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Re-do on Gravel Driveway; Two layers of stone or one? Dozer or rear blade?

Started by wfcjr, July 06, 2020, 06:14:22 PM

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wfcjr

About to re-do our gravel driveway.  It is about 20 years old.  Has been "freshened up" in spots a few times, but now needs a major overhaul.  Re-do ditches where appropriate.  At least 4" of new stone and re-grade.


Two questions...
1) we are going to use stay-mat, or plant mix, instead of gravel.  It is the same price, but will lock together better.
Not sure if we should go with 4" of 3/4" plant mix, or put down 2" of 1 1/4" and then top it with 2" of 3/4".  Figure the larger mix would be a good base for the smaller material to lock in to.  So 4" of 3/4" or 2" of 1 1/4" topped with 2" of 3/4"?

2)   We have a dozer at our disposal to spread the stone.  Not sure if we should use the dozer, or if we should go with a rear-blade on the tractor with tilt, angle & offset to spread the stone.  Will the dozer be good enough for the finish pass?


thanks

Sedgehammer

Necessity is the engine of drive

Walnut Beast

If your getting the rock delivered and they can access the road they usually dump and spread just fine

farmfromkansas

I thought I could get the drive smoother with my skidsteer than with the tractor and blade, and did fine with gravel, but had some blacktop millings delivered, great stuff for a drive, but spread it with the skidsteer, and it is bumpy.  A box blade on wheels would do better, but mine is too wide for my drive. WB is right, a good driver can spread gravel nicely.
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

Walnut Beast

I've got a half mile drive. Its truck and pup dump and spread. Done ✅ 

Hilltop366

The right driver on a belly dump and enough room to get the truck moving and you barley have to touch it.

If your base is solid I would be tempted to stay with all the finer size so as you regrade it in the future or if some gets scraped off when snow plowing you don't end pulling up larger stones.

wfcjr

rear blade, tilt, angle & offset

Box blade does not work that well... it leaves a ridge at the sides of the road. 
If I try to hang the blade over the edge of the road, tractor wheels go in the ditch and it pulls
material into the water ditch.  If I position the box blade so that it does not overhang the ditch, it leaves
a little ridge on the side that channels water.

We are on a hill and the driveway has long straightaways with significant pitch.  Need clean ditches on either side for
water management.

Of course the trucks will drop spread.  But still need to spread the material properly and crown the drive.

farmfromkansas

Sounds like you have a big box blade like mine.  A small, maybe 6' would work great. Do half the drive at a time.
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

Larry

I would certainly re-do the ditches and the crown with the dozer.  Next best for that operation would be your fancy rear tractor blade. 

Than get a driver that knows how to spread and your done.

You might have some touch up where the truck runs out of gravel and starts in with a new load.  Box blade for that operation.

My drive is steep and I don't have room to ditch the way it should be.  Dependent on how many gully washers we get, I might have to dress the drive every couple of years, or even every couple of months.  Box blade always does the best until it needs that major overhaul.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Tom King

Shape the ditches with the dozer.  A box blade is good for moving the stone, but once you get it right to start with, nothing is better for keeping a gravel road up than a land leveler.

Google:  "tractor implement land leveler", and all sorts of videos will come up.

I built a 1/4 mile road with a 70hp tractor, grading blade with tailwheel, and a 7' boxblade to state spec.  It was inspected, and accepted, and the state did take it over after enough houses were built in that small development.

A land leveler will pay for itself, over the years, by not having to keep adding stone to a gravel road.  It brings it back up even after it looks like it's buried, and gone.

Walnut Beast

Land levelers work pretty good but if your getting into the ground like hard clay you will definitely want one with the scarifer teeth that's hydraulic operated. 

Raider Bill

The guy that dumped the stone on my 1/4 mile drive did it backing up so that his truck weight helped mash it down.
Pretty slick watching him back up that far going up hill and around a couple bends.
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Al_Smith

Either one will work if you know how to operate them .If you don't you'll learn .A decent dump truck operator can tail gate and get it close .It helps to have a roller to compact it, even a lawn roller behind a heavy lawn mower .I've got the tractor,dozer and a small Case asphalt roller .
I've got around 600 feet of drive way which I top dress with 411 limestone about every 5-6 years and takes between 60 and 80 tons spread about 2" thick .I might back drag it once or twice a year with a rear blade on a TO 20 Ferguson .
Crushed stone is a lot like beer.You can only rent it . :)

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