Box Scraper Rocky Road after using grading scraper

Granite Tractor · Jun 18, 2010

Last weekend I tried using my new LandPride GS1560 grading scraper for the first time (pulling behind a Kubota B3030).

Have a 1/2 mile dirt driveway in southern NH that hadn't been graded in over a year. Previous owner used to have someone grade with what I believe was a rake.

I bought the grading scraper upon recommendation of local dealer.

The driveway was extremely hardly packed, so I lowered the scarifiers until they started digging into the driveway (before I did that, the scraper just skimmed across the surface having no effect).

Grader did an amazing job with one exception: it brought hundreds (perhaps thousands) of large rocks to the surface. Immediately after grading, I had a perfectly smooth and level driveway littered with rocks.

A week after grading, I have a driveway that no longer has ruts or potholes but has rocks embedded into the dirt, making it far worse to drive over than it was before I graded it. One of the rocks was so sharp that it punctured the sidewall in my wife's car. Not quite what I had in mind

Would greatly appreciate any advice on how to deal with the rocks. My 5 year old has started picking some of them up, but as he noticed "daddy, we have a LOT of rocks to pick up!"

thanks!

JDGreenGrass · Jun 18, 2010

How big are the rocks.?? I am guessing they are 3" or bigger.

If so, I think what you would want to do is have some 3/4 stone hauled in for a good 3 or 4" top "base."

Remember this...every rock you throw to the side, your driveway will settle and end up low. You are throwing out your base.

Hope this makes sense to you.

mike550 · Jun 19, 2010

get a rock rake 3pt or hitch i rake 6 miles of road

Johndeere3720 · Jun 19, 2010

mike550 said:
get a rock rake 3pt or hitch i rake 6 miles of road

a rock rake or landscape rake will remove the rocks to the sides of your driveway so you can go back with your FEL and move them to anywhere you want.

doall · Jun 19, 2010

also remember the rocks you throw to the side will be projectiles when you mow or bushhog.

Egon · Jun 19, 2010

A back blade with gage wheels will windrow the rocks to one side.

Use the grading scrapper scarifier's to loosen things up and switch to the back blade. If you work it right you may be able to bury the rocks plus crown the road.

LarryD · Jun 19, 2010

I'm going to agree with JDGreenGrass, if you are finding lots of large broken (not smooth river rock) rocks then you are into your base course. It sounds like you need some top course material brought in.

scesnick · Jun 19, 2010

LarryD said:
I'm going to agree with JDGreenGrass, if you are finding lots of large broken (not smooth river rock) rocks then you are into your base course. It sounds like you need some top course material brought in.

Agreed. I has a 2.5 mile dirt/gravel driveway I maintain and I have the same issue. the only solution I can see is to add more material to raise the road. In my neck of the woods you can get a 20 ton coal truck full of #57 gravel for around $300 delivered. They might also "tailgate" it onto the road for you if you ask nicely..

TripleR · Jun 19, 2010

Sounds like two fairly good approaches. I tend to think the best approach would be to add more material as I am sure if you remove this crop of rocks, another crop will arise the next time you work it.

Someone who has the right truck and skill can put rock down for you that will require relatively little finish work on your part.

Good luck.

eepete · Jun 19, 2010

I have a similar land grader. It was time to clean up my driveway, there were some pretty good ruts where the tires run.

When I put the driveway in, I first put a thin layer of crusher run. Then I put down a layer of rail road ballast (1-3" stone). After that had been pummeled into the ground (with much complaints by construction crews) I added a layer of crusher run, which around here is as the name implies: the output of the rock crusher. This has "the fines" to 1.5" rock in it. So that is where the driveway was when it was time to do some work on it.

I had the gavel guy put down one more layer of crusher run, but had him put two cinder blocks (you can also use a hunk of 6x6 wood) so that when he dumped it, it just fell into the ruts. This gave me a semi flat driveway.

Then I had some screen crushed rock (has 3/4" and smaller down to the fines) put on the road. Finally I got to use the land plane to get it smooth and work up a crown. I don't have scarafiers on mine, and would not use them because once that big rock comes up, it's not going back down.

I did get a few of the bigger rocks come up, and there was a fun packed hour or so walk along the driveway to fill the FEL with anything big that popped up.

So in my own wordy way, I agree that with the big rocks you have at your base, you'll need to put something small on top that you can work with the landplane. This might be a screen crusher run or small washed stone. I'm trying to avoid numbers and names since there's no consistency across the country. It kinda sucks that after you spent the money for the land plane, you might need to spend another chunk of change to get a nice fine cover on your driveway

, but that's where you are.

- pete

jenkinsph · Jun 19, 2010

I will in most cases use base course which is 3/4" to fines about 4" deep on the edges and 6" to 8" deep in the center. I pack this down as tight as I can, then come back and add a layer of 3/4" screened rock about one rock high. If the top layer is thick it is like plowing thru marbles, and makes for wheel slip. So a firm well packed base layer that is shaped with a center crown and fines in between the rocks to lock them in place and a thin layer of clean rock on top.

If you find yourself making wheel tracks when driving on the gravel then the top layer is too thick. If you are making alot of dust then the fines are too small and can be lightly covered with a coarse sand. On a private drive the coarse sand seems to last quite a while.

To the best of my knowledge the larger rock should only be used on the bottom layer and should not be disturbed once placed. If you drop the scarifiers down and pull these larger rocks up then stop. You are running too deep, raise the scarifiers up. Using a landplane grader I find you move less and less material with repeated passes if adjusted properly. Once you have the surfaced planed smooth you can raise the front end ever so gently and smooth out any ridges. There is no need to get to the end of the driveway and have a large load of material leftover, learn to feather it out where needed.

Hope this helps someone.

crazyal · Jun 20, 2010

Rent or buy a rake. Don't cover them up. What most don't understand is frost will push them to the surface each spring so you're better off getting rid of as many as you can now. After they are gone then you can decide if you want to bring in some gravel.

JDGreenGrass · Jun 20, 2010

jenkinsph said:
I will in most cases use base course which is 3/4" to fines about 4" deep on the edges and 6" to 8" deep in the center. I pack this down as tight as I can, then come back and add a layer of 3/4" screened rock about one rock high. If the top layer is thick it is like plowing thru marbles, and makes for wheel slip. So a firm well packed base layer that is shaped with a center crown and fines in between the rocks to lock them in place and a thin layer of clean rock on top.

If you find yourself making wheel tracks when driving on the gravel then the top layer is too thick. If you are making alot of dust then the fines are too small and can be lightly covered with a coarse sand. On a private drive the coarse sand seems to last quite a while.

To the best of my knowledge the larger rock should only be used on the bottom layer and should not be disturbed once placed. If you drop the scarifiers down and pull these larger rocks up then stop. You are running too deep, raise the scarifiers up. Using a landplane grader I find you move less and less material with repeated passes if adjusted properly. Once you have the surfaced planed smooth you can raise the front end ever so gently and smooth out any ridges. There is no need to get to the end of the driveway and have a large load of material leftover, learn to feather it out where needed.

Hope this helps someone.

Great post right there.!!

beppington · Aug 11, 2010

Are these actual rocks, or large chunks of limerock? If the latter, what about using a roller on them?

Granite Tractor · Aug 18, 2010

Thanks very much for the advice everyone. These were definitely rocks - in some cases 6" or larger round, although there were some flat, "flaky" rocks as well (sorry, I'm weak on the geology terminology). Should have taken pictures of the before/after...

We were looking for some rocks to line a stream on our property that currently just turns into a soupy mess in the spring, so I ended up driving up and down the driveway with the tractor and putting the rocks in the bucket, then dumping them where I wanted them. My 5 year actually asked me if he could do this with me; he thought it was fun. I'll take advantage of that while it lasts!

Based on the advice on this forum and from our trusted contractor, we hired his site guy to haul in what turned out to be 13 tri-axle dump truck loads of 3/4" crush base (that's what he called it). This ended up taking 3 days (we both worked the deliveries into our other commitments).

He started at the top of our driveway and slowly dumped the material out as he drove down, then I started spreading it with the tractor.

I can't say enough about how big a difference the base made; we can now drive up and down our driveway at normal speeds instead of slowing to a crawl in my car to avoid tire/wheel/suspension damage (which has low ground clearance, stiff suspension, low profile tires).

I'm still getting used to the grader and I definitely got better as I got towards the bottom of the driveway. I have some slight dips and rises where the initial clump of base would come out when the dump truck started dumping, but I've been using the bucket to remove excess material and spread it out where I'm a bit light.

Local hardware store out of calcium chloride but my next step is take a final pass and add a bit of crown, then treat it for dust control.