A road leveler idea

Stargazer

Stargazer

Surin Legend
We have about a half km road into the center of our rice fields/lakes. The native sandy clay dries out and turned the road into a sand dune, not a good thing. So I put down about 15cm or so of gravel. Soon the gravel road problem surfaced: it washboards, and the car tire tracks compact. The tractor blade is of limited help, as it won't float as an excavator blade does.

I tried to find a buyable unit to do the job, with no success. In the USA, a box blade is available, but doesn't really do the same job.

To solve this problem, I made a 3 point attachment for our Kubota 5018SP. The 3 point attachment is hard to build without a proper machine shop, so I bought a PPK one made to create furrows for cassava, and removed the discs. I used part of the attachment system and welded a heavy duty extension below. That was the hardest welding, and I had to buff up my heavy welding skills a bit. 3.2mm 7016 rod @ 140A did the trick. Then I hinged 3m long pieces of 2"x4" heavy U-channel steel with ⅝" bolts to the extensions, so the leveler could move and follow the road. Being long is the secret to improving flatness.

Three 2m wide lengths of the same are mounted below at a 45° angle, held in place by 1.5cm square bar welded with 2.6mm 6013 rod at 120A. In order to lift the attachment to turn around, I needed an attachment to the top 3 point that let the leveler float, but then could lift it. My solution was a chain, which is a little slack when the leveler is in a down position.

I can imagine some refinements, but as is, it works pretty well. It is close to as heavy as the tractor can lift. A couple passes with this, and the road is restored to flatness. I suppose we'll dress the road this way several times a year.

3 Point road leveler

IMG_2136.jpeg
 
Coffee said:
Appears ready for asphalt. ;-)
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Haha! That would be be a big mistake. We'd have to patch the washouts and potholes every year. The asphalt street we drive to get there is a major pothole disaster zone! We have had no luck getting the government to fix it. I offered to pay to fix it, but they said no. IMHO a well maintained gravel road is better than a poorly maintained asphalt or concrete one.
 
Mel Malinowski said:
IMHO a well maintained gravel road is better than a poorly maintained asphalt or concrete one.
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In most cases asphalt and concrete "construction" here suffer from inadequate base and sub-base courses, i.e. virtually no drainage. Asphalt also suffers from the heat together with heavy traffic. A well built concrete pavement should last for many years without hardly any maintenance. However, I'm not sure of current costs but it used to be around double asphalt prices.
 
Yorky said:
In most cases asphalt and concrete "construction" here suffer from inadequate base and sub-base courses, i.e. virtually no drainage. Asphalt also suffers from the heat together with heavy traffic. A well built concrete pavement should last for many years without hardly any maintenance. However, I'm not sure of current costs but it used to be around double asphalt prices.
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Unfortunately, we have a relatively narrow road above and between our rice paddies and a neighbor's. A section closer to the road is flanked by land owned by others who will not allow any widening even if we pay for it. So we do not have enough real estate or control to prevent undercutting. In this situation, I've seen concrete roads become very difficult to maintain (though in some situations it is superior). With gravel, at least we can repair problems. (Note: I grew up in the heavy construction industry. My operating engineer father owned a rock crusher at a local quarry, and built roads, bridges and railroad grades. This was in rural Washington State, 1600 cm. of rain a year, and as you note, an inadequate base is very bad. My dad favored at least 12" of compacted 4"-6" base rock, then another 8" of 2" minus, and topped with ¾"minus.) A downside of gravel is erosion from runoff in gullywasher thunderstorms. In that situation, the water would wash off and undercut asphalt and concrete roads anyway.
Yorky said:
In most cases asphalt and concrete "construction" here suffer from inadequate base and sub-base courses, i.e. virtually no drainage. Asphalt also suffers from the heat together with heavy traffic. A well built concrete pavement should last for many years without hardly any maintenance. However, I'm not sure of current costs but it used to be around double asphalt prices.
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Mel Malinowski said:
Unfortunately, we have a relatively narrow road above and between our rice paddies and a neighbor's. A section closer to the road is flanked by land owned by others who will not allow any widening even if we pay for it. So we do not have enough real estate or control to prevent undercutting. In this situation, I've seen concrete roads become very difficult to maintain (though in some situations it is superior). With gravel, at least we can repair problems. (Note: I grew up in the heavy construction industry. My operating engineer father owned a rock crusher at a local quarry, and built roads, bridges and railroad grades. This was in rural Washington State, 1600 cm. of rain a year, and as you note, an inadequate base is very bad. My dad favored at least 12" of compacted 4"-6" base rock, then another 8" of 2" minus, and topped with ¾"minus.) A downside of gravel is erosion from runoff in gullywasher thunderstorms. In that situation, the water would wash off and undercut asphalt and concrete roads anyway.
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Hire a steel wheel roller and a spray water cart.
 
Mel Malinowski said:
Good idea, compaction certainly would help. Anyone have a large Ingersol-Rand articulated vibrating roller? This video is from one of my projects two years ago, grading a hillside lot in Sequim, WA where I was going to build a house:

Grading 1863 Doe Run Road
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Ministry of Transport has them. They used them for the rebuild from Surin City to Chong Chom about 75 km. That highway is about 500 meters from our farm.

Ministry of Transport

www.mot.go.th www.mot.go.th
 
FERRET said:
Mel, no offence intended but, if you know so much, why so many posts/ questions.
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I know how to do much of this in the USA, grew up with it, but certainly don't know everything, and always value third party viewpoints. Finding sources for equipment rental way out here in our rural area has proven difficult. Another issue is the soil here, and the way narrow roads are done perched a meter or more above the rice fields, not structurally very strong and prone to washouts. So I'm interested in what those of us who have been here some time know about supply chain and construction issues. Plus there are some big differences about what is available to buy here: in Surin City, at least, tools and materials I take for granted and used when building simply cannot be bought, even at Do Home, HomePro, SCG or Thai Watsadhu. As far as the road leveler, I've never done one before, so I am winging it, after attempts to buy something suitable was unsuccessful. At home, we have a network of friends and neighbors who help each other, and Surinfarang.com does link a lot of experienced folks together. Farming is my weakest point: I'm not really a farmer, though I grew up doing some farm work. Anyway, I hope I'm not annoying people with too many questions. I thought that was what the forum is for, sharing knowledge and advice.
 
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