A more durable driveway

[Larry]

When we first bought our farm in north Missouri the drive had little gravel on it, no ditches, and brush came up to the drive on both sides.  Getting from the road in was a challenge even with 4-wd during spring.  I bought several hundred tons of gravel each year until I got it fixed the way I wanted.

First step I hired a dozer to clear the brush.  The dozer operator was afraid to cut in ditches cause the phone and water line were in there.  I dug the ditches with the tractor FEL...took most of one year a few hours every night.  Than bought several hundred ton of railroad ballast.  I loaded with my tractor and the neighbor hauled in a 6 ton surplus county dump truck.  Think we paid $1/ton and the road bed was only a mile away.

After pic and around the bend it was the same way.



With the improvements I still had to buy gravel, but it was more like 1 or 2 loads every three or four years.  The best part was the drive was solid enough year round to allow passage of anything from a 2-wd car to a larger truck.

[SwampDonkey]

Couldn't have had much snow to plow, or gravel was cheap. Several hundred ton? Good grief Charlie Brown. :D  I live in gravel country and it's more like $/yard³ not tons. ;D

[Al_Smith]

When they sold off a secton of abandoned rail all the scraper was concerned about is the rail and the ties .Most or a majority of the rail ,splice plates,wear plates went to South America,the ties to who ever .The ballast is just residue ,cash sale type stuff .A buck,buck and a quarter a ton was about the usual price .I got in on some of that at a buck and a quarter,loaded .I hauled it,7-8 tons a load ,1/2 mile .

They would try to get more which is human nature but only a few people ever paid the 3 bucks or so they started out with .Right place ,right time,cash talks ,BS walks . 8)

[SwampDonkey]

I'd be out watering it down before the sale. :D :D

[Al_Smith]

They actually just guessed at it .They only charged me 6 tons a load and I was probabley hauling 8 or 9 .4 yard bed wih a double set of 12" boards .Just a tad top heavy .1957 Ford F 600 with a whopping 145 HP  272 V8 .

It wasn't a big deal,the guy that bought it off the salvage company paid pennys for it .Like 12 miles with a double set of tracks .He probabley recooped his money the first mile . I'm sure it was a cash deal too .

Those jokers from the salvage company even had some new ties cut into inch and a half planks they sold for horse fences .Creosote treated oak, it would last forever .Another cash deal .

[pigman]

First step I hired a dozer to clear the brush.  The dozer operator was afraid to cut in ditches cause the phone and water line were in there. 

Dang Larry, I never let a little wire or water line stop my dozer. Those three inch water lines sure throw the water when hit with a dozer blade. :

[northwoods1]

Couldn't have had much snow to plow, or gravel was cheap. Several hundred ton? Good grief Charlie Brown. :D  I live in gravel country and it's more like $/yard³ not tons. ;D

A ton of gravel is less than a square yard. A tri-axle dump will hold about 18 yards or 50,000# of gravel. The asphalt grindings weigh a lot more close to 2 tons per cubic yard.

I have a friend that works for a paving company that does a lot of highway work and whenever he is working in my area he arranges to bring me loads of asphalt grindings for free. I finally had to tell him to quite because I ran out of places to put more of it. One thing I noticed with it is that you have to get it spread and leveled right away if it is hot out or it will begin to solidify in the pile and make it more difficult to work with. If you can compact it it makes a very nice solid drive.

Now I get to start on the road going in to my other property which is about 1600' long. Hope to get it at least ditched and graded with a nice crown this summer, that goes a long ways towards keeping it free of water and helping it dry out. The gravel will have to wait until I can afford it, or my friend happens to be working down in that area.

[Al_Smith]

I think they figure about a ton and half per yard on bank run gravel . I've bought a bunch of it over the years and never did got a weight slip, just the yardage .

[beenthere]

Ours is always by weight any more. When it was by the yard, it was just a guestimate. Now they still guess for the load, but weigh it for billing. The guy running the loader can't "add a little" extra for good measure.

[SwampDonkey]

Weight can be just as variable as yardage guestimate with water content in it. They know how much a bucket holds on a loader, so it's a little better than a guess. ;)

[barbender]

You would be hard pressed to get free asphalt millings up around here. I have in the past, but I work for a paving company. The company always tries to hold on to that material, it goes right back into new asphalt. Al Smith, where was it proven that asphalt with RAP in it has decreased longevity? I've never really seen anything suggesting that, I suppose if the RAP content was too high it could affect things. I've worked on jobs where our trucks dump a load of hot mix, go up the road and get loaded with millings, and bring it back to the plant where it is blended right into the new asphalt going back out on that job. It's effecient ;)

[Al_Smith]

I got that info from a couple of operating engineers who work on road crews .