nice to see a true review, in real life usage.

Nice review. That drive looked like the perfect candidate for the DR. I also had a poor experience with a 48" grader. My 1/4mi drive was hard packed clay with 1"-3" gravel embedded and a grass strip in the middle. I tried two weekends making 20+ passes each time using either a 360 atv or 20hp garden tractor. I wanted to like this machine but it was completely ineffective for me. As my 12mo trial was set to expire, I sent it back and swallowed the shipping charges both ways. Good riddance.

i have a fix for those wireless remotes on my channel. I only use my atv to pull the power grader. I have had mine 3 years and absolutely love it for maintaining my 1 mile driveway that is on a ridgeline and has numerous hills that wash out. My fix was to use a atv winch in/out switch to a winch solenoid that then goes back to a trailer light connector - 1/2 on the atv, the other on the grader. So I basically have it hard wired now and its worked for 2 years that way with no issues. My experience was it took me about 50 hours to do the initial driveway, but now it takes me 1-2 hours 3-4 times a year usually right after a heavy rain when the driveway washes out.

We have the same thing and have had all the same problems you have had. Not so much with the potholes because we don't have a whole lot of them but with the grass clogging up the teeth. The battery went bad the first season so I replaced it with a 12 volt marine deep cycle battery. Still have it today and use it every 4 weeks for 4 driveways. Took the back blade off because the mower wouldn't pull it full of gravel. It works well for what we need it to do. Sorry to hear you had so many problems with yours.

Excellent review. My driveway is very similar to yours. I’ve been rehabbing it over the years with a box blade and a true grader blade behind an 85hp MF tractor, but I’m looking at a land plane and briefly considered one of these. I’ll pass. That said, to fix your pot holes, you’re going to have to dig them out by hand, pack in some larger stone and then throw some crusher run back over it after it’s been well packed. Another idea that might be helpful, and one I’m about to implement would be some “water bars” in the areas where water is able to get some speed on the hills and start carving a ditch. I’ll be building water bars out of a 2x12 and a 4x4 bolted to each side to create a channel and then burying this in the driveway.

very informative video. THANK YOU!

You made a good point about how far the teeth are able to go depth wise. It looks like the setup was on a track of some sort inside the frame. Could you disconnect the track and lower the angle and re-bolt it to the frame so the teeth are able to have better depth? Best thing to do for the pot hole issue it to get a pick ax and just dig you a channel until all the water drains. Until you eliminate the hard ground from the standing water it will continue to be a problem. The grader I am guessing is designed to fill in and cut loose dirt for a finished look. Not to cure standing water issues. As far as the dead battery. Regardless of what anyone says, I always put my batteries on a trickle charger when not in use. A battery is a battery and it will die on you if you let it sit or do not charge it. I looked like you were using yours a lot so not sure if that was the reason. It still should not have died on you that quickly. Peace, Reese

I'm not sure why anybody that lives in the country with a gravel driveway doesn't have a tractor and box blade? I've seen a lot of these Dr Tinker Toys reviewed on KZread and every one of them looks like junk. Do yourself a favor and buy an older tractor and a $400 box blade and you'll be amazed how much better that works.

Thank you for your review. I am looking for a grader and your video is very helpful. Have you tried the Handozer D3? It has long spikes, and I have been considering that grader.

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LOL, it's hard pack. Use it after a rain and you'll see a world of difference. Been using one for 15 years. Also the more often you run it the less work it is.

You can tell from looking at the DR that it's meant for frequent fine tuning of a driveway or surface that basically in pretty good shape with proper grading and crusher run base layer plus adequate larger aggregate on top. This review pretty much bears that out. Thanks!

Thanks for the warning

Get a 25hp tractor and a grading scraper. I have a long driveway like you; weight is crucial for grading. I maintain my driveway once a month with two passes, 20 minutes max. For what it’s worth I bought an l2501 kubota and a landpride 72” grading scraper.

i'm confused as to why you wouldn't use a mid size tractor and a proper box blade instead of some consumer junk? DR makes some good stuff but after years of box blading with a mid size tractor, i feel that there's no way to get adequate results without the power and weight of a box blade and the control offered with a tractor. now of course i was a poor boy running the boss man's expensive workhorses, but if the idea of buying a 20 thousand dollar tractor and another 20 grand in implements disgusts you as much as it does me, consider just getting that road paved and never having to fix it outside of some crack sealing.

@bluecanoebrewer

6 жыл бұрын

Yep. This. I have since used a similar drag behind implement from ABI called the Gravel Rascal with improved but similar results. If you want something flat, these are useful, but not great for driveways that need shaping. I'm now using a tractor with an adjustable rake on the 3 point hitch. Works great. I'm getting the job done well at a 3rd the time.

I bought a used one 400 bucks. It works for me. The remote don't work to I have installed a remote actuator switch from Amazon 20 bucks. That, a ton of weight, and waiting for rain, no problem as long as you're patient.

I think they’re only good for regular maintenance, especially if you have a lot of gravel to work with. If you have an old gravel driveway, hard packed, you’ll have to run it forever. A good boxscaper with teeth to rip deep is the best bet.

Looks really wimpy to me! I agree with Charlie Swearingen!

You are not getting to the bottom of the pot hole because to do that the ground around it has to be removed simply because it is higher. The idea is to dig up the driveway and the dirt fills the pot hole, you are just moving gravel around, and I don't think it is big enough for that job.

There are a couple things that I notice about what you are doing that concerns me. One your lane looks much like ours and like ours it looks in this video to suffer from what our continually does from time to time as it looks like it could use maybe 100 to 200 tons of gravel. Two is if you do not get additional gravel then you may be using the wrong piece of equipment. What you have is a light duty piece of grading equipment that you are wanting to do a heavy duty job of Grading. That DR Power Grader looks more for just leveling out loose gravel from the low and high spots that say a properly graveled lane would need from use and or storm damage. Most likely too that DR Power Grader would work well say on a horse farm just dressing out the surface of a riding ring, etc. Remember you are riding a ATV and have a a light duty light gauged steel harry home owner type grader with not enough material to jockey around and I can see by design out of the crate it was not meant for what you are trying to do with exactly what you have or I should type have not and that is gravel say to fill in those pot holes, etc. You are digging down it what would be your base of you lane, not the top gravel material that I do not see enough of for the area you have of that long farm lane. I will add to that in building a farm lane it has to be graded so that it drains off the side. In other words the lane itself needs to set higher then the surrounding land and it also has to be crowned in the center so the water drains OFF. If that long farm lane sets lower or about even with the surrounding land then in effect that section of lane becomes like one large rain gutter carrying a river of water during a heavy rain storm. It is during those couple times of year a farmer can loose a few hundred tons of stone on down the stream. So my point is no piece of equipment that is made to jockey around some gravel is going to fix that and it is time to break out the tripod and shoot some lines of elevation and get some proper grading equipment to reconstruct that crown... something I have found needs to be done every 15 or 20 years as nothing last forever. So my long story short... Looking at your video I think I see a few places a dozer and a backhoe may need to be used rather the the DR Power Grader. Now finally I would think if you still want to penetrate that hard pan surface break out the larger horsepower industrial grade tractor with a properly industrial rated box grader with heavier rippers to tear it up. You then >>>still

@Tman317

5 жыл бұрын

Whew. But that DR power grader is advertised to do what he wanted it to do. It didn't live up to its promises. Good review, and since my road looks exactly like this one, I know to steer clear of this product. I guess a traditional box grader for my Allis Chalners is in my future!

I've had mine for about 5 years. I've been through 3 motors, 3 remotes, 2 controllers and it still is giving me trouble. It works pretty good on my driveway when the electronic parts work. But now I'm stuck and looking for something else.

@phila1946

5 жыл бұрын

It seemed that every time I went to use it something wouldn't work. I ended up hard wiring mine to control with a a switch on the handlebar of my ATV. Since that modification I have replaced the front casters. After 5 years I have decided to replace the power grader with a gravel rascal, yes it is much more expensive but will do many more jobs than the power grader. I was disappointed the day I received it to find that it was manufactured in China. It works OK, but it seems to be a light duty machine for my needs.

You need weight on the grader. And I mean a lot, those tines aren't gonna bite without it in hard pack. It's also not really the implement you wanna use to get the the problem

I built one of these for about $100.... hope yall didn't spent to much...

I’ve had one of these for years and I only use it after it rains-I’m not aware of any of these consumer graders that’re capable of grading dry hard pan and I’ve watched many videos on all graders less than $5000. The only problem I’ve had is SLA battery replacement and every once in a while I have to pop the actuator solenoid with a screwdriver handle because it sticks when not used for awhile.

@bluecanoebrewer

3 жыл бұрын

Eric Charlton well good! I’m glad someone is happy with it. I’ve since moved on to one other pull-grader and then a tractor. I should have started with the tractor from the beginning

@ericcharlton311

3 жыл бұрын

bluecanoebrewer im working on pulling it with my 05 Honda Pilot from the hitch now but tractor would probably have better turning radius though! Which grader did you upgrade to?

@bluecanoebrewer

3 жыл бұрын

I used an ABI attachments arena rascal. It was equally worthless. I now use a box blade to shape up heavy hit areas, then an adjustable blade to bring the gravel back onto the road bed, which none of the tow graders can do.

Just saw one on CL for 200.00 I was about to buy, thanks for the video because now I'll pass.

@negusmocheegus13

6 жыл бұрын

Get the handozer from home depot. Works better, is cheaper and you can set the height of the digging teeth.

@bluecanoebrewer

3 жыл бұрын

Coming back through comments... Your reply is exactly what I was hoping would happen. DR power isn’t doing the best service to themselves or the consumers. A tractor is best, but not for many people. They could do better with implements that bring gravel to the center of the driveway to make a crown. For the advertising dollar they spend, maybe a few more spent to the engineers would be better?

@camarogs1

2 жыл бұрын

@@bluecanoebrewer You just plainly do not have a clue what you are doing. Trying to make the equipment do what it was NOT intended to do. Nowhere does it say it will scarf up the hard as concrete hardpack. You blame DR for your lack of understanding of the limits of the equipment.

A well used dirt/gravel drive like yours becomes like concrete over time. Its not realistic to expect the power grader to even touch that. You need a few inches of gravel OVER that packed drive.

You're expecting too much from this tool. Time for a serious ripping and/or more material using the proper box blade and ripper depth. Then use your DR for fine tuning.

For the money and time you invested you could have had a road grader and roller come in and do it right in a morning.

Need a spike brother

You can't use a road for 20 years and then expect a $1000.00 tool to make it new again. That will require a $100,000.00 road grader bringing the road prism back to normal and more gravel. Then use the Power Grader to cut high spots, fill low spots, spread gravel and maintain it on a regular basis. I grade my lane at least twice annually to keep it in decent condition. Each time you use it you will become more experienced in how to use it and your road will improve. I have been using my DR Grader for ten years now and this is the first year I have had to make repairs on it. If you don't want to spend a ton of money on your road, just keep using the DR Grader on a regular basis to maintain it free of potholes and looking well groomed...

@goesintite

6 жыл бұрын

Disagree

@Tman317

5 жыл бұрын

The gravel from 20 years ago is still there. Proper equipment can bring that road back to like new. The DR, not withstanding their advertising, isnt it.

If you keep going it keeps digging!

@stevethrower

5 жыл бұрын

That's what I did on my 1000' gravel driveway. He at least had an ATV... I had to drag mine behind a lawn tractor.

Ya figured it out yet?

@bluecanoebrewer

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I sent the thing back and got a tractor with a box blade. Works great. These should never be an option.

You need much more weight in the grader

I broke mine today. Not happy.

I have the 60 inch - it has been nothing but problems with the battery and wiring - it's not worth what they are asking and - if you live on hilly terrain - forget it, this thing will not hold up to the harsh work demands. It might be okay on a flat / level terrain but if you have to do hills forget it. It's made for light duty despite DR's claims otherwise.

@youtubegarden4735

7 жыл бұрын

I destroyed 2 batteries but then took a dead extension cord and wired the female end to the tractor battery and the male end to the grader power wires. now I use the tractor battery to power the grader. problem solved lol

In other words it is nearly junk.

Get what you pay for

Don't run it in the grass.

Awesome machine BUT...... God forbid if you EVER need to get hold of customer service because it ain’t happening, if you need something for your equipment you will be on the phone for hours without help, you are on your own. I own a DR Power Grader 48” model and the only reason I deal with these people is because I by mistake bought one, it will never happen again!!!