On 14Sep2017 Ferguson delivered 14.25 tons of ABC. He drove out from under it, starting at the top of Baer hill. The gravel ran out just short of Anita's driveway, just over 500 feet. It was concentrated in the center. Without spreading the gravel out at all, I ran the compactor over it. It took 3 hours to do the 500 feet. The compactor ran out of gas once.
The delivery was sparked by complaints of washboarding. Right after compaction, the road was much smoother. Washboarding returned within 2 weeks, but there was very little gravel lost to car wheels. There was no rain to speak of during that time.
Compactor Tips
The compactor should be started at idle and kicked up to full speed to compact. The manual says to change the throttle quickly. At full speed, the compactor wants to crawl forward on level ground. On Baer Hill, I worked in an oval pattern.
1. Straight across from west to east, with the compactor angled about 45 degrees uphill to hold its altitude.
2. Make a big loop back and uphill, going back over loose spots
3. Always turn to the right
4. Overlap by 50%
Wear ear protection.
You can manage the compactor with one hand on level ground.
That's not a good way to do things, but it shows you don't need to use a lot of muscle, most of the time.
After compaction, there were still two low spots. I filled them with buckets and compacted more, leaving small humps where the holes had been. I also marked the spots with rocks in the weeds, to watch them change over time.
In the 5 weeks between this work and the grading on 22Oct, the two spots behaved differently.
* The smaller downhill one became a hole again
* The larger uphill one kept its hump, but a new hole developed within a foot uphill of the compacted area.
If holes keep coming back in the same places, it may be that there are natural hard and soft places in Baer Hill road.
This view shows the difference between compacted and uncompacted areas on 14Sep:
