Tyler8400
New Member
Does anyone have and advice on fixing high shoulders with a gravel reclamation disc on gravel roads.
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High Shoulders
- Thread starter Tyler8400
- Start date
Our township uses a shoulder reclaimer with good success, we pull it with a tractor. We try to do our reclaiming early in the spring after things have dried up and before the grass has gotten a chance to get too tall. The sod chunks are your worst enemy, if we encounter allot of sod, we pull both sides in to the center of the road and hit it with a small 3 point disc to help chop the sod. You will gain some binder in your gravel by doing this. The reclaimer is designed to cut the shoulder sod in narrow ribbons so it is more manageable, once adjusted right. Speed is also important seems like it works best at 8 to 10 mph, tends to throw sod & material further into the road, & starts drying faster. After a couple passes (or whatever it takes) your shoulders will be much improved and you can establish better crown. After the first treatment you can go back in a couple of years & hit them again, this time it wont take as much effort. (The first time is the worst) Good Luck
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
I have a thread in the showtime section on high shoulders just search my forum name and spring road work thread should come up
Tyler8400
New Member
Thanks for the tips vernier and awesome pictures Cat140MAWD. Is this something you guys try to do every spring across the whole township or just as needed. Trying to get my township talked into getting one.
We will for sure run the reclaimer on a stretch of road before getting new gravel. The rest of the roads I guess you could say as needed. Keep an eye out for a used reclaimer I have seen them for sale on occasion.
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
I try to do my townships every 2 or 3 years depends how much edge you get and what kind of traffic volume you have I love the shouldering disc it saves so much time and can cover so much ground plus it brings binder back in to the gravel makes your roads stay a lot better I see your in SW Minnesota what town are you close to ? I'm about 30 min straight west of Sioux Falls S.D
Tyler8400
New Member
I'm from Avoca about 20 miles north of Worthington. I run a cat 12M2 AWD and JD 770 CH for two townships here.
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
ah I gotcha I'm about an hour and a half from where your at then I run a 140M3 AWD a 772CH and a 770G for my townships I blade 5 of them so I stay plenty busy. if ya can get the board to buy ya a shouldering disc its well worth the investment there 6'288 for the disc that mounts on the molboard so pretty cheap investment and you can get them at dimond mowers in Sioux falls S.D if you get one I can help ya out on how to use it just let me know.
We feel the most important step in our shoulder pulling is grinding the sod if your well sodded your going to catch heck with all those chunks and mud on the road
We have used a disk there used to be a few around for rental But currently our process is to pull the shoulder with the moldboard on the lead grader followed with a 3 point harley rake on a farm tractor to grind the sod second grader with tooth blade and packer mixes and packs works great and we leave a good road without chunks
There are townships that are so terribly curbed and guttered to get them caught up we have to load and haul the shoulders the first year just to much sod and mud to pull onto the road
We have used a disk there used to be a few around for rental But currently our process is to pull the shoulder with the moldboard on the lead grader followed with a 3 point harley rake on a farm tractor to grind the sod second grader with tooth blade and packer mixes and packs works great and we leave a good road without chunks
There are townships that are so terribly curbed and guttered to get them caught up we have to load and haul the shoulders the first year just to much sod and mud to pull onto the road
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
I'm just starting to disc my shoulders in today will post pictures tonight when I get done with work
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
Here's some pictures off me discing my shoulders in I have a tractor mounted one in this township I will let this material sit for 3 or 4 days let the grass rot then start pulling it in with the blade will take pictures when I start that process
Cat 140M AWD
Senior Member
Yep we pull it right up on to the road it looks like there's a lot of dirt in there but there's not we recover a lot of gravel also doing this plus doesn't hurt to get a little dirt mixed in with it makes gravel hold together a lot better and improves drainage here's pictures of road after I've pulled it all in
Great pics. Thanks for posting them. I've got a couple miles of roads I'm going to do this to this year.
If you haul this material away or push it up on the roadbanks all you are doing is lowering your roadbed.....
If you haul this material away or push it up on the roadbanks all you are doing is lowering your roadbed.....
grandpa
Senior Member
I usually do this type of work early in the spring when the ground is still frozen, but it has been warm enough to melt the snow back off the shoulder. Its a small window when its optimum. The snow wing has cut the taller grass off during the winter. With the ground being thawed 1/4 to a 1/2 inch on your lips, you can go with only a grader and trim those lips right off. Only pull it in about a foot and leave it. With the frost holding the roots you can trim it without it bulking up like thaw sod will do. Makes life simple.