Could you use this to level out parts of a lawn? or smooth out some ridges? I also want to make some trails through our woods. Wonder if this could decently do the job of creating a nice walking path and maintaining it in addition to maintaining our gravel driveway.
I have used it to do some final grading and it does a great job if the dirt is loose. It does not do a good job busting up sod or compacted soil. It just doesn’t have the weight or depth to do that.
@@HardWorkWithMattmodification recommendations upgrade the battery from the lead acid to a lifepo4 minimum 20amp hr battery, take the linear actuator motor apart and coat the brush springs with an anti rust grease/dielectric grease, add a dielectric grease into all connectors to stop the electrical connector corrosion... And for weights use pvc pipes capped and filled with concrete or sand as using concrete blocks will wear through the finish fairly fast... Mine is going on 8yrs and these are the failures I have had... My wiring got so bad it had to be replaced and the switch box isn't water tight and will corrode the wires and switch contacts. I found a 4wire dump trailer switch to be a better replacement after the 2nd harness and switch failure. Also adding a pair of battery charging terminals is a smart move for charging specially when used regularly for monthly maintenance.
I notice that from the 5 minute mark on wards you can see that the second blade is almost not touching the gravel. I think it's supposed to scrape a bit more, to have more gravel to fill the holes. And I think if you don't dig as deep with the first blade, there might be less gravel in the ditch. Have you tried to adjust the tilt with the tow-bar?
That is an impressive observation. I was going to do a follow up video now that I have used it a little more. What I have found is that with it angled down the front teeth dig into the gravel better to loosen things up and then having it more level or even tipped up a little helped to spread the stone and smooth things out.
We have loved our so far. We have about 1/4 mile of driveway. It takes a little longer than I thought it would because you can’t drive that fast (3mph seems to do well) and it takes several passes to get everything worked out.
It has worked great on our driveway. It helps keep the weeds down without having to use chemicals. I have also found it does pretty well in the dirt putting a final grade on. I will be doing a video on that soon!
The problem with the DR is it doesn’t angle or tilt side to side! You can’t angle all the material you left on the edges back to the middle and you can’t crown the road as you need to! Without those two functions you are left with a flat road that will keep washing out in the middle and keep getting potholes! Return it, many better options on the market!
I have the pro 60 the way I bring to road center is I drag diagonally from outside to center slowly raising the blade as I get nearer to center this does 2 things creates the center crown and cuts the edges down so the water runs off properly, then I use it's width to span half a single cars driveway width However I also add more fresh gravel down the middle because my driveway is constantly slowly sinking (originally placed on blue clay and is only 18inches thick and was never packed) If I had the money I would dig out all 375ft of my driveway and redo it with 3/8minus to bedrock (7ft down) packing every 2 inches of deposited material. The harder it gets packed the more durable and pothole resistant the driveway becomes. The problems with the pro series is the electric linear actuator uses a brushed motor that the brush springs rust preventing brush contact with the motor core contacts... The other is the switch and wiring harness is far from watertight and corrodes easily... And the final flaw is the undersized battery that goes bad easily.
@@TJDavidson87 you found the DR, you will have no problem finding a different option, many just more expensive but well worth the money, try the road boss, not the only option by far!
Nice video and thanks for the review. I hope it turned out ok with your wife! :)
Thank you! Once she saw what it could do she was asking why I didn’t get it sooner.
Could you use this to level out parts of a lawn? or smooth out some ridges? I also want to make some trails through our woods. Wonder if this could decently do the job of creating a nice walking path and maintaining it in addition to maintaining our gravel driveway.
I have used it to do some final grading and it does a great job if the dirt is loose. It does not do a good job busting up sod or compacted soil. It just doesn’t have the weight or depth to do that.
The key to this working well is to go fairly slow so the gravel is able to backfill. Going to fast will not work at all. Stay about 5-10 mph
Agreed. If you go too fast it will just skip over the top of the gravel.
@@HardWorkWithMattmodification recommendations upgrade the battery from the lead acid to a lifepo4 minimum 20amp hr battery, take the linear actuator motor apart and coat the brush springs with an anti rust grease/dielectric grease, add a dielectric grease into all connectors to stop the electrical connector corrosion... And for weights use pvc pipes capped and filled with concrete or sand as using concrete blocks will wear through the finish fairly fast... Mine is going on 8yrs and these are the failures I have had... My wiring got so bad it had to be replaced and the switch box isn't water tight and will corrode the wires and switch contacts. I found a 4wire dump trailer switch to be a better replacement after the 2nd harness and switch failure. Also adding a pair of battery charging terminals is a smart move for charging specially when used regularly for monthly maintenance.
I notice that from the 5 minute mark on wards you can see that the second blade is almost not touching the gravel. I think it's supposed to scrape a bit more, to have more gravel to fill the holes. And I think if you don't dig as deep with the first blade, there might be less gravel in the ditch. Have you tried to adjust the tilt with the tow-bar?
That is an impressive observation. I was going to do a follow up video now that I have used it a little more. What I have found is that with it angled down the front teeth dig into the gravel better to loosen things up and then having it more level or even tipped up a little helped to spread the stone and smooth things out.
Very impressive. A secondary use could be for leaf pick up perhaps? :) Nice music choice, also. Digging on the organ sound!
Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate the feedback.
Looks good! Thinking of getting one for our 1/2 mile drive. Looks like yours is every bit as long if not more!
We have loved our so far. We have about 1/4 mile of driveway. It takes a little longer than I thought it would because you can’t drive that fast (3mph seems to do well) and it takes several passes to get everything worked out.
Thinking of getting one. Want to avoid buying gravel and want to stir up the gravel because it is so compacted and a little weedy.
It has worked great on our driveway. It helps keep the weeds down without having to use chemicals. I have also found it does pretty well in the dirt putting a final grade on. I will be doing a video on that soon!
The problem with the DR is it doesn’t angle or tilt side to side! You can’t angle all the material you left on the edges back to the middle and you can’t crown the road as you need to! Without those two functions you are left with a flat road that will keep washing out in the middle and keep getting potholes! Return it, many better options on the market!
I noticed that as well. What do you recommend for crowning that can be pulled behind a lawn tractor??
I have the pro 60 the way I bring to road center is I drag diagonally from outside to center slowly raising the blade as I get nearer to center this does 2 things creates the center crown and cuts the edges down so the water runs off properly, then I use it's width to span half a single cars driveway width However I also add more fresh gravel down the middle because my driveway is constantly slowly sinking (originally placed on blue clay and is only 18inches thick and was never packed) If I had the money I would dig out all 375ft of my driveway and redo it with 3/8minus to bedrock (7ft down) packing every 2 inches of deposited material. The harder it gets packed the more durable and pothole resistant the driveway becomes. The problems with the pro series is the electric linear actuator uses a brushed motor that the brush springs rust preventing brush contact with the motor core contacts... The other is the switch and wiring harness is far from watertight and corrodes easily... And the final flaw is the undersized battery that goes bad easily.
Great input, how about recommending something?
@@TJDavidson87 you found the DR, you will have no problem finding a different option, many just more expensive but well worth the money, try the road boss, not the only option by far!
@@BrunoPerrault-b5r I appreciate the recommendation. I'll check that out!
U r not suppose to grade when ground is moist
Agreed. Around here when it gets wet we don’t usually have enough dry days to get everything complete dried out.