How to spread gravel ????

[ANiforos]

Hi. I am the new owner of an L-2800. I live on six acres, mostly wooded, except for the 600 foot gravel driveway and the 1300 foot private gravel road. I have been here for approximately 18 years and have always wanted a tractor to scrape and maintain our driveways and road. I really could not justify buying a tractor since several times a year we neighbors (four of us) got together and paid a guy down the road to use his tractor and scrape it for us. Charged us about fifty dollars between the four of us. Very Cheap. So, I'm retired now at the young age of 54 and I thought......I've always wanted to do this myself, **** it, I'm going to do it. So now I'm the proud owner of a L-2800. I have a 6' scrape blade that adjusts all sorts of ways, and a 5' box scraper.

I have practiced some on my driveway with both implements and did a really good job. Proud of myself, being a first timer and all.

Then us neighbors got together and put down 105 tons of gravel on our private road. Don't now if many people know this or not, but the quarrys in North Carolina are mostly Vulcan Materials. They have this "Good Neighbor Policy", where anyone who lives within a one mile radius of one of their quarries, can get a "load" of free gravel/stone. How it was explained to me was that a load was a load. If we brought a pickup truck, it was a load. If we brought a tri-axle dump truck, it was considered a load. Each homeowner on this road was due one load free per year. So all six of us got together and paid a local dumptruck owner $70.00 an hour to bring us our six free loads. That worked out to $70.00 for each of us to get six loads 9 (approx 17 tons each load) of gravel. OK, sorry for the diversion here, but I wanted you to know what was going on here.

So I scraped my driveway and did a good job. Then they bring 105 tons of gravel to the private road. I wanted to spread it some and this is where the problem lies.

I would be scraping and spreading, and all of a sudden, there would be little hills, kind of wash boardish. Each time I went over it, the blade would just rise over the uppermost portion of the tiny hill and it just got worse from there. What am I doing wrong? Is my tractor too small, is the wheel base to short, is the gravel too deep to begin with?

Thanks for any input anyone can give me.

Alex

 

[gwdixon]

One of the things that you might try is to lenghen the top link of your box blade until the front blade just barely doesn't contact the ground. The blade on the rear of the box blade will do the smoothing.

Then put the blade fully down (in float) and travel slowly. As your wheels go up and down over the little mounds the box blade, being in float, will remain in contact with the ground and will level out the bumps in a couple of passes. If the front blade grabs too much gravel then lengthen the top link a little more until it is set just right to dig off the very tops of the mounds.

Good luck. I sounds like you have a nice cooperative neighborhood.

 

[magicheater]

So I scraped my driveway and did a good job. Then they bring 105 tons of gravel to the private road. I wanted to spread it some and this is where the problem lies.

I would be scraping and spreading, and all of a sudden, there would be little hills, kind of wash boardish. Each time I went over it, the blade would just rise over the uppermost portion of the tiny hill and it just got worse from there. What am I doing wrong? Is my tractor too small, is the wheel base to short, is the gravel too deep to begin with?

Thanks for any input anyone can give me.Alex

Try using your loader bucket as you go along. Also go in reverse and back drag any irregularities out before you give the final grade. It gives you two different venues to deal with but once you get it under control you can just use the 3PT and the box/back blade.

 

[timswi]

Try using your loader bucket as you go along. Also go in reverse and back drag any irregularities out before you give the final grade. It gives you two different venues to deal with but once you get it under control you can just use the 3PT and the box/back blade.

That's the way...Back dragging with the FEL using float and pressure does a really nice job. I usually do this with 50 ton per year.

I found that just dumping the tri-axle and spreading it myself works better. Some drivers can tailgate, and others can't. When it's bad it's really bad and takes me longer to straighten out and it can be really frustrating. That's just me though.

 

[General Lee]

If you have access to a landscape rake, give it a try. I've had good success with a rake. Especially when the gravel is loose.

 

[Toolguy]

I have had good luck with a rear blade by putting it on an angle. The angle keeps the blade from following the hills and valleys. That is how the county scrapes the gravel roads around here. The angled blade will move material sideways and it will level as it goes. It will take more than one pass to get it flat. Just a slight angle is all you need. 20 to 30 degrees should do it. Experiment with it and see what works best for you. Good luck.

 

[rdsaustintx]

If you have access to a landscape rake, give it a try. I've had good success with a rake. Especially when the gravel is loose.

x2. Especially if the rake has gage wheels.

 

[Deano]

Rake with gauge wheel gets another vote. Also, try turning the blade backwards and pulling it across the gravel.

A bunch of good suggestions here. One will work best for you. In the meantime, you are retired and what else do you have to do??!!:thumbsup:

Deano

 

[ENTS]

...Vulcan Materials. They have this "Good Neighbor Policy", where anyone who lives within a one mile radius of one of their quarries, can get a "load" of free gravel/stone. ...

REALLY?? Nearest Vulcan quarry from me is in Elkin. Too far to qualify

I've found the best is the rake. Mine doesn't have wheels but still does an excellent job. Good luck and have fun.

Later,

 

[Argosy]

Back blading works best for leveling loose material.

Spin the blade around and set it at the least angle to move material to the center when you're moving. Shorten the top link.

The curve of the blade makes it dig in, especially if the top link is extended to give it even more angle. If you reverse everything it will ride on the surface, the weight of the blade will be enough to flatten the loose material.