Gravel driveways.. and potholes!!

[747mopar]

Long term plan is to start pouring concrete pads in problematic areas where water drainage from the hill are a problem sloping them into a large cleanable drain. Once that's dealt with I'll try to pour a pad or 2 a year until it's all concrete. My other big headache is a spring in the neighbors field that runs right into the drive, sounds like he's going to let me cut his side down and drain it to the creek.... He ought to, he's land locked and has right away on my drive that he doesn't maintain lol.

 

[dodgedifferent2]

We have an 18 wheeler turn in our gravel driveway every other day.

We run a land leveler across the driveway on occasion. When deep pot holes we rip it up with the scraper blade and the odd time pull the land leveler across. Similar to this.

In the spring we run a set of drag harrows around.

Snow pushing has to be done whenever it snows. With the loader and scraper blade.

 

[MoparDanMan]

I've lived here for 20 years and dealt with the never ending driveway headache's, POTHOLES!! It's that time of year to put down more gravel (typically 30 tons) but now it's skyrocketed in price, I used to pay $350 for a tandem axle, now it's $600 so it's time to try something different. Yesterday I was doing some research and couldn't believe I never thought of it... Bust up the hole first. A pothole is a hard packed bowl, filling it is like pouring cereal in a bowl, everything I read suggests busting up the base below the pothole using a box blade (with tines) then re-smoothing the surface? What I found interesting is not only do people do this to fix potholes but they also do it as a means to get more life out of their drives... bring the gravel back to the surface?

Think I'll go buy me a box blade since I had planned on getting one anyways and give it a try. Any members out there with some driveway tips?

That's interesting, I have the same problem. I'm going to look into it. Thanks

 

[Don selleck]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/agri-fab-40-in-tow-behind-dethatcher?cm_vc=-10005 I've had a gravel drive for ever, every spring i would drag this up and down the driveway. you need to make about three passes and it will drag up the stone in your driveway and free it from the dirt. 2 cement blocks give it enough weight to do the job. 3 of my friends do the same thing now. I know it doesn't look like much but works suprisingly well you have to drag some stones into your pots holes but for under a 100 bucks it works. and if you do it just before it rains it will rinse the stones off for you and then drive on in. I used to use a roller to pack it down but after a little while of driving on it, it's like a freshly stoned drive. if you do this about three time a year you won't have to fill the holes much and keeps the dust down. I've recently upgraded so I don't need that dethatcher anymore, good luck!

 

[dadsbee]

I just drag the Kubota bucket backwards a few times a year... all 1200 feet. The odd time after a torrential storm I'll get out the blade and go looking for my gravel. Been doing it for 27 years now, no pothole issues... and can't afford to pave it!

 

[Ron H]

For years with the gravel drive, every spring was hours and hours of raking stones/rocks off the grass so my mower wouldn't find them. Couple times I rented a power brush that was still a bear to handle. Even with the crushed asphalt, ya don't wanna go dragging the snow plow on it. I keep the blade a few inches off the ground - kudos to those who take da plunge asphalting or concreting - theee best solution but I'm too cheap to do and like to bitch about the driveway - lol.

 

[dadsbee]

Same deal here... days of raking and power brooming the "laneway" back off of the grass in the Spring..

 

[747mopar]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/agri-fab-40-in-tow-behind-dethatcher?cm_vc=-10005 I've had a gravel drive for ever, every spring i would drag this up and down the driveway. you need to make about three passes and it will drag up the stone in your driveway and free it from the dirt. 2 cement blocks give it enough weight to do the job. 3 of my friends do the same thing now. I know it doesn't look like much but works suprisingly well you have to drag some stones into your pots holes but for under a 100 bucks it works. and if you do it just before it rains it will rinse the stones off for you and then drive on in. I used to use a roller to pack it down but after a little while of driving on it, it's like a freshly stoned drive. if you do this about three time a year you won't have to fill the holes much and keeps the dust down. I've recently upgraded so I don't need that dethatcher anymore, good luck!View attachment 1054095

Nice place! Living in a valley water control is an ongoing issue, create low spots for drainage and a year later they're gone. I think I've finally talked the wife into at least pouring pads in the problematic areas so we can catch and drain the water instead of it following the drive.

 

[747mopar]

Same deal here... days of raking and power brooming the "laneway" back off of the grass in the Spring..

I just put off sharpening the blades and keep the deck up for the first couple times mowing. Seems like whatever does make it into the yard pushes into the ground pretty quickly.

 

[747mopar]

I just drag the Kubota bucket backwards a few times a year... all 1200 feet. The odd time after a torrential storm I'll get out the blade and go looking for my gravel. Been doing it for 27 years now, no pothole issues... and can't afford to pave it!
View attachment 1054099 View attachment 1054100 View attachment 1054101
View attachment 1054102

Before my brother confiscated the Moline I graded my drive with it, a U302 with a 1,500 lbs blade was no choke! It also had a bucket I'd back drag to smooth and pack it with, worked great. Unfortunately my brother doesn't respect equipment, after completely restoring it he just trashes it... It's dad's and I've completely given up on it. I bought me a Massey 65 that I'll restore, nobody is touching it! That said I need to start buying implements which was the purpose behind this thread, pick some brains.

 

[Nevada dan]

I don’t know if you have it there but I like to use chat
It’s crushed limestone down to about 3/8” or less
I used it in my drive that had holes rocks and a swampy part that would sink forever when wet
Dumped it in and smoothed it out haven’t had to touch it in the last 15 years and still looks good it doesn’t get stuck in your tires once it’s been driven over a few times it drains great and it don’t move around after a couple rains it kinda sets like concrete but won’t hold water

 

[Bill76]

Two words ----traffic bond (TB ) gravel . crushed stone with the powder from crushing mixed in , after it get wet it drys like concrete . Its been 25 years and no pot holes.

 

[747mopar]

Two words ----traffic bond (TB ) gravel . crushed stone with the powder from crushing mixed in , after it get wet it drys like concrete . Its been 25 years and no pot holes.

I think they call it bug dust or crushed lime here, I've filled potholes with it too... they came back.

 

[Richard Cranium]

One of the town forests near me had shreded roof shingles laid down on pathways. once they got warm, they all bound together making a pretty nice surface.

 

[BigCountryMopar]

Before my brother confiscated the Moline I graded my drive with it, a U302 with a 1,500 lbs blade was no choke! It also had a bucket I'd back drag to smooth and pack it with, worked great. Unfortunately my brother doesn't respect equipment, after completely restoring it he just trashes it... It's dad's and I've completely given up on it. I bought me a Massey 65 that I'll restore, nobody is touching it! That said I need to start buying implements which was the purpose behind this thread, pick some brains.

The rule of thumb I’ve always followed is this, for box blades and land planes you go 1 foot wider than your rear tire width. So a tractor 5 feet wide uses a 6 foot wide implement. With a rear blade, wider is better, especially if you’re going to rotate it any to help pull in material from the edge of a driveway. As the blade turns you lose width. I was going to buy one for my big tractor but I think I’d need at least a 10 footer and even used they are fairly expensive. I could justify the cost of all the tractors could use it but it’ll be so heavy the small tractor probably couldn’t even move it. So I’ll keep using the box blade, land plane, and front bucket.

 

[747mopar]

The rule of thumb I’ve always followed is this, for box blades and land planes you go 1 foot wider than your rear tire width. So a tractor 5 feet wide uses a 6 foot wide implement. With a rear blade, wider is better, especially if you’re going to rotate it any to help pull in material from the edge of a driveway. As the blade turns you lose width. I was going to buy one for my big tractor but I think I’d need at least a 10 footer and even used they are fairly expensive. I could justify the cost of all the tractors could use it but it’ll be so heavy the small tractor probably couldn’t even move it. So I’ll keep using the box blade, land plane, and front bucket.

With a land plane like I plan on buying I would imagine a 6 footer would be perfect. Wider would make it more difficult to put a crown in it wouldn't it? Haven't measured the Massey yet, I doubt it's even 6'.

 

[747mopar]

One of the town forests near me had shreded roof shingles laid down on pathways. once they got warm, they all bound together making a pretty nice surface.

Sounds like a great way to put old junk to use just like shredded tires for playgrounds. We were getting popalar logs in that had all of the bark removed, nice clean circular cuts still apparent in the log... turns out they were peeling the bark for shingles?? Lot's of creative ideas out there.

 

[GTXDAN]

Two words ----traffic bond (TB ) gravel . crushed stone with the powder from crushing mixed in , after it get wet it drys like concrete . Its been 25 years and no pot holes.

That's the secret to a good gravel drive. Down here they call it crusher run. Put down a good base of that and drive on it for a few years and then top it off with larger crushed rock that they call "nickle dime". My 1000' drive has been there for 28 years and never a pothole. Drag it about once a year and she's good to go.

 

[Coronet_Arch]

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.

 

[G.V.Charger]

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.