Gravel driveway

[Fishingfoolemjak]

I’ve tried searching, and I’m a complete newb to the tractor world, so please forgive me if I’m asking a dumb question. I just bought a bx23s, and one of the jobs I want to do is fix my gravel driveway. I also want to be able to create a gravel driveway in my upper field and I need to create a gravel shed pad. What would be the best tool for the tractor to be able to achieve this?

my tractor has a FEL, hoe with thumb and 3PH. Thanks in advance.

sean

 

[Bmyers]

Two attachments that come to mind is a box blade and land plane.

The box blade is a great tool for moving dirt, rock, etc. and would most likely be used to create your driveway. It can be used to maintain driveways also, just takes a little practice.

The land plane is a great tool for maintaining a gravel driveway and simple to use. Yet, is doesn't move the same amount of material that a box blade does.

Based on my understanding of your needs, I believe a box blade would be the multipurpose tool that you are looking for.

 

[NCL4701]

So far as I know, (other than the loader) you have three implements in the “gravel road/grading” category:

1) Box blade: By adjusting the three point you can slope or crown, create ditches and turnouts, pull gravel from the side of the road back toward the center, fill potholes, cut out and repair wash. The blade itself can cut or smooth depending on how you set the top link on the tractor. If you have hard packed roadbed, new ground with roots, old asphalt, or anything else the blade isn’t cutting adequately, drop the rippers. VERY versatile tool for what you describe. Takes a little practice to get good with it. By a little, I do mean a little. You can achieve good results pretty quickly and you don’t need to sit at the feet of a master to do it.

2) Land plane: a cousin of the box blade. Good at conditioning and maintaining existing gravel/dirt roads. Levels, fills holes, etc. Also has rippers if road is uncooperative. Takes less skill than box blade. Is arguably fastest option for maintaining a dirt road in relatively decent condition as you can travel 5 to 7 mph and get good results pretty much immediately. Not exactly ideal for anything other than maintaining an existing road.

3) Back blade: No rippers. If it doesn’t dig in, it just doesn’t. Works great for windrowing material (moving it side to side). The box blade and land plane both have depth control. A backblade doesn’t. Backblade is very versatile but it also takes the most skill to use.

I have used, and still use, box blade and a back blade. Use the box blade for most things. Backblade used to pull gravel from ditches back to road once a year and the rare snow plowing.

My vote is get a box blade.

 

[jimh406]

I went with a land plane also known as grader/scraper in Land Pride terminology. I’ve used mine to level part of my yard as well, so there are other things it can do. True that it won’t move as much dirt at once, but that also means it needs less HP to use. You’ll probably leave the scarifiers off most of the time if you do dirt work. Debris will collect on the scarifiers otherwise even if they aren’t down.

In your case, I don’t think pulling more dirt/glavel would be an advantage. When you are putting gravel down, just make sure not to make big humps in the first place. You can easily use the combination of loader and grader/scraper to build your pad.

My driveway needed some TLC, and my road to my large shed did as well. They were done by two different companies and were slightly difference in condition and gravel. My grader/scraper cleaned them completely up in a few passes. Since the blades are angled toward the left, it moves material easily to the center by simply driving.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Have always used a big, heavy, old 'back blade' for driveway/parking lot creation and maintaining. It's what I got 20 years ago, still use it today.
The 'land plane' sounds like the better choice but I have a question. Can you set it for say 'dig 4" off' and it auto adjusts the height, or does it follow the land contour ? The BX23s 3PH is a 'fixed height' system, doesn't 'auto adjust'. Probably some term for that but when I plow with the D-14 ,it'll auto adjust ,so that the furrows are flat and level.

I don't know your driveway size or needed pad, but it might be cheaper to have a dozer come in, remove the overburden, level the driveway, etc. After that ,the BX23S can easily maintain the road and pad.
was taught to make driveways twice as wide as the blade. keeps Mother Nature away from the cars....

 

[Elliott in GA]

As some of the others have indicated, all you NEED is a Box Blade and many, many tons of crusher gravel. I flattened/leveled/covered with crusher a 35 x 35 site for a pavilion style metal shed, dressed my driveway with crusher and one other small job - all with the FEL and a box blade - and about 40 tons of crusher.

FWIW, I paid $450 per truck load (18 tons) for the crusher; I have 10+ tons of crusher left. I plan to cover some extra areas at the driveway's entrance to make operating the gate easier.

 

[Creature Meadow]

Few years ago I needed to level an old chicken pen area about 100x100, I used my land plane. The area had holes, some grass, roots, etc.

I put the rippers down to start with to break up the ground and rip up the grass. I allowed it to dry then took back pack blower and removed as much grass as possible. Used 4 wheeler to drag chain link fence over it to break up clogs. Repeated process until the grass was mostly gone.

After grass, roots were removed I raised up the rippers and leveled the ground.

One key point to know about the land plane is it works great for areas with no leaves and pine straw on the surface of the road. You will need to blow off any debris before resurfacing a area. If not the debris will prevent the material from flowing through the land plane and feathering out the back side.

Best of luck.

Jay

 

[ctfjr]

I also have a gravel driveway and the above posters gave me the same advice. The driveway has a significant elevation drop and suffered from ruts created by heavy rains.
I used the box blade to move material so I had a pitch to one side. The rain will run off the side now, not straight down the fall line. I then used the back blade to clean things up and help move some (now loose) material. Worked out great for me.

 

[NCL4701]

Couple of things I’d add about the box blade if you go that route. My initial tendency was to go slow because I didn’t know what I was doing. The one piece of really good advice I got was do not go slow. Getting good results has a lot to do with material flow. Speed (like 3 to 5mph) is a good thing.

Other thing is if you have a hump or pile in an otherwise reasonably level area, back into it to spread it out. Hard to level out a hump or pile if your running over it forward causing the tractor to buck up and down.

 

[pokey1416]

Yep I agree you need 2 attachments box blade to build it and land plane to maintain it!

 

[Fishingfoolemjak]

Thank you everyone for the great information! I’ll be looking into the box blade. I have a back blade from my old tractor so I can use it too. Thanks again!!!

 

[Buffalo]

Just to be contrary, I have had good luck using a landscape rake turned
backwards. It is not very agressive at all. I also use it for snow removal.

Using the landscape rake turned backwards for several years has resulted
in the gravel putting a sharp point on the tines of the rake. I haven't figured out if that is useful or not.

I also use a box blade to dress up the gravel road, and frankly if I only had
one tool, I would prefer the box blade. It can be a little tricky to set the top link, but it is really a versatile tool.

 

[Russell King]

I think I have asked for information about this before and not gotten any information back. What does your “gravel drive” have on it to be called that in your part of the country?

I see the pictures that CTFJR posted and in Texas that is a dirt road with some native stones or gravel mixed in. In my part of Central Texas there is mostly limestone rocks and dirt as the native soil, it is somewhat up and down hills with sudden drenching rains and long periods of dry. So erosion and dust are problematic. The dirt and limestone mix ends up a mess if not “fixed”.

I learned to call them dirt roads if it was just where you drive on the native soil enough to call it a “road”. In my younger years I spent time digging out a dirt called caliche which is not really much dirt but a lot of calcium that leached into the soil. It was what we had and used but it got potholes, was slick when wet and dusty when dry.. But we still called it a “dirt road”. There was no loose stones involved of any significant amount.

Then someone invented “road base” and it was used under the paved roads. It has been extensively used for un paved driveways also. It is a mixture of clay, crushed limestone 3/4 and less stone and limestone tailing to dust. It generally holds up well but has no loose material on top.

Both of the above roads will allow plants to grow when there is not enough tire traffic and are difficult to move any material because they become hard through chemical reactions in the limestone. You generally end up with two tire tracks with weeds growing in the middle and on the shoulders.

There is also granite in the area and some of it is “decomposed” and some is crushed into gravel. The decomposed is a mixture of what has been weathered off the granite for centuries. It has small sharp stones and clay and sand and some people use it for driveways and parking lots. The crushe is generally clean and I have not seen it used on drives probably due to cost. The decomposed granite is also generally a mess of weeds but is loose enough that you can grade or drag it around. It also erodes easy since it has no larger gravel to hold it together. I might call this a gravel road.

Now specifically on my drive there was a short section of road base and then the builder put in a temporary road using excess foundation material. That is similar to roadbase but without the larger stones. I have started to add 3/4 crushed gravel over the top of the road to raise it above grade. This is angular stone that lock in place but can be moved with a blade or drag harrow. I would call this a gravel road now.

What is a dirt road and what is a gravel road in your area of the country or world?

 

[TomRC]

Box blade is my new best friend. Used mine on my b2601 for the first time this past weekend on my gravel driveway which is about 250 yds long. Did an amazing job of filling in ruts and smoothed it out nicely as well.

 

[Elliott in GA]

I think I have asked for information about this before and not gotten any information back. What does your “gravel drive” have on it to be called that in your part of the country?

I see the pictures that CTFJR posted and in Texas that is a dirt road with some native stones or gravel mixed in. In my part of Central Texas there is mostly limestone rocks and dirt as the native soil, it is somewhat up and down hills with sudden drenching rains and long periods of dry. So erosion and dust are problematic. The dirt and limestone mix ends up a mess if not “fixed”.

I learned to call them dirt roads if it was just where you drive on the native soil enough to call it a “road”. In my younger years I spent time digging out a dirt called caliche which is not really much dirt but a lot of calcium that leached into the soil. It was what we had and used but it got potholes, was slick when wet and dusty when dry.. But we still called it a “dirt road”. There was no loose stones involved of any significant amount.

Then someone invented “road base” and it was used under the paved roads. It has been extensively used for un paved driveways also. It is a mixture of clay, crushed limestone 3/4 and less stone and limestone tailing to dust. It generally holds up well but has no loose material on top.

Both of the above roads will allow plants to grow when there is not enough tire traffic and are difficult to move any material because they become hard through chemical reactions in the limestone. You generally end up with two tire tracks with weeds growing in the middle and on the shoulders.

There is also granite in the area and some of it is “decomposed” and some is crushed into gravel. The decomposed is a mixture of what has been weathered off the granite for centuries. It has small sharp stones and clay and sand and some people use it for driveways and parking lots. The crushe is generally clean and I have not seen it used on drives probably due to cost. The decomposed granite is also generally a mess of weeds but is loose enough that you can grade or drag it around. It also erodes easy since it has no larger gravel to hold it together. I might call this a gravel road.

Now specifically on my drive there was a short section of road base and then the builder put in a temporary road using excess foundation material. That is similar to roadbase but without the larger stones. I have started to add 3/4 crushed gravel over the top of the road to raise it above grade. This is angular stone that lock in place but can be moved with a blade or drag harrow. I would call this a gravel road now.

What is a dirt road and what is a gravel road in your area of the country or world?

Crusher, Crusher Run, Crusher Gravel and other names - they all refer to a mixture of gravel and sand-like dust. It is very stable, and it resists erosion well.

Quarry process stone—also known as crusher run—is another good option for the top level of a driveway or walkway. Composed of a blend of smaller crushed stone and stone dust, crusher run typically includes a higher percentage of stone dust fines.

It is usually put on top of packed gravel or dirt to form a gravel driveway or road.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

With any gravel road, you need to maintain it ! Simply drag a heavy steel bar with chains attached, a few passes every other week, will keep it in great shape. Also drive 'off the path', a little to the right or left as most people always drive 'down the center'. THAT is what causes a lot of the problems.

 

[TomRC]

I need to top off my driveway and am uncertain what to use. New construction, pretty good gravel base but construction trucks, concrete trucks left some issues. I've had some say use crusher run, others #57 or #5? Not sure which to get.

 

[NCL4701]

Just for a visual, this is ABC road base. That ain’t a dirt road. It’s an unfinished gravel road under construction. Granite 3” to dust and everything in between. Binds into a very solid base. I’m sure there are similar of other materials in other areas depending on what’s available. Had to have some rock and some fines for binder. After putting that down, drove on it for a while to pack it. After a couple weeks my wife mentioned it gets slick when wet and she’d been sliding around on it, so it was immediately determined it was ready for top dressing.

This is the same section of road after application of #57 3/4” washed gravel. That’s a gravel road. Graded dirt plus road base graded a bit more plus washed gravel.

This is a dirt road. It’s dirt. Period. Ain’t never seen a rock on it. Dirt.

Boxblade is good with making and maintaining all of them. Backblade has its place, too. Land plane may be great. Don’t know.

Last pic is the same gravel road before reshaping with the box blade. W shape with water running down wheel tracks. More pronounced in some other areas but can see it there. Box blade put the crown back on it.

 

[TomRC]

Thanks, #57 seems to be the best way to go.

 

[Fishingfoolemjak]

I live in the mountains of western NC. My driveway is gravel (rocks) and has grass taking over part of it. The driveway I want to add is on a sloped section of my upper field and is currently just grass but my subsoil is basically clay/dirt mixed with A LOT of baseball sized rocks.