The joys of a gravel driveway

[GunnyGene]

21 years of going out and back on our 1/4mile gravel drive every day, sometimes several trips per day, and no problems (various vehicles). So this morning I hear this terrible racket coming from one of the wheels on the wife's 2014 Jeep Cherokee as I backed out of the garage. Have 64k on the odo, so figured time for new pads. Got back home after the short trip to the PO, pulled a front wheel and found a tiny rock stuck between the disc and the shield. Fished it out with my pocket knife and all is good. I reckon the odds caught up with me.

[Headhog]

Great job Gunny. I just love it when what you think will be a headache turns out to be just a small rock in the wrong place.

Paul

[BigAl52]

Every time I get a rock in the wrong place its usually in a new windshield I just had replaced from previous rock

[Hatchdog]

Gotta love it when a fix is both simple and no cost!

Understand all about gravel driveways as I have one too. Lots of maintenance and upkeep, especially after winter snow plowing. I looked into having it paved and just doing less than half of it only to my garage pad was north of 11K. And that was a couple of years ago when oil was still cheap. Yikes!

[North Country Gal]

Our gravel driveway is right at one-tenth of a mile, basically 500 feet plus. Yeah, winter snow plowing is not fun. On the other hand, I love riding up and down the driveway on my mountain bikes.

[GunnyGene]

What is this "snow" thing y'all are talking about?

[BrokenolMarine]

Our gravel drive in VA was 250 yards, up to the ridge the house was on. The gravel drive here is probably fifty. I prefer a gravel drive. Gets oily, stained, etc. Drop a dump load of new gravel, pull it out. New driveway. I too like it when a pending problem turns out to be a simple fix.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

Although we haven't gotten much snow lately, when I do plow it with the Grader Blade on my Tractor, I plow it backwards. This way it clears most of the snow, but basically leaves the gravel in place.

I would like to step up to an old 4 X 4 with a plow and if I do, I have plans to have the blade modified. I want to weld a metal plate on the bottom 2 or 3 Inches sweeping backwards. This should give me the same effect as with my grader blade backwards.

I never heard of anyone doing this before, but I'm going to give it a try, lol.

[North Country Gal]

This isn't or driveway; it's actually our roof. In heavy snow years, we have to climb up on the roof to remove snow. Everyone does. Roofs sustain damage under heavy snow loads and sometimes even collapse. Part of life in snow country.

[cooperhawk]

I have my old 1983 Bronco for a snow plow. What I do is use small skid feet on the blade that holds the edge an inch or two off the surface. That saves the gravel. Once it freezes hard the snow packs down and I remove the skid feet and plow the snow smooth.

[JEBar]

I'd love to have a gravel driveway .... ours is a path where the grass is warn out an you drive directly on the dirt

[cooperhawk]

Our neighbors have all had theirs's paved but I am holding out. They have one lane asphalt drives through the woods with no
room to meet someone, while we have a half mile crushed rock and many places wide enough to pass. Besides, it would cost me
at least $50,000.00 to pave it along with the yard and the parking area around the pole barn. Probably more than that now.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

Once you pave it, you also need to maintain it. Once it gets old and cracks and starts to fall apart you can have a worse problem. I'm keeping mine gravel, lol. Every once in a while, I'll haul in a fresh pick-up load to keep it looking good.

[Hatchdog]

What is this "snow" thing y'all are talking about?

Gotta get me something other than a shovel!

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[cooperhawk]

Here you go. Just a light dusting overnight. Guess I'd better dust the tractor off and get to work.

[GunnyGene]

What is this "snow" thing y'all are talking about?

Gotta get me something other than a shovel!


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Oh! Ok. Kinda like the fall cotton harvest here. But colder.