How to grade a road that has "ripples"

[CalG]

So, when you use your York Rake, do you have it set straight across, or set at an angle?

Angle to push the material to form a crown.

There is no sense in widening a road or drive if the material is not native.

A straight rake will spill both ways, throwing half the burden out where it does no good except to make a ridge that carries water.

Get ready, 2 inches of rain tomorrow, then the hurl-cane at the weeks end. We might miss out on that one....

 

[DMW]

Try filling the loader with gravel and use 4WD, it will reduce the washboards. I use a 4' boxblade, whenever the washboards start, filling the bucket helps reduce the rocking horse motion of the tractor.

 

[Thomas]

I use my rear blade,angle than set smooth start point no ripples at ditch line pull gravel to center road...both sides...than I turn back blade around smooth.

 

[Egon]

Steep gravel road?? Washboard??

It should start with a well graded granular mix well packed. When the washboard first appears they can just be graded out preferably when wet. As time goes on the wash boarding will occur much more frequently. Then the road surface should be scarified, bladed back and forth to mix, layed down and preferably compacted again with a proper moisture content.

Hill, gravel, traffic = washboard that develops at a rate that coincides with the amount of traffic.

 

[fried1765]

You seem to be the first to mention it!
MOISTURE CONTENT, is the key to a lasting grading job.

 

[ovrszd]

Conditions vary with location. What I do here will not work there. Even within the 50 miles of roads I maintain. We are offering suggestions from hundreds of miles away

 

[LouNY]

I have a York rake that I will use occasionally, I am not a fan of York rakes for normal dressing up of a driveway they tend to segregate the materials in the driveway especially when set at an angle the finer material will flow thru the teeth the stones tend to migrate to the end and spill off in a windrow which will not compact, I run my backblade at an angle and pull it backwards, at an angle it will move material but not separate it and the reverse curve helps to tighten the material down. Several people have mentioned ripping the driveway, that is fine if it's flat and you have something to compact the material afterwards, on steep grades ripping without extreme compaction will result in an unstable road bed that will wash, rut and washboard rapidly.
This is what I use to put in my watercuts,
View attachment IMG_20171008_135516166.jpg

 

[ning]

Pixguy - surely your road is not a 14% grade. I don't know of many cars that will navigate a grade such as that.

There's a huge difference between percent and degrees.....

Yes, and I obviously am showing my ignorance of that. :ashamed:

I think Pixguy's probably ok here.

A 14 degree slope is about 25 percent (tangent of 14 degrees ~= 0.249) - that would be difficult for most cars (in gravel).
14 percent is steep, but not absurd.

 

[Egon]

I have a York rake that I will use occasionally, I am not a fan of York rakes for normal dressing up of a driveway they tend to segregate the materials in the driveway especially when set at an angle the finer material will flow thru the teeth the stones tend to migrate to the end and spill off in a windrow which will not compact, I run my backblade at an angle and pull it backwards, at an angle it will move material but not separate it and the reverse curve helps to tighten the material down. Several people have mentioned ripping the driveway, that is fine if it's flat and you have something to compact the material afterwards, on steep grades ripping without extreme compaction will result in an unstable road bed that will wash, rut and washboard rapidly.
This is what I use to put in my watercuts,
View attachment 570444

Without consolidating the granular material you will never get rid of washboard.

 

[LouNY]

Without consolidating the granular material you will never get rid of washboard.

I have never ripped my driveway which is quite steep, it has gravel on top of hardpan (similar to clay with lots of rocks) the hardpan will migrate upwards and the stones downward. Using my backblades in reverse at an angle and skim coating with gravel and occasionally course sand keeps the washboards repaired and the driveway in decent shape, I also use some calcium in the summer as dust control and to bind the fines in place.