Where is this?
I bet you have neighbors with similar circumstances.
What do they do?

 

yikes

 

"How much do I need to flatten this out and redistribute the gravel and pack it down?"

Not sure what you are referring to here? How much of what? redistribute gravel and pack it down?

If that was the entrance to my estate or ranch, and I wanted it fixed, graded and stabilized, I would contact a local construction company in your area that specializes in driveways, that has all the knowledge and equipment in your area, and get some quotes.

 

To answer this and another. Its Colorado. All my neighbors have shorter driveways or they have asphalted them. Which is an eventual plan but there is a monopoly on the local driveway guy currently and he is charging 4x what the cost should be imo.

Yes. The crowning of the driveway with the gravel now thrown off to the sides. Leaves it thick and loose on the sides and bare and compact in the middle.

I am looking to get through one winter, maybe two before I budget in the asphalting. So looking to consider renting equipment to compact it, if needed. This is a new house to myself, so not sure what blowing snow with a one stage blower/auger is going to be like with all this loose rock...

 

~snip~ This is a new house to myself, so not sure what blowing snow with a one stage blower/auger is going to be like with all this loose rock...

"New house" does this mean you bought it from someone? If so, what did the previous owner do? Water under the bridge now but if it is brand new construction, I would have the asphalt surface installed as part of construction- roll it into the project.

That aside, IMHO, a 350' driveway is too long for a single stage.

I have an unimproved driveway that is mostly packed soil with gravel in sporadic areas. I pick up stones occasionally from this and from the chunder that the county pushes back in from the unimproved road.

Perhaps consult with a plowing service for their opinion of best practices on this situation and contract with them for the year or two.

 

I would want a 4wd with a plow for that. 😎

 

What is that river rock????? Should be class five gravel there.

 

im no expert.. but i dont think that type of gravel will really compact.. i think best bet is making it level-ish and lowering the skid shoes on your super-mega 60in single stage to suck up the least that you can...

making it level-ish it probably try dragging a section of 4x4 lumber behind a lawn tractor??

 

I parked the 18 wheeler in what was a filled in swamp for over 20 years.
When it was a swamp it was crisscrossed with tons of little streams intersecting each other.
Where they intersected the filled in ground would always eventually sink as the streams stilled flowed throughout underground.
What we did was take in dump truck loads of stripped roads when they were replacing streets, worked good after it was rolled by a road roller and it was free.

I know it would cost a good buck but paving it would be the way to go.
Concrete, I think done right would be even better, though big bucks doing that.

I would still want a 4wd with a plow.

 

I dont know what a rammy 155 is. do you have a picture?
I like the idea of levelling out the gravel and using a roller ( for now ) to prep for winter.
Truck with plow may work well as you can use the truck year round.

After a snow or two and maybe some melting and freezing you wont have to worry so much about the gravel as long as you don't scrape too much.

 

That looks like crushed stone not gravel, but it is hard to tell from a photo.
If it is crushed stone and not gravel, you will find that it will compact very little and it will become loose again after driving on it over time.
Crushed stone is mainly used for decorative purposes not driveways.
The loose deep stone at the end and sides of the driveway will wear out any snow blower over time.
With compacted gravel, you can leave a couple inch snow base at the beginning of winter(providing you don't get many above freezing days over the winter) and set up the blade height (minimum 1") for gravel, which will reduce the amount of stones going through the blower.

 

I cannot upload a picture of one for you orangeputeh.

The Rammy 155 is the largest single stage snow thrower made by RAMMY in Finland that is mounted
on an 2 or 4 wheel drive ATV/RTV.

I have posted files on the SBF forum describing them and there are many youtube videos showing them in use in deep snowpack.

 

not my video.. but neat to see

 

The Rammy working in deep snow;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfEBBwiHxfo

 

You need some sort of binder and be prepared to groom your road. That rock will always go down hill from the roads crown, you need a groomer/drag angled towards the center.

Then add binder if possible and then work it in. Again, if possible. No expert on mixing road materials, but have had a long driveway consisting of premixed material where the rock and binder tend to separate over time, thus the grooming maintenance.
You'll want to maintain the crown and grooming from outside in will do just that

 

As I have mentioned, I ran equipment years ago, put in many drives and roads .... there are proper ways to do it, and that is why I suggested for someone local with the knowledge and equipment to discuss it with you.

 

That looks like large pea gravel and is one of the worst surfaces I can think of for snow removal. As others mentioned it's not going to compact without a binder of some sort.

Doesn't look like there are adjustable skids shoes on that Rammy, but maybe you can leave it lifted up a bit? You definitely don't want the scraper on the ground.

 

The rammy does have adjustable skid shoes. The skid shoes are attached to the rear of the snow thrower rotor housing.

Between the winch on the ATV/RTV and the skid shoes keeping the snow thrower off the stone base will not be
difficult to do as long as the snow thrower is raised slightly and kept at that height.

 

At my camp in PA the backhoe is used to groom the dirt and gravel roads after storms cause washouts. They back-blade up the hill and drag from the edges to center crown the stone. If I am not mistake, they use a 2A modified stone product which packs well.

That Rammy is a nice unit. I have a diesel Ranger that would work well with something like that. Thanks for the video. Good luck with the new homestead.

 

I agree the photos show crushed stone and not gravel. My driveway is gravel (3/4" dense grade) which has a lot of smaller pieces and plenty of stone dust which binds it together to make a near water-impermeable barrier. A 2-stage snowblower's scraper needs to be set as high as possible; especially for the first few snowfalls until an ice layer has built up.

A single-stage snowblower is going to function as a rock thrower on a crushed stone driveway. The suggestion to cover it with dump truck loads of stripped roads (millings) from street replacement work then hammer it flat with a plate compactor the best one I've read here.

That looks like crushed stone not gravel, but it is hard to tell from a photo.
If it is crushed stone and not gravel, you will find that it will compact very little and it will become loose again after driving on it over time.
Crushed stone is mainly used for decorative purposes not driveways.
The loose deep stone at the end and sides of the driveway will wear out any snow blower over time.
With compacted gravel, you can leave a couple inch snow base at the beginning of winter(providing you don't get many above freezing days over the winter) and set up the blade height (minimum 1") for gravel, which will reduce the amount of stones going through the blower.

 

Nice driveway