Driveway Maintenance ?

Tall T

Well-known Member
A friend up the road has asked me to grade her driveway and says she plans to bring in a load of gravel.

I successfully took down the grass covered hump in one long driveway and so I thought I would start there with hers. But she has lots of potholes so there probably isn't enough from the center to fill them.

My question is mainly . . .
Where should the gravel delivery truck dump the load . . .
• in small piles along the length of the driveway
• in a pile at each end and the middle
• slowly sprinkled out the full length as much as possible?

How??

And no, I don't have a box blade, but I think my blade is a good one adjustable in every way.

Thanks,
Terry
 
Without a set of wings on the ends of your blade it's going to be tougher then using a box blade but you got to use
the tools you have or rent. Back up on to the pile and keep chipping away at it. Better yet if she's getting it dumped
have him set the chains and dump as he drives out so it's not all in one pile and easier to spread.

Kirk
100_2502_zpsfdcc6033.jpg
 
Tell the driver you'd like it spread.
He will set the chains on the gate and raise
the box as he drives out.
No big piles to move. Just finish grading
it.
Back blade will be fine.
 
[b:bed73b1d42][i:bed73b1d42]
TT; HCooke, has ya started good.
Then angle your blade for bringing the outside edges into the center. Once done with that,.....straighten out the blade and back down the drive on the center, to flatten out a 'Crown', and try to fill the 'chuck-holes as much as possible.
Have the gravel then spread out down the center of the drive, and again run the blade backward down the drive to finish the job.

Easiest way to get the job done with just a flat blade.!!!!!

When done........wheel pack the driveway, with the tractor....!!

GB[/i:bed73b1d42][/b:bed73b1d42]
 

Let the drive spread it best he can. I have a old box spring I use for a drag it wook's surprisingly good on gravel I doubt it would be of much use on crush and run... Work the pot holes out first if you can...
 
I see a lot of people mistakenly flatten out a driveway. I have found out the hard way to keep a slope so that water can never stand on the driveway surface. I pull material toward the center as mentioned
so that water naturally runs off the sides, which eliminates standing water, and prevents potholes. Notice you rarely see a pothole on a hill where water cannot stand. Driving through standing water creates
the potholes. This is obviously something many of the county road workers (at least where I live) have not figured out as they flatten out the road surface, and let culverts plug up which creates standing
water, then potholes. Water simply cannot flow uphill. It took me a few years but I finally have my driveway where I rarely have to blade the surface, and water naturally runs off before it has a chance to
erode or stand.
 
Great stuff!
Thanks everyone!

Gary,
Needed to know that about angling and pulling the fill towards the center. I was also wondering at which point to reverse the blade.

Ron,
I'll try for an angular crown for runoff.

Ed,
Does "scarify" mean to gouge up the pothole surfaces, like one roughs up a surface for paint adhesion? I'm wondering about using my drag for that. I'll post a photo of it.

Hobo,
Do you mean kind of dig away at the potholes so that rather than having steep slopes the edges are more beveled out?

I'd better get to her and tell her not to spread any gravel until
I do the prep work as H Cooke succinctly pointed out.

Is my 6" Land Pride rake useful here?

Terry

The Drag
It had a row of small grey teeth and I added the rack of mini railway rails that I had on an Oliver crawler I had.
36038.jpg

The Rake:
36039.jpg
 
if it's coarse gravel, crowning it or flat won't do much different.. water will flow thru the driveway on top of the base, thru the gravel.
 

I guess that means that i should try to take down the center while maintaining a crown BEFORE adding new fill, so that water percolating through the new layer doesn't pool up on the old roadbed.

Is that right?

thanks,
T
 
I agree, you will thank us for this advise later, will make your job much easier,

I have a blade, box blade and a rock rake, all have there place in driveway maintenance.
 

Do you mean kind of dig away at the potholes so that rather than having steep slopes the edges are more beveled out?

No they need to be filled in with something that packs tight.

Nice rake its one of the better ones yes it would come in handy...
Keep a look out for a junk zero turn you can rob the front wheel assy off of and make a set of grader wheels for it..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otYBy3MfLl8
 

That's a dandy rake with wheels and scarifier!

Mine's good enough to be worth improving, so I'll keep an eye out for the "zero turn" front wheels.

I had been thinking about controlling the depth and watching rake videos but hadn't seen this good one. I was thinking about making removable [b:76231d463f]skids[/b:76231d463f] out of leaf springs that would slide over the ends of my blade and clamp there -- or use two longer end bolts (that hold my blade's edge to the blade) for dual purpose. But I can see that wheels would be the way for the rake.

For now I guess I'm stuck just feathering the position control for the best distribution . . . which i've had a little practice in.

Maybe I should look for another wide steel wheel like the depth wheel on my Ford 110 plow and adapt those.

Thanks again,
T
 
I would cut it down until the pot holes are gone and restore or make a crown on it before putting any new gravel on it. I would use nothing larger than 3/4 minus gravel. It packs down better than anything courser.
 

Great!
I'll tell her that about the gravel size.
I've always wondered about that coarse factor myself as to which was more effective or which breaks down or crumbles to fine bits like shale -- which is probably not the best choice unless for a base layer.

Gravel types for driveways . . . a study unto itself. :)

Thanks,
T
 
Kirk,

I don't know how you stay on top of it all but you sure have all the right stuff and classics ta boot! Great pic!

O.K. Rake at the end for the finishing touch after prep and roughly even distribution of material.

I'm still thanking my lucky stars (at the risk of sounding religious :) ) that I picked a tractor that came with the attachments I needed the most . . . Crane, Carryall, Rake and Blade.
I've added Plow, Dirt Bucket and Rotary Cutter.

Thanks,
Terry
 
Yep regrade and balance the existing drive . order some 21 aa crush to dress up the top .if you get a good driver
he can chain his gate and Shag the load and save you a lot of work . make sure drive is higher than grass and
crown it up.
 

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