gravel driveway maintenance

What would be better to keep a gravel drive in shape. A box blade or a landscape blade?
Thanks,Barry

box blade , unless you need to drift the gravel side to side, like on a sideslope, the sdvantage to a box blade is that you can pull some gravel with you to fill in the low spots and make the drive smoother, dont try a box balde with snow though once the box is full, your done

Timing is everything, I like my landscape tines. Grade it a few times a year, before it gets so bad you need heavy equipment. Angle it, and go up & down a few times. Last pass run it backwards to finely spread the loose gravel.

Best done when things are a litte softer, spring or after some rain. In baked hard dry times, not worth the effort with any tool, esp a landscape rake.

With the angle passes, you don't get the washboard effect. A straight blade not angled, or box blade, one tends to set up waves as the tractor tires bounce over ripples, the flat blae enhances those ripples into waves...

Just me & my conditions and what works here; can be many different right answers depending on the type of gravel & conditions you have.

--->Paul

Far better yet, if you can find one, is a towed grader. Easier if you have a driver and a grader operator, but not particularly difficult solo. I'm usually alone. This guy's a city-dwelling accountant, having the time of his life with my tractors.

I figured a grader wouldn't cost any more than what you're considering. That was correct. Wonderful machinery.

I use a power-angle solid back-blade (don't have a box blade, but I'd use it if I did) to cut the high spots (between and outside the wheel tracks) and generally loosen things, then grade it back with a landscaping rake.

Trick is to get deep enough to [u:654c4848f0]cut out[/u:654c4848f0] the potholes. Just scraping loose dirt into them will look good for a day or so, but vehicles will just pound the loose gravel back out of the hole and you're right back where you started from.

For maintenance,a simple spike-tooth drag section works great.Easily pulled by an ATV.Best to groom it after a rain.

i think you have us all beat with that grader, now thats nice

That is how I did mine at first but we always had 2 people one on the tractor and one on the grader. but now days I do it with my Speed patrol which I'll post a picture of in the post above. Sold the old pull type a few years ago. Didn't get enough out of it and should not have sold it

This is what I use. I found years ago yes a back blade etc can be used but they do not do as good a job as a machine that has a belly mount blade

It's a Galion, works extremely well. I've got another Galion, but it's a motorgrader and is geared too high for here. Cannot back up my 13% slope driveway. 1st gear is faster than I'd prefer.

For cutting, 4x4 is better and I've got great speed control. This will even create side ditches. Offsets 2 ways, blade tilts both directions, even the rear axle is steerable. It's a wonderful machine. The front axle will go under the frame, allowing it to turn around in the same space the tractor requires. The only difficulty is backing it up.

Anybody thinking about a maintenance machine would do well to look for one. Old's not the only low price seller. Used solo, I occasionally have to stop and go back to make an adjustment, but not often. With practice, you learn how to get it set about right.

I've seen single axle models, never tried one. Well, I've got a steel-wheeled homemade version that's got a huge tank for the cutting edge, tilts side to side but won't angle. A whole lot better than a rear blade, but not quite like a real grader. And yes, a rear blade does live here, don't remember when I last used it.

At one time I was looking for a Huber Maintainer, but those prices are out of sight around here. Especially ones with the front dozer blade. If under $10k, you're buying a project.

Some type like this will be better than a blade or box scraper. The length will take out high spots and fill holes. Mark

http://www.external_link/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=5463751

Thanks for all the replies. I have a chance to buy a box blade soon, but I also own a landscape blade. If it is cheap enough I will go for it. Hey Old, I am in Osage county think you could drive yours over and do the drive for me? Just kidding, you would be froze by the time you got here.
Barry

One thing I did was make sure my 100 year old drive always had 3/4 minus river rock on it. A lot of folks around here use shale and have to fix their drive two or three times a year and they wash boards. I don't because the heavier river rock works down into the ground and makes a very hard driveway.
Walt
OH! I use the blade on my mini excavator it does a good job because of the tracks that keep it level.

I do 99 percent of my driveway maintenance with a york rake. My rake has wheels, which makes for a level finish. If the driveway needs any heavy work, I'll break out the box scraper. I've found that the rear blade is pretty much useless for anything other than moving snow, although I'm sure a heavier blade would be much better.

I have a box blade, rear scraper blade and a landscrape rake, for the heavy work I like the box best. I set the blade on the ground, adjust the top link so it is just above cutting into the ground and use it with the tractor 3pt set in draft mode instead of position. It drags on the ground cutting the high spots with the front blade and packs with the rear blade, also you don"t get the washboard effect from the tractor going into and over ruts since the blade is dragging on the ground. I have a hyd top link which makes adjustments easier but I used to do it with a regular top link, you do adjust the cut occasionally for a good job.

I picked up an old drag spring tooth for $50 at a sale. About 12' wide. Can adjust the teeth up out of the way for dragging the road and can adjust them down for digging in the corral. I can set the teeth so they only dig an inch if I want. No wheels so I have to use the loader to put it in position.