I have a box blade, and very little experience, but quickly learned how to maintain my gravel drive with it and it does a very nice job. For general maintenance, basically getting all grass and weeds out and keeping a nice flat drive, I do not use the rippers.
I have simply made a number of passes with the 3pt on float position, starting with no angle on middle of drive, and then adjusting in a bit of angle to do the edges to maintain the crown. My caliche drive is about 125 yards long and I can make it look freshly laid with about 30 minutes of work.
Will add that when the contractor built the drive he used a landplane after the trucks had dumped the gravel and it was pretty slick, but I don't feel it would add enough value for me to purchase one for myself.