Gravel Driveway - Box Scraper

[Bevan175]

Hello Group

First spring at the new place and I'm itching to get the box scraper behind the B2650 and groom my 1300' long gravel driveway.

My question to the group is WHEN? Currently it is flip flopping between freeze and melt. I'm right across from Detroit Michigan. Some of the packed sections have water sitting, I have pot holes that need love. Can I get to it now or wait until things dry out a bit . Or dry our completely.

 

[PHPaul]

Wait until the frost is well and truly out and the mud has pretty much dried up. If you break up the top layer now, the driveway will turn to soup. BTDT.

If it's REALLY rough, you can lightly scrape the top with the box tipped well back to help smooth it, but don't try to do any cut-and-fill.

 

[nickelplated5s]

You can do it now or wait. You'll also find yourself dressing it more than you originally thought. I do at least.

 

[Creature Meadow]

I have about 3/4 mile of grave driveway and parking areas also. I find it much easier to wait for it to dry out, I use a road scraper though and I find it easier for the rock to flow through and feather out when dry.

 

[Sammy3700]

You might want to look at a land plane. I bought one after it was recommended by others on here and I love it. Works great in rock drives or dirt. There are several videos on you tube about them I know this is not what you ask but just wanted to share this since I found it here.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I'm about 100 miles from you, don't touch your drive for a couple of weeks! If not longer! We aren't even well into the mud season yet.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hello Group

First spring at the new place and I'm itching to get the box scraper behind the B2650 and groom my 1300' long gravel driveway.

My question to the group is WHEN? Currently it is flip flopping between freeze and melt. I'm right across from Detroit Michigan. Some of the packed sections have water sitting, I have pot holes that need love. Can I get to it now or wait until things dry out a bit . Or dry our completely.

For a driveway as long as yours, you may want to consider one of these. It will cut your maintenance time in half from a box blade.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I'm about 100 miles from you, don't touch your drive for a couple of weeks! If not longer! We aren't even well into the mud season yet.

Should have sent me that message, I tried to level out our drive and ended up with a huge mess!
Doesn't look like the wife's car will be leaving anytime soon, luckily I did manage to mud bog the truck out and park it on the high and dry spot, so she can take that to work.

 

[Creature Meadow]

As I stated in previous I like to work my roads when dry also here is my go to attachment for doing so.

 

[Bevan175]

Thanks group, Will be waiting a bit...

 

[johnjk]

I have the same issue down here in OH. As I wait for it to dry, I've just been using a rake to pull the gravel back in to the holes. I was itching last night with the sun being out later to go and hit it with the box blade.

I do have some rock on hold to be delivered. Looking at around 25 ton and hope that give me a top dressing of 2 or 3 inches. My driveway is a bit shorter at 1100' with a turn around. They will tail gate the stone so in theory I should not have much movement to do except for the load they dump up by the house. The last thing I want is to get loaded trucks on a muddy driveway and really cause a mess

 

[winesalot]

As I stated in previous I like to work my roads when dry also here is my go to attachment for doing so.

A couple of jobs ago I was responsible for 11 miles of 6' wide gravel walking trails. This is THE tool you want for gravel maintenance.

 

[prof.fate]

help me understand what you're doing with the gravel driveway..

I've only ever seen it top dressed...

So is the point here to 'till' the top 2" or so of driveway, sort of pullng the stones up to the top and 'shaking' the dirt down?

I never had the equipment to do anything..now i do..just no clue what I'm supposed to be doing

 

[Missouribound]

If your driveway has enough gravel now the land plane is a perfect tool to spread it around, fill the holes and resurface it. A box blade will work also but it can be a little more difficult to learn and operate.
That being said, a box blade will cost about 1/2 what a land plane would.
It's up to you whether you want to spend the money or take the time to learn how to operate it properly. Before I bought my tractor and implements I had our driveway redone with a couple of loads of stone. The guy who did it just had an old tractor and a box blade, nothing else. In a matter of a few hours it was perfect in every way.

 

[RCW]

A box blade will work also but it can be a little more difficult to learn and operate.

That being said, a box blade will cost about 1/2 what a land plane would.

Missouri said everything well.

As far as operating a BB, the trick is learning how to operate the top link.

Shorter=more digging force on the front blade of the BB

Longer=less digging, but allows the back blade to smooth things out.

Also, a BB can be used forward or reverse. Just have to remember the aspect of the front/rear blades...

A aged stone driveway can/will look much different after a few passes by either implement, and smooth out/fill potholes, etc.

One benefit of a BB is it's capacity to dig, and also move material around. I re-graded my driveway solely with the BB, then I moved ~10 ton of stone with my BB in 30 minutes with my BB several years ago. There were 20 ton in the pile. Moved half with the bucket...just pulled the other half around with the BB....

 

[PHPaul]

This brings up a question about land planes.

It is important to build a little crown in your drive (center higher than sides, sloped both ways) for proper drainage. A perfectly flat drive will flood and pothole quickly.

With a box blade, I can adjust the 3PH arms (do wish I had top-and-tilt) and angle the blade to cut the sides a bit and then level it back out to spread the center.

Can you do that with a land plane?

 

[RCW]

Can you do that with a land plane?

Paul - don't have one, but I bet you can.

As you know, only takes a little adjustment to crown the driveway, so assume it would work fine with a LP.

In total, I've probably pulled around 20+ ton of stone with the BB in 18 months - man, that thing is handy!

Been using it for snow lately. We get a thaw, then snow on fresh/loose/bare stone. Works well over the blower shoes digging in.

 

[Lencho]

Hi John - I haven’t found it that hard to spread gravel with a box blade and FEL. I have read the advice of other members here and on TBN and love the versatility of the box blade. Plus you already have one - right?

Ps - What do you pay for 25 ton of rock in Ohio?

 

[Creature Meadow]

help me understand what you're doing with the gravel driveway..

I've only ever seen it top dressed...

So is the point here to 'till' the top 2" or so of driveway, sort of pullng the stones up to the top and 'shaking' the dirt down?

I never had the equipment to do anything..now i do..just no clue what I'm supposed to be doing

Hey profate. I am resurfacing mine filling in small holes and pulling the gravel back to the top.

Part of my drive had completely covered in grass and dirt over the years from not being driven on(my grandparents house now mine) so it needed a lot of work.

I drag mine with the land plane and then take my blower blow the dirt out of it back into the yard , it is mostly dust.

I went from having a grass dirt drive to the drive you see in the picture.

So now I drag mostly for resurfacing and making it look nice.

Recently I spent about 4 hours on it and a friend came over and ask how many tons of rock did it take to cover all this road and parking area? Told him zero just some seat time with the land plane.

About time to resurface now still little too wet, I will take some B and A pics next time.

Jay

 

[Stmar]

I thought I had it figured out by reversing my back blade so that it did not cut into the gravel when removing snow. But some gravel did get plowed to the sides, into the grass, and now I have to try and reclaim it when it dries a bit. It is my fault for doing too good a job of pushing the snow too far off the road and it took more gravel than I had anticipated, looks like a runway, lol. I used the front snow blade, no angle, and drug it back in float to get some of the gravel out of the grass. That did a fairly decent job. Anybody have any other ideas on how to recover some of the gravel with the equipment I have?
B2650, FEL, manual front snow blade, rear blade.