Land plane or box blade with scarifiers for an icy gravel driveway?

[D.jFarm78]

I have used a land scape take with gauge wheels disconnect the top link and do our driveway it brakes up the ice and helps it melt with the gravel underneath it rolls it around then the driveway dries out quicker

 

[DaveFromMi]

Are cinders from a coal power plant available? The county highway departments use cinders on hills around here.

 

[Vigo]

Glad someone else mentioned it so it’s not pure conjecture from a South Texan… but i kinda figured a landscape rake with perhaps some weight on top would do a good job adding some texture to ice. Probably extend the top link all the way to make the tines more bitey.

If you want to try scarifiers, just run them facing backwards. Ive done that on my box blade for a totally different reason, but it might make them marginally useful for this situation too. If you got a box blade and not a landscape rake id try it just to see.

 

[D2Cat]

We probably don't has as much area, ice, or freezing temperatures but this is how I solve the problem.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I get the same thing here.
I've tried just about everything.
Spike tooth harrow
Spring tooth harrow
Scarifies
Teeth on the several buckets
Sand, I even have my own sand source, that was the pits.

All of them did squat!

A vibrating spiked roller is my next best thought.
Little pricey, but might do the trick.

Right now I just do doughnuts up and down the hills in the Bobcat with spiked chains.
It does the trick, but boy does one get dizzy doing that!

I don't use salt, too many pups running around.
I use fertilizer, melts better than salt, and no foliage or grass damage.
Also no harm to the wildlife
Yea it costs a little more but worth it.

 

[motionclone]

I dont know why everyone has to try and re-invent the wheel . If you want to know how to most effectively and efficiently solve this problem, look at what the PROS do to solve it. In my area, a frozen gravel driveway would get salt/sand mix so the sand bites into the ice a little. In Ops area the ingredients might be a little different but thats what we do in New England

If you had a paved driveway, you put straight salt on it to melt the ice and create brine that melts the ice even further, then scrape the slush away. This is what happens to commercial properties to remove the ice.

Ive been plowing and sanding for 30 years in northern New England (Maine)
When a plow customer would refuse ice control methods and the driveway was icy, they got fired because it becomes dangerous for everyone, even the mailman and garbage man, potentially EMS and Fire crews.

Even if you could scratch up the surface of the ice with some equipment, it could just melt a little the next day fill in those scratches and be a skate rink again.

 

[Vigo]

A vibrating spiked roller is my next best thought.

So again, im in South Texas and i barey know what this “ice” stuff even is but since people are already used to buying expensive gas engine powered machines for snow/ice issues anyway.. how do you think one of those plate compactor/tamper things would do, with a spiked bottom? Could probably make a ‘spiked tray’, just get the tamper sitting in it, and then go around beating up ice into powder. I bet all the places that rent those things dont rent one all winter.. but if this spike tray thing works out it might be a whole new industry!

I also really like the idea of one of those tricycle street sweeper rigs converted to a chain flail.

 

[mcmxi]

We probably don't has as much area, ice, or freezing temperatures but this is how I solve the problem.

That's cool!

 

[mcmxi]

I dont know why everyone has to try and re-invent the wheel . If you want to know how to most effectively and efficiently solve this problem, look at what the PROS do to solve it. In my area, a frozen gravel driveway would get salt/sand mix so the sand bites into the ice a little. In Ops area the ingredients might be a little different but thats what we do in New England

If you had a paved driveway, you put straight salt on it to melt the ice and create brine that melts the ice even further, then scrape the slush away. This is what happens to commercial properties to remove the ice.

Ive been plowing and sanding for 30 years in northern New England (Maine)
When a plow customer would refuse ice control methods and the driveway was icy, they got fired because it becomes dangerous for everyone, even the mailman and garbage man, potentially EMS and Fire crews.

Even if you could scratch up the surface of the ice with some equipment, it could just melt a little the next day fill in those scratches and be a skate rink again.

Thanks for another one-size-fits-all solution. The "pros" are out to make money so how they do things isn't necessarily (or ever) the best way to do anything. They do what's expedient and profitable with no thought given to any other aspect of the process. I don't need to make money breaking up ice on my driveway, I just need a system that doesn't involve salt that works. Who cares if I have to do it every day for a week. I certainly don't. I have to move snow everyday if necessary so it's just part of winter living.

Thanks for the all the replies that are based on independent thought and actual experience.

 

[mcmxi]

I get the same thing here.
I've tried just about everything.
Spike tooth harrow
Spring tooth harrow
Scarifies
Teeth on the several buckets
Sand, I even have my own sand source, that was the pits.

All of them did squat!

A vibrating spiked roller is my next best thought.
Little pricey, but might do the trick.

Right now I just do doughnuts up and down the hills in the Bobcat with spiked chains.
It does the trick, but boy does one get dizzy doing that!

I don't use salt, too many pups running around.
I use fertilizer, melts better than salt, and no foliage or grass damage.
Also no harm to the wildlife
Yea it costs a little more but worth it.

Maybe for next year I can figure out something that involves the LMTV. At 16,000lb it could do some damage. Maybe buy some seriously long screw in studs and turn the worst tires into ice breakers.

 

[motionclone]

The "pros" are out to make money so how they do things isn't necessarily (or ever) the best way to do anything. They do what's expedient and profitable with no thought given to any other aspect of the process.

LOL ok that makes a bunch of sense.

Anyway, What about the other people that have to come down your driveway like EMS, Fire Department, UPS , Fedex, Mailman, Electrician, plumber, cable guy, family, the list goes on. Hope they have a tractor with spikes on?

 

[RCW]

Sounds like sanding is a non-starter, and 200 yards is a LOT to sand anyway....

My driveway is tiny in comparison.

I can often get 2-4" of packed "base." Turns to ice when rained on, as happened here lately.

Salt is totally useless on my drive. Just makes tiny holes in the ice - nothing more.

I only offer for what it's worth - used wood stove ashes exclusively for years. Use sand now, as wood stove was replaced with pellets.

We are sunny and 40+F today.

Last night I threw down ashes from my pellet stove on the short grade down to road, and driveway apron.

Although very fine, they're dark in color and do wonders on a sunny day.....even if it's just really icy spots. Roughs up the slick surface without harming the base.

Sometimes, it's not the grit as much as a dark color to make it less-slick. I envy the folks with blacktop driveways sometimes.....neighbors' drives are bare...

Looks like a 7-day thaw coming, so may be a non-issue for me in a few days.

 

[Biker1mike]

LOL ok that makes a bunch of sense.

Anyway, What about the other people that have to come down your driveway like EMS, Fire Department, UPS , Fedex, Mailman, Electrician, plumber, cable guy, family, the list goes on. Hope they have a tractor with spikes on?

I agree. As an ex volly emt/firefighter, we will get to you but it will take much longer. When minutes count you really like a clear path.

My fuel oil company sent out a letter stating that the delivery driver's will not deliver fuel oil if the driveway is too icy for the truck or the driver. If you can not clear the ice, the company will arrange for a local plow company to come and clear it for you. Cost to be paid upfront.

My pet peeve. Self induced. Slip and fall on iced driveway. Surgery, 12 months therapy and one leg will never ever be 100%. I put down a lot of Calcium Chloride now. Better to kill the grass than die of hypothermia at the end of the driveway waiting for the wife to notice you are not in the house.

So IMHO: Use salt and or sand/salt . Then break it up .

 

[motionclone]

I agree. As an ex volly emt/firefighter, we will get to you but it will take much longer. When minutes count you really like a clear path.

My fuel oil company sent out a letter stating that the delivery driver's will not deliver fuel oil if the driveway is too icy for the truck or the driver. If you can not clear the ice, the company will arrange for a local plow company to come and clear it for you. Cost to be paid upfront.

My pet peeve. Self induced. Slip and fall on iced driveway. Surgery, 12 months therapy and one leg will never ever be 100%. I put down a lot of Calcium Chloride now. Better to kill the grass than die of hypothermia at the end of the driveway waiting for the wife to notice you are not in the house.

So IMHO: Use salt and or sand/salt . Then break it up .

I actually had a customer refuse sand once to save $30 even though it was 100% dangerous to even try to plow. When i went past his house at the end of my plow route, Ambulance was there. He had slipped, fell and broke something, couldnt walk and was at the end of his driveway bringing out trash cans. He had his phone luckily.

 

[ve9aa]

I have about 2" of ice on my driveway right now....I REJOICED ! Now it means I won't chuck rocks with the blower later on (It's snowing)!

If I was on a hill with turns, I'd use a sand/salt mix. I doubt any kind of implements are gonna make much of a dent, (I certainly wouldn't be trying to get rid of it all) but then again everyone's situation is different.

Wouldn't it be a boring winter to talk about snow removal if we were all, say, from Key West , Florida?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

We get snow and ice in October / November and very commonly what falls then is still on the ground in march.
We don't melt off over the winter like most.
We live in the mountains, winters are hard!
Temps very rarely get above freezing and when they do it just enough to make ice, the ground under the roads are frozen down 2+ feet, so thawing just doesn't happen till spring.

We also get snow just about every day, so it can be a battle.

MCMXI,
Yes your LMTV with a set of spiked chains or a set of tires with heavy studs, ( I use Tapcon concrete screws) would help you out tremendously!

 

[mcmxi]

MCMXI,
Yes your LMTV with a set of spiked chains or a set of tires with heavy studs, ( I use Tapcon concrete screws) would help you out tremendously!

I'll look into spiked chains for sure which would be the simplest option. Swapping out wheels on the LMTV each year would be a fair amount of work. I have some screw in studs that I used on the BX25 so might repurpose those and add more if I end up studding some older tires. I plan on buying new tires in 2023 so will have four or five checked tires that would make good hosts for studs. I have seven wheels so if I bought one more wheel I could have a set of studded tires for winter use.

My neighbor just called a snow removal contractor who'll come out and grit/sand the driveway.

 

[mcmxi]

Here are some photos of the driveway taken today.

Heading down.

Heading up.

 

[mcmxi]

Also, this is how the county deals with ice on the gravel road below my house. They score it with a grader.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I'm surprised some 'smart alec' hasn't suggested under road electric heating cables,running 24/7.........
OK, I just did..... Actually the apartment I lived in from '67 to '83 had the concrete ramp to underground parking heated...worked quite well. Hate to think what the cost was though. I'd tidy up the outside lots in exchange for free parking.
a Millcreek spreader would do a great job of laying down sand and grit.