Gravel driveways.. and potholes!!

[747mopar]

Home made box blade I made using an old drag blade. Drag blade came with a garden tractor set, I bought, worked, ok, but left lines. Wanted a class 2 box blade for the 80 hp, just have not found what I want, for what I want to pay, so, I built a, 0 class unit for the garden tractor. Have not gotten around to adding a scarifier as of yet, use a loaded harrow for now. Added a adjustable up and down, feature to the blade, I can raise the blade, so as to apply new material to the lane way.

View attachment 1055321 View attachment 1055324

Nice! I see a little red beast right beside your lawn tractor, those Steiners are a great machine. Dad has one with a bucket, it's extremely handy for touching up the driveway.

 

[747mopar]

Potholes usually means a problem with the base under the gravel. If the potholes occur in the same spot it means that the gravel should be dug out and a base repair carried out. We used a lot ot Geotechnical fabrics under temporary construction roads we had on the projects I worked on. Sometimes when the job was completed we used the temporary road as the base for a permanent driveway.

We use a lot of crushed limestone for driveways in this area. As stated when it gets wet it can be just like concrete. Another product available around here is crushed concrete. It is called recycled 304. We used this as a sub base on a project and it turned to powder and we had to do additional work. We were running equipment and tandem axle dump trucks on it.

I have three driveways at my hobby garage, one is asphalt the other two are shredded shingles. I need to replace the shredded shingle driveways. I am considering using ground asphalt for the driveways, if I can get it.

My dad bought this property around 1990, we later got it to build our home but it's had a driveway for probably 100 years for our neighbors right away. I'd hate to guess how many tons of gravel it's swallowed over the years! It seems to push out over time because I'll have a good grade for drainage then it's gone, I can go 2' off of the drive and still pull gravel back out of the sod. I've mostly bought 57 limestone and occasionally 57 river gravel and crushed limestone, nothing last.

 

[Triplegreen500]

My drive is about 1000' from road to house; another 500 to the garage. It was gravel when I bought the house in '11. The owner was a contractor who built it for himself - he overbuilt EVERYTHING, but he never paved the driveway because he had graders.

I...have motorcycles, and toy cars. I qualified to over-borrow for the house, so I factored in enough cash to have it paved with blacktop. I moved in, in January...so it was spring before I could get the work done. But BOY it's nice when the snowblower only throws snow, and not driveway!!

I did luck out - they were paving my main commute to work, and one day I was stopped, first in line, on my motorcycle. Asked the flag dude "hey, do you guys do residential?" He said "go down there, talk to Dave in the red hat". State DOT contractor, paving their way towards my house. When they got there, they detoured. One day grading everything; one day paving; done and gone.

And now...my house looks finished.

 

[747mopar]

With beautiful weather finally here I took the advice given and picked this up today. I'll let you know how it does once I get the carburetor rebuilt on the old Massey.

 

[747mopar]

I figured I'd come back to this thread and give an update... YOU GUYS WEREN'T SHITTEN! This thing works wonders, first time using it I dropped the teeth to full depth and chewed the driveway up busting all of the potholes apart then finished it off with the teeth retracted. That was in March, there still hasn't been a single pothole that came back! With the potholes gone I occasionally go out after a hard rain to smooth it back out, it's effortless. No need to play with the 3 point to control the depth of cut, once you have the runners set to the right depth you just go!


I very much appreciate the suggestions from all of you, definitely was well worth the investment!

 

[joe smith]

I figured I'd come back to this thread and give an update... YOU GUYS WEREN'T SHITTEN! This thing works wonders, first time using it I dropped the teeth to full depth and chewed the driveway up busting all of the potholes apart then finished it off with the teeth retracted. That was in March, there still hasn't been a single pothole that came back! With the potholes gone I occasionally go out after a hard rain to smooth it back out, it's effortless. No need to play with the 3 point to control the depth of cut, once you have the runners set to the right depth you just go!


I very much appreciate the suggestions from all of you, definitely was well worth the investment!

I gotta ask, your brother who tears up equipment, is he the "baby"?

 

[747mopar]

I gotta ask, your brother who tears up equipment, is he the "baby"?

No, he's 1 1/2 years older. I don't get it, he's super smart, a really hard worker.. takes care of his home, property, etc but the poor tractors. When I found this Massey I sold him my TO30 that I completely rebuilt (motor, paint.. everything) and now it's broken down and has been sitting in the woods for probably a year now! It would occasional burn up the points or a coil but was super reliable, I'm pretty sure he never even looked into what was wrong?

 

[hunt2elk]

With beautiful weather finally here I took the advice given and picked this up today. I'll let you know how it does once I get the carburetor rebuilt on the old Massey.View attachment 1083116

I've been thinking of getting a box blade as well. How wide did you go with, how wide are your rear tractor tires, and what hp is your tractor?

 

[747mopar]

I've been thinking of getting a box blade as well. How wide did you go with, how wide are your rear tractor tires, and what hp is your tractor?

This isn't a box blade, it's a land plane.. it works much like a hand planer for wood. It has 2 cutting blades that are laid back at more of a cutting angle than a scraping angle then has adjustable skids on the side for adjusting the cut depth. It won't drag large amounts around like a box will because the gravel rolls right over the blades but I can't imagine anything behind easier to use or doing a much better job on driveways. I'm thinking about adding a removable plate to the backside so I can move gravel after a good wash out?


I'd have to measure my tractor but according to the web it's 72" wide and 43.95 hp? I'm using a 6' blade.

 

[moparedtn]

This isn't a box blade, it's a land plane.. it works much like a hand planer for wood. It has 2 cutting blades that are laid back at more of a cutting angle than a scraping angle then has adjustable skids on the side for adjusting the cut depth. It won't drag large amounts around like a box will because the gravel rolls right over the blades but I can't imagine anything behind easier to use or doing a much better job on driveways. I'm thinking about adding a removable plate to the backside so I can move gravel after a good wash out?
I'd have to measure my tractor but according to the web it's 72" wide and 43.95 hp? I'm using a 6' blade.

VERY fancy, much more so than the old box blades a lot of us use out here! ME likey.
What did that jewel set ya back?
(My box blade is over 20 years old - I bought it for my dad back when he was still alive,
then "inherited" it to replace my own destroyed, rusty one).
It's smaller (5') but given the steepness of my roads out here, it probably needs to be so I can do
some digging and some repositioning of a small volume of gravel after a monsoon.
I like the looks of yours, though!

 

[747mopar]

VERY fancy, much more so than the old box blades a lot of us use out here! ME likey.
What did that jewel set ya back?
(My box blade is over 20 years old - I bought it for my dad back when he was still alive,
then "inherited" it to replace my own destroyed, rusty one).
It's smaller (5') but given the steepness of my roads out here, it probably needs to be so I can do
some digging and some repositioning of a small volume of gravel after a monsoon.
I like the looks of yours, though!

It's a Woods and cost $1,600, I'm sure you can pick them up cheaper but I try to support my local Massey dealer.

I was originally going to buy a box until the guys here convinced me, I can still see plenty of areas where a box would be beneficial but man does this make driveways an easy job. It's a lazy man's tool, drop and go.

 

[moparedtn]

My drive is about 1000' from road to house; another 500 to the garage. It was gravel when I bought the house in '11. The owner was a contractor who built it for himself - he overbuilt EVERYTHING, but he never paved the driveway because he had graders.

I...have motorcycles, and toy cars. I qualified to over-borrow for the house, so I factored in enough cash to have it paved with blacktop. I moved in, in January...so it was spring before I could get the work done. But BOY it's nice when the snowblower only throws snow, and not driveway!!

I did luck out - they were paving my main commute to work, and one day I was stopped, first in line, on my motorcycle. Asked the flag dude "hey, do you guys do residential?" He said "go down there, talk to Dave in the red hat". State DOT contractor, paving their way towards my house. When they got there, they detoured. One day grading everything; one day paving; done and gone.

And now...my house looks finished.

I envy you. My road is over a quarter mile long - paving would cost, well....how much does it cost these days,
anyways?

 

[moparedtn]

It's a Woods and cost $1,600, I'm sure you can pick them up cheaper but I try to support my local Massey dealer.
I was originally going to buy a box until the guys here convinced me, I can still see plenty of areas where a box would be beneficial but man does this make driveways an easy job. It's a lazy man's tool, drop and go.

Yeah, anything with the name "Woods" on it comes at a premium even to this day for sure.
At over double the price of a "co-op" box blade, no less!
Speaking of Massey, that's my little tractor's brand also - a Massey-Ferguson 1431V (built by Iseki).
Goes forever on 5 gallons of diesel and never, in 18 years, has given me a moments' trouble.