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Grader advice - Refresh/level driveway


rich_kildow

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rich_kildow

I have a pretty big driveway composed of road fill/shoulder gravel.  No major holes at this point as I brought in but I'd like to refresh it and work some of the sand back in that has come up.  I have a belly grader, both normal and dutch blade.  Have any of you guys just roughed things up and smoothed it out with a grader blade in the past?  I know that chain drags are a thing to smooth it out, but I doubt SHMBO is going to go for another tool right now.  

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I use my belly blade that I made on mine with good success. I wait for a good rain then before it dries out I grade the edges toward the center and grade it all to one side then grade it back across to level it. Sure does get the bigger rock back to the top. 

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Would love to have had a Dutch blade to act as a scarifier before soothing with the smooth side. I have used my grader to do just what you're describing with great success. 

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11 hours ago, tweinke said:

I use my belly blade that I made on mine with good success. I wait for a good rain then before it dries out I grade the edges toward the center and grade it all to one side then grade it back across to level it. Sure does get the bigger rock back to the top. 

I used to do the same then, decided I didn't need anymore, sure miss having one

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I made my blade from a four foot section of wear edge from a Cat grader. Its very heavy to move around. Since I have had it and used it I now think its one of the more useful attachments I have.

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1 hour ago, tweinke said:

I made my blade from a four foot section of wear edge from a Cat grader. Its very heavy to move around. Since I have had it and used it I now think its one of the more useful attachments I have.

Picture please, tweinke?

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This isnt probably going to help you much , but here it is anyhow....

I had a regualar Simplicity grader, then a Dutch blade...

Neither would really work to do anything other than drag the loose material back into the drive from the edges. The dutch blade would work on it only to the degree of working up the very top of the drive, IE top 1 inch or so. Never was satified....and you couldnt do much to crown the drive in the center with either blade.

So, built myself a new grader blade to put on the sunstar, then spent a little over $1000 on a new driveway tool. Been a happy camper ever since. My 600' gravel drive hasnt had to have any new rock in years now., and the few  potholes that form over the winter and early spring are easily vanquished each late spring.

 

.medium.DSCN1674.JPG.498f62579dffd33b90a5

 

This is made from a 60" wearplate from a 3pt rear blade. Its a regular simplicity grader hitch that I cut and installed a side to side pivot that could be pinned left down, straight across, and right down positions.  There are old JD brake pedals off a 317 Irebuilt and mounted on each corner of the blade to push on from the operators station. Ha to do that because  from a Sunstar platform you cant reach the blade with your foot. There is only the one pedal in this picture because I have to take one off to mount the blade to the tractor and to take it off.

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It works great. If you want alot of crown, or want to really dig down withe the corner of the blade -  you pin the blade in the down position to one side of the other.  In the center position for straight across, there is still enough slop in the syatem that you can still make a crown by simpley using the tractor lift to raise or lower the blade  and by pushing on the pedal to push the corner of the blade down. Which is how I use it anymore most of the time. Not a perfect  engineered  system, but once you get through the learning curve of it , it does well. Especially after you run this through the drive....

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This is 48" wide  and the scarifiers can be moved up or down depending on how deep you want to churn the buried rock up from.  You have to play around with the  center link to get the pitch right  The first time I used it I tore up the drive flat all across. Then I took the grader and crowned the loosened material up in the center. then took the tools and put  on eleg up on the center  and just kept going back and forth. Keeping one leg up on the center keeps the crown as you work up the drive..

2 bad things..

 

The price of the tool..., and the fact that you need at bare minimum a 20+ hp  subcompact 4wd tractor. I already had the tractor, a Kubota BX series with a 23hp diesel. Dont think anything smaller would work out too well.

I love the thing and the job it does. Was , and is worth every penny spent.

Edited by SmilinSam
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I can get anyone that is interested used grader blades. We have probably 10 down at the township. High carbon steel. 7 foot long. 

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On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 2:25 PM, dince said:

Picture please, tweinke?

My blade is in storage off the property right now but I can get a picture in a day or two. It does look very much like the one that SmilinSam posted right after you asked for a picture though. I think the main thing that makes these belly blades work so well is the fact that they are pulled not pushed and the ability to use some foot pressure to adjust the level of the cut.

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22 hours ago, Buddah007 said:

Are those 3 pt ?

Just the replacement cut edges. If someone wanted to build their own. 

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