Landplane possible build

[jcummins]

Yes, yet another landplane thread.

I have a new 1500ft gravel driveway. And have thoughts of building a landplane for maintaining it. It so happens a neighbor's relative has a landplane and I was able to borrow to see how it will work out. It works reasonably well, but have some issues. Few questions on a build of one after using this one that I hope knowledgable people here can help me on. BTW, I think I've read every landplane thread on this forum already.

The driveway: My driveway is new and has NOT settled down the way the rock man has said it would. It was built late fall last year. Acts like it needs to be rolled in. I have found UPS trucks, in particular, are hard on it. There are two sections to my driveway, last section is flatter and is starting to settle in a bit now. The first section has two culverts, and the ground rolls a bit, not steep, but certainly not flat either. Coming in after the first culvert is where the UPS trucks tends to dig into the gravel coming up the grade. This is clean 3/4" gravel, wish it was finer, with dust? I know that is part of the problem.

Landplane I'm using: Below is couple of pictures of the landplane I'm using. It reassembles a Road Boss brand, by the way the 3 point is designed, but brand is unknown. My guess it could be an old Road Boss. It is not a home built one. It is heavy. The blades are a fixed height, and the front is about 1/8 below the rails, the rear is closer to 1/4"? I suspect it was built with the blades both set to about 3/8 below and are now what they are because of wear. The side rails are 6 ft long, 16 high. It is 7 ft wide and seems ideal for my M7040. The support for the blades are 1/2" 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 angle. Set with 28 degs on the blade side, 55 degs on the back side.

Now the questions:
With the blades set in this manner, I roll a LOT of gravel. I cannot set it on the ground and drag, I have to feather the plane up. Given this, if the blades set even with the bottom of the rails it would probably be better. From what I read, nobody runs a landplane that way. Has anyone ran into this? I'd MUCH prefer having it set so I just drag it. Feathering this up/down depending on the volume of gravel it catches is 'touchy'? I was constantly adjusting it. I can see this may call for adjustments in the blades, up/down, but it seems many (not all) on this forum set it one way and never touch it again. I can see several ways to build the adjustment. I'm thinking two holes only in the side rail, with multiple staggered holes in the plate the blades mount to move up down. Staggering the holes will move the blades forward or backward, but only slightly. Another driveway with very little gravel was drug with this same setup before mine? It did not do this, it was just drug on the ground, no adjustments to the 3pt height needed. So the new gravel not settled is a big part of the problem here.

The blades mounts are 20 1/2" apart. From many reviews, that seems closer together than many. There is 9" in front of the front blade mount, and there is 8" behind the side rail on the back blade mount, so these can go both forward and backward some....BUT..should either. Is this spacing to close? I could easily drill more holes in the side rails to adjust this distance, on the one I build but is it needed?

Everything on this landplane is built in components and bolted together. The 3pt and support rails bolt to the side rails. The upright on the 3pt bolts to the support rails (exactly the way Road Boss does) The blades bolt to the side rails. Many I see on the internet do not have plates supporting the support rails. These are typically welded direct to the side rails. The upright for the top link, is it a bolted setup to perhaps easily repair a problem with it? Not sure how much stress there is to that top link support. I have TNT on this tractor, and I experimented with both and found I could change the attitude of the landplane and how it functioned quite a bit. I ALSO heard it popping a bit (all those bolted connections?) I'm thinking at this point, weld the support bars, bolt the top link bracket, and bolt the blades for adjustment reasons. With this TNT, might I be putting more pressure on the support arms and maybe I should add extra plates at their attach points for the support bars?

I haven't priced steel yet, everyone says it's very high right now. Already tried to buy this one, but no dice they are keeping it. I intend to use 1/2" everywhere, except the guests and the runners on the side rails will be 3/8? Large square heavy walled tubes for the support rails, size depends on what is available at what price. I already have the cutting blades, having gotten those in a deal years ago.

Any help anyone can give, I appreciate it.

 

[the whispering oaks farm]

My landpride has the blades flush with the bottom. It works very well that way but my gravel drive is in fair shape so all it is doing is keeping it that way.

 

[TerryR]

I have found UPS trucks, in particular, are hard on it. There are two sections to my driveway, last section is flatter and is starting to settle in a bit now. The first section has two culverts, and the ground rolls a bit, not steep, but certainly not flat either. Coming in after the first culvert is where the UPS trucks tends to dig into the gravel coming up the grade.

That is the nature of UPS trucks on a steep gravel driveway.

The two solutions are to A) stop UPS deliveries or B) be prepared to keep working on the driveway. We've chosen "B."

Sorry I can't help with your landplane questions. I just use a rear blade and it does a great job once you get the hang of using it.

Terry

 

[RDrancher]

It sounds to me like you have too thick of a layer of 3/4". The crushed stone I use to top driveways is 3/4" down to peagravel size. If it's any thicker than 2.5" thick, it doesn't want to pack, even with a vibratory compactor. On anything steep, a compactor actually creates waves. I use roadbase with a lot of fines and top it no thicker than a stone and a half with unwashed crushed stone.

As far as the blade depth of the landplane being setup wrong...it's not. I've seen this problem a bunch. It's the lack of fines in the material. I'd invest in spreading 1-1.5" of fines or a peagravel-to-fines roadbase over the driveway, watering, then compacting. At the end of each run with the landplane, you'll still find it carries some stone, but you can just blend that back in.

 

[Ken45101]

FWIW, I built mine with the blades even with the rails. Mine is for maintaining dirt trails.

 

[ishiboo]

Do you have a box blade? I'd get a box blade first and some crusher run and spread it out. 3/4 being angular will pack (unlike river rock) but it'll pack much better with a lot more fines in it. Let vehicle traffic begin to pack/etc., and then use the box blade on occasion to smooth it out.

With fines you will also get it to be a "solid surface" that does not readily accept free water, so you can get it set up to run the water off.

 

[jcummins]

TerryR....yep, I hate those UPS trucks, and we buy a lot online and get regular deliveries. That's not going to stop.

RDrancher.....yep again, I think indeed... to much gravel, without enough fines. I need to spread some of this out and widen the drive. Really need an angle blade to do that. I think I can do this some with the landplane and using the TNT but it's marginal at best for doing that. Landplane doesn't move gravel sideways enough. Also not sure just how long I can keep this landplane either.

I do not have a box blade, I actually think an angle blade would be best. I do know of one I may be able to borrow, and may try that, is my actions with this landplane don't work out.

Still hoping someone can answer my questions on the build.

 

[jenkinsph]

Agree with others that you need more fines with angular faces and I use crusher fines. Typically I use a base course with 3/4" to fines to build up a road base about 4 inches thick on the edges and higher where the crown is. After packing this down I add a thin layer of clean gravel about "one rock high". Ideally you wan't the top of the gravel on the surface sticking up enough to drive over with a clean surface and the bottom of the gravel seated in the smaller fines to lessen movement. If the layer of clean gravel of 3/4" size is too thick the vehicles will plow through it leaving tracks all the time.


I make adjustments to the top link frequently using a landplane, I don't consider it a set it and forget it tool. My blades are set flush and are tilted back to a 45 degree angle using equal leg angle iron, if you look at your new grader blades you will see that most are ground to 45 degrees, that small flat surface on the bottom of the blades should be set parallel to the ground. As the grader blade wears it will maintain its edge if set up properly. My larger landplane uses heavy flatbar with heavy angle iron reinforcement but is still set at 45 degrees to mount the grader blades correctly. I have found that using angle iron that is 4x4x1/2" and larger for the blade mountings is the easiest thing to use. I use the double edged grader blades 6" wide and 5/8" thick with mounting holes down the center line, you need a 4" angle iron to have the right clearance to mount the blades with the plough bolts.

 

[jenkinsph]

Any reason why you can't use the tractor and landplane perpendicular to the drive to widen and spread the gravel?

 

[jcummins]

Agree with others that you need more fines with angular faces and I use crusher fines. Typically I use a base course with 3/4" to fines to build up a road base about 4 inches thick on the edges and higher where the crown is. After packing this down I add a thin layer of clean gravel about "one rock high". Ideally you wan't the top of the gravel on the surface sticking up enough to drive over with a clean surface and the bottom of the gravel seated in the smaller fines to lessen movement. If the layer of clean gravel of 3/4" size is too thick the vehicles will plow through it leaving tracks all the time.


I make adjustments to the top link frequently using a landplane, I don't consider it a set it and forget it tool. My blades are set flush and are tilted back to a 45 degree angle using equal leg angle iron, if you look at your new grader blades you will see that most are ground to 45 degrees, that small flat surface on the bottom of the blades should be set parallel to the ground. As the grader blade wears it will maintain its edge if set up properly. My larger landplane uses heavy flatbar with heavy angle iron reinforcement but is still set at 45 degrees to mount the grader blades correctly. I have found that using angle iron that is 4x4x1/2" and larger for the blade mountings is the easiest thing to use. I use the double edged grader blades 6" wide and 5/8" thick with mounting holes down the center line, you need a 4" angle iron to have the right clearance to mount the blades with the plough bolts.

Your first paragraph correctly describes what I have. I already talked to the rock man....who has an extremely good reputation in this area....I'm going to talk to him again. But first I need to get some of this gravel spread out. Once spread, I probably will put a 'fine' load on the grade after the culvert.

As to the angle. My 28 front and 55 back is off since it should equal 90. I used an inclinometer app on a smartphone to measure. But...do know the blade is slanted more than your 45....probably more like 35. Would the steeper angle grab more gravel, or less? How far apart are your angle blades? I've pretty much decided I'll drill multiple holes in the mounting plates for the blade supports to give me quarter inch below and above the runners as will as even. And yes, I intend to try and spread this gravel more using different techniques with the TNT.