I’m going finish out the driveway at my house project this weekend with a 4” layer of hardpack. Currently, the sub base is a 8”-12” layer of 3” minus crushed gravel. I plan on renting a vibrating roller to compact everything, but, I’ve never used a roller before. My options from the rental yard are a 1.2 ton Wacker double smooth drum with front drum vibrate, a 3 ton Dynapac with double smooth drums and double vibrate, or a Volvo SD45 single drum. The driveway is about 400’ long and has a consistent rise in grade from the road. If cost is no object, the Volvo is the obvious choice. But, for reality, would either of the other double smooth drum options be productive or would I be wasting time and money? Pics of driveway:
I use an SD45 for driveways on asphalt prep. I think it around ten thousand pounds, if it hits as hard as mine, that would be all you would need Double drums are made for paving, and they are rough, and hard on the neck on anything but asphalt. Depending on your trailer, Double drums are dangerous loading and unloading. If it spins, it is surprising how fast it will go sideways. Main thing when rolling is to shut the vibrator off before you stop or change direction, or it will leave a divot. Depending on the material, you can over roll it, and make it soft. If you see water coming up, stop vibrating.
Thanks for the info! I have a 14k tilt equipment trailer or I can pay to have it delivered.
I would go with the single drum tired roller. Double drums are for paving like CE said. A DD might climb the slope, hard to tell how steep it is from the pic. Assuming "hardpack" is similar to a dense graded base material?
Oh a double drum would do the job. We have a retired CB 734 Cat double drum that we use for road work, and shouldering. The water tanks come in handy for pulverizing, or working with rap shoulders. It keeps the rap from sticking to the drums on hot days. Just a dirt roller is more practical for what you want.
It’s pretty steep near the top, but I’m unsure what the exact grade is. And yes, around here “hardpack” is crushed stone mixed with fines. It’s available in 3/4” or 1.5”, I’m planning on the 1.5” given the slope.
It's hard enough keeping a single drum from sliding sideways on hills, I can't imagine a double drum working on anything with much slope. If it's as dry there as it is here you may have some trouble getting compaction. We really need a few inches of soaking rain. On the slope, go up drum first with vibration off and back down with the drum uphill with vibration on. It's really easy to end up in the ditch or rolled over when the drum starts going sideways.
Everyone always says, "it's just a roller" But there is a knack to it. Number one rule I tell every new operator, no matter what, if anything happens, first thing to do is shut off the vibrator
Sounds like the voice of experience is pretty clear- get the single drum rubber tire roller. I called the rental yard and I will pick it up later this week. Thanks to all who offered advice, I’ll keep this updated with before and after pictures.
Ok sounds like 1.5" crusher run which will work great on a drive. Do you plan on asphalt or concrete later or just stone? Not familiar with your climate and how those 2 materials hold up compared to each other. No doubt. After explaining the safety aspects to our new operators that get put on a roller as their first piece of iron, we also reiterate how important of a piece of equipment a roller is for a building a job - it's not just a "keep busy job". We'll stress how important proper compaction is to the success and longevity of the job. Helps get the new guys engaged in the process and it works pretty well.
I see adds in, well no longer the paper, but hiring asphalt roller men, and offering them low wages. That's the guy who makes or breaks your paving job. Compaction is important, and also gives the job a finished look. Rollers must be tough. We have a 98 568 cat dirt roller. It always starts, even in the dead of winter. No one ever checks the oil in it. I've seen the owner of the company start it in the winter, and as soon as it gets a couple of chugs out of the motor, wide open goes the throttle, and off it goes. Its never laid down on us yet. We are starting to get a bit of snow here now. Ice on the floats in the mornings. The rollers get dangerous to load. Track machines as well, but rollers seem extra slippery
Not many concrete drives around here, the freeze/ thaw and use of salt in the winter really kills them. The expensive houses or suburban ones have asphalt driveways. I’d like to possibly pave the apron in front of the garage someday but for now it will just be stone. I run studded chains during the snow removal season and they would really tear up the asphalt though.
One of the company owner's daughters was running a an ingersoll just like that. I can still see her. No safety gear, and these big sunglasses, and a huge purse. We were fine grading, and I could hear Oh my go, oh my god! She had started to go in the ditch, she freaked out, and didn't shut the vibrator off, and over she went. She didn't get hurt. I still remember the fuel pouring into her purse. She pulls out her fuel soaked smokes, and throws them. She calls her father. She says I told him what happened, you know what he said? Did you hurt the roller?
Gotcha. Most drives here are concrete here unless they are long or in very expensive neighborhoods, no freezing or snow plowing to worry about. Concrete drives for residential applications are nothing fancy just 4" thick 3,0000 psi usually on dirt or 4" of stone. If the driveway is long enough the economy of scale swings from concrete to asphalt since asphalt is cheaper per SF but the equipment required is more expensive. For my new build I plan on installing the 6" of DGB then hire out the 2" of asphalt. The drive is long enough with me doing the base that asphalt will be cheaper and IMO a nicer look. Garage aprons will be concrete though, probably dye it black to match.
My .02,, depending on how far you have to go to pick up and return roller and the cost of rental,,, You have a tractor. It may not compact as good as the roller compactor but you could drive back and forth, back and forth, et cetera. Rollers are very sensitive on the shoulders as seen in the picture. Be careful on the shoulders.
That’s a valid point. For those curious, the rental outfit is 45mins away and it’s $570 for the daily rental fee….
I'd stick with the rental. One day is plenty if you have the stone down and ready to roll. A smooth drum vibratory roller will lock that stone in better than any other method. Just put down a couple 1,000 tons recently. Rented that Bomag from UR for $4K a month with fees.
I've never used a roller on a skid steer but I imagine it would be easier to control on hills. Probably doesn't put down the same force to the ground though.
A skid steer would have dynamic braking so you should be able to stop before you went too far. I'm in the same boat with my driveway. I put some coarse rock down and the dump truck did pack it some. Much better than driving the skid steer or my truck on it. It was getting dark so I didn't have time to load the dump truck. I'm wondering if the loaded dump truck will pack it sufficiently or if I should rent some kind of compactor? My neighbor has a smaller vibratory roller but he's the last guy I'd ever ask. He wanted $175 worth of diesel for pulling my dump truck out. I'm wondering if packing what I have may not need a top coat of road crush? I'm sure it will pack even better after a little rain or even if it snows before the ground freezes too much. If you think it should have road crush regardless I'll order some. I've got a limited budget on disability but would like a solid driveway that doesn't deteriorate in the spring when there's some standing water.
Looks like our Bomag. Does it have a real small steering wheel?
Yes. Honestly I didn't like machine other than the A/C cab which worked decent.
You already have a pretty good sub base for for a residential driveway. To make it just a bit more pretty you could add just an inch or two of fresh gravel to level it out. I own the smaller double roller that would work fine for that and we use it for residential work for adding additional gravel parking areas and short gravel road access. I'm sure it will go up the hill, but maybe just vibrate going down the hill. To do it right big time, I agree with everyone else and add 4" or more of gravel and use the big 5-6' wide front roller, a 10-14,000 lb plus machine, with 15-20k compaction rate. But gravel roads, usually get lumpy over time with settling, rain, and snow, plowing. Do you drive mostly a pick up truck? It's rural living.
I always wonder why we don't have more rollers with cabs. I think we have 6 dirt rollers, 4 large double drum asphalt rollers, 3 double drum side walk asphalt rollers ( they just call them that because they are so small). and an old 1974 Raygo single drum asphalt roller that the paving crew refuses to part with, and only the bomag like the one you have pictured has a cab. It's getting cold here, like crusty frozen gravel in the mornings cold.
If he ever wants to regrade the driveway or fix winter damage without adding new material he will definitely want more than an inch or two of gravel blend on top of the base. I like to use at least 8" so there's enough to work with when it needs touching up. @Columbo your excavator tracks will actually do a good job of compacting the fresh gravel. With the weight of the machine and the impact of the rollers going over each track link it really does quite well. The problem is when you turn it scuffs it up a bit. Another problem is getting full coverage of the driveway surface. If the driveway is too narrow you won't be able to pack down the middle without the other track going off the side of the driveway. I wouldn't use this method for anything that would be built on, but for driveways it gives a good deep compaction of the material. Even my little 14k machine with steel tracks will do a better job on a foot of loose material than my plate compactor will do on a few inches.
20 years ago when I bought our 533E compactors just didn't have cabs. The next roller I buy will have a cab with full HVAC if for nothing more than to protect the electronics. Modern rollers have a ton of productive features like compaction control and GPS capabilities however it's all electronics that need to be shelter from the environment. For us a cab would be for A/C not eating dust in the summer time but having a little heat in winter wouldn't be a bad thing either.
Is that a huber grader? what do you think of it
You can build that driveway without a roller, If you use a wheeled skid steer with a smooth lip bucket. Load the bucket full of gravel and back blade the driveway. Work backwards as you go. Use just the lip edge of the bucket and you can pack that gravel tight without a roller. You will need water more than likely.
Yes it is. Only one I've seen in person or run so I don't have much to compare it to. Never ran a grader before I bought this one. I have the leaking fluid count reduced by one. Now I just need to fix the leaking coolant, engine oil and hydraulics. HeavyEquipmentForums
Very good. It is hard to keep up with all the drips and leaks, especially on any grader. I saw a Huber for sale in FL for a fair price recently, I considered picking it up. I was worried that it would not push well compared to fourwheel drive. I constantly run mine at the edge of it catching too much weight, digging in, stopping and messing up something I just graded. If you get any videos of it working in gravel, I would be curious to see how it does.
Pics coming tomorrow, but the advice to rent the single drum roller was spot on! There’s no way I would have done this productively any other way. I compacted the 3” minus base this morning and then spread 75 yards of hardpack. Rolled that in too and got the roller back to the rental yard before 5. As @materthegreater said, more water would have helped but there’s not much I can do about that. Thanks again, all!
Pics, as promised.
Looks awesome! Beautiful lot.
You paving or leaving gravel on the hill?
Just gravel for now.
I have pretty much the same driveway and hill with turn. Thankfully, after the house was done, we had money left over to pave 150’ and leave the flat grade gravel.