# Plowing over millings?



## Swamp_Yankee (Oct 10, 2019)

Anybody ever plow a driveway or parking area made from compacted millings? If so, how does it hold up to plowing? I am considering getting a few loads, spreading with the tractor and renting a vibratory roller to compact them, but don't want to end up scraping them all back up in the winter.


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

Bump plow up a tad should be good.
If you don’t, plow will dig in.
Our yard is asphalt millings, I hate it, but I didn’t put them there...
We never rolled ours, the heat from the sun and people driving over it made it pretty hard.


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## meyer22288 (May 26, 2003)

Spend the money on black top. Way worth it in the end


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

Swamp_Yankee said:


> Anybody ever plow a driveway or parking area made from compacted millings? If so, how does it hold up to plowing? I am considering getting a few loads, spreading with the tractor and renting a vibratory roller to compact them, but don't want to end up scraping them all back up in the winter.


If you have the time to change it out during snow events, you can use a pipe on the cutting edge. 
This has been discussed in other threads. 
You can make your own, or There's a company in the UP of Michigan that makes them. I think its in Crystal falls.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

meyer22288 said:


> Spend the money on black top. Way worth it in the end


What if it's not in the budget?

OP, you'll be fine. Part of our drive and parking area is millings. You'll scrape up a little, but nothing major once it's packed.


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

Mark Oomkes said:


> What if it's not in the budget?
> 
> OP, you'll be fine. Part of our drive and parking area is millings. You'll scrape up a little, but nothing major once it's packed.


It seems to pack better than gravel or traffic bond.
Kinda forgot I plowed a little yesterday. A friend of mine has his dump trucks in a lot behind my shop. 
Plowed a trail so he could get one out after sitting all winter. 
BTW, the Cummins in it fired right up and it wasn't plugged in.


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

Mark Oomkes said:


> What if it's not in the budget?
> 
> OP, you'll be fine. Part of our drive and parking area is millings. You'll scrape up a little, but nothing major once it's packed.


Hopefully you're not using one of them trip edge plows...


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Hopefully you're not using one of them trip edge plows...


No...just DXTs.


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## Western1 (Dec 4, 2008)

Yes


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## meyer22288 (May 26, 2003)

Our yard at work is millings, I hate it. If it's not in the budget then I have no other ideas, it's black top or nothing for me. I'm down to maybe 7 gravel driveways I plow, I only keep them because I've been plowing them all for over a decade now and they are great payers, I don't take new ones.


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## dmacleo (Mar 11, 2017)

little late but I deal with a bunch of drives using what we call reclaim from road construction projects. prob pretty much the same thing.
it will tear like gravel if not careful.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

once you get some frozen snow pack on it all is good


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## jonniesmooth (Dec 5, 2008)

leolkfrm said:


> once you get some frozen snow pack on it all is good


I try to talk gravel drives into a 4" trigger.
If they want 2+" I make sure they understand if it's even close we aren't coming and we won't plow early am,we will plow end of day,next day to allow it to be packed down. 
Temps also play a big factor, if it's 25°and sunny in Feb. We will wait till midnight when it's 6°.
Obviously when we get 6" they get plowed with everyone else, we just try to float the blade then.


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

jonniesmooth said:


> I try to talk gravel drives into a 4" trigger.
> If they want 2+" I make sure they understand if it's even close we aren't coming and we won't plow early am,we will plow end of day,next day to allow it to be packed down.
> Temps also play a big factor, if it's 25°and sunny in Feb. We will wait till midnight when it's 6°.
> Obviously when we get 6" they get plowed with everyone else, we just try to float the blade then.


If they're short drives, I backblade them.
I had a client send a text the 1st event this year, "the walks were done but you forgot the driveway". 
I had no intention of plowing the gravel driveway on the 1st 2" of snow of the season, when temperatures were warm and the ground wasn' t frozen. . I did go back and backblade to keep her happy. Even doing that I had to feather the blade up a bit.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

agreed, back drag a couple of times helps freeze the top


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## Chineau (Aug 24, 2010)

pea gravel, never settles and on the lawn in the spring. stuff might work where it never snows thankfully that is not the case here.


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## plow4beer (Nov 16, 2016)

Swamp_Yankee said:


> Anybody ever plow a driveway or parking area made from compacted millings? If so, how does it hold up to plowing? I am considering getting a few loads, spreading with the tractor and renting a vibratory roller to compact them, but don't want to end up scraping them all back up in the winter.


about 1.5 acres of our main shops property is millings....we usually plow the shop with one of the skids and a rubber edge pusher, but occasionally I'll do it with a truck And plow w/steel edge & no shoes...with the truck, I'll just bump the plow up a tickle... Considering we typically end up with just a couple buckets of millings to re-spread in the spring, I'd say that's pretty good for doing it half lit & barefoot


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## NYH1 (Jan 10, 2009)

I plow my neighbors driveway. It's kind of a cross between black top and small gravel, it's weird. I use my plow shoe's at first. Once it's frozen there's no need for the shoe's. I haven't had issues with the shoe's really scraping too bad. 

NYH1.


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