Location of a future ditch that will be needed to ensure that the driveway is not covered in run-off again. Photo by J&J
Road Leveling
The box scraper has on the back of it a blade that can be used for pushing to help level the dirt. Of course, to do so, you need to remove or turn over your ripping tines or you will just make nice rows in your driveway where the tines are.
However, I chose instead to use the float option on my front end loader. I would use the box blade to break up a section of the driveway and then use the front end loader to smooth it out.
On our tractor this is done by flattening out your bucket and lowering it to the ground. Then you push the control stick forward an extra time and it will “lock” forward, placing the loader in “float” mode.
In float mode the loader senses the ground and attempts to adjust to stay just above to soil. For our purposes you would be driving in reverse when using this feature.
I found that it worked great, and I owe Tommy Alderman at Alderman Farms for the suggestion. Without that option I probably would have become frustrated trying to use the back of the box blade.
Ditch Work
The next part of the project will be to dig some drainage ditches around the edge of the driveway where water has previously caused run-off issues.
These areas where run-off occurs either ends up leaving a rut across the driveway or covers the driveway in soil, which then allows grass to grow over the driveway. Neither are acceptable.
To do this I will adjust the lift arm on the scraper so that it sits at an angle. Then I will follow the edge of the driveway, where needed, and provide a ditch for water to travel.
Thankfully, this will not remove water from our property entirely. Rather, the areas we will divert the water to will connect in with existing ditches where seasonal streams flow.
Some of these ditches will also act more as berms, allowing the water to seep in to the soil right where it is.
Driveway Maintenance
While this is a great first measure for us, we may invest in a simple blade at some point. These blades do not “dig”, but would be easier to use for general maintenance.
In our case the box scrapper was needed for the actual repair.
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