[TrukTruk]

Was kicking around the idea of using my GT19 to maintain our dirt driveway (about 400 ft). Its riddled with potholes currently so I was thinking hooking up a small Box blade to the three point to break everything up with the scarifiers and maybe renting a compactor once everything is level again.

For those who've done this kind of work before will my tractor be enough/weigh enough to break all that land? This is all new to me so I hope someone can educate me further.

 

[boyscout862]

If you are talking about an Ariens GT19, you should not have any problem with a 42" box scraper. You may be able to use a 48". Look at some of the Youtube videos especially of the "Earthcavator". The key to success is light multiple passes and time.

You can even do a reasonable job with a front plow if you learn to start at the edges and work into the center. When the shape(a center a couple inches higher than the side) you can back blade. This dragging the blade backwards, will usually give a smooth surface. Let traffic compact the gravel. Grade it again in a couple weeks.

If the driveway is real bad, get a load of the appropriate gravel to fill in the holes. Good dumptruck drivers will "chain the gate" and spread the load over the drive. The box scraper will save you time but some are pretty expensive. Good Luck, Rick

 

[chieffan]

You cannot fill the pot holes, or wash board, with loose material and expect it to stay. We have miles and miles of county gravel roads in the Midwest. We also have some dirt roads. Many of the grader "drivers" just roll the material (dirt or gravel) across the washboard or pot holes and fill them with loose material and call it good. After a couple days of traffic the pot holes or washboard is back again. The real grader operators will cut the pot holes and/or washboard down to the bottom and regrade the whole road in that area. Leaving the center high will provide drainage to the side which is the way it should be. In your case it will take a lot of passes, depending on how deep the pot holes are. Your slower traffic will help delay the return. Before I tried to do it all at once, start with a 100 foot section and use the scarifier after a rain when the drive is a lot softer and will work easier. Then pack it down good while it is still good and damp. Good luck with your project.

 

[propane1]

I agree, you can't fill pot holes, Noel.

 

[toppop52]

After I cut out out the low spots, back fill and level, I use an old water filled, 800+ lb 42" wide lawn roller with my 1800lb tractor to pack it.

 

[shorty]

I think you can do it with your tractor. Depending on how tightly packed your drive is, it could take a bit to get it broke up enough to level it out. If you have turf tires throw a set of snow chains on. And a bit of weight.

 

[IHCubGuy]

Depends how long it's been untouched and how hard the driveway is. I have some roads at work that its tough to get the scarifiers on the grader to break through and dig up the road. One key thing is when you scarifier the potholes make sure you get to the bottom of the pothole with your points otherwise they will return in short order. Get a good crown in your driveway the best you can so it can sheet flow the water off and compact it good and tight. As far as tailgating stone from a truck it WILL still need graded and then rolled in tight. Loose stone will just wash away and potholes will return. Also any drainage issues in your drive where water ponds will make potholes too. Water is a roads worst enemy. What type of material is your driveway built from? We use a LOT of 2RC as it has a good mix of fines in it with the stone to compact well and stay tight once it's compacted.

What we do is scarifier the potholed sections of the road first. Then we use a "stinger" blade on the grader blade and roll each side of the road to the center (stone only, none of the topsoil or grass). This digs up and loosens the rest of the road surface. The 3rd pass is with the blade set straight we knock off the pile in the center an spread it back out across the road. Then we tailgate our road materials in to build up any thin spots. The last two passes then of the grader are blading towards the outside edge from the center setting the crown and spreading the material out to the edge on each side. Then the road is rolled starting at the center with about a 1/4 of the roller drum over the center of the road and working out each way. Never driving the roller down the middle of the road as this will compact the crown out of it.

 

[victor3ranger]

I use my GT14 to maintain my driveway and parking lot. It has 25"ATV tires,liquid filled tires, wheel weights, and I use a 42" Earthcavator.

Works great.

Heck, yesterday I backed my 18' stock trailer thru the mud to the feed lot, loaded it with 6 600lb calves and drove it back out so I could hook it up to my truck, my GT14 never even grunted. :smilewink:

 

[alleyyooper]

I use my ATV with a two section drag to loosen the gravel/clay mix in my drive way and using a light pass several times to go deeper and deeper. I don't even need it in 4x4 to do the job. that usually loosens it and fills in all the holes. Once it is where I like it I just fill the roller with water and roll the drive way. I do it every spring and I feel I have a real nice drive way. I at one time did it in the fall too but I found I was rolling small rocks into the lawn when I plowed snow.



Al

 

[TrukTruk]

Thanks for all the good info fellas/ladyfellows. Still a bit trepid as a section of the drive itself has swamp on both sides for about 75 feet so drainage from the crest needs to be adequate enough to to not allow it to sink back in over time. Really wanna do a good job the first time kinda thing. Im taking all the suggestions and gonna mull it over a bit further.
Really a race now tho as my brother is looking for a 3 point for his cub lo-boy so he can scrape it all back to proper condition. So first one to get the implements gets to have all the fun!

 

[shorty]

If it were me, I would take a small section say 30-40' long. And fix that up using a lot of the suggestions above. Then until the next time your ready to do more, use it and figure out what works best for your conditions.

 

[Gillis.jim]

Thought these pics might be suited for this thread!

 

[WNYTractorTinkerer]

When we bought our house the driveway was two ruts with large stones sticking out.. Nobody had done any maintenance whatsoever in years. I did the best I could with the tractor bucket and it was pretty good but when the rains came last year it kept washing out in low spots. I found a 6' box blade and put the pins down and re leveled the hill then rolled it and it is still sitting pretty today. (next best thing to paving it!)

The box blade is the way to go with the leveling but you have to tear up the potholes and regrade like IHC says..