Damn Chuck Holes

[OlympicMtDoo]

Anybody ever use a tractor with a box scraper for maintaining a gravel driveway ? I have just under a mile of driveway to maintain and am looking for a reasonable way to keep them God Damn Chuck holes smoothed out. I have for the past 5 years kept filling them with 5/8 minus crushed rock and that works ok but I've gone through 2, 10 yard loads shoveled into 5 gallon buckets and dumped into them GOD DAMN CHUCK HOLES and I'm not 50 years old anymore I need a machine. Any thoughts on the best inexpensive way to go ?

[pfshine]

For starters pour some gas down the hole light it and send those things back to hell.

[mtnshiner85]

I have to keep my driveway scraped with a tractor its on a hill and heavy rains wash my gravel downhill, i have to pull it up the hill and smooth it back out, i use a straight blade just fine, a box blade is nice but can build up alot of gravel and bog a smaller tractor down. Tractors are great tools but be safe and pay attention.

[T-Pee]

Drive slower.

tp

[Halfbaked]

I like to get the animals out with smoke bombs or fill the hole with water so they don't come back. News paper or dirt down about 2 ft and fill them with concrete.

I didn't use a box scraper but a regular scraper and it works wonderful. Can you take the end caps off of the scraper? It takes 3 scrapes. On the right side throw the gravel to the center of the driveway then come back on the left side and throw them to the center of the driveway also. On your last pass turn the blade around backwards and drag them. It will look like a motor grader did it.

[sltm1]

Get a front loader for your tractor....that way you can carry your "repair kit" as you make the repairs. You're only 50, spend $1500 for a used loader and by the time you're my age it'll have only cost you $100 per year, cheaper than back surgery for sure!!

[hitek redneck]

best was to deal with Chuck holes is a .223 on a bench with a good scope.


HR

[OlympicMtDoo]

Get a front loader for your tractor....that way you can carry your "repair kit" as you make the repairs. You're only 50, spend $1500 for a used loader and by the time you're my age it'll have only cost you $100 per year, cheaper than back surgery for sure!!

No, I said I aint 50 anymore, I'll be 60 in a few months, I am going to rent a box grader for a day and see how it works. Thanks for all the suggestions.

[OlympicMtDoo]

For starters pour some gas down the hole light it and send those things back to hell.

No, there aint no critters in them, that would be too easy.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Drive slower.

tp

That would be the easy fix T-Pee but there are 3 other houses on my road with what seems like about 8 cars per house one of them is a log truck driver so it doesn't do me a damn bit of good for just me to drive slower. A little help from the @#!@# dear neighbors would be nice but I might as well be waiting for someone to get my mash going for me today and come up and run my still for me when it's done. Two things I can count on though there is always someone ready to drive on the nice smooth road and someone ready to drink my nice smooth hooch. Oh well just bitch about it and move ahead.

[sltm1]

OK, easy way, go to a local gravel and sand supply contractor, have him fill the bed of your truck with the rock of your choice, (making sure he doesn't put too much of a load for your weight class truck). Then as you drive down your road, unload into the holes as you go, come back with your blade and smooth it out. Personally I hate "washboard" more than I do chuck holes

[Bob Loblaw]

Chuckhole = rut in road/pot hole. Shooting them doesn't do much for the hole. Maybe makes the shooter feel better, but the road stays the same!

[ga flatwoods]

OMD put a good crown in the road to help keep flat spots that will hold water and beat out. If using a box blade on a typical three point use the trim adjust to bevel the blade for which side and direction you are traveling. Depending on isle width a land leveler with adjustable travel tires would work better. Sounds like you probably have a lot of material in your side ditches, if you have any, and they need to be cleaned a nd the material put back onto the road. Tipping the blade back by running out the top link will level rather than cut and as HBsaid will look like a motorgrader did it.
Best thing is find a contractor close and get one of them to do the original shaping and grading for you then just keep it maintained as described.
GA Flatwoods

[MitchyBourbon]

I don't have a solution for your current chuck holes, but maybe you could minimize the future chuck holes.

I used to live down a 2 mile stretch of dirt road. The city took care of it. They sprayed the road with a petroleum product. Apart from smelling like a refinery for a week, it reduced dust, ruts from rain run off, wash boarding and made the surface much harder. The grader came around much less frequently after the started using this stuff. I don't know what exactly it was but I would imagine any city that deals with gravel roads would know.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Ya it is too damn flat GA, it needs a crown and I do know what it needs just wondering if a box scraper is a good tool to use to do it without breaking the bank. I'm going to rent one soon and that should help me decide if it will do the job. Thanks to all for all the suggestions.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Chuckhole = rut in road/pot hole. Shooting them doesn't do much for the hole. Maybe makes the shooter feel better, but the road stays the same!

Ha, maybe I'll shot a few after all, sounds like fun.

[Truckinbutch]

Once the initial grading is done a drag made from a 10-12' length of 8-10" 3/8"or heavier h beam makes a good leveler . Attach tow chains close to each end . Shorten and lengthen each chain to adjust scraping angle to redistribute material . A good attachment point is the spring shackles on a pick up truck . Ride around in comfort and let the truck do the work . If you don't have good turnaround points while it is attached just drop one chain to get it to turn parallel to the road , unhitch and turn truck . Rehitch on the way back through . Simple , easy , low dollar investment and can be done quickly as often as needed .

[Coyote]

TButch ya beat me to it!

I have used nearly every frickin' thing ever thought up by
mankind to grade driveways and field roads.

Hands down the best tool ever is 2 pieces of railroad iron, about 10 feet
long, welded together so the flat bottoms become your leading edge.
Makes a blade about 10 inches high that weighs 200 pound per foot
Hang it off clevises and log chains.

In the spring when the road bed is wet you can cut and pack a long drive
in 4 to 6 passes and get it to last.
I move the gravel off to one side and then back to the other, then back to
center and then spread it smooth

Good Luck

Coyote

[OlympicMtDoo]

TB & Coyote, That does remind me, I've got an 8 foot chunk of big ass H beam that I used as a grade beam with an excavator when I put in all the roads and building sites, never thought of using it as a drag, good idea thanks. Once I get the damn thing smoothed it would make a great drag, it's about 400 lbs.

[T-Pee]

I use a chunk of channel iron. One side scrape, turn it over and smooth.

tp

[Truckinbutch]

Me and Coyote do what we can to accomodate the elderly

[Bugflipper]

I'd buy a used box blade off of craigslist instead of renting one. You'll have use for it every year. The way I do mine. Put the teeth down to scarify and not use the blade. Scratch up the whole road. That reclaims all the gravel that's sunk in the ground. Raise the box and just drive over to pack it back down. Put the teeth back up and slant the box so it's higher in the middle of the road and lower on the outside edge. Come back and get the other side. It might take an hour for 1/2 mile of road every year.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Me and Coyote do what we can to accomodate the elderly

There ya go TB, us old timers need accomodation.

[OlympicMtDoo]

I'd buy a used box blade off of craigslist instead of renting one. You'll have use for it every year. The way I do mine. Put the teeth down to scarify and not use the blade. Scratch up the whole road. That reclaims all the gravel that's sunk in the ground. Raise the box and just drive over to pack it back down. Put the teeth back up and slant the box so it's higher in the middle of the road and lower on the outside edge. Come back and get the other side. It might take an hour for 1/2 mile of road every year.

That sounds like a pretty good plan Bugflipper, I'll try it. OMD

[ga flatwoods]

If I had your money OMD I would just buy a motorgrader off Craigslist. They are fun to play with and you could vrade your road once a week whether it needed it or not.
GA Flatwoods

[Soggy Bottom Boy]

.

If the co-users of the road won't help, next time you grade it out make sure to leave an 8" high berm of gravel across the width of their driveways. Then when they complain to you about it, you can tell the cheap-ass lazy bastards, if they don't like the way you are doing it, they can pitch in and help you do it the right way.

[OlympicMtDoo]

I just solved the problem at least short term, got a 350 John Deere dozer on the way over here in the next hour or so. The only thing is I have to pay a guy 50 bucks to deliver it then 50 bucks more to take it back to my buddy who owns it when ever I get done with it. I can keep it a week or a month if I need to. Is that a fair deal ? Oh I'll have to put fuel in it too. I'm pretty easy on machinery and it's easy duty so I don't think break down will be an issue, that would be my only concern.

[Halfbaked]

Holy cow is that a fair deal...... Well no it is not a fair deal for the guy that owns the loader....

[ga flatwoods]

Better than owning one yourself! Kinda like a woman!

[T-Pee]

Cripes. A small trencher is $100/day and I have to go get the damned thing.

tp