Snow can be wreak havoc on any driveway, no matter how much preparation is put into ensuring it’s protected against the elements beforehand. That being said, there’s no better time to prepare for spring than when the snow starts melting and you can finally see the gravel again. Here are some John Deere tips you can take into consideration when preparing your driveway for spring once winter starts to thaw out.
- Use a tractor-powered snowblower to remove snow from the gravel. To ensure that you leave no more than one inch of snow behind, use skid shoes with your machinery. This will prevent you from picking up gravel that will run through your machine.
- In the event that the wind is blowing, start on the most upwind section of the driveway. Adjust the chute deflector to make sure that snow is discharged downwind.
- If you’re removing snow that is extremely deep, raise the snowblower to remove the top layer of snow. Then, lower it to make a second pass and remove the remaining snow.
- When you are finished removing the snow, clean out the auger/impeller of your snowblower before you put it away. Any snow that is left in these areas of your machine can become frozen and prevent the snowblower from operating properly.
- In the event that you do not have a snowblower to remove snow, you can use a rear blade to remove it from a gravel driveway. Set your rear blade at an angle with the end nearest the center of your drive well forward of the outside edge to pull the snow away from the middle.
- If the snow is deeper than 10 inches, set the 3-point hitch high enough so that the blade removes the top layer of snow first.
- Once your driveway is clear of snow, you may want to treat any potholes or erosion with a box blade (with scarifiers) or a land plane (with scarifiers) to break up the overall surface to one depth.
- A rear blade or a land plane can be used to smooth the driveway’s entire surface.
- A Frontier Rotary Broom can be utilized to pull gravel out of ditches or grassy areas along your driveway.
For more John Deere tips like these, check out this page.
If you have any questions about any of the John Deere equipment you can use to recover your gravel driveway, you can contact your local John Deere dealer.
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