ROAD MAINTENANCE/EQUIPMENT with PICS

[dirtworksequip]

Farmford, pics would help if you can. The road will be better off if you can get it above the surrounding ground leaving a ditch or swale on both sides for drainage. You have the right idea about using the material out of the road edge ditch to raise the grade of your road. You want the road profile to be like a big modified W with the center of the W as your road and the low parts of the W as the ditch.

The first step is to determine where you want the road to run. Next I strip the topsoil off the work area and move it to the road edge to be brought back onto the berm and cut slope.By bringing the topsoil back you will be able to grow grass on the road edge and control erosion.

Now you can start cutting in your road. Filling any low areas and cutting any high spots. Try to keep your fill and cut slopes as flat as you can to make mowing easier.

Its sounds like you are concerned about drainage. Which you should be. As I've stated before the key to a good road is keeping the road grade as dry as possible all year long.

Heres a pic of how the profile of a road should look. High in the center dropping off slightly to both edges and then a swale or ditch to carry the water to a drainage or culvert. Place culverts when the ditch cannot carry the water and would have to run across the road to get to a drainage spot. The culvert behind the tractor in the pic was installed there because the road starts to run back up hill slightly at that point and could no longer run in the swale.

Yellow line is the profile
Blue line is waterflow in ditch or swale
Black is culvert under road to carry water under road to drainage area.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...OAD BUILDING AND OTHER/gradingroad4thpass.jpg

I need to take care of several of the road edge ditches,because in some spots the water runs out onto the road and causes problems.

If you look directly behind the tractor in the pic you can see water on the road. This was caused by a driveway cut in for new house construction. I need to do some regrading to take care of this problem.

 

[shaley]

Here is a good gravel road design manual from Washington State DOT.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TA/T2Center/Mgt.Systems/PavementTechnology/GravelRoadsIndex.htm
It tends to support Dirtworks reasons for design.

 

[Farmerford]

Dirtworksequip:

Thanks for your very helpful answer. My pasture is just like the one in your picture. Now I have to see if I can take my old D3B and make the road bed and ditches as smooth as yours. I suspect I will spend a lot of time with my Kubota L2900 and box blade getting all the bumps out.

As I think about your comments on construction traffic, I may prepare the road bed and ditches and let the construction traffic (I am building a house at the end of the 1,500' driveway) pack that down. Once the house is complete I can regrade the bed to smooth it out and then apply gravel.

Thanks again.

Farmerford

 

[Tig]

Great contribution Shaley. I can't wait to read it. I'll let you know if I find any mistakes.

 

[dirtworksequip]

farmerford, you should have no trouble doing the work with the D3 and tractor. I actually did ove half of the 3000' with my JD 870. I had a 60 inch tiller on the back and 84 inch frame mounted front blade on the front. I would till the soil the whole width of the road and berm. Then use the front blade to keep windrowing the top soil to the lower side of the road. After all the topsoil was removed. I started to grade out the road using the same technique. Till and remove the loose dirt down to hard. Working the loose cut dirt to the lower side of the road that needed filled. I ended up with a fairly flat slope on both the upper and lower side of the road. The pic I have in the earlier post was all cut with a small fill starting about where the culvert is.

The problem with letting the heavy construction trucks run on your roughed in road with no stone is that if a rain comes up they will be done. Not only will it tear up your road you just will not be able to get in and out of the site if its wet. So, its better to get your road in and stoned before starting house construction. Its just not practical or productive to do it later. If the road is done correctly it will hold up fine even with heavy concrete mixers running on it.

 

[SkyPup]

Real nice informative post, enjoyed the photos too!

I maintain a 3.5 mile road primarily with my Kubota L-3130 GST with a BushHog 96" box blade and 3pt TNT setup on the rear end. Our road is limerock base with recycled concrete gravel on top about #57 size. Lots of rain and lots of dry heat throughout the year. The landscape rake doesn't work on our road since about 3/4 of the road is hard base capped off, only about 1/4 of it is soft due to drainage and that is the part I work the most on.

One of the main points is to NOT grade too fast. I normally grade at around 3.2-3.7 miles per hour and find that even going 4.0mph is too fast. That is about 1,500rpm in 10th gear.

Here are a couple of pics:

 

[Jarrett]

Real nice informative post, enjoyed the photos too!

I maintain a 3.5 mile road primarily with my Kubota L-3130 GST with a BushHog 96" box blade and 3pt TNT setup on the rear end. Our road is limerock base with recycled concrete gravel on top about #57 size. Lots of rain and lots of dry heat throughout the year. The landscape rake doesn't work on our road since about 3/4 of the road is hard base capped off, only about 1/4 of it is soft due to drainage and that is the part I work the most on.

One of the main points is to NOT grade too fast. I normally grade at around 3.2-3.7 miles per hour and find that even going 4.0mph is too fast. That is about 1,500rpm in 10th gear.

Here are a couple of pics:

That's a 96" boxblade? How does your 3130 handle it in dirt? I need to get one for my 3130 and my tires are right at 70" wide. I plan to go with a 72" box but wouldn't mind a little bigger.

 

[SkyPup]

THe 72" is fine, since it matches the FEL width, but it really doesn't weigh enough to get a good dig in. The 96" is heavier and can move much more material at a time without getting overloaded. At first, I thought the 96" would be too heavy and too large, but after using the 72" for a year or so, the last couple of years with the 96" has been much better, plus I can take off the shoulder buildup easier since the edge of the BB hangs out further outside the rear tire width. I've really had no problem at all upgrading to the 96", still have the 72" though.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Skypup, the road looks to be in excellent condition. Pretty area especially with the fence and trees in the background.

 

[Jarrett]

THe 72" is fine, since it matches the FEL width, but it really doesn't weigh enough to get a good dig in. The 96" is heavier and can move much more material at a time without getting overloaded. At first, I thought the 96" would be too heavy and too large, but after using the 72" for a year or so, the last couple of years with the 96" has been much better, plus I can take off the shoulder buildup easier since the edge of the BB hangs out further outside the rear tire width. I've really had no problem at all upgrading to the 96", still have the 72" though.

I don't think I want to go with a 96", but you've got me thinking about an 84" box now

 

[markct]

Real nice informative post, enjoyed the photos too!

I maintain a 3.5 mile road primarily with my Kubota L-3130 GST with a BushHog 96" box blade and 3pt TNT setup on the rear end. Our road is limerock base with recycled concrete gravel on top about #57 size. Lots of rain and lots of dry heat throughout the year. The landscape rake doesn't work on our road since about 3/4 of the road is hard base capped off, only about 1/4 of it is soft due to drainage and that is the part I work the most on.

One of the main points is to NOT grade too fast. I normally grade at around 3.2-3.7 miles per hour and find that even going 4.0mph is too fast. That is about 1,500rpm in 10th gear.

Here are a couple of pics:

good point about grading at the right speed, i know my old cat grader gets just that right speed where it has the momentum to knock stuff free without shaking and the speed to spread the dirt in a nice even flow

 

[BayouMan]

dirtworksequip,

I'm impressed with how you are able to maintain grade with your FEL. In S. Louisiana, bionic blade boxes are the ticket. I'm sure you are familiar with them. Makes even a novice look good. I generally grade both outer edges first and then finish up in the center on the last run. Usually end up with a good crown.

 

[Boomerang1]

When I blade a road with a motor grader, I will pull the windrow from one side to the other which levels out the road. Then I make a second pass with the blade slightly off the ground. This removes the rocks and leaves the fines. The fines are what gets compacted with traffic and makes a durable road. I don't like to leave any rocks that are larger than 1/2". Crusher run is ideal for a road because the sharp angled edges lock together unlike round stone which will push out from the tires.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Thanks BayouMan, I always pride myself in doing the best I can. I had thought of purchasing a bionic blade,but just couldn't justify the cost.
They do an incredible job though.Some of PA townships use them on the stone roads they maintaine.

 

[BayouMan]

My brother and I made our own bionic blade. Probably cost us about $200, 7 or 8 years ago.

If you are interested, I can take some pictures of ours, along with some recommended changes. Took us about 2 weeks working evenings and weekends to complete.

 

[dirtworksequip]

BayouMan
Thanks for the offer on the bionic blade, but I'll just stick to using my front blade and landscape rake for the maintenance I have. If it was going to be an on going thing I would consider the bionic blade,but eventually the road will be shot and chipped or paved. Thanks again.