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

[North Idaho Wolfman]

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.

A lot of places up here have heated sidewalks, especially up on the mountain.

I'm doing a heated side walk and garage skirt / apron / approach.
It's relatively cheap for me to do it, and for me to run.
Slabs will all be on 2" of foam, wire mess with PEX pipes at 6" spread.

Our water table at the bottom of my hill is about 10 feet deep, will be using an EX this summer to dig a long wide trench and put 2 loops of HDLP pipe in the ground at about 16' up to a pump that will circulate propylene glycol around to the PEX pipe in the slabs.
The circulation pump running at 35f outside temp.
Ground and ground water temp are in the 50's

This kind of a system does not do very well at removing/ melting snow, but it will keep it from being an icy mess without the need of Ice melt.

This is also dual purpose as the ground loop will also serve as cooling for the house / garage / shop if needed over the summer.
Don't think we'll need the cooling as we stayed in the upper 60's indoors last summer even when temps hit the 100's outside.

 

[Vigo]

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

View attachment 93054

Well that’s it then. Need more weight/pressure on regular old scrape blade. Unless you’re saying that surface is still crap?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well that’s it then. Need more weight/pressure on regular old scrape blade. Unless you’re saying that surface is still crap?

That's not done with a regular grader blade it's done with a serrated blade.
or an Ice blade

https://www.blackcatwearparts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/507-Grader_Blades-V4.pdf

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Need one of these

with this blade!

 

[hedgerow]

In my area one inch crusher run lime stone is the common drive way material out in the country. I use my toothed bucket on my skid loader when we get ice build up on the driveway. When it gets real bad I get my heavy ROBO grapple out and use the teeth on it with the skid steer. I run one set of chains on it also and that helps. I always have a pile of one inch crusher run rock around to and will put some of it down if needed. Ice build up is no fun to deal with.

 

[Russell King]

Would a Harley rake do anything on the ice or would it just tear itself up?

 

[nbryan]

Our parking area covered with packed snow became solid smooth ice late last winter to where walking involved walking bent-kneed with my arms spread out and crab shuffling to cross it in one piece. The slightest slope spelled real danger.
Enough was enough, had to try something, so put the box blade scarifiers down about and inch and shortened the top link to gain a sharper attack angle and let 'er rip!! pun intended.
I crisscrossed 3 directions and ended up with a well roughed up lot that had decent footing traction. At least a rough groove every 6" at most. It also absorbed sunlight better and sped up late winter breakup.

 

[BAP]

A set of single diamond or double diamond studded chains on your tractor will do wonders for breaking up the smooth ice. Won’t make it disappear but will rough the surface up a lot and give you tremendous traction.

 

[Mountainhill]

I keep a load of 3/4 clear stone, spread with bucket. A pile of sand freezes like concrete.

 

[mcmxi]

That's not done with a regular grader blade it's done with a serrated blade.
or an Ice blade

https://www.blackcatwearparts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/507-Grader_Blades-V4.pdf

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Thanks for that information. I've never looked at a grader closely enough to see how they score the ice but now I have a better understanding.

 

[mcmxi]

I found some photos of the "ice comb" I made for the BX25D rear blade. The original photo is dated January 5th, 2019. It didn't work that well, possibly because the rear blade wasn't heavy enough.

 

[je1279]

I am happy to report that I have found the solution. Three days of 50 degree plus winter temperatures will remove the ice buildup from your driveway.

 

[mcmxi]

I am happy to report that I have found the solution. Three days of 50+ degree temperatures will remove the ice buildup on your driveway.

View attachment 93161

Nice! I had similar results on the south facing asphalt driveway after three days in the 40s. But the gravel driveway which is north facing is still a luge track!

 

[ridgerunner85]

Someone may have already mentioned this but….wouldn’t some 1a stone be the best alternative on your driveway?

 

[woodman55]

Ice Scraper - Thunderstruck Ag
I saw this on facebook. Thought it looked interesting.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Need one of these


View attachment 93094
with this blade!


View attachment 93093

Yes, there's nothing like a wee bit of overkill!

I have no doubt that machine cost more than my house!

 

[JoeBabbs]

I have a steep 300' gravel drive, with the house uphill. When it snows, I plow the snow downhill. When it gets icy, I use a box blade with scarifiers to break up the ice, running the tractor uphill. By loosening ice and mixing with gravel, I get good traction for driving. By dragging some gravel uphill in the winter, I'm getting a head start on the annual maintenance a steep gravel drive always needs.

Angle of the box blade and depth of the scarifiers matters.