River Rock driveway and box blade

[JeremyBX2200]

Hi all ,
I have a U shaped driveway. The drive leading up to my attached garage is gravel. The drive leading up to the detached and the area connecting the two is river rock.

I used my box blade to reconditions etc the gravel portion and it worked great.

Have any of you used your box blade on a river rock drive? If so, how did it work? Same basic principles as a gravel drive?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Lencho]

Hi Jeremy, I may not understand the difference between the materials as described. Is the gravel rough edged? Like crushed stone?
River rock around here would be smooth but comes in lots of sizes from 6-8” down to pea gravel. Smooth rock in small sizes will blade just fine but it doesn’t pack well.
The grading method with the box blade is the same. Maybe spread the river rock thinner so it just packs onto the dirt below rather than itself.
Photos may help as well.

 

[jyoutz]

Grader blade turned around backwards would be ideal for that application.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

River rock, vibrating roller!

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Hi Jeremy, I may not understand the difference between the materials as described. Is the gravel rough edged? Like crushed stone?
River rock around here would be smooth but comes in lots of sizes from 6-8” down to pea gravel. Smooth rock in small sizes will blade just fine but it doesn’t pack well.
The grading method with the box blade is the same. Maybe spread the river rock thinner so it just packs onto the dirt below rather than itself.
Photos may help as well.

Here are a few pics. They aren’t the greatest but can give you an idea.

You can see the river rock I am talking about in this one.

The gravel part leading up to the attached garage that I redid with the box blade.

Here is an old Google pic showing the U shape I was talking about. When I moved in a couple years ago the only drive that was still there was the one to the attached garage. I re-did the rest of the U with river rock. Not the best kind of stone for a drive, but I got it all for free.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Grader blade turned around backwards would be ideal for that application.

River rock, vibrating roller!

Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, I don't have either of those implements. Just a box blade.

I was gonna follow the same thing I did with the gravel part of the drive. A few passes with the scarifs down to loosen it all up and the use a combo of the box and FEL to drag it all level again.

Just didn't didn't know if there was a different/easier way to do it since the River Rock is a lot larger etc.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, I don't have either of those implements. Just a box blade.

I was gonna follow the same thing I did with the gravel part of the drive. A few passes with the scarifs down to loosen it all up and the use a combo of the box and FEL to drag it all level again.

Just didn't didn't know if there was a different/easier way to do it since the River Rock is a lot larger etc.

Box blades are great for building roads and leveling dirt. Grade blades work far better for road maintenance. Why would you want to loosen up a compacted road with scarifiers? You just want to pull the loose gravel from the edges back onto the crown.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Box blades are great for building roads and leveling dirt. Grade blades work far better for road maintenance. Why would you want to loosen up a compacted road with scarifiers? You just want to pull the loose gravel from the edges back onto the crown.

For the gravel portion it needed to be loosened up to drag it over holes/lowspots and smooth it out. No loose gravel on the edges.

 

[Lencho]

For the gravel portion it needed to be loosened up to drag it over holes/lowspots and smooth it out. No loose gravel on the edges.

Good photos. It looks like you need more rock.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Good photos. It looks like you need more rock.

Yes I do. I was about to have a load of gravel brought in when I got a call from the same guy I got the other rock from. His brother-in-law wants to get rid of all the rock in his landscaping. It is mine for free if I come get it.

So I should have quite a bit more to add in the next few weeks.

 

[dirtydeed]

Jeremy, I feel your pain.

I too have a long section of river rock "road" that winds thru my woods. I've been grading that for 5 years with a box blade, rear blade and landscape rake. To this day, I'm not really sure that I could tell you what works best.

At the very least, you can easily loosen them with the box blade/rippers but only of you go slow enough. Otherwise, you just bounce across the marbles. After they are loose, a rear blade (in reverse as others mentioned above) seems to work. If not, the bottom of the loader bucket works well for smoothing them out.

I'm so looking forward to getting several loads of free millings to be done with the marble road from hell.

Best of luck to you.

 

[PAshooter]

I have used my box blade for smaller river rock. works great and lets me carry surplus of material to fill in low spots and maintain even grade. Larger 2"-3" gave me some trouble more drag than grade had to switch to York rake.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I've been trying for 3 months to get rid of 2-3 tandem loads of 'crusher run' for a neighbour. Stuff's been sitting for 3 decades, hard as concrete ! funny thing, is that once you break it up a bit, it crumbles...put elsewhere, then drive over 4-5 times, it's once again hard as concrete ! Magical ...
Even using just ONE tooth of the BH, it's too much of a stress on the BX23S. Need to come up with a 'plan b'.

 

[ctfjr]

I've had good luck with extending the top link for my box blade so the trailing blade smooths out material without moving it around much.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Don't loosen the river rock with teeth, just top with minus then drag that to level.

 

[jyoutz]

Jeremy, I feel your pain.

I too have a long section of river rock "road" that winds thru my woods. I've been grading that for 5 years with a box blade, rear blade and landscape rake. To this day, I'm not really sure that I could tell you what works best.

At the very least, you can easily loosen them with the box blade/rippers but only of you go slow enough. Otherwise, you just bounce across the marbles. After they are loose, a rear blade (in reverse as others mentioned above) seems to work. If not, the bottom of the loader bucket works well for smoothing them out.

I'm so looking forward to getting several loads of free millings to be done with the marble road from hell.

Best of luck to you.

Don't loosen the river rock with teeth, just top with minus then drag that to level.

That is the best solution. Never mess with a hard surface on a gravel road. It’s compacted and that’s what you want for road stability. Adding finer gravel to top the larger rock will make for easier maintenance.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Went over the driveway with the box blade before starting to bring in more rock. Worked best without the teeth down.

I did a small area with the teeth down just to see what would happen. Tears up too much dirt and can almost bury some rocks.

Thanks for the assistance.