I agree, a land plane pays for itself by not needing to keep buying gravel!
My driveway
https://rumble.com/v6utmg1-land-plane-in-action.html
My driveway
https://rumble.com/v6utmg1-land-plane-in-action.html
Need advice on gravel driveway repair
- Thread starter Squirrely Baker
- Start date
Blue2Orange
Active member
Equipment
BX2380 with LA344S & QH05. SB1051. SG0554. BB1248. RB0560, Vassar dirt bucket
Just added another 80 tons (bit short of 80 cubic yards) of what we call 3/4" blue rock gravel. ~2 inch depth x 10ft wide coverage over ~800 linear feet. Unlike the mix of #1 & #2 gravel the previous layer of blue rock does not develop gullies after heavy rainfall requiring maintenance after every heavy rainfall on my relatively steeply pitched driveways. Average grade is ~6%. Bit too much of a crown left on the driveway after the previous (2018) application of blue rock. No need for a significant crown with blue rock.
New to box blade operation. Thanks to the people here for hints and advice. What worked for me was tilting the box upwards so the the rear push blade became a dragging reverse blade while driving forwards. Still required fine 3pt ride height adjustments to deal with the transitions and high/low points. First few runs just down the middle cutting the crown and reattributing the gravel to the sides. Image is the mid section of the between couple ~90 degree curves of the driveway after our last monsoon rainfall. The new norm. Drought or monsoon. No need to fire up Kubota.
New to box blade operation. Thanks to the people here for hints and advice. What worked for me was tilting the box upwards so the the rear push blade became a dragging reverse blade while driving forwards. Still required fine 3pt ride height adjustments to deal with the transitions and high/low points. First few runs just down the middle cutting the crown and reattributing the gravel to the sides. Image is the mid section of the between couple ~90 degree curves of the driveway after our last monsoon rainfall. The new norm. Drought or monsoon. No need to fire up Kubota.
Blue2Orange
Active member
Equipment
BX2380 with LA344S & QH05. SB1051. SG0554. BB1248. RB0560, Vassar dirt bucket
Forgot to mention. After using the FEL and Vassar dirt bucket to haul gravel to low areas and ease the transition between steep and flat I still needed to load up the bucket when using the box blade. With it tilted upwards you don't move a lot of gravel from the pile to where you need it.
Lots of good advice above.
I have used both a box blade as well as a land plane for maintenance on my roughly thousand foot gravel driveway. For maintenance purposes, the landplane is definitely the better tool. Before I purchased that, I did use my box blade, which can definitely do the job. One point you might consider is getting or fabricating a hydraulic toplink if that’s a possibility for you. I guarantee you this makes for a faster learning curve and would save you a bunch of time doing the job given frequent fine adjustment that was required when I was using the box blade. The landplane that I utilized now requires very little in the way of adjustment on the fly, once you have it set.
When I was using my box blade on the initial runs down my gravel drive I did put the scarifiers down, but only about an inch or so which does help loosen the very top layer of small size gravel on my initial runs. Thereafter, after several runs to loosen the very top layer, I would move them out of the way and not utilize them for my final runs.
I have used both a box blade as well as a land plane for maintenance on my roughly thousand foot gravel driveway. For maintenance purposes, the landplane is definitely the better tool. Before I purchased that, I did use my box blade, which can definitely do the job. One point you might consider is getting or fabricating a hydraulic toplink if that’s a possibility for you. I guarantee you this makes for a faster learning curve and would save you a bunch of time doing the job given frequent fine adjustment that was required when I was using the box blade. The landplane that I utilized now requires very little in the way of adjustment on the fly, once you have it set.
When I was using my box blade on the initial runs down my gravel drive I did put the scarifiers down, but only about an inch or so which does help loosen the very top layer of small size gravel on my initial runs. Thereafter, after several runs to loosen the very top layer, I would move them out of the way and not utilize them for my final runs.
Blue2Orange
Active member
Equipment
BX2380 with LA344S & QH05. SB1051. SG0554. BB1248. RB0560, Vassar dirt bucket
LandPride GS1548 is on the wish list. Was considering the GS0560 or 48, but the scraper blades height is not adjustable and look to be set relatively low. Wondering if the blades on the 0548 would float enough on a harder gravel surface so they don't dig in too deep. The blue rock gravel packs down harder than normal gravel. Almost like an asphalt surface that drains. Hard to see tire marks from my full size pickup. Land plane just needed for smoothing and dealing with my sometimes ops moments snowplowing.
Blue2Orange
Active member
Equipment
BX2380 with LA344S & QH05. SB1051. SG0554. BB1248. RB0560, Vassar dirt bucket
Couple days ago. Driving down and then back up after a hard rainfall the tire impressions are visible. With the #2 grade gravel of the past the driveway would have had washouts and deep tire ruts.
If I may add something, check under the stone first, reason being, they may spread geo cloth before dropping stone. And it they did dont use the rippers,,, dont ask! Just blade it out with the rippers pulled up. Hooking the geo cloth will get,,,,, interesting. Main thing is to have fun
Blue2Orange
Active member
Equipment
BX2380 with LA344S & QH05. SB1051. SG0554. BB1248. RB0560, Vassar dirt bucket
My old local trucking/gravel company shut down a few years ago. This time I went direct with the rock quarry company. They only have two 20yd dump trucks and are located 45miles away. The driver knowing I just need a ~2" "top coating" started at the top and was able to stretch the loads relatively evenly along the driveway. He also started one of the loads right above what was a severe transition from slightly up to steep. That fill in the transition ended up using 4-5 tons. Good driver makes life easy. Box grader worked nice distributing the hump of gravel into a more even transition. A few runs up and down knocked the crown down. Then it was just bucket loads of blue rock and grading with the box blade to deal with a few low spots.
No weed barrier fabric on the driveway. One reason why I lust for a land plane. When the few weeds that end up on the driveway annoy me the land plane might rip them off. Add the benefit of quicker and easier maintenance grading v. box blade.
No weed barrier fabric on the driveway. One reason why I lust for a land plane. When the few weeds that end up on the driveway annoy me the land plane might rip them off. Add the benefit of quicker and easier maintenance grading v. box blade.