gravel driveway

[robertn]

I use my CUT too, although there has been little to do since the road company graded and rolled it(the driveway, not the CUT [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] )

I would like to eventually get a belly blade for my Farmall-A. I think it would do a better job and the scraper or a blade on a CUT. Here is my theory:
A belly blade would be more like the blade on a grader. It is in the middle, where a rise in elevation by the front or rear of the tractor is minimal.

Compare this rise to having the front of a CUT go over a bump; the front rises, and pivots the scraper/blade at the rear tire center point. Since the scraper/blade hangs off the back of the CUT some distance, the overall affect on the height setting of the scraper is greatly affected.
With a belly blade in the center of the tractor, if the front end moves up say four inches, the blade at the center point would only move up 2".

The blade on the back of a CUT would be opposite. If the front tire rises 4", the tractor kinda pivots on the back tire , and the rear blade wants to gouge in 4"(not totally, since most of us do not have down pressure).

Now, it would be hard to put a belly blade on a CUT. My B8200 Kubota sits too low, even with it's 4wd. That's the beauty of the hi-crop/cultivating tractors like a Farmall-A or Allis-B, they sit up enough to get a blade under there.

Of note though, my Farmall-A is one of the 1940's CUT's. It's the same size as my compact Kubota(length/width), hp wise, and was quite the utility tractor in its heyday. Seems many are still used that was still. I guess it's just a tall CUT [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

The amount that the rear blade will drop with a 4" rise of the front wheels depends on the CUTs wheelbase vs. the distance the blade is behind the rear wheels. If there were some way to move the blade closer to the rear wheels the effect is reduced. Or put a set of gauge wheels out behind the blade. The longer the wheelbase the better.

[Nordneg57]

If you have a vehicle with a receiver hitch. You may want to try a driveway groomer.

[fax]

Where can you get one of them there groomers?

[NHRich]

Try here: http://www.drivewaygroomer.com/

The fellow who makes these lives about 15 minutes from me, and I just bought one for my driveway, which has developed a few potholes and a bit of erosion gullying on the steep parts. I haven't tried it out yet, but when assembling it, I was impressed with the quality of the design and construction, and the theory seems sound. The assembly instructions aren't the greatest, but anyone who knows how to put things together shouldn't have any trouble with it.

The website has a lot of good free information about driveway maintenance and grading as well. The groomer is, like most useful tools, something that looks like it will take some time and practice to get right.

One thing to point out is that if you have drainage and/or grading problems, resurfacing is at best a temporary solution. If you've got perpetual low points, bowls or gullys due to drainage issues, you can add gravel or shuffle it around forever, and the problems will keep coming back. You may need to drain or regrade (put in a good crown, etc) to fix the root problem.

[NHRich]

I ran across this, too. I don't have any first-hand info, but it looks like a reasonable design. Looks like the guy who designed it is about an hour from me. Something about us New Hampshurites and gravel road maintenance... [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

--Richard

[Nordneg57]

How did it work for you?

[HappyGilmore]

You know, I happened to buy one of these driveway groomers and it worked like a charm. I have delayed putting in a new driveway now for the 2nd year in a row because I've been able to maintain the holes and bumps with this groomer. It fits on the trailer hitch of my Jeep and works incredible. It takes me less than 45 minutes to complete my 100+ foot driveway with a turnaround at the top.

Found it on drivewaygroomer.com . Check it out, it really works!

[bustedknee]

Reference the link you listed.
I bought one recently and my suggestion is, "Don't do it!"

Read every post in this thread and heed. You can build (or have built) a much better groomer, much cheaper.

1. The assembly instructions are terrible. They appear to have been written by a 10-year old.
It starts outs, "Place the 2 weldments facing each other."
What the heck does that mean?
And the pictures are worse than the instructions.
I spent a couple frustrated hours putting this thing together only to take it apart and reassemble until it worked.
I was a technician for 35 years. I can follow written instructions and drawings.
The instructions, alone, with this groomer is bad enough to justify not purchasing it.

2. Extremely poor quality. Within 1 hour of first using this groomer I had to park it then drive to the hardware store and purchase 60 dollars of quality hardware.

3. The "Riser" they sell you at an additional charge is a piece of bent sheet metal. It is supposed to "hold" the gravel and move it. In less than an hour the simple weight of the gravel had totally deformed the sheet metal riser and it was popping loose from the bolts.

4. The chincy little pins and clips holding the chains to the bar didn't last 30 minutes.

5 The main part of this unit is the frame and it is bent in many places after only a couple hours of use.

If I had it to do over I would talk to the local welding shop. They probably have enough scrap steel out back to make a lot better groomer than this POS.

I don't know where they got all the glowing testimonials on their web page but I suspect they wrote them.

Steve

[jml755]

Too bad it didn't come with a set of Ginsu knives. Then at least you would have gotten something for your money. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Actually, when that was first posted, I looked at it and thought it was pretty wimpy for a tough job like maintaining a packed gravel driveway.