Helping neighbors with shared gravel road?

[Hobby_Man22]

So the neighbor has a skid steer and he kind of keeps our part of the road maintained by scraping it and leveling out the pot holes. Ive tried giving him money anytime I see him do it, but he doesnt take it. I only have a 25hp kubota with a loader and a box blade. Personally, I dont like how the box blade shakes the three point hitch to death like it does, so I usually just scoop up some crushed concrete from my driveway and fill in a few of the pot holes when they get deep with my loader bucket. I think how it works is everyone keeps the part in front of their property maintained and everyone is happy. Well, this takes care of first half the road which leaves the other 800ft or so unmaintained, because those 3 people at the end dont have a tractor or a skid steer.

Anyways, I offered of pitch in on a load of crushed concrete to fill in the holes the neighbor was like no you're good. Im not really sure why he said that. Is that becaise I already have a tractor and can fix my part of the road? Was he trying to say he'd pay me to fix his part of the road at the end? I told him they're more than welcome to buy a load of crushed concrete and i can spread it. Although, I wasnt sure if they were going to pay or not, or if I should even charge. I guess them paying me every so often to fill in the holes is cheaper than them buying their own machine. I just told them the neighbor with the 12k pound skid steer will fix the road better than my little 25hp tractor. Am I supposed to charge for their half of the road that only they drive down to access their house? I only use the first half to get to my property. I mean if they want to toss me $100 to toss some rock in some of these pot holes that come up ever couple months, I'm cool with that. Then again the neighbor can just scrape it and no crushed concrete is needed.

 

[zkdiesel]

Always shared road problems……..
Depends who likes who, who are dickheads, how’s snow removal happen?


You have it good though, as most
Guys in your situation are at the end and everyone thinks they get a free ride

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Always shared road problems……..
Depends who likes who, who are dickheads, how’s snow removal happen?


You have it good though, as most
Guys in your situation are at the end and everyone thinks they get a free ride

So was the neighbor saying he would pay me to fix up their end of the road? Was that what he was getting at? I told him he's more than welcome to buy a load of crushed concrete and i could fill in the holes. I also kind of indicated to ask the neighbor with the skid steer first because he could fix it better. I never mentioned anything about money. People always come up to me and ask me stuff and I never really know what they're getting at and I end up being all over the place when I talk to them, but I mean hey, if they want to pay me $100 to fill in holes with the loader for an hour or two i'm down. It would be far cheaper than calling anyone else in since i'm just next door.

 

[mikedodge]

It didn't sound in your first post like they asked anything? Who's maintained the rest? Sounds like the guy with the skid steer should do it since he's better equipped but the people at the end should pay for the help and material. If the guy with the skid steer doesn't want to do it i would if I was capable of it but would at least want them to cover the material cost. Otherwise let them deal with it on their own unless they help out in other ways.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

It didn't sound in your first post like they asked anything? Who's maintained the rest? Sounds like the guy with the skid steer should do it since he's better equipped but the people at the end should pay for the help and material. If the guy with the skid steer doesn't want to do it i would if I was capable of it but would at least want them to cover the material cost. Otherwise let them deal with it on their own unless they help out in other ways.

I think he was merely trying to figure out who was fixing it, but keep in mind he only fixed his half. I think if they end up wanting me to I'll do my method of filling in the holes with the loader bucket which seems to hold up longer than me dragging the box blade over it. After that if they happen to like how it turned out they can pay for the next time. This is assuming they buy a load of crushed concrete for $400 a load around here is 12 tons and that size of a pile should last a while.

 

[Firebrick43]

Putting crushed concrete in pothole doesn’t fix anything, Unless you rip below the level of the holes and regrade with a proper crown filling in potholes only mask the problem for a little while

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Putting crushed concrete in pothole doesn’t fix anything, Unless you rip below the level of the holes and regrade with a proper crown filling in potholes only mask the problem for a little while

I told him that, but nobody has a motor grader or a bull dozer to get down deep enough. It only takes a a few minutes to dump some rock into a pothole and its good for 3 months.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Maybe he's just being a good guy.

 

[Firebrick43]

I told him that, but nobody has a motor grader or a bull dozer to get down deep enough. It only takes a a few minutes to dump some rock into a pothole and it’s good for 3 months.

You have a box blade, does it have ripper/scarifier shanks?

If so are they somewhat sharp so the penetrate? Tilting the top link in significantly helps with that and doing it after rains.

Build a crown by moving your side vertical adjustment

So, it shakes the tractor, even a large tractor or skid steer with a ripper shakes

 

[txvwnut]

You have a box blade, does it have ripper/scarifier shanks?

If so are they somewhat sharp so the penetrate? Tilting the top link in significantly helps with that and doing it after rains.

Build a crown by moving your side vertical adjustment

So, it shakes the tractor, even a large tractor or skid steer with a ripper shakes

That 25hp Kubota the OP has isn't really going to do much on that road other than what he's already doing. If it's well packed road base, which I assume it is, the rippers on that little tractor will only skip across and not bite in as that stuff will setup like concrete.

My daughter and son in law live on a dirt road that is maintained by the homeowners. What they do is every so many years or when the road starts to get rough is get quotes from contractors for the repair or rebuild of the road. Then they all decide upon a contractor and each chips in the same amount to cover the costs.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

That 25hp Kubota the OP has isn't really going to do much on that road other than what he's already doing. If it's well packed road base, which I assume it is, the rippers on that little tractor will only skip across and not bite in as that stuff sill setup like concrete.

My daughter and son in law live on a dirt road that is maintained by the homeowners. What they do is every so many years or when the road starts to get rough is get quotes from contractors for the repair or rebuild of the road. Then they all decide upon a contractor and each chips in the same amount to cover the costs.

Thats basically what it does. Thats why I just take a little bit of crushed concrete from my own driveway with the bucket whenever a pothole starts to annoy me and fill it in and fix it in 5 minutes vs dragging the box blade back and forth for an hour or two shaking the heck out of the tractor and not doing much. All it does is drop the dirt into the low spots. If I dump some in with the bucket at least, I can build it up into a mound and pack it down by driving over it. Guess I need to buy a load and set it aside somewhere. I could always buy one of those plate compactors and use it on the problem areas. Its always the same spots that come back in the same area no matter what.

 

[Codyboy]

My limestone driveway is packed pretty good. The box blade on my 65hp will just jump around on top mostly.
The problem with a 3 point is the hydraulics provide no down pressure as I'm sure you're aware. You can try stacking some weight on it and it may help some.
My friend uses a heavy 3 point landscape rake to maintain his. He said it will flip up the rocks on top and let the dirt sink down.
I haven't tried it on mine yet.
Also I haven't had much luck with crushed concrete lasting very long.. I have had a load or 2 that did have steel in it , even though they claim it is clean. Watch for those stick ups of wire mesh. Tires are expensive.

I will only use crushed limestone on my driveway. The last belly dump I had was $850 and I think it was 22 or 24 tons, can't remember.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Anyone use a drag harrow? This looks more like therapy than dragging some steel box that jumps around all over making tons of noise. https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equip...PpGKoMSMvRv5P1L4qCoM3EDFy725d7GRoCu4QQAvD_BwE

 

[Codyboy]

I dont think that drag would work well. I know it wouldn't on my driveway as its too compacted.
Rake

On a rake you can remove tines if needed depending on what your doing.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

I dont think that drag would work well. I know it wouldn't on my driveway as its too compacted.
Rake

On a rake you can remove tines if needed depending on what your doing.

Thats how mine is. I dont get how these pot holes form though. There must be old tree stumps underneath breaking down or something causing sink holes

 

[Firebrick43]

That 25hp Kubota the OP has isn't really going to do much on that road other than what he's already doing. If it's well packed road base, which I assume it is, the rippers on that little tractor will only skip across and not bite in as that stuff will setup like concrete.

My limestone driveway is packed pretty good. The box blade on my 65hp will just jump around on top mostly.
The problem with a 3 point is the hydraulics provide no down pressure as I'm sure you're aware. You can try stacking some weight on it and it may help some.

I highly disagree. While I usually recommend a bigger tractor to people for time savings and loader capacity, 25 hp can do just fine, just takes longer

Teams of horses used to pull the graders and road rippers for heavens sake

The first true motor graders a lot of counties could afford , the Allis WC speed maintainers, had 20.41 horse power to the ground in the Nebraska test.

HP buys you ground speed and number of shanks engaged at one time.

Just like any knife,if a ground engagement tools isn’t sharp or work isn’t presented to the cutting edge correctly the tool won’t cut right. Doesn’t matter if it’s a subsoiler, plow, or ripper shank in a box blade in gravel

3 point w down pressure is fleetingly rare. Dad actually has a fast hitch 560 with down pressure and we don’t use it to rip as it’s a pain to raise/lower the right link to crown the road. We have never used 65 hp to rip behind an tractor and never had a problem unless things became to dull. The biggest problem is actually lift capacity, if you pull it right up to an apron or road you have to back up to lift it as the rippers hooked in the hard ground won’t lift straight up on our 50 hp tractor.

 

[Firebrick43]

Thats how mine is. I dont get how these pot holes form though. There must be old tree stumps underneath breaking down or something causing sink holes

They are a tub that holds water. Even if your tires aren’t wet the bottom of the hole is wet and every time you drive over it it pumps the aggregate and makes a slurry in the bottom pushing it down and fines out of the hole.

This is why you have to rip it up and lay the base back down with a crown. If you lay it flat then you are back to square one. Drainage is the key to any well built road.

 

[alfadan]

He said " Don't worry about it" because he doesn't intend to do anything about it. It'll be up to you and no one will chip in, or grumble if you bring it up. If it's really a mess, pay for 20 ton of 3/4 gravel and have it tailgated over the drive and have fun with your tractor; about the only thing you can do.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

He said " Don't worry about it" because he doesn't intend to do anything about it. It'll be up to you and no one will chip in, or grumble if you bring it up. If it's really a mess, pay for 20 ton of 3/4 gravel and have it tailgated over the drive and have fun with your tractor; about the only thing you can do.

It seems that way. People just complain and never do anything

 

[alfadan]

It seems that way. People just complain and never do anything

I share a drive with two people, both of which claims the driveway is theirs. The guy says he got it just the way he likes it "nice and flat" .
He didn't want to bring in gravek cause he was going to asphalt it, after 5 or 6 years he did, with a bunch of roof felt pieces in it!

The neighbor lady couldn't help if she wanted to.

 

[AC-WC]

Mom shares a drive with 2 other neighbors and she is the 1st one on the drive. I straighten out the potholes that occur from her drive to the road. Neighbors are glad I do it and thank me. The neighbor at the far end will box blade the balance to his house. Middle guy gets a freebie. I have plowed snow a few times for them but they generally have it done before I get there. We all try to be 'neighborly' and respectful of each others property. Many folks are not that lucky.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

I share a drive with two people, both of which claims the driveway is theirs. The guy says he got it just the way he likes it "nice and flat" .
He didn't want to bring in gravek cause he was going to asphalt it, after 5 or 6 years he did, with a bunch of roof felt pieces in it!

The neighbor lady couldn't help if she wanted to.

I think I gave them a good solution by just having the neighbor with the skid steer scrape it back and forth with his bucket. Im always a bit leary of doing work for the neighbors.

 

[Dutchmanaz]

Maybe I misread your post, but it seems like he's at the far end of the road, and doesn't care about the potholes past your place. You offered, and he said no ("No, you're good), conversation over. He's not interested. Let him bounce his head off his vehicle ceiling if he wants.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Maybe I misread your post, but it seems like he's at the far end of the road, and doesn't care about the potholes past your place. You offered, and he said no ("No, you're good), conversation over. He's not interested. Let him bounce his head off his vehicle ceiling if he wants.

Its never that simple. I want to make sure everyone is happy with the existing road. You let things get out of hand and before you know it i get suckered into having to fork out $25k dollars because the other 5 people want to pay someone $150k to pave it over with asphalt or something like that. Easier just to pay $400/yr to bring in some more gravel and keep it maintained than have the city get involved or whatever.

 

[JeepYJ]

Its always the same spots that come back in the same area no matter what.

Like Firebrick said, it’s because you’re not fixing the cause of the pot holes.

Maybe rent a tractor and put as much weight in the bucket as possible and beat the daylights out of it trying to bulldoze it?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Like Firebrick said, it’s because you’re not fixing the cause of the pot holes.

Maybe rent a tractor and put as much weight in the bucket as possible and beat the daylights out of it trying to bulldoze it?

Well, we need a bunch more material to be brought in to put a nice crown on the road to keep the water running off.

 

[rancherbill]

Here's how wr fixed it here:

It's THE LAW that every property has to have road municipal access. No Access equals NO subdividing.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Here's how wr fixed it here:

It's THE LAW that every property has to have road municipal access. No Access equals NO subdividing.

They never said it had to ve smooth access lol

 

[Codyboy]

They never said it had to ve smooth access lol

Haha. Our POA says we have to have an "all weather driveway"

Never saw a definition for that. I had a mix of dirt , mud , iron ore gravel, clay, and some crushed concrete. I think all weather means 4 low.
Thankfully its asphalt now though.

 

[Metal-Marc]

Anyways, I offered of pitch in on a load of crushed concrete to fill in the holes the neighbor was like no you're good. Im not really sure why he said that. Is that becaise I already have a tractor and can fix my part of the road? Was he trying to say he'd pay me to fix his part of the road at the end? I told him they're more than welcome to buy a load of crushed concrete and i can spread it. Although, I wasnt sure if they were going to pay or not, or if I should even charge. I guess them paying me every so often to fill in the holes is cheaper than them buying their own machine. I just told them the neighbor with the 12k pound skid steer will fix the road better than my little 25hp tractor. Am I supposed to charge for their half of the road that only they drive down to access their house? I only use the first half to get to my property. I mean if they want to toss me $100 to toss some rock in some of these pot holes that come up ever couple months, I'm cool with that. Then again the neighbor can just scrape it and no crushed concrete is needed.

So was the neighbor saying he would pay me to fix up their end of the road? Was that what he was getting at? I told him he's more than welcome to buy a load of crushed concrete and i could fill in the holes. I also kind of indicated to ask the neighbor with the skid steer first because he could fix it better. I never mentioned anything about money. People always come up to me and ask me stuff and I never really know what they're getting at and I end up being all over the place when I talk to them, but I mean hey, if they want to pay me $100 to fill in holes with the loader for an hour or two i'm down. It would be far cheaper than calling anyone else in since i'm just next door.

You would be in a much better position to ask the neighbors thoses questions rather than ask a bunch of strangers on the Internet.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

You would be in a much better position to ask the neighbors thoses questions rather than ask a bunch of strangers on the Internet.

I dont think I would be paid. It would probably be where they buy the material and I spread it kind of deal. I didnt ask because i wasnt sure if this was a situation where it would be appropriate to charge

 

[dchawk81]

So the neighbor has a skid steer and he kind of keeps our part of the road maintained by scraping it and leveling out the pot holes. Ive tried giving him money anytime I see him do it, but he doesnt take it. I only have a 25hp kubota with a loader and a box blade. Personally, I dont like how the box blade shakes the three point hitch to death like it does, so I usually just scoop up some crushed concrete from my driveway and fill in a few of the pot holes when they get deep with my loader bucket. I think how it works is everyone keeps the part in front of their property maintained and everyone is happy. Well, this takes care of first half the road which leaves the other 800ft or so unmaintained, because those 3 people at the end dont have a tractor or a skid steer.

Anyways, I offered of pitch in on a load of crushed concrete to fill in the holes the neighbor was like no you're good. Im not really sure why he said that. Is that becaise I already have a tractor and can fix my part of the road? Was he trying to say he'd pay me to fix his part of the road at the end? I told him they're more than welcome to buy a load of crushed concrete and i can spread it. Although, I wasnt sure if they were going to pay or not, or if I should even charge. I guess them paying me every so often to fill in the holes is cheaper than them buying their own machine. I just told them the neighbor with the 12k pound skid steer will fix the road better than my little 25hp tractor. Am I supposed to charge for their half of the road that only they drive down to access their house? I only use the first half to get to my property. I mean if they want to toss me $100 to toss some rock in some of these pot holes that come up ever couple months, I'm cool with that. Then again the neighbor can just scrape it and no crushed concrete is needed.

Sounds like you need to start an HOA.

 

[zak77]

I used to maintain a 500ft gravel road for my summer camp for many years just using an older 18hp craftsman tractor pulling a length of chain link fence with some concrete blocks on it, which worked really well. Of course none of the neighbors pitched in and considering i was the only "seasonal" resident and everyone else was year-round, it sure didnt seem right to me. There were some times when i didnt get around to it or the winter was really bad then they had to hire someone to bring in gravel and use a skid-steer to get it back to decent shape, which then i'd maintain it. I only had to drag the road about 4 times a year so it wasnt a constant thing. If i were you and had that tractor i'd build/buy something that'd loosen the surface then smooth it out because no matter what you do, it's gonna goto **** but all you need to do is take a few passes it'll be ok again. I tried a LOT of things to smooth out the road but chain link was the cheapest and easiest.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Sounds like you need to start an HOA.

Oh hell no. Thats why I bought a place where I did. HOA dues would buy a lot of gravel

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Im going to buy a 12 ton load of crushed concrete to add some to the driveway to my shop. Figured id fill in some of these big holes for them no charge this time, then if theyre happy with how it turns out , they can pay me next time. I think about 3 yards is what I would take to clean up their area. So about $120 worth of material plus another $100 for my time on the tractor for a couple hours. I think thats probably way cheaper than anyone else to trailer a piece of equipment in here. They can pay me like once a quarter or something like that and that should keep the road good enough id think. Nobody has really done anything to this road the last couple years or so. Even I've only added maybe a couple completely full buckets at most in the last two years and that was me robbing gravel from my own drive to fix up a couple potholes. What do you guys think? Doesnt get any cheaper than that. Obviously, just filling the holes in is kind of the poor man's way to do it like you guys said, but still cheaper than tearing the whole road up and bringing in several loads to put a nice crown on the road

 

[egdede]

toOh hell no. Thats why I bought a place where I did. HOA dues would buy a lot of gravel

But with everyone paying dues your share becomes 'fair'. Just draft narrow bylaws and don't create a monster ; )

 

[dchawk81]

Oh hell no. Thats why I bought a place where I did. HOA dues would buy a lot of gravel

The dues would still buy gravel. That's what they'd be for.

 

[CluelessPro]

Im going to buy a 12 ton load of crushed concrete to add some to the driveway to my shop. Figured id fill in some of these big holes for them no charge this time, then if theyre happy with how it turns out , they can pay me next time. I think about 3 yards is what I would take to clean up their area. So about $120 worth of material plus another $100 for my time on the tractor for a couple hours. I think thats probably way cheaper than anyone else to trailer a piece of equipment in here. They can pay me like once a quarter or something like that and that should keep the road good enough id think. Nobody has really done anything to this road the last couple years or so. Even I've only added maybe a couple completely full buckets at most in the last two years and that was me robbing gravel from my own drive to fix up a couple potholes. What do you guys think? Doesnt get any cheaper than that. Obviously, just filling the holes in is kind of the poor man's way to do it like you guys said, but still cheaper than tearing the whole road up and bringing in several loads to put a nice crown on the road

I think the main question you have to answer is do they want to pay to do anything. They might be okay just letting it go. It sounds like you should knock on the door and ask them if they want you fill the hole for $*** amount of money. I've dealt with neighbors being nice and doing something that needed done without asking me then expecting to be compensated. I told them "thank you, but that wasn't planned in our budget."

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Putting crushed concrete in pothole doesn’t fix anything, Unless you rip below the level of the holes and regrade with a proper crown filling in potholes only mask the problem for a little while

I see what you're saying now. Basically the second half of the road has less material on it than the first half and the edges have about a 4" high raised lip where it meets the grass. The first half of the road doesnt have that raised lip. The question is how much material do we need to raise it up. I mean a 12 ton load @ $400/load isnt much material. Thats going to get us like 60ft?

 

[Firebrick43]

I see what you're saying now. Basically the second half of the road has less material on it than the first half and the edges have about a 4" high raised lip where it meets the grass. The first half of the road doesnt have that raised lip. The question is how much material do we need to raise it up. I mean a 12 ton load @ $400/load isnt much material. Thats going to get us like 60ft?

First, just cutting the raised lip off can help significantly to help the water get off the roads and into the ditches to help with drainage.

Most of the good roads here have good grader operators that will cut the humps out ever year or two and will have a gradeall come in where they need to reform the ditches to the consternation of the farmers that want to farm right up to the edge.

There is several roads in the north half of the county next to me that the dump and dump crushed limestone on but they are still soft in the winters and spring because the grader operator there is incompetent and the edges and no crown lets the water just sit on the road. His counterpart in the south half of the county is an excellent operator and the roads need less gravel and other than wash boarding where people accelerate and brake they are smooth and void of all potholes.

Getting someone that can rip and re grade the road can save a significant amount of material.

Also why only 12 tons? Texas has quad axles and they can carry 23-24 tons and a tri axle 20-21 tons depending on how the trucks are set up. Having 1 quad load is cheaper than 2 tandem axle loads. Here the largest cost is delivery, not the aggregate.

Also crushed concrete is a variable product. Even if we ignore the propensity for it to have steel in it that punctures tires, the majority of is is terrible junk for a road. Too many fines and the fines hold moisture much longer than crushed stone fines does.

60 feet sounds about right, a quad will do 100 feet around 6" deep on a 10' wide drive.

But a road done right will last and last. I have a layer of #2, a layer of #4, and then topped with 3/4 clean (#8) lime stone going on 20 years now. Its been top dressed twice with 2 or 3 " of #8's in those 20 years