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Grading driveway with bobcat

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
What attachment is everyone using for grading their driveway/small roads with a bobcat? I have a 60" and a 66" bucket, but find they are not a very useful tool for grading out ruts and pot holes with. I maintain my 550' driveway, and was recently asked if I had time to grade a friends 375' driveway and then spread crushed asphalt on it. I know I can use the buckets, but I was wondering if a land plane or harley rake would handle these better? Or something else that I'm not aware of. A local rental shop has a harley rake available for $220/day that I was contemplating trying. I wouldn't mind buying a land plane for my skid steer, if I knew it would grade out a rough driveway and bring it back in shape. Both drives are packed hard so a simple drag doesn't move enough material to cut and fill.
 

skyking1

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Nov 3, 2020
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7,463
Location
washington
ruts or potholes, the only lasting fix is to tear that hard grade down to the bottom of the potholes, then grade, roll, water. Then drive slowly till it gets hard again.
But you probably knew that :D
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
There is a tilt plate attachment that goes between the bucket and the bob-tach. So you can tilt the bucket 10 degrees left or right. Use a toothless bucket to grade stuff. Not for heavy digging and puts the bucket farther out, but works great for grading.
 

CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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13,247
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
What's causing you trouble grading with a bucket? A tooth bucket on a skid or CTL can accomplish a multitude of tasks.
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
What's causing you trouble grading with a bucket? A tooth bucket on a skid or CTL can accomplish a multitude of tasks.

Probably lack of knowledge or skill. I do fairly decent with a bobcat, but the bulk of my experience was never in finish grading. Everytime I try to finish grade my drive, I get a lumpy finish compared to what a grader can leave.

I had a dump truck with belly grader blade that was excellent at this. My desire for a bigger truck pushed me to sell it, and now I wish I had kept it
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
It just takes some time in the seat. A tooth bucket on a skid/CTL is a great tool to fix potholes. Like Skyking said the only way to really fix a pothole is to dig it out, refill and compact. If just fill it in with loose material it will reappear.

Try this - fill the bucket 1/2- 3/4 when fine grading, the extra weight will help you keep a consistent grade. Also back dragging with a skid bucket is not equipment heresy regardless of what might be posted on the internet.:D
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
Back drag like cm1995 says.

Fill in the holes with the skid and borrow a tractor with a three point or box blade to do the full grading. The rear blade or back dragging will carry material along and fill in as you go.
 

skyking1

Senior Member
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Nov 3, 2020
Messages
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Location
washington
Lots of skid steers also have a square back edge to the bucket which carries material nicely.
 

OTG AuGres

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 16, 2017
Messages
138
Location
Michigan
Occupation
Hobbiest - Forestry and Wildlife Management
IMO, harley rake is hard to beat. It pulls up old gravel to the surface and breaks up potholes for a more permanent fix. I started doing my trails with the harley rake and then I finish them off rolling with a heavy lawn roller. Beautiful results.
 

gwhammy

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
602
Location
missouri
I have a rake I made for finishing dirt that works great on roads. The teeth are two inches tall about four inches apart and five rows I think all with two by two tubing for the frame and 5 inch channel sides. It's about 7.5 foot wide. It takes a couple passes to get the material loose. Then it's just a matter of going foward and backwards to level in the potholes. Just did a day care drive and parking with terrible pot holes in it.
 

Tags

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
1,610
Location
Connecticut
A 4in1 bucket works really well, Harley rake is fantastic but expensive if to purchase if you’re not using to make money with. I personally would look into a removable tooth bar for you your existing bucket, if you don’t work on asphalt a lot I bet you find you’d leave it on. It’s nice for digging out the pot holes, digging into compacted material, scooping up piles of rock, adds a bit more capacity, and it also adds another cutting edge to increase the strength of the front edge of the bucket. You could also weld an old cutting edge to the bottom of the bucket at the back edge, I believe CM does this to his ctl buckets, helps grading and not wearing out the back of your bucket. CM is right on the money with the grading with a half bucket of material suggestion. The real key to it though is grading it so the water sheds off the side of the driveway and compacting it with a roller after grading, once water gets stuck in there that’s when the potholes will start.
 

jacobd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2017
Messages
147
Location
North carolina
I've had good results with a box grader attachment like this.
grader.jpg

Mine is a 72" wide, fixed angle, three blade model. It works much better than a bucket for grading but it takes a lot of power to push. Especially through hard material like packed gravel. If I was going to be maintaining roads with it consistently I would get a three point type and use a large tractor to pull it.
 

JPSouth

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Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
125
Location
SW Montana
I've had good results with a box grader attachment like this.

Concur..I've got a Bradco land plane with a Tilt-tach and drop teeth, they'll dig up pretty bad potholes in prep for grading. Also got a harley rake, but it's only useful if the driveway has sufficient native and/or road base material to work with..otherwise I'm just gonna beat the thing to pieces. Worst case scenario, lots of damage with irregular material, I wait for a wet spell and take my Komatsu D21 with a 6-way blade. I've renovated some pretty crappy mountain driveways with that thing.
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
I'm overthinking my situation, so, I'll do as suggested and use my tooth bucket to rough up and grade out ruts and pot holes. If I really get things messed up, I do have access to tractors with 3pt back blades and box blades to get things corrected.
 

CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,247
Location
Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
I'm overthinking my situation, so, I'll do as suggested and use my tooth bucket to rough up and grade out ruts and pot holes. If I really get things messed up, I do have access to tractors with 3pt back blades and box blades to get things corrected.

I think you just need more seat time.;)
 

Acoals

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Dec 15, 2019
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1,271
Location
Wisconsin
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Jack of all trades/Master of none
What Bobcat do you have? Some of those little Bobcats are awfully tail heavy and pretty much useless for grading ....
 
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