A large coffee and Mikes tractor videos, a good start to a saturday morning.... looking forward to more.

Just when you think a rear blade is just a rear blade, I get to see something new! I have a Speeco. This RK is WAY more adjustable! What a nice setup! Thanks, Mike, for doing this series. As we say in Massachusetts,”Wick way cool!” 👍👍

Thank you, Mike! This is exactly the series topic and the knowledge I’m currently in need of. I appreciate you very much!

Good job Mike, I grew up living on a dirt road. We had the County highway Department keep the services. Back then the DOH did an awesome job. I remember they would crown the surface the same way you do. The center was always a couple inches higher than either side. This was so water wouldn't puddle and lay in the center. You make it look so easy in your video's

Perfect timing. I just purchased some land and my road needs major work. This series will come in handy

Your timing is impeccable Mike. I have a scraper blade on my '51 8N and am shopping around for a box blade possibly. Not in a super rush as we still have about 3 feet of snow on the ground, but I have faith that spring will come.....eventually. Thanks for the videos.

This is my first video ive seen of yours and at the beginning while you're explaining the weather im thinking "man, he's describing my weather exactly at that time period (i checked the date) and the area looks very familiar??." Turns out you actually were describing my weather!! Learning to fix my driveway after the flooding 3 weeks ago and found you, great channel.

Pretty amazing what these attachments can do! I currenty own a 350 john deere and a kubota 2350... What a coincidence. Thanks for the video!

I enjoy all the videos but this will without a doubt be my favorite series.

Good morning Mike. Sounds like your weather is matching what we have going on in Iowa. Low tonight around 16 degrees! Snow forecasted for tomorrow. These are the videos I’ve been looking forward to. Especially the box blade video. My driveway is in real bad shape and looking forward to seeing the work that can be done with a box blade.

You did a lot of work with the back blade on tractor!! 👊

You are really going to like the land plane. I don't have one now but I did when I lived in Manitoba. They do a great job of maintaining a driveway.

Mike keep doing what your doing, excellent info here, even your youtube commercials are great!

Great clip.. im going to have to do this to my driveway this year. Gave me something to think about when i get a chance to get the driveway fixed.

I have been following you for some time Mike but could not get signed in to get subscribed until today. You have a great channel that I will continue to watch. I cut a lot of wood here in Nebraska that is as you put it narley....but it feeds our outdoor wood burner and our indoor fire place. Thank you for the great series. Tom

Enjoyed your fancy tractor dancing! Lol it really shows the full capability of the attachment.

As always, great video. Thanks for the detailed explanation and the good camera work.

The blade dance was so cool!😂

Another cool dance with the rear blade. Very versatile.

Nice work and explanation of your methodical steps, Mike. Thanks for the videos.

Funny...reading through the comments, it seems like the timing for this series is perfect. It's no different for me. I'm starting to look at box blades and am looking forward to your review and thoughts of all the implements. Thank you.

I respect the stop motion blade demo. Probably took a lot of work. Felt like I was watching some old Rankin and Bass Christmas special there for a second.

Nice Vid Mike John Deere 350 I have owned 4 of them rebuilt them and sold on EBay great little dozer

That’s a great looking road you have. You’ve got a nice slice of heaven there PA. In my offset blade I drilled a couple extra holes to be able to swing it as far right or left as possible. Looks like you could have got some more reach as well. Couldn’t tell if you were limited with that or if you were just using personal preference. You’ve got a great channel. Keep on tractoring!

Awsome Rear blade .Never seen one with that mutch adjustment on them

Looking into getting a grader blade for my JD 750. I have a driveway that's almost a half mile long and it washes out after a heavy downpour. This is my first year here, we needed the land for horses but this driveway is proving to be a pain. Great video. Thanks

Nice job Mike looking forward to the next one

These RK people make good products at great prices. I am impressed. Thanks for sharing these reviews. Oh by the way I ordered the trailer and they ship to Italia. Thanks again.

Nice. Looks like you finally got it going at about 11:20. Cool story about the 190 tree one day job

Great video can't wait to see the other attachments. Dang not only you are a land Barron but a road builder and owner. lol if I were you I would charge a toll. Having Fun!! Thanks Mike

Great video Mike. As I've shared before I've got a 1 mile gravel driveway here in Western Kentucky that I maintain with a Land Pride Land Leveler (aka RK Land Plain). I love it but watching you with the Heavy Duty Rear Blade makes me know I need one of those. Probably with hydraulics for my Kubota M7060. I'd still recommend that you put the RK Part Number and specifics on how to order from the RK website in your description. Point and click would help to ensure I'm looking at the full description on the RK website and could then order online or go physically take a look at my local RK.

Great job Mike!👍❤️

Agreed on the weather. Usually the windows are open by now. This is the latest I've burned this much firewood.

You are right about clean or washed gravel. I have a neighbours road that is that material and it never packs and works its way into the ditch. I also blow snow for her in the winter, not good. It takes me a couple of snowfalls of packing with a drag before I can blow snow without launching 1 ½" missiles out of the blower chute. We use "A-Base here which is 3/4" crush with fines and a bit of clay in it. Packs nice and I can manage it with my box scraper.

A great demonstration of proper driveway maintenance. And it’s a pleasure to hear you speak in proper stone terms for your limestone sizes. Crusher run ….or dense graded base -11/2”… is a great choice….particularly since your put in a larger sub base for stability. one suggestion to try….calcium chloride treatment. You will have excellent results with the way it binds together large stone particles with the dust fines. Reduces the “raveling” of the marble size rocks to the side of road. The calcium chloride can be applied in flakes or added to water and sprayed on. Google it….lots of sites that can get you started if interested. It’s a good long term investment. And you might save wear and tear on your tractor. Thx for your youtube video!

The ability to scrape on the side of the tractor looks neat. Especially for snow.

Your not alone. It just snowed here in Missouri. This last year we basically skipped fall. I feel we're going to skip spring and go straight to summer this year.

This brings back memories of working with my grandfather to maintain the family dirt road -- all he ever used (or had) was a rear blade for grading. It was also what he used the most for snow removal given the snow blower he had usually required more horsepower (for the types & quantities of snow we got) than his tractors possessed. Come to think of it, I almost wonder if his use of draft horses on his parent's farm (and his own farm early on) didn't cause him to favor simple (draft) implements over pto-driven implements as he also had a large tiller that he rarely ever used (partially because of it's hp requirements -- and partially due to how easily it would overwork/overtill the soil).

Lots of good info in your videos Mike. If you don't mind a suggestion, if your goal is to pull more gravel into the center of the road, you have to set that blade at its max angle of 45 degrees. With that small angle set you are using, you are pushing gravel to the outside of the road into the woods...a 45 degree angle will pull gravel away from the edges much more effectively. I see in last pass it looks like you figured it out and increased the angle, but hard to tell.

Awesome video Mike. The weather is the same in Sweden. Greetings from Andreas on Off Grid Sweden

That is a kick ass attachment!

Good stuff enjoyed that!!

Man. Look at all that hardwood. Nothing like living in hardwood heaven.

I enjoyed the little dance the blade did... Simple things...

I've got a blade and a box blade and I use them both. If I could only have one it would be a box blade. Thanks for the video Mike.

Like the video Mike .

I normally make a pass down each side of the driveway throwing all available gravel to the middle just like you did. Then I spin the blade around 180 degrees so that it's facing the wrong way but will no longer gouge into the road. A couple passes like that makes the driveway as smooth as black top.

I use a land plane on a 2 acre gravel parking lot and to smooth a 1/3 mile long gravel lane. When set up correctly it's a one pass wonder. Much easier to use than a box blade and gives better results. But it's a one trick pony for sure. Blade is good for ditching and pulling up crowns. Works great and the land plane is wrong for that task. Box blade I use to move material and rough smooth. Fast at moving material but hard to get a fine finish like the land plane. Good used usually goes for 1/3 to 1/2 price of new. Just bought another blade: 6' heaviest duty model from King Kutter. $1295.00 + freight new and I bought at auction for $325.00.Paints gone but cutting edge on ground looks new with another cutting edge never used.Blade itself is pristine with little surface rust and no pitting. Some cleaning and 10 bucks of paint and it will be in like new condition.

I found that the box scraper takes a lot of practice to use effectively.

Great video! Iam looking for a good used box blade. I own a 1941 Ferguson blade, still works great. Hang in there on the weather!

Land plain, box blade, or rear blade? Yes, is the right answer to that very complicated inquiry.

Looking forward to the plane. I have never been around one of them.

Looking forward to pt 2

Pea gravel with some sand/silt/clay packs down real nice.

I just keep finding videos that i havent watched yet. Lucky me.

nice video Mike looking forward to the rest of the series. I always struggle with that little Edge pile of getting that stone back to the middle without getting a bunch of dirt in it! Never use the Land Pride looking forward to seeing you test it out :-) Thanks

you need to be at the edge of the gravel pulling it into the center of the driveway otherwise you are simply making a ditch in the gravel. a yard rake also does a good job at this and allows you to go over larger rocks, and the like. I had a front runner that goes onto a fisher plow mount for a 3/4 to 1 ton truck. it wieghs over 1400lbs, but does an impressive job. it takes about 20 or so passes, but it fills in some of the larger potholes with a little help from a shovel, just collect material with the blade, and get to the pothole, spread it out, and then once it's to grade on a few passes, then you can run straight over it, and crown the road properly.

i think my stone rack with the wheel kit on it, could of maybe been able to pull more of the stone to the center. just my 2 cts. i do love the fact of how they made their blade be able to off set like that-oh.

Yea Mike I am about as disgusted as can be on this whole weather thing. Can't sell many flowers in the snow. Another very informative video. I'm anxious to see the entire series.

Setting the angle of the blade should pull your gravel back up from the edge without stopping. Setting the angle and pitch is the key! 😎

Nice looking rear blade i need to look at the store and see if they have a 4 or 5 foot one ! and still snowing in il. have white trees to day monday is to be cold but to warm up mid week ! have a great day ! Curt :-)

Best video so far, really like seeing the tractors but to good work, can't wait to see more. Let me know when you pull off the backhoe from the rk24.

Great Job

Mike, you are right, a coulpe of feet thick of marbles won.t solve their road problems, in fact, if you get very much of that stuff back in the center and some of them won't even be able to stay on the road, it is all about the fines.

That's why I moved to Arizona. The Cactus Paradise Nursery , Maricopa , Arizona.

Great job! I following you from Italy, my 350 meters private gravel road litteraly explode when the amazon trucks or other pony express arrives (they come very fast). Have a nice day and thankyou for the video, i will try to understand how to manage better my gravel road

Sometimes I miss seeing the 3 RK tractors on your channel.

I would suggest to make your first pass with the angle blade set and a fairly steep angle kinda like you ended up with and start all the way to the outside. This way you keep the leading edge of the blade past the gravel that has been pushed there. Go slow and this will pull all the gravel back instead of making a ledge of gravel like it did. Make a second pass a little further in if needed then ditch the angle blade and use BB or LP to finish. Eliminating the edge buildup is key to having a smooth crowned road. You also won't need to back in and pull out or use the FEL like you did. Far outside edges first :).

You will learn to run that back blade someday. Keep at it.

Hey just started watching your videos, very informative and enjoyable..good stuff...btw, Im sure it's been said before but you sure do look and sound alot like Bruce Willis. :)

Good morning Mike from Allen you have a good day

Looking forward to the next two parts of this subject. I have a mile of graded road to maintain this spring too. That blade is nice, and having that blade pivot vertical and horizontal allows you to pull the gravel back to the center with one pass. Can't do that with the box or the plane. An obvious option that RK should consider would be making those implements hydraulically adjustable, that would make the task much easier. Won't be getting on and off the seat to make adjustments. Expensive though. WRT the material; do you have access to "crushed miscellaneous base"? Also called recycled concrete? It has a gradation similar to decomposed granite (3/4" down to fine grain). Like the 'crusher-run' you described, but made from ground up concrete and asphalt. Seals up the surface very nicely once compacted. It can be inexpensive too, depending on transport costs. No offense to RK but a CAT motor-grader, would do this task with only 1 attachment. Less passes and you don't have to look backwards to watch the process. But those are $200k for a 100hp machine.

Box blade for loose material/grass/topsoil. Land plane aka Road grader works awesome for hard packed gravel/dirt roads.

lol I was watching like "who the eff uses that gravel on a driveway?"...then you explained what happened lol

Good morning Mike! Really happy you are doing this series on the driveway. And very timely too as spring approaches and our driveways need some fixing. Hoping you could do something for us newbies. If possible, can you explain what or how you are doing it, as you do it. For example, in this video, when you were dragging the blade, did you put it in float or do you set the height at a certain position? On the 3 pt hitch, do you set the upper control arm to angle the blade inwards or outwards, or set it so the blade is 90 degrees to the ground? Really appreciate your videos and I am sure there are folks like myself who will be doing this for the first time this spring. Cheers and thanks again - great video and looking forward to the next ones. Cheers!

Good video Mike, I’ve done a lot of what your doing on the drive. I have 2 and they are both a 1/4 of a mile. One thing I found works with the type of blade you have is the first pass I shift the blade over and then angle it all the way till it almost touches the rear tire. That way I don’t get much if any rock pushing out the end of the blade. Doesn’t move it very much to the center but I can re-angle the blade to carry it over more.

Love the vid!! So you built a road an then sold lots? Something to use is ROM run of mines it's like a limestone dust with very fine rock it's as dense a sand an packs great an smooth. I use a roller after I spread it water will not cut it . Its like concrete!!!

also an adjustment for tilting the blade side to side to help maintain the crest of the road

Thumbs up

Good work, Mike. That driveway looks like it's about 3 miles long. haha

6 months of winter sounds nice to this Texan where we have 6 months of summer and 2 months of winter

Me: taxation is theft Gubmint: but then who will build the roads? Me: my buddy mike of course

Nice work. Sorry Mike, I can't help myself. The mathematician in me says that there are 420 ways to set up the scraper with infinity many height adjustments. Based on what I saw.

So my wife walks by and asks what I'm watching. I tell her I'm watching my buddy Mike. He just added a new video. She says, "He's not your buddy. He's just a guy that puts videos on KZfaq." I told her that no, Mike is my buddy. She just doesn't understand guys.

I've watched 1/2 dozen of your vids and they all seem to feature brand new equipment. Just curious if you own any old equipment? That blade dance was pretty cool. Thanks for explaining why you were doing what you were doing (other than having fun).

I'm not a fan of the land plane I had a chance to buy one for a couple hundred bucks that was like new and I turned it down. road blade and box blade are so much more versatile and better suited for road building and maintenance as well as land leveling and maintenance. dont be scared to let that blade hang over to the edge of the gravel a little. a tad of dirt mixed in wont hurt a thing and in that type of loose gravel it may very well help acting as a bonding agent.

Hydraulic Top link make those tools more useful and also helps if you dont have draft control on the 3 point

Man that's nice with the offset. Great review of that attachment. Need to stop watching cause my bank account can't keep up with all these toys...I mean tools! I'm afraid to see the land plane video... I'm really tired of this weather. Got an inch of snow last night!

Ditto on crusher run aka rubble. U could get a couple loads of fines to tighten it up 2

Everyone seems to be loving the new commercials

Add screenings to you gravel drive. It will lock the gravel in place, much like crusher run. Screenings is a sand like rock dust. Its gray in color, a by-product of granite.

A lot of people love box blades as you do. But for me I grew up on farm using scraper blades. I have an 1401D yanmar and I've borrowed my cousin's 4' box blade and can't get it to do what I want it to do. I can do so much more with scraper blade. I would love to sell my tractor and get RK 24 but the closest RK IS Martin TN and they don't sell tractors there.

I was wondering about all that gravel on the road and the all the maintenance you were doing. I was thinking, he has to know that is not the right gravel. Maybe you should pass out flyers too all the people that live on the road, and tell them to stop buying the wrong gravel, because fixing the road is cutting into your firewood processing time😁

If you angle the blade sharper and give it a bit a tilt it will bring that gravel back up on the driveway.

So... I watched a video last week where you discussed the hand rubbing and someone saying it is creepy and your wife agreeing. I have to confess, I don't think it is creepy, but we all have out little quirks. Its what makes us unique.

I've had snow as late as July 4th lol

What type of transmission do you have on all your tractors, gear selection, hydostatic, or a huddle?

Give a man a tractor you'll find a lot of things to do with it

Love your videos, Mike. I am a city slicker from Chicago but bought 160 acres of land in southern Wisconsin with 100 acres of wooded, gently hilly land. Your videos have helped me immensely. I am in the market for a tractor to help me maintain trails, gravel roads, and lawns. I was going to go Kubota L4701 or MX5200 but your RK 55 tractor has really looked good and is significantly cheaper. My questions are have you been pleased with the RK compared to your Kubota L3901? Unfortunately the nearest RK dealer near my land is 3 hours away...would this deter you from buying one due to maintenance? Can your F150 pull the RK 55 on a trailer? Thanks for your help and I really appreciate your videos!

You need to put some fine lime stone To lock it all in to mutch stone on it .