or add a small skid or adjustable ball foot to gauge with.

Several people have suggested you pack down the driveway in the Initial start of winter to lock the gravel into the frozen surface. That is the best solution. If you need more gravel to wind up with gravel in the surface you need to add more gravel to the surface. For a good driveway that will keep the dust down and your tires and shoes clean, you need the clean gravel on the top surface to be "One rock high". Everything below should be packed hard as concrete...and not move.

If you pack it in tight and have all but the top piece of gravel packed down you will have it. This top piece of rock ideally will have some coarse sand around it

I rarely stir up the surface base .material on an established driveway. In most areas the base .material is 3/4" rock with a mixture to fines. Chipped rock or crushed rock should have atleast five faces on it to pack well. Round rock doesn't pack down well and will want to move constantly. When it moves it stirs up loose sediment or dust.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #45  
Years ago I stopped plowing down to the gravel, some times that means not plowing at all..i havent moved gravel back into my driveway in years.
This is basically the method I use although sometimes the blade bounces a little when plowing snow and catches a few rocks and throws them off the driveway. In Kearney your weather is probably similar to what we get in NE Indiana where we cannot plan on just plowing high and packing down a base and having it stay frozen the rest of the winter although sometimes it works out that way. I find I keep pushing rock into my driveway as it gets soft and the the weight of vehicles including garbage truck and delivery vehicles tends to push the rock down and out. Consequently about every 7-8 years I need a few loads of rock (1/4 mile long driveway). I do not find the rock in the grass though unless I plow it off or potholes develop and people drive way to fast through the potholes and splash water and rock out.

As I have been here 30 years I have seen my driveway consume less and less rock and get easier to maintain. I tend to keep minimum rock on the driveway, make sure it is level with drainage before winter arrives, and keep the edges cut back to ensure no water standing on the driveway and no rivers - high flow creates rivulets which create crevices which only become worse.

I have used a 3 pt landscape rake to work the edges back but find that on the driveway all it does is loosen and level the rock. Loose rock gets picked up in tires and thrown. While short term the driveway looked nice after landscape raking it but long term it was not a plus.

My main tool is the blade that i plow with and keep it up about 3" to start with to allow cars to go through and pack the entire surface. I do drive in different paths on the driveway intentionally to pack it. Then I set the blade down on the ice/snowpack and let it run and almost never have rock in the grass. Anyone that does not know how to drive on snowpack road in your area needs to learn anyway and it is a driveway not a freeway. Plus I find that there is a little melt and re-freeze which has a few rocks sticking through for traction.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #46  
This is basically the method I use although sometimes the blade bounces a little when plowing snow and catches a few rocks and throws them off the driveway. In Kearney your weather is probably similar to what we get in NE Indiana where we cannot plan on just plowing high and packing down a base and having it stay frozen the rest of the winter although sometimes it works out that way. I find I keep pushing rock into my driveway as it gets soft and the the weight of vehicles including garbage truck and delivery vehicles tends to push the rock down and out. Consequently about every 7-8 years I need a few loads of rock (1/4 mile long driveway). I do not find the rock in the grass though unless I plow it off or potholes develop and people drive way to fast through the potholes and splash water and rock out.

As I have been here 30 years I have seen my driveway consume less and less rock and get easier to maintain. I tend to keep minimum rock on the driveway, make sure it is level with drainage before winter arrives, and keep the edges cut back to ensure no water standing on the driveway and no rivers - high flow creates rivulets which create crevices which only become worse.

I have used a 3 pt landscape rake to work the edges back but find that on the driveway all it does is loosen and level the rock. Loose rock gets picked up in tires and thrown. While short term the driveway looked nice after landscape raking it but long term it was not a plus.

My main tool is the blade that i plow with and keep it up about 3" to start with to allow cars to go through and pack the entire surface. I do drive in different paths on the driveway intentionally to pack it. Then I set the blade down on the ice/snowpack and let it run and almost never have rock in the grass. Anyone that does not know how to drive on snowpack road in your area needs to learn anyway and it is a driveway not a freeway. Plus I find that there is a little melt and re-freeze which has a few rocks sticking through for traction.
Nice method if your driveway is flat enough.

I tend to just chuckle when I hear that method espoused for plowing. If I tried that my driveway would be impassable to vehicles that were not chained up.

I use the reversed back blade in early wet snows to kind of squeegee the snow off to the side. When it freezes up I have to sand if dirt and gravel isn't exposed.

The rest of the time I either use the blowers or rear blade to clean as much snow as possible off. Yes, I do move some gravel and have to pull it back in the spring.
Yes, it is a royal pain getting the gravel back were I want it.
I have seen times when I was blading at less then a mile per hour to control the blade height.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #47  
What I have seen work well in SD, is a wider driveway or what you could call a shoulder. Using fake numbers...say you have a 12' wide driveway now. Make a 3' shoulder on each side that is gravel, not grass. When you plow on winter, you just plow the 12' part. The gravel that gets moved ends up on your shoulders and can be relatively easily graded back onto the 'road' when weather cooperates. Of course, this depends on available space.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #48  
What I have seen work well in SD, is a wider driveway or what you could call a shoulder. Using fake numbers...say you have a 12' wide driveway now. Make a 3' shoulder on each side that is gravel, not grass. When you plow on winter, you just plow the 12' part. The gravel that gets moved ends up on your shoulders and can be relatively easily graded back onto the 'road' when weather cooperates. Of course, this depends on available space.
In SD with the winds? Piling snow on the side like that would cause it to drift shut. Sorry grew up in SD and we always had to be concerned about the drifting when we plowed or piled it up. The state is famous for getting 2" of snow that you see 10X until it is allpiled up where you do not want it.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #49  
Are you using a 3-point mounted blade on a tractor to clear the snow?? If so - try this next year. You may be trying to blade the snow before the driveway freezes up hard.

Reverse the rear blade 180 degrees. Blade the snow using the blade this way until the driveway gets good and hard.

You will find a whole lot less gravel in your grass.
Yep. In fact most of the time with a reversed blade, no gravel is moved at all.
 
   / Getting crushed rock back on driveway #50  
Yep. In fact most of the time with a reversed blade, no gravel is moved at all.
Not "no", but "less"... I also learned early on after moving here, plow the early piles FAR away, to make room...
 
 
 
Top