Land Plane on clay Road

[tscott8201]

I'm considering getting a land leveler similar to the unit sold by everything attachments for maintaining our clay road. Almost all the posts relating to land levelers seem to mention gravel roads and I was wondering if anyone uses them to maintain clay roads. I realize the concepts are the same, but I'm just curious if they perform as well on straight clay as they do on a mixed road with sand and aggregate?

The road I'll be working on is about a mile of mostly well packed clay with some areas of sand clay mix. The big issue we have is small potholes and wash outs that form due to heavy rainfall. We also get some wash boarding in the dry season in the sandy areas but that is generally easy to fix with a homemade drag we pull behind a truck. I'm currently using a small road maintainer with a 9 foot belly blade to take care of it, but I'd like something simpler I can just throw on my tractor and leave that requires no maintenance.

Tom

 

[budepps3760]

I use a 7' land plane on both a gravel road as well as a red clay/gravel mix and it does a wonderful job on both. All together about 1.25 miles in length so you should have no problem.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I'm considering getting a land leveler similar to the unit sold by everything attachments for maintaining our clay road. Almost all the posts relating to land levelers seem to mention gravel roads and I was wondering if anyone uses them to maintain clay roads. I realize the concepts are the same, but I'm just curious if they perform as well on straight clay as they do on a mixed road with sand and aggregate?

The road I'll be working on is about a mile of mostly well packed clay with some areas of sand clay mix. The big issue we have is small potholes and wash outs that form due to heavy rainfall. We also get some wash boarding in the dry season in the sandy areas but that is generally easy to fix with a homemade drag we pull behind a truck. I'm currently using a small road maintainer with a 9 foot belly blade to take care of it, but I'd like something simpler I can just throw on my tractor and leave that requires no maintenance.

Tom

Typically, the heavier the better.

 

[tscott8201]

Perfect. I'm looking at the heavier units only at this point. Looks like whatever I get will be around 800 to 900 lbs.

Thanks for the info.

Tom

 

[bcp]

I've seen many old wooden versions work well on dirt roads.

But, every time I see this thread title, it makes me think of this photo.



Bruce

 

[airbiscuit]

Now that's funny!

 

[airbiscuit]

The big issue we have is small potholes and wash outs that form due to heavy rainfall. We also get some wash boarding in the dry season in the sandy areas but that is generally easy to fix with a homemade drag we pull behind a truck. I'm currently using a small road maintainer with a 9 foot belly blade to take care of it, but I'd like something simpler I can just throw on my tractor and leave that requires no maintenance.

Tom

I'd like to see a picture of that.

 

[tscott8201]

It's a Huber M500 from somewhere around the mid 70's as best as I can tell. Works pretty well but is just more maintenance than I want to deal with. I had a buyer lined up but he backed out. I think I'm going to re-gasket the engine (Head gasket seems to have a small leak and the front cover leaks oil) and make sure it doesn't need anything internal and then raise my asking price a bit to reflect the work done.

 

[boggen]

i would say a box blade with rippers better choice for you.

not sure a land plane / grader scraper would work well. they are better with rock. due to they act like a "sifter" allowing rock to come to the top and dirt to fall down below. in all seriousness they might be better called "road rock sifters".

a box blade on other hand, = rear blade with sides + optional rippers. the rear blade with sides, lets you move the dirt. and not run it side to side like a rear blade.

with above said....
TNT (top and tilt) = replace top link on 3pt hitch with hydrualic cylinder, and/or replacing a side link on 3pt hitch with a hydraulic cylinder, some times both side links get replaced with hydraulic cylinders.

this allows you on the fly adjustment of 3pt hitch stuff from seat of tractor, such as rear blades to box blades, allowing you to feather stuff out, and/or angle stuff to keep the crown on the road (high spot on road so water runs off of it).

===========
dirt/rock/gravel roads = keep the water off of it *no if's and's or but's* make it so water runs off the road, and then make sure ditches carry the water away from the road and not just puddling up along side of the road. this alone can drastically reduce road maintance by just getting the water off and away from it.

the wash boarding and pot holes. can be result of DRIVING WAY TO FAST. slow it down. while folks in vehicle may seem like a smooth ride. the suspension of the vehicle is taking a beating. and the tires on vehicles are acting like mega sledge hammers beating the road to death. try to stay off of it when road is wet. to reduce ruts which form into pot holes and puddles.

there is a point of having it to wet, and/or to dry to work it nice and smooth and were you want it. if you can fix the water issues with crowning it and ditches. and then what i normally do (tire width at a time) run over the entire thing in multiple directions. to compact it when it is just a tiny bit wet. (not making ruts) wait for things to dry and get wet one more time and then (tire width at a time) run over it again in multiple directions again. for another good compaction. and call it good enough. to point of starting to abuse the road some.

=============
with above said. current tractor, if you could see about some sort of "bolt on side wings" for the belly grader), and perhaps some sort of "rippers" for the front blade, or getting a 3pt hitch box blade on rear of that tractor. you would have one heck of a road maintenance tractor.

it just getting the crown and ditches in, getting folks to slow down. and trying to stay off of it when it is wet.

 

[Thomas]

Ripper teeth ahead of land scape rake...raise/low ripper teeth when needed.

 

[oosik]

Bruce,
Do you know the story behind that pic? I just can't stop chuckling every time I look at it. Unless I'm mistaken that fellow on the far left appears to be doing the drug runner shuffle, mixed with the high bunny leap.

 

[bcp]

Bruce,
Do you know the story behind that pic? I just can't stop chuckling every time I look at it. Unless I'm mistaken that fellow on the far left appears to be doing the drug runner shuffle, mixed with the high bunny leap.

From:
Fear of Landing Plane vs Truck

"Bob Madden worked for National Geographic magazine and was in Guatemala covering the rescue and recovery operations. He had apparently just disembarked from another aircraft and was standing on the highway near Sanarate.


The rescue plane was bringing food and medicine to the quake victims. It was trying to land on the highway when it got caught in strong crosswinds.
Amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

The two men on the left of the photograph leapt from the pick-up truck just before the crash, adding an undeniable personal aspect to this unbelieveable photograph of the aircraft impacting the truck. "




Bruce

 

[oosik]

Now to get serious and forget all the dancing & whoop-la. Hard packed clay just might give a LPGS a hard time. I would sure want scarifiers on any unit that would be used on a clay driveway. Particularly if you wanted to work the driveway after the clay has dried and hardened. You could drop those scarifiers and break up the top couple inches and then the LPGS would be able to do its job.

 

[fried1765]

It's a Huber M500 from somewhere around the mid 70's as best as I can tell. Works pretty well but is just more maintenance than I want to deal with. I had a buyer lined up but he backed out. I think I'm going to re-gasket the engine (Head gasket seems to have a small leak and the front cover leaks oil) and make sure it doesn't need anything internal and then raise my asking price a bit to reflect the work done.

View attachment 507395

Please send me a private message (PM) about the Huber.
I am interested, and would like to discuss price.

 

[xring100]

I have both a woods gannon industrial grade 88 hxd box scraper and a land pride gs2584 scrapper. My road is predominantly red clay with some gravel mixed in. You will need scarfiers for sure. My gs will barley rip up the clay when its hard even using ever other shank needs more weight. It likes to float on the surfaces when the clay is dry. Once the clay has been loosened up and worked it work's great. Often i will use the box scrapper for the initial prep work and switch out for the land plane. The heavyier the implement the better.

 

[xring100]

I have both a woods gannon industrial grade 88 hxd box scraper and a land pride gs2584 scrapper. My road is predominantly red clay with some gravel mixed in. You will need scarfiers for sure. My gs will barley rip up the clay when its hard even using ever other shank needs more weight. It likes to float on the surfaces when the clay is dry. Once the clay has been loosened up and worked it work's great. Often i will use the box scrapper for the initial prep work and switch out for the land plane. The heavyier the implement the better.

The grading scrapper does not work well unless the clay is pretty dry. It will clump and not level it will also pile up between the blades and in front i tried once and had dirt over the top of the frame. The box scrapper will back drag and do much better in this condition.

 

[tscott8201]

OK I've been looking and I am leaning towards the Duragrader. Perusing their site and something caught my eye. It seems they offer the option of a hydraulically controlled gate on the rear of one of their models. This got me thinking, I am also in the market for a new box blade to replace my cheapo Howse that I have managed to mangle pretty severely and I was wondering if the land plane with a rear gate would work as a box blade as well? My box blade is primarily used to spread dirt when I add clay to my driveway. I also occasionally use it to remove dirt from areas I need to lower in preparation for back filling.

It would seem I might be able to accomplish all my goals with one implement if I opted for the additional rear gate. I'm sure it's not a perfect replacement for a genuine box blade, but It's got to be a step up from my crappy Howse blade.

Tom

 

[jenkinsph]

It would work well for spreading and moving piles of dirt along the drive. Not so much where you need to dig down and cut, the skids would prevent digging deep. About the best it can do is dig out a shallow bowl shape. It will work better cutting off a mound though. BTDT

 

[tscott8201]

A shallow bowl is about the best I can do now with my cheap box blade. It's not heavy enough to cut into anything but loose sand and the rippers don't help much.


Tom

 

[crazyal]

For clay I would get the heaviest LP I could find with ripping shanks. A part of my driveway is part clay and part stone. If it's sun baked dry my 6' 750 LP will just skip along the surface. But I always have the option of waiting for rain. Usually with in a week or so we'll get some and soften things up. I'm not sure if a trap door on the back of a LP would be a very good substitute. The blade on a box blade is in the back and the sides are taller. So you can move more material. Most LP have the blades in the front and middle (and possibly angled) and use the skids in the rear to keep it level.