Grading a Driveway with a Tractor

It is important to keep a well-maintained driveway and not just for aesthetic reasons. Having a driveway that is graded perfectly makes it easier for vehicles to travel on the farm. A proper grade is necessary to keep your equipment and the path from getting damaged. If you are looking to grade your driveway but do not want to buy a grader for the job, it is not an issue. You can get the job done with your tractor with the help of some attachments.

Why Driveways Need Regular Maintenance

Gravel driveways are affected by the weather and water that they are exposed to, and since they are regularly used, they need to be maintained accordingly. Whether you need to fill potholes or create drainage ditches, you can do it all with the help of a tractor. All you need is the right equipment and some preparation and you will be able to grade just as well as you could with a grader. If you do not want to buy a grader, you can just find farm tractors for sale and use one to get the job done.

What Grading a Driveway Entails

When a driveway is exposed to harsh weather or water or is being used heavily, potholes can form in the surface. These uneven spots make the driveway rough to travel on so filling them in is necessary to smooth the driveway. To grade a gravel driveway with a tractor, you will need to use attachments, and the best attachment for this job would be a box blade scraper.

Things to Consider Before You Begin Grading

When you are driving your vehicle on the same path repeatedly or have a spot where you park regularly, that area will be more compact than others. If you are planning on grading, it is important to have the gravel redistributed to these areas so that the grade job is like the original one. Any surface that is continually exposed to water will be eroded, and deep ruts would likely have formed in such a surface. To avoid that, you need be aware about how to slope the low points of the driveway. Make the crown with a little bit of peak at the center that would channel the water down, and at the low point, add a drainage ditch for the water.

Leveling the Ground is Important

If you are ready to start grading your driveway, there is something that you should do before you go in with a tractor and a box blade scraper. That is, you should fill the potholes with gravel. If the potholes are small, you will be able to fill them easily with a shovel, but if they are bigger in size, you can use a backhoe attachment to fill them. Leveling ground involves other considerations if you live in a place with snow since snowplows cause deep potholes to form in the surface. The constant thawing and refreezing of the snow lead to frost heaves, so it is important to have the gravel distributed in those places again when spring rolls around.