grading a long lane

[oosik]

Well, Gordon, it would be very difficult to disagree with anything you have said. Your driveway looks like I wish mine did. I think the only similarity may be that they are both long. There are long sections on mine where the only thing covering the basaltic lava flow is six inches of gravel. A lot of my road maintenance is just trying to keep the gravel in place. Some of the drive goes thru meadows that seem to have no bottom in the spring. I'm just glad to have driveway access to my property and let it go at that.

 

[GGB]

I'll also suggest the land plane, provided your road is in reasonable condition. I had a box blade and two different rear blades, but after getting my road in decent shape, I kept the box blade to move grave when I have more delivered, but traded both rear blades for a new Land Pride land plane. I really like it, and so do my neighbors!

The advantage of a land plane is that it works somewhat like a road grader, where the blade "floats". With a rear blade, you are often creating exaggerated undulations from the tractor rising and falling with the minor dips and mounds in the road. A land plane with two blades will fill in the low spots and cut down the high spots without a lot of work. I'm sure a pro can get similar results to the land plane using just a rear blade by running the blade backwards, but a land plane will give most of us average guys better results in less time.

Again, this is all assuming that your road is decent to begin with-if not, you'll still want a box blade or rear blade. Besides, who doesn't want more "toys"?

Finally, remember to crown the road for runoff, and be sure to have enough gravel/rock to have something besides dirt to work with.

 

[coobie]

I have a 10 foot wide lane over 1700 feet long that will eventually be over 2000 feet. I have a 33 and 45 horsepower Cat 1 tractor. Would a box blade or angle blade or whatever be the best for light grading and maintaining the lane etc.
Any comments, suggestions, reasons would be appreciated. Thanks

I would buy a land plane.I used to have a box blade,now I bought a land plane.Better choice IMHO.coobie

 

[crazyal]

Well, Gordon, it would be very difficult to disagree with anything you have said. Your driveway looks like I wish mine did. I think the only similarity may be that they are both long. There are long sections on mine where the only thing covering the basaltic lava flow is six inches of gravel. A lot of my road maintenance is just trying to keep the gravel in place. Some of the drive goes thru meadows that seem to have no bottom in the spring. I'm just glad to have driveway access to my property and let it go at that.

The best thing you can do is to try to remove as much of the gravel in that muddy section as possible when it's dry in the summer (if it ever gets dry) and put down some road fabric. Then put the gravel back on top of it. The stuff is amazing.

 

[JerryK]

Not to hyjack the thread, but how does the landplane work for large turnaround areas??? I have about a 400' drive with about a 60' round turn around area in front of my barn. I would like to maintain the turnaround so it stays low spot free.. tending to always pull some of the excess gravel into the center instead of digging a pond... I have seen lots of discussions about drives, but not about large areas... or do you just treat it like a horse arena and it's no big deal... and I am not thinking straight.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Not to hyjack the thread, but how does the landplane work for large turnaround areas??? I have about a 400' drive with about a 60' round turn around area in front of my barn. I would like to maintain the turnaround so it stays low spot free.. tending to always pull some of the excess gravel into the center instead of digging a pond... I have seen lots of discussions about drives, but not about large areas... or do you just treat it like a horse arena and it's no big deal... and I am not thinking straight.

If you want to make or keep an area flat then a land plane is the thing to use. Steve uses his homemade land planes for landscaping work where he needs a large flat area. I use mine on my parking space in front of the garage as well as the road. The parking/turn around space is about 30' X 60". It is also good for sod control in areas like that.

 

[94BULLITT]

If you want to make or keep an area flat then a land plane is the thing to use. Steve uses his homemade land planes for landscaping work where he needs a large flat area. I use mine on my parking space in front of the garage as well as the road. The parking/turn around space is about 30' X 60". It is also good for sod control in areas like that.

How high did you make your sides on your LP?

 

[/pine]

I have a 10 foot wide lane over 1700 feet long that will eventually be over 2000 feet. I have a 33 and 45 horsepower Cat 1 tractor. Would a box blade or angle blade or whatever be the best for light grading and maintaining the lane etc.
Any comments, suggestions, reasons would be appreciated. Thanks

IMO...some of the best money you can spend to help maintain a dirt/gravel lane is not an attachment...it's hydraulic top and tilt cylinders and then attachments (box blade, rear blade, rake) that allow you to take advantage of the T&T... secondly attachments that can angle (rear blade, rake) are paramount to getting professional results without spending a lot of time out of the seat making manual adjustment and hand raking spoils etc...

 

[NHbotanut]

I also have a long driveway. I tried the rear blade, but it did too much damage. I bought a landscape rake, but it just bounced off the hardpack. It did pull the loose material in from the sides very nicely.

I then bought the land plane last year as the driveway took a real beating over the winter. I couldn't be any happier with it. It is very easy to use and master. I even fixed the parking lots at my daughters school. They were 100 x 200 and 50 x 400. I had to use the scarifiers as they were in real bad shape. Took about 3 hours, and they had brand new parking lots.

Here are some pics from my driveway.

 

[crazyal]

At the top of my driveway I have a large parking area for the trucks, maybe 60 x 60. I put a slight slope to it so water will drain off to one side. When I use the GS on it I make sure to use the angled blades to get the gravel to migrate back to the higher side.